Triggerjay's Glass Box

[Triggerjay]

So the new journey begins. My new tank is a 37g Marineland cube (or column rather). It has a 1-1/2 drain with a low profile internal overflow box.

Flow is achieved with a single Maxspect Gyre XF130, along with a Quiet One 3000 return from the sump running wide open.

Filtration consists of a Bubble Magus Curve 5, along with about 40lbs live rock. I started the tank on a Cadlights PLS100 gen 3 skimmer, but decided I wanted the largest skimmer I could fit under the tank.

Sump is a simple baffled 10g aquarium. It was the largest I could squeeze into the stand.

I use B-Ionic two part, Kent tech M, and Kalkwasser for topoff via a metered drip. I dose 5ml vinegar and 7ml peroxide daily. I do a single 5 gallon water change weekly with RO/DI water, Instant Ocean and then I match calcium, alk, mag, temp, and salinity to my tank chemistry.

I run my calcium at 450, mag at 1450, alk I like around 9, but it's currently hovering around 11. I use NYOS test kits.

Lighting is an Ocean Revive T-247. I have absolutely no complaints with this fixture. I run channel 1 (blue) at 50%, and channel 2 at 20%.


The tank was started in January. I had a hair algae issue during cycling, and just won a battle with dinoflagellates. I attribute overcoming the dinoflagellates to the addition of peroxide dosing.

Tank is mainly SPS dominate (still frags at this point). I have a few zoa frags, and a small frogspawn. The system has been pretty stable so far, and I try not to disturb things much. I have tried to take decent pics of my corals, but still haven't got the hang of capturing the colors I see into the photos. Anyhow, that's about all I can say for now.

 

[Triggerjay]

 

[Triggerjay]

 

[Triggerjay]

 

[Triggerjay]

 

[DaveK]

Your tank looks good right now, but it's going to be a real gem once the frags grow out so they don't look like a bunch of frag plugs on rocks. This tank has tremendous potential.

 

[cracker]

Nice setup!

 

[Wrangy]

Tank looks sweet mate!! It's going to be killer as it matures along! Definitely following along for the ride with you

 

[anarchy]

Following along. I think this tank will do great things. Very nice start so far

 

[nanoreefing4fun]

Cheers for start a new thread & sharing - great post!

Your tank and corals are beautiful !!!

 

[Triggerjay]

Thanks everyone. I always felt like my past tanks were thrown together with whatever I could build/find. This system was pretty well planned and so far I am happy with my equipment choices. I only have three fish in the system. I have a black perc, a designer perc, and a yellow coris wrasse. I would love to add a red dragonet, but hesitant to at this point until I have an over abundance of pods. Aside from new additions of coral and maintenance, I am trying my best to keep it hands off, especially with such a small system to reduce chances of introducing unwanted chemicals into the system.

 

[Triggerjay]

I am actually surprised that no one commented on my dosing of peroxide. I actually started using it to combat dinoflagellates. I liked the result I saw on the tank while dosing. When I dose it my corals will react slightly by partly closing for a few seconds, but then immediately re-open. My corals colors have stayed the same, if not gotten better. There is no algae in sight, and I'm seeing very good growth. I may be wrong here, but I feel as though it has nearly the same effect as GFO in reducing (oxidizing) phosphates. It was more a desperation attempt than anything and I liked the results therefore continued it.

 

[Triggerjay]

I live in SW Florida and we have a few decent LFS'es nearby, but their very nice coral was few and far between. I cherry picked what decent pieces I could find. One day my family and I decided to go to one of our favorite beaches about an hour north of us. I threw a cooler in the car in case I found some new LFS to check out. After spending a few hours on the beach I googled saltwater aquarium stores to see what was nearby. I found a gem of a store in Vinice FL. The name of the store is Eco Reef. It is located on HWY 41. They have the nicest corals I have ever seen in a store and prices are very good. We also frequent Orlando as Disney pass holders. Next time we are up that way I plan to check out Workd Wide Corals.

 

[anarchy]

I am actually surprised that no one commented on my dosing of peroxide. I actually started using it to combat dinoflagellates. I liked the result I saw on the tank while dosing. When I dose it my corals will react slightly by partly closing for a few seconds, but then immediately re-open. My corals colors have stayed the same, if not gotten better. There is no algae in sight, and I'm seeing very good growth. I may be wrong here, but I feel as though it has nearly the same effect as GFO in reducing (oxidizing) phosphates. It was more a desperation attempt than anything and I liked the results therefore continued it.

I believe when I overdosed peroxide it wiped out my beneficial bacteria causing a small cycle while my population rebuilt itself

 

[Triggerjay]

I am very careful with it. I started with 2ml and worked up to 7ml. I feel the vinegar dosing keeps bacteria populations in check. Since I started the vinegar/peroxide dosing I have also noticed an increase in the amount of skimmate. Phosphate measures at 0.03ppm. Haven't tested nitrates for a while as they have always been between 0-5ppm. As long as the tank continue to look this way, I plan to continue to dose.

Above I mentioned I dose B-Ionic two part. At this point in time I have only dosed Ca. I don't understand why, but my alk has not required supplementation. Before the use of Kalkwasser my alk ran rock solid at 9 and my ca would fall. My Kalkwasser raised my alk to 11. I would really like to get it back down to around 9 to lessen the chances of RTN, but at the same time I like the effects Kalkwasser has on PH. My tank Ph ran at 8.0 before kalk, and now is up at 8.4. The Kalkwasser mostly keeps up with my calcium demands with very little addition of ca. Prior to that my ca would drop 40ppm between water changes and was supplemented with the ca portion of two part. The current bag of IO I have open alk tests at 10, ca 450, and mag at 1400. Last bag I had it tested at 9dkh, but mag and ca were low. I may cut my Kalkwasser dosing in half and see if alk starts to fall.

 

[newo11]

I am curious to see whether or not you keep up the peroxide dosing. I did the same for a while in a previous tank after I had a battle with dinos myself. What I found - the water was actually too clean. And then I got lazy and eventually stopped dosing the peroxide.

I still use it to dip corals/rock if needed. I am curious to see your long term results with the dosing. Particularly it's effects, if any, on SPS.

 

[anarchy]

About the only thing I do with peroxide is dump it on algae, but I'd like to know the effects on sps also

 

[Triggerjay]

So far, no ill effects on SPS.

 

[Triggerjay]

Some of my water testing params. The bag of IO I have open at the moment alk tests at 13dkh which explains the spike. Not pleased about that. My last bag was 9. I would rather manufactures keep parameters a little low and let us adjust to our liking. Not much can be done to lower an out of the bag high parameter. My tank has yet to start using much alk, and I dose Kalkwasser on top of that to maintain ph and calcium demands. Not really sure which direction to take things now. If I stop Kalkwasser dosing ph will fall to 8.0ish and calcium will require using my ca part of two part by itself. Thinking I need to get a bag of some low alk salt and go from there. I don't like high alk with SPS.

 

[sirrealism]

Red sea blue buckets Alk is about 8 so that might help. Go to WWC and have a look. amazing place but when you see the prices head back to your favorite fish store and spend your money there. There display is amazing. 8 is a fine number for your PH. I would use a lower alk salt and slow down on the Kalk. Not that 11.5 is really that bad but its higher then most like. Red sea coral pro has an alk of 12 so there are plenty of people who like to keep there alk up over 10. I like 8 myself but if the tank is happy. I will be watching your peroxide testing. I have never tried it but I have heard about it a lot.
Nice tank and keep up the good work.