'05 24g JBJ Nanocube Resurrection (I'm Back!)

[MNtadpole]

what does the Hydros XP-8 do? I googled it and to be honest I still didn't understand it
I'd love to see an updated picture of your frogspawn.

Mine was growing like crazy. at least 5 heads, and two look like they're splitting again. Then it started shrinking and never seemed all the way happy anymore. I finally decided it was a lack of flow, so I moved it to my nano tank directly under the flow. that puffed it up a lot for a little while.

I later realized, it was unhappy because it and my bubble coral had grown into each other. when I pulled him, my bubble nearly doubled in size!

anyways after a week or two in the nano, I felt like the froggy wasn't so impressed witth his new digs. So yet again, I moved him, and a torch around in my DT. I've been hanging around the euphylia group on FB and decided he needed more flow. so he has his own ledge now, in my DT with water I think he prefers, directly next to the power head and he's finally looking like his fully fluffed up self again.

Welp, I measured the phosphates after one full dose of PhosphateRx and it was roughly the same (.14 ppm). I added another half-dose tonight. I’d like to get in the .05-.06 ballpark. I’m wondering if the sand and rock might be leaching phosphates as I’m removing them.

Here’s a picture of the frogspawn:

Oddly enough, the coral is looking better in the photo than it has in the last couple days. I feel like it deflates as light is turned on and slightly puffs when it’s closer to lights off. The light is at 50% acclimation. I can’t figure out why, unless it involves flow too.

 

[griss]

Remind us what rock and sand you used? It could be leaching phosphates.

On the frogspawn, I know they don't like high flow so, if it's in a high flow area that might be why it's not opening up fully.

 

[MNtadpole]

Remind us what rock and sand you used? It could be leaching phosphates.

On the frogspawn, I know they don't like high flow so, if it's in a high flow area that might be why it's not opening up fully.

I used only dry rock from the LFS and a bag of the CaribSea Fiji Pink. Both products came from The Corner Reef, as that's what they recommended. They mainly were pointing me to the dry plain rock vs the LifeRock (dyed to look like coralline algae).

I'm actually doing some research on phosphate leaching and it appears that can be the case! My question is whether the possible leaching phosphates were already in the dry rock already, or if they took in surplus phosphates from my overzealous and enthusiastic fish feedings of frozens.

 

[griss]

Corner Reef has a good reputation. Unfortunately (for me) they're far enough from away that I'm dissuaded from visiting. In fact, since they've been in their current location, I've only been there once.

I do not know what dry rock they offer. Depending on the source, dry rock can be a source of phosphate leaching but, as you mentioned, it could be from feedings. I would guess, it is probably a combination of both at this point.

I've never uses Phosphate RX or any Lanthanum chloride products for that matter so, I'm not comfortable giving advice on its use. I've always used water changes and GFO to lower phosphates.

 

[MNtadpole]

Corner Reef has a good reputation. Unfortunately (for me) they're far enough from away that I'm dissuaded from visiting. In fact, since they've been in their current location, I've only been there once.

I do not know what dry rock they offer. Depending on the source, dry rock can be a source of phosphate leaching but, as you mentioned, it could be from feedings. I would guess, it is probably a combination of both at this point.

I've never uses Phosphate RX or any Lanthanum chloride products for that matter so, I'm not comfortable giving advice on its use. I've always used water changes and GFO to lower phosphates.

I'll give them a call today and see if I can get more information on their dry-rock source.

I have since decreased my frozen feedings to once a day.

To be honest, I'm not really comfortable using lanthanum chloride either, but I was desperate to put a dent in my phosphate levels. PhosGuard seemed to do its thing over the three days that I tested it, but I wanted to go a little bit faster. Like I mentioned earlier, I'm going to try and move forward with PhosGuard on a more regular basis once I'm at <0.1 ppm as measure on the Hanna ULR.

My wife just sent me this photo of the frogspawn (I'm stuck at work):

 

[Dustin07]

Frogspawn is looking better! that is an awesome color combo.
I had to move mine 3 times to find his happy spot. He is finally looking huge (i'll try to get an updated pic this week). He is now middle of the water column in terms of light, and I'd say flow is also "middle". He's pretty close to the power head but I have it aimed above him so he's getting not direct high flow, but a fair amount of wash. I've been on top of water changes because I'm not sure if I'm getting toxins from pissed off corals, or if my other bag of salt was bad, but something in this combination has him doing much better. trial and error....

 

[MNtadpole]

Frogspawn is looking better! that is an awesome color combo.
I had to move mine 3 times to find his happy spot. He is finally looking huge (i'll try to get an updated pic this week). He is now middle of the water column in terms of light, and I'd say flow is also "middle". He's pretty close to the power head but I have it aimed above him so he's getting not direct high flow, but a fair amount of wash. I've been on top of water changes because I'm not sure if I'm getting toxins from pissed off corals, or if my other bag of salt was bad, but something in this combination has him doing much better. trial and error....

Thanks!! My wife actually picked that particular frag out for an anniversary surprise gift. Prior to her gifting it to me, I was telling her how much I like frogspawn, but I was avoiding it because I didn't feel like my parameters were dialed in with my immature tank. Her gift kind of forced me to square the tank away...maybe a little quicker that I was ready for lol.

*knocks on wood* It appears that I was able to isolate the tank stressor for the frogspawn (phosphates). It's interesting to read that some folks have had success with frogspawn in high nutrient waters >.20 ppm phosphates. My tank measured a recorded maximum of .21 ppm phosphates in the water column, but it did seem like there was some leaching of phosphates from the LR and sandbed. As soon as the lanthanum chloride brought the levels down near .13 ppm phosphates the frogspawn bounced back. I'm currently sitting at .06 ppm phosphates.

 

[MNtadpole]

So I was able to get around to adding the Avast Marine Plank auto feeder to the Hydros XP8 power-strip controller. Pretty cool stuff! Currently I'm trying to introduce freeze-dried mysis and plankton. It doesn't appear that those freeze dried products re-hydrate very well though. After a soak of 1 hour+ in the Plank, they still manage to float. I'm trying to avoid having food dump into the overflow. I might try generic flake soon. The holidays are right around the corner, so I need to get this dialed in for time away from the tank.

Behold Hydros XP-8 and its mess of cords that I have yet to tuck into the new right side cabinet:

GHA that is on-deck to be manually removed during today's WC:

 

[Dustin07]

I wanted to be able to, with one click action, deactivate my tank equipment from power for maintenance. I've made a few errors during maintenance where I forget to turn off the ATO or forget to plug my heater back in...

Even as you were explaining it, I didn't really get it until this part here. This would be pretty fantastic. Right now I admit it's very difficult for me to isolate a particular powered item to turn off with either of my tanks.

 

[MNtadpole]

Even as you were explaining it, I didn't really get it until this part here. This would be pretty fantastic. Right now I admit it's very difficult for me to isolate a particular powered item to turn off with either of my tanks.

So far I'm really enjoying the Hydros XP-8. Like I mentioned before, it really solved the issue I was having with turning on and off powered equipment on-demand. No more messing with electrical components with wet hands!

I do eventually plan on getting another Hydros controller that will accept sensors (temp, skimmer sensor, pH, etc). The Hydros app is pretty intuitive too, which is a plus.

 

[MNtadpole]

Notable Tank Update:

In the last update on 18OCT2024 you can see quite a bit of GHA had accumulated on the top of the rocks. Well, I decided that manual removal wasn't cutting it so I added a Tuxedo Urchin. I must say that the little Urchin has earned its keep thus far. To say the least, he has gone to town on what is visible. I'm a little curious as to why the Tuxedo Urchin doesn't get more attention as a member of the CuC. It took much deliberation and forum research before I pulled the trigger on getting a Tux vs the crustacean route (emerald crab). It seems that folks have had mixed results with the crabs bothering corals or not. Personally, I didn't want to risk it.

I also added 5 frags of GSP to the back wall. I'm an instant satisfaction kind of guy, so I may have went overboard! These five frags joined the largest GSP, which I located on the far right. The goal is to get a GSP curtain back wall. I'm hoping things really fill in as the tank matures.

I'm still trying to dial-in the Avast Marine Plank feeder. I've moved from trying to introduce freeze-dried mysis and plankton to flake foods. The freeze-dried foods did not re-hydrate well, no fault of the Plank though. The Plank would spin the freeze-dried for like an hour and it still wouldn't completely saturate and sink. Long story short, most freeze dried that did leave the Plank would wind up in the overflow. With all that being said, I've been experimenting with flake and so far the experience has been great! I'm currently dispensing 20 seconds of flake 3 times a day (8am, 12pm, and 4pm). I'm seeing next to zero flake in the overflow and everything is circulating nicely for equal distribution to all the tank mates. I did see an increase of clownfish pair aggression when the Plank wasn't feeding enough (10 secs per drop).

I am also continuing to try to dial in my phosphate levels. My goal is to maintain a level <.1ppm, which has been quite difficult. Even prior to using the flake food, feeding frozen once a day, I was still getting levels @ .14-.17ppm. I'm still really thinking that the phosphates are leaching out of the dried rock and possibly the substrate. I'm gradually increasing the dose of Seachem Phosguard while monitoring with a Hanna checker. IDK how long potential leaching takes to solve, but I figure once I go through the small container of Phosguard I'll have a better opinion.

Here's a photo showing the lack of GHA on the top of the rocks! You can see all the tank mates too.

Here's the little Tuxedo Urchin earning its keep:

 

[griss]

Looks good. Tuxedo urchins are great, I love mine.

 

[Reefing102]

Looks great. I agree urchins in general (not just tuxes) are great but they’re bulldozers at the same time moving corals and rocks and what not.

 

[griss]

Looks great. I agree urchins in general (not just tuxes) are great but they’re bulldozers at the same time moving corals and rocks and what not.

My Tux and Pincushion aren't too bad about bulldozing. I had that Pencil Urchin that hitchhiked on my live rock that became a bit of a bulldozer but, his worst offense was eating my Purple Ribbon Gorgonian. All my time in the hobby and I've never seen an urchin do that before.

 

[Reefing102]

My Tux and Pincushion aren't too bad about bulldozing. I had that Pencil Urchin that hitchhiked on my live rock that became a bit of a bulldozer but, his worst offense was eating my Purple Ribbon Gorgonian. All my time in the hobby and I've never seen an urchin do that before.

Yea my pencils killed a maze brain.

 

[Dustin07]

So far I'm really enjoying the Hydros XP-8. Like I mentioned before, it really solved the issue I was having with turning on and off powered equipment on-demand. No more messing with electrical components with wet hands!

yeah I really like that. With my current setup it's very difficult to get to certain things so If I'm adding something like pods to the tank, I admittedly am not likely turning off power heads etc...