Eric's 120g peninsula style aquarium build

[WheresTheReef]

2 hours ago, flooddc said:

Looking good Eric!

Thanks Chuck.

[YHSublime]

10 hours ago, WheresTheReef said:

Video come through? Yea unfortunately don’t have an underwater camera.

 

Video came through, I think I might need glasses, so there's that. 

[thakki]

Tank is looking good @WheresTheReef

[WheresTheReef]

8 hours ago, thakki said:

Tank is looking good @WheresTheReef

Thanks!

[WheresTheReef]

It’s been a while since I updated this build. A lot has happened, both good and bad.

 

First the good. Things were doing very well. Nice SPS and euphyllia colonies were growing out. Most of the corals were grown from small frags. 
 

My tank was selected for TOTM for May 2021. You can get more info here:

 

https://wamas.org/forums/totm/totmprev.php/?prev=totm-2021-05

 

Here are just a few pictures from that time, but more are available in the TOTM link above.

 

Now the bad.

 

In the Fall of 2021, the tank had a small dinoflagellate bloom. I’ve had this happen in the past and found that dirtying the tank a little would make them go away. I moved water changes from weekly to every other week. I also reduced the light cycle for the algae scrubber to help with increasing the nutrients a little. Things looked great for a while, but then the tank started getting cyano and some hair algae. I worked hard to keep the tank clean. The cyano really took off and started growing over corals on the sand bed. Maintenance became a constant chore, so I was contemplating shutting down the tank. It just wasn’t enjoyable any more. I started by selling off and giving away most of my SPS.

 

I just couldn’t get the cyano, and then a larger hair algae outbreak under control. I was constantly scrubbing the rocks while siphoning into a filter sock in the sump, and also resumed occasional gravel vacuuming of detritus from the sand bed. I did a ton of research and purchased Chemiclean and Vibrant. First, let me say that I have never dosed any product in my tank before. I was really nervous about this. From my research I found that Chemiclean was a fairly “reef safe” way of getting on top of the cyano. Vibrant seemed like the more risky way to go so I held off on using it. I decided to give Chemiclean a try on February 19th.

 

I slightly under dosed that tank. I took the collection cup off my skimmer and left it on to overflow into the sump. The skimmer has an airline plumbed outside so it was a great source of oxygen for the tank.

 

I waited 48 hrs before doing a 20% water change and adding some activated carbon. During this time all livestock looked normal and the cyano started to subside. On the third day the anemones closed up and the euphyllia started looking stressed. The acros that were still encrusting and colored up in the tank all RTN overnight. I added some activated carbon to a second reactor, and then performed another 20% water change. My gold hammer colony got swollen as seen here.

 

By the fifth day, the mouths of all the euphyllia had enlarged similar to these.

 

 

By day six and seven, the flesh just started peeling off the eupyllia like this.

 

 

I lost colonies and mini-colonies and nice frags of torches, hammers, octospawn, frog spawn and cristata. Some colonies were well over 30-40 heads. Here are some of the victims.

 

 

To say that it has been heartbreaking is an understatement! Here are some pictures of what remains.

 

 

Now there is a diatom bloom and the hair algae continues to grow. The anemones are still not fully open, but some other corals are still doing ok. I am now just riding this out and letting the tank settle. Clean-up crew is on the way and will arrive next week. Over time, I plan to move to a more euphyllia and LPS dominated system. In fact, I already redid the aquascape in the 120g as seen in the pictures above. 

 

The only saving grace is that I have a separate 25g lagoon. A day before using the Chemiclean, I cut and moved over 4-5 heads of my green torch, gold hammer and yellow octospawn. Looks like it paid off to be a little paranoid. I didn’t want to overwhelm the 25g with a ton of corals, but now wish I had moved over a few more corals.

 

 

I was monitoring the tank’s parameters during all this. I never detected any ammonia and the Alk and Ca only slightly rose likely due to coral stress and larger water changes. The phosphate rose from 0.02ppm to 0.05ppm, and the nitrates rose from < 1ppm to 5ppm. Ph stayed normal based on my Apex logs. I still don’t know what actually happened.

 

The main lesson learned is that just because most people have success with a “reef safe” product, doesn’t mean you will. I will never dose another product like this in my tank!

 

Edited March 2, 2022 by WheresTheReef

[SomethinSaltyBruin]

darn Eric, sorry man.  I went through a similar crash 3-4 years ago… and it’s very disheartening.  Almost hung it up too. But glad I didn’t though. And it seems you’re not either so your tank will look even better when all is said and done.  Reef on! 

But on a side note, and perhaps coincidental, but another friend of mine did a chemi-clean treatment for cyano just a week ago… and many of his HE torches also bailed on him the very next day… he also can’t explained what’s ill-ing his tank.  All parameters were in check. 

 

 

Edited March 2, 2022 by SomethinSaltyBruin

[WheresTheReef]

2 hours ago, SomethinSaltyBruin said:

darn Eric, sorry man.  I went through a similar crash 3-4 years ago… and it’s very disheartening.  Almost hung it up too. But glad I didn’t though. And it seems you’re not either so your tank will look even better when all is said and done.  Reef on! 

But on a side note, and perhaps coincidental, but another friend of mine did a chemi-clean treatment for cyano just a week ago… and many of his HE torches also bailed on him the very next day… he also can’t explained what’s ill-ing his tank.  All parameters were in check. 

 

 

Yea this hobby kicks you where it hurts sometimes. It sucked having to pull out colonies and trashing them on a daily basis. 

 

Glad you didn't hang it up. Your current tanks look amazing! 

 

Sucks for your friend. Hope his tank gets back to normal soon. 

[SomethinSaltyBruin]

Sorry, friend did a chemiclean treatment after the crash… but his tank seems to be stable again. 

[flooddc]

Sorry to hear about your mishap Eric. I had green cyano in the past few months too and was not able to up keep my tanks due to my busy schedule. Finally got my property back in nov. after 2 years of no rent, now I have being working on fixing it and sell it. no more rental, it was my first and last .  Anyway, due to busy schedule, I took a chance with Chemicleam using only 1/2 of the recommended dosage. Overall, I was able to get rid of the cyano but the torch and yellow octospawn are not doing well. for some reason, the torch was doing great when green cyano took over the tank. Once I got rid of the house and get my back rent I can give my tank more attention and back to reefing . 

Meanwhile, I have some pocillopora and a few easy sps that I can frag for you if you like. 

[nburg]

Sorry to hear about the losses! I've used chemiclean for mild cyano and when my Zoas seem stressed with no issues, all SPS and torches and other euphyllia did fine. I wonder if there are strains of cyano that are much more toxic than others, and when they're killed or made pelagic they harm corals much more. Stay strong and I hope you're sticking with it! Are you going to try and rebuild a similar coral variety or trying something new?

 

I've noticed more and more people focusing on pH again and how maintaining a high pH can help keep both stony corals happy, but also regulate proper microbiome. 

[WheresTheReef]

4 hours ago, flooddc said:

Sorry to hear about your mishap Eric. I had green cyano in the past few months too and was not able to up keep my tanks due to my busy schedule. Finally got my property back in nov. after 2 years of no rent, now I have being working on fixing it and sell it. no more rental, it was my first and last .  Anyway, due to busy schedule, I took a chance with Chemicleam using only 1/2 of the recommended dosage. Overall, I was able to get rid of the cyano but the torch and yellow octospawn are not doing well. for some reason, the torch was doing great when green cyano took over the tank. Once I got rid of the house and get my back rent I can give my tank more attention and back to reefing . 

Meanwhile, I have some pocillopora and a few easy sps that I can frag for you if you like. 

Thanks Chuck. Normally I wouldn’t have dosed any product, but the cyano was growing as a thick red mat. It smothered some zoas to death and was growing on some acans. It was also bothering my clam. I was working hard to clean just to have it quickly grow back. Thanks for the offer. I’m going to let the tank settle for a little bit before adding any more corals. Glad I sold most of my SPS, however I still had a few acro colonies that were wiped out. I put the larger ones out in the sun to bleach them. For a size reference, the bottom left acro is around 8” across.

 

Hope your stressed corals turn around, and good luck on selling your other home. I can only imagine how hard renting it out with no payments was.

 

 

 

1 hour ago, nburg said:

Sorry to hear about the losses! I've used chemiclean for mild cyano and when my Zoas seem stressed with no issues, all SPS and torches and other euphyllia did fine. I wonder if there are strains of cyano that are much more toxic than others, and when they're killed or made pelagic they harm corals much more. Stay strong and I hope you're sticking with it! Are you going to try and rebuild a similar coral variety or trying something new?

 

I've noticed more and more people focusing on pH again and how maintaining a high pH can help keep both stony corals happy, but also regulate proper microbiome. 

Thanks. There definitely has to be something to the toxicity. Every tank is also different. I did siphon out as much cyano before treatment. My water didn’t turn red or anything, not even the water in the skimmer. I think I’m going to try more of an LPS and softies tank for a while. Well at least that’s my current plan.
 

Yea I’ve seen some greater focus on pH too. I’ve always avoided trying to chase pH. My tank is in my basement and had a lower pH early on. Once I plumbed my skimmer’s air intake to an outside line it only fluctuates between 8-8.3 so maybe that has helped with growth without much effort.

[roni]

Man, so sorry to see this!  chemiclean is generally considered relatively safe but clearly not in every case.  Glad you were able to salvage some things.  I think LPS/softie tanks are severely underrated in terms of color and movement.  I do have some hardy sps you are welcome to if you decide to try again.  

 

I had a similar issue but with Vibrant.  Not quite as bad but pretty rough and set off a months long battle with dinos.  

[WheresTheReef]

2 hours ago, roni said:

Man, so sorry to see this!  chemiclean is generally considered relatively safe but clearly not in every case.  Glad you were able to salvage some things.  I think LPS/softie tanks are severely underrated in terms of color and movement.  I do have some hardy sps you are welcome to if you decide to try again.  

 

I had a similar issue but with Vibrant.  Not quite as bad but pretty rough and set off a months long battle with dinos.  

 

I agree with the look of LPS/softie tanks. I've been looking at pictures and videos of those types of tanks to stay positive and get inspired. Thanks for the offer. Will be waiting for a bit to add any corals just to be safe.

 

It's true that nothing good happens quickly in a reef tank. I will be returning the Vibrant I recently ordered but didn't use. Never adding another product like these ever again!

[WheresTheReef]

Things are coming along slowly, but I like the direction it’s going. I upgraded my lights to 4 Radion G6 Xr15s. I also swapped out my sump.

 

Here are some pics. Still have a bit to go to fill it up with corals. I had to move the gonis down since they were getting too much light. They’re still not very happy yet.

 

The 30g breeder is kinda just there for now. I purchased a used DeepBlue 55g RR rimless tank. It has the same footprint as this tank, but 20” tall. I ripped out the huge overflow and plan to drill it with an external overflow. I had to reseal the tank, but it should be good now. Once I get around to finishing that tank I’ll swap it out with the 30g breeder. Dealing with some cyano, but It could be worse. I had neglected servicing my skimmer and skipped some water changes here and there so now paying for it. It happens when when we neglect our tanks. My BW nem is growing huge.

[YHSublime]

Looks great, love the huge BW!

[teamschreiba]

Looks great! Sorry about your losses, on my last tank I had something like that happen and took me out of the hobby for awhile. Glad to see you’re sticking with it! 

[WheresTheReef]

12 hours ago, YHSublime said:

Looks great, love the huge BW!

Thanks

 

5 hours ago, teamschreiba said:

Looks great! Sorry about your losses, on my last tank I had something like that happen and took me out of the hobby for awhile. Glad to see you’re sticking with it! 

Thanks. It can be tough. I just let the tank settle until it and I were both ready to start again. Glad you're back at it again as well.

[thakki]

Looks good, seems like you are back on the track. I see the yellow octospawn, when it's ready lmk.

Sent from my SM-S916U using Tapatalk

[WheresTheReef]

2 hours ago, thakki said:

Looks good, seems like you are back on the track. I see the yellow octospawn, when it's ready lmk.

Sent from my SM-S916U using Tapatalk
 

Thanks. Will do. Unfortunately, I lost colonies of it. I'm down to 4 heads but they are doing well. Hoping they grow well for me again. It's a beauty and really bright yellow.

[WheresTheReef]

Things are filling in slowly. 

 

 

I also managed to swap out the 30g breeder with this DeepBlue 55g RR rimless tank.

 

Currently have a couple fish being treated in QT. The hogfish will go into the 120g and the tiny purple tang in the 55g.

[YHSublime]

Everything is growing remarkably fast

[rutherkip]

On 3/2/2022 at 11:18 PM, SomethinSaltyBruin said:

darn Eric, sorry man.  I went through a similar crash 3-4 years ago… and it’s very disheartening.  Almost hung it up too. But glad I didn’t though. And it seems you’re not either so your tank will look even better when all is said and done.  Reef on! 

But on a side note, and perhaps coincidental, but another friend of mine did a chemi-clean treatment for cyano just a week ago… and many of his HE torches also bailed on him the very next day… he also can’t explained what’s ill-ing his tank.  All parameters were in check. 

 

 

It's great to see the camaraderie and support in the reef-keeping community during challenging times. Eric's experience is relatable to many hobbyists who've faced setbacks but continued to persevere.

Regarding the coincidental issue with the chemi-clean treatment and the health of your friend's torch corals, it's a reminder of the complexities of reef-keeping. Sometimes, even when water parameters seem fine, there can be unexpected reactions or sensitivities within the ecosystem. It highlights the importance of monitoring the tank closely and seeking advice from experienced reef enthusiasts or professionals when faced with unexplained issues. Reef-keeping can be both rewarding and challenging, but the shared experiences and learning from one another are valuable aspects of the hobby.

[WheresTheReef]

On 10/24/2023 at 10:42 PM, YHSublime said:

Everything is growing remarkably fast

Yea things are growing nicely. Definitely takes more patience watching LPS grow compared to SPS. Most are frags so it will take a bit to grow. Once they are small colonies the growth rate is exponential.

 

I’m enjoying this version of the tank. I love the movement in the tank way more than the static look of colored sticks.

 

On 10/26/2023 at 5:59 AM, rutherkip said:

It's great to see the camaraderie and support in the reef-keeping community during challenging times. Eric's experience is relatable to many hobbyists who've faced setbacks but continued to persevere.

Regarding the coincidental issue with the chemi-clean treatment and the health of your friend's torch corals, it's a reminder of the complexities of reef-keeping. Sometimes, even when water parameters seem fine, there can be unexpected reactions or sensitivities within the ecosystem. It highlights the importance of monitoring the tank closely and seeking advice from experienced reef enthusiasts or professionals when faced with unexplained issues. Reef-keeping can be both rewarding and challenging, but the shared experiences and learning from one another are valuable aspects of the hobby.

It definitely helps to know we are not alone in our tough times. If you’re in this hobby long enough, most experience at least one setback. I agree with needing to stay diligent in this hobby. Many of my struggles have coincided with times life was too busy for me to focus on the tank. I think it’s important to enjoy when the tank is doing well, and lean on that as you ride out the struggles. It’s all part of this journey.

 

I actually feel more connected to this version of the tank than previous ones. I find myself inspecting coral tissues to monitor the health of the euphyllia/frimbriaphyllia. I like the faster feedback you get from LPS compared to SPS (especially acros), which might look fine one day and just seems to die overnight sometimes.