12G Long Shallow Reef - Hong Kong

[cobra2326]

On 9/5/2017 at 5:26 AM, madtrax said:

Hi,

 

Talking about lights, I got my hand on a pre-loved Seneye Reef monitor on eBay. I was specially interested by the PAR monitor. My plate Montipora are currently getting 240~280 PAR with my lights down to ~25%. I wonder if they will be fine or if it's already too much. Would love to get some feedbacks.

 

Also, I have noticed that Seneye has given some code related to the USB driver of their device so I decided to play around and see if I could connect it to an Raspberry Pi in order to monitor pH, Amonia and Temperature remotely. Turned out to work pretty well, I developed a quick software that runs on a Raspberry Pi which publish metrics on a simple database that a custom webpage is using to display them. That allows me to get alerts and monitor the temperature when I am not home. In addition, I use it as a standalone PAR monitor when plugged with an small external LCD screen. (Note that my Arduino is also plugged to an 8 channel relay which allow me to control 8 different equipments remotely).

 

I will publish the code if anybody is interested btw.

 

Cheers,

 

 

 

Very cool tank build and nice work on the Raspberry Pi/Seneye. Have you shared this code on GitHub already? I was looking at their repository the other day and have been planning to do basically the same thing, but why re-invent the wheel if you've already done it  Maybe I can even send a pull request or two.

 

Also, FWIW, my Montipora capitata is in about 250 PAR on my seneye and is doing fine. Yours probably bleached from too much light. They can handle pretty low light, so maybe yours came from low light and you shocked it?

[madtrax]

On 12/23/2017 at 7:30 AM, cobra2326 said:

 

Very cool tank build and nice work on the Raspberry Pi/Seneye. Have you shared this code on GitHub already? I was looking at their repository the other day and have been planning to do basically the same thing, but why re-invent the wheel if you've already done it  Maybe I can even send a pull request or two.

 

Also, FWIW, my Montipora capitata is in about 250 PAR on my seneye and is doing fine. Yours probably bleached from too much light. They can handle pretty low light, so maybe yours came from low light and you shocked it?

Hey,

 

Of course, you can get the code here: https://github.com/madtrax/SeneyeJS - it's a very simple NodeJS library which basically read the binary output from the USB device, parse it and return a JSON structure with all the information. Note that you will need to have a slide already activated in the device. It's very simple and straightforward so it can be use by a multitude of different projects. PR more than welcome :-)

 

I agree regarding the montipora, probably too much light, but it has been recovering pretty well so far tho. It's still a quite brown but it's well alive and growing. I have also added a birdnest which is doing great. Also, for some reason, I have one another SPS that I added without much hope which is doing very well too.

 

I start to see a lot of coraline growing here and there so it's encouraging. On the other end, I still have this dark brown algae creeping on my rocks... that sucks.

 

Here are some pictures:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[YHSublime]

Looking good. Love the attention to small details, like hanging the lights, covering the power cords, and the re-scape, loving that middle rock. 

 

Also, stands not to shabby, good job!

 

got yourself a hippo tang in there, full grown it would end up filling your entire tank  

 

tagging along! 

 

 

[samnaz]

Nice!

[Scorched]

Awesome 12 gallon long dude!!

[kinetic]

You keep your glass so clean. Looks really nice!

[k4ndyk1ng]

Looks so good, any 2018 updates?

[madtrax]

Hello there,

 

I have been very busy lately and didn't have time to give any updates. 

 

On 12/30/2017 at 12:46 PM, YHSublime said:

Looking good. Love the attention to small details, like hanging the lights, covering the power cords, and the re-scape, loving that middle rock. 

 

Also, stands not to shabby, good job!

 

got yourself a hippo tang in there, full grown it would end up filling your entire tank  

 

tagging along! 

 

 

 

Thank you ! Indeed, I have a bristle tooth tang as well for some time now, he is getting some very nice colors but I am already considering finding him another home (he is also a bit of a bully...). He is about 2.5"/6cm 

 

On 12/30/2017 at 1:24 PM, samnaz said:

Nice!

Thanks !

On 12/30/2017 at 1:49 PM, Scorched said:

Awesome 12 gallon long dude!!

Seeing yours got me started actually, the level of details and craftsmanship behind it is quiet extraordinary. I think it's one of the most beautiful tank on this forum.

 

On 2/27/2018 at 5:19 AM, k4ndyk1ng said:

Looks so good, any 2018 updates?

Thanks. Quite a few indeed, I have done some re-scaping of the left island, the classic 'let me try to change that small rock...' which ends up in pure destruction. After couple of trials and error I am finally happy about it.

 

I started to dose more seriously now, I have switched to the Red Sea test kit which makes testing much more enjoyable (and fast) than the Salifert. I have been using the Two Little Fishes AB bottles but I can't find it anymore in Hong Kong so I will be switching to the Colombo products (http://www.colombo.nl/index.html). I bought the Ca/Alk/Mg and will be starting with that in few weeks. I am fairly confident, looks like great product.

 

The reason why I have been dosing more seriously it's because I am starting to go towards more SPS. I have lost couple at the beginning but now it's getting better, not only they are getting some color back slowly but some a really growing crazy.

 

Some random pictures:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And finally, a FTS,  we  can't see much but you can see the left island which is now smaller/lighter which makes the whole tank more balanced.

 

 

One thing I forgot as well, I added a small DIY Chaeto reactor (for ze fun_) which is doing pretty good !

 

 

[NanoAaron]

Wow wow wow! This build is so cool- thanks for sharing! How come you’re thinking of dosing on a 12 gal tank? Don’t water changes do enough or are you not performing weekly water changes? Can you post a pic of your sump? What do you have for flow? Don’t see a power head so u just using the flow from return pump?

 

sorry for all the questions but the build is so interesting!

[madtrax]

19 minutes ago, NanoAaron said:

Wow wow wow! This build is so cool- thanks for sharing! How come you’re thinking of dosing on a 12 gal tank? Don’t water changes do enough or are you not performing weekly water changes? Can you post a pic of your sump? What do you have for flow? Don’t see a power head so u just using the flow from return pump?

 

sorry for all the questions but the build is so interesting!

I've got to admit it might be an overkill... now you are making me doubt lol. Honestly, it's also because it's fun to play around and, who knows, if one day it's packed with SPS (- lying to myself right here -) it could make my life easier. I used to change 18L/4.6g of water every week but I do every two weeks now, for some reason corals seems to like it better this way (and me as well).

 

Below is a quick picture of the sump I took just now. Pretty straight forward, the skimmer is a BM Curve A5, a block of marine pure and the DIY chaeto reactor. I don't use any filter socks/pad (I stopped). The doser is a BM-T11 (https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/bm-t11-dosing-pump.html) which I bought straight from China for ~100usd. I also have a bag of Chemipure that I change every few months when I don't forget.

 

On the left side, you can see the Seneye Reef monitor which is plugged to a raspberry displaying temperature/pH/nH to a small LCD sitting on my desk. 

 

I do have a small Jebao SW-2 powerhead hidden behind the left island for the flow, it does make a 'strong' wave. At the beginning I was hopping the return pump would give me enough flow but not at all. The fact that part of my return is in flexible tubbing, which are probably absorbing part of the power variation, might play a role.

 

[NanoAaron]

very cool man- thanks for sharing! I am working up courage to turn my cheap reactor into a chaeto reactor but im too worried about the plastic tube overheating from the LED's!

 

Keep the updates coming though. Really like your setup and all the work you've put into it. 

[YHSublime]

Dat nem tho'!

[k4ndyk1ng]

It is looking amazing man, let us know if you decide to go with the dosing.

[Kdrof]

Looks amazing. Love the attention to detail. Following along

[tanacharison]

Love everything, such a clean set up! Its crazy seeing a doser mounted on the side. 

[madtrax]

Thank you all for your nice comments.

 

Some updates.

 

Fighting Lobophora algae

 

For quite some time now, I had Lobophora algae covering my rocks which really bothered me. It became worst and worst lately covering most of the central island, I then decided to really fix this problem. After reading many things online, I concluded that the only real solution was a Naso Tang and, with less efficiency, a tuxedo urchin.

 

As my bristle tooth tang started to be too big for my tank, I went to my LFS to give it back and... exchanged it for a small Naso Tang (~3") which I am hosting temporary (which trust me, is way better that letting it die at the LFS). It went straight away for the algae and has been at it since then which is really great. It's getting healthier by the day too and I can see the rocks again, hallelujah. Fortunately it's very peaceful and get along with all the other inhabitants.

 

Anyways, I doubt I will ever be able to get rid of this algae completely, it's a really pain in the *** (the Naso Tang does a good job but it's not perfectly clean). Hopefully, after the Naso Tang get rid of the majority of it, I would be able to keep it controlled when I give it back to my LFS.

 

Found some Mangroves

 

Finally, I was scuba diving last weekend and found some Mangroves that were floating around (about 7 seedlings). I have been looking for Mangroves for quite some time so hopefully they will survive in my tank (doubtful, let's be honest). My ultimate goal is to add them in the display tank on the left island. I am building a small rig that will be attached on the side of my AI Hydra to hang a freshwater LED light discretely.

 

Corals colours still  ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 

 

Corals look healthy and are growing but colours are still very brownish, it's very slowly getting better. I am considering dosing some trace elements and co. to help things out but I don't really know what product to use or if it will even be effective. I believe trying to keep everything as stable as possible would be more beneficial than messing around.

[madtrax]

Hey,

 

I had my first (planned) power outage. I had time to prepare and bought a small battery to keep the Vectra M1 and a fan to cool down the tank for few hours. I also built a small rig to easily plug everything and monitor the current and voltage. It was interesting to see how much current the different equipments required. 

 

 

As I said last time, I found some mangroves and got a decent survival rate. I finally started to see leaves coming out on one of them (the other are waiting by the window).

I built a small mount out of a coat hanger to attach a small Zetlight LED for plant grow which attaches very will on my AI Hydra (You honestly can't tell it was a coat hanger :-D)

 

 

Originally, the mount was flush with the AI Hydra, which was pretty neat as as you could barely see the Zetlight LED but it was a bit close from the mangroves. 

 

[Christopher Marks]

Very clever solution to light the mangroves, it looks nice too! I wonder if you'll see any extra algae growth on that rock with the supplemental light, are you still fighting the lobophora algae these days?

 

How has everything else in the tank been this summer? I'd love to see the whole reef! ☺️

[madtrax]

12 hours ago, Christopher Marks said:

Very clever solution to light the mangroves, it looks nice too! I wonder if you'll see any extra algae growth on that rock with the supplemental light, are you still fighting the lobophora algae these days?

 

How has everything else in the tank been this summer? I'd love to see the whole reef! ☺️

Thanks ! And yes, I am still fighting the lobophora, I think it's an endless battle. The Naso Tang helped me a lot but it wasn't happy in my tank and was too big. I haven't found any other solutions so far... I am still looking for small Naso Tang when I tour the fish stores in Hong Kong (there is one long street full of LFS one after the other) but they are always way too large. 

 

The advantage of dealing with nano is that I literally remove rocks out of the tank to clean them up sometime.

 

I was about to take a full tank picture and....once again I had one of the AI Hydra 26HD dying on me! It happened when I switched the lights to 100% (doing "All on" in the app). I am super disappointed to be honest, these lights are very expensive and yet so unreliable. In addition, I bought them on Amazon in US a year ago so I am pretty sure the customer service will give me a hard time. I tested the light with a multimeter and there is indeed a short so I am pretty sure the motherboard burnt out. I sent them a message to see if I could buy just this part, let's see.

 

That made me do some research on T5 lighting which make me wants to build my own fixture. I am pretty sure I can build something pretty cool for a very decent amount of money by ordering stuff straight from China and building my own controller. My only concern is that, if I want something a bit stylish (aka something which doesn't look bulky), I will have hard time to fit 4 T5HO bulbs.

 

When I started to look for parts, I had in mind to do a simple 2 or 3 bulbs fixture (as a reminder my tank is 25cm wide and 25cm depth - 2 inches - so I was thinking of building a 20cm wide fixture) so I started to get serious about it. Then, I've read online that 2 bulbs may not be enough for SPS (which is what my tank is mainly filled of now) soI am doubting. Too bad, sounded like a fun project (and very easy to repair/replace/upgrade in comparison with LED)

[YHSublime]

I have the bigger version of this tank, the 22 long. I went with a 4 bulb ATI (4x39w) and it was most excellent, covered every inch of the tank, unfortunately, my tank is in a small space, that holds heat very well, and doesn't cool nicely. I swapped to LED's. 

[madtrax]

9 hours ago, YHSublime said:

I have the bigger version of this tank, the 22 long. I went with a 4 bulb ATI (4x39w) and it was most excellent, covered every inch of the tank, unfortunately, my tank is in a small space, that holds heat very well, and doesn't cool nicely. I swapped to LED's. 

Yes, that's another good point too, the heat. It's very hot and humid the majority of the year in Hong Kong so adding extra heat is something I try to avoid as much as possible. If my chiller dies, I can say goodbye to the tank within few hours.

 

Honestly, I was thinking of building an appliance with some fans hoping I could keep the bulbs relatively cool (and to factor that, also go with only 3 bulbs) but maybe it's a bit naive. What appliance were you using ?

 

AquaIllumination support replied today, telling me to contact them again when in US (as expected...). Fortunately I will be in US for a week mid-september but only for a week, I asked them if I can simply buy the broken part, let's see.

 

[madtrax]

I was looking at Drew's lagoon tank as it just got featured on Marine Depot - Do you see the lights ? One Hydra 26HD with 2xT5HO bulbs on the side, looks pretty neat ! 

Maybe I will try something similar, even though I am not really sure it brings much...

 

 

 

[OrangeChicken__]

Awesome tank!! 👍

[YHSublime]

On 8/29/2018 at 10:35 PM, madtrax said:

Honestly, I was thinking of building an appliance with some fans hoping I could keep the bulbs relatively cool (and to factor that, also go with only 3 bulbs) but maybe it's a bit naive. What appliance were you using ?

 

It's a 36" MakersLED for the heatsink. The LED's are listed below. It's powered by a StormX controller. 

 

87 (3W) LED's. 

10 Royal blue Cree 1000mA
5 Neutral White Cree 1000mA
2 405nm violet Exotic brand 750mA
2 430nm violet Exotic brand 750mA
4 Cool blue Cree 750mA
3 660nm deep red Exotic brand 750mA
3 cyan Exotic brand 750mA

4092 Channels. It's overkill, I only run it at 50%, but it's 10x quieter, and doesn't take up half the electric and put out any comparable heat. 

 

Quote

 

[skyscraper2290]

Awesome tank!