Sierra Bravo

Next tank I think I will do a little better with my rockwork. If I were to do it over I'd have used less rock, created more space in the middle and made the islands height's unequal. At this point I've got so many frags glued to it I'm not going to remove anything. FTS with mostly blues/actinics:

o0zarkawater's 40W sterilizer installed and working but generating heat. I added a cooling fan array and put the UV on a timer where it shuts off when the lights are at peak.

Update: Antonio called me this afternoon. He's still in business, not going anywhere, and his Facebook page is down because he's having it redesigned and social media isn't his top priority. He still has me on the waiting list for bimacs and has asked me to continue being patient. That's all I wanted to hear - faith restored for the time being. Thanks @Reburn for helping me get in touch.

Hmmm. He had my replacement bimacs at one time but there was an A/C issue at his warehouse facility and he lost all of his fish. I had read in an earlier group buy thread on ARC that he had a similar issue where he lost power and lost all his fish. He seems to have a lot of bad luck. I'm not ungrateful that he's willing to replace the fish; he didn't have to. To be fair I have told him that I'm not in a rush, but at the same time I don't want to wait and possibly have nothing to show for it at the end. I'm not going to pass judgement yet, but a pattern is emerging. I'll try calling him again this week and see what happens. Does he sell to any of the local LFS on a regular basis? I know he had brought a load of Haitian live rock to somewhere in Austin a month and a half ago but I'm not sure about fish. I'm asking to see if I can get in touch with one of them to act as a go between (for a fee, of course).

Still waiting since April on some replacement bimacs from Antonio of Exotic Marine Fish in Houston. His facebook link doesn't work since last week and I haven't had a response since he last texted me, which was a couple days prior to that. Great pricing and cares about his fish but communication is not his strong point. I'd feel better about waiting on these anthias if I know someone has been in communication with him recently.

Stand is sharp - really like the color stain you chose. The grain pattern on those doors is fantastic!

My overall average is 8.2, although I've seen fluctuations from 7.8 to 8.6 at times.

I can't video chat but you are welcome to call me at work. I'll send you my number in a PM.

What's mind boggling is that these are just the frags he's getting rid of. . .he's got even more he's keeping! 😋

WOW! Jolt - that's an amazing amount of beautiful, large, and well-encrusted frags!

I would definitely go slow as you plan to make sure you have the correct dosage, but once you dial in the amount you can add all of the nitrate solution at once. It doesn't have to be multiple dosages like ALK.

Phosphate looks correct: I'm getting something different on the Potassium Nitrate calculation. And don't forget; you have to convert to sodium nitrate at the end, so 390g * .84 = 328g of sodium nitrate.

Hey! Welcome back. For me, 180g + near WWC = going broke Also agree with shimming the stand. Now's the time; you can't do it later. After you get the corners where you want them, make sure you shim down the length until you can't fit a shim so you maintain support all the way across the stand.

Made my own: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00KZOEBS8/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1 Use this calculator to make your solution. http://www.theplantedtank.co.uk/calculator.htm Choose the potassium nitrate option and multiply the answer in grams you get by .84 to get the correct amount of sodium nitrate to use. For example, I have a 120 gallon. I wanted a solution in a half gallon of water so that when I add 10ml of the solution I would raise the tank by 2.5 ppm. The calculator tells me I need 350 grams of potassium nitrate in the solution to accomplish this. Multiplying by .84 yields 294 grams of sodium nitrate needed to do the same thing. That half gallon will last me a year.

I had a marked reduction of nitrate about three months ago - used to hold steady at 4.0 but then disappeared. For over two months I ran between zero and .25 and noticed dulling of the corals. This is with 14 fish in a 120g, feeding a mix of pellets and frozen four times a day, reef chili twice a week and reef roids twice a week. Evidently, my tank is pretty efficient at removing nitrates. I now dose nitrate in the form of NaNO3 to 3 ppm when needed after testing on Wednesdays and Saturdays. Usually, it drops to around .5 to 1 in between tests. Everything looks much better to my eye. I took my GFO offline during that time as well. Phosphates stayed somewhat steady at .012 to .037 the entire time. I got a little algae on the sandbed for a week after removing the reactor and then it went away.

Just some fish pics:

This is what Gig 'em called the D&M millie, which from what I understand was initials for two of our members here. So I assume this was a wild or un-named that they had offered around locally. It is one of the hairiest millies I've seen, normally. With the recent addition of my "reef safe" angel, however, it only extends polyps at night so now I get a chance to look at the coloration of the coralites. I never realized it had so much orange in it and mine is off to the side in about 200 or less PAR. Nice little piece.

Nathan I appreciate that! So do you hand out photos of your reef to every customer? 😀 Looks great, btw! Thanks for "officially" making a post and taking the time to reply. I agree, the MAAST forum is absolutely a desert. If it weren't for Justin and Alton talking back and forth to each other there would be no content anymore. Coincidentally I just had a guy from A-1 Appliance come by this morning, finally, and he topped off the refrigerant. It wasn't showing a leak so hopefully I'll be good for a while. I will definitely get in touch with you next time I need something. Funny, but I went through eight or nine companies before anyone even wanted to take a look. If it didn't say Amana or Whirlpool they wanted nothing to do with it. Next time you are around 1604 and 281 let me know. I need to start getting quotes to replace my home A/C and you are welcome to put in a number if you'd like. I'm assuming I can pay in chaeto and frags, right? Right??? 😋

First and foremost - very sorry to hear about your dog. We've been through that not too long ago and it's tough. Second, thanks for the offer, but don't sweat it. I'm pretty sure it's just the coolant. I'm happy with the deal I got on it regardless. Third, please tell me you brought back enough mangu and habichuelas con dulce to share. . . 😋

It's possible but not probable. I'm not very knowledgeable in the mechanics of refrigeration, but the compressor would kick on briefly, short cycle, and stop. For the brief moment it was on the drop-in coil would get cold. Just didn't stay cold for more than 30 sec. It uses R134a so I'll just take it down to an appliance repair guy and have him pressure test and recharge it. I don't use the chiller all the time; it was bought for exactly this emergency but I have a very bad relationship with Murphy and he often subjects me to his Law. Back up equipment is only good if it is maintained and works. It's like having a flat and finding out your spare is deflated because you've never bothered to check the pressure on it.

The tech came out and it seems the compressor overheated tripping the internal thermal safety switch. By the time he got out, it had set long enough to start back up. Seems like it's time to start thinking about a new AC. . .what are they? A few hundred bucks or so? 🙄 Tank inhabitants all look fine. My ice chest heat exchanger was able to get the temp down to about 80.5 degrees last night. It was back to normal around midnight. Now I need to get this drop in chiller looked at. It is probably low on refrigerant - it was operating just not cooling the coil. I'm guessing I would take it to an appliance repairman?

My current DIY chiller solution running off my manifold until I can get the AC tech out. Tank was at 83 degrees for no more than 4 hours or so - shouldn't turn out to be that much of an issue, right?

...and now my chiller stopped chillin'. Sigh. . .

Well, got home to the house and tank at 83 degrees . . .my AC crapped out. The portable chiller I bought from @Dominican is doing its job and it's taking the temp back down at a good pace. I'm glad I picked it up when I did. Daughter was home playing Overwatch completely oblivious to the world around her: "Did you not realize the AC was out???" "So THAT's why it's so hot in here!" "And the alarm going off on the tank - that didn't clue you in that maybe there was a problem?" "So THAT's what that noise was!" Geesh. . .

Have you recently used any two-part epoxy to mount frags or rocks?