Reefer 350

[ReefWeeds]

8 minutes ago, HarryPotter said:

 

My impression of vodka dosing was that it functions as a carbon source for bacteria and corals, which stimulates a more healthy reef. I am trying to feed more, a cube every morning. Before that I would do a cube once a week and just reef roids in between. 

When do you feed the fish? Only once a week? 

[HarryPotter]

3 minutes ago, ReefWeeds said:

When do you feed the fish? Only once a week? 

 

Well I was doing a mysis cube once a week and maybe a pinch of pellets in between. The clowns and blenny are super fat. If I had a tang I would be more consistent with it. It always maintained 0/0 on the nutrients so I was happy with that. Now that I am "Hardcore reefing", trying to maximize growth at all costs, I am giving the tank a cube daily. But I want it to stay clean, hence the Vodka. Does that make sense? 

[ReefWeeds]

22 minutes ago, HarryPotter said:

 

Well I was doing a mysis cube once a week and maybe a pinch of pellets in between. The clowns and blenny are super fat. If I had a tang I would be more consistent with it. It always maintained 0/0 on the nutrients so I was happy with that. Now that I am "Hardcore reefing", trying to maximize growth at all costs, I am giving the tank a cube daily. But I want it to stay clean, hence the Vodka. Does that make sense? 

I’m following now! 

[HarryPotter]

6 hours ago, HarryPotter said:

 

Another rack bites the dustttt! 

 

 

Ima bump that since just a few hours young xD

[Shoob1e]

Harry how is that hybrid for you? I can pick up an ati for cheap but was debating doing it with 3 ais I have or sending it to dave to have it done. Is it really worth the extra money he charges for it? 

[HarryPotter]

21 minutes ago, Shoob1e said:

Harry how is that hybrid for you? I can pick up an ati for cheap but was debating doing it with 3 ais I have or sending it to dave to have it done. Is it really worth the extra money he charges for it? 

 

I dont have a hybrid, I just dream of one! One day....  when I save Dave from a falling piano and he owes me his life. 

 

 

@markalot has the best colors around, with a nanobox hybrid. Of course it’s not just the light (he is an serious reefer on steroids!), but in general all of the “fancy” high end acro sellers run tons of royal blues to pull out that color.  I think Dave will send you a kit to do it yourself if you want to avoid shipping and have experience with basic electrical work. Heatsink, strips, wiring, drivers, power supply. 

 

At the minimum I would want two strips of royal blue 3w LEDs to replace  two bulbs. 46”, LED per inch, so roughly 300w worth of royal blue.  No “need” for a bluefish when I have an apex to turn them on and off (or use a dimmable driver to connect to apex). 

 

Or 6-8 pucks. 

 

Ive looked into DIY, but for 100 quality LEDs you are already talking hundreds and hundreds of dollars. I don’t want to half ass it and regret not having more power. 

 

Not sure what you mean by the “extra money he charges for it”. The difference in price between you putting in three AI 26’s and a full retrofit? 

 

Theres no no question as to the quality of his fixtures. My refugium light fell into the tank and was submersed for about 15 minutes. I came back and it was still on. I dried it off on a fan, and it’s still working looking no worse for wear!

 

From my understanding bluefish is not the most user friendly controller in the market (compared to Ecotech or AI programming which have millions in R&D) but he or Spencer will help you with any issues. 

[xiaoxiy]

Harry, I feel like some of your colors definitely rival the high end sellers. Especially your yellow pieces <3.

[HarryPotter]

The Yellow Efflo reminds me of bonsai <3

 

With a cube of frozen per day plus roids, going through a major growth spurt! The vodka seems to be working at keeping nutrients down, still no signs of algae. My skimmer is actually pulling out muck for the first time in ages, which I think is a good sign. 

 

Im feeding in the early morning and dosing the vodka in the afternoon, not sure if that matters but just figured I’d document that here  

 

[xiaoxiy]

I feel like feeding causes a growth explosion. Here's a short vid of how much I feed daily:

 

[HarryPotter]

4 minutes ago, xiaoxiy said:

I feel like feeding causes a growth explosion. Here's a short vid of how much I feed daily:

 

 

Jeez! Thats a cube of mysis/brine? 

[xiaoxiy]

Just now, HarryPotter said:

 

Jeez! Thats a cube of mysis/brine? 

Nah man. 

-1 Cube mysis

-1/2 square cube LRS

-2 Scoops Reef Chili

-5ml Yeast

-4ml Acropower

-8ml Reef Energy A

-8ml Reef Energy B

Daily lmaaoooo

[HarryPotter]

21 minutes ago, xiaoxiy said:

Nah man. 

-1 Cube mysis

-1/2 square cube LRS

-2 Scoops Reef Chili

-5ml Yeast

-4ml Acropower

-8ml Reef Energy A

-8ml Reef Energy B

Daily lmaaoooo

 

Lots of foooooood! Thats why I am changing up my feeding, I want more growth!  

[markalot]

I was told Flake food leads to brown acros.  I love flake food, nice and dirty, full of Phosphates.  The McDonalds of fish food!   Now if only I could get my po4 higher than 2ppb/

[HarryPotter]

26 minutes ago, markalot said:

I was told Flake food leads to brown acros.  I love flake food, nice and dirty, full of Phosphates.  The McDonalds of fish food!   Now if only I could get my po4 higher than 2ppb/

 

Ill try some flake food too, still undetectable nitrate and phosphate. Flake food sounds better than stump remover LOL 

[HarryPotter]

In my bulb box I found a 48” Current USA Actinic Blue Strip that I got at a garage sale a long time ago. It’s only 30w, but I’ll design & print a bracket to try it on the side of my ATI. Might add some shimmer during the 2 bulb sunrise/sunset. 

[markalot]

34 minutes ago, HarryPotter said:

 

Ill try some flake food too, still undetectable nitrate and phosphate. Flake food sounds better than stump remover LOL 

 

I have been dosing my little bottle of CaNO3 of unknown potency.  At 3 drops daily after 4 days I could almost see some pink on the test, but lo and behold my Red Robin is kind of sort of turning red.  I've also dosed Seachem Phosphate but so far no movement.  

[mitten_reef]

5 hours ago, HarryPotter said:

 

 

Hurry up and move that piece on to the new scape structure!  I wanna see it grow out.  the growth and color of that piece is awesome.

[HarryPotter]

20 minutes ago, markalot said:

 

I have been dosing my little bottle of CaNO3 of unknown potency.  At 3 drops daily after 4 days I could almost see some pink on the test, but lo and behold my Red Robin is kind of sort of turning red.  I've also dosed Seachem Phosphate but so far no movement.  

 

I would be much more comfortable dosing Ca(NO3)2 than potassium phosphate; I can test both of those ions. I didn't know Calcium Nitrate was commonly available. 

 

If you were interested in determining the concentration of the product, you could do it pretty simply. New time you mix up a batch of fresh salt water, add maybe .2ml of the product and then test nitrate. Simple formula to go backwards from the change in nitrate concentration of the salt water to the concentration of the .2ml unknown. 

 

 

[markalot]

9 hours ago, HarryPotter said:

 

I would be much more comfortable dosing Ca(NO3)2 than potassium phosphate; I can test both of those ions. I didn't know Calcium Nitrate was commonly available. 

 

If you were interested in determining the concentration of the product, you could do it pretty simply. New time you mix up a batch of fresh salt water, add maybe .2ml of the product and then test nitrate. Simple formula to go backwards from the change in nitrate concentration of the salt water to the concentration of the .2ml unknown. 

 

 

 

It was from powder that I bought of Amazon.  Chemistry, measurements, well work really, makes me sleepy.   

[HarryPotter]

A prototype bracket for the 48” Current USA Actinic LED strip. Would look really nice at night with the two blue bulbs (sunset). It’s just aesthetic; barely any power in it. 

 

Also, blue just happened to be the color in my printer; final one would be white I think to match the strip. I don’t have silver at the moment  

 

This is the “female” end, the “male” end will be attached to the light and then a screw and thumbscrew will work as both the hinge pin and the lock. This will allow me to have really fine control over the angle. 

 

I think I’ll take out the fillet and instead do a chamfer to match the ATI. 

 

 

 

As you can tell I printed the prototype bracket at a very low resolution (quality) so it would be quick, the final version will be “prettier” (shiny). Here’s how a higher quality print looks.

 

[HarryPotter]

On 2/27/2018 at 12:34 PM, micoastreefing said:

Hurry up and move that piece on to the new scape structure!  I wanna see it grow out.  the growth and color of that piece is awesome.

 

I have no clue what to do with it; the 5” disk is completely encrusted. The only way I could mount it nicely would be to cut the “trunk”, which is super thick. 

 

   I would need to use a coping saw to get through it safely..... but that’s probably the way to do it. Minimal damage to the coral and a clean, minimally risky cut. @markalot what do you think? About 1” thick. You have the largest colonies I know of on NR xD

[markalot]

7 hours ago, HarryPotter said:

 

I have no clue what to do with it; the 5” disk is completely encrusted. The only way I could mount it nicely would be to cut the “trunk”, which is super thick. 

 

   I would need to use a coping saw to get through it safely..... but that’s probably the way to do it. Minimal damage to the coral and a clean, minimally risky cut. @markalot what do you think? About 1” thick. You have the largest colonies I know of on NR xD

 

Ha,

 

I have no idea, and no plans to cut them.    I can break the slimer and others with stag like growth but the big flower shaped corals, they will pretty much be there until they die.  Hopefully a long long time.

[HarryPotter]

41 minutes ago, markalot said:

 

Ha,

 

I have no idea, and no plans to cut them.    I can break the slimer and others with stag like growth but the big flower shaped corals, they will pretty much be there until they die.  Hopefully a long long time.

 

I was just wondering if you had to move colonies that had encrusted! 

 

Morning update: 

 

I noticed the red montipora has finally started to grow upwards. No clue why! Perhaps the par became too low down there, or there is a flow change? 

 

 

Top down of a milli 

 

 

This is why I give awful $5 brown mystery frags a chance to color up!

 

 

This is small colony may be getting too much light from the fixture, it is just a few inches below the waterline. It’s another example of why I give brown pieces a chance! 

 

[markalot]

1 hour ago, markalot said:

 

Ha,

 

I have no idea, and no plans to cut them.    I can break the slimer and others with stag like growth but the big flower shaped corals, they will pretty much be there until they die.  Hopefully a long long time.

 

I have a couple of colonies on rocks that are portable, but it doesn't always work out.  The big red lemonade SSC like acro was on one of these and as it grew it started to fall over so I had to permanently mount it.  Well, I suppose I could grab the rock it's on and break the whole thing off.  I generally like to put acros on smaller rocks that either sit on larger rocks or are glued to larger rocks.  The big original Katropora can be moved, for example, but there's no place else to put it!  My Lokani is on a smaller stick (dong) that I just placed on top of my peach (it's fricking brown, peach is just being nice) dragon.  

 

I haven't always though ahead though and a few smaller favorites are in bad spots and very difficult to move without sawing or breaking.  Generally I will break away anything shading these.  I have a slow growing nice red acro cowering under the slimer / stylo that I will have to make a frag of and grow another colony.  

 

So yea, it's actually more fun to have smaller acros, once they start to take off then you have to play reef gardener.

 

 

 

[xiaoxiy]

Maybe it's time to break out the chisel Harry! That's what they do to harvest pieces in the ocean for mariculturing.