Chucktown 20H

[divecj5]

Just a quick 5 month update , things are cooking right along with the tank. Just been trying to get a better handle on how much Alk/Ca is being utilized so I can get my dosing schedule back in line. I am up from about 3 mL of 2-part to about 7 mL per day. Quite the jump...then again I did add about 6-8 different SPS pieces, one of which is pretty much a mini colony.

 

I've been getting some killer growth on the Setosa, Bonsai, and the Pearlberry is finally starting to base out nicely. I am going to grab some pictures over the weekend and post them.

 

Oh yeah, the wife and I picked up an iMac to replace our delapidated Dell.....quite the switch and all I can say is "Wow." A whole new experience...in a great way.

 

Hope everyone has a great start to the Memorial Day Weekend....take the time to think about what the holiday is for, although the extra day off is a definite plus.

 

-Adam

[got2envy]

The tank is looking fantastic!

[divecj5]

The tank is looking fantastic!

 

Thanks....the next batch of pictures will hopefully be even better since everything is pretty well settled in now.

 

-Adam

[airman_verde04]

I've been getting some killer growth on the Setosa, Bonsai, and the Pearlberry is finally starting to base out nicely. I am going to grab some pictures over the weekend and post them.

 

Oh yeah, the wife and I picked up an iMac to replace our delapidated Dell.....quite the switch and all I can say is "Wow." A whole new experience...in a great way.

 

sweet deal on the iMac, I'd have to say, if I could afford it, I would get one of there towers, those things are just flat out nasty when it comes to music editing, dj stuff, photos, moive editing.. oh yeah.. I'm jelous.. only a little bit though.

 

Thanks....the next batch of pictures will hopefully be even better since everything is pretty well settled in now.

 

-Adam

 

 

YAY!!! New pictures.. I cant wait!!

[divecj5]

More pictures to come later....but here is a pic I grabbed yesterday of one of my favorite corals - Tyree Bonsai

 

 

Check back later for more.

[klarion]

I'm all caught up now. Frags are looking great and pictures also.. are you still using the Cannon?

I have to admit that my tank is looking a bit like a Romanian village compared to the clean outlines of your new setup.

[divecj5]

Thanks for reading through the thread Boris....not sure how exciting it was

 

I have a bunch of more pictures to post today so there will be more soon.

 

Oh yeah, yes I'm still using the Canon 20D.

[klarion]

Thanks for reading through the thread Boris....not sure how exciting it was

 

I have a bunch of more pictures to post today so there will be more soon.

 

Oh yeah, yes I'm still using the Canon 20D.

 

No prob. I'm trying to catch up with people's tanks, but there is 8 months of reading to do and my eyes are going .

 

I noticed you are not a big fan of tunze 9002 and from what I'm seeing, it's a better filter for smaller tanks than the one you had before.

[divecj5]

I know what you mean Boris....I kind of took a month or so break from NR as well....tough catching back up on the action.

 

I used the Tunze 9002 on my BC29 and never really got really stellar results. I think it was just that I never really took the time to dial it in and the water level in the chamber that I had it fluctuated too much.

 

I have the Aqua-C Remora that is fed by an MJ1200 and I'm really happy with the performance of the skimmer. Definitely too big for your tank. The only thing that I wish is that I had a sump to hide the pump in the tank.

 

Here are some more pictures....hope you all enjoy. The colors came out a little washed out this time...must have been a difference in settings when I processed the RAW images.

 

I am going to post up some growth shots for comparison tomorrow.

 

Armor of God

 

RPEs

 

Blue Stag - starting to get some really great growth tips on this guy. Never did anything for almost a year.

 

Green Slimer - really starting to take off now

 

ORA Pearlberry

 

Setosa - starting to base out on the plug now. So excited

[klarion]

Thanks for your research! I like the Armor of God zoas. I might add them to my tank eventually.

SPS look great too. What's a good beginner SPS in your opinion? I'm thinking of upgrading the lighting in my tank and eventually start growing those... long term plan.

[divecj5]

What's a good beginner SPS in your opinion? I'm thinking of upgrading the lighting in my tank and eventually start growing those... long term plan.

 

Hey Boris. There are actually a lot of nice options out there to start into the world of SPS. When it comes to SPS, I don't really think there are so-called "beginners," but rather corals that are a little more tolerant than others. Montipora Digis and Caps are usually a lot more tolerant of larger swings in Alk and Ca than say some of the Acropora species. Then again, I have an Acro Vermiculata that I think I could take out of the tank, leave sitting out for a day, and put back in with no problems.

 

My suggestion would be to go with either a small Monti Cap frag or a small piece of Bali Green Slimer. Both are pretty tolerant of both lighting and parameters. If you are interested in giving it a whirl, I may just be able to frag you a piece of both and send it your way

 

I need to get my hands on some ceramic frag plugs so that I can start making some frags of the following:

 

-ORA Cali Tort

-Orange Cap

-Green Cap

-Tubs

-Armor of God

-RPEs

-Green Acro Vermiculara

-Red Milli

[klarion]

My suggestion would be to go with either a small Monti Cap frag or a small piece of Bali Green Slimer. Both are pretty tolerant of both lighting and parameters. If you are interested in giving it a whirl, I may just be able to frag you a piece of both and send it your way

 

I need to get my hands on some ceramic frag plugs so that I can start making some frags of the following:

 

-ORA Cali Tort

-Orange Cap

-Green Cap

-Tubs

-Armor of God

-RPEs

-Green Acro Vermiculara

-Red Milli

 

OOOOh, that sounds exciting! You know, I have a pretty ghetto softies setup right now and those AoG's are lovely.... Of course I would be very appreciative. Could you enlighten me a little bit on the frag. shipping etiquette because I seem to have missed this discussion on nano-reef.

[Vesian]

Just wanted to post and say that I admire your beautiful tank :-)

 

SPS is awesome, but I don't think my stock BC14 could support them, bah.

[divecj5]

Just wanted to post and say that I admire your beautiful tank :-)

 

SPS is awesome, but I don't think my stock BC14 could support them, bah.

 

Thank you for the compliment and for stopping by the thread.

 

Yeah, the stock BCs really can't support SPS....nothing a lighting upgrade and more flow couldn't take care of though

[divecj5]

Since it is quickly getting to be that time to replace the bulbs on my TX5, I decided to go ahead and replace 2 of the bulbs now. I picked up 2 ATI Plus+ bulbs from Aquarium Specialty as well as some Amino Acids, more on this later.

 

Although I have been extremely happy with the growth and colors I've been getting with the current bulb configuration, I have never been a huge fan of the look when all 5 bulbs are firing, always looked a tad on the white side.

 

So with the new bulbs, here is what I'm running -

 

Back

• ATI Blue+
  AquaScience 22k
  UVL 75/25 (might replace with a Fiji Purple)
  ATI Blue Special
  ATI Blue +
  

Front

 

You may be wondering why I don't have the Blue+ and 22k on the same switch. I actually had it setup like that at first but when the second switch for the daylights turned off last night, it was just WAY too much blue so I decided to mix it up. Now I get a nice crisp 15-20k when the lights turn on, a nice 14k look when all are on, and then the final 15-20k look again at "sunset."

 

One thing is for sure, I can definitely tell a difference in the brightness of the new bulbs...I knew the others were fading.

--------------------------------------------

As I mentioned above, I also picked up some CoralAmino by Brightwell Aquatics. You can search for all of the details on their site, but here is the main gist:

 

• Complex of free-form amino acids in the same rations found within tissues of stony corals
  
• Beneficial to all corals (stony and soft), as well as solitary and colonial polyps
  
• Acids provide the building blocks of coral tissue
  
• Encourage new tissue growth to repair damage during fragmentation
  
• Encourages growth by budding and fission
  
• Encourages vibrant colors
  

 

The main reason that I'm going to give this a whirl is first off, it was only $5, secondly, as I've been skimming a lot heavier, I want to make sure to keep up and replenish what "good" stuff is being skimmed out as well.

 

I'm planning on dosing it every other day and we'll see if there is any change over the next couple of weeks. If not, it was only $5 down the tube.

[airman_verde04]

Good stuff about the bulbs, I have to order mine months out. Matter of fact, I plan on ordering some as soon as I get home, I already have a new set of bulbs on my light right now, but I plan on replace both bulbs every 6 months. I think at least.. Not 100%, but I really feel that my lights were one of the major causes of my algae epedemic before I took down the 10g. anyways.. I'm off tomorrow, so I will get to check out the new pictures on the wireless.

[airman_verde04]

Very Nice Adam, everything is growing wonderfully, and your colors are #1.. very nice.

[divecj5]

Very Nice Adam, everything is growing wonderfully, and your colors are #1.. very nice.

 

Thanks David....things are definitely coming along. I'm dreading moving my tank like the plague but I don't need to worry about that for another month and a half

[klarion]

Thanks David....things are definitely coming along. I'm dreading moving my tank like the plague but I don't need to worry about that for another month and a half

 

oh?, I must have missed that one when I read your thread. Are you moving just the tank or uprooting the whole house hold?

[divecj5]

My wife and I live in a small condo right now and will be moving towards the end of July into a house. I have now moved 2 tanks so I'm not overly stressed over the move, but just hate the whole process. The last time, I think I was about 50X more stressed and nervous than the fish and coral. Luckily we are only going to be moving about a mile and a half down the street.

[klarion]

My wife and I live in a small condo right now and will be moving towards the end of July into a house. I have now moved 2 tanks so I'm not overly stressed over the move, but just hate the whole process. The last time, I think I was about 50X more stressed and nervous than the fish and coral. Luckily we are only going to be moving about a mile and a half down the street.

 

Good luck with the move! I guess it helps having experience. I'm kind of glad never having to move a tank yet, but I'm sure that day will come and that's exactly when I'll upgrade my tank

[Obi Juan kenobi]

Wow looking really good Dive.

[divecj5]

Wow looking really good Dive.

 

Thanks. I appreciate the feedback. I think the tank is coming together nicely. There are always things I would like to change but pretty happy the way it's running right now.

 

I am going to post up some growth shots for individual corals tomorrow or Sunday so keep your eyes peeled for them.

 

-Adam

[klarion]

I notice you have one of those Vortech pumps. What kind of flow settings do you use on your tank?

[divecj5]

I notice you have one of those Vortech pumps. What kind of flow settings do you use on your tank?

 

I do indeed. I ended up selling the two Tunze 6025s that I had before and they basically paid for the Vortech MP20.

 

For the Vortech, I run it at about 75% on Reef Crest mode. About every two weeks, I switch it over to Lagoon Mode just to switch things up for a day or two. Can't let the corals get complacent on me

 

Other than the Vortech, I just have the return from the AC70 and the output from the Remora skimmer.