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sabrefencer's 100 days of nano contest


sabrefencer

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19 hours ago, sabrefencer said:

Been a rough week - my motivation is pretty much gone to do anything with this tank 

Sorry to hear. Hopefully you'll be back into it in couple of days. 

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  • 3 weeks later...
sabrefencer

Wow been a while since I posted here 

 

started off this week with a line drive almost catching me in the face and my perc decided to make a jump for it - ugh I hate it when fish die. Wish I were around but too late. Poor fish was dried up on the floor when I got to him.

 

Not much going on with the tank. I did pick up a mini desk top reactor and am attempting to clean the filter sock - have more on order. In the interim I put a bag of chemi pure where the sock is and it displaced some water raising the water level a bit in the first chamber and throughout the rest of the tank. 

 

I have to cut back my light cycle or change the spectrum if I can since I'm getting algae on my sand bed.

 

Just vacuumed the sand and have to get some appropriate sized nano live rock - most of the pieces I have in my 30 breeder are too big so back to the drawing board.

 

also picked up a trumpet coral - free - value estimate $10? For 2 heads ?

 

running total - $30 perc clowns - live rock with one small piece of bubble algae and some hair algae - priceless :lol:

 

  • Like 2
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How long is your light cycle?  I've paid $20 for the two headed trumpet I used to have from Reef Gardener, which died after my tank crash--but it depends what local prices are too.  Bummer about the fish! :(

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sabrefencer

Thanks @Lula_Mae - light cycle is whatever the preset is for program 1 full intensity which I think is 10 hours full blast 100% channel 1 and 100% channel 2. 

 

Sorry about your trumpet coral- the Trumpet coral I was gifted is a neon greenish color but it has hair algae on the stem so time to dip it in some hydrogen peroxide. 

 

I'm not too fond of these lights so far but maybe I will be come day 101 when I can switch it out for the xr15w pro I have. 

 

Tough to see but that is the algae I have on the glass which moved to the sand bed 

 

I think I'm going to do a restart - and order some live rock and sand and critters from Tampa Bay salt water 

 

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  • Like 2
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16 minutes ago, sabrefencer said:

Thanks @Lula_Mae - light cycle is whatever the preset is for program 1 full intensity which I think is 10 hours full blast 100% channel 1 and 100% channel 2. 

 

Sorry about your trumpet coral- the Trumpet coral I was gifted is a neon greenish color but it has hair algae on the stem so time to dip it in some hydrogen peroxide. 

 

I'm not too fond of these lights so far but maybe I will be come day 101 when I can switch it out for the xr15w pro I have. 

 

Tough to see but that is the algae I have on the glass which moved to the sand bed 

 

I think I'm going to do a restart - and order some live rock and sand and critters from Tampa Bay salt water 

 

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That would be cool, maybe you'd get a Mr. Cling too! :lol:

  • Like 1
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sabrefencer

Heading over to Home Depot to make a screen top so I keep the jumpers in - next week is Reef A Palooza so I'm going to pick up some goodies there - software and hardware - I'm not sure the red spectrum in the lights is causing any outbreak but it seems like the chemipure is helping and I will need to adjust the light cycle and program  something custom. Unfortunately the desktop reactor I was planning on using doesn't fit in the second chamber due to the hang on bracket - so going to run the reactor in chamber 1. For those of you that have the bracket does the intank media basket fit with the bracket ?

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12 minutes ago, sabrefencer said:

For those of you that have the bracket does the intank media basket fit with the bracket ?

Yes, I'm using the light bracket and the intank basket and it works. The basket hangs on the baffle separating chamber 1 and 2. 

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Thunder Goose
On 6/13/2017 at 6:49 PM, sabrefencer said:

Thanks @Lula_Mae - light cycle is whatever the preset is for program 1 full intensity which I think is 10 hours full blast 100% channel 1 and 100% channel 2. 

 

Sorry about your trumpet coral- the Trumpet coral I was gifted is a neon greenish color but it has hair algae on the stem so time to dip it in some hydrogen peroxide. 

 

I'm not too fond of these lights so far but maybe I will be come day 101 when I can switch it out for the xr15w pro I have. 

 

Tough to see but that is the algae I have on the glass which moved to the sand bed 

 

I think I'm going to do a restart - and order some live rock and sand and critters from Tampa Bay salt water 

 

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I'm not in the contest (timing issue) but I have the same tank set that I'm in the process of setting up with Tampa Bay Saltwater and let me tell you - it's awesome! Only 5 days since I got part 1 of The Package and my water is almost finished cycling (Ammonia down to 0, nitrate down to less than 5 ppm). My first part came with two small brittle stars (one is red), a cute hermit crab, three micro urchins, a crab (unknown type - she hid before I could get a good look and I haven't seen her since), spaghetti work and more. Can't wait to see what come in with Part 2 (the "premium" rock)!

 

 

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sabrefencer

@Thunder Goosethanks for the input - how many pounds did you order ? I was thinking 10 to 12 because the display is probably around 12 gallons.

Only  thing is I have to find a place for my clown maybe I'll put him in a small 5 gallon before it's cycled - can't put him in my 30 breeder he'd be eaten alive by the saddleback clown I have 

 

it's sort of a pain to drive to the airport 2x to pick up the rock though but if it's that good might be worth it - was also thinking of using some Carib sea aragalive or dosing some MB7 and pick up a clean up crew and some new pieces of rock @my local aquarium store - that's my other option 

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Thunder Goose

You can look at my build thread (Hitchhikers Cove, I don't know how to link to it). I ordered 10 pounds and I think it'll be plenty.

 

I hear you about the airport. Logan airport is 45 minutes from me, through unpleasant traffic (no direct highway). That time is if the traffic isn't bad. To pick up the rock was a three hour round trip.

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sabrefencer

Thanks @Thunder Goose

 

I emailed Richard hoping he can just ship the package in one shipment - if he does I'll go for it - not worth it for me to drive to Newark Airport twice. I hear you on traffic - I'm 45 minutes away and with traffic it can take 1.5 hours depending on the time of day - 

 

  • Like 2
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1 hour ago, sabrefencer said:

Thanks @Thunder Goose

 

I emailed Richard hoping he can just ship the package in one shipment - if he does I'll go for it - not worth it for me to drive to Newark Airport twice. I hear you on traffic - I'm 45 minutes away and with traffic it can take 1.5 hours depending on the time of day - 

 

Do you have another running tank that you can put "part two" in while "part one" cycles? This way the more sensitive life doesn't deal with an ammonia spike and such...

  • Like 1
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You could put a marinepure plate in your tank and dose ammonium cloride and MB7 to get your bacterial colonies up and then put your rock in. I did this with my KPA live rock order when I started my tank up and didn't have an ammonia spike (and they just ship the rock with newspaper). If you already have livestock in the aquarium it would be too late to dose ammonium cloride. 

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sabrefencer
4 hours ago, stellablue said:

Do you have another running tank that you can put "part two" in while "part one" cycles? This way the more sensitive life doesn't deal with an ammonia spike and such...

Thanks Stella Blue  and William 

 

yes I do have another running tank but that's my bubble algae and aiptasia infested tank - I eventually am just going to give away most of my live stock there and just keep a couple of nice pieces but I run the risk of bubble algae showing up in the new tank if I transfer any corals over and I don't want to put anything new in that tank and get it algae and aiptasia infected 

 

William I do have live stock in my IM tank just one clown and some corals- gsp and zooanthids, 1 blue leg hermit and a trumpet coral. Maybe I can take that out and put it another small tank while I implement your marine plate with ammonium chloride and MB7 suggestion. 

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4 minutes ago, sabrefencer said:

Thanks Stella Blue  and William 

 

yes I do have another running tank but that's my bubble algae and aiptasia infested tank - I eventually am just going to give away most of my live stock there and just keep a couple of nice pieces but I run the risk of bubble algae showing up in the new tank if I transfer any corals over and I don't want to put anything new in that tank and get it algae and aiptasia infected 

 

William I do have live stock in my IM tank just one clown and some corals- gsp and zooanthids, 1 blue leg hermit and a trumpet coral. Maybe I can take that out and put it another small tank while I implement your marine plate with ammonium chloride and MB7 suggestion. 

Yea you would need to do this as the ammonium chloride will kill most corals etc, I use the Dr. Tims ammonium chloride I got off amazon 

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  • 1 month later...

Hi there

Almost time for the contest end in FOUR DAYS!!

 

Please post some pictures and a final FTS whenever you get a chance along with your challenges and observations.

Any equipment feedback would be great too.

 

And a summary of livestock with prices

 

Thanks

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Wow I can't believe my last post was almost 2 months ago :lol: 

 

Well I can say keeping a little tank is a bit more challenging than a larger tank because of the margin for error - so much can go wrong  quickly but water changes are so much easier.

 

I maybe put only a couple of hours at best into this contest - and not much thought went into this tank as I would have liked - my two baseball teams , work, and tennis take up a large amount of my time. I knew this would be a formidable challenge.

 

Nonetheless I got to meet some awesome people at MACNA and got to know a little bit more about the personality of one of  my local forum members - that's you @metrokat. She's a great person. So that's a plus.

 

A few comments :

 

I will ditch the light - going to use the radion xr15w that I have 

the stock pump is horrible as everyone noted

I ran into a bit of a problem with salinity because I was using some filter sponge I got at my local pet land discount - it was like a huge cotton ball and while it soaked up all loose particles it clogged up and left my auto top off refilling way too often 

I had to set the osmolator to nano mode - that also made my salinity swing  and due to my lack of effort I only did 2 water changes - but didn't see much growth from my trumpet coral at all - maybe it's the lights maybe it's the placement or my water quality or husbandry - probably that LOL. 

I'll continue to keep up with this tank - and will definitely use an intank media basket - and ditch the nano media reactor. 

 

There are a lot of things to finish up with the tank - install a DJ power outlet - actually think of a cool aquascape and add some more critters. 

 

I was using dr tim's waste away bacteria - seemed to work but tough to tell. Also need to test the water and look at dosing two part - I have a spectra pure liter meter I could put to use.

 

Overall it was an enjoyable experience and most importantly it was the relationships and people I've met that made it worthwhile. 

 

I wasn't in it to win it- have way too much competition on the baseball field and tennis courts - it's fun though and that's what counts.

 

 

 

 

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Changing it up a bit now that contest is over and I actually have a little time in between my baseball season  :lol: Transferred  a rock anemone and a bubble coral from my 30 breeder and added a bunch of snails a feather duster and some crabs

 

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  • Like 4
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Also changed out the light to an xr15w and am going to throw on an older mp10 although I may think of another option for the mp10 because of the exterior motor on a side panel. Also have to purchase another sicce 1.0 as I am having restart issues after my water change. I have to take the pump out of water and re seat the cover on for it to restart. 

 

Working on wire management found some Velcro straps at staples and wire looms and finally going to install a new DJ power strip.

 

Any suggestions on a powerhead ? I think I'm going to stick with the mp10 due to the battery backup option.

 

 

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  • Like 3
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