Sniperhank's UPGRADED 55 gal Build

[Sniperhank]

AND the new birds nest. Placed in sandbed to adjust next to the coco worm for size comparison.

[Keithhjs]

Originally Posted by Sniperhank

AND the new birds nest. Placed in sandbed to adjust next to the coco worm for size comparison.

Looks nice. Me likey!

[Sniperhank]

Me too. Here is hoping I don't murder it like I did the rainbow monti...

[Keithhjs]

Originally Posted by Sniperhank

Me too. Here is hoping I don't murder it like I did the rainbow monti...

Ah man that blows. Was that the Monti you just got? Sorry to hear.

[Sniperhank]

Ya. It happens though I put it mid level and went to work, not realizing it was right under the radions. Roasted.

[Keithhjs]

Yeah I fragged a green Monti cap Sunday and lost the chip somewhere. Dang snail or more likely the urchin pulled it off the frag. Tried to frag a chip again Wednesday night and come home today to another stolen chip lol. Guess I need to move it to the frag tank or wait and cut off a bigger chunk.

[Sniperhank]

I had trouble for awhile with an orange monti frag chip vanishing due to being bumped by snails. Finally, it is stuck on and overgrew the glue.

[Sniperhank]

Well, tried to add the ATS on today by T'ing off my return pump. Yeah, that went as poorly as it could. All pressure went into the ats and not through to the tank. Should have installed a valve but didn't think of it. Just cut it off and sealed it up. Waiting on the silicon to dry so I can get the sump back up and running again.

[Sniperhank]

Went on the warpath today. Took out my trumpet coral and took and scrubbed the byropsis off of it, as this is where it gathered after the last removal. Decent job, but sadly I broke the colony in half. Still going strong, just now I have 2. Like I have room for more coral. It might be time to find someone to swap stuff with.

[Sniperhank]

Things have continued on. I have been growing whatever the algae is in my refugium again in outrageous amounts. I'm going to try Cobalt's nitrate and phosphate resins to see if it can make a difference as there is still growth in my display that I am not happy with.
Other than that, fed today before lights came on and the marine betta came out for a quick bite. Was happy to see him actually eat. He's been in there for a couple months, so I knew he was eating since he was still alive, just hadn't seen it. He is still my favorite fish even though you see him rarely at night.

[nikki_kaiser]

Have you checked out seachem's Purigen? They also make a great product for phosphates. I bought this little mandarin and I've had to "overfeed" because he is slower and it takes a few for him to eat. I noticed I was starting to get a little algae even with my chaeto and skimmer going. Did more water changes but it still wasn't enough so I tried it. It took about 4 days to really kick in and I did a 25% water change to kick start it. Wow! Seriously, my water is really clear and my numbers look great! It's also rechargeable! I bought some more so I can recharge the other without skipping a beat. Anyway, you may want to read up on it. One thing: you must use Prime or another water conditioner that does not contain a slime coat.

[Sniperhank]

I actually do already run purigen and high capacity Gfo in my dual reactor. Just going to change it up a tad. I have more purigen coming as well since I ran out of prime lol.

[nikki_kaiser]

Originally Posted by Sniperhank

I actually do already run purigen and high capacity Gfo in my dual reactor. Just going to change it up a tad. I have more purigen coming as well since I ran out of prime lol.

I really like the stuff. I do notice that after a while it doesn't work as well. I may need to change it sooner than it says.

[San Raphael Catfish]

I have my purigen, gonna regenerate it today, what positive things have you seen it do for you?

[Sniperhank]

Never had as clear of water as I had before it. It tumbles really easy as well. I'm going to regenerate this batch, but I will have another set of it to dump in and get things going. I don't have the time to mess with it for 24 hours nor the ability to have my reactor offline for that long.

The biggest thing I'm hoping is going to be these resins from Cobalt. I've just started hearing about them and haven't heard any bad yet. I'm just sick and tired of GFO. I can never get it to tumble right and I just haven't seen the results I want, even after upgrading to high capacity stuff. I feed 2 cubes a week and algae growth has increased. That doesn't quite make sense.

EDIT: I was just looking into my tank as I prep for today's water change. My conch has vanished, and has been missing for some time. I find it odd as he was pretty large and, well, would leave a shell behind. I'm hoping he is simply spending lots of time under the sand, though doubtful.
To go along with that, my indigo dottyback is also missing. It has been a week I think. I'm thinking these 2 deaths gave me a pretty nice boost in algae growth.

[Sniperhank]

Well, things have continued to be busy with work. The area flooding today sure didn't help much, but I live on a hill so all is well. The marine betta has been coming out more and more. Other than that not much to report on besides wishing I had this algae thing under more control than I do. Hopefully the stuff coming in next week will help out. Besides that, I sure wish I had more of a sandbed right now for a walking dendro. Saltwaterfish has been carrying a couple for a tad bit now and it is one of the things I've wanted since I saw it. Really cool stuff. Another time.

[Sniperhank]

All my stuff came in from dr fosters and smiths. Now the question is, what to use! I'm thinking continue with Purigen and the Cobalt anti-phosphate. Thoughts?

[Sniperhank]

Purigen and anti-phosphate put into the dual reactor. So far, I'm pretty impressed with Cobalt's product. 2 bags come in a bottle and each bag treats 26 gallons, so both are sitting in my 55. If things improve, I'm ready to switch the Purigen out for the anti-nitrate to give it a shot. This time around, the Purigen was all through the filter sponges and needed cleaned out. One step at a time though.

[Sniperhank]

Just got done feeding the tank. It might have been forgotten, but I simply broadcast feed a single cube or whatever to the tank. This isn't anything special, until I watch my mandarin eat 3 pieces of mysis. Never showed any interest in any of it before. Winning!

[Bearchumjs]

Originally Posted by Sniperhank

Just got done feeding the tank. It might have been forgotten, but I simply broadcast feed a single cube or whatever to the tank. This isn't anything special, until I watch my mandarin eat 3 pieces of mysis. Never showed any interest in any of it before. Winning!

Awesome news about the mandarin!