rosslonghorns Posted March 18, 2016 Author Share Posted March 18, 2016 It is almost 6 months into re-entry into saltwater. Overall I've been very happy with all the equipment. The only issue to date is I'm still struggling to get good pictures with the LED fixture. It has a weird effect on the pictures as compared to the T5 fixture. Any pointers? Everything thus far is still in the tank - no losses so I'm happy with that. I'm hoping to get my hands on some new frags over the weekend to start filling it out more. Sorry for flipped images - not sure why they're being rotated as they were upright when uploaded. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FarmerTy Posted March 19, 2016 Share Posted March 19, 2016 Turn up the whites when you want to take a picture. That usually works for me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rosslonghorns Posted March 20, 2016 Author Share Posted March 20, 2016 Thanks Ty. I tried that yesterday and after increasing the whites by only 10% (from 30 to 40%), all the zoos closed up. It took a couple hours for them to open back up after I moved it back down. I guess they're sensitive to the increase. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rosslonghorns Posted March 20, 2016 Author Share Posted March 20, 2016 Our first tragedy this weekend. With no luck to find frags down south, decided to take a trip into south Austin to visit Academy to get kids ready for soccer season and decided to visit Aquadome also...what a nightmare of tragic just for that small trek. Long story short, after much begging from my kids, we ended up with a very nice looking and small BTA. We were all excited as this is the first anemone for any of us. We acclimated it an extended period and got it into the tank. We shut off the Tunze for the first couple hours. It looked as if it was settled so turned it back on but at lower settings to be safe. Sadly it started to move around during the evening and even with the Tunze turned all the way down, it still found its way into it and pieces everywhere. Took out a couple of the bigger pieces this morning and turned skimmer on wet side and put in a fresh bag of carbon - I'm hoping everything else is ok. It is sad to see the little pieces on sand bed but I'm as it breaks down skimmer & carbon will help. Hopefully everything else will be fine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan H Posted March 20, 2016 Share Posted March 20, 2016 It's very difficult to get good pictures with LEDs, and even harder to get them to look close to real life. If your camera has the ability to do so, try turning up the white balance a little, or you can also increase the EV a tad. There are quite a few guides on how to get good pictures of your tank online if you Google it. Another thing many people do is use lens filters to help make the colors pop. I've only had limited success with that. For my phone I've found top down works the best. For my nikon DSLR I usually just increase the EV to 1.0 or 1.5. And use a tripod. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rosslonghorns Posted March 20, 2016 Author Share Posted March 20, 2016 LOL. I now understand the comment about turning up white. Obviously I'm not a photography guy and thought white spectrum of LED lighting! Duh white balance on camera. Thanks. Still bummed on anemone but hopefully rest of tank pulls through. I will stick with corals. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan H Posted March 20, 2016 Share Posted March 20, 2016 I think Ty did mean turning up the white on the LEDs... Which can help make better pictures. I've done that as well, but I think adjusting the white balance on the camera works better. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FarmerTy Posted March 20, 2016 Share Posted March 20, 2016 Oh yeah, don't give me credit for being that smart. I meant turn up the whites on the LEDs. Any genius that comes out of my mouth is usually by accident. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan H Posted March 20, 2016 Share Posted March 20, 2016 Oh, I should clarify, use a NEGATIVE EV... So like -1.0. I use aperture priority mode on the dslr. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rosslonghorns Posted May 3, 2016 Author Share Posted May 3, 2016 It has been a month or so since my last update. I took some time this weekend to pull out the SLR camera as I've been having trouble with taking pictures with the iPhone. This looks to be related to the time I added the LED lighting. Much better results with the SLR. Since the last update, I met up with another local reefer to get a handful of additional zoo frags and a freebie of frogspawn. No issues with any to date. However, overall I'm a bit disappointed with the overall state of the tank. To the extent it has been online (since Oct. 2015 - roughly 7 months), I would assume by now to have purple coralline growth on my rock (previously dry). To date nothing and I've noticed from some of the original frags plugs some type of growth that is starting to overtake the zoos that are on it. I tried to take some up close pictures. Any ideas on the culprit and actions to eradicate it? Also for some zoos, they seem to be multiplying while others not much. After some research that seems to be the general message so not overly worried about that aspect. My goal for the tank was to get high end equipment for reliability and ease of use trying to keep the tank overall simplistic in management. As a result, I didn't invest in test kits except tossing my hydrometer for a refractometer for salinity. I assumed water changes using Instant Ocean would cover related to nutrient export and coral elements like KH, Calcium, etc. Further, I have Tunze 9004 skimmer that I'm using on the system. I've been diligent to water changes every two weeks since starting the system changing roughly 8 gallons (30%) including switching out carbon. I also clean the medium and fine filter floss weekly. Any thoughts? I'm assuming the first would be to check KH and Ca! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jolt Posted May 3, 2016 Share Posted May 3, 2016 That looks like bryopsis on the zoas. Its a kind of algae. If so you need to pull it out before it spreads. I'm not too much of a zoa guy, but someone will probably chime in about how best to attack it. Also my tank is over two years old and still no coralline. Some people say that's a blessing Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+KimP Posted May 3, 2016 Share Posted May 3, 2016 Do you have any urchins? They'll eat coralline algae. I don't have hardly any either after more than a year. It'll soak up your calcium anyway. As far as the bryopsis on the zoas, if you can remove the plug, just dip it for a bit in some diluted hydrogen peroxide. If not, just turn off your pumps, get a syringe and squirt some peroxide on them and turn your pumps back on. It'll probably piss off the zoas for a little bit but it'll for sure take care of the bryopsis and the zoas will be fine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FarmerTy Posted May 4, 2016 Share Posted May 4, 2016 Agreed above, looks like bryopsis. Pull the frags and dip in diluted hydrogen peroxide (70% tank water, 30% peroxide) now before it spreads through your entire tank like the plague. I think it's time to invest in some test kits. You need to know where you're at to diagnose any potential conditions to correct. I'd recommend Ca, Alk, and Mg to test for foundation elements and NO3 and PO4 for nutrients. Luckily Red Sea has a foundation elements kit you can get that covers Ca, Alk, and Mg and you can pick up their NO3 and PO4 tests as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rosslonghorns Posted May 4, 2016 Author Share Posted May 4, 2016 Thanks all for the feedback. Unfortunately all the frag bases I have permanently attached to the rock with epoxy. Any other options to combat this or should hit it dead on now and just get the screwdriver out and try to pry these off? How long do you dip it? Like dunk and done or sit submerged for a minute? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rosslonghorns Posted May 4, 2016 Author Share Posted May 4, 2016 Can you just inject straight hydrogen peroxide into the tank directly on the frag plugs? That would be easier as they're epoxied on but any impact to other tank inhabitants? Do you have any urchins? They'll eat coralline algae. I don't have hardly any either after more than a year. It'll soak up your calcium anyway. As far as the bryopsis on the zoas, if you can remove the plug, just dip it for a bit in some diluted hydrogen peroxide. If not, just turn off your pumps, get a syringe and squirt some peroxide on them and turn your pumps back on. It'll probably piss off the zoas for a little bit but it'll for sure take care of the bryopsis and the zoas will be fine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+KimP Posted May 4, 2016 Share Posted May 4, 2016 Thanks all for the feedback. Unfortunately all the frag bases I have permanently attached to the rock with epoxy. Any other options to combat this or should hit it dead on now and just get the screwdriver out and try to pry these off? How long do you dip it? Like dunk and done or sit submerged for a minute? If you don't want to pop them off, you can turn off your pumps and use a syringe to squirt some peroxide on the algae, let it sit a bit then turn your pumps back on. Only the zoas/palys though, I can't give advice on how other corals would do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+KimP Posted May 4, 2016 Share Posted May 4, 2016 Ha, I answered the same time you were responding about it No, it dissipates quickly into water and oxygen. I've been using it for months with no negative effects. It's very effective on algae. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rosslonghorns Posted May 5, 2016 Author Share Posted May 5, 2016 OK, I started today using the syringe with the pumps off. Let's see how it works. What is the usually timing to see algae regression / die off from treated areas? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FarmerTy Posted May 5, 2016 Share Posted May 5, 2016 OK, I started today using the syringe with the pumps off. Let's see how it works. What is the usually timing to see algae regression / die off from treated areas? You'll see small bubbles usually form on the bryopsis and it'll go clear the next day or two and start dying. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rosslonghorns Posted May 5, 2016 Author Share Posted May 5, 2016 Perfect, looking forward to that. I just did my nighttime view and skimmer cup was overflowing. Shutting it down for a day or two. Do you also see your skimmer react to the addition of hydrogen peroxide directly to tank? OK, I started today using the syringe with the pumps off. Let's see how it works. What is the usually timing to see algae regression / die off from treated areas? You'll see small bubbles usually form on the bryopsis and it'll go clear the next day or two and start dying. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FarmerTy Posted May 5, 2016 Share Posted May 5, 2016 I've never had a reaction from my skimmer when using hydrogen peroxide but that doesn't mean it won't happen for others. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+KimP Posted May 5, 2016 Share Posted May 5, 2016 I've never had a reaction from my skimmer when using hydrogen peroxide but that doesn't mean it won't happen for others. I've never had any trouble either Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rosslonghorns Posted May 5, 2016 Author Share Posted May 5, 2016 I've never had a reaction from my skimmer when using hydrogen peroxide but that doesn't mean it won't happen for others. Interesting. Maybe it has something to do with different tank volumes since mine is tiny. I will turn it back on this evening and see how how it reacts. I checked the tank on my way out of the house today - I was a kid on Christmas day. I had treated 3 separate frags last night. This morning two of the three had the algae completely removed. Interesting enough I noticed my blue leg hermit crab took to one of the frags shortly after treating. He was on the third one (still with algae however treated) this morning on my way out. Not sure if a coincidence since he hasn't touched it to date! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rosslonghorns Posted May 6, 2016 Author Share Posted May 6, 2016 I hit a couple other frags today with the hydrogen peroxide with flow off. Full clean of glass on all sides. I'm planning a water change this weekend and will also pull out pumps and skimmer and dip them also as they have traces of the algae also. With that, I should have hit most of the stuff. I went ahead and ordered the Red Sea test kit packages for both reef basic (Alk, Ca & Mg) and the algae (NO3 and PO4) kits. I also picked up an inline TDS meter for RO/DI system because getting tired of having to pull out the hand held one each time. I hope to receive the shipment next week and will get a baseline reading of different parameters. I wish I would of searched / asked about the algae / bryopsis a number of months back - it would of been an easier battle. Hopefully I can get ahead of it. A bit disappointing considering I started with dry rock to prevent unwanted algae / pests. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jolt Posted May 6, 2016 Share Posted May 6, 2016 Pests come in on frag plugs, unfortunately Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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