30 gallon reboot
- Thread starter drawman
- Start date
drawman
New member
I keep him well fed but also keep a strong eye on him.
drawman
New member
A quick update. Right before Thanksgiving I finally got around to automating my alkalinity with a BRS dosing pump automated by my Apex on my 30 gallon. Of course, I had to leave for the weekend and I had an upswing in Alkalinity from overshooting my dosage. I rectified this but did get some tissue loss on a couple of my acros. Low nutrients did not help this either. Stupid mistake but I didn't want to gamble with a low alkalinity swing by not having things automated so I had to make a choice.
I will say the smaller tank makes it quite challenging for acros but it is fun. While swings aren't good in any size tank there is less room for error in this one. Now that I'm in balance Alkalinity will slowly be reduced by water changes with the probiotic reef salt.
I finally have my nutrients up to about 5ppm by avoiding water changes and avoiding cleaning my collection cup. It's amazing how much the little Tunze 9004 pulls out of this tank I would have never thought I would get the thick gunk I do...I'll have to take a picture at some point. Now that I'm up to respectable nitrate levels I may dose my NSW to 2-5ppm with Sodium Nitrate just to keep things stable. Otherwise I risk swinging back towards too clean with weekly large water changes.
I got a few more frags from WWC's live sale on the other forum. They are quite small so pics wouldn't do much good now.
I will say the smaller tank makes it quite challenging for acros but it is fun. While swings aren't good in any size tank there is less room for error in this one. Now that I'm in balance Alkalinity will slowly be reduced by water changes with the probiotic reef salt.
I finally have my nutrients up to about 5ppm by avoiding water changes and avoiding cleaning my collection cup. It's amazing how much the little Tunze 9004 pulls out of this tank I would have never thought I would get the thick gunk I do...I'll have to take a picture at some point. Now that I'm up to respectable nitrate levels I may dose my NSW to 2-5ppm with Sodium Nitrate just to keep things stable. Otherwise I risk swinging back towards too clean with weekly large water changes.
I got a few more frags from WWC's live sale on the other forum. They are quite small so pics wouldn't do much good now.
drawman
New member
I know I need to get some going soon! Things took a little turn south when I had some trouble with my DC return pump failing on my 30 gallon over last weekend. Of course, I did not have a backup handy on this tank. On Friday, it quit midday while I was at work so I came home and gave it a thorough cleaning assuming it was just getting gunked up. Worked great until Saturday while I was out of town. I could restart the pump through apex but after about an hour it would quit and do the same thing. Since my heater is in my sump this meant that I was restarting the pump every hour or so on Sunday until I got home.Hey Tim, it's good to hear that you are getting things right where you want them.
Time for a couple shots!
Once I got home I placed the heater, temp probe, and Siporax in the display to keep things in life support mode essentially. I also shut off alkalinity dosing as I did not want things to get out of whack. I know the tank temperature took a little dive during this experience but thankfully no coral losses yet. Finally got my new Sicce Syncra 1.5 hooked up today and I'm very pleased so far. Got the siporax and heaters back in the sump but I'm keeping the temp probe in the display as I will slowly raise the temp back up over the next few days.
Big lesson always have a backup return and heater for anyone reading this.
On the plus side I know my sodium nitrate dosing is working as I've never had such beautiful green hair algae in any tank before :lolspin:. I can only really tell a big difference in one acro that has some solid green developing at the base. The rest of them time will tell I guess. My PC Rainbow and Yellow Tort look like brown turds at the moment so hopefully they will turn around. That said, I've treated them like crap so I'm not mad.
reefmutt
Active member
It's always something in this hobby.. something failing, leaking, cracking, stopping, not stopping..
at least there was minimal damage.
Now that you have hair algea growing, it's time to get an army of grazers to consume it. That's the best food for the corals, not the no3 you add but the byproducts produced by the animals that eat the algea..
at least there was minimal damage.
Now that you have hair algea growing, it's time to get an army of grazers to consume it. That's the best food for the corals, not the no3 you add but the byproducts produced by the animals that eat the algea..
drawman
New member
I totally agree Matt and it's been on my mind for a while to ramp up the grazers. Temperature has been stable and alkalinity took a small downturn from 7.5 to 7.3. Not the worst but my acros probably feel like they've been on a roller coaster lately. My PC Rainbow has started to STN on me and I'm not too surprised. I will be testing Alkalinity daily for a while to keep things happy.
For my 60 gallon, I've had the thought in the back of my mind for sometime now to switch from my single Durso standpipe to a Herbie. There are only two holes drilled on this tank so I will need the return to go over the back. I've actually never ran a Herbie and change can be slow for me so hopefully I will get the motivation to make the move soon. This tank is right next to the my living room TV so it would be nice to quiet things down.
I finally got 2 more liters of Siporax delivered from Germany. It took well over a month to get here and USPS took it on a tour of America before delivering it to me lol. I'm hoping this will help with denitrification in the 60 gallon over time
plyle02
Active member
LOL,
I am fairly certain that is an AF bucket, I have many of them building up myself, LOL
drawman
New member
Yup! Have to try to make them useful for meLOL,
I am fairly certain that is an AF bucket, I have many of them building up myself, LOL
drawman
New member
I did it the lazy way and dropped in the sump of my 60 gallon in the mesh bags. Eventually I will make another eggcrate container and stack them though.
Got a shipment of snails and a very small kole tang from the DD yesterday! These are both for the 30 gallon so hopefully this will clear out the algae bloom I'm getting from the nitrate dosing. The kole tang is in QT so I'll try to get some pics up at some point.
drawman
New member
I rented out a PAR meter yesterday from my LFS to check out both tanks and I was pretty surprised with the results.
I actually have pretty decent coverage with my single radion on my 60 gallon and I'm probably torching my LPS a little and could ramp things down. The more coral I get the more shadowing will mess with things and at some point down the road I can add a second fixture if need be.
On my 30 gallon I am getting very little PAR (like 80-120 with all 4 on) with my 4 bulb ATI fixture. I thought corals were browning due to previously mentioned alk swings but some light deficits may be to blame as well. It is a very shallow tank but I guess I will need to lower the light some over time.
I actually have pretty decent coverage with my single radion on my 60 gallon and I'm probably torching my LPS a little and could ramp things down. The more coral I get the more shadowing will mess with things and at some point down the road I can add a second fixture if need be.
On my 30 gallon I am getting very little PAR (like 80-120 with all 4 on) with my 4 bulb ATI fixture. I thought corals were browning due to previously mentioned alk swings but some light deficits may be to blame as well. It is a very shallow tank but I guess I will need to lower the light some over time.
drawman
New member
I must say the 30 gallon is in a bit of a rut. I've been dosing sodium nitrate over the past month to get levels steady at 5ppm. It was pretty easy to get there and I noticed solid improvement in two of my acros since dosing. The rest are colorless either brown turds or much paler than I would like with very poor PE...I was hoping the nitrate dosing would help.
The tank has been fishless over the past couple of months as I've been running quarantine after some mysterious fish deaths in late 2016 and overall velvet paranoia. I'm kind of hoping that the brown turd and lack of colors are due to inadequate fish poop. I feed Reef Chili and AF Coral E several times a week but that's all they're getting.
Alkalinity has been a little up and down for me lately. No major swings but daily testing is not always the same (although it's in a small window). I'm having thoughts of diluting my solution just in case air is getting in the line preventing an accurate daily dose.
Other than that I have overall acro paranoia. Tried to give a look over for AEFW and am considering contaminants. This lack of PE in several corals has me pretty concerned though.
The tank has been fishless over the past couple of months as I've been running quarantine after some mysterious fish deaths in late 2016 and overall velvet paranoia. I'm kind of hoping that the brown turd and lack of colors are due to inadequate fish poop. I feed Reef Chili and AF Coral E several times a week but that's all they're getting.
Alkalinity has been a little up and down for me lately. No major swings but daily testing is not always the same (although it's in a small window). I'm having thoughts of diluting my solution just in case air is getting in the line preventing an accurate daily dose.
Other than that I have overall acro paranoia. Tried to give a look over for AEFW and am considering contaminants. This lack of PE in several corals has me pretty concerned though.
drawman
New member
I really appreciate the input Matt. I had previously thought that as well since some of them just look downright pale (while others look turd brown).
My last PO4 reading was .02ppm on Mar 14th from my ULR Hanna checker and that was shortly after I stopped dosing sodium nitrate. I haven't been the best at checking it routinely. I think algae growth has subsided some but what is there still has a nice dark green look. Snails are keeping it all in check.
Other params:
Ca: 410ppm
Alk: hovers around 8dKh
I need to get around to testing Mg again
NO3: 5ppm
To further my paranoia I tried to look at the corals with a flashlight last night and saw some smaller whitish areas but I can't say if they are bite marks or just smaller radial corallites/polyps. I would say I do not have the best eye for AEFW and all frags are small so I don't see big areas of bite marks at all. I think I need some magnification. I have dental loupes (2.5x) that I'll try to take home tonight and look again. It's weird to say but if I confirm them it may be a little relief...then I will at least know how to move forward. My DSLR is in a different location so no pics atm.
Other than that I have also thought about doing some ICP testing just to see if anything is out of whack. Right now I only dose Ca and Alk and feed Coral E and Reef Chili. All thoughts are welcome!
reefmutt
Active member
Don't forget, the Hanna has an error of +/- .04 ppm..
So n is now sitting at 5 without dosing?
You could always add a few peppermint shrimp to control the potential aefw.. but if you aren't really seeing any maybe it's not necessary although wouldn't hurt either.
You can't beat a few fish for making acros a little more happy..
So n is now sitting at 5 without dosing?
You could always add a few peppermint shrimp to control the potential aefw.. but if you aren't really seeing any maybe it's not necessary although wouldn't hurt either.
You can't beat a few fish for making acros a little more happy..
drawman
New member
Yeah N has been pretty stable but I didn't realize how low I was on one of my salifert reagents so I have another test kit on the way. That is a substantial error maybe I will look into making up a standard at some point to test against. Hopefully it is precise if not accurate. I certainly could be PO4 limited by the look of things.
Matt I think you may be right the fishless streak may just be taking a toll on things. Fish should be out of quarantine soon I'm going to put them through a couple of rounds on API general cure to be cautious then hopefully I can get some more food/poop in the water.
I spent the last night with the flashlight and my 2.5x loupes trying to get a good look at things. I see some whiter blotches but nothing looks defined like bite marks and I haven't seen any eggs. I will keep an eye every night and may do precautionary dips if things don't turn around.
drawman
New member
Update on both tanks
The good comes from my 60 gallon
I have switched from -NP Pro over to vinegar/vodka dosing 2x daily staring on 3/29/17. Results are looking good so far.
Just tested nitrates today and I'm still at 50ppm but it is early so I don't expect a drop yet. It may not have been quite as dark on my Salifert test so I will be monitoring closely for any drop so I can adjust dosing accordingly.
Anecdotally, the amount of film algae present on the glass is A LOT less. I would get a pretty solid greenish/brown matt over about a week and the amount that has grown over the last week is minimal if any. I'm going to give it a good clean today and I will see what grows over the next week. Skimmer production has also seemed to increase but it is relatively wet (while still being a good dark brown). LPS colors look a little better too.
The bad from my 30 gallon
Still having STN issues so I ran an ICP test from ICP analysis. Major elements (Ca, Mg, K) tested extremely low so I looked to my refractometer calibration. I used my current bottle of Aquacraft calibration fluid and the refractometer tested spot on. This led me to make a DIY solution from a Randy Holmes Farley article and this solution tested spot on. My kits test Ca at 410 and Mg at 1410 so I decided to stick the course and not do anything drastic to overcorrect. I have a new bottle of aquacraft solution that will arrive on Monday which at this point I expect to test spot on as well. Also I have another refractometer and calibration fluid (at the 60 gallon's location) which I will use to further check. I emailed ICP analysis and he remembers the solution running low so they ran it 3 times to recheck and it all came out the same...so something is going on and I appreciate him taking the time to do that.
Other things I've noticed is the presence of several metals that I'm not happy about (Ag, Ba, W, etc) and S being WAY off. Now I've seen other threads with S being off so I'm not going to freak out about it just yet. After I sent the sample I noticed a couple of screws inside my sand that were getting salt spray and rusting...possible contamination issue there so I covered that portion of the sump and will redo that part of the stand. I also took apart my MP10 several weeks ago and everything looked good there. I only got one test so in the future I want to test my NSW (Aquaforest Probiotic) just to make sure nothing is off. In the meantime I'm going to do a BIG ole water change with Red Sea Blue Bucket that is on order to see if the acros respond.
I did a bayer dip yesterday of all remaining frags. A lot of things came off most notably small worms and pods...did not see any larger AEFW so that's good but I can't say I trust my ability to identify smaller ones.
The good comes from my 60 gallon
I have switched from -NP Pro over to vinegar/vodka dosing 2x daily staring on 3/29/17. Results are looking good so far
.Just tested nitrates today and I'm still at 50ppm but it is early so I don't expect a drop yet. It may not have been quite as dark on my Salifert test so I will be monitoring closely for any drop so I can adjust dosing accordingly.
Anecdotally, the amount of film algae present on the glass is A LOT less. I would get a pretty solid greenish/brown matt over about a week and the amount that has grown over the last week is minimal if any. I'm going to give it a good clean today and I will see what grows over the next week. Skimmer production has also seemed to increase but it is relatively wet (while still being a good dark brown). LPS colors look a little better too.
The bad from my 30 gallon
Still having STN issues so I ran an ICP test from ICP analysis. Major elements (Ca, Mg, K) tested extremely low so I looked to my refractometer calibration. I used my current bottle of Aquacraft calibration fluid and the refractometer tested spot on. This led me to make a DIY solution from a Randy Holmes Farley article and this solution tested spot on. My kits test Ca at 410 and Mg at 1410 so I decided to stick the course and not do anything drastic to overcorrect. I have a new bottle of aquacraft solution that will arrive on Monday which at this point I expect to test spot on as well. Also I have another refractometer and calibration fluid (at the 60 gallon's location) which I will use to further check. I emailed ICP analysis and he remembers the solution running low so they ran it 3 times to recheck and it all came out the same...so something is going on and I appreciate him taking the time to do that.
Other things I've noticed is the presence of several metals that I'm not happy about (Ag, Ba, W, etc) and S being WAY off. Now I've seen other threads with S being off so I'm not going to freak out about it just yet. After I sent the sample I noticed a couple of screws inside my sand that were getting salt spray and rusting...possible contamination issue there so I covered that portion of the sump and will redo that part of the stand. I also took apart my MP10 several weeks ago and everything looked good there. I only got one test so in the future I want to test my NSW (Aquaforest Probiotic) just to make sure nothing is off. In the meantime I'm going to do a BIG ole water change with Red Sea Blue Bucket that is on order to see if the acros respond.
I did a bayer dip yesterday of all remaining frags. A lot of things came off most notably small worms and pods...did not see any larger AEFW so that's good but I can't say I trust my ability to identify smaller ones.
drawman
New member
After my last post things continued to go downhill in my 30 gallon for the next couple of weeks. Seeing my acros brown and STN made me seriously contemplate taking the tank down. I have never had such a difficult time keeping acros so it was really starting to burn me. I tried picking my brain as to every possible cause. Dipped coral in bayer...no worms. I was adding phosphate to the water...maybe that helped but no big turn around. Nitrates were adequate. After reading some threads on issues with AF buckets I made the call to switch to the Red Sea blue bucket. I had a mental note (among many other paranoias about this problem) that when I started using the most recent AF bucket that's when things took a bad turn but I thought it was way too coincidental and it may have been. Around this time I returned fish back into the tank from a quarantine/fallow period. With every 10 gallon water change things made a 180 degree turnaround. PE and color came back quickly and more with every water change. It has been stunning to see. Corals that I thought were complete goners have made a complete comeback. STN stopped completely and many areas have been growing back in. It had been a frustrating ride for me but I feel completely vindicated in pushing through it. Sometimes in this hobby playing detective can be the hardest thing. Now at it's current state PE has been great and I should try to get some pics up soon. All acros are frags so no big colonies to photograph sadly.
On my 60 gallon I decided to make a Chaeto reactor last night so here are some pics:
On my 60 gallon I decided to make a Chaeto reactor last night so here are some pics:
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