Leonardo's Apogon Reef

[sahin]

Leo: it all looks Super nice. Do you know why the rock was a problem? Did your nitrates get really high or was it phosphates? Do you think the lack of a sand bed for denitrification can be a cause? Well, it would be interesting to know what the cause was, but least your tank looks amazing. Hope it gets better from here on.

 

[cFloor]

excellent update Leonardo. Tank looks like it's really coming along after the GHA outbreak. Excited to see it with that many apogons swimming around

 

[Nano sapiens]

I remember finding this tank on your website a while back. Very nice to see so many healthy deep-water Acros and it inspired me to try a A. granulosa in my modest mixed reef tank.

Having read through this thread, I see that you had very aggressive nutrient removal so it is a bit surprising to hear about the algae outbreak. Could be that the minimal amount of LR absorbed/concentrated nutrients over time and these may have slowly leached out to provide a constant source of 'food' for the algae.

Having been involved in reef tanks since the mid 1980's I have found that aggressive blasting of the Live Rock (along with Sand Bed vacuuming, if applicable) and removal of any resulting detritus every week helps to maintain long-term system health.

 

[Crazy_Beaver]

Nice photos!

 

[geaux xman]

amazing tank! thanks for sharing it with us.

 

[dainiusiva]

Leonardo,

I am very happy to see this update. Your pictures bring happyness to my heart.

Keep up the good work.

 

[trueblackpercula]

Looks great

 

[ballsam]

One of my favorite scape. Really clean look. I'm not a big fan of the sphaeramia nematoptera, but the rest is beautiful /Samuel


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Bello]

Always a joy to view your updates

 

[Leonardo_]

Thanks everyone!

I don't really know the cause of the GHA outbreak. It developed during the holidays, when I was away for three weeks.
Many snails died during my absence, somehow those nutrients stored in the liverock despite my aggressive skimming and use of GFO and Biopellets. I could not measure NO3 and just 0.03 PO4 when I returned.
It began with patches of Cyano followed by GHA fueling themselves by trapping detritus particles. Taking the rock out and cleaning it was the only way to break the cycle.

Leonardo

 

[Sps Dream]

Perfect.

 

[Leonardo_]

Thanks!

Leonardo

 

[strendo]

Thanks for the update! I've been dealing with the same problem and am on the verge of taking my rock out as well, but have been trying to avoid it due to the size of some of the colonies.
I took out a few of the large pieces and scrubbed them with a dish scrubber brush to get the hair algae off. It worked pretty well, but it's slowly coming back.. Another thing I've been doing is scrubbing every week with a toothbrush and using 4 filter socks to trap the released algae.
My po4 & Nitrates are undetectable so it must be trapped in the rocks

 

[Henry Colf]

Amazing tank, love the aquascape and the color of the corals.

 

[Reef_Noob]

Thanks for the updates Leonardo. The tank is looking so amazing and is a testament of minimalistic approach where the SPS is the star and not the rocks.
:thumbsup:

 

[sahin]

Thanks for the update! I've been dealing with the same problem and am on the verge of taking my rock out as well, but have been trying to avoid it due to the size of some of the colonies.
I took out a few of the large pieces and scrubbed them with a dish scrubber brush to get the hair algae off. It worked pretty well, but it's slowly coming back.. Another thing I've been doing is scrubbing every week with a toothbrush and using 4 filter socks to trap the released algae.
My po4 & Nitrates are undetectable so it must be trapped in the rocks

Strendo; what rocks are you using? Did you use dead rock or are you using minimal rocks to keep a minimal look? Do you have a sandbed currently?

 

[REEF SMAC]

Wow. That is quite an update.
Sorry to hear about the algae outbreak. Pretty drastic measures, so hopefully it worked long term.

What are you doing different now, to keep it from eventually happening again?

What did you do with all those corals while you were "recycling" your rocks?

 

[biggles]

Very beautiful display mate, i'll be watching your colonies grow and the fish numbers keep rising - love that you are doing this with a simple, proven and straight forward approach. I look forward to the results of your supplemental dosing.

 

[vkvenus]

Awesome setup Leo!

 

[Reefocd]

Hi Leonardo,

I have followed your threads from before your long break. Do you just prefer to show your display vs. behind the scenes? I noticed requests for sump and husbandry type photos and videos, however, notice you have not posted any. We all would like to learn from your process and methods. Perhaps it's just your choice to show the final product, I'll respect that too ... Congrats on an awesome display tank ... :dance: