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Terry's 15gal column office desktop tank


no694terry

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Ive also seems to be getting some aptasia. It cam in on that rock two years agao but has always just been the one. Now theres like 5. So tomorrow I think i'm going to pick up a peppermint shrimp. Ive been wanting a shrimp for a while so maybe it'll kill two birds so i dont have to. I also need some new food and salt, but instead of salt, im considering getting those 5 gallon jugs of natural sea water. Water changes int he office are enough of a headache, getting rid of the need to keep salt, jugs and mixing stuff would be nice.

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Yeah, boxes of NSW are convenient but pricey.  I found that mixing my own saltwater at home and just bringing in a container of premixed saltwater to the office worked better than mixing it there.  There are lots choices of containers of different sizes.

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5 hours ago, seabass said:

Yeah, boxes of NSW are convenient but pricey.  I found that mixing my own saltwater at home and just bringing in a container of premixed saltwater to the office worked better than mixing it there.  There are lots choices of containers of different sizes.

Local pet co carries imagitaurium 5 gallon jugs for $10. I find that pretty economical if i dont have to buy salt or filter water. I just have no idea of the quality

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I just have no idea of the quality

The quality is fine.  The levels might be slightly low compared to a reef salt mix, and you can't control the specific gravity (except to dilute it).

 

31 minutes ago, no694terry said:

Local pet co carries imagitaurium 5 gallon jugs for $10.

That's $2 a gallon

 

Cost of making saltwater

$0.33 a gallon for salt mix (figuring $65 for a 200 gallon box of salt mix)

$0.82 a gallon for distilled water, or $0.05 for making your own RO/DI water (including the water and sewer, replacement filters every 6 months, and replacement DI resin)

 

So making your own water with RO/DI and a decent reef salt mix is less than $0.40 or $1.15 if you are buying distilled water.  The difference isn't that great when using distilled water, but the savings are pretty significant when making your own RO/DI water

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5 minutes ago, seabass said:

The quality is fine.  The levels might be slightly low compared to a reef salt mix, and you can't control the specific gravity (except to dilute it).

 

That's $2 a gallon

 

Cost of making saltwater

$0.33 a gallon for salt mix (figuring $65 for a 200 gallon box of salt mix)

$0.82 a gallon for distilled water, or $0.05 for making your own RO/DI water (including the water and sewer, replacement filters every 6 months, and replacement DI resin)

 

So making your own water with RO/DI and a decent reef salt mix is less than $0.40 or $1.15 if you are buying distilled water.  The difference isn't that great when using distilled water, but the savings are pretty significant when making your own RO/DI water

I have a rodi at home i was using. Its in need of all new media. I've actually been considereing selling off my rodi,  storage tanks and  90 gallon setup from home. Its been shamefully neglected.  Wife and kids want me to build a large bird cage and thats really the only spot in the house it would fit, and then they can maintain it, not me.

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oh and i was able to clear the protein skimmer air inlet by just putting the airline in the water, then the venturi pump pulled water through it for like and hour and flushed it out.

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Did a 5 gallon water change with that Imagitarium Pacific Ocean Water. Lets just say, i hope my tank doesn't crash. It was full of this white scale stuff that im pretty sure was just harmless buildup stuck to the inside of the bag. But it certainly wasn't crystal clear water as advertised. And my PH is now at 7.8. I mixed some of that white scale from the water in with the PH test and it stayed the same 7.8 so I dont know what it was. Salt level stayed about the same at 1.024. I'll be buying salt in the future and just mixing it per gallon. Pouring out of that bag was also ridiculously hard in my office.

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  • 5 months later...

update. Tanks been well. Fishless again. I dont really understand where the fish go, they appear healthy and then gone?

 

Ive been having a little trouble with my coral compulsion 55w Par38. When i first put it in a was running it at 70% thinking it would be just a slight bump over my old 36watt at 100%. but it quickly belached all my exposed coralline. Not a big deal, just took it as a bright light. left it at 70% a while now. Then a few weeks ago im sitting in office and smell a burning. I touched light and it burned me. So i let turned it off for the weekend. Monday I blew it all out, theres was some dust but not more than normal use. When i first reinstalled it, it would flicker back on and then be ok after a minute. Now it seems to work ok at 50%, any higher and it smells like its burning again. I tried CC and wasnt real happy with response. They just said the cleaning should help, but never replied after asecond email that it was still acting up. Thought maybe since it had a 3 year warranty and its not a year old yet i would have had a resolution.... But im actually happy with 50%, the coralline that bleached is coloring back up on top surfaces again and corals are still doing the same. Maybe a lil more spread out of the lower mushrooms.

 

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  • 5 months later...

update. tanks still doing ok. dont think ive done a water change in a year or more. Corals are just kinda hangin in there, except my one SPS, it seems to be thriving.

 

February

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today

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FTS

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Hey, long time no see!  I am happy that the tank is doing pretty well.  It looks nice.  Even doing a gallon water change a week could probably help you go from nice to really nice.

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  • 1 month later...
  • 4 months later...

Terrys having a grumpy day. I look over and my Coral Compulsion bulb is just flickering again. I had this problem a while back, contacted them and didnt really get a "Send it back and we'll take care of it" response that i hoped from their 3 year warranty. I cleaned it all out shock it and stuff and it just started working again. But now its not working, and neither is my old 35w Coral Compulsion bulb. So now i have a dead 35w i bought in early 2016 that i haven used in a year or more, and a dead 55w thats not all that old. AND a dark tank

 

6/20 EDIT: Got an email last night that Jim at CC has shipped me a new bulb. Not the same one, as they dont care them anymore. But a 24W non-dimming 18k. But at least i didnt have to hassle with shipping the old one back or answering a bunch of questions on why its not working so i guess its a win. Thanks Jimmy

 

It looks like, from the Journal anyway, I got the 35w in 1/2016 and stopped using it when I got the 55w in 11/2017.  So that's 23 months out of the 35w and 19 months out of the 55w :furious:

 

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Just got a reply from Coral Compulsion. They dont carry either of my bulbs anymore :sad: But he said he would replace it with the standard 24w version. Looks like the same bulb I almost ordered on ebay earlier for $30 lol. Hopefully its just a similar shell with upgraded guts

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New bulbs are here. No questions asked, Jimmy at Coral Compulsion replaced my bulb under warranty. Like i said though, they no longer stock the larger dimmable 55w so he shipped a current model 24w and also included a small actitic bulb. I dont have use for two bulbs but I'll have onto for the future. The tanks looks nice again under the 14K LED. We'll see how everything lieks the change, but for now some light better than no light.

 

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now to just get rid of that turf algae

 

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Just went back and manually removed 90% of the turf algae and that big macro ball at the bottom. I'm sure it'll grow back but for now the phosphates are gone. Then finished up with a 2 gallon water change. First one in months

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no694terry

QUESTION, i removed the rock chip with ricordea on it off the frag plug to get it up a little higher and in its final spot. The rock chip is sturdy in a crevice but the shroom is kinda loose and flapping a bit in the current. Will it be able to attach to the edge of the rock on its own?

 

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As long as the piece of rock is stable, the mushroom will be able to attach to the main rock.  If the rock wiggles, I'd put some super glue on the rock to help secure it.

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