8G Bio Reef

[MortalWombat]

The tank is still doing it's thing. I've started feeding Rod's food, which the coral and fish love! 

 

 

[MortalWombat]

I've started dosing a 1/2 teaspoon of kalk to the ATO water to get better growth out of the halimeda in the tank. This little tank grows coralline algae like crazy, I scraped a bunch off yesterday into a small cup and seeded my larger tank (that has much sparser coralline growth) with it. 

 

 

[Christopher Marks]

Looking good @MortalWombat! I love all the halimeda in your system, it looks like such a natural reef.

 

How about a fresh FTS? 😄 

[MortalWombat]

Thanks, I do to! The halimeda was a happy accident, it just started randomly growing out of a piece of liverock I'd owned for years. It wasn't a recent hitchhiker, so I think it had always been in the rock, but was being trimmed down by something in the tank. 

 

I'll get an FTS up this evening, I just did my monthly 50% wc and scraped a bunch of the coralline off of the glass, so everything is a little stressed. 

[MortalWombat]

I tried editing out some of the windex blue using the snapseed app: 

 

 

 

[MortalWombat]

 

[Christopher Marks]

Better color on those shots @MortalWombat, nice! It can be difficult to combat the blue hues of reef aquarium lighting, the trick is to edit the White Balance. Try out that setting in Snapseed: https://support.google.com/snapseed/answer/7102927?hl=en

[MortalWombat]

10 minutes ago, Christopher Marks said:

Better color on those shots @MortalWombat, nice! It can be difficult to combat the blue hues of reef aquarium lighting, the trick is to edit the White Balance. Try out that setting in Snapseed: https://support.google.com/snapseed/answer/7102927?hl=en

Thanks! I'll give that a try for sure

[MortalWombat]

I've putting limewater (1tsp kalk per gallon) into my ATO. The idea was try to maximize the growth of the Halimeda. Not only do I like the way it looks, but on a little low maintenace tank like this I feel like it goes a long ways in terms of filtration. The halimeda definitely looks a lot greener and is growing like mad.

 

 

Edit: Also I pulled the little airstone skimmer off the system a couple weeks back, I felt like it was mostly just wasting electricity and making noise. The tank is suuuuper quiet now which is great because it's in my living room!

[MortalWombat]

 

[MortalWombat]

It's the day before I leave town for a month, I'm rushing around getting my house and tanks prepped and I notice the return pump isn't pumping. I take it out of the tank, inspect it, vinegar soak it, clean it off with a toothbrush -nothing. So fortunately I have a spare pump that I jury-rigged to work, and as I'm putting the lid back on, split one of the last little palstic pieces that keeps the lid on (insert forehead slap emoji). Looks like the tank might not have a lid on it for a while.... It's a good thing the pump went down today and not tomorrow. It's the original pump that came with the tank a few years back, so I'm not surprised it quit on me. 

[Christopher Marks]

Whoa, that's a lucky break! (pun intended, thank you very much 🤗) 

 

Glad you were able to catch it. Do you have a reliable ATO system, or a big enough reservoir, since the evaporation will increase without the lid? Maybe you can hack together a fix with some chip clips on the sides of the lid, so it will rest close to the surface? Something like that.

[MortalWombat]

Yeah that's a good idea about the lid. I've rigged up a 5 gal reservoir for the limewater (normally 1 gallon will last about a week with the lid), and I will have a spare gallon in the stand -so fingers crossed thats enough. I have an auto aqua which has always worked excellently for me. I think I've had the same aTO for five years now. Honestly, with the problems the tank has, I think it will be easier/ cheaper just to buy a Nuvo 10 when I get back. 

[MortalWombat]

Thanks for the clip idea @Christopher Marks. Here are some shots of the improvised return pump etc. My flight will actually be this afternoon.

 

 

 

 

 

I've always enjoyed this little tank, but I think it may be time for an upgrade with the way things have been going. I may end up relocating the livestock from this tank into my 65 gallon and take this build down. I have three home aquariums, and three client tanks, and I get a little burnt out on it sometimes. Trying to balance all of that with my regular career + family + other hobbies can be a bit much. That was one of the reasons my goal for this tank has always been low maintenance. 

 

[MortalWombat]

Well, the tank was left alone for a month (it was fed but nothing else) and I must say, I'm impressed! Aside from a thick layer of algae on the glass, everything else looks great. I'll post some pictures later today.

[specore]

Nice looking tank 👊

[Christopher Marks]

9 hours ago, MortalWombat said:

Well, the tank was left alone for a month (it was fed but nothing else) and I must say, I'm impressed! Aside from a thick layer of algae on the glass, everything else looks great. I'll post some pictures later today.

High five, glad it went well! How much ATO do you think was used up?

[MortalWombat]

On 7/27/2018 at 5:18 PM, Christopher Marks said:

High five, glad it went well! How much ATO do you think was used up?

Only about 2.5 gallons, over 24 days -which surprised me.

[MortalWombat]

 

 

 

 

The tank is in need of some cleaning/trimming, and is overdue for a water change, but otherwise seems to be doing okay. 

 

[DaveFason]

Looking good. Does the anemone always look that bright? 

 

-D

[MortalWombat]

1 hour ago, DaveFason said:

Looking good. Does the anemone always look that bright? 

 

-D

Thanks, yeah the anemone always looks pretty good. I'm running your LPS+ program on the light.

[Polarcollision]

Saw a pretty bubbletip at the LFS yesterday but held off worried it would roam. Yours looks like it stays put somewhere on the main column, is that true? Tank looks great, BTW. I like the grown-in natural look; reminds me of diving in Cozumel.

[MortalWombat]

39 minutes ago, Polarcollision said:

Saw a pretty bubbletip at the LFS yesterday but held off worried it would roam. Yours looks like it stays put somewhere on the main column, is that true? Tank looks great, BTW. I like the grown-in natural look; reminds me of diving in Cozumel.

Thank you! The nem has been in the same spot for over a year now I believe. 

 

The tank currently is a little too grown in, I need to go in and give it a trim. I've been holding off because I didn't have any salt mix for a water change, but I just ordered some tropic marin salt. I had some excellent results using this salt mix a few years ago, I'm excited to use it again.   

[MortalWombat]

 

 

[Christopher Marks]

Looks fantastic @MortalWombat! How has the damsel been doing?