Mark's 150 (NanoBox Retro)

[markalot]

While I was writing the above message, an hour a ago, the tank fuse blew.  Not sure why but I had no warning (heartbeat turned off on Apex Fusion because I'm an idiot?).  Luckily I always visit the tank in the evening one last time.  I have a new UPS, fully charged, sitting across the room from the tank.  Old UPS served me well but after the last big power failure will no longer charge.  Once and done apparently.

 

Apex will now text me if connection is lost to the host.  

[mpsti05]

I like that heartbeat feature!  Another good redundancy 

[markalot]

10 hours ago, mpsti05 said:

I like that heartbeat feature!  Another good redundancy 

 

Yea ... when you first setup fusion you have to wait a day before turning it on.  Apparently I forgot.

 

Rambling ...  this is more of a notebook for me here.

 

In other news, during the last power failure the ecotech battery backup failed to work.  I re-ran all the wires for it, cleaning each connector and making sure all connections were solid.  THis time around it worked and worked well, so apparently the charging cable must have come loose last time?  

 

I have my new UPS temporarily in the mix before I can re-run all the plugs this weekend.  I'm not happy with the way things are setup right now due to the fact I have the APEX on the backup, meaning I won't know of a power failure until the battery runs out.  There are two ways around this.

 

1. Do not put the apex on the battery backup

2. Place an alarm on the sump outlet which is not on any backup.

 

With the sump off the Apex is useless but I like the protection from short power interrupts that can lock up the unit so I will do #2 with heartbeat as a last resort when the UPS runs out.

 

40 gallon UPS backup:

MP10

 

150 gallon UPS backup:

Left side MP40

APEX 

 

Right side MP40 is on the Ecotech battery ... if it works.

 

All heavy power consuming devices are set to check the power status of the sump outlet and turn off if it has no power.  Heater, skimmer, sump circulation pumps, Matrix reactor, dosing pump, topoff.  I forgot about the Tunze's in back which stay on when on battery, need to add a sump outlet power check to these.

 

 

[Veng]

Are you still using the CaNO3 or are you using the KN03?  If so, what is your mix and what do you think the concentration is for it?  

[markalot]

40 minutes ago, Veng said:

Are you still using the CaNO3 or are you using the KN03?  If so, what is your mix and what do you think the concentration is for it?  

 

CaNO3 and I lost the paper where I wrote down how much was added so unfortunately I have no idea.  Sorry.  Maybe 5 tsp per 1 liter (the size of the container I used).

 

---

 

I've been having fun with Apex logging and I think I found the problem.

 

First I checked the equipment logs.

 

Apex reports power failed form 19:50 to 20:43.

 

The sump was off for feeding from 17:27 to 17:57.

 

I'm not logging the skimmer, oops, turned that on.  The skimmer is set to come on 5 minutes after the feed timer expires but only if the SUMP is on.  Skimmer should have turned back on at 20:02 so well before the breaker tripped.

 

The heater cut out at 19:46 which should be the point of the breaker trip since it was near the start of a fairly regular cycle. 

 

There are two breaks to the regular topoff cycle.  One is during feeding, the other during the failure.  Topoff happens every 15 minutes and lasts for 50 seconds.  

 

Next looking at the power graphs:

 

 

Last report was a few minutes before the failure due to the 10 minute intervals I have set the Apex to report.  Peak usage below the graph is 9.8 amps or 1078 watts on a 1500 watt circuit.  Heater in the dog room is on the same circuit, don't get me started on the idiot contractor who hooked the room up wrong.  It's set to min which is 250 watts, so that is 1328.  

Add to that the ventilation fan in the bathroom, which is on the same circuit ... don't get me started, and me thinks I see a bit of problem.

 

I emptied the skimmer, wife smells it from upstairs, comes down turns on bathroom fan thinking nothing of it.  The stars align, the circuit is pushed above 1500 and trips the breaker.

 

Add this to the fact that I modified the Tunze controls to push more water, alternating from 100% to 75% rather than 25%, and that might have been the tiny change that pushed the circuit over the limit long enough to trip the breaker.

 

Good thing the basement has a false ceiling and I know where the idiot contractor put the connection boxes.

 

So once again, in the end, user error ... user is an idiot.  Assuming this idiot did the math correctly.

 

[Veng]

2 hours ago, markalot said:

 

CaNO3 and I lost the paper where I wrote down how much was added so unfortunately I have no idea.  Sorry.  Maybe 5 tsp per 1 liter (the size of the container I used).

Any reason you use the CaNO3 over the KNO3?  More specifically, did you find problems with excess potassium or was it just simpler to have the extra Ca since you'd normally test for it?

[markalot]

... except calculations above are wrong.  It's 120 volts, not 110, and a 15 amp circuit allows for 1800 watts.

 

Hmmm.

Just now, Veng said:

Any reason you use the CaNO3 over the KNO3?  More specifically, did you find problems with excess potassium or was it just simpler to have the extra Ca since you'd normally test for it?

 

No reason at all.  I was able to source CaNO3 on Amazon and I bought it.  I think I would prefer KNO3 honestly, and will probably switch someday.

[Veng]

3 hours ago, markalot said:

... except calculations above are wrong.  It's 120 volts, not 110, and a 15 amp circuit allows for 1800 watts.

 

Hmmm.

 

No reason at all.  I was able to source CaNO3 on Amazon and I bought it.  I think I would prefer KNO3 honestly, and will probably switch someday.

Ok, I bought KNO3 and plan to start dosing it as I bring the new tank online.  I was thinking about it after I posted that it should be fairly easy to take whatever solution I make, dilute and measure nitrates and get an solid indication of how much I should expect it to raise the NO3 of my tank.  

[markalot]

Picture dump.

 

 

 

My tiny chip of blueberry capitata that I saved from paly invasion ... has grown just a bit.

 

Purple stylo is approaching it's old size.

 

 

Luckily this cap tolerates low light since the Xenia like to shade it out.  I just trimmed with ... cheap aluminum ice tongs, which worked fantastically.  

 

Here is pinky, slowly getting pink back.  From the top you can see small spots of intense pink.  This faded and the little frag bleached badly.  Not sure what I did, maybe dropped PO4 too low, maybe low Alk.  

 

The huge valida, showing the cool night sky effect on the base.  A sea of deep purple.

 

 

[teenyreef]

I never thought of using ice tongs to trim montipora, but after googling it I can see how useful it would be. Those little hands must be really great!

 

[markalot]

LOL, hands.

 

 

Here's what I used.  The serrated edges really grip the Xenia.

 

[teenyreef]

I can see that could work better for Xenia 

 

The tank looks great, Mark! I've never seen that blueberry capitata before, it's really beautiful.

[markalot]

11 hours ago, teenyreef said:

I can see that could work better for Xenia 

 

The tank looks great, Mark! I've never seen that blueberry capitata before, it's really beautiful.

 

Thanks.  It's a really cool coral, better than digitata IMO, but my acro obsession has sidelined a lot of previous favorites.  I need counseling.

 

This setosa is slow growing, but growing.

 

The spongodes was getting partially shaded by the purple cap.  Needless to say one part of maintenance is breaking off a lot of purple cap.  The cap is the glue for the center island, doing a great job of securing any rock I place on it, but I don;t want it fanning out in front.

 

 

Lower left.  That blue stag piece is trying to tell me something, not sure what.  Healthiest looking piece in the tank at the moment.

 

Slimer is out of control.

 

Bird of Paradise seems to like this location.

 

One not so good shot of the blue digitata in a dark spot below some acros, Xenia encroaching from behind, the pretty green blastos in front.  This is the Neon gobys favorite hangout.  I really need to carefully break off a piece and move it somewhere.

 

[Arce]

All of your sps are looking great mark, nice growth as well.

[Mariaface]

The corals are gorgeous, but I also love how fuzzy your rocks are. Mine are so sterile - something's wrong if I can't even grow algae

 

I mean at least the copepods are coming back 

[TJ_Burton]

Corals are looking absolutely stellar! That valida is on point!

[markalot]

On 4/4/2017 at 8:28 AM, Arce said:

All of your sps are looking great mark, nice growth as well.

 

On 4/4/2017 at 0:31 PM, Mariaface said:

The corals are gorgeous, but I also love how fuzzy your rocks are. Mine are so sterile - something's wrong if I can't even grow algae

 

I mean at least the copepods are coming back 

 

On 4/4/2017 at 1:47 PM, TJ_Burton said:

Corals are looking absolutely stellar! That valida is on point!

 

Thank you all for the nice words.

 

---

 

I had ramped up my PhosphateRx dosing assuming that heavier feeding required more PO4 remover.  I didn;t like what I was seeing and backed it off, now down to 2 drops daily from a peak of 5.  Hanna ULR read 9 which is way lower than I usually run and indicates that I dropped it too far.  THis probably explains some base recession on a few acros and hopefully that in combination with the low Alk a few weeks ago was not enough to start a 'situation' but only time will tell.

 

PhosphateRx is strong stuff, use carefully!

 

NO3 = trace

 

KH 7.2 via Hanna, 6.7 via Salifert

 

I've reduced the BML blue strips by 50% and watching KH daily for a while.   Slowing things down a bit always seems to help recovery.

 

As far as colors, they are improving, so ignoring base recession things are looking good.

[vlangel]

This tank just keeps getting better and better.  I am not even an sps person but I love it!

[Herptile]

Wow, just wow. 

[markalot]

On 4/6/2017 at 8:10 AM, vlangel said:

This tank just keeps getting better and better.  I am not even an sps person but I love it!

Thanks Dawn!

 

On 4/6/2017 at 10:12 AM, Herptile said:

Wow, just wow. 

 

Hey, thanks for stopping by.  I subbed on your new tank which already looks fantastic.

 

--

 

It's spring, so this tank gets a few minutes of sun every morning.  When the leaves are on the trees it doesn't get much but right after sunrise, just for 10 minutes, the sun streams in the back basement window.

 

 

The silly Cardinals, the 4 that are left, are schooling just out of the light.  I did my 'come into the light' chant but they never listen.

 

Flash

 

For those acro growers ... note the damage on the base of the Lokani, pinky, and the slight amount of recession on one of the Katropora's (center, top of purple dong) due to my silly PO4 mistake.  I see hard edges now so recession should be over.  I think ... hopefully. 

 

Looks like I also caught the angel and yellow tail (top left).  Ha, and in the full size pic I see the Foxface.

 

LED pic from last night.  It's a bright tank!  THe colors are mostly natural (what the eyes see with blue LED) except for the reds on the acans (lower left) which are NOT that red.

 

[teenyreef]

Nice job capturing the blues! I've tried many times but I'm just never happy with the results. 

 

So was the PO4 issue due to using too much PhosphateRX for too long? 

[markalot]

4 hours ago, teenyreef said:

Nice job capturing the blues! I've tried many times but I'm just never happy with the results. 

 

So was the PO4 issue due to using too much PhosphateRX for too long? 

 

I lowered it too far, or too fast, or both.  I've backed off to two drops, will test again after a couple of weeks.  

[DaveFason]

This tank... Amazing. 

[slowngreen]

Mark you need to get some more activity going on your youtube channel. 

[metrokat]

Hi Mark, I haven't visited your thread in a long time and I have to say it is the stuff of dreams. This tank is absolutely beautiful.