tibbsy07 Posted August 15, 2016 Share Posted August 15, 2016 Just a note about magnetic stirrers... Homebrew places often have them for yeast starter cultures and they arent usually too expensive. NorthernBrewer used to have a stirrer, stir bar, flask etc in a kit for like $80. I think they raised the price because they have a new stir plate (i think it's like $130 now) but you might find used ones for cheaper. 2 Quote Link to comment
holy carp Posted August 15, 2016 Share Posted August 15, 2016 Just a note about magnetic stirrers... Homebrew places often have them for yeast starter cultures and they arent usually too expensive. NorthernBrewer used to have a stirrer, stir bar, flask etc in a kit for like $80. I think they raised the price because they have a new stir plate (i think it's like $130 now) but you might find used ones for cheaper. Some are cheap enough to be worth the experiment...$45 http://www.homebrewing.org/The-Stirstarter-Yeast-Stir-Plate-_p_1306.html and if you use it with a flask, it'll look really scientific 3 Quote Link to comment
drgibby Posted August 16, 2016 Share Posted August 16, 2016 I picked up a couple more BRS dosers along with an Apex Lite setup from a fellow reefer here on N-R a couple months ago, but I haven't had time to get it all set up until this weekend. I've replaced the Apex Jr. with the Apex Lite plus the 8 outlet energy bar. I still have the second energy bar and sensor module hooked up for the IM40 (via a USB cable run through the wall to the room next door). By adding the extra outlets, I now have enough outlets to add the two additional dosers. Plus the Apex Jr. is now available to set up for the frag tank. As usual, getting things hooked up and working only took a few hours, but getting everything cleaned up and routed properly took forever Everything is mounted under the desk, behind a small roll-out file cabinet. So it's pretty much invisible, but I like things to look neat anyway because I'm just weird that way. Here's what the setup looks like now: 20160814_235556.jpg by TeenyReef, on Flickr I've put NoPox in the third dosing container. I haven't decided what to put in the fourth container yet. I could do magnesium, but I only need to dose Mag once a month, so there's not much point in using an automated doser for that. I'd like to use it for amino acid dosing, but the stuff I use now (Red Sea Reef Energy A& comes in two parts and it has to be refrigerated. I may go back to using Acropower since it doesn't have to be refrigerated. The instructions say to shake well, but then they say to use a dosing pump for daily dosing. I'm not sure how they expect it to be shaken up in an automated doser unless they assume everybody's rich and has magnetic stirrers What are those containers Teeny?! They look so handy to hold the CA and Alk solutions. 1 Quote Link to comment
teenyreef Posted August 17, 2016 Author Share Posted August 17, 2016 Nice setup . I'm really glad I picked up the expansion for my Marine Color doser. I'm dosing Alk, Cal, Mag and Vinegar at the moment, was thinking of doing Amino's also but i'm unsure whether it will be ok seeing as it says on the bottle to shake vigorously before dosing. I was actually just doing some reading up on the maintenance of the dosers and whether or not you can oil the rollers. A few of mine are really squeaky but seeing as the heads are all friction fit I don't know if the oil will effect performance at all. The BRS dosers are really nice. They're built like a tank and are almost completely silent. I saw the heading and thought... Oh no.... What's happened! Thinking the worst like the dosing pump doubled dosed haha. I also dose Red Sea A & B and keeping it I the fridge is a PTA!! How much are you dosing per day? I didn't think of that! Yeah, after doing this for several months now, the nightly trek to the fridge is getting a little old. I dose 0.6ml of each part daily. Much more than that, and I get a lot of algae on the glass. 2 Quote Link to comment
RollaJase Posted August 17, 2016 Share Posted August 17, 2016 The BRS dosers are really nice. They're built like a tank and are almost completely silent. They definitely have a better roller system to the Marine Color dosers that's for sue. Oh well, I guess that's what I guess for buying cheap lol. I'll upgrade to something better when this one fails. 1 Quote Link to comment
teenyreef Posted August 17, 2016 Author Share Posted August 17, 2016 Just a note about magnetic stirrers... Homebrew places often have them for yeast starter cultures and they arent usually too expensive. NorthernBrewer used to have a stirrer, stir bar, flask etc in a kit for like $80. I think they raised the price because they have a new stir plate (i think it's like $130 now) but you might find used ones for cheaper. Some are cheap enough to be worth the experiment...$45 http://www.homebrewing.org/The-Stirstarter-Yeast-Stir-Plate-_p_1306.html and if you use it with a flask, it'll look really scientific Hmmm, for $45 it's really tempting to just try it and see if it works. I need to do a little internet research What are those containers Teeny?! They look so handy to hold the CA and Alk solutions. They're Contigo "shake and go" containers. I really like them because there's a little flap underneath where the straw goes in which keeps stuff from spilling and also holds the dosing tube in place. They definitely have a better roller system to the Marine Color dosers that's for sue. Oh well, I guess that's what I guess for buying cheap lol. I'll upgrade to something better when this one fails. Yeah, I have the Jebao DP-4 too, which is about as cheaply made as you can get. But as long as it works it's more than worth the money I spent on it. And when it fails, it's because the motor can't move the rotors so it's a pretty safe failure mode. I'll probably move up to a big boy doser after the DP-4 gets too crotchety to use anymore. But the BRS dosers are great. Really, the only down side is I have to dedicate an Apex outlet for every doser. 1 Quote Link to comment
DaveFason Posted August 17, 2016 Share Posted August 17, 2016 When people come over and see the small tank. Do they ever think, Breaking Bad? Looking great John! 2 Quote Link to comment
reeferbrownies Posted August 17, 2016 Share Posted August 17, 2016 lol I'm still trying to get through your thread, and then you get TOTM! Congrats Teeny! 1 Quote Link to comment
teenyreef Posted August 18, 2016 Author Share Posted August 18, 2016 When people come over and see the small tank. Do they ever think, Breaking Bad? Looking great John! Thanks Dave! lol I'm still trying to get through your thread, and then you get TOTM! Congrats Teeny! Thanks! You are a brave soul to try to read through this thread - feel free to just ask questions if you don't want to dig though a hundred pages or so Quote Link to comment
teenyreef Posted August 18, 2016 Author Share Posted August 18, 2016 Tonight is water change night, so I checked parameters before doing the water change. Sadly, both nitrates and phosphates are up, which is really disappointing since I'd been really concentrating on reduced feeding. Last week nitrates were at 1, so I reduced the dosing level of NoPox from 2ml to 1.2 ml, in hopes of stabilizing right around 1. But now it's at about 5. Phosphates are up to .20 from .13 last week, and I was really hoping they were going to go down some more since I reduced the reef roids feeding frequency. My plan is to change carbon and gfo tonight with the water change, continue to feed reef roids less often, increase NoPox back to 2ml/day, and see how things are going this weekend. I know I can reliably get nitrates down simply by increasing NoPox. But the phosphates take a lot longer to come down. Quote Link to comment
teenyreef Posted August 19, 2016 Author Share Posted August 19, 2016 I took an updated FTS tonight. There's nothing really new here, but I was just not that happy with the way the FTS turned out for the TOTM pictures. This one is a quick shot with the pumps on and only the clowns swimming around, but I held the camera at a higher angle above the tank, which helped reduce some of the glare off the tops of the corals. I like the colors and the clarity of this picture a lot better. 2016-08-18 IM10 FTS by TeenyReef, on Flickr 15 Quote Link to comment
jack1978 Posted August 19, 2016 Share Posted August 19, 2016 I took an updated FTS tonight. There's nothing really new here, but I was just not that happy with the way the FTS turned out for the TOTM pictures. This one is a quick shot with the pumps on and only the clowns swimming around, but I held the camera at a higher angle above the tank, which helped reduce some of the glare off the tops of the corals. I like the colors and the clarity of this picture a lot better. 2016-08-18 IM10 FTS by TeenyReef, on Flickr Great shot, teeny-wieny! Thing glows like crazy. Are those green blastos bottom, center-ish? 2 Quote Link to comment
teenyreef Posted August 19, 2016 Author Share Posted August 19, 2016 Great shot, teeny-wieny! Thing glows like crazy. Are those green blastos bottom, center-ish? Thanks, Jack! Yes, they're blasto merlettis. Someday I'll frag them. Gena has had a standing order for one ever since I got them 4 Quote Link to comment
jack1978 Posted August 19, 2016 Share Posted August 19, 2016 Thanks, Jack! Yes, they're blasto merlettis. Someday I'll frag them. Gena has had a standing order for one ever since I got them Damn.....she is always one step ahead of me! How are the merlettis? Are they more fussy? 4 Quote Link to comment
teenyreef Posted August 19, 2016 Author Share Posted August 19, 2016 Damn.....she is always one step ahead of me! How are the merlettis? Are they more fussy? No, unlike blastos which seem to die for no reason sooner or later for everybody, they're very hardy. They eat anything meaty, or just live off of the lights. Here's what they look like from the top: 20160808-untitled-032.jpg by TeenyReef, on Flickr 4 Quote Link to comment
jack1978 Posted August 19, 2016 Share Posted August 19, 2016 No, unlike blastos which seem to die for no reason sooner or later for everybody, they're very hardy. They eat anything meaty, or just live off of the lights.Here's what they look like from the top: 20160808-untitled-032.jpg by TeenyReef, on Flickr Those are sweet! Can I be second in line for the Teenyletti? 4 Quote Link to comment
teenyreef Posted August 19, 2016 Author Share Posted August 19, 2016 Teenyletti Of course you can 1 Quote Link to comment
jack1978 Posted August 19, 2016 Share Posted August 19, 2016 Teenyletti Of course you can Ahhhh yeah! 1 Quote Link to comment
teenyreef Posted August 19, 2016 Author Share Posted August 19, 2016 Back on the dosing discussion, after doing some Googling it looks like it's ok to run acropower in a doser without stirring it: https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=http://www.reef2reef.com/threads/acropower-on-a-doser.240757/&ved=0ahUKEwiQ8f3i6czOAhWDjZAKHfMjDEEQFggmMAE&usg=AFQjCNG5-RKlFfQh6DQEgtf-lwqQZ2X_9Q&sig2=eWcjnJ3cy7aWtSmP2yZXGQ So I think I will try this in place of using Reef Energy. 2 Quote Link to comment
dropped Posted August 19, 2016 Share Posted August 19, 2016 Back on the dosing discussion, after doing some Googling it looks like it's ok to run acropower in a doser without stirring it: https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=http://www.reef2reef.com/threads/acropower-on-a-doser.240757/&ved=0ahUKEwiQ8f3i6czOAhWDjZAKHfMjDEEQFggmMAE&usg=AFQjCNG5-RKlFfQh6DQEgtf-lwqQZ2X_9Q&sig2=eWcjnJ3cy7aWtSmP2yZXGQ So I think I will try this in place of using Reef Energy. Im going to join you on this, i have spare dosing pumps and currently use reef energy which is just starting to be a PTA 1 Quote Link to comment
FlowerMama Posted August 19, 2016 Share Posted August 19, 2016 Perfect new picture! 1 Quote Link to comment
gena Posted August 19, 2016 Share Posted August 19, 2016 I love the latest FTS . Damn.....she is always one step ahead of me! How are the merlettis? Are they more fussy? LOL...I was thinking "back off", when I read your post . Merlettis really are easier than the wellsi. 2 Quote Link to comment
jack1978 Posted August 19, 2016 Share Posted August 19, 2016 I love the latest FTS .LOL...I was thinking "back off", when I read your post . Merlettis really are easier than the wellsi. :^ p I always thought it was the opposite. .....lol, I'm always backwards on facts. Guess I'll try some! 2 Quote Link to comment
teenyreef Posted August 20, 2016 Author Share Posted August 20, 2016 While I was at the LFS getting the RBTA for the 40g tank, I noticed they still had some nice chalice frags (same place I picked up the one I got last month). I have a bare shaded spot under the Idaho Grape monti, so I got another chalice to go there. I wanted something with some color that would pop and contrast with the mostly green corals in that spot. I found a nice red/orange one that I think is going to work perfectly. 20160819-untitled-013-2-Edit.jpg by TeenyReef, on Flickr Closer view: 20160819-untitled-015-2-Edit.jpg by TeenyReef, on Flickr 7 Quote Link to comment
Obsessed Reefer Posted August 20, 2016 Share Posted August 20, 2016 Closer view: 20160819-untitled-015-2-Edit.jpg by TeenyReef, on Flickr Beautiful!!! 1 Quote Link to comment
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