Arkayology's Rimless 40g

[Arkayology]

I posted earlier that my green slimer and miyagi tort had stung each other. Well, I am getting some RTN now on both pieces after I fragged them to stop the touching. It's pretty bad. I will probably lose the miyagi and maybe most of the green slimer. I will probably have to do some fragging on two year old colonies soon

 

I was trying to program the APEX to shut of the return pumps for the feeder. Instructioned give to me was to set up a virtual outlet.

 

Have you successfully done this?

I have only programmed my mp10 to go to feed while my AFS comes on. My wp10 stays on w1 mode because it is not controlled by the apex... yet.

[picoreef78]

How about your return pump?

[Arkayology]

How about your return pump?

I leave that on. Most of the food is eaten before it gets close to the return. I am actually going to get a floating feeding ring to make sure that that food does not leave the corner of the tank where the AFS is set up. That would make it even easier.

[picoreef78]

Floating feeding ring, need to look intuit, my food happens to run away. I have mine AF set to the lowest setting.

[markalot]

So on a whim, I decided to check my nitrates with my basic three (Ca, DkH, Mg). My Salifert test showed undetectable twice. The solution did not turn any colors, but stayed perfectly clear. I have done a single water change in the past 3 months. All I use for filtration is my LR, a skimmer, and the bit of chaeto that I have growing in my tank. Other than the occasional bubble algae and some bryopsis that grows on two frag plugs, I don't have any ugly algae to speak of so I don't think it is being consumed in that way. Very odd. It may explain the bit of STN that occurred on some shaded spots of my acros while I was gone (other than acro on acro stinging that happened).

 

 

I really think the low nitrates is due to the sand. It appears we both use special grade, and I never had a nitrates problem in my 40 using this sand while my 46 regularly had nitrates, grew algae in my refugium like crazy, and had better colors. I used the fine grain sand in my 46 ... never again, can't stand that stuff.

 

Where is your chaeto stuffed? In the display?

 

Sorry to hear of the RTN.

[Arkayology]

I really think the low nitrates is due to the sand. It appears we both use special grade, and I never had a nitrates problem in my 40 using this sand while my 46 regularly had nitrates, grew algae in my refugium like crazy, and had better colors. I used the fine grain sand in my 46 ... never again, can't stand that stuff.

 

Where is your chaeto stuffed? In the display?

 

Sorry to hear of the RTN.

I had the same thought that it was likely really well functioning biological filtration from my sand and/or rock, combined with my chaeto and skimmer.

 

My chaeto is in a refugium compartment in my sump.

[Alex B]

Any new pics Ark??...would love to see some new pics of one of my fav tanks on NR

[Arkayology]

I was thinking about posting some up tomorrow. At least you can't see the STN'ing pieces because they are obscured when looking from the front by the giant Joe the Coral colony!

[Jstn]

Sucks about the STN, time to start feeding heavier!

[Arkayology]

Sucks about the STN, time to start feeding heavier!

I am feeding so much, man. I don't rinse my frozen mysis anymore, I dose 2ml acropower daily, and feed with various coral foods three times a week!

[picoreef78]

How is the acropower working so far. I do not really see explosive growth or coloration, keeping it at 1 ml/day. Then again I also don't have a control.

[Arkayology]

How is the acropower working so far. I do not really see explosive growth or coloration, keeping it at 1 ml/day. Then again I also don't have a control.

I think that the acropower is not really a tool to turn corals from drab to fab, but a way to fine fine tune already healthy corals and get a little more color/health out of them. I don't think it is a magic bullet, but my own anecdotal evidence shows that it can be really good for a tank. It is cheap too, so that is a big plus.

[Jstn]

I am feeding so much, man. I don't rinse my frozen mysis anymore, I dose 2ml acropower daily, and feed with various coral foods three times a week!

 

Have the AFS set to more times per day, I have reached a point were I dump food in and never see algae on the glass.

[Arkayology]

Have the AFS set to more times per day, I have reached a point were I dump food in and never see algae on the glass.

Ya, I am going to set it to feed twice a day with two rotations each feeding. I think that will keep everything fat and happy and give some much needed nutrients to the tank. I scrape the algae on the glass probably every 5-6 days, so it is running a little clean.

[markalot]

I think that the acropower is not really a tool to turn corals from drab to fab, but a way to fine fine tune already healthy corals and get a little more color/health in of them. I don't think it is a magic bullet, but my own anecdotal evidence shows that it can be really good for a tank. It is cheap too, so that is a big plus.

 

I bought a giant bottle from BRS last time, had no idea they sold it that big. Just FYI if you are working with the little bottles. I'm at 3 caps a day.

[Arkayology]

I bought a giant bottle from BRS last time, had no idea they sold it that big. Just FYI if you are working with the little bottles.

Ya, I finished my first bottle (250ml) in May. I liked the product so I bought the 500ml this time. I am going to hook it up to a doser and see how things go. I may buy the 1000ml next time.

 

I'm at 3 caps a day.

Wow, maybe I will up my dosage and see what happens.

[markalot]

Ya, I finished my first bottle (250ml) in May. I liked the product so I bought the 500ml this time. I am going to hook it up to a doser and see how things go. I may buy the 1000ml next time.

 

Wow, maybe I will up my dosage and see what happens.

 

I think a smaller cap is about 10ml, so we are at about the same dose, maybe I'm higher?

[Arkayology]

I think a smaller cap is about 10ml, so we are at about the same dose, maybe I'm higher?

I have been using a old test kit syringe and pulling 2ml/day from the cap.

[picoreef78]

I bought the big gallon bottle too. I drew up a 6 week supply into a 60 ml syringe and give 1 ml daily.

[Arkayology]

I bought the big gallon bottle too. I drew up a 6 week supply into a 60 ml syringe and give 1 ml daily.

[Arkayology]

I got some new frags from Latteslave today. Also got a used BM doser. I am looking forward to using it because it is likely more accurate than my my BRS dozers and it will free up two plugs on my EB8.

[AJ_Tsin]

I got some new frags from Latteslave today. Also got a used BM doser. I am looking forward to using it because it is likely more accurate than my my BRS dozers and it will free up two plugs on my EB8.

I have been thinking of setting up and EB 4 and 4 BRS Dosers sometime in the future. You think the BM will be better?

 

Will you control it with the Apex?

[Arkayology]

I have been thinking of setting up and EB 4 and 4 BRS Dosers sometime in the future. You think the BM will be better?

I can't really say if the BM will be better or not yet, BUT I can say that you will not get more than 2 years out of a BRS 1.1ml/min doser before it starts to slow down.

 

Will you control it with the Apex?

Nope. It has it's own built on computer to manage the dosing.

[Arkayology]

Here are some updated shots to show some new coral placement and some of the work that I have done with the tank recently. The most noticeable changes are that I moved the giant pocci colony to the back of the tank and moved my hawkins echinata colony forward. It was being stung by the red planet after I had already moved it over once before! I figured I should just change locations all together. I also put some epoxy putty down over a big chunk of my sunset monti to stop it from stinging nearby acros and to give myself some space to move my pink lemonade acro to a spot that will allow to grow well (it was being shaded and stung by my edgar's acro).

 

Left side

 

Right side

 

This is what happens when you put a silver dollar sized piece of red cap in the back of your tank and forget about it for 2 years!

 

The red planet is getting huge!!!!

 

Here's a bad shot of the pearlberry. It is far back in the tank so it is hard for me to get a good front-facing shot of it. It's better when viewed from above anyways

 

the red dragon. nuff said

 

hawkins echinata. I really like this coral.

 

Here's a pic of the acro-on-acro warfare that has pretty much killed off my miyagi tort (I made some emergency frags that seem to be doing OK) and my green slimer. Oh well

 

New doser!

 

New frag. It's a Jason Fox Jack-O-Lantern lepto I am told. It's not SPS, but it looks cool so I'll let it stay

 

Frag of a maricultured blue stag/something stag-like. Either way, it will be a nice looking colony in a year I hope.

[jedimasterben]

The doser looks like it needs new tubing.

 

 

 

EDIT: Wait, maybe not, looks like it ships with that ungodly ugly tubing lol. I'd probably go ahead and replace it if it was used, though, it'll need to be done at some point anyway, might as well start fresh