180g basement tank

[AlanM]

That pec makes me want to set up a tank again. 

 

I am just babysitting it for DaveS.  He might give you some. 8)

[AlanM]

Long time since an update on this tank.  

 

I'm not inspired quite yet to go full triton method, but the talk by Joe C. at Fragfest did inspire me to start growing macroalgae again for nutrient export.  My old system never looked as good as when I had a bucket of algae growing.  

 

So I ordered some gracillaria, chaeto, and ulva from Algae Barn.  They have a line of "Clean Macro" products that they take special care to keep clean and relatively free of pest organisms like redbugs, flatworms, and they rinse it before sending it to minimize the chances of transferring fish parasites.  https://www.algaebarn.com/product-category/macro-algae/  Seemed like a good deal to get a variety of macro.  

 

I drilled a 5g bucket with a 2-1/8 drill bit and put in a 1-1/2" uniseal with some 1-1/2" PVC pressure fit in it, and a little hydro basket over it to keep chunks out of the output pipe.  

 

Then I dropped a hose in it from my return pipes (it happened to be the one coming out of my 40W UV), and turned on my SB ReefLights Sprite Fuge which has legs that exactly fit on a 5g bucket.  

 

I'm hoping for good things to happen.

 

[YHSublime]

Still kicking up algae in your DT? Or are you just running it still in cycle mode? 

[AlanM]

No algae in display tank.  Actually, I'm getting some turf algae in there lately because I've been skimping on water changes.  Also corals turning brown, likely same reason.  The forest of huge algae is long gone.  Maybe ran out of nutrient.  Maybe because I dosed Vibrant about 6 months ago.

[AlanM]

Quick update.

 

Remember to test your tank from time to time.  I was doing lots of testing of the new Live Aquaria salt when it occurred to me that I hadn't looked at the tank numbers in a while.  I'd tested through around August and they were always the same, so I didn't mess with the dosers.  I just tested today and I was down at 108ppm of Alk.  That's a dKH of 6.  Yikes.  

 

I'm dosing slowly to bring it back up to where I normally run it over the course of a week to 8.5 dKH.

 

I tested when I noticed STN on the base of one of my oldest corals.   No idea what happened, but I did start growing lots of macro and running carbon, so maybe that had an effect.

[YHSublime]

Yikes. 

 

Good reminder. Are you adding anything these days, or just riding out with what you have?

[AlanM]

Each meeting I get a few frags.  Last one I got from Dr Mac, Copps, and Graham.

 

Since it's my second tank I'm buying more expensive ones than my first tank. 8)  Also the T5's are making it possible to keep colors on something like an Acid Trip Milli even though I can't get decent polyp extension on it.

[YHSublime]

Any updates?

[AlanM]

Well, only shameful ones.  I had what I think was a dinoflagellate bloom.  All hermit crabs seem to have died and I lost some of my corals. Most zoas are gone.  My start at a GSP mat all died.  I may ping some of the folks that I sold my old tank corals to so I can see if they still have some I could buy back. 

 

Some of the most finicky corals, though, like Acid Trip Milli, Strawberry Lemonade Milli, Oregon blue tort, ice echinata, and a really beautiful blue one from copps that I should know the name of are doing great, tough.  Somehow they did fine.  The fish did fine too, and so did the astrea snails.  

 

To combat it I started getting serious about cleanliness.  I got my UV working again, added filter socks, cleaned the skimmer, added carbon and floss, did a bunch of manual removal, fed lightly for a couple of weeks, started doing water changes again, got the gunk out of my chaeto growing bucket, etc.

 

Now I'm growing heroic amounts of chaeto in a bucket (if anyone in MD wants some, let me know).  The water is clear from the carbon, floss, and socks.  Polyps are all out.  It's looking good with no dinos in sight except now I seem to have a mat of some kind of close growing brown turf algae on areas that don't get a lot of flow.  

 

I have three MP40s on the back wall running at 75%, but maybe I should pull the two end ones off and put them on the tank ends rather than the back wall to allow the flow to spread more.  I seem to get a lot of detritus that I have to blow off the rocks.  

 

I also need to buy a bunch of hermits again and maybe something that will eat that brown stuff, heh.

[flooddc]

Bummer!

 

Have you tried lights out a few days to see if it reduced dino?

I don't think hermit crabs will eat those stuff. Nerite snails might eat those brown stuffs. If you get them, make sure you keep a lid tight on the tank or they climb out and eventually die. 

[AlanM]

Chuck, you still local?  If so maybe you could come over and take a look at the brown stuff to give advice. 8)  I need to have folks over soon anyway.  Other people see things that aren't obvious to me.  

[flooddc]

Chuck, you still local?  If so maybe you could come over and take a look at the brown stuff to give advice. 8)  I need to have folks over soon anyway.  Other people see things that aren't obvious to me. 

Alan, I am still in Darnestown. When I get a chance, I'll stop by to check out your system.

[YHSublime]

I think with your new addition we need a FTS!

[AlanM]

I think with your new addition we need a FTS!

 

Will do that soon, but here's the fish in the meantime. 8)

 

[AlanM]

Apologies in advance for the poor camera quality.  Phone camera leaves somewhat to be desired.

 

Here's a new FTS:

 

 

Here is the right side that needed to be re-scaped by Rob G and me in order to get the flame angel out of there.  It now has a really big cave in there.  Everyone was initially nervous to go in it, but now they are exploring it.  On the right in the front is a big wrasse den from alternative reef that I'd like to put some sand in and have a wrasse at some point.

 

 

Here is the left side where the clowns live and where there's a big spongodes that seems to be a survivor.  Thrived even in the midst of the dino outbreak.

 

 

Here is Dave Sun's pectinia.  About 3 times as big as when I first got it.  Fragfest 2017, I think.

 

 

Here are my clowns.  One misbar ocellaris, one black darwin ocellaris.  They lay eggs regularly. The original male of this pair died in quarantine when I was moving in to this tank, but the female took to this black darwin right away.  They started out with one nem, but the low-light when I was working on the dinos must have stressed it out, so now there are three nems in different spots.

 

 

Here's the nice PVC sump I had Brandon at Pure Reef Systems build.  It's a tank.  I stand on it to reach stuff.  Do that with your acrylic sump. 8)  

 

 

Here's the business end of the tank behind the wall.  Lots of stuff on a plywood board with lots of cords everywhere.  Also visible is the silly huge skimmer originally made by Grey Seas Aquatics, predecessor to Avast Marine.  It has two ReefOctopus 5500s skimmer pumps on it pulling a total of 4000 l/h of air.  The air is plumbed in to the outside which has raised the pH in my tank by around 0.2.

 

 

 

[YHSublime]

I'm jealous of all your space. I was going to say, that pectinia looks like it's done some crazy growing. I planned part of my build around hopefully buying that and keeping it up front. Now that would throw feelers down half my tank. 

 

Everything is looking good! 

[AlanM]

I'm jealous of all your space. I was going to say, that pectinia looks like it's done some crazy growing. I planned part of my build around hopefully buying that and keeping it up front. Now that would throw feelers down half my tank. 

 

Everything is looking good!

 

It's about 6 inches across and the sweepers extend another 3 inches when they're really reaching.  They do kill corals that they can reach.  It's really cool to watch it eat, though.  I drop Fauna Marine LPS Ultra small pellets on it about once every two weeks with pumps off.  I caught it expelling waste the other day.  Black yucky filaments coming out all mouths.  Yuk.

 

Talk to DaveS if you'd like it.  He'll make you a deal. 8)

[AlanM]

Quick update here.  My nitrate and phosphate got really high while battling dinoflagellates and trying to dirty up the tank intentionally.  I took my chaeto grower offline and put the chaeto into quarantine.  It has been back in under the grow-light LEDs for a couple of weeks now and was doing nothing but just in the past week has jumped up in growth. 

 

I believe the difference is that I started dosing iron/manganese from TLF.  I dose a cap every morning into 200g total volume.  I can't guarantee that is what did it, but I do know that algae needs iron to grow.

 

It was an interesting coincidence that our speaker last Saturday also suggested dosing iron.  I have Red Sea test kits for Iron and Potassium, but find them tough to use...

[Origami]

I'd wager a bet that the iron, too, is what's behind the improvement in your chaeto growth. Our systems are typically iron-limited and plants use iron is needed to produce chlorophyll. When you dose iron, it doesn't last long - plants snap it up.Similarly, manganese is essential to photosynthesis.

 

Good reminder of the importance of these trace elements when using macroalgae to control nitrates and phosphates.

 

[matt]

I believe the speaker recommended Salifert as his preference for a potassium test...if that's helpful