Returning to reefing

[SDguy]

Lookin' great! And welcome back!

[pirate2876]

Time for an update!!
The only equipment change I have made is to add a 36" Current Led True Lumen actinic blue strip. These LED's are very small but super bright. The mounting hardware is easy to use and works very well. I basically wanted a bluer tank, with more "pop" from the actinic. This light is great.

I also removed my filter sock. I wanted to see if this would help with nutrient export. And the way I had the drain to the sock rigged made the sock hard to remove. I added a few pieces of filter pad cut to fit around the overflow to help with the little particles though. I just cut up a big carbon pad or poly filter to help remove small particles. I have TONS of pods now. Almost too many. At night I can see thousands of little white specs moving around.

Well, the tank lately has been a bit bittersweet. All the corals seem to be doing well, but fish... I had a pretty bad algae break out with brown, then green algae. I started using the Red Sea No3Po4-X and cleared that up right away. I recommend this to anyone suffering from spike in phosphate or nitrate. I was able to get my nitrate to 0 and the phosphate to .04 in about 3 weeks. Use sparingly though as it can cause cyano.

[pirate2876]

But my tank took a big hit from saltwater velvet. I lost my Radiant wrasse,Midas blenny, Kole tang, 3x firefish, and 2 TR percula clowns all in 2-3 days. Everyone was eating up till the last few hours of there life. The Kole tang went from being the picture of health, to stuck to the powerhead in what seemed like hours. By the time the physical symptoms showed up these fish were already doomed. FW dips didnt help, they may have stressed the poor guys more I think. The only survivors were 3 Chromis and my Allardi clown.

I think I am going to wait a few months before adding any more fish. I am thinking about adding a UV to see if that would help with the velvet, but I wont know if it does till I add a new victim(fish).

[pirate2876]

Added another Tunze 6045 and a UV sterilizer to help combat the Velvet that left me with only 3 Chromis. I also started dosing Red Sea coral energy. I have only been dosing for a few days so I cant really say I see a noticeable difference. I am interested to see if it does. So far the Red Sea product line has been very good to me and my tank. Now if I could only figure a way to get a decent picture...

[pirate2876]

No additional pics, but I added a Aqua star calcium reactor. Only the mini though. If I need more Cal or Alk I will get the bigger size. I added a few fish and so far all looks good. Radiant Wrassse, Yellow Coris, Tomini Tang(didnt make it 2 days..), Midas Blenny, Mandarin dragonet, and a Onyx clown. I also discovered a few zoa eating spiders. Trying to hunt these guys at night is no fun but I have to do something.

After visiting a fellow reefers house, I really like the colors of his tank. Think I am going to switch the T-5 bulbs out to either ATI or try those Red Sea Reef-spec bulbs. Corals show good growth, but I am not completely happy with the color of the lights with everything on. I also began dosing Red Sea Coral Colors. Its been a week and I am getting a brighter blue and green on my torts. I am hoping the color increase continues.

[pirate2876]

Last night was a long night. Came home to find the return pump off and I have no idea how long the tank was without it. The Diablo pump failed somehow. I took it out and replaced with a Mag drive pump I keep for back up. I removed the housing and impeller from the Dc pump but couldn't get it to start back up. Not sure what the issue is. Impeller seemed fine and could find any loose debris.

The tank seems okay. I did a five gallon WC and hopefully everything will be okay. The tank had an unusual amount of algae on the glass for one day. I suspect the pump was off for hours.

I took a few shots after I finished cleaning up. This was a rough night for all. My kids were acting up, my wife broke a casserole dish in the oven and the turned the self cleaning feature on, which lead to massive amounts of smoke. And this morning my shower would not drain. I need a beer.

[pirate2876]

New fish pick up.

new ORA pieces

[DaveMorris]

Tank looks nice. Did you ever find out what the deal was with your pump?

[pirate2876]

Tank looks nice. Did you ever find out what the deal was with your pump?

Thanks Dave. I contacted CoralVue and they sent me out a new one. Their customer service was very nice and efficient. I have no idea why the pump failed, but the supplier I purchased the pump from said they had not had many problems with the Diablo pumps.

[pirate2876]

Need an ID on this one. Its and ORA piece, but I dont know which.

[pirate2876]

[jessegarcia28]

Wow! Beautiful
Are you still dosing the Red Sea products


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[pirate2876]

I do dose them, but I don't have the tests kits so I dose sparingly. I feel that my tank is at its best right after smaller water changes, so I try and do 10-15 weekly. That and a calcium reactor are all that I use consistently.

I do Red Sea Energy A&B, but I get a small amount of freshwater and add the dosage to the container. Then I add fish/coral food to that and let it soak for about 10 min. I turn off the pumps and then feed that. It really makes for crazy PE on the sps.

[pirate2876]

[Saduran86]

You're tank looks beautiful, great colors too!