m0jjen's reefer 425XL

[m0jjen]

Don't give up! You have taken your reef to levels that a lot of people never get to.

Its quite hard to find motivation when you feel that the only thing you achive is killing these endangered creatures :/ New skimmer ordered since i never liked my deltec anyway, ended up ordering a nyos quantum 160 due to the high airintake. No idea if it will help, guess we'll find out. Gonna do another triton test soon aswell. One could hope it shows something.

 

[Liquid360]

Its quite hard to find motivation when you feel that the only thing you achive is killing these endangered creatures :/ New skimmer ordered since i never liked my deltec anyway, ended up ordering a nyos quantum 160 due to the high airintake. No idea if it will help, guess we'll find out. Gonna do another triton test soon aswell. One could hope it shows something.

I say it a lot here, but I'm a strong proponent of live food and microfauna. I think it's the secret that lots of us don't think about. We dose and test and buy coral, but give little thought to the micro. I grow my own zooplankton and farm pods, various types copepods and amphipods. I spend more money on plankton than any other aspect of my tank. I feed a mix of live zooplankton, live brine shrimp, and pods 3-4 time/week. These are corals/fish natural food and I think what makes home reefs work. I converted a closet to a grow room.
Just my opinion [emoji4]

 

[m0jjen]

I say it a lot here, but I'm a strong proponent of live food and microfauna. I think it's the secret that lots of us don't think about. We dose and test and buy coral, but give little thought to the micro. I grow my own zooplankton and farm pods, various types copepods and amphipods. I spend more money on plankton than any other aspect of my tank. I feed a mix of live zooplankton, live brine shrimp, and pods 3-4 time/week. These are corals/fish natural food and I think what makes home reefs work. I converted a closet to a grow room.
Just my opinion [emoji4]

Im completely with you on this. Im actually trying to figure out how i can improve my fauna atm. Since my fauna lacks alot of common creatures like spagettiworms, Small serpent seastars and what not im trying to get hold of good quality sand or other thing containing these creatures.

Growing zooplankton seems interesting Doubt my significant other would appreciate having all the equipment needed standing around tho

 

[Liquid360]

Im completely with you on this. Im actually trying to figure out how i can improve my fauna atm. Since my fauna lacks alot of common creatures like spagettiworms, Small serpent seastars and what not im trying to get hold of good quality sand or other thing containing these creatures.

Growing zooplankton seems interesting Doubt my significant other would appreciate having all the equipment needed standing around tho

Checkout http://www.aquaculturenurseryfarms.com

They specialize in the micro. I've bought from them for years. Great stuff.

 

[m0jjen]

Checkout http://www.aquaculturenurseryfarms.com

They specialize in the micro. I've bought from them for years. Great stuff.

Doubt they ship to Sweden tho Thanks anyway!

 

[Liquid360]

Doubt they ship to Sweden tho Thanks anyway!

Yeah probably not Sweden I'm sure there's a similar operation in your neck of the woods... well, not sure.

 

[m0jjen]

Yeah probably not Sweden I'm sure there's a similar operation in your neck of the woods... well, not sure.

Think there something in the UK, ill look into it

 

[m0jjen]

Triton results are in. And to be honest its not all bad.

What i can draw from this is feed my tank alot more. Im already feeding 3 times a day (two frozen cubes and formula one/two pellets by feeder). Apparently this isnt enough to provide my tank with some phosphates. So zeroing out phosphate is most likely the leading cause for my corals dying and the dinos. At this point all the sand is removed, corals are pale and i dont have much to show. Im gonna start with some coral food during the nights and hope for the best.

 

[m0jjen]

So its been quite some time since I updated this thread. Mainly because i've more or less just increased nutrients, removed sand (again) and let everything take its course. The good news today is that i've been dino free for a couple of weeks atleast. Eventho i havent done any waterchanges for a good 2-3 months most parameters are stable and inline according to my latest triton ICP:

The main thing i see in the report is the presens of cupper, which i have no clue where it comes from, it has increased form the previous ICP test and i've only feed the tank pellets, frozen and dosed KNO3 along with KH2PO4.

The period from february until today has really tested me as an aquarist, my livestock took a hit and i've lost alot of corals, mainly SPS. The good thing is that i've started to see some growth again. A new problem has come in the form of aptasia aswell. But I firmly believe that i can handle that.

Im planing on re-introduce sand sometime in august when the tank is stable. And i really hope it goes well or ill just restart with new rock and livestock!

Ill take some pictures this weekend and post another update

 

[Sahin]

Hang in there. Don't give up now. I bet 6 more months and you will very happy with the tank. I think you need to raise the nutrients get nitrate between 2-5ppm and phosphate at least 0.03ppm.

 

[JaviG]

Hi guys!

Time to get a new thread going for the upcoming tank! Im really excited about it and im going to do my best to create an awsome reef out of it. Im mainly an SPS guy and will carry on in this direction. Hopefully with more success than my previous 2 tanks!

Some info regarding the build

Tank and stand: Red sea reefer 425XL
Light: 2x Radion XR30W pro (might get another gen 4 at some point)
Streamers: 2x MP40QD. Thinking of placing them on the backside and getting a FX150 on one of the shortsides.
Skimmer: Deltec SC1456
Heaters: 2x Eheim Jäger 150w each
Controller: Apex 2016 and Ecotech Reeflink
Dosing: ATi DP-6
Returnpump: Jebao DCT-6000 (at some point it will get replaced with a Vectra L1)

Livestock:

1x Zebrasoma flavescens
1x Paracanthurus hepatus
1x Ctenochaetus strigosus (blue eyed)
4x Anthias squamipinnis
2x Amphiprion ocellaris
1x Pseudocheilinus hexataenia
1x Oxycirrhites typus
1x Salarias ramosus

Plans:

* Purchase a calcium reactor. Might get me one of these soon enough. Nothing set in stone.
* Full Aquaforest Probiotic program for SPS (ULNS).
* Semi minimalistic scape filled with SPS and a selected few SPS (acans and fugia mainly)
* Hardplumb the return on the exsisting reefer plumbing and adding a fragtank (fragtankg wont be added from start)

Cant really think about anything else to mention atm. Feel free to ask questions! Build will start on february first since thats when we're moving into our new home!

Nice!!!

 

[m0jjen]

Hang in there. Don't give up now. I bet 6 more months and you will very happy with the tank. I think you need to raise the nutrients get nitrate between 2-5ppm and phosphate at least 0.03ppm.

You are right! Problem resides with my LR. I bought it 4 years ago when i first started with saltwater, it has discosoma, palythoa and other nasty stuff you really dont wanto keep in a sps dominated tank. I've tried cleaning up the rock a number of times but they seem to come back anyway. Hence the thought of atleast replacing my rock, no idea how this could be done without losing or selling all the corals tho.

My initial thought was to remove all the LR and keep the 3 litres of siporax in the sump since it should be able to provide with enough filtration for my 9 fish, no idea if it would work or not. The corals should do okay atleast with some eggcrates for the time period. THe only question is really if the siporax would be able to handle the nitrogen cycle on its own

 

[m0jjen]

So long time no see um in here. And alot has changed since my last post. Lets see if i can remember everything.

Toys

I changed out my MP40QD's to two maxspect gyre FX250's I cant say i am anything but really happy i did. Alot better flow with less direct flow in some spots. I currently run these at 100% L.T.C which is a program from maxspect running the pumps in different cycles. Eventho these pumps dash out 20000 LPH (5300 gph) they provide a smooth flow and nothing is hit too hard when they occationally go up to a 100%!

I also changed out my deltec sc1456 for a nyos quantum 160. Im really really happy with this swap since the skimmer is deadsilent which my deltec was not.

Livestock

I removed my tangs since they got pretty mean to new additions. I've always wanted a copperbanded butterfly and when i tried erlier the yellow tang slaughtered in a day or two. Also they were getting pretty big, bumping into corals and whatnot so after 3 lovely years we parted ways and they were rehomed.


Pseudocheilinus hexataenia Sixline
Amphiprion percula x2 Clownfish
Salarias fasciatus Salarias
Oxycirrhites typus Hawkfish
Synchiropus splendidus Mandarin
Pygoplites diacanthus Regal angel
Cryptocentrus cinctus Yellow watchman goby
Chelmon rostratus Copperbanded butterfly


I plan on adding a powder blue tang aswell once’s everything in the system is stable and the current livestock is settled and happy.


Some invertebrates have also been added
harlequin shrimp
Pistol shrimp

The dinoflagellates

I seem to have won this battle. Or soon enough. I havent had any visiual of the dinos for afew weeks now. What seemed to have worked was raising nutrients to 10 ppm no3 and 0.1 ppm po4. I can still see some dino cells in my microscope but they are often alone and not very active. The addition of all these nutrients have started all sorts of algaeblooms. Got small patches of hairalgae, some green cyano. Both of these are starting to go back since i havent added any nutrients for about 2 weeks now. Im debating on if its worth using a small amount of GFO or not. Im quite afraid that i might get the dinos back if i strip the po4 to fast.

Filtration

I have rethought my siporax use and placed in a reactor with low flow. Its abit early to evaluate this as i've added alot of nutrients due to my battle with dinoflagellats. I have also added a refugium in the ATO container which is quite successfull atm. Waiting for two par38 lamps to light it. Currently im using two 2700k lamps which aint optimal in any way.

Gonna try to add some pictures later today or tomorrow. Happy reefing!

 

[m0jjen]

Updated FTS

Still have some cyano and high nutrients. Overall thinks look ok anyway

 

[ksfulk]

Looks like things are rebounding quite well! Keep it up!

 

[m0jjen]

Looks like things are rebounding quite well! Keep it up!

One can hope. Sent a triton test this tuesday so hoping the results will be in tomorrow. Im guessing no waterchanges along with dumping nutrients in too the tank will put something off.

 

[m0jjen]

Triton results are in and they are pretty darn good in my opinion. So lacking nutrients must have been a leading cause for all my troubles. When i fought dinos i added around 9 ppm of po4 in total and the results show 0.024 ppm. Guess my hanna is out of wack since i messured 0.092 the day i sent the test..

I guess i should just sit back and relax now eh?

 

[Dsnakes]

Tank is looking great! Keep it up

 

[m0jjen]

The happiness of the good triton results was shortlived. Found AEFW and eggs yesterday when lights went off. I litterly devastated. Its been a uphill battle since i started the tank in february.

Anyway. No idea whats the go to treatment today. I used a dewormer for cats and dogs in my previous tank with the active substans fenbendazole. I know this kill turbo snails, and the aefw. Since the medication is present in the system for some time after dosing it also takes cares of the eggs. Or the actual worm once the eggs hatch.

Im debating if i should use this again since it worked the first time. The option otherwise is to

1. Remove and throw 20+ acros and let the worms die of starvation before adding any new acros.
2. Start a hospital tank which i dont have anything for atm. So i need sufficient light, flow, a dosing pump and balling if so. Which is quite a costly alternative.

Ideas? I dont even feel like its worth bothering anymore. Any input would be appreciated

 

[Tahoe61]

The happiness of the good triton results was shortlived. Found AEFW and eggs yesterday when lights went off. I litterly devastated. Its been a uphill battle since i started the tank in february.

Anyway. No idea whats the go to treatment today. I used a dewormer for cats and dogs in my previous tank with the active substans fenbendazole. I know this kill turbo snails, and the aefw. Since the medication is present in the system for some time after dosing it also takes cares of the eggs. Or the actual worm once the eggs hatch.

Im debating if i should use this again since it worked the first time. The option otherwise is to

1. Remove and throw 20+ acros and let the worms die of starvation before adding any new acros.
2. Start a hospital tank which i dont have anything for atm. So i need sufficient light, flow, a dosing pump and balling if so. Which is quite a costly alternative.

Ideas? I dont even feel like its worth bothering anymore. Any input would be appreciated

My only input is support. The tank looks beautiful in the last recent FTS.

It takes a lot of effort to move acorpora and treat repeatedly. What about adding a Pipe fish or two?