Perseverance Reef

[tbrown]

Of course! The overflow is providing "refuge" to the pods by limiting predation, so whether or not you intend it as such, it will serve the same purpose as a traditional refugium when it comes to maintaining a pod population. Now, if your overflow box gets a decent amount of light, and you are committed to regular maintenance, you can also let algae grow there for nutrient export. Just make sure the algae doesn't interfere with the drains, etc.

I had that happen in my old tank setup. Too much light caused the overflow tube to grow with algae causing the water level to rise causing a minor overflow that eventually turned into a puddle on the ground.

 

[Fishy888]

I had that happen in my old tank setup. Too much light caused the overflow tube to grow with algae causing the water level to rise causing a minor overflow that eventually turned into a puddle on the ground.

I’ll probably leave things the way they are. I don’t need any catastrophes lol.

I’m ordering my faucet diverter tonight. I didn’t get to go get the adapter I needed or to the LFS today. Tomorrow I’m going for certain.

I made another video last night. Interesting creatures these

 

[Fishy888]

I bought the adapter today to go between the faucet and the brs faucet adapter which I just ordered. By next week I’ll be producing RO/DI.

I also bought a halloween hermit, a dime sized emerald crab, and this guy….

This is attached to an empty Mexican turbo snail shell. It’s about the size of a pinhead. I think it’s a coral of some type. It looks like two polyps of whatever it is. I’ll try to get a better picture once it’s out of the bag. This LFS normally doesn’t carry corals but today they had a rock covered in red mushrooms. This shell wasn’t far from the mushroom rock. The coral (if it’s actually a coral) looked like zoanthids to me so I bought it. The Halloween hermit will eventually need that shell.

I’ve already started the acclimation process of course. They have about three hours to go. There’s a rock in my system that has some slow growing bubble algae on it. Hopefully the small emerald crab will eat it; but even if it doesn’t I really like emerald crabs so I’m glad I got it. It was the only one they had left. Come to think about it I bought the last halloween hermit they had.

 

[Fishy888]

I took more pictures (both in and out of the water) of the latest mystery creature as well as the new crabs on the block.

This picture shows the mysterious creature and the emerald crab hiding beneath the shell. The emerald crab hid in and under the shell the whole 4 hours it was acclimating.

The halloween hermit has been pretty calm during acclimation. He’s got an antenna peeking out of his shell since he’s now in the tank. I expect both new crabs to check things out and to forage some now that the lights are off for the night.

 

[fishguy242]

1st thought stomatella snail...next pics ,larger skirt ?possible elephant slug??
both are keeper IMO...

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

I took more pictures (both in and out of the water) of the latest mystery creature as well as the new crabs on the block.

This picture shows the mysterious creature and the emerald crab hiding beneath the shell. The emerald crab hid in and under the shell the whole 4 hours it was acclimating.

The halloween hermit has been pretty calm during acclimation. He’s got an antenna peeking out of his shell since he’s now in the tank. I expect both new crabs to check things out and to forage some now that the lights are off for the night.

So the LFS actually made you pay for an empty shell with a 'possible' piece of coral tissue on it??

 

[Fishy888]

They do charge for shells there. I don’t think they knew the potential coral was on there though. I bought it because I could use all the coralline I can get, because it had the potential coral on it, and because at some point the halloween hermit will need it.

 

[Fishy888]

The new crabs on the block are doing great so far. I think the halloween hermit is getting ready to take a new shell.

I wasn’t able to get a picture of the emerald crab unfortunately but he was eating some algae. Since then he’s moved somewhere inside the rock work. When he comes out I’ll get a picture of him.

My corals look good. The duncans are growing again since I’ve started target feeding them again. The new buds are now growing tentacles. I’ll have six or seven polyps soon. The other corals are wide open too.

 

[Fishy888]

Most don’t know it yet but there is a new creature about to become a denizen of Perseverance Reef. I’m stoked! I had one of these 10 years ago though not the same species. I’m keeping it a surprise for now. Once it’s in the DT I will show it off, trust me.

I scraped the rest of the algae off of the glass. There’s still some left but very little and mainly at the bottom of the overflow cover where my shrimp and hermit crabs forage. I didn’t do it all at once because there was a ton on the back glass; and I didn’t to shock the system.

The halloween hermit kept its old shell after all. My other hermits are doing great. I’m going to buy some more shells for them soon. The emerald crab is somewhere deep in the rockwork.

I just snapped this picture. I’m fortunate that my tank doesn’t look yellow despite the lamp’s color temperature. I’m using a 6500K lamp. It will be supplemented with blue LEDs. I just haven’t decided which ones yet or what configuration. I would do T5s honestly but because they’re about to make “energy efficient” lamps only they’re going to be worthless for reefing purposes.

 

[Fishy888]

First things first. The “mystery” coral isn’t so mysterious anymore.

I figured it was a mushroom since the only corals in the system this shell was in were red mushrooms but it looked like some kind of hard coral at first.

Second things second. I got my faucet diverter about 30 minutes ago give or take.

I’ll finally get to use RO/DI instead of buying distilled. Thank you @Lost in the Sauce. It is greatly appreciated. Depending on how things go today I’m going to make some top off water then tomorrow I’ll start making the water for a water change. I’ll probably do a 25% water change. I’m going to start making smaller water changes more frequently for the sake of stability. The newcomer will appreciate the extra stability.

 

[Lost in the Sauce]

Good stuff. Should have plenty of ro tube in the box to get it all set up.

 

[Fishy888]

It looks like I have a fairly slow leak literally in the upper front right corner of the DT facing front. It leaves salt creep on the glass which dries out except for right where it’s leaking. The seams look good though. The area the leak is coming from is covered by the upper frame so I can’t see it as well as the rest of the seams.

The leak has likely been happening for at least a couple of weeks. I chalked it up to me working in the tank causing water to spill over. I haven’t had my hands in the tank since last night when I finished cleaning the tank. At that point I cleaned the front and sides of the glass so there wasn’t any salt creep left. This afternoon I noticed salt creep on the right front of the tank as one faces it. I cleaned it and noticed that while most of the salt creep was dry; the salt creep was wet under the top frame.

I’m going to use some J. B. Waterweld. It’s reef safe and since it cures under salt water. It’s made to cure in potable water tanks up to 1000 gallons and can cure in potable water without contaminating it.

Thankfully the leak is where it is. The thought occurred to me that the leak, left unchecked, could unzip the seam eventually. As slow as the leak is it would take some time to do that, and I won’t let it stay unchecked. Once the area is patched I shouldn’t need to worry about the seam failing.

 

[Fishy888]

Good stuff. Should have plenty of ro tube in the box to get it all set up.

I saw it. I’m going to see what my TDS is out of the membrane. I’m also going to get more DI resin next month. If the membrane is bad I’ll replace it next month as well. Oh and don’t be a stranger lol.

 

[tbrown]

It looks like I have a fairly slow leak literally in the upper front right corner of the DT facing front. It leaves salt creep on the glass which dries out except for right where it’s leaking. The seams look good though. The area the leak is coming from is covered by the upper frame so I can’t see it as well as the rest of the seams.

The leak has likely been happening for at least a couple of weeks. I chalked it up to me working in the tank causing water to spill over. I haven’t had my hands in the tank since last night when I finished cleaning the tank. At that point I cleaned the front and sides of the glass so there wasn’t any salt creep left. This afternoon I noticed salt creep on the right front of the tank as one faces it. I cleaned it and noticed that while most of the salt creep was dry; the salt creep was wet under the top frame.

I’m going to use some J. B. Waterweld. It’s reef safe and since it cures under salt water. It’s made to cure in potable water tanks up to 1000 gallons and can cure in potable water without contaminating it.

Thankfully the leak is where it is. The thought occurred to me that the leak, left unchecked, could unzip the seam eventually. As slow as the leak is it would take some time to do that, and I won’t let it stay unchecked. Once the area is patched I shouldn’t need to worry about the seam falling.

Lower the overflow box a little bit or turn down the return pump flow to drop the DT level slightly.

 

[tbrown]

I found a similar "leak" on my 75. It was wicking up into the frame and not actually leaking.

 

[Lost in the Sauce]

I've seen that same type of leak a few times. It seems to be under the frame, the silicone doesn't go all the way up to the top between the two panels.

 

[tbrown]

Also, running the water level that high doesn't leave a lot of room for safety if your overflow slows down and your water level rises slightly. I ended up with a couple of gallons on the ground and almost burned out my pump when some algae slowed down the overflow and my level rose about 1/2". Ever since I run my level just above the bottom of the outside of the frame. Still makes it look full but gives about 1" of "safety".

 

[Fishy888]

Lower the overflow box a little bit or turn down the return pump flow to drop the DT level slightly.

I would love to drop it a tad but it’s a corner overflow. It can’t be lowered. The holes are drilled in the bottom. That said I might have to regulate the pump a bit. I increased the flow about when I started noticing the salt creep come to think of it.

 

[Fishy888]

I’m making some RO water which rocks. My TDS meter fluctuates between 12 and 35 TDS for the output. I’m getting about 120 TDS out of the tap. I don’t know if the TDS out will settle down after a while or not. I’ve had the unit for a good month before I got it hooked up. Even though I took precautions to keep moisture in all the stages as best I could there could still be a break in period I suppose. I’m just making 5 gallons of RO/DI. tonight. If I don’t like the numbers after that I’ll have to replace the membrane. It’s still an improvement over 120 TDS but it’s hard knowing what the dissolved solids are. Since our water doesn’t have the metallic taste of city water I don’t think metals will be in the solids so I’ll probably use it and run a phosphate test in the morning. What do you think @Lost in the Sauce and anyone else? @EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal, @tbrown3589, @Stang67, @Mschmidt, @fishguy242, @sfin52? Hopefully I didn’t forget anyone. Besides we need a little craziness up in this thread.

Well I just went to check the TDS meter. It’s consistently reading 9 TDS now when water’s flowing. It’s improving. I’ve gotten about a gallon or so since it’s been running so things may be settling down.

 

[tbrown]

I’m making some RO water which rocks. My TDS meter fluctuates between 12 and 35 TDS for the output. I’m getting about 120 TDS out of the tap. I don’t know if the TDS out will settle down after a while or not. I’ve had the unit for a good month before I got it hooked up. Even though I took precautions to keep moisture in all the stages as best I could there could still be a break in period I suppose. I’m just making 5 gallons of RO/DI. tonight. If I don’t like the numbers after that I’ll have to replace the membrane. It’s still an improvement over 120 TDS but it’s hard knowing what the dissolved solids are. Since our water doesn’t have the metallic taste of city water I don’t think metals will be in the solids so I’ll probably use it and run a phosphate test in the morning. What do you think @Lost in the Sauce and anyone else? @EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal, @tbrown3589, @Stang67, @Mschmidt, @fishguy242, @sfin52? Hopefully I didn’t forget anyone. Besides we need a little craziness up in this thread.

I'm thinking 35 seems high and it shouldn't fluctuate that much. What TDS meter are you using? Have you run any other tests on the treated water and are you running the waste to the drain or where's the waste going?