Perseverance Reef

[Fishy888]

Depending on the distance from your tank to the sink (or a door to the outside), you could probably pump your old water to a drain (or driveway, etc) as well. Changing water from the sump has worked well for me for smaller changes - less chance of accidentally blowing sand on the coral when I put the new water in.

*When you get the Brute, do yourself a huge favor and buy the dolly too.

I might do just that! A combination of hose and PVC would be a great idea. My RO/DI can’t be permanently installed. Our apartment complex frowns on that. That said I do have my faucet diverter installed and I don’t have to remove it thankfully. The brute will go inside a cabinet I’m going to build. I’ll install the RO/DI in the cabinet just above the brute. I have the right kind of casters for the brute. The whole cabinet will go on the casters. I’ll check the dolly out though because it might work better with the cabinet.

Thank you @EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal for the idea!

 

[Mschmidt]

I got a 25' soft tube for water changes to run it out the door. Works well but a little tricky to pull a syphon. Make sure you fix the end in the tank to it or you will have a mess...

 

[Fishy888]

I got a 25' soft tube for water changes to run it out the door. Works well but a little tricky to pull a syphon. Make sure you fix the end in the tank to it or you will have a mess...

I’ll be using a combination of PVC and hose in order to affix the plumbing to the sump. I’m also going to use a pump instead of relying on a siphon.

The brute will also get PVC plumbing and its own pump. It’ll be plumbed into the sump.

 

[Mschmidt]

I’ll be using a combination of PVC and hose in order to affix the plumbing to the sump. I’m also going to use a pump instead of relying on a siphon.

The brute will also get PVC plumbing and its own pump. It’ll be plumbed into the sump.

One day I'll write down what I wanted to do with the rain barrel and the tank. It was complicated.

 

[Fishy888]

Today I watched my anemone catch and eat a fairly large piece of fish from my diy frozen food. It ate it but the piece of fish was larger than what I normally feed it. It’s probably on the border of being too big but all should be ok. It was cool to see the nem catching dinner and eating it. The anemone is starting to gain some rose color in a few of its tentacles. I’m excited for when it turns that pinkish rose color all over. Even if not I love that nem. It’s amazing how much personality a creature with no brain can possess.

My asterinas are coming back from the brink. There were only a handful left but I’m seeing more of them now as I posted about yesterday. The brittle stars are also beginning to increase again.

The duncans now have yet another baby polyp developing. By next month there’ll be at least 10 polyps which is awesome. All but two or three of the baby polyps have tentacles now however short they may be.

My soft corals are all doing ok. The cabbage leather is getting ready to shed soon.

The increased feedings are helping big time. Despite the diatoms (which should fizzle out fairly soon) and the lyngbya/cyano (which will go away once either GHA or coralline takes over); my animals seem pretty happy.

I found an article tonight on R2R where they make a flocculant.

Extreme Water Clarity and Cyano Eradication, Made Easy!

Edit 10/092023: Note that I have tweaked the formula a bit. You can find an updated video here: Coral Snow Link: Coral Snow Hello all! I have been reefing now for about 25 years, and over those many years I have picked up many tips, tricks, and best habits/practices. From a hobbyist and...

www.reef2reef.com

I’ll try this and see how it goes. It won’t eliminate the cyano by itself but it will help. If nothing else it’ll clear the water of gelbstoff. That would be awesome.

 

[tbrown]

Today I watched my anemone catch and eat a fairly large piece of fish from my diy frozen food. It ate it but the piece of fish was larger than what I normally feed it. It’s probably on the border of being too big but all should be ok. It was cool to see the nem catching dinner and eating it. The anemone is starting to gain some rose color in a few of its tentacles. I’m excited for when it turns that pinkish rose color all over. Even if not I love that nem. It’s amazing how much personality a creature with no brain can possess.

My asterinas are coming back from the brink. There were only a handful left but I’m seeing more of them now as I posted about yesterday. The brittle stars are also beginning to increase again.

The duncans now have yet another baby polyp developing. By next month there’ll be at least 10 polyps which is awesome. All but two or three of the baby polyps have tentacles now however short they may be.

My soft corals are all doing ok. The cabbage leather is getting ready to shed soon.

The increased feedings are helping big time. Despite the diatoms (which should fizzle out fairly soon) and the lyngbya/cyano (which will go away once either GHA or coralline takes over); my animals seem pretty happy.

I found an article tonight on R2R where they make a flocculant.

Extreme Water Clarity and Cyano Eradication, Made Easy!

Edit 10/092023: Note that I have tweaked the formula a bit. You can find an updated video here: Coral Snow Link: Coral Snow Hello all! I have been reefing now for about 25 years, and over those many years I have picked up many tips, tricks, and best habits/practices. From a hobbyist and...

www.reef2reef.com

I’ll try this and see how it goes. It won’t eliminate the cyano by itself but it will help. If nothing else it’ll clear the water of gelbstoff. That would be awesome.

Be careful with this and watch your alk and calcium. My alk dropped and calcium rose.

 

[Fishy888]

Be careful with this and watch your alk and calcium. My alk dropped and calcium rose.

Ouch. I really don’t want to mess with ALK more than I have to. Thank you for telling me!

 

[tbrown]

Ouch. I really don’t want to mess with ALK more than I have to. Thank you for telling me!

It's not much, just adding Calcium Carbonate can cause alkalinity to precipitate out. Add a little sodium bicarbonate if you notice it drop. I did 4 or 5 days of the DIY Coral Snow and my alk dropped from 8.3 to 7.9, so not huge amounts but I wanted to bring it back up. Coincidentally I added 10 new Acros at the same time so I guess potentially that could have been part of the fluctuation.

 

[Fishy888]

Ok this is good to know. I was thinking your ALK dropped 1 or 2 ppm after one dose. I had to add baking soda while dosing LaCl a few months ago for the same reason. That can seriously mess with ALK but when your phosphates are a tad north of 1 ppm….. (They’re decidedly nowhere near that now.)

 

[Fishy888]

At approximately 5:45 PM CDT hurricane James made landfall at Perseverance Reef.

Fortunately there was no major damage or any casualties, except for the algae on the reef. Now that the storm has subsided an anemone is peeking out of its crevice in the rock.

Ok seriously the increased feedings are just the opening salvo in the war on cyano/lyngbya. The lyngbya still has deep “roots” on the rocks but I took a turkey baster to them and to the overflow plastic. It was covered in lyngbya. Even with a scraper it was hard to remove. Today I was able to simply blow the lyngbya off of a good chunk of the plastic. I tried to get a picture but the debris has to settle more. I didn’t do the whole thing at once so the changes wouldn’t be overwhelming to the system.

I’m seriously considering keeping a 200 micron sock in my system but I’ll have to really think about it. If they get clogged quickly I don’t want to wake up to a flood. I’ll have to get a sock holder and shorten the drain line several inches if I do this. That’s easy enough. I also need some 200 micron socks. That’s also easy to do. I just need to make sure enough water can drain out of the sock so that it can go at least 24 hours between changes. Thankfully the drain is easy to reach so it won’t be a huge chore to reach the sock.

The CaCO3 and MicroBacter7 flocculant will be another weapon in the fight for a nuisance algae/bacteria free tank.

The CUC is probably the most important weapon in this fight. They’re increasing in number now. Eventually they’ll outcompete the nuisance algae and bacteria leaving good algae and bacteria. It’ll take a bit but it’ll happen fast by reef standards anyway.

I’m excited that I still have some Medusa worms. After all the tank transfers that happened because of the move, the upgraded tank leaking, and then the upgrade to the 90 gallon cube, I hadn’t seen any actually moving around or protruding from the rocks since I moved everything to the cube in September of last year. Not until I pulled up some of the lyngbya out of the sand. I found two worms. There are probably many more if I was able to find two of them that easily. It gives me hope that there might still be some spaghetti worms in my reef.

Edit: I have spaghetti worms, not Medusa worms. The Medusa worms are actually sea cucumbers interestingly. I might try to get some one day but with the prospects of the system getting nuked I’m not rushing to get one anytime soon.

 

[tbrown]

Keep it up! You're going to get there and put us all to shame!

 

[Fishy888]

Keep it up! You're going to get there and put us all to shame!

I’ll keep going for as long as it takes. I can be stubborn about things like this. As I understand it lyngbya and other types of cyano give off toxins. I want to get past the cyano stage asap. As for putting others to shame I’m not so sure but this reef will be awesome when it’s done, at least to me, and hopefully to all of you who follow me. I appreciate all the help you have all given me and are giving me still.

 

[crusso1993]

I’m not so sure but this reef will be awesome when it’s done, at least to me,

And this is all that truly matters!

 

[Fishy888]

It looks like my RBTA is really a rainbow BTA.

I’m stoked! It’s also getting more pink by the day it seems. You can see some of the pink/rose color in spots but it’s more pink than the pics show.

I also made another discovery of sorts.

I guess the mag float has become the new pod palace. I’m not complaining though. I need my pod count high.

Sooooo how’s it hangin’ @Goaway, @Fish Styx, @OrchidMiss, and whoever else happens to stumble across this post?

 

[Goaway]

Love anemones. Just watching the colors morph is so fun!

And pod explosions are always welcome.

 

[tbrown]

It looks like my RBTA is really a rainbow BTA.

I’m stoked! It’s also getting more pink by the day it seems. You can see some of the pink/rose color in spots but it’s more pink than the pics show.

I also made another discovery of sorts.

I guess the mag float has become the new pod palace. I’m not complaining though. I need my pod count high.

Sooooo how’s it hangin’ @Goaway, @Fish Styx, @OrchidMiss, and whoever else happens to stumble across this post?

Nice! Remember to keep an eye on those magnets and make sure they don't start rusting in the water.

 

[Goaway]

Nice! Remember to keep an eye on those magnets and make sure they don't start rusting in the water.

Argh... how do you know? Whats the signs?

 

[Fish Styx]

It looks like my RBTA is really a rainbow BTA.

I’m stoked! It’s also getting more pink by the day it seems. You can see some of the pink/rose color in spots but it’s more pink than the pics show.

I also made another discovery of sorts.

I guess the mag float has become the new pod palace. I’m not complaining though. I need my pod count high.

Sooooo how’s it hangin’ @Goaway, @Fish Styx, @OrchidMiss, and whoever else happens to stumble across this post?

It's hangin'. Love nems too, but not when they keep splitting so much. I'm thinking about pulling the rbta out and getting a long tentacle.

 

[Fishy888]

Argh... how do you know? Whats the signs?

I was just about to ask that..

 

[tbrown]

Argh... how do you know? Whats the signs?

Mine had visible rust.