TexChuck's 32g BC

[MK3_LUV]

I'm in north Dallas Closest LFS is Apex, and I go to Fish Gallery too... I'd say I've spent the most time at DNA. You?

Thats awesome! I just moved from far north dallas over to lewisville. I shop/work at Odyssey Pets, you should come check us out sometime! Apex is a really good store too, i'd highly recommend them as well

 

[TexChuck]

Thats awesome! I just moved from far north dallas over to lewisville. I shop/work at Odyssey Pets, you should come check us out sometime! Apex is a really good store too, i'd highly recommend them as well

Congrats on the move! I'll come visit sometime. Small world!

 

[TexChuck]

TexChuck's 32g BC

Hi all !

I've made some mistakes and am now dealing with a nuisance algae outbreak. This was a month ago after pulling my purigen for a few days:

I got lazy with my export. My skimmer was performing poorly for ~6 weeks (it's good now), and I decided to run some purigen to compensate. I also slowed WC's to 5g every 2-3 weeks. Purigen kept no3 at 0, but killed my macro in the fuge box. After 3 failed attempts at macro and some thickheadedness on my side, I gave up and have run the purigen since, thinking nutrients were controlled. I pulled the purigen a week and a half ago, and the first 2 pictures are what happened after a

I now have bubble and gha at a minimum. I'm removing what I can manually, and I've stepped up WC's to every few days.

My plan: keep with the aggressive WC schedule, remove the purigen once the algae regrowth slows, and add chaeto back to the fuge in back. Manually remove as much gha and bubble algae as possible.

I'm looking at turf scrubber diy plans too, as an upgrade to the macro (and skimmer?) in section 2.

I considered running gfo in addition to the purigen - surely the algae was eating the po4, and the system wasn't keeping up with the purigen? I also was convinced for 24 hours I had Dino, and looked at h2o2 dosing.

I'll share pics again once I eliminate the algae ! (And the purigen) Here are some pics from today -- I did a 10g WC 24h ago:

--

I'm still contemplating next fish. Tailspot Blenny and Possum Wrasse are at the top of the list. I also like the Pink-Streaked Wrasse. I'm not adding anything until my chemistry is stable and the algae is diminished.

My Jaebo powerhead died after 8 months. I have replaced with a MP-10. I'm very happy with this pump, and also understand why people like running two.

I'm running saturated limewater in my ato pump. KH 7, Ca 400, Mg 1320, pH 8.2, NO3 0, PO4 .08 (Redsea). I had been reading low KH of 5 for a bit, but brought this up with more WC's.

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[TexChuck]

I've replaced the purigen with chaeto, and am now back to the filtration setup I started with. Intank media basket with floss, then chaeto, then Tunze 9001.

Coral growth has taken off since I stepped up the WC schedule, and nuisance algae seems to be much improved. Conditions are much improved.

I did add a single small turbo snail at a reefer's rec and can tell a difference.

Here are some pics of new frags I added Friday .

Also impressed by new growth on this birdsnest frag - thought it was dead after an extended ride on the urchin's back and a stint upside down in the stand. Still pale but recovery is promising.


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[TexChuck]

Hi everyone - been away a bit. Thought I'd post a 1 year update. Things are going great ! Some nuisance algae outbreaks, but nothing huge. I have some aiptasia to take care of. I lost my twinspot goby and my shrimp (cleaner, Randall, peppermint), but some could be attributed to old age.

Fish: 2x Yasha goby (they don't dig without a shrimp! A replacement will be my next add)
2x true perc pair
Pink streaked wrasse
Possum wrasse

Inverts: Royal urchin, INSANE bristle worm population, tons of brittle stars, cerith and 1 turbo snail, and lots of other critters I haven't quite ID'd.

All coral was grown from locally obtained frags from other hobbyists

Filtration: tunze nano skimmer that I just added the cup back after 4 months aeration only, chaeto in the intank media basket, filter floss. No chemical.

Flow: upgraded return pump (350 gph - original died a couple of months back), 1x mp10. Overkill but nice.

Feeding: 2 cubes/day. Overkill but I like nutrients. Usually 1 PE mysis, and 1 either brine or cyclops.

Tunze ato running Kalk, 5g WC / week is my goal. Don't always make that, sometimes 10g every 2-3 weeks.

Lighting: Steve's LED retrofit which I love; old model with only blue and white. Grows everything. My SPS are all thriving. (Except my birdsnest, but I scorched it and then left it where the urchin could wreak havoc. Still have hope it'll come back)

Coral: too many to name right now but I'll put a list together if anyone's curious.

If I had it to do again, I'd do the roxkwork differently - no big cave in the middle, and much further away from the glass. Cleaning the glass can be a nightmare.

Best lessons I've learned : patience, patience, and more patience. Nothing good comes quickly in this hobby.

And, when in doubt, trust nature "” chemical quick fixes can throw stuff out of whack in ways you can never understand. Good water, good lighting, good flow, and macro for nutrient export if possible.

Don't freak out and make drastic changes if you can avoid it.

Thanks to all for your help over the year !!! (And locally, jccaclimber!)

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[Jenyphur]

Great update! Your corals are looking great.....love them.

 

[PacoPetty]

Great looking tank Chuck!

 

[TexChuck]

Hi all - quick update. Tank survived a move across town and up a flight of stairs with no losses! Going on a month. Fingers crossed. Everyone seems to be adjusting nicely.

I need to learn how to frag!!

Last pic I find funny "” my urchin has moved on to zoa's for decoration. My theory is the zoas were loose/weak after the move and a change in flow patterns, and he found some that match. I have a dozen varieties in this tank, but he only grabs the ones that match his coloration. A year ago I'd be freaking out; now I find it amusing

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[Donkin]

Very nice! Have been eyeing one of the 32 BCs...those LEDs look like the work well. How were the ones that came with the system working?

 

[TexChuck]

I liked the stock ones, but after reading so many reports I decided to upgrade about 2 months in to the Steve's LED kit. This is the older version with only whites and blues, and it's been great. Quick install. Couldn't recommend it more.


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[TexChuck]

Hi all -

Quick update. All is going well since the move!! I'm having a hard time keeping chaeto alive, but other than that, everything is pretty steady state.

I'm running floss and the tunze 9001 nano skimmer only these days, with the rock and WC's (and chaeto if I can keep it growing) doing the rest.

Saw the oddest thing after a WC yesterday "” all the bristle worms started spawning (?), sticking out of the rock and spewing orange dust everywhere.

I've included a couple of chemical warfare pics. Ricordia beats purple digi, tricolor beats purple stylo. Green digi and Setosa seem to be tied.

Conclusion? Purple is weak! Also .. urchin still wearing his zoa hat. Funny critter.

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[MyMocha]

Wow!!! Your tank is amazing! I just read through the entire thread & made notes! My 32 gal BC is about 3 months now. . I'm very irritated with my CL skimmer, of course. I'm going to try the longer tubing and prop it up higher trick. But would u recommend the tunze after all this time?
Also, kudos to you. If I read right, this was your first SW tank?! I'm impressed!
Another question... the lid is tight, and I find I dont get a lot of evaporation. I have difficulty maintaining my pH . It was suggested by another 32BC owner that it's a challenge for them also, likely the result of less oxygen. Makes sense.
At this stage, do you find your pH pretty stable or do you dose daily (like I have to)
Again, nice tank!!!! Nice nice nice!!!

 

[Krush]

this tank is awesome! following along!

 

[TexChuck]

Wow!!! Your tank is amazing! I just read through the entire thread & made notes! My 32 gal BC is about 3 months now. . I'm very irritated with my CL skimmer, of course. I'm going to try the longer tubing and prop it up higher trick. But would u recommend the tunze after all this time?
Also, kudos to you. If I read right, this was your first SW tank?! I'm impressed!
Another question... the lid is tight, and I find I dont get a lot of evaporation. I have difficulty maintaining my pH . It was suggested by another 32BC owner that it's a challenge for them also, likely the result of less oxygen. Makes sense.
At this stage, do you find your pH pretty stable or do you dose daily (like I have to)
Again, nice tank!!!! Nice nice nice!!!

Sorry for the late response!! Yes, this was my first SW tank. I've been very happy with the Tunze skimmer; others don't like it but once I got it dialed in (took a week or two), it's been pulling pretty decent skimmate ever since. No maintenance.

pH used to be very stable -- I found by keeping the feeding door open to help with evap and oxygenation (my powerhead is pretty close to the top of the tank, so it provides surface disruption) and running lights on the back for the chaeto at night (opposite the DT lights), it kept things pretty much in check.

I also think the Tunze skimmer is doing a good job at aeration, even if it's not the most efficient skimmer in the world.

 

[TexChuck]

I Kalked the tank

I Kalked the tank

Welp, complacency kills in this hobby, right?

Monday night my ATO resovoir was running low, so I added more Kalk and RO water, and gave the kalk time to settle out. What I didn't do is check to make sure the pump was clean; I'm guessing it had been sitting in the old kalk sludge at the bottom of the resovoir.

Once I had the pump suspended in the middle of the resovoir and it seemed like the lime had mostly settled, I turned the pump back on. I checked to make sure it was functioning, and while the water coming out was slightly cloudy, I didn't think much of it, since my kalkwasser has never been clear. Everything else looked good so I went to bed.

I should note at this point that this has been my process for 12 months or so, so I may have gotten sloppy in implementation.

I got a call from my wife at lunchtime on Tuesday that she thought there was a gas leak... I couldn't break away, but had her check some things. An hour later, one of the kids notices a dead fish. Uh oh. I get home on Tuesday night, and the whole house REEKS of dead ocean, the wife and kids have evacuated, and the tank is a swirling mess of milky white decomp.

It's pretty close to a total loss. I did a 20ish gal WC on Tuesday night, swapped out filter floss and cleaned the skimmer, and dosed with a double dose of Seachem Prime to try and bind up some ammonia. The clowns, gobi's, wrasses, urchin, shrimp, stars, etc were all dead. Most of the coral. Ammonia tested 5ppm on a cheap API test kit, and > 2 on the Redsea kit. After WC.

I did a 90% WC yesterday and dosed again with Prime. A handful of Zoa's look like they might pull through, and my duncan is still flourescing. One setosa still has some flesh that's not pulling off and oddly a branch of green slimer looks like it might pull through, but the rest is toast.

It's amazing how quickly a tank can crash!!!

Best guess I overdosed with lime solution, raised the pH in the tank, which caused something to die, and then the whole thing turned into toxic soup. Crazy thing is my ATO resovoir is only down < 1/10 of a gallon, so it was just a few spurts.

Another theory is that I ****ed off the 'native paly' that filled up a big chunk of the inside of the tank (came with my LR and has grown prodigiously), and then that nuked the tank.

In the future, I'm going to be much more careful with how I handle dosing of any sort, even Kalk. (Kalk in fact is the only thing I've dosed this year)

I'm also going to try and be a little less crazy with biomass, even if it's 90% coral/hitchhiker inverts (bristles, stars, etc)

My macro seems kinda happy, so there's that. I'll post pics soon. Ammonia spiked again, but the smell has disappated. I'm hoping that some of the coral might survive, and plan another big WC/prime dose on Saturday.

Thanks for all your help RC throughout this whole process. I'll post more when I decide what to do next. I was thinking about rescaping the tank, so at least I can do that without worrying about messing up the SPS.

Now to figure out if the fact that my eyes/contacts are on fire has something to do with lime, salt, palytoxin, or just allergies. Good times

 

[TexChuck]

Here are some pics of the carnage. I'm at the ophthalmologist now to have my eyes checked out "” I think I may have been exposed, flu like symptoms, eyes burning, vision getting worse.

I had a large colony of "˜native paly' - ugly green polyps that grew out of some of the live rock I added at the beginning. Perhaps a mild pH spike ****ed them off, they expelled palytoxin that killed the fish and sps, and then the ammonia killed the inverts. Currently only things that appear to be holding on are some (evil toxic!) zoa's, a Duncan, and green slimer. All have a nice mucous coat that would possibly protect them.

Lessons learned : adding something with a pH of 12 to your tank automatically can be dangerous, and palytoxin ain't nuthin to mess with !!

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[MyMocha]

Oh wow. That's so upsetting. I had a heater overheat once and kill most everything. Sigh.
I'm glad there are some survivors though!!
I've always been afraid of plays, ha.
It was probably a combination of things. Ugh
Hang in there!!!
And... I've been leaving my feeding hood up too. Things have stabilized now at about 4 1/2 months. I tend to get lazy with checking parameters and what not sometimes. So your post motivated me. I'm going to do my water change tomorrow and then check everything! V)