OneReef's 120g DreamReef

[OneReef]

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I wanted to post a picture of one of my favorite montis. I've always loved the 'Pokerstar' due to its insanely deep blue body, with bright green polyps on the main body, with orange polyps along the edges where the growth and encrusting is occurring. I have several pieces of it in my tank, this is a picture of the smallest piece, due to me being able to get a good camera angle through the glass to make it a clear photo.

For anyone keeping this coral or wanting to keep it, I have found over the years that this coral likes high light more than any coral Ive ever kept. The higher up in the high light, the better the coloration it has. This pic shown is a piece that is on the top of my highest rock, right under the LED fixture.

Actually, here is another pic in which you can see another piece creeping up from the bottom, ha. Wonder what will happen when they meet?

 

[OneReef]

I don't think I've added anything new to my tank in several months. It may be a new record for me. Lol. Just trying to let everything grow right now.

I adjusted my lighting again, to be a bit less intense. Seems to be working well.

Current schedule:

Time. White/blue/royal%

9am. 0 5 5
10am. 40 45 45
11am. 60 58 52
3pm. 60 60 60
3:50. 62 62 62
4pm. 53 55 52
6pm. 42 45 45
8pm. 8 20 15
10pm. 0 5 5
10:30. 0 1 0
1am. 0 0 0

 

[OneReef]

I've felt for awhile now that I can pretty much tell when something is off in my tank just by looking at it, which leads me to test water parameters very infrequently. I usually only test if something doesn't look quite right. A few of my corals, my blue torts specifically and also an ORA Verde have seemed a bit off in color for a few weeks now and have a small spot or two of tissue loss. I have been fighting some tiny flatworms for a couple of months, but this seemed different. So I tested my water today.

Phosphates came back at .04, which I am ok with. Calcium was a bit lower than I like at around 390, and alkalinity was higher than I would like at 11.2. I prefer to keep a lower alk, especially while running biopellets. I would be happy with around 8-9 dkh.

So I decided today to shut down my calcium reactor today for awhile until my Alk drops a good bit. If I need to, I can manually bump up Calcium with liquid dosing in the meanwhile. I probably need a decreased CO2 bubble rate, as well as change my controller setting to a higher pH setting in the reactor. I am leaving my pumps on running through the reactor, just so the water in it doesn't stagnate, but I turned off the solenoid that turns the CO2 on and off. I'll test over the next week or so frequently, to see where I stand and how much Ca and alk my tank uses daily to give me a better idea of where I need to set it when I start it back up.

 

[ajcanale]

It's strange how certain sps varieties react to slight but specific changes or are picky about certain levels, be it lighting, flow, placement, elevated (or lack of) organic or element levels. I've been having some serious PE and color issues with my pink millepora colony. All the while, my Cali and Oregon torts are growing at the fastest rates I've seen, as well as showing excellent color.
That said, I have discovered an issue with my RO/DI unit... its putting out 10-12 TDS, with only around 40 TDS from the tap. Being only 4 months old, I figure it must be due to a lack of adequate PSI, which does seem low in my apartment. Booster pump arriving tomorrow. Hopefully the increase of water quality via top off and water changes will show insight to my millepora situation. If not, I'll have to further inspect for parasites. Fingers crossed.
Anyways, just tryin to say that its kinda crazy how with my current dilemma my torts are growing well, while the contrary is occurring in your system potentially due to alk issues.
I have also been trying to find that sweet spot with my LEDs, lowering the intensity and testing different spectrums. Same with Kalk dosing. Sometimes it seems that finding that perfect balance is a seemingly impossible feat. Good luck finding it, the pictures of your tank speak volumes in what you've been able to do so far.

 

[OneReef]

A couple of quick updates. I think that I am done with Seachems AquaVitro Salinity salt. I've been using it since I set up my tank, and honestly, I have not noticed anything extraordinary about it. My alkalinity has always been higher than I would like, but that might be attributed to my ca reactor settings. I don't like the way the Salinity salt mixes. It precipatates very easily, leaves a lot of chalky residue in the mixing containers, and smells funny. I also notice a hissing burning sound when the salt first makes contact with water. Very odd.

I have seen so many tanks over the years that look fantastic with Instant Ocean or Reef Crystals. So I began to ask myself why I shell out more money for a product that may not do anything better than its competitors. So I picked up a bag of Instant Ocean today. Came home and mixed up about 15g. I did a Flatworm Exit dosing for a few hours, then did the water change. I will have to say this about IO. I have never seen a salt mix so clear, so fast. Incredible. And there was no residue at all after emptying. My tank seems happy right now, so I'll continue to monitor its progress, after another couple of water changes. I will be testing my water parameters this week to see of any changes. I am looking for my alkalinity to drop. I turned off my Ca reactor to help that happen. I may change from IO to Reef Crystals later if I need different parameters, but I'm starting with IO to see the results.

 

[OneReef]

New testing today, things looking better in my parameters.

Ca: 415
Alk: 9.0 dkh
Mg: 1290

I just added some liquid Mg to raise that up. I'd like to get up to ~1350 over time.

I was able to bring my alk down in 2 days from 11.2 to 9.0, by turning off the Ca reactor and doing a 15g water change with Instant Ocean. Typically, big swings in Alk are not good for your reef, but I am going to try and keep it constant at the new 9.0 or less.

 

[OneReef]

I discovered today that I have an issue with my RO membrane. It is in need of replacement, as it is doing nothing at all for TDS. My output shows 1 TDS at the end, but 88 TDS coming out of the membrane and before the DI. I think the TDS coming out of the membrane is higher than my straight tap water....ha Maybe the membrane has some cracks in it. At any rate, I am replacing the membrane, along with all of the filters and DI resin, to rule any of that out as being an issue within my tank. I have started seeing some diatom patches after a water change, and this may be the reason.

 

[OneReef]

I'm just full of updates here lately, ha. This is a good one for me though. The zoanthid eating nudibranches that decimated my zoas seem to be dying off. I only see one about once a week now, and then I quickly dispatch of him. I gave away most of my zoa frags awhile back, and the few I have left are starting to fill back in, and actually grow. When I see that the nudis are gone for good, I will still wait awhile longer, then finally add some new colonies. It's sad, as I lost a few beautiful zoas, and gave away some nice ones too. I didn't want the nice ones to die off, so that why I passed them on to another. Hopefully, I can get back into collecting them again soon, as I love colorful zoanthids.


Here are a few pics of my losses:

Here one of the bastages that I fight:

 

[OneReef]

What a day. I come home to a house that had the air conditioning go out, and also realize my tank looks like crap and coral are dying due to user error in overdosing Magnesium. Let me tell you what happens when your Mg level gets over 1700. All your monti caps die, your corals pale out and lose polyp extension, and you LPS shrinks up to skeletons.

I'm in the process of doing a big water change, and I hope that I only have a couple of casualties. (fingers crossed). The A/C has nothing to do with my tanks condition, but being stressed about your tank doesn't help your nerves when your sweating in a hot house.

 

[OneReef]

Oops, double post.

 

[OneReef]

Another possibility of my tanks detriment may be an overdose of Vitamin C. I had no idea that it could have such a disastrous effect on a tank, but after speaking with a very knowledgeable person, Vit C may be the culprit. That or magnesium, or both. I just hope my tank doesn't crash.....

 

[OneReef]

I've changed 35g tonight. May do more tomorrow if necessary. I'll see how it looks tomorrow.

 

[OneReef]

Day 2 of disaster. Well, disaster may be a strong word, everything may come back but it's going to take some time, as most of my coral are brown now. I am going to do a 50% water change this afternoon, I've got to get the vitamin C or/and the magnesium out of the water, or lessen it actually. Magnesium takes too long to deplete, my tank might be dead in the years time it might take for my high level to come down. A massive water change is the only way to bring it down. Maybe I can get things corrected in time to save everything, only time will tell.

EDIT: we'll, now that my LEDs have come on, my coral still have some color, I guess they just looked brown with a yellow flashlight in the dark. Maybe a big water change will make everything ok, fingers crossed

 

[SNAKEMANVET]

Sorry to hear about your tank,keep up the water changes and you will have it back to normal soon.

 

[OneReef]

I realized this morning that I used the Mg test incorrectly. It is not high like I thought, it is actually only 1380. So the only thing I can think of that I added and didn't measure, is Vitamin C liquid. I squirted a bunch in my tank during a brain freeze, and apparently, it is killing my tank. I am hoping a 50% WC will rectify matters.

 

[OneReef]

Did a 50g water change today, added a carbon reactor, and lowered my lighting intensity. I hope I am at a turning point. I've lost a couple of monti caps, a couple of SPS are receding, a few chalices are showing skeletons on their edges, and most things have had a color shift for the worse. I've done all I can do at this point, so it's wait and see.

There is one positive thing that I did today during the big water change, was to completely remove my skimmer and take it apart for a full cleaning, pump, body and all. First time I've cleaned it since I set up the tank almost a year ago. I should get better foam and air intake since my airline at the Venturi intake was clogged with salt/calcium, which was restricting my air intake.

 

[OneReef]

Here is a picture that kind of sums up the sadness going on:




Before:

After:

 

[OneReef]

Not sure that anything looks better this morning, I'm definately going to lose a few SPS corals as a few of them are sloughing off their skin. It's weird, some SPS appear to be pulling through, while others are dieing. Some chalices appear on deaths door, while others look fine. I'm still not sure exactly what happened to my tank. I want to blame it on squirting some Vitamin C in my tank, but I don't think I used any more than the recommended dosage. I almost am thinking it was the drastic change in alkalinity from 11.5 to 7 within a week. I would think going up on alk would hurt the tank more than dropping it, but I can't rule out anything at this point. I'm just going to leave the tank alone for now, and whatever happens, happens. If I lose my coral, I'll start over. Hopefully, most will pull through and recover, but I am going to sustain a few losses.

 

[OneReef]

I've always shown my tank at its best in pictures, with bright colors and good growth. To be fair, now that things have taken a turn, I feel the need to share the bad as well. I may end up nearly starting over, just depends on how this turns out. Here's whats going on:

 

[OneReef]