Office Tranquility (75g mixed)

[madweazl]

Added a LET 48" T5 retrofit with an ATI Coral+ and Blue+. The acros seemed to have an immediate response and opened up a bit more than usual (they're new and just starting to open up and spread). The green toadstool immediately closed (being rehomed to make way for the acros anyways). Tomorrow I have the T5s coming on for two hours at the peak of the photo period (4pm). I need to find a better way to integrate them (the T5s) right now but I don't have the ability to dim them without an expansion for the controller (using the two existing dimming ports for the Kessils but I may swap them to the T5s and run a constant intensity on the Kessils). Might be a good excuse to switch over the the Profilux 4 since I really need the expansion, WiFi and dimming modules for the RA+. The dosing pumps should be here Thursday bringing the used relay count up to 13 (how did this happen). I like the extra light the T5s have cast into the nooks and crannies of the rock work; it has added a little more depth to the tank and has made the corals pop a bit more. Shimmer from the Kessils is still present though significantly diffused.

Tank is only using about .2 dKH per day at this point but I expect this is going to increase fairly quickly now that the acros are really starting to encrust the plugs.

 

[madweazl]

 

[madweazl]

The BRS dosers arrived today so I got to work mounting them; I had no idea they were so large! Figured this was the best way to arrange them so I could still fill the ATO res (gotta due something about that blue...) and I still have room to add a third if/when the time comes. Think I'm out of red extension cords that fit (pretty sure all I have left are two foot cords and I'll need three foot cords to hit the lower relays of the second box) so I'll have to order a few of those.

 

[madweazl]

I still need some 3/16 acrylic tubing for the pick up lines in the bottles but it's up and running; here's hoping my math was correct (will be out of town all week)...

 

[madweazl]

Unintended consequence of running the T5 retrofit. The housing of the Kessil is 88°, the reflector on the T5 is 149°.

 

[madweazl]

Triton results were posted and there weren't too many surprises. Lithium was pretty high and outside of the salt mix, I'm not exactly sure where it would have come from. One big surprise was phosphate coming up at zero (I measured .049 with a Hanna ULR at the time I took the Triton sample). Calcium levels matched the Salifert results I took; about 20ppm higher than the Hanna kit at 420 vs 444 for Salifert so I think I'll stick with the Salifert since it is easier and appears more accurate. Sg was was 1.025 on the refractometer and the Triton results added up to 1.0266 so that was fairly close as well.

 

[madweazl]

Maintenance performed:

Increased duration of T5s to six hours (1400-2000)
Increased alkalinity dosing to 19 seconds (9.1 on 20 July and 8.5 today at 18 seconds)
Increased calcium dosing to 19 seconds (445 on 20 July and 440 today at 18 seconds)
Calibrated pH probe (ordered a replacement as well)

Everything is looking really good; all of the frags have been encrusting well and most have shown vertical/horizontal growth as well. The new Reef Raft Wolverine is coloring up really well; it was tan when I received it but the yellow is coming on strong now. The only thing that hasnt colored up much is the Cali tort; the green is coming back but most of the blue areas are still a drab tan with some blue. Seemed like I got some blue back in the first week but not much since. It is also encrusting slower than the rest. I may move it to the center of the tank where the light intensity is higher (currently on the far right and low).

 

[madweazl]

 

[madweazl]

 

[madweazl]

Moved this guy into more light; the tips are still a bright blue but the base color has browned off from the original vivid blue. It sits between the two Kessils now and should receive about twice the light it was receiving even though it is a bit lower now. This has been the only coral to lose color, everything else looks great.

Maintenance performed:

Dosing increased to 20 seconds every 90 minutes. Of note, 20 seconds in the code is approximately 25 seconds of actual dosing. This only equates to about 12.66ml/day which seems to be quite low (possible since the frags are still very small). Also dropping approx .1dKH/day which is roughly 5.3ml for a total of 18ml/day. I'll have to mark the bottles to double check my math.

Color increased to 70% on Kessils (from 65%)
Intensity increased to 55% on the Kessils (from 50%)

 

[madweazl]

Combined with the .1dKH I'm dropping per day, looks like I need about 18ml to maintain current levels.

36 seconds per dose x 16 doses / 60 seconds = 9.6 minutes of dosing daily
9.6 minutes x 1.9ml per minute = 18.24ml
18.24ml / 16 doses = 1.14ml per dose

 

[madweazl]

Picked up the McCosker's wrasse I'd ordered a couple weeks back. It, like most of the fish I've purchased, has ich but looks well fed and otherwise healthy so I'm fairly confident he'll be ok. Also grabbed a Hector's goby that is pretty awesome.

As for the corals, everything is looking pretty good and encrusting well. The one below is encrusting unbelievably fast (cant see it in the picture) and is probably my favorite in the tank right now. The tips are a beautiful purple/blue as it grows out that contrast really well with the green polyps. I don't know if the base color remains tan but the contrast is really nice and I hope it doesn't change.

 

[madweazl]

Alkalinity crept up to 8.9 dKH; either my math was wrong or consumption has fallen off a bit. Dropped dose from 33 seconds to 29 seconds (leaving Ca at 33 seconds). Increased duration of T5s by one hour for a total of seven hours (1300-2000). A few months back, something took a bite out of the red monti and it happened again a day or two ago; not sure exactly what did it but it usually heals within a few days. If it doesnt heal rapidly this time, I'll take it as a confirmation that something is awry in the tank and do some significant water changes to bring things back to "normal." This will require a different salt mix to retain the levels I'm after if I end up replacing what will likely end up 100% of the water over the course of a week.

NO3 measured out at 0 today and PO4 was .153 and .175 (did two tests just to make sure). These results were fairly surprising as I'm feeding more now than when I took samples for the Triton test a month ago (PO4 and P were 0 on the Triton results and .04 on my Hanna ULR). I've added four fish the last month and have been feeding more which really has me puzzled on the NO3 front. I removed about 50% of the macroalgae from the refugium a couple weeks ago so that probably helps account for the fairly large spike to PO4. In the near term, I'll probably cut back on the vodka dosing until I see NO3 start to climb again (been 1.4ml/day for about six months I imagine). I'll also let the macros continue to grow out and just harvest what I must since it was working well.

Everything appears to be doing well in the tank so I dont want to make any drastic changes.

 

[madweazl]

I started to notice a lot of lime green sponge growing in the darker areas of the aquarium about six weeks ago. I have no idea what specifically they are but it got me curious, could these be contributing to the nitrate reduction?

 

[madweazl]

Reef Raft Wolverine has really started to color up and encrust now.

24 June 2017

8 Aug 2017

 

[madweazl]

28 Jun

8 Aug

 

[madweazl]

Over the last month, nitrates dropped to 0 and phosphates climbed up to .153. I did a 20g water change and that dropped the nitrates to .098 but they crept back up to .150 over the last week. I decided to start dosing Spectracide Stump Remover in an effort to reduce phosphates. I also discontinued dosing vodka a few days back.

Yesterday I dosed 10ml of the Stump Remover solution which increased nitrates to 5ppm. 23 hours later, nitrates and dropped to 2.5 and phosphates dropped from .150 to .101. Initial results are very promising.

 

[madweazl]

Also increased the T5 photo-period to eight hours.

 

[madweazl]

One of the bajillions (approximately...) of baby snails that have somehow survived this long.

 

[madweazl]

This guy started to STN/RTN (somewhere in between...) about a week and a half ago; it was also located in roughly the same area as an acro that RTN'd while I was out of town a couple months ago. I checked parameters to see if I could find anything and everything was right where it normally is with the exception of salinity which had dropped to roughly 33ppt (pretty much right on 1.025 for my refractometer). The Copps undata was showing signs of stress again which is what caught my eye first (I never seem to be able to keep that one happy for long so it's a constant struggle). I brought the salinity back up to 35ppt via salt water in the ATO over a few days and did my typical 10g water change last weekend. The acro has stabilized the past two days and has started to color back up a bit too (was browning out but has a lot of green back today).

Things that were different the last few weeks:

Light intensity (raised and lowered to accommodate various issues)
Salinity dropped slightly (35ppt to 33ppt) but quickly during a water change, skimmer, and reactor maintenance (not enough salt water was replaced to account for the lost displacement)
A couple water changes were conducted using Live Aquaria's salt but I'm out of that so back to Reef Crystals (the only other salt that has been used in this tank) for another week or two until that is all used up and then shifting to regular Instant Ocean.

I'm also wondering if there may be a trace element issue as I cant find anything in the standard test results (alk, Ca, Mg, PO4, NO3) that would indicate an issue. I submitted some results to Triton on the 5th but my results were:

SG - 1.025
dKH - 7.9
Ca - 450
Mg - 1365
PO4 - .058
NO3 - 2.5-5.0

We'll see how the Triton results look sometime next week when the results come in but the only thing I expect to be different is PO4 which will likely come back at 0 or very close based on previous Triton results as compared to what my Hanna ULR shows. I have a calculator that will provide some results in regard to salinity but I've never seen that off by more than .25ppt between my refractometer and Triton.

In regard to trace element depletion, I've decided to do weekly 10g water changes (roughly 10%); to that end, I changed 20g two weeks ago and 15g last week I believe. Tomorrow will be a typical 10g change which is what I normally do (though every two weeks vice weekly).

I have no clue what has caused the issue but things have at least stabilized at this point so I guess that is a win (for now). I'd hate to lose another coral and this little acro was pretty awesome.