Jeeps Gone Reef On 300g Build

[JasReef]

They are all still in the old system. I'm not sure why it died. I am keeping a close eye on parameters.

I won't transfer to the new tank until I feel it is stable and most of the uglys are done.

[FarmerTy]

They are all still in the old system. I'm not sure why it died. I am keeping a close eye on parameters.

I won't transfer to the new tank until I feel it is stable and most of the uglys are done.

Hmmm, if all parameters are stable, check for pests? Maybe since everything is on a rack, just dip everything in Bayer just in case?

[JasReef]

They are all still in the old system. I'm not sure why it died. I am keeping a close eye on parameters.

I won't transfer to the new tank until I feel it is stable and most of the uglys are done.

Hmmm, if all parameters are stable, check for pests? Maybe since everything is on a rack, just dip everything in Bayer just in case?

How dare you drop the p word on me, I do declare. [emoji30] I can't see anything using my phone camera as my eyes. I wasnt going to do a dip until they are ready for the transfer to the big tank. Most of them are healthy and showing good colors about 10 are the pouty brown but still healthy. I want to make sure the are optimal for the dips. However i will remain vigilant and inspect daily to rule it out. The bottle brush went brown soon after the move and was just starting to tease with the blue tips and 2 days later pure white. I did swap out my passive carbon the week before but I could at best prove correlation but not cause. Since then I have changed a 5 gallon bucket 2 days in a row to put new trace back into the mix.

I will do another change tommorow and the test all.

On a good note the 300 has a nice ph 8.25. alk is about 10.2 and i need to drop it a couple down I will be happy a 8 for now. I did some calculations with muriatic acid and it looks like 1/2 cup would bring it down. I don't have anything alive in the tank so i imagine I will just add it to the display. Once that is stable and the diatoms are gone I can start the transfer. I am tired of see my beautiful fish down in the rubbermaid.

[FarmerTy]

Bayer dip isn't stressful at all. I'd give it a go just in case. Once you're stable and rocking in the new tank, hit me up and I'll replace the FarmerTy Bluebonnet acro for you sir.

[JasReef]

Thanks for the offer, you are a stand up hobbiest, but I have had it for months now so it's my responsibility. You always hook me up anyway when I buy from you and I thank you. [emoji106]

I don't want to get anything new until transfer is completed. It was painful missing out on LAMAR. I couldn't even go because the temptation is so strong.

Edited November 11, 2016 by JasReef

[Wade]

I'm keeping a close eye on your progress as I think I'll be heading down the same path within the next 6 months. That's a beautiful tank. AEG did a great job with it. I'm leaning towards a horizontal overflow on whatever I have built. I was thinking about a 375, but I think a 300 would be more user friendly in reaching the front glass from the back. It'll be a built in very similar to yours with a room behind it. Very excited about the prospect of having such a large tank and very excited to see how yours progresses! By the way, I love the minimalist aquascaping:)

[+BobcatReefer]

How's the tank doing?

[JasReef]

Hey, I've been so busy between school and the kids, namely the 7 month old,

that getting on the forums was to much of a time sink. You know how it is, "Oh, a update on the forums, I'll just check it...and I just lost an hour looking at corals." haha

The tank is running smoothly,
after a disaster with my alk and not getting recovery on about 80% of my stock. I was on a smooth run until the tank transfer in Oct. I lost many to a mix of fast and slow necrosis. I think what happened was a two-fold problem. First, the alk was around 180 in the new tank when they were normally in a 135. Second, the nutrients were far to low to help feed the corals properly.

Well I do things slow when i can so the last three months have been wait and watch. There are two separate systems and i have just been trying to get a nice stable balance so i can transfer more coral back in the large tank.

I just took some pics so heres where i am at. It's a good place with fat healthy fish and corals recovering color. Lots of coraline as well. It predictably prefers the over flow box and the bottom, which are both plastic materials.

These pics are at night and back lit by the fish room.






I will get some daytime pics later.

[JasReef]

Rainy day pics.













3 zebras un actual size order, lol.

[jolt]

That's a bunch of healthy looking tangs!  Too bad about the alk swing, but looks like things are coming thgether

[Gig 'em @ NDstructible]

The fish look amazing, and so does the tank! Things seem to be coming together nicely. Sorry to hear about the alk swings and coral losses, I've been there many many times [emoji51] Just think of it as a good opportunity to get some new corals!

[JasReef]

IMG]https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20170423/1fec97ff0b3fec414e230ccb1304be0d.jpg[/img]

Well, its that time of the year again. Beautiful Texas sunsets and all the things that take me away from my tank. Fortunately it is in a nice growth and color mission from stability. Its this new old thing i found and seems to work pretty well. I hope to have it bottled and ready for sale by the next frag swap.

Its pretty simple but I always find a way to mess something up. Well, no longer are those days thanks to stability. Alkalinity (dKh) is the control center, so you could say stability is a control center, in a bottle.

Of course the bottle of stability is a joke. I have fallen for a few, its easy to do. If you want stoney corals check alk at least every other day. Any time I slack more than that bad things happen.

But I don't spend a ton of time testing. I spread out No3 and Po4 once every two weeks. This means i have to spend some observation time on the tank (darn) keeping an eye out for signs of elevated levels. I want to see some algea growth, it keeps my tang dominant tank (TdT) grazing which keeps the chasing down to a minimum. After a 4 month hands off period I felt the need to try a product called vibrant. The thread i read was as amazing as any shamwow commercial and I ordered one post hast. I put half the recommended dose into the tank. The next day it clouded up a little and in the next couple of days I slowly saw what happened. It did what it said it did. Vibrant had really gone to work on the short brown stuff on rocks and back wall of the aquarium. It was all white and decaying into its basic elements, the ones we don't like.

Just 2 days before that algea was feeding the kole tang, which if I haven't said it is the hero/hardest working tang hands down. He scrapes everything and was making a good living on it because he is nice and fat, suspiciously so until you realize how much he was eating. with all that gone the ecosystem that hadn't had anything but food put in and aggressively taken out took a hit. It's been about 2 months and things have came back into a better balance. If you plan to use it really observe what happens to your tank, not just the nuesence algea. It did work on bubble algea. None of the hair or bryopsis. So I can say it does something but I'm not sure how to use it as a tool. One thing I did note is it is very easy for cyanobacteria to take hold. I am not sure the method of interaction so I would say it's a correlation or maybe a string of coincidences, I don't know.




Calcium and magnesium get checked monthly or as needed. If the corals are growing you can see that edge and if it looks healthy I tend to not test for those 2 as much. Potassium I have it kit for but it always tests 400 so I don't do it often. I now will tommorow because I am thinking of it, the only reason is it can be a limiting factor in a ULNS. In the quest for better growth I will entertain the notion.




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[Jimbo662]

I went through the same thing using Vibrant. I had the short hairy algae on a majority of rocks. It took a little over 4 weeks and my tank was completely clear...luckily I don't have any grazers.  And as reported cyano appeared about mid way through the treatment. I saw an article on Red Slime Stain Remover. I ordered some and one dose of that took care of the cyano in less than a week or so.

So cool seeing so many tangs is a great big tank like that.

[JasReef]

Its been a little while soI figure it is time for an update. The tank is doing great, nice and steady.

I have been slowly collecting corals again as time permits, it feels good to see a growing tank.



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[jolt]

Yeah, that looks great.  Was wondering how your tank was doing ....

[+BobcatReefer]

Love those rainbow shrooms in the 1st pic!

[JasReef]

Jolt, we have been so busy that I haven't had much time to comment on things or even read the forums much lately. The first year of a babies life is a gigantic happy black hole, lol.

Bobcat, that is a rainbow Florida ricordia I bought from Austin aqua farms, it was my first group of corals I ever bought.

The tank is set up so I only have to spend about 10 minutes a day on average to maintain. My numbers stay spot on as long as I keep my routine steady. This was the way I wanted it knowing the kids have baseball, gymnastics, piano, kids camps, audiology visits, play dates, fun mud runs, ahhh! [emoji1]

The most unstable thing I am doing is adding more to the scape. As I watch the fish I realize a lot of the conflict comes around night time when it's time to sleep and a mad dash for the rocks. I needed to add more caves and such to lesson the stress. I have been making some rocks or more sculpting and gluing together existing rocks to fill in as needed. My goal is as little rock touching the bottom as possible while keeping it solid.

Also, I have my first patch of visable algea in this tank but I think this giant white stripped hermit is going to use it as a salad bar. If not I will cover it with some coral gum and kill it.

[jolt]

What a cutie (the baby. not the hermit)!

[JasReef]

I am thinking about changing out my water mix station with some larger tanks. If anyone knows where to find some 100g for cheap let me know. I'm looking for something like the picture below. 

[jolt]

Check these guys out:

http://www.tank-depot.com/productdetails.aspx?part=A-VT0100-28&gclid=CM7p6v2A8tQCFQsDaQodWMcMaQ

 

[Gig 'em @ NDstructible]

Tank is looking real good. Cute kid too!!

[JasReef]

My chromies are slowly being wiped out by a killer. This guy didn't make it. Now there is only 1 left so if it doesn't die I guess maybe it was the killer. I know they have a reputation for culling themselves.

His side was all discolored white like it was bashed into and that pectoral fin was completely immobile. Poor fella.

[+SChrisEV]

On 7/5/2017 at 6:11 AM, jolt said:

Check these guys out:

http://www.tank-depot.com/productdetails.aspx?part=A-VT0100-28&gclid=CM7p6v2A8tQCFQsDaQodWMcMaQ

 

 

I used tank depot for my 100g, their San Antonio location has that size in stock (usually) so you don't have to pay the shipping. Shipping was about as much as the tank for me to get one to Austin.  So I took a drive.  

[JasReef]

The algea patch, which looked like bryopsis, had to be covered. It doesn't look great but I have used the method before to cover/kill small patches.

[Wade]

What did you use to cover it and how long do you have to leave it there?