120G Rimless shallow peninsula tank

[fabutahoun]

Very Nice BTA !
Regrading T5 , one of the reasons I stick with LED only is that T5 and MH bulb replacements are not available when you need them in our region.

 

[Janci]

Very Nice BTA !
Regrading T5 , one of the reasons I stick with LED only is that T5 and MH bulb replacements are not available when you need them in our region.

True.
Luckily I still have around 6 tubes left from the previous fixture. They are all Pacific Sun, from which I believe the bulbs loose power after 3 months.
Now I only run them for 5 hours a day so those 6 should be sufficient for the next year.

 

[najer]

I hope it turns around for you soon.

 

[Janci]

Just received back the results of the ICP test.
Rodi water seems fine without remarks.
The tank water has high calcium (460ppm) which is not alarming.
Nitrate and phosphate are within range (NO3 @5ppm, PO$ @0.02ppm)
Iodine is still low.
Strontium was low last time and now getting to a more acceptable level.

More water changes this weekend as I have to prepare for the holidays.

 

[Janci]

Hi everybody.

Merry Christmas and of course a Happy New Year to all.

Holiday mode is on.
Being at home in cold Belgium, 5000km away from the other home, no way to check the tank as my camera could not be set up due to some odd unknown reason.
Any how, auto feeder was set. I removed 3 of the 4 BTA's before leaving and gave then to a friend who earned a nice Xmas present.
Skimmer was cleaned and glass cleaned.
We will see in about 1 week how the tank runs without anyone checking on it.
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By the way... this whole situation makes me nervous.

 

[Janci]

I have some pictures in the camera.
But as usual did mot have the time yet to prepare them for publishing.
Sorry for that.

 

[Janci]

I had left the tank for 1 year unattended. Last time I saw it, it was 2018 but today I returned to the same thing.
I am pretty sure by now this fish tank can withstand about anything.

Things remained pretty much stable. Somehow alk was down to 6.5. This should mean the corals did do well and grew. That must be normal after 1 year of course.

I brought the new powerheads. 2 pieces of Tunze 6105. They have plenty of power. I run them at 50% now and there seems to be more flow, compared with the 2 MP40 that have been removed.

Before the holidays, 3 anemones went to a friend. The only BTA now remaining did not move and the clown fish are still hosting it. They feel well there as I could see new eggs on the backside rock, behind the anemone.

As promised, here the latest FTS and some random ones that did not turn out too bad.

 

[fabutahoun]

OMG an entire year, you bad boy lol.
I am glad that the tank is doing good.

 

[YHSublime]

The one year joke is totally a dad joke

However, the tank is looking awesome! Glad to hear the tunzees are doing it for ya!

 

[nova65ss]

Lol I had to think twice about the one-year thing myself

 

[PanchoG]

It looks stunning! Congrats

 

[Janci]

OMG an entire year, you bad boy lol.
I am glad that the tank is doing good.

The one year joke is totally a dad joke

However, the tank is looking awesome! Glad to hear the tunzees are doing it for ya!

Lol I had to think twice about the one-year thing myself

Ok, ok... it were only 12 days.
My daughters liked the joke.

It looks stunning! Congrats

Thank you.

 

[amashun]

looking good mate, love those anthias.

happy new year to you too.

 

[SPR1968]

I had left the tank for 1 year unattended. Last time I saw it, it was 2018 but today I returned to the same thing.
I am pretty sure by now this fish tank can withstand about anything.

Things remained pretty much stable. Somehow alk was down to 6.5. This should mean the corals did do well and grew. That must be normal after 1 year of course.

I brought the new powerheads. 2 pieces of Tunze 6105. They have plenty of power. I run them at 50% now and there seems to be more flow, compared with the 2 MP40 that have been removed.

Before the holidays, 3 anemones went to a friend. The only BTA now remaining did not move and the clown fish are still hosting it. They feel well there as I could see new eggs on the backside rock, behind the anemone.

As promised, here the latest FTS and some random ones that did not turn out too bad.

The tank looks beautiful as usual Janci, and stunning pictures!

 

[Janci]

Did a water change on the reef and quickly took some top down pictures.
I have to hurry so I do not let the top coals out of the water too long as they stick out after 2 buckets.

The procedure:
- have 120L salt water mixed and buckets ready
- towels all over the floor around the tank as I use big hose for removing the water. This splashes everywhere. Water changes are preferably done when wife is not at home
- take out 4 buckets where I suck out all the dirt from the bottom and rocks
- take out 3 extra buckets, where I keep 1 with only water and do not toss it away
... if time allows, take some top down pictures.... (see below)
- pump back into the tank, the water from the sump that overflowed when stopping the return pump
- add extra new salt water till the water level reaches and covers all corals again.
- water level is still low so all that needs to be rearranged inside the tank, can be done now
- clean the glass, the skimmer, replace the filter socks
- add the remaining of the new salt water
- start up the return pump
- adjust the water level with the one bucket that was kept aside

 

[YHSublime]

Wow! Love the top downs! It's funny the metrics we (reefers) create to track things like growth. Ie. 2 buckets of water is what it takes for your acro tips to stick out during a water change. Really digging that last acro with the purple tips and green polyps! Also, second to last picture, top left, what ever acro is in front of those bright orange/red skirted zoanthids is going to be straight fire once those colors pull through!

 

[Janci]

Wow! Love the top downs! It's funny the metrics we (reefers) create to track things like growth. Ie. 2 buckets of water is what it takes for your acro tips to stick out during a water change. Really digging that last acro with the purple tips and green polyps! Also, second to last picture, top left, what ever acro is in front of those bright orange/red skirted zoanthids is going to be straight fire once those colors pull through!

2 buckets of water... Hahaha, how else can you measure water volume?

Acro with the purple tips and green polyps... it is one of the favourites. When something is of in the tank, the purple tips disappear (no growth) and it is time for me to take action.

Acro is in front of those bright orange/red skirted zoanthids... this is one of the little remainders of the Fantasy Coral batch from Singapore. I love this coral and hope it gets back to growth soon.
It will be fire when it colors up.

 

[Janci]

Before leaving on holiday, I had the calcium reactor reduced in dosing to avoid a spike.
All coral are showing growing tips and have polyps out.
Alk dropped and is at 6.7 dkh for the moment and I think I will keep it there, with 7 as a maximum.

When starting the tank, alkalinity was also around that same low level and everything was doing great.
It seems that is the tank's happy place.

 

[YHSublime]

this is one of the little remainders of the Fantasy Coral batch from Singapore. I love this coral and hope it gets back to growth soon. It will be fire when it colors up.

I can tell, you can see the colors already trying to pull through!

Before leaving on holiday, I had the calcium reactor reduced in dosing to avoid a spike.
All coral are showing growing tips and have polyps out.
Alk dropped and is at 6.7 dkh for the moment and I think I will keep it there, with 7 as a maximum.

When starting the tank, alkalinity was also around that same low level and everything was doing great.
It seems that is the tank's happy place.

Same thing in my tank as well. I've noticed around 7.5-8 my tank does best. I need to change my salt mix I think, the reef crystals is mixing upwards of high 9 dkh.

 

[Janci]

I can tell, you can see the colors already trying to pull through!
Same thing in my tank as well. I've noticed around 7.5-8 my tank does best. I need to change my salt mix I think, the reef crystals is mixing upwards of high 9 dkh.

What salt are you planning on using?
I use the Tropic Marin Pro Reef salt and want to change as well due to high price, high alk.
There are not so many salts available for the lower value alk users.