Growing Pains from a First Reef Build - 55g

[REEFer86]

Time to change the RO filters!

Quick update from the modern era - I took about an hour yesterday evening to finally get my RO filters all swapped out. I've been horrible about doing so - I hadn't done it since getting the system in Feb 2018 (like I said, horrible). Last week my TDS was showing 1 on the output, though, so I knew now was REALLY the time to do it. Incidentally, I'd tried before, but frankly couldn't get the stupid cylinders unscrewed, even with the tool. For now, I'll just blame @Bulk Reef Supply and, by extension, @randyBRS . Yesterday I managed to remove some of the stored water from inside the system before taking them off - not sure if it mattered, but point being I got them out! Hooray!

It looks weird when it's empty, right?

I made sure to keep the cylinders in order so I can track them more easily. It helped a little.

It really seems mostly OK, but as mentioned, I was getting >0 on the TDS, so swap out it is!

Bye bye, varied stuff! (looking at you, yellowed 3 um filter).

Glad to have gotten that done, though I should've so long ago. Now I'll need to get another kit and new membranes for when the new year rolls around .

On my list to do!

 

[REEFer86]

Reality check 10 - deaths continue, the stand is wet again, and a slowed roll (Mar - present (Jul/Aug) 2019)

After dealing with so many issues with the fish, testing problems, corals, etc., I really decided that it was high time to substantially slow the roll of things. I lost out on a hefty chunk of extra money that I'd been earning, and my main job is a bit up in the air regarding how much longer it can last. Because of this, the last few months have seen very few things happening to the tank, but I did still try a handful of things. I still tried to increase my livestock (the wrasse and firefish were doing great), but things were still dying, and didn't really do anything for corals. In addition, I tried to get a phytoplankton reactor/culture system up and running so I could eventually grow pods as well, prepping for a Mandarin. I'll put that in my next update post.

First things first though. I was having some issues with my overflow - it was WAY overfilling, and it ended up draining my ATO reservoir pretty much daily. Thankfully, I only have a ~2 L container, so it didn't affect salinity too much. I saw that the main overflow drain was getting clogged with algae, food particulate matter, and some other gunk. It was a pain to remove, but I finally managed to dislodge the pipe, clean it all off, and even added a laminated black sheet to cover the overflow from light to stop the algae growth. A few days later, I noticed the bulkhead was leaking.

Thankfully, the leak was not intense, but enough that I had to put a container underneath while I figured out what to do. LFS had a good selection of bulkheads, so I drained the overflow again, (eventually) got the old one off (I'd WAY overtightened it), and made sure the area was clear of particulates, then put on the new head. It worked OK, but... that stupid barb fitting that I'd gotten with the initial build was seriously bugging me, and the new bulkhead itself was barbed, so it didn't fit correctly. I finally realized I could use a PVC coupler and a smooth bulkhead to finally have a glued drain. Hooray! drained, replaced, and DONE! The main pipe is also MUCH easier to remove now, as I'd previously lightly pounded it in with a mallet. Because smart. But not.

Thankfully, the leaky bulkhead was the biggest MAJOR issue that I had during these months. In June, a straw came that broke this camel's back: I got a couple new corals and fish (a pair of queen anthias). The anthia both died within about a week.... still. I got an acclimation box and an Elibi angel. The angel stayed in the box for a few days, then released into the tank.

All the fishie!

Angel being a fishie

New corals hanging on the rack.

All was going well, but the firefish died a couple days after releasing the angel. I figured it was due to stress from the bigger new fish, but it was still very frustrating, and I felt awful. Then, the angel got lethargic and was dying, as well, about 3 weeks later.

Managed to get the angel in the acclimation box before it died. No signs of illness... just.... dying.

I followed up that day with a yellow goby. It didn't even last 3 days (all in acclimation box). I couldn't figure it out and felt awful. Not only did I lose a fish that was doing great (firefish), but I'd lost still more beyond that, again. I posted a thread here on the forums, and got some wonderful advice and encouragement. In the end, the consensus was that the store's hyposalinity was causing too big of a shift to my tank's salinity, hence the random timing and 'no sign' deaths. I'm working on getting my QT set back up and keeping it at a hyposalinity, then gradually increasing the level to match my DT. Here's hoping it all works. I put the QT's ceramic bioballs in my DT sump around mid July so they can gain bacteria, and will have the QT running soon.

And that pretty much brings us to now for all the stuff I've done. Hooray

Wow that was some journey!

 

[REEFer86]

What’s your DT salinity? And at what temp do you keep it at?

 

[Blutspitze]

On my list to do!

Good ! RO filters are some of those things that can catch you off guard - only noticing when you've gotta make water.

Wow that was some journey!

Thanks very much, glad you enjoyed it!

What’s your DT salinity? And at what temp do you keep it at?

I try to keep my salinity at around 32.5 and temperature between 78 and 79 F. Measured with a refractometer it stays around 1.026.

Here's the last week ish of data from my probes. Gotta love that correlation

 

[Blutspitze]

Scrub, scrub, scrub the sump

Not too much gone on this past week, mostly maintenance of the status quo. As mentioned above in my reply to @PanchoG 's comment, the Chromis went all Highlander on each other, so there's only one left, tentatively named Sean Connery. Really unfortunate, but the last one seems to be doing well. To help out/reduce competition, I've been feeding more, and haven't seen anyone really bothering each other, plus the goby is fattening up nicely.

Did the usual water change, plus some glass cleaning and scrubbed the sump, including probe holder, and tossed some of the chaeto.

Chaeto is big, powerhead covered, walls covered, etc.

Lots of nuisance still, though less than in the past.

Looking much better post-clean. I'm hoping that it'll allow the chaeto to out-compete the other stuff a bit more, even if it's relatively gradual.

Reduced red on the lights, and looking pretty good the day after (Sunday)

Family shot!!!!

 

[Blutspitze]

Also, anyone know any good fish name puns on Connery? I can't leave a Chromis with a people name.

 

[Blutspitze]

A nominal update

Not too much happening this week - mostly maintaining the status quo. I started getting all the bills from a hospital visit back in August so I'm holding back on doing any purchases, livestock or coral-wise, not to mention generally feeling meh. Phytoplankton growth is still strong and I've got a solid stock in the fridge. Been feeding the sump and DT even though I've not seen any pods. Chaeto is still growing well, though the GHA and other nuciance algae in the sump is still showing up, albeit much slower.

The last remaining Chromis still seems to be getting along well with everyone, so that's a good sign as well, along with some good coral growth. Still waiting on the zoas/GSP to hop on the rubble pieces - no luck there yet. I also increased the Ca addition and decreased dKh, as they were a bit low and high, respectively, on testing this past weekend.

I figured at minimum I could share some of the new pics with you all

It's not too often that the star is up for pics.

Both the green and pink leathers are coming along nicely. And the chromis gets the zoomies frequently.

It's nice for Sandy to have her rock house. She keeps the sand nice and clean

No immediate plans for the next... while aside from maintenence and the regular cleaning. Debating about getting some carbon for my filter socks to help a bit with water clarity, maybe looking to local folks for some cheap frags.

 

[Blutspitze]

Cleaning the flow/ATO drained

Another week brings more relative little things going on. I'm still not planning any sort of expansions until I get some of my bills sorted out, so just doing regular, and a bit irregular, cleaning. The chaeto is growing.... reasonably well. The nusiance algae is starting to take over the sump again, though. I know that I can't get rid of it without completely nuking the sump, though. Kind of frustrating.

In the meantime, my ATO was emptied in less than a day, and the level still read as low. Salinity went down (not much), etc. etc. Thankfully my reservoir is very small, less than a half gallon, so not a huge deal, but needed to clear the blockage. The filter on my overflow pipe was pretty clogged up, so I popped it off and cleaned it. While it was out, I razor'd the sides of the overflow and knocked off the calcium deposits, as well.

Before

After.

While I had the razor stick out, I scraped out a lot more algae near the sandbed that my mag float couldn't get to, like over by Leonard's house:

So much easier to see now. HI LEONARD!!! There's still a bit of growth at the bottom, but it's not too bad, at least. Also, the wrasse is hiding in the shadows. Very spooky.

Like I said, not a whole lot this week, but glad that things are staying at least reasonably good overall

 

[PanchoG]

Very nice clown pic and update, you have a lot coralline algae growing in the back glass, are you planning to have only coralline there or are you planning something?

 

[Blutspitze]

Very nice clown pic and update, you have a lot coralline algae growing in the back glass, are you planning to have only coralline there or are you planning something?

Thanks very much - I think the glass definitely looks better after the weekend.

For the back glass, I was planning to have the GSP grow to cover it, but my colony isn't cooperating. I think I have the only GSP in existence that doesn't want to spread like the plague and take over everything. It won't latch onto the adjacent rocks, rubble pieces, the overflow, or anything. Not sure what's going on, as it looks bright, open, and healthy every day.

 

[PanchoG]

It will look very cool if you get the GSP to grow in the back glass.

For some reason GSP does not grow as fast in all the tanks. I know people who unsuccessfully tried to grow it. In my old nano AIO it grew so fast that I had to be careful as it would spread even in the sand. In my current tank is a slow grower though.

 

[Blutspitze]

It will look very cool if you get the GSP to grow in the back glass.

For some reason GSP does not grow as fast in all the tanks. I know people who unsuccessfully tried to grow it. In my old nano AIO it grow so fast that I had to be careful as it would spread even in the sand. In my current tank is a slow grower though.

This is what I've seen, as well. Sometimes it grows like a weed and takes over everything, others it just sits in its place and does nothing. I'm still holding out hope, but not really banking on it.

 

[Blutspitze]

Re-cleaning and positioning in the fuge

It's been a couple weeks, so that means it's time to scrub out the sump/fuge! Huzzah! I'm still getting a significant amount of nuisance algae growth, and no idea why it's so rapid. My chaeto is doing alright, but doesn't have near the growth I'd like it to, even though I recently increased my feeding of mysis. It all still gets eaten, and nitrates stay put, but chaeto isn't getting crazy huge. It also keeps floating to the top of the fuge section, so the exposed bits start growing GHA and similar. The powerhead also keeps getting caked in varied stuff, and thus gets a bit weaker, as well.

"before" top-down look - the bubble-ish pieces are the chaeto that had floated to the surface and started getting coated. I threw out what I could of the coated ones, and kept as much of the good stuff as possible.

Side view is basically non-existent with the heavy growth on the glass.

After cleaning everything, I moved the powerhead higher up, keeping the upper water rippled and the whole thing more turbulent, not to mention making a bit of a barrier to (hopefully) stop the chaeto from floating up.

You can at least see into it, now. The skimmer desperately needs a cleaning, as well. Once I determine how best to do so.

To give an idea of the sheer quantity there is/was, here's a couple of fun pics:

Part of the swapped out water from my change to use as an algae disposal - I also scrubbed the rock that lives in the fuge.

So much algae in the garbage can.

I'm hoping that the powerhead move in particular helps to keep things more stable and "proper", but we'll just have to see in a couple weeks.

 

[New&no clue]

how is your pod population doing, have you seen them up in the DT yet? Would your recommend a refugium? I've been debating adding one but I'm not sure if the benefits out weight the maintenance.

 

[Blutspitze]

how is your pod population doing, have you seen them up in the DT yet? Would your recommend a refugium? I've been debating adding one but I'm not sure if the benefits out weight the maintenance.

Sadly no, no sign of pods yet. No idea what's happened to them, and I'm more likely to just restart my culture attempt with some adjustments. It seems best for me to have a steady source outside that I can add regularly to the tank.

As for the fuge itself, it did really help get my nitrates under control, and the nutrients are all staying rock solid. If you get the chaeto straight away (or some other macro) you can likely avoid all the nuisance algae that I've had. All in all, I'd say that once it's working correctly, it's well worth it to keep, but I personally have had trouble getting to that point.

 

[New&no clue]

Do you have yours before or after your skimmer? I have a red sea reefer and it is set up with the refugium before the skimmer chamber which makes me nervous for pods that they would get sucked into the skimmer before making into the DT.

 

[Blutspitze]

Do you have yours before or after your skimmer? I have a red sea reefer and it is set up with the refugium before the skimmer chamber which makes me nervous for pods that they would get sucked into the skimmer before making into the DT.

Mine is after the skimmer for just that reason. Most folks'll recommend you set up the fuge either after the skimmer or entirely separate. I'm not familiar with the reefer series tanks, but if memory serves they just have a skimmer and return chamber with no fuge, at least in the basic sump that's included.

 

[New&no clue]

That was the old sump, the new V3 sumps have a refugium right at the start.

What light are you using, does it have a lot of bleeding.

 

[Blutspitze]

That was the old sump, the new V3 sumps have a refugium right at the start.

What light are you using, does it have a lot of bleeding.

Ah dang, that's weird.... Any way you can move the skimmer to the fuge section? It seems like it might be too big, and the water level might be tough to deal with, but that'd fix it. Alternatively, you could rotate the skimmer so the intake is facing away from the fuge output - it'd reduce the number of pods that may get caught.

I use the Kessil H80 in mine. Highly adjustable, but it does have a substantial spread when using the arm mount. I get it as close as I can to the surface, but some light still gets into the skimmer section, hence the algae growth there.

 

[PanchoG]

Re-cleaning and positioning in the fuge

It's been a couple weeks, so that means it's time to scrub out the sump/fuge! Huzzah! I'm still getting a significant amount of nuisance algae growth, and no idea why it's so rapid. My chaeto is doing alright, but doesn't have near the growth I'd like it to, even though I recently increased my feeding of mysis. It all still gets eaten, and nitrates stay put, but chaeto isn't getting crazy huge. It also keeps floating to the top of the fuge section, so the exposed bits start growing GHA and similar. The powerhead also keeps getting caked in varied stuff, and thus gets a bit weaker, as well.

"before" top-down look - the bubble-ish pieces are the chaeto that had floated to the surface and started getting coated. I threw out what I could of the coated ones, and kept as much of the good stuff as possible.

Side view is basically non-existent with the heavy growth on the glass.

After cleaning everything, I moved the powerhead higher up, keeping the upper water rippled and the whole thing more turbulent, not to mention making a bit of a barrier to (hopefully) stop the chaeto from floating up.

You can at least see into it, now. The skimmer desperately needs a cleaning, as well. Once I determine how best to do so.

To give an idea of the sheer quantity there is/was, here's a couple of fun pics:

Part of the swapped out water from my change to use as an algae disposal - I also scrubbed the rock that lives in the fuge.

So much algae in the garbage can.

I'm hoping that the powerhead move in particular helps to keep things more stable and "proper", but we'll just have to see in a couple weeks.

Too much algae! nice cleaning buddy.