New to me 90 gallon system

[RTMA]

Thanks Joe--I did end up finding an Alk kit in the oodles of gear I inherited with the tank. Measured it, looks to be on the low side (it's hard to tell with this test kit--the water came out yellow, and the color scale on the reference card went from yellow to blue, without a really clear middle target zone), so I added a dose of a Seachem Ph buffer that promised to raise Alk along with it. Will test again in the morning.

Is that the API test? I started with that test and ended up pulling out my hair with all the drops. I switched to the sailfert alk test, which is pretty easy and now I can do in my sleep. I am not sure what is in the Kent PH Buffer stuff, but making you own solution is very easy and much much cheaper then buying PH buffer. This is part of the "Randy's Improved two part" (calc / alk) recipe that Steve mentioned in an earlier post.

We can go over this and the calcium / magnesium recipes at the meeting.

 

[tyler91913]

sad corals

sad corals

I'm putting some pictures of the bleached corals below.

On Joe's recommendation, I picked up a Salifert KH test kit, and if I'm reading the results right, I've got 7.7 dKH, which is 2.73 meq/L. If somebody else has experience with this test kit, tell me if I'm understanding step number five correctly. It says, "Hold the syringe with the tip facing upward and read the position of the, now the upper end, of the black part of the piston." It looks like there are some missing words there. Anyways, with the tip pointing up, the top of the black part of my piston was at 0.50. This is the number I used to calculate the KH. If I'm supposed to be looking at something else--the bottom of the black part of the piston, the level of the liquid after the air bubble between piston and liquid--let me know, cause that'll change things.

PH is at 8.2. Temp has stayed steady at 80 all day. Running the AC at the same time as the halides is a pain, but worth it if it gives me that steady temperature.

For what it's worth, all the other corals look healthy and happy, including the other SPS. There's a pink frilly mushroom thing that has lost some of its fuzz and has a couple of glassy spots on it now, but I think that's because it's getting a lot more light now than it was in the last tank configuration. I'm including a picture of that too, hoping someone can give me an ID and diagnosis if he's in trouble.

 

[RTMA]

That frilly mushroom is the pic looks more like a leather of some sort. The tentacles go in and out normally, but usually come out when it's happy. I don't think frilly mushrooms can retract their tentacles. Google leather coral and see if any of the pics match up.

 

[tyler91913]

Joe--I think you're right. When I picked it up, it looked like the cabbage leather on this page: http://www.nano-reef.com/corals/?coral=2

Now it's got a bit of a sheen to it. A little bit of research tells me that this may not be a bad thing; it could just be shedding a layer of "skin". Here's what Christopher Marks writes, on the same page that I found the matching image: "This, as with all leather corals, may go through stages in which they shrink and appear to be dieing. They will then shed a waxy coat to remove any built up detritus on their surface and renew themselves. It has been said that this "shedding" contains a toxin called terenoids that can harm or even kill other corals it comes in contact with. Our corals shed on a very regular basis and we have yet to see evidence that this substance harms the other tank inhabitants. Although siphoning any of the shed substance off the coral would not be a totally bad idea, better safe than sorry."

If these terenoids are the culprit affecting my birdsnest and cats paw, is my best bet throwing a carbon sock in my sump?

Thanks again for all the help, you guys.

 

[RTMA]

Yep its shedding its layer. Its not a bad thing at all. I havent seen anything bad happen to my sps, then again the small finger leather I have doesn't shed very often.

imho - if you have softies and sps - running carbon 24/7 is a good thing. I run it in a reactor 24/7 and change it out each month. I highly recommend the BRS ROX carbon as it requires very little rinsing. And I have tried almost every carbon on the market. That blue and white API stuff in the milk carton is the worse (takes forever to rinse - very soft and any agitation creates more fines). The Marineland diamond stuff is slightly better if your shopping at Petco or Petsmart.

and your very welcome - that's what we are here for!

 

[tyler91913]

Update (this is kind of for my own record, but I figured others may be interested too):

Tank update:

LEDs stopped working. Since they all stopped, I'm guessing this is a driver problem? I have no idea. Not crucial, but it would be nice if I could get them going again.

ATO added (thanks Jeremy!)

Reefkeeper added. I was about to order the Apex Jr., when found this as part of a tank breakdown sale for $80. It's old school, but a huge improvement on having nothing but me to monitor temp, etc. I'm lovin' the feed mode (not just for feeding, but for quieting the tank if we want to watch a movie or whatever) and the fact that it's smart about turning fans/lights on and off when temp gets to certain levels. Tank temp has been much steadier since adding this.

Chemistry update:

Started dosing 2-part with Randy's Recipe 1. As soon as I got out of daily top offs (thanks to my ATO) I start doing something that involves daily dosing again! Arrgh. Now I'm starting to scope out dosing units, since I'd like the maintenance to be a once or twice a week thing, not a once or twice a day thing. Or can people dose 2-part once or twice a week? Or does it have to be an every day thing?

Thinking about adding some sort of GFO reactor to curb algae growth. Would also like to add an ATS at some point. I can clean the front three sides, but the back wall looks fuzzy (and not in a cute way).

Livestock updates:

Birdsnest died back except for one little branch, which looks to be doing very well. The rest went from healthy to bright white to gray. I think this means that it's done. RIP. I'll probably frag off the good branch and toss the big sad skeleton.

Catspaw died back to the point where only about 10% was covered in happy polyps. Then it turned around and is starting to recover lost ground. Now it has about 25% coverage in happy polyps.

The pink frilly thing is indeed a cabbage leather, and is growing fast. It sheds a layer every couple of days. I'm going to have to move this to a darker part of the tank, since I think its growth can be attributed to all the light it's getting right under the MH.

Everybody else seems happy. The xenia is growing quick and will need to be cut back soon, since it's starting to swarm over some of my caps. I've had a few majano and aiptasia pop up, but I've been blasting them with Joe's Juice. I've also noticed a population explosion of small (1/8-1/4") snails in the fuge. Is this something to worry about? Should I get something down there that can eat them?

Well, that's all I can think of for now. I'm loving this hobby.

 

[scolley]

Congrats on the controller and ATO! Two things that make life MUCH easier. And your tank more stable.

Sounds like your corals are turning around. That's good too!

And take a look at Bulk Reef Supply for the "dosing units". It's another expense to be sure, but it's just one small thing that makes life easier. And they can be controlled by your controller too. But you might want to consider not just dosing 2-part, but Mg too. Once your corals start to take off they can start sucking down magnesium too... an element whose level is arguably pretty important. Check out the reef chemistry forum for more on that.

Could be anything on the LED's. Does it have a wall wart? And if so, did you check to see if there is still power coming out of that? That's where I'd start looking.

And no idea about the snails, except to say that any clean up crew population explosion is likely in direct proportion the food that's available to them.

Good job with the livestock. And watch those xenia!

 

[tyler91913]

Thanks for the input Steve, as always!

Right, the recipe has a Magnesium part too, made from Epsom salts. I'm supposed to add a measure of it every time I finish a cycle of the 2-part. The chemistry forum has been informative. Randy himself seems to be the king of reef chemistry.

What is a wall wart? Is that an AC converter? The light fixture has four plugs coming out of it: two lead to the ballasts for the MHs, one is for the CFs, and one is for the LEDs. Both the latter are just regular three-prong plugs.

I'm attaching a pic of some snails camped out on the bubble-reducing sponge in my sump and something weird my hairy mushroom is doing. It looks like (hope you're not eating!) it is barfing a strand of cyano. Its 7 or 8 brothers and sisters are looking normal. Any ideas? Googling "barfing hairy mushroom" yields mixed results.

 

[scolley]

Im afraid I can't help you with the snail or the barf. Sorry. But yes, a I was referring to a converter... the little square boxes that pug into a socket. They generally end in a plug that fits in a jack in some fixtures. Some are wired as such and you could have just tested it for juice. But that does not seem to apply to you.

Glad you're hip to the Mg thing too. You're on your way. Now just to find out about those snails and barf.

 

[RTMA]

Nice to see you are well on your way to a happier tank and happier reefer.

Nice job on the ato and temp stabilization. IMHO, stable temp and salinity are two of the big three ( the other being dosing two - or should really say "three" part.). And it looks like you are right on track for that.

Also you will find that not dosing magnesium weekly will make it harder for you to maintain alkalinity, I usually measure it weekly and dose it back to at least 1400. weekly requires a lot less then monthly, but it does move down much slower then all or even calcium.

BRS dosers are a great and I run some DIY version.

The stringy stuff coming out of your mushroom are the coral expelling it's zooxanthellae, which means it may be getting too much light, as the zooxanthellae is what the coral uses to produce food via photosynthesis.

Not always a bad thing but usually seen when a coral receives too much light. try moving it to a shadowy spot.

If you keep your tank stable, I am sure your corals will rebound. One thing that I have found is that most sps will not recover bleached areas, so it's better to remove the bad parts and let it regrow.

Hope this helps.

 

[tyler91913]

Thanks for the feedback and encouragement guys. Good news! I took out the birdsnest skeleton (saving the one healthy branch to glue to something after my upcoming reaquascaping job), and found a gorgeous little colony started behind it. I don't remember seeing it when I set the tank up, but it must have been there already. Anyways, it's now about 2.5" across and 1" tall, and very happy looking.

 

[scolley]

Outstanding!

 

[RTMA]

Sometimes the hobby amazes you. Every week I seeming find more stuff in my tank. Nice to hear that your bridnest is still going. If you give them good light and water quality, I've found that birdsnest can grow very quickly. My colony went from a small three pronged frag to a full blown softball sized colony in about 1.5 years.

 

[tyler91913]

Tank update 8.24.2011

Tank update 8.24.2011

Well, we decided to move the tank to the abutting wall of the living room, which turned into a whole day project last week. Finally finished around 2am.

Here's the tank update for my records:

- all visible coralline removed from glass and overflow. This was the aspect of the move that was most time-consuming AND it was one I didn't plan to pursue when I started out. Wow. Compare the tank shot attached here to the first one in this build thread. I ended up having to take a screwdriver to thae overflow, since paint-scrapers were too flimsy and razors were cutting into the plastic.
- rockwork rearranged
- corals rearranged
- removed damselfish, a big rock full of brown button polyps, a nice piece of red cap, and a piece of my monster green cap that had broken off in the original move. Brought all into Puppy Center for store credit, which I applied to the following:
- added a six-line (named him Erasmus) and a green torch coral
- added a scarlet cleaner shrimp and a handful of CUC from super311fan, who was shutting down his tank
- replaced tacky wallpaper with a sleek black wallpaper
- LED moonlights started working again (randomly? maybe the connection just got bumped 'on' in the move?)
- moved all electrical to an IKEA "Besta" cabinet beside aquarium
- added a 1/3 horsepower Tradewind drop-in chiller, bought from a fellow CT reefer. So far it hasn't gotten warm enough to click 'on' (set to come on at 82 degrees), but we'll see. Hopefully this means a little more peace of mind and a little less humidity (from fan-induced evaporation) in the house on warm days.
- tank seems to be enjoying the 2-part recipe I'm dosing nightly. I also ordered a box of MAG flakes to keep up with the "third" part of 2-part, namely the magnesium component, although I still have to mix it up into something dose-able. Not too worried about this because I'm still working on my first gallon each of Ca and KH.
- successfully commandeered a "fish closet" and evicted the former tenants (winter coats, frisbees, shoes, etc., etc.) to bedroom closets around the house.
- sold my 10 gallon freshwater tank and my first saltwater tank, a 16 gallon, as complete setups to craigslist people. Now I can lavish all my attention on the 90 gallon and be guilt-free about it (haven't you noticed that when people have multiple tanks, one or another gets neglected?).

Projects and near-future upgrades:

- will be changing to LED lighting next week, after picking up my AI Sol fixtures from zhangg3 on Monday! This will let us keep the lights on for longer during the days, and we're pretty excited about the sunrise/set gimicks
- will be replumbing my sump to use the quieter Herbie method, after my threaded bulkheads and pvc gate-valve arrive. I'm going to do it in such a way that I'll be able to incorporate an ATS soon afterwards...

 

[zhangg3]

Enjoy the light, Tyler. Be sure to acclimate slowly.

 

[tyler91913]

Picked up the LEDs and installed them today (thanks Gang!). Since I've heard too many stories about people baking their corals, I started out modestly. I set the timers as follows, though I may tweak them a bit:

8:30am W25 B25 R20 60min ramp
10:15am W25 B30 R 35 60min
7:30pm W20 B25 R 30 40min
8:30pm W0 B3 R3 40min
10pm W0 B1 R1 30min
11:15pm W0 B0 R0 40min

 

[tyler91913]

Had to do something today while hanging out around the tank waiting for the storm to pass, so I set up my herbie plumbing system. So far, so good.

And Irene didn't knock out our power, which was very considerate of her!

Sent from my VM670 using Tapatalk

 

[tyler91913]

Tank update 9.06.2011

Tank update 9.06.2011

- Installed an ATS today.
- Plugged everything back in and turned it on.
- Electrocuted myself. Ouch.
- Assumed it was the lights, so unplugged them and touched the water again.
- Electrocuted myself again. Double ouch.

Turns out the culprit was the skimmer pump. All that knocking about while installing the ATS must have broken the seal on the cord or something.

Now I have to decide whether to filter some other way while my ATS works up to its potential, or whether to just leave the ATS and hope for the best. I think I'll have to monitor the parameters and judge accordingly. I'd be glad to hear ideas from others, though.

 

[Pallobi]

lookin good bro Its coming along i see...

 

[tyler91913]

Thanks Neal! I'm pretty happy with how things are going. Those frags I picked up from you have been doing well. The Armor of the Gods have encrusted the whole available surface of the frag plugs and spread onto the sides; the dragon eyes have doubled in number, etc., etc. The candy apples and the poison ivies are looking really healthy, but they're not reproducing as fast. Guess everypolyp's different, you know?