timothymarsh Posted September 27, 2012 Author Share Posted September 27, 2012 I decided to take off the HOB fuge today due to several reasons. First off is the fact that the apartment that I live in has an electricity cap, and this past month me and my roommates received $32 overages each. I know the pump doesn't draw that much power in the scheme of things but it gives the impression to my roommates that I'm trying to cut down on power use. I consolidated the cheato into my AC50 inTank media basket and the live rock was distributed throughout the display. Taking the fuge off also gives the tank a cleaner appearance and reduces noise in my room. To further cut back on power I have reduced my photoperiod from ~13 hours a day to ~10 hours/day. (The 13 hours included actinct on in the morning to final moonlight off at night) I am also considering placing one of my circulation pumps on the light timer so that power is further reduced at night. In any case I feel like mission control in the movie Apollo 13, trying to get the space shuttle to run on under 13 amps of power. I've also resorted to showers in the dark and reduced TV watching in order to cut back on power, but hey that's the price I pay to maintain a piece of reef in my room. Going to the LFS soon for my monthly frag buy, I've narrowed my future stocking list to zoas, palys, clove polyps, and xenia. Trying to keep it simple and colorful, and hopefully fast growing so I can frag it and recoup some costs. In any case, I'm done talking. Link to comment
Hook'Em2006 Posted September 27, 2012 Share Posted September 27, 2012 Awesome tank! I really like the PAR LEDs above it. BTW, watch out for Xenia, they grow like weeds. In a matter of 6 months, I had pulsing xenia over tank nearly every rock in my 12 gallon nanocube, so yah, be careful! Link to comment
ReefNoobie21 Posted September 27, 2012 Share Posted September 27, 2012 hey how do you like that fuge? you think its big enough to fit a 50w jagar heater? also is there an area you think where i could run some chemi pure? i was thinking about getting this instead of a cpr aquafuge. i may get two for a 25g and a 10g tank Link to comment
ReefNoobie21 Posted September 27, 2012 Share Posted September 27, 2012 also did yours come wiht hte air pump or aquapump. Link to comment
albertthiel Posted September 27, 2012 Share Posted September 27, 2012 So I was bored today during a little study break so I decided to shake things up on the tank a little bit. I pulled off the AC50 because I felt it wasn't doing that much for me right now. At the moment I'm not surface skimming, and I'm seriously considering making a powerhead water bottle skimmer. The fuge was moved to the AC50 location which really opened up the tank and should allow the cheato to get more sunlight. Coral is growing very well, I've rationed myself to one visit to the LFS per month so I can let things grow out and choose quality pieces. Pictures as usual. Top down As a note, the other day when I did a water change I pulled out some cheato growth. It had doubled in size over about a week and a half. Very happy with the finnex fuge, highly recommended! Looking great Link to comment
timothymarsh Posted September 30, 2012 Author Share Posted September 30, 2012 @ Hook'em- Thanks for the kind words. I'll watch out for the xenia, and I'll definitely keep it on an isolated rock. @ ReefNoobie- I really like the different directions that you can go with this little fuge. I'm not confident that a heater would fit, especially if you're going to be using the plastic separation pieces. You could run chemipure anywhere in the fuge. I think it is a very good alternative to a full blown $300 CPR system. I got the aquapump version and I highly recommend it. (Sorry about the delayed response. College life.) BTW, with 10 pages on this thread and over 8,000 views it's time for a big picture update!! Coming tomorrow for sure, probably after I go by the LFS. Thanks for viewing. Link to comment
ReefNoobie21 Posted September 30, 2012 Share Posted September 30, 2012 @ Hook'em- Thanks for the kind words. I'll watch out for the xenia, and I'll definitely keep it on an isolated rock. @ ReefNoobie- I really like the different directions that you can go with this little fuge. I'm not confident that a heater would fit, especially if you're going to be using the plastic separation pieces. You could run chemipure anywhere in the fuge. I think it is a very good alternative to a full blown $300 CPR system. I got the aquapump version and I highly recommend it. (Sorry about the delayed response. College life.) BTW, with 10 pages on this thread and over 8,000 views it's time for a big picture update!! Coming tomorrow for sure, probably after I go by the LFS. Thanks for viewing. haha i was deciding trying to get a used ac70 wtih the intank media basket or going get this at a cheaper price. im still unsure what i want to do. how did you mod the fuge to get the powerhead on the inside? Link to comment
dormreefer Posted September 30, 2012 Share Posted September 30, 2012 $32 Dollars in overages?! with LED's jesus...Lol I doubt its the fish tank man. Whats the A/C running at? I just remembered you are living in the Village right? My roommate lived there last year and got 30 dollars overage average a month without tanks. Think its pretty usual there unfortunately. Link to comment
timothymarsh Posted September 30, 2012 Author Share Posted September 30, 2012 @ReefNoobie- You would definitely not want to use this fuge as your main filtration system. If you have a sump, HOB filter, or something else like that then I would say to go with the fuge, otherwise just get the AC70 with inTank basket. I got the pump inside the fuge by using 1/2" black tubing from Home Depot, and basically having it draw directly from the main display. The parts provided by Finnex made no sense to me so I just went with this modification. @ dormreefer- we had the AC in the lower 70's last month so that's probably what got us. Since then we've bumped it up to around 78. I think the low electricity cap here at the Village gets a lot of people. Oh well, we just got to be more careful in the future. Link to comment
ReefNoobie21 Posted September 30, 2012 Share Posted September 30, 2012 so you would go with the AC over the fuge? Link to comment
dormreefer Posted September 30, 2012 Share Posted September 30, 2012 @ dormreefer- we had the AC in the lower 70's last month so that's probably what got us. Since then we've bumped it up to around 78. I think the low electricity cap here at the Village gets a lot of people. Oh well, we just got to be more careful in the future. Yeah that'll get you. It's actually recommend by several A/C companies to never run your unit below 76 since below that it is extremely inefficient, higher electricity costs, and lowers the lifespan of the machine drastically. The lifespan really doesn't matter to you though lol. What do they charge for rent over there anyway? 32 per person overages is crazy. Link to comment
timothymarsh Posted September 30, 2012 Author Share Posted September 30, 2012 Reefnoobie- What other filtration systems are you running? If you don't have anything yet then go with the AC70 and just keep cheato in the top portion. If you already have a good system in place, the fuge would be cool to add some biological filtration. dormreefer- My rent is 599 a month. Lol yeah I'm not too worried about the lifespan of this A/C. Link to comment
ReefNoobie21 Posted September 30, 2012 Share Posted September 30, 2012 well i dont have the tank set up right now, its going on my 10g which im planning to run some sort of fuge only along with LR and LS of course. i think im goign to get a cpr fuge for my 25g though Link to comment
timothymarsh Posted October 15, 2012 Author Share Posted October 15, 2012 Alright so I have a bit of an issue that I need help troubleshooting. Over the past month or so I've been getting random days where my water will turn very cloudy and it looks like a microscopic dust storm is raging in the tank. During this time almost all of the corals seem fine and polyp extension is normal. I haven't noticed a pattern as to whether it happens directly before or after a water change. I use Reef Crystals and I do a 2 gallon water change every saturday. I don't test for any parameters (I know you all are going to yell at me and say that we can't solve this problem without testing parameters, but this is just the reality of the situation) Salinity and temp stay constant and appropriate throughout the week. If anyone has ever experienced an issue like this please let me know because this cannot be good for the overall health of the tank. I'll try to post a picture of the cloudy water soon. HELP!! Link to comment
Angel<3Nanos Posted October 15, 2012 Share Posted October 15, 2012 I haven't really look through all your thread but do you clean your sand often? If not you may have a fish moving the sand and making clouds lol Link to comment
timothymarsh Posted October 15, 2012 Author Share Posted October 15, 2012 I do not clean the sand too often, but I know what a stirred up bottom looks like. This problem lasts for several days at a time but then just magically goes away. I'm thinking it has to be some type of chemical warfare going on between two of the coral species. Link to comment
trudat233 Posted October 15, 2012 Share Posted October 15, 2012 It's a bacterial inbalance, did you clean your filter recently, or change your filter floss or anything? Link to comment
fretfreak13 Posted October 15, 2012 Share Posted October 15, 2012 That, or maybe some type of bloom from the direct light in the window? Or hell, maybe somethings spawning. lol Link to comment
timothymarsh Posted October 15, 2012 Author Share Posted October 15, 2012 @trudat233- I did clean the AC70 a few days ago. I changed out the filter floss. But wouldn't I still have enough beneficial bacteria on the live rock and glass? @fretfreak13- I've thought about the direct lighting issue. I'll keep the window closed for the next few weeks and see if that helps. In other news, I saw this cool tank on Facebook Link to comment
trudat233 Posted October 15, 2012 Share Posted October 15, 2012 It's really hard to say but when you cleaned it out you might have taken THAT special bacteria out that might not live on the rocks and glass, I doubt it's harmfull it jut looks unpleasing, it happened to me and it took about a week to clear up, if you want you can use kent marine clarifier which will clump together all the particles and make it so that they can get trapped by the filter floss. Link to comment
timothymarsh Posted October 15, 2012 Author Share Posted October 15, 2012 I'll just stick it out and let the problem fix itself. I don't like adding anything to the tank that isn't food or salt. Hmm, maybe another bag of activated carbon after filter cleanings would solve this problem. Thanks for the information Link to comment
albertthiel Posted October 15, 2012 Share Posted October 15, 2012 I do not clean the sand too often, but I know what a stirred up bottom looks like. This problem lasts for several days at a time but then just magically goes away. I'm thinking it has to be some type of chemical warfare going on between two of the coral species. Are you dosing a carbon source like vinegar or vodka or sugar ? As if you do you may have added too much and you get a bacterial bloom ... not sure if that is the problem but it is a possibility Link to comment
fretfreak13 Posted October 15, 2012 Share Posted October 15, 2012 Throw some chemi-pure elite in there. Clears water beautifully! And that tank is SICK! Is that hanging? Link to comment
Rehype Posted October 15, 2012 Share Posted October 15, 2012 Are you dosing a carbon source like vinegar or vodka or sugar ? As if you do you may have added too much and you get a bacterial bloom ... not sure if that is the problem but it is a possibility +1 it looks like a bacterial bloom. Link to comment
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