Jump to content
Innovative Marine Aquariums

Disaster's 80gal + 15gal SPS Reef Tank


disaster999

Recommended Posts

disaster999

dayum. that looks expensive.

Yeah, its not cheap. The smallest one starts out at $220 and work its way up to $500 for the biggest model. I would prefer this over the ATS from Santa Monica, I dont have to deal with hanging a box over my sump and a noisy drain.

 

Well that's an interesting design.............. Some googleing is required I feel.

 

 

Well that was unsuccessful, you got a link to the manufacture? Want to know how this bad boy works.

 

:D:D:D

Yup, thats the one.

 

There's also the Pax Bellum reactors available from Unique.

 

http://uniquecorals.com/dry-goods.html?p=2

 

A few folks on RC use these, LED lights down the middle to grow a concentrated batch of chaeto.

Yeah, I saw that on RB, but that price..... omgomgomgomgomgomgomgomgomg

Link to comment
CronicReefer

Anyone wants to play spot the difference?

 

upload_-1.jpeg

Looks awesome with the rescape. So much more room for new sticks :D. Those lights are pretty fancy too sir.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
disaster999

Looks awesome with the rescape. So much more room for new sticks :D. Those lights are pretty fancy too sir.

Thanks, the rescape was done a few weeks back =)

 

Wow. this is amazing. How are you liking the lights so far?

So far I like them a lot. They give the tank a much cleaner look and I dont have to deal with trouble shooting when something is wrong with the light. Tracing hundreds of connections and finding which wire is loose is annoying. Fun while it lasted but not when it doesnt work.

 

There are still some bugs and software optimization to work out, but it has potential.

 

Thanks for the links everyone.

 

Looks like you've gained a 3rd light........

you sir just won a cookie

panel-cookie-choc-cookie.png

  • Like 3
Link to comment

Finally someone else who understands the phrase, Give that man a biscuit lol.

Take it your happy having the 3rd unit, certainly evens out your light coverage which you mentioned you weren't happy with using just 2, less shadowing, 2 just isn't enough coverage on your system.

Link to comment
disaster999

Finally someone else who understands the phrase, Give that man a biscuit lol.

Take it your happy having the 3rd unit, certainly evens out your light coverage which you mentioned you weren't happy with using just 2, less shadowing, 2 just isn't enough coverage on your system.

Yeah, Maxspect certainly felt the same when they saw the light output of 2 fixture on my tank and decided to throw another one at me.

 

Ive already gotten used to the output of 2 fixture on my tank and I think my corals are reacting pretty well, the 3rd fixture definitely brightened up the entire tank and evened out the spread a lot more.

Link to comment
  • 3 weeks later...
disaster999

Im not sure what Im doing to my tank, but apparently all my corals are loving it!

 

Things Ive did:

  • Added Tropic Marine ROWA PO4 absorber to battle the PO4 levels in my tank (probably due to the frozen food im feeding)
  • Started Feeding my corals and fish with frozen Artemia, rotifers, squid, chopped cockles and Krill Superba
  • Closely monitoring my parameters to ensure they are within spec (7+dkh, 400+ppm Calc, 1200+mag)
  • Cleaned my glass more regularly
  • New lights

Things Ive noticed:

  • Lots of PE (probably due to nutrition rich water
  • Browned corals coming back (probably due to lights)
  • Fat fishes, no explanation needed
  • brown hair algae is completely gone (ROWA maybe)
  • Crystal clear waters
  • Lots of new coral growth

Hope this keeps up.

  • Like 6
Link to comment
disaster999

Oh and to add, Ive recently tried dosing trace elements and the 3 part balling method from Tropic Marine to see how I like it. Kinda embarrassed to say but it turns out Ive beed dosing 2 part in my tank all wrong. Ive always dose 2 part independently of one another and never together. Ive always dont follow any recipe either and just mix the most saturated concentration I can cuz Im lazy. Ive always though why mix a half strength concentration when I know it can take a lot more? Why do I have to dose calc when my alk is the only thing dropping?

 

After getting schooled by my friend and reading up closely on Randy's 2 part recipe and the instructions that came with Tropic Marine. Ive followed the recipe to the T and dosing the 3 part equally as instructed and see if conditions in my tank improves. Im also dosing trace elements in my tank since doing large water changes to a 160gal tank isnt really feasible at the moment. This was highly recommended by my friend so Im dosing that and see if this makes any changes in my tank,

 

upload_-1.jpeg

 

upload_-1.jpeg

 

upload_-1.jpeg

  • Like 2
Link to comment
  • 2 weeks later...
disaster999

A local reefer asked us if were interested in sharing a frag of Jedi's Mind Trick montipora. I researched on it and it seemed really nice. It was kind of steep with the frag itself, but sharing it with 3 other people soften the blow. He took cared of fragging it and keeping it in his tank for a few weeks before giving it us. He asked me if I wanted some frag from his tank as well so naturally I said yes.

 

He gave me some green and red montipora and a green digitata along with my frag of Jedi Mind Trick. Without thinking, I dumped all his frag into my tank and anxiously waited for them to open up. The colors of his coral is very vibrant and I just I can keep the color for as long as I can.

 

The next day, naturally, the monitpora frags were moved from their resting position so I decided to glue them on my rocks permanently. It is then I began to notice something...nudibranches

 

upload_-1.jpeg

 

upload_-1.jpeg

 

I remove all the montipora from my tank and dipped them in iodine since thats all I had and started reading up on them. Iodine, from my research, does nothing to the nudibranches so I started manually removing as much as i can and sealing the rest with CA gel.

 

upload_-1.jpeg

 

Will need to keep an eye on the frags and see if anymore show up.

  • Like 4
Link to comment
disaster999

Also, an update about the Tropic Marine 3 part solution and the trace element additives. No complaints about trace elements so far. My tank seem to be fine with me dosing it every day. I have crazy polyp extensions on my corals but thats probably due to me feeding my tank and training the polyp to extend throughout the day.

 

Trace elements on the other hand, I followed the instructions of mixing the 3 bags into 5L of water each. I started off dosing 30ml of each solution a day just to see where that would end up. I checked my alk before and after dosing and its dropping. So I raised the dosing volume to 45ml and checked again, still dropping. Raised it to 60ml, then finally 75ml. Alk seemed to stabilized and settled at 5.7dkh.

 

It seems im dosing awfully a lot of just to get my alk to settle, the recommended recipe from Tropic Marine seems to be too thin. I would need to mix up a new batch of solution every 2 months at the rate im going and buying the powder will add up. From what I can tell its nothing more than baking soda and calcium chloride. Would be cheaper to get arm and hammer baking soda and order up some lab grade calcium chloride in bulk.

 

Since were on the topic of water chemistry, anyone know what I need to do to color up my corals? Current parameters are:

5.7dkh Alk

410ppm Calc

1200ppm Mag

0 Phos

0.2ppm NO3

The only colors that SEEM to be doing fine are green and blue. But they arent very vibrant. Reds are very dull to the point of looking brown.

Link to comment
disaster999

Yup I am, as I mentioned, Im dosing Tropic Marine's 3 part solution, which is basically regular 2 part and Im dosing 75ml a day right now.

 

Ive adjusted my parameters today and bumped up my Mag to 1320ppm and alk to 8.6dkh hoping with the elevated magnesium levels I will be able to keep my alk at a higher level.

Link to comment
  • 1 month later...
disaster999

Been a while since my last update. Everything is growing well and colors are coming back. Still not as vibrant as I want, colors are a little dull, But hopefully overtime with more stable parameters, things will take off.

 

Ive totally rescaped my tank with a help of a friend as this gives a tone more room to place corals. I was able to add 3 large colonies and a few other aquacultured pieces into my tank. The tank looks a lot fuller now.

 

IMAG0144.jpg

 

One thing Im most excited is...IM FINALLY SEEING CORALLINE ALGAE GROWING IN MY TANK!!!!!!!!!!

 

Its been like 2 years since my tank stopped growing them (due to various reasons) and Im finally seeing specs around my tank. They are mostly on my pumps and return outlets and have yet to see them encrusting on my rocks, but when that happens, I will be really happy.

  • Like 5
Link to comment
  • 2 weeks later...

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

  • Recommended Discussions

×
×
  • Create New...