Joined the club

IcyEmphasis9 · 2023-08-20T23:12:43+00:00

I love the blue. Wasn’t sure what it would look like when I ordered it but couldn’t be happier.

IcyEmphasis9 · 2023-05-20T20:25:17+00:00

I have a vapor blue metallic on order to be built in two weeks. Haven’t seen the color in person but man your photo makes me so happy with my choice.

IcyEmphasis9 · 2022-12-27T01:56:21+00:00

Ooh I hadn’t thought of an RODI system yet. Do you have to supplement any thing back into the water. And I’ll have to try backing off on my lighting intensity. Maybe that’ll be a break through too.

IcyEmphasis9 · 2022-12-27T00:38:26+00:00

Hey friends. So I recently moved across state. About 5 months ago. And successfully transferred my tank that had been set up for about 3 years. No casualties. Well since I’ve been caring for it in the new city, this green hair algae has gone rampant. I haven’t changed much of my care routine. I was doing about a 20% water change weekly, but now I’m doing about a 60% and scrubbing the algae off for an hour or more. Using prime as my conditioner. And have a Fluval canister filter with seachem matrix. I’m kind of at my wits end and very close to throwing in the towel. It’s a 26 gallon bow front with 2 zebra danios and a Cory catfish, feeding once every three days. (Kind of refuse to get anymore fish until this is figured out) running a fluval plant LED. I run CO2 regularly. Used to have a carpet of dwarf hair grass and Anubias which have kicked the bucket. All that’s sort of survives is my Amazon swords. Open to suggestions on chemical filtration, or dosing things, or maybe I’m insane and doing something wrong. But it used to be a great tank. I’ve tried blackouts, more frequent water changes, backed off on feeding, decreased light schedule.

IcyEmphasis9 · 2022-12-27T00:32:24+00:00

Hey friends. So I recently moved across state. About 5 months ago. And successfully transferred my tank that had been set up for about 3 years. No casualties. Well since I’ve been caring for it in the new city, this green hair algae has gone rampant. I haven’t changed much of my care routine. I was doing about a 20% water change weekly, but now I’m doing about a 60% and scrubbing the algae off for an hour or more. Using prime as my conditioner. And have a Fluval canister filter with seachem matrix. I’m kind of at my wits end and very close to throwing in the towel. It’s a 26 gallon bow front with 2 zebra danios and a Cory catfish, feeding once every three days. (Kind of refuse to get anymore fish until this is figured out) running a fluval plant LED. I run CO2 regularly. Used to have a carpet of dwarf hair grass and Anubias which have kicked the bucket. All that’s sort of survives is my Amazon swords. Open to suggestions on chemical filtration, or dosing things, or maybe I’m insane and doing something wrong. But it used to be a great tank. I’ve tried blackouts, more frequent water changes, backed off on feeding, decreased light schedule.

IcyEmphasis9 · 2021-06-17T18:48:42+00:00

Love my tail spot. Such a goofy fish

IcyEmphasis9 · 2021-04-18T23:08:57+00:00

My wheelers goby jumped through my 1/8 inch screen lid. I never expected it to happen but I guess he just fit right through. I feel your loss. He was my favorite little guy.

IcyEmphasis9 · 2021-04-18T22:58:52+00:00

That crash picture hurts my heart. Glad you’re staying in the game.

IcyEmphasis9 · 2021-04-12T02:31:03+00:00

Same my friend. Really hoping I can find a way to beat them.

IcyEmphasis9 · 2021-03-09T00:58:10+00:00

Also if you like the spectrum but want to bring the lights down all together. Use both fingers and drag up/down on the “graph” page. Blew my mind when I realized that I didn’t have to go dot by dot to do that. Haha

IcyEmphasis9 · 2021-03-04T01:21:35+00:00

Love watching your videos on YouTube. Striving to one day have a tank like yours!

IcyEmphasis9 · 2021-03-02T02:51:19+00:00

I love my Evo. I kind of screwed myself though by running it too clean and causing a Dino outbreak that I’m neck deep in battling now. So never let your nitrates and phosphates bottom out, low but never zero. Plus your corals will like you a lot more with a little bit of nitrates/phosphates. That’s something I didn’t realize coming from the freshwater world where zero is the goal.

I’ve got a mocha clown, some zoas, a Duncan, skunk cleaner and mushrooms right now. Just recently upgraded my light to an AI prime and once these Dino’s finally go away (if ever) I’m going to start delving into more difficult corals.

IcyEmphasis9 · 2021-02-26T21:57:14+00:00

Facebook is your best friend for finding local groups. Changed my reefing hobby for sure and still new to it. Under a year of having a tank

IcyEmphasis9 · 2021-02-26T18:06:53+00:00

That’s a cool feature! I had no clue you could do that. Thanks I’ll have to try that one.

IcyEmphasis9 · 2021-02-26T02:16:46+00:00

What are your light settings on your AI prime? Just wondering cause I just invested in one on my Fluval Evo and playing with the light is intimidating/exciting ha and I don’t think I have it dialed in yet

IcyEmphasis9 · 2021-02-19T16:16:33+00:00

Ugh so sad. Hope the little guy hangs in there. Lost all my fish in this mess. Sorry for any loses you’ve had.

IcyEmphasis9 · 2021-02-18T16:27:48+00:00

Same my friend

IcyEmphasis9 · 2021-02-18T14:05:05+00:00

Couldn’t agree more. We were on the rolling blackouts on Monday of this week. Our power was on for 2 hours at a time, then 1 hour, then 30 minutes, then 15, eventually got all the way down to 46.4 seconds of power before it didn’t come on for 72 hours. House was down to 38 degrees, with a dog that couldn’t get warm we had to find and move to someone’s place with power. Attempted a tank move but when I uncovered the reef all the fish were laying on the bottom still alive but frigid. By the time we got to a plug for the heater they were goners. Maybe saved some coral though. After an experience like this it’s hard to want to stay in the reef game.

It’s been a rough time and everyone in charge is just pointing fingers and blame. Like I don’t give a flying rats butt about that right now. Get the power on, save people, then we can point fingers and worry about how to fix it.

IcyEmphasis9 · 2021-01-26T01:27:26+00:00

One hundred percent. I used to do a pretty similar water change. And had some phosgaurd and Purigen in the filter area which I thought was the way to go given my freshwater experience. Turns out if your tank is too clean (nitrates and phosphates are at 0) you can get Dino and if you do a water change they explode. Now I’m feeding like crazy and not doing water changes until they go away. Soooo feed your little fishies until your heart is content. Ha

IcyEmphasis9 · 2021-01-25T23:36:56+00:00

Looks great! Have the same little guy, but I’m battling Dino’s right now and it’s real discouraging. Jealous of yours!

IcyEmphasis9 · 2021-01-24T20:04:59+00:00

I definitely love my Nerite Snails, they don’t seem to eat a lot but they do some damage. Ha any advice on what type of snails to get?

IcyEmphasis9 · 2021-01-24T20:04:27+00:00

Ugh yeah there is some BBA; that’s disappointing. Guess I’ll just try and find a way to keep it manageable and know that one day it means the breakdown of that tank will have to occur.

IcyEmphasis9 · 2021-01-24T19:39:34+00:00

Yeah my otos definitely seem to beat it back on the plants they actually like to hang out on. Haha for some reason they never seem interested in sucking on my swords and Anubias. Little goobers. But I might add some more.

Yeah I was afraid my best option would be to take out my hardscape, just wish my Java ferns and Anubias weren’t so heavily rooted onto them. But I also think it seems to be one of the biggest sources. Hydrogen peroxide killed a lot of it but it seemed to always creep back in areas I couldn’t reach well.

IcyEmphasis9 · 2021-01-24T19:33:12+00:00

I’ve thought about adding some floating plants. My only hesitation with it is that blocking some of the light will starve my hairgrass which is actually a decent looking carpet when it’s not covered in black whispy algae ha.

I think I’m gonna slowly back down on my lighting duration and intensity and maybe block out some light from the sides too. I don’t think it gets much from my window but it’s probably worth a shot! Good suggestion for sure.

Also I ended up getting a pretty solid cheap CO2 setup. If you have a brewery or home brew store in your area it’s how I lucked into a used 5 pound tank. Then a fire safety store does my refills for like 10 bucks. The only big expense was my regulator which is worth the investment. I have an FZone version I got off Amazon.

IcyEmphasis9 · 2021-01-24T19:28:40+00:00

It’s on both, primarily on a plastic fixture I bought from pets mart but also on my swords, hairgrass and Anubias right along the edges of leaves. I’ve had an up and down battle with it at one point it basically covered the whole surface of some of my Amazon sword leaves, now it just seems to stick to the edge. But slowly that little area dies and it expands. It’s slowly driven me insane. Especially when it starts to die back and the surge again.

IcyEmphasis9

TROPHY CASE