Kinetic 82g

[ezcompany]

i'll be working up here... why the 23rd?

 

I'll be in Pasadena and La Mirada the new years weekend though

 

so u can take pics of me posing. j/k my tank

[kinetic]

so u can take pics of me posing. j/k my tank

 

LOL! I'll eventually make it over to your place to take some pix and some frags... I mean just pix It's not like I can bring frags up to norcal on the plane anyway.

 

 

 

I just checked my water params, ammonia undetectable (as expected since I hadn't added any), nitrites undetectable, and nitrates off the charts.

 

 

MAN my nitrates must be really high since I dose tons of ammonia, and have never done a water change. I wonder if the RDSB will ever start putting a dent in that thing. In 4 weeks if it's still off the charts, I'm using AZ-NO3 to bring it down a tad. I might also do a few 50% water changes... time to get a brute 55g trashcan.

[supernip]

you sorta can. I put a nem in my carry on and it made it just fine. Perhaps not good for sps, but lps and softies will do fine with the "dry" method

[ezcompany]

sps ships better than lps in paper towel shipping

[eddie29]

did oyu apply the background first and trimmed it like they suggest or did you pre-cut it and then apply it?

 

thanks

[arod2051]

LOL! I'll eventually make it over to your place to take some pix and some frags... I mean just pix It's not like I can bring frags up to norcal on the plane anyway.

I just checked my water params, ammonia undetectable (as expected since I hadn't added any), nitrites undetectable, and nitrates off the charts.

MAN my nitrates must be really high since I dose tons of ammonia, and have never done a water change. I wonder if the RDSB will ever start putting a dent in that thing. In 4 weeks if it's still off the charts, I'm using AZ-NO3 to bring it down a tad. I might also do a few 50% water changes... time to get a brute 55g trashcan.

 

This might not be completely relevant, but I read an article by Charles Delbeek in the 2007 Annual Marine Fish and Reef on a plenum timeline. A DSB function is similar to the plenum. A short summary is that the nitrate levles hit a high of over 600PPM at 96 days. Then stabilized at about 50-60PPM until about 230 days. The nitrate didn't stabilize until 348 days where it hovered at, what looks like, 10-15PPM. The system was studied for 864 days. So from 348 - 864 the plenum kept the system's nitrate levels at fairly low levels.

 

I don't have the bioload details, but the article mentioned that water changes consisted of well-saltwater that was high in nutrients. It was up to the NNR of the plenum to do the heavy lifting.

 

I don't want to turn this into a DSB vs Plenum discussion so I guess my point is: it will probably take a little more time until your RDSB has a healthy bacteria colony in its anoxic regions for the nitrate reduction to produce material results.

 

I love the RDSB application. It sounds like it will avoid all the misgivings brought on by a DSB in the display and it will give you the flexibility to replace the DSB before a crash can occur.

[kinetic]

did oyu apply the background first and trimmed it like they suggest or did you pre-cut it and then apply it?

 

thanks

 

I applied it first, then using a razer I trimmed it all

[eddie29]

any updates?

 

also when you put the vortech pumps on the back of the tank, did you cut out holes in the background or did they mount fine with it on?

[kinetic]

No updates yet =) Still just running without any livestock.

 

no holes needed, they mount fine. they can handle up to 3/4" thickness, and the background adds a very negligible amount of thickness.

[cmador]

How's your nitrate testing now? Any better, yet?

[kinetic]

ok so my RDSB has been online for 6 weeks now! I haven't tested yet. I'm going to ACE hardware tonight to buy two 55g brute trash cans to get ready for a 90% water change. before, however, I'll test what my nitrates are now reading. Probably still off the charts since I doubt the RDSB can bring SO much down so quickly... but you never know.

 

I have no other form of export unless nitrates evaporate with water...

[kinetic]

so I'm at a dilemma...

 

Should I get 4 ventralis anthias? They're pretty hard to take care of because they need SOOO many bleeding feedings a day.

 

At most I could probably do three. I'm often gone during weekends and rely on someone to feed them, but I doubt 4 times a day.

 

Instead I could go with a big horde of ocellaris clownfish =) but that may be a bit boring...

 

or I can get a trusty auto feeder, but with the 80x turnover in the tank and nobody to hit the feed mode on my pumps, I'm afraid the anthias will have to chase like crazy.

 

any suggestions?

[Izzue]

I dont have that turnover...maybe half or a little less.

I find it funner to leave the pumps on to feed some...

Just to watch my anthias swimming like crazy to eat

 

Izzue

[kinetic]

I dont have that turnover...maybe half or a little less.

I find it funner to leave the pumps on to feed some...

Just to watch my anthias swimming like crazy to eat

 

Izzue

 

well, I may decide to run my vortech's at 70% rather than 100 to reduce noise, I don't think I need that much turnover anyway.

 

my return pump is fairly weak (600gph after headloss) in a ~80g display, so I'm guessing the auto feeder shouldn't be a problem. it just pains me to attach anything to the rim of that glass =( I'll only do it when I'm away for the weekend i guess.

[Uhuru]

go with the anthias, I don't turn off my pumps when feeding flake or pellets, the fish learn to catch it pretty well - in fact its probably good for them to do it that way

 

I only turn off pumps when feeding frozen because it gets stuck in the powerhead but flake and pellets will go right through and shoot back out.

 

I have over 100x turnover in one tank and about 80x in the other.

[eddie29]

make the fish get some exercise. I actually found my anthias willing to eat when the food was moving around

[supreme_spork]

Thread. Needs. Photoz!

[kinetic]

I have over 100x turnover in one tank and about 80x in the other.

 

... you monster

 

 

 

Ok I'll try the Ventralis =) I may go with a group of females from LiveAquaria or hopefully my LFS will bring in healthy ones. My LFS is like 3 blocks away, and they have amazingly healthy livestock!!! They QT and treat their fish for 3 weeks before even considering putting them into the displays. They're awesome.

 

 

 

Thread. Needs. Photoz!

 

apparently you haven't seen the other posts!!! There's dozens of pictures in this thread =/ If you look at the first post you'll see a picture... that's EXACTLY what it looks like now =/

[supreme_spork]

apparently you haven't seen the other posts!!! There's dozens of pictures in this thread =/ If you look at the first post you'll see a picture... that's EXACTLY what it looks like now =/

 

oh, i've been watchin' because your pics are fantastic.

 

let me rephrase: thread needs *new* photoz. like some artsy photo of your DSB.

[NanoClown]

Ok I'll try the Ventralis =) I may go with a group of females from LiveAquaria or hopefully my LFS will bring in healthy ones. My LFS is like 3 blocks away, and they have amazingly healthy livestock!!! They QT and treat their fish for 3 weeks before even considering putting them into the displays. They're awesome.

what LFS do you speak of??

[kinetic]

oh, i've been watchin' because your pics are fantastic.

 

let me rephrase: thread needs *new* photoz. like some artsy photo of your DSB.

 

haha darn I was hoping I'd get away this time without new pix

 

I'm doing my massive 90% water change this weekend, I'll take pictures of the process. I'll probably add my first coral in there too, a piece of my ponape birdsnest (that thing grows like a weed in my prop tank, so it'd be a good test and a good splash of color).

[supreme_spork]

haha darn I was hoping I'd get away this time without new pix

 

I'm doing my massive 90% water change this weekend, I'll take pictures of the process. I'll probably add my first coral in there too, a piece of my ponape birdsnest (that thing grows like a weed in my prop tank, so it'd be a good test and a good splash of color).

 

excellent!

[kinetic]

what LFS do you speak of??

 

albany aquarium. jim is taking care of the saltwater off, nuff said!!! he's bringing in ventralis, rare cardinals that I can't find anywhere else, and he's on the lookout for a female bellus for me at the wholesalers.

 

jim (bookfish on RC) is extremely knowledgeable, probably than most people on these forums, and he used to even work at tonga at the collections places.

 

so I'm so lucky to have him working at the LFS down the street =)

[NanoClown]

ohh i see that place every time i come by, so their SW its pretty good?

[Uhuru]

make the fish get some exercise. I actually found my anthias willing to eat when the food was moving around

 

I'm no anthias expert but from my readings online these guys love high flow more than other fish. They like to swim in place against the flow and burn up all that food they eat. They should be perfect for a BB tank.