kinetic RSR 170

[choss]

Kinetic please hang in there. We all hit these periods with our tanks when we are ready to throw in the towel. I would consider moving your livestock to the 40 and then going after this issue with guns blazing. I think you'll be able to handle it better if your beautiful nems and fish are in a safe holding tank. Keep us posted - I'll be checking in to see how things are progressing.

 

[kinetic]

Kinetic please hang in there. We all hit these periods with our tanks when we are ready to throw in the towel. I would consider moving your livestock to the 40 and then going after this issue with guns blazing. I think you'll be able to handle it better if your beautiful nems and fish are in a safe holding tank. Keep us posted - I'll be checking in to see how things are progressing.

Thank you! Yes, guns blazing sounds like the perfect way to do it. I'll start setting up my 40g breeder in the meantime.

 

[choss]

cool. We've all been there at one time or another so I'm looking forward to seeing this tank come out of the other side. Stay patient and - hopefully about 90 pages later in this thread we'll be seeing the TOTM award being given to this tank!

 

[divecj5]

Sorry to see and read about all of the trials and tribulations with your Reefer 170. Although I fortunately haven't had to battle dinos, my 170 build has been one of the more challenging tanks I've ever kept for whatever reason. Between random bacterial blooms (nothing quite like coming home to opaque water), dry rock leaching phosphates and other issues, I've been ready to pull my hair out as well. It's finally settled in and cruising along...after 11 months of being setup.

How is the tank doing now? How has the Magnifica faired during this process? Keep chugging along!!

 

[gig 'em]

Hang in there bud, I battled all kinds of issues for the first year of my current tank. Once it reached that 1 year maturity everything seemed to balance out and clear up. Patience will prevail!

 

[kinetic]

Update:

I went out of town for 4 full days, and decided to just let my tank be and see what would happen when I returned. The system is pretty much locked in, with the auto feeder working flawlessly, and the ATO system bullet proof.

I came back pretty much to a tank that looked the same as before, which is good. The dinos didn't get out of control (despite not having anymore manual removal / dinox). I dosed DinoX and 12 hours later the dinos look faded. I have a new $20 microscope I'll try to use this week to help identify exactly what type.

 

[Janci]

Good to hear the dinos are back under control.
Let’s show what that microscope can do. LOL.

 

[bdare]

I'm officially inspired! I love how clean this tank looks. The gyre in the overflow is great. I love these tank, but I'm not excited about putting headphones on the tank with a Vortech or a Tunze.

How is that Gyre working for you?

 

[kinetic]

I'm officially inspired! I love how clean this tank looks. The gyre in the overflow is great. I love these tank, but I'm not excited about putting headphones on the tank with a Vortech or a Tunze.

How is that Gyre working for you?

Gyre is great. No issues at all. Super even flow throughout. Can't hear it and it's in my home office about 6 feet behind and to the right. I only run it to 30%, so I guess that's one reason why it's so quiet.

I'd get the largest Gyre you can so you can run it on the lowest setting. That'll be the quietest setup you can get right there.

 

[choss]

I'm officially inspired! I love how clean this tank looks. The gyre in the overflow is great. I love these tank, but I'm not excited about putting headphones on the tank with a Vortech or a Tunze.

This tank is very inspiring! One of my favorites.

 

[kinetic]

Update on the tank:
Dinos are under control now, no longer seemingly killing everything. But I'm not sure it's sustainable. I've been able to starve them out with NoPox, and killing the rest with DinoX. Every two days, I dose DinoX. Everyday I dose about 2ml of NoPox. I do notice, however, that DinoX is making other algae turn white and die. So the only thing taking up N and P is the bacteria I've built up with NoPox. I'm planning this week to use my cheapo microscope to see exactly what kind of Dinos I'm dealing with, not sure if that'll give me anymore hints. Then I'm going to stop using DinoX and setup my second Neptune DOS to dose NoPox regularly. I may even try to add some chaeto I've been growing in a separate bucket...

I also stopped doing water changes every 2 days, and even without manual removal, the above dosing seems to work. I'm hoping I can stop dosing DinoX and the NoPox will do the trick.

My magnifica wandered around A LOT last week. Ending up on the back overflow. Not sure what compelled it to move. I carefully peeled her off, but I think I might have damaged her foot, because she wouldn't attach to anything for 24 hours and her foot looked crinkled. Then she reattached to the glass and started moving again. This time she barely had a hold on the autofeeder "ring" and I was able to carefully peel her off. I placed her back on her pedestal, and she's been holding for a couple days now. Half of her foot seems to always be unattached. At least she's fully inflated and looks pretty good otherwise.

Just got a nice montipora (encrusting) from a fellow reefer today. Since my digitata has survived when all others died, I'm giving this monti a good chance as well. Photos tomorrow!

 

[gig 'em]

I would think your battles with the dinos and everything you're dosing is agitating the magnifica. Just a guess though. Any time their environment is thrown out of whack and they don't like it, they'll try and get up and move somewhere better.

 

[kinetic]

I would think your battles with the dinos and everything you're dosing is agitating the magnifica. Just a guess though. Any time their environment is thrown out of whack and they don't like it, they'll try and get up and move somewhere better.

Thanks gig'em. Yeah, when agitated, she seems to just try to get as high up as possible. She's big enough to stretch over the sand from rock to glass now. Hopefully she'll stay put for now, esp. because I don't plan on dosing DinoX much longer.

 

[kinetic]

Busted out a 60mm f/2.8 macro lens. My Mocha Davincis are looking a lot more like black davincis.

 

[ramona]

Love the tank and the pictures....
Do you still have that clean, minimalistic, awesome betta tank? Just a few words about setup and maintenance, if possible, please. It's quite relaxing while fighting battles.

 

[kinetic]

Love the tank and the pictures....
Do you still have that clean, minimalistic, awesome betta tank? Just a few words about setup and maintenance, if possible, please. It's quite relaxing while fighting battles.

Hey Ramona. Unfortunately I took that tank down recently. It was pretty easy, just a small cartridge filter with a ball valve to turn down the flow, running phosguard and carbon. I did add a small heater as well. Everything was easy! Just need to change a few cups of water out every week. The one thing was, that tank was next two big windows, so I kept having a lot of algae growth even with phosguard.

 

[ramona]

Thank you kinetic. Was that tank 4 -5 gallon with lily pipes and canister filter? Sorry for all these questions.
I am following your build and enjoy it very much. I am in process of setting up my very first reef.

 

[kinetic]

Thank you kinetic. Was that tank 4 -5 gallon with lily pipes and canister filter? Sorry for all these questions.
I am following your build and enjoy it very much. I am in process of setting up my very first reef.

It was even smaller, 2.6 gallons:
https://www.marinedepot.com/AquaMax...0_Gallons-AquaMaxx-UJ94552-FIAQNCNTUT-vi.html

Lily Pipes
Zoo Med Nano Canister
UV: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00D5WH50...t=&hvlocphy=9032078&hvtargid=pla-314920763652

 

[Just_Pete]

Beautiful build! Attention to detail is on point.

 

[kinetic]

Latest full tank shot. Recovering from the crazy dino battle: