Joe's Reef Journey

[Joseph Lee]

I would run carbon after cutting if you can

Thank you for the advice. I will definitely do that.

That Toadstool is incredible! Quite the show piece you have..

I wish I could have a dedicated tank for it but I just don't have the space and time for it yet.

Lmk if you need any carbon or a place to stash frags. That looks great and I would love one.

I will let you know when I decide to cut it!! The seller said it is from Biota (Ultra Green Toadstool Leather).

 

[Joseph Lee]

Update 12/19/22:
PO4: It has been reasonably consistent with 0.02 ppm daily dosing (via top-off) but I think I should feed more, add more fish, or dose more. Leaning toward adding more fish
NO3: Looks like the bio-media in the canister filter finally has a stable population of anaerobic bacteria.

My testing setup is not very pleasant to look at but the testing is quick and easy since everything is labeled and ready to be picked up.

It slides into the cabinet like in the picture below.

Recently got a CO2 meter. The CO2 level near the tank went above 1000ppm only once in around one month.
Luckily, I have never had a PH reading below 8.0.

Also, I think the bubbling chamber (with air feeding from outside) is helping to raise the PH level.

 

[Darkxerox]

Def vote more fish, more frequent feeding! Will help keep the nitrates up too. What fish do you have in there now? Wasn't sure if any survived the crash since I saw some damsels and a gramma in the last photo. Also can save some money not running that phosphate test in triplicate, just assume there's a little variability, and use it as an estimate.

 

[Coral reefer]

Careful not to go too low with the nitrate!

 

[Joseph Lee]

Def vote more fish, more frequent feeding! Will help keep the nitrates up too. What fish do you have in there now? Wasn't sure if any survived the crash since I saw some damsels and a gramma in the last photo. Also can save some money not running that phosphate test in triplicate, just assume there's a little variability, and use it as an estimate.

I lost all of my fish. Here is the current fish list:

True percular pair (Medium size)
Six line wrasse (small size)
Azure damsel (medium size)
Saphire Damsel (small size)
Black bar Chromis (small size)
Tail spot blenny (small size)
Flame hawk (medium size)
Royal Gramma (small size)

9 fish total.

I think I will add one or two more small fish.

Careful not to go too low with the nitrate!

Will do! I plan to dose 1ppm per day via top-off.

 

[Joseph Lee]

Throwback pic. I really miss this tank before the crash.

 

[Joseph Lee]

Here is a shot taken today before the end of the year 2022.
I cleaned up all 4 sides of the glass, moved all the visible snails and hermits into a ditch , and turned off all the living room lights.
The shot was taken with Sony full frame + 50mm 1.4 with a brown filter.

Here is link to a video.

 

[Joseph Lee]

10 days ago - I received my ICP results.

• Iodine - very high
• Nitrate - very high @33ppm. My Salifert testkit gave me the result of 20 - 25ppm (tested at the same time as the ICP ), so purchased Hanna no3 tester.
• Manganese - a little low
• Vanadium - a little low
• Zinc - a little low

5 days ago - I lost the small Cherry Bomb tenius.
Today - RTN on the beautiful walt disney (around 3-4" big)

I am guessing that the RTN is caused by high NO3 but I am not 100% sure. I'm hoping I don't lose any more acros.
Another possibility would be contaminants in the tank water, as the RTN occurred overnight following a water change.

 

[RandyC]

holy iodine! Are you dosing? That’s really, really high. I would validate that result first. If it’s that, I’d probably work to fix that first.

Your nitrates are high-ish, I wouldn’t say very high at all. Some people can reagularly run that high. Though they usually do so with more phosphate in the system.

 

[Joseph Lee]

holy iodine! Are you dosing? That’s really, really high. I would validate that result first. If it’s that, I’d probably work to fix that first.

Your nitrates are high-ish, I would say very high. Some people can reagularly run that high. Though they usually do so with more phosphate in the system.

Thank you for pointing that out; I had no idea it was so high. I stopped the weekly dose of 5 ml of Seachem iodine and performed two 10% water changes.

 

[Joseph Lee]

Good news: RTN has stopped on this Walt Disney, but the few emergency frags from yesterday did not make it.
Do you think this was caused by pathogenic bacteria (or germs)?
I'm thinking about using Cipro to treat the tank. In addition, I intend to include Dr. Tim's Eco-Balance, which claims to reduce Vibrio bacteria.

 

[RandyC]

If things are not RTN’ing anymore, I wouldn’t do anything except more water changes to bring iodine levels to a normal range. Doing too much at one time will give you zero insight to what the problem was.

 

[Darkxerox]

Seems like every tank I've seen is at non detectable levels of Mn. Curious if anyone doses it specifically?

 

[Joseph Lee]

Update: March 19

• After a 5-hour blackout, the corals experienced some stress/deaths, but after about 10 days, things are starting to look better.
• Last night, the PO4 level was 0.2 ppm, however, my acroporas are looking healthier than they did when I kept the level at 0.01 - 0.05 ppm. I guess I need to keep the level around 0.1 ppm instead of going too low.
• OG bounce slowly melted away, it never look healthy after the tank crash last summer.

Pic was taken with Galaxy note 20 in pro mode. A yellow filter was used.

 

[salty_taste]

Sorry to hear about you OG… that piece was truly beautiful. The coloration along with the photo quality is what I strive to shoot for personally.

Tank looks great! Keep up the great work! Can’t wait for my leathers to grow out like yours

 

[Joseph Lee]

Sorry to hear about you OG… that piece was truly beautiful. The coloration along with the photo quality is what I strive to shoot for personally.

Tank looks great! Keep up the great work! Can’t wait for my leathers to grow out like yours

Thank you. I think I will be focusing more on acropora corals for now.
RIP OG bounce 2023 March

 

[Kensington Reefer]

Gotta love that leather on the left!!

 

[Joseph Lee]

The toadstool leather coral is not fully open but here is a shot taken today.

 

[Joseph Lee]

I have been neglecting my reef tank, and as a result, my PO4 level is almost 0.3 ppm. I just added a small amount of GFO to the media basket. Although all the Acropora corals are doing well, the chalice corals appear to be dying slowly. Here are some pictures taken today after some repositioning of corals and rocks.

 

[H2OPlayar]

I love that green leather! Great looking tank!