ADA 60p Soft Coral Mangrove Peninsular - Long overdue update

[East1]

Had a dreadful experience with H2o Aquatics today if anyone in the UK is reading - After contacting the courier company for a non-delivery I was informed that the parcel was mislabeled, I'd called in the store and they were more than happy to help, however today when I called the lines were busy/down and so I posted on their sponsor forum over on UR, where I was graciously accused of not following up with the store enough and jumping to assumptions that the parcel was mis-labeled.

 

The customer service comes with the levels of finesse I'd expect to see when I eat at McDonalds

[East1]

Pohl's Coral Snow arrived today, dosed a bit over recommended with some Zeobak to deal with the patches of Cyano I've got going on. It's probably a testament to how huge my skimmer is that the water was almost crystal clear 3 hours later

[East1]

Added a few frags today - A. Microclados, A. Spathulata and an unknown

[East1]

Ugh, overdosed Potassium today, by about 20ppm. some of the older SPS are looking stressed

[East1]

Oh how I've come from the original vision of diy and low-tech to Aquatronica, BM Dosing pump and Skimmer as well as closed loop and lovely curvy glass everywhere.

[East1]

I figured out - my SPS problems were from low flow, so a few adjustments and I think everything's back to normal.

AIO biopellets haven't arrived yet, and I'm past due for a picture but I've just dosed my coral snow for the day so this will have to do

[East1]

We're sitting here now, I've got STN on an acro and a stylo still from the potassium overdose. Switching to AIO biopellets tomorrow, so hopefully that should ease the nutrient problems and with it sps stress.

 

[East1]

I have an inordinate amount of amphipods on my tank, I see about 8-10 at any one time on the mangrove stalk alone, plus a a handful on most of the macroalgae.

[East1]

[defender.TX]

Looking good man. Very unique tank.

[GHill762]

I like your tank, very natrual looking. what sand is that?

[R1sky_Biz]

This isn't a hobby you can quit, many try and fail.

I learned this lesson this weekend, and I've now found myself with a small acrylic storage box with dimensions 30x15x14cm so ±1.5-1.7 gallons. It's surprisingly well made - from a Japanese home and household store in London called Muji. It looks like cell cast acrylic about 4mm thick with perfect joins and no bubbles at all, it's gorgeous and only cost me a fiver.

 

Stocking wise I'm thinking minimal display live rock (literally just rubble) and small colorful LPS pieces potentially with a small SPS if the system allows it. Biopellets and a skimmer are my go-to filtration and I don't see a reason to change that now, I'm thinking of running a Bubble Magus NAC QQ or a Tunze internal skimmer.

 

I plan to run this as an entirely clear display, drilling or figuring out another way to economically drill an overflow and use a plastic storage box as a makeshift sump on the shelf underneath. it'll be lit by a DIY 10W LED light fixture I made some time ago and has been kicking around my room.

 

Suggestions on drilling acrylic are much appreciated as well as input on the build in general! The sump box I've decided on has a total volume of 24 litres, and when half full will add 200% more water volume bringing the total setup to around 5 gallons of salty goodness

 

here's a picture of the tank because pictures

 

 

 

 

This is such a great looking setup. I have to ask you about your LED's in this photo. I have a few 5ch full spectrum chips that i wanted to build.. Any chance you would share some insight? Mind if I PM you about them?

[East1]

Looking good man. Very unique tank

 

cheers

I like your tank, very natrual looking. what sand is that?

I have no idea, I spent a while looking for the finest oolithic sand I could find and this was it, I found it on eBay

 

This is such a great looking setup. I have to ask you about your LED's in this photo. I have a few 5ch full spectrum chips that i wanted to build.. Any chance you would share some insight? Mind if I PM you about them?

 

Yeah sure, there's not much to mine, it's a standard Intel CPU heat-sink with built on fan and an LED and lens, and appropriate power supplies. There isn't a controller or anything despite the lens

[R1sky_Biz]

PM sent!

[East1]

 

I made a video, apologies for anyone who doesn't like drum and bass it was like 2am and I was using iMovie on my iPhone. i.

[BRADYBUNCH7]

This is unbelievable

how's your mangrove growth?

[ajmckay]

[East1]

This is unbelievable

how's your mangrove growth?

 

It's pretty good, I lost a pair of leaves when I moved it from fw to salt, but since I've gotten a lot of root growth and it's started it's axial branches, I'd estimate a pair of leaves every 3 weeks at this rate now that it's settled (I trimmed the growth point prior to moving to salt)

 

 

haha! I was watching that show last night for the first time

[k4ndyk1ng]

LOVE IT!

[East1]

I was wondering if you'd ever grace my thread with your presence again!

 

lil update - got a Tunze Nano RO unit cus I don't want to plumb in a full size one, as well as 4kg of TM Pro Reef salt, I've never been so excited to change large amounts of water in my life

[ajmckay]

Hey I didn't mention last post because I was at work, but you certainly like to live on the edge... The water level was really close to overflowing!

 

Also, looks like you may need to shim up the right side of the cabinet a mm or 2... Just sayin'.

[East1]

it's got a really, really slow turnover (1.5x / hour or so) and I've got the return connected to my Aquatronica which has a leak sensor and a level sensor in the sump to be safe.

 

I drilled it a while ago, it wasn't too tough it just took a while and left a lot of dust! I did accidentally crack the acrylic slightly but I just fused it back together and it seems fine, I'm a little worried because the acrylic is thin enough that when it absorbs water it starts to bend a bit and it's marginally noticeable, but yeah it's totally sumped, total system volume is about 5.5 gallons or so

[East1]

this is invaluable for anyone looking to switch salts or picking a brand of salt

[East1]

This tank is 3 months and 3 days old today. After a few ups and downs, including the sponge that took the tank with it, I've gone from wanting to create a small stable reef tank in >20 Litres of water to wanting to create a thriving SPS reef in this tiny volume. My tank holds roughly 5 gallons total now with a functioning sump and a lot of decent life support equipment.

 

I've revised a lot of the original equipment and methodologies when I started this tank but I think it's looking great now, SPS are holding colour and colouring up in some spots and things do look pretty great! I still do need to find a fish that takes my heart, though

[East1]

STN continues on the large staghorn, gutted - it was starting to get lovely steel blue tips too. I'm probably going to replace it with a group of 3 small frags instead.