ethridge78
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That is one beautiful tank.
400 Gallon Starfire Build - Mixed Reef
- Monster Build
- Thread starter AJsTank
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My Tank Thread
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Yellow hammer? Do tell!
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AJsTank
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This is a little better shot. It's with my iPhone, so it's not very good. It's SO bright - Right next to a Gold Wall Hammer I got the other day. I got it from Butler aka Rocky Mountain Frags -
Oh, by the way Marc, it's with your little camera viewer that I bought from you
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AJsTank
Well-Known Member
[1]I don't know how many of you use apps on your Smartphone to log your tank stats, but I've used Aquaritmate, Aqua Planner and Reef Tank Pro for several months on my old system. At the time I purchased these apps, they were all betwen $5-$10 per app. I wanted to try them all out to see which one had the best options. When I started this new build, I started using only Aquarimate because of the many features and the way you can view your parameters. I wanted to share my experience with you guys for those of you who don't know what it is. This is the app in the center of this screen shot
This is the main screen that comes up when you load the app. You can click on "parameters" and enter all the parameters you are testing.
When you click on "statistics", you can view a history of whatever parameters you wish. If you only wish to view your last 10 or 50 tests of Mag, Alk and Ca, you can click on those 3 and only the graphs and dates will come up on those you put a check by. Or you can ONLY pick Salinity or Iodine. Basically, you can customize your graphs.
"Tasks and activities" button allows you to enter any upcoming tasks or reminders. As you can see on mine, I put a reminder in there to change my UV bulb at about the 12 month mark. An alarm will go after and alert me when it gets close. You can add water changes, testing, or whatever you wish.
When you click on "Timelines" you can you add certain things that you are doing on that day. For instance, every time I do water change, I enter a timeline log. I title it "Water change 20 gallons". So then when you click on that certain date in your Timeline, you can see what you did. I always log how many gallons I changed and if I did any adjustment to my dosser. For example, today I increased my Mag from 81 ml's a day to 108 ml's a day and I logged what I did on my Timeline that is dated for today. I can go back in the log and see what I've done on certain timelines. It gives you a nice history to follow.
Here is a shot of the parameters I entered in for today as I did my testing.
When you go back and click on statistics, you can see the history of my tank since I started testing. It's taken me a little bit to dial in this dosser, but I'm getting close to where I need to be.
This is a shot of my time lines. If you click on today's date, that is titled "water change 25 gallons", you can see in detail what I did that day. Changed socks, cleaned RODI filters, etc etc.
From the main menu, you can go back and add livestock and costs. This can get extremely tedious, because you have to manually enter each coral and fish. BUT, if you're starting a new tank, it's super easy to do as you add livestock. You can take pictures and then browse through your fish and coral and see how much you spent, log progression shots and/or see the date when you added the livestock. Pretty cool feature if you are up to the challenge of adding all your livestock to the list.
One of the best things about it, is it's always backed up to the cloud. I know some people will enter their data onto an Excel spreadsheet, but this is a much easier way to do it. This app is definitely worth the $10 I paid for it.
This is the main screen that comes up when you load the app. You can click on "parameters" and enter all the parameters you are testing.
When you click on "statistics", you can view a history of whatever parameters you wish. If you only wish to view your last 10 or 50 tests of Mag, Alk and Ca, you can click on those 3 and only the graphs and dates will come up on those you put a check by. Or you can ONLY pick Salinity or Iodine. Basically, you can customize your graphs.
"Tasks and activities" button allows you to enter any upcoming tasks or reminders. As you can see on mine, I put a reminder in there to change my UV bulb at about the 12 month mark. An alarm will go after and alert me when it gets close. You can add water changes, testing, or whatever you wish.
When you click on "Timelines" you can you add certain things that you are doing on that day. For instance, every time I do water change, I enter a timeline log. I title it "Water change 20 gallons". So then when you click on that certain date in your Timeline, you can see what you did. I always log how many gallons I changed and if I did any adjustment to my dosser. For example, today I increased my Mag from 81 ml's a day to 108 ml's a day and I logged what I did on my Timeline that is dated for today. I can go back in the log and see what I've done on certain timelines. It gives you a nice history to follow.
Here is a shot of the parameters I entered in for today as I did my testing.
When you go back and click on statistics, you can see the history of my tank since I started testing. It's taken me a little bit to dial in this dosser, but I'm getting close to where I need to be.
This is a shot of my time lines. If you click on today's date, that is titled "water change 25 gallons", you can see in detail what I did that day. Changed socks, cleaned RODI filters, etc etc.
From the main menu, you can go back and add livestock and costs. This can get extremely tedious, because you have to manually enter each coral and fish. BUT, if you're starting a new tank, it's super easy to do as you add livestock. You can take pictures and then browse through your fish and coral and see how much you spent, log progression shots and/or see the date when you added the livestock. Pretty cool feature if you are up to the challenge of adding all your livestock to the list.
One of the best things about it, is it's always backed up to the cloud. I know some people will enter their data onto an Excel spreadsheet, but this is a much easier way to do it. This app is definitely worth the $10 I paid for it.
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AJsTank
Well-Known Member
Yeah, I have it on my tablets as well.
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AJsTank
Well-Known Member
Most pet stores who do installs and maintenance have them that you can rent. I gave a local shop some livestock to sell in exchange for letting me use them.
knights061
Community Member
Any updated pictures. Would love to see some updates on this build
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AJsTank
Well-Known Member
I thought I would give you guys a little big of an update of what's going on. My original setup was Refugium and Bio Pellets - I made a big mistake and it's taken me 4 months to correct it.
My tank cycled, diatoms came and went and green hair algae came and went. Right when I started seeing Nitrates is when I turned my bio-pellet reactor on and added the chaeto. I was dosing MB7 to feed the pellets. At the time, I only put in about 20% of what was suggested for my water volume. After the Green Hair algae was almost gone, I wasn't thinking and I just filled it up all the way to 100% of what was suggested by BRS.
Within days, a HUGE HUGE bacterial bloom happened from the excessive carbon dosing (I'm assuming that's what it was from). At the time, I just thought it was algae bloom, but it ended up being that clear fur like bacteria that sits on top of the rocks. For like a month I was treating it like algae because that's what I thought it was. NOTHING works on bacteria. I tried rabbits, tangs, etc in addition to a sea hare, snails and crabs. I finally sent a bunch of pictures to 3 different marine biologist friends and they all said it was bacterial bloom.
I made a decision and pulled the pellets offline, I added a UV sterilizer, a bio-denitrator and added GFO to my reactor. It took 31 days and it's all gone. No more bacteria, no more algae and the water is crystal clear. Honestly, I don't regret trying the pellets, because it was fun messing around with something new to me. Dialing them in is very difficult with a new tank. Dosing bacteria, do you add GFO or carbon with the pellets, refugium, UV? So many variables and so many answers with each variable. Mr. Levenson was very gracious and spoke to me a lot about it and I'm thankful for his help, but in the end I threw in the towel and went back to my old ways. I think that if I did not add all those pellets that quickly, I would have been okay. But trying to get rid of all bacteria and starve it out took a very long time, even after I pulled the pellets.
Hers's a little shot of my setup under my cabinet. You can see my biodenitrator and UV I added last month.
My tank cycled, diatoms came and went and green hair algae came and went. Right when I started seeing Nitrates is when I turned my bio-pellet reactor on and added the chaeto. I was dosing MB7 to feed the pellets. At the time, I only put in about 20% of what was suggested for my water volume. After the Green Hair algae was almost gone, I wasn't thinking and I just filled it up all the way to 100% of what was suggested by BRS.
Within days, a HUGE HUGE bacterial bloom happened from the excessive carbon dosing (I'm assuming that's what it was from). At the time, I just thought it was algae bloom, but it ended up being that clear fur like bacteria that sits on top of the rocks. For like a month I was treating it like algae because that's what I thought it was. NOTHING works on bacteria. I tried rabbits, tangs, etc in addition to a sea hare, snails and crabs. I finally sent a bunch of pictures to 3 different marine biologist friends and they all said it was bacterial bloom.
I made a decision and pulled the pellets offline, I added a UV sterilizer, a bio-denitrator and added GFO to my reactor. It took 31 days and it's all gone. No more bacteria, no more algae and the water is crystal clear. Honestly, I don't regret trying the pellets, because it was fun messing around with something new to me. Dialing them in is very difficult with a new tank. Dosing bacteria, do you add GFO or carbon with the pellets, refugium, UV? So many variables and so many answers with each variable. Mr. Levenson was very gracious and spoke to me a lot about it and I'm thankful for his help, but in the end I threw in the towel and went back to my old ways. I think that if I did not add all those pellets that quickly, I would have been okay. But trying to get rid of all bacteria and starve it out took a very long time, even after I pulled the pellets.
Hers's a little shot of my setup under my cabinet. You can see my biodenitrator and UV I added last month.
monkiboy
Valuable Member
thanks for the update and good work figuring things out to a solution that worked for you.
the DC RO skimmer looks like it is pulling some great skimmate in the photo. how long have the biopellets been offline now completely? did you notice a change in the skimmate production, color, consistency after taking them offline?
what kind of flow-rate do you have going through the UV? i guess you are using it more so for the algae and bacterial control aspects and now lower flow for protozoa control? did you work through the changes one at a time to determine what helped you most and what was effective or was it all at once and hard to pinpoint what aspect of your strategy implemented was the solution? i think quite a few folks go through what you did and versions of it called "new tank syndrome" but there were obviously other factors in your situation at play so it's great to read and see about it. any videos or photos at it's worst?
keep the updates coming!
the DC RO skimmer looks like it is pulling some great skimmate in the photo. how long have the biopellets been offline now completely? did you notice a change in the skimmate production, color, consistency after taking them offline?
what kind of flow-rate do you have going through the UV? i guess you are using it more so for the algae and bacterial control aspects and now lower flow for protozoa control? did you work through the changes one at a time to determine what helped you most and what was effective or was it all at once and hard to pinpoint what aspect of your strategy implemented was the solution? i think quite a few folks go through what you did and versions of it called "new tank syndrome" but there were obviously other factors in your situation at play so it's great to read and see about it. any videos or photos at it's worst?
keep the updates coming!
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AJsTank
Well-Known Member
