Nana's 40B

[NanaReefer]

I keep a tall kitchen garbage can next to my tank for gloves and things. Looked into it tonight and there he was. I'm broken hearted. He had to jump 2' at least. Why now?! 2yrs and he's never even gone near the surface.
Dang this hurts! My first fish loss in like 3-4yrs. I wanna cry....

 

[Scooterman]

Sorry to hear that, I was thinking that maybe he jumped earlier today. Sometimes they get startled and panic and this happens.

 

[NanaReefer]

Looking on the bright side.....I've finally got my first Acropora that's still alive, growing and showing polyps!! Yahoo meeee!! It's been in my tank for 2 months. Longest I've ever kept an Acro

 

[NanaReefer]

It's frustrating when my corals are looking awesome, fish are fat and healthy but my SB looks like crap, rock isn't looking any better.
Still no coralline growth on the rock, but plenty of greenery. I literally use a toothbrush to clean the rock off weekly. Removing about 2 cups of substrate with every change. Taking forever removing the substrate this way-lol-but I don't wanna risk a crash.

 

[Vandur]

I didn't see a response on Scooterman's question about lighting but I've definitely had the same issue in the past with old lights (generally 14k MH that I let get closer to the 7~9k range ... coral growth is always so good in that range .. but they quickly turn a horrible brown color ... then algae blooms .. everywhere). I'd be surprised if that were an issue if you were using LED's or T5s (I should probably start at your first post and read the whole thread jsut to see your equipment list ).

If you have the time/inclination, you may want to step up your water change schedule a bit as well. You're sitting at about 12% a week if you're doing a 5g change a week. You could certainly add a mid-week water change in there to be more aggressive at removing any excess nutrients.

Other then that ... sounds like you're doing everything I'd be doing (checking what's entering the tank, making sure there's enough flow, etc).


Edit: And congrats on the acropora!

 

[spieszak]

Its a build thread.
The lights are noted in it, the change in lighting is noted in it.
You weren't around I don't think Vandur, but regardless, she has Radion gen 3.

 

[NanaReefer]

If my bio-load was bigger I'd agree with more frequent WC. But I've got 3 fish that get fed sparingly, frozen Reef Frenzy only. I use no coral foods. Add nothing. My water comes out as clean as the new mix going in. Filter sock gets changed every 3-5days. Excellent performing skimmer with the Icecap K2-120, rated for tanks from 75-120g. Chaeto grows like made.

 

[Vandur]

(I should probably start at your first post and read the whole thread jsut to see your equipment list )

Just read the whole thread and .. good god, you've been through a lot over the last 2 years. Most of the corals you have left look great, watching that stylo' go hurt. Did you frag it towards the base before it was totally gone to see if it would re-grow (looked like you had one photo with a nice encrusted section of rock still)? Also, holy crap, those gel filters made a huge difference in the photos.

As far as the algae ... Totally agree, I can't imagine those 3 fish generating much if any bioload at all. With the new light, change up in salt, etc ... short of being in front of a window for half the day, I can't imagine wth is causing that (and since you said the door was across the room making it hard to take pictures, can't image that'd be an issue).

If you don't mind a few non-algae related questions:

1. Is that a Glass-holes overflow (that first cracked tank would have hurt, your son is awesome)?
2. How do you like having the overflow on the side vs. center?
3. How has your skimmer performed? (I have 3 ancient ones, all with external pumps, the integrated pump looks awesome .. so much space-savings)
4. What made you try the Gyre out (over the MP/WP10's?)?

You weren't around I don't think Vandur, but regardless, she has Radion gen 3.

For sure on not being around and it was definitely worth the read.

~V

 

[NanaReefer]

Yes it's a Glass-Holes overflow 700gph. As for placement this was my first drilled tank what do I know-lol.
This being only my second internal skimmer I'm no expert on them. But compared to the previous SCA-301 I was using, this Icecap rocks! Quiet, powerful, very small footprint, a snap to dial in and easily taken apart for complete cleaning.
For the first time in my reefing life I jumped on the stupid hype train with the Gyre. The draw of having 1 power head plus price was key. They sold it well. However after a year I found it definitely was not for my tank.
Today thanks to @mfinn I'm now running 2x Jebao RW4's. Man what a difference! No more dead spots, many options, powerful and night mode. Love these little things and they cost half what the Gyre does, doing twice as much.

On a good note. The algae in the back is now gone. I removed a rock I had in the back corner, my Gramma called home. Was always digging under it. Anyways when the Gramma jumped tank I no longer saw a need for the rock, to the sump it went. Algae no more go figure

 

[Vandur]

Yes it's a Glass-Holes overflow 700gph.

Here's hoping I have a slightly less-exiciting time of it when it comes to drilling for mine. I ended up ordering the same thing, the other day. I really liked the look of their newer beanstyle one (and the fact it had an emergency drain, etc) but honestly, the size of it just seemed wrong for a 40g.

Quiet, powerful, very small footprint, a snap to dial in and easily taken apart for complete cleaning.

Hopefully I won't need to replace mine until after I have a new tank ready, but I'll definitely keep those in mind. The design was really top-notch looking.

The draw of having 1 power head plus price was key.

I have to admit, I asked about the Gyre as .. I was pretty close to ordering one myself. I've used so many maxi-jets/koralia's/typical power heads that the Gyre concept was an easy sell to me (and it's just one powerhead pushing that tremendous amount of water!). Most of the reviews on it have been good but there are a number of small outliers that had me on the fence with it (which you'd expect with any product really but .. shrug). Honestly, even with the outliers if the reverse flow worked better in the reviews, I'd probably have ended up with one.

Algae no more go figure

If it works, knock on wood and never mention it again! :tape2: (That's really awesome though.)

~V

 

[NanaReefer]

Ok I'm just frustrated beyond belief! Now I'm battling some kind of aggressive algae bloom. My rock is becoming covered!
It brushes off easily, is siphoned off easily but within a couple of days it's back. Even my power heads are covered!
Temp has been kind of high of late, 84° being max. Not much I can do about that. Tried bottled froze water in sump and it was pretty useless.
Upped water changes to 5g weekly. Feeding sparingly. Wet skimming. Changing sock every 3-4 days.

Only thing I can figure is that it's related to my lighting. Radion XR30 Gen3.
Please anyone with suggestions? Any that requires no money being spent especially

 

[spieszak]

What color?

 

[NanaReefer]

A very pretty green-lol.

 

[spieszak]

You have a fan you can set to blow over the sump? You'll evap more, but it will bring the temps down...
Green makes me think the heat is helping it along....

 

[NanaReefer]

That crossed my mind too. Thanks for validating-lol. I'll see what I can come up with.

 

[NanaReefer]

So frustrated UGH!!! But my corals look good-lol.

 

[spieszak]

the clam looks happy too!

 

[NanaReefer]

Thank you it does doesn't it-Lol.

 

[N1Husker]

Looking very nice, Nana.

 

[NanaReefer]

Ummm anyone but me noticing all that algae?! Lol