Boomer's 650 x 650 x 550 Cubic Adventure

[endlss]

i really like this tank

[BoomerJ]

Further Update:
Have Purchases a couple more pieces of LR and a Scopas.
Have had a real outbreak of Diatom and / or Cyano. The entire sandbed was covered.

Scopas seems to pick at it and the 5 hermits I added have cleared a goodly section of the nuisance algae.
Blenny Still shoots around the tank ripping at bits of algae and now likes to perch under an acan in the front of the tank (dug himself a hidey hole!). Both Fish still shy but healthy. In addition the G/F bought 2 x Gold Line Cardinals. These are a very pretty fish for $12 each!

Looks like I am very gradually overcoming the algae probs.
I got a real nice gold spot morph that Glows Orange Spots under the blues.
Will Post Pics and Water Chemistry Updates soon.

Additional - yes I wouldlike a black backing but am unsure how to go about it.

Chemical Analysis:
Nitrate between 0 and 5ppm
Alk - My kit isnt working after only a few tests
Calcium - 480ppm. This is a high figure so I checked it. Yup. So The Seachem Calcium - which adds Mg and Strontium as well is definitely maintaining the calcium.
I guess I should lower the doseage so will now dose a level teaspoon per 5 litres of RO.
PH is nicely at 8.2.


Boomer

[BoomerJ]

Time for an UPDATE.

Havent Done Measurements for quite a while but have beendoing regular NSW 30% Changes. Looks like Im on top of the phosphates problemo as the algae has started to bugger off on its own.

Fish Report: Mr Blenny (what a character) is a fat bugger now. He will take food from mr Scopas' mouth as they dart around in competition.
Mr Scopas hasnt grown much but is still the same. Shy at first every time but comes out and picks all day.
2 x Cardinals are very healthy specimens, they are basically tame now.

Coral Report:
Pink Goni basically RS. Its just LR Now. I havent thought of what to replace it with but Im liking the thought of another ACAN.
Turquise ACAN Is growing fat in the middle. Looks the same as ever but i think it wants to become round!
Blue Goni (is now pink as well) very healthy. Takes what little food i give.
Orange Discosoma is actually brown with yellow spots but under Blue light is Glowing Orange spots. It has grown and I may frag it soon.

I have introduced.
5 x green Zoa polyps.
5 x orange Zoa Polyps.
5 or 6 Blue (with gold rim) polyps.

Im hoping these little buggers grow and spread, they are so joyfully coloured,.

State of theTank: well as I said the algae is in decline, Macro in sump is cut once per month. The big rock that was a local piece which dried (probably with a bunch of phosphates in it) is now starting to purple up. I have increased dosing from 1 heaped teaspoon per 5L RO water Seachem Calcium to 1 and a half, and increased bicarb to 2 teaspoons per 5 litres ROdi. Im looking to up the ALK of the tank a little. It seems to be working.

Anyway here is the piccies.



FTS - 14/06/2012


RHS - Blue Light 14/06/2012


RHS - Whites and blues On


3 little bunches of zoos


The Cave Close Up

BoomerJ

[BoomerJ]

Quick Note:

4 Orange Xoos above are now 17 polyps.
5 Blue Zoos above ar enow 9 Polyps.
5 Green Zoos still 5 Green polyps.

Cool huh.


BoomerJ

[aznsiko]

hey

your tank very much reminds me of my cube.. lol.. how does your overflow in the back work??

[BoomerJ]

Hey Aznsico. My overflow is a weir to an overflow out the back. I have a siphon and durso but only use the durso as itn nearly silent and my sump is less full.

New News:
My tank has been over run with Snails. There has to be 500 of em in there if there were one!
A lot of them are a blonde colour some white. About a dozen of them are about 5mm already.

In any case - Brown algae almost gone = non existant. green algae yes there is some. I need a water change in reality my laziness has caused some green algae.
My Water Mix
5 Litres of RO with 2 heaped teaspoons of Bicarb (Part A)
5 Litres of RO with 1 Heaped teaspoon of Seachem Calcium + traces and 1 teaspoon of Damprid.

Seems to be working.

Boomer

[priscacara]

Thats a ton of snails, reminds me of a 3 footer I used to breed bristlenose in were so many they used to line up for a feed :-).

[BoomerJ]

Update on Tank Chemistry:

As at 17/5/2013;
PH = 8.2
PO4 Now = 0.00 <0.03 anyhow
NO2 = 0.00
Ca = 350ppm. (which is up from 2 days ago) = I have upped to 1tsp Damprid + 2tsp Seachem Ca. Will monitor this till I get it to 420ppm.
Alk = 8Dkh = 2 heaped tsp Sodium Bicarb into 5l Top Up seems to maintain this.

Getting on top of algae problem now.
Dosed total of 11ml LaCl over 1 week = PO4 Gone. I am going to continue to dose 1ml on a weekly basis as preventative measure against PO4.

Ordering Mg kit and Supplemental MG This week.
Ordering replacement return pump Quiet One copy as well - the pro aqua 3500 is making a hell of a rattle now and im tired of it.

Oh: filter socks from Guppy's (the long skinny ones) work a treat. Im going to get a few just to have on hand cos they are so good.
Looking at Temp Controller to control Heater + fan.
Looking at ORP Controller to control Ozone (25ml) maintain 350Mv Im thinking.. (Currently Researching)


One more water change and clean and algae will be mostly history.



Booms

[BoomerJ]

Been Having Trouble with GHA for months and months decided to try to reduce the nutrients particularly PO4.
Dosed lanthunum Chloride (LaCl) pool starver 3ml x 3 times followed by 1ml (lookslike 1ml per week or fortnight is the go) but PO4 now undetectable.

Current params as at Mid May 2013.
Ph: 8.2
Ca: 380ppm
Alk: Nielsens says 8dKh but both my Salifert and Red Sea test kits dont work.
PO4: Cant get a reading its too low so <0.03ppm (thank you LaCl)
Mg: 1290ppm

As a result, my last cleanup went from a tank literally full of GHA (im not kidding it is an embarrasment) to the below.
Whats more Over the last 2 weeks since finishing the doseage of LaCl, there is not much new algae growing and coraline has started to grow.
i Would call that a success - And I still have 989ml of the 1L bottle left.

Dosing per 5l Part A Seachem Ca 2 teaspoons + 1/8th teaspoon to Seachem Mg
Dosing per 5l Part B Food grade Sodium BiCarbinate (makes cakes rise and hopefully mu alk) 2 x heaped tsp

Hoping regular dosing and measurement can keep my water in a low nutrient state. Still using RODI system for topup.

Oh: Re-aquascaped, just one centre bommie. I want to go minimalist.

Pics

Side

Front

Better Clean

These are shots AFTER the algae has been siphoned off. I still call it dirty not clean but its 500% better than it was. The left wall is indicative of what the entire tank was like prior to LaCL dosing. Had to do 2 20% water changes to get to this point.

[priscacara]

Looking not too bad, glad you managed to get on top of it!