Good Greef

Got ****. Pretty corals.

So is it as simple as snipping the tubing and sandwiching that part in bw?

Ive read about that. It clogged for the first time yesterday. If it keeps happening ill have to look further into this. All you did was insert it on the effluent after the needle valve?

Im still going through a green film algae phase, it started a month ago when it replaced my cyano. All I can offer is "wait" and itll go away eventually. But since I was impatient also, continue blowing off your rocks and letting your filter socks catch it daily. I replaced my socks sometimes after 48 hrs.

Bubble count is at 5 seconds per bubble on the carbon doser. I'm only a few weeks in. Ill bet im messing this up vs. Geo making a faulty reactor.

Ty, So I got the CaRx online on May 2nd. As I mentioned on Jolts "Calcium Reactor Experts" thread, my goal was to tune it by: -Setting a constant effluent flow to to prevent clogging; Dont touch the psi or bubble per seconds going forward -start at a high PH range and program Apex to control solenoid -test daily; adjust Ph range downward until it matches tank needs -May 2nd: Started CaRx PH range at 7.4-7.5 -Kh dropped slowly over the next 4 days, so I kept lowering my Ph range to compensate and added baking soda to get back to 7.5. -Kh started climbing once my Ph range inside the reactor 6.9-7.0 on May 6th, as you will see on my apex screenshot. -To prevent it from going above 8, I slowed down the effluent from 230ml/min to 70ml per minute. This worked and has alk slowly declined the past 3 days (which I am letting it until it gets back to 7.5). Whew...thats a lot to type on my phone. Now - the issue is I came home today and my effluent had completely stopped. Which is ironic, bc just a week ago I told myself id leave my effluent at a constant stream to prevent this from happening.. After closing then reopening the ball valve on manifold, the effluent is back. How do i prevent this from happening until I can stock my tank with enough corals, to be able to raise my effluent flow again? Note: Ive been testing alk sometimes 3x per day, which explains why so many points plotted.

Welp the Blonde Naso didnt make it past day 6 in QT. Really went downhill fast in 48 hrs. On the national forums, a well known store owner noted an observation I observed over the past month myself: " I think it's a mild bacterial infection caused by small scrapes (not to mention stress too) from being caught, shipped, held, caught, shipped, held again, caught and shipped. I see so many Naso Tangs come into my shop like this that it's very easy to not want to order them anymore." Most Nasos ive seen lately at various LFS have also have hose white abrasion marks. Anyone else observe that? Still trying to fine tune the CaRx. Got some frags and pieces waiting.

Need some help ID ing this on my Naso in QT. Its on day 5, picked it up from the wholesaler's bag at RCA a few hrs after it arrived. Looks like abrasions. On day 1 saw a little on one side only. Finally got it to eat mysis and cyclopeeze on Day 3. Went to Dallas for 36 hrs and came back to him swimming calmly. But looks stressed bc now dark gray. Is this flukes? I haven't dosed prazi yet bc I was waiting for it to eat more. It just is swimming lethargic and showing no interest in food since ive returned... after eating well 2 days ago.

Great... just when I was looking at buying some maricultures.

It was "just a fluke..." I see what you did there lol. I agree. I shoulda just posted pics of my cyano instead to avoid any jinx

Just had a scary situation with my Isocleles in QT. This morning I decided to do a 2nd treatment of Prazi (1st treatment was on 4/18). Normally ive done one only for other fish, and even knowing some wrasses dont handle Prazi well, the first round went smoothly so I did. Well, I moved a Nest camera so I could observe it from work. Throughout the day, I noticed it was hovering near the surface and swimming less. Got home, fed it and it ate, and adjusted the pump to help oxygenate the water even more, b/c could tell it was breathing heavily. Then it started getting worse, very fast. So I panicked and decided to do a quick 50% water change, but before getting started it started laying on its side. So I thought it was a goner and decided to move it to the DT to get it cleaner, non prazi water. Not ideal. But had no choice. It laid on its side once introduced for about 7 minutes, then slowly swam in a cave. Now an hour later, its swimming around... thank god it's not breathing heavily anymore, but I'm not holding my breath. I thought Prazi was ineffective after 72 hrs, so I only did a 25% water change after dose 1. In hindsight, I shouldve done a bigger water change in between rounds? Would yall skip 2 rounds for wrasses?

Quick update but not.. Over the past 60 days my tank has went through puberty.. It went from diatoms -> tons of white bacteria blooms on my rock that blew off easily w/ undetectable no3 and po4(using red sea pro and hanna ulr). So before adding a few frags from Ty and 3 maricultured from Aquadome, I dosed Spectracide Stump remover to raise no3 to 5ppm. Also upped alk from 6.87 to 7.5 using baking soda bc my Carx wasnt setup yet. Before I left for vacation params were: SG @1.025, [email protected], Mg@1450, Ca@405. I then added the tester corals. Dad fed the tank and baby lol for the next 5 days. When we returned, had a major Cyano outbreak that covered the rocks/sandbed/corals. Bad news is 3 of the 6 Marucultured and frags STNd and were smothered in cyano. Long story long, I spent 30 mins a day basting the rocks and changing filter socks every 48 hrs. Was tempted to go the chemiclean route but am glad I refrained. 2 wks later and tank is spotless again whew, and I'm finally seeing swarms of pods at night. Now, some updates/pics of livestock. Hippo Tang made it through 3 wks of QT and I recently bought a beautiful male Isoceles Fairy Wrasse. Never seen one in person and (my)pics don't do it justice, but probably as sexy as a male flame IMO. Pics dont show the vibrant pink underbelly. Another funny, interesting thing is happening. Last tank i traded in a YWG/pistol shrimp before the upgrade and swore off pistols since they mess with the elevations of the sandbed. My Randalli goby has been fine living by himself, but I recently added a smaller Red Fire Shrimp which has now joined him in the cave. Its been 2 wks and they spend 24/7 together. Never seen that happen before but if it remains, I'd be stoked as i get the best of both worlds. Lastly, I should be setting up my Geo 618 and my 30g acrylic ATO from advanced acrylics in the next week as well, which would be the final large piece of the build. Im also logging in all my params on APEX, as well as all details/changes including prazi doses in QT, when things die, etc. So hopefully I can print this out later.

I like where you're going with the eviota gobies as well. At one point, I was considering adding 7-10 green banded gobies (Tigrigobius multifasciatus) bc I thought it would be cool having a group of them popping in and out of my pukani. Might still do it down the line, provided a stay away from more aggressive show fish.

See? Who needs a fancy DSLR camera lol.

Definitely considered hiring a sand sifter goby, sh1t Ive actually always wanted one but knew it would eventually irritate some corals and clams. But I just may have to hire one on a contractual basis. If you can refer me to a lawnmower that likes chomping some juicy, decadent cyano, please refer!

Guess the follow up question is... how did you get rid of the dinos lol? How long did that take?

Haha thats pretty much what mines looking like except its dark green. Im pondering using chemiclean or not. I think ill try and wait it out and mechanically filter out what I can for at least a few weeks. Its just so **** ugly.

Man. Tanks beautiful. I thought I was through the new tank ooglies, but just got the blanket of red/green cyano on my sand bed and rocks. It seems like my tank went from diatoms to white bacteria bloom to cyano now ha. Did you just ride it out? My no3 is now at 5ppm and po4 is 0, keeping GFO new and fresh every 2-3 wks. I can blast it off with a baster easily, but when I try to siphon the sand the mats are so heavy most gets pushed under substrate.

Jolt, I'll be waiting in May. And I promise I will not profit from any Chucksters I get from you lol

Oh man thought these were all for sale

Ive always read they were like Catalina Gobies, prob from Fenner or wetwebmedia. So it surprised me when I conversed with some at Aquadome who stated that not all of blue spotted jawfish come from the Sea of Cortez, and a few have kept them.in their personal 78 degree tanks before for a few yrs. So im curious too, if they can thrive in a warmer reef tank, or if it just means theyll have a much shorter lifespan.

Interested. PMing you.

So ive read up alot on how shy and timid the regal angelfish can be. I guess I also read from yall that if you intro an angel into an existing sps tank with many colonies, the angels nipping will likely be spread around so you cant notice it much. But if I intro it now, then start slowly adding frag by frag, it may impact them more negativelt since it will focus on the few frags that are there even more? Each fish varies and I know that. So im just stuck..

Thanks Ty. Ill look into the Regal sooner rather than later. I wish it was as easy as walking into a LFS, but everytime I goto RCA Jake isnt in, and the other nice younger gentleman just tells me there's no promise of getting those wrasses in bc the supplier may not have it in stock. I shop more at Aquadome so that may be why its not too easy. But Hunter and Gary said similar, especially with the Red tail and royal pencil since they are rarely available especiallt lately. But if I wanted a male flame wrasse or something available they can definitely get one for me... But you must have the magic touch Ty!

So a quick update since a lot has been going on over the past month: Livestock wise: I've rounded out the docile Phase I by adding some inverts (tiger conch/long spine urchin), a smaller black ocellaris clownfish and a few of my favorite gobies, the Randalli and Auorora variant. Most aurora look good online but always seem faded in real life, but Hunter called me when this beautiful one came in. My QT picture here doesn't do it justice because my QT tank wall has smudges, but the tail is vibrant yellow with reddish spots outlined in blue. Phase II plan was to add 4-6 larger wrasses before adding the Phase III tangs/angels/aggressive fish. Ideally I wanted to start with the more docile/fragile Potters Leopard Wrasse , Red Tail Tamarin or Royal Pencil Wrasse. Not the easiest fish to keep I know, but they are even HARDER to find. I've yet to find any online vendor or LFS with them in stock over the past 3 months, although I've asked them to notify me if any are available. After those wrasses were added, I was looking to add a Radiant and Melanurus to round Phase II out. So these wrasses may be put on hold for now, since I know the Radiant and Melanurus should probably be added after the other ones, unless yall tell me otherwise? But it looks like that once the Aurora is out of QT, I will start looking at Phase III fish instead since the wrasses theoretically can be added afterward. Phase III (tentative): 2-3 inch Regal Tang, Blonde Naso Tang, and a Regal Angelfish or Zebrasoma genus. Should I QT and add the tangs separately since I only have a 20g long? And odds that the Regal Angelfish leaves my 5 inch maxima clam alone? Skinning: Finally making some progress here. I used 1/4 inch plywood for the doors because I wanted them lightweight, along with earth magnets to attach to the stand. I sawed out and bonded some 2x1 pieces of oak to the insides of the doors to act as a support and stabilizer. My main concern with such thin wood was warping, so I coated the doors first with 2 layers of stain, then 2 layers of black appliance epoxy, exactly what is used for refrigerators. I then bought these adhesive panels made of reclaimed farm wood and am in the process of adhering them to the doors. Overall: The tank is doing great and I love being able to feed 3-4 times a day since now I have sump space for the nutrient export vehicles, unlike my 75g. After the diatoms phase seemingly ended, I started getting this white bacteria bloom in the same spots the diatoms were. They are easily blown off and tootbrushed and things have gotten better each week. But my filter socks do clog after 4 days with a slimy clear bacteria. I am not carbon dosing anything, but on national forums this seems to be more common lately for people who start off their tanks with all dead rock/sand, and who seed their tank with a Dr. Tim's type of bacteria. Those are the 3 common denominators it seems, but for now ill just manually remove and hopefully it disappears completely. I ordered a geo 618 reactor and an aquarium plants carbon doser for my alk. control from aquariumplants.com. Unfortunately the reactor is delayed for the 3rd time because Mr. Geo has been sick and is behind on hand making them. Since I only have 6 small coral frags and the clam, I'm not worried about alk upkeep. But I do plan on hitting yall up for frags/mini colonies very soon!