Reef nutrition

Alex’s IM 150 EXT

Ok, I am finally seeing some aiptasia in still a limited area on one of my rocks. Unfortunately, this rock is almost entirely covered with relatively pretty corals. Should I still throw it out? Looks difficult to treat this one with aiptasia X/F. Thoughts?

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MichaelB said:
What app is that looks convient for keeping track
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apps.apple.com

Aquarimate

Designed to manage both Freshwater and Saltwater aquariums! Available in 13 languages: Català, Dansk, Deutsch, English, Español, Français, Italiano, Polski, Português, Română, Русский, 中文(简体), 中文(香港). Includes a very comprehensive livestock library of both Freshwater and Saltwater fish, coral...
apps.apple.com apps.apple.com
 
Alexander1312 said:
It should be well known that I am not a BRS fan (or Amazon for that matter). But I asked BRS if the cracked impeller was still under warranty and they sent me these two (original order was two XF350). I appreciate their customer service.

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I’ve noticed their customer service has improved over the last year or so as well. Their warehouse fulfillment, not so much. Almost every order I’ve placed over the last year was either missing items or had damaged items from poor packing.

Awesome to see that they took care of you and gave you an upgrade. I’d be curious to know if there’s any noticeable difference between the CE and Gen 1 XF350s in any regard other than the wireless interface and flow director cages
 
Alexander1312 said:
Ok, I am finally seeing some aiptasia in still a limited area on one of my rocks. Unfortunately, this rock is almost entirely covered with relatively pretty corals. Should I still throw it out? Looks difficult to treat this one with aiptasia X/F. Thoughts?

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So sad to see this!
You’re now and forever tainted with the dreaded reef herpes within this system
Solution: frag rock to remove the visible ones
CBB and peppermint shrimp are more reliable than the filefish
You will never be able to see them all
 
Srt4eric said:
My Cbb demolished my aiptasia and is keeping them gone. He also eats anything i throw in the tank. I got pretty lucky with this one. Thanks again @Kensington Reefer
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Seeing them live in @Darkxerox tank, I really wanted them too. But I just do not believe I should add any more fish in my tank. The trigger I got from @SupraSaltyReefer was already a +1, but no regrets, she is a beauty - hard to train her eating aiptasia though :).
 
My personal go to has always been peppermint shrimp. CBB and filefish have worked well for me in the past too. But 1 or 2 peppermints always get the job done way faster IME. I’ve kept the 1 in my tank for about 2 years now. Doesn’t touch any of my coral. I’ve personally never had a peppermint that did.

I don’t think you would have issues having the shrimp with your trigger or wrasse. I’ve kept mine with both, just need to introduce the shrimp in a cup or container to the rocks so he can hide away immediately if introducing to your display tank.

I know pictures can be deceiving, but that rock looks to be easy enough to pull, if you can put it in a 10gal tank or sump with 1 or 2 peppermint shrimp. Then sump the shrimp until you can rehome them.
Keeping in mind of course that the aiptasia may have already spread to other areas of the tank. Hopefully it’s an early enough catch to where it’s isolated to only this rock.

Edit/disclaimer: Be sure to get the shrimp from a reputable source, a lot of look alike species out there that may not be so reef friendly. I haven’t experienced this, but read that others have.
 
Reefinglens said:
My personal go to has always been peppermint shrimp. CBB and filefish have worked well for me in the past too. But 1 or 2 peppermints always get the job done way faster IME. I’ve kept the 1 in my tank for about 2 years now. Doesn’t touch any of my coral. I’ve personally never had a peppermint that did.

I don’t think you would have issues having the shrimp with your trigger or wrasse. I’ve kept mine with both, just need to introduce the shrimp in a cup or container to the rocks so he can hide away immediately if introducing to your display tank.

I know pictures can be deceiving, but that rock looks to be easy enough to pull, if you can put it in a 10gal tank or sump with 1 or 2 peppermint shrimp. Then sump the shrimp until you can rehome them.
Keeping in mind of course that the aiptasia may have already spread to other areas of the tank. Hopefully it’s an early enough catch to where it’s isolated to only this rock.

Edit/disclaimer: Be sure to get the shrimp from a reputable source, a lot of look alike species out there that may not be so reef friendly. I haven’t experienced this, but read that others have.
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Very helpful, thank you! I had peppermint shrimp early on in my reefing career (not too long ago) and they almost ruined an acan. But I did not know much at the time, but tried to find the right species. My sump is rather large and there is no light, so probably not good for the corals on the rock. However, I could try to squeeze this rock into the nano tank, and add two peppermint shrimps there. Will need to check with @under_water_ninja if he has some. Thanks again!
 
Nutrients continue to creep up despite weekly water changes of 10-15% and relatively thorough san bed cleaning weekly - 0.32 phosphate, 26 Nitrate.

Why? My take as to possible reasons:
  • Fish have been growing quite a bit. Eat more, poop more.
  • The skimmer settings are too low.
  • More frequent coral feeding with Fauna Marin MinS and Captiv8 dried phytoplankton (currently three times a week).
  • It seems like the AVAST feeder collects a lot of the pellets inside the mixing drum - only noticed this today. Will need to clean this out today and change how food is being disbursed out of the drum.
  • Freshly mixed saltwater is already 0.04 phosphate as measured just now. I probably will need to clean the brute container.
  • Some die off due to moving several DT rocks into my sump, plus some Tampa Bay rock sumps with their tunicates on them also into the sump, leading to additional die-off.
How to resolve, my take:
  • My go-to elixir is ElimiNP from Tropic Marin. The only downside is that it reduces Nitrate as well to some extent (their proprietary type of carbon dosing), and reduces PH (not a big issue anymore) - not an issue here but in the nano tank where nitrate is lower but phosphate is high. I have already dosed 1 ml daily last week which was too low. Will go to 2 ml daily. In the past I did 3ml and it will bring down phosphate, but nitrate as well.
  • Increase the skimmer settings from level 2 to 3 (out of 5). Optimizing skimmer performance overall seems to be an art in itself but it is worth the time. Understanding the foam density and the difference between wet skimming (phosphate focus), and dry skimmer (nitrate focus) was not clear to me until recently.
  • Cannot skip water changes and try to do larger amounts with continous focus on sandbed cleaning.
  • I would love to not use filter floss and disposable filter floss but will need to ask one of the 3d print gurus here to print a water ramp to avoid the noise in the sump from not using these anymore. Removing the floss and socks should improve skimming and reduce nutrients eventually.
  • Potentially removing seaweed sooner after feeding. I often keep the seaweed pieces in there after the next day when I feed again. Iodine has not been elevated though recently.
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I switched to freeze dried whole foods (mysis and calanus) and small sized flakes (I smash them up a bit) instead of pellets and I've noticed less clumping on/in the plank. Large flakes had issues too. I think it has to do with how less dense foods distribute better in the drum given how the thin fins inside mix things. Others can chime in if they're seeing the same. The cannonball attachment does help with moisture and overall gunk (when I forget to use it there's an obvious difference).

What's your skimmate look like and how much are you pulling every day? I'm still shocked with how having a properly sized skimmer helps me out now.

But rock die off is probably a huge factor. Switching to live phyto (maybe a higher quality one like tisochrysis) might help slightly too, as it will continue to metabolize until it's eaten or skimmed out.
Alexander1312 said:
Nutrients continue to creep up despite weekly water changes of 10-15% and relatively thorough san bed cleaning weekly - 0.32 phosphate, 26 Nitrate.

Why? My take as to possible reasons:
  • Fish have been growing quite a bit. Eat more, poop more.
  • The skimmer settings are too low.
  • More frequent coral feeding with Fauna Marin MinS and Captiv8 dried phytoplankton (currently three times a week).
  • It seems like the AVAST feeder collects a lot of the pellets inside the mixing drum - only noticed this today. Will need to clean this out today and change how food is being disbursed out of the drum.
  • Freshly mixed saltwater is already 0.04 phosphate as measured just now. I probably will need to clean the brute container.
  • Some die off due to moving several DT rocks into my sump, plus some Tampa Bay rock sumps with their tunicates on them also into the sump, leading to additional die-off.
How to resolve, my take:
  • My go-to elixir is ElimiNP from Tropic Marin. The only downside is that it reduces Nitrate as well to some extent (their proprietary type of carbon dosing), and reduces PH (not a big issue anymore) - not an issue here but in the nano tank where nitrate is lower but phosphate is high. I have already dosed 1 ml daily last week which was too low. Will go to 2 ml daily. In the past I did 3ml and it will bring down phosphate, but nitrate as well.
  • Increase the skimmer settings from level 2 to 3 (out of 5). Optimizing skimmer performance overall seems to be an art in itself but it is worth the time. Understanding the foam density and the difference between wet skimming (phosphate focus), and dry skimmer (nitrate focus) was not clear to me until recently.
  • Cannot skip water changes and try to do larger amounts with continous focus on sandbed cleaning.
  • I would love to not use filter floss and disposable filter floss but will need to ask one of the 3d print gurus here to print a water ramp to avoid the noise in the sump from not using these anymore. Removing the floss and socks should improve skimming and reduce nutrients eventually.
  • Potentially removing seaweed sooner after feeding. I often keep the seaweed pieces in there after the next day when I feed again. Iodine has not been elevated though recently.
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