Greg's 75g

[Reef Pilot]

Originally Posted by gregzz4

Now all I have to do is get this pesky film algae under control

With the green film algae (if it is the stuff I'm thinking of), just keep blowing it with the turkey baster. Unlike hair algae, it doesn't grab hard on rock or other surfaces and can be easily blown off. Usually it floats to the surface then, and out the overflow. But if you leave it, it will keep spreading and hard to get rid of otherwise.

[gregzz4]

It's just the dusty stuff on the glass
I clean it once a week and the wrasses eat the large pieces that float off the razor blade

[Reef Pilot]

Didn't know that wrasses eat algae... The stuff on my glass is eaten by my tangs, and my Kole is the real champ for that. Then, mag cleaner for the front to make it really clean. I don't think you can ever stop that from growing on the glass. Low P04 reduces it, but never eliminates it, or at least not in my tanks.

[gregzz4]

Long time and no update

I've switched over to Randy's 2-part and also installed a 3rd dosing pump (Schlobster 1.1ml/min) for Mag

I've cut my annual dosing costs from $150 to $30

I bought Calcium Chloride from Home Hardware; 20KG for $25.99
Magnesium Chloride Hexahydrate from Canreef Sponsor/Member TimT; 10KG for $39
I buy my Baking Soda and Epsom Salts from Walmart for; approximately $4/2KGs and $9/4KGs respectively

Our corals are looking very happy and growing well
Of course the biggest grower is the green birdsnest
This was Feb



This week



If your eyes are sharp enough you saw that one branch of the brown slimer in the back right of the tank is pointing the other way. I had a glass cleaning mishap and decided to glue the broken bit facing the other direction

Looking at the 2 pics shows me that it's not the Green Slimer that's growing so much as the birdsnest. Looks like it's time to trim it back before there's a battle

I had Ram3500 come by on Wed the 23rd and he helped me prune the front of the birdsnest to get it away from the glass, plus he took away a bunch of the GSP. Thanks Ian !!

I'll be adding another update shortly as I'm going to attempt to add a larger pump to my skimmer

Stay tuned ...

[gregzz4]

The Skimz SK181 mod is finished
I had to file out the cord hole for the new pump as it's round and thicker than the stock flat 2-wire cable
No pics as I was in a hurry and besides, who cares. I opened up a cord passage

I did this mod as Peter had good luck with a slightly larger pump on his skimmer. Details are in this thread

Peter added an Eden140 pump (2800lph) and reported better skimming so I thought I'd try an Eheim Compact+ 3000
The stock ES2000 is 2000lph and the skimmer draws only 540lph of air
Similar Skimz skimmers with the ES2800 draw closer to 8-900lph of air

I was thinking about buying the Omega 150, and there's a near-new one for sale right now here on Canreef, but I love the footprint of mine, internal pump and gate valve-water outlet, so I'll stick with my Skimz for now

So, saving me buying another skimmer, I installed an Eheim Compact 3000+
It's a direct fit

It's a bit noisy right now, but I'm sure it will calm down

I'm also working on dialing it in but that's a small price to pay

I'm really hoping that I will get more lph of air and thus more nog
And if not, at least I now have a backup pump for my skimmer

Currently I can't report on it's nog production as I've just given the feed-mes some frozen and the foam head is collapsed

I hope to report back soon with great news

[Slyguy00]

Tanks looking great Greg!

[kien]

Originally Posted by Slyguy00

Tanks looking great Greg!

^what he said. That's cool how the birdsnest grew a flat top but then you let it grow back out again :-)

[gregzz4]

Thanks Nick

Originally Posted by kien

That's cool how the birdsnest grew a flat top but then you let it grow back out again :-)

I just lowered it in the tank and it kept growing
I had to get Ram3500 (Ian) to come by and take a crap-load of clippings for his auctions just to keep it from attaching itself to the glass as I couldn't even clean the front pane weekly without breaking branches off

Thanks Ian !!

[FishingGoalie]

how old is that birds nest and how big was it when you got it?

[gregzz4]

Originally Posted by FishinGoalie

how old is that birds nest and how big was it when you got it?

I bought it at Rich's summer 2012 frag swap
It was a 1 - 2" frag