Dogfish

10 hours ago, skot said:

oldie but a goodie?

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-12/rhf/index.htm

hahahaha    I have read that and few a few other things many times over. I am prob chasing numbers right now. Bacteria is prob eating up oxygen as it is multiplying.
I have plenty of gas exchange without the skimmer. 2ea 3 foot wide waterfalls, surface skimming and 4 filter sock whirlpools. Im not so worried today. PH stopped dropping. My rocks are not dissolving. I should have kept my old tank numbers so I had something to refer back to.. Time to get some of those expensive tank stablizing SPS corals.

There is nothing to skim out yet. No use in keeping it running just to see it spit out almost clear foam water. It has no effect that i can see, being run longer. Something is using up alk but not calcium but what? Nothing is growing but 2 corals and those cant even see each other. 50 gal water change scheduled for tomorrow . Red sea pro salt. 11.7 alk measured, so that should bring it up a bit along with mag level.

1 hour ago, Timfish said:

Learn something new every day! 

It's says it's used with 2 part silicones, does it mix well with single part moisture cure types?

I do not know that answer.

Silicone halloween props are dyed with Silc-Pig   Non Toxic claim.  Hair dye has been used also, but i'm not sure about the toxicity

Info and SDS  www.reynoldsam.com/product/silc-pig/

Questions, cause i have old brain. Running my skimmer now 6 hours a day added socks and stopped feeding phyto. My brown gunk is gone, not counting 1 rock that gets 1 hour of morning sun and has little flow. Waiting for green and red crap to appear. X fingers. 5 cardinals plus 2 LPS corals that are looking great after 2 weeks. 5 months to nem a go go . Looks like my Alk is dropping slowly, as well as my PH. Got a real PH probe calibrated. (see above) Did a 50 gallon water change with red sea std salt . Tank was baptized 1 month ago. So is it normal for my PH to drop over time? Is it normal for my Alk to drop over time with so little coral ? I just cant remember my other tank start up numbers. If so what should I do at this point, if anything. Is "reborn" the most natural looking media avail these days? I need some for the bottom dwellers in my tank and want some natural looking stuff.

Funny stuff

Splash and Dash Groomerie & Boutique San Antonio is your local distributor. Get your dog poofed up while they order that thing for you.

Got my first free guest. Ulva. Must have come in with some snails. Right now its just in the observation tank. Looks like something I could make seaweed salad out of. Now that there is something green in the tank, maybe the brown and purple junk will take a hike.

my peeps say go for it

1 minute ago, FarmerTy said:

3 minutes ago, Dogfish said:

 

When you drop off the tub, I can fish around for some for you.

Ok deal. The rest of marco rocks been in the tubs for about a month or longer for some pieces. I want to wait another 2 weeks before selling it off. The only thing I put in was Tims a bit of ammonia, excess freshly hatched brine shrimp, rotifer water, and some pods. Not sure if they are in the rock but maybe.

Here is a brief update.  5 fish added and 2 LPS coral. All made it thru a short 15 day QT.  Rock is getting that ugly brown junk on the rocks and sand. Mostly where there is little flow and strong light. Guess its time to get some cleaning friends and figure out my vacuum thing. Maybe a watchman or engineer is in the cards. I see the first water change coming. Any one have a few mini brittle stars? Can trade a liter of fresh hatched brine shrimp and 50 gallons of slightly used salt water. The place that has those mini stars online wants $100.00 min, for a clean up crew, with stuff I really dont want.

Some media will dissolve up to about 8. At 8, not much will. I had a really big reactor size for my tank and had mine set at 7.4 Ran a very slow stream so it would not clog. I think Merman will have you on the right track by starting high and coming down, while not changing the stream volume. Each media is different so it is hard to be exact.

52 minutes ago, FarmerTy said:

Check it out! Finally a way to keep all my syringes in a place without just shoving them all in a dirty Dixie cup!

ok I want one. Who, what, where, when, and how much?

Just wanted to give  a shout out to timfish. He stopped by on Sat. with a home made cannon and a par meter.  Helped me a lot. I know that I will need a couple high powered lights to get deep down into my tank. The lights I have now need to come down from 14" to about 6 inches over the tank. With some other great advice i have a better plan for the tank. Plus he kept me home instead of spending the bank on some party at Ty's house.

Apex . Hum. Update firmware so it will work with fusion. D/l installer. Installer will not work with mac 10.6.4 on old lappy. Darn. D/l installer on new laptop. Oh need wired ethernet connection to router. No ethernet port on new laptop. Ah ha  music server is mac mini. Ok step 2 turn on "fusion" in controller. Fusion is on, sees everything but no control. After 3 hours of reading threads, no hair left, I find you must also turn on "fusion control" in controller. I knew that computer Sci degree would come in handy some day.
 Fusion works great. Does all the "if then's" for you. Put some clear 45's on the sea swirls. 100% improvement in looks for sure.

Isaac, that would be great.   Now if I can just remember how this apex thing works.

I need to post this so I dont lose it until I get my apex up and running.

Feb 21-2018  Day 4 -Tank is filled. Soaked rock 30 days prior w/ Dr Tims

Salinity 1.025     PH 8.0     Nitrate 2     Cal 450     Mag 1500 (IO salt)    Alk 10.3    Phosphate .07ppm

March 6-2018

Salinity 1.025     PH 8.3     Nitrate <1   Cal 450     Mag 1440                    Alk 8.4 (hanna)     Phosphate .09     

March 15-2018 Pod feeding ended / socks on and skimmer

Salinity 1.025    PH 8.2      Nitrate <1   Cal 450     Mag 1200                    Alk 7.8 (hanna)     Phosphate .122 

March 21-2018  50g w/c - new ph probe

Salinity 1.024   PH 8.07     Nitrate <1   Cal 551(hanna)    Mag 1200          Alk 7.6 (hanna)    Phosphate .08

March 30-2018

Salinity 1.025   PH 8.12                          Cal 450                  Mag 1350          Alk 7.6

April 4-2018 water change / 4-1 dosed Pt 2 to raise alk

Salinity 1.025  PH 8.14     Nitrate <1   Cal 490 (Salfert)    Mag 1470           Alk 8.5                  Phosphate  .07

April 27th 2018 30g water change + 300 ml part B

Salinity 1.025  PH 8.26     Nitrate 1    Cal 450 (Salfert)    Mag 1350          Alk 9.2                 Phosphate  .08

June 26th 2018 50g water change

Salinity 1.025  PH 8.15     Nitrate .50    Cal 450 (Salfert)    Mag 1485          Alk 8.8                 Phosphate  .09

July 9th

Salinity 1.0255  PH 8.07   Nitrate .75    Cal 465 (Salfert)      Mag 1500       Alk.8.8                   Phosphate .09

3 Deadmen. The sump is full. No new leaks. Filling the skimmer now. Want to be sure no leaks there before cranking up the pumps.
 Anyone with MP60's on thick walls?  Im getting some noise that I didn't get on my mp40's. I put a rolled up piece of tape under the bottom edge of the dry sides and it helped a little. Any ideas?

7 hours ago, Vernon Saunders said:

Where were the leaks at? in the tank or sump?

All 4 of the  2" bulkheads were leaking. 3 in the overflow box and one in the sump. Maybe my hole saw was a mm too large. Maybe the wobbly chuck on the old drill press.  The 1-1/2 was fine. A few threaded connections needed tightening. Everything is too clean. No crud to fill in the tiny gaps.

25 minutes ago, Gig 'em @ NDstructible said:

Wooo! Looking real good. Is there salt in there, or is it just fresh RO/DI water?

Thanks,  It is salt water. It started out fresh for 1 day. I have been mixing it heavy before adding. Should be up to 1.025 now Will have to check in the AM before mixing my next batch.

Water has reached the sump. Spent most of the day fixing leaks. Knowing my luck, I should have siliconed all the bulkhead gaskets. Tomorrow I should have enough water to turn on the pumps. The cheap power head is pointed at the surface to break up the scum. I don't like the sea swirl black pipes in the tank. I will have to shorten the pipes and make some clear 45's. I think that will help. Orange in left corner is magnet cleaner with cloth covering it.

14 hours ago, Sierra Bravo said:

I glued 27 frags to the rockwork today.  I'm pretty sure the dog ate the stem of a plug, there is super glue all over the kitchen table, saltwater is dripped all over the floor, and I ruined a steak knife cutting wads off of the stick of epoxy.  My wife just texted she's five min away with a load of groceries.

Five minutes is enough time to have a cocktail. . . 

Sounds like a normal day in the life of a reefer

12 hours ago, Vernon Saunders said:

The biggest amount I could make at once is 55 gal due to container size.... However I don't have the amount of salt needed to make that much on hand... but I could bring Freshwater if you got salt.

No worries  Just getting antsy  My R2 unit is making about 100 gallons a day so it will just take time.

2 hours ago, Vernon Saunders said:

You need some help? I live near Whimerley and could help on occasion.

Thanks,

Can ya bring me about 200 gallons of salt water tonight?

HEB cola out  HEB cola in. Still gets real cloudy after adding 60 gallons of water. I think I'm half way before it starts going down into the sump.

54 minutes ago, jolt said:

I think it looks great.  But I feel like the pictures don't really give a sense of how large that tank is.  Can we get a coke can for reference 

Thanks .I will place something for reference, come day light, when I add another 50 gallons of water. Note in a rum bottle perhaps.  My fingers are raw. I can hardly move my hands. Lifting and maneuvering 30lb pieces of coral rock thru 16" openings in the top was not such a good idea. The stuff is sharp. Acrylic is soft. No room for error, like letting a piece fall when my arms say they can hold it no longer. Next time bigger holes in top so I can climb in.