Rollermonkey Posted June 12, 2012 Author Share Posted June 12, 2012 CUC, as recommended by John: 5 Dwarf Ceriths 3 Nassarius 4 Florida Ceriths 3 Assorted Hermits 3 Small to Medium Nerites 1 Chiton 2 Limpets Link to comment
Rollermonkey Posted June 12, 2012 Author Share Posted June 12, 2012 Coral Plan: Blue Ridge Coral - (Heliopora coerulea) Red Candy Cap Coral - (Montipora capricornis) Candy Cane Coral (Caulastrea furcata) Lemon Tree Coral - (Stereonepthya sp.) and one Zoa/polyp colony, preferably something with purples and blues... Reef Goddess Purple Fission and / or Teal Rings ? I'm keeping the number small so they will have room to expand, and so I don't have to think about ten million things. (They all were chosen from LiveAquaria's "beginner corals" pages.) Link to comment
Rollermonkey Posted June 13, 2012 Author Share Posted June 13, 2012 QT coral lighting decided. This plus this Maybe it's overkill, but this is the semi-Gucci QT, after all. Link to comment
Reyam Posted June 14, 2012 Share Posted June 14, 2012 Monkey - how many gal of water do you have after displacement. I started my http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=303481 (B45) on June 7th and am currently awaiting the cycle to complete. I have 26.8g of water in it after my 60lbs LS and 30-35lbs of LR and equipment displacement. Link to comment
Rollermonkey Posted June 14, 2012 Author Share Posted June 14, 2012 The handbook that comes with my tank (Oceanic) says that the total volume is 26 gallons. I have a little less than 40 pounds of sand and about 33-35 pounds of LR, and I feel like it's a little crowded. I will probably scoop out a little sand and maybe take out one piece of LR. I did not measure the water I removed as I placed the LR and LS, I used a siphon and a 5-gallon bucket both times, but didn't take note of what I tossed. Not more than 1 bucketful total, that's for sure, probably more like 3 or 4 gallons, maybe less, maybe more.) Link to comment
Reyam Posted June 14, 2012 Share Posted June 14, 2012 Yeah I was shocked at how little water i had to work with but i don't feel like my scape/tank is crowded. The only issue that i am facing as of now is high temp.. will prob have some DIY photos up this weekend installing fans. w/o the heater on and my lights only running 9-11hrs a day I am having a 81-83.5 degree from both my Marine electronic thermo and strip. I am also testing how much heat my Korilla 750's are putting out and it looks to be about 1degree per. the house hold temp is 73-75. Link to comment
Rollermonkey Posted June 14, 2012 Author Share Posted June 14, 2012 Welcome to my world. I was running low to mid-80's when I was running stock out of the box. If you read from the start, you can see what mods I've done so far. I think one of my problems could have been a series of faulty heaters and/or crappy thermometers. Link to comment
Reyam Posted June 14, 2012 Share Posted June 14, 2012 Yeah I saw that, I am in the process of testing my aqueon 150. It was in the tank to start and set for 76.. green light on. checked temp said it was 80 but light was still on....supposed to turn red and shut off after water his 76.. give or take.. so a 5gal bucket a heater and thermo will let me know if I wasted $40 bucks or not. (i mean i prob did, living in Ga it's not exactly cold even in winter no snow this year.) Link to comment
Rollermonkey Posted June 15, 2012 Author Share Posted June 15, 2012 Apex Lite (finally) shipped. Only took 16 days to get out the door from Marine Depot. Sigh. Link to comment
Rollermonkey Posted June 15, 2012 Author Share Posted June 15, 2012 The QT! I have a couple more Eheim heaters on the way. A 50w for the QT and a 100 for the DT when winter rolls around. (I need a better camera, the room is really too dark for what I'm using.) I did find a way to get stupid with this setup: Tunze Nano Reefpack 200 Consists of a 3165 filter and a 9002 skimmer, a bucket and filter media. Over $200 for the whole shebang. But no, I'm not going there. Link to comment
Rollermonkey Posted June 17, 2012 Author Share Posted June 17, 2012 Could it be? Do I see something green in there? It's really tiny right now, so no way to get a pic. Just a little 'V' shape... With my luck, it'll be Aiptasia. Link to comment
Rollermonkey Posted June 17, 2012 Author Share Posted June 17, 2012 I was basting the LR, and it seems to have blown away. Not sure yet, but some of the sponges may have survived. Link to comment
Rollermonkey Posted June 18, 2012 Author Share Posted June 18, 2012 The Apex is here, The Apex is here! But I can't figure out how to configure the web stuff.... :? Link to comment
eddiecorrea Posted June 18, 2012 Share Posted June 18, 2012 The Apex is here, The Apex is here! But I can't figure out how to configure the web stuff.... :? PM sent. It is rather confusing but I just did it all so I think I can help you get it going. Link to comment
Rollermonkey Posted June 20, 2012 Author Share Posted June 20, 2012 The Gucci Quarantine Tank Holds water, light looks good, now can I buy something alive? Crud. Still cycling the DT. Link to comment
Rollermonkey Posted June 21, 2012 Author Share Posted June 21, 2012 ...and the Apex is now running wireless! Sexy. Now to figure out how to actually program the darned thing. Link to comment
Rollermonkey Posted June 22, 2012 Author Share Posted June 22, 2012 Outlets are programmed and everything is plugged into the Apex. Holy crap, what a hot mess all them wires make. I even sorted them out before plugging them in again. Link to comment
Rollermonkey Posted June 22, 2012 Author Share Posted June 22, 2012 Yay! Nitrites are finally dropping! Only took 23 days to get this far. API test had zero, so I tried the Elos test again, which came back 0.5ppm. Took 3 minutes before it started turning pink. Only bad moment was when I was rinsing the tubes, one of the API tubes fell off the counter and broke on the third bounce. For just a second, I thought it was going to survive the fall. Well, the nitrates are still elevated, but it's almost time to start counting the two weeks post-cycle before I can add anything living. Now, if I start seeing algae, I'll order the CUC, but I won't order my Helfrichi Firefish until the nitrates hit 10ppm. (again) with a 4-week quarantine, I should be good to add it to the DT at that time. Link to comment
Reyam Posted June 22, 2012 Share Posted June 22, 2012 chris How is the cube? No problems with algae WOW! mine came from nowhere and like a flood. I am starting my first wave of CUC to see if they can manage it or if I will have to take the rock out and clean it(GHA or Turf which ever it is). I did start using the aquaticlog and tracking all my tests aswell. I was really shocked at how fast my ammonia dropped to 0 and the Nitrites went down to almost 0. Did my first water change and dropped my Nitrates from 20ppm to 10ppm. I hope with next weeks WC I can reduce it even more. Link to comment
Rollermonkey Posted June 23, 2012 Author Share Posted June 23, 2012 Cube is good. Still haven't seen any green algae or hitchhikers, though. I'm getting some brown spots on the highest rock the past day or so. Not sure what that's going to turn out to be. We seem to have ID'ed the only thing in the tank I did have, though. Possibly a branching or plating coralline algae, which would be cool. I've turned it away from the light to see if it helps. Apparently, they don't like full light. Picked up two more Elos tests at the LFS: Ammonia and Nitrates. I'll run them shortly and see if they confirm last night's API results. Link to comment
Rollermonkey Posted June 23, 2012 Author Share Posted June 23, 2012 Ok. Elos Ammonia test result was 0. Very clear result. They even have two color charts, one for fresh and one for salt water. Now I see that my API test has probably been giving me zero as well for at least a few days. I messed this one up at first. The NO2 test uses a 10ml sample, but the Ammonia and NO3 tests use only 5ml. This test takes over 20 minutes, which is annoying, for sure. The Elos Nitrate test was off the scale, high. It tops out at "only" 25ppm, and I was at 80 again today by the API test. I've been down to 10ppm before during this cycle after the first spike, so I know the stuff I need is in there. They just need to get back to work. I redid the Elos Nitrite test, too. This and the Nitrate test are a pain in the ass, requiring that the vial be shaken for 5 minutes! Then you get to wait 5 more minutes. Yay. But, Nitrites are down again, to 0.02ppm, so that's good news. Still no sign of any green algae or diatoms... Link to comment
Reyam Posted June 23, 2012 Share Posted June 23, 2012 And I was thinking my Nitrate spike was bad. I added some of the CUC last night and I can see their progress. This morning ammonia 0 nitrites pure blue 0 and nitrates looking 30-40ppm up from the 10ppm I measured post my first WC. I have my next 5gal of salt/water warming and disolving ATM. Link to comment
Rollermonkey Posted June 23, 2012 Author Share Posted June 23, 2012 My nitrates were as high as 120ppm on two occasions. It actually dropped to 10ppm in between the two spikes. I think it will drop again quickly now that both the ammonia and nitrites are way down from where they started. Link to comment
Reyam Posted June 23, 2012 Share Posted June 23, 2012 Just finished my 2nd WC and am waiting for all the sand to settle(prob tomorrow) before I do my tests. I did rinse alot of stuff out of my filter pads, purigen, seagel, and matrix carbon bags. Maybe that will help with the nitrate lvl also. Link to comment
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