Achilles, Acro, and a Decade of Dreaming

[Frosty Latte]

So 12th times the charm on this used reefbot.

This time what I think happened was when the previous owner re-wired a few things the tape slid down and was causing a short when the valve was supposed to be open/closed causing it to stay closed the whole time. Replaced all 3 valves, put more tape in there than was needed, and going to run again.

Wish me luck

 

[Frosty Latte]

Well… first try was dirty old scum floating around in the testing chamber. Cleaned it out, and running it back.

 

[Frosty Latte]

Anyone have any idea why this reefbot isn’t working still?

 

[Frosty Latte]

Ordered lenses for my phone so I can share better pictures that aren’t washed out and blue.

Added a ORA yellow tang that is very white. His three friends were yellow so cross your fingers this one stays white for me.

All the tangs are doing really well together. I’m feeding like crazy and it’s made them friendly. Hope that stays that way as they grow up.

The yellow Cori’s wrasse came out today and he is just beautiful yellow. Very happy with him.

Added a star fish. Kinda unsure what kind. It has a puck like small body, and skinny arms. If he comes out again I’ll snap a pic.

The amount of kalk wasser and extra salt and new calcium reactor made all my numbers go way up. I stopped adding kalk to the RO, turned the calcium reactor down to almost nothing, and the salt finally reached 35.


Numbers:
DKh 11.2
Calcium 475
Mag 1440
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 0
Phosphate 0.3 (I think) salifert is reading a hint of blue. I think my test isn’t ULM so it’s doing its best.

I’m super feeding algae pellets and tons of nori so I’m surprised it isn’t higher.

It’s fun to watch ORP and how it reacts to food going into the tank.

New filter sock washing machine is working so well I’m thinking about selling my roller matt 1200.

 

[Frosty Latte]

Fed the Goniopora today, and did some maintenance during the low flow tank time.

Cleaned out the skimmer cup (that smell was terrrrrrible). Might do something different in the future so my whole basement doesn’t stink next time.

Scraped 1/3 of the hair algae off of one side. It is growing wonderfully, and the reason my tank has 0 nitrates in it. I think put a small amount into a nori screen. I should have rinsed it off first as it was very dusty when it went into the tank. Hoping the tangs like it

All the tangs are still friends.

My aunt hooked me up with a quarantine system for my birthday a month early as I’m looking forward to the large fish shipment at Detroit reef club this Friday. It’s a 40 gallon breeder and I’m excited as it’ll be the first time I’ve ever done this. So far all the fish I’ve added have been very healthy and I’ve been lucky, but it’s time to grow up and remove luck from my fish tanks health.

 

[Troylee]

Nice build and nice tank! How long has this tank been up? Seems like you’re stocking it like crazy, super fast! lol

 

[Frosty Latte]

Nice build and nice tank! How long has this tank been up? Seems like you’re stocking it like crazy, super fast! lol

Water went into the tank on January 1st. Rocks started that day dry too.

I stock at a rate that makes sense for the amount of bacteria built up in my tank. If you watch nitrite (NO2) then it will tell you the acceptable rate of addition.

 

[Troylee]

Water went into the tank on January 1st. Rocks started that day dry too.

I stock at a rate that makes sense for the amount of bacteria built up in my tank. If you watch nitrite (NO2) then it will tell you the acceptable rate of addition.

Maybe for fish but even then nitrite doesn’t effect salt water.. all them acros are gonna have a hard time in your tank till you build a solid biome.. I’d slow down on the sticks for now before you realize they’re all dying and you wasted a ton of money.. it’s not impossible to keep them alive in a new tank but it’s hard even for a seasoned vet!

 

[Frosty Latte]

Maybe for fish but even then nitrite doesn’t effect salt water.. all them acros are gonna have a hard time in your tank till you build a solid biome.. I’d slow down on the sticks for now before you realize they’re all dying and you wasted a ton of money.. it’s not impossible to keep them alive in a new tank but it’s hard even for a seasoned vet!

Two of the acro have changed to a pale color, but that happened when I removed my UV resistant polycarbonate cover. Everything else is larger, and most have their little tentacles out. I added a few different types of bacteria to this tank from different companies. I think that might be why it’s gone so well so far.

How long does it take for it to go sideways for the acro if they aren’t happy? These are my first ones ever so it’s all a learning experience as I go along.

 

[Troylee]

Two of the acro have changed to a pale color, but that happened when I removed my UV resistant polycarbonate cover. Everything else is larger, and most have their little tentacles out. I added a few different types of bacteria to this tank from different companies. I think that might be why it’s gone so well so far.

How long does it take for it to go sideways for the acro if they aren’t happy? These are my first ones ever so it’s all a learning experience as I go along.

It’s hard to say.. if you keep your big 3 stable they will just survive for now and once the tanks biome gets to a more mature point it will take off like crazy! The polycarbonate cover didn’t do much but block your lighting as you witnessed some of them bleached and that’s from higher par and getting blasted by more light.. you got some nice pieces and I’d just roll with you got for sticks for now… other corals are fine

 

[Frosty Latte]

It’s hard to say.. if you keep your big 3 stable they will just survive for now and once the tanks biome gets to a more mature point it will take off like crazy! The polycarbonate cover didn’t do much but block your lighting as you witnessed some of them bleached and that’s from higher par and getting blasted by more light.. you got some nice pieces and I’d just roll with you got for sticks for now… other corals are fine

In all honesty I didn’t mean to buy that many. I just sorta popped off at the frag swap on accident. My future brother-in-law went with me and said he witness a true crack addict that day.

The poly lid I made had a 10 year, double coated UV resistant layer to it that blocked out almost all of the UV light from my XR30s. I measured the par before and after, and it didn’t change much, but the spectrum did. I think that’s why the color shifted. I also set the lights to 40%, with a 60 day ramp up to 80%. I think the lights were at 44% when I took the lid off. These two acros are at the top, but a few others are up there as well with no effect. I’m thinking they were from a tank that wasn’t UV lit and might not have used strong LEDs and that’s why they shifted. They look more like the zeovit method corals now. Going to keep an eye on them to see if they shift back or stay that way.

Something else interesting happened when I added my phosphate reactor. Many of my LPS got skinnier as the phosphate fell from 1.5 to where it’s resting now at around 0.03.

 

[Troylee]

In all honesty I didn’t mean to buy that many. I just sorta popped off at the frag swap on accident. My future brother-in-law went with me and said he witness a true crack addict that day.

The poly lid I made had a 10 year, double coated UV resistant layer to it that blocked out almost all of the UV light from my XR30s. I measured the par before and after, and it didn’t change much, but the spectrum did. I think that’s why the color shifted. I also set the lights to 40%, with a 60 day ramp up to 80%. I think the lights were at 44% when I took the lid off. These two acros are at the top, but a few others are up there as well with no effect. I’m thinking they were from a tank that wasn’t UV lit and might not have used strong LEDs and that’s why they shifted. They look more like the zeovit method corals now. Going to keep an eye on them to see if they shift back or stay that way.

Something else interesting happened when I added my phosphate reactor. Many of my LPS got skinnier as the phosphate fell from 1.5 to where it’s resting now at around 0.03.

lol at crack addict! Haha..

Radions emit very little to no uv and polycarbonate just has uv protection in the plastic to keep it from yellowing in the sun.. us old school reefers run metal halides with a lot of uv and the corals love it. Dropping your po4 fast could cause some issues and if nitrates are low it would cause bleaching also in all corals as they’re starving.

 

[Frosty Latte]

lol at crack addict! Haha..

Radions emit very little to no uv and polycarbonate just has uv protection in the plastic to keep it from yellowing in the sun.. us old school reefers run metal halides with a lot of uv and the corals love it. Dropping your po4 fast could cause some issues and if nitrates are low it would cause bleaching also in all corals as they’re starving.

Nitrates are basically 0, but they seemed to correlate with the removing of the cover. Maybe it was just coincidence though. I’ve been changing a lot of stuff fast to get it dialed in. Now I’m on coast mode until the next crack swap happens at the end of March

 

[Troylee]

Nitrates are basically 0, but they seemed to correlate with the removing of the cover. Maybe it was just coincidence though. I’ve been changing a lot of stuff fast to get it dialed in. Now I’m on coast mode until the next crack swap happens at the end of March

Nothing to do with the cover.. everything to do with your algae scrubber, as you have a decent amount of fish so n03 should be up.. I’d turn the light off for a longer period and let your n03 rise a little before you have all sorts of problems.. or feed the fish more!

 

[Frosty Latte]

Just learned about the 16/1 Redfield ratio.

I think I accidentally am doing this right. If my phosphate is about 0.03, and my nitrate is almost 1, then the ratio is in balance. However, I think it was out of balance for a while before it came into balance a week ago, and that’s why I have some fluffy hair algae all over. I left it for the tangs, but it seems like they don’t care for it. Time to start scraping small sections to get it under control

 

[Frosty Latte]

Seems like the tank is finally dialed in on some values. I think I’m going to see if I can reduce the salinity, but want to have a good plan as to how. I liked 33/34 as it’s closer to the level of where people sell fish from, but the corals are doing better at 35.

Fish are still happy

 

[Troylee]

Just learned about the 16/1 Redfield ratio.

I think I accidentally am doing this right. If my phosphate is about 0.03, and my nitrate is almost 1, then the ratio is in balance. However, I think it was out of balance for a while before it came into balance a week ago, and that’s why I have some fluffy hair algae all over. I left it for the tangs, but it seems like they don’t care for it. Time to start scraping small sections to get it under control

Kinda worthless if you ask me.. tanks will settle where they want and that ratio doesn’t have any factor.. as for your next post with salinity I’d leave it 35 fish don’t mind like corals.

 

[Frosty Latte]

Kinda worthless if you ask me.. tanks will settle where they want and that ratio doesn’t have any factor.. as for your next post with salinity I’d leave it 35 fish don’t mind like corals.

I’ve done a bit of reading, and learned nitrates/phosphates are basically 0 on the reef. Then when fish do their business above the coral that hard powder lands on them and feeds them. What do you think of that?

 

[Frosty Latte]

Bought a 12 foot hose for water changes.

My large sized Orphek lenses came! No more ugly blue photos

I learned my tank is too big and the macro lense is basically useless.

Added 2 more coral from Detroit reef club.

Removed all the rock from my sump and added it to my main display. All the fish are noticeably happier now.

Bought the Neptune Gro, and am going to turn that sump zone into a refugium to grow a special macro algae I just ordered from marine collectors to feed my tangs with.

Flooded my basement when washing my filter socks… didn’t tell my wife and cleaned it while she was asleep. Funny thing is it looked nasty, but my fancy water proof floor I put it held up and it smelled like bleach I’ll tell her in the future. Thats been my 6th flood in 2 months… lol

The leopard wrasse I bought is doing wonderful. He was chillin with the red blood shrimp the other day, and the shrimp was ripping and clipping on him and he loved it.

Water parameters today:
Nitrate: 0.00000000
Alk: 8.75
Mg: 1425
Ca: 450

So in 5 days my magnesium hasn’t moved, and neither has my calcium, but my dkh is being consumed. I’ve got my calcium reactor dialed in at the right speed, but the pH is high in there and I’m thinking maybe that has something to do with it. I also stopped adding kalkwasser to my ATO, and I think that’s why my alk is falling slowly. It was too high so I wanted it down, but I’m surprised other parameters didn’t fall too.

I bought an ICP test, and will mail it out tomorrow.

I bought a bunch of types of food.

I think some new fish land at DRC (Detroit reef club) tomorrow and I’m excited for next Friday. This might be the end of stocking until I get a group of Achilles fish as I’m really liking where I’m at right now.

 

[Frosty Latte]

Photo dump for previous message.

I also added a second nori spot, and now have 3 types of nori. This helped relax the fish too.