Jackson's Custom 115G Cube Build

[MikeC]

Looking good Rich

 

[jackson6745]

Rich I think you need to go see an optometrist! Maybe with your old age the eyes are going? The tear down tank looks awesome and so does the new work in progress! Come see my POS after very good husbandry and throwing cash at it almost on the daily. Just when everything was going perfect my doser malfunctioned and dumped like 300ML of Vodka in the tank 4 hours before I had to leave with the kids on vacation. That's how this hobby goes. anyone in it for a while knows that. Beautiful tank bro.

Years to grow, minutes to kill. This hobby can be heartbreaking at times. Sorry for you loss. All we can do it try our best I guess. Thanks for the good words. It sucks to have such a major setback, but each time I start a new system I learn more. I'm trying some new things on this tank, I'll get into it as it progresses. For the next 2 months I will have all kinds of diatom and cyano to deal with :/

Looking good Rich

Thanks Mike, It's a start.

 

[TUSI]

Hiri h sorry on your loss but more importantly congratulations on your new born. Your tankwill be as good as it was in 6 months, don't sweat it. I have that PC you had given me I'll give it back to you and grow it and morph it and I'll get a PC back from you after. Anything I can help u with just say it.

 

[jackson6745]

Hiri h sorry on your loss but more importantly congratulations on your new born. Your tankwill be as good as it was in 6 months, don't sweat it. I have that PC you had given me I'll give it back to you and grow it and morph it and I'll get a PC back from you after. Anything I can help u with just say it.

Thanks Joe, I appreciate it.

 

[SteveZ15]

Man what happened..I had problems too.let he thank go and it was full of algae and bleach coral..I slowly cleaned it up and let the tank bounce back naturally..I learned a ton..Don't like bare bottom..But have like a inch of sand just to cover bottom..Every year I'll slowly replace the sand in 6 water changes over 6 weeks.. that sand comes back to bight without warning when everything is flourish..I did learn some sps can take some nutrient just not if they came from a clean tank..But they definitely do adjust to it.. good luck with the restart..

 

[jackson6745]

Man what happened..I had problems too.let he thank go and it was full of algae and bleach coral..I slowly cleaned it up and let the tank bounce back naturally..I learned a ton..Don't like bare bottom..But have like a inch of sand just to cover bottom..Every year I'll slowly replace the sand in 6 water changes over 6 weeks.. that sand comes back to bight without warning when everything is flourish..I did learn some sps can take some nutrient just not if they came from a clean tank..But they definitely do adjust to it.. good luck with the restart..

Thanks Steve. Sometimes these tank can be a PITA but I enjoy the challenge. I know why I lost most of my big colonies. You know the business that I'm in, It got extremely busy. I have more employees this season so I can take some pressure off myself. I restarted this tank, and besides getting absolutely horrible $8 per lb monando rock from premium Aquatics (which I changed half of it out for better stuff), everything is going smooth. SPS growth and color taking off. I'll post pics once the rocks color up.

I don't mind bare bottom, I just think guys run unto problems with minimalist aquaecapes and bare bottom. The more clean surface area for bacteria to grow, the more stable a tank is, and the more waste it will process IME. It's when the surface area becomes clogged with organics.... that's when the long term trouble starts. This is also the reason why I got rid of my marine pure ceramic brick. That 8"x4" brick has huge surface area, and is excellent at denitrfication (almost too good). It would create an imbalance keeping my nitrates below 5 while I struggled with GFO to keep po4 below .1, as the brick was very good t holding po4. The result was cyano. When Po4 and No3 would rise together in my reef I would never see cyano.

Anyway, enjoy the storm, see you on the water soon!

 

[SteveZ15]

I saw you killing out there last year..I though I had some nice fish..I was tossing back 40# like crazy never got my 50#. I gotta learn how to cast a net and stop relying on the spoon..Glad your tank going good again..I'm almost ready for test acros maybe in a month or so I'll add some..Me and Alan gotta take a trip with you.

 

[SteveZ15]

I had that Rock too.. horrible shapes ..Only have one pice got rid of the rest..Took some rock out ..Still low on nitrate and higher on phos...Maybe once a week I add a few ml potassium nitrate.still refuse gfo..Feed like crazy so far so good

 

[jackson6745]

I had that Rock too.. horrible shapes ..Only have one pice got rid of the rest..Took some rock out ..Still low on nitrate and higher on phos...Maybe once a week I add a few ml potassium nitrate.still refuse gfo..Feed like crazy so far so good

Do you have cyano? I never really have a problem with gfo (ROWA) but I use a relatively small amount and always use it. I have run into stn problems in the past when I stopped using it, and started again several months later.

I am no longer using prodibio on this system. Since I prefer to maintain the system with a carbon source over macro algae, I've been using ESV transitions +. So far I'm loving this stuff. Easily maintaining nitrates where I want them with heavy feeding, water always clear, and my LPS are way larger than they have ever been. Also super cheap in comparison to other carbon sources.

 

[TUSI]

Do you have cyano? I never really have a problem with gfo (ROWA) but I use a relatively small amount and always use it. I have run into stn problems in the past when I stopped using it, and started again several months later.

I am no longer using prodibio on this system. Since I prefer to maintain the system with a carbon source over macro algae, I've been using ESV transitions +. So far I'm loving this stuff. Easily maintaining nitrates where I want them with heavy feeding, water always clear, and my LPS are way larger than they have ever been. Also super cheap in comparison to other carbon sources.

Hi rich I don't think you should use Rowa with carbon dosing. I always got stn when I used Rowa every time I put in new media.

 

[SteveZ15]

No cyano.. just some patches or red and some green hair Algae. Still small patches from when I let the tank go. They refuse to die and are a pain to scrape off they hold tight
. But I don't have the faded color anymore. I'm not being picky about the Algae since the Coral looks good ..I been steady once a week wc .. the cheato grows pretty good I take out half every few weeks.gotta clean the sump that should help..Going real slow soon I'll add a stag frag or an easier acro.. to see how the system really is.. monties lps caps Digi all have good color and decent growth.

 

[jackson6745]

Hi rich I don't think you should use Rowa with carbon dosing. I always got stn when I used Rowa every time I put in new media.

Hmm.. this makes me curious Joe. I've always used rowa with carbon dosing. Are you possibly maintaining too low of a nitrate level and or nutrient level that you don't need further po4 reduction? The last time you saw my tank I was dosing prodibio carbon source and running rowa. Without Rowa my po4 goes through the roof. Keep in mind I don't use macro or algae scrubber either. Just skim, carbon source, and GFO (and water changes). This is not the easiest system to balance, but when I do get it right, especially with 400w radium, colors are second to none.

 

[sunny]

I am running rowa with bio-pellets. So far so good.

 

[TUSI]

Hmm.. this makes me curious Joe. I've always used rowa with carbon dosing. Are you possibly maintaining too low of a nitrate level and or nutrient level that you don't need further po4 reduction? The last time you saw my tank I was dosing prodibio carbon source and running rowa. Without Rowa my po4 goes through the roof. Keep in mind I don't use macro or algae scrubber either. Just skim, carbon source, and GFO (and water changes). This is not the easiest system to balance, but when I do get it right, especially with 400w radium, colors are second to none.

You are right it's not easy to keep the po4 low but how low is low? My system only runs zero po4 if I use Rowa. Nitrates and po4 need to be in balance and what Rowa does it strips the po4 when the nitrate is still high. Carbon dosing works slower but more in tuned with each other. I always keep my po4 between .5 and .15. From what i read on some article is that you should not use Rowa with carbon dosing and also the dkh should not be higher than 7 to 8. Rtn and stn is definetly connected to Rowa plus a lot of other things that we don't know but every time I used a new batch of Rowa I ended up with stn for a week. Im trying carbon dosing only with different bacterias and feed every day a low amount. The prodibio is good but it suppose to be used every two weeks so in two weeks time numbers get elevated. The best is to do it all natural and the effects will be good for the tank. My numbers are a little higher than I like them to be but it have been 4 months since I stopped the Rowa and technically the bacteria should start working now. I am thinking of doing a tank full of cheato and othe plants and circulate the system through it.

 

[jackson6745]

For me the sweet spot was no3 10-15ppm and po4 .03. At this level I had the best colors, best growth, and no cyano or nuisance algae. Running gfo continuously and keeping these levels I did't see a drop of stn/rtn in 1-1/2 years. I eventually lost balance and things changed. There must be something more than the gfo alone. I see others having the same problem so I understand your issue, just not sure what else besides the gfo is causing the stn.

What your nitrate level btw?

 

[TUSI]

My nitrate always hovers around 15 to 20 ppm when my po4 is at .8 to .10 every tank I think behaves differently. Lower than these numbers I had not much growth and color was always on the lighter side, especially the reds

 

[jackson6745]

6 weeks later. Everything doing well, still balancing things out. Growth has been moderate, colors improving. I decided to put some more focus on different morphs of blasto and acan around the bottom of the tank. I have most of the acros that I want to grow out at with the exception of a couple .

3/23/17 by rich colombo, on Flickr

Clam on left is a month old, on right is 4-5 years in my systems
IMG_0088 by rich colombo, on Flickr

 

[vincent]

Nice Rich!

 

[jackson6745]

Nice Rich!

Thanks Vincent. Hopefully things continue the way they are.

 

[TUSI]

Looks great rich. You know the key to this keep it steady and it will flourish like before