Calistyle's 75G Tank Build

It's been a rough year personally, losing my grandfather and father within 4 months of each other. I didn't quit the hobby, and actually put a lot more time into it, trying to keep my mind busy. As usual, with the help of many on here, I was able to stay dug into the hobby through the ups and downs and things are starting to turn around.

My Salinity probe and temp probe were off, not tank crash off, but enough to cause some problems. I lost almost all fish to Ick. I had bryopsis, GHA outbreak, followed up by bubble algae outbreak. Fluconazole (thx rik and vu) handled bryopsis and GHA. For BA, I used emerald crabs, Vibrant, and a UV light in overflow. It's still a work in progress, but things are looking up.

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Sorry to hear about your family. I'm glad you kept the tank going. I know you were not happy with the algae issues, but I thought your tank (the corals) looked nice in person. If you need anything, don't hesitate to ask.
 
Sorry to read. Tanks really can be therapeutic.

Do you scrap the bottom? Looks nice and clean, practically brand new.
 
I appreciate it all.

I don't scrap the bottom. Each water change, I'll siphon out corners of a little debris.
 
So when I started this tank, it was meant to be a fun mixed reef right out of the gate. However, it turned into a Jawbreakers farm, so I moved most of them. During that process I was removing and adding rocks and not letting it sit and get stable. Now that most JBs are gone and I've had SPS growing, it's time to get back to a nice mixed reef. (I hope)

Bryopsis / GBA
Fluconazole was a life saver. It completely wiped out bryopsis and GHA. It took two runs w/ fluconazole, but the second time I let it ride for months. It's been all good for a while now with no signs of returning.

GBA
Shortly after Bryopsis issues, my tank was completely covered in GBA. I added 5 emerald crabs, a cheap UV light in overflow (amazon), and dosed Vibrant (1/2 recommended) weekly. After 6 weeks, it was all completely gone and has been for months. The only neg for me w/ Vibgrant was that my mushrooms hated it. Didn't kill them, but they stopped growing.

Changes:
  • Aquaforest salt and additives - OUT (11 months)
  • Tropic Marin Pro salt - IN (11 months)
  • FM 2-part w/ minerals - IN (11 months)
  • GYRE - OUT

I don't know what it was about AquaForest, or if anything at all, but I wasn't happy with it. Once it became difficult to find, I jumped ship. Gyre was overkill on flow. Once the propeller broke, I just banished it from the tank.

Coming Soon:
  • WAV pumps - OUT
  • Nero 5's - IN
  • Fluval Sea SP4 - OUT
  • Neptunes COR-20 - IN
  • FM - OUT
  • ATI essentials Pro - IN

WAVs, great pumps and are great in current placement. But I want to have one pump shooting down the side of the tank and visually the Nero will be more appealing. Fluval, currently, I dial it back w/ gate valves on the return lines and it's fine, but I don't have a backup. So, I'll go with a nice DC pump that integrates w/ apex system and keep the Fluval as a solid backup. This will allow me to open the gate valves and control the flow right from the pump/apex. FM dosing, I'm going to finish this cycle of it and then switch to essentials pro. The main reason is that I'll get more out of the ATI essentials, and it's easier to use (less room for error).

That's it. Talk to you guys in a few months.

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Update:

ATI labs results are in.

RODI results:

Silicon 86.21 µg/l

Tank results:

Silicon 4202 µg/l
Phosphate undetectable

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Si Issue:
Well, Si is a problem. Initially, you'd think time to change filters on RODI unit, but the RODI levels are low-ish. So, what is leaching Si? I've heard people claim Siporax does, and I do run a bag of it in my sump. I plan on removing it, but don't want to spike no3 in doing so. So the plan is as follows:

  • Add Sera Marin Silicate Clear (remove Si)
  • Add PURA Filtration Pad (remove Si)
  • Add MarinePure w/ bac7 prep
  • Remove Siporax
  • Monitor levels
  • another ATI test sample
  • If good, remove silicate clear and pad
  • remove all filters and membrane on RODI unit.

PO4 Issue:
Nitrates are around 10-15ppm, PO4 0.00. I want to keep NO3 around 10ppm, but get PO4 to 0.03 - 0.06 range. Plan is as follows:
  • Remove GFO
  • Added fish
  • Feeding same (3x a day - 2 dry one frozen mix, and coral 3x per week)
  • Dose NeoPhos
  • Test until desired range and monitor.

I don't want to continually dose PO4, but until I get to a stable ratio I guess that I'll need to.

Anyone have any results in using any of my above steps for either issue?
 
How many stages to your RO DI? I'm using a 7 stage total with 3 stage DI now and can tell the difference it makes with our lovely LA city water. Also, if Silicon is in your source water and there's nothing removing it, it can build up over time? I've used siporax and the only thing it does is drop my nitrates too much. [emoji16]


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
I don't think removing the siporax is going to help you silicon issue. I have probably 12 litres of it in my sump for more than 3 years and have never had any si issues. My last test was last month and it showed 130.

The RO filter change should help.
 
I have a 5 stage system and have replaced all filters. I could add to it, and that might be a good idea. All the items I mentioned above will take time to implement. Removing Siporax I'm hesitant to do just because my nitrates sit around 15ppm and I dont want a spike.

Thanks for the replies.
 
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