Reef Pilot's Undersea Oasis

[Reef Pilot]

Well, I bit the bullet and just reimplemented by bio-pellet reactor. I had disconnected it thinking that I didn't need it anymore. But looks like that is not the case. My nitrates gradually climbed, and up to 15 ppm now. So it was time to take action.

Previously, I did not have to add any bio pellets for about a year and a half, and it looked like my bio pellet consumption had slowed to almost nothing. But I guess the reactor was still doing its job and keeping the nitrates at zero even though there were only about 3 inches left tumbling. So I was quite surprised to see how quickly they rose again once the reactor was disconnected.

[Bugger]

Can you do a full tank shot. I use biopellets too.

[Reef Pilot]

I am reluctant to even do a full tank shot now, as hard to get a good pic with the long days and daylight reflections from the windows. Also, while my camera does good underwater pics, it is not good through the glass with its auto focus.

But here is one from a few months ago,... best I've got for now...

[Bugger]

What are your feeling towards adding sand and scrapping the back glass?

[Slyguy00]

Why? I think it looks great walter!

[hillegom]

I only scrape the front and sides.

[Reef Pilot]

Originally Posted by Slyguy00

Why? I think it looks great walter!

Thanks, you are very kind. Just trying to make it through the summer without too much change or effort. Then in the fall, plan to rescape it, and relocate a lot of the corals.

[Reef Pilot]

Well, I knew it was going to be tough summer for my tanks, with my being gone from home (flying and at our lake cabin) a lot. But it was a lot worse than I had bargained for.

I also had a bad start going into the summer, struggling to get my phosphates down, and a jump in my nitrates when I foolishly disconnected my bio pellet reactor a few months earlier. SPS growth and colour were already suffering.

Then with my being gone so much, my KH got out of hand. I usually keep it pretty steady around 8. I would get home occasionally for a day or two, and I noticed that it was dropping to 7 and lower. So, as I've done many times before, I just dialed up the doser, and thought it would be OK. Not so, came home a week later, and it was below 6. That sure didn't make a lot of sense. Meanwhile my Ca jumped up to about 480 and had to reduce that doser. I finally had time to have a closer look, and to my chagrin, I found the KH doser line plugged at the water end. I guess I had not cleaned it for some time...

Shortly after I also changed my doser KH container with a new mix of bicarbonate. I set the doser to what I thought would bring the KH back up to what it should be, and had to leave again for a few days. When I came home again, the KH was over 9, in just 3 days. I knew that wasn't good, and have been making more doser adjustments ever since until I now have it back to about 8, where I want it.

But the damage is done. Many of my SPS are not looking very good, and lost a few of my prize colonies. What's bad, too, is that my Pearlscale Butterfly fish decided to add SPS to his diet. Up to now (for the last 4 years), he only ate aiptasia and left my other corals alone. But I guess with my being gone a lot (fish don't get fed in my absence) he got hungry and would nip (more like fleece) any SPS that was suffering. He seems to leave the healthy ones alone, or at least I hope he is. In any case, many of my SPS have taken a real beating, with some full casualties. I just hope all is not lost and most will recover now as I get my water parameters back under control.

The Good:
Orange Digi frags and colonies none the worse for wear.


Hawkins Echinta has been through a lot, but still alive.


Strawberry Shortcake not growing much but still hanging on.


Birdnest seem to be able survive anything.


Pearlberry OK, although not doing great.


Some of my Valida is OK.



Green Bali is OK.


Red Planet lost some color, but is OK.


Setosa hanging in there.


Bonsai Valida fighting with mushrooms.


Also have a bunch of softies and LPS (no pics) that seemed to not have been affected at all. Mushrooms, frogspawn, leathers, bubble corals, and palys still growing like weeds.

The Bad:

Lost a beautiful Cali Tort.


This one went early on. It was a rare Icefields Tenius. Also lost my Blue Tipped Tenuis (that used to grow like a weed). These were once very beautiful corals.


Another favorite barely hanging on.


I think this one could be toast. It was a very nice Tri-color Nana.


Burnt tips on this Purple Valida.


There is more I could show, but it is getting a little depressing...

The Ugly:

Wasn't able to clean the front of my acrylic tank often enough...


No shortage of algae.


Pumps need a cleaning really bad.


So there you have it. This is definitely the worst my tank has been in a couple years. It is amazing how quickly it went downhill. My intention was to redo my aquascape this fall, and still want to do it. But my first priority will be to get my tank healthy again, and the SPS growing again. That will probably take a couple months. After that, will try do a rescape.

I can sure see why people quit this hobby. Having said that, am a long way from considering that. But it definitely is a major set-back for me. Hopefully, I can get it looking good again. I think I learned a few more lessons, too. Biggest one is, don't let your KH get out of hand.

[Reef Pilot]

Originally Posted by Bugger

What are your feeling towards adding sand and scrapping the back glass?

It's an acrylic tank, and very hard to keep clean. Only do the front and sides. Need to get a plastic scraper out every couple months (or sooner) to clean off the coralline. Plus it is getting very tight in there with my SPS. I have a small amount of sand, which tends to be blown bare in the middle by the pumps.

My downstairs tank is glass, and very easy to clean.