Hypes SPS Dropoff Peninsula-New Skimmer

[oogie]

3 minutes ago, Rehype said:

What town are you in?

Well, I spent my youth days in Tenafly - Closter, and then most of my life in Fort Lee!

But now I have been living in korea for past 9 years due to work!

[teenyreef]

Love the idea of the "shy guy sanctuary" 

 

Fitzgerald, my pink streaked wrasse, is one of my oldest and favorite fish in my 10g.

[cnseekatz]

9 hours ago, teenyreef said:

Love the idea of the "shy guy sanctuary" 

 

Fitzgerald, my pink streaked wrasse, is one of my oldest and favorite fish in my 10g.

Fitzgerald... lol

[Rehype]

10 hours ago, oogie said:

Well, I spent my youth days in Tenafly - Closter, and then most of my life in Fort Lee!

But now I have been living in korea for past 9 years due to work!

 

Wow thats awesome well glad to see your active again in the forums. Looking forward to seeing your new build!

 

9 hours ago, teenyreef said:

Love the idea of the "shy guy sanctuary" 

 

Fitzgerald, my pink streaked wrasse, is one of my oldest and favorite fish in my 10g.

 

Thanks teeny!

 

Thats awesome how old is fitz?

 

19 minutes ago, cnseekatz said:

Fitzgerald... lol

 

Every fish deserves a name 

[cnseekatz]

2 minutes ago, Rehype said:

Every fish deserves a name 

 

I only name the ones I don't want to live longer than 2 weeks.

[gena]

1 hour ago, cnseekatz said:

Fitzgerald... lol

Mine is named Marvin LOL

 

You have to give them "nerdy" names.  No offense to anyone :D.

 

I have the PSW and the helfrichi firefish...great tank mates. 

[Rehype]

2 hours ago, cnseekatz said:

 

I only name the ones I don't want to live longer than 2 weeks.

 

Harsh..lol

 

1 hour ago, gena said:

Mine is named Marvin LOL

 

You have to give them "nerdy" names.  No offense to anyone :D.

 

I have the PSW and the helfrichi firefish...great tank mates. 

 

Those names definitely fit their personalities..

 

Awesome thats what Im hoping for.

[gena]

2 minutes ago, Rehype said:

 

Harsh..lol

 

 

Those names definitely fit their personalities..

 

Awesome thats what Im hoping for.

I've always wanted a sunburst anthias.  I'm looking forward to seeing how it fits in with your setup!

[Rehype]

On 3/10/2017 at 0:36 PM, gena said:

I've always wanted a sunburst anthias.  I'm looking forward to seeing how it fits in with your setup!

 

Thanks Gena! Theyre a beautiful fish... im looking forward to finally picking him up from my LFS.

[J-Ranko]

On 3/9/2017 at 6:21 AM, Rehype said:

[...]

Thanks. So far I love it...it doesn't leech phosphates live other dry rock sources ive used in the past. Although mine wasn't live I couldnt risk killing all the livestock while I figured out the aquascaping. I will say the rock didn't have any cycle that I was able to measure. It seems to have been cured prior to shipping.

 

Those Real Reef rocks look like the real thing, and until I looked into it I thought you had purchased coralline-encrusted live rock.  I wonder why none of my go-to LFS in the area seem to carry it.  It looks like LiveAquaria ships them, though, only downside being I can't pick out individual pieces. 

[Rehype]

On 3/12/2017 at 1:43 PM, J-Ranko said:

 

Those Real Reef rocks look like the real thing, and until I looked into it I thought you had purchased coralline-encrusted live rock.  I wonder why none of my go-to LFS in the area seem to carry it.  It looks like LiveAquaria ships them, though, only downside being I can't pick out individual pieces. 

 

I give them alot of credit for not only a providing a sustainable source of rock but putting the extra effort to make it appealing to both newcomers and advanced reefers. I will say its definitely worth the effort to find a LFS that carries it or something similar if possible. As Its likely you wont get all the pieces you are looking for in a blind shipment (especially if you are particular about aquascaping) I personally went through about 5 different boxes to get the pieces I thought I word work best in this tank.

 

 

 

Been moving a bit slow lately but I bought some upgrades...First was the skimmer and secondly the calcium reactor. I upgraded the skimmer because I thought it was a bit underpowered for the task at hand so I found a used aquamaxx HOB-1. It was pretty filthy but after an hour of deep cleaning I think I restored it to its former glory. I also decided to upgrade the calcium reactor because it media chamber didnt hold enough. Glad I was able to find a never used reactor for a fraction of the price.

 

 

  

 

 

[J-Ranko]

Nice!  I like my Aquamaxx HOB. Only thing is I had to modify the bulky return line to get it to fit in my back chambers. You probably have more room, though.  Also, priming it the first time was bit tricky, but it does keep its siphon even after turning the pump off as long you don't remove it from the tank.

 

Let's see some life in this tank already. 

[Rehype]

1 hour ago, J-Ranko said:

Nice!  I like my Aquamaxx HOB. Only thing is I had to modify the bulky return line to get it to fit in my back chambers. You probably have more room, though.  Also, priming it the first time was bit tricky, but it does keep its siphon even after turning the pump off as long you don't remove it from the tank.

 

Let's see some life in this tank already. 

 

Thanks. I do have enough room in the middle chamber for the return Im just hoping theres no issues with microbubbles. Priming it was pretty easy you just have to fill it with water and put your finger over the airline tubing and it will prime the pump.  How's yours' performing thus far? 

 

 I was planning to pick up some frags this weekend but my buddy was out of town so ill have to pick them up this friday. I am almost done setting up my QT...should be done tonight. I plan to pick up a few fish either tomorrow or tuesday

[J-Ranko]

4 minutes ago, Rehype said:

 

Thanks. I do have enough room in the middle chamber for the return Im just hoping theres no issues with microbubbles. Priming it was pretty easy you just have to fill it with water and put your finger over the airline tubing and it will prime the pump.  How's yours' performing thus far? 

 

 I was planning to pick up some frags this weekend but my buddy was out of town so ill have ti pick them up this friday. I am almost done setting up my QT...should be done tonight. I plan to pick up a few fish either tomorrow or tuesday

 

 

The skimmer is doing its job. Pretty quiet, too.  Micro bubbles are another thing, though. My back chamber design isn't conducive to where I have my return line situated, so I have some poly-filter sitting on top of a baffle to help reduce the bubbles as the water over flows into the return chamber.  Still looking for better methods to minimize them further.

 

Looking forward to the first frags and fish additions! 

 

[Rehype]

55 minutes ago, J-Ranko said:

 

 

The skimmer is doing its job. Pretty quiet, too.  Micro bubbles are another thing, though. My back chamber design isn't conducive to where I have my return line situated, so I have some poly-filter sitting on top of a baffle to help reduce the bubbles as the water over flows into the return chamber.  Still looking for better methods to minimize them further.

 

Looking forward to the first frags and fish additions! 

 

 

Have you looked into adding the bubble stopper?

 

 

 

Thanks man!

[J-Ranko]

13 hours ago, Rehype said:

 

Have you looked into adding the bubble stopper?

 

 

 

Thanks man!

I have. There's no room for it.

[Rehype]

7 hours ago, J-Ranko said:

I have. There's no room for it.

 oh bummer. well you could cut also cut a piece of the same filter material to fit in your return area to see if it makes a difference. 

[got2envy]

Ohai 

[Rehype]

9 hours ago, got2envy said:

Ohai 

 

Maria!!!!!!!!Hows everything?!?!

[Rehype]

So I put the reactor online last night. Nitrates are currently at 2-3 (didnt get a chance to test phosphates but ill do that later today) I plan to take pics every few days to keep track of growth and nutrient levels. Reactor is currently on a 12 hour light cycle and low flow (40 gph)

 

Day 1

 

[TJ_Burton]

I really want a Chaeto reactor. Slightly out of my build budget at the moment... but I may rig up an ugly one that works once I switch sumps.

That thing is a piece of art! Can't wait to see your results

[jedimasterben]

52 minutes ago, TJ_Burton said:

I really want a Chaeto reactor. Slightly out of my build budget at the moment... but I may rig up an ugly one that works once I switch sumps.

That thing is a piece of art! Can't wait to see your results

Shouldn't be too difficult - wrap a 660nm/450nm LED strip around as big of a reactor as you can find and you've got basically the same thing

[Rehype]

1 hour ago, TJ_Burton said:

I really want a Chaeto reactor. Slightly out of my build budget at the moment... but I may rig up an ugly one that works once I switch sumps.

That thing is a piece of art! Can't wait to see your results

 

Thanks man. Yea they're easy enought to build and I was going back and forth on  making my own for a while. Ultimately I preferred the LEDS on the inside of the reactor so I was going to go with the cleartides model but right as I was about to pull the trigger I found a used ARID.  Its definitely a sexy beast but you can get the same results with just about any setup as confirmed by BRS... they are in the  midst of a comprehensive test using chaetomorpha solely for nutrient export. Great watch...It confirmed what many of us have known for years but I appreciate the scientific methodical approach to validate the results.  

 

 

 

 

 

41 minutes ago, jedimasterben said:

Shouldn't be too difficult - wrap a 660nm/450nm LED strip around as big of a reactor as you can find and you've got basically the same thing

+1

[TJ_Burton]

I actually watched that video the other day as well; great to see some solid data on the subject. Been using chaeto for years and years, and always knew it was doing its job, but quantifiable data is always best to see if its worth it. Trick is making sure I use high enough wattage LEDs to make it viable in a small reactor. I am in the process of making one. Just not sure which LEDs to purchase to get the most out of the small reactor (Aquamaxx). So many cheap chinese LED strips on Amazon...

[Rehype]

43 minutes ago, TJ_Burton said:

I actually watched that video the other day as well; great to see some solid data on the subject. Been using chaeto for years and years, and always knew it was doing its job, but quantifiable data is always best to see if its worth it. Trick is making sure I use high enough wattage LEDs to make it viable in a small reactor. I am in the process of making one. Just not sure which LEDs to purchase to get the most out of the small reactor (Aquamaxx). So many cheap chinese LED strips on Amazon...

 

Thats awesome to hear...Ben or Dave can give you the best recommendations. Although Ive seen quite a few DIY reactors and the results were just as good with the cheap amazon led strips.