OK! Enough chat...Starting a 1000g+ Reef

[jnarowe]

Well, exactly what Sherman said would happen finally did happen: Although I nursed the PLTA back to full health, it decided to go for a swim today and got caught by a Vortech. I got a message from Tim at Eco-Tech today in which wrote:

I'm really at a loss on what it is with your setup that makes you so prone to problems...

And my response was, "As far as my setup being prone to problems, all I can say is that some of it is brain damage, some of it is misinformation, and some of it just plain bad luck."

The PLTA was not chopped up but did get caught and I think had some abrasions. I saw it hanging from the pump while I was feeding the fish and stopped the pump right away. I then helped it free itself and it sank to the bottom. It is not injured badly, but is definitely in distress. I also noted tonight for the 3rd night in a row, that 4 chromis are MIA.

I wonder what's next? I have all but given up on my montis as they continue to STN. The fabulous purple polyped encrusting onti is just a shell of its former self, and I had to trim my sweet orange cap colony down quite a bit tonight as well. I am doing water changes, sock changes, running GFO, etc. but I don't seem to be able to solve the problem. It may just be that I have to plod along and slowly get the system to balance out.

 

[melev]

Maybe Steve W. will be able to help steer you in the right direction. I know there are some corals I simply can't keep, but things are turning around in that department, hopefully.

 

[jnarowe]

Yeah, I hope so. Unfortunately I already know some of what he is going to say:

1. Remove the sand from my fuge;
2. Get more flow under the rocks;
3. Vacuum my tank;
4. Build the floss shelf already;

I don't even have enough time to keep the glass clean.

 

[mrcrab]

What's the floss shelf?

 

[jnarowe]

instead of filter socks, large tank owners often have a shelf that the return water pours onto. That shelf is used to hold filter floss. When I switched out my sumps I created a situation where I couldn't use socks anymore, and that is a primary reason for my water quality issues and proliferation of aiptasia, IMO.

 

[jnarowe]

Just had a nice visit with Steve Weast. He gave me the thumbs up on my tank and we tested phosphate twice and came up with zero both times. Alk was a little high at about 12 dKh so I need to dial back my Ca reactor.

He felt that other than the montipora, everything else looked really good and hypothesized that it could even be some disease that affects that particular coral. I gave him some frags and a decent sized colony, as well as my last purple polyped encrusting monti, in the hopes that it will do better in his system until I can figure out what the problem is in mine.

His suggestion was just to bring the alk down a bit and lay off the montis for a while. I have been in a funk for a while about my tank but the visit has bouyed my spirits.

Picked up a 200g fiberglass storage tank locally for $150 and I am going to build that into my water system to hold RO/DI.

Also got back my Tunze 6025 from Don Nguyen today and it looks really cool. I can't wait to try it out! Thanks Don...and I need to get your MJ mod back to you too.

 

[chris wright]

Good to hear that your in a better spirits now :thumbsup:

Hope you find out why your not having much luck with the monti's,
nothing worse than not knowing.

Enjoying your thread.

Cheers,

Chris.

 

[jnarowe]

Thanks for the good wishes Chris! These things seem to go in cycles so I looking forward to the upswing.

 

[Hop]

That is good news. I would have loved to be there for a few hours and listen to him... I could learn so much. Glad to hear that for the most part, everything is going better!

 

[cbui2]

minor setbacks. :thumbsup: on the road again

 

[mrcrab]

You better hurry and figure out the monti problem. The remodel is almost done and I've got a that purple cap waiting to send to you.

 

[jnarowe]

Thanks guys...I need the encouragement right now.

And Barry, I have all but lost that big orange cap that was growing so well. I am embarrassed about it to be honest, but Steve said sometimes systems are just more ideal for particular types of corals and since my acros are growing like crazy, it may just be one of those cases. Ultimately, he said, there's no real way to know what is causing the problem with the montis, and if my water parameters are in the normal range, it could be some other issue.

I am going to start changing out my lamps this week.

 

[gkarshens]

Probably checked for this but are you sure you don't have Montipora eating Nudibranchs?

 

[jnarowe]

yup. checked for nudis, red bugs, etc. cut and dipped, cut and dipped...I think that when my RO/DI debacle happened I let some phosphate into the system. I have that all fixed so maybe they will come back.

 

[Hop]

Drives me insane and it's not even my tank, nor have I seen it in person yet

 

[jnarowe]

Yeah, well try it with a brain injury! :lol: Of course, I would rather have a stroke than bad knees...

I think that various issues have combined to stress the corals.

1. Not vacuuming the display or sumps regularly;
2. Problems with my RO/DI;
3. Alkalinity swings;
4. Not enough flow UNDER the rocks.

Number 2 is solved and I am working on number 3. Number one is an issue of dealing with limited physical access and number 4. I will start working on 4 this week, trying to change the way the rock is positioned so I can vacuum the tank more easily and get more flow under the rocks. It will take some creative thinking and a taser for the female maroon...I need to knock her out so I can move some rocks!

 

[Hop]

Yeah knees blow. Maybe I'll wind up with some plastic and titanium ones soon

I had my first casualty in a long time today. My LMB went belly up. Unfortunately I don't think there was enough natural food for him as there are likely too many snails in the 125... I was hoping that all the fish would make it through and get back into the big tank.

 

[jnarowe]

happened to me and many others.

 

[jnarowe]

Well, I installed the Tunze 6025 that Don Nguyen modded for me and it is very sweet. I had to glue the bracket to the base though because the tabs are too weak. The flow is superb and he used fishing line to get the prop to start in the right direction. It works really well and starts right up in the correct direction every time. He also cut ports into the nozzle allowing considerably more flow.

You rock Don!

 

[gkarshens]

Pics??? I have been thinking about modding mine.

What does the 2011.5 mean?