Taco's 65G LPS Fiesta

tacosricos · Apr 21, 2018

Sal. 1.025
Alk 7.67
Cal 435
Po4 0.02

Just cruisin'

Kactai · Apr 21, 2018

tacosricos said:
I got the skimmer that came with the tank scrubbed down, replaced all of the tubing and put it in my frag system. It certainly isn't the fanciest piece of kit, but I think it will work just fine until I scrape together the coin for an upgrade down the road.

My buddy just got one of these very used! How do you like it? I'm most likely going to have to set it up for him. Other than a good vinegar bath and a scrub do you have any tips? Also can you provide a bit of info on the LED spot lights you are using? They seem like they are quite potent and possibly inexpensive and could be used to cut out shading in specific areas of a tank!

tacosricos · Apr 22, 2018

Kactai said:
My buddy just got one of these very used! How do you like it? I'm most likely going to have to set it up for him. Other than a good vinegar bath and a scrub do you have any tips? Also can you provide a bit of info on the LED spot lights you are using? They seem like they are quite potent and possibly inexpensive and could be used to cut out shading in specific areas of a tank!

Well, it stopped working a couple months ago, but it did alright up until that point. I'm not really a skimmer guy (none of my 5 reef tanks has a "real" skimmer on it). I have a par30 and a par38 spotlight sold to me from Coral Compulsion. They have a great warranty, but I would point you in the direction of something like the AI prime instead -it's a much more modern fixture for not that much more $$$.

tacosricos · May 17, 2018

Great news! The dwarf lionfish finally started accepting frozen mysis! I think it was a combo of 3 factors.

1. Hunger- he was only being fed live ghost shrimp twice/ week
2. Observation- constantly seeing the maroon clown snatching mysis in front of him at feeding time
3. Smell- I mixed the mysis with rod's reef food for the first time today, and that stuff is pungent! I noticed before the lion took the food he spent a good deal of time with his nose right to it, I think the pungent odor may have contributed to his change of habit.

He's now eating the stuff voraciously, which will put me at ease while I'm down in Puerto Rico for a month being a beach bum!

Also, I'm very close to switching over to Triton, but I haven't figured out my dosing schedule. I'm going to start with 2.2ml/ day and work from there. I have brs 1.1ml dosers on an Apex controller, so I'm not sure how I want to do the program yet... Any help is appreciated!

tacosricos · May 17, 2018

Last water change was a month ago!

tacosricos · May 18, 2018

Just bought two AI Prime HD fixtures off of BRS with my tax return. The plan is to eventually also get the 36" aquatic life t5 fixture, and try my hand at growing some sticks.

tacosricos · May 18, 2018

Tonights test results:

Sal. 1.023
Alk 9 dKH (Hanna)
Cal 421 (Hanna)
Mag 1275 (Nyos)
Po4 0.07 (Hanna ULR)

That's everything I care to test for, except for the very occasional No3 test. I just don't sweat No3 as much as Po4, though I would like to do some more research on all of this Redfield ratio stuff I've been hearing about.

I'm officially switching over to Triton tonight. I have 3 BRS 1.1ml dosers plugged into my Apex Jr. I am using the core7 supplements, with parts 3a and 3b mixed together. I calculated the recommended daily starting dose with my tank to be around 2ml, but I diluted with RODI so it will actually be 4ml (and 8ml of the 3a/3b mix).

Janci · May 19, 2018

tacosricos said:
Just bought two AI Prime HD fixtures off of BRS with my tax return. The plan is to eventually also get the 36" aquatic life t5 fixture, and try my hand at growing some sticks.

;Jawdrop ;Jawdrop ;Jawdrop ;Jawdrop ;Jawdrop
That is a pretty upgrade coming through.

tacosricos said:
Tonights test results:
Sal. 1.023
Alk 9 dKH (Hanna)
Cal 421 (Hanna)
Mag 1275 (Nyos)
Po4 0.07 (Hanna ULR)

That's everything I care to test for, except for the very occasional No3 test. I just don't sweat No3 as much as Po4, though I would like to do some more research on all of this Redfield ratio stuff I've been hearing about.

I'm officially switching over to Triton tonight. I have 3 BRS 1.1ml dosers plugged into my Apex Jr. I am using the core7 supplements, with parts 3a and 3b mixed together. I calculated the recommended daily starting dose with my tank to be around 2ml, but I diluted with RODI so it will actually be 4ml (and 8ml of the 3a/3b mix).

Completely agree! No need to chase numbers.
INteresting to see how your Triton adventure will go.
I wish you all the best

tacosricos · May 19, 2018

Janci said:
;Jawdrop ;Jawdrop ;Jawdrop ;Jawdrop ;Jawdrop
That is a pretty upgrade coming through.

Completely agree! No need to chase numbers.
INteresting to see how your Triton adventure will go.
I wish you all the best

Thanks buddy!

tacosricos · May 20, 2018

I just went a little nuts at the WWC sale. I picked up 6 lps frags:

Purple Chalice
Reptar Micromussa
Megatron Micromussa
Spitfire Favites
Mayan Moon Favia
Discoball Leptoseris

tacosricos · May 21, 2018

I actually picked up 9 frags all said and done, including a Jingle Bells Cyphastrea, Space Monkey and a grafted Leptoseris.

Here are a few highlights:

Jingle Bells Cyphastrea

Reptar Micromussa

Spacemonkey Favia

Definitely spent more money than I intended to (well played WWC), but fortunately a buddy is going to buy some of them for his tank.

tacosricos · May 21, 2018

I've been running the Triton supplements for a couple days now and nothing has exploded, so thats good. Things are actually looking pretty good aside from the cyano. I've started feeding Rod's food mixed with the mysis and am now broadcasting it over the smaller-polyped corals in the tank, and it's definitely making a difference!

Leptastrea, chalice, goniopora

Acans

Scolymia, trumpets, m. setosa, duncans, blastomussa, toadstool

Fungia, pectinia (?)

Cynarina

tacosricos · May 23, 2018

I just got the Primes installed, it's quite an upgrade! I feel like my tank is finally headed in the right direction. I think I will eventually add the aqautic life t5 fixture, but for LPS I think this setup will be perfect.

NY_Caveman · May 23, 2018

This build has really come together nicely. Great job on your patience and skill.

tacosricos · May 23, 2018

NY_Caveman said:
This build has really come together nicely. Great job on your patience and skill.

Thank you, that is quite a compliment!

tacosricos · May 24, 2018

My girlfriend got a new tablet a year ago, and this one had just been sitting in a drawer so I decided that, at the risk of seeming aristocratic, I would make it a dedicated Apex display. This is the kind of stuff I dreamed about as a child that actually exists now. Viva la future!

NY_Caveman · May 24, 2018

tacosricos said:
My girlfriend got a new tablet a year ago, and this one had just been sitting in a drawer so I decided that, at the risk of seeming aristocratic, I would make it a dedicated Apex display. This is the kind of stuff I dreamed about as a child that actually exists now. Viva la future!

Aristocratic for sure but looks awesome. I honestly love that look when people do this.

tacosricos · May 25, 2018

T -5 days until the new frags arrive!

tacosricos · May 25, 2018

I just realized my PM1 has an outlet for a breakout box. I was thinking I might use it to install a float switch to alert me if the water level gets to low in the sump. It won't be able to control the return pump or ATO automatically (they are not plugged in to apex), but it could be a nice safety feature to let me know the ATO is empty or something else has gone wrong.