Mark's 150 (NanoBox Retro)

[Roshan8768]

Tank is coming along well. Any plans for future fish additions, or happy with what you have now?

[markalot]

Tank is coming along well. Any plans for future fish additions, or happy with what you have now?

 

Not sure yet. The LFS has two more little cardinals and I'm really tempted to up my school to seven. I may have to re-home one of my yellow tangs if the fighting does not stop. No damage at the moment, though there were a few scratches last week. My smaller yellow is a real punk and I don't think he will allow another tang of his species in the tank unless it's really healthy and ready for a tumble. That means I would have to setup another temporary tank, and I really don't feel like doing that.

 

Skimmer was full again this morning, this is getting really old. I need that stand!

[markalot]

Quick update.

 

I wasn't paying much attention to the tank during the week and yesterday, on my frag rack, my frag of spongodes was bone white. I removed it and the other monti on the rack and found the biggest MEN I have ever seen. Threw out the dead spongodes and ran the monti cap under tap water, then scrubbed the back of it for eggs, that I did not see. The darn thing is still alive, but not exactly happy.

 

I think my phosphates might be a bit high so I've changed bags of Phosguard when I did my 10 gallon water change. Bubble algae is getting bad enough it's starting to bother me and I'm not sure if this will help or not. Both my older tanks had bubble algae but the 40 gallon never got too bad. Not sure what the secret is other than the obvious fish or critters that eat it, which I am not interested in. I'm also not going to do any hand removal, so I guess I'll just have to hope it wanes.

 

I ran into an issue with Seachem Reef Salt that I had read about. I mixed a little high bu accident, 36ppt, and the water was cloudy after a day of mixing, plus I have white dust in the can and on the circulation pump. Calcium tested at 480, good, but Alk was 7.5, lower than what it should be. No big deal, but they say you really need to mix slowly and stay under 36ppt with this salt. As far as the tanks, everything is doing really well with the new salt, same or better than before, so I'm happy.

 

My Alk has been locked in at 8.7 all week, a rarity, with calcium around 450.

 

FTS

 

[jedimasterben]

Not sure what the secret is other than the obvious fish or critters that eat it, which I am not interested in.

Other than removal, it pretty much will continue to spread unchecked. You don't want a rabbitfish?

[vlangel]

Sounds like everything is going pretty good with the tank. Good thing you discovered that MEN. At least bubble algae doesn't sting or hurt other corals. I just suck mine out every week with the WC so its never too bad.

[markalot]

Other than removal, it pretty much will continue to spread unchecked. You don't want a rabbitfish?

Nope. What happened in the 40 that kept it in check? Maybe I'll add 27 emerald crabs.

 

I didn't want to finish this update without a graph, so here it is. Routine is now:

 

1. Ran the skimmer intake outdoors.

2. Air pumps on from midnight till 8am

3. Glass lids on tight

4. Fan blowing on sump to increase evaporation 24/7

5. Timed topoff with Kalk, 20 seconds every 5 minutes.

6. Switched to Seachem Reef Salt with elevated Boron levels

7. Basement bathroom exhaust fan turned on at night.

 

It's staying above 7.8 mostly so now I ignore it.

 

[markalot]

The slimer is a bit smaller today. I had to remove my ORA supernatural monti, infested, and I decided to trim the slimer and was promptly attacked by Tang #2 who I believe was going for Tang #1. In the tussle the slimer was knocked around, which slimed and stunk everything up. Tang #2 is still a little scared to show his face this morning, as if someone chased him around with a stick while mentioning some Japanese cuisine.

 

How is it fish know who you are after? What I need is a yellow tang cutout on a stick so I can use it to drive the punk into the corner when I need to relieve some stress. Of course it's Tang #1 that gave me a scar on my arm, but I like him. He's bigger and not nearly as hyper as the smaller yellow.

 

So the slimer is a bit lower and missing a few branches. I have to admit getting a little tired of this coral. You can't slow it down, it likes to branch, a lot, and it's bigger than any other acro I have. Now that I have Alk locked in it rewards me by putting on nearly a 1/4 inch a week.

 

Ordered two new acros last night, should arrive tomorrow.

 

ORA Plum Crazy. I had this before and it started to color up in my 46 after just a few days, then was consumed by AEFW that I picked up from the fancy LFS that is now under new ownership.

 

 

 

UC Rainbow Milli.

[Dramad1]

So you had your arms in the tank and the tang bit a chunk outta you?

[4x5]

Those new additions look amazing. 0_o

[markalot]

So you had your arms in the tank and the tang bit a chunk outta you?

 

They do not bite, they use the blades on their tail to rip a chunk out of you. Very effective. I was a newbie to tangs and did not understand why he was backing into me ... until I saw the blood.

 

 

Those new additions look amazing. 0_o

 

 

 

We'll see how amazing they look once I get them in my tank.

[jedimasterben]

They don't call em tangs for nothing

[markalot]

I also ordered this for the front of the tank.

 

http://www.bmlcustom.com/custom-report-details/?partNo=PS7275S101MLAJLFMJLAMJFML

 

Upgrading to the XB brightness and replacing the 405nm super violets with 420nm violet. I have one of their 20K spectrum lights but it's just a bit too garish for me, this adds more warm white and removes one white LED for a bluer look.

 

 

[jedimasterben]

Link doesn't go anywhere for me, but if it is a strip for your whole tank length, removing one LED for blue won't change how it looks. You need to change a larger proportion of LEDs for it to have any effect.

[markalot]

Link doesn't go anywhere for me, but if it is a strip for your whole tank length, removing one LED for blue won't change how it looks. You need to change a larger proportion of LEDs for it to have any effect.

 

It's one LED per 12" circuit board. Their 20K has, per board, 4 - 6500K and 1 - 3000K. I went with 2 - 6500K and 2 - 3500K per 12" board. My fixture will have 6 boards total.

 

 

[jedimasterben]

It's one LED per 12" circuit board. Their 20K has, per board, 4 - 6500K and 1 - 3000K. I went with 2 - 6500K and 2 - 3500K per 12" board. My fixture will have 6 boards total.

 

 

zzBML.jpg

I see. Unfortunately going from 4x 6500k and 1x 3500k to 2x and 2x will still bring you down in color temperature by a surprisingly large amount. Warm white LEDs take 3-4x as much royal blue to keep color temperature higher than cool white.

 

It sounds funky, but let me put it this way - if the cool white LEDs emit around ~200lm and need ~1,500mW of royal blue to keep a ~12k color temp, a warm white LED that emits only ~120lm will need 4,800-6,400mW to do the same.

[markalot]

I agree, and that is what I'm looking for. Current strip on the front is all 3500k and it's just a tad too yellow for me.

[jedimasterben]

I personally would have left them all warm white and simply decreased their numbers.

[markalot]

I personally would have left them all warm white and simply decreased their numbers.

 

I thought about it, but my all 3500K fixture is just too dim and my goal here is to light up the front of the corals. Somewhat of a T5 like look but with LED's. The 2 and 2 mimic the ratio of the Razor, which has 2 8000K and 2 3000K per cluster.

 

I've got notes with the order asking if they have implemented multi-channel yet. I'd be happy to test it for them.

[jedimasterben]

I thought about it, but my all 3500K fixture is just too dim and my goal here is to light up the front of the corals. Somewhat of a T5 like look but with LED's. The 2 and 2 mimic the ratio of the Razor, which has 2 8000K and 2 3000K per cluster.

 

I've got notes with the order asking if they have implemented multi-channel yet. I'd be happy to test it for them.

AFAIK they have two channels of control, but they'd need to be pretty even, as I think they use 'standard' constant voltage DC supplies and not typical drivers.

[metrokat]

Very very pretty

[Dramad1]

Thats crazy about the tangs, never had one before. Good to know about them backing up into you

[jedimasterben]

That's not the usual way they do it, they usually swim by and slap with them.

[metrokat]

MArk, how did you post that gif file from makeagif.com to your thread?

[markalot]

MArk, how did you post that gif file from makeagif.com to your thread?

 

Downloaded it to my computer and then uploaded it to imageshack. You should be able to right click the image and do a save as to save it.

[MikeTR]

Params look spot on and so does the tank. You're gonna have to do manual removal with the bubble algae and a siphon hose. Go to town on it when you do your water changes that way if you pop any of it the spores will get sucked out. Don't wait until they get as big as a grape and pop on their own. Won't be pretty.