jestep

You got a FTS Jestep? I was a big fan of your old tank's minimal aquascaping. Wondering if you employed similar design plans in this tank when you upgraded.

I actually don't have a recent one. There's a huge window opposing the front of the tank, so I have to take one at night with all the lights off to have any chance at a decent one. I more or less set it up exactly the same way after we moved so not a ton has changed. I'll see if I can find some time this weekend to get some updated photos.

Was doing some work in the tank and accidentally obliterated my large hammer. Looks like it was around 80 heads, just guessing.

Pretty crazy how much skeletal growth is on this. Started as a single head about 4 years ago.

Volleyball size:

I'm using the pellets that came with the reactor. I've looked around and can't figure out what, if any, off the shelf brand is the same. Seem to be a little larger than BRS but smaller than the NP XL's.

I would just avoid anything that is a sphere or oval and smooth like the NPX. If they're cylindrical shape, or uneven shaped, they should be fine. If the reactor never shuts off I think it would be less likely to clog as well.

I just have my reactor in the same compartment as my skimmer and it works fine. From what I've read it doesn't matter where they are in relationship to each other as long as there is a skimmer in a tank. I would keep it the way you currently have it.

Very nice. This should look awesome once your get coral filling it in. I've always liked the island look with or without sand.

I'm assuming you're using cadlights or other pellets, but do not use TLF NPX pellets with that reactor. Once they start to wear down, they perfectly fit in the holes at the bottom and clog it up. Burned my pump out on mine and it took a ridiculous amount of work to clean the holes out because they're not very accessible.

You probably don't need to plumb the reactor directly into the skimmer but wouldn't hurt either way. I still really like running pellets. Seems like it's a mixed bag depending on the nutrient input / export capabilities of a tank. You may really benefit since there's not going to be much export without a sandbed or other area for denitrification.

Finally finished my tank skinning. Used some really strong magnets which hold pretty well on the steel stand.

Haven't updated in a long time, so figured I'd throw something up here. We moved back at the beginning of July. Tank move was easier than moving from a house we'd been living in for 7 years. I don't ever want to do that again...

Bought a wall cabinet for my supplies and reactors. Much nicer than having them junk up the free sump space.

Also, for anyone using the cadlights conical biopellet reactors, do not use them with npx biopellets. Once the pellets get worn down, they fit perfectly in the holes at the bottom and very effectively clog it up. Burned out my pump when I was out of town because it got so clogged.

Not local but I can personally vouch for barkerdoor.com. Very easy to order from, and the doors are very high quality. You do need to finish them yourself though. Took about 12 days to ship.

So normally I would say cheap is just using gallon water jugs but I had almost a full gallon of Alk eat through the seams on the jug and make a heck of a mess in my stand and on the floor.

These are perfect and they take up less space than a normal gallon milk jug. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00B51251U/

Compared to the $25 - $100 dosing jars these are a deal. Good quality. No seams on the bottom to rupture. Just poke or drill a small hole in the top and use rigid airline tubing to connect your dosing line to. The wide mouth makes it super easy to pour powdered Alk or Ca without needing a funnel.

Still have mine going. Not sure if I am going to keep it up for a lot longer unless I can find a place to put it. Kitchen counter in the new house isn't going to work. Possible office tank. It's nice to be able to move it easily at least. My 90 gallon took about 8 hours to move total. This one only took me 12 minutes including draining and filling.

Stand pictures:

Will lower the ADA tank to $250 if anyone is interested. Still needs a little cleaning, but a steal at this price.

I just won one of those Cermedia ceramic blocks at C4. Any suggestions on putting it into my tank? I'm going to sit my skimmer on it like you did Jestep. Instructions says just rinse with tap water and then with tank water before putting it into the system. Any advice or feedback of its functionality is much appreciated.

I just rinsed and then ran some RO through it and threw it in. I think my only concern would be putting it in an area that has too much detritus flowing through it as I could see it clogging up the pores, but then again this might help denitrification by reducing flow through the block.

Pretty cool product though. I was blown away that I could run water straight through it without any even pouring off the sides.

I'd get it outside and do a 2 or 3 day soak with muriatic acid and water. Buy a gallon or two at a pool store or lowes or HD and see how much coralline it gets off. Also, alway pour acid into water and not the opposite.

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Still available. I moved the stand out of my garage and will get some better pictures this weekend.

You could bend conduit and paint it and hang the fixtures from it. It's a pretty common way of hanging a fixture.

Have you checked out the build my led 20K strips? Some of the best color I have seen.

I would hang the canopy / light fixture from the ceiling.

You should be able to get away with 1 WP40 instead of 2 wp25's unless you end up with some dead spots. It's more than enough in my 90 gallon without any additional flow.

Any updates on the cermedia?

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I'd say it's working for both nitrification and denitrification. My biopellet reactor stopped tumbling for an unknown amount of time, likely about 2 weeks, and nitrates still never registered.

I clean mine possibly yearly with fresh water and a paper towel...

Ph is just such a dynamic variable, I wouldn't spend any more than you need to unless you're running something that is reliant on a PH measurement, CA reactor, FW dosing, etc.

Temp is far more important to me, but I'm not sure if there's a lab grade temp probe.

This just happened on my last post. After writing a new topic and hitting post, it never redirected just sat waiting the whole time. I waited several minutes and opened a new window and the post was successful, but if people are hitting post multiple times, it would probably account for the double and triple posts I've been seeing.

Edit, it's happening when I reply to an existing post as well. The green status indicator just keeps spinning and the post doesn't appear until I refresh the page. This isn't happening when just editing an existing post.

Looking great. Are ours the only contest tanks still up? Might have to go back to the thread for a 1 year reunion.

Be really careful with some sps. They will eat my valida bases but won't touch anything else. All the validas recovered a few months after moving them to the sump.

Edit, didn't realize this was such an old thread...

I'm not going to be able to make it tomorrow but Ty just sent you a PP for Tim's family or wherever else it is needed for.

Very chilling looking through my PM box that I never delete. Last time we met I was trading a tank for SPS frags gawking at how much better his SPS growth was than mine. Puts into perspective how insignificant many of our problems are when others are dealing with things like this as if it's just another day.

Just got back into town and really sorry to hear this. Our wishes go out to his family.

I don't know about that macro, interesting. I got one of those springer damsels too, after reading your recommendations. It was hard to tell if he ate any flatworms in my big tank with all the other things in there. That's cool how you could tell how many he ate in the pico since he's the only fish! Have you noticed needing to change your maintenance since adding it?

Hey, we made it one year with our picos! You should post a fts

It was really cool in this tank. 100% confirmation on the flatworms for sure. I added him in the afternoon on a Saturday. He hid for about the first 6 hours, and by Sunday mid-morning probably half the flatworms were gone, by Monday I couldn't find a single one.

He just sits there waiting for food now anytime someone is near the tank even more so that my tangs in the big tank.

So far no changes. My corals look better probably because he's eaten the crazy amount of pods, and the macro's are looking better likely due to finally having a nutrient source. Will give it a few months to make a determination on how much it has changed.

Crazy it's been a year already. I took a few FTS's but the glare was really bad. I'll try to get a better one to post.

Haven't updated the contest tank for some time. Had a massive red flatworm explosion in this tank which was really unexpected having no additions for more than 2 months.

Saw this guy one day, and the tank was swarming about a week later.



Ended up grabbing an awesome springer's damsel from aquadome and it literally eat several hundred or thousand red flatworms in a matter of hours. This guy is one of the best pico fish I've ever found. I have always really liked springer's for their flatworm eating and mild temperament, but he really works better than I was expecting in such a small tank. Very calm, just hovers over his rock and mulls around hoping for another flatworm. I'd even say he's more mellow than a clownfish. I could hand feed him after about 2 feedings. In a 5" wide peninsula style tank, I have been very surprised by how social he is with humans and foot traffic.

The flatworm annihilator!



Other pictures.

Red Discosoma sanctithomae mushroom. Had to remove this guy from my main tank because he kept getting blown into a 10" hammer coral. He's about 1/3 the size of a few months ago but is looking pretty good. Was more like a shriveled a ball of goo for a few days.



Interesting red macro that came on one of the original rics that I've added. Very slow growing across the top of the rock. Hoping I don't some day regret letting it survive. Would love for an identification if anyone has one.