Imisky's Sticks and Colors Reef (Nov.12,2012 A years worth of growth)

[glennr1978]

I'm ninterested to see how well the new skimmer works for you. I've been wanting something new for my tank for a while now, that new vertex may be it.

[JR!]

I'm hoping the same, it's breaking in right now so we'll see how it goes. The tank has been doing good, I'm actually planning on moving it to the main floor of my house soon so everything will be taken down and setup again. Perfect time to get that yellow tang and those pesky talbot damsel pair lol. Im thinking maybe a tank full of smaller fish like Trimma gobies or something.

sounds like a good idea to me. i went through the talbot damsels too. they were very beautiful put such a pain when it came to other fish

[imisky]

I'm ninterested to see how well the new skimmer works for you. I've been wanting something new for my tank for a while now, that new vertex may be it.

I'll post back after it breaks in, so far, I'm impressed with it, quite the skimmer for the price

 

sounds like a good idea to me. i went through the talbot damsels too. they were very beautiful put such a pain when it came to other fish

Ya I enjoy the fish, but anything I add into the tank instantly has a target on its back.

[DaveFason]

Looking great as normal!

 

-Dave

[imisky]

Learning to dial the new skimmer in is a new experience..instead of limiting the air flow, you incease or decrease the air draw via the adjustable venturi. Skimmer is working though, skimming a little wet right now but other than that all is well. really liking it oh and its QUIET after the first day of breaking in. I'll make a video of the tank/ setup by the weekend as a volg entry. Should be a quick little update

[imisky]

heres the quick vlog update!

 

[Deleted User 4]

Lolol quality is pretty blurry this instance.

[Builder Anthony]

I awalys like seeing whats going on in here

[imisky]

Lolol quality is pretty blurry this instance.

it is a cellphone video, I guess its time for a new phone lol it doesnt even do 720p, I've always done the vlogs this way so far

 

I awalys like seeing whats going on in here

i dont do anything special, just the same old things

[JR!]

love the update man.

what kind of file fish are you looking into?

[imisky]

love the update man.

what kind of file fish are you looking into?

thanks, I've grabbed 3 matted filefish now and lost every one I think my plans for new fish might be, simply stick with useful fish that does something lol

[Parker0824]

and, a FTS =) i'll keep it short this time haha

 

 

are your t5s DIY?

 

if so anyway you can lmk on how you hung it so well with pars? im thinking about doing this with ATI reflectors and bulbs to help with my orpheks a bit

[imisky]

are your t5s DIY?

 

if so anyway you can lmk on how you hung it so well with pars? im thinking about doing this with ATI reflectors and bulbs to help with my orpheks a bit

My t5s arent exactly DIY but the holder that its on is. I'll take some photos of the hanging system tomorrow. It'll give you an idea of how its done. The tools you will need or a local shop might be able to provide you is, is a brake for bending the aluminum but I'll give you more info tomorrow...

 

An update..I seem to have my share of hardware related tank crashes. This Monday my Vodka (95% ethanol anhydrous) dosing timer got suck on...and well I caught it when it had dosed 50mls of it into my system. arggg.....lost 3 of my favorite corals. Oregon tort, pink leomonade, and 20k lokanis.......god damn.....speechless. Fragged as much as I could, now its just seeing which ones can live and start from small pieces again

[Parker0824]

My t5s arent exactly DIY but the holder that its on is. I'll take some photos of the hanging system tomorrow. It'll give you an idea of how its done. The tools you will need or a local shop might be able to provide you is, is a brake for bending the aluminum but I'll give you more info tomorrow... An update..I seem to have my share of hardware related tank crashes. This Monday my Vodka (95% ethanol anhydrous) dosing timer got suck on...and well I caught it when it had dosed 50mls of it into my system. arggg.....lost 3 of my favorite corals. Oregon tort, pink leomonade, and 20k lokanis.......god damn.....speechless. Fragged as much as I could, now its just seeing which ones can live and start from small pieces again

 

Wow I'm sorry to hear that man, crashes suck! Especially when you lose what you did.

 

And that would be awesome man thanks again.

[Asureef]

Sorry to hear about your OD. IMO, all equipment are prone to fail. My main ballast on my ati fixture went out, so I'm stuck with running only 2 bulbs over the tank for the next 5 days until the new ballast arrives.

 

Curious, why are you dosing vodka with biopellets?

[imisky]

Wow I'm sorry to hear that man, crashes suck! Especially when you lose what you did. And that would be awesome man thanks again.

Ya, I'll post it once I am home for you.

 

Sorry to hear about your OD. IMO, all equipment are prone to fail. My main ballast on my ati fixture went out, so I'm stuck with running only 2 bulbs over the tank for the next 5 days until the new ballast arrives.

 

Curious, why are you dosing vodka with biopellets?

Ya it sucks, but the only thing to do now is to put multiple levels of fail safe into the system. I'll probably switch over to an industrial timer instead of normal light timers for dosing.

 

Biopellets just dont do the job enough, they are very passive when used. I wouldnt setup a system without one, but I also wouldnt use a system with just only the pellets running. Vodka is just a way more efficient method of doing things (unless it nukes your tank), especially when you use ethanol anhydrous which is 2x as strong as vodka and only dose 1x a day of 1ml. The rest of the day the biopellets keep the nutrients down.

[Asureef]

Everyone seem to have different experiences with biopellets. When I ran them, they worked extremely well. Maybe too well in fact. I was able to keep p04 below .03ppm without gfo for 5months and the BP even out competed byrosis algae, which was surprising as I find this algae very resilient.

[imisky]

Everyone seem to have different experiences with biopellets. When I ran them, they worked extremely well. Maybe too well in fact. I was able to keep p04 below .03ppm without gfo for 5months and the BP even out competed byrosis algae, which was surprising as I find this algae very resilient.

it seems theres many formulas of biopellets out in the industry. All are PLA, how we have no idea the % of fillers mixed in. In the industry I work in (3D printing) we have access to 100% pure PLA filaments which is infact clear in color not the opaque natural color we see from the companys in the aquarium industry. I am tempted to take the filament PLA and chop it into little bits and tumble it to see if I get any different results. My experience is algae will out perform pellets but not with vodka dosing. so It might be worth a shot

[imisky]

Parker0824 here is how the hangers are made. simple, what I would do different is the slot for the adjustment, instead I would make those holes for easier fixed positioning.

 

Light Hanger by ECSuyu, on Flickr

Light Hanger angle by ECSuyu, on Flickr

 

[Asureef]

it seems theres many formulas of biopellets out in the industry. All are PLA, how we have no idea the % of fillers mixed in. In the industry I work in (3D printing) we have access to 100% pure PLA filaments which is infact clear in color not the opaque natural color we see from the companys in the aquarium industry. I am tempted to take the filament PLA and chop it into little bits and tumble it to see if I get any different results. My experience is algae will out perform pellets but not with vodka dosing. so It might be worth a shot

 

 

Think you've read my last post wrong, Biopellets out competed byrosis after 2 months use in my tank. It would be interesting to see an experiment done with the pure PLA you have access to. Of course, I wouldn't test it on an established tank like yours. I ran a mixture of ecobak and Dr. Tim's Pearls, both PHA based for 6 months with great results. I took them offline after having uncontrollable "STN". I then started a different method for n03/p04 control involving stones and daily dosing. It's only been a few weeks, but I believe I'm getting positives results.

[imisky]

Think you've read my last post wrong, Biopellets out competed byrosis after 2 months use in my tank. It would be interesting to see an experiment done with the pure PLA you have access to. Of course, I wouldn't test it on an established tank like yours. I ran a mixture of ecobak and Dr. Tim's Pearls, both PHA based for 6 months with great results. I took them offline after having uncontrollable "STN". I then started a different method for n03/p04 control involving stones and daily dosing. It's only been a few weeks, but I believe I'm getting positives results.

haha nah, I understood it as your pellets were out competing everything. My experience was totally different, some goes for a friend that i often talk to who I met when I was helping out at a local store. He uses a total of 4 types of nutrient export (skimmer,pellets,vodka,algae scrubber) and still says thats not enough for him. I think the pellets are great, but with so many brands out there its really hard to get a proper gauge on how well one brand will work against another, especially since everyones tanks parameters are every so slightly different from another. The same pellets could work for you and act passively like mine in another system. I might try the PLA pellets in another system that is fairly new and see what the results are. If I do try, I'll let everyone know the results.

 

On the plus side, I think I managed to save a frag of my Oregon Tort, polyps are out but its still too early. I fragged it into 20 pieces and only 1 looks like it'll pull through. 20K lokani, and pink lemonade are both totally gone. Now the hard part is finding those up here in Canada again.

[imisky]

small update, but it should be fun. I'll let the photo speak for most of the things Im going to type.

 

 

Can anyone see the sun? by ECSuyu, on Flickr

I have these hanging now using regular wire. Testing to figure out the distance apart Im going to be mounting them. Once I get all the numbers I need I'll be making a rail mount system that only has 2 wires that comes out of it. For now I'll leave you guys with this photo, If anyone is interested in the best looking hangers ever I'll take a photo of the rig tomorrow, but be prepared to be amazed

[SouthFlorida_Tron]

Hey cool! Just got one too!!!

[JR!]

 

small update, but it should be fun. I'll let the photo speak for most of the things Im going to type.

 

 

Can anyone see the sun? by ECSuyu, on Flickr

I have these hanging now using regular wire. Testing to figure out the distance apart Im going to be mounting them. Once I get all the numbers I need I'll be making a rail mount system that only has 2 wires that comes out of it. For now I'll leave you guys with this photo, If anyone is interested in the best looking hangers ever I'll take a photo of the rig tomorrow, but be prepared to be amazed

reall excited to see how you have them

[imisky]

reall excited to see how you have them

 

Not sure if you caught the sarcasm in the post lol. But they are hung by wires right now in a really ghetto fashion, with a national holiday tomorrow I wonder if my metal supplier is going to be open so i can go pickup some 3/4" flatbar and make some rails with.