Seems like you’ve been going through a tough patch ! Are you still dealing with cyano ?
Nick’s 20G Nuvo Fusion
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Nick Steele
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Tough patch for sure but it at least to me it is somewhat fun. Also gives me experience.
No the cyano isn’t as bad as it’s been in the past. I fixed a few dead spots and it’s basically gone away. Some small patches but it’s been the same with Dino’s nothing that is making me think about drastic action but keeps me on my toes and in touch with the tank.
I know that Dino/cyano feeling it drove me insane. I did a rip clean of my system and it jump back into place. I feel once you keep things really stable everything should be back to normal
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Nick Steele
2500 Club Member
That’s the plan. Although I’m throwing myself a curve ball and adding sand back into the tank this weekend so should be a fun one.
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Nick Steele
2500 Club Member
Just a quick update
Started to get sand ready for tomorrow or the next day. Man was that stuff cloudy!!! Took almost two hours to rinse it clean.
Also I caught my tailspot blenny chilling inside my trachy and I’m slightly worried. The trachy hasn’t had its tentacles out in awhile but I’m worried if it every does it might grab the blenny. Although it is cool to see I’d hate to lose this blenny as I really like him.
Started to get sand ready for tomorrow or the next day. Man was that stuff cloudy!!! Took almost two hours to rinse it clean.
Also I caught my tailspot blenny chilling inside my trachy and I’m slightly worried. The trachy hasn’t had its tentacles out in awhile but I’m worried if it every does it might grab the blenny. Although it is cool to see I’d hate to lose this blenny as I really like him.
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Nick Steele
2500 Club Member
Thanks!
It is brand new dry sand.Rinsed for about 3 hours total and it runs clear now. I don’t look forward to that with my upgrade.
Totally spaced out last night and didn’t mix salt into my water. I was going to do a water change and add sand today but looks like I’ll have to wait till tomorrow now.
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Nick Steele
2500 Club Member
Tank update.
Sadly last weekend I forgot to add salt to my rodi so I put off adding sand into the tank until today. I spent a good 5-6 hours washing the sand and I felt it was pretty clean but wasn’t completely cleaned. After adding it into the tank it took an hour or so until water was clear again. Nothing seems upset and hopefully this will help propel this tank in the right direction.
Most corals seem to be doing fine and adapting just fine. The rock flowers have already moved up from beneath the sand. All my euphyllia are not open as much but I’m sure they will bounce back.
Okay
Sadly last weekend I forgot to add salt to my rodi so I put off adding sand into the tank until today. I spent a good 5-6 hours washing the sand and I felt it was pretty clean but wasn’t completely cleaned. After adding it into the tank it took an hour or so until water was clear again. Nothing seems upset and hopefully this will help propel this tank in the right direction.
Most corals seem to be doing fine and adapting just fine. The rock flowers have already moved up from beneath the sand. All my euphyllia are not open as much but I’m sure they will bounce back.
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Nick Steele
2500 Club Member
So some weird trends since adding the sand into tank.
So for the first one which I believe is directly related to the sand is somehow I’ve seen a rise in phosphate. Last week I tested due to my euphyllia all not extending for some time and phosphates came in at .13ppm with nitrate at 1ppm. Alk was also high at 10.7 (it got this high when I had sand in the tank before). I have added chemi pure blue to help with the phosphates and I’m wrapping my head around the alk rise too.
Second trend I’ve noticed. Within a few days of adding the sand 95% of the cyano in the tank has died/went away. Sand is still clean so it’s not locked up down there. I also had a ton of cyano in my rear chambers and that also has went away.
Also with the disappearance of the cyano some corals that were doing horrible are now starting to rebound since they aren’t covered in cyano.
Overall I’m happy with the addition of the sand. I just which I could have rinsed it with a bit more rodi to maybe wash out the phosphate from the tap water.
Full tank shot
Sunset monti that was 99% gone coming back to life
So for the first one which I believe is directly related to the sand is somehow I’ve seen a rise in phosphate. Last week I tested due to my euphyllia all not extending for some time and phosphates came in at .13ppm with nitrate at 1ppm. Alk was also high at 10.7 (it got this high when I had sand in the tank before). I have added chemi pure blue to help with the phosphates and I’m wrapping my head around the alk rise too.
Second trend I’ve noticed. Within a few days of adding the sand 95% of the cyano in the tank has died/went away. Sand is still clean so it’s not locked up down there. I also had a ton of cyano in my rear chambers and that also has went away.
Also with the disappearance of the cyano some corals that were doing horrible are now starting to rebound since they aren’t covered in cyano.
Overall I’m happy with the addition of the sand. I just which I could have rinsed it with a bit more rodi to maybe wash out the phosphate from the tap water.
Full tank shot
Sunset monti that was 99% gone coming back to life
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Nick Steele
2500 Club Member
Quick update!
So phosphate is slowly coming down with the use of chemi pure blue nano. Down to .08 now which I am comfortable with as long as I can keep nitrates up (currently at 5ppm).
Most corals are looking good except sps which are probably upset due to high alk/phosphate. No more recession but lack of polyp extension and bad color. All euphyllia are doing great and growing. The octospawn got knock off the rockwork by the clownfish and has since settled into the sandbed and is even bigger now then before so I might leave it there but idk yet. My 24k lepto is actually growing again and I finally see some color on it now, the last few months it has been grey and mostly “dead”.
Also one of my rock flower nems has become a notorious snail eater! I’m pretty sure it’s because the snails went lethargic due to high phosphate but who knows. He’s been caught with 3 different cerith snails and one trochus snail in his mouth.
You can see color!
Snail murder caught red handed
Full tank shot
So phosphate is slowly coming down with the use of chemi pure blue nano. Down to .08 now which I am comfortable with as long as I can keep nitrates up (currently at 5ppm).
Most corals are looking good except sps which are probably upset due to high alk/phosphate. No more recession but lack of polyp extension and bad color. All euphyllia are doing great and growing. The octospawn got knock off the rockwork by the clownfish and has since settled into the sandbed and is even bigger now then before so I might leave it there but idk yet. My 24k lepto is actually growing again and I finally see some color on it now, the last few months it has been grey and mostly “dead”.
Also one of my rock flower nems has become a notorious snail eater! I’m pretty sure it’s because the snails went lethargic due to high phosphate but who knows. He’s been caught with 3 different cerith snails and one trochus snail in his mouth.
You can see color!
Snail murder caught red handed
Full tank shot
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Nick Steele
2500 Club Member
Update time!!
With hunting season over I plan to focus most of my efforts to my tank for the next 6 months or so!
I was successful in bringing down my phosphate but maybe went to quick and didn’t keep up with testing. I now have Dino’s again
I noticed it last week before my water change and have kept up with testing/dosing phosphate and nitrate and it is slowly spreading but not as bad as before hopefully it won’t last long the wife was liking the sand it the tank again.
While Dino’s are annoying I don’t see them as horrible pest and I’ll deal with it while I figure it out as long as it doesn’t make the corals mad. Two of my hammers are a little ticked off but not to bad and will easily bounce back soon just like all the other issues I put them through. Everything else is looking okay besides the spongodes and sunset monti that is very pale but not receding (believe this is due to alk swings). As for the alk swings I want to say it is now under control but I’ll have to test tonight and again this weekend to make sure. Tested 9.4 at water change and 9.4 two days later.
Here are the dinos
Full tank shot
With hunting season over I plan to focus most of my efforts to my tank for the next 6 months or so!
I was successful in bringing down my phosphate but maybe went to quick and didn’t keep up with testing. I now have Dino’s again
I noticed it last week before my water change and have kept up with testing/dosing phosphate and nitrate and it is slowly spreading but not as bad as before hopefully it won’t last long the wife was liking the sand it the tank again.While Dino’s are annoying I don’t see them as horrible pest and I’ll deal with it while I figure it out as long as it doesn’t make the corals mad. Two of my hammers are a little ticked off but not to bad and will easily bounce back soon just like all the other issues I put them through. Everything else is looking okay besides the spongodes and sunset monti that is very pale but not receding (believe this is due to alk swings). As for the alk swings I want to say it is now under control but I’ll have to test tonight and again this weekend to make sure. Tested 9.4 at water change and 9.4 two days later.
Here are the dinos
Full tank shot
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Nick Steele
2500 Club Member
Completely retested my tank last night with the following results.
Alk 9.5 (Hannah)
Calc 400 (salifert)
Mag 1440 (salifert)
Phos .01 (still dosing to raise it to .05ish)
Nitrate 3-5 on (nyos)
Ph 7.7 (salifert)
I’m pretty happy with the results besides the ph value. It will be tough to bring that up too much because of the apartment we are in at the moment. I’m thinking of trying some macro algae in one of the rear chambers and see if that helps at all.
Alk 9.5 (Hannah)
Calc 400 (salifert)
Mag 1440 (salifert)
Phos .01 (still dosing to raise it to .05ish)
Nitrate 3-5 on (nyos)
Ph 7.7 (salifert)
I’m pretty happy with the results besides the ph value. It will be tough to bring that up too much because of the apartment we are in at the moment. I’m thinking of trying some macro algae in one of the rear chambers and see if that helps at all.
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Nick Steele
2500 Club Member
Update time!
So I’ve been reading about Dino’s and nutrient levels and how it’s not always from 0/0 phos/nitrate and is more so caused by an unbalanced of nutrients. During the first 12 months or so of the tank I just feed the half cube and it all did fine no Dino’s or cyano. I experimented with aminos and redsea AB+ but am have decided to stop dosing phosphate and nitrate and just keep feeding my tank a half cube of frozen food a day and see where that gets me.
So with the decline of my sps I decided to change my lighting settings. I synced them up and have them both running around 66% now. Most the lps seem to enjoy it and acans are a little more fluffy now.
Alk also seems to be much more manageable in the 9-10dkh range. It will push 10dkh when I do a water change some weeks but hoping it will resolve its self soon.
New light schedule
Full tank shot
So I’ve been reading about Dino’s and nutrient levels and how it’s not always from 0/0 phos/nitrate and is more so caused by an unbalanced of nutrients. During the first 12 months or so of the tank I just feed the half cube and it all did fine no Dino’s or cyano. I experimented with aminos and redsea AB+ but am have decided to stop dosing phosphate and nitrate and just keep feeding my tank a half cube of frozen food a day and see where that gets me.
So with the decline of my sps I decided to change my lighting settings. I synced them up and have them both running around 66% now. Most the lps seem to enjoy it and acans are a little more fluffy now.
Alk also seems to be much more manageable in the 9-10dkh range. It will push 10dkh when I do a water change some weeks but hoping it will resolve its self soon.
New light schedule
Full tank shot
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Nick Steele
2500 Club Member
Quick update!
So tanks been doing much better 90% of algae is gone Dino’s and cyano seem to be gone too. Alk is staying between 9-10 dkh as well.
I went ahead and grabbed the following corals from work, red goni, hammer and a ducan. I received them yesterday and by today most of them are looking happy. The red goni is not completely opened but is coming out slowly I’ll just watch it closely and monitor it.
Red Goni
Duncan
Hammer (was a 4 head frag but I cut it to make two frags so I can put one on the backside of rockwork and one on the front)
Full tank shot.
So tanks been doing much better 90% of algae is gone Dino’s and cyano seem to be gone too. Alk is staying between 9-10 dkh as well.
I went ahead and grabbed the following corals from work, red goni, hammer and a ducan. I received them yesterday and by today most of them are looking happy. The red goni is not completely opened but is coming out slowly I’ll just watch it closely and monitor it.
Red Goni
Duncan
Hammer (was a 4 head frag but I cut it to make two frags so I can put one on the backside of rockwork and one on the front)
Full tank shot.
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Nick Steele
2500 Club Member
Update time!
Sadly over the last few weeks the reef hasn’t been the best. I had my tailspot blenny died for unknown reasons (look healthy one day and then dead). After his death I noticed a huge bloom in algae (little guy was doin g a bang up job!) and I kept cleaning the best I could and I for some reason decided to look at my uv and realized it is time to change it (about 14 months old). This might have been part of the issue with the algae and cyano/Dino’s I was having. I have ordered a new uv bulb and it will be replaced Saturday when it gets here.
On the other hand corals have been doing pretty good. All corals are doing great besides my splatter hammer which has been overrun with cyano that I keep cleaning off daily but it doesn’t help. I need to move it and see if that helps. Red Goni is out and happy! Gets upset when the clowns try to swim through it but hopefully it will get use to them. Duncan is doing great and is growing new heads! Hammers are doing good as well but losing some flesh but have read this is somewhat normal for these ones.
Also I picked up a few new corals that I just couldn’t resist. $5 for 3 frags which I’m keeping a close eye on to see if I’ll have to give the acro to a friend if I don’t have enough par. One is a green goblin, one unknown acro and one digi.
Red Goni happy and opened!
Hammers (you can also see the one struggling hammer in the back)
Green goblin and digi (digi was rough when I got it)
Unknown acro in front of the Duncan
Full tank shot (please excuse the algae)
Sadly over the last few weeks the reef hasn’t been the best. I had my tailspot blenny died for unknown reasons (look healthy one day and then dead). After his death I noticed a huge bloom in algae (little guy was doin g a bang up job!) and I kept cleaning the best I could and I for some reason decided to look at my uv and realized it is time to change it (about 14 months old). This might have been part of the issue with the algae and cyano/Dino’s I was having. I have ordered a new uv bulb and it will be replaced Saturday when it gets here.
On the other hand corals have been doing pretty good. All corals are doing great besides my splatter hammer which has been overrun with cyano that I keep cleaning off daily but it doesn’t help. I need to move it and see if that helps. Red Goni is out and happy! Gets upset when the clowns try to swim through it but hopefully it will get use to them. Duncan is doing great and is growing new heads! Hammers are doing good as well but losing some flesh but have read this is somewhat normal for these ones.
Also I picked up a few new corals that I just couldn’t resist. $5 for 3 frags which I’m keeping a close eye on to see if I’ll have to give the acro to a friend if I don’t have enough par. One is a green goblin, one unknown acro and one digi.
Red Goni happy and opened!
Hammers (you can also see the one struggling hammer in the back)
PR_nano
Valuable Member
Nice Red Goni and your LPS are growing nicely. How are nutrients? I just tested today, and Nitrates are at 1PPM with Nyos checker. I still struggle to keep them elevated and started feeding more but seems to have more effect on P04 vs N03. So back to dosing to keep them 5-10. P04 is stable at .03 unless I up the feeding or coral food.
I totally forgot about the UV bulb replacement. A few months back I reach out to IM to see if they were going to receive stock of them, but they never responded. I should probably pick one up now that they're available.
I totally forgot about the UV bulb replacement. A few months back I reach out to IM to see if they were going to receive stock of them, but they never responded. I should probably pick one up now that they're available.
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Nick Steele
2500 Club Member
@PR_nano Thanks!
Loving the Red Goni and so does the wife so double win!
So far I haven’t tested nutrients for the past couple months or so. I’m trying to get back to the KISS method and tank was very happy when I had 0 nitrate or phosphate before getting Dino’s so I’m just trying to emulate that again.
Yeah I got mine from Saltwateraquarium I think some places are still out of stock. I have since marked my phone to order another one in 11 months.
Loving the Red Goni and so does the wife so double win!
So far I haven’t tested nutrients for the past couple months or so. I’m trying to get back to the KISS method and tank was very happy when I had 0 nitrate or phosphate before getting Dino’s so I’m just trying to emulate that again.
Yeah I got mine from Saltwateraquarium I think some places are still out of stock. I have since marked my phone to order another one in 11 months.
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Nick Steele
2500 Club Member
Both my urchins are also carrying around some xenia now as well. Funny little things!
Please excuse the algae I’m working on it.
Please excuse the algae I’m working on it.
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Nick Steele
2500 Club Member
Soooo it’s been a rough year for us so far but now it’s time to turn it around!
Sadly tank was neglected for quite some time and I had some die off and bad hair algae takeover. I lost all my euphyllia, one blasto died and acans were starting to recede. Corals are starting to look better so hopefully no more death! Tank should be back on track as I’m going to keep up with water changes and general maintenance (daily and weekly chores).
I was able to get a court jester goby and he has been a wonderful addition the past month or so that I’ve had him. Constantly eating cyano and shifting the sandbed which is wonderful! He even dug a little hidey hole in the sandbed for himself to sleep in.
Going to let the tank run for a few months before trying to add any more corals that way I can make sure it’s ready once again.
Sadly I didn’t take pictures before I went in and pulled out the algae but just know it was BAD! You can still see it on the rocks as I didn’t have enough time to completely clean it all but it is going to be part of my daily schedule now until it’s handled.
Sadly tank was neglected for quite some time and I had some die off and bad hair algae takeover. I lost all my euphyllia, one blasto died and acans were starting to recede. Corals are starting to look better so hopefully no more death! Tank should be back on track as I’m going to keep up with water changes and general maintenance (daily and weekly chores).
I was able to get a court jester goby and he has been a wonderful addition the past month or so that I’ve had him. Constantly eating cyano and shifting the sandbed which is wonderful! He even dug a little hidey hole in the sandbed for himself to sleep in.
Going to let the tank run for a few months before trying to add any more corals that way I can make sure it’s ready once again.
Sadly I didn’t take pictures before I went in and pulled out the algae but just know it was BAD! You can still see it on the rocks as I didn’t have enough time to completely clean it all but it is going to be part of my daily schedule now until it’s handled.
PR_nano
Valuable Member
Sorry to hear, but glad you you are jumping back into it. I saw those euphyllia grow nicely overtime and did well for you even with the other issues.
I know you mentioned it will be sometime before you add corals but do you have an idea, on what types of corals or are thinking mix reef?
I know you mentioned it will be sometime before you add corals but do you have an idea, on what types of corals or are thinking mix reef?
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