125 Gal

I would highly suggest getting one of the two YT damsels out of the tank now while you can. They will team up and run havoc on any small fish you add later. You just need one in there for seeding. Just remember to take caution when adding fish. You have six in there now and that is WAY too many for a tank that young. Take it slow and it won't be as hard on your wallet.

 

Well, I'm thinking it will be a lot of "fun" trying to catch even one of the YT damsels. I believe that my only chance will be during feeding time. As they like to zip in and out of the rock work. We started to put them in the refugium, now I'm wishing we had, but the wife likes seeing them in the tank...

I think it will be her job to catch them... :-/

So far, she has allowed me to be the one to feed them. Back when we had the 75 gal DT up, she would feed 1 to 2 times a day, every day, because the fish were "hungry"....I told her she had them well trained...

 

Re-enforcements to the CUC have arrived.

Double checked chems last night. Still seeing 0s across the board... I'll do my 3rd 10 gallon water change this weekend... It is ready to go right now...

From Reefs2go.com I purchased:

STapestry Nerite Snail
Brown Leg Hermit
Scarlett Leg Hermit Crab
Electric Blue Herrmit
Blue Leg Hermit Crab
Orange Fan Sponge​

They are acclimating right now, pics when I get home this evening...

 

Well, guess what, they look like crabs...lots of crabs...

So, I'll save the drive space for now.

 

As I've posted eariler, the cycle is on...however I'm still seeing 0s for NH3, NO3, NO2, PO4 with both sets of test kits...so, it must be true...

But I have observed, that the brown/green hair algae started first on the Agrocerat rock I purchased from GARF and remains primary on that rock.

Left:


Center:


Right:


Looking in from the top....can not see much, can you...???

 

This algae is 2 to 3 inches long and rapidly growing...

Earlier this week, we added more hermits, cerath, porcelain and emerald crabs.

Tomorrow, we'll be adding a lawn mower blenny, court jester goby, and a pin cushin urchin...all herbivores with an appetite for hair algae...

Other things I've done, shortened both the blue and white lite time by 2 hours each. So the whites are only on for 10 hours now.

Pics tomorrow evening of the new additions.

 

Joe what are the parameters of the water ? And what method are you going to use to cycle the system ? The old timer way I like to cycle them or going a newer improved route ? As for the algae at this point.. You are actually doing more harm by adding any more fish to the system other then the little yellow tailed damsel if you went My method ? . Add the snails and set back. Run only the actinic lamps and get the and Magnesium to 1500 ppm , DKH up to 13 to 14 and Ca to 450 to 500 .. Run no lights for about 4 weeks then turn on the actinics only for 4 hrs aday then add 2 hrs aday till you get to 16 hrs of actinic lights only a day then you are about through the cycle. Cut the skimmer and seed the system with a shot of good coralline seeded sand about a 1/2 to full cup is all thats needed.

Now as for the GARF rocks its nothing magical about them they need to cure and the cement is full of silicas and even Phosphates and other minerals that will leech out for sometime . It will harm little but get the PO4 and NO3 reactors going . And change the PO4 media weekly for the first 6 weeks use a 1/2 cup at a time of the Ferric oxide and change it weekly.

But you have about 2 yrs of little normal algae problems ahead all in the game and controllable and nothing I and or anyone else did and do not have to deal with .. But I'd add no more fish until 14 weeks from start up and then only one at a time and waiting 2 weeks in between new fish additions then.

At about 10 weeks you can start feeding the M/H or white light T5's to the system there is at this time no need to the lights other then feed algae in a very unstable water quality system.. You ever need me and I do not pop up here ? feel free to call buddy I just set here still ): Building calcium reactors and NO3 coils and the like .

 

As for the parms, I'm using 2 different kits to measure "the big 4:" NH3, NO2, NO3, & PO4... and still today, these are all 0 with both kits. The first 3 weeks (before the O3 was up and running) I would call them > 0 but less than the first color marker for the test...After getting the Bullet 3 and O3 on line these all brightened up and moved closer to 0.

Even the quick test I ran on Wednesday (NH3, NO3) were both 0s.

The salt mix I'm running is Reef Crystals....for start up and in a fresh mix Ca is about 360, Mg is about 1200, and alk is 2.5 meq/l (~7 dkh)... I have not started the Ca reactor...but to meet your targets I'll do so this weekend and get started bringing up the numbers. I have been adding buffer to keep the pH > 8 and alk ~2.5 meq/l...

I have completed 4 - 10 g water changes so far... I could not tell any difference in chemistry before and after the change... For working numbers, I 'assume' 10 gallons to be a 5% change.

As for seeding the system, I added 10 #s of GARF grunge to the Refugium when it was brought on line. Likely closer to 3 cups...

As for lighting, I'm sure you understand the influences of a wife....patience may not be her greatest virtue...nor mine....

Any experience with how long the cement will leach (or be a source of) phosphates/silicas? I have observed that the cleaned natural rock that has been re-used and some of the live rock pulled from the sump and move to the DT are not growing the brown/green algae...

If you remember, the 150 #s of live rock and the CDN are both a year old and have been maintaining a "seed tank" in preparation to getting this system running. I'm banking on these, the skimmer, and the Phosphate Reactor (running GFO), to keep the start up cycle to a minimum...

Now as for the PO4 reactor, it was started with 2 cups of GFO and the thought was to replace it the moment I could descern a change in the PO4 test results...so, now that I'm greater than 6 weeks out and still have not seen any color change on the PO4 test....???

What will need some time is the 8" DSB in the refugium, the new sand in the DT, and the 100 +/- lbs of Aragocrete rock added to the DT.

I'm expecting the algae issues...that's part of the start up "fun & games"....I'm just expecting that the "seed system" components will minimize the issues....

It may have been a mistake to add the Aragocrete, as it appears to be a source of nutrients I had not planned to manage...I suspect that the algae growing on it will consume much of the nutrients contained in the rock....quickly....I hope....In time, as you indicate, I expect to see this resolve itself.

As long as the as long as the big 4 stay at 0 in the water column...there is little more I can do but wait for the CUC to do their job...and get the Ca, Mg, and alk up and into operating band....

 

Test results from this weekend....

Ca was 480 ppm and Mg at 820 ppm (a bit lower than expected and the ratio seems wrong). Need to get the recipe off of BRS for the Mg additive and mix some up, looks like I'll be using it for a while.

pH ~8 and alk 2.2 meq/l (adding buffer daily to get to 4.3 meq/l or 12 dkh)

NH3, NO3, NO2, PO4 were all still 0 with both test kits.

Mix and ran in another 10 gal water change... Changed the element in the canister filter...

Still need a bit of advice on the Ca Reactor to get it running....(equipment thread)


As for the fish added on Friday,

• the lawn mower is out front and and just munching away...
• the pin cushin urchin seems to be happily working the rocks...
• the court jester goby has hid! We have not seen him since releasing from acclamation. There is only one area where it could even get out of the tank...and there is no body there....so, must still be hiding....

Pics tonight....

 

As of last night's tests,

Alk is 2.8 meq/l (7.8 dkh) and continuing to climb as I add buffer every night. pH is holding at about 8.2 (evening measurement).

The Ca reactor is still not running as I'm still in need of some guidance with the flow paths to get it working.