My 150G piece of heaven
- Thread starter xtlosx
- Start date
xtlosx
Just Reefin'
I wouldn't say it's quiet, but my return isn't quiet either... Regardless of the sound, the darn thing works and comes in at a great price.
Thank you! It has come a LONG way now with the rock starting to turn purple in spots...... It's getting there finally.
xtlosx
Just Reefin'
Wow, so I just realized I haven't update this is a LONG time.... I mean long!
To make a long story short I struggled with cyano (so bad to the point I couldn't keep SPS, or really anything) since last September\October. For months I did 25-30% weekly water changes, ran high capacity GFO, tried carbon dosing, basically everything under the sun... no luck to completely eradicate it.
Fast forward about 3 weeks ago, i finally got the cyano to be minimal, and the road continued to be slow, slow slow there were just parts I couldn't get rid of. Under advice from a local reefer and a little bit of nudging (thanks Mark), I finally just did chemi-clean last Thursday. I really hate doing chemicals in my tank for anything, but I was at the end of my rope. I was at the point I was going to just tear the tank down and call it done. Boy am I happy I finally did it , and should've done it earlier. After two days, it looked at those cyano never happen. The chemi-clean got a bunch of sludge, gunk, and crap from my skimmer (and it seems to be performing much nicer), my rock is almost overnight encrusting with coraline, and in general, my SPS polyp extension has blown up... Overall, I'm VERY satisfied. It certainly isn't for everyone, and not a silver bullet, but it did perform what I think is a detox for my sick tank.. It sure as heck cleaned it out like a champ.
Also since the last update, I have started two part dosing as I realized my Alk was 6.3 and calc was 330. Now they are steady at Alk - 8.5 and Calc 440. The SPS are growing like weeds. I'm dealing with a little bit of bryopsis right now, because while my Alk & Calc were low, my Mag was just as bad, it was down to 1,000 at one point. I've been dosing Tech M now to both eradicate the Bryopsis and as well get my Mag to a stable level, which I am very close to. I'm sitting around 1385 right now and want to get it to 1500. I'm noticing the bryopsis that is left is getting brown at the tips and basically dying. Should be all gone in no time.
For the first time in probably six months or more, I'm actually proud to show off my tank... Here's some updated pictures, along with some of my SPS we have now. I've gone from not being able to keep absolutely anything to this...
Needless to say I'm very happy and enjoying the hobby again..
FTS.. Notice the nice clean sand..
Aussie Sarmentosa.
A. Plana (burnt a little when my mag was swinging) Growing back nicely now
Unknown but blue'ing up in my tank.
ORA Plum Crazy
Unknown Tenuis
To make a long story short I struggled with cyano (so bad to the point I couldn't keep SPS, or really anything) since last September\October. For months I did 25-30% weekly water changes, ran high capacity GFO, tried carbon dosing, basically everything under the sun... no luck to completely eradicate it.
Fast forward about 3 weeks ago, i finally got the cyano to be minimal, and the road continued to be slow, slow slow there were just parts I couldn't get rid of. Under advice from a local reefer and a little bit of nudging (thanks Mark), I finally just did chemi-clean last Thursday. I really hate doing chemicals in my tank for anything, but I was at the end of my rope. I was at the point I was going to just tear the tank down and call it done. Boy am I happy I finally did it , and should've done it earlier. After two days, it looked at those cyano never happen. The chemi-clean got a bunch of sludge, gunk, and crap from my skimmer (and it seems to be performing much nicer), my rock is almost overnight encrusting with coraline, and in general, my SPS polyp extension has blown up... Overall, I'm VERY satisfied. It certainly isn't for everyone, and not a silver bullet, but it did perform what I think is a detox for my sick tank.. It sure as heck cleaned it out like a champ.
Also since the last update, I have started two part dosing as I realized my Alk was 6.3 and calc was 330. Now they are steady at Alk - 8.5 and Calc 440. The SPS are growing like weeds. I'm dealing with a little bit of bryopsis right now, because while my Alk & Calc were low, my Mag was just as bad, it was down to 1,000 at one point. I've been dosing Tech M now to both eradicate the Bryopsis and as well get my Mag to a stable level, which I am very close to. I'm sitting around 1385 right now and want to get it to 1500. I'm noticing the bryopsis that is left is getting brown at the tips and basically dying. Should be all gone in no time.
For the first time in probably six months or more, I'm actually proud to show off my tank... Here's some updated pictures, along with some of my SPS we have now. I've gone from not being able to keep absolutely anything to this...
Needless to say I'm very happy and enjoying the hobby again..
FTS.. Notice the nice clean sand..
Aussie Sarmentosa.
A. Plana (burnt a little when my mag was swinging) Growing back nicely now
Unknown but blue'ing up in my tank.
ORA Plum Crazy
Unknown Tenuis
xtlosx
Just Reefin'
Mother of Pearl
Copp's tabling hyacinthus. Encrusting rapidly and developing a green'ish tint where it's latched into a little cave.
Blue Stag w\ green polyps and base
Limeade
Tyree Pink Lemonade
Back Left to Right.. Cali Tort, Strawberry Shortcake, uknown and unknown
Forest Fire Digi, Oregon Tort, Yellow Millepora, Red Planet, Unknown tenuis and unknown neon green SPS in back
Oregon Tort
Copp's tabling hyacinthus. Encrusting rapidly and developing a green'ish tint where it's latched into a little cave.
Blue Stag w\ green polyps and base
Limeade
Tyree Pink Lemonade
Back Left to Right.. Cali Tort, Strawberry Shortcake, uknown and unknown
Forest Fire Digi, Oregon Tort, Yellow Millepora, Red Planet, Unknown tenuis and unknown neon green SPS in back
Oregon Tort
ReeferMark
New member
Looking forward to the pictures when those frags "grow up"!
xtlosx
Just Reefin'
Thanks.. It's a good feeling coming home and being excited about my reef again. If anyone is ever tempted to give up, just look at the pictures of my system before, and now.. It just takes patience, and some work! There's a light at the end of the tunnel.
ReeferMark
New member
I hear ya! After having a FOWLR tank (with a few mushrooms) for nearly eight years, I finally decided to go to a SPS tank (with a few mushrooms!). Several upgrades have taken place over the last 3 months, but the frags are starting to take off and I can't wait to get home each day to look at them!
xtlosx
Just Reefin'
Thanks, bunch of these came from another very generous local reefer.. Great pieces and can't wait until they grow out.
xtlosx
Just Reefin'
Thanks Dave! I'm trying to figure out how to keep my sugar grained substrate stay put... Anyone have experienced with putting a tiny bit of some of the larger heavier grained stuff on top to keep the sugar down? Would still allow for our wrasses, nassarius snails etc to burrow but it would keep the fine stuff where it should be..
Anyone?
xtlosx
Just Reefin'
So it's been almost two months since the chemiclean and it's just a few little patches of cyano on the sand, but nothing uncontrollable. Rock are coraline'ing up real nice and it's starting to look like a normal reef....
Some updated pictures....
Unknown A. Plana I picked up, slow grower but doing well.
Aussie Sarmentosa
Mother of Pearl that we're babysitting for a friend...
GARF Purple Bonsai
Tyree Pink Lemonade & Limeade.
Markie Mark & The Funky Bunch Aqua Adventure growing very quickly!
and I would be remiss if I didn't post our purple S. Gigantea.. This guy is just a stunner!
Thanks for looking... certainly slowly but surely, it's improving.
Some updated pictures....
Unknown A. Plana I picked up, slow grower but doing well.
Aussie Sarmentosa
Mother of Pearl that we're babysitting for a friend...
GARF Purple Bonsai
Tyree Pink Lemonade & Limeade.
Markie Mark & The Funky Bunch Aqua Adventure growing very quickly!
and I would be remiss if I didn't post our purple S. Gigantea.. This guy is just a stunner!
Thanks for looking... certainly slowly but surely, it's improving.
xtlosx
Just Reefin'
Thanks! Still fighting that little bit of cyano I have, but with enough high capacity GFO, water changes, and skimming I should knock it down.. Recently my chaeto has just blown up in its growth, so hoping that helps.
Next time you trim some stuff let me know
G_Sanab922
New member
Beautiful tank. Love all the different organisms you have in there. 150 is actually something I'm considering to do in the future.
xtlosx
Just Reefin'
Thanks guys. It's frustrating and still an uphill battle as I have a little cyano on my sand bed, but certainly nothing like what I was dealing with. Rehoming the green gigantea took off a huge bioload from my system.
Whatever I did early on to shock my reef environmental, it was a big deal, but it's moving in the right direction now!
Whatever I did early on to shock my reef environmental, it was a big deal, but it's moving in the right direction now!
xtlosx
Just Reefin'
Wow, so boy have things changed since April. As some of you know I have gone through almost 9 months of cyano & nutrient hell in general. Ironically enough, the acros I had over the last couple months had better color during nutrient times than now, but that's another story.
In April I took in some frags and colonies for a buddy breaking down a tank, and had an alk drop issue. I tested for weeks after adding things and it never budged. One day it went from the stable 8.6-9 down to 6.5.... I didn't realize until things started looking strange. I lost several colonies within days, some receded down to about nothing but survived. Those are now growing and thriving since then.
I tried chemi-clean in may, and it got rid of everything right away from rocks and sand. Months later, cyano slowly started coming back on the sand. I was going through 2 cups of BRS high capacity GFO every week at one point and I could never get my PO4 close to .02-.03. I'd put in new GFO, get it from .1 down to .03, then back up again. Almost got to the point where I tore this tank down. At one point, probably May-June I realized I had red bugs on all of my acros. Some of them were infested beyond belief although we never lost anything. I did the interceptor treatment, and then got an algae bloom because of the pod die off, etc... more nutrients, more algae. ARGH! Literally, at the point of throwing in the towel..... until one day..
On the advice of a local reefer (thanks mark) I decided to pull out my skimmer, and give it a nice RO cleaning. I literally pulled everything apart, toothbrushed it, got everything sparkly clean and realized that my bubble plate looked strange. The output of my pump was going directly into the little holes in the plate and not onto a solid piece of the plate.... 'DOH!!!!!!! Could this be my problem all along? My skimmer wasn't undersized as some thought, but just not working even close to capacity? I fixed the plate, reinstallled it, and for the next month it was pulling out 1-2G of tea skimmate (on dry setting) every WEEK! Within a month the cyano, hair algae, was all gone. My rock started coraline'ing up, and everything looked 100x better. Between polyp extension, growth, etc.
So today my tank is clean, looks great, and we have added a LOT of acros since then. I have gone from dosing alk\calc once a day via RKL + BRS doser to dosing both hourly to increase stability. Alk & Calc are stable, NO3, PO4 are low, and everything is happy... The new GFO we switched to works much better than the BRS stuff and lasts almost a month, and if not could be more even. Everything that had just bland colors are actually in the last two weeks starting to color up.... finally, I think we're in a good place. Now just to leave it alone and let things grow.
Mother of Pearl getting color back.
Oregon Tort. Couple branches were lost in the alk swing, but have since started growing right back over the dead areas.
Same colony after the swing.. it's since come back very nicely.
No name LFS coral, but has a lot of potential... Anyone on an ID?
Aussie Sarmentosa, finally beginning to branch out
[https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-aRB_jSo2n1Y/VACwsivZNwI/AAAAAAAAGD8/oZvumpD94hg/s720/IMG_3035.JPG[/img]
bland A. Plana from LFS that has since gotten a lime green interior, blue coralites and a red body... This one is finally beginning to branch.
ORA Joe the Coral
In April I took in some frags and colonies for a buddy breaking down a tank, and had an alk drop issue. I tested for weeks after adding things and it never budged. One day it went from the stable 8.6-9 down to 6.5.... I didn't realize until things started looking strange. I lost several colonies within days, some receded down to about nothing but survived. Those are now growing and thriving since then.
I tried chemi-clean in may, and it got rid of everything right away from rocks and sand. Months later, cyano slowly started coming back on the sand. I was going through 2 cups of BRS high capacity GFO every week at one point and I could never get my PO4 close to .02-.03. I'd put in new GFO, get it from .1 down to .03, then back up again. Almost got to the point where I tore this tank down. At one point, probably May-June I realized I had red bugs on all of my acros. Some of them were infested beyond belief although we never lost anything. I did the interceptor treatment, and then got an algae bloom because of the pod die off, etc... more nutrients, more algae. ARGH! Literally, at the point of throwing in the towel..... until one day..
On the advice of a local reefer (thanks mark) I decided to pull out my skimmer, and give it a nice RO cleaning. I literally pulled everything apart, toothbrushed it, got everything sparkly clean and realized that my bubble plate looked strange. The output of my pump was going directly into the little holes in the plate and not onto a solid piece of the plate.... 'DOH!!!!!!! Could this be my problem all along? My skimmer wasn't undersized as some thought, but just not working even close to capacity? I fixed the plate, reinstallled it, and for the next month it was pulling out 1-2G of tea skimmate (on dry setting) every WEEK! Within a month the cyano, hair algae, was all gone. My rock started coraline'ing up, and everything looked 100x better. Between polyp extension, growth, etc.
So today my tank is clean, looks great, and we have added a LOT of acros since then. I have gone from dosing alk\calc once a day via RKL + BRS doser to dosing both hourly to increase stability. Alk & Calc are stable, NO3, PO4 are low, and everything is happy... The new GFO we switched to works much better than the BRS stuff and lasts almost a month, and if not could be more even. Everything that had just bland colors are actually in the last two weeks starting to color up.... finally, I think we're in a good place. Now just to leave it alone and let things grow.
Mother of Pearl getting color back.
Oregon Tort. Couple branches were lost in the alk swing, but have since started growing right back over the dead areas.
Same colony after the swing.. it's since come back very nicely.
No name LFS coral, but has a lot of potential... Anyone on an ID?
Aussie Sarmentosa, finally beginning to branch out
[https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-aRB_jSo2n1Y/VACwsivZNwI/AAAAAAAAGD8/oZvumpD94hg/s720/IMG_3035.JPG[/img]
bland A. Plana from LFS that has since gotten a lime green interior, blue coralites and a red body... This one is finally beginning to branch.
ORA Joe the Coral
xtlosx
Just Reefin'
Blueberry Yum-Yum. Arguably, my favorite stick in this tank. Got it and it went rather bland, but in the last week or so has gotten a light blue body, purple coralites and looks awesome. Almost resembles a pearlberry. We'll see as it colors up completely. Thanks Hung!
JF Vivid Rainbow Delight. You can see how much of it died back in the swing, but has now since regrown over and has great PE. This one takes forever to color up anyways, but it has been through hell here.
A. Enchinata that as you can see almost completely was lost, but has since regrown over dead branches. This one is growing very quickly now and has great color.
Unknown, but the base is getting a very nice forest green..
MMFB Aqua Adventure. This one was a tiny stick when I got it, but it's a beautiful light aqua blue with huge fuzzy polyps and a newly coloring base.
When I get a chance I'll take some updated pictures and a FTS when lights are going. Thanks to everyone who offered help through all of this and kept me in the hobby. It's always the stupidest things that get ya.
JF Vivid Rainbow Delight. You can see how much of it died back in the swing, but has now since regrown over and has great PE. This one takes forever to color up anyways, but it has been through hell here.
A. Enchinata that as you can see almost completely was lost, but has since regrown over dead branches. This one is growing very quickly now and has great color.
Unknown, but the base is getting a very nice forest green..
MMFB Aqua Adventure. This one was a tiny stick when I got it, but it's a beautiful light aqua blue with huge fuzzy polyps and a newly coloring base.
When I get a chance I'll take some updated pictures and a FTS when lights are going. Thanks to everyone who offered help through all of this and kept me in the hobby. It's always the stupidest things that get ya.
