Chucktown 20H

[divecj5]

Picture time....

 

 

Full Tank Shot

 

Green Slimer - Hasn't started laying it's base over the epoxy yet

 

Green Pocillopora - Has a nice green tinge to it now

 

Orange Cap - has started to encrust over epoxy

 

Green w/blue polyp Cap

 

ORA Oregon Tort - Really starting to take on a nice blue color with green highlights.

 

LE Birdsnest - Lots of new growth tips and it has started to get a nice greenish hue to the "skin"

[airman_verde04]

Hey Adam, the tank is coming along quite nicely! its so weird to see your tank so bare compaired to the biocube. anyways, It will get there In no time! Good news! I decided that I bed my lights were too old causing alot of the algae growth.. I was right!! well, for the most part, It seems to be under control, its not growing like weeds now, I only got my 460 antinic bulb, but the 10k is on back order, should be here in about a week. I've noticed the algae slowing down in the sand bed, so we should be back to normal in about a month or so.. anyways.. keep up the good work on your tank!

[diggman08]

i just breezed through.. havent completely read it yet.. but i will later, whne i get home... i cant see pictures right now at work...

 

this is great though man... congrats.. are you using those lights you had on the BC..

[divecj5]

i just breezed through.. havent completely read it yet.. but i will later, whne i get home... i cant see pictures right now at work...

 

this is great though man... congrats.. are you using those lights you had on the BC..

 

 

Good to see an old face around here on my new thread. Definitely check out the thread when you can see the pics Sucks that they block that at work for you.

 

Yeah, I'm using the Aquatinics T5 fixture on this tank...it actually fits this one perfectly.

[diggman08]

yeah dam government..lol

[divecj5]

yeah dam government..lol

 

Pictures look good here on this side of the government

 

 

Tank is 2 Months old today....break out the bubbly.

[divecj5]

Grabbed some shots of the tank last night but of course I left my card reader at home. Hopefully I can scrounge one up around here at work.

 

The growth of my frags has been nothing but incredible...the caps have probably grown in total at least an inch each, the Tort has all sorts of new blue growth and the Birdsnest has absolutely taken off. This coming from someone who had very little growth in my old tank.

[Weetabix7]

Awesome!

Why do you think this system seems to be so much more healthy than the old one?

[divecj5]

Awesome!

Why do you think this system seems to be so much more healthy than the old one?

 

Thanks for stopping by Weetie. I was talking to Karen about this not too long ago and I am having a hard time figuring out why the success and growth so far with this tank compared to my longer running BC. The differences in this tank are:

 

-MP20 instead of 2 Tunze 6025s

-Refugium with Chaeto

-No skimmer

 

I think the biggest factor with the health of the SPS has been the flow from the Vortech. It is just super random, the dispersal throughout the tank is great, and I can pretty much see every polyp on all frags moving.

 

The other thing that I have thought about is that my last tank was almost too clean. I think that I overdid it with skimming and waterchanges and I didn't feed enough. I have been trying to find a healthy balance of not overfeeding the tank but also feeding enough so that not only the fish are getting enough food but the corals are benefiting as well.

 

I just hope the success continues

[Weetabix7]

Sounds like I am kinda in the same boat as you, I'm working on finding the balance on feeding enough but not so much that I get nuisance algae issues.

I'm actually kinda nervous about it.

I've never fed my corals on a regular basis til about a week ago, I just relied on good light and water for growth.

Last year I had a bunch of nuisance algae problems. I think I've gotten it all taken care of but I'm askeered they'll come back if I feed.

[DaveFason]

Looking great Adam!

 

Maybe I can get some frags from you for paintball stuff

 

I'll make sure to shoot you a PM when I get mine up this weekend

 

-Dave

[divecj5]

I completely understand what you mean. I used to feed mysis to my LPS in my 55 gallon and just really feed sparingly in my BC29. In this tank, I am still feeding over other day but I have been supplementing with more Phyto and Cyclop-eeze when I feed now. Seems to be really helping the pod population and overall coral health.

 

To me, it has always been difficult finding that tipping point. Every once in a while I feed a little too much and I notice a little spike in the amount of algae on the glass. I think the "functioning" fuge has really helped keep things in check this go around.

 

Glad to have your input Weetie.

 

Looking great Adam!

 

Maybe I can get some frags from you for paintball stuff

 

I'll make sure to shoot you a PM when I get mine up this weekend

 

-Dave

 

Thanks for stopping by Dave. Hopefully I can get some pictures up today or tomorrow of some progression shots.

 

I am always up for selling/trading frags. With my previous tank, I never got to the point where things grew enough to frag I think things are a-changing with this one. I can almost see daily growth with my caps.

[PodRod]

askeered :

 

Ha ha - askeered, soooo Weetie......

 

Adam,

 

Tank is looking great and things are really starting to take off. I love the blue on the backgroud - it really makes the tank pop!

[airman_verde04]

Hey Adam, things are looking great! I'm a bit tired, so I dont really remember what else I wasa going to say.. crap I cant even type.

[divecj5]

I am just getting back in town from the land of miniature golf and Callabash seafood --- Myrtle Beach. I was there for a conference all week and glad to be back at home. My wife did an awesome job taking care of the tank and things had grown a LOT just over those 5 days.

 

I am getting another card reader this afternoon since mine must have grown legs and taken a walk down the street to neverland. I have tons of pictures that I took last week and I plan to take some more this afternoon.

 

I decided to change around one of the bulbs in my fixture and absolutely love the change. Previously, this is the setup that I was running:

 

Front to Back:

-ATI Blue Plus

-Blue Special

-UVL 75/25

-Blue Special

-ATI Blue Plus

 

Definitely a good mix of blue and white but with all 5 running, the color was just a little too white/yellow for me. I personally like the look of a Phoenix 14k bulb so that's what I was shooting for.

 

I decided to go with the Aqua Science 22k bulb since I saw someone over on RC running it. I replaced one of the Blue Special (10K bulbs) with it and I LOVE the new look. Just a hint of more blue with all of the lights on and I the PAR on these bulbs is great.

 

I have also decided to make the switch from Instant Ocean to Deltec H2Ocean Pro+ salt. I know that Karen runs this with her tank and gets great readings for Magnesium and all of the other levels are great as well. It should be here tomorrow or Monday so I will have to report back on any findings.

 

I may switch to the Elos line of Ca/Alk supplements since I've been using so little 2-part so far. Just some pondering though....

 

Picture this afternoon or evening.

[divecj5]

Hopefully some pictures will entice some people to post on here. Things are chugging right along...I'm getting that itch for some new frags. Might have to start hunting around again for some select pieces.

 

Green Acro Vermiculata

 

 

 

Ponape Birdsnest

 

Green Pocillopora

 

Green Cap w/Baby Blue Polyps (I notice daily growth on this one)

 

Blue Stag (has finally started encrusting and looks like a new branch is budding on the back)

 

Green Slimer (moved to the left side of the tank up higher)

 

Orange Cap (loads of new growth)

 

 

Looking down to gage size

 

 

Enjoy

[got2envy]

Hey looking good! I like the blue polyp cap

 

what I have noticed is your pix take a while to load onto the page

[divecj5]

Hey looking good! I like the blue polyp cap

 

what I have noticed is your pix take a while to load onto the page

 

Thanks for stopping by. I'm not sure why they take so long to load on the page...I noticed that as well. I have them in photobucket but I may need to save for web in photoshop from now on.

 

What do you save your pics as for loading on the web?

[divecj5]

The pictures in the last post should be loading a lot faster now. I will make sure to resize to around 600 x 600 from now on. I guess loading my 12 Mb pictures into Photobucket wasn't the smartest thing

[divecj5]

I was just looking back at my pictures and I'm amazed at the coloration changes just in a month's time:

 

Green Pocillopora

 

Looking sad after moving spending time in the BC29 dungeon

 

Now

 

ORA Oregon Tort

This is just crazy coloration change

 

Then

 

Now

 

 

LE Birdsnest

Then

 

Now

 

Green Cap

 

Two weeks ago

 

Now

 

 

That makes me really happy that I must be doing something right

[spanko]

Hmm.....throwing some food coloring or ink into the system?

Stuff really looks great Dive. You are to be commended for outstanding performance and reef keeping abilities.

[divecj5]

Hmm.....throwing some food coloring or ink into the system?

Stuff really looks great Dive. You are to be commended for outstanding performance and reef keeping abilities.

 

Thanks Henry. You know how Photoshop works Just kidding....I didn't really notice the growth or coloration until I just looked at some pictures from last month. My jaw dropped when I saw the changes.

[spanko]

Love it especially the Poc and the Cap.

[divecj5]

I agree....it's nice to see tangible results sometimes.

[airman_verde04]

Its all lies!! He's not who he says he is, he sits at a computer all day and photo shoped all his pictures! He doesn't even own a fish tank! LIES LIES LIES!! haha... ok, Just kidding.. Man Adam, I wish photobucket worked out here, I could see all your updates while I'm gone. at least I can keep up with the chat.