one8thscale Posted January 10, 2007 Share Posted January 10, 2007 Cool. With all that livestock, looks like your going to have to upgrade to a bigger tank again soon. LOL Link to comment
Phixion Posted January 10, 2007 Author Share Posted January 10, 2007 Cool. With all that livestock, looks like your going to have to upgrade to a bigger tank again soon. LOL hahaha, I know! Link to comment
quy_nquyen Posted January 10, 2007 Share Posted January 10, 2007 looks awesome matt. i love the new set up Link to comment
AnitaTan Posted January 10, 2007 Share Posted January 10, 2007 I like it. What is that card thing on the top left? Link to comment
Phixion Posted January 10, 2007 Author Share Posted January 10, 2007 Thanks Shawn and Anita! The card thing on the top left is the SeaChem "Ammonia Alert" thing that monitors free ammonia 24/7. it can react within 15 minutes of an ammonia spike. I use it more for convenience so it's one less test i have to do, plus I can view it's monitoring at any time. It lasts up to a year which is nice and only costs about $5 from most online stores and about $8 from LFSs. Link to comment
HecticDialectics Posted January 10, 2007 Share Posted January 10, 2007 Nice rockwork. Big piles of rock just don't do it for me. Caves makes it sexy. I agree with the comment above that it looks like you'll need a bigger tank soon. Link to comment
ezcompany Posted January 10, 2007 Share Posted January 10, 2007 can you get a top down shot of the clam in a few days? Link to comment
Phixion Posted January 10, 2007 Author Share Posted January 10, 2007 Nice rockwork. Big piles of rock just don't do it for me. Caves makes it sexy. I agree with the comment above that it looks like you'll need a bigger tank soon. Thanks! I learned from my mistake of the giant 10lbs. Fiji "tree" branch I had in my AP12g, and picked out rock specifically to make caves with and per what livestock I already had. It helps when you have stuff already to help you pick good rock out. BTW, that Fiji branch was the only piece of my old L/R that i didn't transfer to the new tank. Asin can vouch for how big it was. Jin, I'm working on getting better shots of the clam for you. I got some nice ones from another angle last night that I'll have to upload. Link to comment
Asin Posted January 10, 2007 Share Posted January 10, 2007 I ain't vouching for nothin'! I didn't see nothin' and I didn't hear nothin'! Link to comment
Phixion Posted January 11, 2007 Author Share Posted January 11, 2007 I ain't vouching for nothin'! I didn't see nothin' and I didn't hear nothin'! Shut up and take my damn rock, foo! Link to comment
roxy25 Posted January 11, 2007 Share Posted January 11, 2007 you got a clam !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! jealous congrats Link to comment
Phixion Posted January 11, 2007 Author Share Posted January 11, 2007 you got a clam !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! jealous congrats Aww, lol thanks Kerry! I got the clam from Jin who had gotten it from Floorlord way back. Really it's the LA community clam, ahahaha!! Tank is still doing great! In sad news, I came home this evening to find my beloved Fridmani Pseudachromis dead on the sand at the front of the tank. I scooped it out as soon as i discovered it, and test my params. Everything checked out perfect, ammonia was 0, nitires were 0 and nitrates were 1 which is what they were at yesterday. Either the death just didn't spike the water, or my filteration caught it in time... I'm only running L/R rubble, Purigen and PhosGuard for filtration right now... But everything else was fine, my clown, my Dusky jawfish, my sea hare and my clam were all fine, strange. I also checked over the water to be sure my sea hare didn't ink my Frito. Anyways speaking of clams, I took some new pics of it today Jin as well as tested my Alk and Ca. Alk is at 2.5meq/L which I know is lowish, incidently my pH is 8.0 and has been since I set the tank up, I'm not sure why. My Ca is at 450ppm right now per my Red-Sea Ca test kit I have, but I wasn't sure if that's high or just fine. I know idea is labled at 420-430ppm... Incidently the kit coems with a small bottle of Ca suppliment. I'm also running 2 small cubes of Sea-Lab #28, no ill effects from that either. I'll test my phosphates to be sure, but my sea hare should keep the algae at bay. Here's the pics I took today of the clam for you, Jin. The front, side and top of it, mantle extension seems good from what i can tell. I hope these pics show that Dane would still be proud, lol! Link to comment
Asin Posted January 11, 2007 Share Posted January 11, 2007 I don't think Jin is going to be very happy with those pics! Link to comment
Phixion Posted January 11, 2007 Author Share Posted January 11, 2007 Yeah, I should have taken off the glass in the last one, doh! Link to comment
ezcompany Posted January 11, 2007 Share Posted January 11, 2007 if you see the brown area in the middle, that area seems a tad faded. under metal halides that section usually turns a creamy white. i would advise that you remove the glass top as it really cuts down on the output of the light! Link to comment
ReefInChicago Posted January 11, 2007 Share Posted January 11, 2007 if you see the brown area in the middle, that area seems a tad faded. under metal halides that section usually turns a creamy white. i would advise that you remove the glass top as it really cuts down on the output of the light! um...oh yeah...it cuts down on light, too! sorry ez, i'm not making fun, i just posted to matt over on my thread that i preferred the lack of top on mine bc of heat transfer and cleaning. you just gave another (better) reason! matt, sorry to hear about the friedmani. on the upside, the tank looks GREAT! i like the scape, and it's gonna be fun to watch it fill out. i like the clam, too, and am considering a nice high space on my (topless ) tank that might hold one. the only worry i have is a snail knocking it off, but since i don't have hermits i'm less concerned on that one. lookin' great! matt Link to comment
Phixion Posted January 11, 2007 Author Share Posted January 11, 2007 I think it's too heavy for snails to knock over, lol! but you never know. I'll remove the rear cover and see what happens with it. I can tell the heat it holds, because once it's on TONS on condensation builds on the underside of the glass. I could always put it on at night to hold the heat and prevent jumpers and remove it in the day when the lights are on so that the clam gets good light. EZ, how do my params sounds and the mantle extension look? I have a 2nd Ca kit (API brand) and it tested the Ca at 420ppm. Matt, I putzed with the skimmer last night, but it's still microbubble city! There's an output at the top just below the adjustment valve, that's suppoed to be left as is with no hose connected to it, right? That's where the bubble are coming from. I got the actual bubble level in the cup set right, but the microbubbles into the main tank were rediculous so I turned the skimmer off for the meantime. What's the trick to getting to run good with no micro bubbles?? =/ Link to comment
ReefInChicago Posted January 11, 2007 Share Posted January 11, 2007 I think it's too heavy for snails to knock over, lol! but you never know. I'll remove the rear cover and see what happens with it. I can tell the heat it holds, because once it's on TONS on condensation builds on the underside of the glass. I could always put it on at night to hold the heat and prevent jumpers and remove it in the day when the lights are on so that the clam gets good light. EZ, how do my params sounds and the mantle extension look? I have a 2nd Ca kit (API brand) and it tested the Ca at 420ppm. Matt, I putzed with the skimmer last night, but it's still microbubble city! There's an output at the top just below the adjustment valve, that's suppoed to be left as is with no hose connected to it, right? That's where the bubble are coming from. I got the actual bubble level in the cup set right, but the microbubbles into the main tank were rediculous so I turned the skimmer off for the meantime. What's the trick to getting to run good with no micro bubbles?? =/ the microbubbles will be a reasonable problem for the next week or so. and you're right, the output below the valve doesn't have a hose connected to it. it'll be less of an issue after the first two weeks, but i've still got some bubbles, and i'm at 5+ weeks. i'm wondering if the skimmer fixes you posted on will totally solve it. it's not a major issue for me any longer, though it drove me crazy for the first couple weeks. i can't remember: do you dose Ca? my salt mix + nano reef a & b seem to set Ca at 360 or so. i've been using purple up, which moved it up in all three tanks to 390. since, i've been dosing kent Ca on the 12g and 30g (the two tanks with lps), and it's gone to 415. i'm trying for 420, but it seems as though i HAVE to dose to get it there. i've read that reef crystals and tm reef both have elevated levels of Ca, but i hate to mess with salt mixes with everything seeming to be going ok. if you're dosing, what are you using? Link to comment
accord86 Posted January 11, 2007 Share Posted January 11, 2007 Yo Matt, haven't been on the site lately. The tank looks awesome! I'm excited for you! What salt mix are you using again? Also, did you ever look into the inaccurate refractometer subject I was telling you about? My cheap blue one (the notorious RHC-10ATC) was horribly inaccurate like I'd suspected after investigation. I had a hard time keeping stable parameters because of this. Not only was it way off, but it also didnt' show any different reading from say 1.026 to 1.030. I was doing weekly WC's of sometimes up to 50%, but every WC would vary in salinty, and would throw my numbers way off. Also, I couldn't get my dosing regimine right, and this was a whole different headache. Now that I have a constant and consistant 1.026 or 35ppt, my parameters are stable and no more crazy fluctuations. Link to comment
Phixion Posted January 13, 2007 Author Share Posted January 13, 2007 Hey Andrew, thanks dude! I started this tank off right with tropic Marin salt mix. I'm never using that Catalina NSW junk again in my tank. With the RO/DI system, I don't need it anyways lol! Also I did look into the refractto subject, in fact there's one in the general or beginner forum on here I was active in, and then a few decided to rip on my opinion of the accuracy. Ah well, tis life, ehh? Link to comment
Phixion Posted January 16, 2007 Author Share Posted January 16, 2007 I got the included venturi powered protein skimmer adjusted, tuned and running yesterday. After about 7-8 hours, the micro bubbles were minimal and I had a "nice" skim going on with a tad of nasty brown/yellow water in the cup and a good froth coming up in the skimmer cylinder. I had a minor setback (possibly?) this morning. My g/f called me at work to inform me that the power went out for at least a half hour, and the tank turned off. Turns out when the power kicked, my portable GFCI outlet tripped off and thus the tank we left powerless. Should i just not use the GFCI, or should I use it and bite the bullet? I'm definitely getting a battery powered pump that plugs in to automatically turn on when power goes out. I'm crossing my fingers the power only went out that one time today... Link to comment
ezcompany Posted January 17, 2007 Share Posted January 17, 2007 why are you using a GFCI? to protect yourself? lol Link to comment
Asin Posted January 17, 2007 Share Posted January 17, 2007 why are you using a GFCI? to protect yourself? lol Link to comment
Phixion Posted January 17, 2007 Author Share Posted January 17, 2007 why are you using a GFCI? to protect yourself? lol I figured safer?? Link to comment
Maeda Posted January 17, 2007 Share Posted January 17, 2007 Still sticking to the all-in-ones eh matt? Looking pretty good though. Link to comment
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