Mark's 150 gallon

I added a whopping 2ml of Seachem Phosphorus last night along with cutting the GFO reactor back to 4 hours a day. I believe I may have stabilized things but of course I need a few more days of observation. I had a really hard time getting a PO4 reading yesterday and noticed, hopefully not too late, that the 2 LPS frags I had were nearly dead. Why am I running GFO again?

Not throwing the panic switch yet and breaking out the macro lens still shows healthy, if colorless, acros. I think it's prudent to continue to make sure health improves before diagnosing the color issue.

Tenuis has lost a LOT of color yet the other than the tips the skin still looks healthy to my eyes.
jdCGogAh.jpg


Red Robin in here
Lnkwk1th.jpg


and in my 40 that had a 4KH spike then a 30 Nitrate spike after a chemi-clean treatment.
TH2gsoBh.jpg


Even the base of the frag in the 40 looks better.
oYeOmiRh.jpg


240 PAR in the 40, 340 in here.

This is an unbroken tip of the blue stag. All new growth from the bigger polyps on up and typical of what I see when dosing SpongePower.
mDJDwrOh.jpg


The horrida is actually starting to look good.
E3GRbh4h.jpg


sUMKtPbh.jpg


UC Red Dragon
vJF0Uagh.jpg


Nasuta in here, still slowly coloring up.
H4eX346h.jpg


Tiny frag in the 40.
N443ETnh.jpg
 
Mark,
The tank is really coming along, I bet you are stoked you put yourself through hell and back buddy! The difference is quite apparent, again, nicely done :)
 
Big E said:
Mark,

If you're seeing white bugs on a few acros I would dose Interceptor.........some acros don't mind them but others get stressed and don't grow.

Red bugs or these white ones seldom will kill an acro, but it stresses them and if something else happens.....for example an unforeseen alk change, the coral ends up declining more rapidly.
Click to expand...

Hi Ed,

someone up in your area, Conner, looks like they've experienced the bugs I have as well. I bumped their thread hoping for an answer.

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?p=23923142#post23923142

He claimed nothing killed them, which so far is similar to my experience. You can see here: http://i.imgur.com/N443ETn.jpg that they made it through a Bayer dip into my 40 as well, but again the little bastards only seem to show up on the most colorful corals.
 
markalot said:
Hi Ed,

someone up in your area, Conner, looks like they've experienced the bugs I have as well. I bumped their thread hoping for an answer.

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?p=23923142#post23923142

He claimed nothing killed them, which so far is similar to my experience. You can see here: http://i.imgur.com/N443ETn.jpg that they made it through a Bayer dip into my 40 as well, but again the little bastards only seem to show up on the most colorful corals.
Click to expand...

Hi Mark,

My statements about the bugs is in general terms.......I couldn't tell you if you both have the same type of bugs, but Interceptor should kill any kind of pod type bug.

I've seen corals with plenty of the bugs look great with color and polyp extensions and other corals shut down.

The white type bugs are much harder to see............best is right after lights on. This is easy to tell if you don't use dawn lighting......they tend to hide inside and under the polyp holes or shaded areas during the day.

I would just dose the Interceptor as it's harmless and easy to do. You'll know right away after the treatments as you'll see an explosion of growth.

I don't think Bayer has ever been the best for killing bugs immediately and that's why some people dip with Interceptor also.

I used to use Tropic Marin Pro coral cure for a dip...........it kills all those pests but is a lot harsher on acros.
 
Thanks Ed, I always appreciate hearing your advice! :)

I think I have a lot of problems, one oif which is continually making the same mistake over and over. All 3 my stylophoras were in decline which started last week? Why? I've never lost a stylo. I did a search in the SPS forum, titles only, for FEED and then perused past TOTM winners looking for feeding comments.

I feed less daily than most folks feed a 90 gallon.

The last 3 days I have upped my feeding, not all the way, but climbing. 2 cubes frozen, algae flakes, plus 1/2 tsp reef roids and pumps in feed mode for 30 minutes. I follow this with a smaller feeding of various flake for the anthias and whoever else is fast enough and end the day with a heavier feeding of algae flakes for the bigger fish.

I also am dosing 3 drops of Sponge Power daily.

I am also stirring the top of all the gravel daily now to clear out the green cyano. It's not too bad but I like the bright white and I've found now on the third day that the tank does not get as cloudy as it did the first two days.

Skimmer pulled out a lot of gunk today, near empty this morning to near full this evening, and it was dark brown and stinky. I like it, the wife however ....

So that is my new schedule and I'm sticking too it dammit.

^^ Frozen is Mysis and Plankton. Food selection around here stinks, what happened to the cyclopese blend, did they stop making it?
 
Last edited:
Hi Mark,

Do you have access to red plankton and krill. They will help your anthias keep their red/pink colour. If you also have access to RS/PE mysis, then it will be good source of amino acids for corals as they are rich in protein. You will notice good polyp extension. I feed my fish exclusively frozen food because this what Paul B recommends. FWIW, I use four cubes daily to feed 16 fish.

I hope this helps.
 
DiscusHeckel said:
Hi Mark,

Do you have access to red plankton and krill. They will help your anthias keep their red/pink colour. If you also have access to RS/PE mysis, then it will be good source of amino acids for corals as they are rich in protein. You will notice good polyp extension. I feed my fish exclusively frozen food because this what Paul B recommends. FWIW, I use four cubes daily to feed 16 fish.

I hope this helps.
Click to expand...

Thanks Bulent, that does help. I feed so little it's amazing anything stays alive!
 
AquaForest Reef salt (non probiotic) on the way via Amazon. A little larger than the small Red Sea Blue Buckets and cheaper.

The LFS near where I work, the one with the Halides, does have ReefBrights on their tank and they were the only thing on when I visited. Lots of shimmer, but compared to my BML strips these things are DIM. I was surprised, but then there really aren't that many LED's in the Reef Brights.

It sucks that BML is now getting out of the aquarium business.
 
SSC rtn'ed overnight apparently, all gone. Can't remember the last time I had an acro RTN on me, but I suspected if I did anything wrong after having to pry it off the rocks I would lose it. Not sure if I'll try another or not.
 
Mark, I suspect your ssc went due to all of the instability from your zoa adventure and subsequent tear down.. And the playing with po4 additions..
The tank is in nutrient and chemical turmoil, I think..
I think you are on the right track with more food.. But don't go crazy too quickly.. Up the quantity over a month or two..
And imo, don't add anymore po4.
It's been my experience (I know not everybody's) that naturally occurring nutrients- from organic inputs like food and fish make the corals happier than inputs of pure po4 or no3.
I know you want to get the tank back on track right now, but try to go a bit more slow...
I know.. Easy for me to say from my armchair...
Also, curious.. What's holding you back from using interceptor?
Hang in there Mark!
 
reefmutt said:
Mark, I suspect your ssc went due to all of the instability from your zoa adventure and subsequent tear down.. And the playing with po4 additions..
The tank is in nutrient and chemical turmoil, I think..
I think you are on the right track with more food.. But don't go crazy too quickly.. Up the quantity over a month or two..
And imo, don't add anymore po4.
It's been my experience (I know not everybody's) that naturally occurring nutrients- from organic inputs like food and fish make the corals happier than inputs of pure po4 or no3.
I know you want to get the tank back on track right now, but try to go a bit more slow...
I know.. Easy for me to say from my armchair...
Also, curious.. What's holding you back from using interceptor?
Hang in there Mark!
Click to expand...

Thanks Matt, much appreciated. :) Yea, the tank is acting a lot like a new tank at the moment due to the rescape turmoil.

Interceptor kills a lot of things, including shrimp and beneficial pods. It's a last resort IMO, but I always have it as a tool if nothing else works. Let me fix everything else, get the corals as healthy as I can, then evaluate interceptor usage.
 
markalot said:
Thanks Matt, much appreciated. :) Yea, the tank is acting a lot like a new tank at the moment due to the rescape turmoil.

Interceptor kills a lot of things, including shrimp and beneficial pods. It's a last resort IMO, but I always have it as a tool if nothing else works. Let me fix everything else, get the corals as healthy as I can, then evaluate interceptor usage.
Click to expand...

Thats a good plan. When you do use interceptor, dont worry about the pods. Mine survived three treatments, my blood shrimp too.
 
mhucasey said:
Thats a good plan. When you do use interceptor, dont worry about the pods. Mine survived three treatments, my blood shrimp too.
Click to expand...

Thanks Matt.

So I failed.

hcz9AS4h.jpg


... to completely kill my third Red Planet. I thought sure it was dead. :lolspin:

The Lokani, always happy, has been encrusting well on the frag plug I placed it on after dipping.
1z2Otfqh.jpg
 
Thanks Matt, that Lokani is a tank of a coral.

So my little brain can't handle the following data. I have been moving LPS corals into my 40 gallon to save them, and it's worked as all have recovered. I tested PO4 with the Hanna ULR and I get 7 or .02 PO4.

In here LPS continue to struggle and my PO4 is now (31) .1.

Nitrates in the 40 are 10 to 15 ( spiked over 20 after a chemi-clean treatment).

Nitrates in here are around 7 (salifert best guess).

I've made a hard and fast rule for the 40 ... other than a bag of carbon mixed with a little GFO I do nothing. Topoff is timed, as all my topoffs are, with 1 tsp of Kalk per 3 gallons of RODI.

I use an Aqua C Remora loud crappy injection based skimmer and empty the cup maybe weekly, or week and a half. Skimmate is weaksauce. No sump, just a hang on back fuge that I use to hide equipment.

I only have 4 fish in here. A Pygmy wrasse, Tailspot Blenny, Black cap Basslet, and a young tang that will be swapped for another young tang in a few months.

I used to have a huge caulerpa problem but the Tang ate it all.

I have a Tuxedo urchin ... I need one or two of these for the big tank, these guys are hard workers!
The sandbed is very shallow, never deeper than 3/4 inch. The basslet has completely cleared the sand from under the rock structures.

I've been feeding a small pinch of reef roids daily plus a couple of feedings of flake. Glass needs cleaned about every other day, and you can see on the right side what happens if I don't clean for a week.



How does PO4 stay so low in here? :headwally:
 
markalot said:
Thanks Matt, that Lokani is a tank of a coral.

So my little brain can't handle the following data. I have been moving LPS corals into my 40 gallon to save them, and it's worked as all have recovered. I tested PO4 with the Hanna ULR and I get 7 or .02 PO4.

In here LPS continue to struggle and my PO4 is now (31) .1.

Nitrates in the 40 are 10 to 15 ( spiked over 20 after a chemi-clean treatment).

Nitrates in here are around 7 (salifert best guess).

I've made a hard and fast rule for the 40 ... other than a bag of carbon mixed with a little GFO I do nothing. Topoff is timed, as all my topoffs are, with 1 tsp of Kalk per 3 gallons of RODI.

I use an Aqua C Remora loud crappy injection based skimmer and empty the cup maybe weekly, or week and a half. Skimmate is weaksauce. No sump, just a hang on back fuge that I use to hide equipment.

I only have 4 fish in here. A Pygmy wrasse, Tailspot Blenny, Black cap Basslet, and a young tang that will be swapped for another young tang in a few months.

I used to have a huge caulerpa problem but the Tang ate it all.

I have a Tuxedo urchin ... I need one or two of these for the big tank, these guys are hard workers!
The sandbed is very shallow, never deeper than 3/4 inch. The basslet has completely cleared the sand from under the rock structures.

I've been feeding a small pinch of reef roids daily plus a couple of feedings of flake. Glass needs cleaned about every other day, and you can see on the right side what happens if I don't clean for a week.



How does PO4 stay so low in here? :headwally:
Click to expand...
Small import of new PO4+no phosphate sinks+LPS corals consuming it would be my guess
 
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