Sascha D. Posted March 10, 2015 Author Share Posted March 10, 2015 Thanks for the feedback! Flame Wrasses and Mystery Wrasses are great, but they may be out of my price range. If I can get them on sale then I would definitely be down for one. Leopard Wrasses often ship poorly. I had two before my tank crash and they hid in the sand for the first week. After that they were model citizens and ate everything from mysis to Nori. I'm going to avoid the Green Coris because of how large it gets. It's like a Rainbow Trout! If I can I would like to stay in the 4-6" range so that I don't have to rehome them later. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madsalt Posted March 10, 2015 Share Posted March 10, 2015 The only reason I have the flames is because I got a good deal on the two Jake had in the front tank at RCA. My mystery wasn't that bad either, Jake had a smaller one come in and he sold it at a great price. If you are willing to go the smaller route on a mystery perhaps you can get one for a good price. It is one of the coolest wrasses I have right now Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sascha D. Posted March 10, 2015 Author Share Posted March 10, 2015 Ya'll have made some valid points and I can see how too much of one style might be boring. Here is an updated list. Emperor Angel or 1-2 tangs Pearly Jawfish Clownfish Pair Ornate Wrasses (3) Leopard Wrasse, Potter's Wrasse, or Kuiter's Leopard Wrasse Christmas Wrasse Melanurus Wrasse Colored Fairies (3) Yellow and Purple Wrasse Two Tone Wrasse Lubbock's Tricolor Fairy or Orange and Black Lastly, if I can get them cheap enough then I'll substitute Hawaiian Flame Mystery Each wrasse gets between 3-5". At maximum growth I am expecting about 29" of wrasses, 6" of clowns and jawfish and 10-15" of angel. With a full sized 15" angel that puts me at 3.6 gallons per inch and a 10" angel puts me at my target of 4 gallons per inch. Of course I'm using this as a guide to phosphate input and not as a stocking guide. Minimum tank size, compatibility, feeding habits, and accommodations have already been taken into account. If I can't get one or more above then I'll substitute other flasher wrasses, fairy wrasses or anthias as needed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sascha D. Posted March 13, 2015 Author Share Posted March 13, 2015 Three days of darkness starts today! On Friday I'm going to put a blanket around the display using clamps on the canopy. I need to finalize the plumbing by hooking up the return pump and phosphate reactor. I need to stop by the store for some last minute parts for the skimmer stand and possibly a silicone mat to go under the pumps. I was previously using Styrofoam but pieces would break off too easily and I don't want to deal with it anymore. By Saturday the silicone has been curing a full week and it will be time to bring the sump back online! The skimmer and pumps have been running in vinegar water for the last few days and will be replaced into the sump. I also need to clean my circulation pumps, set the skimmer to wet skim and replace the phosphate binding material. Sunday is a day of rest. Monday the sheet comes down and I get to survey the results. Since I don't have any fish there won't be any phosphate input and the filtration should strip the water of most of the excess nutrients. The severity of the expected cycle will determine when and how fast I add livestock back into the display. If I'm lucky, then the darkness and filtration will kill most of the algae growth while the filtration is pulling out nutrients. I will test on Monday to see if the Nitrates are in line and that will give me an indication of where I stand. If the water looks good, then I may start adding a clean up crew in a week. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sascha D. Posted March 13, 2015 Author Share Posted March 13, 2015 How ironic right! All of the rocks and sand in this tank was collected in Hawaii. See post 2 for more details. Sent from my SGH-T989 using Tapatalk 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sascha D. Posted March 14, 2015 Author Share Posted March 14, 2015 The new sump is done curing and everything started right up! I half expected some leaks with my luck this year but it was smooth sailing. The SCA-302 has a working depth of 6-8" of water. I was previously using it at 8" but decided to raise it up to a 6" depth. I can really see a difference in the amount of skimmate. I'm not sure if it is due to the water depth or the amount of dissolved compounds but I'm happy with the result. Sent from my SGH-T989 using Tapatalk 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sascha D. Posted March 15, 2015 Author Share Posted March 15, 2015 To refugium or not to refugium? Sein order nicht sein, das ist die frage... I am not sure, but I can't wait forever to get the LR into the water. I added a single layer of rock on the bottom of the refugium and then added what is left of my macroalgae. The new aquascape has considerably reduced the LR in the display and refugium. I will be drying out a full 5 gallon bucket of rubble and about 30 pounds of larger rocks. If it turns out that I need more biological filtration then I'll set up some pod condos and utilize the rubble. Sent from my SGH-T989 using Tapatalk 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sascha D. Posted March 16, 2015 Author Share Posted March 16, 2015 I ended up spending my entire day Sunday installing a custom closet and putting together a toddler bed. If I had any hair then I would have pulled it all out putting that bed together! The instructions were easy to follow, but they want you to do near impossible things! Step 4: Hold part A with your left hand, lift part B with your right hand, and connect part C with your foot while screwing in the bolts with your mouth! Anyway, last night I hooked up the calcium reactor and set the lighting schedule to resume. I kept the same effluent rate of about 1 drop per second and slowly dialed in the bubble count to keep the pH close to my working range. The new solenoid is working well and I can hear it click on and off when the pH reaches the minimum and maximum that I have set. It's funny, but I don't remember hearing my last solenoid clicking off and on when it switched over. There isn't much gas in the tank, but I wanted to make sure it works. The lights haven't even come on yet and I can tell there is some hair algae that took hold. The high nitrates from the tank crash fueled the algae bloom and I'm working on cleaning that up. Green Hair Algae is a tough opponent because it can survive periods of darkness as long as there are nutrients for it to feed on. It also has a greater nutrient uptake than Chaetomorpha sp., which means that it can out compete any of our refugium macroalgae. Since I don't have any fish to feed in the display the phosphate input will be null. No food going in just means that I need to control the removal. I have a full reactor of new phosphate media going and the skimmer is going pretty wet. This week I'll test to make sure the water is good and then add a few things that eat GHA to take care of the crop. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FarmerTy Posted March 16, 2015 Share Posted March 16, 2015 When I first read custom closet, I thought you finally gave in and was going to convert your coat closet into a hidden tank equipment room! I got really excited for a moment! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sascha D. Posted March 16, 2015 Author Share Posted March 16, 2015 The calcium reactor pH looks to be pretty closely dialed in. This is a 24 hour view that shows where I started the reactor and started dialing in the bubble count. When I started the gas the needle was completely open and a whole bunch of gas went into the reactor, dropping it from 7.7 to 6.3 in about a second. I quickly closed the needle all the way and slowly opened it a small turn at a time. At around 9pm I had it corrected and from there you see a minimum range of 6.5 and a maximum range of 6.7. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sascha D. Posted March 16, 2015 Author Share Posted March 16, 2015 Depressing but necessary. I had to remove all of the old coral skeletons to make room for future corals. Ughh they stink! There was also a cloudy white substance inside some of the skeletons. I didn't get a picture, but I'm guessing bacteria eating what is left of the zoos. I started some peroxide dosing to see if that will help take care of it. Sent from my SGH-T989 using Tapatalk 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sascha D. Posted March 17, 2015 Author Share Posted March 17, 2015 Here's a weird little oddity with the reactor. Around noon yesterday there was a spike in pH. Other than that the new solenoid is working fine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FarmerTy Posted March 17, 2015 Share Posted March 17, 2015 I'm a glass half empty kind of guy. I like to look at it as your CO2 levels dipped. [emoji12] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sascha D. Posted March 17, 2015 Author Share Posted March 17, 2015 Last night I stopped by Petco after my trip to Home Depot. I just wanted to get my fish fix. Snails were on sale so I bought 11 to help with the hair algae. That bring my CUC to the highest it's been in over a year! Queen Conch Renegade Hitchhiker Hermit Crabs x 2 Turbo Snails x 2 Margarita Snails x 9 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sascha D. Posted March 19, 2015 Author Share Posted March 19, 2015 First picture post apocalypse. Yup I went there! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sascha D. Posted March 19, 2015 Author Share Posted March 19, 2015 In that last picture you can see some of the problems that I am dealing with. The CO2 regulator failure dumped a large amount of gas into the tank, which dropped the pH and killed all of the fish and most of the corals. The die off added ammonia and the removal of some of the rock reduced the nitrogen load of the aquarium as a whole. The result? Everything you could ever hope to avoid in a reef tank; cyanobacteria, dinoflagellates, and green hair algae! The first thing to pop up was the cyanobacteria. I decided to do a three day darkness period while increasing the skimming and phosphate media. While the lights were off the hair algae and dinoflagellates took over! When the lights came back on, the cyano came back! So here I am. I haven't fed the fish since the day before the disaster. I can only assume that no new nutrients have entered the tank since my RODI is still producing zero TDS. Beating all three shouldn't be hard. All I have to do is reduce the available nutrients until the bacteria catches up. On 3/14 I began wet skimming, that is increasing the oxygen input of my skimmer to produce a watery skimmate instead of a dry one. I also replaced the phosphate media in the reactor. The media will remove the PO4 but it will not remove the nitrate which will have to be exported through water changes. On 3/16 I added 11 snails to help remove the GHA and three days later I can already see a difference. So what to do next? Reducing nutrients should be my number one priority. That will help with all three problems. Adding some critters will help with the GHA, but 11 snails in a 150g display disappear almost instantly. I hope to get into a Reef Cleaners group buy and score some Fuzzy Chitons and Cerith Snails. I would have joined the last one except they didn't have what I needed at the time. I could try a tang, but I would like to add my passive fish first. There isn't much I can do for the dinos and cyano except peroxide and manual removal. The nutrient export will make the most impact on those and I hope it have it starved out in two weeks (If I'm lucky!). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wardlaw Posted March 20, 2015 Share Posted March 20, 2015 depending on your timing, I might be in for that group buy. keep me in the loop Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sascha D. Posted March 20, 2015 Author Share Posted March 20, 2015 My insurance pH probe arrived yesterday. Now I just have to find the time to install it with my in-laws visiting for the weekend. The snails are taking care of the hair algae but the cyano is getting worse. I turned down the LEDs to 50/20% power and did a 5g water change. Right now the plan is to do smaller frequent water changes versus a large one. I have some cyano killing powder left, but I'm not sure I want to go there yet. I noticed my RODI is coming out at 001 TDS. When do you guys change your filters/resin out? My last water filter didn't have a TDS meter so I just changed it yearly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FarmerTy Posted March 20, 2015 Share Posted March 20, 2015 Mine ends up around 8 months to a year before they need changing. If you're reading TDS, I'd change them out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sascha D. Posted March 20, 2015 Author Share Posted March 20, 2015 Which parts do you change? I previously changed them all at once, but I think I remember something about changing the resin every year and the rest you can do when they get dirty. I thought for sure the part you might comment on was the cyano oxidizer! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FarmerTy Posted March 20, 2015 Share Posted March 20, 2015 I'd do all 3 prefilters and resin just to be safe. The prefilters are the only thing keeping your membrane from getting all clogged up so I think it's a small price to pay for insurance. Plus, I've noticed if those filters sit for more than a year, they start getting bacterial/fungal growth and that's probably not a good thing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FarmerTy Posted March 20, 2015 Share Posted March 20, 2015 Filters usually every 6 months, membrane every 3-5 years, and DI resin will vary depending on your water but it's every 6 months to a year usually. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sascha D. Posted March 23, 2015 Author Share Posted March 23, 2015 This is the 4th week since the breaking of the world. The tank is cycling nicely. It looks like a few rocks that were covered in sponges make up the bulk of the problem. They are basically uncured rock right now. It may be a good idea to take them out of the tank because they aren't a part of any major structure. I don't doubt that it would help the cycle, but I would either have to sell them or cycle them later anyway. The GHA is nearly gone. Those snails did a good job! The cyano is also nearly gone. I do see some on the sand and on a few rocks, but the tendrils aren't as long as before. I can only take that as a good sign. This week will be much of the same. I have only done one five gallon water change so far, but I plan to do a few more this week. With any luck I'll be ready for corals and fish next week, or possible the week after! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FarmerTy Posted March 23, 2015 Share Posted March 23, 2015 That's awesome to hear! The 150 IPB tank is gonna be back in action soon! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sascha D. Posted March 23, 2015 Author Share Posted March 23, 2015 I'm going to try and rebuild as best I can. I don't know how good it will be but I hope better than before. Live. Learn. Research. Repeat. I'm going to try and add larger colonies instead of frags so that it doesn't look empty for a year. Right now there is a lot of open real estate. All of the LPS and polyps look happy, but I don't have any SPS so I don't know how they will react. Maybe next week I'll look into a starter piece to test the water. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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