A gravity run system by 2 cats.

[MikeTR]

or there's this:

http://www.thinkgeek.com/product/1cb0/

[michaelrzachmann]

UPDATE?!

[Basile]

The catwalk

Brotherly love

If you can't count on your bro to wash your ears who can you can count on

He got assimilated by the Borg

Does he has a face or what

You and i sleep like that we have to be taken to the emergency in the morning.

What i life

Its the same show everytime i go......

On the seeding fuge when it started, now they're a little more behaved

Helping me with my renovations

Again what a life

They get tea and biscuit in the afternoon.

Awesome list. I assume you will be getting into the corals later?

The nice thing about big tanks is the variety of life that can be housed, and I think you are utilizing all of your space nicely, especially with the backgrounds. This gives me some great ideas for the future.

 

Well take a look at these next tanks ; it is the direction i'm going , less corals but bigger ones i'm not into collecting an infinite genre but rather have a concept or a look. My tank is more of a mix tank , fish tank for sure. Some tanks you can't see the fish anymore or the fish has no more room to swim anymore because the corals have taken all the room. So thats not a coral tank i want, its a balanced on. Big but fewer corals , and starting them small they'll be better used to the tank parameters . For example my Tonga sculpture on one branch its going to be GSP which will keep the shape of the branch and look pretty cool with the wavebox making its wave through it. The other branch is my zoos branch , again keeping the shape of its substrate it shoul make an interesting looks with different zoos groing on it. Keeping the bottom clear of any other rocks competing with the branch, lower corals only. and a few Tridacna clams. The other sculptures has its own little world carved in different zones the NPS , a few SPS, LPS , the wall will house a few but thats it. The wall is a space saver.

I'll put less corals and give them lots of space between them , besides , less corals mean less food you have to feed them as well ; lowers the cost too.

One thing i know for sure , for big systems i'll quarantine everything and dip everything because the cost of curing and cleaning a big system is too much to bare. I know a guy who crashed a 400 G tank he's still recuperating from it after 5 years. I'm not going to be that guy. No cutting corners here if it happens it wont be because i've cut corners, on quarantines or preventive mesures. So since the fishes will be quarantine and between them i can add after dipping a few corals , but i'm picky and only if they fit and the right color . i can wait a year for the one i truely want. Thanks for your interest by the way:thumbup:

[Basile]

While i'm waiting for the sump this week last week they've installed my heat exchanger and central air-conditioner. The heat and air exchanger will kick in when the humidity go over what ever i set it too, so right now before the tank is full its 30 % and its dry inside get my electric shock every morning lol, so normal is about 45% to be comfortable .

It always does.....

They had to make the 5" dryer hole bigger to 6" for the new unit, i'm loosing the dryer for now but will fix it later, shhhhhh.The wall is 8" thick cement second floor , poor guy.

Primari vent arrives in the washer, dryer room also my RO/DI unit room.

The small unit on the floor is good for twice the size of my flat

Two pipes for the foul air outake, and two for the fresh air intakes

Doing the intakes and outakes

In my fishroom i'm having one outake to take the excess humidity out and one to bring fresh air in , so i can close the door and have a seperate system with the rest of the condo, i've also have the controls put in the fishroom so the unit will work according to the ambiant parameters of the fishroom and proceed accordingly, min or max. output.

Drilling for the airconditioning, actually its called a thermopump here now, its a combination of airconditioning and heater and its actually working together with the heat exchanger and use less energy if its possible, the heat exchanger uses the same as a 60W light bulb in a day, thats it.

Outside the unit makes 38dB less than your fidg and a small fan i had to ask if it was working.

 

Puralator called they're delivering the sump tomorow, wednesday the 18th, i'm starting to make water, it'll take 2.6 days to make 255 G of water. While i'm awake of course. One of my buddy is comming to iron out some of the plumbing i'm not familiar with but the rest is already to go, drains and returns, pumps and RO/DI, skimmer, Lightings, powerheads, and everything is ready to receive the fish. I'll be using at this point since i'm so behind , the bioproduct to start my tank, so i can put my fishes right away in it. I've seen it used and it works great. A friend of mine used it to start his whole fish store, if that's not confidence what is. I would of prefer the natural way but i want my family to see something in for Christmas . So in with the new technology. I'll have my chromis in te tank since they've been in quarantine 60 days now. and i'll have my Yellow tang in Quarantine in the QT .

 

I have a question for you guys. Since i'll be starting all tech and with no need of live rock, and that in my start fuge i've discover bristleworms should i still put the sand and live rock in. This is if you think BW are of any value of course.

 

Got the sump this morning and i made a new video part 8 check it out.

 

This video is about applying Epoxy resin and sand on foam.

Do not panic, i've done that already; as i was cleaning my new sump; its in 2 pieces, a 32"x19"x16"high for the drains, sock and skimmer and the second part for the reactors and return pumps. 18"x19"x16"high , the skimmer section had a piece of hair near the hole for the bulkhead. Well i though it was a hair, as i wipped it with paper towel and vinegar, thats when i heard it the craking noise . From the bulkhead hole to the top of the panel a crack and my yelling NOOOOOooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!. YEP brand new sump. So i contacted Concept Aquariums which i sent pictures of the crack by now i had smeared on a thick coating of silicone on both side of the exterior panel. They were very calm and had immediate solutions. One was to contact one of their friends here in Ottawa who could repair the panels at their cost and within a few days. So thats the best solution to get this wet party on track as i have a 30 gallons drum to empty in the main tank. So thats the plan . Tomorrow i'm taking the sump to that store who happens to be a member of my local aquarist club, a buddy of mine lol , small world.

Just like to share this moment of joy which is like comparing it to the baptism (a ceremonial immersion in water) of a tank. A lot of hurdles have been jumped to get there, lol . Thanks to my new friends here in this clubDavid CooperPhilippe BrissonMartin MaisonneuveMarc SarazinStuart SeemungalJp Lavoie, who helped at one time or another and those of you for your support. Enjoy the mini vid lol it actually made me go.

[Basile]

After the sump which a new panel will be put in place by the way; now this !!Part of my main sculpture collapsed. The base of the arm supporting the stalactite broke OFF from the main body. Very brittle rock this is. I'm not shocked actually i had my doubts and it was a gamble from the start. i knew it could happen. I'm not at all down i got a solution, not perfect, life goes on. I've drained the big tank into the fuge and made repairs with the cement today and filled up the fuge instead for the next 24 hours.

So glad its didn't hit the glass

I had my eye on this one from the beginning i had a doubt, the break is on your left side, i know hard to see i'll point next pict lol.

Very brittle rock , and the water didn't help it added to the weight of the arm, i was watching it.

Broke right OFF.Didn't make a big sound just a small swoosh.

You can clearly see the big gap between the arm (right) and the shelf (Left), something to be aware when you sculpt with these.

Right now on this picture its resting on the stalactite and not touching the glass because of the angle.....thank GOD!!!!!

.

This is my solution ; I've built the supports before the actual repairs.

I'm using the stalactite as a counter weight to stabilise the arm.

One good thing about this repair is that my whole arm now will be under water and will useful now lol.

The new position of the stalactite is where the nylon support is perfect in the corner we'll see the fish swimming from both side now, not bad.

The dam cats are out of my fuge for good tabarnac!!!

've spread the cement even more than this by now to make as bigger hand on the arm, lol as possible its held on 3 sides. I'm letting cure for 24H.

Second side, the third is underneath the rock.

In my excitement i cut the support a few milimeters short, hey i'm allowed i was in distress, beside that what shims are for lol.

Always usefull to cover and blend aquasculpting.

Under the arm their's a gap even with the cement which was too soft to stay , so i'll foam the dam thing!

I will be leaving the cement cure for 24 h before laying the foam, then letting the foam curring another 24 h, and then blending with the resin and the sand , another 24 h and letting cure another 72 hours before filling with water, leaving al the support until the tank is filled up and the rocks have ab

sord water and taking the support only after a week during the day to keep an eye on it......you bet.

My doubts; it began when i was drilling, i used Marco's Rock by the way; its not indicative of the provenance or the business, but the nature of the rock. It was too easy to drill. I whent throught it like butter You should keep that in mind when doing a complex structure specially one involving a lot of wieght of a great spand. The reinforcemnt held, as i said its the rock that gave way. No amount of cement , rods , pvc could of prevent the break. The porous nature of the rock was the cause that made the rock weak at the end. Thats my conclusion.

The next question; will this one hold? I do not know. But it has a better chance.

Got a shot of my new panel. Concept whent cheap on me, thats why it crack; 1/4 " instead of 3/8" like the last time.

Just the hole to be done and i'm back on track , noting to show for Christmas of course that train left the station .

WE HAVE LIFT OFF , WE HAVE A GO;

Temperature is 74 and rising, all system go.

The external Wavebox is on and functioning within parameters and quiet, not bad for a $20 add on + the tunze $ 295 pump instead of the $ 639 Tunze wavebox.

Measuring the currents and direction to better position my powerheads.

Checking different spots ,wavebox influence and dead spots.

The cats loved the wavebox and where very intrigued by it.

I've removed the supports from the repaired sculpture but put those crates for insurance for a few days, in case the water has an influence on the rocks weight and structure, also the water movement may also play into it. So to avoid a scratch if it fall. I'm not worried about a break the glass is thick enough and their's not enough innertia to propel the rock hard enough againts the glass to break it.

The fuge was a sleep at 5;30 this morning i wasn't lol.

At 5;30 i had a Circus freak doing an act on the edge....

Taking a sip.Accidents happens you know...........hehe....lol.

[jedimasterben]

[Basile]

I cleaned up the place ready to receive my QT tanks, I've put my salt in today tomorrow will take my readings and ajust my salinity, and will proceed to seed my tank with "Start Up" from Prodibio . Its a quick start cycle to populate a tank quickly, and it works. A store has started its business with it. No kidding all his tanks are ok and its very popular. www.prodibio.com check it out.

I'll follow it with " Bioptim" from the same company which are nutients for the bacteria, and then "BioDigest" which are living bacteria for biological filtration.

Waiting that that everything is pluged and functioning before organising where and to which circuit i'm sending which wire.

Cleaned up the shelf for the QT tanks and controllers. The bottom will contain an Auto feeding fridge.(futur project)

Since i have that behind me i want to piss every 5 minutes.

Calibrating my heaters. i may need 3, not sure yet.

Still have another green light strip to put in for the Borg identity, lol.

The water still cloudy from the salt.

This is across my refugium front back to front. What do you think, too much?? I'm wondering ; i did some shimming, because the stand was wableling a bit...

Thats the reading from left to right thats perfect.Refugium .

This on the shelf of the refugium same data, again

This is the refugium right side back to front

Same better angle.

This is the left side from front to back , its 1/8 of an inch OFF , its too much i have to shim the dam thing today.

This means i have to drain my 75 G refugium into my 30G drum which is now full of RO water , and some into my sump as well. So first i'll drain my RO water...so lets go grrrrrrrr.

Filling my drum from the fuge

This is my sump after filling it up, testing its seems to the fullest....

Empty fuge

My shimming experience starting now...

Alright this is my shiming experience, never done it before, hope never have to do it again, this is what i got after.I did the sides the back and the front.

Thats the front left to right about 1/32 inch.

left side of rfugium front to back 1/32 inch

left side again better light lol

Right side of refugium same 1/32 inch

[Basile]

EXPRESS START UP a Prodibio product ; got it from my LFT started is whole business on its so if its not a sign of confidence on the product i don't know what is. Seeded my tank with just now and in 12 hours your suppose to be able to put your fish in it. I'll be dipping a snail or two in first and look around. Then tomorrow night i'll put the rest of my fishes and critters in . This is the stuff

http://www.prodibio.com/

The bristle worms under the live rocks i've put last night are still alive , this morning . I chose those rocks intentionally to see if they would survive the process, just so you know.

Twelve hours later......

I've put the nassarius snails and two hermiths , they seem fine.They're easy to spot nothing else in there lol. The snails buried themselves right away, one stayed on the sand.

Thats the box Get it at GOT FISH , You'll be able to put your fish in 12 hours for $55 thats pretty cool. With my tank size i had to put all 30 viles in this box good for a 250 US Gallons .

Those are the follow up boxes you have to implement to keep the bacteria and cycle active until the system finds its balance and can sustain itself.

Took about 20 min. for those 30 vials.

Wash your hads after you don't want to start a cycle in your bed do you , nasty bacteria.....

Thats little thing saves your hands beleive me.

Break both ends and the liquid flows out.

My work is done time to eat.

Ok well i've begone the transfer of the seeding fuge, the little critters have been drpped acclimated and now one of the chromis is now in transit, next stop the big system.

-----------------------------------------

Here we have the firs hermith on the moon ; With his jetpack testing the waters for future generation of crabs and other species to come. And here at Tank center we are watching very nervously as he climb this boulder, in the middle of this wasteland.

The copilot!

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

End of report

Tank Center.

 

 

After 3 months ,my Chromis are in...it wa suppose to be a quarantine not a life sentence!! But all the delays with the bad sump ; the replacement sump and then the broken sump it was an extra 6 week in the joint for those guys. But now they're finally in their permanent home. But camera shy for the first day.

One of the many hermiths i'm keeping for a friend who's tank cracked, so i keep them for now in the refugium with his brothers.

Some of the scape in the fuge

In the fuge i have less design and construction more natural look, to contrast the main reef tank.

 

[Basile]

 

Thanks but their's a few flaws and bumps as usuall lol. I miscalculate the seperation in the fuge i have to pu an extra gutter guard payer on top the hermiths are climbing on the other sides,lol. If they do that when i have an Angler...bye bye birdy lol. My Tunze ATO sensor is fried have to return it i guess. How ever the system is water tight no drip that was my biggest concern. I tryed the emergency system twice a day for the past 3 days, flawless. emergency powerloss too. my cat ate one of my green LED strip cord , can't be fixed, don't wich one too cook in a paté i'll have to assimilate that one i suppose. Now they're licking each others butt and looking at me, hope they don't think i'm going to join in.... they're roarly mistaken.....i pick up a very nice branch with different kinds of zoos on it yesterday . Superb colors , i've put them in the bottom of the tank for now letting them acclimate to the light in the position they'll be put and fixed on one of the tonga sculpture; that will start that spreading of zoos on that particular sculpture which will host only zoos of different colors and keep the shape of those branch , that should make a very cool look in the tank.. The other tonga sculpture will be GSP. With the wave box ; the motion should be a feast to the eyes. Just noticed i don't have a picture of that one. Thats a first for me i always take pictures lol , must of been a cat moment, when i'm distracted by one of them lol., bad, bad pudy cat!!! lol. Here some of the pictureof the fuge while emptying it some very nasty customers in there, 5 months it ran instead of 6 weeks lol In it was some stuff i was keeping for a friend who lost his tank to a crash, so now its in mine. we've decided that i'll keep them after all and i'll buy him the new stuff, so these guys don't suffer another transfer for nothing.

This is the fuge just before the transfer; its cloudy because it needed to be shut down , remember i have no skimmer it was only suppose to run 6 weeks not 5 months. it begged for closure.

The hand of A professional, anyone saying he got stung by a bristle worm, amateur... i have a box of these never work in your tank without them, A scrape with some corals and you can find yourself with a blood infection which is the worst or a local infection ,can result in amputation if not treated. Some nasty bacteria resides in those tanks. We encouraged them for are filtration process and its alive. One guy i know almost lost his jaw bone after swalowing abit of water after a syphon . he had a tooth pulled the day before the bacteria lodged its self in the cavity and ate is bone .... no s kidding. TALK TO THE HAND LOL

Hermiths in one bucket

Snails

Rocks

Natural selection if i find them they're dead since we know they're lots more . If they stick like a soar thumb,.......

Extra cheato for the club member who need it

The old 20g fuge has become the cleaned 20 G QT soon to be fitted with a hangon skimmer. I'll also have a mini 10 g QT with a mini skimmer

 

 

Species Name: Asterina anomala

Authority: Clark, 1921

Common Name: Fiji Star

Range: Indo-Pacific Ocean

Natural Environment: Inhabits areas of heavy coral growth in shallow coastal areas

General Husbandry: Has a temperature range of 75 to 83°F (24 - 28°C). This small Star, less than 1 inch (2 cm) seems to have come from Fiji on live rock. It’s a predatory star that eats sps, soft coral, and coralline algae. They are large bodied and sometimes visible where aquarium side panels meet the substrate when the lights dim and/or hide under corals during day. They divide across the main body with two or three legs of various lengths. Even though there is some thought there may be 'safe’ similar looking members in this family, I’d rather remove these stars as they quickly multiply! It is said the Nardoa species, such as N. rosea may consume these pests. Also, the Harlequin shrimp Hymenocera elegans, will consume them.

http://www.saltcorner.com/AquariumLibrary/browsespecies.php?CritterID=3017

 

My new video

A few new pictures

This is the sculpture that will be covered wit zoos maintaning the shape of the the Tonga branch was of all importance in the choice of the choice of coral i was going to put in other wise what was the point of doing a sculpture using tonga branch in the first place ......

The two little guys i picked up should have enough space to become big and strong with no interfearance from no one. My tank will be a fish tank with corals in it. Not a coral tank. Which means ièll have big corals in limited numbers, and i want them to become big.

The Aqua mag ; a Mangnetic rock, man made to help in many way. For acclimatation of coral, by moving them ; fragging, replacing those ugly eggcrates.... etc

Green star polyp

A lurker

 

A few new addition or addiction , i made a little experiment with those guys . How much they eat . So i put 2 piece or squid . The nassarius took those pieces down (the size of their own bodies) in 30 min. So i've add second serving, it took this time an hour with some left over and then the big mama came out with her 5 legs to finish the dish, lol . My 2 urchins went on the algae attach the hace a whole 150g to eat on so big table to clean up. I'm going to get fighting conch from Got fish to help the CUC and a cucumber that will be the basis of the CUC for my 150. i want to rely less on snails for algae . First they venture out of rimless more often and have a shorter life span.

The 3 mousketers on a squid first serving, didn't know at the time it would take a second to fill them up. Those are the Orange Spot Butterscotch Nassarius Snail ; scientific name;

Babylonia formosae

Second serving the pig of the litter but ultimatly would relent and leave a piece to the serpent star

In the other tank these guys were at it while the third was on his way lol, we see here a normal jumbo nassarius.

Second serving the pig of the litter but ultimatly would relent and leave a piece to the serpent star

The Babylonia formosae is about twice as big as the jumbo nassarius and with only 6 they've done my entire sand bed in a 150 G tank. So they work extremely well, they cost a bit more but well worth it. Tiger nassarius or Orange Spot Butterscotch nassarius snails.

Here are my Tuxedo i have two; A red and a blue, that i've named , Red and Blue.

This is their diet ; amongs herbivore they eat the biggest variety of algae of any species. All my stuff is pretty much cemented and will be . So get going guys, do your stuff.

Derbesia marina

Derbesia species 2

Derbesia species 1

Boodlea species

Ostreobium species

Cladophoropsis species 2

Cladophoropsis species 1

Chaetomorpha crassa

Chaetomorpha aerea

Cladophora rupestris

Cladophora prolifera

Cladophora laetevirens

Chlorodesmis species (Turtle Weed)

Acetabularia crennulata (Mermaids Cup/Mermaid Wine Glass Alga)

Valoniopsis pachynema

Bryopsis species

Bryopsis plumosa

Enteromorpha prolifera

Enteromorpha linza

Enteromorpha intestinalis

Enteromorpha compressa

Ulva rigida (Sea Lettuce)

Ulva lactuca

 

[Basile]

Well i worked for the fish , for the corals and for the cats. It was a mixed bag today. I also measured my water currents and flow.

I colonised my Tonga branches; A bit of GSP on my Tonga branch

it only needs to grow now, lol

The little bubble coral is in troubled waters, troubled and too strong.

Ah yes these guys are never too far from the action, Ya try to grab that one buddy lol

Trying to determine my currents and where it goes, very easy using this method, its as easy as a string on a stick!

Rotating the stick you get the prevalent currents and altitudes.

Using a longer ruban you find out the path of you currents

In this case it met the other current from the other powerhead, turbulence...

One is being acclimated the other want the ruban; No need to beg your no getting it.

Here the two current meet

The undertow here is the strongest and too strong for my bubble corals, it can't deploy.

Confirmed with the small closer ruban

here its the surface flow from the right powerhead that prevails. The ruban has changed direction.

YEEEE victory!!

[Basile]

The new recruit; Diadema setosum (Hatpin Urchin)

Yes a new observation platform for the kitties.

And another one in the window , on top of my desk

This is how i imagine my old age lol

Well i did add a few thing but mainly i cleaned up the room and my bins and bought a unit to store my accessories ; not my manly thing but my fishy things....specially the new stuff i bought.

Exibit number one; Boy does it contain stuff or what. Twice the size of the crap i bought at Staples and who couldn't be assemble properly without crumbling(long story) and half the price at IKA ... need i say more IKA rules!!

Got a nice futon at the exact level to see my primary tank and drink my porto in silence listening to the 1 " waves crashing on the other side of the tank

Did you noticed the Hamerhead up there, it cleans !! I made a $ 250 Macro algae purchase today all kinds for the fuge, and a $345 cuc for the main reef tank this week.

Some nice Sympodium coral very cool looking blue green , doesn't grow as fast as GSP but incrusting and perfect for the shallow areas of my tank and great to look at.

One of my CUC cleaner shrimp got 5 they're so friendly

A nice COCO, got 3 of them.

He couldn't resist cramping my lens this guy rushed in i couldn't stop him.

His brother the maginific

My quarantine tanks and their skimmers, a 20 G and 10 G.

Ya i know those plastic are from my freshwater days .....the strict necessary.

I'm working into cleaning my wires down and having my power backup sytem organised.

A clean shot

I have to get that brown or orange lens they'll pop up much better.

I fed her a piece of squid took 25 min to disapear.

Mating...

 

[Basile]

Yes yes i know qt tanks, well these were from a friend who had them for a while and they were in perfect health. And the seahorses 6" in lenght well a local breather had them ,and in pairs of mates, already heating mysis and brine so how can you let this occasion pass by.

Sorry for the glare i'm still in the market for a lens in particular an orange lens for the blue tank glare.

Best buddies in their tank why not take the two of them right away...

What i like about these two fish is that they're buddies already , they swim together all the time . I'll find out in time who's the boss i guess

My schooling chromis

See the little red critter on the left side thats the one who poke my horse. i was very surprise.

The one in the fore front is a male with the smooth curved belly ; its the females who have a , well beer belly, round with a curved up pouch.

One of my Hammers

Frogspawn a rare one i was told.... they're all rare according to them lol.

The right side of my sculpture will be filled with diffrent Hammers and frogspawn.

The Tonga forest

The two flying away; When i get that lens it 'll make all the difference that shot.

Those aren't bubbles by the way its pods all over.

Seen the elegant urchin up there upper left.

Spike me lol; He's enjoying himseld and with impunity, the fish can't go near this thing now lol

[Basile]

Thats his best side lol

I'm flying , i'm flying.....he made that turn so quick that was a fluke!

The entry cave and they come out the other

And exit from the other

I love when they race and go around the stalactite thats why i made it so the fish can swim around it it validate my efforts, it so just so KOOL!!!!!

Mister, mister mister mister bubble!!!

[Basile]

Well asides from the new seahorses i made a getto feeding station for them plus i added a few new Macro's $307 worth of it, not cheap these macro's....

From a simple container with the hamerhead magnet, this thing has to do more than one thing at that price....... so its holding the feeding station.

This male Hippocampus erectus is waiting his turn has the female is vacuming the inside of the box.

This set up is perfect; i don't have to stop any pumps and the mysis is trapped inside the box. The waterflow can't blow it away. So the seahorses can eat at leisure all day as they would in nature. Its not terribly groovy looking but it works, so thats good for me.

This type of box was of ridgid plastic not suited for cutting really so it cracked badly. I'm a bit concern about safety for my horses but they seem vey proficient at grabing things and avoiding injuries.

As you can see, they're mituculus and deliberate in their search.

The waiting area a finger gorgonia. Grows fairely quick in the right conditions.

I had to give him a job he was making me nuts....

Here we go, told ya, not 5 minutes he's sleeping on the job!!

Oh here's the other trainee...

Coming out after 40 minutes

This guy's trying to get a free meal deal, what a tronc!!!

The new Macro's

Cymopolia Barbata

Ulva

Coraline hard

Gracilaria sp

Coraline soft

Dragon's breath

Seahorses side

Angler' side

Gracilaria parvispora

Codium, dead man fingers

Tufted Joint Algae Cymopolia Barbata

Eucheuma Spinosum Macro Algae

Ogo Macro Algae (Gracilaria parvispora)

[Basile]

 

Those who think i've done this all by myself , are wrong, i had lots of help.I wanted to do this the natural way all the way , natural cycle 6 to 8 weeks bla, bla ,blah, but faith interviened and i was forced into a situation where i had to choose between loosing my seeding fuge and my first quarantine fishes or do the artificial insimination of the tank with a product called;

"Prodibio Start Up" . Which i did on Dec 27 and on dec 28 i was able to put my fishes in the tank. The tank had been seeded and cycled with bacteria and stabilised to receive fish. Of course nothing is that simple. I still have to dose a regime of bacteria for a few months until the system is completely stable. and flourishing on its own. This is what this post is about. No agent can claim to render your tank habitable within 12 hours without a follow up. Which i'm doing right now. The Prodibio is a very efficient merchandise and well thought product from France. http://www.prodibio.com/

After the initial dosage of 30 vials of the Start Up product to cycle the tank i'm following for 6 days with equal amount of Biotim ; which are Nutients for Marine Bacteria, and Biogest ; which are living Marine Bacteria .

Then i let 2 weeks past before dosing 5 vials of each for 3 cycles that means 6 weeks, then i dose the rest 1 vial of each every day , that will bring me to March . So the tank is still under a suppevised cycle regime if you will . With living creatures in it . And doing well i might say.

I just dosed this morning;

2 days worth

The Ulva is being disintegrated by the pods, they're eating it like crazy. Even after i dosed some Phyto.

I got some nice hard coraline cluster, just for the hell of it.

This is soft coraline algae cluster

When i received it some of them were very fragile, had to use the tools lol

Drying the rock with compressed air.

I have theses pictures in reverse don't i lol the set up.....

 

Whatch report ;

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/blog/a-starfish-horror-story-is-unfolding-in-the-north-american-pacific-coast

[Basile]

Well i found these 2 products that are specific to macro's , helpfull to corals as well in some fashion but one is design for macroalgae.

This one contains, Manganese, not Magnesium as i had to tell the clerk 25 times and still couldn't spell it....Probably left high school too fast... Manganese for algae ( Mn) on the periodic table a transition metal, Magnesium for corals, (Mg) an Alki earth metal,

Well my research has brought me to these two components, their were others but over dosing is not a good idea. I've contacted the seller of my macroalgae and they're sending their parameters at which they keep their stocks to help me keep mine. Imagine that having water too clean lol.

And iodine and iodide for your red macroalgaes before they loose their bright red colors.

Expensive week , expensive weekend, expensive blue carpet Nem, but what a beauty.

Just arrived and with a blue light not the best lightin lol.

More relaxed

One of the first thing i've learned from an expert on are group ; YOU do not feed that species of nem because you hurt them in fact it the major cause of death for this one.

Thats the trick, half an hour like this to an hour and they host it no problem

Some re enforcement in the CUC department he's about to split, do we want to see this.......naaaahhhhh.

A little nicer to watch

A nice curtins in my fuge, hoping my supplements will help.

A few zooz and a gold Hammer, yes i'll move the hammer tonight lol.

This piece is actually round and will fit nicely on the zooz sculpture, i got 3 of those wierd shape and very unique pieces.

A great little gadjet; the digital hydrometer is for me much more usefull than a probe. When i buy fish or particularly fragile inverts with very high or low gravity and you don't know it and you just acclimate by estimate, you can shock them and kill them. I found some dealers water to be, 1.021 up to 1.041 , no kidding, so when you do your ordinary acclimatation unaware of these fact , you can easely kill your fragine inverts. Fish being not as fragile but still. So that thing is great.

Very easy to use

It gives you temp; gravity in 3 different modes.

My fuge i think is doing better since i add iodine and some supplements, still need another that i've ordered . I think that vendor selling Macro should sell that stuff at the same time

Their was good light today not too sunny so i made a photo shoot of the tanks, because sometimes too much glare and reflexion i get more window shot reflexion in the water than fish shots lol. So here we go

From the top of the refugium i see my reef tank like this

From the roof i see my fuge like this

After dosing some iodine, iodides , iron and manganese , the fuge bounced back a bit

The clowns are in the NPS zone as you can see no growth of algae what so ever , perfect for the NPS's.

[Basile]

Almost got a clear shot boy are they hyper....

Being in the diatom stage the sponge who's normaly purple became totally brown, now she's clearing up and getting her color back to purple, mauve again.

The first tonga sculpture's going to get 3 new additions this week , to its branches with zoos on it.

This tonga sculpture is being overrun and cleaned up at the same time , The GSP are growing actually prety good.

The FTS you can see the 3 pieces i was talking about , very interesting shapes as well thats why i took them too

I don't know what these guys found but they've been in there for 2 weeks now cleaning.

One of the interesting piece, its actually a tonga branch with growth on it.

An earlier piece i put there, i'm not good with epoxy.

The new star of the tank

What she see's , with her mouth i suppose lol

That cucumber is too close to the letuce lol.

The fuge was in good light too

I love a green canopee

Find the seahorse

Cleaned up my wires a bit

[Basile]

For flow rate and to measure where i put stuff i find out using this method;

A short ribbon gives me a good sens of the flow

A long ribbon gives me the direction and path of the flow.

Each time you must turn your stick to see which current is predominent or your ribbon will stay in its original position and give you fasle reading. A turn of the stick forces the ribbon to realine itself to the new and actual current and give you accurate reading. Long ribbon also shows you also where the different currents and flow meet.

So to position a fragile or demanding coral or invert do this at different heights , because it changes drastically because of obstical, namely your rockwork and aquascape, if you didn't think your scape matters with your flow think again. Dead spots can be created because of bad pump positioning, or aquascape. You may need 4 pumps if you have them in the wrong place, while you could get away with 3 or even 2 if they're place in a good and studied fashion, = less money spent on powerheads = less power spent = more money for fish etc.... making sense.

A bit of comparisson on foods and what some are feeding tangs and the nuttritional values.

Spirulina dried

Nutritional value per 100*g (3.5*oz)

Energy

1,213*kJ (290*kcal)

Carbohydrates

23.9 g

-*Sugars

3.1 g

-*Dietary fiber

3.6 g

Fat

7.72 g

-*saturated

2.65 g

-*monounsaturated

0.675 g

-*polyunsaturated

2.08 g

Protein

57.47 g

-*Tryptophan

0.929 g

-*Threonine

2.97 g

-*Isoleucine

3.209 g

-*Leucine

4.947 g

-*Lysine

3.025 g

-*Methionine

1.149 g

-*Cystine

0.662 g

-*Phenylalanine

2.777 g

-*Tyrosine

2.584 g

-*Valine

3.512 g

-*Arginine

4.147 g

-*Histidine

1.085 g

-*Alanine

4.515 g

-*Aspartic acid

5.793 g

-*Glutamic acid

8.386 g

-*Glycine

3.099 g

-*Proline

2.382 g

-*Serine

2.998 g

Water

4.68 g

Vitamin A*equiv.

29 μg (4%)

-*beta-carotene

342 μg (3%)

-*lutein*and*zeaxanthin

0 μg

Thiamine (vit. B1)

2.38 mg (207%)

Riboflavin (vit. B2)

3.67 mg (306%)

Niacin (vit. B3)

12.82 mg (85%)

Pantothenic acid*(B5)

3.48 mg (70%)

Vitamin B6

0.364 mg (28%)

Folate*(vit. B9)

94 μg (24%)

Vitamin B12

0 μg (0%)

Choline

66 mg (13%)

Vitamin C

10.1 mg (12%)

Vitamin D

0 IU (0%)

Vitamin E

5 mg (33%)

Vitamin K

25.5 μg (24%)

Calcium

120 mg (12%)

Iron

28.5 mg (219%)

Magnesium

195 mg (55%)

Manganese

1.9 mg (90%)

Phosphorus

118 mg (17%)

Potassium

1363 mg (29%)

Sodium

1048 mg (70%)

Zinc

2 mg (21%)

Link to USDA Database entry

Percentages are roughly approximated

using*US recommendations*for adults.

Source:*USDA Nutrient Database

Romaine lettuce

Nutritional value per 100*g (3.5*oz)

Energy

72*kJ (17*kcal)

Carbohydrates

3.3 g

-*Dietary fibre

2.1 g

Fat

0.3 g

Protein

1.2 g

Water

95 g

Vitamin A*equiv.

290 μg (36%)

Folate*(vit. B9)

136 μg (34%)

Vitamin C

24 mg (29%)

Calcium

33 mg (3%)

Iron

0.97 mg (7%)

Phosphorus

30 mg (4%)

Potassium

247 mg (5%)

Lettuce (butterhead) iceberg

Nutritional value per 100*g (3.5*oz)

Energy

55*kJ (13*kcal)

Carbohydrates

2.23 g

-*Sugars

0.94

-*Dietary fibre

1.1 g

Fat

0.22 g

Protein

1.35 g

Water

95.63 g

Vitamin A*equiv.

166 μg (21%)

-*beta-carotene

1987 μg (18%)

-*lutein*and*zeaxanthin

1223 μg

Thiamine (vit. B1)

0.057 mg (5%)

Riboflavin (vit. B2)

0.062 mg (5%)

Pantothenic acid*(B5)

0.15 mg (3%)

Vitamin B6

0.082 mg (6%)

Folate*(vit. B9)

73 μg (18%)

Vitamin C

3.7 mg (4%)

Vitamin E

0.18 mg (1%)

Vitamin K

102.3 μg (97%)

Calcium

35 mg (4%)

Iron

1.24 mg (10%)

Magnesium

13 mg (4%)

Manganese

0.179 mg (9%)

Phosphorus

33 mg (5%)

Potassium

238 mg (5%)

Sodium

5 mg (0%)

Zinc

0.2 mg (2%)

Link to USDA Database entry

Percentages are roughly approximated

using*US recommendations*for adults.

Source:*USDA Nutrient Database

Spinach, raw

Nutritional value per 100*g (3.5*oz)

Energy

97*kJ (23*kcal)

Carbohydrates

3.6 g

-*Sugars

0.4 g

-*Dietary fiber

2.2 g

Fat

0.4 g

Protein

2.9 g

Water

91.4 g

Vitamin A*equiv.

469 μg (59%)

Vitamin A

9377 IU

-*beta-carotene

5626 μg (52%)

-*lutein*and*zeaxanthin

12198 μg

Thiamine (vit. B1)

0.078 mg (7%)

Riboflavin (vit. B2)

0.189 mg (16%)

Niacin (vit. B3)

0.724 mg (5%)

Vitamin B6

0.195 mg (15%)

Folate*(vit. B9)

194 μg (49%)

Vitamin C

28 mg (34%)

Vitamin E

2 mg (13%)

Vitamin K

483 μg (460%)

Calcium

99 mg (10%)

Iron

2.71 mg (21%)

Magnesium

79 mg (22%)

Manganese

0.897 mg (43%)

Phosphorus

49 mg (7%)

Potassium

558 mg (12%)

Sodium

79 mg (5%)

Zinc

0.53 mg (6%)

Link to USDA Database entry

Percentages are roughly approximated

using*US recommendations*for adults.

Source:*USDA Nutrient Database

Seaweed, laver, raw Nori

Nutritional value per 100*g (3.5*oz)

Energy

35*kcal (150*kJ)

Carbohydrates

5.11 g

-*Dietary fiber

0.3 g

Fat

0.28 g

Protein

5.81 g

Water

85.03 g

Vitamin A*equiv.

260 μg (33%)

Thiamine (vit. B1)

0.098 mg (9%)

Riboflavin (vit. B2)

0.446 mg (37%)

Niacin (vit. B3)

1.470 mg (10%)

Folate*(vit. B9)

146 μg (37%)

Vitamin B12

0.000 μg (0%)

Vitamin C

39.0 mg (47%)

Vitamin D

0 μg (0%)

Vitamin E

1.00 mg (7%)

Vitamin K

4.0 μg (4%)

Calcium

70 mg (7%)

Iron

1.80 mg (14%)

Magnesium

2 mg (1%)

Phosphorus

58 mg (8%)

Potassium

356 mg (8%)

Sodium

48 mg (3%)

Zinc

1.05 mg (11%)

Percentages are roughly approximated

using*US recommendations*for adults.

Source: source_usda=1

Yes i have a few new participants one that i forgot to take a picture of before he got eaten, one that i forgot to take a picture before i lost him and one that i took a picture after he eat one of them.

Here's the mug shot of the killer. A Dwarf Fuzzy Lionfish in my Angler pen. The Angler pen is called the Angler pen because it was suppose to have an Angler in it but , the bugger is late to show up at the LFS or i should say the right one, a yellow colored one like this

So this is what in the pen right now the Dwarf Fuzzy Lion fish.

This is after he ate a moly i had just acclimated and put in. Thinking id have time to put my rosie in and he'd go for the rosie first and then go for the moly second when ever he's be hungry, in a week or so......Thats not what happened. He came out of nowhere , because i didn't know where he was, and within 10 second it was over. Didn't have time to shoot him with the camera, i didn't see him swallow the moly it was too fast.

You can see the tail of the moly comming out of his mouth here

This fish is a stalker just like the Angler so they'll have fun in the bush, the difference is that this one swims when he sees his prey. In nature he reaches, 7" but in tanks 4" is usually the max i'm told. I fed him a live one to make him comfy for the first time because freshwater fish in the long run will harm him, the lungs and liver in particular. So next meal will be raw chop up shrimps and with tongues he'll accept pellets i'm told they're quite easy to train.

My concerne this time was the size of the prey, they choke sometimes on them and die. This morning he was perched again. he loves tha backwall, nooks and crannys.

I think my urchin is developping a twisted sense of humour, just like mine....or he wants to show off since its the Olympics....Took my Halimeda right off the bottom roots and all....

An new elegance in my main tank

Remember my purple vase sponge, she was all brown during my diatom algae bloom

She cleared up

So his most of the tank . Thanks to my Urchins and 4 and only 4 trochus snails. Why only 4, did i say 4, because 10 of those had totally eaten my macro's $ 197 worth of algaes and then died after. So 4 i wont say it enough , don't buy to many or they'll starve to dead after their work is done. I have a 150 Gallons with a 6 foot long backwall with nooks and crannys and some rocks on the sand and they cleaned it out in a week only 4 of them , so don't waste your money with dozens of them; thats all i'm saying lol. So in the nex few pictures you'll see the before and after. 4.......

This use to be all brown ; i have a sailfin blenny, can't get him still enough for a shot, but he's working great on the wall too. Some of my stock list change according to the tank's need. With that much rockwall a herbivore was innevitable. I still will have a goby, and the missing picture is of the pistol shrimp , i can't locate her. Small and blind. I found my emerald crab behind my big sculpture eating and happy so he's alright.

I change my sock now only every week, for the nitrates to go up a bit for the macroalgaes, the GFO has been shut down, i still have it in reserve just in case i have a surge. My sump is pretty clean i've only had to vacuumed once in 6 weeks.

I've dosed these two which you absolutly need if you are to have a refugium full of macro of diffrerent species beside cheatos.

This one, iodine, iodide is crucial for red algaes in particular dragon's breath . That algae actually disolves in less tha 24h before your eyes if you don't have that in your water. I'm not kidding, it becomes like saranwrap celophane and translucant and disapears in front of you. It the only algae i lost, i saved the others but just in time.

I skim kina wet, i rather add clean supplements that let too many junk into the system.

I'll be dosing soon with a dosing kit , but its back order. High levels of Calcium, Magnesium and Alk helps the development of Macroalgaes a lot, and suppress the micro algaes , thats a very good thing to remember , ired that in my research, so until i get my dosing set up i'll be dosing this supplement.

[Basile]

I've copied this for myself so i don't forget it and for those looking for an answer about feeding their Elegant, its from a Mod and tanks for posting it;

"Yes, a regular prawn or shrimp from the grocery store. Here are EC's instructions for feeding the elegance. It's from the big Elegance coral thread.

Elegance corals typically don't feed on tiny particles. Like the size of brine shrimp or smaller. They feed on more substantial meals. Like small fish or shrimp.

When you try to feed a healthy elegance, you're going to get one of two responses. If the whole coral, or most of it, withdraws fairly quickly, you're not getting a feeding response. It's a defensive response. Even if food does stick to the tentacles in such a situation, it's likely to be released later when the coral opens back up. Many people see the coral grab food and close up, and think the coral is feeding, but it isn't.

If there's to much contact, or an abrupt increase in water flow, especially with large amounts of particulate matter in it, the coral is likely to go into defensive mode and close up. You want to avoid this the best you can.

When an elegance feeds, the only parts of the coral that move are the ones involved in the feeding. The rest of the coral remains open.

Try this. Pick up about three table shrimp from your grocery store seafood department. If you buy to much, it will just get freezer burnt before you have a chance to use it. Peel the shrimp, and rinse them really really well. Cut off a piece about the size of a pencil eraser and very slowly, and gently, wiggle it in the tentacles of the coral. You're trying to mimic the movements of a small struggling fish without making it seem like the coral is under attack. This will bring more tentacles in to hold the food, and create a stronger feeding response. With a new coral, I always try to make feeding as easy as possible. If you look at the perimeter of the polyp, where the tentacles are, you'll notice that it's folded up. Kinda pleated. At the high points of these folds, the tentacles are closer to the mouths than they are where the polyp lays out flat. I always try to feed the coral right at these high points.

You should see the coral begin to move the food closer to one of the mouths. Then the mouth will begin to swell, and move closer to the food, as the coral slowly places the food inside. If you do not see the food enter the mouth, you have to assume the coral has not fed.

As the coral builds its strength and recovers from shipping stress, it will become much much easier to feed."

Hi guys my promotional video , a sample of all my videos to date enjoy.

• Botryocladia

• Portieria

• Gracilaria

• Gracilaria parvispora Ogo

• Eucheuma Spinosum

• Halimedia

• Shaving Brush

• Caulerpa Palm Tree CAULERPA PASPALOIDES

• Mermaid Fan (Udotea sp.) Saltwater Plant

• Fern Codium Macro Algae (Codium tayloriiis)

• Rigid Coralline Algae Cluster - Saltwater

• Soft Coralline Algae Cluster - Saltwater

• Tufted Joint Algae - Small - Saltwater Marco Algae (Cymopolia Barbata)

• Tea Cup Macro Algae (ACETABULARIA SP.)

• Eucheuma Spinosum

• ROSE PETAL PINK DRAGON'S TONGUE..

• RADIOXTIVE GREEN DEADMAN'S HAND...

• Cheato

• Caulerpa Prolifera

• Ulva

$307

For those who'd like to know how much a macroalgae set up like this costs ( hardware not included lol).

 

 

I have 2 Ptilocaulis sp. ; a red tree and an orange tree the Axinella bookhouti is a fan sponge that eats bacteria From what i've red so far lots of ways are being done and a jungle out there when it comes to feeding sponges lol. came across these articles;

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2004/4/inverts

http://ambergriscaye.com/reefbriefs/briefs98.html

http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/aquarium-fish-supplies.cfm?c=497+527

Put in their right place medium light with strong flow, 2 tunze 6095 on each end and a wavebox at full capacity.

And the last two yellow sponges lol

 

[Basile]

From the beginning of my project i didn't want to use snails or hermits as my primary deffence againts algaes and detritus because they die all the time and a constant amount of money is spent replensihing your stocks of cuc and your tank cleanliness varies a lot from month to month . And i think i've won my bet. My reseache led me to a few alternatives.

The Urchins are more resistant , they live longer and the list of algea they eat is far more impressive than most snails you'll ever buy. They don't climb out of the tank, they don't need help to turn themselve around and you don't need an army of them.

Seastars; work either during the day or night or both and don't succomb easily to parameters. resistant and 2-3 is enough for my system.

A Echinaster seastar is very usefull and does very well indeed.Not too big And it work.

Serpent star

Sea cucumbers for the sand is great they multiply by themselve if their enough food and work the system effortly.

The babylonia snail or Butterscotch snail , or super tonga nassarius snail which is abosutly not related to , but anyway is actually very useful for detritus but don't over do it my 150 G only has 10 thats it.

The strawberry Conch is one of the best sand sifter around without being destructive to your sand microfauna unlike the sandsifting star it doesn't destroy the bacterial layers of your tank. Which you need to help with your filtration . only 3 in my 150 is enough. and the sand is clean.

When you have lots of herbivore don't forget to put a tablet at the bottom every 2 days, if they don't touch it , means they have enough to eat and you can skip a few days, but if they do rush on it keep them comming. The mistake people make is not feeding them because they say if i feed them they wont clean anymore. i find this a bit cruel and nonsense. They always clean at any rate. If your tank is clean and they still eat, they're starving.....One reason you may be always buying new cuc all the time, you buy too much and then they starve.

One little trick i do know if you clean your glass everyday, your CUC wont waste time cleaning it up when they could clean up your tank. And you don't need snails to do the glass really and reducing your lights to when your home only will give time to your clean up crew to catch up to the maintenance of your tank. Tanlking to a few different LFS they only have them 5-6 h a day, the rest is actinic only, so controling and managing your algae growth is also important it would seem.

In conclusion my tank is clean, the rocks, the glass no cyano issues, or any other algaes, i feed twice a day. i have a 75 Gallons refugium for my 150 gallons reef tank, i've turned OFF my GFO so my macroalgae collection has something to grow on and the nitrates and phospahes are nil. i dose both iron, and iodine for the algeas as they're the biggest users.

8 weeks in photo shoot review

I made a shot with the blinds open and shut thats why the two identical or so shots.

The fuge really has been the most succesfull of the 2 tanks. Turning OFF the GFO , the Ulva literally exploded in there it quadrupled in size i sold some already , got to get some of the $307 back lol.

The main sculpture affectionately dubbed the rock remains the most problematic to fill. Its not money, its my lack of knowledge of corals that is the problem. As good of an aquasculpture i'm suppose to be i lack experience in the coral speciment choices and what they need and can do. so the process take longer. I know more about Macro algaes lol and softies actually than sps.

I was going to put these 3 branch on the the zoo sculpture but the more i see them there the more i see them there.....do i make sense. they seem to be right at home at that location making a break in the sand

The addition of sponge is not purely asthetics it has a purpose for me.I had sponges in my last system and my water was , no kidding imaculate. And reading more about sponges and reseaching about them i found out that they process an incredible amount of water in a very short time. Since my system devoted to softies and macroalgaes requires a muddier environment i decided to evoke the help of sponges to clear up some of the extra particules.

One thing i'me very happy with is my CUC . Mainly the fact that i don't rely on snails so much. I do have some but very few and not for the algae control, as much as others do. I've decided to use more interesting animals such as the urchins, which live longer and eats a wider range of algaes. The snails i use are more robust, such has the strawberry conch and also eats a greater range of algaes , and works the sand beautifully, only 3 of them for a 150G. Babylonian snails for detritus are great with only 10 they work the sand and its clean all the time. The rest the , serpent star,the brittle star and the seastar make the holy trinity of stars to catch the rest of it, the cucumber does what it does. I have a leftover cuc from the beginning that's dying off . Of course thats why i replaced them with the more permanent ones , those i wont have to replace every 2 months or so money down the drain.... Sucess at last.

The NPS site is , and will be left for later i have a source that will help me get good speciments. Its not easy to get most LFS don't carry them but i found a place that order's them once a year. So when the time comes I'll populate that corner.

The health board making the rounds, lol.

8 Weeks into the Prodibio program a look at my system sorry about the noise of the cam .

http://www.prodibio.com/

[Pinner Reef]

This thing is looking awesome! that fuge is incredible!

[Basile]

 

This thing is looking awesome! that fuge is incredible!

Thanks ; yes my goal is too go for a more natural control of Nitrates and phosphates with a huge refugium and a display one gives me also the advantage of putting seahorses and a predator side to it. so its a win win. I don't go overboard with it thoug. I still have reactors to take up the slack, i just want a good balance between technology and natural gains.

I haven't a catwalk in a while

I gave him a job, just one

Oh ya not 5 minutes in ...........no heart attack in that species...

MEGA RUB start the video....

OH YAAAA

TO THE LEFT, TO THE LEFT

YES YES YES

AHHHHHWWWW

I'LL BE IN THE SMOKE ROOM

 

wow, I had seen your thread when you first started it but hadn't subscribed so haven't seen it in a few months... this is amazing having seen when you were first starting to where you are now! I'm very impressed. It looks like retirement is treating you well, and doesn't look like you've managed to get bored yet!

The cats have really gotten big too! They are beautiful cats as well. My wife wants a cat but the house we are renting just isn't good for cats so waiting until we buy a bigger house, but like I said in your other thread... she'll see this thread and want to make a play room for her cat when she gets it/them too. I guess if that means I get to upgrade my tank to a bigger tank again I'll oblige =)

 

LOL yes we have to play the game of cat and mouse LOL don't we , hihi . Good luck on your projects, here's a few picture to inspire you and her and where i got my inspiration for mine.

This is not my house, its where i took the idea

I meam i love my cats but in every room and every corner, specially the kitchen, no . I need a life too, lol i don't know where is this house but the fur must be awfull. I gave my cats a room thats enough lol.

 

 

I've changed my socks today they were clogged , and i mean clogged so much that the water was going over the lip directly to the skimmer side and the RO, top off system was being disrupted. But all that was by design. I was doing it to see how many days it took to clogged my socks entirely to disrupt the system; a controlled experiment to see how comfortable i can be with my system . So what does it mean if it takes more than a week to clog my sock and for some it only takes two days , thats a question i'm asking at large because on that i have no idea. i usually change them every 4-5 days when i start seeing the level rise in that chamber it means the water is not getting through the socks as it should. How does your sock fair compare to mine. i have no idea. My tank is softies and LPS , with a huge refugium . 2 socks. For a 150 G Reef and a 75 G refugium full of macro algeas. And i'm dosing.

So anybody tried that.

i invite everybody to try this experiment. Its a good way to learn about your system health and whats in it. Every system is different, different bioloads, different waterflows, feeding method, dosing, some have fuge some don't. its a good way to gage the nutrient and particule traveling in your system and how long you can stretch it without being in trouble. Mine was 8 days before the ATO system was disturbing the gravity , since the flow was interupted and the ato was compensating too much, it reduced my gravity by 0.02 . It only take about a week of your time. Have fun, and don't forget to test your parameters before and after the experiment . You'd be surprise at the result, i was.

The thing is does it influence your gravity, does your flow is reduced enough that your ATO over compensates to create problems for you. this is also good to know when you go on vacation and you have someone look after your tank... its a plus info on your system .

By the way guy i forgot to mention i use felt sock those using mesh would have a very different result. As mesh leaves more water flow go through and don't clog as easely. Big difference here, of material.

I did this experiment for my benefice, lol and asked if anyone else had done a similar one. But i wanted to find out how long i could go without changing the socks before it became a problem. Like i said it was a controlled experiment. Each system is wired differently with its own connections, baffles and sections. You can't compare systems. I'm learning about mine now. Plus it'll change if i add other fish too right now i only have 2 big fish, but if i add 2 more herbies who produce like cows, thats going to play as well with the discharge, change the data.

So any thoughts on that experiemnt and have you tried something like it and would you consider it?

[Basile]

This is actually not a new arrival but a lost one for almost 2 months now she's been hidding in the fuge lol. I thought both of them had been eaten by the seahorses. The other one who know but saw this one yesterday all grown too , she was about half that size when i got her.

A bit of polution occur in my rich environment, and i happen to drop my conch there, surprise who knew, anyone asking what eats cyanobacteria, CONCH do lol , he didn't do it all but its a start.

This guy is a Diodogorgia nodulifera,aka pain in the B. NPS Non photosynthetic gorgonians, light is actually a risk. Microalgaes can grow on them specially cyanobacteria which will kill it.

They have to be fed many times a day to make the white tentacles open and then at least 3 times a day to keep them open.

Nutramar ogo, tigrio live pods, live nauplii, marine snow, Zooplankton suspension, Phytoplankton suspension, and other filter feeder foods like microvore.

Cyclopeeze works well and elicits an opening of the polyps. Fauna Marin also do a special gorg food I also use a range of Fauna Marin and other particulate foods. D. nodulifera are a little easier than other azoo corals because they have quite large polyps and IME are capable of taking a range of particle sizes.

If you have algae problems keep it in a shaded area or the branches will quickly become covered in algae. IME like uhuru stated unless they have a constant supply of food in the water they tend to close up.

The longer they stay closed the more they starve. Then you end up seeing the tips of the branches and base start to recede after time. Algae starts to creep in and the coral ends up wasting away.

If you take a look at the branches, mostly you will see the red tissue with dots, where polyps retracted. In case of starvation (and a low flow, together) the part of the branch becomes twice thinner - the ragged surface and no dots of contracted polyps.

If you don't have this - very good, just start feeding, at least trice daily - morning, after return from the work, before the night.

Small pinch of the 250-800 micron food, variety counts, mostly zooplankton.

My criteria is seeing the polyps actually catching food:

From normal state:

to this:

if the coral is close to the glass, you can see the food, moving down the polyps.

The flow should be up to slightly bending polyps, otherwise it will be difficult for them to feed.

It the coral is not opening for a feeding, continue to add food into the water, in smaller quantities: at start should appear the polyps or two on duty - watching for the food coming, then all eventually should open.

If you see the ragged central core, without polyps, there are two option: frag it (should be no problems here) or leave as is (if mo microalgae or dirt settled on it), feed and watch, if regeneration starts.

This is my diet for it and my sponges as well;

Polyps should open sooner or later, they react on the presence food in the water. Cyclop eeze or similar size zooplankton or substitutes.

The skeleton, protruding from the soft tissue, can be cut off by the stainless scissors, without removing the coral from the tank. If it is on the edge of disintegration - you will sense like cutting through dry sponge, if in good condition - as a stem of a woody weed.

Trick; i put one bristleworm in my overflows to take care of food that falls in before its eaten. they get the stuff before they cause nitrate spikes. A little trick i've devised. i"m thinking , maybe one of those bad crabs too , let him roam in there and get what ever falls in; he'll have plenty , everyday something get in there.

Treat; Someone got pricked on the finger by a coral and got a Panaris(infection) where you can loose the nail; becarefull although they say don't wash with soap before going in a tank..... look what happens, this is a panaris.

More research gave me these for my sponges. It didn't fail; since i got these 4 sponges my water has cleared up like crazy. These guys pump up so much water . During the day i can feed them but at night they litteraly clean out all particules out of the water. The result in the morning my tank is so cristal clear... No wonder so many people looses them from mal nutrition. As a matter a fact 1 square cm or roughly about half a a square inch,of sponge will filter 20 litre or 4 gallons of water a day, so if you have a sponge in your tank you can size up about how much its will clean out your tank per day. Here are a few videos on the subject that could be interesting for you.

Can be done only once a day to a few times a day depending how many you have in your tank. The more you have the bigger you have, the more you have to feed, goes without saying as it feeds 24/7. My sponges are a Ptilochaulis, a Axinella bookhouti, Psuedaxinella lunaecharta , and a Amphimedon compressa Amphimedon.

 

[Basile]

Yes a few tank mates but sadly they're very shy i can't zoom on them fast enough or properly. Two new spoted manderin ; one in the fuge and the other in the Reef.

Got a new cabbage coral ; Sinularia sp.

Euphyllia glabrescens Purple Torch

Euphyllia ....... Blue Hammer lol , sorry but the lighting doesn't give justice to the real colors i haven't found the right filter yet, for my lens.

Tour of the tank.

I started with some maintenance, powerhead dipping, vinegar baths,

New nem, purple carpet, Searching for its spot! found my newly cleaned powerhead interesting

She gave me the foot

I had an idea regular fruit netting from loblaws

worked like a charm zip tied it, voila

Full power

Found her spot, just like Sheldon, thats her spot!No i didn't name her Shedon.

I've tried shots with and without the blue lights, just the white and it makes a lot of difference in the color rendering.

[Basile]

Some tissue recession here, found out its a lack of strontium supplement.

But the same hammers right beside them are not affected, go figure...

They creeped in don't know how lol.

with the blues

without the blues