First Reefing adventure.. 65G AIO

[newfly]

More frags.. QT full for now. I’m super exited . This is my first time with corals.

 

[jhuynh]

the addiction has only begun.

 

[Srt4eric]

the addiction has only begun.

Ain't that the truth...

 

[newfly]

Shout out especially to @Beanju @svreef @Srt4eric @thanh510 @Coral reefer for all the support!

 

[newfly]

Added a cleaner shrimp to the qt tank to keep the corals company.

The corals seems to be doing OK. Is this what you call polyp extension?

My water parameters

Ammonia 0
Nitrates <5
Salinity 1.025
Cal 400
Mag 1280
Alk 8.7

Have not gotten around to get the Phosphate test kit yet.

 

[Coral reefer]

The ones from me look happy

 

[newfly]

Hmm.. Coralline algae or ?? This is the main DT. Doesn’t blow away with powerhead

 

[newfly]

2 more additions..

Urchin from AC & Frogspwan from @The_Lazy_Reefer. The coral is not happy after the car ride, and dip. Hopefully it will open up in a day or two.

AC told me that Pincushion and Tuxedo Urchin are the same thing. Not sure thats true.. what ever the urchin is, its beautiful.

 

[newfly]

Open nicely up in less than 2 hours... it’s beautiful

 

[Ibn]

Hmm.. Coralline algae or ?? This is the main DT. Doesn’t blow away with powerhead

Cyanobacteria.

In regards to pincushion and tuxedo, they're different, although similar in looks. The one that you have is tuxedo, which is most preferable, imo.

 

[newfly]

the frogspwan stung the green slimmer. I have to move it away. Besides the monti brown spot on the edge, everything looking good. Added a cheap blue light 3W LED to supplement the light to the stock Fluval 13.5 led light. Not sure how much additional PAR i'll get, but small incremental addition should help i hope. i'm on a 8am-8pm light schedule.

I plan on 25% WC every week to replenish the Alk,Ca,Mg. I only have a cleaner shrimp, which get a few pellets a day. No fish poop for the corals. I don;t intent on feeding the coral in QT since this is a small tank, i think it can easily mess up the water chemistry.

 

[newfly]

some really good result! First petg that didn’t turn into ugly spaghetti.View attachment 25376

I have even better print at 235 temp with this brand of filament . Very clean print.

 

[newfly]

3D printed a custom media rack to replace the 2.75 filter sock and holder. Very happy with it. Have the kid draw it on thinkercad with the dimensions I gave him. Not perfect but works! Washing the small filter socks is a pain. It’s so small and stiff that you cannot turn it inside out. I’m all set now with filter pad. Cheap and disposable. I can now have carbon/gfo in the bottom chamber.

 

[Coral reefer]

12 hours is kinda long...

 

[newfly]

12 hours is kinda long...

What should I set to? 10?

 

[Coral reefer]

There’s no “right” answer, but I would go somewhere close to where you’ll run the display tank at. I only do 8, but some do more.

 

[newfly]

@Coral reefer I think I’m going to lose the encrusting frags. They are losing colors. Others are doing well in the qt tank. I’m started doing 25% water change with DT water, hopefully it will help.

@The_Lazy_Reefer the frogspawn is doing well. It actually extend more in the afternoon. The light just turn on when i took the pic.

 

[Ibn]

The lack of coloration/loss of colors in the sps is usually a sign of a barren tank without the necessary nutrients (nitrates and phosphates). There's no bioload for the corals to feed on and can't really be remedy with the water changes.

Here's an example from one of my sps in the past.

It occurs in LPS as well.

 

[newfly]

@Ibn Thanks. This is what I hoped and started doing WC with DT water. I am aware my QT tank is too clean (lack of Nitrate and Phosphate). My kid call them goldilocks corals .. cannot be to clean, too dirty, and have to be just right.

 

[newfly]

Just updating this main thread. I did a 30% water change in the QT using the DT water yesterday (i started a separate thread). 24 hours later, most of the coral still closed and unhappy. DT have 5-10ppm Nitrates. Only the frogspawn open up. The rest looks very unhappy, even the Zoas. I supposed be patient and wait it out. Mixing 10G new saltwater as backup. This will let me swap up to 80% of the water if i choose to.

I thought if i end the QT period early as a means to nurse the coral back to health. Seeing the corals react negatively to DT water is a concern. Arg.. this sucks. Wonder how do you QT corals? Is it even possible.. Both QT and DT uses the same salt, same salinity etc. DT have fishes, so nutrient is def higher. Shrimp in the QT seems to be happy like nothing changes.