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Troubled reef – 1st birthday of new tank

Grumpy Old Reefer — Mon, 05 Apr 2010 17:49:56 +0000

My latest tank had its 1st birthday some weeks ago and let me tell you there’s little to celebrate. For the first time ever I’ve actually considered quitting the “hobby”.

New tank shortly after move. Everything was good.

It all started 15 months ago when after a long and serious illness I was able to “restart” my old tank. After a lot of work it all started to look good but then something happened that set the tone for the next 15 months: just when I thought the tank was back on right track the center brace broke and I was forced to drain the tank and buy a new one. So began a year during which pretty much nothing has worked (or so it seems to me).

Old tank before and after. It took 5 weeks of hard work.

This tank has caused me more trouble than all my previous tanks combined. Well, actually, it’s not the tank but the owner who has caused so much trouble. Traditionally I’ve been very conservative with my husbandry practices. I’ve always used pretty standard and simple Berlin type setup i.e. combination of sand, live rock, skimmer, GAC, limewater and good lighting. My only departure from the age old Berlin method was DOC dosing which I started about 10 years ago. Sure, I’ve experimented with some additives but all in all, very safe and stable.
That’s boring, right?
So thought I and together with this new tank I started to explore all kinds of “new” and exciting products that would certainly make my new tank that much better than all my previous attempts. Unfortunately I got a bit too enthusiastic about some of the products and as a result managed to almost completely ruin my tank with extremely high nutrients. This year has also been plagued with equipment failures and about 1000 miscellaneous smaller problems. By far the worst year in my reefkeeping history.
Unfortunately as the problems have been piling up so has my motivation to write plummeted, I haven’t even had the energy to be grumpy

My 240 gallon tank April 2010. Current number one problem: Aiptasia

Let’s hope 2010/2011 season will be more enjoyable!

Grumpy update

Grumpy Old Reefer — Sat, 02 Jan 2010 10:40:47 +0000

Just a quick update: I have been dealing with some “real life” problems lately and haven’t had the energy to write anything for some time now. Seems like the situation is improving once again so I hope to post something new soon

Tank update, October 2009

Grumpy Old Reefer — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 18:49:22 +0000

Phosphates are finally getting close to “zero”, currently 0.07 ppm PO4

Nitrates are dropping again, currently 0.5 ppm NO3

I think the corals are starting to grow again!

I sold Achilles tang and Niger trigger to local hobbyists but added 8 Anthias, 5 P. squamipinnis and 3 P. dispar

The new skimmer, ATB Medium, is absolutely fantastic. It is so efficient that I’m ramping up feeding again.

Biopellets continue to work as advertised. The biomass production has slowed down considerably since installing the new skimmer. I’m expecting a new shipment to arrive any day now, I will be increasing the amount of Biopellets to more reasonable 2-2.5 liters. Note that Biopellets are now sold by npbiopellets.com

Found a great manufacturer for PO4 binder, activated carbon and pulverized zeolith: Gilbers Environmental Technologies. Once again a little known company provides excellent quality, very good customer service and very competitive prizes. If you need any of the aforementioned filtering media, give them a try.

“My reef aquarium” updated

Grumpy Old Reefer — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 06:27:36 +0000

I’ve removed the “my way” page and updated info in “My reef aquarium” page. I’ll try to update it more frequently in future…

I’ll take a new full tank shot as soon as I get my new skimmer, the ATB Dual Cone with AirStar (known in US as econo 1050). Should be here next week.

Tank update, July 2009

Grumpy Old Reefer — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 08:52:04 +0000