BornToHula

I decided it was time to bite the bullet and get a par meter. I figure since I have invested so much in the lights and coral frags, it is pretty easy to justify the cost of a par meter to identify when I need to change out the T5 bulbs and ensure the corals are getting the light they need.

While doing research I looked at the following 3 par meters:

Apogee SQ-520

Pros: Designed to accurately read blue light, most popular hobby grade brand

Cons: Most expensive

Apex Par Monitoring kit

Pros: Comes hidden in some fake live rock so you can monitor par long term

Con: Comes with the last gen apogee meter

Seneye

Pros: Cost, very accurate when compared to $2,000+ equipment (see Bulk Reef's videos), option to use it as an ammonia monitor

Cons: Doesn't seem to be very popular, hard to find reviews from hobbyist on the par meter

It really came down between the Apogee and Seneye. During my research I watched Bulk Reef's videos where they compared the readings from their high-end par meter to the Seneye and the results were almost identical. The accuracy plus the low price of the Seneye convinced me to go with it.

The Seneye should be coming in this week, I'll be sure to post how it works and what I think of it.

Cool video, especially cool it was done entirely on the phone.

I have a hard time believing that saw can't cut flesh though. Don't stick your finger in it to test that theory out!

How'd you cut that up? Band saw?

Hah nice. I thought about bringing in my bandsaw from my woodshop when I fragged my frogspawn. Mine's not near as portable as that one though!

Hah Karl (the reporter) is pretty awesome. Its worth looking up his highlight reel if you have a few free minutes.

How'd you cut that up? Band saw?

Personally I like option 1, that way you can sell off or use the Tunzes somewhere else. I forget, yours is a 6ft tank right?

He looks big enough that he may accidentally damage the coral, but I again don't think it's intentionally trying to eat your acro. I probably should have documented our nasty acro-eating crab when it happened. Would have been useful for others to see what that looked like. I actually had to stab him with tweezers to get him out. Lil stinker was running from 1 acro to the next beating up on them.

I agree, he wasn't actively eating it. I was surprised that he was even picking at it after being a model citizen for the past 2 years. I am more worried that he may not be getting enough to eat and is "trying" new things.

Last year I had a little acro eating crab that came in on a maricultured piece that took out about 2 inches overnight. I had to stab mine with a toothpick to get him off. The emerald crab is no danger at all compared to this bugger.

I don't think he's eating the acro, he's just looking for algae. They aren't exactly smart. We had an acro eating crab and trust me, you'd know if it were eating that coral. The tips would all be mangled up and what not. You can see in the video that the crab is gently trying to scrap algae with his claws, not smash the acro to get tissue.

There is some damage on the coral today from it, nothing bad, just a couple of spots. I'll give him the benefit of the doubt and just wait to see if it happens again.

Last night I couldn't sleep so I took a look at the tank around 1:00 AM and I caught my emerald crab eating the flesh off one of the acros! Never heard of an emerald crab doing this before or seen this one doing it before (I've had him for about 2 years), but he was definitely eating the flesh and not picking off algae or something else.

Maybe he is starving since there isn't much algae for him to eat anymore? I would throw him a piece of frozen shrimp, but I never see him during the day. It may be time to trade him in to the fish store.

Awesome work man, that sump setup is sweet.

Red Planet

EC Strawberry Shortcake

Darth Vader from Reeffarmers

I think this one was a Rainbow Millie from Reeffarmers

He said he would write down the name of it so I didn't have to.... I have no idea what this says lol

Overall I am happy with my haul, got lots of nice pieces! I feel that the corals from reeffarmers lost quite a bit of color between C4 and my tank. Hopefully they will gain some color once they settle in

Here was my haul from C4:

Aussie Golden Torch. It still hasn't fully come out, I don't think he's liking my tank. I've been moving him around too much and am going to let him stay here for a few days to see if he improves.

Didn't write down the name of this goni.

Northern Lights

Hawkins Echinata

FHC Boli Tri-Color

My reaction when I come back to Ty's thread:

What are you using the BRS dosing pump for? Magnesium?

Is your tank new? If its still cycling it could be producing acid from the nitrogen cycle. That wouldn't be the case if its been up and running for awhile though.

Here is a good article about low pH, you can skip the science parts if you want and go down to the causes of low pH section: http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-09/rhf/

You are growing frags like a machine! Too bad I'm maxed out for my frag budget for a bit after C4

Are you trying to make be buy a new monitor? I only have 1440p

A sip for the fish tank, a sip for me, a sip for the fish tank, a sip for me

That thing is crazy Hula! I'm always amazed at the new products that come out. Can you imagine what that roll of used fleece is going to smell like after a month?

I imagine pretty bad! Not that my skimmer or filter socks don't already smell terrible

Mesh filter socks are the only kind of mechanical filtration that I like because they are so easy to clean. In regards to the filter slowing down the water flow, there is really only three options. 1. Clean the filter more often 2. Get a more porous filter 3. Don't run any mechanical filtration. Each option has its benefits and drawbacks in filtering capability and convenience.

Pretty much all mechanical filtration has to be cleaned several times a week, either because they get gunked up with detritus or they start producing nitrates.

Another solution is the Theiling Roller Mat (http://www.bulkreefsupply.com/automatic-roller-mat-theiling-1.html). It apparently works great and doesn't have to be cleaned more than once a month. It would be overkill on a 34g tank though.

After doing some internet detective work I think this is at Coral World in Eilat, Israel. Its connected to the Red Sea, not a standalone lagoon.

In order to do this in our climate, like was said before you would need a huge chiller and have a system that would maintain the salinity when it decides to pour down rain. And some massive filtration. All the issues can be solved, but I would bet its very very expensive.

I really enjoyed the event! Met lots of great people and got some really killer frags.

My big suggestion is to have it at a more central location, the drive from Leander was more than an hour each way (I35/Mopac traffic didn't help).

straight down mopac to slaughter to brodie worked for me from RR... 50mins

That's how I went coming home from the event. 1hr 10mins to Leander. Not complaining or anything, just a suggestion

I really enjoyed the event! Met lots of great people and got some really killer frags.

My big suggestion is to have it at a more central location, the drive from Leander was more than an hour each way (I35/Mopac traffic didn't help).

Same here. I have my gyres' power supply plugged into the EB8 even though I have no need to. I just don't have anything else that needs those power plugs.

If you have the battery backup, turning the outlet off doesn't even turn off the gyres, the battery will kick in and it will go 30%. You have to turn them off using the 0-10v outlet.

If you have something else that can use those EB8 outlets I would remove the gyres.

That's sad to hear but at least you we're there to troubleshoot. I've never really gotten calcium buildup on any of my return pumps over the years. Usually when I do annual pump impeller cleanings, it's just bacterial growth that can be easily wiped off.

Did you ever overdose alk or calcium with new tank?

No overdose of alk or calcium. But like we discussed at C4, my dosing pumps do drip into the same chamber as the pump. I'm going to move the dosers to a different chamber and see if that helps solve it.

I have the camera+ app. I can get slightly better pics than the default iphone camera in camera+ by going to the advanced settings and turn on the white balance control. Then when you take the pics you can adjust it up and down to get pics that don't look so blue.