Build That Cube!!! 40G First Reef Build!

[MSOEME2009]

Thought I'd give another update.

Tank failed another 24 hour test. This his thing processes ammonia like a champ. My nitrite bacteria are lazy AF. Ammonia 0; nitrite purplish; nitrate ~10 PPM.

Takes about 48 hrs to process that nitrite instead of the 24.

Chaeto will eat that 10 PPM in no time.

I'd like to put some pods in the tank, but I don't want my 2 PPM ammonia test to kill them off.

Honestly I don't know what's going on with this tank. My sump was ugly, brown and green everywhere. I cleaned it out and it has stayed crystal clear and chaeto is going strong. Seems I had a bloom weeks ago and has since disappeared and the chaeto took control.

I've had my rocks covered with something for the last few weeks. Maybe it's ready and I'm just holding out.

 

[MSOEME2009]

Something new is coming to the tank....

Stay tuned...

 

[MSOEME2009]

Santa came early:

First delivery from @AlgaeBarn . I got their 5280 Pods and OceanMagik Phyto. Looks like the USPS guy sat on the box, but the package was still in tact. Sadly, it wasn't cold anymore but there was still evidence of life. It didn't sit outside either, I work from home. I could see a few buggers running around but definitely not what their picture shows online. Looked like some died (to be expected) and maybe they got too hot in transit. I won't do a DOA claim because there was some movement still and I'm not sure where the is/isn't line is. Hopefully they are just in the juvenile or egg phase. We will see how it works. I'd hope that in a tank without predators and a giant ball of chaeto + phyto that some will grow and reproduce.



Next:

I got lucky browsing the interwebs and came across an ebay deal of 20% off your purchase (which I posted online here); ended up shipping from @premiumaquatics oddly since it wasn't their store. They have been good to deal with. Managed to pick this bad boy up (couldn't pass up savings on a MAP item). I was on the fence about waiting to see if there was a black friday special. I also got my WXM and Kessil cord coming on Monday from @Bulk Reef Supply to support their excellent reef videos.



The RKL has done well for me, but now I can control my 2x MP10WQDs + Kessils + DOS (Soon) from one unit. I travel, and would like to keep tabs on things.

Check back soon! I will probably get two clowns this week after I get back from my business trip.

 

[MSOEME2009]

I have it all hooked up and working!

I will try to hit the LFS tomorrow and get the first few guys in!

I need to re-test my water because ALK/Mg/Ca were all low and found that my Red Sea was expired. The new one comes today.

I also mixed up my Mg, Ca, & Alk solution from BRS and I'm ready to adjust. I will also calibrate the temperature probe using an ice bath tonight.

So far still no visible pods =( but I've been adding phyto every day.

 

[MSOEME2009]

First Inhabitants yesterday!



(2) Clowns & (2) Halloween Hermits; Clowns already started eating this morning (as soon as the pellets sank) and crabs have been scurrying around. I have some PE mysis on hand too for an afternoon delight. I like my pets fat and happy (just need to watch nitrates! - even though I NEED some phosphate).

I'm actually going to pick up some nori today because I'm worried that my tank is too clean. There is some very slight, almost unnoticeable growth on the rocks, I don't want them to get hungry.

The clowns are figuring out the flow still, they move about the tank together. I think the (2) MP10's at 85% RC is just a little more than the LFS had



I dripped them for about 1-1.5 hours after floating for 20 minutes. The crabs floated for a good 2 hours while the fish were going. No lights.

They seem to appreciate the 45% lagoon flow at night.

Feed mode went well; I have them set to 10% to help move the food around and return/skimmer/ato is off. Then after 10 minutes the skimmer starts, followed by the ATO energizing (otherwise high level alarm).

I can't wait to add some coral!

Thanks to @JKS Aquatics for all the livestock. I will be coming soon for more! To all the readers here, they have a ton of great corals they grow in-house under Kessil LEDs. They do online sales too. However I'm 5 minutes away

 

[MSOEME2009]

Apparently brown fuzz is all the rage with these crabs. Been working all day! I got some nori on my lunch break just in case; looks like we'll be keeping it sealed up for a rainy day. Maybe once a week I'll give them a small taste as a reward

It's amazing the differences in LFS; went to a different one today to get the nori and looked like all the coral (even hermit shells) came with a free aptaisa

 

[MSOEME2009]

Everyone's still doing great. Update on my water parameters from a few days ago:

Ammonia: 0 (duh)
Nitrate: 2-3 ppm
Phos: 0 ppm ;Blackeye...
Alk: Dosed back to 8.5
Ca: 440
Mg: Dosed back to 1285

I am cutting the fuge time back to 7 hrs. It's obviously hungry for PO4; it's bleaching on some strands.

Will add a nori sheet to the tank tomorrow for the crabs for the day, they've done a good job on the rocks and with the low nutrients, they'll be hungry since it's not growing back.

Anyone have recommendations on how long to wait for coral? Other stock ideas?

 

[Just_Pete]

Everyone's still doing great. Update on my water parameters from a few days ago:

Ammonia: 0 (duh)
Nitrate: 2-3 ppm
Phos: 0 ppm ;Blackeye...
Alk: Dosed back to 8.5
Ca: 440
Mg: Dosed back to 1285

I am cutting the fuge time back to 7 hrs. It's obviously hungry for PO4; it's bleaching on some strands.

Will add a nori sheet to the tank tomorrow for the crabs for the day, they've done a good job on the rocks and with the low nutrients, they'll be hungry since it's not growing back.

Anyone have recommendations on how long to wait for coral? Other stock ideas?

Are you manually dosing alk and cal?

As for corals, I transplanted all mine from the previous build with this new tank and so far everyone is doing great. Maybe some zoas for first batch of corals?

 

[MSOEME2009]

Couldn't help myself this weekend since all the water parameters were doing great...

Going to put in a few snails today; there is a few quarter size spots developing some growth on the sand bed. Plus I can't get really on the back side of my tank/overflow with it so close to the wall.

 

[Bmasculine]

Everyone's still doing great. Update on my water parameters from a few days ago:

Ammonia: 0 (duh)
Nitrate: 2-3 ppm
Phos: 0 ppm ;Blackeye...
Alk: Dosed back to 8.5
Ca: 440
Mg: Dosed back to 1285

I am cutting the fuge time back to 7 hrs. It's obviously hungry for PO4; it's bleaching on some strands.

Will add a nori sheet to the tank tomorrow for the crabs for the day, they've done a good job on the rocks and with the low nutrients, they'll be hungry since it's not growing back.

Anyone have recommendations on how long to wait for coral? Other stock ideas?

I used to wait till I could grow coralline. My tank now is stocked with coral after a few weeks of being up but the majority was moved from previous tank along with established live rock from that system.

 

[MSOEME2009]

Sounds valid. I'll just keep my dKH, Ca, Mg at the right levels and wait for some growth. Hopefully anytime. Right now I'm just manually adjusting it all with 2 part + mag. I have kalk, but can't figure out a good way to dose yet. I don't want it in my ATO.

 

[Bmasculine]

You could mix your kalk in a small container and slowly drip it into your sump through the day. Or a kalk reactor but they’re kinda expensive for what they are.

 

[TRock]

Consider dosing Phosphorus. Zero can cause issues with dinoflagellates .

 

[MSOEME2009]

Consider dosing Phosphorus. Zero can cause issues with dinoflagellates .

Already ordered Hanna ULR & NeoPhos from BRS this AM

You are correct. I'm starting to get brown on my sand.

The guy at the LFS looked at me strange when I asked for neophos (which he did not have).

I'm shutting the skimmer down for half the day.

 

[MSOEME2009]

Small update:

@AlgaeBarn customer service is great. I have not seen a single pod yet, so I called with my concern about the warm package and lack of pods. They're sending a replacement. +1 to Kevin & them.

I will say, so far customer service in the reefing world is great. Best I've had in any industry, people generally care about this stuff and it's finally a relief to see people actually give a dam# about something.

Skimmer has been off since Monday... Which has reduced my pH from 8.1 to 7.9 b/c I used outside air. Photo period on fuge has been reduced to 8 hours. Nitrate still ~10, haven't bothered with PO4 until my checker gets here tomorrow. I'm slowly raising my salinity, I was at 1.025 and I'm going up to 1.026. I did a 2/4 gallon water change (2 out, 4 in) and ATO has been off since Monday waiting for it to evaporate. While the salinity probe is just plain off on APEX, it is at least showing the creep up (calibrated with 24 hour dry + extended debubble in solution)...

I currently only run the 2x A160WEs at 30% max for a few hours. Maybe I should out-compete the fuge...

I added a few things on Monday too. Two trochus snails and a branching GSP. @JKS Aquatics has the donor plug and it's pretty cool looking. He's had it over a year and it hasn't grown off the plug, it just grows UP. It grows like a gorgonian but is GSP. My conditions must be OK b/c I did a dip in Revive, removed the plug, glued it to the rock and the next day it was open.



I also added a bubble scrubber to the mix. I tried it last night while cleaning my sand bed. I think it's a good combo because it grabs the junk and raises it to the top. Fish got a little irritated but they calmed down. I only ran it for 4 hours while cleaning the bed to get some brown off in a small spot. I was going to add a few cerith snails, but I just don't have the load to keep everyone alive.

Once I get the PO4 checker, get salinity back to normal, keep a constant PO4 measurement, and let the bio-filter stabilize to a 2x day feeding (thinking of getting an AFS).

I'll probably go ahead and add a 6 line (love them) and a few more corals.

I still need to figure out the Kalk solution. 300 on a dos pump is a lot. The benefit is I could use one head for Kalk, the other for an auto WC. I have an extra PMUP I could hook up to my drain. However I still need something for the Kalk...

 

[MSOEME2009]

Well I got my ULR checker and I'm not crazy... 0 PPB ; I put in 8 mL of NeoPhos which is supposed to bring it to 0.01 PPM. I think the chaeto will be hungry and gobble it up. N03 registered at 8 PPM. I'm sure that will go down further that the Chaeto won't be PO4 limited. Also added Alk + Ca to get levels back up. Ca down to 390 and Alk 7.5. I assume coraline is growing.

I turned the skimmer back on. It's programmed to run opposite of the refugium. Pulled out a puff of gunk and settled back to nothing lol...

Seems like the clowns don't care for mysis. They love pellets. Seems like the Royal doesn't care for pellets. Loves mysis... ugh...

Coral is crazy. I add the mysis (and juice) and you can watch the polyps grab and eat tiny particles. You'll never forget your first time ;Cat

I am excited to add my new Algae Barn pods tonight! Box arrived cool this time!

 

[MSOEME2009]

Hey all, will give an update soon. I added some livestock but I’m fighting deaths and potential illness now [emoji25]. More to come. Lost 2 of 3 Banggai Cards, trying to save the last.

 

[najer]

Hope you save things, gutted for you.
Any idea what happened?

 

[MSOEME2009]

I think it's a bacterial infection. I will be picking up some medication after work today. The first two showed no physical signs. I checked for flukes with a FW dip, one died shortly after, the next one the following day. I did a FW soak after they died to check for parasites or worms, ect. Nothing.

The last card now is showing a foggy eye and and damage on a pectoral fin, which started before the eye but now has a white blotch (not dot like Ich). I expect it to be a gram-negative infection from what I've researched. It still eats well, unlike the other two.

I also added a six line (might have been a mistake lol... probably won't be able to add more fish), and it can definitely sense weakness, it likes "checking" up on the card. Luckily the two clowns like it and the three hang together now that the other cards are gone.

 

[Aaron-A2]

@MSOEME2009 That's rough man... What medications did you pick up?