Indiana Reefin Posted August 19, 2018 Share Posted August 19, 2018 Killer tank!! Man I bet that setup was pricey Quote Link to comment
specore Posted August 19, 2018 Share Posted August 19, 2018 On 8/18/2018 at 10:11 AM, Perthreefer said: Almost there now, another zoa colony and a birdsnest and I'll stop at the coral addition. I've said this more than once 😎 1 Quote Link to comment
Perthreefer Posted August 20, 2018 Author Share Posted August 20, 2018 22 hours ago, Indiana Reefin said: Killer tank!! Man I bet that setup was pricey It wasn't cheap mate, but the advantage I guess of selling a 150 gallon system to buy a 30 gallon is that you have a bit of cash to buy the higher end equipment, plus I've quickly found you're spending nowhere near as much on coral and fish!! 1 Quote Link to comment
Perthreefer Posted August 27, 2018 Author Share Posted August 27, 2018 Another little update and if anyone is using XR15s and has no idea of the PAR they kick out this might be of some interest. Using 2 Gen4 Pro's I'm getting the following PAR readings... 30% intensity... par30 by kenpau01, on Flickr 50% intensity... PAR50 by kenpau01, on Flickr and 75% intensity... par75 by kenpau01, on Flickr There are plenty of power in these lights, and by using 2 XR15s instead of one XR30 I have hopefully avoided too much shadowing in places where I don't want it. Water parameters are great at the moment so the proof will be in the coral growth I guess! 2 Quote Link to comment
Christopher Marks Posted October 9, 2018 Share Posted October 9, 2018 @Perthreefer, how has your nano reef been doing? Impressive setup! Quote Link to comment
Justind823 Posted October 9, 2018 Share Posted October 9, 2018 Wow great build! I'll be following along. Thanks for bumping this thread @Christopher Marks 1 Quote Link to comment
Perthreefer Posted November 10, 2018 Author Share Posted November 10, 2018 On 10/10/2018 at 4:45 AM, Christopher Marks said: @Perthreefer, how has your nano reef been doing? Impressive setup! On 10/10/2018 at 4:50 AM, Justind823 said: Wow great build! I'll be following along. Thanks for bumping this thread @Christopher Marks Thanks for the messages guys, sorry for the late reply, been so busy with work lately. The system has been going pretty well. Have had an issue with cyanobacteria recently as you can see from this shot... one by kenpau01, on Flickr It actually was a lot worse on the sand and syphoning it was allowing it to get into the water stream, it actually ended up taking over a piece of acropora and a chalice coral, killing them both. It started affecting the acropora stag that is in the shots and I was seeing RTN from the tips. This was frustrating me because reading up about it online, most people were saying this is likely caused by high alk, I have actually been struggling to keep alk above 7dkh and am actually dosing now to maintain around 7.2. Aside from that issue, the LPS and soft corals are taking off, the yellow tip torch in this shot has shown significant growth... five by kenpau01, on Flickr The zoanthids are also doing very well... four by kenpau01, on Flickr SPS has been a bit hit and miss, I mentioned the issues earlier, however my green acro is encrusting onto the rock the the birdnest is showing good growth too... six by kenpau01, on Flickr Probably the best growth I've seen has been from the star polyps, as usual once they take off they grow like a weed, I love the spot I have them in though as they show good movement at the front of the tank, the red goni in the shot is new so I will move it higher up once it has acclimatised to the lights... three by kenpau01, on Flickr Livestock other than coral is doing very well, my clam isn't growing too fast but seems very healthy which is hopefully a sign water quality is good... eight by kenpau01, on Flickr I am fully stocked now with 2 clownfish, a royal blenny, flame angel and blue/green chromis. I have multiple snails, a red stripe cleaner shrimp and an anemone crab which hosts the torch coral... seven by kenpau01, on Flickr You'll notice the cyanobacteria is gone, one treatment with chemiclean is all it took, absolutely amazing product, the water is crystal clear now. I'm actually going to make dosing it part of my monthly maintenance. If anyone is interested in the technical side of things, here is my lighting schedule with two Radion XR15 Gen4 pros... radion by kenpau01, on Flickr Thanks for your interest in my system!!! 3 Quote Link to comment
banasophia Posted November 10, 2018 Share Posted November 10, 2018 Wow, looks great! Thanks for the update. Your photos are nice, love the goniopora and GSP one. How are you photographing the fish so well? Quote Link to comment
Perthreefer Posted November 11, 2018 Author Share Posted November 11, 2018 7 hours ago, banasophia said: Wow, looks great! Thanks for the update. Your photos are nice, love the goniopora and GSP one. How are you photographing the fish so well? Thanks for the message! To be honest the most recent shots were quickly taken with a Samsung S8! I want to try and get a few really nice shots with my dslr but need a macro lens ideally. I guess it's maybe a little bit easier with nano reefs because the fish are in the shot half the time anyway! 1 Quote Link to comment
Perthreefer Posted November 12, 2018 Author Share Posted November 12, 2018 Few more photos from tonight, not the best time to do it as the light's were dimming to moonlighting. Unfortunately I only have prime lenses for my DSLR, really need to get a zoom lens for aquarium photography as I missed the focus slightly on a couple of shots... Red goniopora, sinularia leather, red blastomussa... DSC04149 by kenpau01, on Flickr Royal Blenny, gold tip torch... DSC04148 by kenpau01, on Flickr DSC04147 by kenpau01, on Flickr Red line cleaner shrimp, green acropora... DSC04151 by kenpau01, on Flickr Ocellaris clownfish, green star polyps... DSC04152 by kenpau01, on Flickr Flame angelfish, green star polyps... DSC04153 by kenpau01, on Flickr 2 Quote Link to comment
Perthreefer Posted April 13, 2019 Author Share Posted April 13, 2019 It's been a while but I thought I'd add a little update as to how the reef has been progressing. It's been a frustrating 6 months, I've started to see cyano and hair algae growing more and more despite my best efforts to combat it. I've tried GFO, carbon dosing, reducing lighting, reducing feeding, adding more flow, chemiclean, some of those things saw a slight improvement but the algae still persists. After doing a lot of reading over the last month I decided to take a very expensive gamble and buy an algae reactor. This is the system I was running before today, oversized deltec skimmer which pulls heaps out of the tank, a GFO reactor running Rowaphos, I was also carbon dosing using Aquaforest products. 20190413_054040821_iOS by kenpau01, on Flickr 20190413_054101894_iOS by kenpau01, on Flickr I was also running activated carbon and zeolite stones in my fixed reactors. 20190413_054107069_iOS by kenpau01, on Flickr This is the outcome: Cyano and hair algae, the two acropora at the top of the first shot are very pale. Excuse the bad photos, my iPhone doesn't like the LED's! 20190413_055343833_iOS by kenpau01, on Flickr 20190413_055355325_iOS by kenpau01, on Flickr 20190413_055407041_iOS by kenpau01, on Flickr 20190413_055414618_iOS by kenpau01, on Flickr So, the GFO reactor is gone, carbon dosing is gone and the zeolite stones are gone. I am running activated carbon in both fixed reactors and this awesome piece of kit... 20190413_072940820_iOS by kenpau01, on Flickr 20190413_073634194_iOS by kenpau01, on Flickr First impressions are very good, the build quality is excellent, you'd expect that for the financial outlay though. The proof will be in the algae growth, hopefully in the reactor and not in the display! 1 Quote Link to comment
Perthreefer Posted September 20, 2019 Author Share Posted September 20, 2019 I thought I'd post a little update as a few things have happened since my last post. After removing the GFO from my system and adding the algae reactor my algae situation got worse, it got to the point where I would spend about 2 hours every weekend trying to remove hair algae off the rocks and there was no sign of improvement, it actually got to the point where I was completely lost for ideas for the first time in about 15 years of reefkeeping. I visited my LFS to buy saltwater one day and was talking to a friend that worked there about my algae issues, he recommended this product: 51GliYvoWaL._SY355_ by kenpau01, on Flickr So I took my algae reactor offline and started to dose the Algaefix. Well in all my years of reefkeeping this is probably the most incredible product I ever dosed, within 3 weeks all algae was gone and with no negative effects to my coral or livestock. Once the algae was gone I put my reactor back online and in the last two months there has been no return of the hair algae, I'm actually having trouble raising my nitrates to the desired level now so have a couple more fish in QT waiting to be added. I'm definitely seeing improved growth from my corals now and a huge increase in coraline algae too. This is the way the tank looks this week: reef1 by kenpau01, on Flickr reef2 by kenpau01, on Flickr Fingers crossed the new fish additions don't upset the balance but I would like to raise nitrates to enhance coral colouration so I'll see how it goes. 4 1 Quote Link to comment
sadie Posted September 20, 2019 Share Posted September 20, 2019 wow, that's good to know. Sweet tank and nice pictures. 1 Quote Link to comment
Christopher Marks Posted September 22, 2019 Share Posted September 22, 2019 Beautiful update @Perthreefer! I'm glad to hear your found a solution for the hair algae and got things back on track. Do you think low nutrients was the catalyst for the problem? I really like your aquascape concept, do you have a recent overhead shot? Quote Link to comment
Perthreefer Posted September 23, 2019 Author Share Posted September 23, 2019 14 hours ago, Christopher Marks said: Beautiful update @Perthreefer! I'm glad to hear your found a solution for the hair algae and got things back on track. Do you think low nutrients was the catalyst for the problem? I really like your aquascape concept, do you have a recent overhead shot? Thanks Chris, yeah it was a testing time with the algae but it does seem to have cleared now. I'm not sure what the cause was to be honest. Whether it was phosphates leaching out of the rock or a nutrient imbalance. I did carbon dose for a while, first with vodka and then with Aquaforest products, I think I was a bit impatient and because of that caused my immature system to lose balance. Now there's no dosing other than the usual Calcium, Alk and Mag products. Thanks for the aquascape comment, I tried to maximise the room I had with a mixed LPS/SPS reef in mind, I've probably got room for one more piece of millipora and maybe a plating montipora but I want to let it grow out, it takes a while with LEDs that's the only negative. Here's a shot taken tonight, my iPhone doesn't take shots that well with the LEDs unfortunately: reef3 by kenpau01, on Flickr 1 Quote Link to comment
YzF Posted September 23, 2019 Share Posted September 23, 2019 Wow.. the tank build is NICE! 1 Quote Link to comment
Perthreefer Posted September 23, 2019 Author Share Posted September 23, 2019 37 minutes ago, YzF said: Wow.. the tank build is NICE! Thanks mate, just got to play the waiting game now and let it all grow out! 1 Quote Link to comment
Christopher Marks Posted September 23, 2019 Share Posted September 23, 2019 Thanks for the overhead shot, it's perfect with the open center! I just noticed the bar of cooling fans too, are those set on a thermostat to only run part time? I'm in a hot dry climate too, my pico reef just got through its first summer with a simple desktop fan on a thermostat. 1 Quote Link to comment
Perthreefer Posted September 23, 2019 Author Share Posted September 23, 2019 6 hours ago, Christopher Marks said: Thanks for the overhead shot, it's perfect with the open center! I just noticed the bar of cooling fans too, are those set on a thermostat to only run part time? I'm in a hot dry climate too, my pico reef just got through its first summer with a simple desktop fan on a thermostat. I like the open centre, I do have active swimming fish so needed a bit of open water in the centre of the tank to encourage them to be on display. I originally had a chiller but it was massive overkill for my size system. I thought I’d try a $70 fan and it works perfectly, I’d rather not have it on the side of the tank but it comes off easily during winter. it's connected to my Apex outlet so turns on automatically at 25.0C. 2 Quote Link to comment
Perthreefer Posted September 29, 2019 Author Share Posted September 29, 2019 Just a little update, I picked up a couple of corals to add to the tank, the first being a Tube coral which I've been reading about for a while but decided to finally give it a go. suncoral1 by kenpau01, on Flickr I also got an ultra green Podabacia which I couldn't find any information about at all really, I've placed it on an area of medium light and medium flow for now but if anyone has any experience with these it would be great to hear. Reef5 by kenpau01, on Flickr Apparently they are a plating coral similar to Montipora, so hopefully it grows out a bit like this Podabacia: 0312_C04_06 by kenpau01, on Flickr Have a couple more fish additions coming this week and then one more coral........it's always one more coral though! Reef6 by kenpau01, on Flickr Quote Link to comment
Perthreefer Posted October 4, 2019 Author Share Posted October 4, 2019 So I've made my last few purchases and the tank is finally full, I've been saying that for about 6 months now but I think I mean it this time! In an effort to raise nutrients in the tank I have added a couple more fish, those being a female Lyretail Anthias and a Springers Damsel, both seem to be settling in fine, although my Flame Angel is asserting it's dominance on the damsel which hopefully won't last too long. I've also added my last couple of pieces of coral which are a red montipora (for which I've been looking for a long time) and a purple Digitata which doesn't photograph well at all with my iPhone so I'll have to wait until that gets a bit bigger, or I get a better camera before I post a shot. Here's a few from today though: Lyretail Anthias and Springers Damsel 20191004_042123485_iOS by kenpau01, on Flickr New Red Montipora 20191004_035330159_iOS by kenpau01, on Flickr Ocellaris Clownfish with Green and Red Chalice 20191004_035041005_iOS by kenpau01, on Flickr Top shot: 20191004_042642855_iOS by kenpau01, on Flickr Full tank shot: 20191004_034558348_iOS by kenpau01, on Flickr Thanks for viewing 🙂 3 Quote Link to comment
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