55 gallon reef re-entry

[docforestal]

Thx @Gumbies R Us
New shot with lights at 35%
Ignore bubbles, messing with skimmer and even with the phone app, still looks bluer and dimmer than real life

also got a 3D printed Hanna caddy from @maelstromaquatics on Etsy, love it. Hoping to be able to print stuff in the future.

 

[docforestal]

I’m decent with birds and nature macro shots (dragonflies etc) using a zoom lens
I have a canon Eos dslr with a macro 100mm lens ( will try out my cheaper 50mm later)
The zoom lens doesn’t work obviously
Tried auto settings and flash, decided based on poor results to shoot like I do with birds, hand held but stabilized with a leg of tripod with manual f-stop adjustment to allow maximum shutter speed, and without a flash -giving me some odd colors
I custom white balanced while focused in the tank which seemed to work ok.
I can’t reach the back of the tank but my fire dart is a camera hog, good practice. Would love to get my wrasse and filefish in their colors/patterns but they font’s like to keep still.
Not Great shots but decent, will take practice and maybe a different type lens(also need to find my lens hood)
I shot these in raw but found hard to do much with them, so mostly unedited. The cardinal was toward the back, so looks darker from water column I think.
Pictures too big to upload and can’t figure how to shrink on my iPad, will upload next time to pc from camera
The green goby is tough to focus on

New photo · Thursday, Apr 6, 2023 ð¸

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New photo · Thursday, Apr 6, 2023 ð¸

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New photo · Thursday, Apr 6, 2023 ð¸

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New photo · Thursday, Apr 6, 2023 ð¸

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New photo · Thursday, Apr 6, 2023 ð¸

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[docforestal]

so in another thread i shared i lost the lemon peel angel - likley to stress or i may have bashed while moving a rock
i have been pretty aggressive with water changes and trying to keep nitrates and phosphates down and doing weekly large water changes
cutting my feeding back and water change amounts will be better and trying to be patient
i am trying to avoid having a nitrate sink in the tank in a year or so and want water parameters to allow keeping of sps, but i also know the tank has to age as well.

 

[docforestal]

a few updates, noo-psyche lights are great, esp. for the price, decent par per my photon app on the phone - still have to map out but these are going to work great i think
the pico has clove and star polyps and a sexy shrimp
making phyto and plan to grow pods

 

[docforestal]

Still loving the Noo-psyche lights
broke my rule and got a small pavona frag to see how it does
Nitrates are holding on in the low to mid 20's, skimmer starting to produce more as i mess with it
Built a chaeto reactor, growing well phosphates continue to drop - 0.22 to 0.1 in 6 days (i am running gfo as well - but this has been a bigger drop as it was holding steady)
Growing phyto, next step is growing pods hopefully and have a bottle of phyto to dose the tank

 

[docforestal]

so i have been puzzled why my alk has been dropping per week - down to 7.9 yesterday - water from salt mix had been 9.1 -and how advertised - tested my mix and it was 7.9 - there you go - noting this last batch taking more salt to get s.g. up to snuff but following the directions/measurements (b ionic) - will be easier when i switch to a single bag of salt mix next batch - i adjusted the alk in the salt mix and am using for auto changes now

 

[docforestal]

Not best quality video but was watching my cardinals,male jaw a little full, and they are swimming very close, female nipping at male underbelly and circling, every minute or two male “yawns” and gulps and I think I have caught glimpse of eggs- pretty cool
The wrasse is upset I am not filming him so I took some time with him too

 

[docforestal]

i also started a chaeto reactor - after first four days, phosphate down from 0.22 to 0.11 and another 4 days is 0.05 now (i am running gfo)
nitrates without water change in last 4 days 28 to 22 - although skimmer is working as well.
chaeto stopped growing and got a big handful out after a week, but maybe not enough phosphates now - we;ll see

 

[907_Reefer]

Nice on the chaeto! I may look into that myself..

 

[Spicy Reef]

I like the ride you're on here

 

[docforestal]

male cardianl no longer has a pouched out jaw - no sign of any eggs/fry (although they would likely get eaten/swept away) - the female and he are no longer attached at the fin either - maybe just a dry rehearsal

 

[docforestal]

Harvested first batch of pods,, started with 1 jar, gave me a gallon jug and 4 jars worth, started another culture and the nano, diy and 55 all got a bunch
As my phyto ( was nano,tetra combo) crashed after 4th time around, started new batch with just nanochloropsis,

my ph meter once calibrated- I spilled the powder then calibrated it anyway-dumb, so it’s off around .2-3 but tracking it my ph swings quite a bit, so have co2 scrubber made, but waiting on ph meter being reliable and will try to hook to a cheap solenoid vs timer

 

[docforestal]

Updates - new dosing pumps from Jebao for auto water changes - so far so good day 1
ph monitor is showing my co2 scrubber is increasing ph from 7.9-8.0 at night and from 8.1-8.2 to 8.3-8.4 by end of day - still skimming well and pulling out lots of stuff - nitrates staying 14-16 -
chaeto reactor pooped out - not growing - no rest period from lights so on a timer and i think perhaps not enough flow? as that was working, i pulled the gfo a week ago - and my phosphates went from 0.08 to 0.15 and tank is covered in fuzz again
pulled out some rocks and scrubbed away a lot - new bristletooth tang and algae blenny are working away as well.
I am losing about 0.5 alk /week, but after dosing calcium last week, it is stable; mag is still on low side
with the water changes i started using hw marine mix for salt and see if this helps keep readings a little better

The Banghai cardinal pair made ? some eggs a 2nd time, for a day the male was pooched out jaw - but now gone- thinking they are young and practicing - fun to watch

 

[docforestal]

Longer update, coral unboxing, phyto growing well, chaeto reactor and co2 scrubber doing well.
Hair algae is doing well too

 

[docforestal]

For now I have decided to take down the ph probe tracker, and auto water changer,
The Jebao doser was squealing and making noise and I think getting stuck, I think from overheating spinning so fast
Gonna play with it but don’t want to rely on it for now and risk a big mistake
As I learn, I think probably better to do tasks and measurements manually so I am more in tune. Makes sense to look at automating tasks once it is stable and cruising.
I also a, nervous relying on a machine not fouling up.

 

[docforestal]

very excited to have corals - i have left bits of the clay cement stuff in spots that did not work well so gonna have to get a pick to pull out, lol
hoping they are all in spots that wont get knocked over.
some of these are really neat in the moonlight as well.

 

[Subsea]

Harvested first batch of pods,, started with 1 jar, gave me a gallon jug and 4 jars worth, started another culture and the nano, diy and 55 all got a bunch
As my phyto ( was nano,tetra combo) crashed after 4th time around, started new batch with just nanochloropsis,

my ph meter once calibrated- I spilled the powder then calibrated it anyway-dumb, so it’s off around .2-3 but tracking it my ph swings quite a bit, so have co2 scrubber made, but waiting on ph meter being reliable and will try to hook to a cheap solenoid vs timer

Following. Great attention to detail.

With respect to phytoplankton culture crashing after four cycles, I run Tetraselmis cultures much darker (more concentrate). It seems to resist crashes more. I run four simultaneous cultures and sanitize each jar after 3 cycles

 

[docforestal]

Thanks @Subsea ,I was wondering if I should let go further and perhaps re fertilize, a 2nd time day 4-5

 

[Subsea]

Thanks @Subsea ,I was wondering if I should let go further and perhaps re fertilize, a 2nd time day 4-5

I would refertilize at day 3-4 and harvest half at day 5-7 depeding on light intensity. I also use Mercer of Montana products. I also fertilize with liquid seaweed concentrate.

 

[docforestal]

I would refertilize at day 3-4 and harvest half at day 5-7 depeding on light intensity. I also use Mercer of Montana products. I also fertilize with liquid seaweed concentrate.

awesome - thanks for the info - i have under 1 t5 horizontal 48w - thinking of a 2nd, but its' growing well so perhaps overkill