Steve's 180

I've got gfo, just in a mesh bag though, I do have a reactor I could hook up. Thanks for the suggestion. I'm guessing dropping it once won't be enough, it will continue to leach, I hope for not too long. I expect it's something I'll be watching closely for some time to come.
 
Right now in a cycling tank you can't really drop PO4 too quickly. Later when there's coral dropping it fast will piss things off. I'm not a fan of gfo but it's in this instance it'll work fine but when PO4 is high the gfo will get exhausted quickly. When it turns dark brown to black it will need to be replaced.

Another option is lananthum. It can be mix with ro and dripped into the overflow and run into a very fine filter sock. Fine is like 10 to 50 micron. Brightwells PhosphatE can be used or there are pool phosphate removers that can be used as well.
 
I was looking to find something to understand the effects of phosphates. , stumbled upon this you tube video. Very interesting analysis.

What's up with phosphate? by Richard Ross | MACNA 2014
 
Great video thanks for reminding me, I watched this about 3 years ago when i was still very new to reefing, and had forgotten about it. It is just as relieving now to see as it was then. As far as I know we don't really know a whole lot more. I just checked my database I've been using for 15 months, and my old notebook from before that, and seems mostly my tanks have been under .1 with some periods up to .5 and I've never pulled my hair out over it, i would just put a little gfo in a bag and drop in the sump and it would slowly drop. Being a new tank i'd like to keep the uglies to a minimum so I've got a bottle of Brightwell Phosphate E coming tomorrow (I love Amazon) to try to prevent a strong start for algae until the competers mature some.
 
120 lbs. Special Grade Aragonite added this morning. I'm going out of town next weekend so I suppose I'll wait to move some fish in until after I get back so I don't have to get another auto feeder. I'll continue ammonia dosing until then to continue building up the bio-filter.20201001_174442.jpg20201001_174442.jpg
 
Did you have the light on just for the pic? I'm planning on starting mine dark for a few months through the cycle and after I add fish. The hope is to help get through the main ugly phase with no algae while the system stabilizes. I'll probably uses ambient light and maybe something small over the tank to simulate day night for the fish.
 
Adam said:
Did you have the light on just for the pic? I'm planning on starting mine dark for a few months through the cycle and after I add fish. The hope is to help get through the main ugly phase with no algae while the system stabilizes. I'll probably uses ambient light and maybe something small over the tank to simulate day night for the fish.
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Yes exactly. I'll probably leave them off until I add coral. I'll try to be patient on doing that.
 
A little slow on updating, I added some livestock last week. Magnificent Foxface, 2 clowns, Royal Gramma, Yellow Watchman, 3 Serpent stars, one large hermit and @15 nassarius. Still not running lights. One more week in copper for a Regal Tang (quarter size), Bristletooth tang (2") and filefish. Several more weeks for 2nd quarantine batch i got yesterday - Powder Brown Tang (2 1/2") and a male and two female PinTail fairy wrasses. Sure hope they all make it through copper.

Day of transfer, he's po'd
20201009_123011.jpg

20201016_172858.jpg

Here he is after a couple days20201010_122035.jpg
 
@3 months, still tons of pineapple sponges everywhere. The two 5' fluorescent blue plus are up to 3 1/2 hours/day, still haven't fired up the LEDs. Really anxious to start adding coral but I'm holding off. Did add two fish though. Pin tail fairy wrasse and Powder Brown - he's really loving this tank. I removed the Bristletooth who's a bit larger and that's been there six weeks. Suggestions on how long before I add him back? I'm not going to rearrange the rocks. 20201209_111740.jpg20201207_164326.jpg
 
I added the Bristletooth back yesterday, the PBT was so comfortable right off the bat I didn't want him too settled in. The Bristletooth had only been out about 3 days. They chased each other for hours then settled down. The PBT is back to enjoying the mirror that he had the whole time in QT. Six foot tank and they all hang out on one end, except for the Pajama Cardinal who stays on the other end.

20201211_165616.jpg
 
Steve Burton said:
I added the Bristletooth back yesterday, the PBT was so comfortable right off the bat I didn't want him too settled in. The Bristletooth had only been out about 3 days. They chased each other for hours then settled down. The PBT is back to enjoying the mirror that he had the whole time in QT. Six foot tank and they all hang out on one end, except for the Pajama Cardinal who stays on the other end.

View attachment 34813
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Hey... if everyone is in that corner... must be something good going on. Lol.
 
Our clown and her anemones (yes, the knucklehead has somehow managed to get 2 BTAs to be happy side by side and she tends to both of them) is on one side of the tank - she tends to "encourage" most other fish to wander to the other areas of the tank.

Tank is looking good Steve !
 
Your system is looking good and coming along nicely Steve.

You might want to keep the lighting to a minimum until you start adding some coral, just enough to simulate day and night for the fish. It will help with the ugly phase. I'm planning on that approach my system startup. I want to get most of my fish stocking done then get the nutrients under control before coral. Pretty much going by the WWC method from the BRS vids.
 
Well I found a problem with my system. Came back from 2 weeks away and my Pintail Fairy Wrasse was missing. He'd only been added @ two weeks before, I figured he wasn't aggressive enough with the auto-feeder. Saw the thread about a missing clown and it occurred to me to check the overflow box and sure enough he is there, alive and kicking. No way they can escape the canopy but nothing to keep them from jumping in the overflow, and since it will be so hard to get him out I figured I better come up with a plan to fix before I get him out. Construction in progress, update to follow.
 

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Those fairy wrasses are big time jumpers and I would highly recommend a cover. Glad you found it.

I just made a cover for my observation tank as I plan to get some possible jumpers soon as well. What a pain in the butt to do. I am terrible with rolling spline.
 
I made a bracket to hold a sheet of glass at an angle over the overflow, just finished the last coat of spar urethane. The glass is 35", and pretty heavy, but a big thanks to @Doberman13 who offered me a piece of acrylic which I think will be much better.
 

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