Reef2Keep Nano Build

Goby night time shot...

 

Well, unfortunately the goby has since perished. He refused to eat frozen foods and I couldn't keep buying bottles of pods to keep up his diet. A bummer.

But today was a good day, I finally found a Picasso. He's still a bit shy in the tank but slowly coming to life. Even the shrimp came out for the camera.

Picasso Clown - YouTube

 

sorry about your goby, he was so cute Congrats on your picasso, very pretty fish. I really like your scape and your rock is so dark with coralline, it looks like all of it is very purple.....looking very good!

 

Beautiful clown.

 

actually....I have ZERO coralline algae yet. the LED blues just make it look that way on video. but thanks nonetheless!

thanks!

he's still acting quite shy today, just keeps swimming next to the class, he hasn't explored the tank whatsoever yet. the clown in my last tank did the same thing until I added another fish. I actually named him "trip" b/c I thought he had a screw loose, ha. This guy just needs some time I'm sure....

 

Haven't posted an update in a while....mainly because it's been increasing algae and decreasing coral health in my tank. I can't seem to find the proper usage of the PO4 reactor and I believe it to have done more harm than good...so I'm done with it. I added a small fuge (mangroves and chaeto) in my sump. Unfortunately it's very small and makeshift due to the lack of space, but hopefully it helps get things back on track.

The reactor in the pic only has a little bit of carbon in it, and I'm also using it to transfer water over to the chaeto. That should be ok right? I'm pretty sure carbon doesn't filter out NO3 or PO4 so that water should still provide nutrients....?

 

What issues where you having with the GFO? I love gfo and is a vital part of my tank filtration.

What are your nitrates and phosphates at?

You can always plum a 10 gallon into the side cabinet as a fuge or Biopellets?

 

I think it got my water too clean. My corals started bleaching and receding. Part of the problem was that I was using too much product (carbon and GFO), but then I tried again using the correct amounts and still saw similar results. I decided that I just didn't have enough nutrients in my tank, however once I saw all the hair algae start growing I was at a loss. Honestly, I thought GFO was going to be a staple in my system as well, however I heard/read a few stories where it's crashed tanks....which has me hesitant now.

I recently threw out my API PO4 test, it was old and I never felt like it gave clear results. Still using API NO3 and it's always 5-10 (again, not a clear test). I'll be replacing both this week with likely the Red Sea kits.

I've definitely thought about plumbing a separate cabinet for a fuge, but thanks for the suggestion! I still might go that route in the near future. I'm going to wait and see what the next week or two does...

 

If you where running to much gfo check your alk!!!! gfo can destroy your alk levels that might have been why your corals where bleaching.

 

Oh yeah, water chemistry def got out of whack! Been testing almost daily ever since and things are back to normal. However I still want to pursue as much natural filtration as feasible before I consider using GFO again.