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gulfsurfer101

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gulfsurfer101

The dreaded cycle! I'll be facing one again once I start my 75g up again. I'll be using all dry rock and sand. Liquid ammonia to start up the bacteria. I want to start off with a clean slate!

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I'm doing cured live rock/dead shrimp method for my ammonia build up in my 75. This is the first time with a big tank my cycle in my bio cube was done in less than a week with live rock I feel that new tank syndrome building up inside me.

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gulfsurfer101

If one thing time had shown me in this hobby is, it's that patience pays off! I rather not do anything unless I feel that it's being done right. Partly the reason my 75g is sitting empty in my storage unit atm. I plan on rebuilding the entire system from the sump on up and redoing my plumbing to tie into my drainage to make life so much easier. I'm building a cozy little cabin out on my property just outside of Mathis so I might as well do it all now while I'm in the building process.

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gulfsurfer101

Looks great GS! Can't wait to see your 75 :)

Thanks M! Means a lot coming from an old friend on here! Good to hear from you. Lots of new names all over the forum it's hard to keep up with what's new here! I had the 75g going for a while but I decided to tear it down and make some really drastic changes. It's sitting in storage and there's really no big hurry to set it up when the 20l is holding me over just fine;)

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gulfsurfer101

Also picked up a few boogers while I was in town. I didn't know if having cga so close to me is a curse or blessing lol! Especially when shipping is probably cheaper than gas to get there in my expidition, lol!

20151212_203901_zps9nmvmp5p.jpg

And this guy has been around since a three polyp booger! He always looks so content!

20151212_203443_zpsqy5mdpuk.jpg

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gulfsurfer101

I ordered a few things from Steve's leds today to revamp an old diy double 6" makers fixture I have lying around. I caught the pico bug and plan on making one hell of a beastly lighting fixture over a diy aio 5.5g or possibly possibly just build my own tank! I don't know if I want to go with all sticks, all zoas, or all ephullia! I just know I want a tiny tank filled with a certain coral under a beastly little fixture! I'll be packing every color under the sun in a tiny 6x6 inch makers heat sink! I seen a petsmart pico tank that was like 30 bucks. Might work for what I'm thinking.

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gulfsurfer101

Scrap the pico! I'm gearing back up for my 75g! I am ditching the black boxes and going with t5's instead. I've been piecing together my retrofit and plan to get things put together over the holidays! I am now officially on vacation till after the new year. This 20l was the result of sheer boredom on my four day thanksgiving weekend so who knows what might happen over the holidays. I might just build an entire tank lol!

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gulfsurfer101

Why did you decide to get rid of the black boxes?

Growth rate was too damn weak. I had a frag of bambams put out like 5 heads in 6mo for example when I was getting that kind of growth in a month or two using t5's before. I'll have a diy stunner style using luxeon rb's on a skinny heat sink in my canopy but mainly just for actinic veiwing. I'll have the leds dimmed way down to about 400mA! Besides I'm wanting to go sps heavy and prefer the fuller spectrum and wicked coloration you get from t5's!

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gulfsurfer101

So after testing today randomly I got a calcium reading of 300, alk(dkh) of 11, and mag was 1320. My alk is a bit too high and my calcium is a bit too low for my liking. I have calcium chloride on hand but really don't want to start dumping chemicals in my tank. I just did a pretty significant water change for this tank three days ago. Swapped out about 8g but didn't bother testing then. I'll retest tomorrow to see what a difference 24hrs makes and see if I need to start adjusting levels daily.

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I was told by LFS owner that the high Alk isn't stressful and nothing to worry about. I tried research but couldn't find much online related to high Alk.

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gulfsurfer101

Alk above 14 you will notice lots of things looking stessed or dying. I'll test again tomorrow and see if it drops at all. If not then I'll dose some cal and that should bring it down a bit as things balance out!

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gulfsurfer101

Cal-390

Alk(dkh)-14.6(omg)

Mag-1360

I haven't dose anything except h202! I'll boggled that my mag and alk would rise and my calcium deplete. I don't understand. I'll raise my calcium to remain ironically balanced!

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gulfsurfer101

Merry Christmas everyone! I'll be up before the kids so I can insure they have the best one yet! I worked all night getting their trampoline set up, smoked a turkey outside, and placed the gifts under the tree. I don't think I've been this excited for Christmas since I was the one doing the unwrapping!

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gulfsurfer101

Haven't dosed and didn't test yesterday! However today my readings are as follows

Calc-400

Alk(dkh)-13.7

Mag-1320

At this point I'm just going to accept the alk level and let things ride. Sps is looking bright with full pe, gha is on the way out and I'm not seeing any dino's like I was in beginning.

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gulfsurfer101

Built me a little 6" makers led fixture using a dimmable inventronics driver on a single channel. The led count goes as follows,

3-3ups

2Rb's

2-deep green

1-lime

Now the problem is I don't have anything small enough to light with it. Boredom sucks lol!

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Built me a little 6" makers led fixture using a dimmable inventronics driver on a single channel. The led count goes as follows,

3-3ups

2Rb's

2-deep green

1-lime

Now the problem is I don't have anything small enough to light it with. Boredom sucks lol!

 

If you were a neighbor, this comment would be enough to get me to start a Pico just to help you out, lol.

I'm still a die hard T5HO fan though. Actually, I do think a T5HO/led hybrid would prob be the best of both worlds.

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Haven't dosed and didn't test yesterday! However today my readings are as follows

Calc-400

Alk(dkh)-13.7

Mag-1320

At this point I'm just going to accept the alk level and let things ride. Sps is looking bright with full pe, gha is on the way out and I'm not seeing any dino's like I was in beginning.

Out of curiousity do you use chemi pure?
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gulfsurfer101

 

If you were a neighbor, this comment would be enough to get me to start a Pico just to help you out, lol.

I'm still a die hard T5HO fan though. Actually, I do think a T5HO/led hybrid would prob be the best of both worlds.

I'm going to be running 6 bulbs over my 75g and 6 royal blues in the floating canopy I'll be designing. The rb's are going to be mainly just for moonlighting though! I thought about adding some 3ups and limes on another channel but I think the t5's are plenty.
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gulfsurfer101

Out of curiousity do you use chemi pure?

No, the only chemical media I'm using is a bag of purigen rated up to 30g and a bag of phosguard rated up to 60g! I did a 48hr blackout and dosed h202 every four hours and kept my skimmer collection cup cleaned out. My skimmate went from dark green to light tan after 24hrs. The tank looked rather spiffy after I turned the lights back on. I'm wondering if the constant h202 dosing over several days might be the contributing factor to my high alk. I'm no chemist or scientists in the least bit so I have clue. I am starting to actually doubt my test kit and will most likely replace it with a hanna checker or go back to salifert.
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gulfsurfer101

Might pick up a 10g from petco and build an aio like my 20g. I need to go grab a 20t to start my sump build for my 75g. Might as well have a little fun till then! I think my makers build would fry a 5.5 or else I would do it! I'd love a tiny zoa/ric garden!

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gulfsurfer101

Picked me up a 5.5g from petco over the holidays and decided to build me another aio! I think I may try my hand at an all sps tank since my tiny fixture puts out gobs of light anyways! I also picked up a few more sticks over the holidays. Very similar to what fb junkies are calling Walt Disney and Fox Flame acros for a whole lot less! Imo they look just as good and I'm still able to eat this week!

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