MadDevil's BC14 (Retired 7/4/2013)

[bpkenn]

Water level is pretty high up in the display. Looking at the top inlet vents on the right, the water sits right at the top of the vents. Why do you need to cut it more?

 

 

I didnt do a full cut like is required for the flow director for Stevie T's. I held back a bit. Right now my water level is right even with the plastic molding on the tank. My water sits slightly below the vents, maybe 1/4" below the top of the vents. Not sure why your water level is higher, we practically have the same setup. Maybe the 90% elbow is causing significant enough flow loss from my return pump. Either way i dont mind it too much, it causes the surface to be skimmed really well.

[Maddevil1]

I didnt do a full cut like is required for the flow director for Stevie T's. I held back a bit. Right now my water level is right even with the plastic molding on the tank. My water sits slightly below the vents, maybe 1/4" below the top of the vents. Not sure why your water level is higher, we practically have the same setup. Maybe the 90% elbow is causing significant enough flow loss from my return pump. Either way i dont mind it too much, it causes the surface to be skimmed really well.

 

Hmmmm...not sure. I'll post a pic. Its pretty high up, like almost over flowing the back wall high. What temp is your tank running? Mine hit 82 today. Though I had my upstairs A/C set to 80. Gonna see what it is tomorrow morning, A/C set at 78 and no heater on. Might need to get a chiller.

[bpkenn]

Hmmmm...not sure. I'll post a pic. Its pretty high up, like almost over flowing the back wall high. What temp is your tank running? Mine hit 82 today. Though I had my upstairs A/C set to 80. Gonna see what it is tomorrow morning, A/C set at 78 and no heater on. Might need to get a chiller.

 

My tank is running at about 79, and ambient temp is around 77. i wouldnt worry about 82, you should be fine, temperatures on the reef swing all the time. we had a cmas speaker tell us that temps can swing upwards of like 84-85. I believe it was Ron Shimek.

[Maddevil1]

Here is the pic of the water level.

 

[bpkenn]

wow your water is high. be careful, sometimes i notice salt creep in the top left and right corners (prob from fish splashin around up there) on the glass.

 

BTW I just found out they make 1/2 sizes of Chemi Pure. Do you think using a chemi pure 5oz, and then purigen 2.1oz (100mL) in the bottom chamber would be more beneficial than using 10oz of chemi pure?

[Maddevil1]

wow your water is high. be careful, sometimes i notice salt creep in the top left and right corners (prob from fish splashin around up there) on the glass.

 

BTW I just found out they make 1/2 sizes of Chemi Pure. Do you think using a chemi pure 5oz, and then purigen 2.1oz (100mL) in the bottom chamber would be more beneficial than using 10oz of chemi pure?

I have the 1/2 size and it's still big for StevieT's media rack, it fits though. Not sure, they both do the samething, except chemipure has the GFO. I would mix it up, just in case one does a better job than the other at certain things.

 

How did you get the LED sig?

[bpkenn]

I'll send you a PM with it, BTW, just FYI only the chemi pure elite version has the GFO.

 

I bought the 10oz bag...wonder if its going to fit, lol. I thought the 10oz are the only ones he sells, and he said all of his media racks bottom chambers are designed for the chemi pure. thus logic tells me the 5oz bag should fit in there with purigen without any problems.

 

Maybe iw ill go out and buy 5oz of chemi pure elite tomorrow and test it out myself, its only like $5-6 anyways.

 

edit: StevieT confirmed that you can use the 1/2 unit (5oz) chemi pure and the 2.1oz purigen will also fit. I will have to go out tomorrow and get some. He said the extra 5 oz of chemi pure (i.e. using a full 10oz) wont really help in a tank this size.

 

This is good stuff to know, I have never used either of these products...ive always been a fan of the au natural methodology, but these water volumes are just too small to incorporate the necessary components of a system based on that.

 

i'll send you a pm with the sig.

[Crazy Tiki]

I have the 5oz ChemiPure Elite where the Stock Filter Sponge is and then I have the Purigen in the middle chamber, I fit it on a slant but it fits. I currently have the bottom chamber open for possible Chaeto, even though it is the largest chamber it seems pretty small unless you trim the Chaeto like every week. I was also thinking of cutting out the middle shelf so that the Chaeto will have more room and then put the purigen in chamber 1 (right side when facing) with the heater.

[bpkenn]

I have the 5oz ChemiPure Elite where the Stock Filter Sponge is and then I have the Purigen in the middle chamber, I fit it on a slant but it fits. I currently have the bottom chamber open for possible Chaeto, even though it is the largest chamber it seems pretty small unless you trim the Chaeto like every week. I was also thinking of cutting out the middle shelf so that the Chaeto will have more room and then put the purigen in chamber 1 (right side when facing) with the heater.

 

trimming the chaeto once a week shouldnt be too bad...tbh with chemi pure and purigen, + filter floss in there, there really shouldnt be that much growth unless you are introducing phosphates in large quantities.

[Maddevil1]

trimming the chaeto once a week shouldnt be too bad...tbh with chemi pure and purigen, + filter floss in there, there really shouldnt be that much growth unless you are introducing phosphates in large quantities.

 

 

+1 I have to agree, I hardly trimmed mine for my last tank and all I was running at the time was carbon and purigen.

[Crazy Tiki]

Yeah, I am still contemplating on adding Chateo, as my parms are good. I did however start buying supplies for a LED fuge light

[Maddevil1]

Day 12

 

Parameters:

Ammonia = 0

Nitrite = 0

Nitrate = 0

dKH = 9

Calicum = 375 (not worrying about at the moment)

S.G. = 1.023 (in the process of increasing)

pH = 7.81-8.04 (CO2 issues)

 

Last week I added 3 Margarita Snails because my LFS was out of everything else. Little did I know, these are cold water snails (below 78F) and my tank high is 81.7F. They are pretty lethargic. If they survive the week, will trade them in and hope the LFS has the ones I need. I may opt for a very small turbo, maybe. This weekend I will incorporate some Chaeto into the fuge. Thinking about dosing kalkwasser to help with the CO2 issues if the Chaeto doesnt help much and the tank doesnt stabilize a bit higher.

 

[Maddevil1]

Day 17

 

Parameters:

Ammonia = 0

Nitrite = 0

Nitrate = 0

dKH = 10

Calicum = 395

Mag = 1335

S.G. = 1.024

pH = 7.81-8.04 (CO2 or probe issues)

Temp = 79.5F- 81.6F

 

I ended up keeping the Margarita snails and added 2 Zebra Turbos and 3 Trochus snails. Also got my first coral, GSP! Decided to pull some rocks out to scrub off all the algae. Also reduced my light cycle to 4 hrs/day for 1 week. Setup the fuge with macro algae(Caulerpa) and have it on reverse light cycle. Everything is going great except for pH, which is suspect.

 

 

[bpkenn]

algae is such a pita. seems like some of my corals are a bit poed from the purigen/chemi pure elite too. my frogspawn doesnt get full extension anymore.

 

do you have your pots dialed in at 100%?

[Maddevil1]

algae is such a pita. seems like some of my corals are a bit poed from the purigen/chemi pure elite too. my frogspawn doesnt get full extension anymore.

 

do you have your pots dialed in at 100%?

 

Yes, the algae is a PITA, but I am glad its not GHA. Why would your corals be POed from the Purigen/ChemiPure Elite? I actually changed my setup with StevieT's media rack. I have the filter floss on top, purigen in the middle section and Caulerpa in the bottom section. I moved the chemipure elite to chamber 3 where the stock blue sponge use to be. Now, the water doesnt have to be as high for my ATO (which I havent plugged in yet- still letting things settle out till I get the correct chamber level). My water level now matches the max line on the outside, PERFECT! I also opened up the flow deflectors on StevieT's stay-hold piece and it brought my water level down in the main tank, so I am getting better skimming.

 

All is perfect except for the dang pH. I think my cal fluid might be bad or something. I will take it to the LFS this weekend and test it out. As for my pots, I have the blue at 100% and CW at 85%. GSP seems to like it, but they are pretty hardy and might like anything. Not going to be adding anything else in my tank for about another 2 weeks until I feel the tank has settled out. My tank might be cycling a little, but probably cant detect it because of the purigen and chemipure. This could also be the problem for my low pH. I wish my tank could talk!

[Crazy Tiki]

Geez I only have my leds at about 50%. better start cranking them up.

 

Bpkenn- Did you add more flow to your tank? When I just had my mj900 my two frog spawns would triple in size and take over a large area of the tank. After I added the Hydorflo and K-nano they only double, which is better for me.

[bpkenn]

Geez I only have my leds at about 50%. better start cranking them up.

 

Bpkenn- Did you add more flow to your tank? When I just had my mj900 my two frog spawns would triple in size and take over a large area of the tank. After I added the Hydorflo and K-nano they only double, which is better for me.

 

I started at 100%...im starting to turn them down. i think my white is probably around 65-75% and my Royal blue is at 100% I think there is just too much PAR for my corals lol. my yuma is getting lighter in color. I might end up with like 50% white, 75% royal blue for my lighting.

 

i did move the frogspawn, which is probalby part of the reason it is smaller, but i did notice it spit some guts out a while bag after i added purigen/chemi pure...maybe it was just too long since the last water change, dunno.

 

My friend just gave me p90x, so i'm less concerned with my tank for a while

[Maddevil1]

My friend just gave me p90x, so i'm less concerned with my tank for a while

 

I lasted 4 days! Decided life is too short, rather be a fat ass!

[bpkenn]

LOL, the sedentary lifestyle is killing me...i used to be so active i could eat whatever i wanted, now it causes massive problems and if ignored will result in major health problems down the line.

 

If you want to do it proper, do research on proper nutrition and supplementation first! Thats the hardest part! I am going to be doing a complete 180 as far as diet is concerned. it will be hard, but its well worth it!

 

edit: energy is a huge hurdle for me, pm me if you want to know how i plan to overcome that (dont want to derail)

[Maddevil1]

LOL, the sedentary lifestyle is killing me...i used to be so active i could eat whatever i wanted, now it causes massive problems and if ignored will result in major health problems down the line.

 

If you want to do it proper, do research on proper nutrition and supplementation first! Thats the hardest part! I am going to be doing a complete 180 as far as diet is concerned. it will be hard, but its well worth it!

 

edit: energy is a huge hurdle for me, pm me if you want to know how i plan to overcome that (dont want to derail)

 

 

I dont care if you derail, as long as I am part of the conversation, I dont care what it is about. Plus, my tank is in the boring stages anyway. My wife and I did the diet they have layed out in P90X. We were either always cooking, washing dishes, exercising, or sleeping. No room to do anything less, besides go to work. Thats no way to live! But I did lose 3lbs in 4 days. And we thought, after 90 days then what? It has to be a lifestyle change, and since we didnt plan on being in a muscle competition, thought we should just stick to our regular workout routine. Plus, since I pulled my back, I cant do really anything without aggravating it. I love to run, that even aggravates it. Its not a big deal for me yet, just trying to lose 5-10lbs anyways, any more and even I wil think I am too thin. If/when my back gets better, I can lose that in about 2 weeks.

[Maddevil1]

My 2 Sexy's:

 

[Maddevil1]

Current FTS

 

Newly Added Corals

[Nemo Niblets]

Current FTS

 

Newly Added Corals

 

That mushroom is beautiful!

[Maddevil1]

That mushroom is beautiful!

 

 

Thanks! I wish I knew what kind it was.

[bpkenn]

It looks like a yuma almost. LMK if you ID it.