300 gallon "Outside Corner" Reef

[Keithhjs]

Always enjoy seeing pics & videos of your system. Very impressive to say the least. Would hope someday to have a reef even remotely as nice (& as big lol) as yours.

Question on the purigen in the filter beds as I have a couple of those lying around, how hard is it to change out the media and doesn't it go everywhere at startup?

[Gregcoyote]

I really like this stuff and the fact it regenerates so well, it's a bargain. In every batch there are some floaters. I get those out in a initial ro/di rinse. And I use a fine mesh filter sock on the output to catch any strays. Although a few strays are harmless. It will remain "fluidized" and slowly turns brown. Lasts about 2 months, then regenerates in less than an hour.

[Keithhjs]

Originally Posted by Gregcoyote

I really like this stuff and the fact it regenerates so well, it's a bargain. In every batch there are some floaters. I get those out in a initial ro/di rinse. And I use a fine mesh filter sock on the output to catch any strays. Although a few strays are harmless. It will remain "fluidized" and slowly turns brown. Lasts about 2 months, then regenerates in less than an hour.

I use it in a reactor but even double bagged and rinsed for 20-30 min it still floats out. Guess I need a better bag. Also I've never tried to regenerate it as the use of bleach makes me second guess myself that I didn't wash it out well enough lol. I think I may hook up one of my filter beds and give it a try though.

[Gregcoyote]

I have a little rig set up that rinses it with fresh water for a few hours. That pretty much takes care of it for me. Here's what it looks like .

[Gregcoyote]

My blue jaw triggerfish is wearing me out. First, he eats as much as all the other fish combined it seems. And then he rockets around at warp 4. Thank heavens he has room enough, but I expect to see him flying out of the tank. (Yes there is a screen on top)

[mr_X]

My Vlamingi is similar. He has all the characteristics of an Oscar. Eating and pooping machine!

[Gregcoyote]

I have always been careful about adding aggressive (and big) fish. He is very cool and has done nothing wrong, but he's a bit like a friendly pit bull, you just hope it stays friendly.

BTW I know you also make your own food. I just made some and used salmon again as one of the fish proteins. They seem to love it, but a poster said they had heard not to use salmon. Seems salmon is loaded with oils and fats fish need, so wondering if I am missing something.

[Keithhjs]

Originally Posted by Gregcoyote

I have always been careful about adding aggressive (and big) fish. He is very cool and has done nothing wrong, but he's a bit like a friendly pit bull, you just hope it stays friendly.

BTW I know you also make your own food. I just made some and used salmon again as one of the fish proteins. They seem to love it, but a poster said they had heard not to use salmon. Seems salmon is loaded with oils and fats fish need, so wondering if I am missing something.

Interesting on the salmon. I've not tried that. I usually add a whitefish like pompano or such. Might have to give it a go.

[Gregcoyote]

It was readily available at our grocery store and pretty cheap.

[mr_X]

I have used salmon before, but it really dirties up the water. I don't want an oil slick on the surface every time I feed. If you want to use salmon, I suggest you do it by itself and very sporadically, and not mix it in your broadcast food.

[Gregcoyote]

Good point. I used a bit of canned salmon that was pretty dry. Much less oil than in fresh for some reason in this brand. Probably why canned salmon is better for fish food instead of human food. I haven't seen any oil yet but will be on the watch for it. Made a 4 month supply, so need to try and feed it unless I find a toxic oil spill going on. thanks

[Gregcoyote]

Okay...I did it. My frag tanks are teeming with pods, so I bought a little fat green mandarin. I have never had much luck with them, but that was in the general population in my main reef. The frag tank has almost no competition for him.

I was very anti Mandarin until my son shamed me by keeping his fat and happy for over a year now. No reason he can't grow to an old age at this point. So I will try again. Not counting on weaning him to brine, just going to surround him with more pods than he can eat.

Question: I find a lot of pods in the chaeto in my algae scrubber. They also inhabit all the nooks in the systems. Is there a way to concentrate them to one area for capture?

[Posivated]

Looks amazing, hope one day I can have a tank like that.

[Gregcoyote]

Originally Posted by Posivated

Looks amazing, hope one day I can have a tank like that.

Thanks. Stick with it, it just takes time.

[obscurereef]

Extraordinary tank. Did you ever have a time where there was "old tank syndrome"?

[Gregcoyote]

Yes, since most of the reef is cemented together with coral, I only replace a few rocks now and then. I have jets behind the rock walls to help blow detritus out, but it does build up. I siphon out holes every now and then. A few years back I had a problem with the system going acidic, probably partially caused by old tank syndrome. I added a lot more water to the system with additional sump and frag tanks, added a fan on the surface of the tank the controller can turn on if ph is too low and I upped my alkalinity to where I keep it now. Ph has become very stable and don't see anymore problems. Baking soda is the friend of old reef systems.

I also have two adult 12" engineer gobies that excavate continuously.

[Gregcoyote]

I have noticed something. Would everyone agree that a tank that is growing lots of calcareous (pink) algae is indicative of a system that is ready to grow hard corals? I am guessing this might be a pretty solid indicator of water quality. While it doesn't mean lighting or even flow is optimum, it should seem to mean alk/cal level are all spot on.

Seems every system I have diagnosed with problems growing LPS and SPS corals, also had a minimal amount of pink algae. When my corals are growing at max, I have to chisel that stuff off of everything.

[Keithhjs]

Best wishes with your Mandarin. I think I been lucky maybe with those. Kept one in a reef over a decade ago for years without ever feeding anything to the tank or it having a sump or fuge. I currently have one coming up on about 9-10 months without training it to eat prepared (may be eating them just never seen it happen) but my fuge now is loaded with pods.

I also subscribe to the theory of hard coralines showing up everywhere are a great indication that conditions are set for stony corals.

[obscurereef]

Thanks for the info. Over that long of time seems inevitable, but it's great the tank recovered. And those are huge gobies! Must fool everyone looking like eels.

[Gregcoyote]

They creep my son out. But I love Moreys and these do resemble toothless ones.