# 45g poormans reef



## dabandit1 (Dec 6, 2010)

Hello everyone back to saltwater after a 2 year break,had two beautiful little girls and wanted to spend all my time with them. Anyway terrible twos are here and I need a reef escape lol.
I promised my wife Id keep the cost down on this one so the idea is to let nature take the place of technology ie.money Its been my belief for many years that much of the equipment is more of a luxury than a necesity and can be replaced by patience and good husbandry.

Ok here we go,equipment;
-45g bowfront 24'' deep
-72w ebay l.e.d dimmable with cree xpg bulbs and 60 and 80 degree lenses (currentlly running at 65% was at 80% and bleaching sps,coloring up nice at 65%)
-Fluval 305 canister yup canister,I'm not running a sump or skimmer and have found them to be great as mechanical filtration as well as reactors in the past. Running with no biomedia just the stock filter pads 1/2cup carbon and 3tbsp gfo
-koralia 4 1200gph powerhead,with filter thats around 1500gph total gives me the 1'' waves I need to skim the surface and airate the deep tank
-30lbs aragonite sand 2-3 1/2''

For LR I used dry rock simply because it was 1/3 the price this is where the patience comes in,filled her up and waited 3 months for the cycle to complete ghost fed the tank once a week and did one water change when I noticed diatoms. At the 3 month mark my nitrate shot up to 240 at that point is when I removed biomedia from the filter and added carbon and gfo,nitrate levels dropped around 20-40 a day during this point you could see bubbles leeching from the LR and sandbed singnifying the presence of denitrifying bacteria I attribute this for the sudden drop in nitrates more than the addition of carbon/gfo. 
Anyway in around a week in a half my nitrate is a steady 0-1 too low to accuratelly detect same story for phosphates.

The beginning
Light came smashed,nice though brushless fans real cree bulbs


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## 77_Bus_Girl (Dec 30, 2012)

Someone with patience! What a novel idea!  Wish I had more of that!
I'll follow this with interest - would be cool to keep track of the costs, as that's one thing that has always steered me away from salt.


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## dabandit1 (Dec 6, 2010)

Been a month since I added livestock,just added some sps last week as my tank is finally stable and no longer growing diatoms or algae. No water changes just 3g when I clean my filter every 2weeks replaced carbon and gfo at the 3 week mark.

Stocking list;
-pink zoas
-Ninja turtle/mixed zoa rock
-Armor of god pallys
-Purple monster pallys
-Acan
-Riccordea yuma
-blue tip millipora or red aussie prostrata not sure
-two other mystery sps (order got a bit confusing as nothing looks like what I ordered  

Within 2 weeks the zoas had at least 5 new heads each and the acan has healed where it was fragged,I've had the sps for a week they are coloring up and have healed in the few spots where they were damaged shipping. Pics to come......


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## dabandit1 (Dec 6, 2010)

The whole idea behind this tank is natural. I see so many builds where they throw dollar after dollar trying to fix simple issues typically overstocking,can you fix overstocking by adding eqipment...yes but the idea is to read your tank and let it tell you what it can handle...back to the basics of fish keeping. Dont get me wrong I love to overstock and buy fancy gadgets to compensate but not this time.

So many buy massive colonies and plant hundreds 2'' apart bamo instant reef....back to basics of fish keeping on this one, CORALS NEED SPACE for their own health....and my wallet lol I dont expect a show piece for several years and Im fine with that.
Anyway pics...


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## dabandit1 (Dec 6, 2010)

unknown







Milli or prostrata







unknown


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## dabandit1 (Dec 6, 2010)

Purple monster







Kenya tree and macro algae







Pink zoas







Ninja turtle zoas


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## dabandit1 (Dec 6, 2010)

Armor of god







Yuma







FTS

Dont mind the algae on the rock and the diatoms on the sand they arent growing back just remnats of the cycle It took 3 1/2 months!!!!!


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## dabandit1 (Dec 6, 2010)

As far as cost savings goes dry rock online 2$lb vs 9$lb for lr at the lfs cost 40$ vs 180$,ebay led sps capable 160$ vs 280-500 and the canister 90$ takes place of a skimmer,sump,return pump and a reactor.
My dry rock was seeded entirelly by snails and frags and patience!!!! Im seeing hundreds of pods on my glass and coraline algae on my rock after 3 months!!! 


This type of build certainlly isnt for the lazy nothing is automated and its not for the impatient it will take years to develop,but its great for the broke ocd experienced aquarist lol


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## dabandit1 (Dec 6, 2010)

77_Bus_Girl said:


> Someone with patience! What a novel idea!  Wish I had more of that!
> I'll follow this with interest - would be cool to keep track of the costs, as that's one thing that has always steered me away from salt.


The sky is the limit cost wise for salt water,no matter what its expensive but you can certainlly keep costs down if your willing to work for it. Im at;
-light 160$shipped
-filter 90$
-rock 40$
-powerhead 40$
-coral 10$ each 100$
-salt 40$ for 160g worth
-fish chromis 7$
-tank 50$
-test kits 90$
617$ I had alot of it though from my last fresh water tank so my cost was much lower,subtract tank,filter,powerhead and test kits for me


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## dabandit1 (Dec 6, 2010)

Had the sps in the tank for almost 2 weeks now,they were mail order from a less than reputable vendor. Two of the frags were fresh cut they didnt make it they both stn'd within 2 weeks,the frags were all browned out. Anyway I'm happy to report the surviving 2 sps coral have visiblly grown and colored up in the past to weeks,they now look like this...








This one turned from brown to purple


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## dabandit1 (Dec 6, 2010)

From brown/purple to blue/green/purple


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## monkE (Aug 4, 2010)

Great job on the tank so far.. i certainly don't have that kind of patience and I hope it doesn't come back to bite me. Love the coral assortment and can't wait to see it spread out! 

Thanks for the detailed thread, good and educational read.


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## SeaHorse_Fanatic (Apr 22, 2010)

Good to see someone taking the slow, less expensive KISS method of reefing. Patience and more work on your part can be a good substitute for $$ and high-tech equipment. Unfortunately, those are not common virtues among most reefers, myself included.


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## monkE (Aug 4, 2010)

SeaHorse_Fanatic said:


> Good to see someone taking the slow, less expensive KISS method of reefing. Patience and more work on your part can be a good substitute for $$ and high-tech equipment. Unfortunately, those are not common virtues among most reefers, myself included.


^ya that's me too^


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## dabandit1 (Dec 6, 2010)

Patience not really my strong point either lol. I used to have the high dollar high tech setups and I got to thinking one day that the goodies only made my life easier and enabled me to rush and overstock,so I went back to the basics of fish keeping....no rushing,no overstocking. Ran a 90g sps dominant for 3 years skimmerless/sumpless it was the healthiest tank I ever had.
I like many others in the past have rushed out and bought all the crap everyone else had...dosed what everyone else dosed,it wasn't until I learned to read MY tanks demands ie cause and effect that I had real success and stability......its so simple,let the tank cycle,add stock let it cycle again if parameters dont go back to 0 your eco system is out of balance...solution increase the system ie;more liverock,sand,skimmer,reactors whatever suits your needs best....continue until your ecosytem is balanced......THE BASICS of fish keeping , just mindlessly throwing crap at your system can over filter/unbalance your system and cost needless money. Just my 2 cents anyway


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## dabandit1 (Dec 6, 2010)

Small update picked up a skimmer,water was just too hazy for my liking. This tank is in my bedroom so it has to be quiet,did a bunch of research and decided on the slim skim by hydor the price,quietness and lack of micro bubbles made the choice easy for me...I dont have room behind the tank either so in tank was a plus aswell. Also came across a beautiful sunset? Monti for 10$ I had to have it. 
Heres a few pics notice how the diatoms are gone and the algae is dying back


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## PaulCheung (Apr 18, 2011)

I have a similar size tank and have been thinking about getting a protein skimmer. I am interested to know the performance and how easy this HOB skimmer do.


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## dabandit1 (Dec 6, 2010)

PaulCheung said:


> I have a similar size tank and have been thinking about getting a protein skimmer. I am interested to know the performance and how easy this HOB skimmer do.


Water went from VERY hazy to crystal clear within the first day. Probablly one of the easiest skimmers Ive ever setup I have it set to skim dry/dark I've got about 1'' of horrible looking and smelling dark skimate since its been running 1-2 days.
It foams like crazy and it isnt even broken in yet and doesnt require any adjustments even if your water level dips a bit......and stupid quiet too. I like it so far and Im getting used to looking at it.
Only con so far is a few micro bubbles,but they are supposed to go away in time.
Thinking a few mods to make it better would be airpump on the airline (blowing in it makes it bubble like a beast lol) and a sponge or media bag placed on the bottom to increase reaction time and help with micro bubbles if they continue to be an issue,going to wait until its broken before I try anything.


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## PaulCheung (Apr 18, 2011)

thank you for the info. I will keep checking this thread and may be buy the same skimmer for my 33g.


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## Nicole (Nov 21, 2011)

Nice thread. I will actually be following this one. Do you mind specifying which light it was that you bought off ebay and how it's working for you? Thanks.


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## dabandit1 (Dec 6, 2010)

Nicole said:


> Nice thread. I will actually be following this one. Do you mind specifying which light it was that you bought off ebay and how it's working for you? Thanks.


Gladlly I had a hard time finding info when I bought,happy to share.

I'll pm you a link and anyone else whos interested but I wont post here so I dont break any advertising rules unless a mod says its okay. Anyway the one I picked uses american cree xpg 3 watt bulbs 24 of them for 72w the seller claims he has them made in china to his specs, great seller lens came broken he offered free return shippng for the whole unit,instead I had him ship me a new lense it came in 2 days by fedex wicked service. From my research I know cree xpg are proven coral growers though they arent the latest and greatest you used to find them in high end fixtures. I'm very impressed with the quality of the unit it uses dual brushless fans which are a very nice touch not cheap and very quiet. The light itself is warm to the touch after running all day but not hot same for the ballast box thingy.

Im seeing incredible growth in my zoas,pallys and montipora all of which are around 30'' away from the light,too soon to say on my other sps but I was bleaching some sps at 90% around 12'' away and had to dial back to around 85% may even have to go down to 70% these are very intense I'm glad I bought the dimmable as I can also set the color of the light aswell as the intensity....makes light acclimating coral easy. So glad I didnt buy the 100+ watt one it would have been overkill. I have 1 one my 30'' long tank its 24'' deep and the light is 8'' above my water I would suggest 2 if your tank was even 6 inches longer. The unit was 180 obo on ebay he took 165 shipped on my second offer money well spent in my opinion at 1/3 the price of even diy


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## dabandit1 (Dec 6, 2010)

Forgot to mention my only concern is they arent full spectrum like the fancy units not sure what difference that makes in the real world...but when I ran halide/t5 it wasnt full spectrum either and my coral grew like weeds.


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## dabandit1 (Dec 6, 2010)

Got some decent pictures playing around with macro on my phone,wish I could take better.
Check out the growth on these zoas
Before









After


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## dabandit1 (Dec 6, 2010)

:bigsmile:


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## dabandit1 (Dec 6, 2010)

First real setback. Started dosing abc+ elements due to faulty readings on my test kit. Actual readings after several dosings were ;
-kh 14-15
-ca 470
-ph 8.6
-mg 1700

The effects took its toll on one of the sps its receding slowlly at the base,did a water change 15% and dialled the light back 10% to help it heal as its looking a little faded....time will tell everthing else looking good. FINALLY seeing some coraline algae growth but only in areas that get next to no light,I've read about other people with l.e.d having a hardtime getting coraline to grow why I dont know....this patience thing is killing me,but the gratification of starting from nothing is pretty cool,got to watch my pod colonies start from nothing to total tank domination and see coraline start as a little speck on my rock....five years from now I'll be a real proud papa lmao

As far as the skimmer goes it does its job very well but it does leak micro bubbles a bit,I put a rubber band around the collection cup to prevent it from floating when running a wet skim. It pulls about 5tbsp of nasty black skimate a week out of my tank,considering I only have 2 1'' fish and run carbon&gfo thats pretty impressive. With my current stock I could certainlly live without it but I'm shooting for ultra low nutrients....which I'm achieving phosphates undectable,nitrates undetectable. Glass cleaned about every 2 weeks.


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## dabandit1 (Dec 6, 2010)

Trying to keep a growth record,Im thinking month by month might be the way to go so here we go,these pictures are all taken a month apart I wish my cell camera took better pics it doesnt do the colors justice.








Branch 1/4'' longer,encrusting more,wider and more polyps with better extension








Too many new heads to count this thing grows like a weed,spread to my LR...and a different species showed up on it if anyone could I.D it I'd appreciate it








Deep purple,took over plug


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## dabandit1 (Dec 6, 2010)

Kenya doubled








Macro doing good in the shade doesnt seem to bother the kenya...I wish I could find more macro's if anyones doing a border run from reefcleaners let me know:lol:


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## dabandit1 (Dec 6, 2010)

FTS I usually cant get near my tank lol
















Green coraline is taking over!!! the purple only grows in the shade

Got my bad boy l.e.d up to 90% now been slowlly raising it since the sps colored up.


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## dabandit1 (Dec 6, 2010)

A little rescape today to make room for a couple new pieces coming wednesday :bigsmile: (green stag&birdsnest)ooo big spenda lol.
I also straightened out how the purple milli was sitting this short light casts alot of shadows if the piece isnt directlly under it and the millis dark side was browning out(no starwars jokes pls lol).
Lots of room on the new scape and sand bed aswell for a few more frags I want to add down the road.
This green coraline is an incredible grower just absolutelly dominating my lr solid 1/8''+ thick in spots damn ugly though.


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## dabandit1 (Dec 6, 2010)

Dang it why do my pics keep rotating when I load them here?


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## monkE (Aug 4, 2010)

Looks great man! try rotating the photo within photobucket and then reloading the IMG code. Those zoas look amazing.. what phone are you using???


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## dabandit1 (Dec 6, 2010)

monkE said:


> Looks great man! try rotating the photo within photobucket and then reloading the IMG code. Those zoas look amazing.. what phone are you using???


Yeah I rotated in photobucket but they load sideways here....odd
Galaxy s2 supposed to be 8mp camera but in my hands it mightaswell be 1mp lol ,my pics dont do those zoas justice the armor of god glows even without the actinics,pretty surreal.


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## dabandit1 (Dec 6, 2010)

OOOO got some dragon eye zoas added to my order,coming next wednesday....I've been looking for some for years!!!:bigsmile:


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## peppy2013 (Feb 19, 2013)

Just wondering were you found your dry rock  thanks


dabandit1 said:


> As far as cost savings goes dry rock online 2$lb vs 9$lb for lr at the lfs cost 40$ vs 180$,ebay led sps capable 160$ vs 280-500 and the canister 90$ takes place of a skimmer,sump,return pump and a reactor.
> My dry rock was seeded entirelly by snails and frags and patience!!!! Im seeing hundreds of pods on my glass and coraline algae on my rock after 3 months!!!
> 
> This type of build certainlly isnt for the lazy nothing is automated and its not for the impatient it will take years to develop,but its great for the broke ocd experienced aquarist lol


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## dabandit1 (Dec 6, 2010)

I got my dry rock from goreef online it was 2.25$ a pound and shipping was only like 9$ for 20lbs. pretty sweet deal. I didnt even bother buying live rock to seed it,all my pods came from frags took about 2 months but my copepod and amphipod population is aboslutelly crazy!! when i clean my filter the thing is litterally moving inside with thousands of pods. Coraline was seeded from snail shells and frags aswell. If you want to speed up the process you could add a couple pounds of liverock,but you dont have to if your patient. 
Good luck,and no worries Im stuck at home for the past couple months and bored as hell!!! anymore questions im allways around the forum.


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## dabandit1 (Dec 6, 2010)

Omg I fluked with my camera and got a macro picture right


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## dabandit1 (Dec 6, 2010)

Rearranged my kenya so that my macro algae could take over the dark side of my rock. Those arent air bubbles I just fed some copepods that I collected from my filter,I'll post a video of that process eventually.Kenya is mad because i poked him to get the picture lol








This is the feeding response I get from my milli when I feed pods,I wish I could get a better pic but its allways moving


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## peppy2013 (Feb 19, 2013)

love all of your pics  thanks for sharing


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## dabandit1 (Dec 6, 2010)

peppy2013 said:


> love all of your pics  thanks for sharing


Thanks for looking


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## monkE (Aug 4, 2010)

looking great man! what's the milli??? what's it full name so i can google it, looks real neat


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## PurpleMonkey (Nov 28, 2011)

Acropora millepora i believe


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## monkE (Aug 4, 2010)

PurpleMonkey said:


> Acropora millepora i believe


thanks harp!


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## dabandit1 (Dec 6, 2010)

Yup,blue tip acropora millipora.....supposed to be but looks nothing like the picture where I bought it (****alot)...long story, might also be a red aussie prostrata it was pretty brown/reddish when I got it now its purple/blue/red and green but my camera ''fixes'' the color out lol Im leaning towards milli.

I like to test my new tanks with tough cheap coral,I've found montipora,millipora and seriatopora (birdsnest) to be pretty tolerant through the growing pains of a newish tank,good starter sps


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## dabandit1 (Dec 6, 2010)

Finally got my phone figured out,been screwing around.
I love macro algae...maybe thats the freshie in me trying to get out lol I cant get it to attach though my damn snails keep ripping it up I think im going to crazy glue it to my rock. Its ready for a trim going to frag it up to use around the dark spots of my tank....still looking for display macros I bought this damn kenya tree just because it had this nice caulepera growing on it. Might end up just keeping it single species too which is also pretty nice IMO.
My ultimate goal is for a naturally filtered tank,I've pulled it off before but never in a tank this small should be tricky.
Couple pics,checkout the all the new polyps on my monti its starting to turn purple...dont know what it is either sunset or pokerstar Im thinking an I.D would be apreciated

















Thanks for looking guys and gals I know this isnt the most exciting journal....but its honest,not a show piece but very attainable for the rest of us


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## dabandit1 (Dec 6, 2010)

Oh that green thing to the bottom left of the acan is a purple rim yuma in case you were wondering, it lost color and detached,ended up in that hole (these lights are soooo powerfull) its starting to look better there in the shade


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## dabandit1 (Dec 6, 2010)

Oooo I've been a badboy, my order for next week keeps growing somehow lol I couldnt help myself youl see why next week :bigsmile: dragoneyes,dragoneye palmtree combo,green tip acropora,green stag,birdsnest somebody stop me before my wife kicks me out lol
Oh and Claudia is trying to force me to buy a seahorse


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## scott tang (Jan 29, 2012)

get an eel or no a mantis shrimp


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## dabandit1 (Dec 6, 2010)

I forgot scott tang is trying to force me to buy an eel too  lol my will is growing weak added another coral to my list 

....omg where am I going to put all of this lol....upgrade time


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## Nicole (Nov 21, 2011)

I'm too poor to get a Dendro colony, so you should do it for me


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## dabandit1 (Dec 6, 2010)

LOL luckily the dendro colony is pending or I'd be on the couch lol


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## dabandit1 (Dec 6, 2010)

Tidying up the tank a bit snapped a few pics

The elusive purple monster,things impossible to get a good picture of. The centers glow like armor of god under actinics they are cool as he** wish I could get a picture of that








What ever zoa this is its doing good I wanted single species colonies so I might frag them off of my Ninja turle colony








My new caulepera frags,I crazy glued it to some rocks if it works Im going to make more








Oh and that ugly brown sps probably isnt going to make it,it was doing great until my whole testkit/dosing fiasco...I wont miss it the thing is ugly and not what I ordered in the first place,doesnt look like a purple hairy acro or blue granulosa to me lol (lesson learned about buying online from known to be bad vendors) My milli is doing great Im thinking about naming him milli vanilli for those of us old enough to know who that is lol


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## dabandit1 (Dec 6, 2010)

Order came in, 2 sps doa  (My slimer slimed itself to death as did the green tip acro..damn fedex!!) heres what I got,just waiting for them to aclimate before I place them. I'll get some good pics then


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## scott tang (Jan 29, 2012)

may i ask why you want caulepera i had some in my tank a month ago it has taken over im taking hand fuls out per week and its a 29 gal lol
beautiful tank tho 
where did you buy your kenya tree ?


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## dabandit1 (Dec 6, 2010)

pacific aquatics in delta. I want caulepera for nutrient export and I like the look of macros...this one in particular I kept planted tanks for years its in my blood lol. If your nutrients are in check it doesnt grow that fast mine grows about 1'' a month and when it gets into the light it melts also keeping it in check and hopefully away from my coral, my bioload is basically non existant so Im not worried about an outbreak. That being said I'm the type who likes to tinker I dont mind trimming it back once a week if I have to  also im planning on a tang tank down the road and they love the stuff so I'm trying to build up a surplus lol


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## dabandit1 (Dec 6, 2010)

Almost forgot came on for a photoupdate got some nice ones figured I'd share

Dragoneyes baby!!!!









Birdsnest a bit banged up but looking healthy,I hope it makes it..this is my third attempt in this tank 









Cool pic I got of the new tower scape with my new dragoneye/palmtree in the center...has some coloring up to do









Notice all the purdy purple/pink coraline showing up on my LR .......about time!!! :bigsmile:


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## dabandit1 (Dec 6, 2010)

Got my frags placed :bigsmile: Broke my birdsnest off the plug acidently, tried epoxying it down ,it got a bit more banged up hope it makes it


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## dabandit1 (Dec 6, 2010)

Finally got my scooter blennie :bigsmile: Yeah I know a scooter in a 35g  lol trust me I know what Im doing lmao, I've kept dragonettes in 10g with success. This poor little guy has a sunken stomach he wouldnt have lasted much longer where I got him from. He's been eating like a little pig since I got him,my tank is overrun with pods,black bugs and clear flatworms......once he decimates their populations I'll teach him to eat cyclopeze.
These are one of my all time favorite fish I couldnt see another die due to ignorance I had to rescue this little guy.....PLEASE RESEARCH this fish before you buy one they need special attention!!!

Anyway a pic


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## dabandit1 (Dec 6, 2010)

First clear sign of a problem  when I got my last batch of frags I noticed a danae had polyps out the first day but they never came back out it appears to have stn'd (hard to tell it was white to begin with) anyway a few days after I noticed alot of black bugs on one of the frags,a few days later they are everywhere. Now I notice less polyp extension around the base of my milli and my monti is losing color and its flesh is peeling but not to bare skeleton just to lighter tissue? an odd one. Almost like the monti is rejecting a contaminent....or being eaten. 
All my params are fine and stable only issue I found is my calcium is down to 400 while my kh is a steady 12, mg is a little low at around 1150,though not ideal I cant see those params hurting anything so I'm guessing its these damn black bugs  Im hoping the scooter,my acan and pink zoas take care of them but I have these visions of mass coral die off in my future  Going to slowlly raise my ca up to 450 and my mg up to 1300 and cross my fingers


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## dabandit1 (Dec 6, 2010)

In case anyone was wondering
temp 79
ca 400
salinity 1.023
mg 1150
kh 12
ph 8.1
nitrate undetectable
phosphate undetectable 

Dont dose anything,just started on ca+mg supplement today

0 algae,cyano,diatoms but my macro grows well so there is a small presence of phosphate/nitrate I guess?
Maybe my tank is too sterile I never have to clean my glass?


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## zhasan (Oct 28, 2010)

Nice setup bud! You certainly have a LOT of patience! How is that light coming along for you? I'm thinking of ordering one of those from ebay and try it out on my tank. I want to know what your experience has been like with it?


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## scott tang (Jan 29, 2012)

hmmm the caulepera in my tank loves to try to strangel my star polops grr some times they dont come out any more i have to pick it off with takes hours lol


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## dabandit1 (Dec 6, 2010)

zhasan said:


> Nice setup bud! You certainly have a LOT of patience! How is that light coming along for you? I'm thinking of ordering one of those from ebay and try it out on my tank. I want to know what your experience has been like with it?


Im very pleased with the light,until yesterday I was growing sps on my sand in my 24'' deep tank,its been running like 5-6 months now no problems coral all colored up nice powerbill is low. this particular light uses good quality cree chips xpg I seem to recal,myself and another fella online took them apart to confirm that. If your tank is longer than 30'' I suggest 2 fixtures.

I wish I could say my patience is paying off but Im on the verge of a total tank die off .......this tank is PERFECT and stable 0 hair algae 0 diatoms,did everything right but Im about to be wiped out by black bugs... go figure


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## dabandit1 (Dec 6, 2010)

scott tang said:


> hmmm the caulepera in my tank loves to try to strangel my star polops grr some times they dont come out any more i have to pick it off with takes hours lol


Lol,I changed my mind about trying to attach it to my liverock,you got me thinking lol. Just going to keep it on the sand for now,I might rescape in a macro island to keep it contained...I swear it hardlly grows in my tank lol I'm starting to fear my tank may be too sterile 
Things arent looking so good either black bugs or too sterile Im afraid Im going to lose everything my danae and monti are both dying and my milli that just started to branch and grow is now looking unhappy too


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## dabandit1 (Dec 6, 2010)

I could cry this was one of my healthiest frags 









Im thinking too sterile or black bugs any ideas apreciated,this happened in 24hrs my params are all good I posted them a few posts back


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## dabandit1 (Dec 6, 2010)

Ditched the filter and carbon/gfo I ran in it,hope it helps


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## dabandit1 (Dec 6, 2010)

Been 2 days jacked calcium up to 440 and magnesium up to 1300,stopped running carbon and gfo aswell as the filter. To my surprise my monti is recovering from total devistation check this out







Ive never seen something recover so fast

Removed my Caulepera from my kenya and fragged it ...its still angry







lol

Thats coraline on my sand by the way not algae,I dont vaccum


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## dabandit1 (Dec 6, 2010)

Photo update!!! Colors are far more intense since I stopped running carbon and gfo,ninja turtle and kenya frags I made are doing good. Surprisingly no diatoms or algae yet.













































Damn photos keep rotating back when I post,sorry for that


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## dabandit1 (Dec 6, 2010)

Lame update..most of this journal is for my own record purposes. I know its a boring process lol

Finally at the point where my tank is needing a regular dosing of Calcium and magnesium yay,guessing its from all the new coraline algae as all but 2 of my sps were lost to I'm guessing lack of nutrients or bugs. Scooter blenny cleared up that issue no more bugs to be found except for amphipods and copepods (though Im sure they are still there in minimal numbers). Scooters belly is filling out hes accepting cyclopeze and mysis (wont eat brine shrimp or pellets),I got him to accept food by turing current off and blowing cyclopeze infront of him on the substrate with a pipette. Hes friendlly he'll come right up to my hand :bigsmile:


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## JTang (Apr 21, 2010)

Hey glad to hear that everything is doing good now. Your calcium level is actually not bad comparing to mine, 380. Lol. My kh is low as well at 8. I'm dosing calcium every 2nd day to bring the level up slowly. Like you, I don't have high tech equipments like dosers, controller or calcium reactor. All im running on my 120gal are skimmer n bio-pellet reactor. Oh n auto top-off... Fancy huh!? Lol


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## crazy72 (Apr 22, 2010)

dabandit1 said:


> Lame update..most of this journal is for my own record purposes. I know its a boring process lol


It's not boring at all. Quite the opposite. A lot of people on here, myself included, love to browse through tank journals and see how tanks evolve over time. That's also how we learn from each other. Thanks for keeping your journal alive.


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## dabandit1 (Dec 6, 2010)

Your tank is a true testament to how nice a low tech tank can be,absolutely gorgeous!!!

Thanks for the kind words J and crazy



JTang said:


> Hey glad to hear that everything is doing good now. Your calcium level is actually not bad comparing to mine, 380. Lol. My kh is low as well at 8. I'm dosing calcium every 2nd day to bring the level up slowly. Like you, I don't have high tech equipments like dosers, controller or calcium reactor. All im running on my 120gal are skimmer n bio-pellet reactor. Oh n auto top-off... Fancy huh!? Lol


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## dabandit1 (Dec 6, 2010)

crazy72 said:


> It's not boring at all. Quite the opposite. A lot of people on here, myself included, love to browse through tank journals and see how tanks evolve over time. That's also how we learn from each other. Thanks for keeping your journal alive.


Im pretty sure Ive read every journal on here lol. I've been doing this about 12 years...still learning ALOT from other members.

I just wish it was titled rich mans instant reef lol like some of my old tanks


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## dabandit1 (Dec 6, 2010)

oops double post


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## dabandit1 (Dec 6, 2010)

Kenya dropped a bunch of branches last night while I was sleeping. Found 5 so far. I was wondering what it was up to lol Heres a cool little trick for those of us on a budget trying to attach a softie I usually use a shot glass....dont tell my wife where her spice jars went  excuse the glass I've never cleaned it in that corner...EVER lol

View attachment 15900


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## Tn23 (Apr 21, 2010)

nice tank! How did the kenya break branches off by itself?!


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## dabandit1 (Dec 6, 2010)

Thats how they reproduce,the branches kink then the upper part of the branch starts to form a base at the kink then falls off in the current, a pretty cool process to watch I can see how these could spread out of control lol I hope I got em all. I'll try to get a picture next time it happens.
And thanks,the tanks not much at the moment but im pretty proud of what I have with my limited budget lol everything was chosen because it spreads fast should be pretty cool in a year or two.



Tn23 said:


> nice tank! How did the kenya break branches off by itself?!


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## dabandit1 (Dec 6, 2010)

Couldnt resist. Finally got a picture of scooter with his mohawk out lol see how chubby he is now :bigsmile: riccordea was fully open too 3''


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## dabandit1 (Dec 6, 2010)

Small update,I was having troubles with some of my sps and my zoa/pally growth had slowed right down. Under the assumption that my tank was too sterile I pulled the gfo/carbon off my tank,I also dosed 2 drops of iodine. After a week like that my remaining sps is fully healed,my purple monster grew 4-5 new heads this week and the armor of god grew 4 new heads not bad considering they were only 7 and 6 heads to begin with. I think its safe to say problem solved.

Scooter is an absolute PIG!!! he eats cyclopeze like a madman hes downright fat now like a dragonette should be and his colors are alot more vibrant :bigsmile:

Without the canister my skimmer is actually working now before it hardly pulled anything out because there was nothing to pull out. Been meaning to do a preformance review for people thinking about this skimmer,works great I had to do 2 simple mods to it but now its a beast....I put an elastic on the collection cup to keep bubbles/air pressure from escaping around the cup,also I put the bottom tray inside a media bag and slid it back into the unit this prevents microbubbles and increases reaction time,this was suggested to me by a fluval rep and it works great!!!!

Picture time...















New denro :bigsmile:


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## dabandit1 (Dec 6, 2010)

Kenya branches all attached,removed from jars after 3 days








Fts scooter playing king of the mountain thats his favorite spot,showing off his mohawk for the camera lol


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## dabandit1 (Dec 6, 2010)

Found some rock in the shed needed more realestate so....rescape


















My survivor,starting to encust again branch growing a bit


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## dabandit1 (Dec 6, 2010)

One more lol an equipment shot,that powerhead is massive lol 1200gph
Pictures make it look small tank is 2' tall almost 3' across


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## dabandit1 (Dec 6, 2010)

New frags finally photo worthy
neon gsp








My new favorite...dendro








Nuclear blasto


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## scott tang (Jan 29, 2012)

that tank would be a great home for white eye eel smaller than a snow flake about 20 bucks cheep two they dont eat fish 
mm or you could do like a golden ell that be cool to but there on the more pricey side still worth it


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## dabandit1 (Dec 6, 2010)

I love eels are they safe with coral?


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## Nicole (Nov 21, 2011)

Looking good Fraser! Why don't you hang the fixture higher so there's less shadow area?


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## dabandit1 (Dec 6, 2010)

Coming along slowly. When I bought the light I was afraid it wouldnt be enough to get 24'' deep so I mounted it low (this was supposed to be an sps tank lol)...the other issue was I wanted to keep it below eye level so I dont get blinded when I walk by it lol. I do plan on raising it when I build the harness for it though just havent got around to it yet....not worried about the blindness anymore the lenses direct the light down very well. Its been a learning curve for sure...but now I know I just have to get off my but and do it.
In a bit of a slump these days trying to find the will lol



Nicole said:


> Looking good Fraser! Why don't you hang the fixture higher so there's less shadow area?


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## Nicole (Nov 21, 2011)

Ah okay. I just got my hands on the fixture today  In one piece and looks great so I'm pretty excited. I can't hang it yet since I need another hook, will probably get that tomorrow. I noticed that in two of the corners, the blue light was kind of green? Not sure if yours turned out like that too? I'm good with it though..more "full spectrumy"


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## dabandit1 (Dec 6, 2010)

Yeah a few of the blues are greeny and a few of the whites are yellowy lol looks good on the tank though probably does help the spectrum lol. Im glad to hear you got it okay he's a great seller he will take care of you if something does go wrong,I hope it works out for you....go slow that baby is more powerful than it looks I took mine up to 80% from 50% over 2 months 80% may even be too much for the upper coral.


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## scott tang (Jan 29, 2012)

yes there 100% safe with coral but i had mine in my reef tank for a few years and he bumpt my zoa coral and it fell of the rock as long as your frags and coral are glues there wont be a problem


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## dabandit1 (Dec 6, 2010)

Thanks for the input Scott,I'll definetly look into it I've been looking for something interesting for this tank. I always just thought all eels ate fish,so a white eye or golden eel hmmm


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## scott tang (Jan 29, 2012)

yaboath at jl atm theres others too snow flakes zebras but they get to big for a 35


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## dabandit1 (Dec 6, 2010)

Yeah I've been unsure about that so I put it in a tank calculator its a 44g I'll edit title  had the tank for a while couldnt remember lol

Anyway lucky me got an algae bloom thought it was a bacterial bloom at first but its turning green now. It was my own fault a combination of things triggered it.............Now the task of fixing this mess,funny enough the corals are loving it!!! you just cant see them lol.

View attachment 16150


View attachment 16151


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## JTang (Apr 21, 2010)

Wow what's causing that? I have never seen that in my tanks. Hope u can fix it soon.


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## Claudia (Apr 21, 2010)

What type of combination did u do? lol


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## dabandit1 (Dec 6, 2010)

My powerhead got bumped and moved a whole bunch of sand around down to glass,montipora rtn'd over night and shed its flesh,added more dry rock and skimmer got plugged up and wasnt working for a couple days. All stuff I could have prevented but I was preoccupied mentaly shall we say lol
My tank could have handled any of that one at a time but all toghether was too much for it. Dry rock triggered a mini cycle everything else added a mass dump of nutrients. The bacteria are producing like mad trying to consume the ammonia,nitrite and nitrate causing much of the cloudyness ie bacterial bloom....why I also got an algae bloom I dont know,its not on the glass or rock no hair algae and just a tiny bit of diatoms. Its consuming everything!! all tests are reading 0 which is obviously not the case....seems to be confined to the water...maybe phytoplankton?

What I do know is it will be 1 month + to clean the mess up,got skimmer running full bore,added gfo/gac,25% water change followed by weekly 15% should do the trick in time it appears not to be getting any worse anyway.

On a side note my corals have never been so happy looking so it doesnt seem to be an issue aside from the obvious cant see in my tank.....at least for now


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## scott tang (Jan 29, 2012)

sooooooooooooo eel or no ? hehehehehehehehe


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## dabandit1 (Dec 6, 2010)

lol at the moment I'm thinking about adding a hammer to the tank 
Corals are starting to brown off from lack of light now. Was cleaning the hob Im using for media today and noticed a little face looking up at me inside the filter....at that very second scooter jumped a good foot in the air out of the filter,scared the crap out of me lol he hit the ground I hope he makes it I cant tell how hes doing because I cant see in the tank lol I dont know how the little bugger survived the impeller


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## dabandit1 (Dec 6, 2010)

Its clear to me today Im going to lose my tank  Done everything in my means and this bloom just laughs at me,its getting worse. Everything has been without light about a week now not sure how much longer they will hang in there....nothing more I can do but watch and wait. Going to start 25% dailly water changes out of shear desperation,also hit it with redslime remover to make my skimmer go nuts as it doesnt seem to be doing anything since the bloom started somehoe it seems to be preventing my skimmer from foaming properly.....skimming like a beast now after adding the slime remover (I hate chemicals last resort)


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## AdobeOtoCat (Dec 10, 2011)

Hang in there bud! add a ton of stability and isolate livestock to another tank? try recycling your tank. I started a cycled tank with only fish and some tank water by using stability (a crap ton, got this idea from watching tanked). checked their gills for red in case of ammonia but it stayed low. get some bio pellets and make a temp diy reactor (water bottle with mesh and power head attatchment). i sold mine. wouldve gave you some if i hadnt 

Sent from my Samsung Galaxy S2 LTE


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## JTang (Apr 21, 2010)

Sorry to hear that bud! I thought u just set this up not too long ago!? How long has this been running? 

Whenever something is dying in my tank, my EV-120 will stop foaming. Thats when i start doing head count n checking if any corals are "fighting". I'm not sure how yours behave since I've never used one.

I suggest rehoming majority of your livestock n leave the tank at minimum bio-load n observe. It can be saved! Good luck!


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## Claudia (Apr 21, 2010)

Sorry to hear Fraser, maybe get your corals in another tank? maybe u can save them that way


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## dabandit1 (Dec 6, 2010)

Lol I could rehome,I've even heard of people having success with uv sterilizers but Im afraid a 15$ 10g tank isnt even in my budget at the moment lol yay,I've been hunting the free section on CL with no luck. Im thinking about selling the tank off before everything dies. Happy days lol
It wont beat me Im not done reefing even if I do lose it I will be back,just another for my list lol I've officially crashed a tank in everyway possible now

Started the tank late october last year I think,and yeah a few snails died (I dint see them to turn them back over) I guess thats why the skimmer stopped foaming?


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## Claudia (Apr 21, 2010)

I can loan u a 10g tank if that will help, we will b neighbours soon so will b easy for u to drop it of after


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## dabandit1 (Dec 6, 2010)

I might take you up on that,give me a few days to see what I can work out first if you dont mind, I have a couple leads I want to exhaust,thanks for the offer you peruvian goddess 



Claudia said:


> I can loan u a 10g tank if that will help, we will b neighbours soon so will b easy for u to drop it of after


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## Claudia (Apr 21, 2010)

dabandit1 said:


> I might take you up on that,give me a few days to see what I can work out first if you dont mind, I have a couple leads I want to exhaust,thanks for the offer you peruvian goddess


Not a problem  I have 10g and up in storage and i have 2.5 and 5g tanks at home soon to go to storage (trying to make it easier for the move)  Lots to choose from hahahah


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## dabandit1 (Dec 6, 2010)

Got a 10g setup, traded my new dendro for it,so hopefully I can rehome them in there without causing too much stress to them...fingers crossed. Thanks Claudia and Nicole for your generous offers you gals are truly awesome.

Now Im thinking nano zoa garden lol well see how this goes.

Looking for opinions....should I empty the tank and start over or just remove livestock and wait it out?


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## PurpleMonkey (Nov 28, 2011)

I just battled a cpl of nasty blooms. What I did to help my tank survive:

- I added an extra bag of carbon (not a lot, a few spoons (30g tank) in some pantyhose)

- airstone right in the display

- I stopped all feedings

- 25%+ w/c every 2nd day until bloom is gone

There were some casualties but overall the tanked survived.

Sent from my BlackBerry 9900 using Tapatalk


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## Claudia (Apr 21, 2010)

dabandit1 said:


> Got a 10g setup, traded my new dendro for it,so hopefully I can rehome them in there without causing too much stress to them...fingers crossed. Thanks Claudia and Nicole for your generous offers you gals are truly awesome.
> 
> Now Im thinking nano zoa garden lol well see how this goes.
> 
> Looking for opinions....should I empty the tank and start over or just remove livestock and wait it out?


Glad u got a tank


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## dabandit1 (Dec 6, 2010)

Thanks for the input its been hard to find anyone who's been through this,how did yours start? 
Im doing everything you suggested; running gfo/gac 1/2cup,skimmer is set to leak micro bubbles in place of an airstone and im doing 10g a day WC 25% hopefully it clears like yours did



PurpleMonkey said:


> I just battled a cpl of nasty blooms. What I did to help my tank survive:
> 
> - I added an extra bag of carbon (not a lot, a few spoons (30g tank) in some pantyhose)
> 
> ...


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## dabandit1 (Dec 6, 2010)

Claudia said:


> Glad u got a tank


Me too :bigsmile:.....could it be a future seahorse home or is it too small?


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## Claudia (Apr 21, 2010)

dabandit1 said:


> Me too :bigsmile:.....could it be a future seahorse home or is it too small?


I think to small but hey u can always upgrade


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## scott tang (Jan 29, 2012)

soooo no eels ?


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## PurpleMonkey (Nov 28, 2011)

Well I had 2 recently. The first one was unknown cause (either it caused my trumpet colony to shed or the colony shedding caused it... not too sure). The second one was a dumbass move on my part. I was mixing up some kalk solution and I added some vinegar to supersaturate... added too much and it caused a bloom.

I would add an airstone on top of the skimmer. The bloom literally sucks all the O2 out of the water. To my understanding, this is what causes most of the damage from a bloom. Good luck and let me know if you loose anything. If I got it, I'll frag some for you.



dabandit1 said:


> Thanks for the input its been hard to find anyone who's been through this,how did yours start?
> Im doing everything you suggested; running gfo/gac 1/2cup,skimmer is set to leak micro bubbles in place of an airstone and im doing 10g a day WC 25% hopefully it clears like yours did


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## dabandit1 (Dec 6, 2010)

Thanks for the input I added an airstone today,sounds the same with mine I think the monti shedding its skin was the first trigger. So far no casualties but my purple monster is looking sick...damn shame its growing like crazy check out the before/after pic

Couple pics


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## PurpleMonkey (Nov 28, 2011)

is it just me or does that look more algae than bacterial?


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## scott tang (Jan 29, 2012)

dont mean to be rude at alll here but how did you do that so i dont do the same thing ?


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## dabandit1 (Dec 6, 2010)

Yeah Purplemonkey I mentioned here it was an algae bloom



dabandit1 said:


> Yeah I've been unsure about that so I put it in a tank calculator its a 44g I'll edit title  had the tank for a while couldnt remember lol
> 
> Anyway lucky me got an algae bloom thought it was a bacterial bloom at first but its turning green now. It was my own fault a combination of things triggered it.............Now the task of fixing this mess,funny enough the corals are loving it!!! you just cant see them lol.
> 
> ...


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## dabandit1 (Dec 6, 2010)

I explained here how I caused it Scott,I think it was the monti that shed its flesh that first triggered it though



dabandit1 said:


> My powerhead got bumped and moved a whole bunch of sand around down to glass,montipora rtn'd over night and shed its flesh,added more dry rock and skimmer got plugged up and wasnt working for a couple days. All stuff I could have prevented but I was preoccupied mentaly shall we say lol
> My tank could have handled any of that one at a time but all toghether was too much for it. Dry rock triggered a mini cycle everything else added a mass dump of nutrients. The bacteria are producing like mad trying to consume the ammonia,nitrite and nitrate causing much of the cloudyness ie bacterial bloom....why I also got an algae bloom I dont know,its not on the glass or rock no hair algae and just a tiny bit of diatoms. Its consuming everything!! all tests are reading 0 which is obviously not the case....seems to be confined to the water...maybe phytoplankton?
> 
> What I do know is it will be 1 month + to clean the mess up,got skimmer running full bore,added gfo/gac,25% water change followed by weekly 15% should do the trick in time it appears not to be getting any worse anyway.
> ...


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## dabandit1 (Dec 6, 2010)

Tank is finally starting to get a very tiny bit clearer today jacked up the gfo to double reccomended since theres no coral in there. No casualties yet...I cant get my fish out,catching them blind is impossible....but there still alive 
Im loving the 10g thinking about going nano,all my little frags dont look quite as silly in there lol.


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## PurpleMonkey (Nov 28, 2011)

Since its algae, black out the tank. lights off, wrap the outside with a towel. Safe to do up to 3 days without messing with anyone in there.


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## Claudia (Apr 21, 2010)

Glad to hear that your tank is starting to look better


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## Prettyshinythings (Mar 15, 2013)

Having fun reading this as you know I have a similar setup regarding the filter etc. 

Looking great so far!!


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## dabandit1 (Dec 6, 2010)

Yup,yup nothing wrong with this kind of setup it's alot of work and monitoring though or things can go horribly wrong quickly as you might of read lol

Thanks Caludia,I'm trying to get it ready for when you move so I can steal some stuff from your tanks...you can be my JL road trip buddy too lol

Yeah purple monkey I think I might try the blanket trick,its been dark for almost a week now but total darkness is probably better....I think I got both bacterial and algal blooms,when it started it was a textbook bacterial but it turned green after about a week.


Prettyshinythings said:


> Having fun reading this as you know I have a similar setup regarding the filter etc.
> 
> Looking great so far!!


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## dabandit1 (Dec 6, 2010)

OOOO almost forgot got my fish out today they finally got hungry enough to come up to the net :bigsmile:
Its settled too I'm doing a 10g zoa garden when this is all over,I'll be doing a custom built in filtration on that like a previous 10g I had great long term success with,45g will be a macro algae/seahorse tank if Claudia says its okay....120g coming soon too :bigsmile:
Ahhh good times ahead lol

Heres a teaser of my last 10g with the built in Im copying


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## scott tang (Jan 29, 2012)

omg wow ! wish i could do a 120 reef lol


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## Claudia (Apr 21, 2010)

dabandit1 said:


> you can be my JL road trip buddy too lol


I will take u down on that woohooo field trips 



dabandit1 said:


> 45g will be a macro algae/seahorse tank if Claudia says its okay


I am no expert by any means but i have 3 seahorses in a 29g so a 45g would b like a mansion for them lol


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## scott tang (Jan 29, 2012)

updates ?????????????


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## dabandit1 (Dec 6, 2010)

Been crazy busy with work,sorry for lack of updates....
Anyway thanks to the qt tank I picked up Im happy to say there were zero casualties....infact my purple monsters and pink zoas nearly doubled in size 

I kept my DT in total darkness doing 10% a day waterchanges,water is now crystal clear and livestock has been back in there for about a week now :bigsmile:
Rescaped for a lower rock work look....thinking about adding height with stag colonies

Definetly have flatworms as I suspected,they are everywhere but dont appear to be hurting my softies....also have an apstasia. Blows my mind all the life Im finding considering I started with dry rock and no seed rock aside from frags....I even dip frags lol
pics....








Orange dots are flatworms


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## monkE (Aug 4, 2010)

looks great! itll be awesome when those zoas cover that rock


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## scott tang (Jan 29, 2012)

aptisa is just some thing to play wack a mole with


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## PurpleMonkey (Nov 28, 2011)

For the aptasia I say Kalk paste it!

For the flatworms, salifert flatworm exit or wrasse or red scooter blenny


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## dabandit1 (Dec 6, 2010)

Yeah I'm going to try the flatworm exit this weekend,my scooter blenny does eat them but I doubt he will decimate the population I'm iffy about adding another dragonette in such a small tank,though I would love too lol. Anyone have any pointers for the flatworm exit? I've heard it can hurt CUC
I've been hitting the apstasia with straight lemon juice and trying to pull it off with tweazers but it just laughs at me lol. I dont have any kalk as I havent got to that point yet in this tank lol,I was thinking Joe's juice...heard mixed reviews,maybe I'll just get some kalk since I have to buy it any way. Any opinions as to which is better?

Thanks for all the pointers and kind words


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## monkE (Aug 4, 2010)

what is kalk paste?


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## PurpleMonkey (Nov 28, 2011)

Calcium hydroxide mixed with a little water


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## scott tang (Jan 29, 2012)

heres what i did when i had em found em ona coral i bought and just put glue over em super glue for jl lmao !


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## scott tang (Jan 29, 2012)

whers my updaate ! lol


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