TheWB’s IM Lagoon 50

[Dj City]

Hey buddy...
The reef is looking real good!

The camera filters seem to do an "ok" job. Not great but better than no filter.
I just adjust the white balance on my phone camera to take pics.
So far this has worked better than filters.

 

[Calm Blue Ocean]

Wonder why the notifications like to randomly quit?

I've mentioned it before, but I find the stock IM return pump to be just a tad undersized for the 50g tank. I think if you can get some control over that new pump, you'll be really happy with the upgrade. Of course, it's not quite the same but my 10g only uses the return pump for flow since that pump is a bit overpowered for the size of the tank (if I'm not careful with the angle of the return nozzle I can shoot water right over the front glass lol). I keep it on pulse mode and the corals seem to enjoy the typhoon.

 

[TheWB]

Hey buddy...
The reef is looking real good!

The camera filters seem to do an "ok" job. Not great but better than no filter.
I just adjust the white balance on my phone camera to take pics.
So far this has worked better than filters.

Thanks DJ, good to see you back online.

 

[WestonNanos]

Beautiful tank! Just got the same one! A lot of inspiration coming from this thread

 

[TheWB]

Wonder why the notifications like to randomly quit?

I've mentioned it before, but I find the stock IM return pump to be just a tad undersized for the 50g tank. I think if you can get some control over that new pump, you'll be really happy with the upgrade. Of course, it's not quite the same but my 10g only uses the return pump for flow since that pump is a bit overpowered for the size of the tank (if I'm not careful with the angle of the return nozzle I can shoot water right over the front glass lol). I keep it on pulse mode and the corals seem to enjoy the typhoon.

Yeah, those notifications do just kinda randomly stop sometimes. I check on my watched threads tab every once in a while to see which ones have stopped and then update them if I still want to watch those threads.

I’ve never used the stock return pumps. My tank is old enough that it didn’t come with a Mighty Jet, it came with the no name basic pump that they used before the MJ’s and my understanding is that they were very loud. I’ve always had a dc pump, first the CurrentUSA 6009 which I just pulled out and now the Varios S2. It was disappointing that I couldn’t get a programmed schedule with the aApex to work with the Varios S2 right away but the more I thought about it I decided that there could be some problems with the ato if I had it constantly changing speeds. I think for now I’ll just leave it alone on the lowest setting.

 

[TheWB]

Beautiful tank! Just got the same one! A lot of inspiration coming from this thread

Thank you, I’m glad you liked it. The Lagoon 50 is a great tank, I hope you enjoy yours. I’ll be checking out your build thread. If you have any questions I’ll be happy to help if I can.

 

[TheWB]

This weeks testing results. 4.5 gallon water change done after last weeks testing.

dKh 11.1 same as last week before water change.

CA 455, last week before water change it was 460. Red Sea Pro

NO3 dropped from 4 to 2.1 Hanna
PO4 stayed the same at .03 Hanna

I’ve already established that my newly mixed seawater has a dKh in the low 8’s so still no idea why the tank always tests so much higher.
Beyond that the only thing I can think of is that NO3 is too low and that is the limiting factor in my corals taking up Alk and Cal? There are a few new spots of coralline popping up on the glass and on the Nero’s so something is going on in there, albeit on a small scale.
I’m at a loss. Is my tank too clean? Hard to believe that would be possible. I already feed pretty heavy, or at least I feel like I do. Should I start dosing some Nitrate. Anybody got any new ideas? I’m not looking for an immediate massive growth explosion or anything but some signs of progress would be nice.

 

[jcolliii]

Another experiment to try: Take a turkey baster and put it down deep into your sand and suck out a good basterfull of water. Do that a couple of times in a couple separate places so you have a decent puddle of water in a cup. Take your pH probe and put it into that water right away and give it a minute or two to read. If the pH is really low - the aragonite sand undergoing slow dissolution is going to be my bet. If that's it, vacuuming part of the substrate when you do W/C could do it. The low nutrients can't make the ALK rise on it's own if you're not adding anything else in any way that I can think of. With NO3 that low, I would add some NO3 supplement if you can't get that number up with feeding. I aim for 10-15, but I'm good with anything up to 25 or so. I think the ratio of NO3 to PO4 is more important than either number though (Redfield ratio).

 

[TheWB]

Another experiment to try: Take a turkey baster and put it down deep into your sand and suck out a good basterfull of water. Do that a couple of times in a couple separate places so you have a decent puddle of water in a cup. Take your pH probe and put it into that water right away and give it a minute or two to read. If the pH is really low - the aragonite sand undergoing slow dissolution is going to be my bet. If that's it, vacuuming part of the substrate when you do W/C could do it. The low nutrients can't make the ALK rise on it's own if you're not adding anything else in any way that I can think of. With NO3 that low, I would add some NO3 supplement if you can't get that number up with feeding. I aim for 10-15, but I'm good with anything up to 25 or so. I think the ratio of NO3 to PO4 is more important than either number though (Redfield ratio).

Thanks, I will give that experiment a shot when I get a chance.

 

[Calm Blue Ocean]

This weeks testing results. 4.5 gallon water change done after last weeks testing.

dKh 11.1 same as last week before water change.

CA 455, last week before water change it was 460. Red Sea Pro

NO3 dropped from 4 to 2.1 Hanna
PO4 stayed the same at .03 Hanna

I’ve already established that my newly mixed seawater has a dKh in the low 8’s so still no idea why the tank always tests so much higher.
Beyond that the only thing I can think of is that NO3 is too low and that is the limiting factor in my corals taking up Alk and Cal? There are a few new spots of coralline popping up on the glass and on the Nero’s so something is going on in there, albeit on a small scale.
I’m at a loss. Is my tank too clean? Hard to believe that would be possible. I already feed pretty heavy, or at least I feel like I do. Should I start dosing some Nitrate. Anybody got any new ideas? I’m not looking for an immediate massive growth explosion or anything but some signs of progress would be nice.

I don't think the issue is low nitrate, but I'd still think about dosing at this low level, particularly combined with the lower phosphate, just to avoid getting into dreaded dino territory (considering test kit margin of error and all that).

My 10g tank rarely gets tested for anything because it just chugs along and never gives me cause for concern so why waste the reagents lol. Honestly, every time I do test it, I find myself exclaiming "I wish I didn't know that". To my knowledge, it runs basically undetectable nitrate (I've never tested with the Hanna, just Red Sea) and phosphate was past max for the Hanna checker (so above 0.613). My salt mixes at 9.7 (Hanna) and last time I checked the tank it was 5.8, and it gets as much as 50% water changes. Just an anecdotal way of saying, might not be nitrate causing your issue. For what it's worth, corals grow very fast in this tank. It does everything wrong quite well.

Looking forward to the results of the sand water experiment. This is a great mystery.

 

[jcolliii]

Isn't that just the way it works? My tank had the fastest coral growth when my alk had dropped to around 4.5 after a few months of being on auto pilot. Crazy.

 

[TheWB]

Actual polyp extension on the Green Slimer. Never thought I’d live to see the day.

 

[Dj City]

Looking GOOD!!!

 

[TheWB]

Last week’s parameters were Alk = 11.1, Cal = 455, NO3 = 2.1 and PO4 = 0.03
I did a 12% water change of 4.5 gallons.
This weeks parameters are Alk = 10.9, Cal = 455, NO3 = 2.1 and PO4 = 0.06

Tried to feed a little more to get the NO3 a little higher but that really only resulted in higher PO4 so I added a bag of chemipure elite to bring that back down a little.

I’m not doing a water change this week so I’m expecting to see a rise in NO3 but my system has become very low Nitrate lately for whatever reason. I may need to consider putting the skimmer on a timer and turning it off for a period of time each day.

Alk is basically the same as before and within the margin of error on the Hanna Checker so I’m considering it to be no change. I’ve ordered a bottle of Sodium Bisulfate and am going to verrrrrrry slowwwwwly start to follow Randy’s instructions and try and reduce it down to something in the 8-9 range. Above 11 and rising when I’m not dosing anything is starting to become uncomfortable. If the Alk is rising due to dissolution of the aragonite sand or rock then I’d like to build a bit of a buffer zone. I have not had a chance to conduct @jcolliii experiment yet but it seems like the simplest explanation.

 

[jcolliii]

How are those frags looking? Slimer looks great!

 

[TheWB]

How are those frags looking? Slimer looks great!

I think we are going to be able to call it successful for 3 of the 4 you sent. The speckled kraks just completely disappeared but the the Bubblegum Digi is doing well and has polyp extension.

The Slimeball Anacropora has held it’s color but doesn’t have much polyp extension. It did not help that the clowns got rough with it and broke off the middle piece so now I’ve got a second frag in a different spot.

The Lemon Lime Favites I’ve been a little concerned about but they are starting to look better.

All in all I think we are mostly in good shape considering the ordeal that package went through.

 

[jcolliii]

That is how the slimeball looks most of the time. Never really encrusts, but when it starts growing, you'll know it! Has a neat growth habit too. Sort of right between an acro and a digitata. Looks like nice greet tips on the digitata too! Looking good!

 

[TheWB]

That is how the slimeball looks most of the time. Never really encrusts, but when it starts growing, you'll know it! Has a neat growth habit too. Sort of right between an acro and a digitata. Looks like nice greet tips on the digitata too! Looking good!

It actually has more PE than I thought. They are very light colored so they‘re hard to see but the polyps are there if you look close enough.

 

[TheWB]

Welp, another week of testing, this time without a water change and the results are not what I was hoping for.
Alk went from 10.9 to 11 so basically no change/tester margin of error.
Calcium went from 455 to 460 so again, no change/tester margin of error.
Nitrate went down from 2.1 to 1.1 despite more feeding.
Phosphate went down from 0.06 to 0.01 becabuse I added some Chemipure elite. Didn’t think it would make that much of an impact so quickly, I used the one rated for 25 gallons and I’ve got 37 gallons.
My filtration is creating a low nutrient situation and my Alk and Cal #’s still aren’t going down despite no additives.

I got some Neo-Nitro and have started to dose to get N up to around 5 at least and stable. I dosed enough to take it from 1 to 3 today so I’ll see where it’s at tomorrow and go from there. Just don’t want that to totally bottom out. Might need to take out the Chemipure elite too, wasn’t expecting it to be all the way down at .01 from .06.
I am down two fish so adding some more inhabitants is probably in order to increase the bioload.

Still no clue on the lack of Alk and Cal consumption other than that my sand or rock must be breaking down and releasing enough to make up for whatever is getting consumed. I’m getting spots or coralline popping up and the red monti cap is visibly encrusting so I know there’s some usage happening but I just can’t get any kind of a trend down in the levels if I leave it alone and don’t change water or add anything.

 

[Calm Blue Ocean]

Welp, another week of testing, this time without a water change and the results are not what I was hoping for.
Alk went from 10.9 to 11 so basically no change/tester margin of error.
Calcium went from 455 to 460 so again, no change/tester margin of error.
Nitrate went down from 2.1 to 1.1 despite more feeding.
Phosphate went down from 0.06 to 0.01 becabuse I added some Chemipure elite. Didn’t think it would make that much of an impact so quickly, I used the one rated for 25 gallons and I’ve got 37 gallons.
My filtration is creating a low nutrient situation and my Alk and Cal #’s still aren’t going down despite no additives.

I got some Neo-Nitro and have started to dose to get N up to around 5 at least and stable. I dosed enough to take it from 1 to 3 today so I’ll see where it’s at tomorrow and go from there. Just don’t want that to totally bottom out. Might need to take out the Chemipure elite too, wasn’t expecting it to be all the way down at .01 from .06.
I am down two fish so adding some more inhabitants is probably in order to increase the bioload.

Still no clue on the lack of Alk and Cal consumption other than that my sand or rock must be breaking down and releasing enough to make up for whatever is getting consumed. I’m getting spots or coralline popping up and the red monti cap is visibly encrusting so I know there’s some usage happening but I just can’t get any kind of a trend down in the levels if I leave it alone and don’t change water or add anything.

If we combined our tanks we'd have solid parameters! ;Hilarious