Modern Integrated 50gal Cube...Build Thread!

[joshbryer]

So last night's test as well as the one that I ran this morning show ammonia at about .35 on the elos test scale, which is in mg/l. I'm pretty sure that mg/l is roughly equal to ppm, so in that case I'm a bit surprised that the reading didn't spike off the scale given the amount of ammonium chloride I added.

I'll test again tonight and hopefully it'll drop to 0 again by tomorrow night and I can dose it one more time. I'll start testing for nitrites and nitrates tomorrow as well. One thing I'm trying to figure out still is when to take out the live rock that I've seeded with, if ever. I want to do it early enough that the loss to the biofilter won't impact anything living. Any opinions?

As a nifty bonus, my skimmer went bat nuts last night, nearly overflowing this morning.

 

[joshbryer]

As of tonight, 48 Hours post ammonia spiking, it's back down to 0. Not surprisingly nitrites are up at .15 and nitrates are at .75ish. I'm guessing I'm taking this snapshot as the nitrites are falling and nitrates are on the uptick.

I'm pretty satisfied with this, and may not even spike ammonia again. The algae is getting pretty knarly, so I'm hopeful to get some snails in there early next week. I'm also planning to do a few days of lights out after I add the snails to try and get the algae under control. After that I'll see what I'm left with algae-wise and figure out a strategy from there, which may be just waiting it out.

Anyone have any advice other than this?

 

[Frogmanx82]

Do you have any chaeto growing in the fuge? What are your phosphates at?

Do you have any plans for soft corals? If so you could add them pretty soon. I like leathers, hardy, not invasive at all. I like mushrooms too, especially ricordeas.

 

[joshbryer]

Do you have any chaeto growing in the fuge? What are your phosphates at?

Do you have any plans for soft corals? If so you could add them pretty soon. I like leathers, hardy, not invasive at all. I like mushrooms too, especially ricordeas.

Didn't check phosphates tonight, will try to tomorrow. Last time I tested they were <.01. Seeing this much algae, even if they're testing 0 I would imagine they're being used up by the algae. I'll probably try to change the gfo again next weekend.

No plans for soft corals just sps and some acans.....

 

[Taqpol]

Wanted to stop in and say that your aquascaping is hands down amazing, but its your attention to detail and great build quality that made me subscribe to this thread. If you keep this up you will have one killer tank!

As far as the algae goes you might want to take a look at drummereef's thread, if you haven't already:

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1599945

It is really long, but like your thread it is also extremely detailed and very well done. He also used dry rock and somewhere in the middle, after he added water, he got a horrible stringy algae outbreak. You can read near the end what he decided to do, but he basically said if he ever worked with dry rock in the future he would have started dosing a bacterial additive like MB7 from the very beginning to help boost the bacterial population that has to counterbalance the algae population.

 

[Chrisrush]

I couldn't agree more with Alex. I have set up 3 tanks with dry rock, and the last 2 with MB7 and it has helped establish the bacteria population a lot faster than seeding with LR.

 

[ellinas]

Great aquascaping! looking real forward to seeing how this goes!

 

[afernandez]

How much of a spike did u do?
All when down with in 48 hrs nice!!
Did you dose anything? Like bacteria?

 

[joshbryer]

Wanted to stop in and say that your aquascaping is hands down amazing, but its your attention to detail and great build quality that made me subscribe to this thread. If you keep this up you will have one killer tank!

As far as the algae goes you might want to take a look at drummereef's thread, if you haven't already:

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1599945

It is really long, but like your thread it is also extremely detailed and very well done. He also used dry rock and somewhere in the middle, after he added water, he got a horrible stringy algae outbreak. You can read near the end what he decided to do, but he basically said if he ever worked with dry rock in the future he would have started dosing a bacterial additive like MB7 from the very beginning to help boost the bacterial population that has to counterbalance the algae population.

Thanks! I remember skimming through his thread in the past, but I appreciate the heads up on his algae info, I'll take a look. Right now, mine seems mostly limited to brown diatomish stuff with a couple sprigs of hair (I hope not bryopsis) and stringy stuff here and there. Hopefully it stays that way.

I dosed MB7 everyday for the first week and a half or so, didn't pick it back up when I returned from my thanksgiving trip, but I think I'll start it again tonight...

I couldn't agree more with Alex. I have set up 3 tanks with dry rock, and the last 2 with MB7 and it has helped establish the bacteria population a lot faster than seeding with LR.

Thanks Chris, I'm gonna start back up with the MB7....

Great aquascaping! looking real forward to seeing how this goes!

Much appreciated!

How much of a spike did u do?
All when down with in 48 hrs nice!!
Did you dose anything? Like bacteria?

I dosed MB7 for about 10 days or so..... I added enough ammonium chloride (.26 tbsp) that it should have raised the tank to 3ppm given the water volume. When I took my tests in never went of .3-.4, but it easily could have been higher in the time between the dosing and my followup test. My concern now is that when I take out the live rock from the sump, it'll be a hit to the biofilter. I figure I'll do it before I start adding CUC so that the added biomass will help build the buffering cap. on the rock that's left.

 

[joshbryer]

I'm really afraid I might have bryopsis....yay!

I'll snap a picture later tonight when the lights come on, but I'm still looking around for a better ID. From what I can tell it's either that or feather caulerpa or ???. They're single little fern looking sprouts....I pray not bryopsis. Maybe someone here will have a better idea.

 

[joshbryer]

I'm really afraid I might have bryopsis....yay!

I'll snap a picture later tonight when the lights come on, but I'm still looking around for a better ID. From what I can tell it's either that or feather caulerpa or ???. They're single little fern looking sprouts....I pray not bryopsis. Maybe someone here will have a better idea.

What I have is definitely what's pictured here:

http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=200950&st=0


There's no conclusive answers in that link as to whether it's bryopsis, but I'm at least happy that some people are saying it's not. It's on my glass too, as small single sprigs, and on the rocks as single sprigs that are larger. I guess I'll know better once my snails go in this week if they eat it (or not).

 

[Frogmanx82]

I've got that stuff on my glass too. I just use the magnet cleaner and scrape it off. I don't see it on my rocks. I have seen my trochus eat it. It may not be the same thing of course, but it looks just like it. I wouldn't get too worried at this point.

 

[ezhoops]

how about pics of the whole room? I love the tank

 

[joshbryer]

how about pics of the whole room? I love the tank

Thanks Hoops. I'll try to get some whole room pics later this week....still waiting to finish (furniture etc...) once budget allows.


Just an update, removed the live rock from the sump, did a partial detritus vaccum in there, another 10% WC on Sunday. Phosphates are testing at 0, which doesn't surprise me between the algae and gfo sucking it up. I'm gonna order cleanup crew part 1 from reefcleaners today...

 

[joshbryer]

Yeah, I'm pretty sure it's bryopsis....collecting detritus, fern-like, joy.

And here's some other assorted algae, some more fern-like hopefully not bryopsis, some type of macros, diatoms and some basic hair:

On the upside, the diatoms seem to be retreating somewhat. I'm on the second night of the second round of mb7 dosing and I got 3 nassarius and a fighting conch that are acclimating now. I think I located some cerith snails locally and hope to pick up 15 or so tomorrow. The Kent Tech M should be here on Wednesday...

 

[Frogmanx82]

When it starts growing on the sand you have problems. It gets bad fast. You need the CUC in there and you should probably consider running some GFO.

 

[joshbryer]

When it starts growing on the sand you have problems. It gets bad fast. You need the CUC in there and you should probably consider running some GFO.

Yea, it's already growing fast. I'm currently, and have been running gfo in a reactor... Hopefully the Kent Tech M method will work for me as well as it has for others. Only other thing I guess I could try is lettuce nudibranchs, but I'd rather not have them starve out once they're done.


Two of the three nassarius snails buried themselves immediately, the third took a couple laps around the tank and then a couple up and down the glass before he dove into the sand. The fighting conch just started eating and is still going, he seems like he'll be a really good cleaning citizen, and he's pretty cool looking too.

 

[BennyFrank]

I say just let it run its course. Let it "get out of hand" and then manually remove as much as possible. Then run GFO aggresively and start routine water changes. Although it's undesirable in an established tank, right now the macro algae is functioning as a free (and natural) form of nutrient export.

 

[joshbryer]

I say just let it run its course. Let it "get out of hand" and then manually remove as much as possible. Then run GFO aggresively and start routine water changes. Although it's undesirable in an established tank, right now the macro algae is functioning as a free (and natural) form of nutrient export.

Yea, my only real concern is what the fern like buggers that think is bryopsis... The macros I'm definitely letting go for a while, and they're long enough that I don't think my cuc will touch them. I'm gonna post a pic of the hopefully-not-bryopsis in an id thread.

 

[joshbryer]

Quick update on CUC stocking.... added 4 Trochus snails and 20 ceriths tonight. Well, 19 ceriths counting the 1 hermit I got by accident. He went into the sump straight away.

The conch is doing a great job cleaning the sand, he's eating everytime I look at him. Diatoms are still receding derbesia/bryopsis/whatever-it-is seems to be holding steady and increasing.