Journey Into Reefing - Waterbox Infinia Reef 150.4

[skey44]

All the fish seem to be acting natural and most importantly tangs are GRAZING! Happy you’re liking the conch. It’s a must have for a sand bed IMO.
White tail tang is very pretty.
I’m hopeful I can find a smallish specimen but honestly most of the ones I see are about the size of the one you have. All the small specimens bristle tooth tangs I see come in are different varieties. Looks like it’s doing great in there.

 

[rzimm33]

All the fish seem to be acting natural and most importantly tangs are GRAZING! Happy you’re liking the conch. It’s a must have for a sand bed IMO.
White tail tang is very pretty.
I’m hopeful I can find a smallish specimen but honestly most of the ones I see are about the size of the one you have. All the small specimens bristle tooth tangs I see come in are different varieties. Looks like it’s doing great in there.

Yep, the yellow tang was only a jerk for a few days. Since then, they’ve all mostly gotten along. I’ve decreased my Nori feeding to every 3 days to force them to all graze

I fell in love with the white tail when I saw it. I originally planed for 3 tangs, but here I am . If they get outta line or too big, I’ll transfer some to my dad’s larger 6ft tank.

I know somewhere that might be able to get you one if you’re interested.

 

[rzimm33]

A few new corals for the tank came in today
Indo Sky Blue Hammer
Joker Favia
Sunburst Goni
Sand Dollar Porites.

I picked these all up from Tidal Gardens during their sale on Sunday. I love the hammer, it’s the one with the longer tentacles in the back

 

[skey44]

That Goni is cool.

 

[rzimm33]

That Goni is cool.

Was a bit afraid getting one with my nutrients being so low, but the current algae issue seems to be subsiding. Hopefully will start building up Phosphate and nitrate soon. I have another order coming from TSA in a week or so which also has a Goni. My wife loves them

 

[rzimm33]

last night I got everything in that I plan on putting in my auto feeder. I wanted a blend of various foods to ensure everyone is fed appropriately. This weekend I’ll need to play around with ratio and timing of the auto feeder to remain on.

 

[rc8t6353]

last night I got everything in that I plan on putting in my auto feeder. I wanted a blend of various foods to ensure everyone is fed appropriately. This weekend I’ll need to play around with ratio and timing of the auto feeder to remain on.

Are you using your Apex as a timer with the Plank? Most of the timers I've seen are controlled in terms of minutes. I would think you'd only want it on for a few seconds at a time so it doesn't dump too much food into the aquarium. I'm just curious so I know what to do if and when I get one.

 

[rzimm33]

Are you using your Apex as a timer with the Plank? Most of the timers I've seen are controlled in terms of minutes. I would think you'd only want it on for a few seconds at a time so it doesn't dump too much food into the aquarium. I'm just curious so I know what to do if and when I get one.

I was going to use the Apex but didn’t want to take up the slots on the energy bar.

There is another timer that I picked up which was recommended to use with the plank which can be programmed to stay on for as little as 1 second. Plus the timer was really cheap on Amazon. Currently I have the plank barrel stay on for 1 minute and the power head which propels the food into the water stay on for 3 minutes.

1 minute will obviously be way to long once I mix these other foods into the Plank. Right now I just have freeze dried mysis in it which seems to dispense into the water very slowly. Possibly 15-20 seconds would be enough especially once you take into account the smaller pellet food.

Here is the timer if you’re interested:

Amazon.com

 

[rzimm33]

After experimenting, i have the Plank with food my food mixture running twice daily for 90 seconds each time. I am starting to run out of algae in the tank and the reefmat is being used up much slower.

In other news, my Goni has decided to close up as of yesterday evening. I moved it to the bottom in hopes to make it more comfortable. My initial fear was too low nutrient levels, which is likely also upsetting the Goni

 

[skey44]

Sounds like the nutrients and feeding are working out. Bummer on the Goni. I actually looked at some Goni frags today and want to try but I also know they aren’t the easiest of corals out there.

 

[rzimm33]

Been dosing phyto every few days. Started spot feeding as well with Reef Roids. To my surprise the Goni which is still closed up seems to be eating. Definitely a good sign.

 

[rzimm33]

Got a few things in the mail today:

Indo Gold torch
Dragon Soul torch
Red Hornet Zoa
Stratosphere Zoa

 

[skey44]

Ooh those torches look fire! Zoas look colorful too.

 

[rzimm33]

Ooh those torches look fire! Zoas look colorful too.

Thank you! I got them from a member here for a great deal. They seem very healthy and are already showing full extension after only a few days

 

[rzimm33]

I received a few decent orders in the mail today:

Added:
24k Goldilocks hammer
Rainbow Holographic hammer
Green tip purple stem hammer

QCC Dragon Slayer Platygyra
Necromancer Favia
Soul Reaper Favia
Plasma Burn Platygyra

Blue and green Stylophora:

WWC Sunfire Montipora Cap:

Cotton Candy torch:

TSA Laffy Taffy Goni:

 

[Janci]

Lovely tank.
Very nice choice of coral and fish!
I am interested in the Plank feeder. I have no tank at the moment and do not follow all latest updates of new equipment. Never heard about it.

 

[rzimm33]

Lovely tank.
Very nice choice of coral and fish!
I am interested in the Plank feeder. I have no tank at the moment and do not follow all latest updates of new equipment. Never heard about it.

It’s more or less a food hopper that drops food down into a pipe which goes into the water. Within the pipe is a small power head that helps pump the food down into the tank. This helps reduce food floating on the surface and going down the overflow

 

[rzimm33]

Got around to hooking up a backup battery. I only have 1 of my MP40s hooked to it for surface agitation in the instance of a power outtage

Also picked up a few more frags from a local shop

Rose Gold Hammer
Green/Purple Splatter hammer
Bam Bam Zoa
La Lakers Zoa
Bob Marley Zoa

With the addition of these hammers. I would say my hammer garden is complete. There is tons of room around the side and back as these grow, I’ll frag pieces and move to fill in those areas.

Full tank shot since all fish are visible:

 

[rzimm33]

First update in a bit.

Overall, things are going great. A few of my hammers seem to possibly be receiving too much flow and have reduced in size a bit. Tonight I moved one of the power heads up by 2 inches to help reduce flow hitting as hard in this spot.

It seems to be nothing major as the tissue still looks quite healthy. Just a bit smaller.

Also big news… I finally have reportable Phosphate!!! I think this is mainly in part from Reef Jerky in the auto feeder and spot feeding once a week with Reef Roids. This leads me to my next topic.

The Plank Autofeeder based on what I have obversed really needs only 1 type of food in it. My initial mix included foods of differing size. As my phosphates have went up, I started noticing a bit more algae. Today I checked the Plank and it seems to have dumped ALL of the Reef Jerky leaving being the dehydrated Mysis and other medium sized pellet food. To help control my Phosphates so they don’t get out of control, I have removed Reef Jerky from the autofeeder and will instead only stock dehydrated mysis in it. I will continue supplement smaller pellet food and seafood a few times a week.

Unfortunately Nitrates are still showing 0.

Breakdown of testing as of last night

dKH 8.7 - I add 25mL of alkalinity every night which seems to hold me around here.

Ca 434 - been attempting to hold around 430-440

Mg 1320 - when testing shows a dip to 1300, I add about 150mL of Mg solution.

Nitrate - 0

Phosphate 0.06

Salinity 1.025 - started at 1.026. I assume my addition of supplements is slowly lowering the concentration. Will need to add a few cups of 1.026 salt water to bring back up.

Last thing to report is my closed up Goni is still closed up. It’s got a bit of grey going on on its skeleton, but the polyps still are vibrant. I’m hoping now that my Phosphate is detectable, it will recover and eventually open.

 

[rzimm33]

I’m curious what you all think of this flow?
I have my MP40s on Reef crest at 25% power.


Image of the tank to show placement of power heads-