fewskillz Posted July 13, 2012 Author Share Posted July 13, 2012 Thanks AM. I like him too. I did a small water change yesterday after work then tested before bed. I did phosphate and nitrates last night just to see, 0 phos and less than 2.5 ppm trates. Calcium was at 450 ppm last night and tonight. I don't necessarily trust this Red Sea kit, but its something. I bought a Salifert magnesium kit tonight, tested at 1380. I'll buy an alkalinity kit as soon as my LFS gets them back in stock. I plan on replacing my calcium with a salifert as well, but its not a priority this week. I'm really curious to see what my alk looks like since mag and calc are looking OK. We'll see if there is any calcium drop tomorrow. Link to comment
fewskillz Posted July 22, 2012 Author Share Posted July 22, 2012 Well, I got a few more salifert kits. The red sea calcium kit wasn't too far off, its just not as specific as the salifert test. My alkalinity is a little low at 6.7 but I'm slowly bringing it up. I have a few sps frags that seem to be doing fine, maybe I can keep these alive! I also have a baby desjardini sailfin tang in QT. He's awesome and eating pretty well already, just seems a little skittish. Link to comment
fewskillz Posted July 28, 2012 Author Share Posted July 28, 2012 Good news and bad news. Bad news: I found my green banded sifter goby dead in the filter sock. I'm surprised he made it past the ball valve. Oh well, not much I could've done except found him sooner. I change the socks every 3 days or so. Good news: I finally installed the ATO I bought 2 years ago! I'm using a 10 gallon tank as a FW reservoir. Double float switch and pump from autotopoff.com. It keeps the water level right at my skimmer's sweet spot! I have it on a timer to come on for 5 minutes twice a day right now. I'll adjust if it needs longer. Link to comment
fewskillz Posted July 31, 2012 Author Share Posted July 31, 2012 Pulled the trigger on the scape I mentioned a few weeks ago. I'm very happy with it. Lots of space for coral on the rocks and the sand bed. As well as being more open to encourage the fish to be active. I also removed all of the mushrooms. I don't need them taking over this tank, not even the pretty ones. They can have their own 10 gallon. I went ahead and moved the sailfin from quarantine since I rearranged everyone's territory. He was at my lfs for awhile and was eating very well in QT. I was more worried about the other two tangs accepting him so I igured the opportunity was worth the risk of the short QT. He seems to have settled in nicely after just one day. He's enjoying the open space to stretch his fins so I can't get a picture of him, but I'll keep trying. Link to comment
Needreefunds Posted July 31, 2012 Share Posted July 31, 2012 Nice!! Sorry about all the losses Chris. Link to comment
got2envy Posted July 31, 2012 Share Posted July 31, 2012 Looks great! I like the scape a lot Link to comment
fewskillz Posted July 31, 2012 Author Share Posted July 31, 2012 Thanks Richie, its just part of the game we play. I won't be replacing the goby, not with a sand sifter anyways. I'll get a star fish or a cucumber to keep the sand stirred. I'm ready for coral/clams to reside on the sand. A shrimp goby pair would be nice, too. Thanks Maria. It looks awesome in person, I don't think it translates in pictures very well. I guess its time for a FTV! Link to comment
got2envy Posted August 2, 2012 Share Posted August 2, 2012 Verrry nice sir...well done. Looks awesomness-ess. Link to comment
spanko Posted August 2, 2012 Share Posted August 2, 2012 Fish look happy and healthy. Nice looking Yuma. Right side island, in the cave, clowns need a nem located right in there. Shallow sand bed, nice! I love the look of three islands in a large tank. Nicely done my friend!!! Link to comment
fewskillz Posted August 2, 2012 Author Share Posted August 2, 2012 Thanks Richie, Maria, and Henry! I do love my fish. My hippo has a grown a ton this year. I think my yellow tang is as big as he's going to get, which is sad, he's only like 5". I feel like he's been that size for 2 years. I've had him since 2008 and that's all he's grown. I bet the new Desjardini outgrows him within 18 months. I want a shrimp/goby pair, if not a shrimp/goby/goby trio, a few anthias, and another tang or two. I'll probably call it full there, depending on how the SPS growing is going. That Yuma is from Lalani, her famous pink ones. It just looks like crap under my no-name 14,000-but-look-more-like-10,000k lamps. They will be replaced with something quality in the next few weeks, August is a 3 paycheck month! The clowns will be getting an RBTA whenever I find a good deal on one. They host in everything soft in the tank. They will love an actual anemone. I love the practicality of BB, but its ugly in this big of a mixed reef, especially with my open scape. So SSB is the only option. Whenever I move this tank again I'll be going back to a separate 20H fuge like I used to run at our old house. That will have a RDSB and chaeto. My levels are pretty much where they need to be now. Calcium 450, Alkalinity 9.5, Magnesium 1300. So this week I've been figuring out what size daily dose I need to keep them all steady. Last night was 20 mL of Calc and Alk and 10 mL of Mag. We'll see what tonight's test says. Link to comment
pyronus Posted August 2, 2012 Share Posted August 2, 2012 Looking good man. I really like the way the center rock formation looks and the open scape is great. Nice video too. I'm jealous of the tank, I want something big.... Anthias *droooool*... Tangs *droooool*. Link to comment
Needreefunds Posted August 2, 2012 Share Posted August 2, 2012 Looking good man. I really like the way the center rock formation looks and the open scape is great. Nice video too. I'm jealous of the tank, I want something big.... Anthias *droooool*... Tangs *droooool*. Stop drooling in the tank Pyro! yur throwin off the salinity... Link to comment
fewskillz Posted August 2, 2012 Author Share Posted August 2, 2012 Looking good man. I really like the way the center rock formation looks and the open scape is great. Nice video too. I'm jealous of the tank, I want something big.... Anthias *droooool*... Tangs *droooool*. Thanks! It's great having a big tank, but man is it just THAT much more expensive than a smaller tank. The center rock tower is awesome. Would you believe that's only 3 rocks...stacked only with gravity? Stop drooling in the tank Pyro! yur throwin off the salinity... It's cool...I have an ATO now. It's if he starts drinking the tank water that Ill worry! Link to comment
spanko Posted August 2, 2012 Share Posted August 2, 2012 Stop drooling in the tank Pyro! yur throwin off the salinity... Bacteria Bloom! Link to comment
fewskillz Posted August 16, 2012 Author Share Posted August 16, 2012 I think I can officially say this round of SPS experimentation, like the previous efforts, was a failure. SPS do not like me for some reason. I'll try again after new lamps and the addition of a BRS Dual carbon/gfo reactor. Link to comment
hooligan_78 Posted August 28, 2012 Share Posted August 28, 2012 Sorry to hear that. #### is just touchy. I've had colonies RTN and others remain just fine. While I love SPS, it's such a ##### to figure out which one of a billion things is killing them in your tank. Don't quit man! Link to comment
Needreefunds Posted August 29, 2012 Share Posted August 29, 2012 Sorry Chris. I know it sux to watch them melt away... Glad to hear you will keep trying though. Do allow the tank to settle in after adding that reactor before trying again- I lost a couple when I first started running gfo... I know you know, jussayin' yaknow? Link to comment
fewskillz Posted August 30, 2012 Author Share Posted August 30, 2012 Thanks for the support guys. I will try SPS again, but not until after we buy a house and move. I dont want to start to have some success and then go through the stress of moving sensitive coral. It's bad enough moving fish and softies. We're hoping to have our credit straight enough to start house shopping in the next month or two. Link to comment
Needreefunds Posted August 30, 2012 Share Posted August 30, 2012 Where is the :like: button? Great to hear Chris- Happy for you guys! Link to comment
fewskillz Posted September 5, 2012 Author Share Posted September 5, 2012 Woot!! Upgrading from my crappy old 175s. 3x 250 watt metal halides will be installed next week. Electronic IceCap ballasts, Lumenbright Mini reflectors, fairly new 14,000k lamps. All for barely more than just the cost of the new reflectors. It's going to be so nice having good lighting, instead of just "adequate" lightning! At their current home over my buddy Matt's 106 rimless shallow reef. He's switching to T5. I guess the 250s are a little intense for a 15" tall tank. Link to comment
Needreefunds Posted September 5, 2012 Share Posted September 5, 2012 Sweet score Chris! Matt's tank is awesome by the way. Link to comment
fewskillz Posted September 5, 2012 Author Share Posted September 5, 2012 I haven't seen the 106 with water in it. It's 5'x2'x ~1.25'ish. Don't remember exactly how tall it is. It's on about a 5' tall stand. It's really cool, very striking visually being a little out of the norm. He downgraded from a 210 that was also beautiful. The yellow tang in the picture was mine, he was in my 55 gallon softy reef at Mom's house. Link to comment
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