Wolffman64
Active Member
+1 on that!!
The Rebirth/Rebuild of my 180g sps thread
- Thread starter ACRONUTS
- Start date
+1 on that!!
ACRONUTS
Member
Well just a quick update guys;
Tank is doing really well.
Water parameters are getting better and better. The plus for me is being able t0 maintain these parameters.
Alk has been constantly at 8.4 now for several weeks
Ca has been adjusted so that I keep a range between 400-450
Phos has dropped and hovered around 0.04 to 0.02
Nitrate has been the best drop and staying around 2 to 4ppm. Can remember when the red sea test would immediately change to a dark pink color without waiting the 9 mins. Now it takes a longer for a faint pink color to show.
Salinity is constant at 1.024/ 35ppm
Whether the phis and nitrates are being lowered by NoPox or the bio pellets is yet to be determined. Not in a rush to find out though yet.
I picked up a Mag test kit on ebay and started testing and it shows a Mag level of 1400.
I use the following religiously and test every three days so that I can make the appropriate adjustments:
Red Sea No Pox
Red Sea ABC+
Red Sea Colors
Two little fishes Acropower
I made a little purchase to satisfy my obsession lol
Red dragon acro
Jason Fox blue polyp monti
Millie
Acro
As far as growth?
Well have not seen too much yet. I have noticed a couple of the zoas that have started to spread. I have a blue atlantic ridge coral that has basically spread on the lower rt side of tank rock work and star board. The pink stylo is showing signs of whitish tips then those tips get covered w "skin" and you can see the frag getting a little taller.
The jason fox greeting monti is definitely showing signs of base spreading growth.
Once I see bigger signs of growth I will post pics.
Stay well everyone!
Tank is doing really well.
Water parameters are getting better and better. The plus for me is being able t0 maintain these parameters.
Alk has been constantly at 8.4 now for several weeks
Ca has been adjusted so that I keep a range between 400-450
Phos has dropped and hovered around 0.04 to 0.02
Nitrate has been the best drop and staying around 2 to 4ppm. Can remember when the red sea test would immediately change to a dark pink color without waiting the 9 mins. Now it takes a longer for a faint pink color to show.
Salinity is constant at 1.024/ 35ppm
Whether the phis and nitrates are being lowered by NoPox or the bio pellets is yet to be determined. Not in a rush to find out though yet.
I picked up a Mag test kit on ebay and started testing and it shows a Mag level of 1400.
I use the following religiously and test every three days so that I can make the appropriate adjustments:
Red Sea No Pox
Red Sea ABC+
Red Sea Colors
Two little fishes Acropower
I made a little purchase to satisfy my obsession lol
Red dragon acro
Jason Fox blue polyp monti
Millie
Acro
As far as growth?
Well have not seen too much yet. I have noticed a couple of the zoas that have started to spread. I have a blue atlantic ridge coral that has basically spread on the lower rt side of tank rock work and star board. The pink stylo is showing signs of whitish tips then those tips get covered w "skin" and you can see the frag getting a little taller.
The jason fox greeting monti is definitely showing signs of base spreading growth.
Once I see bigger signs of growth I will post pics.
Stay well everyone!
ACRONUTS
Member
Just did a water change after a delay of 1 week. I am being very picky as to my husbandry on the reef display. On my last water change I had about 15 gallons of salt water left. I stored them in the garage for about 30 days. I thought that perhaps I can just use that water on the next change. Ultimately when I mixed this water in with the new water needless to say it never became clear. That was a sign that perhaps the old salt water and had become possibly unusable with a bacteria bloom.
Well out that water went and new was made but it took a little longer with my schedule but got it done!
I test every three days so that I can make any changes to any additives I might be adding to tank. Typical over kill at the moment but need to stay a little OCD on it, lol!
I noticed that the CA fluctuated around 400 to 420
The Alk was up to 9
The mag was done at 1200 and would not climb even after water change.
The one factor I have yet to add to the equation is the PH. My probes need to be replaced and have not had the time to really cyber shop for one. So that shall be a purchase that I plan on making next week.
Knowing that there is a direct relationship with Mag and PH, I started dosing Mag to keep it around 1400. Once the Mag is set in place and kept at the 1300-1400 mark I should see the Alk and CA and PH be maintained at more acceptable levels for a young healthy growing reef tank.
In the meantime a stop at the LFS's was my fix. My pics are via iPhone 5 so they are what they are till the purchase round the holidays of a Nikon D-something!
A couple of these pieces are small colonies. I don't usually go for colonies because I rather see the growth patterns due to my tank conditions but these were truly priced right!!
Not known at LFS so help if you know what it is!!!!
Acro unknown as well so if you guys know let me know!
Close up of above for id purposes
A tabling acro purple tips with white polyps.
Well out that water went and new was made but it took a little longer with my schedule but got it done!
I test every three days so that I can make any changes to any additives I might be adding to tank. Typical over kill at the moment but need to stay a little OCD on it, lol!
I noticed that the CA fluctuated around 400 to 420
The Alk was up to 9
The mag was done at 1200 and would not climb even after water change.
The one factor I have yet to add to the equation is the PH. My probes need to be replaced and have not had the time to really cyber shop for one. So that shall be a purchase that I plan on making next week.
Knowing that there is a direct relationship with Mag and PH, I started dosing Mag to keep it around 1400. Once the Mag is set in place and kept at the 1300-1400 mark I should see the Alk and CA and PH be maintained at more acceptable levels for a young healthy growing reef tank.
In the meantime a stop at the LFS's was my fix. My pics are via iPhone 5 so they are what they are till the purchase round the holidays of a Nikon D-something!
A couple of these pieces are small colonies. I don't usually go for colonies because I rather see the growth patterns due to my tank conditions but these were truly priced right!!
Not known at LFS so help if you know what it is!!!!
Acro unknown as well so if you guys know let me know!
Close up of above for id purposes
A tabling acro purple tips with white polyps.
Oxylebius
Well-Known Member
Sorry to hear about the water change issue, that tends to happen sometimes with storing water too long. If you had some aeration going in the container it might have made a difference. I like the tabling acro you picked up.
Is the license really that hard to get, looks like a standard recreational fish license from this website: http://myfwc.com/fishing/saltwater/recreational/aquarium-species/ And look at all the fish and mobile inverts you can take. Seems as long as you follow the rules posted here on capture and containment in transport, and the license, you can harvest. (except for protected areas as you already point out: the Keys, no take zones, etc.)
If I lived there I'd make a point to get the license and go out and collect my own fish and mobile inverts - I'd have a theme tank (Florida indigenous tank)! And then would buy some corals from the area to supplement it with. :idea:
ACRONUTS
Member
So sorry guys for no updates.
I have lately been running a little behind but will have plently to talk about and show off! LOL!
Things are going really well in my tank. I have started to see some real growth and have been able to slowly continue to make purchases to fill up the real estate in the tank. I had reached water parameters that remained very constant for the last 6 months and have watched my nitrates and phosphates drop to 0.00.
Stripping the water to this point while also having a bare bottom tank I have noticed some corals drop in color. Specifically the sps's.
I implemented additional feedings and started to dose Brightwells Koral color every 3 days.
So far I have noticed less color loss but not a huge increase in color. I need to make these changes slowly so that I can figure out what will work.
Currently I am running my mh's for only a total of 3hrs. Why? Well due to hair algae growth I wanted to limit as much of the source for that pain in the rear!!
In March I plan to increase photoperiod to see if this will also help in increasing the color. Continue to monitor for small increases in nitrates and phosphates.
Here are some of the latest additions to the tank!
I have lately been running a little behind but will have plently to talk about and show off! LOL!
Things are going really well in my tank. I have started to see some real growth and have been able to slowly continue to make purchases to fill up the real estate in the tank. I had reached water parameters that remained very constant for the last 6 months and have watched my nitrates and phosphates drop to 0.00.
Stripping the water to this point while also having a bare bottom tank I have noticed some corals drop in color. Specifically the sps's.
I implemented additional feedings and started to dose Brightwells Koral color every 3 days.
So far I have noticed less color loss but not a huge increase in color. I need to make these changes slowly so that I can figure out what will work.
Currently I am running my mh's for only a total of 3hrs. Why? Well due to hair algae growth I wanted to limit as much of the source for that pain in the rear!!
In March I plan to increase photoperiod to see if this will also help in increasing the color. Continue to monitor for small increases in nitrates and phosphates.
Here are some of the latest additions to the tank!
ACRONUTS
Member
ACRONUTS
Member
I had a busy schedule with work but was bummed because I would not be able to attend any of the frag swaps and shows that were happening.
However I did decide I had one thing on my side and that was the internet. A couple of LFS's had these massive one day sales and yep I took advantage and sat up late planning my list.
Went from need to have, to gotta have to, ok lets be realistic and get pieces that mean something to me. So I strictly went on color and where ultimately it would be placed in my reef so that I can maximize color and comparability as these guys grow.
Since It was my birthday I went all out!!! Needless to say I think I did really well........20+ pieces plus some freebees!!!
I did patiently acclimated them and then dipped them in Coral RX. Across for 5 mins and zoe's and chalices for 8 mins. Very clean pieces so hopefully they will stay that way!
This will take several post so that I can get the names in for id later on when I can't lol remember what they are!!
Friday the 13th Unpacking day!
Acclimation
Purple pink stylo
Purple Rollovers
Neon Craze Acro - directly behind it??? a freebee looks like a millie and tip is showing a pink/purple hue. too soon to tell
Valentine's Tenuis acro
Top view of the acro's
Top view of the chalices and zoe's
However I did decide I had one thing on my side and that was the internet. A couple of LFS's had these massive one day sales and yep I took advantage and sat up late planning my list.
Went from need to have, to gotta have to, ok lets be realistic and get pieces that mean something to me. So I strictly went on color and where ultimately it would be placed in my reef so that I can maximize color and comparability as these guys grow.
Since It was my birthday I went all out!!! Needless to say I think I did really well........20+ pieces plus some freebees!!!
I did patiently acclimated them and then dipped them in Coral RX. Across for 5 mins and zoe's and chalices for 8 mins. Very clean pieces so hopefully they will stay that way!
This will take several post so that I can get the names in for id later on when I can't lol remember what they are!!
Friday the 13th Unpacking day!
Acclimation
Purple pink stylo
Purple Rollovers
Neon Craze Acro - directly behind it??? a freebee looks like a millie and tip is showing a pink/purple hue. too soon to tell
Valentine's Tenuis acro
Top view of the acro's
Top view of the chalices and zoe's
sirrealism
Well-Known Member
Nice score.
ACRONUTS
Member
thx sirrealism!
ACRONUTS
Member
Thx psu4me!
As far as the LFS said to me that it is not a pink lemonade but looks like it. They said it was a strawberry shortcake. I have never seen a strawberry shortcake with green to it but it is a beauty and can't wait to see how it develops and grows in my tank.
ACRONUTS
Member
Well with all the new stuff I have realized that I need to add another piece of technology to the tank.
I decided to go with a doser. After plenty of research and going back and forth I decided on a Kamoer unit.
What sold me on this unit is reliability and the auto dose feature plus the fact that if the power goes out its internal battery will save my programs.
It is a 3 head doser. I will dose Ca, Alk, and Mag.
The unit has arrived and have it setup. Not 100% though because the manufacturer recommends installing the unit where no moisture or salt creep can get to its components. Due to this the extra tubing it comes with is not enough. I had just enough o at least get it going for pump #1.Since ALK is the least forgiving I started dosing.
Since my last WC my ALK tested at 7.0. I wanted to get it up to at least 8-9 dkh
Due to tubing MIA lol have not been able to use pump 2 nor 3. The pic shows extra tubing I had but its too large and will cause a huge mess. I know because I tried it already lol!
I have been running the ALK now for about 4 days.
I have it set on AUTO
Dosing 5ml of ALK from 7pm-12 midnight
7 days a week
Thats 30ml a day for the last 3 days
I tested on day 4 and noticed no change in ALK still tested at 7.0
I just upped the dose to 10ml so it will add up to 60ml a day.
Will test and see where it is in 3 days.
I can see and most likely will know that its gonna be more than 60 ml a day. Why? Well the caps seem to inhale it and I can see the growth happening and the coralline algae is starting to form on my front glass.
Some may ask why am I dosing so little. With ALK I am careful not to up it too quickly because some acro's and monti's will let you know asap that the alk swing is annoying them. So we don't want that.
Will update Sunday nite.
I decided to go with a doser. After plenty of research and going back and forth I decided on a Kamoer unit.
What sold me on this unit is reliability and the auto dose feature plus the fact that if the power goes out its internal battery will save my programs.
It is a 3 head doser. I will dose Ca, Alk, and Mag.
The unit has arrived and have it setup. Not 100% though because the manufacturer recommends installing the unit where no moisture or salt creep can get to its components. Due to this the extra tubing it comes with is not enough. I had just enough o at least get it going for pump #1.Since ALK is the least forgiving I started dosing.
Since my last WC my ALK tested at 7.0. I wanted to get it up to at least 8-9 dkh
Due to tubing MIA lol have not been able to use pump 2 nor 3. The pic shows extra tubing I had but its too large and will cause a huge mess. I know because I tried it already lol!
I have been running the ALK now for about 4 days.
I have it set on AUTO
Dosing 5ml of ALK from 7pm-12 midnight
7 days a week
Thats 30ml a day for the last 3 days
I tested on day 4 and noticed no change in ALK still tested at 7.0
I just upped the dose to 10ml so it will add up to 60ml a day.
Will test and see where it is in 3 days.
I can see and most likely will know that its gonna be more than 60 ml a day. Why? Well the caps seem to inhale it and I can see the growth happening and the coralline algae is starting to form on my front glass.
Some may ask why am I dosing so little. With ALK I am careful not to up it too quickly because some acro's and monti's will let you know asap that the alk swing is annoying them. So we don't want that.
Will update Sunday nite.
ACRONUTS
Member
Tank up date..........
Things are going somewhat well. On one hand I am getting growth some of the acro's and monti's are a little pale in color.
Testing has shown constantly that my phosphates and nitrates have been at ultimate lows. Mind you that this may not be a problem to some in some tanks but for mine it clearly is.
I decided to stop dosing the NoPox. Within a couple of weeks the phosphates started to rise. I keep a close watch and not let those go up above 0.04. In the nitrates dept I turn the skimmer off for several days and test and see if nitrates come up. They do but not significantly. I feed the tank heavier and keep the fish nice and plump. This option seems to show the best for them and the colors.
The one thing I keep running is the pellets. These guys do an excellent job of lowering nitrates to 0 but phosphates seem to be a direct story.
The additional hardware of the Kamoer has been interesting. While it came w about 6 feet of tubing it was not enough to get all 3 pumps going. After researching, posts and emails I found the rt size tubing; 3mm x 5mm from USA plastics. Now its all finally running! I also took the doser and placed it inside the cabinet on a Kamoer stand I ordered from Satlysupply.
Here it is dosing ALK at a designated time:
Some research indicates that dosing into a highly circulated area is best in order to reduce precipitation.
Here are a few pics of some new additions to the tank.
Cherry Pink Aussie tabling acro
Purple aussie acro
Things are going somewhat well. On one hand I am getting growth some of the acro's and monti's are a little pale in color.
Testing has shown constantly that my phosphates and nitrates have been at ultimate lows. Mind you that this may not be a problem to some in some tanks but for mine it clearly is.
I decided to stop dosing the NoPox. Within a couple of weeks the phosphates started to rise. I keep a close watch and not let those go up above 0.04. In the nitrates dept I turn the skimmer off for several days and test and see if nitrates come up. They do but not significantly. I feed the tank heavier and keep the fish nice and plump. This option seems to show the best for them and the colors.
The one thing I keep running is the pellets. These guys do an excellent job of lowering nitrates to 0 but phosphates seem to be a direct story.
The additional hardware of the Kamoer has been interesting. While it came w about 6 feet of tubing it was not enough to get all 3 pumps going. After researching, posts and emails I found the rt size tubing; 3mm x 5mm from USA plastics. Now its all finally running! I also took the doser and placed it inside the cabinet on a Kamoer stand I ordered from Satlysupply.
Here it is dosing ALK at a designated time:
Some research indicates that dosing into a highly circulated area is best in order to reduce precipitation.
Here are a few pics of some new additions to the tank.
Cherry Pink Aussie tabling acro
Purple aussie acro
Last edited:
ACRONUTS
Member
Update on my 180 gallon:
Purchased a probe to replace an aging one which kept telling me my PH was 11.46!
Once calibrated I am now looking at a PH of 7.96. Low to where it needs to be but at least I know I can slowly add a little kalk to boost it up into the normal range of 8.1 to 8.3.
Since I live in Florida I keep my home sealed because I want cool comfort not heat and humidity ! But there is a draw back! The amount of CO2 in my home while safe for us humans is a likely cause of my low PH.
I will run a test and open windows in the next couple of days as we experience a cool front lol! Then will see if I still have a low PH. Will let you all know.
As for the doser it is working like a charm!! I however made a dose time change on dosing ALK. Since I saw that the PH was low I decided to dose ALK in the am hours and CA in the evening hours.
The theory from what I have read is that ALK does raise ALK and PH. Will see if this makes a difference as well.
I was on Facebook and became friends with a fellow south Florida reef enthusiast. Michael sold me a frag pack and if I local picked up he would throw in a few extras to make my drive a little more palatable, lol!
His tank is amazing and he has been reefing for awhile now. I will post a FTS once I get his permission. He runs T5's and LED supplement and is doing ZEOVIT. His growth and colors are awesome!
Here are what I believe are tried and true sps that have stood the test of time and a few pieces I have never had!
Suhorsonoi
Ant Insignis
ORA's Joe the coral
ORA's Miami Orchid
ORA's Cali Tort
Purchased a probe to replace an aging one which kept telling me my PH was 11.46!
Once calibrated I am now looking at a PH of 7.96. Low to where it needs to be but at least I know I can slowly add a little kalk to boost it up into the normal range of 8.1 to 8.3.
Since I live in Florida I keep my home sealed because I want cool comfort not heat and humidity ! But there is a draw back! The amount of CO2 in my home while safe for us humans is a likely cause of my low PH.
I will run a test and open windows in the next couple of days as we experience a cool front lol! Then will see if I still have a low PH. Will let you all know.
As for the doser it is working like a charm!! I however made a dose time change on dosing ALK. Since I saw that the PH was low I decided to dose ALK in the am hours and CA in the evening hours.
The theory from what I have read is that ALK does raise ALK and PH. Will see if this makes a difference as well.
I was on Facebook and became friends with a fellow south Florida reef enthusiast. Michael sold me a frag pack and if I local picked up he would throw in a few extras to make my drive a little more palatable, lol!
His tank is amazing and he has been reefing for awhile now. I will post a FTS once I get his permission. He runs T5's and LED supplement and is doing ZEOVIT. His growth and colors are awesome!
Here are what I believe are tried and true sps that have stood the test of time and a few pieces I have never had!
Suhorsonoi
Ant Insignis
ORA's Joe the coral
ORA's Miami Orchid
ORA's Cali Tort
sirrealism
Well-Known Member
Some really nice SPS. Going to be really nice in a year or 2 when they all grow out.