Deet's 150g Reef Build...

How much phosban did you add [inches]?
I had it so it barely moved but gently tumbled.
That looks like it is tumbling a lot .
Look into GFO for PO4 over phosban.

I can't remember exactly, it was the whole container, which for 150 gallon was actually the recommended amount...but thst day I ordered a ball valve to adjust the flow snd shes running nicely now....just some granules "dancing" on the surface of it....I'll post another video when I get home from work

 

Here we go, coralbandit...the particles must be too small to actually focus my phone on...but heres whse it looks like after I put the ball valve on....just a slight tumble on the top layer...
Mind you, this is the same amount of media....so it was really blowing around in there before.

 

Small update..nothing too exciting...
Still battling some nitrates....po4 looks good...dosed nopox a couple days, but slowed down when the water got so cloudy...I'll start back up again in a day or so....added 40 CUC members today...before that it was just a astrea and a couple blue legs from my nano...so now we should be good to go....

 

Looks gorgeous!

 

I envy you and your tank, makes me want one so badly

 

Looks gorgeous!

Thanks....that light is very flattering. Under the other mid day colors it's a mess...lol...its not an accident that I take pics in the evening...

 

I love what you did with the rock. Looking forward to seeing it all come together.

 

Added another stupid light this evening....took me 3 hours of factory resetting, un and re installing of software, and unplugging and plugging dozens of times...but finally got them all programmed together, finally.
Dont ask me to do it again, because I really Forrest Gumped it to get it to work somehow...almost by accident..

Still battling nitrates...doing 50 gallon water changes and doing a nopox diet to get them reasonable....were at around 40-50 now...I'd like to get around 10....so still gonna take some time. I'm waiting to put my btas in there until that gets to where I want it...
Did I mention in previous posts that my bta split?!?
Saved me a cool $65 since that's what I played at my lfs for the one I got...
Also rescued a condy from petco that looked white...but now its happy and purple....
Unfortunately, didnt research them, so I'm unsure as to what I do with it....affraid to put it in the big tank.
Perhaps I'll give it to my lfs..or someone local if they're interested.
Anyway..heres some new light picture goodness

 

Do you have any macro in your Sump?

 

No....I had chaeto in there...but...In a rookie maneuver, it got sucked through the baffle of the fuge and into the pump that feeds the skimmer....so now all I have in the fuge besides rocks and sand is green slime type algae...which I scrape off the glass to try to remove nutrients the old fashioned way.
I'm going to get some egg crate to put in the hole that it got sucked through, and buy more...but ik trying to source locally, ordering from algaebarn again is going to really annoy me....shipping isn't worth it...and for what it is, it's not cheap..

 

I wonder how to ship macro works. Heat pack? I can send you a big chunk if necessary. Mines gone crazy with growth.

 

I wonder how to ship macro works. Heat pack? I can send you a big chunk if necessary. Mines gone crazy with growth.

Yeah, algaebarn ships with a heat pack and a jar with the macro...then they pad the inside of the box a little for unsulation

 

I’ve been looking for a video of my Chaeto to post so you can see.

 

If you're willing to send it...I'm willing to paypal shipping costs to you..lol...chaeto is chaeto...
I see guys with gobs of it stuffed in their fuge and just get salty about it...lol

 

It’s free. Pm me your address.

 

On its way.

 

I also threw in some copepod powder. Your fish and corals will love that. It’s coming USPS, 2nd day. Couldn’t get it there any sooner. Hope it survives.

 

How’s the tank doing? Nitrates lowering?

 

Doing well. Nitrates are slowly coming down...I need to test again in the next day or two. Went away for the weekend and my tank nanny must've overfed, water clouded up and looks like algae bloom on the rocks. I've never been more irritated..lol...but itll clear up.
I also just scooped up the aquatic life t5 hybrid fixture for some extra light...I was affraid the 3 radions weren't doing it...I read that some folks really have coral growth explosions when they throw a hybrid in the mix

 

Glad to hear. Get you some tiger pods and some phytofeast. Dump the pods into your Chaeto and feed weekly with the phyto according to the instructions using total water volume (Sump and tank). Your fish will thank you later .

 

So I've been at war with myself over lighting and my constant concern that I don't have ample enough. First step was to get rid of the glass tops for the tank...so I made screen tops for it. And lowered the lights so they were closer to water level. I had them up higher so I could flip open the glass top.
I still was affraid that I didnt have enough light, so for a loooong time I was shopping to add another xr30....so I would have 2 on each "side" of the tank, if I changed the orientation to run perpendicular to the tank as opposed to parallel.
This was just not going to be easy, considering I'd have to change the hanging rails, and the rig I had them suspended from the ceiling.
I read a lot of success stories with the t5 hybrid fixtures...so I picked up a 48" aquatic life 4 bulb hybrid fixture. Currently only have 2 blue plus bulbs in it, but ordered from brs 1 of each of the actinic plus, coral plus, and purple plus....so I will run one of the blues with that combo to make my 4 bulbs. I see a lot of guys running that combo and they are happy with it, so I will use that as a good starting point and see if I need to tweak it...
But here are some pics of it mounted....cable managment kind of went to **** after adding it, but I'll get it wrangled in somehow..lol

 

Biggest problem I found with T5 lighting, replacing the bulbs every 6 months or so. That’s the whole reason I went with LEDs. Tank looks great though keep up the good work.

 

The new bulbs came from brs today, and it makes a heck of a difference. Looks great, I think. Hopefully we will se more coral growth...it kills me having all these frags in there and can't see anything in pics..lol
In this pic everyone's out , the pumps are off. Algae barn finally sent my tiger pods ...so ik letting them get comfy in the sump

 

Boy oh boy did I screw this one up...
So the new lights looked awesome.
I did not, however, consider the best increase in light as detrimental to the tank...with that in mind I thought nothing about slowly increasing photo time with them. I started out at like 6 hours a day coming on once my radions had ramped up and turning off just as my radions started to ramp down.

Talk about an algae outbreak!
Not so much on the rock...but free floating...
Was awful ashamed of myself for such a bonehead maneuver. At first I thought it was a bacterial bloom, and would much rather let nature fix itself, considering I didnt have Amy fish loss to cause anything major....but after about a week and a half, I started to see a green hue to the otherwise milky water.

So I got to add another gadget to the tool box and picked up a uv...nothing drastic as I didnt want to have to deal with yet ANOTHER pump and plumbling in my sump, but a submersible that I could use when I needed to, and one that SHOULD be able to sit in the sump the next time (this time I threw it in the dt)

And holy smokes, these things are incredible!

First pic is when I put the uv in (Monday afternoon)
Second is 24 hours after (Tuesday afternoon)
Third is today (Wednesday afternoon)

I am officially a believer.

 

What a change. Tank looks beautiful.

 

How’s the tank coming along?

 

Doing well, thanks! Recently just finished a 8 day regimen to eliminate some dinos I was dealing with..
(I HIGHLY reccomend the elegant corals method)
Super easy....super effective.

Also bought, but have not installed the brs co2 scrubber, only because I was worried there was too much co2, thus helping the dino bloom. Oh and finally got a flipper scraper.....sure beats the pet store brand glass cleaner.

Other than that, been pretty uneventful....
I do have a hippo and yellow tang in a qt from this past weekend waiting to go into general population.....
I'll get a pic of the tank up tomorrow when the lights look good.....
Heres one of the micro bubbling during the 7 day dino treatment

 

Pics today after the dinos are pretty much irradicated... and the lights are on

 

Looks great.

 

Pics today after the dinos are pretty much irradicated... and the lights are on

Can we get an update?

 

Nothing aesthetically different...really...the dinos started to come back, so I've turned off the skimmer, and pulled the chemipure out of the my filter cups in the sump. I'm confident its pulling the po4 out too efficiently, as it's been unreadable on tests for weeks...and the no4 as well...so I've been feeding pretty heavy to try to get some numbers on the tests.
I haven't done the same treatment as the first time because I think if I get my po4/no4 up itll take care of itself. I'm currently micro bubbling from 10p to 10a to add extra oxygen to the water considering my skimmer is shut down.

The hippo tang died in qt after 48 hours, so I brought it back to the lfs and am waiting for one a little. Igger to show up and apply the credit to that one.....the thing was only about 1.5" long..maybe 2" if it was lucky...so I just think the stress of moving around did it in...the lfs treats with copper in their system, and I hadn't medicated with anything yet at that point. Unfortunately it's been so **** hot here, that the lfs hasn't gotten too many fish shipments In because the supplier doesn't want to have any mishaps....so we wait... the yellow tang is doing good..trying to fatten it up a bit...

Now I'm also trying to figure out why my btas are so small...they used to puff up and stretch out and for the past couple weeks they've been pretty small and I can't figure out why...dont know if the bottomed out nutrients have anything to do with it...but everything else seems to be doing fine... just peculiar as to why they're being goofy....they're not moving around, so I assume they're happy with their spot....just odd...

 

Long time no see!
Been pretty crazy, and things seem to be winding down now that it's getting cold out...
Figured I'd give an update...
Things progressing nicely, dinos have been defeated it seems, and everyone is happy and getting fat....still can not keep a hippo tang alive to save my life. Had a much larger one (about 4") and it was loving life and eating for about 5 days, then got cloudy eyes, and started hiding in between rocks...
So I quickly quarantined it and it died within 48 hours...
So I ain't trying another one of them for a while....lol
I did add a cleaner wrasse, a lawnmower, and a dozen bumble bee snails because the vermetid snails are getting really irritating.

So we shall see how it goes..
Also added another major fish that I'll add pics of, but so far he is happy too....had a little aggression from the yellow tang, but a put a mirror on the tank for a couple days, and now they seem to be getting along much better.....

Only issue I'm having now, well, for months, is my nems aren't really opening wide...they stay small (about the size of a quarter)...
They still hanging on the rock right, and they eat if I squirt mysis at them...but they're just very small...they used to be open very nicely....been like this for a long time, now...which has me scratching my head

That being said....on to the pics

 

Missed a pic

 

Just came across this thread. Nice build! You have a Moorish Idol in there... how's it doing? I've heard they are notoriously hard to keep alive... is it eating well? How long have you had it?

 

Just came across this thread. Nice build! You have a Moorish Idol in there... how's it doing? I've heard they are notoriously hard to keep alive... is it eating well? How long have you had it?

Hey, thanks! Yeah, I'm not holding my breath with the idol, but he (thus far) seems happy....hes eating mysis, pe mysis, and brine really well....doesn't mess with flakes so much, which is what the rest of the tank eats primarily. I usually give frozen once a week ish.....but now I have to every day, just to watch to see if the idol eats. But so far so good, again, I'm not holding my breath...I'll feel a lot better when he starts getting plump like the rest of them..lol...
As in the previous update, there was a bunch of times the yellow tang would take a charge at him, and he would evade, but then I propped the mirror up there and it cut the aggression by about 90%.....after 2 days took the mirror down and now on a rare occasion if the idol gets real close, the tang will jump at him...but that's it, so I'm confident within another 24 hours that will stop as well.
The idol has been in there since wed evening...the shop I bought it from runs copper and he was very active in the tank, and the guy wouldnt let me buy him unless he would eat well in the store before I took him home...and he went right after the frozen aggressively....so it was a go...was also trying to pick up a copper band at the same time, but the 3 they had, were "meh" with the food...so they wouldnt sell them to me..lol..
But I can appreciate the shop doing thtmat..I will certainly go back for that reason alone.
It was the first time in this shop, as it's about 90min from home....but I was in town for work and on the clock, so why not get paid to buy fish..lol.
The place is highly coveted in my area, I just hadn't ever been there...

 

Nice to hear of a good shop like that. I have one close to me (5 minutes away... it's dangerous! Lol) They are like that as well, copper in their tanks, don't sell fish that aren't 100%.. In fact they ordered in 50 neons for me but told me not to take them as they didnt ship well. They're redoing the order for me this week.

 

Hey, thanks! Yeah, I'm not holding my breath with the idol, but he (thus far) seems happy....hes eating mysis, pe mysis, and brine really well....doesn't mess with flakes so much, which is what the rest of the tank eats primarily. I usually give frozen once a week ish.....but now I have to every day, just to watch to see if the idol eats. But so far so good, again, I'm not holding my breath...I'll feel a lot better when he starts getting plump like the rest of them..lol...
As in the previous update, there was a bunch of times the yellow tang would take a charge at him, and he would evade, but then I propped the mirror up there and it cut the aggression by about 90%.....after 2 days took the mirror down and now on a rare occasion if the idol gets real close, the tang will jump at him...but that's it, so I'm confident within another 24 hours that will stop as well.
The idol has been in there since wed evening...the shop I bought it from runs copper and he was very active in the tank, and the guy wouldnt let me buy him unless he would eat well in the store before I took him home...and he went right after the frozen aggressively....so it was a go...was also trying to pick up a copper band at the same time, but the 3 they had, were "meh" with the food...so they wouldnt sell them to me..lol..
But I can appreciate the shop doing thtmat..I will certainly go back for that reason alone.
It was the first time in this shop, as it's about 90min from home....but I was in town for work and on the clock, so why not get paid to buy fish..lol.
The place is highly coveted in my area, I just hadn't ever been there...

Idols and tangs are not reccomened to be kept together. Also make sure you feed that frozen food in small amounts a few times per day for that fish. Try some angel preparations as well.