saltwatercoral Posted November 2, 2011 Share Posted November 2, 2011 Your setup is sick! Real nice job, keep up the great work! Link to comment
redwhiteandblue Posted November 3, 2011 Author Share Posted November 3, 2011 ok here are the updated pictures as of today. there is also a pic of the ati sunpower for iDream as requested! the forgspawn that split into a third head already: the hammer that is finally in a good spot so it opens: the new duncan( simply awesome coral by the way) red mushrooms: leather hitchhiker (not sure what it is yet): and the full tank shot: here you go iDream: Link to comment
redwhiteandblue Posted November 22, 2011 Author Share Posted November 22, 2011 back from my vacation so its finally the time ive been waiting for..... i started stocking my tank today with more fish....i added a lawnmower blenny and a 6 line wrasse. both are some cool fish with lots of personality. i will try and get some pics here in a day or two. stay tuned for the DEC FTS here in a few days. this tank is really comming along nicely for being almost 2 months in! also, my tank survived being on autopilot for 6 days. the only thing done was water top off and feedings. the only issue that happened was a little excess agae on the acrylic. good thing for mr clean magic erasers! Link to comment
redwhiteandblue Posted November 25, 2011 Author Share Posted November 25, 2011 my media reactors came in two days ago. once again, BRS is great. its hard to not buy from them, i wish they had livestock sometimes. anyway here are the details.... two deluxe reactors and two maxijet 1200s very simple to install except for the black waterlines. these were rolled tight so it was difficult getting them to bend the way i needed them to in my small cabinet. my biggest mistake was not rinsing the GFO enough. i have brown dust all over in my sump, but it needed cleaning anyway lol. also, try to only use 1/2 the reccomended dose at first, because it will cloud up your tank. at least mine. apparently this is common to cause a slight bacteria bloom. the worst thing so far is getting the GFO to tumble properly. it is working, but only in half the cyclinder. researching a DIY fix. maybe a thin membrane of foam under the gfo to disperse water and prevent channeling allowing more even flow of GFO. the carbon is a breeze. nuff said. basically i cant wait until the water clears up, followed by crystal clear water, and less algae on my acrylic walls. will post pics when the tank looks better. Link to comment
redwhiteandblue Posted November 30, 2011 Author Share Posted November 30, 2011 ok here are the new pics as promised..... one of many pod breeding havens in the tank my new reactors! and the december FTS one day early. Link to comment
pismo_reefer Posted December 1, 2011 Share Posted December 1, 2011 I really like yer aquascape... Yer setup is nice, too.... That canopy is great! Link to comment
redwhiteandblue Posted December 8, 2011 Author Share Posted December 8, 2011 BRS GFO reactor: so it winds up, i did rinse my GFO properly, it isnt tumbling much at all. im still getting brown rusty film on my glass. i at first assumed algae remains, but after placing the effluent line of the GFO in filter floss, i discovered the gfo is still comming out of the reactor. i hardley have any flow through it.... a little ridiculous if you ask me. to sum it up, this is trading one pain (algae) for another (phosphate dust) it just cost me 60$ for the trade... i think im am going to look into another phosphate removal media like phosban, or those little white pebble deals. unless there is something im doing worng, but have researched extensivly so i dont think im wrong. any input would be great...... Link to comment
paneubert Posted December 9, 2011 Share Posted December 9, 2011 Nice build! All I can say is that as long as you are not grinding the GFO in the reactor, there is no reason why it would continue to throw out dust if rinsed well beforehand. So rinse it until it goes clear while slowly tumbling it or rolling it around in a bag/jar/whatever you use to rinse it with. Rinse it for a while after that with little to no agitation. Then see what happens with the reactor. Link to comment
redwhiteandblue Posted December 12, 2011 Author Share Posted December 12, 2011 bump (or maybe i should ask this in the equipment forum lol)............phosguard, phosban? something other than gfo. this stuff is just too dusty. i still get dust in filter floss a week later.even is it wasnt rinsed enough, a week runnign should give me cleaner floss. and trust me, its hardly tumbling at all. Link to comment
Joe Dirt Posted December 12, 2011 Share Posted December 12, 2011 For my own knowledge, is it the high capacity GFO or the regular? Oh, and your tank is sick! Did I miss the dimensions? Link to comment
redwhiteandblue Posted December 12, 2011 Author Share Posted December 12, 2011 For my own knowledge, is it the high capacity GFO or the regular? Oh, and your tank is sick! Did I miss the dimensions? It's regular granular gfo And it's a standard 180: 72x24x24 Link to comment
redwhiteandblue Posted December 15, 2011 Author Share Posted December 15, 2011 well the gfo seems to have settled down a bit after 3 weeks of use. all the dust finally rised out into the filter floss. it really has cut back on my film algae which is awesome. im still in the market for adifferent product though.... i recently got 2 new tank mates....a one spot fox face and a yellow tang. both couldnt be happier. here is the updated stock list as of today: fish: 2 occelaris clowns six line wrasse lawnmower blenny YWG Mandarin (and yes i have lots of pods, and hell eat mysis.) foxface yellow tang corals: GSP red mushrooms blue mushrooms tri-color ricordea purple tip hammer purple tip frogspawn( found this guy hiding in a display tank at LFS) green tip frogspawn duncan green zoanthids rasberry, bam-bam, and candy apple zoa frags inverts: tiger pistol cleaner shrimp mini mani nem that is now lodged inside a pukani rock and im afraid he will never come out now. lol. now each specimen was carefully added after the cycle. the fish, about 2 weeks apart. the corals, a couple a month. everything is going great so far. im about to be done with the fish portion. the only ones left are the flame angel, powder brown tang, and maybe 2 banner cardinals. the corals are just beginning. i will be adding some more LPS (brains) and my first monti-cap very soon. i cannot wait. ......and i was originally gonna do a fish only.....crazy Link to comment
redwhiteandblue Posted December 23, 2011 Author Share Posted December 23, 2011 picked up a 2"x2" red monti-cap for $10. it is already growing like crazy with just 1 week. needless to say im pretty excited about my first SPS frag Link to comment
redwhiteandblue Posted January 2, 2012 Author Share Posted January 2, 2012 its been a while, but here are a few pics as of jan 2. the tank is 3 months old. i am stocked up on the fish and not planning on adding anymore, unless its something small. my maxi mini had died this week. he left his spot a couple weeks ago, and crawled into the porous pukani rock. i think he got himself trapped in there and eventually starved. i found him 2 weeks later rolling around like a tumbleweed half rotted. sad, but the nem never really acted right since i had him. he never opened much more than 1" and i could never get him to eat any mysis, brine, or anything else. needless to say, my one and only impulse buy resulted in the only death in my tank so far. i have added a bit more to my cuc to battle the random algae that pops up in the sand and glass from time to time. i have also cut back my feedings 50% and everything seems so much cleaner. as far as coral growth, my duncans still have 3 large heads, but in the past two weeks, about 6 small heads have developed. this should be a good lookin coral in a few weeks. everything else is growing steadily, but the duncans have expolded in growth. the bad: vermetid snails are starting to annoy me. had a few on one rock that were quite large. ditched the rock. im down to one rock with a crapload of little ones. this rock is my "mushroom island" so as long as they stay on that rock and dont get too far away from it ill deal with them. flatworms......thankfully they are the super tiny ones that hang out on the glassand not my corals. they dont bother me so much, besides make my glass dirty. im pretty sure they came in on my glass algae bloom and seem to be eating the film on the glass. bubble algae.....one bubble. no idea where the heck it came from. tang,foxface, and emrald crabs could care less about it. removed bubble in hopes to terminate this. all in all, im pretty happy at 3 months and expeced the tank to be up and down during this time. tri-color ricordea zoa frags close-up another purple tip hammer frag yellow tang and foxface flame angel the jan FTS Link to comment
redwhiteandblue Posted January 2, 2012 Author Share Posted January 2, 2012 here is the evolution of my tank from day 1 to day 100 fill (oct) full (oct) cycled (oct) (nov) (dec) (jan) Link to comment
redwhiteandblue Posted January 8, 2012 Author Share Posted January 8, 2012 purchased a new maxi mini today to replace my unlucky one that passed a few weeks ago. will post a pic here shortly. came home to a cloudy tank today for some reason. not sure what is causing this cause all params are in check? i did notice my second diatom bloom is dissappearing, so im thinking thier dieoff is contributing to the slightly cloudy water. ohh the joys of having a newish tank. in other news, i now have a generator for backup power outages! it is a portable, so hopefully everything will make it till i get home should i not be around when power goes out. cannot wait for the funds for an apex to send me a text letting me know of my power outage! Link to comment
redwhiteandblue Posted January 22, 2012 Author Share Posted January 22, 2012 well its been a couple weeks since an update, so here it is.... to my belief, my reactors finally seem to be working properly. i had put the sponge in the bottom of the GFO reactor in hopes of "dispersing" the flow of water a little better. well, what do ya know, it worked. the only problem now is its almost too slow of a tumble and the MJ 1200 is opened all the way. guess ill just use 2/3 the gfo. today, i broke down my red belly piranha tank , sold the 5 fish to the LFS and got a beautiful 2"x2" blood red chalice and a 5"x3" chunk of green monti-cap that is plating in a buch of different directions. one of these days ill post some pics up, but it will prolly be the first of the month when i update the FTS. Link to comment
redwhiteandblue Posted January 25, 2012 Author Share Posted January 25, 2012 i never thought the day would come, but i just placed an order for my neptune apex!!!! any helpful tips before i get it an start setup this weekend? and yes i ordered the wireless bridge so i can have a "mobile" aquarium. any, and i mean any tips in regards to setup/use is greatly appreciated! Link to comment
urbaneks Posted January 25, 2012 Share Posted January 25, 2012 i never thought the day would come, but i just placed an order for my neptune apex!!!! any helpful tips before i get it an start setup this weekend? and yes i ordered the wireless bridge so i can have a "mobile" aquarium. any, and i mean any tips in regards to setup/use is greatly appreciated! You will love it. If you have vortechs get the WMX module. Gives you full control of your pumps. There is a great user group and vendor forum on RC.com. Link to comment
redwhiteandblue Posted January 25, 2012 Author Share Posted January 25, 2012 You will love it. If you have vortechs get the WMX module. Gives you full control of your pumps. There is a great user group and vendor forum on RC.com. So far u cannot justify the money for vortecs lol . I'd love to have them but the price turns me away. But then again, I said this about a controller too lol. My opinion could change in a couple months. Right now I'll settle for my korallia evo 1400 an mag 7 Link to comment
redwhiteandblue Posted January 31, 2012 Author Share Posted January 31, 2012 tomorrow my apex arrives! very excited, i just hope everything turns out to be an easy install. i still have no idea how im gonna organize the sytem underneath the tank lol. stay tuned! an please be on stand-by for assistance! j/k Link to comment
urbaneks Posted February 3, 2012 Share Posted February 3, 2012 I'm not trying to add a plug for my tank here, just trying to aid you in your organization of equipment under the stand. Rather than post pictures of my tank on your thread, here is a link that will take you right to that section of my journal. If you have any questions don't hesitate to ask. That goes for your APEX setup as well. Link to comment
redwhiteandblue Posted February 4, 2012 Author Share Posted February 4, 2012 ok, so after a little tinkering the past couple days, i now have my neptune connected to my home network along with my lights, heater, and pumps all being controlled. the only traffic jam i am having is the "outside" access, along with email and text message alerts not working. i do not have a static IP, and will not pay for one, so i may not access this from my i phone ever. unless you all have tips? as far as the email, i have tried everything, and cannot get it to even send to my gmx account. assuming there is something to do with my router stopping the message. thats todays update, i will have more soon. Hopefully the feb FTS to be included Link to comment
JBM Posted February 4, 2012 Share Posted February 4, 2012 So far u cannot justify the money for vortecs lol thats what i said till i took the plunge on a mp10. At first i was like "eh" but after a few days i noticed the corals really liking it. So the "eh" went to "f*ck yea". As a bonus i owned it for a year & sold it for $20 less than when i bought it. Link to comment
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