ALNs-Piece of reef

[ALNN]

Im just using my samsung galaxy s3 since its fast and I can upload instantly. I have a canon rebel 3 but to lazy to use and I cant afford a good marco lens

[lnglostsurfer]

I've got the razr maxx HD and I can get some awesome pictures with it but I have a really hard time trying to get it to focus right on anything. Always tries to focus on the glass with the macro mode. I just need to play around with it more I guess.

[ALNN]

yah there is alot of playing around that needs to be done. even with the galaxy i had to try a few settings before i got to the pictures i like.

I still cant seem to get the colours of the yumas when i have the night light on..cant even to find the filter that will allow the florescence colour to pop in the picture

[ALNN]

so as promised....LIVESTOCK!

picked this guy up at around 7 today and had him/her? float accumulate for temperature for 45 mins and then dripped accumulated for an hour.

As soon as he got into the tank he found a hole at the top of the rock and turned into it with its head out. Now after an hourish is no where to be seen! hope he found a good place to rest and hope hes not stressed out.

will try to feed it mysis shrimp 2-3 days when it starts to show itself and see if he eats. Now im on the look out for a pistol shrimp

http://s210.photobucket.com/user/aL-n/media/20130604_205443_zpsab5800d0.jpg.html'>
http://s210.photobucket.com/user/aL-n/media/20130604_210248_zps0cfcd09e.jpg.html'>

[ALNN]

so stressful having a fish...when it hides in a cave and you cant ever find it again...hope its not dead..

[designedturning]

It's funny that I can watch my tank for 20 mins turn my head and there is my firefish right in the middle of the tank, then gone again just as fast. He is new so I hope he grows out of it.

[ALNN]

So here comes a Coral update!

Finally made time to head over to MJC (MadJellyCoral) a local forum member seller

The guys there are super awesome and has a very nice setup very respectable will be going back there for more coral for sure.

enough with the talk lets go to the pictures!

Temperature Accumulation
http://s210.photobucket.com/user/aL-n/media/IMG-20130609-WA0000_zpsb5077de9.jpg.html'>

5 min into the tank and then right after my timer turned off
http://s210.photobucket.com/user/aL-n/media/20130609_220406_zpscfd098f8.jpg.html'>
http://s210.photobucket.com/user/aL-n/media/20130609_233706_zps1e665da9.jpg.html'>

My personal favs
http://s210.photobucket.com/user/aL-n/media/20130609_232834_zps6b7b9c46.jpg.html'>
http://s210.photobucket.com/user/aL-n/media/20130609_232946_zps02168348.jpg.html'>

This Morning
http://s210.photobucket.com/user/aL-n/media/20130610_221027_zpsc6fffc45.jpg.html'>

Everything looking healthy and nicely open

Coral list
-Neon Pink Zoa
-Dark Cherry people eaters
-Magician
-Devil's Armpr
-Sunny D

[lnglostsurfer]

Awesome looking zoas man, I wish I could come across some of those locally but I only have one LFS and she deals mostly in LPS. I'm glad there is some variety for you Canadians up there

[ALNN]

yep! very glad :D cant wait to get more. man i love saltwater lolll

[ALNN]

can someone tell me whats happening here?! LOL

http://s210.photobucket.com/user/aL-n/media/20130613_182239_zps73288ce4.jpg.html'>

update FTS
http://s210.photobucket.com/user/aL-n/media/20130611_211533_zps576bcf2f.jpg.html'>

[ALNN]

small update

came home today to find some bad new, i believe my cleaner shirmp is dead...and the yasha is still mia. I found a molt shell of the cleaner but has not seen it for 3 days. no dead body nothing. same with the yasha. I tested the waters on the weekend and there are no spikes and everything seemed fine...hmmm

another thing is one of my stock fluval spec V pumps just suddenly stopped working...it was fine last night when i watched the tank so thats a bit of a surprise. I have the pump powered by a surge protected power bar and everything else thats plugged into it is fine. So as of now im looking for a replacement pump asap! any idea what i can get that can fit in the back?

2 that i might think that works are

mini jet 404
Eheim compact 300

anyone know where i can pick either of these up? or has any other recommendations?

[lnglostsurfer]

Before you buy a replacement pump, try pulling it apart and pulling the impeller out to make sure there's no sand or anything in there. That has happened to my pumps a few times with my larger grain sand.

And I would suggest the Hydor pico series pumps if you do need one, I have one and it's awesome. Tiny footprint, decent power, and absolutely silent compared to my other small pumps.

[ALNN]

how much flow that it push out? and how do i take the stock pump apart...that thing is like 1 piece LOLL can you pm me some pictures if you can?

[lnglostsurfer]

Um...you can take apart every filter to my knowledge. You just have to find a spot that it comes apart, usually by wherever the water goes in. Not familiar with the pumps on those tanks.

As for the hydor pico pumps, there's actually a ton of different sizes/outputs. Mine is 100gph and it's seriously tiny. You would have to look at specs on them to see what size you want/need. Maybe ebay or something? I don't know how it is getting things up in Canadialand.

[jtwisconsin]

I would check the stock pump first to see if you can get it working. To be honest, I never looked at mine very close before putting it in the tank and haven't had it out yet. I think there was a cover on the front that could be pulled off.

 

However if you decide to upgrade, I would consider the Mini-Jet 606. I have one in the return side on my tank. This is the same pump a few other Spec V owners are using, it is rated up to 153 gph, and it is $16.99 for the bulk version online:

 

http://www.marineandreef.com/Mini_Jet_606_Pump_Mini_Jet_Pump_Powerhead_p/ras07107-blk.htm

[ALNN]

Yah I ordered a mini jet 606 last night cause I like the 100+ flow rate so either way ill get more flow in the tank. Ill see what's wrong with my pump and see if I can take it apart thanks guys for the help

[ALNN]

well after a while here is a big update.

Did a testing of the tank and everything is normal

1.025 SG
Temp steady at 77.8
Amm- 0
Nirite -0
Nirate-5ppm
Cal-420
Alk-8dkh
Ph-8

Coral update. Last week i went over to March's place and got a few corals and they threw a few in to help a starter like me much appreciated! Also got come Coral X so now i have something to dip with

enough with the talk!
Im reallyyyyy bad with names so i'll just post up the pictures

i liked the yellow skirt one and the pink one was picked by my gf
http://s210.photobucket.com/user/aL-n/media/20130616_172032_zpscff4432c.jpg.html'>

Electric blue i think?
http://s210.photobucket.com/user/aL-n/media/20130616_172015_zps76999542.jpg.html'>

GSP
http://s210.photobucket.com/user/aL-n/media/20130616_172047_zpsc3f99132.jpg.html'>

And a Monti digitata gift from march and what can i say i Love how it looks!
http://s210.photobucket.com/user/aL-n/media/20130616_172100_zps0b03f9f4.jpg.html'>

On to the bad side. Today after work i went to look at my tank and saw my sunny ds closed. which surprised me since they are always the first to open. Using my Samsung G3 on 4.0x Zoom i found this guy
http://s210.photobucket.com/user/aL-n/media/20130622_202858_zps7e774861.jpg.html'>

Not sure what it was but i looked like it was eating my zoanthid's skin! O_O! so i quickly mixed a batch of Coral X with my tank water and got the plug out and soaked it for 5 mins. Shaked it around and blasted with the turkey baster. 1 short worm and 1 long worm came out and was wiggling inside the dip. i can see very little tissue loose and hope it gets a full recovery.

Can anyone tell me what that is?

[ALNN]

So now the LED are final finished. 3 x 3ups and everything fitted together perfectly

Here are some picture of how it looks like apart. Sorry the pictures took so long to get up here inglostsurfer.

The colour of the overall light is purple-ly i was hoping for a more blue tone since it had more royal blues to white ratio but i guess with the royal blues and the natural white the outcome is like a fuji purple without any blue in it.

I will be trying and playing with the colours a bit to get a blue-ish look. Might need some cool whites and blues.

cut out everything within the stock light to make room for the heat sink aluminum bar. everything fits back together perfectly and still has the stock look. But the leds are really bright so there are some light spillage i'll work on that after all colour adjectment are done

[ALNN]

so this is how the tank looks now with the 3 ups. its a bit purple so i might add 2 cool white within the week to balance it out a bit or 2 Blues depending if i want a whiter look or a bluer look. But i gotta say the colour blending is awesome!

[ALNN]

to my surprise my mini jet 606 came in today. Shipping said it was going to be 3 weeks but i guess something sped it up

http://s210.photobucket.com/user/aL-n/media/20130625_212136_zpsd8b3bc66.jpg.html'>

cant wait to put this bad boy in and get more flow, 160g/h :D double the stock pump.

[Lyan]

nice zoa collection, sorry to hear about the yasha. and those dang pests nibbling at your corals.

[lnglostsurfer]

Great job on that light man, I love how you were able to put it back into the stock fixture. Are you able to keep it cool enough without a fan? That's the only thing I woul dworry about with using a flat aluminum bar vs a heatsink with fins. Great looking progress though on the tank!!

[andi.rahl]

I don't know what that was on your zoa...creepy, and glad you got it off. everything looks awesome.

[ALNN]

Great job on that light man, I love how you were able to put it back into the stock fixture. Are you able to keep it cool enough without a fan? That's the only thing I woul dworry about with using a flat aluminum bar vs a heatsink with fins. Great looking progress though on the tank!!

yah i was glad it all fit together too! i ran it at full power (no over the tank of course! ) for a week to see how hot the bar would be with the housing on and to my surprise only warm to the touch lol. Right now if i have the light over 20% my zoa seems to be doing that crazy little think when it folds down on itself meaning the light are to strong. Right now i keep it at 15%.

 

I don't know what that was on your zoa...creepy, and glad you got it off. everything looks awesome.

Yah im glad i got some Coral RX from my local reefers that stuff is awesome! my Sunny Ds are open again and even has a baby zoa on the side! but yah after 2 dips at least 5 red worm things came out =\ *note to self dip coral for a good 5-10mins thats went all the good stuff comes crawling out

[krisko]

Great looking tank!! I'm about to pick a spec V in a couple days. I was curious on how I was going to do my LED lighting. Looks like you figured it out pretty good using the stock lighting fixture. Now for the 3ups are they White White Blue? Or did you do the Blue Blue White?