Innovative Marine 30 Gallon Long AIO Build

[Hallowhead]

Not having luck with fish either. I’m wondering if fish just don’t like long shallow tanks. My tank, 20 long also, fish keep jumping out.

Are you still using chemipure blue? I’ve heard it contains GFO which lowers P04.

Identification of which Dino species you have will help the battle. Some Dino don’t go into water column at night. UV will not help with those.

I've been toying with the idea of a microscope.. just don't wanna spend the money right now.

I am still running it - my phosphate are still registering which means I'm having dinos from high nutrients.

Could be shallow reef and or my orchid dottyback having all the burrow locations

 

[Hallowhead]

I did my quarterly rock scrub of both astarina starfish (jerks) and verms... actually prefer the verms over the astarina... When I removed some astarina from zoanthid stalks you saw it rip away flesh... I want them to all perish. I left them in a box and put in freezing cold garbage can at curb. good riddons.

Two photos: one of the box of all jerks another is a invert that I need an ID of.

As for diatoms or dinos... I am not sure what they are, as the intensity goes down they go away and even before lights turn off they're gone.

 

[jcolliii]

Dinos are a total bummer. Here is what worked for me (as outlined in my thread starting maybe around page 5 or 6).

1) Get rid of your sand bed - I did mine all at once, but I had been overturning it regularly to try and keep it clean. If you don't stir regularly, you might want to do half at a time;
2) Keep UV going constantly;
3) Filter floss on both sides, change daily each morning so the free-swimming stage is exported regularly;
4) TEST, TEST, TEST. Until you know how much of each: ALK, NO3, PO4 our tank uses or makes on a daily basis, you will be fighting it. EDIT: make sure to use good kits for NO3 and PO4 - NOT hanna checkers - they will make you not want to test. I suggest Salifert kits - they are pretty easy to read and both have an increased precision mode for more easily reading lower concentrations;
5) Not sure what supplement you use, but I suggest switching to All For Reef. I keep my ALK where I want it and the Ca and Mg *never* change;
6) Keep NO3 around 10ppm and PO4 around 0.1ppm;
7) Add some additional biomedia (I used Seachem matrix in a big bag - as much as would fit under my floss holders on each side). I seeded mine with a good bacterial additive. Now, my nitrates are pretty rock steady between 7 and 10 and I feed reef roids like 3 or 4 times a week (target feeding).

Keep up with maintenance, don't overfeed. This did it for me in like 1-2 weeks. It was that fast. I didn't used any additives other than the AFR and some aminos that I had always been adding. I have not seen a single dino strand in a long time now. I think that the sand makes it easier for the dinos to utilize the nutrients.

 

[Hallowhead]

Update: 2/13/21

I've managed to completely eradicate Dino's, my substrate has never been more white & clean. My corals are all starting to really thrive again.

My last astarina starfish murder session has put them in check.

I successfully added a diamond goby and it has not jumped yet, he's doing a fantastic job of launching substrate into the column but also a great job keeping sand clean.

I am finding this tank very enjoyable right now, and I plan to keep it that way. I have reduced my water changes quite significantly due to previous history as well as continuous dosing of alk & ca. I have slightly elevated nitrate at around 40ppm and phosphates sit comfortably around .1 which I am okay with. I am looking at ways to bring nitrates down a little without the constant water changes ripping nutrients and causing a crash again. Any ideas? I run chemi pure blue, and it's almost time to change out again.

My girlfriend surprised me with an ApexEL for Christmas this year which is an upgrade from my JR, so I've been monitoring pH now as well.

Here is a photo of tank currently.

 

[jazzfisher]

Good job!
Have you tried NoPox ? Works well for me.

NO3 : PO4-X NOPOX - Nitrate & Phosphate Reducer (500 ml / 16 oz) - Red Sea​

 

[Hallowhead]

This tank is on straight auto pilot ! I've lost my goby due to adding a mandarin goby and forcing new homes.

Coral is growing like crazy.

Vermetid snails are still everywhere and frustrating. They're growing at the tips of my hammer corals reducing extension...

 

[jazzfisher]

Adding a mandarin shouldn't have any effect on another goby? I have lots of gobies with my mandarins.

 

[Hallowhead]

Adding a mandarin shouldn't have any effect on another goby? I have lots of gobies with my mandarins.

I think he was a little unsettled and disturbed my big girl orchid dottyback and they got into a fight

 

[KonradTO]

Update: 2/13/21

I've managed to completely eradicate Dino's, my substrate has never been more white & clean. My corals are all starting to really thrive again.

My last astarina starfish murder session has put them in check.

I successfully added a diamond goby and it has not jumped yet, he's doing a fantastic job of launching substrate into the column but also a great job keeping sand clean.

I am finding this tank very enjoyable right now, and I plan to keep it that way. I have reduced my water changes quite significantly due to previous history as well as continuous dosing of alk & ca. I have slightly elevated nitrate at around 40ppm and phosphates sit comfortably around .1 which I am okay with. I am looking at ways to bring nitrates down a little without the constant water changes ripping nutrients and causing a crash again. Any ideas? I run chemi pure blue, and it's almost time to change out again.

My girlfriend surprised me with an ApexEL for Christmas this year which is an upgrade from my JR, so I've been monitoring pH now as well.

Here is a photo of tank currently.

Hey! Nice tank! Can I ask what did you do to increase nutrients and beat dino?

 

[Hallowhead]

Hey! Nice tank! Can I ask what did you do to increase nutrients and beat dino?

I increased feeding heavily and dosed phytoplankton daily. At one point I was dosing n+p but stopped as It felt not natural.

I decreased water change cycle from 3 weeks to like 5 weeks.

I weekly siphoned water through a filter sock to remove visible dinos and than added the water back.

 

[KonradTO]

I increased feeding heavily and dosed phytoplankton daily. At one point I was dosing n+p but stopped as It felt not natural.

I decreased water change cycle from 3 weeks to like 5 weeks.

I weekly siphoned water through a filter sock to remove visible dinos and than added the water back.

Thanks. I am this close from switching to bare bottom. No visible coral growth in months, dino and GHA taking turns, now its dino. I will try what you tried and see, hopefully it works.

 

[Hallowhead]

Thanks. I am this close from switching to bare bottom. No visible coral growth in months, dino and GHA taking turns, now its dino. I will try what you tried and see, hopefully it works.

Not to be a block but I've had more issues with bare bottom than sand. Bare bottom is tough to get started but once going it's easier.

 

[Hallowhead]

I am looking to just ride this tank out for a little while longer. I am eager to setup my reefer 425, but need to get my basement done first!

I am switching from the tunze 9001 to a ice cap k1 nano. My honest opinion on the tunze is, it doesn't work. The skimmer body is too complicated imo, it's too much of a hassle to clean, and if you're not cleaning it once a month and letting it break in for a week it just won't work.

I recently took my UV sterilizer offline, and added chemi pure elite and a bag of carbon... the tank never looked cleaner. Sad that I ran that sterilizer for so long. Another piece of equipment that I feel had no impact on my tank.

My nitrates and phosphates are high, but it doesn't appear to be impacting the tank ALL that much. I am trying to get them down.

My mandarin goby appears to be thinning out a smidge, but I culture copepods and dump 16 ounce bottle every other week... there should be millions of pods in there at this point.