Second attempt at saltwater with 90 gal reef

[SantaMonica]

Ok looks like it has not been cleaned/harvested. Take it to the sink with tap water and brush all the growth off the walls and bottom so you see mostly white again. Use fingers to get all the growth off the strings so they are mostly white.

Plug in just 1 power cord this time and see how it looks in a week.

Bubbles are ok but when growth gets thick you might want more.

 

[Rshahnyc]

It’s at the lowest setting so I can add more strength to it. Will do. Clean it thoroughly. Then plug Just 1 power cord, 18 hours? Or 24H?

I’ve taken it to the sink and cleaned it off but only with hand. I’ll use a brush and nails and really get in there.

 

[SantaMonica]

18 hours is always good to start.

 

[PharmrJohn]

I personally think that your tank is far too small for any of those tangs or, foxface let alone 2 or more of them.

Your tank is suitable for a couple of smaller tangs (Tomini, Scopas, etc.) as they don't get nearly as large or territorial.

I am sorry to sound negative, but overstocking is very common and even if the fish "seem happy" they are not suitable for tank of this size.

The tank looks nice, but it is always best to move forward slowly with a young tank. How did the "first attempt" turn out and why is this a "second" try? If you don't mind sharing.

I would agree. At this point, I wouldn't add any more fish, as previously advised. The tank needs to mellow for a while. I would, at this point, formulate a plan to rehome the tangs and the foxface. Just draw up lines of communication so that when it's time, you can act quickly. I'm worried the tangs will eventually become stressed and, with immune systems weakened, disease will become an issue. l kept one yellow tang in my old 90 with no issues. A tomini Tang will also work, but I'd keep it to just one Tang total in a tank that size. Some will argue two is OK, but I'm old and conservative.

 

[PharmrJohn]

BTW, the tank looks REALLY nice! Forgot to say that! Please forgive!

 

[Rshahnyc]

18 hours is always good to start.

Wish me luck

@PharmrJohn thank you very much for the kind words! My LFS did say he’d take the Purple Tang back. He’s a great guy at Aquareef Aquatics in Eastchester, NY. Clean shop, healthy fish and helpful owner who takes time to let me talk through my tank issues.

Love my fishies but if I had to do this over again I’d have started bigger or taken the smaller fish and more coral activity approach. It’s okay, things are looking good and I’m learning!

Loving the Torches and Zoas.

 

[Rshahnyc]

I DONT UNDERSTAND WHY MY SKIMMER IS SO HARD TO DIAL IN

 

[Rshahnyc]

Dare I say I’m seeing a little green developing? And my phos is down to 0.37 pre feed today?! Hmmmmm

 

[Rshahnyc]

New updates

1) Parameters

I had the Alk at 9.8, Ca at 460, Mg 1240 for the past week and they had finally stabilized after raising them from the prior numbers (6.8, 510, 1100).

Today I had some aquarium servicing done. We raised my spec grav to 1.026 from 1.023ish.

Big issue is that I used a high Alk Fritz salt AND I had a pretty significant aptasia X dosing today. Now my parameters are all out of wack but more importantly it happened quick and my nems are all retracted and no longer big puffy and extended.

Current Alk 11, Cal 510, Mg 1365.

***. Gonna see where it settles and probably punt this high Alk salt. The Calcium I think is mostly in setting of the aptasia X but wow.

2) I got my apex a3 pro replaced and reprogrammed the new apex with more bells whistles and got my pH probe to actually work with the help of an apex whiz Mario.

3) I think my surf algae scrubber is finally growing ****. My phos has been mostly flat around 0.35 now and I’m starting to see green. I think I’m going to remove the tee shirt to uncover half the lights @SantaMonica . Let’s see if this takes off and my phos can get closer to 0.1

4) replaced my crazy spraying octopus skimmer with the Tunze 9410 DC. Muchhhhh better from a height perspective already and also seems easier to dial in.


Video is post water change, nems not loving it.

 

[Rshahnyc]

Bought an undersized (due to sump space) phosphate mini reactor. Thoughts at if this + the algae scrubber will do SOMETHING?!

Amazon product

 

[Rshahnyc]

Tank updates

1) Installed this tiny aquatop phosphate reactor and I wasn't getting much tumbling action at the top despite dialing the pump in either direction. I think I might have packed too much GFO or it got clogged. I ran it for 5 hours though yesterday and my Trident NP suggest my phos dropped from 0.37 (Hannah 0.52) to 0.24 (Did not confirm with Hannah yet). I think I'm going to run it 2 hours a day and see where it goes.

2) My algae scrubber is growing green stuff now, more in the uncovered area so I'll leave it uncovered and I changed the lights to just 12H a day on opposite schedule as my lights. Will continue to monitor.

3) Rest of parameters have stabilized around Alk 9.5-9.8, Mg 1350-1375, Ca 480-490. Plan is for a 15 gallon water change this weekend and I might add an extra arch rock with some crevices to add hiding space for my wrasses (and if things stay stable, might get me 1-2 more wrasses).

4) Still no luck catching this purple tang. Smart ******. But he's behaving so no rush.

5) Did some decorating in the den where the fish tank is and put up this painting of NYC. Then had the brilliant idea of ordering flourescent paint and added some highlights that aren't noticeable during the day under normal light. I'm excited to see what it looks like tonight (haven't seen it yet with the aquarium lights).

 

[Rshahnyc]

1) Parameters:

WOW this really worked. Shout out to this tiny Aquatop reactor that I barely squeezed into my sump. Phos dramatically improved from 0.52 -> 0.35 -> 0.24 -> 0.15. I slowed the GFO reactor down to 4H/day now.

Phos 0.15 x24H
Nitrate 10

Also my Alk/Ca/Mg have stabilized for past week

Alk 9
Ca 460
Mg 1375

2) added a Bells Flasher wrasse. Didn’t think he was gonna make it when I put him in but he’s looking happy and really eating. The blue throat chases him sometimes but mostly he’s fine in his space.

3) ordered some magnetic rock to add some floatscape. Also gonna add a scoly to my sandbed.

4) check out my art. Ok I lied, all I did was add the fluorescent pieces but it really does pop!!!

5) now what? Just enjoy the tank? What’s my next step? ICP testing? Try my hand at SPS?

 

[Rshahnyc]

1) Phosphates/Nitrates:

That Aquatop GFO seemingly brought my phos down and it has remained pretty constant now in the .15-0.21 range. I feel like I probably already saturated the binding capacity of it so I need to exchange the media and then be careful about how many hours a day I run it. Hopefully now that I brought the number down, I can find a balance and keep it stable.

The nitrates seem consistently in the 9-11 range.

2) I added sand the other day. Used a gravel sifter/sand sifter (the thing you use to clean the sand bed during a water change) and gently turned it upside down at the bottom of the tank. Didn't get too cloudy. Tank looks good.

3) The magnetic aquascape came in but I'm not sure what to do with it or where to put it permanently. I added it to the top right of the tank for now. It has frag holes so maybe I'll add a couple pieces of SPS and keep it high. I'd just to integrade it to the rockscape a little better.

4) I went away for a weekend and everything did great and the fish were fed by my parents. My Trident is reading a pretty consistently dropping Alk/Ca/Mg. This is despite about 30mL a day of Alk + Mag from Aquaforest. I might just scrap using those in the future and switch to All for Reef + additional KH.

 

[Rshahnyc]

Nitrates 8-10
Phos 0.15-0.18

Alk 10
Mg 1375
Ca 450

Consistent numbers finally.


Still just growing slime on the SMF Surf scrubber. Gonna give it another month of cleaning cycles as per SMF here on R2R. If that doesn’t work I’m gonna grab a Gro light and a 6x6 media basket/container and put it in the sump to try to grow Chaeto

 

[SantaMonica]

I saw on your video that the bottom of the surf box was white. This is from pods eating. Fix this by rinsing the surf in tap water, or, by lifting a few inches out of the sump and pouring top-off water on it, and hold it for a minute there to kils the pods.

 

[Rshahnyc]

I take it out to the sink when I harvest and rinse thoroughly and use a brush scraper.