Chucktown 20H

[divecj5]

Nice!

I would like to upgrade my bulbs, mainly to change the colors a bit. My stock Aquaticlife bulbs are just a bit too crisp, bright white for me.

 

However, I think I want an MP10 first........

decisions, decisions (and budget )

 

Yeah, changing from stock bulbs to ATI, Geismann, etc will definitely change the appearance of your coral. The options for color are really limitless with T5s.

 

That said, I'm sure your coral would be super happy about an MP10

 

BTW, when are you taking your trip up to the San Juan Islands? You'll have to let me know how it goes and if there are some can't miss places. My wife and I can't wait to come out that way in about a month.

[couevas]

Yeah, changing from stock bulbs to ATI, Geismann, etc will definitely change the appearance of your coral. The options for color are really limitless with T5s.

 

That said, I'm sure your coral would be super happy about an MP10

 

BTW, when are you taking your trip up to the San Juan Islands? You'll have to let me know how it goes and if there are some can't miss places. My wife and I can't wait to come out that way in about a month.

Yeah, convincing my wife that I need the MP10 is number one right now....(maybe I can squeeze a bulb or two into that order)

 

I went to the Friday Harbor on San Juan Island two weekends ago. It was fun and an absolutely stunning ferry ride (about an hour and a half through the islands). However, most of the bars and restaurants were closed on the Saturday that we went. It is still winter here and the tourism trade completely halts. Oh well....

 

When you come in a month, the weather out there should be good and everything will be open. I would say there are two places you can't miss. The number one would be the Front St. Ale House (San Juan Brewing Co.). The second would be Friday's Crabhouse (a cool open air seafood restaurant and bar on 3 levels of decking overlooking the harbor). When you get off the ferry, you run straight into Friday's Crabhouse. Front St. Alehouse is to the right of that on the corner (if you are looking up from the ferry).

[divecj5]

Thanks for the suggestions on must see spots on the islands. Looking through their visitors guide has us all kinds of excited to visit. My wife has been dreaming about going to the San Juan Islands ever since I've known her. Should be a lot of fun I'm sure.

[couevas]

Thanks for the suggestions on must see spots on the islands. Looking through their visitors guide has us all kinds of excited to visit. My wife has been dreaming about going to the San Juan Islands ever since I've known her. Should be a lot of fun I'm sure.

The whale museum is supposed to be cool too. We went in but I was too cheap to pay admission ($6 ).

Also, my wife wanted to check out the lavender fields. It should be nice in the spring and would probably score you some points with yours.....

[divecj5]

...check out the lavender fields. It should be nice in the spring and would probably score you some points with yours.....

 

I like the way you think here

[couevas]

I like the way you think here

This ain't my first rodeo.......

[divecj5]

At first glance, looked like EcoTech was knocking it out of the park with their new EcoSmart driver upgrade, on closer inspection there's no love for we MP20 owners. Looks like their only suggestion/solution is "upgrade to the MP40 driver first."

 

Pretty crappy if you ask me..let's support the MP10 and MP40 but screw the guys in the middle

[couevas]

That sucks....

Although, I am still jealous of your mp....no matter what number comes after it!

[divecj5]

That sucks....

Although, I am still jealous of your mp....no matter what number comes after it!

 

Definitely....still couldn't be happier with the product as a whole. Just sucks that they're forcing people to cough over another $150 bones to upgrade to the MP40 driver. Just really like the idea of a wireless controlled pump but it's not a huge deal

[steely185]

Looking good with that FTS. Drop the actinic white if you have been thinking about it. Either swap it with a Blue+ or super actinic. I think you would like it with the super actinic.

 

I've got my 20H back running strong now. Put in a new radium 20K yesterday and an mp10. Back in business with both tanks now.

[Deleted User 6]

how's the tank coming along? how's c-town these days? i need to get back down there at some point.

 

speaking of MPs, I'm still fighting the internal debate about getting the 10 for my 9g tank. on the one hand i think it would be more than I need. on the other, it would prevent the flatworms from being able to stay on the rocks and their populations should dwindle.

 

decisions, decisions.

[divecj5]

Looking good with that FTS. Drop the actinic white if you have been thinking about it. Either swap it with a Blue+ or super actinic. I think you would like it with the super actinic.

 

Thanks Dan!! I have been thinking about dropping either the Actinic White or the Fiji Purple. I'm not really sure if this is the case, but I've almost started to wonder if the spectrum of the Actinic White is contributing in any way to my cyano.

 

I've got my 20H back running strong now. Put in a new radium 20K yesterday and an mp10. Back in business with both tanks now.

 

That's great news. I bet it looks great with the radium and new MP10.

 

how's the tank coming along? how's c-town these days? i need to get back down there at some point.

 

speaking of MPs, I'm still fighting the internal debate about getting the 10 for my 9g tank. on the one hand i think it would be more than I need. on the other, it would prevent the flatworms from being able to stay on the rocks and their populations should dwindle.

 

decisions, decisions.

 

Things are trudging right along with the tank D, as you can see. Still duking it out with this freaking cyano but I'm not getting worked up over it anymore. I know that I've done everything I can to get rid of the stuff so I'm starting to siphon the "mat" out with each water change a small section at a time. Did a pretty big chunk on Wednesday and it hadn't come back in that spot as of last night. We'll see though.

 

I think an MP10 would be a little much for your 9 gallon, although with the really small footprint and the ability to dial it way back, I'm sure your coral would be happy. Not sure if it would really prevent the FW from latching onto the rock....they would probably just go stealth and keep a lower profile

[Deleted User 6]

everything i've read on flatworms says that the best way to control them are aggressive skimming and high flow. unfortunately, since I feed heavily with filter formula and rods food for the SPS and LPS, i'm sure they are getting plenty to eat. But they really are weak when it comes to staying attached to the rocks. I went the FWE route and it didn't eradicate them. My sixline eats them but is too aggressive to other tankmates. So I'm out of options really.

[divecj5]

Now that you mention it D, I had several flat worms (the non invasive kind) in my BC29 and now I remember how easy it was to just suck them out with a small pipette. Maybe blasting them with loads of flow would do the trick, like you said.

[airman_verde04]

Hey Adam, just wanted to swing by and say hi since I e-mailed you. You tank is looking amazing! great growth out of all your coral, and your FS is just sick! I love that your Clown is hosting it.

[divecj5]

Hey Adam, just wanted to swing by and say hi since I e-mailed you. You tank is looking amazing! great growth out of all your coral, and your FS is just sick! I love that your Clown is hosting it.

 

Thanks for swinging by the thread and checking things out. Tank has definitely come a long way in the 15 months it's been up and running. Still battling a little cyano but not really letting it frustrate me too much.

 

I'm more or less treading water, not adding anything, and just waiting to try out some LEDs in the future

[divecj5]

Any suggestions on small powerheads that I could put in the back behind the large rock on the left-side of the tank to keep things mixed up a little more? I was thinking Koralia Nano but thought I would toss it out there for the group.

 

I tried cranking up the Vortech and moved it a little lower in the tank....that ended with bad results as it ended up blowing off the flesh on the right side of my ORA Cali Tort. Needless to say I was NOT a happy camper to see this. Luckily the other parts of the colony are healthy but the right,

 

I've got to figure out this flow and cyano issue pronto.

 

-Adam

[Weetabix7]

Tunze makes a nice mini powerhead that has adjustable flow.

I believe Premium Aquatics carries it.

Smaller than a Knano.

 

On the cyano, have you checked your RO/DI filters?

[divecj5]

Tunze makes a nice mini powerhead that has adjustable flow.

I believe Premium Aquatics carries it.

Smaller than a Knano.

 

On the cyano, have you checked your RO/DI filters?

 

Thanks for the suggestion Weetie. Someone locally is selling a K Nano so I might give that a whirl to start with and then go from there.

 

I changed the RO membrane about a month ago and all of the other filters are only about 3 months old. Water in = 91 TDS and the output = 0 TDS.

 

I'm also wondering about this - since startup, I only had 2 Nassarius in the tank keeping things mixed up. Back in January, I added 10-15 new ones along with a bunch of small and large Ceriths. I wonder if these new snails really mixed up the sand bed, thus releasing a bunch of stored Nitrate/Phosphate. Also, I tried stirring and siphoning the sand.

 

Wonder if I stirred up too much and there is an excess amount of Nitrate in the water column.

[Deleted User 6]

i don't remember - are you testing for nitrate and phosphates on a regular basis?

[divecj5]

i don't remember - are you testing for nitrate and phosphates on a regular basis?

 

Nope. I have a phosphate kit but I think it was a pretty big waste of money. May pick up a Nitrate kit while I'm at the LFS.

[Deleted User 6]

API works alright - it will at least give you a ballpark idea, which is all you need for nitrates anyways.

[divecj5]

API works alright - it will at least give you a ballpark idea, which is all you need for nitrates anyways.

 

That's more than likely what I'll snag.

[divecj5]

Added a Koralia Nano to the back left corner of the tank yesterday afternoon so we'll see if that helps keep the sand bed nice and clean. I have to say, for such a tiny powerhead, these things really can move some water.

 

I'm looking for suggestions on the best placement to get the most random flow and to target some key spots. Hopefully, if I can break away from work, I'll post a FTS with some highlighted areas and ideas I had.

[Weetabix7]

I hope it helps.

 

There may be something to your idea of a more stirred up sandbed releasing "junk" into the tank.