Journey Into Reefing - Waterbox Infinia Reef 150.4

[skey44]

I’m running my two mp 40 near the top of my Infinia frag and have slowly ramped them up to 25% on tidal swell, nothing directly at the corals except my one sps is probably 6 inches directly in front of one of them. I do see my hammers are the least tolerant of flow, but like you I’m not too worried because they are still showing healthy flesh bands and my parameters are good. I do notice the euphyllia in particular have random ups and downs on how they look and seem to sometimes close up for no reason closer to lights off.

So no direct answer here but I’m doing something similar on a smaller tank and seems to be ok. Think the hammers just dislike strong flow. I did move one mp40 closer to the back of the tank and one along the front so they aren’t flowing directly into each other to maximize their flow patterns and leave less dead zones.

 

[rzimm33]

I’m running my two mp 40 near the top of my Infinia frag and have slowly ramped them up to 25% on tidal swell, nothing directly at the corals except my one sps is probably 6 inches directly in front of one of them. I do see my hammers are the least tolerant of flow, but like you I’m not too worried because they are still showing healthy flesh bands and my parameters are good. I do notice the euphyllia in particular have random ups and downs on how they look and seem to sometimes close up for no reason closer to lights off.

So no direct answer here but I’m doing something similar on a smaller tank and seems to be ok. Think the hammers just dislike direct flow. I did move one mp40 closer to the back of the tank and one along the front so they aren’t flowing directly into each other to maximize their flow patterns and leave less dead zones.

Gotcha. Yeah idk why that blue hammer has shrunk down. It’s never received direct flow. Both of my pumps are pretty close to the top of the tank as you can see.

I needed to move my pumps as I had them set up going across the middle of the tank. One of my Stylos was getting blasted and wasn’t super happy about it. This at last gave me a chance to move the power heads to a more optimal position so they don’t hit anything in the tank directly

Thanks for the answer

 

[rzimm33]

I checked on the hammer throughout the night as well as this morning to look for flatworms or other pest. Didn’t see any.

But I did notice it is starting to split. Could be a possible reason for reduced polyp size. *lights are off, so none of the hammers have their tentacles extended in this pic*

 

[rzimm33]

Another thing I noticed today


Maybe Cyano? It’s only on a few spots of my rock work, no where else. I tried to find a similar looking algae online in images, but had no luck.

 

[skey44]

I’d guess red slime algae (called cyano in hobby). I’d guess it will just blow right off the rocks.

 

[skey44]

I was playing with the mp40 settings today and am trying reef crest for the first time in this tank. Just fyi I think overall it’s lower total flow than some of the other modes due to the ups and downs in intensity pattern. I feel like 25-30percent on tidal swell or nutrient export is equivalent overall flow wise to 40-50 percent on reef crest. I’d try upping your flow if you’re only doing reef crest at 25. I’m going to try reef crest at 40 for a few day and will let you know my outcome.
Also I had the day off and not a lot planned except tank maintenance. Just did a 20 percent WC including monitored wet skimming after, and siphoned/turkey basted rocks and sand to combat a little red slime issue that’s been getting worse. I’m also going to turn the skimmer off for twenty four hours after the wet skimming and add bio digest. Hopefully knock this slime back!
I’ve also got a little bit of hair algae starting and plan to add some tuxedo urchins and tangs in the next few weeks.
Just keep trucking. There will be a new issue to correct next week

 

[rzimm33]

I was playing with the mp40 settings today and am trying reef crest for the first time in this tank. Just fyi I think overall it’s lower total flow than some of the other modes due to the ups and downs in intensity pattern. I feel like 25-30percent on tidal swell or nutrient export is equivalent overall flow wise to 40-50 percent on reef crest. I’d try upping your flow if you’re only doing reef crest at 25. I’m going to try reef crest at 40 for a few day and will let you know my outcome.
Also I had the day off and not a lot planned except tank maintenance. Just did a 20 percent WC including monitored wet skimming after, and siphoned/turkey basted rocks and sand to combat a little red slime issue that’s been getting worse. I’m also going to turn the skimmer off for twenty four hours after the wet skimming and add bio digest. Hopefully knock this slime back!
I’ve also got a little bit of hair algae starting and plan to add some tuxedo urchins and tangs in the next few weeks.
Just keep trucking. There will be a new issue to correct next week

Nice. I agree with your assesssment between the overall flow. I actually had both my MP40s at 45% prior to moving them. I figured I would slowly start to ramp back up over time.

My clove polyp has been a bit upset since moving the MP40s. It’s retracted a bit (not closed all the way).

I am going to start dosing Nitrate today just incase I have the beginning of Dino’s. A few of the bits of algae had a small bubble on them which I know can be a sign for Dino. The overall look doesn’t resemble what I see when looking at others examples though. Plus I have read that Dino typically vanish overnight and repopulate during the day which is not happening in my case. Additionally my algae looks to mainly be long narrow brown leafs. None of which remind me of “snot”.

Do you have everything pretty secured in place for those Urchin? I’ve heard they can be like bulldozers

 

[rzimm33]

@skey44

Here’s my current setup with the MP40s at their newest position. In this setup, neither MP40 will hit any coral directly.

 

[skey44]

Looks great. Nice rolling flow. Fish and corals look good.

Yes I glue all my corals day of purchase, either to a main rock structure or a decent size moveable rock. I’ve lost more corals in the past to sand beds than misplacement.

 

[rzimm33]

Looks great. Nice rolling flow. Fish and corals look good.

Yes I glue all my corals day of purchase, either to a main rock structure or a decent size moveable rock. I’ve lost more corals in the past to sand beds than misplacement.

I like your idea of slowly increasing the flow. I’ll plan on increasing both Mp40 by 1% every few days until the flow looks just right.

That’s good that you glued it all so early. I glued most of my stuff, but not all of it. Each time I add a new coral, I feel around for loose rocks and add epoxy

 

[rzimm33]

So I got Brightwell aquatics NeoNitro in today. I added 10mL to the tank which will hopefully increase my Nitrate to around 0.8. I plan on continuing to dose until I’m at around 6. Currently phosphate is at 0.06 and I had been told nitrate should be 6 to be in balance with the that phosphate.

Another thing I got in was the Hannah Magnesium checker. It seems to provide a pretty different result when compared to my Red Sea test kit. I did the Hannah test twice which reported 1200 and 1190. Both of which are very low. I then went behind the Hannah test and performed the Red Sea test which gave me a result of 1290.

To play it safe, I added the recommended amount of Mg to bring my level from 1290 to 1320 per the BRS calculator. Tomorrow I’ll recheck with both test and see where I’m at.

Potentially, if the Mg is as low as the Hannah test is saying - could be why a few of my hammers are smaller than normal.

 

[rzimm33]

So to add to the confusion with the Hannah Mg checker… I rechecked this AM and the Hannah checker showed Mg of 1210… this obviously made no sense since I added 400mL of Mg solution yesterday.

I followed the Hannah test up with the Red Sea test which showed Mg at 1320.

Before purchasing the Hannah Mg test, I had read mixed reviews about it. A lot of people mentioned the Hannah Mg test not being that reliable. After using the Hannah Mg tester, I think some of the complaints might be valid. The Hannah tester seems to be off by roughly 100ppm.

Ultimately, the Hannah checker would have been great if it was accurate since it is substantially faster than the Red Sea kit.

 

[skey44]

I like the salifert magnesium test so far, fast and seems to at least be relatively precise( add mag and mag goes up). My LFS recommended Hannah for alk, nitrate, phosphate, and copper. But they suggested salifert for Mg and Ca. FWIW
I don’t have experience with Red Sea kit.

 

[jasony816]

Where did you put your ATO reservoir? Also how did you get a board in the back of the cabinet to attached your equipment? I am struggling to find a way to put all my equip in the cabinet as there is no space to drill into the thin side panels and with the ATO reservoir there really is no space to put a control board....

 

[rzimm33]

Where did you put your ATO reservoir? Also how did you get a board in the back of the cabinet to attached your equipment? I am struggling to find a way to put all my equip in the cabinet as there is no space to drill into the thin side panels and with the ATO reservoir there really is no space to put a control board....

Where did I put my ATO?

I actually have a 44 gallon brute trash can on the other side of the wall from the tank that I use as my reservoir. I also thought with the included reservoir; there was little room for equipment in the stand.

ATO Reservoir. Salt water Reserviors (2). RODI Reservoir. Freshwater Reservoir (for mt planted freshwater tank. I also have RODI tubing going outside to bring in fresh air into my skimmer.

My equipment is actually attached to the wall. The wall just happens to also be black. Soon I will be hooking up my autodosers which will likely be on the other side of the wall as well. Just not much room for stuff in this particular cabinet.

Cables are a mess because I had to undo it all to add timers for auto feeder and refugium:

 

[skey44]

Just double sided tape? How did you attach?

 

[rzimm33]

The accessories on the wall are mounted with screws. All of the Neptune products have built in mounting slots. The power supply on the right side as well as a few other bits I have mounted to the actual cabinet using some of the really strong 3M mounting Velcro

 

[rzimm33]

Got a few new torches in today. Both HG variants of some type.

Had an ordeal with UPS getting these. They both shipped on Thursday and were supposed to be delivered yesterday. The jet they were loaded on had a mechanical issue and was unable to take off. Luckily UPS upgraded my delivery to Saturday and the seller packed the corals very nicely with plenty of oxygen. I acclimated the corals longer than normal and got them into position. So far they are looking completely fine. In a few days they should be much larger than they are in this photo once they’ve acclimated to their new home.

Other update. My algae issue might be Dino’s. I’ve seen a few spots which resemble the little bubbles on brown strings. Luckily I took action very early and seem to have mainly overcome them.

Everything I did was:

Dose nitrate daily - currently at 5
Dose Phosphate daily - currently at 0.04
Dose 3 different formulations of bacteria:
•Bright well aquatics Microbactor 7 daily
•Microbe-Lift Special Blend every 3 days
•Microbe-Lift Therapy every 3 days
Dose Brightwell Aquatics SpongExcel daily
Blow off any visible algae (Dino’s?) and let them go to my fleece roller for removal - daily as I see any new formations.
Decrease the red and green spectrum in my lighting

I did not perform a microscope examination of the algae (Dino’s) to in fact confirm.

Everything I did was to increase the competition and real estate in the tank so if it is Dino’s, there is less chance of them being able to overrun the tank. In some instances, I read bacteria could potentially eat Dino’s, but I think this is just a theory.

 

[rzimm33]

I’ve officially eradicated the Dino/algae issue. Unfortunately my few SPS did not agree with the treatment and are looking pretty rough.

On a positive note, all of my LPS and softies are happier than ever.

 

[skey44]

Glad to hear your battle with algae was successful! I just ordered a uv sterilizer for an end game. Can’t wait to get the algae/dinos gone for good.
In a side note I like the battery backup. Give you time to get home and start your generator in the instance of an extended outage. I have never lost power for an extended amount of time in nine years at my current residence… until Helene. We didn’t get it as bad as TN and NC here in SC but it was still very bad. I was out of power for five days. Others have been out for over 10 days now due to a freak tornado system that came through three day before Helene. Talk about bad luck!
My Honda EU2200i was basically priceless for us. It ran some lights the tanks and fridge. My tank is not looking peak right now but I already heard of a local water box Lx going completely belly up due to lack of emergency planning. Thousand and thousands of dollars lost. So sad.
Tank looks great btw. Can’t wait to get my lps looking great again.