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eric b 125
Guest
yesterday i picked up a finger leather frag and a piece of cabbage leather. i'll try again to figure out photobucket later tonight. i've been thinking about trying out some sps when i make this order.
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eric b 125
Guest
picked up a zoa frag and flowerpot coral yesterday. i was a little hesitant with the flowerpot, but i figured i'd give it a shot. i've read that they used to have a much better survival rate than the pieces that are available now, for some reason.
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eric b 125
Guest
i still cant upload pics to photobucket. i think it's because my computer is so outdated. luckily i'm updating the hard drive and memory so i can get the newest operating system for macs, but that doesnt help me now. hopefully i found a way to get pictures up, by getting the photobucket app on my iphone. then it will just be a matter of getting the img line pasted to here. i'll work on it today.
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eric b 125
Guest
i really hope this works, because i've been meaning to post these pics for weeks now. the pictures are poor quality, since i had to take them with my phone and upload them using the photobucket app, but its all i could do...
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eric b 125
Guest
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eric b 125
Guest
poppy
New Member
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eric b 125
Guest
thanks poppy! i appreciate the compliment. i'm pretty happy with how things are coming along. i think i might add a clam and another coral later today.
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eric b 125
Guest
i ended up getting a derasa clam and a pagoda cup coral yesterday... for $44!!! both are about 5". i'm a bit nervous about the clam, though, as i've never had one.
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eric b 125
Guest
thats what i've read. i dont dose anything, and rarely feed my corals. i do regular water changes with IO, and just recently switched to reef crystals. i have the clam on the sand bed directly under a 250 watt MH, so i think it will be fine.
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eric b 125
Guest
a good bit happened to the tank over the weekend. first off, my naso died on friday night. the good news is, i got the SCWD hooked up, along with a tunze osmolator ATO. also, i re-did all of the electrical connections and hooked everything up to DJ power strips. i took some pics that i'll post later on today or tomorrow
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eric b 125
Guest
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eric b 125
Guest
I guess it's time for my usual 4 month update... The last project I did ( the scwd, ATO, and power center) was definately the best move I've made thus-far. My corals show their appreciation of the SCWD, and the stable salinity. The DJ power strips have made maintenance and feeding/dosing so much less labor intensive. I've added some new corals and just a few days ago a female lyretail anthias.
Today I started working on a canopy and I've been thinking of getting a couple of MP-40's. I've wanted to add a CLS since I first drilled the tank, but the plumbing, pump, and additional SCWD would cost about the same, plus I don't really have the time to break the tank down again. Will post updated pics soon.
Today I started working on a canopy and I've been thinking of getting a couple of MP-40's. I've wanted to add a CLS since I first drilled the tank, but the plumbing, pump, and additional SCWD would cost about the same, plus I don't really have the time to break the tank down again. Will post updated pics soon.
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eric b 125
Guest
well, now that i got a new computer and i've dealt with my internet connection issues, i will be able to update my thread more often.
i cant tell you how frustrating it was to make a simple post using a smart phone!
i started doing my tank service a little differently. i used to do my water changes on the schedule that everyone on this forum waxes poetic about: 30% every two weeks. i wasnt having any problems with this method, but i was checking out a book called 'the ultimate marine aquarium' (or something close to that) and maybe one person whose tank is featured in that book does bi-weekly water changes. most of the tanks that are in the book are SICK representations of what can be accomplished over time. some of the aquarist do their water changes 6 months apart! so i figured i would see what would happen to my chemistry if i waited a month.
i think a lot of this method depends on 1) the quality and types of filtration being used and 2) how much you are willing to dose non-conservative trace elements. i use I.O. reef crystals and theoretically, if water changes are done on a regular enough basis, there should be no need to dose anything. i realize that once a month is not often enough to get away with not dosing, but after the month of no water changes, my nitrates were only 5.0 ppm. i think this speaks volumes on the balance of my systems biological and mechanical filtration ( i dont use chemical) and also on my feeding regimen.
my water change process takes three days:
day one: i use my kati/ani unit to put roughly 30 gallons of water into a 33 gallon trash can. while i have the kati/ani hooked up i'll top-off my freshwater resevoir. the faucets in this house are cheap made-in-china pieces of dung, so it's impossible to match up the threads on the spigot to any adapter. so what i did was take it in to home depot and found some flexible vinyl tubing that fit snuggly around it. i use an adjustable hose clamp to hold it onto the faucet.
i use a hose adapter to connect the larger tubing to the tubing on my kati/ani
i use a mag 18 as a mixing pump to mix the reef crystals. i just eyeball it at this point, using one cup of salt for every two gallons of water. if i mix 30 gallons, i'll toss in 14 cups, so that way i'll have room for error. since i use cold water it takes the salt about a day to totally dissolve so i wont get a good reading right off the bat with my refractometer. once the water is mixed, i toss a filter bag of reef carbon in the sump and start a new batch of brine shrimp eggs in my hatchery.
day two: i will check the pH of the new salt water. these kati/ani units are great. they remove more TDS than a 5 stage RODI, and there's no waste water. i really like that i dont have to have water running constantly to keep up with my ATO resevoir and water changes. i just hook it up to my sink and check on the progress every now and then. i run the water through it real slow. the only downside to them is that, because of the chemicals they use to totally desalt the water, the pH drops real low. also, recharging the unit can be intimidating the first time. once you do it once, it only takes a few minutes to do it again. i use aquavitro "eight.four" to get the pH correct before doing the water change. on day two, i also add a few drops of zoe to the brine shrimp hatchery. i'll adjust the salinity of the new water. i'll also turn off the return pump and use a turkey baster to blanket feed reef plankton or mysis to the tank.
day three: i feed the baby brine to the corals in the same fashion i feed plankton and mysis. i'll wait about half an hour before siphoning the water from the tank into 5 gallon buckets. i'll take out the reef carbon and use the mag 18 to fill the tank back up.
the actual water change takes under 30 minutes.
i started doing my tank service a little differently. i used to do my water changes on the schedule that everyone on this forum waxes poetic about: 30% every two weeks. i wasnt having any problems with this method, but i was checking out a book called 'the ultimate marine aquarium' (or something close to that) and maybe one person whose tank is featured in that book does bi-weekly water changes. most of the tanks that are in the book are SICK representations of what can be accomplished over time. some of the aquarist do their water changes 6 months apart! so i figured i would see what would happen to my chemistry if i waited a month.
i think a lot of this method depends on 1) the quality and types of filtration being used and 2) how much you are willing to dose non-conservative trace elements. i use I.O. reef crystals and theoretically, if water changes are done on a regular enough basis, there should be no need to dose anything. i realize that once a month is not often enough to get away with not dosing, but after the month of no water changes, my nitrates were only 5.0 ppm. i think this speaks volumes on the balance of my systems biological and mechanical filtration ( i dont use chemical) and also on my feeding regimen.
my water change process takes three days:
day one: i use my kati/ani unit to put roughly 30 gallons of water into a 33 gallon trash can. while i have the kati/ani hooked up i'll top-off my freshwater resevoir. the faucets in this house are cheap made-in-china pieces of dung, so it's impossible to match up the threads on the spigot to any adapter. so what i did was take it in to home depot and found some flexible vinyl tubing that fit snuggly around it. i use an adjustable hose clamp to hold it onto the faucet.
i use a hose adapter to connect the larger tubing to the tubing on my kati/ani
i use a mag 18 as a mixing pump to mix the reef crystals. i just eyeball it at this point, using one cup of salt for every two gallons of water. if i mix 30 gallons, i'll toss in 14 cups, so that way i'll have room for error. since i use cold water it takes the salt about a day to totally dissolve so i wont get a good reading right off the bat with my refractometer. once the water is mixed, i toss a filter bag of reef carbon in the sump and start a new batch of brine shrimp eggs in my hatchery.
day two: i will check the pH of the new salt water. these kati/ani units are great. they remove more TDS than a 5 stage RODI, and there's no waste water. i really like that i dont have to have water running constantly to keep up with my ATO resevoir and water changes. i just hook it up to my sink and check on the progress every now and then. i run the water through it real slow. the only downside to them is that, because of the chemicals they use to totally desalt the water, the pH drops real low. also, recharging the unit can be intimidating the first time. once you do it once, it only takes a few minutes to do it again. i use aquavitro "eight.four" to get the pH correct before doing the water change. on day two, i also add a few drops of zoe to the brine shrimp hatchery. i'll adjust the salinity of the new water. i'll also turn off the return pump and use a turkey baster to blanket feed reef plankton or mysis to the tank.
day three: i feed the baby brine to the corals in the same fashion i feed plankton and mysis. i'll wait about half an hour before siphoning the water from the tank into 5 gallon buckets. i'll take out the reef carbon and use the mag 18 to fill the tank back up.
the actual water change takes under 30 minutes.
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eric b 125
Guest
thanks for the reply flower! the newest update is that my lights took a dip into the tank... both fixtures!!! going to order new ones today, though rather than two 96 watt PC per fixture, there will be two 39 watt T5's. i think the newer lights, though less wattage, will benefit my tank because of the t5's. also, i will probably run the halides for an extra hour or two. quite a bummer, especially considering it's sunday and the new lights wont ship until tomorrow. in the meantime, i have borrowed one fixture from a buddy, and moved my corals to that side of the tank. some of the corals that have lower lighting demands are on the unlit side, but still get ambient light. fingers are crossed and praying for quick delivery!!!
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eric b 125
Guest
finally ordered a new light. i opted to go for a 72" fixture with 3 X 250 watt MH, and 4 X 80 watt T5's. i will have to order new trim for the top of the tank since my tank has a center cross brace. two of my LFS's said they could order the trim, which was a surprise to me. for some reason i thought it would be hard to find replacement trim. it will be a royal PITA to replace the trim, what with having to break it down and everything, but i think that it will be a game-changer for my tank.
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eric b 125
Guest
yeah, its definitely going to be an all day project. i kinda have fun doing these type of things, though.