Journey Into Reefing - Waterbox Infinia Reef 150.4

[rzimm33]

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.

I’m glad you have a back up generator. I’m needing to get one before the weather gets cold here.

Which UV sterilizer did you go with? I have one sitting in my cart on BRS but haven’t pulled the trigger yet. Do you plan on hooking into your existing return, or adding a new pump for its own loop

 

[skey44]

Aqua Ultraviolet 25 watt. I’m planning to find a way to tie it into existing return. My flow rate should be pretty close to recommended after head loss calculations with my current Eheim 1260.
I’ve had great luck with aqua uv in the past and honestly didn’t follow the flow rating advice.
Pentair are known to be good, but I’ve just heard too many stories/reviews of them melting through the housing over time.
I wouldn’t be getting one but these Dinos are just unmanageable. I did a WC two hours ago and there is already an army forming again! They’re also irritating my corals and almost all of my hermits died. So I’m going nuclear haha. I’ll do whatever it takes at this point. So frustrating to see so much hard work, so easily defeated.

 

[rzimm33]

Aqua Ultraviolet 25 watt. I’m planning to find a way to tie it into existing return. My flow rate should be pretty close to recommended after head loss calculations with my current Eheim 1260.
I’ve had great luck with aqua uv in the past and honestly didn’t follow the flow rating advice.
Pentair are known to be good, but I’ve just heard too many stories/reviews of them melting through the housing over time.
I wouldn’t be getting one but these Dinos are just unmanageable. I did a WC two hours ago and there is already an army forming again! They’re also irritating my corals and almost all of my hermits died. So I’m going nuclear haha. I’ll do whatever it takes at this point. So frustrating to see so much hard work, so easily defeated.

Nice that’s the same one sitting in my cart. My return pump is wayyy overkill for my system, so I can use it to do the UV as well. My issue will be finding a spot for it. My cabinet is already pretty full as is.

Sorry to hear about your struggle. What all have you tried?

 

[skey44]

Nice that’s the same one sitting in my cart. My return pump is wayyy overkill for my system, so I can use it to do the UV as well. My issue will be finding a spot for it. My cabinet is already pretty full as is.

Sorry to hear about your struggle. What all have you tried?

Increasing nutrients, bacteria additives, coral snow, siphoning, basting, filter socks… they pretty much just reorganize within two hours after any attempt to clear them out. It’s nuts, I’ve never dealt with a pest this fast to repopulate before. It’s quite frustrating, hence UV purchase. I’m ready to get to enjoy my tank again, not fruitlessly labor over it.
The only thing that seemed to help was the day and a half of blackout i had from the power outage. And they still came back pretty fast once the lights came back on.

 

[rzimm33]

Increasing nutrients, bacteria additives, coral snow, siphoning, basting, filter socks… they pretty much just reorganize within two hours after any attempt to clear them out. It’s nuts, I’ve never dealt with a pest this fast to repopulate before. It’s quite frustrating, hence UV purchase. I’m ready to get to enjoy my tank again, not fruitlessly labor over it.
The only thing that seemed to help was the day and a half of blackout i had from the power outage. And they still came back pretty fast once the lights came back on.

Ahh I see. Very similar approach to what I did. My water column still seems pretty dirty as my reefmat is pulling out tons of gunk still. I think this is largely because I induced a diatom bloom by dosing silicates so heavily.

Nonetheless, you convinced me to also order the same UV Sterilizer. Mine will arrive tomorrow and I’ll also run it off my main return pump. Going to just place it on the ground next to my sump using flexible hose. Not that many options for my due to where my tank is located.

I’ll probably pull the few SPS out of my tank in a few days and replace them. I had to 1 plating monti and 2 Stylophora that didn’t do well with my treatment. The stylo still have some polyps, but overall they look terrible. The monti is almost completely bleached. Still has a few polyps, but there appears to by some diatoms growing on it which isn’t great.

None of the LPS or softies were affected at all. My guess as to what caused the SPS to get so upset was probably me dosing phosphates and nitrates too aggressively. They do say nothing good comes from fast change in this hobby. I was just afraid of a complete Dino breakout. Overall I think I made the right decision by eliminating the Dino’s so early.

 

[skey44]

Interestingly my two sps seem to be the least affected by the Dinos. I only have a purple stylo and an acro the LFS said was very easy. On the other hand my torches shrivel up to nothing until I turkey baste the Dinos off. My UV is scheduled for Thursday delivery to LFS. Couldn’t get her soon enough. I may just lay it in the stand, but I have a plan to create a plywood board and hang it on the back wall of stand above the sump. I know you have more equipment in your stand than me, but I’ll post a pic of my rig if it works out. I’m hoping for this layout with soft plumbing.

 

[rzimm33]

Interestingly my two sps seem to be the least affected by the Dinos. I only have a purple stylo and an acro the LFS said was very easy. On the other hand my torches shrivel up to nothing until I turkey baste the Dinos off. My UV is scheduled for Thursday delivery to LFS. Couldn’t get her soon enough. I may just lay it in the stand, but I have a plan to create a plywood board and hang it on the back wall of stand above the sump. I know you have more equipment in your stand than me, but I’ll post a pic of my rig if it works out. I’m hoping for this layout with soft plumbing.

I like the location you have picked out. If I had the space, that would be a great spot.

Here is my two potential spots:

Also snapped a video of the three SPS not doing well -

My UV will be here tomorrow, so I plan on hooking it up when I get off work.

 

[skey44]

Option 2 is my option 2 spot as well. Nothing wrong with it laying there. Your cap is hard to tell but the two others look rough. Did the tissue die rapidly or slowly? Looks like they have good PE now where they are alive.

 

[rzimm33]

Option 2 is my option 2 spot as well. Nothing wrong with it laying there. Your cap is hard to tell but the two others look rough. Did the tissue die rapidly or slowly? Looks like they have good PE now where they are alive.

If I lay mine down, it would be until I decide to organize all my wires and make it nicer in there. I have a couple Neptune DOS Quite to install this weekend.

All three lost tissue and faded over a week or so while I implemented my plan to fight off the Dino’s. One of the various things I did did not sit well with them. A few of a my hammers are a bit smaller than normal right now and another one of my Goni had receded. I guess in the end, still better than possibly losing it all to a Dino infestation.

 

[rzimm33]

It’s sad to lose any coral. But luckily those 3 cost about $10 each. So not a huge impact financially

 

[rzimm33]

@skey44 - got it in today. Had to stretch my 3/4 flexible tubing using a lighter. The piping into the tank and my return pump is 1 inch. Luckily I was only at 15% strength on my return pump before installing. Have it up to 40% now for a similar GPH

The wires have me stressing. Gonna do some serious organizing and wire management this weekend.

 

[rzimm33]

I’ve done a 15% WC between yesterday and today and also have the UV going.

Monti cap has full polyp extension tonight. Now I hope its color returns!

 

[skey44]

@skey44 - got it in today. Had to stretch my 3/4 flexible tubing using a lighter. The piping into the tank and my return pump is 1 inch. Luckily I was only at 15% strength on my return pump before installing. Have it up to 40% now for a similar GPH

The wires have me stressing. Gonna do some serious organizing and wire management this weekend.

I think it looks good right there. Glad to hear your montipora is improving. I’m drowning in Dinos. Uv can’t come soon enough. It’s supposed to come in tomorrow. Not sure if I’ll be able to pick it up though due to having to do a car drop-off for some new brakes. I should be able to pick it up some time Friday at the latest though.

 

[skey44]

Ugly mess, but in. Love that I’m currently zapping Dinos by not doing a thing!
Just did a dirty install for now just to get this issue sorted asap. I’m still planning to mount to a piece of plywood and hang on the back wall. But this will do it for now.

 

[rzimm33]

Ugly mess, but in. Love that I’m currently zapping Dinos by not doing a thing!
Just did a dirty install for now just to get this issue sorted asap. I’m still planning to mount to a piece of plywood and hang on the back wall. But this will do it for now.

Looks like it will do the job! Hope it knocks those little buggers out and your tank recovers quickly. Have you lost anything?

My dad is also fighting Dino and he’s unfortunately lost a few torches and a hammer. He has a UV coming in today.

24 hours post UV and my hammers look MUCH MUCH happier.

 

[skey44]

Mostly think I’ve lost my hermits. Everything else hanging in there. Torches have been really ticked though and some recession of skin around base on one.
It’s made an instant difference. UV FTW.
Your tank’s looking great definitely coming along with great Pe.
I’m most amazed by the water clarity difference! I thought my water was clear…

 

[rzimm33]

Mostly think I’ve lost my hermits. Everything else hanging in there. Torches have been really ticked though and some recession of skin around base on one.
It’s made an instant difference. UV FTW.
Your tank’s looking great definitely coming along with great Pe.
I’m most amazed by the water clarity difference! I thought my water was clear…

Good to hear that you’re seeing a difference already. Are you monitoring Nitrate and Phosphate to ensure they stay above 0?

Got 6 new coral in today.
3 Acans of different colors
Bubblegum Digi Montipora
Ora Birds of Paradise
Cali Tort Acropora



I also organized my wires under the cabinet and made room to install my dosing pump tomorrow. I’ve decided to switch from 2 part dosing to Tropic Marin All For Reef. This seems like the easiest and most total additive that I can dose.

Lastly, I got my camera out tonight and took a couple macro photos of some Zoa

 

[skey44]

Nice looking pieces!
Yes I’m monitoring phosphate and nitrate regularly. Feeding very heavy adding nitrates as needed.

 

[rzimm33]

Nice looking pieces!
Yes I’m monitoring phosphate and nitrate regularly. Feeding very heavy adding nitrates as needed.

Nice. I’ve been checking every few days as well. A bit too much to check daily to me.

Unfortunately the new Acro RTNd over night. All my parameters have been very stable, so not sure what could have caused it other than stress from shipping and going into a new tank.

Parameters on 10/10
Alk 8.8
Ca 420
Mg 1320
Nitrate 10
Phosphate 0.03
Temp 78
pH 8.1

 

[skey44]

Yeah not daily here. Actually trying to cut back on testing as I get AFR dialed in and consistently feeding heavy. Also Hanna tests are a dollar a piece now! That’s nuts to me, though I’m still buying.
Sorry about your acro!!! Wonder what’s going on with them? Parameters seem good and other corals looking great.shipping stress is real.
Also got a Cali tort yesterday, but bought it from my LFS. Basically tortured it with my dip procedure, removed it from its plug and directly glued it to a rock (I saw some bubble algae on the plug so didn’t trust it for a second!) Luckily it was only $30 so a good tester acro I suppose. Hang in there, I bet the shipping did it and not your tank.