Reese's Rimless 14g

[blizzardscout2]

My Apex Jr showed up along with my wireless bridge to give me internet access. Unfortunately I was having difficulty gaining access to the web menu to change the settings on the router to a bridge setting and I had no time to work on it(the baby needed me ). So I will work on that today.

 

Meanwhile the 3.5 days of black out has been a great success. I may need to drain the tank almost completely to treat some of the other problem areas with hyrdrogen peroxide, but that worked wonders on the back wall. I am running Phosguard and Carbon with floss on the grate which is filling up with crud constantly. I did stir and blow the rocks several times in the last day which kicked up a nasty cloud. I tried to only do a little at a time as my skimmer went crazy every time I did.

 

Plus yesterday was my LFS big sale so I bought a few new additions to help me out. This included the Phosguard, a TDS meter so I can make sure my RO Water I buy is good, a Refractometer, Red Sea Pro Salt so I can mix my own salt (I was mixing mine with IO at times and using the LFS premixed), and an Elos Test kit.

 

Also added were 2 turbo snails to replace my big guy I had for a few years and a Yellow Fiji Leather.

 

I did test my phosphates and they were reading 0, but I am sure they were probably something like .01-.03. They definitely weren't 0.05 so thats good. I then did a small WC, and turned the light back on to only be on from 6:30 to 11:30 PM and I dimmed my light a little. Hopefully this will prevent new algae growth from occuring.

[blizzardscout2]

YES! I have conquered the mighty router. I will have to wait until I get home to finish setting it up and then get my Apex Jr online. Networking is not my forte.

[blizzardscout2]

Late last night when I should have been in bed, I nabbed an opportunity to attempt to set up the router and get my Apex Jr online. I successfully set up my router as a bridge on my current wifi router, so that was good. Then I plugged in the cat5 into the Apex Jr and pulled up the website to adjust outlet control settings, and I realized this will take some time through trial and error to set up how I need it to. Short of it is I left things alone as they were so I didnt need to worry about whether the system pump would randomly turn off and have my skimmer overflow.

 

I was able to plug in my temp probe and pull that up on my Apex app on my Droid X. It immediately registered the temp, so that was cool. However if I tried to do anything else with it, the app would simply crash. I thought it may be my phone as it is a bit dated, so I tried the app on my Nexus 7 and it crashed on it too. Obviously an app problem. Hopefully there will be a fix soon.

 

As for the reef, it looks great! Algae is at an all time low that I haven't seen since September 2011. A little TLC goes a long ways, I wish I had done this a while a go.

[blizzardscout2]

After much time and anguish, I was finally successful at setting up my Neptune Apex Jr and I can access it via the Android app. For only $139 + $20 for the wifi bridge, not bad.

[blizzardscout2]

Since I only have 4 outlets, I have my Return pump, Skimmer, MP10, and Heater controlled. I have my Kessil on another timer with my ATO and the wifi bridge for internet access for the Apex Jr.

 

My reef looks pretty good right now. Algae is still virtually non existent. I keep blowing off all the rocks and I keep blowing my substrate to get all those nutrients into the water column.

 

This is from a week ago, but here is an almost current FTS.

 

http://s518.photobucket.com/user/nwdive/media/8fc8a0ef-c726-4af8-a153-9c44b3a2cd84_zpscd7c7021.jpg.html'>

[blizzardscout2]

It is a sad state of affairs. I came home yesterday morning from work to find Cheetoh, my female clownfish on the ground in front of my tank. I was hoping that I might have had these two little guys for a very long time, but I guess I will have only one of them. I really did enjoy that fish. RIP Cheetoh.

[Evanski9]

Sucks bro. I have lost alot of them.... jumpers.. it was the light. it was so pretty it wanted to touch it

[blizzardscout2]

Hehe, yeah the Kessil Tuna blue is quite pretty.

[blizzardscout2]

I just updated my Neptune Apex Jr to use the Fusion beta, it is pretty cool. I like how simple it is to use compared to what it used to be like. I moved around a little bit today after deciding to revamp. Been awhile since I updated, I added a Sixline wrasse to mix since my clown beat up and killed the last mate prospect, so a little piss and vinegar of the sixline wrasse has created a perfect environment for the two. They basically leave each other alone and they even hang out together sometimes. I plan to add a few softies next month for a new color and maybe a shrimp. Not sure what to get yet? Any ideas?

[blizzardscout2]

I decided to frag two of my Maxi Anemones. I fragged the Orange one yesterday and the Pink one today. I attempted to get a Red one out of it's position on the main rock, but it proved to be very stubborn and I was afraid I might kill it if I pushed my luck. Here is an FTS from a few days ago.

 

I have decided to transition to bare bottom for ease of maintenance. I may create a tray to have substrate in at some point as I would like to create a Rock Anemone garden although not necessary. The plan is to upgrade to a much larger 70ish gallon shallow rimless next year to replace this one. My leather coral is running out of room and I would like to keep it as I grew it from a tiny polyp of which I didn't know what it was.

 

Wish my two Anemones luck that they heal up nicely.

[blizzardscout2]

My female beat up my male clown after 8 months of being a pair. I don't know what else would have left my male with a torn fin and his side beat up. They stay away from my MP10 and pretty much only come out of my leather to feed. Poor little guy, he was a beautiful fish. I think I will go with just one clown for now. She beat up and killed the last one too. 2 clowns in a little over a year is enough.

[blizzardscout2]

On a good note, I pulled one of my Maxi nems out of the back chamber (he migrated there a week ago) and I figured since I had him out I might as well frag him. This morning both halves are attached and opened up nicely. My next tank I plan on upgrading to before the end of the year I want the open front to be an Anemone garden with Maxis and Rock flowers; two of my most favorite invertebrates.

[blizzardscout2]

 

A little re-scaping this afternoon. I found one of my other Maxi nems hiding out and I was able to remove it and frag it too. The other Maxi I fragged yesterday look great. I will feed them tomorrow morning. I may end up with another friend for my fish as my son is sad Batman died (he named him and of course the orange one is Robin). We shall see.

[metrokat]

following!

[Sharbuckle]

Nice cube. How long has it been running now?

[reefernanoman]

 

A little re-scaping this afternoon. I found one of my other Maxi nems hiding out and I was able to remove it and frag it too. The other Maxi I fragged yesterday look great. I will feed them tomorrow morning. I may end up with another friend for my fish as my son is sad Batman died (he named him and of course the orange one is Robin). We shall see.

Wow nice! And barebottom too.

[blizzardscout2]

Nice cube. How long has it been running now?

 

 

Thank you, 2008. It was a gift to myself for getting into the fire service.

[teenyreef]

It looks really nice! It's nice to see such a mature reef tank.

[Sharbuckle]

8 years! Good stuff. Anything in there since the beginning?

[blizzardscout2]

It looks really nice! It's nice to see such a mature reef tank.

 

 

Thanks!

 

 

8 years! Good stuff. Anything in there since the beginning?

 

 

The All green mushrooms, the Flower anemone, and basically the leather. The leather was a hitchhiker on a rock of clove polyps that was so tiny I couldn't tell what it was when I first spotted it. It is pretty cool that it is this large now. This is part of the reason I want to upgrade my system to something larger.

[blizzardscout2]

Oh and my kids and I made a trip to our favorite LFS. I know I said I wouldn't get another clown but....... Picture to follow when my lights are on. Plus lots of feeding to create good will between my fish.

I thought about it some more, I just don't see my other clown attacking the one that died like that. They got along just fine. The black one must have been scared into the MP10. That is the only explanation that makes sense. Hell one of my original clown fish was pushed out of the tank because I had it to high in the tank (was trying to create good oxygenation prior to skimmer). It basically rode it like a wave often and when it ramped up it pushed it right out of the tank.

 

Think happy thoughts for this little guy.

[Sharbuckle]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The All green mushrooms, the Flower anemone, and basically the leather. The leather was a hitchhiker on a rock of clove polyps that was so tiny I couldn't tell what it was when I first spotted it. It is pretty cool that it is this large now. This is part of the reason I want to upgrade my system to something larger.

Awesome! I got a hitchiker leather as well. Pretty neat. Fingers crossed for you new clown.

[blizzardscout2]

Thanks. It is funny that I thought my clown was small until the naked clown juvenile was next to him, not so small after all.

[blizzardscout2]

 

Ahhh, full bellies. Now hopefully keeping the big one fat and happy will keep his aggressiveness to a minimum.

[TristanC]

Tank looks great! 8 years?! Well done sir, well done.