Tylernt's Dymax IQ3

[tylernt]

FTS 17 April 2012:

 

 

Well been a while since an update. Tank has been maturing just fine though. My rhodactis split and is so big it stung my orange ric a bit (I decided to stop feeding the rhodactis!) . GSP is starting to take over, I will have to trim soon. Yellow polyps exploded in numbers from ONE to 5 and a half. Blue cloves are covering the rock nicely (mostly behind the main rock where they are not really visible). I now have I think 5 spotted mushrooms (from one) and three striped mushrooms (from one). I harvested a stalk of Xenia for a fellow reefer at work, it is about ready for another stalk removal now.

 

So I have to admit I had one item of poor engineering. I mounted my float switches for the ATO so high that there wasn't any kind of a "waterfall" or drop from the display tank to the rear chamber. As a result, I dealt with constant surface scum. Changing or eliminating food did nothing. One by one my stomatellas disappeared (I later found empty stomatella shells ). Finally my lone remaining Astrea started acting sick, so to the LFS he went before he perished. The surface film was trapping oxygen and my rocks and corals started "pearling" by mid-afternoon, pH was way too high.

 

I've also had tons of salt creep down the back of the tank, which had gotten underneath the big sticker that covers the sides and back of the IQ3. Looked pretty nasty.

 

The final straw was my Two Little Fishies Nano-Mag. I had trimmed the square corners off the bit that goes inside the tank, so it could get closer to the sand line. Well, the magnet apparently got wet and rusted, and a chunk of corroded magnet broke off and it scratched the living snot out of my acrylic.

 

So... I ordered a new Dymax IQ3 (from Big Al's again). I made a new underwater magnet from scrap acrylic, felt, and sealed it all up with Weld-On 16 and superglue. I made a new lower float switch holder to keep the waterline in the rear chamber about half an inch below the overflow grate. Just like the first tank, I added the airline for the battery backup and a second powerhead outlet in the large rear chamber. And for good measure I removed the sticker (took an hour and a LOT of cotton balls and adhesive solvent). Transferred everybody over without incident and for the last week I've had zero surface scum AT LAST!!

 

Lesson learned, overflow is very important!

 

BTW my sandbed was pretty nasty, lots of detritus. I only put half as much sand in this time to try to limit build-up, and I need to be better about using poly filter floss and stirring my sand weekly (I had been slacking off). I had painted the bottom of the new tank black in case I wanted to go barebottom, but I couldn't bring myself to do it. The rocks are too unstable without a sandbed to hold them in position anyway.

 

Since I now had two of everything since I had two IQ3s, I used both stock IQ3 powerheads in the new tank. They both sit on the bottom and have tubing that leads up to an elbow/outlet. I removed the flow regulators from both and run them wide open, this gives plenty of flow. And having the second pump down low gives the chaeto more room to grow (the prior arrangement had the second pump up high which limited the vertical space for chaeto).

 

So now I have a spare scratched IQ3. Maybe I'll polish the scratches out and have twin Dymaxes like Peter. Actually I'd like to take my rhodactis rock out and transfer it to a new tank so I can put something new in it's place. With the surface scum and pH problem resolved, I might even be bold enough to try an LPS.

[tylernt]

Coming up on the 1-year livestock anniversary. I'm very glad that I made it (almost) a whole year with no major losses. I'm still kicking myself for the surface scum / pH issues I struggled with for so long -- it cost me a fungia, two snails, several stomatellas, and possibly a hermit crab. On the upside, now that I have it solved, I finally treated myself a new coral, and an LPS to boot: an orange acan!

 

 

My ATO has malfunctioned twice now (flood + hyposalinity) so I only keep 1-2 days worth of evap into my reservoir. What happens is the little retaining rings at the bottom of the float posts grow a bacterial scum that's sticky. Since my ATO only runs when the light is on (8 hours a day), in the morning after 16 hours of evap the floats are resting at the bottom of the posts on the sticky retaining rings, and because they are so small (3/4") they don't have enough buoyancy to overcome the sticky and the tank floods. I now have to clean the retaining rings every week or three. Lesson learned, use the biggest float switches you can so they are as buoyant as possible!

 

I've not had an (adult) snail in the tank since April. That's right, no CUC except for hitchhiker brittlestars and a few baby Ceriths and Nerites (1 to 2 mm in size). I do need to get another Astrea to take care of some GHA, which grows on the powerhead outlets and overflow grate. Not a speck of it on the LR, though, which I think is interesting.

 

The tank has settled into a routine that I think works well. I feed daily at lights out with a mix of Coral Frenzy and Ocean Nutrition Nano Reef Coral Food, harvest chaeto weekly (sometimes I'll skip a week), clean the glass weekly, do a 1/2 gallon pour-through weekly, add some water to the ATO every other day. Been using IO but this week switched back to Reef Crystals for the benefit of the Acan.

 

The sandbed stays pretty clean because it's only about 1/4" deep. I think 1/4" is a good depth, looks better than BB and doesn't appear to accumulate excessive detritus.

 

The Robot LED is fading for sure. Even though I've been running it at maybe 75%, it's still gone downhill. I had to crank up the brightness because my Chaeto was getting a very dark green (light starvation). Soon I will have to replace it entirely. I only used it because it came with the tank for free, I don't recommend anybody actually spend money on one.

 

The green rhodactis had to go:

 

Old pic ->

 

Nowhere to put him where he wouldn't sting my poor orange ric. Along with him went a bunch of mushrooms on the same rock. I still have plenty of mushrooms left, though. Even though he was shaded by higher corals, the biggest spotted mushie moved lower on the rock and buddied up next to the ric. That corner of the tank is now a bit barren, so have to figure out a better way to place the Acan.

 

 

I'm gonna have to do something about the GSP too. It's shaded my blue cloves which are receding. The GSP is actually forming a tower of hollow purple mat above and beyond the rock. I didn't know GSP did that.

 

On to the pics! Sorry my 'glass' is a little dirty, I'm still struggling with this POS Nano-Mag. The part that goes outside the tank has fallen apart now, ugh.

 

[andrewkw]

Looking good.

[AquaticEngineer]

I'm thinking about getting one of the IQ3 or IQ5 tanks to use for a coldwater system. Any idea how thick the acrylic is on the IQ3 you have?

[tylernt]

Exactly 6mm, which is just shy of 1/4".

[tylernt]

FTS 14 August 2013:

 

 

Update: Two years... woo-hoo!

 

Blue cloves filling in back wall now.

 

GSP dominates main rock and is attached to back wall as well. GSP choked out the Xenia some time ago. It's also trying to choke the toadstool, I have to peel the purple mat off the toadstool stalk from time to time.

 

Green zoas choked out all the other colors of zoa. They are trying to choke out the brown palys and riccordia but so far they are hlding their ground. Zoas are keeping the yellow polyps isolated though, which is a good thing.

 

Orage ric FINALLY split! Blue ric recovering after being stung by wandering yellow polyp.

 

Acan and striped mushroom stung each other, some tissue damage on both.

 

It's interesting seeing the reef grow from "colonizing bare rock" to "fighting tooth and nail for every square centimeter".

 

Had population explosion and then crash of little white serpent stars and the brown stripey brittle stars. There's a few left but they hide in the rocks. No snails, still. Haven't added any, doesn't seem to need them.

 

Routine: feed a bit of powdered food 5 days a week. Wipe the "glass" 5 days a week. Half gallon water change once a week. Harvest chaeto once every other week.

[brandon429]

You got an old tank now

and my respects nice dang job.

[tylernt]

Finally got a smartphone with a better camera.

 

I don't think there's any rock visible any more except for a little patch where the yellow polyps killed a section of GSP. Everything is now in a fight to the death for space. GSP is winning over the blue cloves, but I play God and peel the GSP off the back wall every few weeks. Blue ric is almost dead, crowded out by the other rics and the zoas. Mushrooms are getting shaded out by the toadstool, I lost a big mushroom when it detached and eventually dissolved.

 

These green zoas are aggressive. They killed off my other colors of Zoas, are spreading across my sand to challenge the Acan, and survive in the shadows beneath the toadstool.

 

Hard to believe that in a few months, it will hit 3 years. I really don't do anything besides wipe the glass, feed a little powder, weekly 1/2 gallon water changes, trim the chaeto, and occasionally clean the float switches and powerhead impellers. Just let nature take it's course.

 

Oh, I did have to replace the 'fuge light (the stock Dymax IQ3 light) AGAIN because the LEDs fade. I can turn the dial to dim them down and let them run for 6 months or so, then by that time they've faded to the point where I have to dial up to full power to get a reasonable amount of brightness for another 3 months or so. Then it's time to replace. Next time I'm going to try to find some name brand Cree or something 5mm LEDs to solder on to the board, so hopefully they won't fade as bad.

[JR!]

you guys really make me want one

[andrewkw]

Looking good. Reminds me of my own tank

[aviator300]

Beautiful tank

[tylernt]

Still going as of 20 Aug 2015. Yellow polyps are taking over the green zoas, and the green zoas are climbing up the front "glass". No big changes, otherwise. Still have maybe 1/4" of sand, still doing weekly 1/2 gallon water changes. My chaeto basically stopped growing, though. I probably need a new 'fuge light but even when the light was new chaeto growth was slow, I think it's starving for nutrients.

 

I did end up supergluing the joint between the floor of the tank and the front/side acrylic. It was starting to ooze salt creep. I think it's just my tank though as I've never heard of anyone else complaining about joint seepage on a Dymax IQ3.

 

BTW I haven't had to clean my ATO float switches as much since redirecting the RO/DI ATO output into the same chamber as the float switches. I think the frequent addition of freshwater is retarding the bacterial growth that made them sticky.