Daves Shallow SPS 35g

[divecj5]

Sounds like things are going really well with the tank. Glad to hear that the frags are all doing well....I have some money and corals set aside when things need to be trimmed

 

Things are going well with my tank. Getting a skimmer on Wednesday so that I can start feeding more and start dosing some amino acids. Things have been growing really well and the colors have been great in my tank but I've just been reluctant to feed a lot in the tank since water changes have been the only way to remove dissolved organic compounds.

[divecj5]

I think a picture update is needed

[Maeda]

I think a picture update is needed

 

Seriously.

 

D - You have some amazing frags whats the secret?

[DaveFason]

Well I just took a long lunch and went home to check the tank out. I added a American DJ thingy so its easier to turn pumps off and what not. Only problem is my skimmer is going into micro bubble mode but they should clear up. I did a WC last night and changed my carbon and moved my powerheads around.

 

All the corals are growing great and looking great! Only one that was looking a little odd was the Red planet. The polyps were not out as much but everything else was looking great. I'll snap some pictures tm when I am off work!

 

Update on the corals.... Red Planet basing out quick....

Purple polyp birdnest - has a sweet green hue with purple polyps

Caps are growing like weeds with pink polyps

PM - growing slow and turning more purple ( was a brownout PM )

Setosa - Glow stick and growing GREAT

Purple Bonsai - basing out FAST!

Lime in the sky - turning super green and starting to base.

Efflo - growing slowly but surely!

Hawkins - Turning the sweet blue! basing out

 

I found some eagle eyes too growing, I think there are around 10 polyps now. I plan on getting a FTS and a FTS over top too!

 

Stay tuned!

 

-Dave

[divecj5]

Sounds like things are really taking off in your reef Dave. Sounds like everything is basing out nicely and will be sprouting shortly. Really looking forward to some more pics of your tank.

 

So how many fish, besides the clown(s), do you have? I thought I saw on Maeda's thread that you have 5 out of the original 10 fish left. Sounds like it's a pretty common thing.

[DaveFason]

I only have one clown. The other guy got sucked down to hell....

 

Here's a few pictures. Not to good but should work for the time being. I hope to have someone over with a nice camera so I can get some nice pictures. Everything is looking so good and I wish I could show! I have finally glued my plumbing down so no more random micro bubbles. I am going to have my tank in the dark for a couple days to try that out....

 

My pictures really dont due justice for some of the colors.... The pearlberry is SUPER purple with a whitish base. The sestosa is glowing and my PM is starting to come around. I dont plan on adding much more besides an encrusting monti, Tyree Pink WM and some dendro under my little cave.

 

My next two upgrades are going to be an MP10 and a I-Tech 100. Hopefully these will be sooner than later. I feel like I need to skim more and I really want to simplify my sump and add a powerhead down there.

Clown

Purple Bonsai, Lime in the Sky, Blue tip thingy, Pearlberry

PM, Setosa, Hawkins, Green Birdsnest, RP, Efflo

my horrid fts...

 

Shoot any Q's if you have them!

 

-Dave

[Nanobuds]

tank looks sweet!!!

[Kimberly63]

You may think it looks horrid now but when your stuff grows out, it'll look really good in there!

[DaveFason]

Im sorry I didnt mean it looks horrible. My pictures are horrible!

 

I am very confident that when this guy grows out it will look great!

 

-D

[divecj5]

Really looking good Dave. I wouldn't complain about the full tank shot, I find that's one of the hardest things to photograph...always hard to capture what it really looks like in person.

 

All of the frags look awesome and you can faintly see, even from these distance shots, that they are all basing out nicely. I like how you've spaced them out on the rock as well. Really going to be special once they all fill in.

 

What is an I-Tech 100? A type of skimmer?

[DaveFason]

Thanks Adam!

 

Yea I'm really excited about when they grow out. After seeing them I really want to pick up some King Midas Zoas. Have that with some Tubs would look really nice.

 

The I-Tech is a cone skimmer made down in FL. A VERY nice skimmer which will use the new Tunze pumps.

 

I'm still undecided on the Vortech. I plan on having a larger tank sometime but not sure if I should get the MP20 or 10. My Tunzes are working great but I am over the cords all over the place!

 

So after all that my list of corals I still want to grab...

Midas Zoas

Tubs Zoas

Encrusting monti

UFO Micro

Some type of really nice lord

Dendro

 

I think that would make it have a really nice mixed reef feel and I will still have plenty of room for them to grow. I also dont mind putting corals on the back pieces of rock. I think it gives it a really cool feel when it grows out and you can look ALL around and find stuff.

 

-Dave

[Pablo]

This will look cool when all of your frags grow in.

[Maeda]

It will.

 

Looking good dave.

 

PIC OF THE I-Tech 100!!!!!!!!!!!! When you get it of course.

You should ask them if I can just buy a body since I already have a sicce.

[DaveFason]

I will if I end up getting it. It takes me FOREVER to buy stuff because I get some many ideas in my head. As of now its either the I-Tech or a DIY copy of a deltec AP620...

 

I am also throwing the idea around of running a 1250 Eheim so lower my return rate. Oh and I still have my DIY sump that I have to make sooner than later!

 

Here's a couple shots to show you what I mean with putting frags all over... Also to show my depth in this small nano tank!

 

[m'akoyPINOY]

sweet sps island just like what i'm doing in my tank!

can't wait to see this tank matures.keep up the good work,dave!

 

sweet sps island just like what i'm doing in my tank!

can't wait to see this tank matures.keep up the good work,dave!

[DaveFason]

Thanks PINOY! Yours looks great too.

 

Yea pretty much all SPS and going to get a couple zoas and micros/lords!

 

-Dave

[Maeda]

i'm biased because i wanna see the itech but...

after building a few diy skimmers let me tell you, it's not worth it. Something better will come out for close to what you spend on building a diy, and it'll work well, out of the box, and no fiddling. Hell even my latest DIY skimmer that works AMAZING still only came about because of space reasons, otherwise I would've bought something. This is my 5th diy skimmer.

 

ps - I got myself a setosa.

[divecj5]

Tank is really coming along Dave. I like the side shot that you took since it gives a little better perspective on the true size of the tank. The FTS always makes your tank look HUGE...which isn't a bad thing

 

That Setosa really stands out in the tank....makes the others look a little dull which I'm sure they're not.

 

I'm going to post some pics of my tank on my thread shortly so check it out later today.

[PSYS]

Beautiful tank!!

 

It's gonna look sweet when it's all grown up.

[DaveFason]

Thanks guys!

 

Madea - Yea I've been hearing that too.... So maybe its just time to save for the I-Tech. He has 100 bodies in stock now but I would need to sell my H&S first and buy a pump for the body. I will need to build a new sump first. I also want to paint.primer the inside of my stand. I feel like when I open it, its a cave.

 

Adam - Thanks. Yea I really like the side view too.

 

PSYS - Thanks man! I really look forward to when it does grow in.

 

On a side not I went with the lights off for two days. This morning I turned on my dusk/dawn just to see how it looked. I swear things grew 2x as fast. Ive been reading alot about keeping the lights off for a day or two once a month and now I'm a believer. I also have cut my lights back to 7ish hours. 2 ours of only dusk/dawn and then 5 hours of them all on. Corals are loving it so I'm keeping it.

 

So my plans are new sump with I-Tech skimmer and new Eheim pump.

 

Oh and if anyone needs any paintball stuff....shoot me a PM

 

-D

 

Well I figured I could write a small little review on the ATI Sunpower fixture that I have been using for a little over a month now. I'm no expert but have some experience in this little hobby and maybe this will help someone out! I have the 4x24w 24"...

 

Build - The fixture is constructed in a aluminum housing that has a brushed look to it. It held together by 10-12 allen head screws but its built very well. I have seen the powermodule in person but I prefer the look of the SP. The fixture is much lighter than the PM too.

 

Reflectors and Fan - This is one of the main differences with the SP and PM. The Sunpower has one fan for the 4 bulb fixture and two for the 6 bulb fixture. The PM has a fan for every two bulbs. I have my fan set at 6.5V and seems too keep them very cool. There are four 1/2" holes at the end on the bulbs. This is the "sweet spot" that they found to be the best place for cooling the bulbs. The reflectors themselves have a very nice polished look. There is a power cord for every two bulbs so you can configure your lights for the dust/down effect. The fixture comes with a acrylic splash shield that gets the job done.

Small holes for cooling

 

Lighting - I have no way to measure the PAR or anything like that but I do have a good feel for how intense these lights are. I am running one ATI Aquablues, two ATI Blue+ and one UVI 75/25. This gives me a nice crisp white/blue. Almost like a Phoenix 14k but a little more on the white side. Like I said I have only been using this unit for a little over a month but the colors I am getting out of my corals are amazing! My Red Planet has intense Pink with neon green base, the Setosa is glowing orange and any browned out coral I have put in there has taken on its true color. I dont feel limited to where I can put and of my corals too like I did with my old MHs. My tank is 30" long x 18" deep x 15" tall and this unit is only 23.5" x 9 x 2.5". I am able to put my birdnest in the far left corner out of direct light and it still has the purple polyps and greenish base. My unit is about 4-5" off the water surface and most of my corals are 8-10" down without ANY probelms.

My little rig I have for now to hold the lights up...

 

 

Overall I love this fixture! I bought mine for 409.95 with bulbs from reefgeek. Its around 100$ cheaper than the Powermodule and to me I dont see that big of a difference between the two. After using a 250 HQI Sunlight supply pendant for 2 years before taking a break from the hobby I thought I would always use MH's. My only problem with them was how much heat came off of them and how much more power I was using. I did achieve some great colors but nothing like I am getting from these new T5's. At first I thought I was jumping on the T5 fad but after using them I totally understand why SO many people are switching over. Sure they dont have the shimmer lines but being able to adjust what color you want, run cooler ( only because I am running 96w instead of the 250w ) and being able to place corals anywhere in my tank I will always use T5's. Like I said I'm no expert but with how everything looks I'm not complaining!

 

Just a kinda cool shot of one side of my tank.

 

Hope this helps some people. If you have any other questions just post it on here. Maybe I can help you out!

 

-Dave

[divecj5]

Great writeup on the ATI fixture Dave. I might have to break down and do the same for my Aquatinics fixture. You should post that in the Equipment Forum as others might like to see it as well.

 

So you tried going lights out for two days and noticed some growth? I usually go lights out for a day every couple of weeks just to keep things in check and also simulate cloudy/stormy days on the "reef." I have been reading on RC in the SPS forum (I see you're on there as well) about cutting back the photoperiod. Although I only run my lights for 8-9 hours total, I might cut the daylight amount back and cut the overall length to 7 hours. It sounds like there is a lot of merit to the "less is more" dealing with SPS. SPS growth is at its highest overnight so the reduced amount of lighting gives the coral time to catch up, so to speak. The coral can only absorb so much light during the day and if you don't give it enough time to rest, heal, and grow then things will stagnate. I liken it to working out....you aren't putting on any muscle while you're working out. It's when you sleep and the time after you work out is when the muscles repair the tears and get larger.

 

I just noticed a couple of more babies on my Tubs Blues frag....hopefully I can frag and share here shortly.

[Maeda]

divecj5 - you're all over this thread! wanna bump mine too? Interesting info about sps growth. Could you explain a little more, or point me to a place where I can read more?

 

DAVE - How are you feeding your parvulus?

 

I have a theory about how they eat, let me know what you think.

Between a friend and myself we started with 24 fish (12 per person). My friend has less then 50% remaining, in about 20g of water, while I have 10 of the 12.

My friends are skinny, and she can 'see' which is going to die as you described.

Her's wouldn't eat so we were experimenting with them. Mine alllllll eat like little pigs, and we think it might be either..

 

a. Flow

b. size of the tank

 

She bumped the flow up a lot in the tank and her parvulus are much more active feeders. I have a feeling they won't eat anything unless its actively moving...

How do yours eat? How often do you feed? What do you feed? How much flow do you have?

 

I've been feeding a mixture of

pe Mysis

ground sprirulina flake from Ken's

freezedried cyclopeeze

 

Mix with water, and baster into the school. I have about 75x turn over.

 

I also have a feeling that they need a lot of space to stretch out. My school of 10 takes up about 50% of my tank when the school spreads out.

[mew]

5 left of the 12, though i only received 9 of the 12 (santa was holding them for me and lost a few).

 

i kept them in low flow at first, and i lost 4 during that time. they showed little interested in food, even though I tried PE mysis, grounded spirulina flake, formula two flakes, frozen cyclopeeze, and salifert pellet food. I tried soaking in garlic, and not soaking in garlic. the ones that died, i could see their stomach become rather concave and their color changed slightly a day or so before their death.

 

after some discussion with maeda, i dramatically increased the flow rate today. since i increase the flow, they look a lot happier. they can definitely handle the flow and now that the food is kept suspended and moving, they're eating with gusto. like maeda said, they now lunge for cyclopeeze like they were starved (well, they basically were) and they're finally pooping now (who would've thought i'd be so happy to see poop!).

 

not sure how tank size will factor in, but flow rate is definitely important.

 

P.S. Thanks for the ATI Sunpower write up. I've been planning on ordering one as soon as i can procure some funds, and your review confirms my decision.

[Maeda]

Wow. so much for my incoherent ramble. Well put.

[DaveFason]

No problem on the review!

 

Well I have around 2600gph goig through my small 35g. Mine are always riding with the current but I have now lost 6 out of 10. I am willing to purchase some more and see if I can keep a few but I may just look around for a couple other small gobies. Blue eyed dart goby ( only and inch or so ). I also my try some long spine ( blue eyed ) cardinals.

 

Ive NEVER had troubles with keeping fish until these guys.

 

-Dave