Perseverance Reef

[Projects with Sam]

I need a Chrysus but I've already got a Leucoxanthus and a Melanurus...

I want a Chrysus too but I think my wife will have a crisis if I get more fish...


sorry I had to...

 

[Fishy888]

I’m feeling a bit accomplished. I changed my filter sock, cleaned out the skimmer cup, got my rock from storage and put it in the sump.

The beginning of round 2.

After a couple of hours….

Later this afternoon I’ll add some rock from the DT to the cryptic zone to seed it. I took the T5 lights off the sump once I finished adding the last of the dry rock to the sump. I have a smaller, lower wattage light that I’ll add in its stead. It’ll stay off unless absolutely needed.

 

[Goaway]

Just you.

Such kind words

 

[Fishy888]

Well I lost my leftmost metal halide lamp and when it gave up the ghost it took out my ballast with it. Thankfully I only have soft corals on that side. The other two lamps work though.

I have a couple of options which I’ll look into for the light that’s out. Most likely I’ll get a new ballast and replace the lamps. I might just build a canopy and grab some core and coil ballasts and switch over to SE halides.

I added seed rock to the sump. I know a couple of micro feather dusters, at least one spaghetti worm and at least one bristle worm made the trip. Hopefully some sponge cells also made it down there with their associated amoebas. They will eventually anyway. I just hope it’s sooner rather than later.

 

[Fishy888]

I decided to see what would happen if I went a couple of days without a filter sock to allow nitrates to come up slightly. I haven’t stirred the sand or blown the mulm off of either rocks or sand for about a week. This is how the DT looks as of last night.

The green algae looks like it’s on the sand in the images but it’s actually on the glass. Diatoms are forming on the sand though. I’m going to stir the sand and get as much crud as I can out of the display but I don’t want to crash my nitrates either.

One thing I noticed is that my cabbage leather has awesome PE.

The devil’s hand coral looks pretty good as well.

For a while after I started deep cleaning the rock and sand some of my sponges died back a bit. They’ve been holding their own though. A couple look a little better now and some new ones are forming too. I really want to get some rubble and place it so it just touches the healthiest sponge. It would block some more light and hopefully the sponge would start growing on it. Then I could seed the cryptic zone in the sump. I’ll add that to my list of tank goals for today. Come to think about it I wonder if sponges can be fragged. I’ll have to research that. If I could do that it would be a huge help.

Despite the diatoms, it looks like my corals are happier and that’s huge. Now that I have my salinity where it needs to be and my new hermit crabs are doing well I’m planning on getting some CUC in the display.

I want to do more to seed the cryptic sump too. Come to think of it, it’s the perfect place for vermetid snails to actually be of benefit. I don’t think their mucous webs bother my sponges because one sponge completely grew over several tubes in close proximity to each other. It’s my biggest and healthiest sponge.

I need to get some brittle stars in not just the cryptic sump but in the display as well. I’ve got a rock in the cryptic sump with micro dusters on it. There are plenty of pods in there as well. I still have the chaeto ball on top of the rock in the sump which I left in there to seed the rock. I also want to get some asterinas going in there too. I believe a couple of the seed rocks had some spaghetti worms in them as well. I’m not sure yet what else would be of benefit in my sump o’ rocks but ideas are certainly welcome.

There is one thing that worries me though. I need to figure out how to keep the sump sludge from causing problems in the cryptic zone. If my sponges get clogged by the sludge that would undo all the work I’m doing.

I know I’ll eventually be able to go without filter socks, carbon, or flocculant once the cryptic sump and the cryptic zones in the DT get going full throttle. In the meantime I want to keep pest algae to a minimum but I also want all my animals to thrive.

My plan is to keep a filter sock on for a couple of days after the water starts overflowing. This would allow for some nitrates to stick around but not spiral out of control. Every so often I’ll reevaluate my nitrate levels and consumption. Based on that I’ll adjust the amount of time I keep the sock on. The more nitrate consumption the less I’ll keep the sock on.

 

[Fishy888]

Ok #Cronies, I have a question for those of you who run ATOs. I keep going back and forth on whether to add one because of the likelihood of flooding. That said I’m home or close to home most of the time so I’m getting to the point where I’m ready to get it done already.

My question is which kind of ATO system to use. It’ll be at least a year before I get an apex unless I go with a classic. I’m looking at this system by ice cap.

ATO EZ Automatic Top Off System - IceCap

Shop The Best Saltwater Aquarium Equipment & Supplies at Saltwater Aquarium. We Carry Everything you will Need for your Fish Tank.

www.saltwateraquarium.com

I’d love to know what system you use and how reliable it is. Thank you.

 

[Nate Chalk]

Ok #Cronies, I have a question for those of you who run ATOs. I keep going back and forth on whether to add one because of the likelihood of flooding. That said I’m home or close to home most of the time so I’m getting to the point where I’m ready to get it done already.

My question is which kind of ATO system to use. It’ll be at least a year before I get an apex unless I go with a classic. I’m looking at this system by ice cap.

ATO EZ Automatic Top Off System - IceCap

Shop The Best Saltwater Aquarium Equipment & Supplies at Saltwater Aquarium. We Carry Everything you will Need for your Fish Tank.

www.saltwateraquarium.com

I’d love to know what system you use and how reliable it is. Thank you.

I have a Tunze Osmolator

It has an optical sensor I cleaned for the first time in.... a year because it failed.

It has a 10 min auto shut of timer. So I have zero chance to flood my tank. Because I set the water level below what it can fill in 10 mins.

The old version not the 3, Idk what that one does, and its much more expensive.

 

[Fishy888]

Tonight I saw a couple of micro brittle stars grabbing food from the water column. I’m stoked that they survived the mini crash. My sponges are definitely growing again too. I didn’t get to frag any sponges but hopefully tomorrow. Everything looks healthier. I’ve been making only subtle changes with the exception of changing over to a cryptic fuge. That change should make things more stable though and not less.

 

[Fishy888]

I have a Tunze Osmolator

It has an optical sensor I cleaned for the first time in.... a year because it failed.

It has a 10 min auto shut of timer. So I have zero chance to flood my tank. Because I set the water level below what it can fill in 10 mins.

The old version not the 3, Idk what that one does, and its much more expensive.

Good to know. I’m pretty sure an optical sensor will be the way to go. I’m going to check out the Osmolator 2. It’s going to be a month or so before I can get it but I want to get my research done from now. Thank you @Nate Chalk! Please keep ‘em coming everyone!

 

[danieyella]

Gravity system (cade tank). Haven't had a single issue. Used to have an ummm autoaqua or something on one of the old tanks? It was beepy.. It malfunctioned.

 

[Fishy888]

Gravity system (cade tank). Haven't had a single issue. Used to have an ummm autoaqua or something on one of the old tanks? It was beepy.. It malfunctioned.

Thank you @danieyella! I’ll stay away from the autoaqua system for certain. If anyone else has any recommendations please let me know!

 

[Stang67]

I have had the high dollar ones and the inexpensive ones. Never had a flood. It's all how you set it up. Just had the relay go in my office one (used auto aqua). So got a 40$ knock off from amazon and it works like a champ. I have had 2 go bad on me and it's been the relay each time.

 

[Fishy888]

I have had the high dollar ones and the inexpensive ones. Never had a flood. It's all how you set it up. Just had the relay go in my office one (used auto aqua). So got a 40$ knock off from amazon and it works like a champ. I have had 2 go bad on me and it's been the relay each time.

Thank you @Stang67! I’m glad to hear you never had a flood. I’m going to use a 10 gallon reservoir I think since if worst came to worst it can only dump 10 gallons into either the sump or onto the floor. I might even do 20 but we’ll see on that one.

The knockoff, does it use an optical sensor or a float switch?

 

[Stang67]

Thank you @Stang67! I’m glad to hear you never had a flood. I’m going to use a 10 gallon reservoir I think since if worst came to worst it can only dump 10 gallons into either the sump or onto the floor. I might even do 20 but we’ll see on that one.

The knockoff, does it use an optical sensor or a float switch?

Optical for both. I use a 20g tall as my reservoir for the 180. This is due to traveling. I use a 5g bucket for the office tank.

 

[Projects with Sam]

Thank you @danieyella! I’ll stay away from the autoaqua system for certain. If anyone else has any recommendations please let me know!

I have the auto aqua and really dig it. Found solution to the beeping is to make sure everything is really low the first time you turn it on so all the processes take long. It uses those times later to determine if it’s running pumps longer then it should.

 

[Projects with Sam]

Ya. Was looking at stuff like this on Amazon before I found my used autoaqua

https://a.co/d/iC3uQGy

 

[Mschmidt]

I used a reefbreeders with the prism thingy, till I filled the sump in a water change and some leaked in the sensor and broke it. now I use one of my dosing heads to roughly match evaporation. I've come pretty close. I also put my vinegar in there for regular carbon dosing.

ReefBreeders ATO

Everything you need for your aquarium

reefbreeders.com

edit: only way I would have a problem is if it dumps more than the reservoir can hold into the sump.

 

[tbrown]

I have the Aqua XT (or something like that?) on my 125 - set up for gravity. It's a repurposed setup though, because the one I have is a solenoid valve that shuts off to keep the RO from overflowing the ATO. I have it turn on every 4 hours and then shut off after an hour and a half if the sensor isn't showing it's at the proper level. Very rigged, but it's been working for about a year and a half now. Only issue is that the solenoid valve has a screen filter that constantly gets plugged and has to be cleaned.

On the ESHOPPS I have a cheapo Amazon Aqua XT knock off. It has a 10* auto shut off in addition to the sensor and backup sensor. If the pump normally runs for 10 seconds at a time and all of a sudden it ran for 100 seconds the pump shuts a off. It also has the optical sensor plus a high level sensor in case of scaling. I just set it up yesterday so I have no real data yet.

Previously I used the old float valve and a 5 gallon bucket. I had it fail once or twice and dump an extra gallon into the tank.

 

[Fishy888]

I have the auto aqua and really dig it. Found solution to the beeping is to make sure everything is really low the first time you turn it on so all the processes take long. It uses those times later to determine if it’s running pumps longer then it should.

Good to know. Thank you!

 

[Fishy888]

I used a reefbreeders with the prism thingy, till I filled the sump in a water change and some leaked in the sensor and broke it. now I use one of my dosing heads to roughly match evaporation. I've come pretty close. I also put my vinegar in there for regular carbon dosing.

ReefBreeders ATO

Everything you need for your aquarium

reefbreeders.com

edit: only way I would have a problem is if it dumps more than the reservoir can hold into the sump.

That’s exactly why I’ll probably go with an undersized reservoir. It can’t crash the tank if only 10 gallons gets into the sump. I just don’t want 10 gallons on the floor.