RollaJase's 30G Custom Cube - Tank Torn Down

[RollaJase]

Good ones are 13-18 depending on how old, and yeah getting a hard top that comes with it is hard!

That's still pretty good bang for buck, even at 15K for one with reasonable miles. They were never delivered here in the hardtop option, only soft top. The majority of the hardtop models here are running the Mugen top or similar. My favorite ever iteration is the Amuse GT1 Turbo, love that wide body kit.

[4x5]

How's the SPS tower doing?

[RollaJase]

How's the SPS tower doing?

Empty . Nothing but coraline (and a stray piece of Xenia) is growing on there right now. At this stage with me going on holiday in a little over a month I don't think I'll add any new pieces until I get back. When I do I'm going to cram that baby with candy .

[4x5]

Empty . Nothing but coraline (and a stray piece of Xenia) is growing on there right now. At this stage with me going on holiday in a little over a month I don't think I'll add any new pieces until I get back. When I do I'm going to cram that baby with candy .

Do'h! Yah man, wait till after the holiday. How long are you away for?

[RollaJase]

Do'h! Yah man, wait till after the holiday. How long are you away for?

Yeah my thoughts exactly. I'll be away for a little over a month. Fly from Adelaide to LA early January, then onto San Fran, Vegas, New Orleans, Miami and New York before flying to London, Dublin,visiting family in Italy before flying back to London and then onto Singapore before flying back home at the start of February. It's going to be a nice long trip , the first holiday I have had in 4-5 years. The tank will pretty much be running auto pilot with my mother feeding, topping off the ATO and emptying the skimmer for me while I'm away. If I can get the dosing as close as possible before I go away no water changes should be required.

[markalot]

Good plan, but sorry you have to wait it out.

[Arkayology]

Yeah my thoughts exactly. I'll be away for a little over a month. Fly from Adelaide to LA early January, then onto San Fran, Vegas, New Orleans, Miami and New York before flying to London, Dublin,visiting family in Italy before flying back to London and then onto Singapore before flying back home at the start of February. It's going to be a nice long trip , the first holiday I have had in 4-5 years. The tank will pretty much be running auto pilot with my mother feeding, topping off the ATO and emptying the skimmer for me while I'm away. If I can get the dosing as close as possible before I go away no water changes should be required.

That trip sounds pretty epic.

[RollaJase]

Good plan, but sorry you have to wait it out.

I think the wait will make the candy all the more awesome when I pick some up in February .

 

That trip sounds pretty epic.

I'm so excited for this trip, been planning it for around 8 months now. My flight to Italy was booked Sunday so now I'm all set, just need to hoard cash now. I already have around $1700USD changed over, need a little more before I start worrying about pound and euro.

[Arkayology]

I think the wait will make the candy all the more awesome when I pick some up in February .

 

I'm so excited for this trip, been planning it for around 8 months now. My flight to Italy was booked Sunday so now I'm all set, just need to hoard cash now. I already have around $1700USD changed over, need a little more before I start worrying about pound and euro.

Do you have an ATM card that will not change you fees for using it abroad? I was just over in Europe and the UK last month and the rates sucked. If you need cash you will get a much better rate out of the ATMs I found. I have a Capital One online checking/savings account and they didn't charge anything. I found that I was losing about 10 pounds for every 100 pounds I was changing to from USD. Just an idea.

[RollaJase]

Do you have an ATM card that will not change you fees for using it abroad? I was just over in Europe and the UK last month and the rates sucked. If you need cash you will get a much better rate out of the ATMs I found. I have a Capital One online checking/savings account and they didn't charge anything. I found that I was losing about 10 pounds for every 100 pounds I was changing to from USD. Just an idea.

I have a cash passport/travel card organised through my bank. It basically links to my online banking and allows me to instantly transfer funds of any currency (up to 10 total) onto that card. Fees wise there is a currency conversion fee (they basically knock 4 cents off the current exchange rate) and there is a 1% transfer fee on any sum I add. It acts like a a standard Visa or Mastercard at the ATM to withdraw cash and the card can also be used as a standard credit/debit card for store purchases. I should not get any fees at the ATM unless the owner of the ATM has a $2 fee or such for using non branch cards. If I had to rely on my credit card I would get reamed at the ATM so this is the best solution I could find (short of carrying cash which I hate to do). The best thing is that when I leave the states I can instantly transfer all my USD back into AUD (and probably make money on it) and then instantly convert it to Euro and Pound.

[Veng]

The last time I traveled abroad I got killed on exchange fees, didn't realize how much you pay at the airports (15-20% exchanging in and out). I've got a good bank, so there was no exchange fee on an ATM withdrawl, and no exchange fee on CC purchases. Sounds like you've got this all planned out. Hope you enjoy your trip!

[RollaJase]

Yup, the cash exchange at the airport is always a rip off, they charge you so much in fees. My bank is usually pretty good also with ATM fees but the currency exchange fee is pretty high hence why I opted for the travel card they offered. I have given this a lot of thought and realistically it is one of the safest options they offer over here. I can not wait for this trip , 14 days left of work before I'm on Christmas holidays and then off to LA!

[RollaJase]

So, those of you who have been following along for a while would know that two serious Alk swings killed off most of my hard corals around the middle of the year. Since then I have been struggling with levels and added a doser to keep things in line. I have gone as far as doing water changes with a 50/50 mix of Red Sea Coral Pro and Red Sea Blue Bucket to give me a salt mix close to my desired parameters. I'm targeting parameters of 10dKH Alk, 450ppm Cal and 1350ppm Mag. My salt mix (with some tweaking) mixes into those parameters.

 

The issue I have is that I can't maintain those parameters. Everything seems to level out at 10dKH Alk, 410ppm Cal and 1260-1280ppm Mag. If I try to increase the Cal and Mag even slightly my Alk starts to drop and will typically level out at 9.5dKH with the Cal and Mag rising slightly before decreasing and leveling out. I'm really lost when it comes to this and have been chasing these parameters for the better part of 2 months. I'm happy with the Alk and Cal but really want the Mag on 1300ppm or slightly higher.

 

I'm after some advice. Should I keep striving for my numbers? Should I leave them be? Should I try dropping my Alk to 9.5dKH and work on getting the Cal and Mag slightly higher? The main reason why I want the Mag higher is because any SPS I add, no matter how long I light acclimate eventually gets struck down with burnt tips before losing flesh and dying off. I know that low Mag can cause this and is also probably responsible for the poor health of my chalice corals.

[4x5]

Honestly I don't see it being a Mg issue. Mines been floating between 1320 and 1260 for months now (even down to 1170) with no issues. I know Alk swings and high Alk levels in lower nutrient tanks can be the cause for burnt tips. I keep mine at 7-7.5 now to be on the safe side because I don't see a need to go higher if you have a doser to keep it stable. Your consumption shouldn't increase a couple of extra dKH in a month unless you have some astronomical growth. I've not changed my Alk and Cal dosages for months FWIW and growth has increased a ton, so having that buffer of a higher KH isn't really needed IMO.

 

Why not aim for something in the region of 8 dKH, 420 Ca and 1320 Mg, keep KH and Ca as stable as possible and dose Mg up to what you want it.

[CronicReefer]

I would agree with above. I found my dkh was much more stable and less prone to drop at around 9. Since alk, calc, and mag effect each other directly you may see success with shooting for a slightly lower dkh for the higher mag value you desire. I also dose with sodium carbonate for alk because it can be measured in an exact amount to raise dkh an exact amount based on your water volume so no guessing is involved.

[markalot]

Lower KH is the key, the high KH is for amateurs and works well for those who just do water changes and have corals that don't use much Alk and can handle small swings.

 

My little 29 is stuck at 10.5 KH because I'm topping off with super saturated Kalk. It has a very low evaporation rate, maybe 1/4 gallon a day if that. If for some reason you want to keep KH high Kalk might be the answer, but you'll need some time to get it setup and figure out the saturation level in the topoff.

[RollaJase]

Honestly I don't see it being a Mg issue. Mines been floating between 1320 and 1260 for months now (even down to 1170) with no issues. I know Alk swings and high Alk levels in lower nutrient tanks can be the cause for burnt tips. I keep mine at 7-7.5 now to be on the safe side because I don't see a need to go higher if you have a doser to keep it stable. Your consumption shouldn't increase a couple of extra dKH in a month unless you have some astronomical growth. I've not changed my Alk and Cal dosages for months FWIW and growth has increased a ton, so having that buffer of a higher KH isn't really needed IMO.

 

Why not aim for something in the region of 8 dKH, 420 Ca and 1320 Mg, keep KH and Ca as stable as possible and dose Mg up to what you want it.

 

I would agree with above. I found my dkh was much more stable and less prone to drop at around 9. Since alk, calc, and mag effect each other directly you may see success with shooting for a slightly lower dkh for the higher mag value you desire. I also dose with sodium carbonate for alk because it can be measured in an exact amount to raise dkh an exact amount based on your water volume so no guessing is involved.

 

Lower KH is the key, the high KH is for amateurs and works well for those who just do water changes and have corals that don't use much Alk and can handle small swings.

 

My little 29 is stuck at 10.5 KH because I'm topping off with super saturated Kalk. It has a very low evaporation rate, maybe 1/4 gallon a day if that. If for some reason you want to keep KH high Kalk might be the answer, but you'll need some time to get it setup and figure out the saturation level in the topoff.

 

I have no idea why I didn't get notifications about these posts :S.

 

Thanks for the advice guys, this is more along the lines of where I thought things would head. I think I'll slowly decrease my Alk down to 9dKH over the next few weeks and let it sit at that while I'm away. When I get back I'll let it trickle down to 8dKH. The only reason I was aiming for such a high Alk was because I got awesome results when my Alk was at 13dKH with Red Sea Coral Pro salt. Looks like it's time to sell off my almost full bucket of RSCP and buy a blue bucket.

 

Thanks again .

[markalot]

I really liked blue bucket but I can't lift it without hurting my back so I was forced to switch to something sold in a box with smaller bags. My only complaint with blue bucket was Mag is on the low side and I had to dose to raise it.

[jedimasterben]

I really liked blue bucket but I can't lift it without hurting my back so I was forced to switch to something sold in a box with smaller bags. My only complaint with blue bucket was Mag is on the low side and I had to dose to raise it.

You could get a little dolly to move it around when you need it

[markalot]

You could get a little dolly to move it around when you need it

 

The entire problem is getting it from the front door to the basement. Once it's in the basement no movement is necessary. It's not a big deal, it just means I have to limit my water change size ... and on 150 gallons that's not that hard.

[jedimasterben]

The entire problem is getting it from the front door to the basement. Once it's in the basement no movement is necessary. It's not a big deal, it just means I have to limit my water change size ... and on 150 gallons that's not that hard.

Just install an elevator, problem solved?

[RollaJase]

I did notice the mag was a little low on the blue bucket as well Mark. Doesn't really take much to dose it up those so I'm happy to do it for the water volume I switch out with every change. I might just have to bite the bullet and buy a blue bucket sooner rather than later.

This is how I spent a drizzly, disgusting Sunday afternoon.

Made some shelves for the inside of my stands door. The two half width ones are so the shelves clear the two reactors. I also finally finished wiring up the LED cabinet lights so I don't have to keep unplugging the timer on the sump light when I have to work in the stand. As the lights are now finished and installed I was able to tidy up the rats nest of wires on that side of the stand as well, much neater now.

The count down continues. 10 working days until Christmas holidays. 26 days until I fly for LA .

[4x5]

Oh man, it looks awesome.

[RollaJase]

Oh man, it looks awesome.

Thanks buddy . At the end of the day it will make things easier for me and for my mother when I'm away. I'm running out of weekends to sort bits and pieces like this out before I go so I have to make the most of it.

[latteslave]

Nice job - that looks great.