Magic Kiwi's Tank Journal Thread

[Magickiwi]

Originally Posted by michika

Congrats on your second photo linking fluke! It looks good. Whats in the back left? A little bit glow-y in the corner?

Tell your dog he? she? needs a cameo from the front end.

Thanks, the photo sharing went a bit better than I was expecting.

The pink glowing stuff is actually fluorescent whiteboard marker. With just the actinics going it really pops! So I wrote the starting tank parameters on the side.

Dog is a he, I have two male standard poodles that are my boys. I think we can arrange a photo-op with the two of them and my tank

[Magickiwi]

OK so last night I installed the ATO unit. So far it seems to be working well at trying to keep my sump at a constant level. Although the water level in reservoir seems to be dropping more rapidly than I expected. Still some fine tuning to do with the return pump as it seems to empty the sump faster than the overflow box can fill it.

Salinity is in line now. After I added the live rock from Pieces the salinity went through the roof. Temps are great, despite the basement being very cool.

The protein skimmer is still breaking in so there is a TON of micro-bubbles being released into the display tank. Fingers crossed that will calm down in a couple days.

[michika]

You may want to invest in some lids for your tank and any open water sources. My tank is also a basement set up and I found I gained back a certain degree of evaporated water and heat loss by adding lids. It also helps save a few pennies on your electrical bill!

[Magickiwi]

Originally Posted by michika

You may want to invest in some lids for your tank and any open water sources. My tank is also a basement set up and I found I gained back a certain degree of evaporated water and heat loss by adding lids. It also helps save a few pennies on your electrical bill!

Yes that is a good idea. Once things stabilized my plan was to cover the open chamber for the sump and the overflow with Saran Wrap. I have a glass lid for the tank but I'm not sure if they will work with my overflow, return hoses, skimmer, etc. hanging off the back.

[michika]

I can see how that would be an issue! In the winter (January/February) the difference adding those lids made was pretty obvious from one day to the next. Hopefully you're plan will work well!

[Magickiwi]

Originally Posted by michika

I can see how that would be an issue! In the winter (January/February) the difference adding those lids made was pretty obvious from one day to the next. Hopefully you're plan will work well!

Definitely when the air gets really dry and cold covering the water will help. Hopefully the saran wrap will do the job on the sump and overflow though. I figured it's water and air tight and cheap, disposable and would be easy to wrap the whole thing.

[Magickiwi]

OK here's a couple more iPhone pictures until I can process the ones on my DSLR. The first one is the main display tank with the HQI and T5HO lights going. Extremely bright! The second photo is my sump with the return pump, reactor pump, and ATO sensors. As you can see I have a little tidying up to do with the wires, hoses etc.

Main Tank:


Sump:

[Kraken]

If you are feeling the empty tank syndrome, I like to add some brine shrimp eggs in there, and just watch the little buggers swim around...helped me through the cycle period!

[Magickiwi]

Measured most tank parameters last night:

Ammonia= undetectable
Nitrates= undetectable
Nitrites= undetectable
Phosphates= undetectable
pH= 8.1
Salinity= 52.8mS
Temp= 81deg
Calcium >400 (crappy test, will use my colorometer tonight to measure)
Alk test kit was a piece of junk, will use colorometer tonight to measure.

I'm starting to see a couple little purple corals, not sure what they are. There appears to be a couple orange sponges gaining mass. Near the output from my MP40 there's a few tiny things that look like hairs with tentacles extending from the very tip. Could be aptasia but I'm pretty sure they aren't. Just not sure what they are.

Going to add a zoa frag this weekend and see how it does. I know it's too early but I've been dosing with Seachem's stability and there just doesn't seem to be any waste material in the water column. The skimmer is producing foam but it's not dark, more of an ivory color.

With these params do you think I'm jumping the gun?

[michika]

That is a clean and shiny sump you have there!

I don't know how to convert mS to SG for salinity..but your other parameters look good for livestock. I don't think low dKH (not saying you have low levels) would impact zoas at all.

I do like the brine shrimp idea though.