D Z Posted September 18, 2014 Author Share Posted September 18, 2014 Did some more testing last night. Ammonia: 0.1ppm Nitrite: 6 - 7 ppm Nitrate: 40ish ppm So the ammonia is all but gone and the nitrite seems to be slowly dropping. I also did a 5 gallon water change, so hopefully that will help things along and not slow down the process. Everything is still looking ok, maybe a slight bit better that the night before. I am really hoping this trend continues at this point. I ended up switching my bulbs around again. I went back to having both the actinics on channel 1. It seems more purple than I would have thought, but it is starting to make certain pieces pop more. The new configuration is as follows: Back ATI Blue+ ATI True Actinic ATI Coral+ ATI Blue+ Geiesmann Actinic ATI Blue+ Front Link to comment
D Z Posted September 23, 2014 Author Share Posted September 23, 2014 Nitrites and nitrates subsided over the weekend. I got the rest of my livestock transferred over as well. Some stuff is still acclimating on the sandbed. I will be mounting/placing stuff later in the week. Here are some pics, still not the best pics, but I'll get my hands on a friend's DSLR eventually. NEW FTS https://flic.kr/p/p5eGnu'>https://flic.kr/p/p5eGnu'>20140922_180759 by https://www.flickr.com/people/89326890@N03/'>cchsoracle, on Flickr Purple Martian Chalice and Rastas https://flic.kr/p/p5fEMk'>https://flic.kr/p/p5fEMk'>20140922_180708 by https://www.flickr.com/people/89326890@N03/'>cchsoracle, on Flickr Rics https://flic.kr/p/p5eWHU'>https://flic.kr/p/p5eWHU'>20140922_180620 by https://www.flickr.com/people/89326890@N03/'>cchsoracle, on Flickr Acclimating https://flic.kr/p/p5f3Cu'>https://flic.kr/p/p5f3Cu'>20140922_180557 by https://www.flickr.com/people/89326890@N03/'>cchsoracle, on Flickr Acan Garden(not the best picture, but the colors are about right) https://flic.kr/p/pmLj6u'>https://flic.kr/p/pmLj6u'>IMG_20140923_094037 by https://www.flickr.com/people/89326890@N03/'>cchsoracle, on Flickr Link to comment
ninjamyst Posted September 23, 2014 Share Posted September 23, 2014 that pinkish red ric looks awesome! Link to comment
D Z Posted September 23, 2014 Author Share Posted September 23, 2014 that pinkish red ric looks awesome! Thanks ninja! Link to comment
SouthFlorida_Tron Posted September 23, 2014 Share Posted September 23, 2014 Man thats one purple looking setup! Link to comment
D Z Posted September 23, 2014 Author Share Posted September 23, 2014 Man thats one purple looking setup! LOL, It's not as purple in person. That was the best I could do to edit(Flickr editing) out the purple that my phone picked up. I really need to get my hands on a DSLR and actually sit down and edit the pics in Lightroom. Link to comment
D Z Posted September 23, 2014 Author Share Posted September 23, 2014 Very nice scape! Thanks, Cannot wait to see what you come up with next.....hmmmm red and black... Link to comment
D Z Posted September 29, 2014 Author Share Posted September 29, 2014 Hope everyone had a great weekend! The tank is coming along nicely. I did a full gamut of water testing for the first time, as well as a 5 gallon water change over the weekend. I am pretty happy with the test results: Temp: 79 Ph: 8.0 Nitrite: 0.1ppm Nitrate: 1-2ppm Phosphate: 0 Ammonia: 0 Calcium: 410 Alk: 7.0 Mag: 1230 I also took a bunch of good pictures with my better camera, but havn't had the chance to get them off the memory card and process them. I will eventually and then post them up. Link to comment
Reefkid88 Posted September 29, 2014 Share Posted September 29, 2014 I'd say things are testing out to be good man. Glad to hear this is chugging along. I can't even tell you the last time I tested my water lol. Link to comment
D Z Posted September 29, 2014 Author Share Posted September 29, 2014 I'd say things are testing out to be good man. Glad to hear this is chugging along. I can't even tell you the last time I tested my water lol. I don't usually test a whole lot, just wanted to make sure everything was in line after what must have been a soft/mini cycle. I also am used to using Coral Pro, so I wanted to see where my calc/alk/mag was at after switching to blue bucket. Those values were after 2 weeks without a water change. I did a 5 gallon WC right after doing that test, so I am assuming that brought things back up slightly, which would be perfect as I would like my alk/mag a bit higher. Link to comment
Reefkid88 Posted September 29, 2014 Share Posted September 29, 2014 Ive been wanting to switch to the blue bucket for awhile though,just to see. My CP bucket is a little past half way. Shit,feel lucky,idk how my SPS stay alive my Alk is so damn high,idk how to get it down. I figured with all my SPS my mag/calc/Alk would be low but it's still always ridiculously high. Link to comment
D Z Posted October 6, 2014 Author Share Posted October 6, 2014 Well I didn't get my hands on a DSLR yet, but I got some better pics with my super zoom point and shoot and actually had some time for some editing. I am still getting better at editing and am by no means an expert, but I try my best to get true representation of color. My point and shoot also has an option for custom white balance, so some of the shots are under actinic with a custom white balance. It is somewhat interesting the way those pics come out, looking like it was shot in black and white, except for the coral which has very vibrant colors. Enjoy! New October FTS's DSCN4182 by cchsoracle, on Flickr DSCN4196 by cchsoracle, on Flickr Not the most clear photo, but we got a new cleaner shrimp and named him "Scampi" DSCN4189 by cchsoracle, on Flickr Acan Echinata DSCN4194 by cchsoracle, on Flickr My WWC Toxic Acro didn't make it through the transfer/mini-cycle so I bought a new no-named green acro to replace it. I think I might enter it into the R2R grow out contest and see what happens. DSCN4204 by cchsoracle, on Flickr My beautiful torch DSCN4215 by cchsoracle, on Flickr Rasta's! I think I am going to enter these into the R2R grow out contest DSCN4219 by cchsoracle, on Flickr Plate coral under actinics DSCN4238 by cchsoracle, on Flickr The new acro under actinics DSCN4240 by cchsoracle, on Flickr Acan echinata under actinics DSCN4247 by cchsoracle, on Flickr Link to comment
D Z Posted October 6, 2014 Author Share Posted October 6, 2014 Awesome pictures! Thanks, but I dying to get my hands on a DSLR so they will truly do this tank justice. Link to comment
D Z Posted October 7, 2014 Author Share Posted October 7, 2014 Feed the tank with PE Mysis for the first time last night. The clowns absolutely tore it apart. I had both clowns eating from my fingers. I used to do this with the bigger on all the time in the old nuvo, but this was the first time for the new clown to do this. I even had the new cleaner shrimp eating from my fingers. It flipped upside down and grabbed onto my finger with all its legs, pretty awesome! The new acro is starting to get even brighter green. I'm hopping that the polyps color up into something nice as they are just a brownish color right now. Link to comment
kimberbee Posted October 7, 2014 Share Posted October 7, 2014 That's awesome! I have an outgoing hermit crab that cleans my fingertips whenever I have to move him... it tickles! Maybe I should try to hand feed my clowns, I wonder if that would get them to stop headbutting my hand whenever I clean the tank... Link to comment
D Z Posted October 7, 2014 Author Share Posted October 7, 2014 That's awesome! I have an outgoing hermit crab that cleans my fingertips whenever I have to move him... it tickles! Maybe I should try to hand feed my clowns, I wonder if that would get them to stop headbutting my hand whenever I clean the tank... Wow, a hermit....that's cool too! That's possible, plus it's always cool to show friends when they visit. I just hold a mysis by the tail and put my finger tips into the water. It didn't take much to get them to catch on, although mine never seemed agitate by me putting my hands in the tank. Link to comment
kimberbee Posted October 7, 2014 Share Posted October 7, 2014 Wow, a hermit....that's cool too! That's possible, plus it's always cool to show friends when they visit. I just hold a mysis by the tail and put my finger tips into the water. It didn't take much to get them to catch on, although mine never seemed agitate by me putting my hands in the tank. At least mine are still small enough that when they get pissy it's just a headbutt. I'll try getting them to love me with mysis!! Link to comment
ninjamyst Posted October 7, 2014 Share Posted October 7, 2014 have i told you how much i love the scape?? i bookmarked this thread so 10 years from now when i get a bigger tank, i can look back to your scape =P Link to comment
D Z Posted October 7, 2014 Author Share Posted October 7, 2014 have i told you how much i love the scape?? i bookmarked this thread so 10 years from now when i get a bigger tank, i can look back to your scape =P Tanks bro! That really means a lot. Now I just need to finish gathering my Sps and zoa frags and let everything grow in. Link to comment
D Z Posted October 7, 2014 Author Share Posted October 7, 2014 Love the scape! Almost missed this, thanks Chungy. Your new tank has a lot of potential. I can't wait to see what you decide to do with the scape. Link to comment
D Z Posted October 8, 2014 Author Share Posted October 8, 2014 Man, I guess I will have to get on top of my dosing game sooner than I thought. I did some testing last night, and here were the results: Ph: 8.2 good Nitrate: about 2ppm Not bad, but higher than I want. My filter floss was pretty dirty, so that was switched out for new. Phosphate: 0.0 I have been feeding pretty heavy, so this is great! Calcium: 400 Low. Dosed 15ml of ReefCodeA, which should bring it to about 410. I will do this again for a couple nights until I get it to 430, then figure out what I have to does daily to keep it there. Alkalinity: 7.0 Low. Dosed 10ml of ReefCodeB, which bring it to roughly 7.8. Will test in a couple days and see where it is at. Magnesium: 1160 Very low. Dosed 15ml of Magnesion, which should bring it to 1176. Will continue dosing 15ml nightly until I can get it up to the upper 1200's, then figure out daily dosing. On a good note, though, my rocks are starting to show some color. I take this as a good sign that the tank is starting to mature a bit. Still a long road to go, but it is a start. Link to comment
theishkid Posted October 8, 2014 Share Posted October 8, 2014 What are you using to test? I'm really thinking about getting some of those hanna checkers. Link to comment
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