Dawn's 56 gallon natural nutrient garden

[vlangel]

Beautiful Dawn!
Great camera skills too.
Merry Christmas to you and your family.

Merry Christmas to you and your family as well, Kevin! Enjoy the day and celebrating the birth of our Saviour!

 

[vlangel]

Yesterday I did a more thorough cleaning of the display (more than just using the magnet cleaner to clean the glass) and removed a fair amount of macroalgae. It makes me so sad to just throw away good heathy macroalgae that is full of pods/worms but I don't have any more room to keep them. If any of you can use cheato, ulva, gracilaria hayi or red gracilaria, please let me know. You can have any of it for free.

The display looks really healthy! Some of my coral frags are now turning into small colonies. I have neon trumpets, aqua trumpets, palys grandis, hammers, Duncan's and yellow and purple palys that have all grown. Also my sinularia and cabbage leather are still growing. Of course the rainbow BTAs are always proliferating. Thank goodness they stay up on their platform above the coral. Finally the purple sponge is as pretty as anything in the tank and as long as I keep it confined to the one rock, it is a wonderful addition to the tank.

I am thinking of replacing my power head and/or gyre. I love the flow of the gyre but am tired of tinkering with it all the time. The power head I am using to replace it is huge and clunky, a real eye sore to the beauty of the tank. I am thinking of going with the lower profile powerheads that have the cords on the outside of the tank. I just hate to spend that much. Oh well, if you want to play ya gotta pay! :-(

 

[kevinl]

LOL
I told ya it's a constant PIA (gyre) but the movement is the best (my thought).
Keep in mind my tanks are 7' & 8' long, 3' to 4" wide. But I use them in smaller tanks too (30gal).
I have 11 gyer's running in my house, when I owned the store it was a total of 19 units (that's a LOT of tinkering!).
By far the easiest to maintain and clean (almost no tinkering) are my MP 40's, but I would use 4 MP"s compared to 2 gyer's in one tank. Keep in mind what I grow compared to what you grow! I need way more random flow than most tanks. I do run a 5' long 120 with one gyer on one side and one MP 40 on the other side, this tank has over 50 colonies of euphyllia and that gives me the flow I'm looking for.
Knowing your tank & you also have beautiful sand bed my thoughts would be 2 MP10's (no wires in the tank too).
You can lower the flow rate and probably get great flow everywhere needed. You would need the Nem guards though.
I will be in need of macro & pods in the near future (1 to 2 months) so keep me in mind! Please.

 

[vlangel]

LOL
I told ya it's a constant PIA (gyre) but the movement is the best (my thought).
Keep in mind my tanks are 7' & 8' long, 3' to 4" wide. But I use them in smaller tanks too (30gal).
I have 11 gyer's running in my house, when I owned the store it was a total of 19 units (that's a LOT of tinkering!).
By far the easiest to maintain and clean (almost no tinkering) are my MP 40's, but I would use 4 MP"s compared to 2 gyer's in one tank. Keep in mind what I grow compared to what you grow! I need way more random flow than most tanks. I do run a 5' long 120 with one gyer on one side and one MP 40 on the other side, this tank has over 50 colonies of euphyllia and that gives me the flow I'm looking for.
Knowing your tank & you also have beautiful sand bed my thoughts would be 2 MP10's (no wires in the tank too).
You can lower the flow rate and probably get great flow everywhere needed. You would need the Nem guards though.
I will be in need of macro & pods in the near future (1 to 2 months) so keep me in mind! Please.

Thanks for your thoughts Kevin. MP 10s were what I was thinking. I sure like the idea of no tinkering!

Uhhg, what you are dealing with (11 gyres) sounds like a nightmare to me. Kudos to you for being able to keep up with the maintenance on so many. I am sure your patience with the tedious stuff of aquarium keeping is why you have been so successful with acros.

I would be thrilled to give you whatever macroalgae you want. Just let me know about 2 weeks before you need it and I will make sure that I save it for you.

 

[vlangel]

Today I soaked my old powerheads in white vinegar. They were very caked with junk and algae. I wanted them cleaned while we visited kiddos and grandkids. Tomorrow I will put new batteries in the Eheim auto feeder.

I looked into getting mp 10s but they are pricier than I thought. I think I will replace the old powerheads with Hyggers. I know they are not as good and there will still be wires in the tank but they are fairly low profile and they fit the budget. My tank has gotten by this long without the top of the line equipment so I guess it will continue to get by.

 

[kevinl]

I understand!! I just asked Jaime what they run and the price blew me away!

 

[vlangel]

I understand!! I just asked Jaime what they run and the price blew me away!

Yep, even used I was going to be dropping more money than I was comfortable with.

 

[vlangel]

Good morning everyone! We just got home last night from a 10 day vacation with our kids and a few days in FL. My son came 2Xs to check on things, feed the fish some frozen and fill up the ATO reservoir. The 2nd time he called in a panic, the temperature probe was reading over 100°F. At first I was alarmed but he said the fish looked fine and the water did not feel real hot. (The only tank crash I have ever had was due to a heater malfunction that cooked the tank to up near 100°F back in the late 90s. Ever since then I have 2 smaller heaters to protect against that happening). My son happened to notice that my stick on thermometer was registering normal so we decided that my temperature probe was wrong. It is 15 years old and I bought it used so I guess it's done for. Anyway, the tank looks good. All is well that ends well!

 

[vlangel]

I never really think of my fish as glad to see me but early this morning they were all up early seemingly begging for food. I guess they are tired of flake food from the auto feeder, and are trying to demand that their frozen rations begin again. Everything and everyone is entitled these days, even the fish! Ha ha

 

[vlangel]

Yesterday I cleaned my tank and moved some sand back to the places I thought it belonged. Of course that stirred up all sorts of gunk so I added carbon in case any nasties were released into the water column. However, lo and behold, the tank's water almost sparkled this morning when I got up. Now I did clean the glass yesterday too and that can be impactful, especially if it's been a week or 2 since it was last done, but still the tank looks extra good. Why don't I use carbon more often? It really does make a difference.

 

[vlangel]

I bought 2 new fish at Reef Gallery today, a Midas blenny and a royal Gramma. Both appear to be in good health and so I put them straight into the tank. Both hid immediately but I saw the blenny come out to eat marine cuisine already so that is an excellent start. Royal grammas are pretty hardy so I expect that it will do alright too. So far I am seeing no signs of bullying or aggression from my other fish. The fish I have now have been the most peaceful well adjusted group of fish that I have ever had. Jaime at Reef Gallery said that Midas blennies can be nasty but I have never had a mean one, and they are one of my favorite fish. I love how they perch and I love how they swim eel like and I think they are a pretty yellow. This one is small and so is probably young and I hope to have it a lot of years. And what's not to like about the bright fuscia and yellow of a royal Gramma? They might be common but it does not diminish their beauty.

 

[vlangel]

The new Midas blenny is out and about in the tank. That is a very good sign. I have yet to see the royal Gramma. I plan to feed frozen food 2Xs today to entice it out of hiding and to fatten up the blenny.

PS I just saw the Gramma when I fed some Prime Reef and it was snatching a little food. It is always such a relief when new fish are eating. I don't even give them names until that happens!

 

[vlangel]

I have names for the new fish. My husband came up with Jack Blenny for the Midas. That makes me laugh, (of course you have to be of a mature age to even get that one!). I am naming the Gramma, Violet since it's shy,,,a shrinking violet.

 

[acer]

Lol... "Jack Blenny" - ahh the memories!

 

[vlangel]

Lol... "Jack Blenny" - ahh the memories!

Those were the days, aye?

So how have you been Ted? How is your tank doing? I should check out your thread. The nem you gave me has turned into about 7 nems. They stay up on the tall structure near the surface so I enjoy them there. They can't sting anything there so it works well.

 

[acer]

Doing ok with physical issues, tank is suffering , cannot figure out what is wrong, microscope cant find pathogen, tests today shows Alk is 6.5 dKH, po4 is .o98ppm. Reagents on other test kits are expired. However, just for fun i tested anyhow : < .25 nitrates = Redsea pro, ca+ =450= Hanna. Ph 8.3. Salinty 1.026, temp 78. Have lost all Acro's. Many sps. Maybe too low nitrates? Need icp test..

 

[vlangel]

Doing ok with physical issues, tank is suffering , cannot figure out what is wrong, microscope cant find pathogen, tests today shows Alk is 6.5 dKH, po4 is .o98ppm. Reagents on other test kits are expired. However, just for fun i tested anyhow : < .25 nitrates = Redsea pro, ca+ =450= Hanna. Ph 8.3. Salinty 1.026, temp 78. Have lost all Acro's. Many sps. Maybe too low nitrates? Need icp test..

I am happy to hear that you are doing alright but I feel bad about the tank woes. I am sure that it is discouraging. I was never able to keep acros at all and haven't really been successful with most sps either. My solution was to move to easier coral and I can honestly say that I am a lot less frustrated and actually very happy with how my tank looks.

 

[acer]

I think I have been mistakenly sending pics and texts over the past year to your land line. LOL

 

[vlangel]

I think I have been mistakenly sending pics and texts over the past year to your land line. LOL

Oops, yeah Dave and I got rid of the landline because it seemed as though no one but solicitors used it. I will PM my cell number.

 

[vlangel]

Well I ordered a new power head for my tank. I was tired of tinkering with the gyre and tired of the huge clunky monstrosity that I was using to replace the gyre. I might be sorry but I went for a cheap low profile unit put out by Carefree Fish. It has more than enough muscle, it's small and it got good reviews. I will let you all know after I have used it a while.