D Z's garage frag tank(formerly CAD 34G Mini)

[D Z]

Oh yeah, I also wanted to mention my tisbe pod culture is going well. I bought 2 bags from Algagen when I was at Reefapalooza. One went straight into the tank as I wanted to make sure the population was still good while the culture started up. The other when into my culture that had been running empty for a couple weeks. When I dumped the bag in last weekend, I couldn't really see much at all. In 1 week, the population in the culture has exploded. I have been feeding phytofeast every 2-3 nights, whenever I notice that the water is looking clear again. Last night, I used a permanent coffee filter scoop out 2 scoops of pods and added them to the tank. It was pretty cool to see the cloud of pods disperse into the tank. Let me tell you, everything in the tank seemed happy when I did that. The clowns ate some out of the water column as well as the mandarin. It looks like this is going to work well, I just need to try to stay on top of it so that the culture doesn't crash, but it shouldn't be too hard.

[D Z]

Just brainstorming on how I am going to run the lighting schedule once I get the retro done. Here is what I am running currently:

 

6 x 24W Sunpower(non-dimmable)

Front

C 1 - Blue+

H 2 - Blue+

A 1 - Actinic Channel 2 is on from 10:30AM to 1:30PM

N 1 - Coral+ Channel 1 is on from 1:30PM to 7:30PM

N 2 - Actinic Channel 2 is on from 7:30PM to 11:00PM

E 1 - Blue+

L Back

Once the retro is completed, this is what I am thinking:

Sunpower/Nano Box Retro with BlueFish Mini

FRONT

CORAL+ or BLUE+

LED LED

CORAL+ or BLUE+

BACK

I am still undecided on what bulbs to use, but am guessing it will be either 2 blue+, 2 coral+, or 1 of each. I am only going to run 2 T5 bulbs with the 2 NanoBox V3 pucks. This should provide plenty of light, and honestly the 6 bulb unit just doesn't fit over the tank. Currently, my last 2 bulbs are hanging over the rear chambers. I also have no idea what settings I will use for the intensities for the LEDs. This will all be experimental once I have the light up and running. Here is the schedule I am thinking about:

8:00am: Royal blue, UV, Cyan and blue LED's start to ramp up(3 hours)

10:00am: White LEDs start to ramp up(1 hour)

11:00am: all LEDs are at fun running intensity

1:30pm: T5 bulbs on

5:30pm: T5 bulbs off

8:00pm: White LEDs start to ramp down(1 hour)

8:00pm: Royal blue, UV, Cyan and blue LED's start to ramp down(3 hours)

11:00pm: Lights out

Lastly, I may decide to run the UV or royal blue channel at .1% as a moonlight from 11pm til 8 am, but want to play around with things first.

Thoughts? I would really like to hear from others that are currently running hybrids to see what they think.

[D Z]

Like Christmas morning...

20150422_194458 by cchsoracle, on Flickr

 

Jeff from Marine Depot is the man. Threw in a free tshirt!

20150422_194720 by cchsoracle, on Flickr

 

Got the skimmer in a vinegar bath last night. Hopefully this will speed things along as afar as break in time. I'll grab some better pictures of the skimmer tonight before dropping it in the tank. It is a beautifully made skimmer. Top notch acrylic work. I'm so excited to see how this thing performs. Definitely time for some new fish with this baby under the hood.

20150423_074953 by cchsoracle, on Flickr

[jedimasterben]

I run my 'white' channel at 350mA, the rest at 700mA, this effectively cuts their output in half when keeping the same percentages as the other channels. Since the arrays use warm white and lime, though, this means that it takes an enormous amount of blue light to 'overcome' it and get the tank really looking blue. This is what that combo gives with all channels at 100%:

 

 

How you run your LED channels is up to you. I hate blue tanks so I keep my tank looking like the above at all times

 

Bluefish does not support multiple start times. All channels start at the same time and end at the same time unless you use 'pendant time shift', but that only offsets the whole ramp, so if whites come on later they also stop later. If you set morning/evening settings different than your midday settings, then it will affect how quickly they ramp, but that means you cannot use Natural Sun dimming, which looks far better than the normal slope ramp.

 

I don't use the T5 in my Sunpower so I can't really help you there lol.

[D Z]

Well, had a rough night. Last night was supposed to be water testing, water change, install new skimmer night, but my 5yo had a 103 degree fever so that trumps the tank. I never mentioned it, but I had a little accident on Sunday with my pellet food. I keep it, among other things, on top of my floating canopy. I went to feed the fish Sunday afternoon, and my turkey baster rolled off the floating canopy, hit the bottle of pellets and they went everywhere. Fortunately, my lid caught the majority of them, but a GOOD AMOUNT of pellets managed to get into the rear chambers of the tank. I was able to get a lot of them out with the turkey baster, but I am pretty sure it has caused somewhat of a rise in nitrate and phosphate. I have been too busy with life to do a test or water change, last night was supposed to be that night.

 

Well, not sure if the pellet incident is to blame, but this morning I noticed that my red dragon frag is rtn'ing. There wasn't much I could do as I was on my way out of the house to go to work, already late due to the long night with my son. I'm doing a big water change tonight, hopefully there is something salvageable left, but I am not holding my breathe. Just hoping at this point that there is no more damage in the tank...

[kimberbee]

Bummer.

 

Hope your son is feeling better and your tank gets back on track soon.

[D Z]

Bummer.

 

Hope your son is feeling better and your tank gets back on track soon.

Thanks Kimber. He went to the Dr and turns out its strep throat. He's on an antibiotic now, so he should be feeling better within 24 hours. It's funny, he didn't even mention that his throat hurt at all, just had the fever. I'm getting ready to take off of work early so I can go home and take care of the tank. Then, were leaving in the morning to go out to Jacksonville Beach for the weekend.

 

I'm starting to feel like I just do too much to the tank. I think I am going to stop dosing pohl's extra sp, acropower, and sponge power and just do nothing but feed and try to keep my hands out for a while. Probably try to get the retro done in the next week or so and then just leave it alone. Once the new skimmer is dialed in, its time for more fish, then I need to start seeing growth, alk consumption, and coraline so that I know this tank is stable....

[D Z]

Went away for the weekend and came back to the tank looking great. Only problem was the torch lost another small head. Really don't know what to think about that. But having the tank look so good after me being gone for the weekend really confirms for me the feeling like I have had my hands in the tank too much lately. I'm going back to basics. Feed the fish, let the fish poop, skim the water, and let the corals grow...

[D Z]

Got a couple cool pics from before I left for the weekend and a couple last night as well, plus one nice shot from my trip!

 

So here are a couple pics of the skimmer before it went into the tank.

20150424_163908 by cchsoracle, on Flickr

 

20150424_163922 by cchsoracle, on Flickr

 

Fits like a glove. So far, I have had a pretty wet skim, but even the wet skim has a stronger odor to it that the pls-50 did so I have high hopes for this thing once I get it tuned the way I want it.

20150424_232305 by cchsoracle, on Flickr

 

Goni all happy

20150424_233920 by cchsoracle, on Flickr

 

Love these zoas. The one on top has some crazy PE.

20150424_233943 by cchsoracle, on Flickr

 

My tyree pink lemonade has looked weird like this for a while now. It has what looks like bubbles instead of polyps. Has anyone else ever seen this on an acro?

20150424_234155 by cchsoracle, on Flickr

 

Getting some great color out of these frags.

20150424_234350 by cchsoracle, on Flickr

 

20150424_234238 by cchsoracle, on Flickr

 

Took this cool picture of the sunrise at Jacksonville Beach. We hung out on the balcony and feed the baby his first bottle for the day while we watched the sun come up. Very peaceful.

20150426_070253 by cchsoracle, on Flickr

 

And it was a good night on the reef last night. Good food for my fish and a good drink for Daddy.

20150426_223302 by cchsoracle, on Flickr

[kimberbee]

Looking really good!!

[D Z]

Looking really good!!

Thanks Kimber!

 

 

So yesterday was my birthday, 30th to be exact. I had a wonderful day. I had to leave work early for a meeting at my son's school to get him ready for Kindergarden(he is growing way to fast!). This worked out great for me, as Living Reef is right down the street. Naturally, I just had to stop by and pick up something for myself for my birthday. Here is what I got.

 

All blue ric for the garden.

20150427_213504 by cchsoracle, on Flickr

 

Also, here is a pic of the other ric I got at RAP. Need to get both of these placed onto the garden.

20150427_213513 by cchsoracle, on Flickr

 

A very generous frag of ORA Red Planet

20150427_213401 by cchsoracle, on Flickr

 

Some unknown tenuis. Looks like it will be all blue with either orange or pinkish red polyps. Can't wait for this one to color up some more.

20150427_213444 by cchsoracle, on Flickr

[Reefkid88]

Happy belated bornday man !!!!

[D Z]

Happy belated bornday man !!!!

TY!

[Reefkid88]

How's LR's selection looking ? I haven't been out there in almost a month... And I wish your damn pictures would load.. Idk if it's my wifi or what but it takes about a ancient year for them up show up

 

Okay they finally loaded and mannnn that red planet is so sexy !!! That Tenuis is nice as hell !! Looking good man !!!

[cnseekatz]

 

Yup!

[deathbyart]

Pic of a Glencairn glass... Now you have my attention.

[D Z]

How's LR's selection looking ? I haven't been out there in almost a month... And I wish your damn pictures would load.. Idk if it's my wifi or what but it takes about a ancient year for them up show up

 

Okay they finally loaded and mannnn that red planet is so sexy !!! That Tenuis is nice as hell !! Looking good man !!!

Selection wasn't bad. They had a good mixture of everything, supposedly they have another new supplier. They had a bunch of zoa mini colonies that looks pretty good, priced $30 - 40, probably around 15 polyps or so on each. They also had a bunch of small to medium yumas that looks nice. Some of the smaller ones were priced as low as $5, so thats not bad.

 

Hmm thats weird about the pictures. Glad they finally loaded up for ya. Thanks bro. I'm loving the RP but am really excited to see what the tenuis does, just hope it doen't rtn on me like the last tenuis, but I think we're past that issue now.

 

 

Pic of a Glencairn glass... Now you have my attention.

Priorities! LOL. What is your drink of choice. That was woodford reserve distiller's select that I decided to give a try, but I absolutely love their double oak.

[Reefkid88]

Oh okay. Maybe this one will give them a better selection of things. The last few times I went in there before I moved,it had all been the same stuff. Now that I'm stepping out of the sps game a little,and into Zoa's and Acan's more,I've been shopping around. So far StormBorn has the best Acan Collection I have ever seen !! When I go in there this weekend I'll take some pics. It's insane. All their frag tanks are lit with Radion's and supplemented with ATI's. And they aren't little small ass single head frags for $30-$40. More like 3-5 heads.

 

I think you're able to put those issues in the past and just move forward. I think everything will start to do good. Where's the RP from ?

[D Z]

Oh okay. Maybe this one will give them a better selection of things. The last few times I went in there before I moved,it had all been the same stuff. Now that I'm stepping out of the sps game a little,and into Zoa's and Acan's more,I've been shopping around. So far StormBorn has the best Acan Collection I have ever seen !! When I go in there this weekend I'll take some pics. It's insane. All their frag tanks are lit with Radion's and supplemented with ATI's. And they aren't little small ass single head frags for $30-$40. More like 3-5 heads.

 

I think you're able to put those issues in the past and just move forward. I think everything will start to do good. Where's the RP from ?

Cool, sounds good. Post those pics here, I'm interested. Maybe it will be worth a drive. I got the red planet from living reef last night, but they had it labeled ORA. I didn't realize it, but some of the pieces LR has in their SPS tank are ORA and others. They have a colony of orange passion that they supposedly got from sexy corals, but it doesn't look too hot right now. There are 2 frags for sale that look ok, but they want $80 for a 1/4" nub. It would be different if it looked fire, but unfortunately its color is lacking.

[deathbyart]

Priorities! LOL. What is your drink of choice. That was woodford reserve distiller's select that I decided to give a try, but I absolutely love their double oak.

 

If we are talking my go to, it can vary. Anything from Spey River, Balvenie, or Aberfeldy.

 

Now if we are talking more of a splurge, I am all about the Lagavulin.

[Reefkid88]

I'll most likely just text em to you or something. So much easier. It may or may not be worth it for you. They do have a nice little sps tank where everything is $30 but it's nice huge chunks of pieces. And some different stuff I haven't seen before. And their Zoa's are all $20 but they are 3-10 polyps a frag.

 

Oh wow. Honestly,to me Orange Passion isn't even all that amazing looking. It doesn't have that WOW factor. Like some other pieces do,let's say like PC Rainbow. Which I need another piece of lol. But don't get me wrong,it is nice. Just not for the price everyone and their mothers ask for it.

[D Z]

I'll most likely just text em to you or something. So much easier. It may or may not be worth it for you. They do have a nice little sps tank where everything is $30 but it's nice huge chunks of pieces. And some different stuff I haven't seen before. And their Zoa's are all $20 but they are 3-10 polyps a frag.

 

Oh wow. Honestly,to me Orange Passion isn't even all that amazing looking. It doesn't have that WOW factor. Like some other pieces do,let's say like PC Rainbow. Which I need another piece of lol. But don't get me wrong,it is nice. Just not for the price everyone and their mothers ask for it.

OK yeah, hit me up on text with those.

OP is nice, but only if it is fully colored up. Not that I'm trying to push LR at all as I believe in shopping around to all the stores in Orlando, but they also had 3 or 4 frags of PC Rainbow. Just FYI, I think they were asking $80 for a 1.5" single branch with decent color.

[Reefkid88]

Will do man. Oh I know,I've blown my fair share of money at LR & TSA. Both of them are my favorite stores in central FL. HOw much do they want for a frag of PC Rainbow like $60-$70 for a .5" ? I totally agree completely. That's why I miss Travis working at TSA he'd give you stupid good deals on stuff even if he knew he shouldn't just to sell the stuff and make the store money.

[D Z]

Will do man. Oh I know,I've blown my fair share of money at LR & TSA. Both of them are my favorite stores in central FL. HOw much do they want for a frag of PC Rainbow like $60-$70 for a .5" ? I totally agree completely. That's why I miss Travis working at TSA he'd give you stupid good deals on stuff even if he knew he shouldn't just to sell the stuff and make the store money.

Pretty sure the price tag was $80, but that was for a 1 - 1.5" single branch with decent color.

[lilmatty5dimes]

http://www.marinedepot.com/AquaMaxx_WS_1_In_Sump_Protein_Skimmer_In_Sump_Venturi_Needle_Wheel_Protein_Skimmers-AquaMaxx-UJ00189-FIPSISNW-vi.html

 

In case anyone else is interested.

 

How's this beauty working?

Man there's a few hobbyist over your way with awesome sps collection that sell pretty nice frags for a decent price. Y'all are some lucky sob. Lol