Reef nutrition

Andy’s 30gal Hot Mess

Note to self: if you happen to knock the clamp for the ato tube off while doing maintenance and don’t catch it…you will have a bunch of water to clean up when you get home lol.
 
Officially a hot mess lol. Learned a lot, I think. Long story short the can is now housing the live rock/misc media, and drains into the hob ac110 ghetto fuge. Got it installed 5 days ago and had an immediate algae bloom. Left the light off for a day then switched to a shorter cycle. Bloom cleared up and nitrates have dropped to 25 from I don’t wanna talk about it. Some fishy friends, a fire shrimp, and tuxedo urchin have also joined the party over time.

After dialing things in with the par meter the corals all look happier. Grateful to have that tool available! Unfortunately both heads on the green torch shrunk up and one jellied. I panicked, figured the other heads a goner and pulled it since the rest of the euphyllia look ok. The splatter hammer did have a head bail out the day after I put it in but no jelly, maybe related, idk how to feel about it.
 

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Love it. The stickers are a nice touch. I also noticed the light tucked behind the AC110. Very creative use of space.

What happens when the pump loses power? What prevents the can from draining and overflowing the display?
 
Love it. The stickers are a nice touch. I also noticed the light tucked behind the AC110. Very creative use of space.

What happens when the pump loses power? What prevents the can from draining and overflowing the display?

Thanks! I’m trying to pack as much into this space as I can while keeping things as accessible as possible. The whole fam are some sticker junkies too so it works out lol.

Great question! I didn’t think of that at first (newb move) but the solution was easy. Attached a rubber tube to the output of the pump. Drains maybe a pint or so now and the display can handle that.
 
Thanks! I’m trying to pack as much into this space as I can while keeping things as accessible as possible. The whole fam are some sticker junkies too so it works out lol.

Great question! I didn’t think of that at first (newb move) but the solution was easy. Attached a rubber tube to the output of the pump. Drains maybe a pint or so now and the display can handle that.
Maybe force trigger a power outage to find out like turn off power strip or unplug it abruptly. Good idea not to be caught off guard to ensure it doesn't end up on the floor. Than make a plan or adjust based on results.

If you do a tube as you mentioned same thing test it out as well.
 
Maybe force trigger a power outage to find out like turn off power strip or unplug it abruptly. Good idea not to be caught off guard to ensure it doesn't end up on the floor. Than make a plan or adjust based on results.

If you do a tube as you mentioned same thing test it out as well.

I should’ve clarified I didn’t think of it, at first. Upon hooking it all up it came to mind. Tube was added and has been tested.

The biggest issue I have with this hot mess is the water flow through the hob. I’d like to find another ac110 or similar to tinker around with but that’s a project for another time lol.
 
Sitting here at the tank and figure it’s a good time to post. Sorry in advance if it’s an essay length update lol.

Filer is running great, removed the chaeto though. Definitely not an ideal setup for it. I put a chunk of gsp in there instead and will let it take over. The Mangrove roots are growing like crazy too.

I was joined by a not so welcomed guest, good ol aiptasia…yes, my mistake..still don’t have this patience thing fully figured out. I noticed the clove polyps were looking rough/closed up and upon inspection there was an aiptasia right in the middle of the bunch…and one little baby smaller than a pencil eraser next to it. I found two more around the tank so far. One was on a rock I could easily pull out and take care of, the others I left alone and debated my approach. Decided to add a filefish, and peppermint shrimp knowing neither were a guarantee. Today I walked in to the cloves opened up and caught the filefish shoving his face into em…doing its job!
A few of the zoa frags had bubble algae pop up so I dropped two emerald crabs in. Happy to say that they immediately jumped onto the zoas! Was pretty cool to watch one gently pinch onto a polyp and pull it aside to grab a juicy bubble within 5 minutes of being added!!

Having my first real success with sps too so that’s been a moral boost! A green leptoseris that went pretty much brown and had some dead spots from taking a beating in the anemone tank is now back to green, plus new growth! The fruity pebbles is definitely doing stuff, it’s almost doubled in size and gotten a deeper color, but I’m not getting polyp extension. And a yellow tipped Acro I grabbed from AC hasn’t died! Lol
 

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