AlanM January 25, 2015 Author Share January 25, 2015 Thank you, Isaac, for donating a really nice green bta with pink tips. It has only been in for 12 hours and Mr Clarkii already approves. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YHSublime January 25, 2015 Share January 25, 2015 Glad it's gotten approved! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlanM February 14, 2015 Author Share February 14, 2015 New video showing the cool anemone from YHSublime (which the clowns love) with running kid commentary is uploading, but in the meantime I wanted to post a question. I did water tests last night and most things were decent. Nitrate was pretty low at 2-4 ppm. I'm running biopellets in an MR5 for the last 3 months when nitrate was 20-30. But phosphate is pretty high. It's tough to measure once it gets up there, but it's probably 1-2ppm. Also alkalinity is pretty low at 2.3meq/l (6.4dKH). I run my hard coral reef tank at home as an ULNS as much as I can manage with the assistance of lots of algae growth to export nutrients. I don't know a lot about parameters for a softie tank. I do know that I have trouble with softies in this tank. I drop zoas in there and they never open and fade away. I put some neon sinularia in there, and it doesn't extend and is getting smaller. I even put some xenia in there which stays contracted and eventually fades. So lots of "easy" stuff just doesn't do well. What does seem to do well are mushrooms. There are lots of red mushrooms, big green spiky ones, some ricordia, etc. They all do OK. So any suggestions for how to improve the water params for softies? I can add some phosgard or GFO pretty easily to drop phosphate, but might not be able to run it long term. Are they being hindered by low alk or high PO3? Maybe the filefish is wrecking the zoas when I'm not looking? Maybe I need more light? I have a DIY led fixture over it with 14 Royal Blue, 7 white running at 1000mA, 12 violets running at 750mA, and four of the "OCW" color pucks which are RGB tri-stars running at 500mA. So it's about half the light of my SPS tank, but seems like enough to make softies happy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlanM February 14, 2015 Author Share February 14, 2015 Here's the video: You can see how the mushrooms are doing well. I had just dropped in some LRS for breakfast. Sorry about the reflections. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YHSublime February 14, 2015 Share February 14, 2015 Looks good, Alan! Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ArtFully Acrylic (Adam B) February 14, 2015 Share February 14, 2015 Hey Alan! Followed the thread a bit from time to time. But noticed your most recent problems and thought I'd chime in. First off...these are just MY opinions from my perspective and experience . The first thing that jumped out at me was you saying that the nitrates were pretty low. In my experience this is great for an SPS tank but can be more challenging for some softies. In the wild many softies grow in lower light environments that are more nutrient rich and therefore higher nitrates. The main Frag system we have in the store we purposely try to keep the nitrates around 15 to 20. The nitrates in that system we used to keep below 5 when we carried more SPS. After allowing the Nitrates to increase we noticed a pretty big difference in the happiness of soft corals and most LPS. As for the lighting most soft corals don't need a lot as you stated. But mushrooms and most Zooanthid coral will let you know if they are not getting as much light as they want. They will usually stretch out towards the light if there is not enough vs staying pulled in tight to their base. As for your phosphate it will not do you any good to put GFO in there without dealing with the phosphate first. Phosphate levels that high will most likely consume that GFO in 24 to 48 hours which of course could get expensive. A large...double norm...will help reduce it in most cases to allow gfo to take over a bit. However, finding source of phosphates is important if creeps back up. When real high I tend to look first for any recently added rocks. Particularly ones that have been drilled. I have had a few situations where this has been cause. Hope this at least starts with some help on the right track. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smallreef February 14, 2015 Share February 14, 2015 Happy looking fish! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlanM February 15, 2015 Author Share February 15, 2015 (edited) Thanks for the advice, Adam. I will do a larger than normal water change. I have the ability to do 25 gallon changes on this 100 or so gallons of water volume. Normally I do around 12 gallons per week. So I will do a large change, then add some GFO or phosphate sponge to drop the level and will watch it for a while with weekly tests to see if it drifts back up. The rocks and sand in here are pretty mature, so I doubt they are leaching much. I would guess that the phos is coming from my feeding and just not getting exported. Other than algae growth, does it cause damage? Is it as toxic to coral and fish as high nitrate? What do you think about the low alk? any big deal? I use IO salt, and could boost the alk of it a bit when doing water changes to keep it a bit higher. Edited February 15, 2015 by AlanM Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zygote2k February 15, 2015 Share February 15, 2015 still using Tap Water? Excellent source of phosphates.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlanM February 15, 2015 Author Share February 15, 2015 Nope. We have a five stage RO/DI. I do topoff and water changes with that and a 20 gallon rolling brute. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zygote2k February 15, 2015 Share February 15, 2015 If you do 25g w/c bi-weekly and put the correct amount of food in, coupled with some phosban/gfo in a mesh bag in the sump, you can reduce the phosphate within a few months. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlanM March 31, 2015 Author Share March 31, 2015 Phosphate is slowly going down. The clownfish laid eggs on the back glass where everyone can see them. The kids are excited, but it's an awkward conversation to tell them that there will be no baby fish... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
monkiboy March 31, 2015 Share March 31, 2015 nice photo update and what luck they are laying in plain view for all to be part of the fine dining process. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YHSublime September 9, 2015 Share September 9, 2015 Hows the nem doing? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlanM September 9, 2015 Author Share September 9, 2015 Not super good. Shrinking smaller and smaller. I think the light is not strong enough and any time I try to feed it the a-hole clarkii clowns take every bit of the food. I can't decide what to do about it. Also the CCC director made a mistake last week while I was at macna. Instead of filling the ATO container with di water she poured it right into the sump which dropped the salinity by 5 percent. We lost one flasher wrasse and one scissortail somehow that week. Maybe due to the salinity drop. So long story short, there are some challenges. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YHSublime September 9, 2015 Share September 9, 2015 Cant win them all. I'm sure you'll get it bounced back. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlanM September 9, 2015 Author Share September 9, 2015 Home tank is going gangbusters though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlanM September 11, 2015 Author Share September 11, 2015 The scissortail was hiding and the flasher wrasse took a jump into the overflow. I fished it out today, so all is well on the fish front. So can I get some advice on what to do for this nem? I know I can increase the light. I am looking at getting one of those actinic spotlight do-dads to point at the nem since I'm not planning to run an SPS tank and don't need the light all over. Maybe the 24" blue ReefBrite that BigSarge81 would help as well. What does anyone think of those options? I'd also be open to just buying two D120's, I guess, and calling it done instead of the DIY one I did which is less powerful. I can also target feed it. This is a challenge with two aggressive clowns, but I can get a long turkey baster and glue a soda bottle top to it to give it some peace while I feed it. Think those two will help bring it back to it's original state? The water quality is good. Low NO3 and PO4 both. Low Ca, but it's a softy tank anyway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YHSublime September 11, 2015 Share September 11, 2015 I would say light is your biggest issue, not food. My vote would be x2 d120s if you can swing it. The reefbrite would be nice if its an xho, but will turn your tank blue, and I'm more of a natural looking spectrum guy, but it's not my tank! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlanM September 11, 2015 Author Share September 11, 2015 OK. I may sell the Gyre I got at MACNA, then, and try to score some d120s for a decent price. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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