Awais' 120g Build

If you have algae in your tank they should have plenty to eat and when its gone just feed once a day and youll be OK.

I too stay away from hermits these days. But emeralds are great. You only 1 or 2
 
very nice updates Awais... i like the water change system... keep up the good work and keep posting updates.
good luck and safe reefing.
 
awais98 said:
'Underfed' and with whole SLASH telling me to reduce feeding, what would 'well fed' be for emeralds, so they dont harm others?
Seriously, Id like to know.
Click to expand...

I've re-read your thread to try to answer you better. First off, your tank and skills in putting it all together is amazing looking, :thumbsup: good job!

Second, regarding the feeding, I'd want to know, or better yet see, exactly how much food you were putting in your tank. IMO, I believe dry food had more phosphate in it than frozen, IMO I also believe rinsing your frozen food helps cut down on nutrients as well. I feed 1 cube of brine and 1 cube of mysis a day to my tank. I believe the wc I do help in not having any issues with that seeing as I'm not running any filtration other than just doing wc. Now in answering that, I'll say what I meant by under feeding an emerald crab, I mean make sure there's enough algae for them to eat. They're mainly herbivores, but will resort to eating coral or anything else if left with no choice. So, once your algae issues start to go away, feed some nori to it by rubber banding it to a rock, though not a lot so it doesn't rot in the tank causing more nutrient issues.

Finally, third, it's a very new tank and you're new to the hobby! You're going to experience the ups and downs that come with trying to mimic a stable ocean within a small glass box. Just go slow and don't rush anything, and ESPECIALLY don't go chasing numbers. Try to solve any issues one thing at a time. As far as blacking out your tank, that's not really helping anything other than releasing the phosphates back into the water when the algae dies off. Just keep the corals clean of algae and don't run the lights super long. In a couple months you'll start to see some stability in your tank and you'll be keeping and fragging sps in no time!

So keep your head up and roll through the blows that your tanks deals you, sometimes it's hard to do. I think every one of us has been to a point where they just wanted to tear it down and say (insert four letter words) and kick it to the curb. It just comes with the territory of owning a saltwater tank.
 
Thank you Twiggyb for taking the time to read through it all and replying me.

Ill just keep emeralds out of the league for now.

I used to feed about 1/2 teaspoon of pellets 2 times ( automated) and then brine or mysis 1 cube once a day.

For a week now, I've completely stopped pellets, and now drain mysis/brine and then feed them. I can now see how just putting the whole cube was giving 'free' phosphates to the algae.
I am also doing about 10% water changes every few days.
Got the water containers to standard brutes.
Increased the biopellets to standard full dose( was running half dose for initial 3 months)
Did not change the lights, if anything, slowly increasing the intensity for the corals that are left.

I see that the dinos have decreased a lot, still there, that I blow away but 75% less then before.

My phos stays pretty low, last one was 0.04ppm.

Hope your prophecy comes true soon! Id want to be ready for the fall coral swap.

Ill hang in here, gotta stay resilient. I'm usually pretty patient, but just new turf here. Will learn the tricks from my SLASH club!

Thank you!

twiggyb said:
I've re-read your thread to try to answer you better. First off, your tank and skills in putting it all together is amazing looking, :thumbsup: good job!

Second, regarding the feeding, I'd want to know, or better yet see, exactly how much food you were putting in your tank. IMO, I believe dry food had more phosphate in it than frozen, IMO I also believe rinsing your frozen food helps cut down on nutrients as well. I feed 1 cube of brine and 1 cube of mysis a day to my tank. I believe the wc I do help in not having any issues with that seeing as I'm not running any filtration other than just doing wc. Now in answering that, I'll say what I meant by under feeding an emerald crab, I mean make sure there's enough algae for them to eat. They're mainly herbivores, but will resort to eating coral or anything else if left with no choice. So, once your algae issues start to go away, feed some nori to it by rubber banding it to a rock, though not a lot so it doesn't rot in the tank causing more nutrient issues.

Finally, third, it's a very new tank and you're new to the hobby! You're going to experience the ups and downs that come with trying to mimic a stable ocean within a small glass box. Just go slow and don't rush anything, and ESPECIALLY don't go chasing numbers. Try to solve any issues one thing at a time. As far as blacking out your tank, that's not really helping anything other than releasing the phosphates back into the water when the algae dies off. Just keep the corals clean of algae and don't run the lights super long. In a couple months you'll start to see some stability in your tank and you'll be keeping and fragging sps in no time!

So keep your head up and roll through the blows that your tanks deals you, sometimes it's hard to do. I think every one of us has been to a point where they just wanted to tear it down and say (insert four letter words) and kick it to the curb. It just comes with the territory of owning a saltwater tank.
Click to expand...
 
A new issue:
Bryopsis growing very nicely in 2 spots.
I just pulled them off as much as possible and vacuumed them.
Will continue to do that until I have patience.
If it continues to come back, will revert to high mag.


Also just bought quite a few fishes from Nexenn:
Got
Yellow tang 3-4 inch
6 line wrasse 4 inch
3 chromis about 3 inch
1 bicolor dottyback.

Finally the tank does not look empty any more!!!
 
Good to hear Awais,you dont seem like the type to give up easy.

What do you mean keep the emeralds out of the league? You need to get like 2 emeralds and they will eat your algae. Once my 60 hits the algae cycle the emerald in my sump is going in there for sure.
 
awais98 said:
A new issue:
Bryopsis growing very nicely in 2 spots.
I just pulled them off as much as possible and vacuumed them.
Will continue to do that until I have patience.
If it continues to come back, will revert to high mag.


Also just bought quite a few fishes from Nexenn:
Got
Yellow tang 3-4 inch
6 line wrasse 4 inch
3 chromis about 3 inch
1 bicolor dottyback.

Finally the tank does not look empty any more!!!
Click to expand...

Yay! good for you. Im gonna say since those have been together so long youll be ok,my chromis killed each other until there was only one left.
 
Thanks Dave!
I didnt know chromis would kill each other, I thought they usally love to be in schools.......

All the new fises are doing well, feeling at home, Im glad!

kegogut said:
Yay! good for you. Im gonna say since those have been together so long youll be ok,my chromis killed each other until there was only one left.
Click to expand...
 
I really never had an algae problem. Hardly noticeable hairy algae, very minimal. Bryopsis now had been in 2 spots which I plucked away and now the yellow tang is searching for anything left over....... I dont know if I need a crab.

Do the crab eat dinoflagellates?



Mr D smack said:
If not a emerald maybe look into a strawberry crab
Click to expand...
 
Bryopsis is the satan of the reef. bump up ur mag to 1600-1700ppm range and u can try hydrogen peroxide dipping to rid or it will take over quick.
 
TwiggyB,
It looked exactly like this Bryopsis Plumosa, before I pulled it out.

I hear you Numair, If I see it coming again, I'll get my mag high


null-14.jpg
 
Some updates.

Tank parameters, staying more stable past couple of times Ive checked.
Currently:
ph 8.4/ A;0/N 0/N:0/ Phos 0.0429/ 1.0245
dKH 10.976/ 480/1480


The green algae or bryopsis ( if it was that) never came back..been 10 days since I yanked it out and got the tang....

The dinos have almost gone away....a tiny spot is left like 2% of what it was before... just laszy to suction it away....too small, lol

Its been >2 1/2 months since I put in the first batch of corals and most didnt make it.... feel like I should give it a SLOW new try again....
 
i am glad to hear the updates that look positive. another positive thing i see is u are going to take thing slowly. this hobby is all about patience and less about impulse.
Anyways wish u luck and looking good so far.
Safe Reefing
 
Looks like it's starting to turn the corner Awais. Looking back at the start of this thread it's been about 3 months since you started up the tank, IME that's about when things start to stabilize and start going better. I'd keep an eye on things for at least a few more weeks and when the corals that survived start thriving and growing then you can start slowly adding some more.
 
Sounds like everything is straightening out for you. Just keep taking your time. Believe me it's easier said than done. Good luck it will only get better with time
 
Thanks Numair,

Ill try to fix the back wall thing before I add anything more, LOL

bnumair said:
i am glad to hear the updates that look positive. another positive thing i see is u are going to take thing slowly. this hobby is all about patience and less about impulse.
Anyways wish u luck and looking good so far.
Safe Reefing
Click to expand...
 
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