Ryan’s 40G first reef

[H2OPlayar]

This is a good section for lots of people, but it made me especially think of your system.

 

[Srt4eric]

This is a good section for lots of people, but it made me especially think of your system.

Lolol.... I'm pretty sure I sent him that in a message

 

[rdriggett]

I ordered some aquabiomics live sand to boost tank diversity without adding pests. I hope it’s worth the $49 price.

 

[Schmitty]

UV filter seemed to really have helped me

 

[rdriggett]

Refratometer got knocked to the floor and it threw off the calibration. I was running 1.027-1.028. Recalibrated it and brought my salinity back to 35PPT. My oldest and heathiest goni is now half dead.
Params:
sG: 1.026
pH: untested
Alk: 10.2
Calc: 450
Mag: 1400
No3: 4.0 (Accidentally turned off nitrate dosing instead of seachem fuel dosing)
Po4: 0.095

 

[Coral reefer]

Still the high Alk eh?

 

[rdriggett]

Still the high Alk eh?

I'm using a high alk salt and I don't trust myself/don't want to manually lower the alk from 11 to 8 every water change. Stability over chasing numbers IMO. Would I probably see some improvements from dropping down to 8dKH? Yes I agree. Do I want to switch to paying 50%+ or more for an 8dkh salt? Not really. When I run out of reef crystals and I can find AF salt on a good sale then I will switch.

 

[Prestondeeply]

How about using water changes as a replacement for dosing on some days? IORC mixes to 11-ish Alk at 1.026. When targeting 8 Alk, a 3% water change brings up the Alk .1 with each WC. So on days there is a 10% WC, the Alk will get .3....no dosing that day. Is .3 too much of a swing for a 30 minute WC?

I'm just saying that IORC can be used as a combined solution on WC days.

 

[rdriggett]

How about using water changes as a replacement for dosing on some days? IORC mixes to 11-ish Alk at 1.026. When targeting 8 Alk, a 3% water change brings up the Alk .1 with each WC. So on days there is a 10% WC, the Alk will get .3....no dosing that day. Is .3 too much of a swing for a 30 minute WC?

I'm just saying that IORC can be used as a combined solution on WC days.

Thanks for the tips! I have my AFR dosing set pretty stable between 9.5 and 10.5dKH and I usually change 30-50% every other week. When I do a WC, I take AFR dosing offline for a few days until my alk is around 10 then re-enable it. Fully automatic, continuous water changes is a goal that I'd like to achieve once I am a homeowner, but that is pretty far off.

 

[Coral reefer]

I would maintain tank where you want it and let a water change bring it up a bit for a while. It will get consumed, or you can dose just a bit less and it will drift slowly down until your next water change.
I did this for years with no real obvious(to me) problems for myself, and continue to do so for many clients as well.
When I switched from salinity so reef crystals, due to lack of availability and increase in price, I did worry a little. It hasn’t been an issue.
I used to change 100 gal at a time on my system that grew from250 360 gal.
I often change 20-40% on client tanks.
Raising all from 8ish to 9ish isn’t a big deal imo and ime
I would keep the tank at a better Alk level most of the time and deal with the occasional bumps from water changes by letting it drift slowly back down over keeping it artificially high all the time for sure

 

[rdriggett]

I would maintain tank where you want it and let a water change bring it up a bit for a while. It will get consumed, or you can dose just a bit less and it will drift slowly down until your next water change.
I did this for years with no real obvious(to me) problems for myself, and continue to do so for many clients as well.
When I switched from salinity so reef crystals, due to lack of availability and increase in price, I did worry a little. It hasn’t been an issue.
I used to change 100 gal at a time on my system that grew from250 360 gal.
I often change 20-40% on client tanks.
Raising all from 8ish to 9ish isn’t a big deal imo and ime
I would keep the tank at a better Alk level most of the time and deal with the occasional bumps from water changes by letting it drift slowly back down over keeping it artificially high all the time for sure

Thanks for the advice, I appreciate it!

I installed a brand new tunze 9004dc skimmer as my previous used one died after 4-6 months. Yes I could have just replaced the pump but the magnet mounting tabs were broken beyond zip tying.

 

[rdriggett]

Params:
sG: 1.026
pH: untested
Alk: 9.7 (dropped from 10.2 two weeks ago, dialed in doser FTW)
Calc: 420
Mag: 1400
No3: 10.1 (yay nitrate dosing)
Po4: 0.046 (I do nothing to control phosphate specifically)

 

[rdriggett]

I like to stir up my sand and scrape under my frag racks once a month. Otherwise non reef people think the tank is neglected. Will this cause any issues? I just gravel vacuum or blow off the sand and change out my filter floss after a day.

 

[rdriggett]

Added 5 B. Nudibranchs from @JVU! I’m hoping they’ll knock back the 4-6 visible aptasias within a few months.

 

[Prestondeeply]

I picked up 3 for a 10g and they wiped out the Aptasia in 5 days....they were small Aptasia and only a half dozen though....then they moved to the 20g and cleaned that out...then the QT...etc. They are very productive. It seems to take time for them to cover distance in a tank. I hope it goes as smoothly for you.

 

[rdriggett]

I added aquabiomics (parasite tested ocean direct) live sand to see if it would help “age” my tank that is coming up on 10-11 months old. I seem to have developed a green cynano like algae that goes away at lights off on my sand bed.

 

[newfly]

I did the same a year ago. The problem is there no way to measure if it help.

 

[newfly]

Added 5 B. Nudibranchs from @JVU! I’m hoping they’ll knock back the 4-6 visible aptasias within a few months.

Nudi didn’t work for me. Peppermint did. I guess every tank is different

 

[rdriggett]

Params:
Sg: 1.025/26
pH:7.8 (even with my skimmer pulling in outside air and a box fan in my window running when I'm in the room)
Alk: 8.2 (trending down because I havent made weekly doser adjustments)
Calc: 430
Mag: 1375
NO3: Will test later today
PO4: Will test later today

 

[rdriggett]

Switching to working full time really took a toll on my tank journal. I will resume postings. Here's a quick recap of the last month or two:
I have dinos and bryopsis, again. Dinos wiped out some gonis I got a yellow banded pygmy wrasse and have ordered a yasha goby for my tiger pistol shrimp. Tank mostly runs itself and I have only been testing alk every 2 weeks due to work. Aptasia is taking over despite 4-5 b. nudibranchs from JVU. I need to buckle down and find a solution for my 3 current invaders.