Mark's 150 (72x18x27)

[troubadour11]

Hey Mark... Sorry it's been a bit since I popped in over here. Non-stop work on my end lately. So I'll have to be brief. But just a few more days of grinding through and I get a 4 day weekend! :dance:

I wanted to jump in quick and say/ask a couple things quickly.

1.) Thanks for sharing all the views of your DT recently. Was cool to see some of the nooks and crannies in there. And the black bar hung in front of the fixture looks great. Killer simple idea to dress up above your tank. Almost makes me want to go rimless in the future. A very nice tour of the tank It's super helpful to me as we venture into the reef building side of things. I'm studying up on placement and the looks/contrasts of the various pieces.

2.) I'm very curious on the Nutrient issue (specifically Po4 removal) and Refugium stuff you are dealing with and discussing with Mr. Palting. I'm kind of fighting / dealing with the same type of issues and am really working towards optimizing my filtration because I feel nutrient export is my next hurtle to getting my SPS to start thriving rather then mostly living / struggling.

When I raised my lighting power to get my PAR levels up to where we had discussed previously as good target levels, I started getting another bad algae bloom that I can't shake. BTW, lighting is now all up to 100% and has a 3 or 4 hour max exposure at 100% dimming up and down around that. I will start to expand that max exposure out from there to closer to 6 or 7 hours slowly.

I haven't had good success keeping Cheato alive and thriving in my Refugium. So for right now, I have a 75 gallon unlit refugium with spare rock and DSB. My nitrate typically ranges between 0 (or undetected) and 10. A few times when I was late on water changes it crept up towards 15/20. But typically it's 0-5 and 10 or under all the time. I have never tested for Phosphate, but it's obvious it's there because of the GHA I'm fighting.

So I guess I'm extremely interested in your nutrient export thoughts and how to optimize a large remote fuge/skimming/nutrient export/carbon dosing. I'm not sure which method would be the best route to approach from to solve my nutrient export and have the best optimization from my filtration. We seem to have somewhat similar set ups with dripping Kalk and such.

I'm really curious how a refugium can solve Po4 issues outside of macro algae. As far as I knew, a DSB will mostly zero out No3 leaving Po4 to build in the system to be removed by another method (macro algae, gfo/gac, or carbon dosing / skimming). Right now from my latest :reading: I'm thinking the 75 refugium, unlit and loaded with my extra rock lifted above a DSB balanced with carbon dosing / heavy skimming might be the most optimal and least expensive to solve nutrient export?.?.

So I am wondering if my attempt to grow Macro in the 75 fuge with DSB and extra rock, if I'm actually hurting the rock/DSB filtering capacity by lighting it (allowing algae, etc to build up and "clog" the filtering capacity some).

Kind of wondering since I have the large extra tank for DSB/rock, if another method such as carbon dosing and heavy skimming to control Po4 would be a better route and let the large fuge do it's thing to No3.

Anyway, sorry for the quick flurry of questions and thoughts. But this side of things really is my focus on my end right now and it seems like you're looking to tackle and optimize the same part of your system currently.

Thanks for any thoughts :idea:

And of course, you could fool me that you're trying to level out those issues. It's still looking pretty darn awesome and you've got me jealous.

Do you just use a wet-dry vac to clean out your sump? I REALLY need to do that as it could be a large part of my nutrient issue! Does it ever damage your wet-dry vac over time using it for saltwater?

I'm also curious what you find on your PH rise. Although I would guess that the PH change is related to the small Alk rise you mentioned and kalk. Seems like a very small steady upward swing would make sense if the Alk was raising due to more concentrated Kalk.

 

[markalot]

Hey troub, thanks for the visit.

I'm kind of lost as to what caused the browning so I'm going back to what I was doing prior to the episode.

Ignoring P and N.

Keeping my GFO reactor running to avoid another change but letting the media get full. I'm running with very little GFO at the moment.

Skimming for a good brown skimmate.

Dropping vinegar dosing down to 20ml a day.

1 cap acro power daily

reef roids 3 times a week

feeding fish whenever I feel like it.

15 gallon weekly water changes

And getting Alk stable again at 8KH.

Honestly I would have algae if it wasn't for the the two tangs and foxface and I don't think my exports are keeping up with imports, at least not at the moment.

Bottom line, I had colors, I changed something, I lost color, then identified a problem, then tried to solve that problem, and things have not improved. The joy of reef keeping.

 

[glaukos]

Great tank mark and i really like how you have placed your corals
Can't wait to see them grow bigger than they are already!
It has something very natural buddy:beer:

 

[markalot]

Great tank mark and i really like how you have placed your corals
Can't wait to see them grow bigger than they are already!
It has something very natural buddy:beer:

Thanks Mike, appreciate you stopping by.

 

[markalot]

Update.

Running the GFO reactor, the first time I've ever run one, has been a huge success. I'm using 2 cups in a Phosban 150, will probably just use a cup and a half once this is used up. PO4 down to undetectable but My Nitrates remained high at 15 so I bought another Brute, this time the smaller 20 gallon, and plan to do 5 or 10 gallon changes daily until Nitrates hit 5.

My goal is to get this coral back to this:

It's been coloring up little by little since getting Phosphates below .05 or so. You can see some green coming back on the base.

One other interesting thing going on is my Meteor Shower cyphastrea, which appears to have a different variety growing over part of it.

While I was doing some rock cleaning and water changing I decided to frag some of my Acros with bad STN and that cleared up a spot for me to move the Pagoda Cup out from under the giant Pipe Organ where it can finally grow in the light.

Finally, my topoff head broke sometime this morning and I lost about 1/4 inch in the sump and no Kalk dosing all day. Replaced the head and set my timed topoff to be a little generous tonight and tomorrow to slowly make up the difference. KH fell from 7.8 to 7.4.

 

[markalot]

FTS

 

[troubadour11]

The tank is looking pretty good again :thumbsup:

It will be interesting to see how the color changes and reacts to everything you're up to on that SPS piece. That's a pretty amazing color change that happened when it turned such a deep red.

The Cup Coral looks pretty awesome too. Definitely an interesting looking piece to me. I think I might have had a hitchhiker cup coral when we first started. But I couldn't get an id quick enough on it and we weren't sure what it was, so we took it out. Was growing off a snail shell that had died. I got a response on it a couple weeks after we had taken it out that a few different people guessed it was a cup coral maybe. That's about all I know about them though. lol :hmm4: But they look cool now!

Did you work your way up to the 2 cups PhosBan your using right now? Or did you just jump right to the 2 cups? The first time I ever ran GFO, I killed a few things because I think I stripped the water to much and to fast I think.

I just picked up a BRS Dual Reactor recently and am getting close to setting it up. Any recommendations of how much Carbon/GFO to start with in there for about 180 gallon system? I've been running about 2 cups carbon passively in a mesh bag in the bubble trap. So I was guessing I'd run a cup or two of carbon in the 1st stage, and then GFO in the second stage. If I ever get to a point where I don't need GFO, I can always do 2 carbons and just alternate which one I swap out. But right now, I need to work on algae and nutrients.

It seems like things are moving along now for you over there. I know your goal is to get that one piece back to the color you showed. But you still could have fooled me because the tank still looks pretty sweet :beer:

If it's possible, next time you're messing about shooting pictures. I'd be interested in seeing a close-up or two on you Purple Stylo and any Seri's. And more in the base/center of the colony areas. I'm trying to learn to "read" the look of my corals a bit more. And those two are the pieces I'm having the most success with right now and would just like to compare other specimens that are doing good.

I like the way things are starting to look over there. Some of those pieces look like they're starting to POP :inlove:

 

[markalot]

Hi Troub,

I put 1 cup of GFO in initially and the Phosphate dropped a little. I measured PO4 by filling a measuring cup up from the output of the reactor and when it read positive phosphates, meaning the GFO was used up, I went ahead and replaced it with 2 cups, which is a little more than the reactor can handle. I'm way down to undetectable phosphates now, still 15 nitrated, and KH is down to 7.8.

I have a few pictures of the big purple stylo, including some of a big trim I did and how it healed up.

Here's the stylo from the top down.

Here's near the base, healing up after I hacked a few branches off. This was on October 24th.

This was taken 2 days ago, all healed up.

You can see how it regained some color now that it's not being shaded by the big branch I removed.

 

[troubadour11]

Wow! Thanks a bunch for sharing those shots! Very much appreciated :beer:

Those are some great comparison shots for me. I was concerned with the whiteness of our piece in some spots. But it looks like that is fairly normal in the shaded spots and stuff and not something to be worried about right now.

We've definitely got bright purple polyps on 85% of the piece. And I would say it has extreme PE more often then not. I'd take it as a good sign if I could get more of that deeper red coloration to the skin though probably. :bum:

I especially love the shot post trimming and then later after it had healed. Wow, and in only about 6 weeks to heal over like that. Well, it's safe to say I'm still doing something wrong or missing something. Because I'm guessing I won't get that type of growth/recovery right now. Time to start bringing the reactor online and seeing if it's Phosphate inhibiting growth, healing, and over-all health.

Thanks again for sharing :spin3:

 

[markalot]

I especially love the shot post trimming and then later after it had healed. Wow, and in only about 6 weeks to heal over like that. Well, it's safe to say I'm still doing something wrong or missing something. Because I'm guessing I won't get that type of growth/recovery right now. Time to start bringing the reactor online and seeing if it's Phosphate inhibiting growth, healing, and over-all health.

Thanks again for sharing :spin3:

Do you feed a lot? Different ways to skin a cat, of course, but in my experience heavy cloud the tank type feeding plus excellent export will lead to fast growth every time. Keep in mind this thing healed up while all my acros browned out do to high phosphates. It obviously did not care about the phosphates.

 

[markalot]

I document a lot of really boring things in another forum (shhhh) but not here. I feel like I should highlight some of the more interesting discoveries and observations just in case some poor sap bored with life decides to read through this thread. :lmao:

So I am trying to decide what/when/how the great brown out occurred and I've found some evidence of a slow phosphate climb that finally hit a critical level. I now believe it was a double whammy of reduced growth due to increasing phosphates AND me not reacting fast enough when I saw the rise in KH (due to the retarded growth) which created a significant Alk spike. Unfortunately I did not realize the salifert kit would be able to detect phosphate usign the high rez instructions that came with it. By the time I tested PO4 was .2 !!

This first picture was taken Aug 28th of my Acropora nasuta or subulata. It's a frag of a coral Metrokat grows in her tank. We call it the katropora. Anyway, in the back right is one green encrusting monti showing a good green.

Next up is this pic taken on 9/28, exactly one month later. It's browned but I don't react because I discovered Montipora Eating Nudibranchs and I figure it's under attack.

On 10/20, one month after I can see the monti has browned I start to lose my first acro, which was the beginning of a slow rise in Alk and the great browning event.

RIP

I took this picture 2 days later, not knowing what was about to happen.

Same coral on 11/3, 12 days after the above pic and after Alk rose from 8.8 to 10.5 over a week.

:headwally:

Top down shots from the weekend. I've been running GFO for 2 weeks with undetectable phosphates for a little over a week.

The green monti.

The nasuta or subulata.

So I must must guess here but it appears to me different corals have different sensitivity to phosphate. The monti lost green as phosphates rose, but maintained health through the PO4 rise and the Alk spike. No skin lost, only color. Some of the acros had no color issues as the phosphates rose but when Alk spiked it killed some and nearly killed others. Some acros started to experience STN when phosphates rose but at the same time maintained good color. That's not confusing!

Now that Alk is steady around 7.8 and PO4 is undetectable the monti was the first to color back up with the acros looking healthy but most still brown and coloring slowly.

Going forward I will not run Alk above 8 and will continue to run GFO to keep phosphate undetectable. My nitrates are 15 to 20 and do not seem to be causing any issues, unless it's slowing the coloration of the acros. I have been doing daily small water changes to slowly bring down the nitrates. My goal is 5. I'm also adding vinegar to the Kalk mix which ends up dosing about 30ml vinegar a day for a carbon source. I feed heavily.

 

[markalot]

Various top downs from over the weekend.

Shrimpy must find a way to get in most photos.

My Montipora Eating Nudibranch must be union and apparently when on strike for better wages. Not sure where they went, but I don't want to complain to loudly.

All of the montis that live have really colored up since I started the GFO reactor.

Setosa and green digitata.

Red Cap

Green with yellow skin poci.

One of my unknown milli frags.

Teal Poci, kills anything it can touch and reproduces via bailout all over the tank.

Strawberry Shortcake along with what is left of a Forest Fire digitata that was being consumed by MEN just before they vanished. That monti with the cool red skin and blue polyps was a $10 unknown brown frag. The SSC said to be very slow to color, and it IS, but it has shown no health issues during the PO4 rise or Alk spike.

 

[markalot]

I purchased my very first "maricultured" acro on thursday. We don't get very good quality close to me but this one seemed healthy enough and had decent polyp extension.

Into the Bayer dip for 15 minutes, then triple rinsed. Here it is still showing a little color during the rinse.

Putting it on the sandbed for now.

This morning it looks healthy, showing decent polyp extension and these polyps on the base have a nice green glow.

Dosed my second dose of ProdiBio this morning. 1 vial of BioDigest and 3 vials of Bioptim.

Color is ever so slowly returning to the acros. The subulata is showing a little more color every day.

Alk is hovering around 7.5 and to keep it there I had to increase the saturation of Kalk. I'm now up to 2.5 tsp Kalk per gallon of rodi + 30ml vinegar. The birdsnests are showing numerous white growth tips so I think the ON switch has finally been switched.

The doser has been off for about 2 months, we'll see if I can continue to maintain Alk with just Kalk or end up having to turn the doser back on. At peak growth I was doing saturated kalk (2 tsp / gallon) and 90ml per day of two part.

 

[markalot]

I have a couple of pics showing my subulata coloring up slowly over 10 days.

Dec 3rd

Dec 14th

In other news, I lost a chalice. Well, I found it, but I can't get to it so I'm afraid it's lost. I just want to know who moved it!

I was in my swimming suit diving in the tank drying to reach it but I can't without disturbing the anemone, which no chalice is worth, so I'm afraid it's done for unless the jackass that moved it back there cares to move it back out. :uzi:

Found an interesting bivalve growing behind the hammer coral while I was searching for said chalice.

... and the fish were hungry so I was able to snap a couple of pics. 30 pics taken, two good ones.

While I was doing this something happened and the Midas and male lyretail got into it, with the blenny going into his hole and threatening the lyretail to come after him. The interesting lives of fish....

Changed my T5 combination to include the AquaBlue Special and remove one of the blue+. I really prefer a brighter look.

-front-
BML ~18K strip light
AB Special
Blue+
Coral+
Purple+
Blue+
Coral+
-back-

FTS


Notice the lack of white tips on the purple stylo. No new growth on it for a while and I'm not sure how long it's been that way. Not sure if it was the Alk spike or me trimming a few larger branches off.

 

[troubadour11]

Great stuff! I like the 2 good shots of your fish you got out of that batch. Really colorful!

Man, I hope I can get my pocci's to look like yours one day! That green one with yellow skin looks great!

 

[markalot]

Great stuff! I like the 2 good shots of your fish you got out of that batch. Really colorful!

Man, I hope I can get my pocci's to look like yours one day! That green one with yellow skin looks great!

Thanks troub. That green one with the yellow skin is my favorite. The dark green with the occasional green skin is a real pain but It's too encrusted to move and the blenny lives in that rock. He's lived there for over a year, it was also his home in my old 40 gallon, so I can't remove it.

I purchased my first Aussie wild corals over the weekend. Tank crash incoming for sure! :crazy1: The piece I was after was pest free but another thrown in at a discount had AEFW bites and the Bayer dip removed a large one. I should have tossed it but after careful inspection I could not find any dead areas and no eggs so I chopped off the bottom of it for good measure and put it into the display. :worried:

This was the one I was after. It's been captive for a few months now and is coloring up, but we'll see how it does in my tank.

This is the problem acro with the AEFW bites. Pinkish with baby blue tips and I let it sit in the dip for 45 minutes. If it starts to brown I'll chuck it, not sure why I didn't in the first place.

My big green bird has significant dieoff in the middle and on the tips so it was time to frag it. Here is what's left. :hmm1:

 

[aagp]

very nice corals

 

[markalot]

very nice corals

Thanks. Only your 6th post, I'm honored!

I forgot to post an update of the subulata, since I want to document how long it takes to color back up.

I think it's about 50% of the way there now.

Dec 14th

Dec 21st (7 days later)

 

[martinphillip03]

because it is Pinkish with baby blue tips. And it was a deal!

Marty

The piece I was after was pest free but another thrown in at a discount had AEFW bites and the Bayer dip removed a large one. I should have tossed it but after careful inspection I could not find any dead areas and no eggs so I chopped off the bottom of it for good measure and put it into the display. :worried:

This is the problem acro with the AEFW bites. Pinkish with baby blue tips and I let it sit in the dip for 45 minutes. If it starts to brown I'll chuck it, not sure why I didn't in the first place.

 

[aggie13reef]

Sorry to hear about your green bird, that's a shame. At least you got a frag though, most interesting thing about this hobby, that frag has the potential to once again make a huge colony. Been following for a while on your thread, love the look of the tank and the variety of color. Are you still pleased with your T5 switch? Really cant decide between LED and T5 on my upgrade. Keep up the good work!