BBMarlin

2 hours ago, bgautrea said:

What size UV did you go with?

25Watt Aqua and Jabeo DCW-2000

18 hours ago, bgautrea said:

I had a fairly long and multi faceted approach. It definitely took time, and I monitored the results from each step for several weeks before trying something new.

First, I confirmed the dinos with a microscope (see the attached pics).

I tried siphoning into a filter sock. This was a real PITA. It left the tank looking good... for about 24 hours.

I added UV. The UV was admittedly undersized by probably close to 100 gallons, but it is what I could afford.

I began dosing silicates using SpongExcel. The thought was diatoms need silicates to grow and the increase of diatom population would out compete the dinos.

I think the biggest impact was dosing NO3 and PO4. Both were very near 0 all along. I went with the NeoPhos and NeoNitro and it still took several weeks to find the increased but stable dose. Got NO3 up to 15ppm and PO4 at 0.1ppm. Both seemed relatively high to me, but that's where I'm hanging out now, and have been for about 2 months with good success. I will probably begin dialing those back soon, but until I increase the livestock, I likely will continue to some degree.

A couple of side effects I've noted:

The sponges in the tank have probably doubled or tripled in size. They aren't huge by any means and I'm not sure that they are very beneficial but I do look at them as adding diversity to the tank.

The increased NO3/PO4 resulted in improved chaeto growth. I had tried stopping my fuge light to leave more NO3/PO4 in the tank but this caused my pH to barely crack 8.0 during the day. Now, with the improved chaeto growth the pH overnight stays higher and the pH during the day is also higher.

I've noticed that my lawnmower blenny is feeding on algae more during the day.

And finally, I've also noticed that snail and pod populations are increasing which I'm attributing to the overall improved algae growth.

 

Lots of things have gone on during this, but I do feel like I've gotten the tank to a little better place that it was before.

That’s interesting to see how similar our approaches were to this nasty menace. 

Truth be told I bought my daughter a microscope last Christmas so I could confirm my dinos as ostreopsis lol.  I then basically did everything that you have tried notwithstanding the SpongExcel, that’s one that I’m not familiar with but sounds like an interesting idea for sure!  I would add that I also tried the full on nuclear option of Dino-X (I do not recommend).  I didn’t have any issues with 0 or low NO3/PO4, so there wasn’t much for me to do there. 

I caught a thread on ReefBuilders talking about raising tank temperature to 82, this alone knocked them back significantly for me; however, they were still around - mainly on the tank corners and around the powerhead cords.  I then followed up with an appropriately sized UV and dedicated powerhead with recommend GPH and within 2 days they had disappeared, and I have not seen them since (~5mos)!

FWIW I keep my PO4 @ .06 - .08 ppm and NO3 which I rarely test for comes in around 5 ppm.  Still running the tank fairly warm at 80.

On 11/30/2020 at 1:48 PM, bgautrea said:

Your tank looks great @BBMarlin.

Reading your update is almost like looking in a mirror. I started my 180 a couple of weeks before you and have had stability issues throughout the year too... dinos in particular here but I feel like I'm finally turning the corner.

Thanks @bgautrea!

What is your success story with the dinos?  UV or was it just a matter of letting the tank mature?

Thanksgiving update!

A lot has happened with my reef over the past year, many ups and downs during the early part of 2020! After much hair pulling and frustration over the spring, as I moved into the summer months things started to stabilize and now the tank has found its equilibrium a few months ago.  Looking back over my logs and the issues that were had with Dinos and hair algae, I believe that once I installed a dedicated UV on the system things started to turn a corner.  And, I’m sure the age of the tank has helped. 

The tank is just over a year old now.   I have kept everything as simple as possible, which has made maintenance a breeze.  My CaRX has been rock solid.  I run a very small amount of GFO for PO4 as needed, other than that there is no filtration on the tank other than a mesh screen in the sump for large particle filtration.

Looking forward to big colonies in 2021!

I'll also take 36A.

Thanks.

Brett

Whilst scrolling my FB feed I have seen this ad many times.  And, each and every time I see it, the only thing that pops into my mind is: “Free, Unlimited Frags!”.  Lol, I need help.

430 On The Sand?

Rented RCA's PAR meter this week and took measurements.

I decided to take two measurements, one with Channel 1 @ 90% and another with Channel 1 @ 50%.  Channel 2 was static at 85% for both measurements.  The Ocean Revive lights are 16" above the water line.  I'm currently running channel 1 at 50% to see how my coral respond with their existing placements.  Decent coverage!

8 hours ago, jolt said:

I've read about the aquabiomics but have not tried it.  It's an interesting concept but I'm not sure what I would do with the results.  Say it comes back lacking biodiversity, then what?

Ya, I'm wondering the same thing.  I might give them a call to see if they offer any sort of guidance with the results.

6 hours ago, Timfish said:

 

Dealing with "snot" algae like BBMarlin describes, was one of the motivators for developing the use of plastic straws then stainless steel straws to remove unwanted stuff from around corals. For years when I get what I consider excessive algae I'll start siphoning it out. There have been a couple of instances with clients where 3-4 times a week I was siphoning out snot algae to keep it from affecting the tank. Fortunately it's rare to need to do so.

Thanks for the research links.

I tried the manual removal route and there was no controlling what I just experienced.  I've had some of this stuff in my previous systems (dynos) which I could syphon out during maintenance no problem.  This time around it was everywhere and it would come back just about as quickly as I would remove it into a sock, never experienced anything quite like it.  And, I could not believe the smell!   Really nasty stuff, I think the lights out treatment is what ultimately re-balanced my system.

Been battling a nasty outbreak of dinoflagellates the last week or so.  Had bubbly brown slime all over the sand, brownish water and brown stringy snot just about everywhere else. Confirmed it as Ostreopsis with my microscope.  Lovely!  And, to top it off the tank and the upstairs of my home smelled like dead snails (which my wife kept reminding me of about 3X/day).  I think I’ve turned a corner now after turning off my daily AWC, increasing nutrients via additional feedings, followed by a 3-day darkness period, including copious amounts of carbon and a dose of Vibrant.  All of my snails made it through but I lost 2 tuxedo urchins.  I was able to save my pincushion urchin by removing him to a QT tank.   No coral loss.

Looking back, I think I probably I got a little aggressive with my AWC in my young tank.  My biological filter is not mature enough to fight back against the dinos and I exacerbated the problem by changing too much water.

Speaking of biodiversity, has anyone signed up with: https://aquabiomics.com/ ?  I’m thinking about trying a subscription for a few months.

This is looking fantastic!  I'm curious about lighting as well, what are your plans?

Looking forward to this build!  I've been very happy with my PA tank, definitely check them out as part of your research.  I believe  lead times for a custom PA tank will be around 8 weeks, but possibly longer for a tank this size. Check with RCA or Aquadome.

+1 on all the above.

I recently upgraded to a PA 125 crystaline (custom).  Ended up using Jake at RCA for the purchase, couldn't be happier with the tank or service from RCA in delivering my new tank.

Haha, I just can't kill those coral (no matter how hard I try)!  I suppose the sticks keep things interesting 🤣

Three Amigos

My three test frags are: Pearl Berry (non ORA, RCA frag rack type), ORA Skyline Granulosa, PC Rainbow.

(ignore the Christmas tree and the twisted arms in the background holding the orange filter, lol)

300% Over Budget

Alright @victolyyou win, not quite as cool as you with the Masterflex but we will see how well this Kamoer pump holds up.   My future self thanks you for the advice 😁, my current self is wondering how I spent so much on this set up ...lol

My CaRX is now complete!  Now the fun starts of setting it up and tuning it.  Even with my 1 gallon / day AWC my Alk is still running < 6 and this is just with my LPS coral.  Going to need to add some buffer this weekend and start working towards stability with the calcium reactor.

It’s nice when the universe throws you a bone! Are you going to manifold feed it or use something else ?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

Had an unexpected package arrive today!  I was a little worried it was not going to fit, but lo and behold it does and with barely a few millimeters to spare.  Glad I spent extra time on the plumbing to maximize my space in the stand!

Just now, victoly said:

Did you assemble it yourself or buy a premade item?

affinityaquatics , nice guy on ebay.  He built it.

7 minutes ago, jolt said:

Yeah super nice regulator!

21 minutes ago, victoly said:

That looks like a very, very nice regulator...what did you end up going with?

Thanks!  Here are the specs:

Matheson 3810 Series Stainless Steel 100 PSI Stainless Steel Regulator w/ full 316L SS CGA 320 CO2 connection

Clippard EV Mouse Solenoid

Whitey SS 22RS4 Metering Valve with Vernier fine adjustment handle

It's overkill I know!  This is one part of the build that I didn't want to compromise quality.
 

It's a Beaut Clark!

Regulator came in today, such a nice piece of equipment.  I'm still waiting on the Geo reactor, hope to get that in about a week. 

Tank is looking great, I was battling some hair algae but that is now finally going away.  First SPS frag went into the the tank last week (ORA - Skyline Granulosa) and it seems to be doing quite well on the frag rack.   Have a biota captive bred yellow tang in QT which is also doing well, hope to introduce him into the display in about a week.

I ordered a Geo single stage reactor today and now I'm looking at regulators.  I was initially going to get a carbon doser but research has lead me to a custom built dual stage off ebay from (affinityaquatics).  Thought I would see if there was any guidance from you guys (single vs dual stage, carbon doser feeback) before I make another big purchase?  Thanks.

AWC Implemented!

Finished up the water station/stand set up today.  Tank Depot didn’t have a matching tank for my 65, so I opted for this 50.  I think the 50 will be fine however, it does have a nice large lid on it so at least I can dump salt in without making a mess.   Really hoping the water tank Nazis will not call me out for not having matching tanks.  😜

Everything is set up on the Apex for the automatic water change up stairs with the dirty water plumed into the adjacent sink drain, sooo nice!   The Apex indeed is loud during the water change, so I will run it during the middle of the night.

5 hours ago, jolt said:

I run a 6" geo single on my frag tank (70 gallons) and a 8"x6" geo dual on my display (180).  It's funny but the Ph on my frag tank runs higher than my display even though I put the dual stage on to counteract Ph drops.  Go figure.  I've been very happy with both units.  From my own experience I would say run the single if you are space limited and you will be fine.

Thanks @jolt.

With the dual are you having to maintain it a lot less than the single?  I imagine that the demands of your display are probably higher than your frag tank but I'm curious if having the dual will allow me to have half of the maintenance, either with media or other?