imisky's 30g custom tank

[imisky]

so ever since i started working at Oceanic Corals i stare at that big vertex reactor every time i go...they just had to have it sitting out in the open so..the temptation got to me and i JUST HAD TO GET IT (imagine what my girlfriend said when she heard that). So after a few weeks of getting everything together and waiting on the pellets the reactor is finally running.

For those who have been into the store, i am tumbling these pellets faster as a test to see how fine i can get the mulms coming out of the reactor to be as we all know SPS corals cant catch things that are too big and even cyclopeeze is hard for some to catch. So hopefully the speed of the tumbling will do SOMETHING other then to lower the overall maintenance of the reactor.

reactor mod


close up of pellets


in action

[imisky]

Man i have too much time on my hands lately, I just keep on updating this thread, Im enjoying the low maintenance that the bio pellets has provided me, no more daily dosage! cant believe i didnt get it when it first got out. Now i was staring into the tank after i got back from O.C, and decided that i had to move the right side of the tank a little as it was getting a little crowded and corals have no room to grow. So did some cleaning, moving, rescaping, coral removal and ended up wth 2 spots for corals! So whats better then to stick a hawkins echinata and rainbow stylo as i had them on hand.

OH and i got my custom white balance figured out! Look at the difference in the photos.

old scape of the tank before

new

[no_bs]

Very nice Eugene. I'm very tempted in trying these pellets. Would they be just as good for LPS?

[imisky]

Originally Posted by no_bs

Very nice Eugene. I'm very tempted in trying these pellets. Would they be just as good for LPS?

The pellets will work perfect for LPS systems, they will lower the nutrient levels to a point where there will be roughly 1-5ppm of NO3 and 0.01-0.04 ppm of PO4 from what ive seen. I have currently 2 chalices inside the tank and both have never looked happier.

[imisky]

finally got around to changing the bulb, the previous lighting system was:

2x 150W phoenix MH + 4x T5HO (fiji purple,giesemann pure actinic, UVL super actinic, aqua science 22,000K)

now:

2x 150W ushio 10K MH + 4x T5HO (ATI actinic, ATI blue plus, UVL super actinic, aqua science 22,000K)

im liking this setup alot better, its not as blue and definitely brighter, to the point that my blueberry cheese cake monti is bleaching at the bottom of the tank. I think the corals are still adjusting to the change in lighting but the change doesnt look bad. I'll let the photos do the talking, theres less floresence but i see an increase in color pigment with only a few days use.

[imisky]

update time...its been a while, having the tank in my room at home is where i prefer it to be so that i can relax once i get off work or from school..but its not all that fun when the tank creates more noise then a truck driving by (exaggerated) Originally having the BM C120 calcium reactor running in my system was great, i loved it all except for hearing the bubbles get churned up while i sleep...and thats the only thing i hear..the constant *tss tss tss sound sure wasnt very good for trying to get a good nights sleep. So i started to source out dosing pumps to use over my system as i heard they run nearly silent.

So the switch over began around June when i got our first trial units from our supplier for the OC ACCU-Dosers. Like i was expecting they ran silent, no rattling noises during operation, except for the intial *click that you would hear on startup. Tried testing the dosage rate they were almost always dead on 1ml with excess in the container which would probably equate to the .1ml remaining. The unit was paired up with just regular bottles however i had a company do Vinyl Stickers for Alk, Ca, and Mg for me for a reasonable cost that i can probably pass onto people who are interested or OC could do custom vinyl stickers to your spec for a certain cost (will have to work that out later). After the switch to 2 part dosers i had the initial learning curve which wasnt fun, gave me spikes in alk to 12 then down to 6 then 4 and now its steady at 8.5 where i want it the corals did go through quite a bit of shock and it can be seen in some of the corals as they have browned out a little but should come back in no time. The hot pink birdsnets seems to have liked the change and decided that it wants to spawn in my system, never occurred before but its sure cool to see.

I dont update for so long that i usually have a million things to say but ill shush up and let you guys enjoy the rest of the thread via photos and let them do the talking! enjoy guys.

Edit: Forgot to mention that new additions to livestock has been added into the system, 8x Chrysiptera Talboti (Tracys Damsels) were added, they are awesome little fish with stunning colors imo, aggression is pretty low and the few times ive seen it, it is well spread out through the 8 that i have, but as they get bigger that'll probably change a bit.

Dosing Units:



FTS:


Chrysiptera Talboti


MACROS:
Spawning Birdsnest

literally white tenius, but look at the PE

Can anyone guess what this is? (everyone can guess except keith HaloReef)

my weird orgeon tort turned baby blue...but i like the change!

[imisky]

update!

PAR38 spotlight XPE version change over, 5 LED spotlights at 60 degrees over the tank, the reason i went with more then 3 was for the PAR i wanted it to get as much as possible to help the corals color up.

[Rbacchiega]

brain = exploded.

[lastlight]

Ok so what's the deal here? Is your tank ALWAYS that clean or do you spend a few hours prePost and make it so fantabulous?

Colors are looking great. Your DIY fixture was really neat but the LED setup looks really unique too and seems to be hitting the reef with tons of light. Notice your fan's aren't on. Are they temp controlled? Bet they're coming on less these days...

[imisky]

Originally Posted by Rbacchiega

brain = exploded.

im not sure if thats a good thing or a bad thing but in this case i'll take it as a compliment

Originally Posted by lastlight

Ok so what's the deal here? Is your tank ALWAYS that clean or do you spend a few hours prePost and make it so fantabulous?

Colors are looking great. Your DIY fixture was really neat but the LED setup looks really unique too and seems to be hitting the reef with tons of light. Notice your fan's aren't on. Are they temp controlled? Bet they're coming on less these days...

The deal is my tank always looks that clean i try and clean the backwall a little every week to keep the coralline algae from growing on there, and the front is just cleaned through a magnet cleaner. Just regular maintenance so that I dont end up doing alot at once, which i find actually equates to much less work in the long run.

I kind of miss the old fixture a little as Ive had it for so long but i think this will run much better and more efficient as well. As for the fan, when i took the picture I had actually unplugged it, the fan turns on at the same time as the lights to keep them running cooler for longer bulb life but the chiller doesnt turn on anymore which im happy about.