IM 50 Christmas Special Tank

[Coral reefer]

I’d shoot for 5 gal a week or 10 every 2 weeks. Thats just me tho. Good luck!

 

[Kenzo]

I’d shoot for 5 gal a week or 10 every 2 weeks. Thats just me tho. Good luck!

I switched to 5 gallond a week to try to combat my issues, I think I'll stick with it to build the habit. Thanks!

 

[iani]

I agree 10 percent a week is a good target.

 

[Kenzo]

I've been following through with my goal of weekly 10% water changes and as a result I've noticed my nutrient levels have begun to come down and my nuisance algae appears to be less prevalent than before. I've also seen my ulva diminish and had an uptick in GHA, but still a reduction nonetheless.

Additionally, I set up a refugium using chaeto and a spare led I had lying around that's currently on a 12 hour reverse photoperiod. I didn't see chaeto growth for a week or so at the beginning, but it's been booming ever since.

This is after about 4 weeks of growth and I threw out the majority of the chaeto last weekend.

This leads to the most recent news. I'm trying my hand at acros again after picking up some beautiful pieces from @dandemeyere who provided me with an incredible deal and I can't thank him enough. As an aside, I'm inspired by where Dan lives and I hope to be in that area at some point in the future.

 

[dandemeyere]

The corals are looking nice and colored up in your tank!

 

[Kenzo]

The corals are looking nice and colored up in your tank!

I'm going to do my best to keep them that way, it's really because they came from a healthy happy home.

 

[Kenzo]

Took some pictures the other day.

Still battling ulva and hair algae with some success? Recently deployed GFO in a media bag and it's brought po4 down from 0.25-0.29 to about 0.17 in 2 weeks, so we'll see how that goes. Also still running chaeto with moderate success, harvested twice in 2 months.

Really seems like you never want to let algae get a foothold in the tank, keeping it at bay appears to be infinitely more manageable than removing it once it's gotten in.

We continue with the fight on.

I've wondered if a short term tang rental would help, but that presents its own set of issues. So I'm leaving it as a less desirable option for later down the road.

 

[spuri87]

I've wondered if a short term tang rental would help, but that presents its own set of issues. So I'm leaving it as a less desirable option for later down the road.

what CUC do you have right now? Instead of adding Tangs now and rehoming them later, a better option might be to up your CUC game.. Tuxedo Urchins and other types, Pitho Crabs and other types, Turbo Snails and other types, maybe sea hares too, will help a lot to keep things in check, if not help immediately as THE solution

 

[Kenzo]

what CUC do you have right now? Instead of adding Tangs now and rehoming them later, a better option might be to up your CUC game.. Tuxedo Urchins and other types, Pitho Crabs and other types, Turbo Snails and other types, maybe sea hares too, will help a lot to keep things in check, if not help immediately as THE solution

Maybe 6-7 trochus, 1-2 of astrea, 2 emerald crabs, 3-4 nassarius, 3-4 blue leg hermits, 1 tuxedo urchin, 2 conchs, some bumblebee snails.

I was thinking of adding some ceriths, maybe a turbo snail, and a few more trochus and nassarius.

Any suggestions?

 

[spuri87]

Tuxedo Urchins, Pitho Crabs and Turbo Snails do a lot of heavy lifting in my tank, but YMMV.. I would probably add 1 more Urchin, 5 Mexican Turbo Snails and 2 Pitho crabs to see if that makes a difference.. rehoming them later (if needed) might be easier than rehoming tangs

 

[Kenzo]

Tuxedo Urchins, Pitho Crabs and Turbo Snails do a lot of heavy lifting in my tank, but YMMV.. I would probably add 1 more Urchin, 5 Mexican Turbo Snails and 2 Pitho crabs to see if that makes a difference.. rehoming them later (if needed) might be easier than rehoming tangs

I'll give it a shot, thanks.

 

[Patio]

Your glass looks very clean in your recent pictures showing the ulva so what I say next might not be helpful. If I let my glass get dirty it seems the urchins prefer the glass. If I keep the glass clean for a couple weeks in row (even the light film), they are forced to eat more of the algae I want them to on the rocks. When I see them clear out the rocks, I let a section of glass film back up.

 

[MichaelB]

You could look at a tomini tang. They constantly graze and don't get big.

Something you wouldn't need to rehome. I also like hermits i have tons. Probably 20-30 in my 40gallon.

Tons of various snails in all the tanks. It's typical recommended 1 urchin per 50gallon tank. At 75gallons your kinda in the middle so you could add another or having to could leave them hungry searching for food. It could easily go both ways. I would recommend upping snails and hermits as well first to see if they help. Urchin would be the final choice.

Pithos eat alot same as urchins they could also starve if there isn't constant food. You might need to supplement feeding them so I would only recommend multiple with caution. Balance is key with cuc enough so tank stays clean not so much they starve. So adding little by little is always best. Not a add urchin, snails, and emeralds and pithos at same time in other words. Adding more would likely solve your problems just gotta give them time to work and find that balance that can be sustained long term. Not Adding to many where starving is a possibility hence Adding little by little and giving them a week or two to do their work to judge if you need more.

 

[Kenzo]

Your glass looks very clean in your recent pictures showing the ulva so what I say next might not be helpful. If I let my glass get dirty it seems the urchins prefer the glass. If I keep the glass clean for a couple weeks in row (even the light film), they are forced to eat more of the algae I want them to on the rocks. When I see them clear out the rocks, I let a section of glass film back up.

Never thought about it that way, that makes sense to me. I do clean the glass weekly so that's why it looks so clean.

Since I do already do that, it does seem that my urchin hasn't made big enough of a difference with my real issue haha.

 

[Kenzo]

You could look at a tomini tang. They constantly graze and don't get big.

Something you wouldn't need to rehome. I also like hermits i have tons. Probably 20-30 in my 40gallon.

Tons of various snails in all the tanks. It's typical recommended 1 urchin per 50gallon tank. At 75gallons your kinda in the middle so you could add another or having to could leave them hungry searching for food. It could easily go both ways. I would recommend upping snails and hermits as well first to see if they help. Urchin would be the final choice.

Pithos eat alot same as urchins they could also starve if there isn't constant food. You might need to supplement feeding them so I would only recommend multiple with caution. Balance is key with cuc enough so tank stays clean not so much they starve. So adding little by little is always best. Not a add urchin, snails, and emeralds and pithos at same time in other words. Adding more would likely solve your problems just gotta give them time to work and find that balance that can be sustained long term. Not Adding to many where starving is a possibility hence Adding little by little and giving them a week or two to do their work to judge if you need more.

The system is around 70 gallons but the tank itself is an IM50 lagoon, so the dimensions aren't the friendliest for a tang IMO as it's not even 3 full feet.

I do think continuing to scale up the cuc is the best options. I'll likely go pick up a few snails of as many varieties as I can find. Hermits are awesome imo as well but I'm always nervous with them as they grow because they go after snails. I've had some luck with getting really small specimens to grow out.

I appreciate the advice.

 

[MichaelB]

The system is around 70 gallons but the tank itself is an IM50 lagoon, so the dimensions aren't the friendliest for a tang IMO as it's not even 3 full feet.

I do think continuing to scale up the cuc is the best options. I'll likely go pick up a few snails of as many varieties as I can find. Hermits are awesome imo as well but I'm always nervous with them as they grow because they go after snails. I've had some luck with getting really small specimens to grow out.

I appreciate the advice.

Yea no more urchins. I've had some hermits for 3/4 years blue legs and some red legs. Can't say if they went after snails or not. But I go after the larger snails when I buy them. So most if the hermits are to small for the snail shells.

 

[PjFish]

Lawnmower Blenny ,(Salarias fasciatus), may help just make sure you you see them eating food in the store before you purchase one.. Dolabella Sea Hare, Dolabella auricularia do a great jobs also but will need to re home once they eat all the algae unless their eating nori or algae pellets. Although saltwater acclimated Poecilia velifera, giant sailfin mollies are algae eating tanks! Fairly easy to acclimate in a 5-10 gallon tank or even a bucket will work. They do sell acclimated ones already online but I think one of the BAR members was breeding and acclimating some also in the past..

 

[Kenzo]

Lawnmower Blenny ,(Salarias fasciatus), may help just make sure you you see them eating food in the store before you purchase one.. Dolabella Sea Hare, Dolabella auricularia do a great jobs also but will need to re home once they eat all the algae unless their eating nori or algae pellets. Although saltwater acclimated Poecilia velifera, giant sailfin mollies are algae eating tanks! Fairly easy to acclimate in a 5-10 gallon tank or even a bucket will work. They do sell acclimated ones already online but I think one of the BAR members was breeding and acclimating some also in the past..

This is an interesting answer. I already have a blenny so I'm not sure if I could double up, even if only temporary. I'll have to see if I can locate any of the other options you mentioned. Thanks

 

[Kenzo]

Recently got my phosphate to a more desirable number (0.06) to hopefully reduce the amount of visible algae in my display. GHA appears to be down considerably while ulva is still apparent, I do think manual removal should prove to be more effective than its been in the past. Added some mexican turbos along with more trochus and continuing to run my refugium on a reverse 14 hour cycle.

I decided to move my power heads back to the side glass rather than the rear for a function over form approach. While the tank IMO looked much more clean with the power heads mounted to the back wall, I couldn't create nearly enough flow on the top rocks for my acropora. Conversely, everything in the lower half of the tank was getting blasted so that wasn't going to work. I also added an aquatop to create more turbulence. Currently waiting to add a Tunze 6075, which I plan to replace the aquatop with. Thus relegating it back to salt mixing duties.

Considering where my initial thoughts were, I believe I've changed my opinion most drastically towards flow in my tank. I attribute most of my change of fortune with the reef, to flow. Coral prefer significantly more than I initially thought, and while you can be limited with fluffy lps coral, I've come to the conclusion that flow more than anything else has improved the health of my reef.

Building on the last point, the second area that most positively affected my reef was feeding the tank. My mother recently congratulated me on not having lost any fish as of recent and asked what I was doing differently. The answer was feeding the tank more. I'd previously tried to limit feeding to limit algae but this resulted in the loss of fish and coral from low nutrient levels. Heavy input and heavy output is my current MO. When I say as of recent, I haven't lost a fish in about 2 years and the limited feeding approach shifted around the same time.

Some of the pieces I acquired from the frag swap are doing great and others not so much, but it's likely my fault. I also picked up a few DBTC from @RandyC and a personal favorite acro piece I've been wanting to add for some time. Looks fantastic in person and I can't wait to see it grow out. Anytime you have the chance, check out Randy's setup. It's the most impressive I've seen in person, and in addition to bringing a wealth of knowledge, he's super welcoming and helpful.

It's also been made clear to me that I have an infatuation with smooth skin acros. Unfortunately for me, I've read they can be on the more sensitive side of acropora, so I'll try to refrain from giving them any funny looks.

Speaking of the DBTC pieces, the cc21 tails torch which has great colors, also has great tentacle length. This is normally fantastic. However, I have it placed next to an acan echinata which is probably the most aggressive coral in my tank. Because of this, it ate the tip of a tentacle and I was subsequently led to cover the side facing the torch with coral putty and seems to be working as intended. I'm planning to smoother it entirely. It was one of the first coral I got so I have a soft spot for it, but it's so aggressive and encrusted on a difficult to move rock so I don't think I have other options.

Despite my current light setup being incredibly capable, I do think it's a bit limited, because it's a "single" point LED, and I do notice some shadowing. Because of this, I've been kicking around the idea of bringing in a T5 hybrid fixture to supplement my AP9X.

As is common with those that reef, I enjoy tinkering and I've also been thinking about starting to dose kalkwasser to do the heavy lifting and boost pH. If I do, it'll be with a dosing pump and done through a different reservoir than my ato. Likely down the road though and I'd have to pick one before the other. Any input on which would be more beneficial, Kalk or T5s, is welcome.

Finally, I've been noticing my acropora have all been doing well. Some basing out and others branching out, all have polyp extension which gets considerably longer when the lights go off. Other good news is that my clam has decided to stay put and gets helped to stay in place by some mushrooms, they do shade it slightly so I'll likely need to remove them in the future. But for now they're a nice clam cradle. Situated next to the clam is a beautiful piece of Green Slimer from @ksliech which has been in captivity for about 20 years and I hope to keep it going well into the future.