lilchris's lil'180 Build

[lilchris_357]

Here are a few quick shots of the Vlamingi and the pyramid while in Qt. They look really good. The Vlamingi is already trying to take food from my hand. He/she is such a pig. The butterfly is eating really well to. Fingers crossed. They will be getting a Prazipro treatment today and tomorrow they will go through their second tank transfer.

 

[lilchris_357]

I don't think I have posted any of my parameters. As of this AM
KH/Alk: 7.7
Ca: 464
Mg: 1350
Po4: 0.03
No3: undetected
K: 410
I am testing my Alk, Ca & Mg daily until I get my CaRx dialed in. I'm
almost there, there's still a bit of fluctuation during the day. I
have a new, used GEO 618 reactor. This thing is a beast. I have it
set up using a custom built Co2 regulator, solenoid and needle valve. Here are a couple of pictures of the reactor.

First on was right after the unboxing and the next one was 20 mins later, filled with media (Reborn & ZeoMag) ready to rock. I can tell you having a CaRx is better than dosing everyday. I think dialing it in is the hard part of having this setup. But it's not too bad since I'm using the Apex to control the CO2. Just alot of testing to get it dialed in.


More to come..

 

[Toomnymods]

So I'm checking my parameters. As I was checking my Alk, I decided to see what the alk levels of a batch of fresh mixed sw would be. I had a batch of reef crystals mixed so I decided to test. It was at 12 dkh. I think that is what they note their salt levels are at. That got me thinking, if we strive to keep our Alk at a certain level, ie. 7.0 - 7.5 on ULN systems and 9-10 dkh on regular systems, how do we do water changes without spiking the Alk levels when we add NSW? Small water changes I can see working but that will still raise levels. Any thoughts on this?

need to ditch that salt brand and go with something with natural sea levels of alk.. something like Tropic marin pro reef or Fritz RPM salt. Both of these have a alk of 7

 

[lilchris_357]

need to ditch that salt brand and go with something with natural sea levels of alk.. something like Tropic marin pro reef or Fritz RPM salt. Both of these have a alk of 7

I didnt know Fritz RPM had alk that low, I thought it was around 9 to 10 dkh. I'm using the Red Sea Salt (blue bucket). It's around 7.6 dKH and Ca 420.

 

[Toomnymods]

I also ran zeovit and until i switched to a salt that had lower alk my results werent good at all. Long as its under 8 you should be good to go

 

[lilchris_357]

I'm back with a update. As for the tank itself, nothing much has been done with it, I'm just trying to leave it alone and let it do it's thing.
Equipment: I haven't added any equipment since the calcium reactor. I do have a skimmate container that I will be adding so I can run my skimmer a little wetter than what I'm running now. I do have a couple little things on order now, 2 small acrylic float switch holders that I will put in my overflow to warn me if the water level in the tank get too high and in my ATO container to warn me when the level is too low. Both hooked to Apex breakout box. Looking forward to that extra security.
I am thinking about going a different route with my ATO. I'm currently running the Tunze Osomalator, it's a good piece of equipment, I think I want more control of it. Right now its hooked to the Apex to shut off when the return pump is off. The osomalator itself has its own controls and warnings, thats cool but last night when I changed out my filter sock, the level in the overflow went too high and the warning beep came on so I had to shut the outlet down until this morning. I'm thinking of getting the Avast Marine ATo system so I can have full control and get notifications (via Apex) when something is wrong. Anyone have any experiences with the Avast ATO sys.
I'm on the fence with the T-5 bulb choice I have. Some days I like it some days I don't. They have a yellowish tint to them that I'm not a fan of and I want something a bit more blue. Maybe Io could turn the LEDs up to 75%/100%. I think they are running at 60% peak.

Chemistry: I think I have my CaRx dialed in now as I have been reading between 7.73 and 7.78 everyday since Sunday. No3; nondectecable, PO4 .01, Mag: 1395 Ca: 465
Not too much to report here.

Livestock: I conducted the 3rd transfer for the vlamingi ( Prince) and the Pyramid Butterfly (Melvin). They are both doing good. They are eating like pigs. I will start my last round of Prazipro treatment tonight and they will get the 4th transfer tomorrow night. Hopefully next week they will go into the tank and I will be ready for another group. My LFS had a pair of Flame wrasses until one of them, the male, decided to commit suicide and jump. So now they just have the female, which has been in the store for over a month now. They are selling her for $90, I think I might get her. What are your thoughts, is $90 too much for a female flame wrasse? Corals: I picked up 2 ORA corals from a local fish store, a Tri color and fuzzy green acro. I got them home and in a bayer dip. Uggh, Flatworms.... So i kind of panicked and redipped them. This time I left them in the dip for 30 mins. Uggh, too long as they both bleached. I have them in my tank now to see if they will come back. The Tri-color has a few polyps showing so I'm hopeful with that one. The fuzzy, not so much, I think he's gone. $85 wasted, stupid Flatworms. the other corals are doing good, they are a little pale but I think that is due the Zeovit sys I'm running. I have started to dose coral vitalizer and AA both zeo products. I am dosing well below the recommended amount as I don't want to cause issues with algae or cyano.
The 2 clowns that are in the tank are doing good. One thing that concerns me is, they stay at the top, they don't venture down low in the tank. I'm not sure why. Its like I have to much flow for them and they can't move. I'm feeding them multiple times a day so they can get strong and extra healthy.

I am happy with the way the tank has turned out but i'm impatient and I want that mature tank look with corals growing all over. As I've stated earlier,"I'm trying to keep my hands out of the tank and let it do its thing. "

 

[Maritimer]

Clowns tend to have a "home base" - whether there's an anemone there or not.

~Bruce

 

[lilchris_357]

An update has been long over due with this thread. I will post pictures tonight. I can say I have had some ups and downs with this tank. One of the ups are I have Wrasses in my tank, with more currently going through QT. Also my SPS are starting to color up and grow.

 

[roberthu526]

Are you still using the reef octopus diablo 10500 return pump? How did they work?
Thanks.

 

[lilchris_357]

Yes, I'm still using it. It has worked flawlessly. No issues what so ever as of yet. It quite and I'm running it at 100%.

 

[lilchris_357]

This update is long overdue. I have been in a full blown battle with what I'm starting to think is Dinos. At first I thought it was a big diatom bloom but they are not going away. I have increased my flow, started adding zeovit biomate (additional strand of bacteria), trying to skim a little wetter. I vacuum my sand every week but stopped doing water changes. I vacuum the sand into the filter sock and change them out. I have replaced all filter in my RODI unit. I have a Silicate buster filter for Spectrapure so silicates should not be an issue. I'm trying to be patience but they are wearing thin. My PO4 is 0.02 nitrates are .5, so a low nutirent sys. There's no algae grwoing in the tank other than the brown algae on the sand bed. I will post pictures later. I'm trying to learn how to use my Nikon camera to provide clear pictures.

 

[lilchris_357]

3/4 tank shot


Middle island


Left Island

As you can see the brown build up on the sand. At first I was thinking big Daitom Bloom but after about 2 months and no change, I'm thinking Dinos:mad:. I brought some Dr. Tim's Waste away and I'm going to try it. I'm kind of skeptical of going 3 days lights out but I might have to. Any advise on how to get rid of this stuff will be appreciated.