Taking it slow this time

[scajeo]

I had a saltwater DT from 2002 to 2004. While I was deployed during Iraqi Freedom my 75g was to much for my wife to maintain and she had a family friend tear it down for her. When we built our home in 2012 I had an inwall space designed for a 210 built between our pool room and a hallway. It wasn't until Nov. 2014 that we finally realized that dream and started adding water to the aquarium. To be honest, my niece and nephew were visiting for the 4th and I had promised them that I'd have water in the tank when they came to visit for Thanksgiving. It was only freshwater at that time but it was something.

Things have changed quite a bit from then to now. It's a whole new world out here and a lot more knowledge to tap from. I'm trying to take it slow but it's hard at times when you visit the LFS and see all the gorgeous corals available that were never able, at least to me so many years ago. In setting this tank up I relied heavily on my LFS to advise me on what I needed and set everything up for me. I don't have pictures but I will attach them later.

Since then, I've added just a couple of corals and have a few fish as well. We've seen our fair share of loss, a ruby red dragonette, and a beautiful RBTA that for some reason decided it wanted to do a sit and spin inside one of my powerheads while I was at work.

Right now I'm battling something, I am not sure if it's diatoms, dinos or cyano. Looking over the internet they all look about the same to me.

I am completely new to all this again and could use any advice anyone is willing to offer.

Below is a list of equipment I have.

Apex with temp probe, ph probe, and wxm controller
2 - vortech mp40w es
3 - radion pro g3
210 tank
15g refugium
30g sump
carbon reactor
media reactor
UV sterilizer
2 - internal return pumps
skimmer
2 - heaters that are not used very often nor do i need a chiller. Temp stays constant between 78 and 79
saltwater mixing station
RO/DI 4 stage


Fish
2 DaVinci clowns
royal gramma
diamond goby
kaudern's cardinal
coral beauty
yellow tang
blue tang
2 mandarins
4 blue chromis
common wrasse
christmas wrasse
sandsifter starfish
snails - about 25 now.

corals
zoa's
open brain coral (bleaching and not eating)
trumpet coral
frogspawn
hydnophora
blueberry gorgonian

I am seeing a couple pineapple sponges popping up and would like anyone's opinion on should I try to eradicate them or keep them?

 

[1guydude]

Why would u get rid of the sponges ? Let em go and suck watever they r eating out of the water. They r filter feeders.

Wats in ur media reacto? Good idea about taking it slow. Best way. Lol
Thank u for serving.
Sorry for the fish loss.

As far as ur algae problem. Try and sick it.out with a turkey baster. Or sick it in the turkey baster and squirting it in a 5 bucket.
Blow the rock off.... water changes.
Hths keep at it.
D

 

[scajeo]

Why would u get rid of the sponges ? Let em go and suck watever they r eating out of the water. They r filter feeders.
I've heard they can overcome a tank and it spooked me and that's why I had asked. I know they're beneficial but I was worried about an explosion of them.

Wats in ur media reacto? Good idea about taking it slow. Best way. Lol
Right now I'm running NPX bioplastics in it. I've been out of the hobby far to long to do anything but take it slow. Fortunately, I have a great LFS guy that is honest with me IF I ask the right questions. He wants to make a buck but if asked he's forthcoming with sound advice so far.

Thank u for serving.
Thank you... I enjoyed my time in the AF but have to say I love the outside a little more.

Sorry for the fish loss.
It's a tough lesson. The RBTA was a great addition but I'm not sure of what I'd do next time I get one. I can't see putting on a filter sock over the powerheads only to have the BTA attach to that and then not be able to clean the sock. I would love to get my hands on a colorado sunburst bubble tip but at $400 I need to figure out how to keep it more immobile.

As far as ur algae problem. Try and sick it.out with a turkey baster. Or sick it in the turkey baster and squirting it in a 5 bucket.
What I tried doing this past Tuesday was .... attaching a 5/8" hose to a turkey baster and then running that hose into a sock in the sump and then spend as much time basting and sucking around the tank as I want/need to. This worked worked fantastic and Sunday I'll do it again. I'd like to do it more often but the light cycle for the tank is to dark by the time I get home. Up until then I just blew all the sand around and the rocks and let everything go where it may. MISTAKE!!!!

Blow the rock off.... water changes.
Hths keep at it.
D

Thanks for the advice. Is there a really good way to tell dino apart from diatoms apart from cyano? Looking at pictures, I've found that they can all look alike. Drives me crazy.

 

[scajeo]

Here's what my DT looked like before I hooked up a hose on Tuesday.

 

[1guydude]

How longs the tank been set up? Looks like diatom. New tank. New tank algae. Dinoflagellates is brown but long and string. Usually bubbly at the ends of the long strands. Cyano is a red or purple color. Looks like a velvet carpet...kinda. If that makes any sense. Diatom will go away in time and usually nothing to worry about as long as u don't feed the silicate. (tap water)
Don't blame the lfs. Gotta make a $.

 

[scajeo]

Saltwater was running by this past Thanksgiving. I used liferock instead of live rock so I never really had a cycle and this could be that. The huge explosion happened when I wanted to clean a couple of spots off my sand with a turkey baster and the next day this stuff was everywhere. LFS advised to just leave it but it was driving the wife crazy and that's when the employee at the LFS suggested hooking up a hose to a fork and running it through the sand. A little research later I found a suggestion to hook a hose up to a baster and then run it into the sock in the sump. GREAT way to combat this stuff. I'm glad to hear its diatoms I've been worried it was dinos.
I'd never hold anything against the owner. As a small business owner myself, I understand completely where he's coming from and as I've said as long as I ask the right question he answers honestly. I've learned to ask a lot of questions. LOL

 

[1guydude]

Erics out there at sharkreef. Idk where ur going but he's a stand up guy imo. lots of questions r key lol
D

 

[scajeo]

Eric is a great guy. I don't hold anything against Eric and I understand completely where he's coming from. He has been out to my house a couple of times to set my tank up and check up on it. Eric is the one I have made all my purchases through. Tim is a huge fan of the hobby and would rather you leave the store than to buy something that won't help or that would fight with the other inhabitants in your system. My place is just a few blocks down the road from Shark Reef and I stop in there almost once a week.

 

[scajeo]

My sister is a big fan of Oceans by Design out in Tukwila and keeps trying to get me to swing by that place. She swears that once I stop in there I won't want to go anywhere else for corals. I really don't want the common variety stuff but in the same note I'm a huge WYSIWYG person and it's sometimes hard to get unique things through Eric.

 

[scajeo]

I promised some pictures. I apologize in advance for the lousy pics but it's the best I can get out of this camera.
I already posted a frontal tank shot.
Hallway side view.

Looking from the refugium room towards the mixing and maintenance room.

Mixing station beginnings

DaVinci Clowns

This poor guy has seen better days. Not sure why he's bleaching as bad as he is. I've moved him around the tank and hidden him in dark shadows of rocks as well. Trachyphillia

These are just a couple pictures of the very few inhabitants I have right now.
The tank is very young and I need to slow down again and let things settle out before I start picking up more.