Howaboutme's Return - Waterbox PM15 UNS 75s

[howaboutme]

1 hour ago, WheresTheReef said:

I cut all corals off their plugs, even encrusted ones. Both for biosecurity, and my absolute hatred of the way they look in a tank when planted on rock. Frag plugs on a rack are a different story. Get some bone cutters and in the future frags will pop off very easily from plugs. The amount of coral left behind from plug removal is usually very minimal once you do it a few times.

 

I actually like to glue new coral onto rock rubble. This allows the coral to encrust while giving me the flexibility to move it around if needed. Just glue the rock rubble onto the plug or onto the main rock to hold it in place.

 

Thank you! I'm going to be working on my routine. I do have a bunch of rock that I can chop up so I have thought about the rubble rock idea. I also have a scalpel coming to help too. As for frag plugs on rock, my initial plan is to cut off the plug portion so I can just plug the plate on the rock. It doesn't look too bad that way.

[howaboutme]

New toy.....Reefing Art Coral Lens Filter set for my cell...

 

Not bad, very close to my eye for both day time and all blues. It still doesn't show the green base of the nem too well though. I'm still playing around w/ combinations but glad I can take images that are close to what my eye sees with just my phone.

 

Day lights:

 

 

 

Night/Blue:

 

 

 

In other news...I fed way too much Benereef. Hope I don't get an algae bloom tomorrow. 

[WheresTheReef]

1 hour ago, howaboutme said:

New toy.....Reefing Art Coral Lens Filter set for my cell...

I like to combine their grad orange and grad yellow.

[howaboutme]

10 hours ago, WheresTheReef said:

I like to combine their grad orange and grad yellow.

 

Ah! Thank you. I have not combined both graduating filters yet. I'll try that.

 

How have you used the "macro" lens? It seems to play with my phones focusing and I'm not sure if it actually zooms in any closer.

[WheresTheReef]

1 hour ago, howaboutme said:

 

Ah! Thank you. I have not combined both graduating filters yet. I'll try that.

 

How have you used the "macro" lens? It seems to play with my phones focusing and I'm not sure if it actually zooms in any closer.

I try not center the grad filters on the camera lens for what seems to give the best graduating effect.
 

I played with macro a little. I was able to get closer to the coral next to the glass, but still had to be a little bit back. Otherwise, it was hard for the phone to focus. It did make a difference in how close my phone could be to the glass while still taking an in focus image. I’m using a Pixel 4a 5g. Before that an original Pixel.

Edited March 4, 2021 by WheresTheReef

[howaboutme]

2 hours ago, WheresTheReef said:

I try not center the grad filters on the camera lens for what seems to give the best graduating effect.
 

I played with macro a little. I was able to get closer to the coral next to the glass, but still had to be a little bit back. Otherwise, it was hard for the phone to focus. It did make a difference in how close my phone could be to the glass while still taking an in focus image. I’m using a Pixel 4a 5g. Before that an original Pixel.

 

Great info. Thank you! I too am using a Pixel 4a so glad you've fussed with it. I'll continue to play.

[YHSublime]

I've seen some awesome photos taken on cell phones these days, and my camera phone is absolutely amazing, BUT, nothing seems to top breaking out the DSLR. 

 

Tank is looking good, is that the Nero? You like it?

[howaboutme]

35 minutes ago, YHSublime said:

I've seen some awesome photos taken on cell phones these days, and my camera phone is absolutely amazing, BUT, nothing seems to top breaking out the DSLR. 

 

Tank is looking good, is that the Nero? You like it?

 

Agree but the work flow w/ dslr is a no-go, I'm just too busy and not interested in the post production work needed. In fact, I haven't broken out my Nikon in a few years, which is a shame.

 

Yes, nero 3. I like it except for 2 things: 1) bluetooth connection is finicky and 2)putting the dry side magnet in water even though it is supposed to be fine. My future plans are to, depending on how the corals do when on the rock, play with the flow. At the moment, just based on seeing floaties highlighting my flow pattern, I'm thinking the PH may be better on my back glass so it is perpendicular to the return. If that is the case, I'll use the MP10. The worry if I change flow later is if the nem disagrees, so I need to weigh that risk as well though I do think it will be okay based on my observations.

[howaboutme]

I have an interesting update as my tank continues to settle in. This one is about data, in particular NO3 data for roughly the last 30 days. As you can see from the graph and commentary below, the tank is in an interesting NO3 roller coaster. A roller coaster likely part of the maturation of our tanks. At this point I'm not too concerned about any other parameters but I do check Alk from time to time , again to have a good understanding of trends, and because of my controller I can monitor PH constantly. More on this later.

My observations:

 

When I considered my tank "cycled", it had not completely had its NO3 spike. That tells me that perhaps my tank cycled much faster and although the graph may have told me I added inhabitants too soon my eyes tell me it wasn't early at all. Remember, I started with all dead rock (previous live though) and ghost feeding, no item-in-a-bottle to help speed things up. The key here is when I saw NO3 rise, I knew my cycle as moving along nicely. I just didn't know it was going to continue to rise!

 

Because of the dramatic rise in NO3, I did a bunch of large water changes within that week. I really wanted to get my NO3 to a baseline of 10. Well, I think I overdid it.

 

As the tank continues to get cleaner, I am offsetting this natural progression by feeding a bit more than I would normally feed for the # of inhabitants. It seems like I need to do even more, perhaps.

 

Although I added corals and the anemone a bit earlier than I had planned, all is going well. The nem is happy and the corals are fine. It's too early to determine any more than they are "fine".

 

Effects of Alk and PH in an early tank:

 

It is known that PH (and Alk) is depressed during the nitrogen cycle. Although it can balance itself out w/ maturation, doing water changes may affect it. During my cycle, I had what we would consider low PH. In the last 2 weeks, the PH has been marginally higher (and sustained) and now sits in the "OK" zone but still on the low side. Again, not too concerned but will continue to monitor. The same for Alk. It's likely not the corals depressing Alk because there is hardly any, just part of the early life. No need to get too worried. Good husbandry should replenish.

 

Next steps:

 

How do I solve that my tank is too clean? Does it even matter at this moment?

 

I see a few options:

 

1) do nothing and let the tank mature with only my originally planned maintenance/feeding schedule.

2) Increase bio-load which includes feeding more

3) Do either less water changes or of lower volume or both.

4) Manipulate the process by dosing NO3

 

For me, I think the solution is a combination of some of the above. I'm not going to add more fish but my stocking list includes 1 maybe 2 sexy shrimp. Bot those won't add too much to the load unless I add food specifically for them. I do enjoy feeding more. Everyone is happy as a result. I am likely going to keep my weekly (at least and adjusted based on data and observations) water changes to replenish trace elements, etc but I may drop % to 10 to 15%. It's so hard because that volume is so little and looks like I'm not doing anything. What I won't do is to dose NO3. I've done it in the past on my other tank and have no reservations doing it, just not this early. The roller coaster is not done yet, I don't think.

 

As for the inhabitants? The 2 clowns are not paired but even as recently as this afternoon they were doing their gesticulations. The anemone looks happy while the hermits are eating anything in sight (including what is likely algae). I’ve also added a few snails to my cuc, some trochus (love that they right themselves and can defend against hermits) and bumble bee snails. I’m ready for the uglies!

 

I'll leave you with a video:

 

 

 

[howaboutme]

No real updates. Slowing down a bit and letting the tank ride a few weeks. Will try to do a bigger update next time.

Still low NO3, no nuisance algae or any type of uglies, ramping up lighting and interestingly noticed PODS. I'm not sure where they came from (likely hitchhiked from recent snails) but glad to have them.

 

[tpallas]

Looks great - so far, so good!

[howaboutme]

1 hour ago, tpallas said:

Looks great - so far, so good!

 

Thank you!

[YHSublime]

On 3/7/2021 at 8:16 PM, howaboutme said:

1) do nothing and let the tank mature with only my originally planned maintenance/feeding schedule.

2) Increase bio-load which includes feeding more

3) Do either less water changes or of lower volume or both.

4) Manipulate the process by dosing NO3

 

My vote goes for a 1 and 3 combo. There's a ton of schools of thought on how to keep a new tank stable, but IMO there's no substitute for just letting nature take its course. Looks great so far though! 

[howaboutme]

1 hour ago, YHSublime said:

 

My vote goes for a 1 and 3 combo. There's a ton of schools of thought on how to keep a new tank stable, but IMO there's no substitute for just letting nature take its course. Looks great so far though! 

 

Yes, completely agree. I'm hesitant on skipping weekly water changes because I do want to replace trace elements and delay the need (or want) do dose as long as possible. With very little sticks in right now, that's not an issue. So less volume it is!

 

I'm also currently trying to figure out how to solve a few other issues that'll help me realize how my final setup will be. I'm leaning towards trying out a skimmer for a few weeks to help stabilize my low PH. I know this won't help my clean tank but I think I can balance that out w/ the added benefit of a better PH value. I need to do some more tests first, including recalibrating my probe just to be sure!

[YHSublime]

2 hours ago, howaboutme said:

I'm also currently trying to figure out how to solve a few other issues that'll help me realize how my final setup will be. I'm leaning towards trying out a skimmer for a few weeks to help stabilize my low PH. I know this won't help my clean tank but I think I can balance that out w/ the added benefit of a better PH value. I need to do some more tests first, including recalibrating my probe just to be sure!

 

Could always run the skimmer without the top!

[howaboutme]

Time for another update but this one is not good news. It turns out that all of my positive vibes and good luck have plateaued. My black and white clown died last night. I'm very sad and my kids will be devastated. Below are some key events from the last couple of weeks to help shed some light on the situation. At the end of the day, I don't know exactly what happened, which is the hardest part.

 

The tank was doing great going into the weekend exactly 2 weeks ago, absolutely nothing stood out as a negative. On March 6th, I came home with 6 new snails. The following day I noticed something strange on my black ice (the larger clown). She (presumed a female) started to get long stringy white poop and then eventually started to not eat as vigorously as she's been during feeding. I kept my eye on her for another day, nothing worse, nothing better. On March 8, I decided to proactively dose PraziPro directly into my DT knowing it is reef safe and can help with a lot (but not all) of the possible internal issues. It's often use prophylactically so I knew it would only help but not hurt. On the 2nd day, I noticed much improvement in my large clown. Besides the poop and appetite, no other signs of illness was obvious. Great color, no issues on the body, no deformity, stomach still good, etc. Even though she wasn't eating in front of me, I can tell she's picking at the pods, good signs. About 5/6 days later, I dosed the 2nd PraziPro round. I could see regular poop forming, all good!

 

Keep in mind that all this time, the small, black and white, clown looked fine in all aspects. For the end of the Prazi treatment, I had planned one more additional procedure. I dosed epsom salt to help move things through. I used 1 tbsp per 5G (but a bit less). This was yesterday, March 19th. Almost immediately, I saw positive signs from the fish. 

 

Fast forward to the evening of the 19th. I noticed my small black and white lethargic and not able to swim against the flow and being tossed around. I knew this was not good. I turned off my flow (pump and PH), added an air stone and started to observe. Again, no overt signs of issues. After being tossed around, I can see his head/mouth area becoming white. The only thing I can think of is that is from swimming into rocks and the glass. I put him into a diy acclimation box and also decided to quickly do another (3rd round) of Prazi. Unfortunately, nothing worked and he passed. Again to reiterate, the clown that passed was NOT the one that had some signs of illness. Very strange.

 

The black ice is fine so far (acting great, no deformities or discoloration but still slow in eating but I know Prazi diminishes appetite). I'm bummed because both of these fish were quarantined, treated prophylactically and doing fine. But I brought something into the tank inadvertently and now this. The time line is useful because all of this started to happen the day after I introduced the  new snails. My only thought (no proof) is that the snails carried some kind of parasite. The LFS I bought it from has fish in their invert system. In hindsight, that is a sign for future reference. Interestingly enough, I bought my initial CUC from the same place but since there was no fish, the parasite naturally died before my fish were added.

 

So now my goal is to make sure my black ice is healthy before considering next steps. Otherwise, everything else is fine like nothing happened. 

[howaboutme]

I tested out the Icecap K1 Nano skimmer this past week. I wanted to see how much effect it had on my overall pH with the extra agitation. The included magnet mount does not fit in the chamber so I had to create a platform from egg crate to sit the skimmer on:

 

I had to cut the above down about half to get it to sit right. Holy microbubbles! Granted, I'm supposed to give it 2 weeks to break in but no one was happy. It did raise my pH ~ .10 to .15 points at the top end, enough to make me think about it. It's off now. TBD on if I'll use it long term. I may end up just using Randy's DIY Alk recipe #1, which helps raise pH, when/if I need to start dosing to keep Alk up.

 

I'm still at ZERO nitrate. Quite unbelievable considering I feed like I have 5 fish (I have 1) and keep my filter pad in for the entire week just to help create nitrate. The number has been confirmed by a Nyos kit too. I may just continue to run an inadvertent ULNS tank rather than chase numbers.

 

I continue to have some nice long term coralline algae decorating the rocks and zero nuisance algae. Quite unbelievable here too considering most people say starting w/ dead rock = months worth of dreaded algae. I can't predict the future but so far so good.

 

I do measure Alk. I thought my 7 yr old Hanna was reading wrong (low) compared to my Salifert so I got the "calibration" fluid to double check. Calibration in quotes because you can't really calibrate. You can only check if it is working in the correct range. Mine was right. To make the reading correspond to Salifert a bit more I am now using a syringe to measure the 10mL of water. If you've been in the hobby enough, you would have read that those line locations can vary during manufacturing. Now my numbers are more in line. I don't have much consumption right now, not hard to guess since I don't have much in the tank. Continued water changes will do for now.

 

I've also continued to up the light intensity and am very close to my planned levels. But only my eyes will be the arbiter of that.

 

Thanks to having a lot of unused equipment from days past, I'm able to trade for corals to continue my stocking with perhaps some small change thrown in for good measure. Total list so far including my first few tester corals:

 

- Birdsnest

- Green slimer

- Yellow tips (still chugging away)

- Purple pocci

- Rainbow granulosa

- 2 zoas

 

Some shots with whites on:

 

 

Blues:

 

My awesome nem:

 

If you look at the first photo, you'll see the anemone. I think this will end up being the showpiece. It is very clear right now I have to be careful where I put corals. Based on what I can tell, I may not have room for any more than 5 or 6 more acro frags on the main rock.

 

My zoa rock is still up in the air. I'm still not sure I can keep zoas so my first two will let me know. If the initial plan doesn't work, I will turn that rock into an encrusting SPS rock w/ montis.

 

Last shot:

[howaboutme]

Hermit crab climbing up the tank wall. Most likely holding onto the silicone? Fun times.

 

[YHSublime]

Looks like things are chugging along. Great to see. I'd continue to run ULN if that's how things are shaking out, don't fight it, but keep an eye on it to make sure it continues to stay that way. 

 

As for the anemone, I think I've been lucky having my nems stay in one spot in my tank for years, personally I don't know if I'd ever build a tank around one though! What about a nem dedicated tank? 

 

[howaboutme]

3 hours ago, YHSublime said:

Looks like things are chugging along. Great to see. I'd continue to run ULN if that's how things are shaking out, don't fight it, but keep an eye on it to make sure it continues to stay that way. 

 

As for the anemone, I think I've been lucky having my nems stay in one spot in my tank for years, personally I don't know if I'd ever build a tank around one though! What about a nem dedicated tank? 

 

 

Thanks Isaac and Agreed! Although I am so intrigued by this whole dinos thing. I swear this wasn't around when I had my first go around years ago. We'll see how it goes.

 

I can't imagine having a saltwater tank w/o a nem (or corals). They are just so cool! But yes, I am compromising coral space as a result. I hope and believe they all can coexist.

[Origami]

Looking good. I'll echo what you said about the lines varying on test kit vials and cuvettes. I often use a syringe for this very reason. I've found this especially to be the case with the inexpensive API alk test kit. If you do things right, you can actually "calibrate" API kits to give you a pretty decent reading by using a syringe to measure out more or less tank water into the vial before adding/counting drops. Same with the Hanna cuvettes. Variations include not only volume indicator on the cuvette, but also any variation in the reagent.

[howaboutme]

11 hours ago, Origami said:

Looking good. I'll echo what you said about the lines varying on test kit vials and cuvettes. I often use a syringe for this very reason. I've found this especially to be the case with the inexpensive API alk test kit. If you do things right, you can actually "calibrate" API kits to give you a pretty decent reading by using a syringe to measure out more or less tank water into the vial before adding/counting drops. Same with the Hanna cuvettes. Variations include not only volume indicator on the cuvette, but also any variation in the reagent.

Tom,

 

I will admit that it was some post of yours from many years back that made me take a second look at this so thank you!

[howaboutme]

Some updates. Tank is smoothly maturing and am really enjoying watching it. The good thing about the work from home phase now is watching the tank often, sometimes too often.

 

- NO3 still zero

- I feed a ton

- Getting really nice color on the rocks.

- No visible signs of nuisance algae. (However, there is enough somewhere to make the snails and hermits happy.)

- Skimmer now on an off-light schedule and only on overnight for 12 hours.

- Benefits of the skimmer keeping my ph stable is worth it but microbubbles still suck. Now I don't have to see those bubbles.

- Fish doing well, all good it seems.

- Only other thing I am testing is Alk. I thought my Hanna was giving right #'s but it is now showing me at 6 dkh. No worries, I whip out my Salifert and it's at 8 dkh! Again, not to worry. I have a 3rd alk test on it's way. I went with Lamotte this time. Testing Alk is most important so it's worth the extra tests.

- All this alk talk got me to whip out my old BRS doser after 1/2 decade of storage. Flushed it and tested it on a 10 minute timer in a measuring cup. Still at 1.1 ml per minute. I also have baking soda to make Randy's DIY part 1 (for lower ph tanks). I just need to figure out my dosing container and I should be ready to go if needed.

-  I do have a calc test. At some point I'll test for it but not now. I'm not too worried about calc consumption this early.

- No other testing planned so far. Only as needed.

- Moved some old sticks onto rocks (the back)

- Got new sticks on the rack.

- Next non coral inhabitant is one or two rock flower anemones for the lower left rock.

- Photos:

 

The back of the tank looking long ways (the background):

 

Zoa rock. They are doing okay. Need one or two more frags and I'm done here:

 

Sticks (the ones in the back row look better w/ whites on):

 

Wider shot. The wwc yellow tips on the far right is coming back nicely (no yellow just yet). It STN's after I totally messed up acclimation but now stable and new skin has covered up all of the white and growing.

 

Overall shots w/ whites:

 

[howaboutme]

Lamotte alk test confirms my Hanna is low and wrong even if it is within range of the calibration fluids. Hanna is now banished into storage (or trash). At ~ 7 years old, it's probably seen better days.

 

Made Randy's DIY Recipe 1 alk:

 

 

 

Just need to dissolve in RODI to make 1 gallon of supplement when ready. Alk tests confirm water changes are enough for now.

[tpallas]

3 hours ago, howaboutme said:

Lamotte alk test confirms my Hanna is low and wrong even if it is within range of the calibration fluids. Hanna is now banished into storage (or trash). At ~ 7 years old, it's probably seen better days.

 

Made Randy's DIY Recipe 1 alk:

 

 

 

Just need to dissolve in RODI to make 1 gallon of supplement when ready. Alk tests confirm water changes are enough for now.

 

You know we've all seen Breaking Bad, right?