Planeden Posted July 14, 2014 Share Posted July 14, 2014 looks good Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bpb Posted July 15, 2014 Author Share Posted July 15, 2014 Thanks fellas. Shouldn't be tough to hunt down some green. Little mind trick here, Jeremy's montipora there, neon green pocillopora. Troubles are over Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Manny Posted July 15, 2014 Share Posted July 15, 2014 I got a 5 head candy came frag with your name on it if you want it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Manny Posted July 15, 2014 Share Posted July 15, 2014 Or how about a "yellow" candy cane? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bpb Posted July 15, 2014 Author Share Posted July 15, 2014 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Manny Posted July 15, 2014 Share Posted July 15, 2014 Hey what about a famous Farmer Ty Screaming Green Birdsnest frag? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bpb Posted July 15, 2014 Author Share Posted July 15, 2014 I'd be way down for one of those Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bpb Posted July 22, 2014 Author Share Posted July 22, 2014 To paraphrase Manny...I'm just not sure God wants me to have a BML light strip. I placed a rather sizeable order though an online retailer, which shall for now remain nameless, and is not an ARC sponsor, who not only carries alot of nice gear, but also the full line of BML lights and accessories. To kill 14 birds with one stone, and save about 10% in cost, I decided to order my BML super actinic straight though them. Order was supposed to arrive today. The vendor was out of the Vortech MP40 gasket, bubble counter fluid, and Spectrapure DI resin, as was emailed to me by their staff, and reflected on the invoice, it should arrive in 7-10 days. Everything else is on the invoice. Invoice clearly shows my Super Actinic 48" strip as ordered, in stock, and shipped along with everything else. I get to the UPS pickup store, and they hand me a tiny box which says "1 of 1" on the shipping label...I open it and check the invoice...yep. BML super actinic strip...right there...itemized...shipped...but never recieved by UPS along with the other items. So while I'm excited to have a few new toys...The big thing I ordered...Practically the whole reason for placing the order, is somehow lost. I showed the clerk at the UPS store the invoice, described the item, she did some computer searching and looking around and sure enough the only had one box for me in my account and nothing matching that product code or description arrived. Told me for now it'll have to be considered "will call" and they'll let me know if it comes in, or if for some reason they used another carrier for that particular item (which happens from time to time). So I call the vendor again from the parking lot to try to find out whats going on, and I get a stupid voicemail. Left a message 3 hours ago...Still no call back. I'll send an email again here in a bit. I'm so tired of dealing with this I have decided...if the BML strip doesnt come, and I can somehow get a refund, or whatever, I'm done...No supplemental lights for me. I'll just run the MH for 8 hours and call it a day. Whatever. So tired of dealing with this. Maybe the universe is sending me some kind of sign. Anyhow... Also in the order: Vortech cable tie managment pack so I can clean up the look Floating feeding station - so I don't lose so many pellets and frozen bits into the rock work and down the overflow Nori clip with mesh - to hold strips of nori in place and the whole sheet doesnt get carried off which my clown loves to do Hanna Phosphorous ULR PPB tester with extra reagents Algae Free Hammerhead - Mag float just not getting the job done. This thing is wicked strong, i'm afraid i'm gonna push the tank over its got such a tight grip. 40 coraline colored frag plugs TLF 150 phosban plumbing kit (my diy plumbing job leaks and is super ugly Tested the Phosphorous immediately. Following Victoly's instructions I was super careful. Even wore Nitrile hospital gloves (powder free) to avoid getting oils from my hands onto the curette or mixed in with the reagent. No bubbles, fully dissolved. Test yielded 0 PPB. Doing some reading, this unit has a margin of error of +/- 5 PPB or 5% of your reading. Meaning at the low end we're talking 0.01533 PPM after the formula to convert to phosphate. So I'm running pretty low it seems. Colors are holding well and aside from a little bryopsis here and there algae hasnt really shown up. No hair algae, or diatoms really. I guess it's time to start dosing amino acids again. i just find it so hard to believe that I'm not showing any phosphate still. I am running biopellets but no GFO. The glass only gets covered with a white-ish bacterial film it looks like. Oh well. It is what it is Ive been taking lots of pics of corals in their forever homes but I don't want to post any yet. On Aug. 1 I'll start my running log of monthly pics for growth purposes and a few full tank shots. For the most part everything is looking good. Down to my last two frags of my big blue stag colony due to RTN. My first colony of Raspberry Cheescake I had just started to RTN the other day and it's spreading. I've got another full mini colony on the frag rack, as well as a separate, non-connected frag on the same plug that is RTN. If I have to I'll cut a tiny nub of each and re-grow it. My oregon tort is looking fantastic. Hard to believe it literally started from 2 polyps and nothing more. Maybe 1/8" tiny little clip that I didnt expect to make it. It's about 1" now and probably 30-40 polyps. No branching yet, but it's holding its color well and has fantastic polyp extension. One Cali Tort and one Miami Orchid mini colony now dead as well. Luckily I have a healthy Cali Tort that is encrusting onto it's plug and actually growing. Hawkins has ceased to RTN and is beginning to encrust. The corals that are struggling to look nice are the reds and purples. All those are a rust brown color but with good PE. Blues and Greens all look very vibrant. Thats all for now Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
victoly Posted July 22, 2014 Share Posted July 22, 2014 I think in my case gfo was working better than expected. I tested prior to a heavy feeding and then once a day for two days. It went 2,10,2,0. This is month old gfo at recommended dosage ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bpb Posted July 22, 2014 Author Share Posted July 22, 2014 I'd certainly believe it. Looks like the biopellets and macro fuge are doing their job. My tomini tang actual eats bryopsis too which helps. Looks like in this instance it's probably a good idea to continue NOT rinsing my frozen food Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Manny Posted July 28, 2014 Share Posted July 28, 2014 Its been too long Jonathan. What do you have for us? You're definitely slacking in keeping up with the "most over-documented build thread". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bpb Posted July 28, 2014 Author Share Posted July 28, 2014 (edited) I'll give a verbal update. No pics though. I'm going to take my time and try to get a clean clear pic of every sps coral in the tank and some of the main Lps. I will do that on the first of august. I'll use my photobucket to document growth monthly. I understand radium bulbs aren't exactly par monsters, but as I feel like things are still light acclimating, I won't consider a bulb change until these are a year old. I will get my photoperiod to 8 hours, then begin lowering them closer to the water. One way or another I know that if I change bulbs...the color won't be as nice, growth will be faster, and I'll need either new ballasts or light pendants as there aren't any other SE bulbs that can reasonably run on m80 ballasts and not be torched inside of a few months. Just too much juice. So there's that. Got a new algae magnet. That's exciting. Love it. Algae free hammerhead good for up to 5/8" glass. Mine is 1/2". Still testing phosphorous. Feeding super heavy. Using amino acids almost daily. Still 0 ppm. Turned down the flow on my bio pellet reactor and I'll likely start skimming dryer. I'm still fighting a little RTN/STN unfortunately. Running out of backups too. Guilty parties are blue stag ("Stuber stag", second guessing my id on that), raspberry cheesecake, and northern lights Nasuta. I've created backup backup backup frags of each of those, the smallest of which seem to be holding out the best, but the bigger pieces of those three just keep getting hit by it. They'll be fine then I'll notice the encrusting base dies and it just travels upward. Trying to stay ahead of it. Doesn't look like aefw bite marks, just even and moderately paced STN. it's ok though, if I lost the Nasuta and blue stag I wouldn't be too heart broken. They're probably my least favorite children. Those three were the fastest growers in the last tank. Rainbow montipora is rocking. Looks real nice now. Hard to capture its essence in photos. Got some new pieces as well I'll throw in the pic catalogue as well. So...some good some bad. I've actually been paying some attention to my fw tank lately. Getting co2 up and running and going to start estimative index dosing. Pulled all my dwarf sag and java fern. Hoping to get this thing looking nicer. It's looked too much like an actual river bed than a planted display. Murky, tannin stained water filled with algae and gross muck. Needed some love. Edited July 28, 2014 by Bpb Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Manny Posted July 28, 2014 Share Posted July 28, 2014 No can do sir. What do you mean no pictures until the first of August? That's like the day after the 31st of July!!!! Dont make me call the "Ty video police crew" because then even pictures won't suffice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FarmerTy Posted July 28, 2014 Share Posted July 28, 2014 This is an official warning to please submit any and all photographs of your tank by the end of the weekend or else a video warrant will be placed on you and you will have 2 weeks to comply. Sent via Tapatalk 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Manny Posted July 28, 2014 Share Posted July 28, 2014 This is an official warning to please submit any and all photographs of your tank by the end of the weekend or else a video warrant will be placed on you and you will have 2 weeks to comply. Sent via Tapatalk See I tried telling you Jonathan but they figured you out anyways. You can't hide from enforcers of the Tystitution. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bpb Posted July 28, 2014 Author Share Posted July 28, 2014 Wow that warning by Ty was actually pretty dang good. Reminds me of many a letter I've received by the city/homeowners association/work/ect. Alright alright. Take it easy. Here's a pic. This what you had in mind? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Manny Posted July 28, 2014 Share Posted July 28, 2014 Remember Jonathan that yellow makes him barf. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FarmerTy Posted July 28, 2014 Share Posted July 28, 2014 I'm feeling a little nauseous... Sent via Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bpb Posted July 28, 2014 Author Share Posted July 28, 2014 You all watch what you say about my fw tank! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FarmerTy Posted July 28, 2014 Share Posted July 28, 2014 Dude, I think you have an algae problem in your tank... Sent via Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robb in Austin Posted July 28, 2014 Share Posted July 28, 2014 I'm curious why you didn't go local for the BML light. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bpb Posted July 28, 2014 Author Share Posted July 28, 2014 Good question Rob. It ended up being a bit of a pain actually and I kind of wish I had just picked up one at the dome when I was in town last. Mine should be here in a couple days though. Reasons for not buying locally. Aquariumspecialty.com has BML in their product catalog The base prices are actually lower than the manufacturer by about $10 for the 48" super actinic No state sales tax I needed to order several other odds and ends The BML strip brought me to free shipping. Back fired because the vendor didn't actually carry them. So BML had to make it still and ship directly to me. They told me today it should ship out this week at some point. I still saved about $30 all in all though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bpb Posted August 2, 2014 Author Share Posted August 2, 2014 Not gonna get pic crazy posting the same shots over and over. But here's the August 1 update. Alk down to 7.8 from 8.4 a few weeks ago. Growth. Still kinda slow though. I'm still seriously considering going even older school and getting some xm10k bulbs or ushio 10k. Keeping my eyes peeled for some cheap electronic ballasts because I don't wanna fry them in 3 months with these m80 ballasts. I think I can tolerate a white tank. The more pics i see online the less it bothers me. I want faster sps growth. The xm10k bulbs are literally double the par and ppfd than the radiums are, and it would be 160 less watts. Some stuff looks good some stuff not so much. Luckily my few favorite sps are the ones that have done the best. I've got several new ones I'm grabbing on Tuesday as well. Bryopsis starting to really get crazy. Ty. Help. Plz. Forgive me if these pics are already done. Trying to post ones I haven't posted yet. Unknown chalice. Zoas Zoas Miami hurricane chalice regaining its blue Been posted, but has grown about an inch all around and pointing upward instead of out which is good for real estate Leptastrea Hawkins Setosa Montipora stellata growing well Dying northern lights Recovering red planet http://i1374.photobucket.com/albums/ag426/Rshackelford1215/August%201%202014/imagejpg7_zpsa97bad00.jpg Strawberry shortcake (allegedly). Don't know that I'll get a good pic of this one for a while due to its position http://i1374.photobucket.com/albums/ag426/Rshackelford1215/August%201%202014/imagejpg1_zps7dbae71a.jpg Spongodes http://i1374.photobucket.com/albums/ag426/Rshackelford1215/August%201%202014/imagejpg5_zpsd5038b43.jpg Tiny purple stylo http://i1374.photobucket.com/albums/ag426/Rshackelford1215/August%201%202014/imagejpg1_zps89283d21.jpg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bpb Posted August 2, 2014 Author Share Posted August 2, 2014 Oh well. No idea why the last 4 won't post and just show the link. Click the link if you feel so inclined Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
victoly Posted August 2, 2014 Share Posted August 2, 2014 Tech m. In your life. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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