BPB'S 90 GALLON SPS DOMINANT

[Bpb]

It's a personal choice for sure, and I have not tried every option.  For me, the following has worked like a champ.  Only time I fiddle with my needle valve is if I *want* to change it.  I do change the filter each time I add new media.  Realy reall cheap effluent valve, I think it's a two little fishies
Pick up a fuel filter and run an ac pump/needle valve old school setup. 
Pro-nearly a free change. Simple. Saves space
Con-hit or miss if it actually works

What pump do you feed it with. No prefilter on the feed pump?


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[jolt]

I feed the CaRx off my manifold, which is driven by a dedicated CoralVue Varios DC pump sitting in my sump for the DT, but on my frag tank my manifold is tied to the return pump with is a Vectra M1.   I use essentially the same method in both tanks.  The recirc pumps are the standard eheim that comes with the geo.  The filter is on the effluent line between the CaRx and the effluent valve.  All I do is adjust the Ph range of the solenoid to maintain desired Alk.  When the media starts getting low I typically increase the effluent rate which is normally about 70ml/minute.  I'll bring it up to maybe 90 ml/minute.

[Bpb]

I feed the CaRx off my manifold, which is driven by a dedicated CoralVue Varios DC pump sitting in my sump for the DT, but on my frag tank my manifold is tied to the return pump with is a Vectra M1.   I use essentially the same method in both tanks.  The recirc pumps are the standard eheim that comes with the geo.  The filter is on the effluent line between the CaRx and the effluent valve.  All I do is adjust the Ph range of the solenoid to maintain desired Alk.  When the media starts getting low I typically increase the effluent rate which is normally about 70ml/minute.  I'll bring it up to maybe 90 ml/minute.

Thanks for the details. I swapped the final piece of roller tubing on my masterflex and now the easy load head has a loud rhythmic knocking sound. This thing has about driven me mad now. It sounds like a loud grandfather clock second hand ticking away day and night. I can get used to it kind of. But if we know anything about something mechanical, if it makes a noise, that means something isn’t aligned right or there is undesirable friction somewhere, and when those conditions are present, wear is happening. So even if I lived with it, that knocking sound is eventually going to spell failure. I’ve taken it apart to investigate and cannot find the source.

I ordered 4 more of the fuel filters just so I can swap them on a schedule and keep them fresh and free of debris. I’ll soak them in acid and back flush them when I’m down to the last one so I can re use them. Everyone I’ve talked to has had nothing but good things to say about this method and I wonder why it isn’t more universally adopted. Most people report needing to increase the effluent every 4-6 months or so on the same filter so if I just swap it out every couple months I should achieve stable output theoretically.

I’ve decided to pass on running a manifold and will just use a spare mj1200 I have laying around.

Well contrary to the advice of some I decided to change my lighting arrangement again and have gone back to metal halide led combo lighting. I wasn’t UNhappy with my ati sunpower. It had a fantastic spread and uniform light coverage. I could take par readings at any point on the footprint of the tank and they would be basically identical or less than 5% difference at any point depending on depth. Problem is...my biggest deal
Breaker for a tank is light pollution so a canopy is a must, and I need to have space to work. With how high my lights were mounted I was topping out at around 400 par at the surface, and most spots on the rocks were down at around 200 or so. That’s decent par I suppose but not quite enough to pull the kind of color on some stubborn pieces I am wanting. Most the sandbed was in the low 100’s and i have acros down that low. Jason Fox can pull colors at that intensity, but I’m not him.

A good friend locally was kind enough to essentially give me a pair of lumenbright mini reflectors with basically new bulbs and ballasts, and an even trade of his 4 foot sb reef bars for my 5 foot ones. So I made the swap 2 weeks ago and have been very happy. The heat is no different from my t5’s and with only a modest increase in wattage, I don’t really feel the difference efficiency wise. The par readings were exactly the improvement I was looking for and everything has responded very very well to the switch. I really missed the shimmer. Hamilton bulbs are inexpensive enough that I can replace them on a 9 month schedule and still be spending less than I was on tubes so that’s a small victory as well.

That’s all the updates for now. I’m at a 4.5 hour halide photoperiod and will gradually increase it to 6 hours over the coming weeks. Probably change the calcium reactor feed arrangement this week as well. Shouldn’t be too difficult of a switch to make




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[victoly]

you need a 3rd lumenbright? I know a guy...

[Bpb]

you need a 3rd lumenbright? I know a guy... [emoji4]

Truthfully for the 150 I will likely be searching for a 3rd but that’s a ways away. The light cone on these is so tight I am not convinced 2 will be enough for a 60”x24” footprint


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[victoly]

Will trade for frags


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[Bpb]

Will trade for frags


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Go on.......


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[victoly]

well I don’t need this mh, and eventually I’m gonna need frags. Seems like a pretty open and close deal.


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[Bpb]

well I don’t need this mh, and eventually I’m gonna need frags. Seems like a pretty open and close deal.


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Only question will be if my frags are sufficiently desirable enough for a reefer if such discerning tastes


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[jolt]

You guys are killing me ...

[victoly]

What does your will say about your tanks ?


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[Bpb]

ORA Baby Blue Stag


WWC Nuclear Fission
ASD Efflo


$500 efflo
Raspberry Cheesecake


Tubbs Mystic Blue stag


Sunset Millie
BC raging bull
Pink Lemonade
ORA Hawkins


BC old blue


RP blueberry limeade nasuta


Pikachu that never grows


ORA Pearlberry
WWC aqua delight


Nicks Purple passion
BC Acroberry


WWC Kung Pao. Cannot get rid of these stupid hydroids that posted up right by it


ASD dragon queen


ORA Red planet


Fox flame
Paletta pink tip
ASD rainbow Millie


Working on a name
ORA Laura’s purple polyp


BC orange fury. Can’t seem to get color out of this, but Adams pictures all look pretty similar so it just may not be a real looker.


Working on a fun name for this Millie. Because why not.


Vivid rainbow delight
BC reef ready grape juice
ORA Cali tort


BigR Walt Disney

Some of them seem to not be growing and it is mainly because I keep fragging them. Some are just sluggish. I’ve gotten rid of the massive stylo colony to someone who can appreciate it more than me. It had become a nuisance.


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[diesel3443]

Man that no name tenuis is bright as hell


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[Bpb]

Man that no name tenuis is bright as hell


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It overwhelms the camera sensors! I have to turn exposure way down. It glows bright enough to cast its own shadows as a light source under LEDs.


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[Sascha D.]

I'd give you two "likes" if I could, you're doing an amazing job with these corals! Is that a GARF Bonzai in the first picture with the Baby Blue Stag? I've always liked that color combination of blue and green. It's been awhile since I've seen one.

[Bpb]

I'd give you two "likes" if I could, you're doing an amazing job with these corals! Is that a GARF Bonzai in the first picture with the Baby Blue Stag? I've always liked that color combination of blue and green. It's been awhile since I've seen one.

Well...I didn’t purchase it as an official lineage garf bonsai...but it sure looks like one. I just call it a purple bonsai when selling frags of it. I like how stable and reliable the color and growth is. It can absolutely handle most missteps without flinching


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[Gig 'em @ NDstructible]

It overwhelms the camera sensors! I have to turn exposure way down. It glows bright enough to cast its own shadows as a light source under LEDs.


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Dang! That thing really is insanely bright. Where did it come from?

[Bpb]

Dang! That thing really is insanely bright. Where did it come from?

Sorry man totally missed your reply. Must not have gotten that notification. Came from a Facebook seller. Random. Guy said he got it from an lfs and it had no name. I’m working on a name. It’s too pretty not to have one.

Here’s a video from tonight. Just cleaned the gyres. Flow is rocking. Fish just ate.

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[Bpb]

Well. Been a while since this happened! Fish death! This azure damsel was AT LEAST 13 years old. 8 years in my care. A friend had it 5 years prior to me. And seeing as he didn’t hatch it himself. It was likely older.

Not sure what did it in. It was acting spunky and normal when I got home today. Had a big gash on his side. With some missing scales. Could have been post mort though from rock work. No condolences necessary for me. As I feel like a 13+ year old fish is a rare win in this hobby. They all gotta go eventually. I’ll replace it with a talbot damsel as I’ve always wanted one but they’re the same genus so I couldn’t have both.

My daughter was especially torn up about it. I tried removing the remains as quick as I could but was struggling and she took notice. Water works majorly. Asked the hard questions a 4 year old can’t understand like why do we get old, what happens when we die ect. Such is life.

Ecclesiastes 3:20




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[jolt]

Sorry to hear, but like you say, it was a good run!

[victoly]

BUUUUUMMPMPPP

[Bpb]

Has it really been almost a whole year since I’ve updated this?


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[Bpb]

I've been super inactive on here the past year it appears.  I'll update the thread for fun.

It appears the last bit of conversation was in regards to calcium reactor feed.  I kept on with using the masterflex for a time.  I had been running it the entire time with ZERO grease on the tubing or roller wheels which I realize is probably not the best idea.  What would happen with each tubing change, is the fresh tubing would resist the pinch just enough to cause a knocking sound which became wildly annoying and i had to kind of bunch up a wash cloth under the roller head assembly to torque it upward which would eliminate the knocking sound.  Probably not an ideal solution but it worked.  I found another long length of tubing which would last me probably 4 -5 tubing changes on it.  Score.  It had been lurking in a bucket of misc tank crap that Im sure we all have several of.  So I kept using it, and the 60 hz hum I seem to have grown deaf to.  Theyre such robust pumps I am not real worried about it dying on me any time soon, despite it being very old.  I love how reliable they are.

Enter the Ecotech Versa.  The fact that it was rated as continuous duty made me chuckle a bit,  how could a pump barely bigger than a deck of cards be rated for continuous duty at 200 mL/min?  Well  they say it is so I was curious of buying one, but some friends advised me against it.  I'm glad they did, as the initial launch seems to have been a bit of a disaster.  Id still like to pick up 1 or 2 to use as good utility dosing pumps in the future but not for at least a  year when Mobius and the versa hardware issues have been sorted out.  Its looking like the Gen5 radions are plagued with QC and shipping issues as well.  I suppose this sort of thing is to be expected.  I have no doubt the prototype units they produced in house, and even the initial units they tested out through their larger scale outsourced manufacturing places passed their scrupulous testing with flying colors....but manufacturing, assembling, packaging, and distributing hudnreds of thousands of units is another task entirely, and the plagues of large scale manufacture are rearing their head.  I'm NOT in the market for a radion, though i do find it informative and interesting to follow such events as they unfold.

At any rate.  I decided for now against manifolding my return pump, or running an additional AC pump in the sump to feed the reactor.  I actually found a fella on R2R that offered a trade for a 6 month old Kamoer FX-STP for a frag pack, pump to be mailed in, installed, and tested to verify itll work before I even sent frags, so I figured why the heck not.  Even if it doesnt work out, I still have a masterflex.  So far so good.  The kamoer is about 1/4 the size, is completely and totally silent, and dripping a stable effluent.  Ill run it into the ground and likely have a couple replacement options in place for redundancy whenever that comes to pass.

Equipment wise, nothing new or exciting to report beyond that.  I'm not a big gear guru.  You all who have known me for years and read the thread know I tend to go cheap and reliable when and where I can.   I still love my gyres.  Theyre a nightmare to clean.  I CANNOT get the star washers out and I've had to give up a couple times.   talking with maxspect through email they actually recommended holding the pump body and striking the end of the propeller shaft with a block of wood until the star washer pops out.  Seeing a couple youtube videos doing the same, I cannot see how that is a good idea.  It looks like the pump would be destroyed in the process.  Ill likely just do citric acid soaks to clean them from now on and stop disassembling them entirely.

I had a friend 3d print me some of the xf300 series flow director/light shields to fit the xf200 series cages.  Those are now collecting all the algae and filth and the cages still look clean after months of installation.  Happy about how those are functioning.

 

Plans for the future.  I have been spending the last 4 months fragging my sps down to the rocks.  It is a tedious process and I anticipated I would be done a month ago, but the tank basically looks like I havent fragged it.  I've cut and shipped an estimated 250 or so frags since december, but the mother colonies are almost growing fast enough to keep pace.  I'm soon going to have to start offering entire colonies, but those I cannot ship so Ill have to find someone who will agree to travel this far to pick up which will be a challenge.  I'd like to keep a handful of frags from my favorite pieces local and recover them when the next tank is ready, but I cannot set the new tank up until I get these sps all gone.  May take a while longer.  Space is a big constraint as I dont have room for a frag tank and am limited to a couple frag racks for everything.  I mail off 2-3 boxes every couple weeks, fill the racks again in a weekend, let them heal, repeat.  Cant stay ahead of growth.  Anyhow.  Thats life..   Ill have to start taking pictures of the stand finishing process for the 150 gallon.