MJ's 20L Formerly-AIO, now with a sump!

[opy01]

What happened to the trumpets?

 

Is the chalace the one that didnt have a mouth? If so does it look like its forming a mouth?

[Militant Jurist]

Fragmania!!!!!!!!

 

Indeed! I never got around to mounting the poci, monti or alien eye chalice, and now I'm thinking about moving them to the 29g, which is doing much better these days. Gotta love fraggin though!

 

What happened to the trumpets?

 

Is the chalace the one that didnt have a mouth? If so does it look like its forming a mouth?

 

The trumpets were much closer to the glass on the left, with all of the spirobis (sp?) worms. I think it got bumped and ripped the flesh.

 

As for the chalice, the frag does seem to be growing a mouth. A guy at the LFS (the one that is an NR sponsor) is actually a marine biologist I've been told... and he said that chalice frags don't actually need a mouth to survive, and that they will grow a new one. It seems that he's right, because I can see a small mouth or two on the frag, and it's already puffing up.

 

It's just the mother colony that isn't doing so hot.

[opy01]

I was right! It's amazing! lol We will have to remember this about chalices. Well at least the frag is doing well and if the mother colony doesnt make it then the frag will have to become the mother colony.

[Militant Jurist]

I was right! It's amazing! lol We will have to remember this about chalices. Well at least the frag is doing well and if the mother colony doesnt make it then the frag will have to become the mother colony.

 

Well, the frag may soon be heading off to someone else. I've had some cyano problems, which are now being combated. That and the temp drop the tank experience hasn't helped the mother colony.

 

Oh, and also to remember about chalices: if the skeleton is thing, use a bone cutter rather than a diamond tip dremel. The dremel is a nazi on the chalice.

[opy01]

with a couple of mine I just cut the underside and then when I was close I broke the rest and then cut the flesh with an really sharp blade. That was on encrusting things, not chalice though.

[Militant Jurist]

with a couple of mine I just cut the underside and then when I was close I broke the rest and then cut the flesh with an really sharp blade. That was on encrusting things, not chalice though.

 

Hm, that might have helped. I guess I treated it more like wood working, where usually it's the back-side that blows out, rather than the side being first cut.

[opy01]

live and learn.

[Militant Jurist]

live and learn.

 

True story.

[opy01]

just curious, can you not cut off the destroyed area of the chalice?

[Militant Jurist]

just curious, can you not cut off the destroyed area of the chalice?

 

Well, it's more that the whole colony is in shock. With the devastation, and then the cyano infestation, the chalice was traumatized and then the edges got cyano on it. The cyano is gone, but the whole chalice is still looking bad.

[spanko]

Dremels are good, wet saws are better. Friction produces a lot of heat and sometimes depending on the condition of the cutting tool, the tentativeness of the fragger, the amount of adult beverages being consumed, a Dremel will burn a coral being fragged.

[Weetabix7]

Very sorry about the chalice, I hope you see some improvement soon.

Have you had a chance to try feeding it yet?

If it gives you a hard time, mebbe try it at night an hour or two after lights off.

First, squirt just a small amt. of juice from some frozen food right by it, then wait 5 mins or so to see if it will extend feeder tentacles.

Turn flow way down before doing this, but don't turn it off in case you might forget to turn it back on.

[Militant Jurist]

Very sorry about the chalice, I hope you see some improvement soon.

Have you had a chance to try feeding it yet?

If it gives you a hard time, mebbe try it at night an hour or two after lights off.

First, squirt just a small amt. of juice from some frozen food right by it, then wait 5 mins or so to see if it will extend feeder tentacles.

Turn flow way down before doing this, but don't turn it off in case you might forget to turn it back on.

 

Thanks Weetie. I haven't done the feeding yet, because my lights are on until about 11PM. I think I'll use the vortech's feeding mode in combination with turning the flow down. I'm going to get a good sized feeding ready for the tanks, just in case the chalice sends out a lot of feeders. I'll give it as much it wants to take down, if it eats.

 

Dremels are good, wet saws are better. Friction produces a lot of heat and sometimes depending on the condition of the cutting tool, the tentativeness of the fragger, the amount of adult beverages being consumed, a Dremel will burn a coral being fragged.

 

That's the strange thing. I didn't get much burn damage, and the blade had never been used (as far as I know). Instead, I had tiny chunks of chalice flung by the diamond blade, even on low speed. It was bad enough that I had to ghetto fab a face shield to continue fragging!

 

 

And that was with no beverages being consumed!

[opy01]

Yea, I never have heat damage cause I always submerge mine a few seconds after starting then start again. It takes me a while but it get done. Poor guy, I hope he eats. If it helps most of my corals eat even when stressed.

[Militant Jurist]

Yea, I never have heat damage cause I always submerge mine a few seconds after starting then start again. It takes me a while but it get done. Poor guy, I hope he eats. If it helps most of my corals eat even when stressed.

 

Yeah, I kind of did the same thing. I kept a container of water nearby and kept dipping him. I didn't see any tentacles come out, but then again, I never really do. I placed some food on top of it, so hopefully it will grab something. I realized that the temperature on the tank was down in the lower 70's, so I'm getting a new heater for the 29, and putting the 29's heater in with the 20s. I think that a combination of things got it pissed off. At least the cyano is still semi-controlled. Tomorrow's a new day, and we shall see what it brings!

[Militant Jurist]

Well, the chalice is truly starting to look better, slowly but surely.

 

And now, macros!

 

I need to get some dry rock, and then I'll be able to properly mount the mangroves. Until then, eggcrate it is!

[Militant Jurist]

Hm.... I ordered my RO/DI from Spectrapure on the 2nd. Since it's been a while, I thought I'd email them for a tracking number, since I hadn't seen anything, and the item was to ship via UPS ground (usually 3 or 4 days from the west coast). The response back indicated that the unit hasn't even shipped yet. Not what I was expecting.

[Needreefunds]

Hm.... I ordered my RO/DI from Spectrapure on the 2nd. Since it's been a while, I thought I'd email them for a tracking number, since I hadn't seen anything, and the item was to ship via UPS ground (usually 3 or 4 days from the west coast). The response back indicated that the unit hasn't even shipped yet. Not what I was expecting.

Wow, not cool.

 

They gave no indication of this when you ordered?

Did they say when you can expect to see it?

 

Sorry T, I know you were looking forward to upgrading this important element of your reef keeping husbandry hardware. With luck it will arrive soon.

[Militant Jurist]

Wow, not cool.

 

Not at all. To make things better, let me show you the email interaction:

 

 

To whom it may concern:

Is a tracking number available for this order? I have not received anything yet, and I want to be able to make sure UPS hasn't done anything funny, like delivering it to the wrong house. Thank you!

 

YOU WILL RECIEVE IT AS SOON AS THE ITEM SHIPS

 

That was the complete message from them.

 

They gave no indication of this when you ordered?

Did they say when you can expect to see it?

 

Nope, there was no indication of a shipping time line. Of course, from my knowledge of contract law, it should therefore be within a "reasonable time." Seems to be falling short.

 

Sorry T, I know you were looking forward to upgrading this important element of your reef keeping husbandry hardware. With luck it will arrive soon.

 

Thanks Richie. Thankfully the phosban seems to be helping, and the cheato added yesterday should provide some additional back up. I'll just hold off on a WC for as long as I can, so that I don't introduce any more nasties into this tank than is necessary. The RO unit's filters must be getting pretty bad, because I can actually hear the water going through the filter, rather than just the draining I used to be able to hear.

[Militant Jurist]

The silicon on the DIY phosban reactor finally gave out when I was putting some new LR into the sump to begin the tidepool look. I think I'm going to try to build something off of the return pump now instead.

 

Here's what I'm thinking:

 

 

Thoughts, comments, suggestions?

[Militant Jurist]

Hm... I just realized that perhaps I should incorporate a valve on the right, passed the T. I'm guessing that even with a horizontal diversion of flow, it's still going to have quite a bit of power, that might need to be tuned back.

[Militant Jurist]

I did a 12 or so gallon WC tonight with ultra wet water from the new RODI. Hopefully this will be known by my 20L as the day the tide turned in the battle against cyano. I'm going to do another 10 or 12g WC in a few days, to continue reducing phosphates in the tank after the old RO unit caused the upswing.

[Militant Jurist]

Time for an update on this tank. My 29g has been doing fantastic, but the 20L has been a different story. I'm finally making some headway on the cyano war, but it's not completely gone. I've got a bunch of phosban in the sump along with cheato and new mangroves. I've gone lights out twice. And still, it's there. I think that the problem was my old RO unit probably leaving phosphates, because I don't feed the tank, and the only thing that goes into the tank (other than coral) is the WC water and dosing chemicals.

 

The other snag is that it's in a room I don't spend much time in, so crazy things can happen without my noticing them as quickly.

 

The last straw happened recently. The water in the sump got a little bit low, and I added some fresh WC water I had on hand. I don't know what happened, but the SG was WAY too high, something that's never happened to me before. It caused the tank SG to spike, which pissed off my already pissed off acros.

 

So, I'm debating what to do with this tank. I've only got a few things in there these days, as I moved many of my nicer pieces into the 29g when the cyano outbreak got serious. I had wanted to keep this tank going as an SPS only tank, but with my current luck, I don't think that's such a good idea.

 

I don't want to get rid of the tank, but may just re-tool it. The 29g has been doing great, and I'm thinking of making it the primary tank. The 20L could then serve as a frag tank, as well as a QT tank for any new fish. The tank would go fish-fallow for long enough that nothing should transfer from fish to fish. I obviously wouldn't medicate. Going the frag tank route would allow me to keep the tank going, without so much of the problems with cyano, etc, since removing the sandbed and a massive WC should take care of the nutrient problem fueling the cyano. I can't put everything from the 20L into the 29g, but most of it would work out nicely. The rest would stay in the 20L and just serve as frag producers.

 

With the colonies I've been getting for the 29g, I could see myself needing a frag tank in the not too distant future, so maybe my frustration is a sign that I should begin to act now.

 

So, what do ya'll think about this idea? Or should I just continue struggling to get the tank back into shape, even though it's in my home office (where I don't presently spend much time).

[Weetabix7]

I think that's a good idea, actually.

[spanko]

What fun is a tank that you don't see often, in a room that you don't go into often? Seems like just a money\time pit to me. On the cyano, does you RO produce water into some kind of holding tank? Have you ever cleaned the holding tank? Was just reading on another site about someone with a cyano problem. Got phosphate readings on the top off water (in a holing tank) he was using but when he checked the output of the RO unit it read zero. Emptied the tank and ran his hand in the tank to find some slimy type residue. Bleached the tank and refilled with new TO water and no phosphate readings after a few days.

 

Just something to think about.