Growing Pains from a First Reef Build - 55g

[RichtheReefer21]

Just caught up.

I love your perseverance. And DIY. So glad I saw this. The Phyto setup is a beauty. Grats on that success.

For the fish losses... no reefer has successfully kept all their fish alive from day 1. It's part of the hobby sadly.

The apex power console came out awesome. I wish I had taken more time on mine. The switches and indicator lights are genius. Execution was great for that project.

And @NY_Caveman would truely appreciate your catalog and linked outline of your build at the first page.

Happy to see the build fairing well. I'll be here going forward

#r2r4life

 

[Blutspitze]

Too much algae! nice cleaning buddy.

Thanks! I'm hoping that I'll have the time and know-how to do a more thurough sump cleaning soon. I've looked around on the forums and it doesn't seem like there's a really good answer to the question of how to clean an active, in-use sump. Particularly since I have no backup equipment except a return.

 

[Blutspitze]

Just caught up.

I love your perseverance. And DIY. So glad I saw this. The Phyto setup is a beauty. Grats on that success.

For the fish losses... no reefer has successfully kept all their fish alive from day 1. It's part of the hobby sadly.

The apex power console came out awesome. I wish I had taken more time on mine. The switches and indicator lights are genius. Execution was great for that project.

And @NY_Caveman would truely appreciate your catalog and linked outline of your build at the first page.

Happy to see the build fairing well. I'll be here going forward

#r2r4life

Thanks very much! Really appreciate the kind words, and glad to have you. It's definitely been tough, but I can at least say that I can maintain a status quo now . The cabinet is definitely what I'm most proud of - doing the temporary programmed off push-button/switch for feeding, water/sock changes/etc. was a huge game changer compared to dealing with unplugging and plugging in power cables. Not to mention having a bunch of info at a glance with the display.

@NY_Caveman was indeed the inspiration for the front page . I love looking at others' build threads, but it can be difficult when they're at 10, 15, 20, or more pages of posts that I have to try and dig through to find the progression.

 

[PanchoG]

Thanks! I'm hoping that I'll have the time and know-how to do a more thurough sump cleaning soon. I've looked around on the forums and it doesn't seem like there's a really good answer to the question of how to clean an active, in-use sump. Particularly since I have no backup equipment except a return.

I haven’t seen any thread about sump cleaning, maybe is related to the customization everyone has.

 

[Blutspitze]

I haven’t seen any thread about sump cleaning, maybe is related to the customization everyone has.

Most of what I've seen from basic searches are threads asking how to go about cleaning the sump. Most of the responses are just siphoning out all the water and scrubbing the gunk, which is certainly a possibility, but I worry about releasing any nitrate pockets in the fuge along with being as efficient as possible.

 

[Blutspitze]

Algae growth and healthy reef

It seems that things are growing nicely in the sump with my chaeto, and the plan of using the powerhead to "push it down" is working reasonably well. There's still other algae growth in the sump, but not much to be done there.

Bigger ball o' chaeto

Ripples still going strong.

On other notes, the phytoplankton growth is still quite solid and going strong. I'll be restarting my pod culture attempt at some point, but not sure when. I have a better idea of what to do this time around, and so help me I'll eventually get a mandarin.

One of my fridge jars/source for feeding. Looking awesome.

My corals are all looking really healthy and opening nicely, as well. The eagle eye zoa colony is expanding well, and I took some pics of the varied corals with my DSLR this past weekend, but haven't had time to edit them. The leathers are both looking great, as well, and I got a nice pic of the pink:

Loving the extension that I'm seeing on this guy. Looking great.

Hopefully I'll have the edited pics sometime this week, and pods started soon!

 

[RichtheReefer21]

The leathers are both looking great, as well, and I got a nice pic of the pink:

Loving the extension that I'm seeing on this guy. Looking great.

Beaut!

@najer and @Katrina71 like the pink leathers

 

[BeardedMcG]

That leather is killer!

 

[najer]

Beaut!

@najer and @Katrina71 like the pink leathers

Thanks dude, only 5 pages to catch up!

That is very pretty, brb let me read this!

 

[RichtheReefer21]

Thanks dude, only 5 pages to catch up!

That is very pretty, brb let me read this!

More work!?!

 

[PanchoG]

Nice coral extension, I think your chaeto is growing better than mine.

 

[Blutspitze]

That leather is killer!

Thanks so much! I'm really happy with it. I was a bit nervous as it's pretty close to the powerhead, but I know they tend to be really hardy, and it took well.

Thanks dude, only 5 pages to catch up!

That is very pretty, brb let me read this!

Exactly! Only 5 pages, it's barely anything

Nice coral extension, I think your chaeto is growing better than mine.

Thanks very much! I am still getting at least some chaeto growth, but the nuisance algae, is... well... you know. I'm cleaning out the sump every other week pretty consistently now. Eventually I'll have to find time to clean the skimmer properly.

 

[Blutspitze]

More coral pics!

It was another nominal week(end) for the tank, with not much going on - keeping things nicely alive and well, though. I did manage to get some decent-ish shots of a few of my other corals, though, so wanted to share them (sorry they're a bit blurry:

GSP on its branch out and open. Still waiting for it to spread to the nearby rocks and rubble but haven't seen anything happen yet.

Green leather looking good and open. Sometimes varies in how open it is, but most often it's nice and extended like here.

Hammer always looking nice. Oldest resident of the tank and very excited that it's been around so long.


That's it for this week - I still have the RAW images under the blues for the corals that I want to adjust, but haven't been able to find time around all my work. Hopefully soon I'll be able to.

 

[RichtheReefer21]

Are you planning on letting the GSP takeover? Because if not, u might want to segregate it somehow. I have some in the fuge, and it reaches out at least 2" feeling for new substrate to grab.

 

[MnFish1]

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

Nice anemone and clown

 

[Blutspitze]

Are you planning on letting the GSP takeover? Because if not, u might want to segregate it somehow. I have some in the fuge, and it reaches out at least 2" feeling for new substrate to grab.

I've been trying to get it to spread ever since I bought it. I added the bit of rubble next to the colony in hopes that it grabs on. Sadly haven't had any luck. Any tips on getting it to spread more?

Nice anemone and clown

Thanks! They're some of my favorite inhabitants to watch in the tank!

 

[RichtheReefer21]

I've been trying to get it to spread ever since I bought it. I added the bit of rubble next to the colony in hopes that it grabs on. Sadly haven't had any luck. Any tips on getting it to spread?

The same way all coral thrives. Stability

 

[Blutspitze]

The same way all coral thrives. Stability

Fair enough; I've been steady with all my key values - all of my zoas and the two leathers are growing nicely, but the GSP is lagging, for lack of a better term

 

[Squirrellyman]

Just found and started following this thread. It reads like a good mystery novel. I’m glad things are going well now. Thanks for all the notes.

Btw, I have a similar chaeto floating and clogging thing issue. I’m going to try to use some egg crate to hold it in place while still allowing it to get light. (Attempt at using a filter bag led to a bunch of die off.) If it works I’ll let you know.

 

[Blutspitze]

Just found and started following this thread. It reads like a good mystery novel. I’m glad things are going well now. Thanks for all the notes.

Btw, I have a similar chaeto floating and clogging thing issue. I’m going to try to use some egg crate to hold it in place while still allowing it to get light. (Attempt at using a filter bag led to a bunch of die off.) If it works I’ll let you know.

Thanks very much and glad you enjoyed the trip. I will spoil that the bad guy was ME ALL ALONG!!!!! (dun dun duuuuuuuun!!!!!)

I love the idea of using the egg crate for the chaeto. I still have some leftover from when I made my frag rack. How long are you planning to leave it as a test?