My 55 gallon reef to be.

[swank1975]

Today i went to my lfs and picked up some hermits, snails, a diamond goby, a star polyp, a candy, a leather, and a tree.

The guy told me to add an hour a day of my actinics and cut back a about 3 hours a day of my daylights.

[crvz]

So what's that make a new photoperiod?

[swank1975]

Originally Posted by crvz

So what's that make a new photoperiod?

Wow you lost me with photoperiod. I had to look the word up. The guy at the lfs told me the algaes I want will grow off the actinic and the algae I don't want grows better off the daylight.

He showed me his 2 100 gallon display/sales tanks that share water and of the 4 banks of lights he had on them he said he sometimes gets the red algae only in one corner of the one tank (where the daylight lamp is).

He has been farming corals in Colorado here for a long time and had his store here for 9 years so hopefully his advice is good advice. Key's Island if anyone local is reading this.

He also told me to watch my temperature fluctuations, feeding, and told me my newly added maxijet mod power head should help.

I picked up 7 more small hermits, 6 more small snails, a diamond goby, a nice star polyp, a tree, a leather, and a green candy.













And finally a current FTS




Yeah so my camera isn't the best at getting these photos. I need to find my tripod. I have tried all the different setting on my little Kodak C633 but it's a bare bones little camera so the features are not very plentiful. You can see below how the tank looked when I first purchased it.

The guy was using tap water in it for about 2 years, no skimmer, and old lamps. I had to replace the 65 watt lamps, uv lamp, put in a skimmer, set up refugium, got more snails and crabs, and lots more live rock. I know I have a ways to go but I already feel much better about it.

[swank1975]

My Algae blenny in corner.




Hippo and clown grabbing some camera time.



Just noticed this start for the first time. Is he ok in my tank?

[sasquatch]

The star is a good sign! looks like things are moving too the Happy Place now!

[swank1975]

Thanks

[swank1975]

Everything seems to be growing well. I am seeing new polyps, branches on my pipe organ, the leather and tree are showing signs of considerable growth. I need to do another full test series on my water today but overall my calcium and DHK have been coming up slowly over the last couple weeks along with my salinity. I still have the red algae though. Not sure what the deal is there other than the one end has a different actinic light than the other end with less aglae. I think it's partially related to the spectrum of light.

[swank1975]

picked up a green emerald crab today.

[aquawolf]

Things seem to be coming along for you, just keep plugging away at it.

If the red algae is slimy, then it is really Cyanobacteria aka Red Slime Algae. It should go away with reduction of phosphates, good flow and lighting. For more information you can do a search on here as there are numerous threads about it.

I wish you continued success with everything.

[swank1975]

So today my add on DI filter showed up for my RO system. This should give me cleaner water change water for sure. I also got my reactor(via-aqua poly reactor) and set it up with kent marine phosphate sponge and E.S.V. GAC. I should be ok running the sponge and carbon together right?

I rinsed the sponge and carbon in RO water before hooking it to the tank.

Hopefully my reactor, DI filtration, and normal water changes will make my cyano a thing of the past.

[aquawolf]

Yes, the phosphate sponge and carbon together will be fine. The DI might help out some as well. Good luck with the battle.

[crvz]

Do you measure the TDS of your RO (now RO/DI). I'd want to make sure you're getting zero readings now that you've got the DI hooked up.

[swank1975]

So should I buy an inline TDS meter?

I'm looking at this one.

http://www.marinedepot.com/ps_ViewItem~category~HM_Digital_In_line_Dual_TDS_M eter_Saltwater_Aquarium_Supplies_Reverse_Osmosis_P urity_Monitors~vendor~Captive_Purity~SearchStr~tds +meter~action~view~idProduct~RO1312~idCategory~FIR OPM~tab~0.html

BTW My cleaner shrimp was caught again today climbing all over my pipe organ. This is the only coral he messes with. I have noticed lately the pipe organ is closed up as much as it is open. Is this because the shrimp keeps messing with it? Would the shrimp be eating little critters living in the pipe organ? I cannot see where he has damage it.

[crvz]

Yeah, that's decent price for an inline TDS meter. I've not used one, just the handheld kind, so I can't speak to their consistency, but it's good to know the measure. I'd probably get that one.

Regarding the shrimp, he's probably eating things that are collecting on the coral, and it's likely closed up due to the unwanted attention. Not real sure how to solve this problem without removing the shrimp, but you could try moving the coral to another spot in the tank and see what happens.

[swank1975]

Cool I think that's the route I'll take then. Thanks for the help. Hopefully I see the cynao go away now..