Jimbo's CDA 250 Build

[saltienewb]

if you’re interested in any of their other live stuff, saltwater aquarium has ORA tank raised peppermints for sale. Good luck!
Edit but they are almost double price and have to pay overnight shipping

 

[Jimbo327]

I love my LFS, but my man doesn't carry much CUCs. I will probably have to spend the weekend going to several LFS that are farther away.

 

[JoJosReef]

I love my LFS, but my man doesn't carry much CUCs. I will probably have to spend the weekend going to several LFS that are farther away.

Aren't you close to Tong's?

 

[Jimbo327]

Tong's is not far from me, ,maybe 20 minutes drive. I'm closer to Amazing Aquariums, that's just down the street from me.

 

[JoJosReef]

Tong's is not far from me, ,maybe 20 minutes drive. I'm closer to Amazing Aquariums, that's just down the street from me.

Got my sea hare from Tong's. I don't recommend the sea hare, but Tong's had some CUC.

 

[Jimbo327]

Good news, I think I see slight improvements in the gem tang's tail. It is healing and no signs of aggression by the other tangs. Woohoo! This made my day. I’m feeding them frozen mysis and LRS fish frenzy soaked in selcon.

 

[Jimbo327]

After getting used to the Trident and seeing my Alk/CA/Mg levels stabilize, I'm going to reduce the frequency of testing and save some time & money on reagents (already on ABC). This thread has the instructions on how to do it:

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/fully-customize-neptune-tridents-test-schedule.854171/

I will reduce the alkalinity test frequency from 4 to 3 times per day and the calcium & magnesium test from 2 to 1 time per day. I wish I didn't have to test magnesium daily, it's a waste...testing Mg weekly would be ideal. But alk/calcium/magnesium testing is bundled into the same "combined" testing on the Trident.

For now, the combined test will be at 4am, and individual alkalinity test will be at noon and 8pm. Let's see how this works out.

 

[Jimbo327]

I got a couple pitho crabs in the tank now, let’s see if they put in the work on my bubble algae infestation. Welcome to the bubble algae buffet, all you can eat special. I would be surprised if they can make a dent. The emerald crab is no where to be seen.

Now I just have to do something about the aiptasia problem.

Dang, this pitho didn't last long in my tank. It wasn't moving, and flipped upside down. Upon closer inspection, every leg was torn off of the crab by something in my tank. I'm suspecting it is my flame hawkfish, his eyes looks guilty. ^&*^#@% He just had crab legs for dinner! This does not bode well for any small CUC in my tank.

 

[JoJosReef]

Last resort could be Flux Rx. Worked well for me to clear out Valonia. Didn't eradicate it, though, so you'd probably have to periodically Flux your tank. The bubbles in the shady parts of the tank persist.

 

[Jimbo327]

It's Friday, and I usually hit up the LFS near me to see what's available. I'm stepping up my CUC diversity.

I got 10 Bumble Bee Snails to control the vermetid snails and 1 indonesia peppermint shrimp. Not sure if this type of peppermint shrimp eats aiptasia, it's quite pricey and I'm not sure if my hawkfish will make it a meal as well. So I'm waiting to see if it eat aiptasia or not. I might pick up a few more peppermint shrimps next week.

 

[Jimbo327]

Weekend is when I have the most time to knock out some of the "To Do" list.

So I'm going to redesign/repair the ozone system. The ozone is in the shed and it may be too humid in there, as the ozone corona discharge cell was crapping out way too prematurely. So I'm going to swap out the discharge cell, double the drying dessicant and also put in an air pump to feed the ozone generator. Pretty simple fix.

 

[Jimbo327]

Adding a tuxedo urchin and 2 more indo peppermint shrimp. I'm going to keep 1 peppermint shrimp in my observation tank and another one is acclimation box in the DT. Then put some rocks/frags with aiptasia and see if they will eat it. I just learned about the acclimation box method from another local reefer...seems logical. Fingers crossed.

 

[SpikesReef]

Trochus snails spawning. That’s how I got hundreds of baby snails!

This is so cool, and im sure they are keeping things in line!

 

[Jimbo327]

This is so cool, and im sure they are keeping things in line!

Definitely made a lot of baby trochus from spawning in the tank, and I've been giving a lot of them away to local reefers. Recently, I've must have had some snail deaths because I don't see as many...not sure if one of my fishes has been snacking.

My new tuxedo urchin already making a baby trochus its hat.

 

[Jimbo327]

Test day. I try to do it manually once per week.

Alk: 8.7
Cal: 390
Mag: 1390
NO3: 7.4
PO4: 0.12
Salinity: 1.026

 

[Jimbo327]

Knocking more stuff off the list.

Going to convert baking soda into sodium carbonate. Get a huge bag of baking soda from Costco, and start baking in the oven for 300F for 1hr to make it into sodium carbonate. Then follow Randy's 2-part recipe to make the final alkalinity solution. (Be aware and wear gloves because the sodium carbonate is caustic with pH of 11.)

 

[Jimbo327]

Looks like dinos decided to show up. Lovely. I've had to deal with so many issues in this 1st year of setting up the tank, might as well add dino onto the pile.

I've cranked up my UV and ozone, but this dino does not seem to be the type that goes into the water column at night. Bummer. I will ask my friend, who has a nice microscope at work) to take some photos and video of the dinos to confirm which type it is.

 

[Jimbo327]

Looks like Coolia dino to me because it is very round, but the pic is not the best.

I'm going to run my UV longer at night, and dose some Microbe Lift special blend bacteria. If this doesn't work, I"m going to UV the sand with the sweeper.

 

[Jimbo327]

Friday night, and I get to relax and sit in front of the tank for a couple hours. Always finding some things to discover.

The fishes are fat and happy. All of them are overweight with full bellies. I may be feeding them too good. 3-4 cubes of frozen per night, and 1-2 sheets of nori per day as well, plus freeze dried and pellets whenever I'm around. No nutrient issues because I'm controlling it with carbon and LC dosing, and I can just dial it up and down. What I did notice today was that the pecking order seems to be changing amongst the tangs. The Powder Brown Tang got chased away by the Desjardini Tang (that is growing very fast) when I was feeding. Hmmm....that's a first. There may be a new king on top.

The corals are hit and miss in its 1st year. I learned that dry rock takes a long time to support the delicate SPS. Despite all of my efforts, the SPS STN/RTN and dinos still popping up, my softies and LPS are loving my tank. It's a rewarding feeling when your corals grow. Perhaps, my flow is aimed too much at the OG bounce, but it is moving and left a baby on the rock. I tried to remove tiny baby off the rock and ripped the baby in half...DOH! I wound up putting each ripped baby on its own frag plug. I hope I didn't kill it. I plan to grow it out and have it in different area of my tank. It’ll take 1-2 years to grow it out. The OG bounce bubbles are really one of the coolest things in the hobby.

 

[Jimbo327]

I read a lot about Coolia dino on the forum, and Coolia is supposed to go into the water column at night. But I'm finding it is reluctant to go into water column and into my UV.

Also I think it is quite toxic to snails because I'm finding a lot of my snails to be turned upside down on the sandbed, because they probably ate some Coolia while cruising the sandbed. I need to do something quick or my snails are all going to die. I think the dying snails are also contributing to the instability of the tank as well. I'm getting way more hair algae than before...maybe from the dying snails adding more nutrients back into the tank or the lack of CUC.