Back to basics- 29g adventure

[snakeblitz33]

Eh, more chance for leaks and more money and more time getting a new tank established. I think it would just be easier to keep this tank going. I'm happy with it and it is doing really, really well.

It looks like I'll be going by the fish store today after getting some groceries. I'm excited to see what I come home with.

If my lfs doesn't have anything I want, I might as well start searching online for the frags that I want.

 

[snakeblitz33]

I'm getting ready to do another water change this morning. Getting the salinity and temp just right is frustrating

 

[snakeblitz33]

Store was closed for the fourth of July. That's fine though, I can go by there next week.

 

[novahobbies]

Allright my awesome deep-south friend. It's been more than 2 weeks without a FTS pic. I'm callin' you out buddy.

 

[snakeblitz33]

 

[snakeblitz33]

Pretty detailed pic of my turbo that decided to get in the way for a photo op.

 

[snakeblitz33]

The montipora is putting a nice thick new growth all the way around and has recovered nicely.

Makes me want to get some new easy SPS frags for the tank. I gotta set up a PayPal bank account again. I might do that soon. I dunno.

 

[snakeblitz33]

I didn't realize how much the nepthea has grown.

The green led lights are making those rocks in the photo appear green. Makes me think I might need to take the optics off of the red and green diodes.

 

[snakeblitz33]

It's not much to look at, but its mine. Slow going. Lol

 

[novahobbies]

I would take the optics off the red diodes at least. I'm going to do the same with mine for similar reasons. Red diodes should be 100 degree spread, not narrow like the blues and whites. I don't know about the greens, but you know your tank best. Great pics! The Monti cap looks like it's doing very well now.

 

[snakeblitz33]

Ive seen some people on another forum remove optics from every single light and then lower the light closer to the water level. They grow some pretty good stuff.

Though, to be honest, I'm seriously considering going back to T5s. I have seen better growth and color with T5s and the coralline algae grew thicker and had better color. It might just be that the tank is still relatively new, but those are just my observations.

 

[eric b 125]

It's great to hear you are having success with this tank. I'm learning that smaller tanks definitely have their advantages. Keep up the good work man, the tank looks great!

 

[novahobbies]

I understand how you feel about LEDs. Personally I think that the level of sophistication HAS reached a point where we can grow great coral, but the price point for quality fixtures is still pretty high. Not as much as they were 3 years ago, but still.

I wish I had an 8-bulb T-5 that I could "try" for 6 months to observe the differences between that and my Onyx LED fixtures. It would be nice if the bulbs either cost less or lasted longer. The idea of spending roughly $160 (give or take) every year on new bulbs does not appeal. But then, that's the issue with the larger tanks, and it's less of a problem with the scale tank you're talking about.

 

[snakeblitz33]

Now y'all are seeing my point of staying small.

I think I might DIY a T5 system and build a canopy. I like LEDs but they just grow a different shape and pattern of things than what I've been used to all of these years. I just know what works for me.

Depending on what all is going on, I might wait until this winter to change out the lights. I would really like to get some more corals in the tank to experiment with first but to make sure its not just all in my head.

Tomorrow is a new day.

 

[eric b 125]

What kind of RODI unit do you use? I know whatever you use has its work cut out for it, but the results are pretty obvious. I'm (hopefully) having water quality issues and I'm researching RODI's in case I need to get one. 10 years in this hobby and I've never used a RODI b/c the Kati/Ani was enough in the past. All of the different stages of RODI have me scratching my head, LOL.

 

[snakeblitz33]

Lol. My system is nine stages. It's two sediment filters, a regular coconut carbon block filter, then it goes into my main unit which is two catalytic carbon blocks, a water softener and then my RO membrane, followed by a DI resin canister and an additional on-line polishing carbon filter. By AirWaterIce. I like it, and if you put it on a float valve or use their tank, its not as much wasted water as you would think.

I really like my RO unit.

 

[eric b 125]

That's a serious system, LOL. How often do you expect you'll have to change filters?

 

[snakeblitz33]

My TDS of my tap water was 450 for the first five months of use. Then I moved and reinstalled it on a new water companies line and the TDS dropped to ~200. It's July now, so seven months so far and it has creeped up to 9TDS this month. I guess twice a year.

 

[snakeblitz33]

You might want to get a TDS meter and see how bad your water quality is where you are at and then design a system to handle that particular quality of water.

My water also has monochloramine and chlorine and they do chlorine burns two to three times a year on this new system. Your local water company might not do that. Also, the reservoirs that my water company uses are very, very old and not well maintained, so there is a lot of rust that ends up in the water. Then, since where I live, the soil is very rich and soft, so the ground shifts and people run over water lines with heavy trucks and there is occasionally lots of sediment. So, I have to have the two sediment filters and the water softener for the heavy metals, rust, calcium and magnesium.

Each person's water quality is different. If you get a TDS meter and a print out from your local utility company as to what they are using to treat it, as well as do an "eye test" with a clear glass and a white sheet of paper, I can probably make a pretty good recommendation on what type of RO system to buy and what filters you need to invest in.

 

[snakeblitz33]

By the way, I also use refillable canisters for the carbon filters, DI resin, and water softener. Cleaning out the old media and buying new media is a lot cheaper in the long run than buying the plastic media filled filters.