n0rk Posted February 11, 2011 Author Share Posted February 11, 2011 And so, a quality lesson was garnered from this all. No matter how well things respond to neglect or design, some things will always fail and bite you in the ass. On this tank's first birthday, I came home to find my fan off. Unusual, but seemed innocuous enough. Checked water temperature... 34.4ºC. For those of you playing in the US, that's 94 degrees. Suffice to say... very little survived my little pico is basically all but gone now... all for want of a $2 fan. It's a bitter pill to swallow after winning the contest. I feel undeserving. But, onwards and upwards. Recollect and learn the lessons taught. Double-proof everything. And now, the contest is over, I've learned a lot about the system so I know the limitations I'm dealing with... time to make it even more successful and bulletproof it. I'm crushed. Link to comment
brandon429 Posted February 11, 2011 Share Posted February 11, 2011 i lost one the exact same way no probs man remount! bless your health man come back strong B Link to comment
n0rk Posted February 11, 2011 Author Share Posted February 11, 2011 Yep, that's definitely the plan. I'm not sure I'll have a full-sized tank again anytime soon so this one I've got a few ideas for. First is using a peltier device controlled by thermister to cool it, given the small size and the amount of time we spend above an acceptable temperature annually, I think this is a good idea. Second is using a small Carlson Surge Device during the daylight hours, to allow more useful flow and hopefully allow me to keep a wider array of Scleractinians. I wouldn't mind running a pico off of a CSD alone, I've learned much from my larger-scale tank keeping which I think could translate well to a smaller scale system. Third is introducing SPS. Obviously this means I need sustained ion maintenance and more light. My primary focus for this tank will be SPS in due course. I want to test the limitations of a heavily-stocked SPS pico. Fourth is making the LED array more suitable. Right now it's not bad, it's very good for the system as it stands (running 300mA and 350mA), but I want to do much more with it. I'm thinking upping the emitter count to 24 (2 strings of 12) and building an Arduino controller to take care of dimming et cetera - sweeping from low to full power at midday. Fifth is trying to introduce more diversity to the infauna. All in all, I think this should be a welcome change. I love my mixed reef, make no bones about it... but I also miss keeping SPS which I haven't done properly in the better part of a year. If I'm not going to have a bigger tank, it only makes sense! Cheers Brandon, I'm definitely going to try Link to comment
.Newman. Posted February 11, 2011 Share Posted February 11, 2011 That is just awful, stupid fan... definitely get that chiller man, I got my chillers for the same reason, though my tanks only overheat in the summer. this coming summer will be even more hot than before, and I'm sure it's only going to get worse from there so a chiller is vital. GL with the SPS, I'm sure you can make this into a very nice SPS display, just dont go with too many varieties or IMO it may look cluttered in a small tank. simple is best IMO. Link to comment
n0rk Posted February 12, 2011 Author Share Posted February 12, 2011 I'm thinking it'll be very minimal - two types of table, two types of Monti, and a staghorn. I want it to eventually be a single piece that is exciting. Maybe I'll even set up a twin to this tank, one dedicated to LPS/zoanthids as this one ended up. Link to comment
n0rk Posted March 4, 2011 Author Share Posted March 4, 2011 Not everything was lost! After a lot of nursing... I've managed to start it to look okay again. 250% WCs abound... Apparently the mushrooms went from nearly dead to thriving... Now to nurse it more... Link to comment
spanko Posted March 4, 2011 Share Posted March 4, 2011 It shall live again with your excellent care sir. Something to be treasured as a fine beaujolais nouveau would be. I salute you sir! Link to comment
Mr. Microscope Posted March 4, 2011 Share Posted March 4, 2011 Good luck nork! Sorry to hear about your loss. I'm sure it'll bounce back eventually. Link to comment
n0rk Posted March 31, 2011 Author Share Posted March 31, 2011 Hey, it's a start, right? New additions: Blue Hammer, 5 Acropora, some pulsing blue Xenia, and some fluro green Pachyclavularia. Now... to grow it. Still looking for some choice bits to replace what was lost, but I think the Acro will be a welcome addition. Gotta rework my lights, though they're happy enough for now... Link to comment
DirtyC Posted March 31, 2011 Share Posted March 31, 2011 wow nice hammer first time i seen a blue one Link to comment
.Newman. Posted March 31, 2011 Share Posted March 31, 2011 yes a cool hammer. the torch that was in its place was cool too. Link to comment
n0rk Posted April 1, 2011 Author Share Posted April 1, 2011 I ideally want to cut the stem on the Hammer down and replace where it is with a gold-stemmed Torch, just a matter of seeing my collector first. Ultimately I'll try and recreate what I had with some level of care... Link to comment
Builder Anthony Posted April 1, 2011 Share Posted April 1, 2011 I just bought a hamer with the tops being blue and the stalks a real light green.Are your stalks green?If so do you know where it came from the petstore guy said its australian but i never really beleive them.I think he was useing t5s or something.Now they look kind of purple on the top of the hammer.Lighting i guess really affects how you view it.I need a blue real bad flourestrest real bad. Link to comment
n0rk Posted April 13, 2011 Author Share Posted April 13, 2011 Okay, so since the crash this has been ####### me off hard. I love the tank a lot, but no matter what I do can I get things to remain happy for more than a week. I've tried 250% WCs, I've tore the tank down twice and cleaned/sterilised literally everything, I've done some stuff with lights... I've done about everything I can without tearing the tank down to fix things and got no results. It's pretty deflating... So... do I take all the corals out, "cook" the rock, replace the sandbeds, and basically go from the off with this tank? I mean, I'd hate to, but everything is just not looking happy... even Xenia, Morphs, and Zoos look horrible so it tells me something's not right bah. Thoughts? Link to comment
Weetabix7 Posted April 13, 2011 Share Posted April 13, 2011 Very sorry Ben, wish I had advice to offer. I've been in this situation and unfortunately never figured it out. Link to comment
Drift Monkey Posted April 14, 2011 Share Posted April 14, 2011 Okay, so since the crash this has been ####### me off hard. I love the tank a lot, but no matter what I do can I get things to remain happy for more than a week. I've tried 250% WCs, I've tore the tank down twice and cleaned/sterilised literally everything, I've done some stuff with lights... I've done about everything I can without tearing the tank down to fix things and got no results. It's pretty deflating... So... do I take all the corals out, "cook" the rock, replace the sandbeds, and basically go from the off with this tank? I mean, I'd hate to, but everything is just not looking happy... even Xenia, Morphs, and Zoos look horrible so it tells me something's not right bah. Thoughts? what is going on? Link to comment
n0rk Posted April 14, 2011 Author Share Posted April 14, 2011 I've got a theory on it after talking to a friend who has the same happening in his SPS tank. He has clams which are putting on incredible growth, but literally no other hard skeletoned animal will survive. This leads me to think that there's something which is released during a die-off event which binds to system surfaces in high concentrations. What, you ask, is this "something"? My reasoning leads me to believe it to be a sulphate product. Why? Because it's noxious in reasonable concentrations to most things aside from fish and clams, it's released during the decay of matter in a reef environment, and it's not measurable by standard test kits. It also remains low in a system's water column so liberation via aspiration is not practical for large quantities. The signs all point to this being at least amongst it. Where does this leave me? Ditch the rock and sandbeds, sanitise the tank, start from scratch. I don't want it to be the case because this tank was finally starting to get mature... but I think it may be the one. I'm not sure if I will, however. Lot of effort for now. Perhaps I'll revive it as a desktop tank in some months to come once the big system is rolling. Thoughts on this theory? Link to comment
Weetabix7 Posted April 14, 2011 Share Posted April 14, 2011 Hmm. There's no real way to prove this, is there? Very interesting theory, though. Link to comment
Builder Anthony Posted April 14, 2011 Share Posted April 14, 2011 I think most tanks that have problems stem from human error.Im not sure if you use timers for lights.Or how you change your water but i find myself with a constantly changeing salt level and swings in ammonia and the other yellow one.Adding new frags to my tank often disturbs things and it drives me nuts just touching the water.I find haveing macro algaes in the tank are very helpful in stablizing the water.Even if someone has green hair algae i think its better then no algae or macros. Changes in current also effect corals.Basicly if you add up all the little things from far away its really a big list.Which isnt good so the lower your list is the better your tank will probally be.Its hard for me now cause im setting the tank up for the long haul and making sure things are pefect but every week there adding that new frag and that messes with my stable things. Barebottom tanks are extremely easy to clean.Maybe start off your tank by purching all your corals then adding sand to minamize sandbed disturbance. Link to comment
Needreefunds Posted April 14, 2011 Share Posted April 14, 2011 Interesting Ben... If this be the case, why are the WCs not helping here? Perhaps siphoning out the sand bed ( read remove) and see how the tank responds? Would an increase in flow help as well? Link to comment
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