Jimbo’s CDA 250

[Jimbo327]

Dosed some DIY chemical additives and mathematically should be:

Calcium: 410 ppm
Alkalinity: 8.3 dkh
Magnesium: 1400 ppm
Nitrate: 12 ppm
Phosphate: 0.08 ppm
Strontium: 12 ppm
Iron: 20 ppb
Manganese: 5 daily drops
Iodine: 2-3 daily drops

Hopefully that will get some color back in the corals and stop the SPS deaths.

I've finally connected the established denitrator chamber into the main system. This is based on an old method developed in the 1980's. Probably considered outdated and obsolete by today’s standards. I was always interested in it, but never had a big enough tank to try it out on. It is a combination of carbon dosing and sulfur denitrator without the media. Biggest potential drawback may be sulfur (hydrogen sulfide aka rotten egg) smell if not done correctly. My wife may shut down this experiment very soon if she smells rotten egg.

Pro-tip: Avoid dosing hydrogen peroxide into your system as it may wipe out a lot of bacteria, and will not work with this method.

 

[Jimbo327]

Some fishes were stationary enough for me to take some good photos on my phone. Derasa clam growing fast.

 

[Jimbo327]

The Quality Marine Ecoscape rocks that I put into the tank when I re-scaped a month ago...they are all getting way more coralline than the natural dead rocks that I started the tank with. I think the Ecoscape rocks have a very porous and rough surface, and the coralline spores just seem to stick to it

It didn't seem like the existing 8 Nassarius Tongan snails and 1 fighting conch were enough to maintain the whole sand bed. So I added another 40 Nassarius Vibex snails into the CUC gang.

But yeah, that's where I'm at with this tank...feeding the fishes and watching coralline/snails grow. I've started dosing a few minor trace elements after my 1st ICP. My SPS frags are hanging in there after I fixed my calcium levels. I think most frags lost that healthy vibrant color and I need to replace a few that didn't make it. But I'm encouraged by the coralline growth, so I know the tank is headed in the right direction. Just need patience and stability in this hobby.

The original plan was to head to CFM today with the family, but looks like the wife and kids had other ideas. So I'll be going alone and checking out the show. Maybe I'll win some raffle prizes again. I want to talk to Tony from RR, and try to learn what I did wrong for the torch to deflate and just slowly wither away.

 

[Jimbo327]

The CFM show was fun. I took my son, and we had a great time. We showed up at 1:30 and didn’t know the raffle was at 1:00, so totally missed out. I had to pull myself away from getting an electric neon crocea from John @ Clammania. It was so nice, but I knew I needed more corals in my tank. I already have 2 clams. I’m glad that I had some self control because there was awesome corals everywhere. I picked up my first favia from Redland Aquaculture. I didn’t know what the fascination was with favia, but now I get it. The colors are very nice. My favorite part was talking to Steve Garret @ Garret’s Acropolis, and bought a couple large Florida Ricordeas, and he remembers me going to his backyard over a decade ago! I will take my son to check out his outdoor system one of these days. I know I’m supposed to be setting up a SPS dominant tank, but I’m picking up more softies. Before show ended, I picked up a WD and Rainbow Loom SPS frag. Crossing my fingers that I can keep the colors.

Got a cool sunset orange plate with a purple base/rim. Size of a half dollar. I scooped it up for $20 which I thought was a great deal.

Ricordeas. The Floridas (bottom 2) have multiple mouths and just happy from Steve.

 

[drexel]

Nice! John has a great selection of clams, I picked up two croceas last year from him. Steve is a cool guy and I always make it a point to chat with him when I can. Give those favia some room, those sweepers get long.

 

[Jimbo327]

I didn’t know favia had long sweepers, that’s good to know. I put it next to my SPS frags. I’ll move it later. Thank you!

Update: I have isolated the Favia frag and placed it on the sand.

 

[DanK.Reefer]

Check out the favia at night once they get settled in. Thats when their sweepers really get going. once they are really established they will put them out during the day. The acanthestreas will do that at night as well.

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[drexel]

Since there are multiple species and genus that get the common name favia, their sweepers or mesenterial filaments can and will cause damage to neighbors and vary in size, length, etc. Joker favia for instance will have sweepers just as long as galaxea (6"or more). So placement with flow in mind will help move their sweepers away from neighbors.

 

[Jimbo327]

I believe the the favia I bought is called Fascination Favia. My son actually saw this piece in the $10 section, and he asked what it was. I thought it'll encrust like cyphastrea and be a nice peaceful LPS.
We bought it without much research because we had no plans on buying a favia. LOL.

 

[drexel]

I think they’re awesome looking corals and their growth form is pretty cool, especially if they get big. Just give it some room and enjoy.


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[Jimbo327]

My tank is definitely not calm. I don't know what the hell has gotten into my fishes.

I expected the Powder Blue and Powder Brown tangs to fight a bit, but they are also chasing the smaller Desjardini tang. The naso tang is the pig of the tank, and he throws his weight around when getting to the food.

The lone anthia is chasing the dominant chromi around the tank. All of the chromis are hiding in the rocks. I didn't know anthias would exert their dominance over chromis.

For months, the 2 clownfish didn't care about each other, and always sleep on opposite corners of the tank, but today...they were fighting all over the tank. I'm talking Battle Royale! They were head butting each other, smashing each other to the sand, and going after each others fin/tail. I know this is natural and part of figuring out who is the dominant one, but I hope they sort it out soon. They are both similar size, so that worries me a bit. I can't wait until lights go out, and things calm down a bit.

I've been feeding heavy because I didn't want tank aggression, but that doesn't seem to be working well. And I think my nutrients are getting a bit too high, seeing a bit more brown algae in the tank. I will need to ramp up the denitrator to keep things in check. I've sent in another ICP.

And to top it off, I think the 40 small nassarius vibex snails I just put into the tank became the Coris Wrasse snack. I don't see any of them anymore.

 

[Smite]

Are the powders new?
I hesitate to add a fish to my tank at this point. It affects the whole tank. If I add a tang, it triggers my tangs obviously but it sends a ripple through the whole tank's hierarchy for a while. Everyone seems to need to figure out where they are again.

 

[Jimbo327]

The powder brown, powder blue, and naso came from another reefer's tank that was exiting the hobby. And I was told they all got along in his tank. I added them about a month or two ago. But powders have been chasing each other ever since I added them to my tank.

Now I don't know if the other fishes have been picking the bad habit from watching the powder tangs go at it daily. The smaller Desjardini tang is fearless and hasn't been bowing down to the bigger tangs, so they have been bullying him...but the Desjardini tang is stubborn and has ripped fins, but this guy is putting up a fight. The anthia and one of the clown suddenly got all aggressive.

But I think if you add a different kind of fish like a fox face, the tangs wouldn't care as much. And if they are a good size, the other fish don't really mess with them as much. I think it is up to each individual fish as well. Some are just buttheads and some are chill. I can tell that when the Desjardini grows up, he's going to be a butthead and bully everybody.

 

[Jimbo327]

ICP shows Phosphate to be 0.03 ppm. But my Hanna checker shows 0.19 ppm

I don't really trust the ICP test, which is crazy since it should be more accurate.

 

[drexel]

ICP shows Phosphate to be 0.03 ppm. But my Hanna checker shows 0.19 ppm

I don't really trust the ICP test, which is crazy since it should be more accurate.

What company? Also, they're using the same type of tests we are for testing nutrients, so they have the same margin of error as we do. I found Fauna Marin and ATI to be fairly close to my testing.

 

[Jimbo327]

I've been using ICP-Analysis. I got 1 more test kit with them.

I also don't see Fluride tested either. I may need to make a switch.

How do you like the other ICP testers?

 

[DanK.Reefer]

how do the silicates show in your ICP test. Silicate will cause high reading on the hanna checker.

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[drexel]

I've been using ICP-Analysis. I got 1 more test kit with them.

I also don't see Fluride tested either. I may need to make a switch.

How do you like the other ICP testers?

I’ve heard mixed reviews with that company, but have never used them. I’ve used Triton, ATI and Fauna Marin. Out of all the ones I’ve used, I prefer ATI, with FM being a close second.


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[Jimbo327]

how do the silicates show in your ICP test. Silicate will cause high reading on the hanna checker.

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It shows up as silicon, which tested as 410 ppb. But unsure if that is high or not.

I do have some brown diatoms, but it very light dusting because I put in newly made frag plugs (E-Marco 400), and it usually gets brown in a few days. But my army of trochus snails are mowing it down. I may need to send in a RO water sample.

Nutrients definitely getting up there. Nitrates 20 ppm. Phosphates 0.2 ppm

I've increased my carbon dosing from 8ml to 12 ml vodka (Costco Vodka big 1.75L bottle for $13, Yay!).

 

[DanK.Reefer]

It shows up as silicon, which tested as 410 ppb. But unsure if that is high or not.

I do have some brown diatoms, but it very light dusting because I put in newly made frag plugs (E-Marco 400), and it usually gets brown in a few days. But my army of trochus snails are mowing it down. I may need to send in a RO water sample.

Nutrients definitely getting up there. Nitrates 20 ppm. Phosphates 0.2 ppm

I've increased my carbon dosing from 8ml to 12 ml vodka (Costco Vodka big 1.75L bottle for $13, Yay!).

Wow kirkland vodka you are fancy. I just bought the cheapest thing on the shelf at Fart and Smile(Smart and Final) $4 a bottle.

If you do a google search for phosphate checker vs silicates there are a few r2r threads that pop up regaurding the issue. I actually first read about it when I dosed silicates to induce a diatome bloom to beat dinos. My Hanna checker read high for a month after I quit dosing. There are numerous sources that reference the issue. Unfortunately if silicates are present the checker will read higher than actual.

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