A Living Room Reef: 90 Gallon Mixed Reef Build

[troubadour11]

Why do you think you can't grow chaeto?
What sort of test kits do you have?
When you do a water change, do you use RO water.
How many snails and crabs do you have?
How much skim mate do you pull out of your skimmer?

Marty

Tried to get it going three times and it's died of every time. Whithers and gets thin and breaks apart over a couple months under led spot lights with glass lids. Tried the cheto on the sand bed level in case it was to much light. Kept it in the top of fuge getting about 500 gph through it with a power head adding additional flow. Non of it direct or to hard. Just enough to tumble and turn it. At first I thought system was to immature without enough bio load. But that's not the case now.

Salifert Ca, Mg, Alk.
Hanna Alk
Hanna ULR p04
and red sea big 3 I don't use anymore due to inaccurate results.

Water changes are about 15-18 gallons done every 3 weeks. Also change carbon and gfo then. I use a 5 stage rodi filter. The media was changed a few months back and is not depleted yet.

No crabs. Used to have multiple shrimp. Now 2, maybe 3 peppermint shrimp. I've added lots of snails, but I'm guessing not enough yet. I add large group s of snails only to watch them slowly die or live on the glass and do nothing for the algae on the rocks. Lots of nassarius that are thriving. Lots of nerite. Bunches of dwarf and regular cerith. And a few Tongan conchs in the sand bed. Tried turbos but they just fall off the rocks everyday until they die upside down no matter how often we flip them.

Usually I pull about 1/2 cup per week from the bubble-magus nac6. I try to keep it dialed in just slightly on the wet side. If I try to run it drier, it just ends up not skimming much at all.

 

[markalot]

In a newer tank you're going to have to try for weekly changes of 10% IMO.

How long is your light cycle? What % white are you running compared to blue?

If you want corals to thrive you're going to have to cut back on GFO and feed more, even though you may get more algae. Try some algae flake food for the tang, I know my Kole loves it.

PO4 is in the rocks and the algae is feeding on it, so make sure to blow the rocks off with a turkey baster weekly.

Tanks can be ugly for 6 months to a year, you may just have to tolerate it for a while. If you can't grow cheato but micro algae is thriving then you probably have a limiting nutrient. You might be driving PO4 or nitrate too low. I have 20+ nitrates in my 150 and no significant algae because the tangs eat it. Maybe higher nutrients make the algae taste better?

 

[troubadour11]

In a newer tank you're going to have to try for weekly changes of 10% IMO.

How long is your light cycle? What % white are you running compared to blue?

If you want corals to thrive you're going to have to cut back on GFO and feed more, even though you may get more algae. Try some algae flake food for the tang, I know my Kole loves it.

PO4 is in the rocks and the algae is feeding on it, so make sure to blow the rocks off with a turkey baster weekly.

Tanks can be ugly for 6 months to a year, you may just have to tolerate it for a while. If you can't grow cheato but micro algae is thriving then you probably have a limiting nutrient. You might be driving PO4 or nitrate too low. I have 20+ nitrates in my 150 and no significant algae because the tangs eat it. Maybe higher nutrients make the algae taste better?

I think I'm running either 10 or 11 hours on my daylight cycle. That starts with the blue/uv/color channel ramping up as a sunrise. Then the white/color channel kicks on and ramps up about 1/2 hour later. I also run my blue/uv moonlight channel as a little more actinic supplement for extra par. All channels run in a slope program up over 3 or 4 hours. On blue/uvs they go up to 100% and 85 or 90% on the white/color. Right now I need that mixture to hit decent par levels.

I've considered 2 things. I'd like to fill up the rest of my heatsink with 6 or 8 (however many open slots) on each side of the tank. I was going to add in only additional royal blue leds to the remaining slots. This would give me better coverage and spread, along with higher over all par. Then I could drop the white/color channel down another 10 or 15% The second thing I've considered is shortening the white/color cycle down to maybe 7 or 8 hours but let the blue/uv/moonlights run the current schedule.

I can check the RA programming soon for the exact schedule.

I've never had No3 issues in my system. With RDSB in a dedicated 75 gallon refugium for a 90 gallon DT, I've fed heavily with reef roids at a point and No3 wouldn't ever get above 10. Once or twice it pushed closer to 15/20 before an over-do water change. I look forward to when this is all balanced, because my tank could handle more No3 and probably appreciate it.

I have had a big problem with Po4 though. I recently started trying to address that issue. Within the last 3 or 4 months anyway. It was between .15 and .2 when I first started getting algae. But No3 was still registering 0 to 10. So I started up the dual GFO reactor around Christmas time. Since then we've had a downward trend in Po4 readings on the Hanna ULR. I don't believe it when I get 0. But as long as it's saying 0 to below .1, that's what I'm shooting for. That way it will at least keep it from building up any more then it may have already. And that's at least for the time to see if that is the algae issue.

Because I do agree. I think I was processing No3 with no problem, but Po4 built up in the system. That's why I could never keep macro's alive, because there wasn't much No3 for them to process. But micro's love Po4 it looks like to me.

I blow off the rockwork multiple times a week. Not quite daily. But probably 4-5 times a week at least. And DisBeReef cleans algae usually for an hour or two a week to try and pull out loose stuff.

- So here's where my tests were this morning -

Alk started testing low, closer to 7 when I switched from the Salifert Alk kit to the Hanna tester I won. I had been keeping it stable between 7.8 and 8.1 on the Salifert kit for a long time. I had some Alkaline powder ordered and got that in this weekend. So I will slowly start bringing the Alk up towards 8.0.

I also dosed Mg because I've been slowly trying to raise that up from 1290-1320 up to 1400 as a baseline.

Ca had dropped down from 410-420, so I added a dose for that as well to bump it back up. Ca usually sits between 420 and 450.

I'm finding I need to add about 90-120 mL of Mg every week or two in order to keep it stable. Ca seems to keep really stable and doesn't have much trouble being supplemented by the Kalk running in the ATO. I keep the supplement on hand just to bump it up every few months if it gets a little behind. Alk seemed to be fine the whole time I was using the Salifert kit. Seemed like the Kalk was keeping up with it as well. But I'm wondering if that was accurate. It looks like I might need to dose a little Alk supplement a little more often to balance the demand.

I don't have a current full tank shot. But I'll try to get one up soon. The lights haven't turned on for the day yet.

But I do have some other things I can share that look better then a FTS and all the algae. These are the things keeping me cheery about the tank right now.

Comparison shots!
- Pink Monti Cap, 12/31/14 - on phone camera

- Pink Monti Cap, 3/25/15 - on phone camera

- Pink Monti Cap, 3/28/15 - on NEW DSLR Can't wait to get things looking good and take some awesome pictures with this thing!

All the DSLR shots were just with the camera on auto settings. Trying out a new toy. The pink monti shot is really accurate to color and hasn't been post-processed at all.

- New red Blastos (with neon green lips on mouth) - DSLR

- Prism Favia - phone cam

- "Raptors Peace" Favia looking for a snack - phone cam

This piece recently started getting more flow and I think it loves it. I see the feeder tentacles out way more often then I ever did before. This piece also started off as one head and has formed a second since we got it.

 

[troubadour11]

Continued

- Torch - DSLR

- 4 headed green blasto - phone cam

- Elegance coral - DSLR

- Pistol Shrimp digging in it's den - DSLR

- Added 10 turbo snails this weekend to see if that will help with the algae - DSLR

HA, I need to work on my focus in the shots. Auto focus didn't quite nail this one. This one has some great focus on the rocks, a little blurry on the snails. LOL

- Purple Firefish - DSLR

- Royal Gramma - DSLR

- Clowns and Royal Gramma - DSLR

 

[Spinelessspade]

Great thread, subscribed

 

[troubadour11]

Great thread, subscribed

Thanks stopping by and joining the discussion! I'm hoping to go back to build on a few new updates and fixes soon. Maybe some plumbing and cabinetry stuff this spring/summer.

I can't wait to get the system looking all spiffy and get tho take some photos with my new camera.

 

[troubadour11]

Hi there everybody. It's been awhile since I've had time to get in here and update you all on how things are running. I had gotten fed up with the algae and was focusing on solving that issue. But now I seem to be making some headway and things are really turning around.

So ever since the GHA started to get out of hand. I stopped buying corals and immediately took a few steps. I added a dual reactor and have been running GFO in both canisters for 4+ months. I still hang a bag of carbon in the sump. It's taken me awhile, but I've finally figured out how full to fill my canisters and run the pump to keep the GFO tumbling perfectly. I test weekly for PO4 with the Hanna ULR kit. I've been running the tank at a 0 reading on the H.ULR. But I know there has to be Po4/No3 in the system because of the algae. So I continued to feed the same, and I change the GFO out about ever 2nd or 3rd water change when I start reading levels of Po4.

After running the reactor and doing this for a few months, I still wasn't getting the results I was hoping for from the GHA. So we decided to skip ahead on our stock list and added a Yellow Eye Kole Tang. Ironically for the first month and a half, the YEKT wouldn't touch any of the algae in the tank! But it would always eat nori sheets if we put them in. But eventually it gave in and has been grazing away on the rock work all the time. Definitely making an impact on the GHA :thumbsup:

Then after a couple months of both of those in place. The GHA had barely receded despite the GFO and Tang. It would start to go away, then come back full force to what it had been. So, I decided to experiment and look into a new method.

Of course all during this time I was doing regular water changes, turkey basting the rocks, scrubbing and pulling algae and removing it, etc, etc.

Ca is usually 420-450

Mg I try to keep above 1400. Usually 1375-1420 range and I dose usually weekly as needed

Alk was 7.8-8.0 for a long time. Recently it has slowly crept up to between 8.5 and 9.0. But this happens very slowly over months.

No3 always test almost zero ever since we first cycled the tank. I'm sure it's in there, but I'm starting to get the hang of judging by the tank conditions over what the No3/Po4 tests say.

Sg is always stable at 1.025/26.

Temp is constant between 76-77.9.

At this point, I noticed my skimmer hadn't been pulling as good of skimmate as it had. And not because the skimmer wasn't functioning correctly. I decided to give carbon dosing a shot since I had never been successful at getting Macro algae to thrive in the refugium as an export method. I had done lots of reading on it and thought it may be the best way to reduce and control the amount of nusiance algae in the tank.

I started off with 45 mL of plain white vinegar each day. I measure it out and dose it via an inexpensive little gravity dripper made from a brine shrimp hatchery. Still using it every day now. I kept up 45 mL/day for about 1.5 months. After that, I had noticed there was improvement in the algae and upped the vinegar dose to 60 mL/day.

I should mention that once I began carbon dosing, my skimmer began to function significantly better. Which I had hoped and expected would happen once the carbon dosing had time to take effect.

After about a month of dosing 60mL/day, I began to see a bit of cyano showing up on the sand bed during mid-day. But the algae began to die off even faster and I was really seeing some results. Because of the cyano though, I backed off and reduced my dose to 50 mL/day. I've been holding steady at that dose now for about month now. Which puts the total time vinegar dosing at about 3 months or so.

So far carbon dosing, the YEKT, and the GFO reactor seems to be doing the job. I'm going to continue this approach until the algae is almost gone. But I might adjust the vinegar dose down in the future and possible go back to 1 canister GFO and 1 of carbon if I can get balanced out. Just have to wait and see.

But now onto the fun stuff for everyone else. Enough of my bla-bla-blaing. Here's some pictures of things

- FTS - all below from 4/4/15 -

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[troubadour11]

- 4/18/15 -

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[troubadour11]

- 5/9/15 -

- New Pink Zoa -

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- Glued this Blasto in place -

- I filled my ATO and had this crazy occurance. It makes a shape in the stuff on the top of the water in the shape of the drain pipe at the bottom of the resevoir

 

[mrpergo]

very nice progress

 

[martinphillip03]

Troub, thanks for the update

Marty

 

[biggles]

How are things going now Troubster

 

[troubadour11]

How are things going now Troubster

Things are going ok and still moving along. The algae issue has slowly gotten better. :thumbsup: It's definitely taken time, but we seem to be slowly getting things headed in a good direction.

The addition of the Yellow Eye Kole Tang, dual canisters of GFO, passive bag of carbon in sump, and I've now been holding steady at 60 mL vinegar per day (dosed by a little dripper valve over 2 or 3 hours in the mornings). We haven't really changed our feeding at all. I really think the carbon dosing made a HUGE difference on my system. I started around 40/45 mL per day and maintained that for a few weeks and the system looked the same, but the algae looked more yellowed and thin. So I bumped it up to 50 mL for a few weeks and we started to notice some improvement in the algae. At 60 mL, I get a spot of cyano on the sandbed daily (at certain hours) which can probably be solved with some flow adjustments. So I dropped the vinegar back to 50 mL per day, but the algae stopped thinning and began to look healthier. So I returned to 60 mL per day and have been holding there. I still get that spot of cyano, but the GHA is down to almost tolerable levels.

Oh, and I'm starting to see tons more mini-critters around the system in the sump and filter socks. More then I ever added in. Included are little mini snails the size of a pen tip crawling around the glass in the mornings. YEAH!!!

And my skimmer has been working incredibly well since I started carbon dosing. Almost to the point I get a much more consistent skimmate that is easier to keep dialed in.

I also really wonder if carbon dosing on a new/young system that was started with dry rock is a great way to help it establish and balance out a system.?.?

Anyway, the plan is to keep up at 60 mL per day.

My Alk is pretty stable between 7.8 and 8.5. I try to keep it right at low 8's. But sometimes batches of ATO/kalk are slightly different, adding corals, etc all make it slowly bounce around between those numbers. Including what time of day I test.

Ca is always 420-450.

Mg drops down to 1350-1380 and I dose (usually weekly) to keep it no lower then that. I test the Po4 weekly on the Hanna ULR. When I start seeing a reading, I change out the GFO.

So I'm going to try and keep those numbers dialed in and keep an eye on the algae. As it starts to get to be almost gone, I will probably switch back to 1 canister GFO and 1 carbon in the reactor. And maybe drop back the vinegar to 45/50 mL. But I'll decide that as I make small adjustments and just watch the algae and "read" it ;-)

Oh! We are about to order a harem of Flasher Wrasse very soon!!! SUPER excited about that!!!! We've been storing up some water from changes. So once we get the QT set up and have enough water stored for TTM, we'll place the order. I'm thinking 3 females and 1 male sounds good :inlove:

Anyway, enough of the bla-bla-bla. Here are some pictures...

I've got a Pink Monti Cap that continues to do well. Which I am really excited about for the time.
- 12/31/14 -

- 3/28/15 -

- 5 /25/15 -

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and if I took a new picture of it today, you can still see additional growth with great PE almost all day long!

continued...

 

[troubadour11]

Latest FTS
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We added in some new branch dry rock recently (25 lbs). I still haven't finished building up the aquascape yet. I'm thinking of layering on branch rock and smaller chuncks of the base rock to make more honey-comb like rocks structures. You know, things that can support corals, but leave open space underneath for fish and lower light corals

I had recently added a nice thumb size piece of purple Stylo. It shed about 3/4's of it's skin and polyps over a month or so. Since then it's just been sitting there with the leftover purple looking great with great PE. And bare skeleton.

Since that Pink Monti Cap is doing so well right now. I decided to try adding another SPS in the same family as that. See if our luck will spread.

So I've had this green Spongodes since 5/23
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continued. . .

 

[troubadour11]

We're trying our luck with a new Ricordea as well
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We also wanted to try a new Acan. So this was an inexpensive neon orange and tan stripped one we grabbed.
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We've got a "Raptor's Peace" favia that is splitting from 2 heads (one big/one small). The big head is splitting into 3.
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and since this favia is doing well. I had added a different colored favia. Picked this small piece up for cheap. It's got a multi-colored red and pale purple swirled mouth/oral disk with emerald green outter band that has thin orange stripes running through it.
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That isn't the greatest look at the color. But it gives you an idea.

Here is a large sour cream cup filled after an algae removing session...
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So I guess that's what is up for now. Let me know your thoughts.

I've got some new tank toys I'll debut soon for you. I picked up a new light to add over the DT because I will be re-designing my canopy and plumbing soon I think. We have a new little one coming this fall and I want the rest of this "build" completed before I have my hands full with him :smokin:

That means I'll probably finish up the background and shadow box design I'm going to make!!! :spin2:

 

[troubadour11]

Woah! It certainly has been a bit of time since I last got in here. Sorry for the delay in updates on the system. Some fun life stuff got in the way of me having the time to post updates of all the improvements since I was last in here! :bounce1: :wave:

Anyway, things have been wonderful and busy lately. And a lot of fun on the tank side watching the system continue to mature and become even more stable.

I've added on a Reef Angel dosing pump to control my vinegar dosing. It's been running since mid-July and is programmed to dose 40 mL a day of vinegar in an even dose spaced out every other hour.

I had a near disaster in July when on vacation for about 12 days. Looks like there was a power surge that tripped a circuit or something. Could have been a number of things, but the end result was my BM Nac6 pump got fried and would trip my Reef Angel circuit anytime it was turned on. So, for a few days, my system limped along on no return pump, no skimmer, with heaters, with refugium return pump, no refugium lighting, and the DT lights stuck at a random (low) setting. But no cycle on the lights, just stuck on. However, the saving grace was that I keep all my powerheads plugged into a different set up. So despite those issues, everything survived with the continued in-tank circulation. :thumbsup: to proper circulation planning!!! :celeb3:

So the only real negative from the above situation was part of my one of my hammers paled and bleached a little due to 24/7 light exposure. I moved it to full shade at the same spot and it's been doing fine and recovering since.

Consequently, I needed to replace my busted skimmer. Since it was not easy to source a replacement pump and I was never really happy with the performance. We decided to try a different skimmer all together. I picked up a Reef Octopus 160INT. And what an amazing difference!!! Definitely a better fit for my system set up. I've been so much happier with it's performance.

So you should check the few posts before for some great comparisons to then and now. I'll give a quick few rounds of photo updates from recently so you can all see how things have come!

Tank has been running at:
Ca = 420-445
Mg = 1280-1380
Alk = 7.7-8.1
Po4 = try to keep it just barely reading on my Hanna ULR meter. Sometimes get 0, but there is some nuisance algae growth in the refugium. But the DT looks great.
No3 = I'll be honest, I don't really test anymore. It always read 0 on my cheap test.

:bum:

 

[troubadour11]

Onto some pictures!

Latest FTS:

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A few top-downs while I was feeding the fish:
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[troubadour11]

Pink Monti-Cap on May 25, 2015:
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October 23, 2015
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Latest Green Slimer:
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Orange Digi (I had my hands in the tank before these picks. So some things are closed up a bit. Normally all this has great PE.
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Motinpora Setosa (sorry, the lights started to dim off for sunset while I was doing this)
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Setosa and Teal with red skin Birdsnest:
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Aqua with red skin Birdsnest:
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[troubadour11]

2.5 inch Pectinia Frag:
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Browned out and pale ... either SCC or Pink Lemonade looking acro: But it is actively encrusting and has good PE.
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prism goniastrea:
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Duncan
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Marble Hammer:
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Blasto and Green Potato Chip Coral (Pavona)
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Purple skin green polyp Montipora Stellata:
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Seasons Greetings encrusting Monti:
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Rainbow Acan and Green/Orange Acan:
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Favias
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[troubadour11]

Purple/Green torch and Purple/Gold torch rock:
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Rainbow encrusting Montipora:
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Big hunk of green Motipora Spongodes. A piece of this started to grab onto my rockwork. And I have this small little frag that broke off and I saved. So I might trade this one back since I have the piece started next to my Seasons Greetings and Superman frags. Plus this little back up and a little back up of Orange Digi that broke off when I was gluing the frag to some rock.
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Little baby frags of Spongodes and Orange Digi:
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