Uhuru Posted November 19, 2009 Author Share Posted November 19, 2009 mew - thanks! you can PM me anytime... a lot of lessons learned so far Dave - not planning to add anything to this tank for a while. I actually started stocking my large tank. I've been trying a different feeding regimen for the elos mini. I am trying to pinpoint the root of my problems and one theory is the preservatives used in all of the concentrated plankton products were building up over time. I was getting crazy bacterial growth without any carbon dosing, hence the tank always had a cloudy look - but never any algae problems. I looked at the ingredients in some of the products and there is a lot of organic carbon and sugar. I also got a response from Reef Nutrition that mixing of their products can lead to premature degradation. Its just a theory, but I've stopped all liquid food dosing and I'm trying all dry foods for now. Link to comment
DaveFason Posted November 19, 2009 Share Posted November 19, 2009 Thats good to know. Any pictures of your larger tank? -Dave Link to comment
Lalani Posted November 19, 2009 Share Posted November 19, 2009 Ok, I think I love this tank. Link to comment
Uhuru Posted November 19, 2009 Author Share Posted November 19, 2009 Thats good to know. Any pictures of your larger tank? -Dave Soon! It's ugly right now, LOL. Just a bunch of rock without any aquascaping. Various sun coral colonies and rhizos placed in easy to reach spots so I can feed them. 2 dwarf angels that get lost, I only see brief glimpses of them when I feed the tank with cyclopleeze to wake up the corals. I plan to do some aquascaping over thanksgiving break then I'll take pics. Ok, I think I love this tank. Thanks! Link to comment
DaveFason Posted December 4, 2009 Share Posted December 4, 2009 How is everything? -Dave Link to comment
Boomboy Posted December 4, 2009 Share Posted December 4, 2009 WOWZERS!!! i want. GIVE ME! Link to comment
Uhuru Posted December 4, 2009 Author Share Posted December 4, 2009 Not much happening, been ill the last few weeks and now I have finals. Started dosing MB7 which seems to have actually helped control the bacterial blooms. Perhaps I had a monoculture going on. Hoping to get an ozone reactor installed late next week, breaking in the ORP probe right now. Link to comment
DaveFason Posted December 4, 2009 Share Posted December 4, 2009 Very cool. I am looking into using Ozone also. Which unit are you looking to get? -Dave Link to comment
SK8URDEAD Posted December 4, 2009 Share Posted December 4, 2009 Man Nice tank!!!! looks great. love the way you have your rock setup and your coral choices are very smexy! Link to comment
Uhuru Posted December 4, 2009 Author Share Posted December 4, 2009 Very cool. I am looking into using Ozone also. Which unit are you looking to get? -Dave I got the Ozotech Poseidon 200 mg unit. I was going to get the 100 mg Jr. model, but it does not have variable output. I talked to Ozotech and they said it would turn on and off all the time because 100 mg is way too powerful for my size tank. The variable output is also nice in case I want to also use it on my big tank, I can just disconnect and turn up the output. Keep us updated on your ozone plans in your thread. If I can offer any tips from what I've researched I will. Man Nice tank!!!! looks great. love the way you have your rock setup and your coral choices are very smexy! Thanks! more pics! After finals, I promise! Link to comment
DaveFason Posted December 6, 2009 Share Posted December 6, 2009 Cool Uhuru. This is how I am planning on running the Ozone now. Corallife Luft pump->Air Dryer->Sanders-> Skimmer. Not sure if you've seen my update but I think I am going with a jawfish biotope. VERY open, Little rock and a thick sandbed for the fish. I think having a ultra clear tank I will be able to snap some cool photos of the Jawfish. I also plan on trying to do another schoal of Red Spot Cardinal's. How are you going to run yours? -Dave Link to comment
Uhuru Posted December 14, 2009 Author Share Posted December 14, 2009 Dave, I must have missed your post, sorry for the late reply. Did you get your ozone equipment yet? I have been running mine for a few days now. The water is unbelievably clear already. It's amazing. You are going to love it man. I have never seen my water this clear. Here is a teaser pic (I desaturated the photo because I took it in the dark with flash, made my walls look yellow which they are not): So this is how it is set up. Luft pump (an awesome pump) -> Air Dryer -> Ozonizer -> Kynar check valve -> Aquamedic Reactor (works perfectly) -> Carbon Reactor -> Sump. The Aquamedic Reactor also has a gas bleed valve which I run through some carbon. I also installed a track lighting system on the wall behind my tank: It is pretty far from the tank, and would not work for anyone keeping photosynthetic corals, simply because of the distance. I have 1 evilc66 20K bulb right now with 80* optics, and 2 x all blue ones with 40* optics on the way. Link to comment
Sushi Posted December 14, 2009 Share Posted December 14, 2009 looking good, let's get a pic up with the entire tank and track lighting setup! Link to comment
gabe3eb Posted December 14, 2009 Share Posted December 14, 2009 That is going to be so sick. Am I understanding your two blue LED fixtures will both be 5xBlue PAR38s? So hot. Link to comment
Uhuru Posted December 14, 2009 Author Share Posted December 14, 2009 Thanks guys. Yup, 2 all blue PAR38 lamps from evilc66/nanotuners. Link to comment
gabe3eb Posted December 14, 2009 Share Posted December 14, 2009 Nice, that is going to be some serious blue. My 20K PAR38 is REALLY blue as is. I love it. Link to comment
Uhuru Posted December 14, 2009 Author Share Posted December 14, 2009 Yeah, it is really blue already LOL. Now I have to apologize for this dirty sump pic. I wanted to show Dave how I have my ozone set up, and I didn't have time to clean up before taking the pic. Oh well it's just a sump, it's okay to be dirty! Link to comment
DaveFason Posted December 15, 2009 Share Posted December 15, 2009 Thanks Uhuru. Shot you a PM back on RC -D Link to comment
Uhuru Posted December 19, 2009 Author Share Posted December 19, 2009 With some new NPS tanks being set up (on here and other forums) I wanted to document the 2 methods of feeding that I think work best. I am continuing to use the syringe pump for Shellfish Diet and Roti-Feast: This is self explanatory - just spend money, plug in and enjoy! But I have also started using a kalk reactor to dose my own variation of Danny Dame's recipe. So this method is nothing new but here is a step by step on how easy it is to make it work. First, you blend up a mixture of the foods (see the link above). In my recipe, I also use squid juice and oyster juice as a "smelling sauce" for the corals. I use more RO/DI water as I want this to be very dilute. Also, I use very little Ultra Pac as this has been replaced by Ultra Min D. I still use it because I have 2 bottles left and don't want to waste it. Let the mixture sit 24 hrs and get stinky. This is what it looks like: As you can see the problem is that gravity makes the mixture separate. If you were to use a syringe pump for this, the dose rate would have to be pretty fast or you would get a very inconsistent mixture, especially if the syringe pump is pushing the food vertically upwards. You want the consistency to be like this: So this is where a kalk reactor is handy as it can continuously keep the mixture suspended as it is dosed into the tank. A kalk reactor that uses a small pump for mixing is better than a kalk stirrer that uses a magnetic stirrer as this is not powerful enough. The only modification I had to do was add a T and a ball valve to the inlet tube: Now I simply draw up the food mixture into a syringe and pump it into the reactor: I let the mixing pump run continuously. The food contains only very fine granules and it is very dilute so it doesn't cause any clogging of the pump... however I plan to clean out everything regularly. I use a 50 ml/min dosing pump to feed the reactor tank water. The reactor holds ~3 gal., so I set the pump to turn on for 10 min. every hour. This allows the volume of the reactor to be pumped out every 24 hrs, taking most of the food with it. Again, this is not 100% efficient and the reactor and its components must be cleaned regularly. I will say that the GEO kalk reactor is perfect for this. It has a drain at the bottom, and the pump is attached in a way that it is very easily removed for cleaning. So far I am very happy with this method of feeding. It takes away another big chore, and allows me to feed a much larger variety of foods. I can even defrost some cyclopleeze and inject it into the reactor. I am hoping that between the syringe pump and kalk reactor I am able to provide my NPS corals the nutrition they need to thrive and grow! Link to comment
davidr2340 Posted December 20, 2009 Share Posted December 20, 2009 I came to say this: YOU AMAZE ME BRO!!! This is simply awesome to follow!!! Link to comment
Uhuru Posted December 20, 2009 Author Share Posted December 20, 2009 Thanks man! Sometimes I look at all the money, time and effort I've put into this little glass box and think I must be freaking insane!! What the hell is wrong with me?? hahaha Link to comment
Rehype Posted December 20, 2009 Share Posted December 20, 2009 I think we have the same problem Your dosing method is definitely the most elaborate ive ever seen and your corals love it. Thanks for being so detailed it will serve as a good reference for those wanting to try non-photosynthetic. Link to comment
Uhuru Posted December 20, 2009 Author Share Posted December 20, 2009 How is your blueberry doing?? Link to comment
Rehype Posted December 20, 2009 Share Posted December 20, 2009 So far so good Uhuru. Hes definitely growing(slowly) but growing nonetheless. Link to comment
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