RobR Posted December 1, 2014 Share Posted December 1, 2014 Lol, yeah school has kept me busy the last few months. I will get an update posted here soon. The growth from the pics above is outstanding. I am really surprised because I always thought the the 10k would be waaaaay to yellow, but they look really nice. You can def tell a difference, especially that cap on the right hand side of your tank. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bpb Posted December 8, 2014 Author Share Posted December 8, 2014 Fish posing for a nice shot just before lights out this evening. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bpb Posted December 8, 2014 Author Share Posted December 8, 2014 Short update. Latest "Doh!" Moment. I've managed to get some tank work done while tiptoeing around a sleeping newborn. Yesterday evening I soaked my ato float switches in vinegar because they've been sticking a lot. I discovered this morning that apparently...I dislodged my CaCl line from the line holder in the sump in the process. Found the floor of the stand to be moist from about 15-2ml doses of calcium. Oops. At least it wasn't the alk line! Next. Skimmer is filthy. I guess it's been 4-5 months since cleaning, but sheesh. I can't believe it got that dirty that fast! Since I removed the BRS dual reactor I cannot imagine putting a reactor that size back online in my sump. It's just way too big for only filling each chamber 1/4-1/3 the way full. But...I've been wanting to run some carbon. I can see the water kind of coloring up (not just because of the new lights, but even water change water I've siphoned into a bucket is pure yellow like urine. I don't have a lot of nuisance algae, coral colors are all pretty good, PO4 and NO3 are all very low (0.01 ppm, and undetectable respectively), so I'm not trying to "clean" the water, just clarify a bit. I don't intend to run carbon 24/7, but I want to run it for a couple weeks here and there, especially since I need to frag my toadstool and Palau Nepthelia. Being leathers I expect a lot of allelopathy in the fragging process. BRS was out of the micro reactor when I did my Black Friday order, so i missed out on that, but I do have the TLF phosban 150 reactor just hanging out in the garage. Dumped the old bio pellets in the garbage that were still in it and did an overnight vinegar soak. Still kinda smells like eggs/fart but I scrubbed it real well so I think the smell should dissipate shortly. I reversed the "mod" I did to run bio pellets and returned the red grates it comes with. Being that the sponges are fairly loose and thin, I added a few layers of nylon needlepoint grid discs in the middle of the center pipe. They fit perfectly flush, and very snug. Snug enough for me to move with my hand to compact the carbon in between the sponges, and still hold with water pressure. Easy $1 mod that fixes one of the big faults of this cheap reactor. I will hang it on the sump, inside, since it occasionally leaks, and zip tie a mj1200 to the reactor body. Plug in and run for a couple weeks and just remove the whole unit at once. I'll update how it works when I actually install it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FarmerTy Posted December 8, 2014 Share Posted December 8, 2014 Boo, maintenance cleaning! That just reminds me I'll have to do the same myself. Glad everything is running smoothly in the system right now. For GAC, I've ran it passively in a bag in a high flow environment for the past 4 years and find it still very effective. I typically run it 2 out of the 4 weeks per month. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bpb Posted December 8, 2014 Author Share Posted December 8, 2014 You know Ty I've really considered just running it in a bag in my refugium/return chamber baffle. Looking back at all the amazing sps dominated TOTM winners on reef central from like 2000-2010, most ran carbon passively and it worked. It's just been so hard wired in me since I started reefing in more of the "modern" age of the hobby, that you only run media in reactors 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bpb Posted December 8, 2014 Author Share Posted December 8, 2014 Plus carbon is stinking expensive. I want to get the most out of it I can Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FarmerTy Posted December 8, 2014 Share Posted December 8, 2014 If I can find the article I read a couple of years back, I'll post the link for it. They ran some experiments and found that it was similarly effective in a reactor as it was in a media bag in high flow. The other added benefit is that there is less of a chance of carbon dust being generated with the turbulent environments in most media reactors versus a media bag. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bpb Posted December 22, 2014 Author Share Posted December 22, 2014 Following your footsteps Ty. Got surgical with the fungia just now. Been busy so I haven't had a chance but I now have 3 distinct but not yet circular orange and purple fungias and then a 4th piece of flesh but no mouth that may or may now grow into one. Good stuff. Also. I hate Formula One frozen food. Stupid "gel binder" completely prevents it from breaking apart at all even when thawed completely, and the cubes sink immediately and fall behind the rocks to eventually be worked into the sand by the snails long before the fish notice it. What a pain. I'm going to have to look into homemade frozen food. Unfortunately we have no whole foods or central market here though so I don't know where I would find those fresh ingredients. They don't carry them at heb and Kroger. That's all for now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FarmerTy Posted December 22, 2014 Share Posted December 22, 2014 Nice! Fungia are so much fun to propagate. Pics or it didn't happen! [emoji16] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bpb Posted December 28, 2014 Author Share Posted December 28, 2014 Double whammy tank flub. Noticed temps creeping up bit by bit in the last few weeks. Attributed it to the new lights. Well it's been cool out so I opened the windows yesterday. Before bed after the lights went off I checked the apex. Yikes. Ph spiked at 8.6 with no runaway alk doser or anything. Just the open windows and no one in the house all day. Temp also spiked at 82 degrees. Considering how I usually run 78-79, and 7.9-8.2 ph...something is up. Looking at my canopy fan, I noticed it was running but i felt no air. Twas completely clogged with dust. Vaccumed it and cleaned it up. Now temp topped out at 78 today and got as low as 76. That's a wider swing than I like over a 24 hr period, with the ph spike as well. A little STN on my Acropora meridiana. Bummer. Hopefully it stops. My fungia fragging experiment was also a failure. I must have been too sloppy or should have iodine dipped or something. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FarmerTy Posted December 28, 2014 Share Posted December 28, 2014 Nooo! That explains why my heart skipped a beat last night... I can feel fungia plates dying within a 300 mile radius. Leave those skeletons and maybe you'll get some daughter colony surprises. I'd add some programming to your Apex regarding temperature. I have my MH lights shutoff one by one at varying temperatures so I have a visual indication that it is getting hotter than it should be in my tank and then it will also send me a text letting me know the temperature has gone above a limit I have set. I'd also do the same for a dip in temperature. My heater will kick on and it'll send me a text as well. Stupid finicky SPS! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bpb Posted December 28, 2014 Author Share Posted December 28, 2014 Skeletons will definitely stay. I've got the apex programmed but part of that is the "if mh on, fan on" deal in addition to a temperature conditional. The fan just wasn't doing the trick since it was clogged. I also set the heater "If mh on, then off" since it didn't seem like I would ever need the heaters on with this much light but I may have to revisit that programming after watching the numbers today Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FarmerTy Posted December 28, 2014 Share Posted December 28, 2014 I'd put the fans on a condition based on temperature only so it's not on unnecessarily tied to the MH lights... just in case there was ever an instance you wanted lights on but no fan. There is no condition where when the temperature is warmer than I want for the fans to NOT kick on, so that's why I tied those together. Same with the heater. Why tie it to the lights when temperature should be the only determining factor? I'm sure you were trying to save the heaters use by having the lights warm the tank instead of the heater when the lights are on but why risk the tank with that type of programming. I'd throw in a conditional lights off above a certain temperature as well so your tank doesn't keep cooking past what your fans can cool if that situation ever presents itself like yesterday. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bpb Posted December 28, 2014 Author Share Posted December 28, 2014 (edited) I follow. I have all those conditionals. Some things I put at the end of the code were mainly to avoid the fan and heater fighting each other, but also I noticed that it's easier for the fan to keep the temps lower if they start lower, rather than if I let the temp climb then the fan kicks on. I'll post pics of my code in order fan,heater,lights. And temp for good measure. Edited December 28, 2014 by Bpb Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bpb Posted December 29, 2014 Author Share Posted December 29, 2014 Now are we talking...bits of flesh that didn't die will form new fungias, or...totally dead inert skeleton will start forming babies out from seemingly nothing? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FarmerTy Posted December 29, 2014 Share Posted December 29, 2014 Totally dead skeleton. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bpb Posted December 30, 2014 Author Share Posted December 30, 2014 12/29/2014: added a white band possum wrasse. Don't expect to see it for a week or two though being that it's about the size of my index fingertip and they're typically pretty shy by nature. I keep saying that I'm done adding fish. Truthfully though, I know I can fit a few more in without becoming too silly about overstocking Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Manny Posted December 30, 2014 Share Posted December 30, 2014 That fish is a warrior for sure. Made it through two weeks in my overflow, down the overflow drain, into my first sump chamber avoiding the skimmer pump, through the refugium, and into my last sump chamber. And yes, expect to see it seldomly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Manny Posted January 1, 2015 Share Posted January 1, 2015 Anxiously awaiting. . . . . . . . . . . . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bpb Posted January 1, 2015 Author Share Posted January 1, 2015 1/1/15 tank update. I've itemized my changes pretty well over the last couple months or so. Not much to summarize as I haven't changed much. Pulled the carbon bag from the sump. I plan to just run it periodically when I see the water yellowing. I've abandoned the idea of buying a micro reactor just because I don't need it. I'll hang onto my TLF 150 in case I want to run pellets again In the future, but for now, chaeto and my skimmer set on very dry are the only things I'm using. One change I've considered is to section off the skimmer and return pump with eggcrate, and actually fill the sump with live rock rubble. Seems like a good idea lol. Also still mulling around the idea of a calcium reactor. Possible plans for the rear will be a new return pump. Likely will be an Eheim 1262 that way I can stop buying my return pump. I'm on my third in just as many years. Considered adding more LEDs and shortening the mh photoperiod....but that is probably not gonna happen because I hate diy electronics, and it would be a large unnecessary expense to go prefab. Nothing else really planned besides grow grow grow. Without further adieu...Jan 1 pics. I've snapped way more than I intended to post just so I can have a grow log of each individual coral, close up. I'll include pics that mirror previous ones....later lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bpb Posted January 1, 2015 Author Share Posted January 1, 2015 (edited) Purple montipora 6/16/2014 1/1/2015 Favia 6/16/2014 1/1/15 Acropora Nasuta 6/16/2014 1/1/2015 Candy cane 6/16/2014 1/1/2015 Edited January 1, 2015 by Bpb Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bpb Posted January 1, 2015 Author Share Posted January 1, 2015 (edited) Hmm....can't figure out why it won't let me post the rest. I'll fool with it some Edited January 1, 2015 by Bpb Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Manny Posted January 1, 2015 Share Posted January 1, 2015 I'm going to have to take a similar approach as yours for documenting my own progress on my build. Keep the pictures coming. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bpb Posted January 1, 2015 Author Share Posted January 1, 2015 Montipora stellata 6/27/2014 1/1/2015 Cali Tort - a note on this one. This came from a tank running eBay LEDs. This is day 1 in my tank under radiums. This piece can at least debunk the theory of LEDs not coloring Acropora. At least for Cali tort. It had the deepest darkest most rich and vivid blue I've seen on an Acro in person. Color has shifted significantly for me in my tank into a pastel lavender. 6/30/2014 1/1/2015 Purple Stylophora 8/1/2014 1/1/2015 Montipora spongodes 8/1/2014 1/1/2015 Sunset montipora 8/1/2014 1/1/2015 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bpb Posted January 1, 2015 Author Share Posted January 1, 2015 Stag Acropora 10/18/2014 1/1/2015 6/16/2014 1/1/2015 6/16/2014 1/1/2015 6/16/2014 1/1/2015 6/16/2014 1/1/2015 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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