55 gallon reef re-entry

[docforestal]

Weekly maint
S.g 1.026
Nitrate 22
Alk 9.2
Ca 504
Ph 8.2
Phos 0.24

plan to dose gfo, and 20 gallon water change
Seeing growth of coralline so far
Nitrates staying here after a week but going down after water change, still trying to dial in feeding, small piece of frozen rods food creates a lot,
Lots of good stuff but considering switching to plain my sis with a drop of selcon
Thoughts?

 

[docforestal]

24 hours with gfo per brs calculator for tank size
Phosphate 0.22 and nitrates 10 ( after 20 gallon water change)

 

[docforestal]

Have tons of pods coating the walls of the tank as well as little ? Spirobids, all over as well

 

[docforestal]

Yet another video, good shots of the filefish in good color feeding on the rocks, probably pods. Water is clear ( only took a few hours to be honest)

 

[907_Reefer]

Interested to hear about your experience with GFO! Battling high PO4 on my 55 as well..

 

[docforestal]

so far worked pretty well/quick - took it out and will keep less than 0.15 - will monitor 1-2 x/week and use as needed - i have read to be careful not running all the time

 

[ScubaFish802]

Fellow Vermonter following along!

 

[docforestal]

so although i added pods and CUC early, i think i have had lights on too long and bright, and this along with phosphates going up has helped my hair algae take off - hoping eugene the sea hare can go nuts on it and i will turn lights down to 5% so i can see the fish but partially starve the algae - it is only in patches on the rocks and quite long, the rest of the rock and sand is clear from the CUC

 

[docforestal]

Made my own fish food, minced fresh clams, pe my sis, selcon, vita-mix,garlic, spirulina, oyster eggs, some flake and two chromaboost.
Fish love it but thinking will stick to flake and pe my sis until corals
Flake I am using is mix of pod flakes (ipsf) and pe flakes
Feeding my sis 2x day and flake with auto feeder two more. They aren’t crazy over flake but going for it more and more.
The fish are all from seahorsesavvy.com, 2+ weeks of aquarium conditioning on mostly my sis,
Eugene the seahare has cleaned a lot of hair algae where it was short and mowing short where it was long, still a ways to got but the other CUC are working too. Eugene upper right lazing.video of him feeding

 

[docforestal]

found a video about using a iphone app to measure par, seems to match his readings against apogee meter so i thought i would give it a go - video link at bottom.
app is photone
my light is

Aquatic Life HM Electronics Edge Marine Coral Reef Wireless LED Aquarium Light Fixture with Full Spectrum Color Lighting Unit 48-Inch Strip​

had all colors running max
par under light 2" ~280 (225 in plastic water proof bag)
just under water 75, at bottom of my tank ~16 inches 45-50 par
at 55% 225 under light 60 just under water and 40-45 par at 14 -16"
not bad for a cheap light,
i am looking to upgrade once i am ready for corals but this may be a good way to measure

 

[docforestal]

Still fighting nitrates. Hoping as my macroalgae in the hob fuge grows, feeding less flake (they don’t go for it much anyways), it will get better. Nitrates up to 20 today so did a 25 gallon water change and added a 2nd hob filter for carbon,gfo so more room for macro in the other.
Interesting in a week my alk went from 9.1 to 8.9 yesterday and is 8.4 today, guess the coralline is growing more
Ph steady at 8.2, s.g. Steady at 1.025 and making a cup of Skimmate-dry every 3 days so making it wetter to pull more nutrients out.
Closeup of Mab:

Pics of fuge:

video of fish

 

[docforestal]

update (for records as no one likely following too close) - Nitrates down from 20 to 5 after the water change
no change in alk or ca with water change so dosed 55ml kalk per BRS calculator - to bring to 9.1
phosphate down from 24 to 21 after water change.
some of the rocks look like they were scrubbed with a power washer, some still with the long hair algae, sea hare (eugene) is helping for sure, just needs to work harder - also getting a couple of pencil urchins next week to help out.

 

[docforestal]

Sadly Eugene the sea hare was dead on the sand this am, he was moving around the day before and munching on algae but not as voraciously, I gave him a 1/4 sheet of nori twice in the ~10 days I had him, thinking stress and or old age ( avg 1 year life span although this may not be correct for these).
No injuries seen, so I don’t think powerheads did anything. Although he was fun, gonna stay away from them for now and read more. I feel a bit guilty getting him without a lot of research.

 

[docforestal]

On another note my alk usage has increased lowering a point over 1 week from 1/2 a point over 10 days, will add kalk to top off water about half what I shoul need and follow

 

[docforestal]

Readings after a week showed decrease in phohosphates, maint of alk with some added to fw top off.
Hair algae shows no new areas and the long stuff getting stringier, I pulled and scrubbed some off .
Lemon peel angel and filefish gobies arrived from seahorse savvy, along with a couple more snails and pencil urchins.
I still consider a bristletooth tang but thinking stocking is done.
Feel the hair algae is fading some and the CUC is at full capacity now.
Also started a phyto grow out station with plans to grow pods as well

 

[docforestal]

All new fish eating but found 1 firehoby dead- stress vs inter species aggression? 2 were swimming together and now they are staying apart, would be nice to have a couple.
My banghai shave also formed a “ pair” and shunned the third , we’ll see how that pans out.
The lemon peel is a pig, so that’s nice to see

 

[docforestal]

After work, sun coming thru the side window was lighting the tank, loved how it looked. Would be nice to have solar tubes lighting.

 

[docforestal]

Excited as I just ordered 2 of the noopsych lights for the tank - will have time to play around and figuring out the readings before getting corals - still a few months down the road.
On the plus side, the clean up crew is taking care of a lot of the hair algae; the stringy stuff that is there appears to be withering and easier to pull out as well.
check out that swath cut last night up front

 

[docforestal]

Very excited - i got my 2 noo-psyche lights today. Setup was a bit of a pain, until i realized i had to log on to the psyche light wifi, then it was a snap - what a difference
the video is crap quality but the lighting and colors look so much nicer - gonna take some par meters with the phone app later to see what i have
the video is under ~30% lighting - no need for strong lights now as no corals and also don't want to stress the fish.
Have the hanging over a wood frame with cut outs - works but looks crummy
also arranged my cords/controllers in one box
I have temp and feeder controlled by hydros (looking to expand this perhaps)
have wave maker by reefbreeder with controller - liking this a lot , and still one of the sicce 925gph pumps - flow is better and sand bed a bit cleaner
alk is dropping 0.5 a week without dosing so will add a little to top off water as the corraline grows in.
Maybe corals soon - feels too quick but we'll see.

 

[Gumbies R Us]

Very excited - i got my 2 noo-psyche lights today. Setup was a bit of a pain, until i realized i had to log on to the psyche light wifi, then it was a snap - what a difference
the video is crap quality but the lighting and colors look so much nicer - gonna take some par meters with the phone app later to see what i have
the video is under ~30% lighting - no need for strong lights now as no corals and also don't want to stress the fish.
Have the hanging over a wood frame with cut outs - works but looks crummy
also arranged my cords/controllers in one box
I have temp and feeder controlled by hydros (looking to expand this perhaps)
have wave maker by reefbreeder with controller - liking this a lot , and still one of the sicce 925gph pumps - flow is better and sand bed a bit cleaner
alk is dropping 0.5 a week without dosing so will add a little to top off water as the corraline grows in.
Maybe corals soon - feels too quick but we'll see.

Nice new light set up!!