Restarting my Waterbox AIO 50.3

[Obriy]

I also purchased 5lbs of live rock rubble from KP Aquatics and placed it in one of my filter chamber.

I've noticed some tiny bright green spots on the marco rock in several places. Hopefully, it is the sign that coralline algae spores transferred from the live rubble.

 

[ScottD]

My initial plan to start this tank with TBS Ultra Live Sand has been derailed. TBS notified me that their warehouse has been damaged by hurricane Helene and will resume shipping sand in November. Now, with hurricane Milton coming to them, November seems to be too optimistic.

Did you end up canceling your order with TBS? I haven’t heard anything from them since an email saying my 10/1 delivery was getting pushed to 10/16 due to Helene about to hit. I didn’t get anything from them saying November delivery, which I agree is a little optimistic as well given everything going on.

 

[Obriy]

Did you end up canceling your order with TBS? I haven’t heard anything from them since an email saying my 10/1 delivery was getting pushed to 10/16 due to Helene about to hit. I didn’t get anything from them saying November delivery, which I agree is a little optimistic as well given everything going on.

Yes, I cancelled my order with them.

 

[ZzyzxRiver]

Any updates?

 

[cartery]

Any updates?

Not OP, but I just got an order from them. They re-opened on Black Friday

 

[Obriy]

It's been a while since my last post, so I've decided to briefly describe what happened in last 4 months.

LIVESTOCK:
All the fish I've purchased goes through QT. Here is what my livestock looks like

• A pair of Clownfish
• African Firefish
• Two Purple Firefish
• Royal Gramma
• Blood Red Shrimp
• Flame Angel (just bought it and started QT procedure)

The Flame Angel will be the last fish I'm adding. I don't want to overcrowd the tank. So far, the Royal Gramma is the tank boss. African Firefish is the "omega" in the tank and both Purple firefish as well as the Gramma harass her a bit (but, nothing serious).

CYCLING and Dinos:
The tank cycled quite nicely, thanks to the KP Aquatics live rubble. When I started having diatoms, I measured Silica level to be at 0.49. A couple weeks later, I measured Silica again and found it to be at 0.02 and diatoms were still present. So, I did a microscope check and found SCA! I restarted my tank in the summer because of them and I felt sick to my stomach thinking about having to fight dinos again.
This time, I immediately started dosing silica and ordered UV Sweeper, which was a real game-changer for me. I did sand sweeping every day for 4 days and dinos almost disappeared. I continued doing UV sweeping every other day for another 10-12 days while dumping tons of silica (at one point Hanna High Range Silica checker showed the levels to be at 12ppm) and dinos completely disappeared and I haven't seen them in last 6-7 weeks.

CORALS:
I started with GSP and Xenia, all on separate rocks. They thrive as expected. Later I started to add a bit of everything, trying to figure out what I like and what can grow in my tank. Here are some of my notes:

• Acans, Blastos, Candy Cane, Rhodactis, Firework Clove Polyps, Leptastrea - all look good
• Euphyllia - looked OK until I upped Magnesium to above 1300 and they extended much better
• Leptoseris - all three frags died withing a month
• Cyphastrea - also died quite quickly
• Chalice - three frags are struggling
• Favia - I have two frags (recent addition) and still don't know which way they will go

 

[cartery]

It's been a while since my last post, so I've decided to briefly describe what happened in last 4 months.

LIVESTOCK:
All the fish I've purchased goes through QT. Here is what my livestock looks like

• A pair of Clownfish
• African Firefish
• Two Purple Firefish
• Royal Gramma
• Blood Red Shrimp
• Flame Angel (just bought it and started QT procedure)

The Flame Angel will be the last fish I'm adding. I don't want to overcrowd the tank. So far, the Royal Gramma is the tank boss. African Firefish is the "omega" in the tank and both Purple firefish as well as the Gramma harass her a bit (but, nothing serious).

CYCLING and Dinos:
The tank cycled quite nicely, thanks to the KP Aquatics live rubble. When I started having diatoms, I measured Silica level to be at 0.49. A couple weeks later, I measured Silica again and found it to be at 0.02 and diatoms were still present. So, I did a microscope check and found SCA! I restarted my tank in the summer because of them and I felt sick to my stomach thinking about having to fight dinos again.
This time, I immediately started dosing silica and ordered UV Sweeper, which was a real game-changer for me. I did sand sweeping every day for 4 days and dinos almost disappeared. I continued doing UV sweeping every other day for another 10-12 days while dumping tons of silica (at one point Hanna High Range Silica checker showed the levels to be at 12ppm) and dinos completely disappeared and I haven't seen them in last 6-7 weeks.

CORALS:
I started with GSP and Xenia, all on separate rocks. They thrive as expected. Later I started to add a bit of everything, trying to figure out what I like and what can grow in my tank. Here are some of my notes:

• Acans, Blastos, Candy Cane, Rhodactis, Firework Clove Polyps, Leptastrea - all look good
• Euphyllia - looked OK until I upped Magnesium to above 1300 and they extended much better
• Leptoseris - all three frags died withing a month
• Cyphastrea - also died quite quickly
• Chalice - three frags are struggling
• Favia - I have two frags (recent addition) and still don't know which way they will go

Looks great!

What's SCA?

 

[Obriy]

Looks great!

Looks great!

What's SCA?

Small Cell Amphidinum - a type of dinoflagellates.