Other Wendi's 20 gal Coral/Invert QT/Frag Tank

[oceanfrontinNE]

It was suggested that I start a journal for this tank so it's easier for folks to give advice when I run into problems.

I have a 20 gal long with a Marineland Bio-Wheel HOB filter, AI Prime 16, Seachem Ammonia Badge, a heater (can't remember wattage or type), a circulation pump and a couple chunks of live rock. Two of the rocks came from my sump and another rock came from the sump at a LFS I was using in a temp tank that's since been torn down. This has been set up since summer '20. I do 90% water changes every two weeks or so. I top off manually daily. I had a cheap LED light at the beginning and bought the Prime secondhand some months ago. Here is my lighting schedule:

It's this because I don't know what else to do with it and don't want to screw it up.

I have egg crate on the bottom to keep frag plugs upright as well as a magnetic frag rack on the side. Successful graduates of this QT are 1 anemone, zoas, toadstool, ricordia mushroom, xenia, 1 torch, montipora and various inverts.

Currently it houses lots of silver xenia, some montipora, a tiny toadstool on the egg crate and a frag of firework cloves on the bottom. The frag rack currently houses a birds nest, torch, zoas, rainbow montipora, more zoas, and a duncan.

I did keep the temperature above 80.6 to shorten the QT time but I didn't have heated fresh saltwater for a water change and the temp dipped below 80.6 so 76 days it is. I keep the temp around 79 now.

I added snails last week to try to help keep up with the algae growth but they haven't been very interested in it so far. I'm considering dropping one of my urchins from the DT in there to see if it will eat it up.

 

[oceanfrontinNE]

My concerns for this QT are that my SPS are barely making it out alive. I forgot to mention my favia in the list of QT graduates. It's in my DT now and doing much better there. While in QT it lost a lot of it's puffiness and I could start to see tissue regression right before moving to the DT. As you can see in the last picture, my birds nest and rainbow monti look miserable. I rarely test on this tank, but I did the other day and my nitrates and phosphates are undetectable. I didn't test for anything else but can if it's suggested.

I've thought about adding sand to make it more natural. I've also thought about adding this fijicube insert so it's not quite as dirty. Or maybe I need to do water changes more often and step up my overall husbandry? All-in-One Drop-In Kit for 20 Gallon Aquariums - 3rd Gen - Fiji Cube

 

[oceanfrontinNE]

@Tamberav & @OZ_SPS here's my build thread for my coral/invert QT. You both were so generous to help me troubleshoot what's going on with it in the other thread yesterday, I thought I'd tag you here for help.

 

[OZ_SPS]

Will read and comment soon.
cheers

 

[OZ_SPS]

My concern with this is the stability..or lack of for that matter.
A frag tank, display tank or coral quarantine tank all share the same requirements. You need stability and maturity to keep coral even temporary. Thats why I do not believe in coral quarantine..its not like fish quarantine where u can change or sterilize the system..coral need stable and mature system.

You are making massive water changes, how are you maintaining your paramaters stability?

Whats your paramatwrs like?

When you say u r using cheap LED why did not u use T5? Cheap but still good light?

 

[Max_nano]

My concerns for this QT are that my SPS are barely making it out alive. I forgot to mention my favia in the list of QT graduates. It's in my DT now and doing much better there. While in QT it lost a lot of it's puffiness and I could start to see tissue regression right before moving to the DT. As you can see in the last picture, my birds nest and rainbow monti look miserable. I rarely test on this tank, but I did the other day and my nitrates and phosphates are undetectable. I didn't test for anything else but can if it's suggested.

I've thought about adding sand to make it more natural. I've also thought about adding this fijicube insert so it's not quite as dirty. Or maybe I need to do water changes more often and step up my overall husbandry? All-in-One Drop-In Kit for 20 Gallon Aquariums - 3rd Gen - Fiji Cube

If you have undetectable nitrates and phosphate what do you mean by not as dirty?

Are you doing water changes as a method to keep alk up? Or are you dosing 2 part or something

 

[oceanfrontinNE]

My concern with this is the stability..or lack of for that matter.
A frag tank, display tank or coral quarantine tank all share the same requirements. You need stability and maturity to keep coral even temporary. Thats why I do not believe in coral quarantine..its not like fish quarantine where u can change or sterilize the system..coral need stable and mature system.

It has been set up for about 8 months. In between coral batches about 2 months ago I drained it, cleaned the glass and HOB well and filled it back up. I moved it to our basement so it's closer to the sump room and easier to do maintenance.

You are making massive water changes, how are you maintaining your paramaters stability?

As far as stability goes, I agree that I haven't been proactive in keeping parameters stable, but I don't mess with the system often either. I've been going off of the appearance of the coral for clues on when something seems out of whack and doing water changes accordingly. I should test more.

Whats your paramatwrs like?

Other than testing salinity (35ppt) and temp. (79ish) I haven't been testing.

When you say u r using cheap LED why did not u use T5? Cheap but still good light?

I used a cheap LED at first. I have an AI Prime 16 on there now.

If you have undetectable nitrates and phosphate what do you mean by not as dirty?

Just the muck that collects on the bottom. I think if I filtered the larger particles it would help with this.

Are you doing water changes as a method to keep alk up? Or are you dosing 2 part or something

Water changes only for now.

I'm discussing with my husband what I'm learning and trying to find the most reasonable way to achieve stability for the corals in both the QT and the DT since we keep on adding corals and it's going to need to be addressed and planned for sooner rather than later. I bought a used EB832 today at the LFS so I can start adding more automation to the tank. He has a few used DŌS available as well and if we decide to automate dosing rather than manual dosing, I'll probably pick up one for the DT and one for the QT.

Thanks @OZ_SPS and @Max_nano for your continued help with this. I really do appreciate your input.

 

[Max_nano]

Just the muck that collects on the bottom. I think if I filtered the larger particles it would help with this.

I asked that because I’m not using any mechanical filtration on my tank which is just a slightly higher volume of water. Just a protein skimmer. so I’m wondering if there is another option besides changing to AIO.

If muck is collecting on the bottom you could take advantage of the bare bottom and point a powerhead to the area it is currently settling out. Keeping that detritus suspended helps feed the coral, I think.

 

[oceanfrontinNE]

I added a chestnut turbo and some trochus and astrea snails a few weeks ago that I went in on with @drawman. They’ve cleaned up my rocks well, all that’s left are a few patches of what I think is turf algae. Last week I also added 3 tiger conch snails. They’ve done an excellent job cleaning up the muck on the bottom. I added sand to 2/3 of the QT for them but I find them mostly on the other side mopping up what’s on the bare bottom. Once they finish their time in QT I’ll probably keep one in there for CUC.
My softies and LPS are doing great. Birds nest is just kinda meh, but my red montipora chips are doing well. I still need to zap a couple aiptasia on a tiny toadstool frag.

 

[oceanfrontinNE]

I got most of the silver Xenia, the Duncan’s, torch and the tiny toadstool out of QT and into the DT this morning. Why? To put more coral in it of course! Once I get everything I bagged I’ll take pictures.
I also did a 20% w/c and cleaned off some equipment. I took my magnetic frag rack off and noticed one of the magnets had started to rust. I purchased this from a reef hobbyist who was also an acrylic hobbyist about 6 months ago. Glad I noticed it now. Off to order an Octo Frack from @cromag27 at Octo Aquatics!

 

[bluerider098]

It has been set up for about 8 months. In between coral batches about 2 months ago I drained it, cleaned the glass and HOB well and filled it back up. I moved it to our basement so it's closer to the sump room and easier to do maintenance.

As far as stability goes, I agree that I haven't been proactive in keeping parameters stable, but I don't mess with the system often either. I've been going off of the appearance of the coral for clues on when something seems out of whack and doing water changes accordingly. I should test more.

Other than testing salinity (35ppt) and temp. (79ish) I haven't been testing.

I used a cheap LED at first. I have an AI Prime 16 on there now.

Just the muck that collects on the bottom. I think if I filtered the larger particles it would help with this.

Water changes only for now.

I'm discussing with my husband what I'm learning and trying to find the most reasonable way to achieve stability for the corals in both the QT and the DT since we keep on adding corals and it's going to need to be addressed and planned for sooner rather than later. I bought a used EB832 today at the LFS so I can start adding more automation to the tank. He has a few used DŌS available as well and if we decide to automate dosing rather than manual dosing, I'll probably pick up one for the DT and one for the QT.

Thanks @OZ_SPS and @Max_nano for your continued help with this. I really do appreciate your input.

Can you just use DT water for water changes on your QT. If you're testing in your DT then you know it's good water. Just a thought.

 

[cromag27]

I got most of the silver Xenia, the Duncan’s, torch and the tiny toadstool out of QT and into the DT this morning. Why? To put more coral in it of course! Once I get everything I bagged I’ll take pictures.
I also did a 20% w/c and cleaned off some equipment. I took my magnetic frag rack off and noticed one of the magnets had started to rust. I purchased this from a reef hobbyist who was also an acrylic hobbyist about 6 months ago. Glad I noticed it now. Off to order an Octo Frack from @cromag27 at Octo Aquatics!
View attachment 32162

there be a lot of bubbles in that seam!!!!

 

[cromag27]

feel free to put them on blast here. no excuse for this shoddy work. sorry to highjack.

 

[oceanfrontinNE]

Can you just use DT water for water changes on your QT. If you're testing in your DT then you know it's good water. Just a thought.

That could work, but I do 3 gal per day auto water changes over time with DOS on the DT. I'm probably going to get another DOS to do water changes on the QT as well once I get my hardware reorganized on the new shelves.

 

[bluerider098]

You could run the waste from your DT auto water change into your QT, and then pump from your QT into the drain. Lol. I have thought about this 😁.

 

[oceanfrontinNE]

You could run the waste from your DT auto water change into your QT, and then pump from your QT into the drain. Lol. I have thought about this 😁.

True. Right now I have a “waste catch-all that I throw skimmer cup water in sometimes so I’d need to use a different reservoir. It would still keep me on schedule though. I’ll give this some more thought!

 

[oceanfrontinNE]

My favorite local coral guy announced he was coming through yesterday so I asked him to put a package of anything he had *weird* together. This is what I got:

Purple hammer

Blasto Merletti

Branching Cyphastrea

Cinnamon Grande Palys

and my favorite:

Christmas Tree Worm Rock

I’ll be posting over in the invert forum for advice on the Christmas Tree Worms as I know they’re difficult to keep alive.

 

[bluerider098]

True. Right now I have a “waste catch-all that I throw skimmer cup water in sometimes so I’d need to use a different reservoir. It would still keep me on schedule though. I’ll give this some more thought!

Are you running any kind of safeguards on your auto water change? I am mainly thinking about under filling and then your ATO casing your salinity to drop. Say for example your fill dosing pump quit working out you grab out of salt water or something.

 

[oceanfrontinNE]

Are you running any kind of safeguards on your auto water change? I am mainly thinking about under filling and then your ATO casing your salinity to drop. Say for example your fill dosing pump quit working out you grab out of salt water or something.

I check at least once a day when it's running to make sure it's dripping water into the sump. I also compare the levels of the reservoir to the levels of what the waste water can is to make sure they're where they are supposed to be.

 

[cromag27]

i would not risk cross contamination, using water from one tank in another.