JDigital's 75G RR. (Updated)

[Rbacchiega]

Good luck with getting the new tank...hope everything works out. That will be rad with the front to back dimensions. Any reason why you don't want to go acrylic?

[JDigital]

Originally Posted by Rbacchiega

Good luck with getting the new tank...hope everything works out. That will be rad with the front to back dimensions. Any reason why you don't want to go acrylic?

Red Coral doesn't do acrylic.. haha but even if they did price would probably be way outta budget for me.

Thanks..

[JDigital]

So this past week has been a bit of a rollercoaster with my tank, mostly all the down part of a coaster.. just not as fun.

I've been having troubles getting my triangle of 3 up (Ca, Alk, Mag) to where I would like them.

Test results from this week past week... I've been dosing Taylored Aquatics Mag, Kent DHK buffer, and Calcium in small daily doses to bring it up and it just won't budge..

03/24/2009 Ca: 380-390 Alk: 6.4 Mag: 1155
03/25/2009 Ca: 370-380 Alk: 6.4 Mag: 1260
03/27/2009 Ca: 370-380 Alk: 6.4 Mag: 1110 NO3: Undectable
03/29/2009 Ca: 330-340 Alk: 7.4 Mag: 1230

Yesterday's tests were done after an all day 20G water change with H2Ocean salt, which I thought would help bring my levels up a bit more, but no real changes.

I also dosed with chemi-clean a few days ago to fight some cyano, and regretted doing it later as I had to shut down my skimmer for a couple days, and all that did was put fear at the back of my mind all weekend. I should have just stuck to siphoning and Pohls Coral Snow.

3rd, and not least, Commensal Flatworms. I spent a good chunk of yesterday in between water changes siphoning and turkey basting as many as I could to attempt to bring down the population, which is large!

Tank was starting to look better last night, water needs to run through some carbon though, it definitely needs a polish.

Unfortunately I am thinking of adding a powerhead As I think I am lacking on flow in my system. Not something I wanted to do, or have in my tank, but going to try it. I've noticed my tang is alot more active when he has a strong current to swim in... He will sit at the Closed Loop outlet and ride the blast of water for AGES... I adjusted the back nozzle on my CL to put more flow thru the front 2 outlet and immediately saw a difference in my Tangs behavior, in a good way, so I think adding a powerhead will be a good choice.

Sorry, no pics this update..

[fishytime]

I love that sequence of shots man....cool. No mention of the recent addition???

[JDigital]

Originally Posted by fishytime

I love that sequence of shots man....cool. No mention of the recent addition???

I haven't seen the recent addition enough myself...

[JDigital]

Originally Posted by fishytime

I love that sequence of shots man....cool. No mention of the recent addition???

Well now that he is out and about alot more, I've had a chance to photograph him, which is a challenge in itself. Damn Mystery Wrasses are soo quick. I'm pretty sure he took some abuse when I added him to the tank, as his side fins almost disappeared, and he looks to have some scars or missing scales behind the side fins. Looks to be getting better though, and the fins are starting to come back.. His tail was pretty chewed up from the LFS when I brought him home and it has actually almost completely healed which I am glad to see.

I actually had picked him up in hopes of a chemical free solution to my Flatworms, and he didn't touch a single one of them. So it was a costly addition that didn't pay off how I was hoping for, but still ended up with a great looking wrasse.

Anyways, the only decent shot I have gotten of the new addition. (not so new anymore I guess... haha)

[Ryan]

Originally Posted by JDigital

So this past week has been a bit of a rollercoaster with my tank, mostly all the down part of a coaster.. just not as fun.

I've been having troubles getting my triangle of 3 up (Ca, Alk, Mag) to where I would like them.

Test results from this week past week... I've been dosing Taylored Aquatics Mag, Kent DHK buffer, and Calcium in small daily doses to bring it up and it just won't budge..

03/24/2009 Ca: 380-390 Alk: 6.4 Mag: 1155
03/25/2009 Ca: 370-380 Alk: 6.4 Mag: 1260
03/27/2009 Ca: 370-380 Alk: 6.4 Mag: 1110 NO3: Undectable
03/29/2009 Ca: 330-340 Alk: 7.4 Mag: 1230

Yesterday's tests were done after an all day 20G water change with H2Ocean salt, which I thought would help bring my levels up a bit more, but no real changes.

I also dosed with chemi-clean a few days ago to fight some cyano, and regretted doing it later as I had to shut down my skimmer for a couple days, and all that did was put fear at the back of my mind all weekend. I should have just stuck to siphoning and Pohls Coral Snow.

3rd, and not least, Commensal Flatworms. I spent a good chunk of yesterday in between water changes siphoning and turkey basting as many as I could to attempt to bring down the population, which is large!

Tank was starting to look better last night, water needs to run through some carbon though, it definitely needs a polish.

Unfortunately I am thinking of adding a powerhead As I think I am lacking on flow in my system. Not something I wanted to do, or have in my tank, but going to try it. I've noticed my tang is alot more active when he has a strong current to swim in... He will sit at the Closed Loop outlet and ride the blast of water for AGES... I adjusted the back nozzle on my CL to put more flow thru the front 2 outlet and immediately saw a difference in my Tangs behavior, in a good way, so I think adding a powerhead will be a good choice.

Sorry, no pics this update..

Why dont you add a MP-40 or even an MP-20 to the tank?

The tank looks really good I really love the Copperband. Did I miss it or did you loose the female Hawaiian Percula?

[JDigital]

Originally Posted by Ryan

Why dont you add a MP-40 or even an MP-20 to the tank?

The tank looks really good I really love the Copperband. Did I miss it or did you loose the female Hawaiian Percula?

I thought about the MP's but ended up just adding a Koralia 4 for now.

Yea, I lost the female Perc as well, I won't be trying Perculas in any other tanks in the future, they just don't stay alive for me, yet my Copperband and Powder Brown are doing great, go figure!.. I tried some normal Occelaris and they are doing excellent..


So I am still trying to bring my Ca, Alk, and Mag levels up to where I want them, but it is a taking forever. I am dosing more than the recommended level with Taylored Aquatics products. Mag and Ca are slowing getting closer to what I would like to see, but Alk just won't budge out of that 6-6.4 range... So frustrating, as everything in the tank (especially the SPS) looks great, with excellent color, great PE, and solid growth. Starting to wonder if these numbers even matter...

Test Results:

03/24/2009 Ca: 380-390 Alk: 6.4 Mag: 1155
03/25/2009 Ca: 370-380 Alk: 6.4 Mag: 1260
03/27/2009 Ca: 370-380 Alk :6.4 Mag: 1110
03/29/2009 Ca: 330-340 Alk: 7.4 Mag: 1230
04/01/2009 Ca: 380-390 Alk: 6.7 Mag: 1260
04/14/2009 Ca: 360-370 Alk: 6.1 Mag: 1140
04/15/2009 Ca: 380-390 Alk: 6.4 Mag: 1200
04/17/2009 Ca: 420-430 Alk: 6.1 Mag: 1290
04/22/2009 Ca: 400-410 Alk: 6.1 Mag: 1260

Dosing daily 5 caps of Mag, 4 caps of Ca, and 4 caps of dkH Plus, just to try and bring the levels up... Using all Taylored Aquatics products. I'm looking for numbers around Ca: 440-450 Alk: 8-9 Mag: 1350

[JDigital]

Spent a good amount of time at Red Coral this afternoon, 1) Drooling over some new livestock, 2) debated bringing home this.



After about 2.5 hours of drooling and thinking, I ended up bringing it home. The full package I got consists of the following.

- Aquacontroller Jr Base Unit
- Direct Connect 8 (DC8) Unit
- Temp. Probe
- pH Probe
- PC Serial Interface Cable (which I hope to rig up to hook to my Macbook)

Hoping I can get this setup today and tomorrow before I go back to work for 2 weeks.

Huge Thanks to Kevin @ Red Coral! He really knows how to take care of his customers!

[Lance]

I'm sure you'll be hapy with the Jr. I have one and love it. Jeff @ J/L recommended it and for the price I think it is a pretty good controller.