Perseverance Reef

[Fishy888]

Good point. I’ll do that if I actually decide to use it. I’d rather do it with real live rock anyway the more I think about it.

 

[tbrown]

Good point. I’ll do that if I actually decide to use it. I’d rather do it with real live rock anyway the more I think about it.

I have 10 or so pieces of Aragocrete that I made. It's kind of neat to do. Plus, when you make it you make it yours.

 

[Fishy888]

I have 10 or so pieces of Aragocrete that I made. It's kind of neat to do. Plus, when you make it you make it yours.

I might try making it at some point. I need to research it more.

 

[tbrown]

I might try making it at some point. I need to research it more.

Well, here's the walkthrough I wrote up for my rack I just made about 2 hours ago...

Build Thread - 125 - Took Forever But Here It is!

Yep. I told her that the box is full of live animals. She said I can expect it tomorrow. I said "What good is a box full of dead animals?" Exactly. I've had those conversations with shippers. One of the reasons i hate ordering.

www.reef2reef.com

 

[crusso1993]

You know the luminaires like they used (and some still use) in gyms and warehouses? I got one for 15 bucks, and I took it apart, built the framework for the canopy, and I rewired it to keep the transformer remote. That keeps the weight of it off the tank and it keeps the heat away from the water. For the lamp I got an iPower “6000k” halide. (it’s likely a 6500k at least). They have a lot of blue for a 6000k lamp.

Edit: I forgot to mention that the ballast is an M59 400w ballast. The guy who has the luminaires lowered the price to 10 bucks a piece from 15. He’s here in Decatur. His ad is on Facebook marketplace. I’ll see if he still has them. If he does I’ll re-edit this post.

Have you given consideration to running a 14K bulb?

 

[Fishy888]

Have you given consideration to running a 14K bulb?

I have. I’ve been looking at that option. My worry is that my system would get used to it then there wouldn’t be anymore. I think even Hamilton stopped making them. I can’t afford to buy $1000 worth of lamps at once.

 

[tbrown]

I have. I’ve been looking at that option. My worry is that my system would get used to it then there wouldn’t be anymore. I think even Hamilton stopped making them. I can’t afford to buy $1000 worth of lamps at once.

What about 10,000k or 20,000k?

 

[Fishy888]

What about 10,000k or 20,000k?

My understanding is that Hamilton is done with metal halide, period. I need to find the article again.

 

[Fishy888]

Doing some more searching I think I found the solution to my lighting needs.

Metal Halide Aquarium 400W 14000K Mogul E39 MH Bulb 14K -Brand New

Get it Now for $12.45 | Limited-Time Sales, Free Shipping Metal Halide Aquarium 400W 14000K Mogul E39 MH Bulb 14K -Brand New | Light Spectrum Enterprises, Inc.

www.electricalcarspares.com

I hope my par won’t drop too sharply but I know I’ll have some happy corals in the end. If this sale lasts another week I’ll get four. If not I’ll get 2 this month and another 2 or 3 next month.

My duncans are growing faster than any coral I’ve ever had. This was taken on 03/09/23.

This is from 2 hours ago.

I did a small dose of LaCl tonight. It was only enough to drop phosphates 0.04 ppm. I’m looking to keep phosphates around 0.1 ppm but I’m getting the neon green cyano now. That tells me the rock has a decent bit of phosphates locked in. I’m only going to dose enough LaCl to get back to where the neon green stuff dies back along with the rest of the cyano.

Tomorrow if I have the strength I’ll be cleaning the sump. It’ll be devoid of cyano when I’m done. I hope I even still have chaeto left in there. If I do it’s likely covered in cyano. In that case I’ll clean it and see if it’s still alive. I am pretty sure it’s alive still.

As for the DT my pods are still booming. I cleaned the front glass and the right side as one faces the tank. The left side I left for the pods. Even though it’s ugly I’m leaving the back of the tank like it is. Hopefully the pods will consume the cyano/diatom mix off of the back glass after they finish cleaning the left side of its diatoms.

 

[crusso1993]

Doing some more searching I think I found the solution to my lighting needs.

Metal Halide Aquarium 400W 14000K Mogul E39 MH Bulb 14K -Brand New

Get it Now for $12.45 | Limited-Time Sales, Free Shipping Metal Halide Aquarium 400W 14000K Mogul E39 MH Bulb 14K -Brand New | Light Spectrum Enterprises, Inc.

www.electricalcarspares.com

I hope my par won’t drop too sharply but I know I’ll have some happy corals in the end. If this sale lasts another week I’ll get four. If not I’ll get 2 this month and another 2 or 3 next month.

My duncans are growing faster than any coral I’ve ever had. This was taken on 03/09/23.

This is from 2 hours ago.

I did a small dose of LaCl tonight. It was only enough to drop phosphates 0.04 ppm. I’m looking to keep phosphates around 0.1 ppm but I’m getting the neon green cyano now. That tells me the rock has a decent bit of phosphates locked in. I’m only going to dose enough LaCl to get back to where the neon green stuff dies back along with the rest of the cyano.

Tomorrow if I have the strength I’ll be cleaning the sump. It’ll be devoid of cyano when I’m done. I hope I even still have chaeto left in there. If I do it’s likely covered in cyano. In that case I’ll clean it and see if it’s still alive. I am pretty sure it’s alive still.

As for the DT my pods are still booming. I cleaned the front glass and the right side as one faces the tank. The left side I left for the pods. Even though it’s ugly I’m leaving the back of the tank like it is. Hopefully the pods will consume the cyano/diatom mix off of the back glass after they finish cleaning the left side of its diatoms.

If that website is legit then you’re on to something there! I quickly scanned the Fluke Instruments they sell and am completely blown away at the prices they’re charging for equipment. I’m definitely not sure how they can sell what they sell at the prices they’re selling. I am very interested to see what happens when you place an order from them.

 

[Fishy888]

If that website is legit then you’re on to something there! I quickly scanned the Fluke Instruments they sell and am completely blown away at the prices they’re charging for equipment. I’m definitely not sure how they can sell what they sell at the prices they’re selling. I am very interested to see what happens when you place an order from them.

I will definitely let you know.

 

[Fishy888]

At this point I’m seeing great signs of the success of feeding heavily. I’m also seeing some not so great signs. I fed the system today and I could see my brittle stars which have colonized every rock in the system. My soft corals which were bleaching from lack of nutrients have colored back up.

As for the not so great signs I suspected my coralline was dying back a few days ago. It just seemed off. Yesterday huge portions were turning white. Today I could see holes in it. I’m not going to get too stupid chasing numbers but clearly I lost control of nutrient levels somewhere along the way. I still have live coralline but it’s taken a hit. I need to get my levels tested but I’m still feeling weak and still dealing with the cough so I haven’t had it done yet.

I started dosing LaCl yesterday and I dosed another quarter teaspoon which in my system drops phosphates by 0.04 ppm. I might need to up it for a few days. I’ll do a phosphorus/phosphate test a little later but it’ll only show phosphorus that’s in the water column, not what’s bound in the cyano or what’s still in uneaten/rotting food that I can’t see.

I just had another thought. Even though cyano isn’t growing in the sump as fast as it was a few weeks ago I removed a bunch of it. That might be causing nutes to rise faster than normal. If that’s the case I should be able to get a more accurate assessment of my phosphate levels tonight.

I may have to cut back on the pellets and feed the same amount of frozen food. Not tons but a little. I’m going to see if a friend of mine in town has some chaeto because I could use more. I also need more coral.

 

[tbrown]

At this point I’m seeing great signs of the success of feeding heavily. I’m also seeing some not so great signs. I fed the system today and I could see my brittle stars which have colonized every rock in the system. My soft corals which were bleaching from lack of nutrients have colored back up.

As for the not so great signs I suspected my coralline was dying back a few days ago. It just seemed off. Yesterday huge portions were turning white. Today I could see holes in it. I’m not going to get too stupid chasing numbers but clearly I lost control of nutrient levels somewhere along the way. I still have live coralline but it’s taken a hit. I need to get my levels tested but I’m still feeling weak and still dealing with the cough so I haven’t had it done yet.

I started dosing LaCl yesterday and I dosed another quarter teaspoon which in my system drops phosphates by 0.04 ppm. I might need to up it for a few days. I’ll do a phosphorus/phosphate test a little later but it’ll only show phosphorus that’s in the water column, not what’s bound in the cyano or what’s still in uneaten/rotting food that I can’t see.

I just had another thought. Even though cyano isn’t growing in the sump as fast as it was a few weeks ago I removed a bunch of it. That might be causing nutes to rise faster than normal. If that’s the case I should be able to get a more accurate assessment of my phosphate levels tonight.

I may have to cut back on the pellets and feed the same amount of frozen food. Not tons but a little. I’m going to see if a friend of mine in town has some chaeto because I could use more. I also need more coral.

Are you checking cal, mag, and alk? I hear Coralline LOVES magnesium so if your mag levels are dipping that could be contributing.

 

[Fishy888]

Are you checking cal, mag, and alk? I hear Coralline LOVES magnesium so if your mag levels are dipping that could be contributing.

That’s a good point. I don’t have the kits for the big 3 yet but they’re on the top priority list. I’m going to do a water change soon. That’ll help but I definitely need to get those tested.

 

[tbrown]

That’s a good point. I don’t have the kits for the big 3 yet but they’re on the top priority list. I’m going to do a water change soon. That’ll help but I definitely need to get those tested.

Yep! Alk and magnesium can play a big role in ANY encrusting stuff in our tanks.

 

[Fishy888]

Yep! Alk and magnesium can play a big role in ANY encrusting stuff in our tanks.

I agree. Sometimes I forget all the spirorbids, micro feather dusters, etc are drawing it down as are my duncans.

 

[Fishy888]

About an hour ago I finished cleaning the tar (well, cyano LOOKS like tar and is thick like tar…) out of my sump. My chaeto is in AMAZING condition for what its been through. It had quite a bit of cyano in and on it but there’s very little die off. Hopefully it’ll thrive now.

The chaeto has a ton of life in it! Bristle worms, amphipods (of which there appear to be two color morphs or perhaps different species), and I’m willing to bet there are other life forms that I didn’t see.

This is what the sump looks like tonight. I totally expect I’ll have to do this a few more times before it’s all said and done with the cyano.

It’s much better than it was though. But what I’d give for a clean 200 micron sock tonight because this is the DT…

I’m glad I got it done though. Now I’m flushing my RO membrane because it’s time to make water for top off and a water change. At least I can relax except to change buckets every hour until I’m done. Ah I hear the sound of the timer. Flush time is over.

 

[Fishy888]

Here’s a picture of the chaeto as of 10:30 PM. The white looking stuff isn’t even die off. It’s the crud that got stirred up while I manhandled the cyano. It’s way better and now both sump and display are clearing up. I’m going to do a phosphorus test before long.

 

[Fishy888]

I did a phosphorus test and was floored. It read 1 ppb. That’s 0.003 ppm of phosphates. The only way that’s even remotely possible is that it was locked away in the cyano I just harvested. With the amount I feed and the likelihood of there being more uneaten food, like the pellets I feed, I’m pretty sure detectable phosphates are going to show up within a day or two.

Tomorrow or Monday I’m going to deal with the cyano in the DT while keeping the sump as cyano free as possible. With less cyano taking in phosphates I should get to where I need to be pretty quickly. Obviously I need to stop the LaCl now. I’m definitely getting the water tested. I’m also getting test kits as quickly as I can for the big three, starting with ALK. I’m going with Salifert for all three kits. I can’t get all three at once but I might be able to get two of them this week if all goes well budget wise.

 

[Fishy888]

I got the water change done tonight. It was a 15% change. I did something I usually don’t do but I added 1 dKH worth of ALK and 0.4 ppm of CAL. I’m not adding anymore until I check the big 3. I’m hoping I can get all 3 test kits this week. It may be doable budget wise even with getting the lights.The coralline has come back to life that fast. That’s a relief.

Thank you @tbrown3589
for pointing out my need to test for the big three. I mean, I know it’s important to do so but I got into the mindset that water changes were enough for now since I only have about ten duncan polyps. Of course other animals take up CAL, ALK, and MAG but I also have micro dusters, coralline, and spirorbid worms drawing down the aforementioned parameters.

I found a shell today that has sky blue coralline on it. There are two small spots of it but the camera doesn’t capture the blue color so I didn’t include a picture. Almost every hermit crab in my system has coralline to one degree or another. For that matter so do the unoccupied shells.

Now that there’s more CAL and ALK I think things will be looking up for all my calcerous critters. The water change will have raised MAG and I don’t want to mess with that until my test kits arrive. Obviously there needs to be enough MAG. If not adding CAL and ALK will be pointless. Normally I wouldn’t add anything I couldn’t test for but the coralline beginning to bleach and the suggestion that my animals were also drawing down the big three I started thinking about the health of my duncans as well as the worms. If it was bad enough to bleach coralline how were my animals faring? This is one of the rare exceptions to not dosing what I can’t test for. Everything seems happier so far. I’ll take it.