The Rebirth/Rebuild of my 180g sps thread

[ACRONUTS]

It's been an upward war to get my water quality back.
Can't believe how long it takes to get things good after months of neglect on my part.
Back in February I was still dealing with flat worms got rid of those then it was the battle of nitrates that were over 50ppm.
Then the battle of phosphates!
All of March I kept doing massive water changes but was not helping! Nitrates were still up and so were phosphates.
In the past I had some great success with Warner marine pellets. My lfs did not carry the brand but they did have some from two little fishes.
In April I started adding 50ml every week till I added enough to handle my water volume of about 210g. Took several weeks but no red cyno nor algae outbrakes.
In May
Phosphates came down but still were hovering round 0.08ppm.
Of course algae peeked it's ugly head! So I decreased my photo period to just about 2.5 hours per day with my metal halides.
My nitrates after water changes was round 25ppm but would not drop any lower.

In June I asked myself am I gonna give up? Heck no!!!

On one of my water changes I tested the freshly mixed salt water. Low and behold I saw that the newly mixed water had nitrates! 10-15ppm!
So I looked at my TDS meter and the water as measuring outbound was 0.10 to 0.12.
I looked at the DI resigen and noticed it needed changing.
I had at least kept up with the 2 carbon cartridges and 1st stage but on that day it was already too late. I had been adding top off water and making saltwater w nitrates!
I ordered from ebay from a company called Filterdirect and changed every filter in the 6 stage RO/DI system.

In July
I cleaned out the sump on a WC and also cleaned my 10g that holds the fresh top off water and boy was it dirty. Well some dead bugs. Keeping this tank clean is a must! I can't afford not too! I am sure that this was causing additional pollutants to be added to the sump via the ATO!

This month ( Aug) I did a 25% water change with 0.00 metering from my TDS! I also started dosing NoPox as I had very good results with this product before.

It will take sometime to bring my water quality back but IT IS THE NUMBER ONE FACTOR IN KEEPING A REEF AQUARIUM!

Of course, in dealing with my water ailments and in my stupidly I would make purchases. Along the way I thought that with water changes I would be fine and without you guys sending me to “coral jail” lets just say I would have been locked up for awhile.

So here we are after making loads of changes I can say that the tide has turned!

Coraline algae has begun to regrow.
My calcium is at a constant 450
My Alk is at 8-9 dkh
Ph 8.4
Salinity 1.24
Temp is set at 77 degrees and maintained via controller with chiller.

Ok you guys maybe asking what about NO and Phos?
Phos has been kept at 0.02 to 0.04
Nitrates less than 10

No over feeding plus constant maintaining are leading me back to success.

I do have lots of pics to post give me some time and I will get them on here!

It feels great to be back!!!!!!!

[ACRONUTS]

While these may not be my best shots they are with my iPhone 5. Old camera unfortunately was left in the truck of a car rental and forgotten! Bummer!!!
These are two pics of the flat worm episode:








I just bought this amazing pump from Jabao- its the WP-40 pushes an amazing amount of water and IMO does what I wanted my MP40's to do!
Here is a short video of this water movement in the tank. I did however turn it down and the light sensor is a great feature to keep things on the calmer side at night.

[SaltWater]

wb acronuts we have missed your reports!!!

[ACRONUTS]

wb acronuts we have missed your reports!!!

I'm
Getting back getting back!!
I made a point that I would NOT throw my money away!

[ACRONUTS]

Well guys here are the additions that I have added throughout the last few months.
The following pics were not take by me. These are WYSIWYG from ebay auctions from WWC.
Love their corals!!!

Cornbred Bling Bling Cyphastrea


Golden Psammacora


Multi-Color Echinata


Purple Hearts



Fire & Ice


WWC Marigolds

[Chip]

Very nice additions. How are they doing?

[ACRONUTS]

Very nice additions. How are they doing?

Chip thx for asking they are all doing fine. i have to at this point continually watch my ALK so that it stays as constant as much as possible.

[Jason]

Nice additions

[ACRONUTS]

Nice additions

Thx Jason!

[ACRONUTS]

Things are coming along really well. For the first time in months I can see water quality progressing in the right direction.
With the addition of adding the No Pox from Red Sea my No is at 4ppm and my Phos is at 0.02.
This makes me really happy to report!
I did a WC last weekend and the water used read 0.00 from the TDS meter so that was awesome to see.
I still have not increased photo period as I want to make sure that all forms of nuisance algae is gone. I really would like to keep my all a little more steady but it seems that its depleting rather quickly now. So I am gonna be in the market for a dower of some kind. Any suggestions?

Here are the latest additions which lol left me in the poor house!!

Once again these are not my photos they are from the guys at WWC in Florida.

WWC Electric Pavona



Reverse Sunset Monti


WWC Bubblegum millie


WWC Ding Dang Millie

[ACRONUTS]

Here are a few shots using the iPhone 5 of my 180 tank. I certainly feel like the journey this time was a HUGE learning experience for me.

We are on our way to having what I feel is gonna be a beautiful aquarium I can enjoy.

side shot from the side on the right


side from the left


rt side front of tank



Middle of tank



Left side of tank



FTS

[Chip]

Your tank looks great! Thanks for posting. WWC has some really nice corals.

[ACRONUTS]

Your tank looks great! Thanks for posting. WWC has some really nice corals.

Thx Chip! Yep WWC rocks when it comes to corals!!

[ACRONUTS]

Well just a quick update guys;

Tank is doing really well.
Water parameters are getting better and better. The plus for me is being able t0 maintain these parameters.

Alk has been constantly at 8.4 now for several weeks
Ca has been adjusted so that I keep a range between 400-450
Phos has dropped and hovered around 0.04 to 0.02
Nitrate has been the best drop and staying around 2 to 4ppm. Can remember when the red sea test would immediately change to a dark pink color without waiting the 9 mins. Now it takes a longer for a faint pink color to show.
Salinity is constant at 1.024/ 35ppm

Whether the phis and nitrates are being lowered by NoPox or the bio pellets is yet to be determined. Not in a rush to find out though yet.

I picked up a Mag test kit on ebay and started testing and it shows a Mag level of 1400.
I use the following religiously and test every three days so that I can make the appropriate adjustments:

Red Sea No Pox
Red Sea ABC+
Red Sea Colors
Two little fishes Acropower

I made a little purchase to satisfy my obsession lol

Red dragon acro



Jason Fox blue polyp monti




Millie




Acro



As far as growth?

Well have not seen too much yet. I have noticed a couple of the zoas that have started to spread. I have a blue atlantic ridge coral that has basically spread on the lower rt side of tank rock work and star board. The pink stylo is showing signs of whitish tips then those tips get covered w "skin" and you can see the frag getting a little taller.
The jason fox greeting monti is definitely showing signs of base spreading growth.

Once I see bigger signs of growth I will post pics.

Stay well everyone!

[ACRONUTS]

Just did a water change after a delay of 1 week. I am being very picky as to my husbandry on the reef display. On my last water change I had about 15 gallons of salt water left. I stored them in the garage for about 30 days. I thought that perhaps I can just use that water on the next change. Ultimately when I mixed this water in with the new water needless to say it never became clear. That was a sign that perhaps the old salt water and had become possibly unusable with a bacteria bloom.

Well out that water went and new was made but it took a little longer with my schedule but got it done!

I test every three days so that I can make any changes to any additives I might be adding to tank. Typical over kill at the moment but need to stay a little OCD on it, lol!

I noticed that the CA fluctuated around 400 to 420
The Alk was up to 9
The mag was done at 1200 and would not climb even after water change.
The one factor I have yet to add to the equation is the PH. My probes need to be replaced and have not had the time to really cyber shop for one. So that shall be a purchase that I plan on making next week.

Knowing that there is a direct relationship with Mag and PH, I started dosing Mag to keep it around 1400. Once the Mag is set in place and kept at the 1300-1400 mark I should see the Alk and CA and PH be maintained at more acceptable levels for a young healthy growing reef tank.

In the meantime a stop at the LFS's was my fix. My pics are via iPhone 5 so they are what they are till the purchase round the holidays of a Nikon D-something!

A couple of these pieces are small colonies. I don't usually go for colonies because I rather see the growth patterns due to my tank conditions but these were truly priced right!!

Not known at LFS so help if you know what it is!!!!



Acro unknown as well so if you guys know let me know!



Close up of above for id purposes



A tabling acro purple tips with white polyps.

[Jim28fl]

I did a full water test on everything i don't usually test for yesterday as part of the check up of 6 months progress. And i finally dug out the red sea Iodine, potassium, and Iron test kit.

All normal but iron was 0.. triple tested, did a little reading into to signs of low iron, and decided to bust out the IRON supplement. did a half recovery supplement immediately, and did the other half 48 hour later/ this morning.

BINGO.. that was the only thing I was missing/ tested off. To date i have only done one WC @5 months about 35 %, but am setting up a continuous WC and the system water is very new over all new rock BB tank, almost 0 food goes in but target feeding. id say ultra low nutrient parameters on the tests, which i kinda would like to see creep up a bit hence the three month interval waiting for the nitrates to come up or the Phosphate a bit.. i do run a bit of ROWA phos so that may be keeping the Phosphate down or consuming the IRON. ill have to look into that.. don't think it does bind IRON.

Over all SPS looks really good. LPS seemed under inflated. I'm also dabbling with the VHO combination thats supplemented by reef brite's all blue. so may find some more glamor with Light tube combinations/ adjustments over time.

Still getting my feet under me on this system only four small fish in it, 100 gallons system water. But i almost immediately saw better inflation on the euphillia and my orange plate. I never get any growth in the Fuge at all.. actually removed dead cheto that i stocked in there from the live rock bin/ fuge in the garage.

IRON is supposed to effect Fuge growth as well as i read. well see if some how i got a run of salt that was low IRON from IO RC batch or something costumed it all.

Side note the ATUO WC will be using RED SEA salt and be 1/2 gallon a day out then 1/2 gallon in. or so till i see if i like it or not. Im concerned with batch water sitting like you mentioned. for like 2 months so may alter for a 50 Gallon batch, is my thinking there.

looking good your back on the right path for sure.. stay with it.

[ACRONUTS]

I did a full water test on everything i don't usually test for yesterday as part of the check up of 6 months progress. And i finally dug out the red sea Iodine, potassium, and Iron test kit.

All normal but iron was 0.. triple tested, did a little reading into to signs of low iron, and decided to bust out the IRON supplement. did a half recovery supplement immediately, and did the other half 48 hour later/ this morning.

BINGO.. that was the only thing I was missing/ tested off. To date i have only done one WC @5 months about 35 %, but am setting up a continuous WC and the system water is very new over all new rock BB tank, almost 0 food goes in but target feeding. id say ultra low nutrient parameters on the tests, which i kinda would like to see creep up a bit hence the three month interval waiting for the nitrates to come up or the Phosphate a bit.. i do run a bit of ROWA phos so that may be keeping the Phosphate down or consuming the IRON. ill have to look into that.. don't think it does bind IRON.

Over all SPS looks really good. LPS seemed under inflated. I'm also dabbling with the VHO combination thats supplemented by reef brite's all blue. so may find some more glamor with Light tube combinations/ adjustments over time.

Still getting my feet under me on this system only four small fish in it, 100 gallons system water. But i almost immediately saw better inflation on the euphillia and my orange plate. I never get any growth in the Fuge at all.. actually removed dead cheto that i stocked in there from the live rock bin/ fuge in the garage.

IRON is supposed to effect Fuge growth as well as i read. well see if some how i got a run of salt that was low IRON from IO RC batch or something costumed it all.

Side note the ATUO WC will be using RED SEA salt and be 1/2 gallon a day out then 1/2 gallon in. or so till i see if i like it or not. Im concerned with batch water sitting like you mentioned. for like 2 months so may alter for a 50 Gallon batch, is my thinking there.

looking good your back on the right path for sure.. stay with it.

Hey Jim,
Glad to hear you are back on track!
Did your post end up on my thread or did you post to show that you to have been dealing with testing and finding things out?

[Jim28fl]

Mix of what did you think of my findings, and do you ever check/ find the same with regards to IRON/ FE. I think after talking more about it at coral con, i find that iron is something that uptakes very quickly and is hard to test for except just after you does it. and its best to dose it slowly over the day. it can cause issues if your putting in more than the tank can up take and more so if you don't run a FUGE. but it provides a lot of benefits to corals. I was after the color benefits and read about the effect one FUGE growth as well.

I am still seeing good results and am moving to implement a small dose 24/7 schedule to even out my results and monitor.

I also found out some interesting things about different types of ALK supplements. which i have never heard anyone talk about before. which explains some of the issues i have experienced over the last yr or so. i have tried several brands all of which achieve a target DKH but drastically effect other parameters in the process, sometimes good sometimes bad.

Not all ALK supplements are the same. "This also applies to Calcium, but not as much so as ALK supplements." some raise Ph some lower it, some precip out C more rapidly/ at a lower lvl, basically. But they all raise KH lvls while you use them.
I have dealt with CO2 suppressed Ph for awhile in the tanks. but it was compounded by using B-ionic part one n two. i switched to BRS Powder calcium hydroxide and soda ash methods to maintain parameters day to day and have much different results but still maintain the correct parameters. and with LOT LESS PRODUCT!

with regards to types of mag supplements, im not aware of any variations.. it is what it is i believe..

One last thing… how did you end up feeling about salt water sitting up sealed for a month or two?? i have not researched about mixing up and then sealing SW to then be dosed over time VS like make it use if for a Water change scenario.

I'm curious to apply your issue with "old" new water and opinions there.

[ACRONUTS]

Mix of what did you think of my findings, and do you ever check/ find the same with regards to IRON/ FE. I think after talking more about it at coral con, i find that iron is something that uptakes very quickly and is hard to test for except just after you does it. and its best to dose it slowly over the day. it can cause issues if your putting in more than the tank can up take and more so if you don't run a FUGE. but it provides a lot of benefits to corals. I was after the color benefits and read about the effect one FUGE growth as well.

I am still seeing good results and am moving to implement a small dose 24/7 schedule to even out my results and monitor.

I also found out some interesting things about different types of ALK supplements. which i have never heard anyone talk about before. which explains some of the issues i have experienced over the last yr or so. i have tried several brands all of which achieve a target DKH but drastically effect other parameters in the process, sometimes good sometimes bad.

Not all ALK supplements are the same. "This also applies to Calcium, but not as much so as ALK supplements." some raise Ph some lower it, some precip out C more rapidly/ at a lower lvl, basically. But they all raise KH lvls while you use them.
I have dealt with CO2 suppressed Ph for awhile in the tanks. but it was compounded by using B-ionic part one n two. i switched to BRS Powder calcium hydroxide and soda ash methods to maintain parameters day to day and have much different results but still maintain the correct parameters. and with LOT LESS PRODUCT!

with regards to types of mag supplements, im not aware of any variations.. it is what it is i believe..

One last thing… how did you end up feeling about salt water sitting up sealed for a month or two?? i have not researched about mixing up and then sealing SW to then be dosed over time VS like make it use if for a Water change scenario.

I'm curious to apply your issue with "old" new water and opinions there.

Jim,
You make a good point in reference to ALK solutions. Companies make different things and we as aquarists must make sure that we know what it is we dose. Making sure if you pick a product that says it will raise ALK and PH then we know. Blindly dosing with no attention to CA, ALK, MG is not the key to success.

[ACRONUTS]

So sorry guys for no updates.
I have lately been running a little behind but will have plently to talk about and show off! LOL!

Things are going really well in my tank. I have started to see some real growth and have been able to slowly continue to make purchases to fill up the real estate in the tank. I had reached water parameters that remained very constant for the last 6 months and have watched my nitrates and phosphates drop to 0.00.
Stripping the water to this point while also having a bare bottom tank I have noticed some corals drop in color. Specifically the sps's.
I implemented additional feedings and started to dose Brightwells Koral color every 3 days.
So far I have noticed less color loss but not a huge increase in color. I need to make these changes slowly so that I can figure out what will work.

Currently I am running my mh's for only a total of 3hrs. Why? Well due to hair algae growth I wanted to limit as much of the source for that pain in the rear!!

In March I plan to increase photoperiod to see if this will also help in increasing the color. Continue to monitor for small increases in nitrates and phosphates.

Here are some of the latest additions to the tank!