Step-by-step account of my first reef (with lots of pics)

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I've done some reading on Az-NO3, and thought this thread was particularly helpful. John, I didn't find your thread that you told me about, maybe you could provide a link? At any rate, after doing some reading, I think I'll start to attack the problem by raising my alkalinity with baking soda. After a few weeks if this has not led to some improvement, then I'll try the AzNO3. I'll hold off on the lettuce nudi's, as I don't really think that they would represent a permanent solution. I'm going to get off my tush and order a different bulb for my fuge as well, and hopefully I'll be able to grow some macro in my fuge which should help the problem and potentially serve as a long-term cure.

Last night I noticed that my flatworm population has blossomed. I guess I'm feeding my sixline wrasse too much, because I've never seen so many flatworms in my tank - EVER! So this means that my crew isn't performing as per their job descriptions:

my emerald crab doesn't eat bubble algae
my sixline wrasse doesn't eat flatworms

I actually have enough algae in my tank that I could probably get another emerald crab, and just hope that one doesn't kill the other, since I understand them to be somewhat feudalistic. I'm reluctant to treat with FWE again, but it may be necessary soon. For now I think I'll just siphon the worms out with my next water change.
 
If you decide to treat with Flatworm Exit, get a few (or a lot) of flatworms and put them in one gallon of tank water. Add a drop of the product, stir and wait. If they are unaffected, add another drop. Stir and watch. Give it 15 minutes. Still nothing? Add another drop. Stir and observe. Once they start dying, you'll know how many drops per gallon are necessary to kill your flatworms.

This handy hint came from Habib, btw. I think it is a great idea.
 
I've begun my attack on the bryopsis. As mentioned, I decided to go about it by raising my alkalinity to see how this affects the vile, pestulous weed. Yesterday my alkalinity tested at only 6.4 dKH, despite dripping kalk and adding B-Ionic. Since my pH is running a little high, I'll raise my alkalinity with baking soda, which should also have a small pH-lowering effect. I used the calculator to determine how much baking soda would be necessary to increase my alkalinity from 6.4 to 12, and came up with about 4.25 tsp. After adding one tsp, my pH dropped from 8.25 to 8.20, and alk increased from 6.4 to 7.7. The second tsp of baking soda decreased my pH to 8.17 and increased alk to 9.15. I figured this was enough for one day, and I'll add 2 more tsp of baking soda tonight.

melev - Great tip with the FWE, thanks! I think I'll have to use it, since the flatworms are all over the glass now, and I can only imagine how many are on the rocks (and corals -- gasp!). My snails had better gear up, since it's going to be an unpleasant ride when I add the FWE. I might take them out for the treatment, since I know they're susceptible to the medication, but I'd hate to have some of the worms hitchhiking on the snail's shells and place them in a sanctuary while their comrades die like dogs.

John - I'm pretty sure I still have enough FWE for at least one full treatment, but if I run out I now know where to go.
 
You absolutely must siphon out all you can see dailiy for a week or two before treating. If you have a second person acting as a spotter, with a laser penlight perhaps, that would help considerably.

Then whilet treating the tank as they die, siphon them out as well. They will let go of the rockwork and blow in the current on thin web-like strands. I use my Flatworm Vacuum as it sucks out very little water during the process, and put the tubing in a 5g bucket next to the tank. If I take a break for a couple of minutes, I just pinch the tubing to stop water from being siphoned out.

This method has gotten the dying flatworms out as well as their toxin.
 
Last night I added 2 more tsp of baking soda and increased my alkalinity to 11.2. I'll add a little more tonight to boost it up to about 12, then I'll try to maintain it there for a couple of weeks to evaluate its effect on the bryopsis. I sure hope this works. The stuff is so ugly and grows so fast that I almost don't enjoy looking into my tank anymore. I can see how this could drive people out of the hobby, since it increases the workload without the joy of peering into a beautiful reef.

I also siphoned out no less than 500 flatworms off of my glass. As recommended, I'll do this every day until the numbers are very low before treating with FWE. I like the idea of having the bucket beside the tank when siphoning out the worms during the FWE treatment. Previously, I placed a mesh bag over my air line tubing and placed this in my sump to allow for continual siphoning of dead worms. This facilitated worm removal without the loss of treated system water. The problem with this system, however, is that the dead worms are still able to release their toxins into the system. This technique will work well for my daily siphoning, but I'll definitely go the "bucket" route next time I treat with FWE.


And now, some long overdue photos ...
 
All of these photos were taken on February 6th. The clam had been in the tank for 9 days, and I had just finished pruning bryopsis, even though a lot of it is still visible in those hard to reach places.

You may notice that it's a lot less crowded since removing the dead montis. I also mounted several of the frags onto the aquascape, although the huge monti with purple tips and the red monti at the top are not mounted. They both rest upon a certified bryopsis field, and I remove these corals (as well as the small frogspawn) with each pruning.

Here's the full tank, from the front.

fulltankfront2-6-06.jpg



Here's the right side of the tank

right2-6-06.jpg



and the left.

left2-6-06.jpg



And here's my newest addition, my tridacna crocea clam. If bryopsis starts growing on him, I'll freak!

crocea1.jpg


crocea2.jpg



All comments and questions are, as always, welcome and encouraged :D.
 
Your tank is coming along nicely. Coralline is readily apparent throughout the system.

Bryopsis is a pain, but it will die off. My tank had lots of it, but as far as I know, it is 100% gone. Just be careful when you introduce new rock/corals to your tank to make sure you don't put in a new patch of the stuff. That is how my tank got it in the first place. I was holding corals for Nathan, who had a foxface that ate it in his tank and never had an issue. Well, I didn't have that fish and never will as I really don't like the way they look (personal feeling, nothing more), and it grew and grew and spread and spread, and I plucked and plucked and plucked and plucked... :rolleyes: The nudibranchs, the work on water quality, the refugium and plucking solved it, but it took months.
 
Tank pictures look good Mike, but the clam looks even better in person! And like Marc said, the bryopsis is one of the worst things to deal with in this hobby, but it will go away. Perseverence!

Bax-

Yeah I have a huge skimmer on a small tank. The actual skimmer footprint barely, and I mean barely, fit in a custom made sump in the stand. It pulls out an absolutely amazing amount of goo however, and I'll always overskim tanks from now on. I have an overfeeding problem, and the huge skimmer helps me with that.

John
 
melev - Glad to see that you think my tank's doing what it's supposed to do at this young age. Thanks also for the encouragement regarding the bryopsis. It's tough dealing with 2 plagues at once (flatworms and bryopsis), and I can't wait for the day when I'm free of both of them. In addition to pushing up my alkalinity, I went ahead and ordered 3 of the 19W/85W 5100K bulbs, and I'll install one over my refugium as soon as it arrives. Hopefully this will improve my ability to grow chaeto, which should be easy, since ANY growth will represent an improvement.

John - I agree, the clam looks awesome in person. But it looks lonely and needs a companion, know what I mean? And as far as the bryopsis, I will persevere. There can be only one!


Not sure if anyone noticed, but my pictures appear blue, very blue, INSANELY BLUE! My Phoenix 14K bulb has been burning for just over 3 weeks now, and it hasn't mellowed a bit. I thought it would whiten a little, but no such luck. I called MarineDepot today and they assured me that I was sent the correct bulb (even though it doesn't say "Phoenix" or "14K" anywhere on the bulb). I'm still hoping it whitens up a bit. I'm tired of seeing my wife and daughter as cast members of the Blue Man Group.
 
Your pictures appear to look like 14,000K lighting to me.
Click to expand...
- I was afraid you'd say that.

Just last night I noticed a slight "softening" of the blue color. It's been on for 3 weeks now, and since it has changed a little, I'm hopeful that it will continue to do so. After reading some of the threads regarding the Phoenix 14K, it appears that it does run this blue normally. Oh well, my corals seem to be happy.

I've been adding baking soda nightly, and my alkalinity is slowly climbing. I've also been siphoning out flatworms nightly, and last night I probably sucked out only 100 (as opposed to the 400-500 on previous nights), so I think I'm making progress. On Saturday I'll do a FWE treatment with a water change. Hope my clam does OK.


By the way, I'm building a new office and plan on putting a large reef in the reception room. Check out This Thread and help me out!
 
If I subscribe to that thread, I'll have to drop this one. There's only so many I can keep up with. ;)
 
Marc, no need to subscribe, just answer one time then "unsubscribe." But you do have to answer once. please, please, please
 
Last night I was particularly destructive.

While siphoning the sinister flatworms out of my tank (still in the hundreds daily) I accidentally knocked the huge monti cap off of its perch. It fell straight down and broke the monti beneath it in half. Oh well, I didn't like where I had it mounted anyway. While I was replacing the large monti, I decided to prune some of the bryopsis off of the GSP that's on my overflow. The bryopsis grows so prolifically there that the GSPs are invisible after about 5 days without pruning. Anyway, as I tore off the bryopsis, I ripped the GSP colony in half and it separated from the overflow. Ugh. Just then, the lights turned off, and I didn't have the energy to remount the monti or the GSP. They weren't dangling so I assume they'll restick to the overflow. As for the monti, it's laying on my sandbed right now, and I'll mount it somewhere on Saturday. I can't spend too much energy on the tank, though, since I'm running a marathon on Sunday. Wish me luck!

nemo g - Thanks.

By the way, I'm still adding baking soda daily to try and increase my alkalinity. My tank really sucks up the alk for some reason?
 
Stop the kalk dosing completely for a to be determined amount of time. Let's see if your problem is directly related to the kalk being added. It might be the system is too small to handle that much kalk being pumped in.

John
 
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