The Rebirth/Rebuild of my 180g sps thread

[ACRONUTS]

Well guys I did some adjusting to some of my equipment.
I calibrated my ph probe and I was able to finally see that my ph fluctuates between 7.92 with lights off to 8.22 when lights have been on for 6 hrs.
Is this drop too much?
I was reading that the addition of kalk also increases alk. When I tested the Ca was 440, the alk was 11.2, the Mg was 1100. My alk is a little too high. I know I need to adjust these parameters especially since my coral load is not that high, yet. I also know I need to dose Mg. and increase it to at least 1300.Again not quick rush to increase because I do not have a large coral bio load.
I plan to do a 25% water change. First for one it is due and for the second reason is, cutting away any excess nutrients that may be building up in the reef like phosphates and nitrates.

I did add some fish over weekend.

This nice regal yellow blue tang


A Hawaiian yellow tang


I also wanted to let everyone know that the regal anglefish is eating flake food already!


The Golden angle is busy throughout the tank and is doing well too! He is a bit cryptic but does make entrances and exits throughout the reef.

My caps have started to grow as the edges are showing signs. I will post a pic this weekend.

[ACRONUTS]

Here are some of the pics I promised of those caps plus a few others and a couple of new additions as well.

Blue ridge Tyree monti cap
Compare the pic from the post above to the pic of it now. Not explosive growth but enough that you can see the ridge starting to happen


WWC red Monti
Same thing compare pic above with this latest one


Finally was able to capture a pic of the cleaner shrimp this morning when the lights were off and only filtered light was coming in from the window.


Here is a pic of the green chromis going after the seaweed. They will eat anything!!!

[ACRONUTS]

Here are my latest NEW additions

I picked this one up at WWC. Not very common. Its called a Stylocoenellia sp


I replaced the mystery wrasse that had jumped out of the holding 55g tank back when I was redoing the tank. This is such a good looking wrasse!


Possum wrasse is a funny fish. I have seen this fish look dead and then it swims around like its alive and woke up!

[Iggy]

That is a juvenile yellow banded possum wrasse. They are the coolest.

[ACRONUTS]

That is a juvenile yellow banded possum wrasse. They are the coolest.

Iggy you are right! These guys are very visible during the early part of the day when the lights are out. I can usually see it out and about over the reef. As the day progresses and there is more light in the room the possum goes in hiding. There is one at WWC 500g that is always visible. So I believe once established these guys will be visible all the time.
Iggy you have a thread on your tank? I like to see pics and info on yours as well?

[ACRONUTS]

Well its been a few weeks since my last post.
Things in the tank are coming along. I am finally getting some coralline algae! There must of been some hair algae spores in the water I had used from the old setup because I have patches of hair algae in the tank.
I certainly do not want to add any chemicals that get rid of this algae so for now I am keeping an eye on it and being extremely hands on with water quality. Planning to purchase a Hanna meter to really check my phosphate levels. For now the salifert kit is showing around 0.003 to 0.005. Not sure if this is too high.
You guys can let me know.

I also am noticing where the build up of detrius is accumilating. These areas are showing signs of less flow so I am planning on adding another 2 korelia pumps then this summer will add two more mp40's ES models.

I bit the nerves and bought some SPS acros. They have now been in the tank for 1 week and show very good signs, PE great! These are the first acro's in the tank besides the monti's.
So far none of the angels are touching the monti's or the acro's.


Tri-color wwc acro



Green birds nest



Green tenuous acro



This is next one is a nice one! Except I can not remember its name! Will have to call the guys at WWC.

[ACRONUTS]

Update:
Been very busy traveling for work and trying to get hair algae under control with extra water changes and siphoning out as much with each water change as I can. I am not adding anything that would produce extra phosphates so its gotta be coming from somewhere. It was time for me to look at my RO unit at possibly not doing its job throughly.
After looking at what I would be spending on a new Membrane filter, plus three other cartigdes the cost would be over $100.00. My unit is more than 20 years old. I never purchased it brand new and I know I have had it for at least 15 years.
I ordered from Filter Direct, after winning a bid on Ebay, for a 7 stage RO/DI unit. I can not believe that I will be getting a 5 gallon tank, plus a host of other items for $150.00. It will be here early next week and I will post details as soon as possible.

A couple of weeks ago I added a few more corals.
Here are the latest pieces:

Purple tip tabling Efflo



One of the fastest growers Tyree Setosa



Deepwater acro bluish tips



Gorgeous blue tip tenous

[philip_r5]

You take some amazing photos.

[ACRONUTS]

You take some amazing photos.

Thanks Philip ! I get lucky sometimes and sometimes I get really frustrated because the really crisp shots somehow do not get taken. I am still learning on how to take pictures .

[ACRONUTS]

Update ......May 29th, 2012

Well finally I was able to attack my hair algae problem first hand! I made several slow changes so that I did not shock my system which at this point is only 7 months old.

Change 1
Three weeks ago I bought a 7 stage RO/DI because I knew that the one I had was faulty and was not doing its job due to the fact that I continued to grow hair algea at a fantastic rate! Whether this was the only contributing factor? Most likely not!



After installing the RO unit I prepared my water to make a 25% water change.

Change 2
Because of the current corals I had I did not want to do less than 3 hrs of light so in this department I only gave 3 hrs. less than the normal 6 I was giving them.

Change 3
I am making a point of changing my filter socks every three days as opposed to every 2 weeks. I realized that as the socks became clogged and they overflowed, I got a lot of detritus build up in my middle part of my sump. This I am sure was like a buffet all you can eat for the hair algae!

Changes 3 and 4
Changed and added carbon and a Brightwell's Phosphate remover pellets. I saw almost an immediate change and the green algae started to turn grey. This allowed me to siphon the dead out.
Back on my road trips and I could not make any other changes. As the initial water change lost its effect so did the carbon and the phos remover. I noticed the algae come back as I thought it would.

I knew that a bigger effort was needed so I planned on this past weekend to do major stuff!

Scrapping the rocks, glass was a MUST!!! The whole process started at 9am and I did not finish until about 7pm that evening!!
WOAH!!!
Major lesson here DO NOT SKIMP ON HUSBANDRY and YOUR WATER CHANGES!!!
Here is a short video taken with my iPad of the before.



As I started to remove water I scrapped my rocks

[ccampo]

good job.

I'm also running into hair algae problem, I've just started using biopellets this past weekend, hopefully in 2 or 3 months all that algae will be gone, we'll see, I want to avoid having to scrap my rocks.

I also ordered a new set of T5s, the old ones are a little bit over a year old and that might also be contributing to the algae problem.

[ACRONUTS]

good job.

I'm also running into hair algae problem, I've just started using biopellets this past weekend, hopefully in 2 or 3 months all that algae will be gone, we'll see, I want to avoid having to scrap my rocks.

I also ordered a new set of T5s, the old ones are a little bit over a year old and that might also be contributing to the algae problem.

Thanks ccampo! I ruled out lights. The algae seemed to concentrate on low light areas along with low flow areas. I also cut down on over feeding. This is a tricky one because broadcast feeding allows the chance of corals catching the brine or mysid shrimp. I am now starting target feeding.
Before the breakdown I had great success with Warner's biopellets. I will go back to them when the tank officially becomes a year old .
I honestly feel that even with a bare bottom tank and if you do not keep up with your tank, or have good top off water source you are heading for trouble like I was.
Let me know how you are doing by week 4 or 5 with your pellets.

[ACRONUTS]

Here are a few shots of the process as I continued that last weekend in the quest of hair algae removal. The back glass you can see I scraped the right side and the left still at the time of the pic had algae.


On the left and right corner overflows what once was covered in coralline algae became a nesting ground for the hair algae. Had to use a strong brush for removing the algae.



After rearranging the scape a little for better flow so that we get no dead zone I am on my way to filling the tank back up! A lot of hours guys and I never want to go thru that again!

[ACRONUTS]

Well one week has passed and I can report that all is well. Water parimeters are in check:
Ca 450
Alk 9.6
Mg 1350
Ph 8.23
Po 0.00 to 0.03
Nit 0.05

Did not lose ANY corals! So very proud of that! Some like my monti cap's did lose color but all else is good.
Added Brightwell's Phos remover
Cleaned Reef Octopus pump and skimmer.

There is still some algae on corner over flow walls. Will attack those next week. My MH lights are on for 3 hrs. The Super power brights are one for 5 hrs.

Here are some pics of the tank and a short video.
Next time add animals in about two weeks.

[ACRONUTS]

Update 7-01-2012
Well I am into the 8th month and things are going ok. I have been out of town but keeping close care of the reef tank.
As I do my 20% water changes every three weeks the amount of impurity still in the tank form the old RO Unit most likely are still evident in the water.
Unfortunately I am having the old GHA syndrome and have started to use the Red Sea product called NOPOX.
So far I am dosing less than the recommended rate and have seen my phosphates and nitrates drop. Especially my nitrates.
You would think that with star board being bare bottom you would not have accumilation of nitrates and phosphates but that can not be further than from the truth. The rocks to the corals to the fish they all produce waste.
Algae is somewhat under control but I understand that it will take awhile before it is completely gone.
In the meantime I am also using Read Sea's reef care product called, "reef foundation ABC+."
It has kept my Ca at 450, my Mg at 1450 and my Alk at 10.2. Of course some corals are loving it by showing signs of growth and others are slow in growth signs no matter what you put into the tank.

Since my tank has a HUGE amount of available real estate I could not pass up the 4th anniversary at WWC or their online 24 hr super sale.

Here are some the latest additions to the tank :

True Orenji Monti


Fire Echino Lamellosa


Raspberry Mille


WWC Area 51 Chalice

[ACRONUTS]

Update 09/2012
Lots has happened since my last update back in July!!!

Well for starters the GHA problem kept persisting. I started to use the new Red Sea products. While the NoPox lowered the phosphates and nitrates the algea continued. Trying to keep patient in order to let the product work. I figured that I would not see the GHA while I was away on my work related trips as they say outta site, outta mind. Anyway, at the end of July I came home and heard the dreaded noise coming from my main GEN-X pump. The noise was LOUD. Unfortunately all I could do was unplug it and wait a minute or two and replug it. This seemed to help. A day or so later the noise would come back so I would unplug and plug.
Unfortunately the GHA was still there and the NoPox was inits 4th week of dosing. As I left for another trip I did a 10% WC. While on the trip my nephew called and said he thought that the pump was dead. We went thru all the steps to figure remotely whether this was true or not. It was DEAD!!! Thank god my vortech pumps kept running!!

I came home a week later and started looking for the same pump gen -x pump. But I did not want the same pump. This pump was an energy hogger!! But knowing I had another trip coming up and I wanted a quick change of old to new pump and off I would go. The gen -x pump was more expensive than I could afford. I was researching other pumps when I realized how much I like the bubble blaster pump on my skimmer.
Bam! Found the bubble blaster HY -10000w.
Problem solved right? Nope! lol
Pump arrived while I was away on business. I went to install and noticed that nothing of the old setup matched the new pump!! Oh man!!!
Had to go on another biz trip so did another 10% WC and off I went. But something interesting had started to happen on the 6th week. Not adding any nopox or anything other feeding every other day pellet food, cutting down on MH's to only two hrs per day I noticed GHA was dieing off!!!!
Had the Red Sea products finally started to work? Possibly, but ALL GHA gone!!!
I thought that at least the one thing that went right was the disappearance of GHA. Could it be possible that around the 8th month the tank had finally matured? I don't know.
What I do know is that I lost most of my sps's with the exception of some monti's. None of my chalice's were harmed or the Atlantic blue ridge coral.

Last biz trip came and went but before I left I made an appointment with the guys over at WWC for a replumbing of my system.
The guys came in last Monday on Labor Day and went to town on my tank's plumbing!

Here are some pics of the plumbing. What a difference this makes!!!!! Very clean looking and much more appealing and workable. I still have to work on cleaning up the wires but its defintiely BETTER!!!
The "A" guys Alec and Ace did a fantastic job!! Very professionally done workmanship IMO and well worth it. Thanks guys!!!


Before



After



Before



After

[ACRONUTS]

Here are some more pics after cleaning up some more wires, lol!!


Ace working


Alec making the connections to the chiller


The WWC guys after a job well done!!

[ACRONUTS]

With the plumbing getting done it was a great opportunity to have the guys install an ATO system. Man can't believe I did not get this done sooner!!!

A 10 gallon tank


An ATO unit


A lift pump


Regular tubing and the sensor valves that come with the unit. One inside the 10g tank, the other inside the sump by the return pump.


Once the sensor in the sump sends a signal that the water level has dropped then the ATO turns on the lift pump and returns the water from the 10g tank to the sump. What a device!!! Keeps the water level for the skimmer and keeps the water in the display tank as constant as possible. This unit will come in handy on my week long trips!!

[philip_r5]

Ya, I got to get a ATO myself. Im always adding and readjusting the skimmer because of the water volume fluctuation...

[techbiker]

I have my RO connected to my sump with a float valve, and works perfect
I just got a RKE from digital aquatic, I will add a float sensor, to try to mimic your system sounds a very good idea





Sent from my iPhone because I am not home with my fishes