Building Out a Gifted Reefer 250 - 18 Months of Ups and Downs

[demon_speeding]

Hello Everyone!
This project started around December '21. I had been documenting my progress, setbacks, and lessons learned with my local club but I thought it might be interesting to a broader audience so I am making a copy of my local thread here.

This will be a very long post, I have a lot of information that I've compiled over the last year or so. The too long, didn't read - TL/DR is a friend gifted me a Reefer 250 with a ton of issues and I had to learn reef keeping on the fly. Tank is doing well now after many, many setbacks.

Start of Actual Build Thread -
Hello Everyone, I wanted to take a moment to share a story, and say thank you to all of the great posts and fantastic information I've found here.

I was recently gifted a reef tank from a friend. He was going through a hard time and had to leave his house suddenly. He called me and asked if I was interested in his "fish tank" because he wanted it to go to someone responsible and most of his friends weren't up to the task of caring for it. I initially declined, I already have a large turtle tank and wasn't in the market for a new tank. He told me that there were animals in the tank and that he didn't really have anyone else to turn to, so I agreed to take the tank. He informed me that it would have to be picked up in the next couple of hours, and absolutely had to be out of the house that night.

After a few more questions I discovered that it was a Red Sea Reefer 250, complete with fish, inverts and corals.

When I arrived at his place I saw that the tank was in bad shape. It had been neglected for quite some time, it was overgrown with algae, I couldn't find any of the creatures living it and I have no idea what he had the parameters at. I've kept fish for a long time, and I have had a saltwater tank in the past, but got out of the hobby. I knew this was going be hard on the fish, challenging to move, and would likely kill most of the inhabitants. I didn't have any chemicals on hand, no salt at home, nothing to treat the fish with, no food, and no quarantine area for them.

Here's a shot of the tank when I arrived:

I did a little research on moving a tank and followed the advice the best I could. I called my wife and had her clear a spot for the new tank, went to Home Depot and grabbed a ton of buckets, siphoning hose, and some cleaning supplied. I drained the tank and preserved the water in buckets, kept the corals wet, and eventually found the fish. I kept them separated by species. We broke everything down and managed to Jenga it into my truck.

When I got home I cleaned everything as quickly as I could. I felt like I was under a time crunch to get everything set back up because I didn't want any of the creatures to be in stagnant water for long. I worked on taking inventory and setting everything back up. In total I had:

Equipment:


1 Red Sea Reefer 250 Tank


1 Octo 150S Classic Skimmer


1 Ecotech Quiet Drive Vortech Power head


1 Reactor with activated charcoal


2 Ecotech Radion XR15 Pro Gen 3 lights


1 Heater


1 Temperature alarm


1 Power Brick


1 Ecotech Reeflink


1 Return pump


Various accessories (nets, magfloat, agale scrapper, etc.)


Livestock: 2 4 strip damsels 1 Yellow tail damsel 1 Coral beauty angel fish 1 Skunk shrimp 1 Chocolate chip sea star 1 Tuxedo urchin 1 RBT anemone 1 Large Kenya tree coral and several small ones 3 Clusters of zoas (no idea what kind) 5 Hermit crabs 1 Turbo snail 1 Sleeper goby 1 Sailfin blenny Some pulsing Xenia chunks.

I ran to Petco and grabbed some instant ocean salt and hit the grocery store for distilled water. I managed to get the tank up and running pretty quickly and returned all of the creatures back to their home. All in, the only fish I lost was the yellow tail damsel.

I hired a local reef maintenance company to come over and show me how to care for the tank, and service it. We went over all of the details and my confidence level went up quite a bit. It wasn't as hard as I thought it was going to be.

The tank was way over crowded with live rock. My friend told me that he thought most of it was coral of one type or another, so I wanted to get it all back in the tank and see what started to show signs of life. After a few weeks there were quite a few pieces that didn't seem to have anything growing on them and I removed about a 5 gallon bucket worth of rock. I took it to my LFS, he added it to a quarantine tank, and he'll rehome it eventually. Maybe he'll get lucky and get some free frags out of it, but I doubt it.

The lights needed service, so they got sent off for repair. I have no idea how long the tank was without light. It was near a sliding glass door in my friends basement, so I guess they were getting sunlight through the glass. They're up and running now and are programmed to the Coral Lab AB+ routine.

Thanks to the great posts here I decided to rescape the tank. I still have more rock in there than I would like, but the stuff that I kept all has something living in or on it. I'm waiting to see what sprouts. Once I know what is legitimately thriving I can remove a few more things.

If anyone is interested in seeing pictures, there is a little album here:

I'm sure a few of you probably noticed the selection of things living in this tank are not ideal. Please remember, I didn't pick them. I'm working on getting everyone in the best situation I can provide for them, and I'm trying to keep them all safe. I hand feed the starfish to keep him away from the corals, the aquascaping has given the blenny and the goby some great hiding spots so they can stay away from the damsels. The damsels have caves that they like to stay in, the shrimp is hosting the anemone (I hand feed the anemone too and the shrimp gets scraps). The urchin picked up a zoa cluster and he's been wearing it as a hat while he walks around the tank.

The Kenya tree is under control for now, and I have a place that will take frags. So far, so good, and thanks to your experience I know what to look for so I can keep ahead of any issues that might pop up.

I had the tank going for about 6 months with no issues and decided to go to a frag festival in southern Virginia and picked up some new stuff. For a few months everything was thriving. About two months ago I checked on the tank when I got home from work and noticed that the starfish was dead, most of my corals were bleached, and my soft corals looked terrible.

I immediately drained 50 percent of the water and changed it with Imagitarum sea water. I tested my parameters and ammonia was a little high (presumably due to dead animals), but I couldn't identify what was killing the tank.

I went to scrub out the sump and got pretty badly electrocuted. Due to the poor condition of some of the hardware a cable had corroded and was running voltage into the water.

I pulled the pump, replaced it, checked the remaining equipment and got the tank back in order. The corals that survived are doing well. Parameters are in order and the tank is back on track.

What a learning experience it has been. Unfortunately I lost a ton of coral, but lesson learned. Thanks to everyone here I was able to triage and save some of the tank.

 

[demon_speeding]

Build Thread Post 2 -
After I got the tank under control and running well I decided to start documenting growth over time. This is the first of several of those posts, again, carried over from my local club.


Hello Everyone!
I've had my tank up and running for a while and I haven't had the growth I was expecting. I started comparing my tank to other tanks that did have good growth and started comparing and contrasting to see if there were improvements that could be made on my tank to encourage my corals to grow out. I made a few changes and decided to take some monthly photos to document the growth and overall progress of the tank and I thought it might be interesting to share with the community.

Original Tank Setup and Equipment -
Reefer 250 (54 Gallon Display/11 Gallon Sump)
Radion G3 XR-15 Pro x2 Lights - Running AB+ Schedule
EcoTech MP-10 Running "Reef Crest" x1
Icecap 1K Gyre Running Push/Pull Mode
Octo 150S Skimmer
Filter Floss and Pho Pad
Filter Socks
Titanium Heater With External Temp Control
Dosing Tropic Marin All-For-Reef By Hand

Updated Equipment -
Ditched the Radions and swapped to a Giesemann 48 Inch Aurora V4 T5 LED Hybrid - Running 2x Coral Plus and 2x Blue Plus Lights
Added 2x Sicce Nano Voyager Pumps
Added Sicce Wave Surfer Pump Controller (Broken Out of the Box, Can't Comment on This)
Added JeBao 4 Head Doser - Dosing 60ML 1+,2+, and 3+ Per Day
Switched to AquaForest Pro-Biotic Salt
Changed Icecap to Push 100% - Pull 0% - This Nearly Eliminated Sound
Sicce Pumps Run 100% and Bounce off Back Corners
Light Schedule is 12 Hours - 3 Hour LED Ramp Up to 50%, 6 Hours T5 at 50%, 3 Hour LED Ramp Down - Moonlight

New lights, salt, doser, and Sicce Voyager pumps have been installed and running for 2 weeks. I have noticed a significant response from the corals in the last 2 weeks. I have a few SPS in the tank that had never extended their polyps in the past. They're not out super far yet, but they are emerging. That by itself is a big improvement for my tank. SPS were not thriving the way it was running previously. My frogspawn and hammers are more extended and full looking. My plating corals have firmly attached to the rock work and are growing quickly. This is also a big improvement for me. In the past plating corals would take months to encrust over the frag plug, or simply fade and die. My anemones are full, colored nicely, and appear quite happy. Below are a few pictures of the tank as a whole, and a few selected corals. I will continue to document and try to get a basic measure of growth over time. Thanks for taking a look, if anyone has comments, questions, or suggestions, I'm open to discussion. If you have any suggestions on corals to try (and where to put them!) I'm very open to discussion.

 

[demon_speeding]

Build Thread Update 3 -




It has been 30 days since making updates on my tank. As promised, I wanted to share my observations and insight on the changes I've seen with the tank.
Recap of Changes -
Lighting upgraded from Radion G3 XR15 Pro x2 to Giesemann Aurora V4 T5/LED Hybrid
Added 2 Sicce Nano powerheads to the back wall. Powerheads are controlled by a Sicce Waverider
Added Jebao 4 head pump
Dosing Aquaforest 1+,2+,3+, and
Korallen-Zucht Trace Element Complex (new addition this month, rationale below)

Verified Data -

ICP testing data shows that parameters are very stable. Over the past 90 days calcium has remained at 420, alkalinity is at 9dkh, nitrates 4 ppm, phosphates at .025, ammonia at 0, MG at 1210. There are minor fluctuations, but not statistically significant.

ICP testing indicated that trace elements were extremely low, many were under 1 ppB. These results caused me to purchase the Korallen Zucht trace element additive. The packaging for the Aquforest system states that all trace elements are included in the 1+,2+,3+ dosing additive. The test results indicate that either that isn't accurate, or my corals are absorbing trace elements at a higher rate than the Aquaforest product can accommodate.

I am currently awaiting results of an ICP test that was sent in last week. I will update this if there is a significant (or alarming) change.


Subjective Data (bullets here detailed descriptions below the bullets) -

• Coral appears to have grown noticeably, with a few exceptions that I will outline below.
• There has been a significant reduction in the green powder algae that had previously accumulated on the glass.
• Noticeable growth in anemones
• Drastic reduction in accumulation of silt/detritus on rock work
• 1 clownfish (presumably the female) began hosting a green bubble tip
• Both bubble tip anemones no longer show bubble formation on tentacles
• There has been an increase in a light brown/tan silt along the front edge of the tank
• Fish activity has increased. clowns have become defensive/aggressive of the tank
• Hermit crabs have become semi-aggressive to each other and started what I have coined "The Highlander Situation"
• Kenya Tree coral has not responded favorably

Subjective Data Details -

Coral appears to have grown noticeably, with a few exceptions.

• Hard corals have responded by growing new branches and increasing polyp extension. In the past "stick" type coral did not thrive in my tank. They didn't outright die, but they certainly didn't thrive. A few notable examples:
• The purple pocci has grown several new arms, it currently has 20 branches or protrusions. Photographs from November 11 show 14. An unknown green stick shows 10 branches or protrusions on November 11, photos from today show 15.
• One colony of zoanthids has grown from 9 polyps on November 11 to 13 as of December 12. Many other zoa colonies show similar growth/spread
• Frogspawn coral is showing 3 new heads budding from the stalk of the largest head.
• Mushroom corals have multiplied, they have grown too large and numerous to count. Several of my red ones have detached from the original colony and spread to rock work on the opposite side of the tank.
• Acan and blasto corals show full, "puffy" polyps during the day, and a visible response to feeding, but they have not increased noticeably in size.
• Montipora and plating corals have rooted to the rock work and have begun encrusting the surrounding area. Unfortunately I do not have an easy way to measure the exact growth.
• I purchased a moderately sized cyphastrea colony that was severely damaged. The colony is roughly the size of a hockey puck or a cupcake (whichever incredibly scientific method of measurement you prefer). Roughly half of the colony was black, the live portion is blue with small orange polyps. As of this morning roughly 80% of the black portion is now covered in blue and orange tissue. It appears to be rapidly recovering.
• Gorgonia coral has shown to be very sensitive to the new lights. The polyps will not extend at all in direct light exposure. I moved it to a shaded area of the tank, the polyps now will fully extend during hours of illumination then retract at night. It has shown no visible growth.
• My Kenya Tree coral has not responded favorably. It has taken on a slumped over and pale appearance. However, it has dropped branches that have sprouted all over the tank. Each week when I change the water I have to remove the pups. The Kenya Tree is in a rear corner of the tank and sits under a very large condy anemone. The placement was intentional. I suspected that the anemone might sting it and discourage its normally rampant growth. Between the changes outlined above, and the stings, it has grown less, but I would still consider it borderline invasive.
• Green star polyps show excellent coloration and extension, but zero growth. Several other corals fit this description as well, including gonipora, hydnophona, and a short tentacle torch.
• Most corals have shown a change in color. The colors have become more pronounced. Single color corals, like the purple pocci have become darker. Zoas have shown the most significant change. Prior to the changes in the tank I was under the impression that the majority of the zoas were the same variant. After making changes I have identified many different variants with easily discernible color patterns.

There has been a significant reduction in the green powder algae that had previously accumulated on the glass.

• Prior to making changes in the tank I was scrubbing the glass daily. Now green powder algae accumulates at a much slower rate. I can easily go 3 days before a slight discoloration on the glass is noticeable.
• Coraline algae has increased, and new varieties are appearing. I have spotted several patches of blood red coraline growing around the tank. Standard purple coraline appears on the glass routinely and often has to be scrapped off in order to view the tank unobstructed.
• In the absence of the powder algae another form of algae has begun sprouting on the glass. I'm not sure what it is, but it is incredibly hard and small. Clumps are about the size of a pencil tip, light green in color, and require a razor to remove. It has not become problematic, but it is a noticeable change.

Noticeable growth in anemones.

• The green bubble tip has shown the most growth. At the widest point it is approximately 10 inches in diameter.
• The sebae has increased the size of it's oral disc approximately 50%
• The condy anemone has visibly longer tentacle, which often form into rattlesnake rattles at the tip. It's challenging to describe and photograph, but the tips have taken on an appearance similar to a rattlesnake tail.
• The rainbow bubble tip has doubled in size
• The rock flower has grown slightly, but shows much more expansion during the daylight cycle.

Drastic reduction in accumulation of silt/detritus on rock work.

• When changing water I take the opportunity to use a turkey baster and clean the rock work. Previously I would "dust" the rocks and clouds of fine silt would be dislodged. Now there is very little "dust" that pops up, except from small or tight areas in the rock work.

1 Clownfish (presumably the female) began hosting a green bubble tip.

• One clown moved into the GBTA. I believe it is the female, but I could be mistaken. She moved in when a group of visitors during Thanksgiving were looking at the tank. She saw them and shot backwards into it. Since then she sleeps there, and generally during the day she hangs pretty close to it. This is simply anecdotal, but prior to making changes the clowns acted as though they were frightened of the anemones. If they swam near one and a tentacle touched them they would act completely surprised and dart away.

Both bubble tip anemones no longer show bubble formation on tentacles.

• Bubbles are no longer visible on the rainbow or green BTA. The condy has adopted some bizarre formations to its tentacle, most notable is the rattlesnake rattle shape noted above. It occasionally forms distinct bubbles on its tips as well.

There has been an increase in a light brown/tan silt along the front edge of the tank.

• I have noticed sediment accumulating at the front edge of the tank. It is a light brown dust that is easily removed with a baster, or water motion. There is a powerhead pointed directly at the affected area, but appears to have no impact. Sediment does not accrue anywhere else in the tank.

Fish activity has increased. clowns have become defensive/aggressive of the tank.

• Overall the fish are out and visible more often. This can be explained with the passage of time, they've been there long enough to acclimate and get used to their surroundings.
• The clown fish will aggressively defend the tank. If you place an object such as your arm, a baster, forceps, or a net, into the tank, they will immediately inspect it and bite it. They do not appear to be aggressive to other fish or invertebrates.
• I introduced a Yasha Goby to keep the pistol shrimp company, contrary to the above, neither of them appear more active. I haven't seen the Goby since the day I introduced it, and I can only confirm that the pistol shrimp is alive through observing their excavation work and marksmanship.
• 
  
• Hermit crabs have become semi-aggressive to each other and started what I have coined "The Highlander Situation".

• There is a large hermit crab population in the tank. The exact number is unknown, but I believe it to be approximately 20.
• I introduced an African Knobby Creeper in mid-November. One of the larger hermits climbed into the entrance of the Creeper's shell and stayed there for 3 days until he was able to eat, or dislodge the Creeper. That hermit moved into the Creeper shell and began dragging it (destructively) around the tank. The shell is far too large for him to move efficiently.
• Other crabs appear to have become envious of their new home and ripped them from it, discarding their carcass in the tank. There is now a cabal of crabs who are pursuing the current owner and attempting to removing them. There is only one Knobby Creeper shell, and can only be one owner, thus, "The Highlander Situation" was born.

Kenya Tree coral has not responded favorably.

• The Kenya Tree, as stated above has not responded well to the changes. It has not grown in height, but continues to drop branches that sprout around the tank. As noted, I suspect it is a combination of being stung, and low nutrients.

New Additions to the Tank -

The following were added to the tank and their progress will be documented with the next write up:

• One Sally Lightfoot Crab
• Orange Clove Polyps
• Red/Orange Monti
• Dragon Soul Favia (very small)
• Blue/Green Florida Ricodea

If you've made it this far, thank you. I am open to suggestions and feedback, and I would like to know if these posts are helpful to the community. If you would like me to continue to document the changes in the tank, please let me know. If there is additional information that you would find valuable, please let me know that as well. Now, on to the pictures! A few select photos are below, and a link to the full album is available here:



Full Album Here - https://photos.app.goo.gl/fWSTk9He621V7y7b9

 

[demon_speeding]

Update Number 4 -
Another 30 days have gone by and I'm back with updates, notes, and some pictures.

This month was interesting. I got some good data, had some setbacks, and made some major changes to the tank. Let's get into it:

Recap of Changes -

• Lighting height lowered from 9 inches above tank to 6 inches above tank.
• Increased trace element dosing by 50%.
• Changed flow pattern. Seeking community feedback.
• Aquascape reworked. Seeking community feedback.

Verified Data -

I was able to rent the club PAR meter and get some data on my tank. I am running a Giesemann Aurora V4. The light consists of 4 T5 bulbs, 2 in blue plus and 2 in coral plus, and 3 LED banks. The tank is 26 inches wide, but the light is 48 inches, so there is light spillage. The LED light situated at the end of the housing are roughly half outside of the tank, as are 6 inches of T5 on each side. I feel confident (but can't verify) that if the tank were 48 inches long, or longer, the PAR readings would be higher. I was anticipating readings in the 4-500 range at the top area of the tank and I speculated 1-150 on the sand bed. This was demonstrated to be an inaccurate assumption.


PAR meter readings showed that at 9 inches above the tank measurements were between 285 and 61. The highest recorded reading was directly under an LED array in the center of the tank. The lowest reading was in the back left corner, approximately 2 inches off the sand bed. Curiously 2 inches to the left, and on the sand bed read 84.


I lowered the light by 3 inches and remeasured. New measurements showed 300 at the upper area of the tank and 120 on the sand bed. In general, lowering the light by 3 inches increased PAR by readings by 50. There were a few outliers, but overall this held accurate.


After lowering the light I felt confident that all of the corals had been arranged in a fashion that was best suited to meet their requirements based on what I could find online.

Unfortunately this is the only scientific data I was able to collect this month.





Subjective Data (bullets here detailed descriptions below the bullets) -

• Corals appear to be responding favorably to the increase in trace elements.
• There is noticeable, but not easily measurable growth on certain corals.
• There has been a notable increase of flesh on stalk based LPS (like candy canes)
• Clownfish are now hyper aggressive towards any intrusions into the tank.
• Clownfish may have been gravid.

Subjective Data Details

• Trace elements were increased by 50% due to community feedback regarding ICP testing. ICP tests showed that trace elements were below, or depleted despite daily dosing. Speculation is that the corals are absorbing them as soon as they are introduced to the system and the rapid uptake is preventing them from being reflected in testing data. Dosage was increased and the corals were monitored to check for any ill effects. They appeared to show slightly more color and general good health. I have not observed any negative responses. I will continue to dose at the current level and adjust (if necessary) after the next ICP test.
• Plating corals in particular have shown notable growth. The chalice corals and montipora have grown "feet" and attached to the rocks that they are situated upon.
• Euphylia, candy canes, and hammers have all begun to grow a "skin" down their stalks. At first I thought maybe a sponge had attached to them, but after a closer inspection it appears that they are extending their growth to cover the skeleton stalk. I was unaware they did that.
• The female clownfish, although adorable, is a menace. Whenever I need to reach into the tank to service anything she immediately and aggressively attacks. She likes to swim to the back side of my hand, bite, then do this shake thing that makes you feel vaguely like you're being electrocuted. It doesn't particularly hurt, but it is often surprising when you're focused on something else. Nitrile kitchen gloves mitigate her, but you do lose dexterity, which can have consequences (see below).
• Female clownfish appeared to be gravid prior to me leaving town for a few days around Christmas. She was noticeably wider and was much larger than her partner. Due to being away from the tank for a few days I did not have the opportunity to see if she laid eggs. If she did, I suspect the cleanup crew and other fish would have removed them prior to my return.
  
  Setbacks, Aquascaping, and Flow Patterns -

Setbacks -

The most significant changes this month were prompted by my Condy anemone. It has grown quite large over the past few months. It was situated in the back corner of the tank on a large rock and was occupying some prime real estate. I had placed corals out of its range and things were going well, until they weren't. The Condy decided it was time to go for a walk. One night it detached from the rock (where it had been for over a year) and wandered directly into the center of the tank. It inflated when the lights came on and wrapped itself around many of my corals. It did some serious damage to a bird's nest, a digitata, an anacropora, and a few acropora frags. The Sebae anemone on the other side of the tank also shifted its foot and began drifting into several corals that were previously out of its grasp.



I decided immediately that those two needed to go to "nem jail" and tried to figure out how I was going to get them out of the tank. Before I could remove them I needed to try and get the corals to safety. I started breaking loose the corals that were glued down, which severely damaged the bird's nest. Most of the others I was able to break loose without too much damage. I moved them to the sand bed and started working on getting the Condy out. I tried using ice cubes on the foot, but the clownfish attacked me the entire time and made the process extremely challenging. I tried using a credit card to slip under it, but the rock is not a smooth shape and it didn't work. Ultimately I had to remove the rock from the tank.

I had to work quickly because there were still corals attached to the rock, as well as tube worms and other tank dwellers that I didn't want to kill by exposing them to air for too long. I mixed up a few gallons of saltwater to use as a holding station until I could figure out what was going back in the display and what would be discarded.

I used a chisel and hammer to split the rock and basically break off the piece the Condy was attached to. In the process several large chunks of the rock shattered or busted off. It was nowhere near as surgical as I wanted it to be. I got the biggest piece of rock back in the display, and was promptly bitten by the clowns. I was wearing gloves, (remember what I said earlier about lack of dexterity?) but I didn't account for her swimming into the cuff of the glove. I jerked, dropped the rock, and managed to smash a bunch of previously unscathed corals. Now I was frustrated, and my tank was an absolute mess.I sifted through the rubble and preserved what I could.



I placed the rock chunk with the Condy on it into the holding bucket and worked on getting the Sebae out. The Sebae was much easier, but still not a simple task. If you haven't handled an anemone before, imagine a latex glove half filled with water and covered in KY jelly that has two friends with tiny teeth that defend it like their lives depend on it. I used a turkey baster to push the tentacles away from me and a credit card to slip under the foot. It took some time but it eventually worked.

I made a temporary house for them out of a clear plastic cube that I drilled holes into. I dropped them in and clipped it to the side of the tank. This didn't last long. They both immediately decided to go rambling and wandered out of their temporary home. I collected them and moved them to a rock piece in the sump. That didn't last long either, they immediately wandered into the skimmer.

I crafted a box out of egg crate material, dropped them in and zip tied it shut. I put them back in the display and they planned their escape. The deflated until their foot was small enough to fit through one of the roughly 1/4 inch gaps in the crate. Once the foot was through they reinflated and the foot formed something akin to a parachute which had enough mass to pull them through the box. Once they made their escape I recollected them, reinforced the box, and moved them back to the sump. They were covered on 3 sides by glass, air on the top, and rock on the remaining sides. This morning I found out that they had once again made their escape. One dry docked itself on the foam filter media prior to the return pump and the other went straight into the skimmer. Unfortunately neither survived. It isn't the outcome I was hoping for, I really wanted them to be rehomed into an anemone tank, or maybe a FOWLR system, but sadly, they lack the nervous system required to make good decisions.

Too Long, Didn't Read (TL/DR) - Condy nem went for a walk, killed a bunch of my corals, caused havoc in the tank, then decided it was an air breather.



Aquascape Rework -



Now that the Sebae and Condy were in jail, my tank was in shambles, and I was sitting on a pile of busted corals I made the call it was time to clean up and rework the rocks. I removed a bunch of small pieces of live rock that had no corals living on them, changed the orientation of some of the larger pieces, and did some general clean up. I have posted pictures of the new rock work below. Personally, I like it more than the previous design. I'm interested in hearing the community's thoughts. To me this is much cleaner and there is a lot more room around the perimeter for the mag float to get into and water flow.



Flow Pattern Changes -



I had dead spots in the back corners, and along the leading edge of the tank. After reworking the rocks there was more space for the water to circulate properly and hopefully lead to less silt accumulation. I moved the two Sicce Nano powerheads that are mounted on the back wall to the corner and faced them toward the front of the tank. I have them operating on a Wave Surfer that alternates between them for roughly one minute each. That creates a pulsing pattern that seems to be doing better with keeping the sand clean.



New Inhabitants -

• The Thing Anacropora from @ReefAddict
• Red Porites
• Pink Diamond Zoa
• Sunset Monti
• Jack O Lantern Lepto
• Unknown pink/green Monti, all of the above is from @Supreme Reefs
• Bill Murray Acro
• Tiffany Blue Acro
• Short Tentable Gonipora
• Carolina Reaper (RIP) - died overnight, no idea what happened
• Yellow Zoa, all of the above are from @thakki

Questions for the Community -

#1-

I have 4 powerheads in this tank and I can't seem to nail the flow pattern. It always seems like I have dead spots, or silt buildup on the sand bed. I'm looking for feedback on improvements or suggested changes.



Right now I have:

2 Sicce Nano pumps mounted on the back wall, facing forward. They alternate on and off in one minute intervals.


1 Icecap 1K Gyre pump mounted on the left side of the tank just below the surface. The gyre operates in a push pull cycle that starts at 10% and ramps up to 100%, then reverses.

1 Vortech MP10 in Reef Crest mode. It is mounted on the front lower right side of the tank, essentially opposite of the gyre pump.


Does anyone see any glaring issues here? Are the Sicce Nano pumps simply too small? Am I using something incorrectly?



#2 -

What PAR levels are you seeing from your lights? Do the numbers outlined above fall within a respectable range? I really don't like having the light that close to the water surface, but I also want to make sure I have adequate light for the inhabitants. I'm not really in the position to pick up a new light either. I got it at a bargain bin price from @epleeds then spent a couple hundred tracking down parts to rebuild it. I doubt I would recover my investment if I sold it, and I'm also not sure what I would switch to if I did. I had Radeon XR15 Pro G3s on the tank before and they drove me nuts. The software was abysmal. I upgraded to Mobius, it bricked one of the lights, and Ecotech told me that it needed new drivers which they were not capable of installing, so it got recycled. I get it, it's older, but the manufacturer can't update the drivers? C'mon, that's a lot of money to toss in the trash.

As always, thank you for reading and your feedback. These posts are long, hopefully they're beneficial to someone and they prevent someone from making my mistakes over again.



Full gallery of pictures here.

 

[demon_speeding]

Update 5 -
Another 30 days, another update.

This month threw me a couple of curve balls. I'm learning as I go and adapting to the problems as they pop up (and they don't seem to stop popping up). I haven't collected much scientific data this month, the majority of my observations have been subjective.



Recap of Changes -

• Rebuilt my lighting system - this probably deserves a post by itself, and if there is feedback or a need I will make one.
• Changed trace element dosing and supplementation to fit recommendations from Aqua Forest.
• Added a few corals.
• Added a buddy for my Pistol Shrimp (success!).

Verified Data -
This month wasn't very super-sciencey. I collected a little bit of anecdotal data, but I'll need to do some additional testing to call it empirical data.


Pairing Goby with Pistol Shrimp -

I picked up a large Watchman Goby from a fellow WAMAS member and introduced him to the tank. He paired up with my Pistol Shrimp within a few hours. Those two are quite a pair now. The shrimp is constantly excavating the tank and the Goby keeps a watchful eye. The pistol doesn't snap anywhere near as much as he used to, comes out of his caves quite often, and appears generally happier. I find it challenging to call a fish or a shrimp "happy", but they both seem to be doing what nature intended them to do and neither of them seem distressed. The shrimp was formerly reclusive, I rarely saw anything more than antennae, now it comes all the way out of the burrow quite often. They're both eating well and appear well adjusted. I'll take this as a win.


Rewiring my Geissman Aurora V4 Hybrid Light -

When I purchased the light from @epleeds he told me that it had some electrical issues and would likely need new ballasts and a power supply. I tested the output of the power supply and it was within the range specified on the label. There are a ton of helpful videos if anyone needs to know how to do this.

The ballasts were the original HEP SD254-58 UNI ballasts. I searched online for a replacement and was only able to find them through the official Geissman parts store. They were about $120 each, and shipping was incredibly high (I was originally quoted about $80). I decided to try and track down an alternative. I reached out to HEP and was told that those particular ballasts are extremely hard to come by. They were willing to ship me some from the factory in China, but the costs were deep into the $100s of dollars. The manufacturer told me that if I was willing to wait until February there was a shipment going out to a retailer in California and they would add mine to the shipment and they would resell them to me with a minor markup. The actual cost of the ballast was around $10 bucks. I agreed and waited to hear from them. To the manufacturer's credit, they were incredibly helpful. They attempted to find me an alternative (the size was wrong) and stayed in contact for several months (this process started in Nov/22). The reseller dropped the ball and quit communicating with me. I was never able to place the order. Back to square one.

I picked up a set of Sylvania ballasts that were supposed to have the same specs as the original. The wiring was a little different but I was able to get it to work. I have experience with electronics, but I didn't know some of the eccentricities of ballasts.

Once I got them installed I realized they were a tad (like 1mm) too tall. I had to modify the reflector by mounting it on the outside of the rail it connects to, which meant the splash guard no longer fit.

While I was installing the ballast I noticed that the tombstones (the socket where the bulb attaches) were rusty and also needed replacement. I ordered a set from Amazon and worked on getting them installed. The Amazon ones had very brittle legs that would frequently snap off while you pushed them into the housing bracket. I got around this by using long needle nose pliers to hold the legs and push them into the frame.

Once the tombstones and ballasts were installed I booted up the app and tested the lights. The dimming function was sketchy and the lights often flickered or stopped working. You would have to rotate the bulbs in the socket to get them to re-ignite, then they would stay on (until the next morning). It was pretty frustrating, I was not happy with the light at all. My lighting was inconsistent, some days the T5 would work, others it would not. It would often shut off mid-day and I wouldn't be aware until I got home from work.

I circumvented a few of these issues by setting the T5 lights to be either 100% on or off. No ramp up, and no dimming. This seemed to help, but it clearly wasn't working correctly.

I picked up some reference materials from the library and found out that wires in a ballast can only be a certain length before it causes problems. Most ballasts have a warning label that states something to the effect of "blue wires must be under 12 inches" or something similar to give the installer left and right limits on how long wires can be before they run into an issue. My ballasts were old stock and the labels had been damaged, so I missed that. I pulled the spec sheet from the manufacturer and saw that mine were far outside the acceptable limit. I cut the wires down and had less, but not zero issues. I decided to start from scratch and gut the whole thing.

I picked up a set of Advance Mark 7 0-10V IZT2S54D35M ballasts. They had the same electrical specs (found by googling) and the spec sheet showed that they were almost the same size as the original. These were longer, but that didn't matter for my application. I picked them up on Amazon for about $54 each (needed 2, shipping included).

I stripped the light down to bare bones to get a clean install. If you do this, I strongly suggest you photo document everything. Take pictures of the connections, wire colors, ballast placement, screw locations, etc.

When I started my install I realized that the color scheme of the new ballast was totally different than the old ballast, which was totally different from the factory. My new ballast also had 1 less terminal than the old one.

I did a little research and found that the wiring color scheme in Germany varies from many other countries, and it looks like they kind of do their own thing. I wasn't able to track down a good lead on a definitive color chart, so I had to trace all of the wiring and attempt to pair it back to the wiring diagram on the ballast. Once I was able to do that I wired up the new ballast as best I could and I had one purple wire remaining. According to the ballast manufacturer purple is the 1v-10v dimming control switch. According to the light manufacturer purple is a bridge wire that connects voltage between 2 lamps. Needless to say, I was confused. I didn't have an easy way to figure out what this wire went to because it went into a connection block that was sealed and I didn't feel like ripping it apart and risking damage.

I managed to track down a help line for building engineers that was set up by Philips and reached out to them. Apparently this is a common question with an easy solution. Skip the extra wire. Simply cap it off and forget about it. The technology in the new ballast doesn't make use of it.

With that settled I had everything wired up. I should also mention that I ordered new tombstones directly from Giesseman. Their tombstones snapped directly into place, held firmly and put a nice snug fit on the lamps. They look very similar to the Amazon ones, but the quality is miles apart.

I tested the wiring and lo and behold the dimming function worked perfectly. No more rotating the lamps to get a connection, no more turning off during the day, no buzzing sounds, nothing. It was as good as new. The reflectors went back to their original mounting position, splash guards were refitted and the light was hung over the tank with glee. It has worked perfectly from that point on.

Subjective Data (bullets here detailed descriptions below the bullets) -

• Corals (mostly) appear to be responding favorably to Aqua Forest supplementation protocol.
• Clownfish aggression has notably decreased.
• Green BTA has chosen to face directly into a gyre wavemaker and is taking a beating.
• Porcelain crab is hosting Green BTA and doing an exceptional job of keeping it clean and tidy.
• A couple of corals (details below) are showing signs of deterioration or stress, I have been unable to identify the source and I fear I will lose a couple of nice colonies.

Subjective Data Details

• Dosing and supplementation protocols were changed in order to follow guidance suggested directly from Aqua Forest. I use the Aqua Forest Probiotic salt and the Aqua Forest 1+,2+,3+, supplements for CA, MG, ALK. Previous ICP tests had indicated that all of my trace elements were routinely low. I was using Korallen Zucht in addition to the AF chemicals in order to increase trace elements. I spoke with an AF representative who advised that their method ideally calls for the addition of supplemental bacteria and elements.
• For those who are unfamiliar the AF pro-biotic method essentially introduces strains of bacteria into your tank that are intended to out compete harmful strains of bacteria and the end result is supposed to be extremely low nitrates and phosphates, bio diversity, and ideally zero nuisance algae problems.In complete honestly, AF outlines on their webpage that there are additional products they recommend for this protocol, I didn't believe they were necessary and I skipped them. After additional research I decided to use the additional products for a few months and see if I was able to detect (and hopefully record data to support their continued use).
  
  The additional products and their purposes are:
• Bio S - Use only after water changes. Reload beneficial bacteria to the tank that is depleted or extracted when you change water
• NP Pro, and Pro Bio S - Probiotic bacterial strains designed to accelerate the decomposition of organic matter and biodegradable liquid polymers, which are an excellent source of carbon for probiotic bacteria.My understanding is that these bacteria strains effectively bond to nitrates and phosphates making them have a larger biomass that can either be eaten by corals or picked up by the skimmer.
• Life Source - Use after water changes. This is a weird product. It is essentially mud purported to be harvested from or near a coral reef in Fiji. AF states that " It is perfect as a buffer to enhance microbiology in saltwater aquariums. Biological stabilization is a crucial factor for corals health. Using the AF Life Source provides corals access to components and minerals derived from the natural environment." When you use it you have to mix the mud with tank water (in a jar or some kind of sealed container) shake it up to dissolve/break it down, then add to the sump or high flow area, I chose the sump. This makes your tank VERY cloudy for a couple of hours. My observation is that many of my corals responded extremely well to it. My candy canes became very full/puffy. I had strong extension on all of my gonis and acros, my nems looked beautiful. There was no sediment in my display tank and no residual detritus after dosing. I have some leftover mud in the bottom of my sump, but I stir it up with a baster and it seems to go away. My skimmer had a thin layer of film the next day, I cleaned it off, and it has not returned.
• Fluorine - aids in calcification and skeletal growth
• Kalium - Potassium is an important element responsible for neurological functions. In soft corals, potassium participates in the transport of nutrients. In SPS corals the deficiency of this valuable element causes a faded pink and red color.
• Iron - Iron is an important micro nutrient absorbed by corals and sea anemones. Regular and balanced iron supplementation provides intense green coloration of corals. Iron plays an important role in the process of photosynthesis, therefore its supplementation improves the coral nutrition process. Especially supports green coloring of Acroporas as well as other SPS corals.I can say that after dosing Iron for a few days a couple of my acros have incredibly bright green coloration. I need more time to make sure it is actually the Iron and not just subjective.
• Iodum - Iodine is used by corals for synthesizing pigments which allow them to adapt to variable lighting conditions and protect the fragile coral tissues from UV radiation. Iodum intensifies dark blue and purple coloration of hard corals.
• Strontium - Strontium, after calcium and magnesium, is one of the most important elements needed for growth of hard corals. Strontium supports the formation of hard coral skeletal tissue and significantly improves the calcium absorption.
• Micro E - Supplement contains concentrated heavy metals – manganese, vanadium, zinc, nickel, iron, chromium, cobalt & copper. Mixture of trace elements necessary for all marine organisms.
• The female clownfish has significantly reduced her aggression. She now will swim near you, but not bite you when you have your hand in the tank. She has, however, decided to bite whatever you're holding. In one case it was a digitata stick that she quickly took a chunk out of.
• Green BTA is taking a beating from the gyre pump. For some reason my GBTA has decided to move into a position where it faces a gyre. The water blasts it all day long. It opens up and inflates quite a bit, but the tentacles are short an stubby. The coloration looks good, it's healthy, eats well, and seems happy. I have no idea why it decided that "this is the spot to be".
• I posted recently about my euphyllia suffering tentacle retraction and poor overall health. I have not cracked the code on this. The coral has 2 main stalks. One stalk has 5 heads, the other has 2. The stalk with 5 heads has completely retracted and lost tentacles. It looks terrible. The other stalk is fully extended and looks great. I pulled it out and dipped it, no pests. I moved it to a lower flow, lower light spot in the tank, no change. I have no idea why half of it would be in bad shape when the other half looks great. I'm concerned I will lose half of the colony.
• After my most recent water change my mushrooms all shriveled up. I have several dozen of them and they all reduced in size by 50% or more. They are colorful, and they're open, but nowhere near the size they used to be. I have suspicions it was related to salinity. Additional details outlined under "setbacks".
• My large acan colony was either eaten, or rapidly died overnight. Details below.

Setbacks and Tips -



Setbacks -

When doing maintenance this week I noticed that my salinity was high. I measured it at 1.030 with a refractometer. It appears that my valve for my ATO was partially blocked and not allowing adequate water to pass by and refill the tank. It was slowly getting by, but not enough. I cleared the blockage, scrubbed down the ATO, and refilled. I also took the opportunity to check and clear all of my dosing lines. The CA one in particular had sediment build up that was likely blocking the line, at least partially.

In order to lower the salinity I used a calculator to figure out a ratio for my water change and mixed up a batch of approximately 8 gallons of lower salinity water. I cleaned the tank as usual and added the lower salinity water. Tank now read SG 1.026. Slightly elevated, but within tolerances. After the water change my mushrooms responded very poorly, photos below. My acros and many of my other corals responded very favorably. It was a mixed bag. I believe the mushrooms will recover, but they clearly didn't like something. The polyp extension on my acros is fabulous, for me anyway. They seem to like the new chemicals and the lowered salinity.

The other major setback is the loss, or likely loss of my acan colony. It was about the size of a hockey puck and doing quite well. The morning after the water change I noticed it was half destroyed. To me it looks like something ate it. There were large chunks torn away and bits of flesh floating away from the skeleton. The half that was no affected is in perfect condition. I would suspect that rapid necrosis or some chemical ailment would affect the entire colony, not select polyps, is that accurate? Right now my suspicion is that either my coral beauty, or a rogue hermit crab is the culprit. My Highlander crab drags around a giant conch shell which easily could have torn the flesh on the acan and rang the dinner bell for other creatures to come feast on it, or something entirely different could have happened. I'm open to ideas, and I'm open to more acans if someone has some.



Tips -

This is probably an old tip for many of you, but I just learned this one. When I clean out my tank I run the discharge end of my siphon into my filter sock in the sump. I leave on all of the pumps and keep the tank running. This allows me to vacuum the entire sand bed without having to lower the water level or change buckets. Once I'm done cleaning, I shut the tank down, dump/change the sock, then vacuum out the water I'm changing and go from there. It makes the whole process much cleaner and simpler for me.



New Inhabitants -

• PC Rainbow
• Dragon Lady Bounce Mushrooms
• Tropicana Acro
  Magician Zoa's
  Yellow Tips
• Microlados
• Garf Bonsai
• Unknown acro
• Unknown chalice
• Unknown wrinkly coral
• Adult Yellow Watchman Goby
• Porcelain Crab

Current Parameters:

Parameter:	Current Level:
Specific Gravity	1.026
Temperature	79°F
pH	8.4 - 8.6
Alkalinity	9 dKH
Ammonia (NH3)	Undetectable
Nitrite (NO2)	Undetectable
Nitrate - Nitrogen (NO3)	.02 ppm
Phosphate (PO4)	0.15 ppm
Calcium	480 ppm
Magnesium	1380 ppm

Questions for the Community -

#1- I still don't know what happened to my Euphilya. What are your thoughts? Is it a goner?
#2 - What happened to my acan? Did someone eat it? Did the salinity swing kill it?
#3 - I have a $500 credit with Bulk Reef Supply. What should I buy?

As always, thank you for reading and your feedback. These posts are long, hopefully they're beneficial to someone and they prevent someone from making my mistakes over again.



Full gallery of pictures here.

 

[demon_speeding]

Mini Update Prior to 3/11 Full Update -
Lost tissue on the bottom of my purple pocci. It was bleached to the skeleton overnight. Did some testing and had high phosphate levels. Dosed Dr. Tim's Waste-Away and the levels started coming down. Current readings are Phosphate at .12 and nitrates at 1.9. Significant drop from .2 and 14.9 late last week.

Euphiliya is regrowing tentacles and looking much better. Acan is looking good during the day but hasn't started regrowing yet. Anacropora suffered some loss the same day as the pocci. It's weird, the 3 corals that I've had issues with are all in the same area of the tank, but none are close enough together to affect each other. Not sure what's going on there.

 

[bearman88]

I haven't got to read everything yet, but you may want to raise nitrates. Most people target 5-20ppm for coral health.

You may want to post specific questions in smaller, more digestible chunks on their own threads for better feedback. Thanks for sharing your journey!

 

[demon_speeding]

Good advice and thank you. This was a direct port from my local club, so it ended up being huge. I'll do smaller updates in the future. I'm currently working through some nitrate and phosphate issues. Po4 is sitting around .12 and no3 is around 13 or 14. Need to test again this morning. I've been using AF NitraPhos minus to bring it down but it's slow going. Did a 30 percent water change yesterday that only dropped my po4 from .15 to .12.

 

[demon_speeding]

Tested this morning - po4 at .05 no3 at 3.9.

I haven't fed in two days. I feed only frozen food for the fish. I'll give them some chow this morning and measure again tonight to check the changes.