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Mark's 150 (NanoBox Retro)


markalot

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16 minutes ago, Orangutran said:

Funny enough, I have calcium issues the other way, spiked to 480 cus my doser is acting up! SPS are pissed off-- not extending. Hopefully you get yours resolved. Not even sure how to lower my Ca, do I shut off the doser and do some water changes?

 

I would simply stop dosing calcium and then carefully monitor Alk and calcium while it settles down.  You may have very low Alk due to the high calcium but I'm not sure too high Calcium will do anything except ruin equipment, as far as i understand it.  

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Calcium 450.  Yay!  It literally took a gallon of Calcium to bring it back up.   Good grief.  I'm almost certain now that low calcium was the cause of my acro troubles earlier.  Another stupid mistake that is easily avoided.

 

40rOJ7T.jpg

 

See all the white tips on the purple stylo?  Alk usage is off the charts again, currently 6.2 so I've increased the time the doser is on to compensate.  

 

This monti down in front is one of the corals that has shown quick improvement once Calcium got above 350.

UwEgveu.jpg

 

More importantly, the Lokani is making a rapid comeback.

MARgl6k.jpg

 

Nice thick healthy skin and good color.

oHgzohd.jpg

 

The sarmentosa never suffered and even increased growth rate with low calcium.  Still looking great with a slight pink blush on the growth tips.

wMavZUk.jpg

 

Oh, and the clowns are laying eggs again.  Might be a coincidence, really not sure why they would be bothered by calcium.

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On 7/19/2018 at 10:36 AM, Mariaface said:

...Remind me to start testing more often than 'once in a blue moon'..

 

Beautiful!!

 

Thanks Maria.

On 7/19/2018 at 8:52 AM, DaveFason said:

This tank gets better and better. 

 

As simple as a slimer is, man does it look amazing. 

 

-Dave

 

Size helps, that's a lot of green!

 

Alk usage is through the roof again, dropped to 5.7 so I did a big dose of Alk to get it to 6.3, and of course the same or a little more calcium.   The blue stag, remember that one?  It's showing some odd growth (flattened expanding areas near each tip) and it appears more healthy overall.  Time will tell if increased calcium will finally pull it out of the brown funk it's been in for a year.   I haven't had time to take pictures, hopefully this weekend.

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Check out this video.

 

 

One of these appears to be a slimer.  It's really cool how it repairs the branch cut.  When I cut branches I tend to lose track because you can't tell where I cut after a week or so.  THis video shows why.  Simply amazing and I bet took a ton of work to produce.

 

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HarryPotter
26 minutes ago, markalot said:

Check out this video.

 

 

One of these appears to be a slimer.  It's really cool how it repairs the branch cut.  When I cut branches I tend to lose track because you can't tell where I cut after a week or so.  THis video shows why.  Simply amazing and I bet took a ton of work to produce.

 

 

I cant imagine the work to produce that- the quality is insane. How on earth could he get an image quality like that while not having varying lighting conditions; it was seamless. I wish we knew how long each of those clips were! 

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Lost my Midas Blenny over the weekend, it appears to be of old age.   I had him for 6 years, all in the same rock which he refused to change so he and the rock moved from tank to tank.  I'm not sure if this is the expected lifespan or not.  He had started to get large grey discolored areas on him a month ago.  Still swimming and eating fine up until he vanished.

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Boss

 

vKfXK5X.jpg

 

Magnet is strong enough to remove 99% of the glass algae.  Yay!

 

The current tank condition can be summed up with two words.  Growth Tips.

y2X5ss1.jpg

 

Oh, and I'm most happy that I finally caught the coral beauty in a position that shows off the stripes.  lol

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46 minutes ago, Bdub-67 said:

Oops im sorry. I thought I was on a nano reef site. 😡

 

You are in special interests, large reefs section of the nano reef site.  You're welcome to check out my 40 gallon, kiddo. :D 

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20 hours ago, yoshii said:

Every time I visit this thread I'm always in awe of how filled in and beautiful this tank is, keep up the amazing work!

Thanks Yoshii :)

 

 

So I saved this next one from assault by both the slimer and the purple stylo.  Talk about putting a coral in the wrong spot!  This is either a piece of my red brick or a Red Planet look alike.  It's a piece that broke off and landed in the sandbed during my crash a year or so ago and, as these darn things tend to do, survived until I found it.  The best red I have at the moment, with red polyps. No yellow, unfortunately.  I almost lost this with the low calcium accident but thankfully it's made a strong comeback.

 

HXe1kdC.jpg

 

The Red Robin is a bit better red this week.  It won't last long. 

 

Emybtiw.jpg

 

This is the tabling like acro that has the cool mint green plus purple blush.  Also note growth on the green acro above it.  It completely browned with the low calcium, then came roaring back once corrected.   Unfortunately it's pretty much just green.  I have enough green. :D

 

FYVcu3B.jpg

 

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4 minutes ago, HarryPotter said:

Are you dosing Ca and Alk equivalently? I thought they were used at the same rate, that’s why I just test Alk & not CA. 

I am but the doser is not super accurate and I got lazy.  I noticed the containers emptying at different rates months ago, tested, it was ok, adjusted the CA doser to dose more and it worked for a while but a few times it didn't and I did not test to make sure.  Stupid stupid on my part.  When adjusting things it's easy to forget how much of what got dosed and when. I suspect I corrected Alk a few times without properly dosing Calcium as well.  A simple 3 minute test weekly, or hell even monthly, would have prevented everything.  

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4 minutes ago, markalot said:

I am but the doser is not super accurate and I got lazy.  I noticed the containers emptying at different rates months ago, tested, it was ok, adjusted the CA doser to dose more and it worked for a while but a few times it didn't and I did not test to make sure.  Stupid stupid on my part.  When adjusting things it's easy to forget how much of what got dosed and when. I suspect I corrected Alk a few times without properly dosing Calcium as well.  A simple 3 minute test weekly, or hell even monthly, would have prevented everything.  

 

With my jebao doser I had a similar issue. Then I switched to BRS ones and the containers empty at the same rate. 

 

Ive been trying to test more to prevent the same thing, but mainly Alk. It’s stayed between 8 and 8.4. 

 

How often (if ever) do you send in Triton tests? I recall you posting results at some point. 

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On 8/10/2018 at 9:23 PM, HarryPotter said:

 

With my jebao doser I had a similar issue. Then I switched to BRS ones and the containers empty at the same rate. 

 

Ive been trying to test more to prevent the same thing, but mainly Alk. It’s stayed between 8 and 8.4. 

 

How often (if ever) do you send in Triton tests? I recall you posting results at some point. 

 

I've only done the one test.  

 

A few more pics, some things I rarely take pictures of.

 

On the left side is my Birdsnest pile.  All of them get along with each other so this is a good way to keep them around.

sdzOzxA.jpg

 

The latest on the pile is the pink bird from the 40.  It hated being moved and browned out almost immediately but within a couple of weeks colored back up and now has white growth tips all over.   Bottom left is the other pink mili frag.  It needs a lot more light and while alive is not happy.  I have no space for it and no good plans on what to do with it at the moment.    Upper left is one of my two Katropora frags.  120 PAR and growing like crazy.  All those new branches are only a week or so old, post calcium fix.

 

Direct view of the frags.  Look how the crazy one on the left had decided to build a base to block out the Orchid Stylo frag behind it.  Katropora does well just about anywhere.

ALiFnHy.jpg

 

Palmer Blue Milli, way up top, valida on the left, Katropora on the right.  There is some good blue on some tips but it's mostly still tan with blue/green polyps.  Maybe an improvement?  Maybe it will color up now that calcium is fixed?  Maybe it just hates this tank.

5BjWGjr.jpg

 

Blue tip stag.  Grows as fast as the slimer but not as thick.  Striking blue tips, deep green polyps and base is deep green with bright tan to nearly white skin in places.

L03k3iI.jpg

 

Bird of Paradise, which is also branching like mad.  Yea, these colors are accurate.  Yuck!  LOL

07raxmT.jpg

 

To the left is an Undata which has no issue whatsoever chasing Xenia off it's rock.  I have to take care of the Xenia on the remains of the Duncan before I lose the last head.  Damn Xenia.

 

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Holy cow, thats amazing. Love the katropora. Hey @markalot, is the bulb combo on the first page (Coral+, Blue+, AB Special, Purple+, Blue+, Coral+) still what you are running on this hybrid? Im trying to get my fixture set up- are you using the SPS+ program? 

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5 minutes ago, HarryPotter said:

Holy cow, thats amazing. Love the katropora. Hey @markalot, is the bulb combo on the first page (Coral+, Blue+, AB Special, Purple+, Blue+, Coral+) still what you are running on this hybrid? Im trying to get my fixture set up- are you using the SPS+ program? 

 

Thanks.   Combo for the last 2 years is 2 blue+, 2 coral+.   I run all channels full except white which is off. I have Lime and white, this was before Lime came out.  On my 40 I run All channels full (MINT, no white channel and an extra blue channel).  Mint is the closest to T5 like white I've seen. 

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4 hours ago, markalot said:

 

Thanks.   Combo for the last 2 years is 2 blue+, 2 coral+.   I run all channels full except white which is off. I have Lime and white, this was before Lime came out.  On my 40 I run All channels full (MINT, no white channel and an extra blue channel).  Mint is the closest to T5 like white I've seen. 

 

Im more curious about the actual length of the lighting cycle. The program Dave recommended has “daylight” for only 5 hours. That seems short to me, as my Reefer has eight. 

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9 hours ago, HarryPotter said:

 

Im more curious about the actual length of the lighting cycle. The program Dave recommended has “daylight” for only 5 hours. That seems short to me, as my Reefer has eight. 

My T5's are only on for 5 hours, daylight for the LED's is 7 hours with a 30 minute ramp added on each side.  Total light cycle is 12 hours including 30 minute ramps.  With LED only I think 5 is perfect,   

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