Ps2cho's Barely Nano 60g Shallow Build --> [October FTS Updated]

[ps2cho]

Nothing at the front area I care for...just gravel so all good maybe it will stop the weeds lol

[ps2cho]

Looks like the move from 10g weekly to 5g weekly had led to a small increase in nitrates. After 4 weeks of this schedule I am reading 3ppm. I will be switching to 5g twice a week going forward. I was doing some reading and a lot of coral aquaculture facilities use this schedule -- twice a week of about 5%. With my new water change tool, 5g will take no more than 10mins.

 

My inline TDS meter on the RODI unit is showing some TDS now on the 1st Maxcap DI cartridge. The second Silicabuster is still reading 0 though. I will be getting a new sediment, carbon and maxcap from Spectrapure next week to replace these. Its been 6mo on everything so not bad!

[ps2cho]

Today I found some Pickling Lime at my local walmart. I am going to see if I can save some money on the B-Ionic and switch to Kalk for a while. It should save me the daily chore of dosing, and in turn stop me from buying dosing pumps lol (or at least for a while until kalk cannot keep up).

 

I am going to track the usage here to see how it goes:

 

Today's baseline:

Ca: 455

dkH: 9.5

[jedimasterben]

Kalk doses right at the proper ratio for some, and for others it sometimes only raises alk and not calcium, its weird how our tanks can all have the same chemicals react differently.

 

I would definitely do some tests with it and make sure, and be sure to make sure your pH doesn't go too high.

[ps2cho]

Here is my regiment:

 

1/3 cup vinegar, 2 gal RODI, 2 teaspoons kalk.

 

The mix leaves zero sludge and mixes almost instantly. After my reading the vinegar helps with fully dissolving the mixture, and it also doubles as a small carbon dose. I will monitor how the tank reacts.

 

EDIT: just realized 1/3 cup of vinegar is 70ml...way overkill. I have dumped the mixture. According to a few sites, it says that 15ml vinegar per gallon. To avoid a bacterial boom here is my new recipe:

 

1/10 cup vinegar, 2 gal RODI, 2 teaspoon kalk.

this works out to be:

12.5ml vinegar /w 1tsp kalk in 1 gal rodi.

or

25ml vinegar: 2gal rodi: 2tsp kalk. If this mixture holds my alk and ca relatively stable, then I will simply make a few 5gal batches and then just add that to the ATO so I don't have to spend much time measuring out each week and the ratio's never change. A 5gal container should last me about a week, so if I make 3 sets of 5gal then I am good for a while!

 

Will see if this will keep my alk and ca in line.

 

I have also included on my apex to shut off the ATO if pH > 8.4 and email me.

[ps2cho]

After a few days it seems that 1tsp might be too much. My alk went from 9.5 to 9.8, but I have to be pretty close. Next batch I will mix 1.5tsp per 2 gal and see how that does.

 

Also updated for May FTS. Photo not that great, but its something.

[ps2cho]

The new Deep Blue Professional 7.5g Quarantine is up and running! I am just waiting for the return pump and pvc hose that I will route over the top to arrive Saturday and it will get rid of the surface skum and I can move the heater behind the fake wall.

 

Grabbed a couple new SPS frags from the LFS today. Got both for $35 so not bad. Not sure what the white'ish one is....

 

 

and the QT

 

[ps2cho]

Heres a full shot of my somewhat messy sump...Its a tight fit in here with everything I have!!

 

[ps2cho]

Right as I was wondering where my amazon package was -- it arrived!

 

Just installed the return pump in the QT. Immediately the surface skum cleared. Here is the QT now:

 

I was gonna drill then I thought to myself...just keep it simple its just a coral quarantine tank lol. Bought a simple return line and thats fine. Stuffed some filter floss from the AC70 and it fits perfectly! I'll wash it each week to keep nitrates out.

 

[ps2cho]

I was going to do the whole float switch deal, but I think again I am overcomplicating and overspending.

I bought a $9 timer from Walmart that can do two settings per day in minutes.

 

I ran a quick test with the Aqualifter and it took about 5minutes worth of running to top up from today. I set 3min intervals, 12hrs apart and will see how it does. As for the container I bought the largest Smart Water container they had that wasn't too tall. Based on the quick runtime, this container should last me probably 4-5 days. Not bad at all.

I just ziptied the outlet onto my return line so it can't go anywhere.

 

Also -- My Digi SPS's polyps are out! Very nice to see my $25 chinese ebay PAR30 LED bulb is somewhat decent.

 

Sump area is definitely packed now LOL. No more space for anything. Good thing I think I am finally done with equipment!! I can now actually spend the money on more SPS

 

 

and the ATO setup:

 

[ps2cho]

So after 2 weeks of doing Kalk in the ATO, it seems to be having no problems holding the alk, but calcium has been slowly dropping from 450 to 410 today. I think what I will do is after my waterchange, I will add 5ml of calcium from my B-Ionic 2-part solution and that should help keep it up.

I am doing 5g water changes twice a week. Every Sunday and Wednesday.

[ps2cho]

Latest Update:

 

Ordered a two little fishies reactor and some Phosban that will arrive tomorrow...AND

Just ordered 17 SPS frags from MyReefToYours This should really get me going!

 

1 x Bentons Tricolor Acro
1 x Fuzzy Wuzzy Bear Acro
1 x Violet Digi
1 x Burnham Staghorn
1 x Blue Hue Acro
1 x Tiny's Tricolor Acro
1 x Blue Tipped Acro
1 x Green Digi
1 x Pink Birdsnest
1 x Red Planet Acro
1 x Green Kush Acro
1 x Green Acro
1 x Montipora Spongodes
1 x Purple Tipped Acro
1 x Goblin Green Acro
1 x Green Acro
1 x Sweet Acro

[4x5]

Nice haul. Looking forward to pictures.

[ps2cho]

Corals arrived -- One bag was broken, but I think there was just enough water left...I think it's the pink birdsnest so lets hope it lives.

 

I am floating each bag (minus the birdsnest) for 20mins.

Once that is done, I will put all corals and the water they came in into a container. Then I will slowly add water from the Coral QT and let them sit for about 10mins. Then a 10min Revive dip and into the coral QT (lights out for 3hrs) and placed at the bottom.

 

Photos to come soon

[Red_Blenny]

Can't wait to see pics of your haul.

[ps2cho]

They are officially all in QT now. They shipped at 1.0255, and my QT is 1.025, so I just mixed 50% of the water let them sit for 10mins in the Revive and called it good. I think that will be fine... Will post back in a few hours with more photos. My lights turn on in 2hrs.

 

I left the sump doors open so they can get some general ambient light before the PAR38 bulb comes on. I think it should be powerful enough to keep them going for a few weeks until I can be sure no pests.

 

Its the 12 LED 36w bulb:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/15w-21w-27w-36w-54w-E27-LED-Coral-Reef-Plant-Grow-Light-PAR38-Fish-Tank-Aquarium-/141199784741?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&var=&hash=item20e029bb25

 

EDIT: oh wow I received 18 frags total unless my eyes deceive me...Guess I got a free one!

[ps2cho]

Only an hour under the light and most of them already have polyps out

The Red Planet in the bottom right corner is amazing in person. Wish I had a better aquarium shot...

 

[ps2cho]

Had RTN on the orange one shown...Fragged off whatever I could

 

 

 

 

[pismo_reefer]

That sux.

[ps2cho]

So after 48hrs alk with the 18 frags only dropped from 8.9 to 8.7 and thats with about 6 gallons of water total in the frag tank. I will probably add a very small amount of kalk to the top off and it should be perfect.

 

So far no more RTN and the rest of the frags are looking ok.

[AJ_Tsin]

Did the pieces you cut before RTN make it?

[ps2cho]

So far...yes. I put them straight into my DT since there wasn't much surface area to check for pests lol and I wanted to make sure it had the most stable environment otherwise it was toast for sure.

[richgoose]

maybe just a setback for the orange one then!

[Tamberav]

Where did you order from?

[ps2cho]

Myreeftoyours was the place.