My Official 120 Rebuild New Pics on 9/18

Thanks......I hope everything is well. Most everything is getting PE back. My ora blue voodoo took a bit of a beating but tips are still blue. Honestly, that coral looks like one of those REALLY high dollar pieces now. maybe I should sell it!

 

Glad you were able to catch it early Daniel.

 

Yeah I have felt that way about most things I have done that go past simple maintenance.

 

Alright, so it's really hard to take pics under LED's but here's an update. In the past week, I have gotten really aggressive with trying to rid the cyano and diatoms I've been experience. My tank is still new but that doesn't mean I like looking at them. So here's what I've done and it seems to be working:
1. Vacuuming the sand. About 5 - 10 gallons per day.
2. Started running filter socks. My gracious wife has been making socks for me because I refuse to reuse them. She is on her way to Joann's right now, as we speak, to pick up a whole bolt (I think that's the term) of felt. The stuff I have found isn't very porous at all but is working well. I have also noticed better skimmer production since running socks.
3. Turned the lights down 10% across the board. I have mine set to ramp up in 30 minute increments. (this has also helped with the bleaching)
4. Added a sand sifting star as well as a fighting conch.
I'm sure there are other things but these are the biggies.

My params, as of today, are as follows:
nitrate, nitrite, ammonia all 0
Alk is a little bit low, I think due to increased coral demand. 8.1
CA 330 (see note about alk)
Mag 1500
phosphate FINALLY 0

Since I've been so agressive with the Cyano, my xenia has started melting and I'm not too sure I'm angry about that. Everything else is starting to shape up. My montis that got bleached during the gfo incident are even starting to color back up. So here are some pics:

Pokerstar Monti, This piece was a fresh cut frag about 2 weeks ago. It has healed up nicely and is encrusting the plug.


Blue Milli, this piece did not like the gfo incident. It's really starting to color up again. The pics don't do it justice


I'm not quite sure what this is. I think it's either a bonsai or a tri color valida.


Frogspawn


Green Birdsnest, this piece didn't like the GFO incident either. It's starting to polyp again for me.


Tyree True Undata, This piece was pretty bland whe I got it and was very small. It's got to be the fastest grower in my tank and it's getting a really cool blue hue to it.


Bubble Coral, it took this piece about 3 days after GFO was added to open back up


Brain that just got done feeding!


New Tri-Color Valida


Bruno and Scribbles..I'm not sure what was on their mind but the pic looks like it could be a bad situation for the star. Just kidding the star was not harmed in the making of this pic.


Bruno, he has certainly colored up. I didn't know if he was going to make it. He looked really bad at the store.


My Pride and Joy....My Omega One Flake Food Eating Wrasse


Just good friends


Red Planet...I can't get a good pic of this piece to save my soul


Meteor Shower Cyphestrea


This is my RBTA that has been missing for about 3 months. Finally making an appearance and very bleached looking. This anemone hasn't been in the light for a very long time. I counted it gone and chalked it up as a loss. I'm so glad it's coming out of the rock now.


Acan


Armor of Gods...The one is a really cool morph


FTS......


New Dosing Regimine
Since I noticed my alk down when I tested today, I am going to add 15 minutes, total, to my timers. This will bump me up to 60 ML of alk and ca. I really think my tank has turned a corner from the GFO incident (which is now gone).

 

Powder brown was the first Tang I ever had...Named him Peanut Butter P.B. (Powder Brown) Awesome fish!! Nice job Daniel!

 

Very nice! I'm glad everything's working out for you

 

Oh man, I freakin love this fish. He spends quite a bit of time battling the glass though. I wish he would figure out that he's wasting his time and isn't going to be able to beat the glass up. When it's feeding time though, he sits behind my rabbit fish and catches the pieces of nori that fall off of the clip. (my rabbit is a filthy eater and nori flies everywhere) They make a great team !

 

Cam, thanks buddy! It's been more work over the last couple of weeks than I wanted and I'm sure it was just a phase the new tank was going through but I couldn't handle looking at it. The sand still has some diatomes but they aren't near as thick as they were. Cyano is pretty much all gone though.

 

Diatoms are still present on my tank but not half as bad as they were. My wife has started making filter socks for me and those seem to be working out well. She got my felt for 50% off due to a coupon she has so she picked up a whole thing of felt for 20 bucks. That's enough to make roughly, if my calculations are correct, about 75-100 filter socks. We are thinking they are going to cost about 2 dollars a piece after thread is taken into consideration. Now, if I could just get her to show me how to use her sewing machine, I would be good to go.

 

Great thread and lots of good info Daniel! Love that AoG zoas!

I thought about getting bulk felt from local Walmart (or wherever) and make them my own too. What kind felt are you using? The one i found had some dry glue thing on one side for more strength, I was afraid it might leech chemical into the system..