Gulf Coast

SFALReefer · Oct 18, 2023

No sir! I keep caulerpa out of my tank, lol. Had that stuff take over the rocks. Thanks though.

Snoopdog · Oct 20, 2023

Truly impressive harvest today.

SFALReefer · Oct 23, 2023

Snoopdog said:
Truly impressive harvest today.

You have a very understanding wife, lol.

Snoopdog · Oct 23, 2023

SFALReefer said:
You have a very understanding wife, lol.

Hmmm.....

Well she is the one that harvest the worms, splits the cultures and feeds them. I just do the plumbing and technical stuff.

BamaCoastPyrat · Oct 27, 2023

After being gone for 5 months, I have made it home! The aquarium is a mess, but my wife manages to keep all of the fish alive. The peppermint shrimp and pistol shrimp are alive and healthy. The pencil urchin and serpent stars are alive but look really bad. The mushrooms have completely disappeared, but some of the GSP, palys, and zoas are still alive. Time to test the water and do the first water change since may.

Also, does is anyone interested in a one spot foxface? He has outgrown our 35g aquarium and I can't upgrade right now.

BamaCoastPyrat · Oct 27, 2023

BamaCoastPyrat said:
After being gone for 5 months, I have made it home! The aquarium is a mess, but my wife manages to keep all of the fish alive. The peppermint shrimp and pistol shrimp are alive and healthy. The pencil urchin and serpent stars are alive but look really bad. The mushrooms have completely disappeared, but some of the GSP, palys, and zoas are still alive. Time to test the water and do the first water change since may.

Also, does is anyone interested in a one spot foxface? He has outgrown our 35g aquarium and I can't upgrade right now.

I am out of Hanna reagent for phosphate and nitrate, but I'm showing the following levels:

Nitrate 10 aquavital 5 in 1
Nitrite 0 aquavital 5 in 1
Calciuk 40 aquavital 5 in 1
Dkh 0-3 aquavital 5 in 1
pH 7.0 hanna
Salinity 1.026 hanna
Temp 78.4 hanna

I think pH is probably what is mostly hurting the inverts

Snoopdog · Oct 27, 2023

BamaCoastPyrat said:
I am out of Hanna reagent for phosphate and nitrate, but I'm showing the following levels:

Nitrate 10 aquavital 5 in 1
Nitrite 0 aquavital 5 in 1
Calciuk 40 aquavital 5 in 1
Dkh 0-3 aquavital 5 in 1
pH 7.0 hanna
Salinity 1.026 hanna
Temp 78.4 hanna

I think pH is probably what is mostly hurting the inverts

Now that I am doing ICP I do not even trust regular test kits anymore. There are only a few that seem somewhat accurate. Some of hannah are garbage, some of salifert are garbage. Just start doing regular water changes weekly and it will sort out.

BamaCoastPyrat · Oct 27, 2023

Snoopdog said:
Now that I am doing ICP I do not even trust regular test kits anymore. There are only a few that seem somewhat accurate. Some of hannah are garbage, some of salifert are garbage. Just start doing regular water changes weekly and it will sort out.

I have very little faith in the aqua vital kit. That was a free kit and figure it is better than nothing.

I am going to hit 10 10% water changes I'm pretty quick succession and that will give me 65% new water. That should get me mostly back on track.

All of my chaeto died but other algaes took over the refugium. So my biggest priorities are

1. Water changes
2. Cleaning up
3. More chaeto
4. Rehoming the foxface

Snoopdog · Oct 28, 2023

Hey dude, your welcome to some Kenya tree! You need to come by some day now that you are back and see the new tank.

Rp8 · Oct 28, 2023

Just went to biloxi ms and stopped by Just Fish, not a bad place good selections tons of equipment and tech stuff. Down to earth folks. Decent prices. Picked up this frogspawn pictured below for $35. He is a pretty good size when fully extended. If your ever that way worth a stop

BamaCoastPyrat · Oct 28, 2023

Rp8 said:
Just went to biloxi ms and stopped by Just Fish, not a bad place good selections tons of equipment and tech stuff. Down to earth folks. Decent prices. Picked up this frogspawn pictured below for $35. He is a pretty good size when fully extended. If your ever that way worth a stop

Gerwin is a good dooood

Snoopdog · Oct 31, 2023

Since being on Reef Moonshiners I am starting to finally see some positive results, slowly but I am noticing. Today I pulled out so much Caulerpa Racemosa it was insane how fast it is growing now. My coraline algae is starting to pickup growth which means my tank is getting into a more mature phase. My nitrates are finally dropping at a steady pace, no water changes in a few months now.

Reef Moonshiners has a habit of holding yourself accountable for your numbers. Numbers that I just kind of let go I am having to correct, in turn my tank is looking better. Before my caulerpa had crashed because I was letting things like iron get too low.

BamaCoastPyrat · Nov 1, 2023

Snoopdog said:
Since being on Reef Moonshiners I am starting to finally see some positive results, slowly but I am noticing. Today I pulled out so much Caulerpa Racemosa it was insane how fast it is growing now. My coraline algae is starting to pickup growth which means my tank is getting into a more mature phase. My nitrates are finally dropping at a steady pace, no water changes in a few months now.

Reef Moonshiners has a habit of holding yourself accountable for your numbers. Numbers that I just kind of let go I am having to correct, in turn my tank is looking better. Before my caulerpa had crashed because I was letting things like iron get too low.

How does the moonshiners program compare cost wise to doing water changes? The idea of setting up a system to function without water changes is really cool.

Snoopdog · Nov 1, 2023

BamaCoastPyrat said:
How does the moonshiners program compare cost wise to doing water changes? The idea of setting up a system to function without water changes is really cool.

I think you would likely spend $200 ++ dollars on the individual bottles, but I would expect they would last for years. Factor in an ICP-MS test at least once a year, and ICP-OES test monthly but you may be able to space those out after a year or so. In my opinion worth it. No more having to make the time for draining, hauling water and the spills that happen. If I factor in also the increase in our water bill from the water changes, cost of salt I think it evens up. My wife does the daily dosing, the catch up dosing. The beauty of it is the transparency. You know exactly what is going on with your tank. Lets take for instance, I was dosing trace elements. Well since that bottle had 6 or so things in it, some things were going way too high and others too low. Not to mention if you have something leaching into your water you may not even know without an ICP-MS test.

BamaCoastPyrat · Nov 3, 2023

@.Haliax. do you still have extra chaeto?

.Haliax. · Nov 3, 2023

BamaCoastPyrat said:
@.Haliax. do you still have extra chaeto?

Sure! I will be back home on Monday. I'm out of town for the weekend.

BamaCoastPyrat · Nov 3, 2023

.Haliax. said:
Sure! I will be back home on Monday. I'm out of town for the weekend.

Awesome. Thank you

Snoopdog · Nov 9, 2023

So we have been on reef moonshiners a few months now, still dialing in but we are getting close now. During that time I also went ahead and pulled the skimmer out in July. So since July our nitrates did get high but after getting all of the elements correct on reef moonshiners like iodine and iron the caulerpa took off. I am now removing several cups of caulerpa each week, it is growing out of control and nitrates have dropped to 5, even with blasting multiple teaspoons of reefroids weekly our phosphates will not seem to rise to readable levels. We have not done a water change in months and no skimmer and nitrates today are less than 5 from testing today and phosphates are 0. We are going to start dosing nitrates this week and keep increasing our reefroid feedings.

I can tell things are still not perfect but I have noticed we are now getting substantial growth of coraline algae that was not growing before. I am now seeing so many copepods, the population of them has tripled in a few months. I love the idea of not having a skimmer and no water changes. Not having to clean and empty a skimmer is great and I absolutely do not miss water changes.