Renton's Evolution from 200 to 440 gallons

[Renton777]

I have had my copperband for several years and I always feed heavy but I wanted to try and get her a bit more food. Its a rowdy bunch of fish who scarf up food in seconds. So, I got a new copperband feeding device and it worked like a charm on day 1. It is packed with mysis shrimp for this video.

 

[drukkosz]

I made one using 3/4 pvc, works great as well. I also throw half clams and my copper goes nuts for it.

 

[GBRsouth]

I have had my copperband for several years and I always feed heavy but I wanted to try and get her a bit more food. Its a rowdy bunch of fish who scarf up food in seconds. So, I got a new copperband feeding device and it worked like a charm on day 1. It is packed with mysis shrimp for this video.

Great work! And suddenly the copperband is the cool kid because it can get the food for the others!

 

[Renton777]

I did a podcast with Than @Tidal Gardens and he took some nice video of my tank:

 

[Northern Flicker]

Was that you? I really enjoyed that video, it felt very natural like 2 friends talking. You have a beautiful tank!

 

[Renton777]

Was that you? I really enjoyed that video, it felt very natural like 2 friends talking. You have a beautiful tank!

Yep, that's the real life me! Thanks! I am glad you enjoyed the video. Than and I are friends, so it was natural.

 

[Renton777]

My wife was gone for the day so I took advantage of the situation and drilled a hole in my house walls. I ran 1.25" pvc pipe from outside, into my utility room and through a wall and attached the skimmer air intake (1/2" outer diameter tubing) to draw fresh air into it.

My house is a split level and my aquarium sits in the lowest part of the house, a half story below ground level so the CO2 levels are a bit higher. With the new airline attached and windows closed the ph level of my tank bottoms out at 8.05 and tops out 8.2, right in the area I want it. Without the airline and windows closed my tank bottoms out in the 7.88 region and is luck to hit 8.08. If windows in the house are wide open the ph will hit 8.35.

Don't worry, I cleaned up the mess before my wife saw it.

 

[Renton777]

Let the record state, I stopped doing auto water changes on July 12th 2024 and started reef moonshiners soon thereafter.

A couple of things led to my decision. First, I had suspected that the water changes were not replenishing trace elements faster enough and Oceamo ICP testing confirmed it. A whole slew of trace elements were low or depleted and I believe that was leading to certain types of corals struggling. Second, the cost of salt made me reassess how I was doing things. I was going through a box and a half of reef crystals each month.

So, I have changed things up and keeping a close eye on things. Everything is going well at this point with the main challenge being rising phosphates, which I am managing. Nitrates have not been an issue.

 

[Renton777]

And here are a few pictures of corals I recently trimmed:

 

[Renton777]

Caught the Insane Plate with it's mouth open

 

[Renton777]

A little video of the frag tank at night:

 

[Renton777]

The 9ft reef tank at night:

 

[Renton777]

 

[Renton777]