John's SPS Shallow 90g Peninsula-Lagoon build

Ahh yeah I forget about the hydros and wave engine. I dont think tunze can be controlled by it though. I could swap over to gyres + vortech though. The cost of a hydros system compared to a ghl system is probably enough in saving to just about buy a few vortechs, lol.
 
Totally agree! I think if they focus on the reflector (and it has to be substantial) then they may have something. I still love and always will, because they are the only light that gets close to the appearance of halides. Until LEDs can mimic the gold standard of halide/T5, I’m going to stick with old school technology.
Kessil has the resources to do the R&D, lighting is their only thing, fiber optics, stage lighting, etc… I think it’s time to hire Tullio and get the ball rolling.
That'd be something right there!
 
Ahh yeah I forget about the hydros and wave engine. I dont think tunze can be controlled by it though. I could swap over to gyres + vortech though. The cost of a hydros system compared to a ghl system is probably enough in saving to just about buy a few vortechs, lol.
Tunze can be controlled via the 0-10v controls. I believe they have the cable/jumper to connect to Tunze pumps? I’ll have to double check on that one.
 
Nice! I could've swore they weren't compatible when the hydros came out.

That might be my aquarium controller then. It looks like the control 4 is the only one that has probe port input? Would like just one of those at least for pH. Then that main unit is your power source for your pumps, and the wave engine gives you the app control over them all? Sounds awesome. I'm just looking at their site a bit too and noticed they have inline TDS meter now, lol. That's pretty cool if it can alert you if the number goes above 0 on your RODI.

Let me know the direction you take the hydros on your 25. It's either full hydros or I can keep the profilux/GHL as a primary aquarium monitor and use the wave engine as a standalone powerhead controler.
 
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Nice! I could've swore they weren't compatible when the hydros came out.

That might be my aquarium controller then. It looks like the control 4 is the only one that has probe port input? Would like just one of those at least for pH. Then that main unit is your power source for your pumps, and the wave engine gives you the app control over them all? Sounds awesome. I'm just looking at their site a bit too and noticed they have inline TDS meter now, lol. That's pretty cool if it can alert you if the number goes above 0 on your RODI.

Let me know the direction you take the hydros on your 25. It's either full hydros or I can keep the profilux/GHL as a primary aquarium monitor and use the wave engine as a standalone powerhead controler.
You’ll still use the native Tunze power supply for the pumps, it’s just connected to the controller with the 0-10v cable. Only pumps that use the “direct drive” cables like gyres, Octo-pulse, etc will be powered from the wave engine directly. The wave engine lite is cool, but it only has 0-10v inputs and no output, so you can use it to trigger events and not control pumps. It would’ve been nice if they split the in/out in half so you get both, but I guess you can’t have everything?
 
Hi John, somehow I missed your build thread?!

Have you ever thought of doing a bacteria test with Aquabiomics to get a baseline of your bacteria since you dose bacteria?

I was battling a tank crash earlier in the year due to stupid human error of trying to dose Ammonia instead of NO3.
My tank stunk and I had to go back into the ugly phase of fighting Dinos and Cyano for about 5 months.
I tried reseeding my tank with PRO Bio, Dr. Tims, etc. I even ordered sand and mud from Florida to reseed my sandbed.

After two weeks of reseeding the sandbed with live sand and mud, I sent an Aqubiomics test. I think the test at least help me see how much diversity I had with bacteria in my tank. Fortunately I did not have any bad vibrio that could kill my SPS. Interestingly, I have aptasia which is kept in check from my Copperband. I was very impressed with the test saying I had aptasia problem just from DNA found in my water sample.

P.S. I just checked Aquatiomics website, they are having a 20% labor day sale in case you may be interested.
 
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Hi John, somehow I missed your build thread?!

Have you ever thought of doing a bacteria test with Aquabiomics to get a baseline of your bacteria since you dose bacteria?

I was battling a tank crash earlier in the year due to stupid human error of trying to dose Ammonia instead of NO3.
My tank stunk and I had to go back into the ugly phase of fighting Dinos and Cyano for about 5 months.
I tried reseeding my tank with PRO Bio, Dr. Tims, etc. I even ordered sand and mud from Florida to reseed my sandbed.

After two weeks of reseeding the sandbed with live sand and mud, I sent an Aqubiomics test. I think the test at least help me see how much diversity I had with bacteria in my tank. Fortunately I did not have any bad vibrio that could kill my SPS. Interestingly, I have aptasia which is kept in check from my Copperband. I was very impressed with the test saying I had aptasia problem just from DNA found in my water sample.

P.S. I just checked Aquatiomics website, they are having a 20% labor day sale in case you may be interested.
Hey, thanks for checking out my journey. Funny, I’ve been thinking about doing that test for quite some time now and I probably should as I’m still having some issues. Thanks for the tip, I’ll check it out and order a kit today. I did add some sand and mud from Florida Pets at the beginning of the year. I really can’t tell if it did anything for my tank? Right now I’m noticing a trend when dosing sodium nitrate, it seems to do okay at first, then things takes turn for the worse shortly after dosing. I’m at the point where I really think that I need to reset the tank somewhat? There’s a local guy who has an aiptasia eating filefish for sale and I’m thinking about picking it up, but I don’t have a QT up and running right now. I really don’t want to risk adding a fish that hasn’t passed qt.
 
That's interesting. I was feeding heavy for a few months and letting the tank run ULNS naturally, when I started to try and correct no3 and po4 with daily doses is when I got the random RTN events in my tenuis. Do you think the issue with nitrate is due to tiny swings when dosing or it's feeding something else causing issues?
 
That's interesting. I was feeding heavy for a few months and letting the tank run ULNS naturally, when I started to try and correct no3 and po4 with daily doses is when I got the random RTN events in my tenuis. Do you think the issue with nitrate is due to tiny swings when dosing or it's feeding something else causing issues?
Yeah, I’m not sure at this point? I’m only dosing 1ppm, so it’s not like I’m bumping it up 5ppm at a time. My phosphates are pretty steady at the moment, usually around 0.11 to 0.13 I’ve decided to stop all dosing, so no sodium nitrate, phyto or zooplankton. It could be excess carbohydrates from the spsEvo? I have a lot of detritus in the sump, which I’m going to clean out. I printed myself a vacuum attachment for one of my smaller pumps, sicce I think? I think I’m going to start cleaning the sump biweekly to help minimize the build up.
I’ll also start a 5 day witch hazel treatment, starting with a double dose, followed by prodibio triple dose, then single doses for the remaining time. I still can’t find the source of the copper, tin or aluminum. Still considering 3 consecutive 20% water changes, a couple days apart? I would say 90-95% of my coral look great, but that seems to change rapidly.
 
Right now I’m noticing a trend when dosing sodium nitrate
I asked Andre Mueller about dosing No3 and this is what he told me on his Facebook page. "the more Nitrogen sources the thicker the tissue becomes usually. But that may not be from No3 only, also other Nitrogen sources are needed. You may want to try the Seachem Fluorish Nitrogen and get slowly Nitrates up to 6-10 somewhere with this product. But slowly!"

He explained that "Seachem Nitrogen is similar to the Reef Moonshiner's Reef Nitro which I never released ;-)
So this is a mix of Nitrogen sources by Nitrate, Urea and Ammonium. All the good Energy sources for corals combined ;-) Can't get wrong with that, and the biology will thank you too for that mix."

I since have been dosing Seachem Fluorish Nitrogen for the last few months. Make sure to read the bottle instructions to help figure out total available Nitrogen and not just NO3.
 
I did add some sand and mud from Florida Pets at the beginning of the year. I really can’t tell if it did anything for my tank?
I think I have to agree with you on that perceived point as well. When I seeded my tank and even after a month. Visually, I still had Cyano and Dinos which was verified by my Aquabiomic test. However, I believe it substantially improved my bacteria diversify which I think has to be good for the coral holobiont right?
 
I think I have to agree with you on that perceived point as well. When I seeded my tank and even after a month. Visually, I still had Cyano and Dinos which was verified by my Aquabiomic test. However, I believe it substantially improved my bacteria diversify which I think has to be good for the coral holobiont right?
I’ve been thinking about switching nitrogen sources, which I may do? I had cyano for a long time, but after adding a couple more fish, it slowly disappeared on its own. I’m sure the extra nitrogen they provided the good bacteria helped with balancing things out, but there still seems to be something else going on, so it’sa process of elimination. I may have flourish (which I used for my planted nano tank) somewhere, but I’ll probably order a fresh bottle.
 
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My new sump vac is ready.
 
That's awesome!
There's a whole universe out there of 3D printed stuff. I still need to find the right design software, but for now I'm using what's out there and modifying it to my needs. I printed a guard for my buddie's mp40 and a mushroom condo basket. I also printed a knock-off of the random flow generator, but it's not quite the same, but close enough. Now if I can only print a fix for the biology in my tank, I'd be happy. I guess a beer or two will suffice for now.
 
So within a week I’ve found two whelks. One in the nano and another in my main display. This would answer my question about my dwindling strombus population and possibly my gold/purple maxima’s demise? I will never purchase another online CUC package ever again. If I can’t see it in person, I’m not buying it.
Also, I noticed my hammers are looking a little stressed, which I’m pretty sure is a result of adding 5 peppermint shrimp. The aquabiomics test arrives today (Friday) so I can’t wait to see the results and figure out what’s really happening on the bacteria side of things
 
The aquabiomics test arrives today (Friday) so I can’t wait to see the results and figure out what’s really happening on the bacteria side of things
What?? You got yours before me! I ordered before you! Please let us know your results.
 
What?? You got yours before me! I ordered before you! Please let us know your results.
I believe I’ll receive it today according to usps tracking and I’ll send it in ASAP, but looking forward to some potential answers. I’m on the west coast, so shipping is pretty quick coming from Oregon.
 

IF YOU HAD TO TAKE A REEFING EXAM, WOULD YOU PASS?

  • Yes!

    Votes: 32 45.7%
  • Not yet, but I have one that I want to buy in mind!

    Votes: 9 12.9%
  • No.

    Votes: 26 37.1%
  • Other (please explain).

    Votes: 3 4.3%
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