gahumphrey Posted January 27, 2014 Author Share Posted January 27, 2014 Do you have any pics or a thread for the biocube Yep, here you go. http://www.nano-reef.com/topic/337628-gahumphreys-29g-vega-biocube/?view=findpost&p=4565875 Quote Link to comment
GHill762 Posted January 28, 2014 Share Posted January 28, 2014 looking pretty good.. needs more fish I'm curious, how does your ato play music? this is the first I'm hearing of this.. Quote Link to comment
gahumphrey Posted January 28, 2014 Author Share Posted January 28, 2014 looking pretty good.. needs more fish I'm curious, how does your ato play music? this is the first I'm hearing of this.. Thanks! I agree!! I'm thinking of a red mandarin or maybe a fairy wrasse. This is going to sound funny but I really want a bright yellow fish. would love a tang but i'm just sensitive to keeping one in an 80G. I think that'll be too restrictive. I also like dwarf angels like a bi-color angel or a lemon-peel angel. I've read that they can nip at corals though. Any suggestions? The AutoAqua SMART ATO has an alarm in it that can play 8-bit music like an early on cell phone. To my knowledge you can't change what it plays. It is really loud though. You can see my wife physically react with annoyance every time it goes off. It is super sensitive to misalignment so it will beep obnoxiously when it's not properly aligned. When it senses that the ATO reservoir is out of water it plays Beethoven's Fur Elise. Here's a pretty good review on Reefbuilders.com for it. It's a great little device but it does have some annoying quirks. http://reefbuilders.com/2013/12/10/smart-ato-review-perfect-couple-quirks/ The youtube demo of the alarms has different sounds than mine. Not sure what that is all about... I'm sure V2 of this thing will have a couple of those wrinkles ironed out. Maybe we'll even see one for bigger tanks. the glass on the SR-80 is 12mm or basically 1/2" (.47" to be precise). this thing is supposed to be okay for tanks up to 1/2" but you can tell that it doesn't magnetically align itself really well on the thicker glass. Who knows, maybe I'll move it to the biocube and get the Innovative Marine ATO system for the SR-80. It's honestly just a little too overpriced for what you get right now ($250 for the IM setup vs $150 for this one). 1 Quote Link to comment
gahumphrey Posted February 6, 2014 Author Share Posted February 6, 2014 Kill that damsel now before you regret it! Or just get rid of it, it will grow fast and turn into the tank asshole and start to eat everything and pick on any new fish you may introduce. Should have heeded your advice - now it's time to get rid of the Damsel. The thing ate all the polyps off two of my frags. They're just Paly's from my other tank, but clearly this guy is a real problem. I can't 100% confirm it but I believe he's eating my pink paly's too. The son of a B is nipping at most of my softies. May put him back in the biocube but i'm going to add 20+ frags to that tank next month so may just try to bring him to a local pet shop or something. Time to build a coke bottle trap... Quote Link to comment
gahumphrey Posted February 8, 2014 Author Share Posted February 8, 2014 Time for an update with some pictures. Skimmer: I gotta figure out what I'm doing wrong. Looks like I'll have to build a new custom base for the skimmer. I want to try to move it back to one of the inner chambers as opposed to the middle one. Still wrestling with some micro bubbles. The skimmer cup, from time, to time seems to randomly fill up with water. I'm pretty sure it's not the skimmer - more like slightly inconsistent water levels in the center chamber and probably affected by the crappy quasi base I built for it. When I do have this thing tuned in right it is really an awesome skimmer. Incredibly quite and very effective at producing dark skim. No algae growth anywhere in the tank so the complete filtering system is working great. My damsel is continuing to give me problems. I'm thinking of moving him back to the biocube for now and putting the new frag rack in the SR-80. At least until I figure out what to do with the damsel. He's too small for my george foreman grill. I've had some serious retraction of my Pink Palys. I can't figure out if it's the damsel messing with the polyps or if I had them too close to the MP40. I moved them down lower into to see if that helps. Will know better in a week or two. My yellow leather, after the bacteria bloom, has not fully recovered yet. The color went from bright yellow to pale yellow. Over the past two days there are new brighter yellow spots appearing. Can't tell for sure if it's a good sign of recovery or if the freakin damsel is nipping little bites in him. Running NPX Bioplastics in the media reactor is one of the best decisions I've made. The water is crystal clear. I started using it in my BioCube too. It's working so well that I removed the Purigen and the Chemipure Elite from the media basket in the biocube. Better flow and the water is still perfect. Been that way for over two weeks now. No algae. Getting a green coralline over all the rock so the cycling of the exterior of the rock is finally happening. Can't wait until purple and pink coralline grows over the green. They symphllia is finally starting to get it's color back too after the bleaching. I can't tell you how many articles i've read about what causes bleaching and what to do about it. I came to my own conclusion - he was stressed. Give it time, a little less flow, a little less light and it'll recover. That's what I did for my green frogspawn when it got bleached from moving to LEDs too quickly and unstable water temps. Now the thing has a gorgeous deep glowing green in the center with dark green tentacles. I also came to the sad realization that my LG G2 cell phone takes much better pictures than my Panasonic Lumix. Attaching some updated photos - all taken with my phone - how crazy is that? 1 Quote Link to comment
gahumphrey Posted February 16, 2014 Author Share Posted February 16, 2014 Time for the two month update. Livestock all doing well. A couple of the Palys are retracting a bit and losing some of their tips. Thinking I may have the whites up to high so going to back them way down for the next two weeks. Acans continuing to grow well. The bleached symphyllia is really making a comeback. She eats like crazy: reef snow, pellets, frozen mysis, pretty much anything I put in there. The deep red is starting to come back quite a bit. Have a male, female pair of blue mandarins coming this week and a torch frag. I am finally admitting defeat with the PLS-100. It really is an awesome skimmer but I think it's just too big for a rear chamber AIO (i know, shocker - right?). Just too many micro bubbles. It also dramatically messes with the water level in the rear chamber when I power it down or power it up. That, in turn, messes with the ATO. I have a Cadlights PLS-50 coming. If it works out well I'll pick up a second one. Most of the threads where people have them they love them and don't have a microbubble problem. If anyone wants to make an offer on the PLS-100 just let me know. I did have to trim some of the base plastic to get it to fit but it doesn't affect the function of the skimmer at all. Here are some new pics. 1 Quote Link to comment
drfu Posted February 17, 2014 Share Posted February 17, 2014 Could you not fit two of the IM midsize protein skimmers in the back, with two it should cover 80 gallons or is running two skimmers a silly idea. Corals are looking good, nice job! 1 Quote Link to comment
gahumphrey Posted February 17, 2014 Author Share Posted February 17, 2014 Could you not fit two of the IM midsize protein skimmers in the back, with two it should cover 80 gallons or is running two skimmers a silly idea. Corals are looking good, nice job! Yes, for sure i could fit two IM Mid Size skimmers. I debated going that route or to go with two cadlights PLS50s. The other option is to go with a HOB but i really want as clean of a look i can get. The pipeless models from cadlights are pretty slick and the majority of the reviews are very positive. The IM skimmers get mixed reviews. Some love them, some not so much. On a side note, Reefstock will be here in 2 weeks so should be adding a lot more color! Quote Link to comment
Cameron6796 Posted February 17, 2014 Share Posted February 17, 2014 I thought the cad skimmers didn't fit Quote Link to comment
drfu Posted February 17, 2014 Share Posted February 17, 2014 Imo nothing that hob from a look standpoint, your set up and tank look awesome. If i remember correctly you have two of there media reactors, just thought two skimmers would match thats all. 1 Quote Link to comment
Cameron6796 Posted February 17, 2014 Share Posted February 17, 2014 Lol never in you have the sr series not a nuvo 24 so I'd go with the pls50 1 Quote Link to comment
Javious Posted February 17, 2014 Share Posted February 17, 2014 I have the PLS-50 and really like it, no micro bubbles at all in my BioCube and it's in chamber 2. If you want to try another ATO, I use the Tunze 3155 Universal and like it too. The magnet mounts are way bigger than the AutoAqua, but it has an optical water sensor for primary level detection. The pump is a bit loud, worse if it is touching the container, but at least I know that it is working when I hear it kick on. 1 Quote Link to comment
gahumphrey Posted February 17, 2014 Author Share Posted February 17, 2014 I thought the cad skimmers didn't fit The Cad PLS-100 sort of doesn't fit. I had to trim some of the edges of the base plate. It fits, but i think it's just really too much horsepower for the chambers. Quote Link to comment
gahumphrey Posted February 17, 2014 Author Share Posted February 17, 2014 Imo nothing that hob from a look standpoint, your set up and tank look awesome. If i remember correctly you have two of there media reactors, just thought two skimmers would match thats all. I only have one media reactor, but its the big daddy (full size). It's a monster and working great. I may add a mid size reactor and run GFO too. I also have some media bags loaded with carbon in the bottom of each sock chamber. Running the phosphate and nitrate filter pads over each sock. I placed the order for the PLS 50. If it works out well, i'll add another one. Nothing like a little redundancy! :-) As a side note, ammonia is up to .3 Phosphate is up to 1ppm. Not sure what's causing the spike. No new livestock. I haven't run the PLS100 in a few days because the microbubbles are driving me nuts. I just may have to deal with them for a few days till the new skimmer gets here. I thought this might happen. I'm two months into the tank. Most likely the effects of the cycle process - even though I used existing water saved from biocube changes and half the rock from the biocube. Treated with some Seachem Prime and Seachem Stability. Quote Link to comment
keithfullermusic Posted February 17, 2014 Share Posted February 17, 2014 i'm pretty sure seachem prime will only hurt the problem. it breaks up the ammonia (which is good at times), but it doesn't allow it to feed your cycle because the ammonia isn't there. Quote Link to comment
gahumphrey Posted February 17, 2014 Author Share Posted February 17, 2014 i'm pretty sure seachem prime will only hurt the problem. it breaks up the ammonia (which is good at times), but it doesn't allow it to feed your cycle because the ammonia isn't there. Good point. Ironically, i've read the same thing about using kickstarter bacteria like Seachem Stability or Dr Tim's. They're not the "steady state" type of bacteria naturally produced and they eat up the food supply of the good bacteria. I'm hoping to not completely eliminate the ammonia, but rather get the level a little lower giving the nitrifying bacteria sufficient chance to multiply. Basically i'm trying to balance my impatience with the full cycling process. I'm pretty sure that's what's pissing off some of my softies. Ironically all my most my LPS are thriving. Today both frogspawns look a little depressed so i'll be watching them all super close. Quote Link to comment
keithfullermusic Posted February 17, 2014 Share Posted February 17, 2014 my ammonia and nitrates are at zero, but my nitrates range from 20-40, and my LPS and softies are always looking great. even my sps are growing like crazy, and i only have the stock nuvo16 lights. i'm starting to think nitrates being a huge issue is a myth to sell expensive skimmers and reactors. Quote Link to comment
gahumphrey Posted February 18, 2014 Author Share Posted February 18, 2014 my ammonia and nitrates are at zero, but my nitrates range from 20-40, and my LPS and softies are always looking great. even my sps are growing like crazy, and i only have the stock nuvo16 lights. i'm starting to think nitrates being a huge issue is a myth to sell expensive skimmers and reactors. agreed. Biggest advantage of keeping phosphates and nitrates low are to impede algae growth. I actually read a pretty old article that documents nitrates actually increasing zooxanthellae population density http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/BF00942117#page-1 Quote Link to comment
keithfullermusic Posted February 18, 2014 Share Posted February 18, 2014 agreed. Biggest advantage of keeping phosphates and nitrates low are to impede algae growth. I actually read a pretty old article that documents nitrates actually increasing zooxanthellae population density http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/BF00942117#page-1 i read the abstract of that article. some of it was over my head, but it did seem to somewhat support my point. 1 Quote Link to comment
gahumphrey Posted February 24, 2014 Author Share Posted February 24, 2014 Well folks, I gave up on the CadLights PLS100. Great skimmer, but I think the pump was just a bit too powerful to be jammed into the back of an AIO. I just incessantly struggled with the microbubbles. No matter what I did I just couldn't get around them. Sooo, I pulled it out and replaced it with a CadLights PLS50. I read through hundreds of posts where people just raved about the 50 (a.k.a. Nano). So far it's working great in chamber #4 (one of the inner chambers). I'll probably add a second PLS 50 next month. On a side note, some of my corals are not too happy. My green frogspawn retreated inside itself for a couple days and now it is starting to come back out. My bicolor (Joker) frogspawn has closed up pretty tight. Some of my softies aren't too thrilled either. The leather is just sagging. It got to almost a grey color and now it looks like it's getting back most of it's yellow. Still sagging a bit though. Most of my Zoas and Palys have been closed up for a few days now. However, Acans are doing awesome as are the Symphyllia and Lobophyllia. I ran through the apex logs and found out that for a few nights in a row the temp went down to the 73 degrees range and during the day it's around 76-77. I think it's been too much of a swing. We usually keep the house at 66 degrees at night and apparently the dual 150W heaters still can't keep up. So for the last couple nights I switched the thermostat back to 70 degrees at night (70 degrees 24/7 now). The tank has been holding steady. I moved some of the paly's back over to the biocube where they are already looking better. May have to move some stuff back out of the SR-80 for a month or two to ensure things are really stable. Reefstock is this weekend so planning on picking up around 20 frags. Will keep them in the biocube till I'm 100% comfortable with the stability of the SR-80... Quote Link to comment
drfu Posted February 25, 2014 Share Posted February 25, 2014 Cant wait to see some new pics, throw in a nice wide angle shot please, bet it looks awesome! Quote Link to comment
gahumphrey Posted February 25, 2014 Author Share Posted February 25, 2014 Cant wait to see some new pics, throw in a nice wide angle shot please, bet it looks awesome! Hang tight for a new pick. Want to get my euphyllias back to somewhat normal health. I fragged off a branch of the bicolor frogspawn and stuck it in my biocube to see if it does better there. Can't help but think there's some sort of chemical warefare going on with the corals. Did a big water change this weekend too to see if i can get everyone to perk up. I did do a panorama shot of the tank last week before the euphs got bent out of shape. On a side note - i did set up a 23 frag shelf in the Biocube. When i pick up some frags this weekend i'll post some shots. Stay tuned! Quote Link to comment
gahumphrey Posted February 25, 2014 Author Share Posted February 25, 2014 oh, forgot to mention I added a couple new additions to the tank. a Male/Female pair of Blue Mandarin and a small Torch. 1 Quote Link to comment
gahumphrey Posted February 26, 2014 Author Share Posted February 26, 2014 Some more pics. Picked up a Diamond Goby today to keep the sand clean. Some close up shots of the Frogspawns. Still receded as are most of the Zoas & Palys. Grrr. The Acans are doing great. Some of the Zoas are starting to come back. The new torch had 4 heads. One head died. A second one looks like it's giving up too. Quote Link to comment
gahumphrey Posted February 26, 2014 Author Share Posted February 26, 2014 Well, less than 24 hours after adding the Diamond Goby, the little guy somehow figured out how to get out of the tank. The crazy part is the screen only leaves a 3/8" opening on one side of the tank. Having the skills of Houdini didn't work out so well for him... Quote Link to comment
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