Jesse's WB Infinia 150.4 Build

[JHSteepat]

Annnnd my royal gramma has also gone missing.

Pulled a cup (squeezed out water) of green hair algae today from rocks….i am losing patience with the ATS, and considering fluconazole treatment as a reset, with the ATS placed in my acclimation tank during treatment. The ats screen is currently struggling.

I also had a 1-2” snail, that was described in a separate thread as a tulip snail. That one went into my acclimation tank. I don’t even want it in my sump because I have plenty of things living there including snails.

 

[JHSteepat]

RG found. Must have changed locations since his nemesis foxface jumped. Havent seen it in a week though. Nighttime flash photo.

 

[JHSteepat]

I am having a tough time with in-tank gha, and my ATS is barely growing algae. Algae is growing great in tank.

I have the return pump at its minimum setting (sicce sdc 9, probably at around 1000 gph, maybe a little less), could my issue be that I am not getting enough circulation through the sump, and the ats is mostly cleaning sump water and not display water?

 

[JHSteepat]

Ok, update. I have been travelling and have been away for two of the last three weeks. Came home to an RTN’d bali slimer and montipora dig. My royal gramma is missing for good, and algae was knee deep in the tank. My remaining new wrasse died in QT from UWND (swimming in circles and upside down with no other visible signs).

I cleaned up the tank (pulled the algae while siphoning into a filter sock in the sump). Got almost 4 cups squeezed out in my filter sock.

My aquarium maintenance guy who I have stop in for a checkup while I am away says I should use Vibrant reef to just restart. I am more in favor of getting the ats working right, but the only place in my system where hair algae won’t grow is the ats!?!?!?!? Even the bottom of the ats is seeing better growth than the screen.

Conclusions

corals: most corals are doing well despite the gha mess. I’ll stick with them. The new hammer and goni look fine. Cyphastrea, stylophora, styloconiella, leptastrea, chalice, trumpets, birdsnest, psammocora, leptoseris, favias, and two acros seem to be holding their own of they aren’t growing well. So I am not worrying about the corals, lets see where things are at the end of the uglies-whenever that is. What grows will grow.

Fish: I am sticking with hardy fish. I’ll probably add some lemon damsels from ora and I am thinking about adding a few chalk bass. They all are pretty enough and should provide good movement.

Algae: I still have some faith that the ats will eventually win out as the tank matures. I am feeding pellets while away which is likely adding to my problem. I am getting good at siphoning the algae though. Saw the Tomini nibbling on some algae. Hopefully that is a good sign. I cut back the ats lights a bit to see if I can cut back on the photoinhibition.

Increase water changes: my ro unit needed new filters, so that may help.

Bottom line is I need to keep the tank stable but shouldn’t change anything for a while to hopefully achieve some form of equilibrium. Tank is less than a year old. I have plenty of livestock and don’t need to add anything new at this point.

 

[JHSteepat]

so I’m a bit boring lately. No significant news. The tank is approaching 10 months or so, with marco rock.

Battle of ATS and display GHA. The scrubber is finally starting to grow the wavy algae (I think its an ulva species), but its still a bit slow. Hasn’t taken over yet but I’d say we are at 50% with gha growth in the display slowing but not stopping yet. Can’t belive its taking 6 months, but I had some missteps and probably should have set it up before the gha started. I suppose this is what to expect during the dry rock ugly stage. At least the tang is picking at the rocks.

Royal Gramma: Good news is I now see it every day now, in a different part of the tank than its original home. Tomini tang is great but won’t eat from the seaweed clip. Will be trying some Brightwell garlic. My wife though it was funny with me ordering that when we have a huge jar in the refrigerator with more garlic juice than I’d ever want to put in the tank. New Springerii is great, and the clowns and midas blenny are good, too.

Corals in general are looking great and are growing from a little bit (stylophora, birdsnest, psammacora, leptosirus, and two acros), to rapidly (meteor cyphastrea, of course, chalice, leptastrea, styloconiella, and others). I cant grow montipora in any form for the life of me and lost a bali slimer and the anacropora, but I will try the montis and acros again in a few months once the algae is more under control.

Got a Fender Flat response cabinet (FR-12) for the Line6 Helix, and it sounds much better than my studio monitors (just seeing if anyone’s reading).

Dosing limewater, some traces (a mix rather than just one) weekly after some low-ish trace readings on the ati test. Awc with instant ocean regular daily via slow exchange, about 7L per day right now. Plan to slow down a bit once the algae is under control, but looking a 3-4L per day as a goal.

My CuC could be increased, but I feel dumping a ton of critters in the tank led to the problems with gha in the first place. I am having a hard time keeping snails, except a few nassarius, so I am not wanting to add to my troubles while I’m getting nutrient export under control.

 

[JHSteepat]

Wow, pulled only a half cup of algae from the tank and about the same from the scrubber. Algae in display is getting shorter and in some places easier to pull, but is still coating most exposed surfaces. Algae on scrubber screen and in the bottom of the scrubber is getting tougher to remove. Turned on the fourth light in the Rain2 scrubber. I think the ats is FINALLY doing what its supposed to.
here’s a couple of my more senior corals, growing like crazy. Took picture with a lot of ambient daylight, so had to deal with some glare.