180 gallon reef update 3-28-15

Things are looking good!
Nice to see that you are taking it slow and methodical with the switch to AF.
When you wrote .8 for po4, I assume you meant .08?
 
Update as of 1-07-2017
Happy New Years all!!

Tank is doing very very well! I am seeing base growth as most typically happens with sps's.
I have started to place some of the older purchases into permanent locations. This is a big step because part of me did not want to glue them in place in the event that they died.

I did another Coral rx dip before gluing. Was happy I did because there were some critters on the sps's, lps's, and monti's. No AEFW but came across a spider, brittle starfish, and your usual critters you see when the lights turn off. I took each coral off their bases and glued each of them to new bases after a 20 min dipping bath.

I am not sure if it is the AF products but each coral within a day had fully expanded polyps.

I did additional calculations and I have a tank vol of 170g. This takes into consideration live rock water displacement.

One bit of a minor set back. I was paying attention to the new salinity probe that came with the new APEX and when it kept saying that my salinity was lower than it should be I started ATO with mixed saltwater. After a few days I started to think I might be heading for disaster and checked the salinity with my refractometer. My salinity measured a whopping 38ppm!!!
I did additional research on the the Neptune forum and they recommended I believe what was on my refractometer.
Since the salinity rose up gradually I wanted the salinity to drop gradually as well. I don't want to shock my corals. After another few days the salinity is down to 36ppm.
A little more to go!

At this point no loses, no RTN, water parameters as of today are:

Ca 425
ALK 7.6
Mg 1400
Po4 .08
No3 .16

AF Products:
6 drops of Pro Bio S and Np
6 drops of ABEV

2 scoops of the AF power food


I have dialed the components 1+2+3 to 20ml a day my next water change is next week.

Of course after a small break from purchasing for the tank I was back at it again lol!

Did some damage at a local fellow reefer and WWC eBay auction!

Battlecoral's Orange Passion


Cornbread's Maleficent


PC Rainbow


ORA Oregon tort
 
Additional scores from WWC:

WWC Frostbitten acro


Aussie smooth skin acro


WWC Just chillin' acro


WWC Death Widow acro


WWC 24k Litho
 
Its been a little while since my last post and wanted to get my thoughts down as I continue on this journey.
I picked up 7 Bartlett anthias and I have been feeding the fish twice a day.
Formula one and Two small pellets in morning then alternating days with mysid, lifeline and reef mix.

Along with using the probiotic reef salt I am still dosing AF products ABEV, Np Pro and Bio S.

Once I reached 6 drops per day I noticed I was getting red cyan bloom. No biggy just means I have excess nutrients in my tank.
Here is what I started to implement in order to get rid of excess nutrients.
1. 10% weekly water changes
2. I need to change my feeding schedule from 2x a day to twice every other day.
3. With the Np Pro and Bio S I have cut the dosing in half to 3 drops per day.
4. With the AF Amino - Builder - Energy - Vitamins I have done the same 3 drops per day. Alternating days with no additions on Sat/Sun

I must admit that even with the cyano creeping up in certain places all corals appear to be going strong and happy. However I certainly don't want to have this bacteria growing happily in my tank. As a last resort I purchased the Boyd's red cyanobacteria but would prefer not to use it.

Fish of course are fat, happy and corals have great PE!

I have been gluing frags onto the rocks in their permanent locations. Yes it takes me awhile but again it's the whole acclimating to my lighting and tank conditions etc etc.
The process I have taken before gluing onto rocks is a bit different than what I have done in the past but I am happy that I have decided to go this route.
The selected frags get dipped in coral rx for 20 mins. While they are bathing in coral rx I prep new, never used frag plugs. After the bathing is done each frag is then cut from its current plug at the base. I check for additional eggs or anything odd by using a tooth brush and brushing the bottom of frag. From here I rinse in fresh tank water then place frag on new plug. Place frag in a holding container to let the glue set then its time to transfer to DT and glue it in its new location.
Interesting I have found odd critters with the occasional bristle worm. Finding these critters lets me know that dipping should be in at least 2 to 3 stages. 1st time after you purchase is a must. 2nd time dipping before you glue and place on rock is also a must especially if you don't use a quarantine tank.

Now for some good stuff!
The new scores!!!


TSA Bubble gum digi


TSA Rainbow Fusion


Good ole ORA and one of my old time fav's Pearlberry


Princess Peach


Not a great picture but Christmas Mirabilis - This has awesome PE from day one!


Cool shot from left side towards bottom with sponge growth next to baby hammer
 
Nice new frags.
You have quite a dipping system.. it should keep you clean of pests, that's for sure.
That sponge is a good indication that your system is getting nice and mature.
 
Update 2-4-2017

Lets see last where we left off............I was dosing AF products at a rate of 6 drops of Np Pro and Bio S with 6 drops of ABEV on alternate days along with feeding the fish twice a day because I had purchased 7 Bartlett anthias. While the anthias are thriving the feedings plus the dosing of ABEV caused an excess in nutrients that ultimately lead to red cyanobacteria.

I did a 20% water change and gave the tank a dose of Boyd's chemiclean. Within 48 hrs all signs of the red cyanobacteria where gone. I had another 20% water change ready to go as instructions tell you to do a 20% water change after 48 hours. During this entire time the skimmer has been going crazy. After the 1st 20% water change I added Red Sea's carbon in order to remove excess meds. After 48 hrs the skimmer is still going bonkers. I figured that I still had too much medicine in the tank and prep another 20%. I shut off the skimmer because keeping it running the splatter and salt spray were causing the cabinet base to dampen. I do not want the wood to fail and cause a huge disaster.

The 2nd- 20% water change was done last night using 95% Aquaforest Probotic sea salt. The water in DT got a little cloudy but cleared quickly. I went ahead and turned on the skimmer and it was still going bonkers. After 8 hrs, basically overnight, I turned on the skimmer and it is still going bonkers.
I am going to go ahead and run large amounts of carbon in the reactor for a couple of days to see if this is enough to get rid of the chemiclean in the system. I certainly hope this will work. I also adjusted the skimmer so that there is less pressure still it over flows big time.

All in all every one looks happy. For the last several weeks I have been gluing and gluing frags to their places on the reef. I'm astonished at the bases of some of the acros, they showing signs of spreading. That makes me very happy to see! It shows I'm on the right path.
I will posts some pics of the "sticks" Its nice to see the high end frags showing full PE and their color staying vibrant. On another note those frags I purchased really cheap. Some of those are gonna be some really nice surprises!

As for AF products other than the probotic reef salt I've had to dose less than the recommended dosage. I plan on adding some "siporax." One of the things I have come across is that my live rock is quite old and I may have maxed out their potential for bacteria strains that can reduce no3 and po4. While NoPox seem to work really well it strips the water too quickly. With AF's NP Pro and Bio S I can control to drops vs measure cups.

Was bummed today because I could not attend the Florida Frag swap in Tampa, I'm sure there were some awesome goodies there. Oh well time for me to hit another LFS I have heard about but have not been to!
Stay tuned!
 
Update 6-2017

Update 6-2017

Update 6-2017

Things are going really well in the tank. Visible signs of growth are apparent in most of the sps's,monti's and zoa colonies. I'll post pics of the colonies and tank later in the post.

I still use Aquaforest products and so far they are producing great results.

Glued all frags onto the rock work and some things are already growing over those plugs.

After researching and looking at several tanks in the area I made the plunge into the LED world and purchased 3 - EcoTech xr30w gen 4's for my tank.




Funny how an upgrade to the canopy was a 3 day event. Unhooking 3 - 250 metal halides, the 6ft reefbrite strip and the 10 power brites.



The gen 4's are held by ecotech's RMS metal track. That track I drilled 4 holes that would utlimately hang on with bolts, washers and lug nuts to the canopy.
The LED lights are then added using the RMS slides. These make it easier to hang once you screw on the arms to the lights you are done!
The RMS slides allow you to rotate the lights so you can get the best direction you want for your tank.



In order to control my radions I purchased WXM module. This module is connected to the APEX.


The module allows me to control upto 11 vortech pumps or radion lights. After researching the Neptune forums and looking at many youtube videos I was able to setup my own light schedule. The schedule will have an acclimation period of 5 weeks so that my corals and fish build up the tolerance to the new light source. Ecotech published an article called Coralab that shows the use of their LED lights in their lab and they actually share their light schedules according to what lighting source you had previously. I took the schedule that matched my old lights and made additional changes and voila I have an acclimation period and a short ramp up for feeding at 12 noon. With the WXM I was able to add random clouds and even a lightning show. Ultimately I plan on controlling my mp 60 and mp 40 so that when the storm comes the wave action in the tank increases.

I sanded portions of the canopy due to salt creep and once the lights were secure we placed the heavy canopy back on top of tank.


 
Nice lights. When I change over to led. It will be with these lights.
Now, how about some normal light pics!
The crazy blue pics are cool and all but can't see much.
 
Nice lights. When I change over to led. It will be with these lights.
Now, how about some normal light pics!
The crazy blue pics are cool and all but can't see much.

These lights and what you can do are incredible. I'll post some this week when lights are at daylight reefmutt!!!
 
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