Felicia Posted February 2, 2016 Share Posted February 2, 2016 Oh goodness! That is major stress! Sorry for the issues, but it sounds like you're covering your bases and have it figured out. I'll keep my fingers crossed that you got it all taken care of and that there isn't another issue! 1 Quote Link to comment
RollaJase Posted February 2, 2016 Author Share Posted February 2, 2016 Oh goodness! That is major stress! Sorry for the issues, but it sounds like you're covering your bases and have it figured out. I'll keep my fingers crossed that you got it all taken care of and that there isn't another issue! Thanks Felicia. Major stress indeed, just what I need before going to Phuket on the 10th. I hope it is just water from the leak I found and nothing more. I can always repair the waterproofing with the sump installed but if it is anything more serious then that its just going to eat up a whole lot of time to fix. Quote Link to comment
RollaJase Posted February 2, 2016 Author Share Posted February 2, 2016 Good news, my clean up crew shipped today and will be delivered to me at work tomorrow. More good news, I'm pretty sure that fixing that leak solved my water in the stand problem. I have packed some paper towel under the lip of the rubber in the base of the stand to try and draw out the remaining moisture. Keeping the front of the stand off during the day has really helped dry things out also. So I hope this is the end of my water scare. 5 Quote Link to comment
ninjamyst Posted February 2, 2016 Share Posted February 2, 2016 good thing you figured out the issue. water leak is probably one of the scariest thing about this hobby. 1 Quote Link to comment
Felicia Posted February 2, 2016 Share Posted February 2, 2016 Good to hear that it seems to be resolved. I know pulling out the sump and everything would have been a ton of work. Doesn't it seem like things always go wrong when we try to go on vacation? I'm so jealous that you're going to Phuket. That's on the top of my list for places to visit. I want to go diving in Thailand so badly. Someday! 1 Quote Link to comment
RollaJase Posted February 2, 2016 Author Share Posted February 2, 2016 good thing you figured out the issue. water leak is probably one of the scariest thing about this hobby. Yeah I can't think of anything worse than coming home from work to a smashed tank as the stand gave way due to water damage. That and wet carpet really sucks! Good to hear that it seems to be resolved. I know pulling out the sump and everything would have been a ton of work. Doesn't it seem like things always go wrong when we try to go on vacation? I'm so jealous that you're going to Phuket. That's on the top of my list for places to visit. I want to go diving in Thailand so badly. Someday! Definitely would have been a ton of work and I'm glad it hasn't come to that. The stand was pretty much dry this morning, the paper towel had not taken on much water at all. Exactly! The last holiday I booked the tank had a huge cyano outbreak just before I left, suffered that way for 35 days while I was gone and took almost a year to fix. I have always wanted to go to Thailand and Phuket is a bit more of a tropical paradise to mainland Thailand. My girlfriend has never been overseas before so I suggested we go away for her birthday, seeing as it is her 21st I thought we would make it a special one . Good thing for us is that Thailand, Bali, Indonesia is just such a cheap holiday. Flights and accommodation are cheap and when $100AUD buys $2,500 Thai Baht shopping is even cheaper . I will definitely be doing some snorkeling, haven't done any since I went to the GBR so I am really looking forward to it. I have never done scuba though, its something that interests and excites me while scaring the crap out of me haha. I did think about getting the two diving certs while I was in Thailand as it is so cheap compared to back home but that may be something to do on another trip. 1 Quote Link to comment
RollaJase Posted February 3, 2016 Author Share Posted February 3, 2016 Clean up crew just arrived , all alive and well from what I can see. Just need them to last out the day at work so I can get them in the tank . 1 Quote Link to comment
teenyreef Posted February 3, 2016 Share Posted February 3, 2016 Clean up crew just arrived , all alive and well from what I can see. Just need them to last out the day at work so I can get them in the tank . Good luck! 1 Quote Link to comment
RollaJase Posted February 3, 2016 Author Share Posted February 3, 2016 Good luck! Thanks! . Water issue sorted and cleanup crew alive and well. Hoping to have an update over the weekend as well as some final install shots. I want to get an update in before I go away on holiday. 1 Quote Link to comment
RollaJase Posted February 4, 2016 Author Share Posted February 4, 2016 Still leak free . Now my only hurdle before I leave for my holiday is getting the doser as close to calibrated as I can. Daily testing and adjustments are getting me close but Alk has already dropped to 6.5-6.7dKH. I really need to try and get this up to around 7.5 at least over the next few days. Mag hovering around 1200ppm isn't helping and I'm trying to raise that up closer to 1300ppm. I have a water change scheduled over the weekend so really hope I can get things dialed in, I'm definitely going to need to dose additional Mag with my salt mix as Red Sea Blue Bucket just mixes in too low with Mag. 2 Quote Link to comment
RollaJase Posted February 7, 2016 Author Share Posted February 7, 2016 I just updated a previous post with some pictures of the tank installed in its current location. Check it out . (Just a teaser ).http://www.nano-reef.com/topic/362180-rollajases-trip-off-the-deep-end-custom-rimless-55g/?p=5232283Putting together a big update now while trying to pack for my flight Wednesday. Stay tuned . 6 Quote Link to comment
RollaJase Posted February 7, 2016 Author Share Posted February 7, 2016 Tank Update - 7th February 2016: A lot has happened since the last update. I have introduced some things to the tank, lost some things and made some things. Lets start off with some things that I made. In an effort to maximise room in the sump I decided to make a hard mount for my primary and backup heaters. Lets face it, heater suction cups...well suck. Countless times I have have knocked heaters only to dislodge them and then spend ages trying to get them to stay put again. This hard mount hangs over the top of a sump baffle and keeps the heaters at bay by sitting them into some heater guards I got on eBay. The whole thing cost me about $5 including the scrap acrylic and took about 1 hour to make from start to install. Next up is a feeding/defrosting tube that I made. Again, this started off as a cheap eBay purchase that I modified to fit the tank. I basically cut and reversed the mounting tab and cut the cube about 1" shorter from the top to clear the mesh lid. In the process I did crack the tube but it still works fine and makes it much quicker and easier to feed. I basically put the return pump on feed mode, drop in some frozen food and I walk away. Something really cool that I mentioned happening a few weeks ago was one of my hermit crabs spawning. I managed to grab a few fuzzy shots with the camera. Its hard to see but the female hermit is pulling herself out of her shell and the pink/orange you can see is the mass of eggs on her body. A clearer pic of the same thing on a land based hermit can be seen HERE .She was shaking herself as she moved in and out of the shell releasing the larvae into the water. It was really cool to see and something I hope to see more of. As I mentioned previously, my attempt at owning a Leopard Wrasse was short lived as the one I purchased only lasted 3 days after I startled her which resulted in her diving into the sand and never returning. Here are some of the better pics I did get before she went to sand. Over the last few weeks I have purchased a few new pieces for the tank. I kinda got a little carried away in terms of the size of a few pieces but I made them work and I think they look great. I manged to pick this teal acro up for $10 as it was a frag traded to the LFS from a customer. The piece has fantastic colour and I am seeing more and more PE every day. The pale marks on the flesh are damage from me handling the piece initially. This one really enjoys sliming up! I love this Mille and the second I saw it I pretty much fell in love. I was torn between this guy and what the LFS assumed was a strawberry shortcake and I decided on this one (should have gotten both!). When I picked it up it was green in colour but the LFS assured me it would turn a nice yellow colour under high light and they definitely were right. Looks a little green under actinics but even over the last few days I have noticed it turning yellower. PE on this one is insane, even in the bag on the way home the amount of PE was crazy and it has only gotten better in the tank. This was another $10 bargain frag from the LFS. This toxic green stag looks amazing under 12k and actinic light and has already started to show some encrusting at the base. I really hope this one branches out nicely and fills up some space at the back of the tank. This Tri-Colour acro had amazing colour and while it is a large piece I got it at a really good price. It has a nice green colouration around the base, a pink/purple body and blue tips. I snapped a few pics of existing pieces also. The birdsnest is really taking off with some of the nice green colouration starting to spread. Last up, I made a significant change to the Zoa garden by putting in a larger piece of base rock. This raised the garden slightly while giving me more space for zoas . I have been experiencing some minor cyano lately on the sand (and sand only). I believe this is due to flow and dead spots and I have fiddled with the pumps to try and get the best waterflow that I can. Now that the sand has started to pick up some bacteria it is mostly staying put so I ramped both of the RW-4's to 40% on else mode. The plates don't like the extra flow so I'm still trying to find a nice place for them. FTS time! So far I am really happy with how things are progressing. I'm still having some issues with my Alk, Cal and Mag levels which I probably wont be able to fix 100% before my holiday but I should get it pretty stable leading into the 10 days of auto pilot. 11 Quote Link to comment
4x5 Posted February 8, 2016 Share Posted February 8, 2016 Looking awesome man. Loving those new Acros. Why not just manually dose up to where you want it over a day or two? 1 Quote Link to comment
RollaJase Posted February 8, 2016 Author Share Posted February 8, 2016 Looking awesome man. Loving those new Acros. Why not just manually dose up to where you want it over a day or two? Thanks Shaun , I'm loving having acros in a tank again. Manually dosing to where I want my levels isn't my concern right now. It's more dosing to keep up with depletion. I'm noticing my levels drop slightly every day and its just a matter of finding that sweet spot where the levels stay put so I can work on raising the levels to where I want them to be. I'd rather not test and manually dose every day as the constant variance can't be great for the corals and it makes it harder to track depletion. Quote Link to comment
4x5 Posted February 8, 2016 Share Posted February 8, 2016 Ahhh Ok, sorry I misread it as you had it pretty stable with slowly depleting parameters and that Alk was a bit low. I was thinking a one time dose to bring it to where you wanted and a slight increase to the doser to match consumption would be the ticket. Well, I guess it is but dialling it in can be tricky sometimes for some reason. 1 Quote Link to comment
RollaJase Posted February 8, 2016 Author Share Posted February 8, 2016 Ahhh Ok, sorry I misread it as you had it pretty stable with slowly depleting parameters and that Alk was a bit low. I was thinking a one time dose to bring it to where you wanted and a slight increase to the doser to match consumption would be the ticket. Well, I guess it is but dialling it in can be tricky sometimes for some reason. All good buddy, I'm really close to having things how I want them. I did a test tonight and got the following: Alk = 7.7dKH Cal = 390ppm Mag = 1185ppm This is pretty much exactly how things were after my test last night, post water change. Mag rose slightly from yesterday but Alk and Cal remained the same. I'll do another test tomorrow night to see which way things go and make the final adjustments to the doser before I go away. Everything is looking happy but I would like to eventually get alk between 8-8.5dKH, Cal up to 450ppm and I want Mag at 1250-1300ppm. If things remain stable over night I'll adjust the Mag slightly and call it a day until I get home. Low Mag isn't as bad as low Alk or Cal. As Mark advised I mixed up my bucket of Red Sea Blue Bucket again before mixing up this batch of water for the change. I still got parameters that were abnormal so I think I must just have a bad bucket, I may change brands next time round to mix things up. I got the following results from Blue Bucket at 25-26c and a ratio of 38 grams per liter. Alk = 9.5dKH Cal = 420ppm Mag = 1230ppm Maybe I'll try Dupla or something else next time seeing as the price per bucket is similar. 1 Quote Link to comment
ninjamyst Posted February 8, 2016 Share Posted February 8, 2016 Have fun on your trip! Tank looks great with all the acros. Take lots of pics and share with us. Always wanted to go yo Thailand but the flight is so long from Chicago. 1 Quote Link to comment
markalot Posted February 8, 2016 Share Posted February 8, 2016 All good buddy, I'm really close to having things how I want them. I did a test tonight and got the following: Alk = 7.7dKH Cal = 390ppm Mag = 1185ppm This is pretty much exactly how things were after my test last night, post water change. Mag rose slightly from yesterday but Alk and Cal remained the same. I'll do another test tomorrow night to see which way things go and make the final adjustments to the doser before I go away. Everything is looking happy but I would like to eventually get alk between 8-8.5dKH, Cal up to 450ppm and I want Mag at 1250-1300ppm. If things remain stable over night I'll adjust the Mag slightly and call it a day until I get home. Low Mag isn't as bad as low Alk or Cal. As Mark advised I mixed up my bucket of Red Sea Blue Bucket again before mixing up this batch of water for the change. I still got parameters that were abnormal so I think I must just have a bad bucket, I may change brands next time round to mix things up. I got the following results from Blue Bucket at 25-26c and a ratio of 38 grams per liter. Alk = 9.5dKH Cal = 420ppm Mag = 1230ppm Maybe I'll try Dupla or something else next time seeing as the price per bucket is similar. That's really concerning ... now I don't trust what I have and will make sure to test. Fortunately I'm done with big water changes so I'm back to my old favorite, Kent. Sky high calcium and Magnesium, and around 9.5 KH. Perfect for small water changes. 1 Quote Link to comment
Sk8n Reefer Posted February 8, 2016 Share Posted February 8, 2016 Great updates- tank looks good in that room. Nice bargain acros- can't beat that ? 1 Quote Link to comment
RollaJase Posted February 8, 2016 Author Share Posted February 8, 2016 Have fun on your trip! Tank looks great with all the acros. Take lots of pics and share with us. Always wanted to go yo Thailand but the flight is so long from Chicago. I'm sure I will buddy . And yes, I plan on taking plenty of pictures. I will be visiting the Phuket Aquarium so will try to get lots of shots while I am there. Yeah I can imagine Thailand would be a long flight from the states, for me it isn't too bad, about 7 hours from Adelaide to Singapore and then 1 hour to Phuket. That's really concerning ... now I don't trust what I have and will make sure to test. Fortunately I'm done with big water changes so I'm back to my old favorite, Kent. Sky high calcium and Magnesium, and around 9.5 KH. Perfect for small water changes. Definitely not an ideal salt situation but at least I know I'm not crazy and my tests are wrong. I should have tested when I first got this bucket and I could have returned it at the time. It's over half used now so I'm just going to run with it I think. My last water change raised my Alk from 6.7dKH to 7.7dKH which is a larger swing then I would want in a single day but not much I can do about it. I don't know if it may be worth buying a smaller blue bucket and mixing it with my remaining salt in the hope that it pulls the Alk down, it would be a risk if the new bucket was just as bad a mix. Great updates- tank looks good in that room. Nice bargain acros- can't beat that Thanks mate . Bargain acros are the best, particularly when they aren't run of the mill green. For my first attempt at building a tank stand I'm really happy with how it turned out. It looks much better in the room than the older one being white rather than black. 1 Quote Link to comment
niQo Posted February 8, 2016 Share Posted February 8, 2016 It must be a scary thing to discover water where it does not belong (even more so right before traveling)! Glad you were able to fix it! Enjoy Thailand! 1 Quote Link to comment
RollaJase Posted February 9, 2016 Author Share Posted February 9, 2016 It must be a scary thing to discover water where it does not belong (even more so right before traveling)! Glad you were able to fix it! Enjoy Thailand! Was definitely an unneeded scare but I managed to get it sorted. And thanks , I'm really looking forward to this trip. Will be nice to get away for a while. Quote Link to comment
niQo Posted February 9, 2016 Share Posted February 9, 2016 Was definitely an unneeded scare but I managed to get it sorted. And thanks , I'm really looking forward to this trip. Will be nice to get away for a while. Some day I would like to visit South East Asia, I actually have family and friends living in Thailand, so all the more reason to go! 1 Quote Link to comment
RollaJase Posted February 9, 2016 Author Share Posted February 9, 2016 Some day I would like to visit South East Asia, I actually have family and friends living in Thailand, so all the more reason to go! All the more reason to go then! Not to mention the snorkeling and diving is supposed to be pretty good . Quote Link to comment
niQo Posted February 9, 2016 Share Posted February 9, 2016 All the more reason to go then! Not to mention the snorkeling and diving is supposed to be pretty good . That would certainly make it pretty high on my "to-do" list! 2 Quote Link to comment
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