Jestersix

Reefer 250

Blaise006

Supporting Member
60 gallon

Foods: frozen unless specified otherwise and rotated daily
Hikari brine shrimp
San Francisco Bay blendfish eggs
San Francisco Bay blend marine cuisine
Hikari squid
Rods food coral and original
PE mysis
Dry pellet food once a week

dosing: (daily unless noted otherwise)
esv b ionic 2 part
4ml Red Sea nopox
Red Sea coral nutrition a+b
30ml phyto

filtration:
11 gallon sump
Protein skimmer
Filed socks
Periodic carbon and GFO reactor when phosphate levels deviate from red field ratio.

Stocking list:(All pictures as of Sept 2020)

BTA: Received from BAR member June 2020
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Frogspawn 4x: April 2020

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Birdsnest: May 2020 - recently was knockover into a frogspawn and has suffered significant tissue loss (90+ percent). Frogspawn appears ok.
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SPS:June 2020
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Zoas: April 2020

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Latest tank stats

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Other inhabitants:
Two clownfish
YWG mar 2020
Antenna Goby mar 2020
2Bar gobies mar 2020
3 chromies feb 2020
Duncans May 2020
Bowerbanki June 2020
Aussie lord June 2020
Deresa clan April 2020
Elegance coral June 2020
War favite mar 2030
Red blue/Jason fox favites April 2020
Lepto mar 2020
Teal favite April 2020
Goniopora mar 2020
Hollywood stunner challice Mar 2020
Ricodira Floridia mushroom June 2020

All inhabitants were moved to a new house in June 2020. No inhabitants were lost during the move.

feeding routine: 2x daily. Mostly frozen with selcon. Occasionally pellets.

August 2020: subordinate clownfish showing large tears in tail fin. Suspected emerald crab. Crab was removed. Post removal of the crab a new tear in the same fin was found. I noticed some aggression between the chromies and the subordinate clown but I am hesitating to attribute the issue to the chromies. No new tears were found towards the end of August.

issues as of sept 2020: a small Cyano outbreak covering about 5% of rocks and 5-10% of the sandbed. Considering vibrant treatment if it does not clear up by October. Phosphates have subsequently tested zero since it has shown up. Ran GFO for three day to attempt to bind any free phosphates before the Cyano got it. Did not appear to help. It has since been taken offline and I am attempting to bring phosphate slowly back to .03 ppm. No other algae issues are present other than some GHA in the sump which I regularly harvest in small amounts but likely inconsequential nutrient export due to small size of it.

Added 9/14/2020 New Coral

9/14/2020 -Bowerbanki Tissue DMG
unknown tissue damage noticed on Bowerbanki. Picture shows the largest amount of damage but there appear to be 4 more smaller spots of damage.

Cause: TBD

Montipora Update -Montipora Comparison
Continues to deteriorate. Lost roughly 20% of tissue from introduction to tank.

Problem: STN
Cause: suspect low ph or possible improper light acclimation.

PH as of 9/14/2020 @ 11:45 am - 7.7

Clownfish 9/14/2020 - two black spots noticed on the larger clownfish as well as damage to the tail fin And pectoral fin. Aggressive behavior has been noticed with the tang. No previous issues with this fish. The smaller clownfish tail fin is recovering and has no new injuries.

Cause: Unknown what is causing the fin damage. Suspect possible fighting due to the clowns maturing. Black spots have been noticed on clownfish that are attempting to host a new Coral based on accounts by the community. I have not seen any attempts.

9/14/2020 - Growth Update
Overall growth across lps and sps appears to have slowed considerably. Possible PH issue that I am looking find a way to rectify without throwing all the other parameters out of wack. Possible the smoke from the wildfire has been a driver. Considering a CO2 scrubber for the protein skimmer intake line.

The cotton candy Aussie lord has been shrinking and showing a gaping mouth from the right side head.

Possible that Cyano outbreak is actually slime algae.

Coraline algae growth appears steady with the majority of the new growth happening within the last 4 weeks.

Duresa clam shows no new shell growth under mantle which is concerning.

Zoas, Anemone, Duncan, Torches, ricordia mushroom, blasto, elegance, all favites, and chalices appear healthy.

9/22/20

Cyano appears to be receding.

CO2 scrubber has raised ph to the range of 8.0-8.2.

Coral colors are vibrant.

One torch has split and budded a new head.

The hammer has budded a new head.

New monti cap and stylophora appear healthy. They appear very vibrant at the bottom frag rack. Intend to move up 1-2 inches on 9/29/20.

GFO reactor was brought online and phosphates have since stabilized during early testing results, more data points are still required. Prior results show high volatility with large deviations from the mean. The largest deviation from the mean result took place after 60 hours of no nutrient import to the tank at all. Slightly baffled by that result.

Feedings have been reduced by 50% going forward until I am certain volatility in phosphate results is reducing.

Performed an equipment check. No rust, malfunctions, or precipitation was noticed except for two dosing lines lost their prime and the protein skimmer is beginning to show signs of wear.

Dosing line was primed again. Dosing heads May need replacing and calibrated. No impact to dosing schedule. Alk fell from 8.5 to 8.3. No concerns.

Protein skimmer is being replaced. Pump has started to show wear and frequently underperforms or overflows. Trying to decide the best way to break in the new skimmer while still maintaining nutrient export for carbon dosing.

9/25/20

Installed trident and APEX.

Update on most recent SPS additions -
9/30/20

Cyano still receding.

Phosphates have stabilized in the .02-.07 range with RowaPhos.

All new additions are acclimating well. The newest sps are demonstrating bright colors and great polyp extension. I will move them up about 4 inches early next week on the frag rack as phase two of light acclimation.

Noticeable changes:

Frogspawn look healthier than ever, great extension.

Elegance coral appears very healthy.

Anemone mouth has a slight consistent bulge around the mouth for the last week. Aside from that it has great extension, feeds regularly on left overs with a very strong feeding response, and strong grip to the rock.

10/05/2020

Added rainbow and purple encrusting monti from @Coral reefer earlier a couple days ago.
Great polyp extensions thus far. Starting out at the bottom of the tank.

All recent sps additions are doing well and show great PE. The stylophora had some burnt tips from the LFS, but they are looking great now.

Cyano has dissipated.

10/09/2020

All new sps are looking healthy with solid PE:

1 Acro (green/brown)
1 stylophora
3 montis (2 encrusting from coralreefer - rainbow/purple, 1 green playing lfs)


Bowerbanki tissue damage has healed.

Added mandarin goby and neon dottyback.


10/10/2020

Picked up gold tort and blue Millie from @Coral reefer.

Recent sps additions are doing well.

No signs of bleaching except for the very right tip of the blue Millie. It was pale during the dip while adding to the tank. Will continue to monitor.

Gold tort doesn’t have full polyp extension like other sps after 24 hours. Will continue to monitor.


Tank picture update


10/13/2020

Growth update:
Stylophora has grown substantially in just 3 weeks.

Pandora Zoas are not doing well. 5 polyps are turnin black.
Cause: TBD
Notes: All other Zoas are vibrant and open fully.

Most recent additions:
Blue Millie still has the same two spots of bleaching since pick up, but has not increased. Polyps are out frequently, but I feel they are not 100% yet. Hard to tell until I observe it more.

Gold tort: Polyps are extended, but not all of them.

Overall: Frags look healthy and I am optimistic they will fare better once I move them up a bit closer to the light next week.

10/26/2020

Since adding the CO2 scrubber I have seen a lot of positive growth and am extremely happy. SPS frags seem to be taking with noticeable size differences every 7 days when I log pictures and weigh the hardier frags. Another animal that has shown surprising growth is the Deresa clam. In the last two weeks the shell near the mantle continues to get noticeably bigger.
I am aiming to lower my alkalinity a little bit after talking with fellow club members. Most have suggested 8-9 dkh and I am going to shoot for 9-10 with 9.5 being optimal for the foreseeable future. I will consider another drop in two weeks since I am not in a rush.

One issue I am running into is that the CO2 media needs replacing frequently. I ran the skimmer intake line out our window to hopefully prolong the media’s life a bit. Either way I can’t recommend enough maintaining PH between 8.0-8.3 from 7.7-7.9.

One thing that caught me off guard was the increased alkalinity demand that came with the increased PH. My alkalinity demand almost tripled. I went from dosing ~20ml at 7.7- 7.9 to ~55ml at 8.3. Once I did some research I felt much more comfortable about raising the dosage by so much over only a week. I was extremely nervous and testing every two hours for about a week thinking my equipment was wrong and that dose amount is crazy. Looking back I wish I didn’t lose as much sleep as I did trying to figure out what was “wrong”. I raised calcium in a similar manner.

Another item I’m extremely happy about is that the blue Millie I got from @coralreefer is beginning to color up again and is showing great PE extension. I am confident any bleached spots on the frag will be gone entirely in the coming weeks.

growth update link: https://imgur.com/a/TMpH0vB

11/01/2020

Growth update pictures, no major changes.


11/03/2020

Added 2 frags from Battlecorals.

Sky dopple and Kerm Granny


4 more sps additions expect 11/5

11/05/2020

Sps additions are acclimated in the tank and already showing good PE. Will provide in-tank pictures in next update. A 6th frag was given as a freebie not shown below. A mycedium coral.


11/08/2020

Growth update. No other major updates.


11/18/2020

Growth update : https://imgur.com/a/ThbhUpP

No major changes to report. Small alk swing of .5 occurred earlier in the month but doesn’t appear to have caused any issues.

Alk consumption has been steady at about 42-44ml a day. Expecting an increase due to new frags.

11/19/2020

BattleBox additions - https://imgur.com/a/esVvzKg

11/29/2020

Growth update: https://imgur.com/a/Es1RO67

12/1/2020

Blue Millie from coral reefer had RTN overnight.

Cause: Upgrade lighting recently. Possibly to weak from recent bleaching for the increased par.

Investigating brown algae that seems to only form on new frag plugs.
 

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Nice write up and welcome!
I think you are smart to get phosphate back to above zero. .03-.05 at least.

Thank you!

Sure hope it works, if not I’m going to resort to vibrant.

Just out of curiosity, do you see your phosphate levels fluctuate daily (if you have tested that often)? Since I got the Hanna checker it’s much easier to check phosphates and noticed pretty wild fluctuations within 24 hours. There are times when the results could be up +\- 100% the prior reading. That’s without GFO running. Just seemed a bit much, but I chalked it up to the actual amount being less than 20 PPB, and this being easily used up or increased significantly.


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Thank you!

Sure hope it works, if not I’m going to resort to vibrant.

Just out of curiosity, do you see your phosphate levels fluctuate daily (if you have tested that often)? Since I got the Hanna checker it’s much easier to check phosphates and noticed pretty wild fluctuations within 24 hours. There are times when the results could be up +\- 100% the prior reading. That’s without GFO running. Just seemed a bit much, but I chalked it up to the actual amount being less than 20 PPB, and this being easily used up or increased significantly.


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What is the absolute value of the fluctuations you've been seeing?

The Hanna ULR Phosphate checker has a margin of error of +/- 0.02 ppm. Given how low your phosphate readings are, it's possible that the fluctuations are due to technical error rather than true changes.
 
Yea the absolute values are typically pretty low. Looking at the margin of error it does make a bit more sense. The biggest move I saw was from 0 to .06 within 24 hours, then back to .02 the following day. A quick glance at the rest of the fluctuations appear to be in that margin of error.

Really appreciate the help!


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A small update on the Cyano. Today some formed on my power head. I always thought flow was a critical component to keeping it at bay, but this has made me consider whether I ID’d it correctly. Would really like a second opinion.
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A small update on the Cyano. Today some formed on my power head. I always thought flow was a critical component to keeping it at bay, but this has made me consider whether I ID’d it correctly. Would really like a second opinion.

Looks like cyano to me, but macro ID of algae/gunk is always problematic. If you want to bring me a sample (I'm in San Jose and could meet at Neptune) I'd be happy to look at it under my microscope, give pictures, and help you ID it.
 
Thanks, I might have to take you up on the offer. I will keep you posted. Do you think a yellow tang would be picking at it if it was Cyano? I just caught a video of my yellow tang picking at it. Never heard of anything actively trying to eat Cyano.


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Something else worth noting. PH is 7.6.

I just recalibrated my Hanna ph checker and it went from 8.0 to 7.6. I’ve seen people mention ph at 8.3 has helped reduce Cyano. Normally PH is something I try to leave alone since it has never been a problem before. I wonder if the wildfires had something to do with the drop.

I’ll keep this updated as I proceed.


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Apologies for the tag, thought you two might find this interesting.

9/12/20 11AM Phosphates @ 0ppm via Hanna ULR checker

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The cyano is like the above picture all day long and becomes a slightly deeper red as the day progresses. Fast forward two days.

9/14/20 10PM Phosphates @ .126 PPM
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Here is a picture of the same corner. Only difference is I moved a frag rack. Not a spot of cyano in sight. I am not sure if the night cycle for cyano is similar to diatoms where it cycles between day and night. What I thought was interesting is the phosphate spike corresponding with the lack of cyano.

My thinking right now is to bring the GFO reactor online and try to capture as much of that phosphate as I can before it reverts back to cyano in the morning.

Thought it would be worth mentioning in case I am missing some day night cycle aspect.

This afternoon around 4pm I did perform a large broadcast feeding of reef roids, which throws a monkey wrench into this a bit. I am going to repeat this a couple more times.

9/15/20 Cyano update

Elevated phosphates in the water may not have been due to cyano receding during the night. Continuing to monitor the cycle for a couple more days.

Phosphates 8am 9/15/20: .104 down 17% from 10pm 9/14/20. Likely due to GFO reactor. New batch of GFO and Carbon were added. 7 tablespoons of GFO and 1.5 cups of carbon. GFO was run for three hours.

9am manual dosing: 30 ml phyto / Red Sea coral nutri a+b 4ml each / 2ml ROE reef nutrition

Phosphates 5:30pm 9/15/20 .031 ppm down 97%

9/15/20
5:45- fed 1.5 frozen cubes of food and 1/2 teaspoon of reef roids.
6:45 - Phosphates at .034
Nirate tests conflicting. Results are between 4-8ppm
9:10PM - Phosphates at .052
9:44PM - colorimetric phosphate test estimates levels between .04 - .08. Inline with Hanna ULR Phosphorus.

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Cyano is declining.

Sps:

Stylophora
2x Monti
Anacropora

Previous tanks

Acro & Pocillipora

Let me know if I can provide anything else.


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Honestly if you'd having low phosphate and you throw in vibrant pretty much say hello mini crash. Imo vibrant is poison its not some miracle cure

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Thanks for letting me know. Haven’t heard that. Cyano has been on the decline so I am shying away from using since I planned to wait till October anyway.

I didn’t finish answering the question earlier.

I have had sps for two years in other tanks. All frags are dated in the journal for this tank. Two new frags this month and the rest are from May-June.[mention]ofzakaria [/mention]


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All great, just fyi am lookong to understand the situation of the current tank. Previous tanks informations is not very relavent.
I will gladly give you SPS DBTC, i think we just need to wait a bit till cyano is gone and your system is stable.
Please update your journal often so we also learn from you, and hopefully soon you will be ready for my DBTCs.
What I advice, is maybe start with some of my LPS DBTC like the apace invader, or even the nepthea. These coral are more forgiving snd can be a good indication on where you system stand in term of stability
Look for ofzakaria nepthea, or ofzakaria space invader..
 
Thanks, Appreciate it. The only open spots I have left in the tank I am planning for sps at this time. I am focused on providing ample room for everything to grow.

I will upload my journals as they come. So far there are a long trend of tests results already available in the journal. Records are screenshots and added to the journal monthly.

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Thanks, Appreciate it. The only open spots I have left in the tank I am planning for sps at this time. I am focused on providing ample room for everything to grow.

I will upload my journals as they come. So far there are more than 5months of tests results already available.

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You are almost there do not worry. I promise you I will give you as much coral as you want once we see system stable. Given
Btw the space invader can be placed on the sand bed. Thats where I have it just fyi. Its beautiful.
 
No worries, hope that didn’t come across poorly. Not my intention what so ever.


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Not at all my man. You good snd awesome. Again, I will gladly pass you DBTC do not worry. Lets just give ur system some time. You did not do anything poorly and I appreciate you being with us..thats why we all here in this club. Learn snd improve.
 
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