chadfish build thread

[chadfish]

I should have started this at the beginning, but I’ll instead start it a little over 1yr in.

This build had been everything to me over the past year. I was fed up with my 20 gal freshwater tank with crazy algae blooms and found a 50gal acrylic tank with stand and all the parts for $300. It was supposed to be plug-and-play but that’s never the case. And truth be told, that’s boring.

Here’s where I’m at today: battling dinoflagellates, a week past a 3.5 day black-out, and trying to follow the Dr. Tim’s protocol. I still have Dino’s on the sandbed, but it’s just a small amount. A bit of vacuuming should take care of it.

The blackout killed the rainbow milli frag once and for all. It was doing better, but couldn’t handle the stress. $75 down the tubes, but oh well.

I’ll be posting retroactively to get a journal going. Here’s a FTS from yesterday. It’s using the new filters I got for my iPhone 11Pro. I think it’s looking pretty good considering. Still have a long way to go to rehabilitate many of the pieces, but others are thriving.

 

[chadfish]

It started out with frustration. My 20 X-tall freshwater was in a constant green algae bloom and I just didn't care enough about the tetras and longed for my old 55 gal FOWLR from back in the day. So I turned to Craigslist and in Sept 2020, I found a complete system for $300. That was literally everything, the tank, stand, pumps, lights, rock, salt making station, everything... Great deal.

The journey started October 5th off like most people's dry rock journeys these days - a good strong wash, and a soak. I also took the entire afternoon to polish out all the scratches on the inside and outside of the acrylic. I used a kit made for headlights. Worked great. But nearly impossible to get perfect.

I experimented with a couple aquascapes. I wanted caves and I wanted room behind the rock, not a solid wall in the back. This is what I settled on circa October 10, 2020

Two days later I was ready to fill it. I didn't have a RODI at the time, so i just filled it from the hose. I figured there was plenty of time to remove nitrates as I went along. No fish, so I mixed the salt right in the tank. And no, I didn't cure the rocks at all, and no I did not use any bottled bacteria. I did use live Caribsea sand and relied on that for my fish-in cycle.



Started with the following gear:
50 gal Acrylic tank
Jebao DC-6000 return pump
Coralife Skimmer
Beamswork white/blue LED
Orbit white/blue LED lights for ramp-up & down
(2) Jebao PP-4 wavemakers
15 gal sump - homemade
Direct type durso hybrid overflow with no exterior box
generic heaters
Inkbird heater controller
Old-school rotary timer to turn lights on & off

You can see the sump build and notice the lights directly on top of the tank

Under blues just for fun

And with that I would start the journey. Next entry: fish day

 

[Danii01]

Very nice!

 

[Seapets]

I should have started this at the beginning, but I’ll instead start it a little over 1yr in.

This build had been everything to me over the past year. I was fed up with my 20 gal freshwater tank with crazy algae blooms and found a 50gal acrylic tank with stand and all the parts for $300. It was supposed to be plug-and-play but that’s never the case. And truth be told, that’s boring.

Here’s where I’m at today: battling dinoflagellates, a week past a 3.5 day black-out, and trying to follow the Dr. Tim’s protocol. I still have Dino’s on the sandbed, but it’s just a small amount. A bit of vacuuming should take care of it.

The blackout killed the rainbow milli frag once and for all. It was doing better, but couldn’t handle the stress. $75 down the tubes, but oh well.

I’ll be posting retroactively to get a journal going. Here’s a FTS from yesterday. It’s using the new filters I got for my iPhone 11Pro. I think it’s looking pretty good considering. Still have a long way to go to rehabilitate many of the pieces, but others are thriving.

View attachment 173172

Looks amazing your fish tank

 

[chadfish]

Looks amazing your fish tank

Thanks. Going to get this build thread up to date soon. Been through lots of ups and downs. Still trying to get it stabilized and robust.

 

[chadfish]

I’ve been battling dinos for many months now. They stay on the substrate. Here’s a list of methods that didn’t work:
Dr. Tim method,
3 day blackout
Oversized UV,
dosing bottle bacteria: alone in combination with phyto.

So I’m trying new methods. I read this post on R2R showing success putting filter floss on the sand, having the Dino’s populate on top and then removing. I tried it and the strangest thing happened. #1 - they did NOT grow on top of the filter floss. #2- after leaving the floss there for just 48 hours, it left a bare patch of sand that the Dino’s are slow to repopulate. So another 48 hours after removing floss I got this:


My theory is that the floss blocked the light killing the dinos and allowing the other micro biome to flourish. I might try this again all over the sand for 96 hours.

But first I’m going to do something drastic. I purchased Live Keys Sand and live mud from Florida Pets. I’m going to add it to my sump and hope for the diversity that this guy got and that it will just overpower the dinos for good. I know it’s risky, but I made the purchase before I got the theory about the filter floss.

Thoughts? Words of wisdom?

 

[Mixed Reefer]

Hey interesting, but if a three day black out didn’t work what makes you think filter floss is going to work? Just a thought. In my opinion I would vacuum aggressively the sand that’s affected everyday and dose microbacter7. Have you used this? I love it. Change your socks and filter pads daily early each day to get the Dino’s out of your water. Tedious but works. Have you put under microscope?

 

[chadfish]

Hey interesting, but if a three day black out didn’t work what makes you think filter floss is going to work? Just a thought. In my opinion I would vacuum aggressively the sand that’s affected everyday and dose microbacter7. Have you used this? I love it. Change your socks and filter pads daily early each day to get the Dino’s out of your water. Tedious but works. Have you put under microscope?

Good point about the blackout. I figure I can black out the sand for longer and not stress any coral. I like this option because unlike any other option, it’s targeted to photosynthetic organisms, and the dinos are the only ones presenting right now.

Vacuuming: I tried that. It affects both the Dino’s and the other critters and the biome I’m trying to grow/diversity. Also my vacuum skills are bad, I’m such a clutz that I always accidentally frag something or other. I’m better with just the end of a hose, but last time I did that I got a narcissus snail stuck in there.

I took photos through the microscope and had them ID’d on R2R. Basically said I’m screwed. Said they were prorocentrum?

 

[chadfish]

I think it’s amazing that this softball sized birdsnest has grown so much from a little frag but it hardly encrusted at all and fits on the original frag plug

 

[PSU4ME]

That is some impressive growth. Most of my frags fully (and I mean fully) encrust before they even sniff upward growth

 

[chadfish]

So just a quick update on my build. I finally got rid of the dinos with a combination of methods that, in my mind, helped establish a more diverse biome that outcompeted the dinos.

Some recent changes: Got bryopsis again and did another Reef Flux treatment. Worked like a charm, but a little bit of excess algae on the sand. Feeding heavy cause nitrates at 2ppm and phosphates at 0.0

I also sold my first legit coral. So the big birdsnest centerpiece from post #9 is gone, made room for a Pink Lemonade frag, a Sunset Millipora frag and a small frag of that beautiful birdsnest. This is how it looks now.

Also spent some time today fragging some zoas that were encroaching on other slower growing varieties. Hopefully they survived and I’ll have a couple frags for sale soon.

Hoping to add more fish. Also contemplating upgrading to a 4’ 75gal. But I think I want to custom build the cabinet, so that’s a sticky point.

Thanks for reading. Love this community.

 

[chadfish]

Full tank shot from today

Zoa garden

Update: almost 1 week into 4x Reef Flux treatment for briopsis and (fingers crossed) bubble algae.

My spongedodes died back somehow and are now on the mend. The BTA split in 3 and one crawled up on the spongedode.

The Blue-green hairy mushrooms decided to take over everything on their rock and looking now for another.

The lemonade acro frag is growing after jumping off the rock and spending a few days upside down behind everything. It now has more superglue.

The flashlight torch sprouted more heads as did my hammer and Duncan

The GSP is most of the way up the back wall

The Miyagi Tort is going nuts! The only issue is I frag the heck out of it every time I clean the tank. The rainbow Millie is looking dead. I can’t seem to keep millipora or montipora. Except even though my Sunset Monti has almost no poly extension, it’s growing and encrusting and is very hearty, killing most in its path… including my expensive OMG Acro from Dong.

Oh well, just kind of going with it. Not too much time lately to micromanage all the drama

 

[chadfish]

Reef Flux is no joke! Bubble algae problem solved!
After:

Before:

It still exists in the tank, but 99% dead. Im confident another 4X Reef Flux treatment would kill the rest. No affect to the corals.

 

[DylanCameron]

Wow! That’s no joke, great progress.

I’m curious, did you notice a spike in nitrate and phosphate as the algae started to die away?

 

[chadfish]

Wow! That’s no joke, great progress.

I’m curious, did you notice a spike in nitrate and phosphate as the algae started to die away?

I should have, but didn’t. I don’t know if it’s all the softies, anemones, or what, but I have a hard time keeping nitrates above 2.5 ppm.