|
Hello
Looks like focusing outside the tank is difficult. Titus |
Quote:
|
Alright! The new skimmer came in! Bigger and better too! Bubble Magus Curve 5. I like that these new to me skimmers have a nipple on the air inlet to allow you to dose CO2 or O2 through your skimmer into your system. That's handy if I end up with a heavily loaded tank. And they are so freaking quite!
Anyways, all set up and running. Even in the break in period the skimmer already puts out a nicer foam compared to the last one. Which tells me that the last skimmer was just pooched to begin with. And I still have room for the future refugium to go in after the skimmer and dual reactors and before the sump pump. Next week Im going to start buying a dish of Copeopods from Marine Life a week for a month and introducing them into the system. In a few weeks I can get the refuge up and running in the sump and then I can have nice things like a manderin goby. https://i.imgur.com/rJSUWZr.jpg?1 https://i.imgur.com/FslQAIe.jpg?1 |
Got bored. Took pictures. Bought soe zoos
Now since it has been 6 years since I have had Zoos, I'll need help confirming their identity. I have had them before but just need a refresher. First three pics are the zoos in question. Sorry for image quality. The wife left town with the good cameras so Im stuck with the phone camera on zoom https://i.imgur.com/KIknVfE.jpg?1 https://i.imgur.com/g9WcvGZ.jpg?1 https://i.imgur.com/GN263yi.jpg?1 https://i.imgur.com/d3ur828.jpg?1 https://i.imgur.com/pHQTM6h.jpg?1 |
Oh yeah. I'm in the buying market for some Coral all local to Red Deer. willing to drive as far as Sylvan Lake or Lacombe or Innisfail. I just have to stay close to Red Deer for the next little bit. Anyways here's the thread with the details of what I am interested in.
http://www.canreef.com/vbulletin/sho...33#post1039633 |
Had an interesting micro bacteria bloom these past few days. Tank water was cloudy white and hard to see through. After a little bit of digging into it I came to the realization that the bacteria culture in the tank was having a huge bloom. So since I didn't have a UV sterilizer handy I changed out the filter socks 3 times daily and boosted my carbon in the sump 3 times fold. Bumped up the skimmer a tich. And within 24 hours the tank cleared up almost completely!
After the tank cleared up almost 100% I tested parameters again. Salinity - 1.026 Ammonia - 0.25-0.5ppm 2 hours after feeding Nitrate - Near 0ppm Phosphate - 0ppm (Thank you GFO reactor) One thing for sure though is I think I want to get a UV sterilizer on hand to handle any micro bacterial (both algae and live culture) blooms. I have been noticing that alot of peoples tanks go through these blooms from time to time and whenever a UV sterilizer gets pulled out to be used the problem is solved within 24-48 hours of flicking on the power switch. |
Hello
Glad the bloom die down. Considering how handy a sterilizer can be at times like this it's probably a good idea to stock one or have it as part of any new tank planning. Titus |
Quote:
Following along. Great looking tank, can't wait to see how this will turn out. |
Quote:
And thank you :biggrin: It's going to take awhile to stock it but I'm going to turn this tank into a garden of LPS and softies and Zoos and Palys |
Alright. So it was time to start my dosing regiment. Now after going over how I did things with past tanks I determined that that process cost to much. I dosed a lot of different things to avoid products like Coral Snow and Reef Roids. I didn't want to have 6 or 7 bottles of product lying around and I didn't want to incur another $100 a month in maintenance. So after poking around for a bit and talking to the LFS guys here in Red Deer I decided to go with the ATI 2 Part Complete Dosing System.
This stuff is kinda impressive. Majorly covers the main Calcium/Magnesium/Alk/Potassium requirements but also claims to cover another 21 elements on top of that. So after some reading and research I determined that I am going to try this route. https://i.imgur.com/coswHmD.jpg?1 https://i.imgur.com/jumaEHT.jpg?1 So I am currently dosing at 3.5mL non diluted of each bottle each day starting today. According to the instructions, I am to monitor my Alk and Calcium everyday at the same time to determine if I need to raise or lower my dosing. So at day one my Alk is at 11.5 dKh and Calcium is at 500ppm. Dosed 3.5 ml of each part. So tomorrow we shall check again to see what I need to modify. Very interesting stuff. If this product works out then it will drastically reduce my requirements for supplements and water changes. Plus at the max recommended dose for my tank at full stock it would take 4.5 months for me to drain these bottles. But I'm no where near that. Currently it will take me a year and half to drain them. Damn, that's cost effective at $90 for both of the bottles. I do not believe that these will be the ultimate cure all for every requirement for the coral. Will still need to direct feed coral their favorites like mysis/phyto. And I might have to add specific trace elements to help certain corals along. But at least I will not need all the bottles I had in the past. In the meantime, enjoy a pic of me playing with my camera and Xmas tree lighting. https://i.imgur.com/0Jmm6F2.jpg?1 |
Well update time for everyone. Tank is running smooth. Smoother than any tanks Ive had in the past. Parameters are all at near 0. Skimmer is running smoothly. Carbon and GFO reactors are doing their thing.
Added a frag or two of zoos and a nice frag of aussie green branching Duncans. Also picked up a 4 point auto doser. Using that to Auto dose the ATI complete 2 stage and also for my water top ups. These dosers really make life nice and easy and lazy. Just need to figure out how to auto spot feed my coral at night... Next thing to work on is add a Sand Dollar to keep the substrate in good order and a nice 6 line or 8 line wrasse to add more life to the tank. And then build a refuge in a reactor container. |
75 Gallon with 35 Gallon Sump Mixed Reef
Well Couple of months in and I have to say that the tank is running fine as feck. Honestly its abit disconcerting how well this tank cycled and stabilized compared to previous systems of mine.
So like I said, I picked up an auto doser. Pump one and two on it are running 95ml per day of the 4:1 RO/ATI Essentials mix Part 1 and Part 2. That stuff is honestly the shit. Its a full water change in a bottle. I have only done one water change and it was a small 5% one to stabilize my salinity that slowly dropped due to minor salt creep and dumping the skimmer over a few months. Pump 3 is just for topping up my water. Honestly, Im that lazy. And since Im home everyday I can decide to keep the hose in the RO water for the tank or just pull it out before the next programmed dose time of RO water. Once I get more funds Ill change that into an actual ATO. But for now Im okay with this. Sump Needs cleaning....Thats for another day. https://i.imgur.com/vv5rMAO.jpg?1 https://i.imgur.com/dR14ZBo.jpg?1 Also added some more livestock Yellow Tang. Healthy and Hungry lil Bastard. And pretty curious too. https://i.imgur.com/0zJgrzy.jpg?1 A Neon Dottyback. I really enjoy watching this guy. He is a hell of a swimmer. https://i.imgur.com/trtqaxt.jpg?1 A sand sifting star fish. Curious little creature these are. But it does the job keeping the substrate from turning in a rock of its own. https://i.imgur.com/g6szn2H.jpg?1 A small Lobo Brain. Loves its nightly feeding of cyclopods. I hope its colors improve with time. https://i.imgur.com/D2D7vwM.jpg?1 Neon Green Aussie Branching Duncans. God damn these things grow fast! https://i.imgur.com/ry2Xieu.jpg?1 A Blue Gonipora. Just starting to reach out. https://i.imgur.com/SE0brPo.jpg?1 A Green Gonipora. Happy as can be. https://i.imgur.com/0CWdLpv.jpg?1 Pretty certain this is some kind of Rhodactus Mushroom. Big Guy once it stretches out. Bright too. https://i.imgur.com/EwsYvFO.jpg?1 Chaos Palys!!!!!! So So So Bright! And they grow soo fast! https://i.imgur.com/HBAgqch.jpg?1 Mystery Palys. The skirts on these were brown when I got them. But are now starting to turn a nice Red. https://i.imgur.com/jkbNJWg.jpg?1 And then there's everything else in the tank thats from before. All doing good. https://i.imgur.com/hdfKm1G.jpg?1 https://i.imgur.com/REXTNWR.jpg?1 https://i.imgur.com/areTsde.jpg?1 https://i.imgur.com/v7AfQlm.jpg?1 https://i.imgur.com/wxPiuRW.jpg?1 https://i.imgur.com/q8loGcq.jpg?1 And last but not least. FTS https://i.imgur.com/XqbARCq.jpg?1 https://i.imgur.com/7NSOHYe.jpg?1 https://i.imgur.com/uypgAOO.jpg?1 https://i.imgur.com/0T9hXCI.jpg?1 https://i.imgur.com/4hmPIwb.jpg?1 |
I don't know of anybody else uses the ATI Reef essentials 2-part kit. But if you do I recommend you watch your salinity on a weekly to bi-weekly basis depending on the size of your system. I guess one of those parts has sodium in it which does actually increase your salinity.
I just had to spend some time dropping my salinity from 1.028 down to more acceptable parameters. |
Well, since this is basically just me rambling off, then I shall continue!
Went shopping Chucky's Bride (At least I think they are) https://i.imgur.com/wuN06hu.jpg?1 Incinerators https://i.imgur.com/zQnFWHH.jpg?1 Blue Constellations https://i.imgur.com/5T4TsQd.jpg?1 Pink Hippos https://i.imgur.com/ANfVxre.jpg?1 Purple Tip Octospawn https://i.imgur.com/Yy0zXbJ.jpg?1 Planet Earth Gladis https://i.imgur.com/8CFfM98.jpg?1 Green Flowerpot(****ed off from just being moved) https://i.imgur.com/RcTS65S.jpg?1 Red Flowerpot (****ed off from being moved) https://i.imgur.com/xGw51Kc.jpg?1 Nuclear Green Paly https://i.imgur.com/0WGx8Ea.jpg?1 Candy Apple Red https://i.imgur.com/0uxPFpz.jpg?1 Rainbow Cloves https://i.imgur.com/P3CFhSt.jpg?1 Tank Shots https://i.imgur.com/t0XHw1X.jpg?1 https://i.imgur.com/7nE3lPt.jpg?1 https://i.imgur.com/08vEYHE.jpg?1 https://i.imgur.com/rjXvJmg.jpg?1 https://i.imgur.com/TP5iX7Y.jpg?1 |
Hello
Lots of goodies. I see lots of opportunities for POTM. :mrgreen: Titus |
I’m impressed with your photo of rainbow cloves. I can never capture the colour of mine on camera - they always look blah:confused:
|
Quote:
Quote:
Well. I used an underwater camera on underwater mode with the light filtering set as close to 10K as possible. So far that's the best I could do without buying the clip on light filter for camera's and I took the photo when my lights achieved max setting for the day. Hope that helps. |
Tank is looking good! I find photos to be really tough. We have become so used to our phone having a good camera and they just take horrible pics of the tank.
|
Quote:
Yeah. You need a really good phone to do a decent job. There's this one guy at the LFS here in Red Deer who has a phone that's capable of 10000K white balance in pro mode. Plus he clips on a lense onto his phone that further filters out the blue light making some pretty decent pictures. But nothing compares to a good camera with a macro lense and light filter. |
Hell of an Update
Well its been ages since I posted an update. Its been an extremely busy few months for the wife and I. Being that both of us got accepted into school in Edmonton and moved up to Edmonton this last month.
Anyways, the tank came with me. And with minimal losses. A flowerpot and a small zoa frag bit the dust. Other than that I gained far more being in Edmonton this last few weeks. Sold the Lunar Wrasse as he did his job and it was time for him to move along. Bought snails and crabs and shrimp and a baby ocellaris to join up with my current one. And bought a tonne of frags. a couple of Zoas, gonioporas, birdsnest, euphylia for days, acans(which got attacked by one of my shrimp and is currently on the mend), somekind of encrusting polyp which I forgot the name too and much more. Also its easier to acquire Vibrant in this city. Needed it to help with a battle with Cyano. So far im on week three and the Cyano is starting to slow down its growth rate. Im leaving the lights off tactic to a last resort. Lets give Vibrant a shot. Also did a few changes to the sump. Ran out of GFO and decided that instead of buying more and only pulling out phosphates, I would spend the money on building a ghetto Refugium and pull out nitrates and phosphates equally with Chaeto. Better stability in the tank in the long run. Especially with a battle with Cyano. Plus I added copepods to the tank. Hoping that one day Ill be able to have a manderin fish in the system. Bought a new heater with better temp control. Temp only swings 0.4 degrees throughout the day. Lowered how much ATI Essentials is dosed to accommodate the slight increase in Alk and Ph. On day three of monitoring the Alk and Ph. It appears to be slowly declining. Thats good. Anyways, time for a nap so Ill wrap this up with pictures. Sump with the ghetto fuge and the lights on 12 hour cycle. Still running skimmer and reactor with carbon in it. https://i.imgur.com/EvbzUX5.jpg?1 https://i.imgur.com/ZV2ZX5H.jpg?1 https://i.imgur.com/pinvZV9.jpg?1 https://i.imgur.com/YKN2vlN.jpg?1 And the tank. Rock work is onto the oneside Since you can only see that side if youre in the kitchen snacking....honestly I spend most of my time on the other two sides of the tank so that is why its aquascapped this way https://i.imgur.com/oQdvQgT.jpg?1 https://i.imgur.com/M8l6RSh.jpg?1 https://i.imgur.com/8YEXe2J.jpg?1 https://i.imgur.com/tCWmQlk.jpg?1 https://i.imgur.com/jAzsAb4.jpg?1 |
What's the grain size in your sand bed? According to this experiment fine sand, 0.2mm and less, is said to reduce phosphate somewhat. Maybe something to add to the fuge? I wouldn't worry about the cyano too much if it is only on the sand, its just cleaning the water for you and will go away on its own. I had a terrible mess of the stuff in my tank for about a month, but it is mostly gone now with no chemicals needed. It was so thick I was able to pull sheets of it out - a good nutrient export. But, seeing as you have a bunch of corals in there that risk smothering you might not have that option if it starts working its way up the rocks.
|
Quote:
Anyways, phosphate hasn't been my issue. Always been near zero. My issue is establishing the balance between phosphate and nitrates. I have been coming up to many studies stating that it's not necessarily the need of having zero nitrates and phosphates. But having a balance between the two components that allows for stability in the system. Having just gfo caused an imbalance. So I'm going for the refugium method to tackle both at the same time. |
As for the cyano. It does try to smother the corals. I'm watching it closely to clean it away from the rocks. And sometimes I have to help the Nessarius snails stir up the sand abit and clean it off. But I do want to help pulling the cyano out. It competes with the healthy bacteria for nutrients. Plus it looks ugly.
I do want to add more sand to the fuge though. I have about a cup in there. More would be a good idea |
| All times are GMT. The time now is 08:14 AM. |
Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.7.3
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.