opy01 Posted July 31, 2009 Author Share Posted July 31, 2009 Wow, nice zoa pic! Thanks. I've only just begun lol. I also wanted to add that my tank has never seen nitrate, when I have tested. 0. Actually, I take that back... this tank has never tested positive for ammonia, nitrite, or nitrate. Where it goes, I don't know... but I do feed the tank, so it must be going somewhere, and the Bryopsis being gone hasn't changed anything... still no nitrate. Coralline has taken off in the past few days though... not sure what that means. If you are helping me or the comunity I dont mind intruders. The thread will eventually get back on topic... then again we never went off topic lol. You are lucky about the 0 nitrates. Mine are at a constant 20 in both tanks and the people at the fish store say I would be very lucky to keep them below that. I even do weekly changes to the main tank. Link to comment
BlueAbyss Posted July 31, 2009 Share Posted July 31, 2009 I dunno man... I bought 6 - 7 lbs of LR. It was clean, had no encrusting organisms but came with a blue legged hermit. I set up the tank with dead sand. It was lit with 24W of NO T8 fluorescent for the first 3 weeks, and has been on a 14 hour photo period since I got my 70W metal halide going... I just went through a Bryopsis infestation, and things seem to be calming down now. My coral (singular ) seems to be doing really well, as do the crabs. It's been pretty painless so far... well, maybe it hurts the wallet EDIT: I've had more issues with ammonia in my FW tanks. I've never seen ammonia in my reef tank. Awesome. Link to comment
opy01 Posted July 31, 2009 Author Share Posted July 31, 2009 lol I know that. I wouldnt think a 10G would cost that much but I am having too much fun to stop now. I got 20 lbs all live sand and about 15 lbs live rock in the one tank and 10 lbs live sand and 5 lbs live rock/rubble in the sump. My other tank has about 10-12 lbs live rock and 20 lbs live sand in it. Maybe that the difference though. I am still learning and playing so given time it will all turn out. I think the anthelia is doing the same as last night so hopefully it will come back. If so I may just keep it in the tank its in and hope my red crab doesnt screw it up like the emerald did. The guy from reefcleaners.org did say that the crab was probably just eating algae and the anthelia was probably just in the way and got dislodged. Maybe some polyps will turn up somewhere besides the sump lol. Link to comment
Muggz Posted July 31, 2009 Share Posted July 31, 2009 Hey Opy, I also had issues with getting Nitrates below 20ppm, but after adding chaeto and some time, they eventually dropped to just detectable with the test kit - maybe it's just a time thing? How long has your sump been running now? Link to comment
opy01 Posted July 31, 2009 Author Share Posted July 31, 2009 Hey Opy,I also had issues with getting Nitrates below 20ppm, but after adding chaeto and some time, they eventually dropped to just detectable with the test kit - maybe it's just a time thing? How long has your sump been running now? The sump was up about a week or two after the tank so about 7-8 weeks or so. The caulerpa is growing like mad in there but I also have ciano in the sump as well (better there than in the tank) so I know something is wacked. I also have cheato that is in another chamber in the sump so hopefully in a few more weeks I will be able to tell. I was overfeeding for a short time till I realised and stopped but even before that my nitrates were at a steady 20. Hopefully in time it will all work out. At least with my weekly water changes my calcium and other trace elements are all good though lol. Link to comment
Curly Joe Reefer Posted July 31, 2009 Share Posted July 31, 2009 what kind of light are you using? Your tank looks good i like the variety that you have going. Variety is tough in the smaller tanks. Gotta find a nice balance El Fab's pico is probably the best I've seen so far. Us 10 Gallon people have to stick together hahha Link to comment
opy01 Posted July 31, 2009 Author Share Posted July 31, 2009 Thanks, lol yea I usually stick to reading the 5-15g threads since there are so many threads in here to choose from. Mostly I look got the 10g ones to get ideas or just see how bad I am screwing mine up lol. I am running LEDs on my setup and since I now have some backup at work I am getting an evening to take pics so i will post some updated detailed pics of my entire setup including the light. Link to comment
Curly Joe Reefer Posted July 31, 2009 Share Posted July 31, 2009 cool, how do you like the LED's i was thinking of doing a diy for my 10 gallon Link to comment
opy01 Posted July 31, 2009 Author Share Posted July 31, 2009 The LEDs rock! I am thinking about doing another one for my other 10g in a month or so. I was supposed to get a hair cut on my lunch break but that got canceled so I am going home to take the pics. I will be back in a bit to upload them. Link to comment
opy01 Posted July 31, 2009 Author Share Posted July 31, 2009 well like I promised deepdvnarq, here is the photos of my LED setup. Here it is right after drilling and wiring. Here I have the plugs for the white and blue LEDs (properly marked with heatshrink), the plug for the cooling fan, the heat sensor for the cooling fan speed control and also the wire for the moon light for when I get the ALC hooked up to my RKL. Here are my plugs; 2 Meanwell ELN-60-48D, the power strip, 5v adapter for the dimmer signal, power supply for the fans and the grey box is my cooling fan speed control. Here are some shots of the outside, I got the enclosure from Catalina Aquarium. They were very nice and they cut the length I wanted and shipped them to me. If you want vents on the top be sure and ask for the grated piece for the middle. Here is Bulldozer again. He is the culprit who destroyed my anthelia. I checked on it today at lunch and the 2 from the large group that are left are doing much better. There are about 3 or 4 very small ones spread around the rock so hopefully they will make a comeback. I need to get something else to quarantine them in to give them better flow but they are opening more today than the other day. I almost forgot, this is a current pic of my sump/fuge Link to comment
Rocker Posted July 31, 2009 Share Posted July 31, 2009 Wow, your tank sure has gone thru quite a bit since you started it! It's looking pretty sweet & you did a good job on those LEDs! Link to comment
opy01 Posted August 1, 2009 Author Share Posted August 1, 2009 Thanks! They were quite fun to do and I got to buy a drill press for that project lol. Here is a nice pic for the weekend Link to comment
deepdvnarq Posted August 1, 2009 Share Posted August 1, 2009 well like I promised deepdvnarq, here is the photos of my LED setup. Here it is right after drilling and wiring. Here I have the plugs for the white and blue LEDs (properly marked with heatshrink), the plug for the cooling fan, the heat sensor for the cooling fan speed control and also the wire for the moon light for when I get the ALC hooked up to my RKL. Here are my plugs; 2 Meanwell ELN-60-48D, the power strip, 5v adapter for the dimmer signal, power supply for the fans and the grey box is my cooling fan speed control. Here are some shots of the outside, I got the enclosure from Catalina Aquarium. They were very nice and they cut the length I wanted and shipped them to me. If you want vents on the top be sure and ask for the grated piece for the middle. Here is Bulldozer again. He is the culprit who destroyed my anthelia. I checked on it today at lunch and the 2 from the large group that are left are doing much better. There are about 3 or 4 very small ones spread around the rock so hopefully they will make a comeback. I need to get something else to quarantine them in to give them better flow but they are opening more today than the other day. I almost forgot, this is a current pic of my sump/fuge ahhh that's more like it. Link to comment
deepdvnarq Posted August 1, 2009 Share Posted August 1, 2009 hey opy, do you mind saying how much was the LED housing from catalina aquarium and does it come with the legs. sorry if i missed it. also what size of fans did you use in there. looks sharp. thanks Deep Link to comment
opy01 Posted August 1, 2009 Author Share Posted August 1, 2009 hey opy,do you mind saying how much was the LED housing from catalina aquarium and does it come with the legs. sorry if i missed it. also what size of fans did you use in there. looks sharp. thanks Deep Thanks. The enclosure was $75 shipped with legs. The fans are 40mmx40mmx10mm. I am running them on the speed controler below. I replaced everything to the right of M1 with another fan so it is running two fans. The circuit can handle up to 1 amp and those fans dont even use 10% of that. I set it up to where the fans barely spin when first turned on but then gradually get faster as they speed up. Look on the internet for the quietest fans possible, mine arer like small jets lol. Click on the picture below to go to the original site for more details about the circuit. Link to comment
BlueAbyss Posted August 1, 2009 Share Posted August 1, 2009 Sweet thanks for that link (and schematic)! Link to comment
opy01 Posted August 2, 2009 Author Share Posted August 2, 2009 You are more than welcome. It actually works real well. I had to hook the fans up directly to the PS and they were loud as heck but once they were hooked up to that circuit they slowed down and are not near as bad. Link to comment
BlueAbyss Posted August 2, 2009 Share Posted August 2, 2009 I definitely think that will come in handy when I finally do my LED build, but I'll have to build one for each spotlight... Hmm there's obviously some kinks in my design yet Link to comment
opy01 Posted August 2, 2009 Author Share Posted August 2, 2009 Yea, later today I will list all the stuff I ordered from mouser. Then you just order one of everything for each spotlight. Link to comment
opy01 Posted August 2, 2009 Author Share Posted August 2, 2009 nice work Thanks! I went to the LFS today to replace the anthelia that Bulldozer demolished and I picked up a couple of nice ones. I picked up a rock with three shrooms on it because I saw a striped brittle star on it. I was watching it for a while and noticed 4 arms coming out another hole also. I think I got 2 brittle stars! If one relocates then the rock of shrooms is going in the other tank before both stars can relocate. This is my trumpet coral that I thought was dying. Looks great now! This is my new rock of shrooms with the 1, maybe 2, stiped brittle stars. This is my beauty. It is where the anthelias were. If Bulldozer does anything to it I will be feeding him to the nieghborhood cats! And here is my limpet. I dont know where it came from but he is happy on my front glass. Link to comment
opy01 Posted August 3, 2009 Author Share Posted August 3, 2009 Ok so here is my quick update from yesterdays purchase. I have never used mysis shrimp before so when I thawd them I was suprised at how big they were. I was a little nervous feeding them to the trumpet and brain corals. The trumpet didnt have anything to do with it but I am thinking it is eating the amphipods as there are tons of them. I also put baby brine shrimp on them in hopes they will eat them once a week. The brain coral was the one that amazed me. I put a mysis shrimp right on it in a lower left area. About 2-3 minutes or so later I was afraid it was too big so I got my turkey baister and tried to suck it away but it didnt budge. Over the next 20 minutes or so I noticed it slow disapearing. That was the coolest thing I have seen happen in my tank! When I went to bed you could barely see the shrimp anymore and this morning it looked like it was never there. Next time I will put a few here and there over it and see how it likes them. Link to comment
Rocker Posted August 3, 2009 Share Posted August 3, 2009 That pic with the brittle stars legs creeping out gave me the heeby-jeebies! You should put a spy cam on that brain coral the next time you feed it. Link to comment
opy01 Posted August 3, 2009 Author Share Posted August 3, 2009 That pic with the brittle stars legs creeping out gave me the heeby-jeebies! You should put a spy cam on that brain coral the next time you feed it. lol it is a bit creepy isnt it? It reminds me of a Saturday afternoon sci-fi movie . I may put my camera in time laps mode and get a shot every 1-2 minutes till it done. Link to comment
got2envy Posted August 3, 2009 Share Posted August 3, 2009 Awesome pix opy! The limpet is a really cool hitch hiker Link to comment
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