Jump to content
ReefCleaners.org

Fusion 20...March Update


TatorTaco

Recommended Posts

Could indeed be the Inkbird. I've heard a story or two about them going off the rails calibration-wise. I think that on balance they are a reliable quality product, but every once in awhile you get one that kind of does its own thing and it can be a bit of a harrowing experience.

 

Sorry to hear about all the temp troubles! Seems like your tank is looking awesome otherwise. Whatever problems you were having in the past with gorgonian extension must be totally resolved, because all your gorgs look beautiful!

Link to comment

Yeah, polyp extension is back to normal and they're all happy.  I  pulled a thermometer out of my office tank and I've already put it in my lunch box to ensure I bring it home tonight.  

 

While you're here @billygoat, I want to personally blame you for making me set up another tank.  I'm trying to source a pest anemone from the Indo-Pacific.  Because everyone tries to kill them on-site, it's proving to be a difficult venture.  If the anemone doesn't work out, I'm going the biotope route and try to copy you.  

  • Like 3
Link to comment
1 hour ago, TatorTaco said:

Yeah, polyp extension is back to normal and they're all happy.  I  pulled a thermometer out of my office tank and I've already put it in my lunch box to ensure I bring it home tonight.  

 

While you're here @billygoat, I want to personally blame you for making me set up another tank.  I'm trying to source a pest anemone from the Indo-Pacific.  Because everyone tries to kill them on-site, it's proving to be a difficult venture.  If the anemone doesn't work out, I'm going the biotope route and try to copy you.  

Can't say that I am in the business of discouraging people from starting biotope aquariums. 😉 I hope your pest tank idea works out, but in case it doesn't I would love to see what sort of biotope you come up with!

Link to comment
  • 1 month later...

Nothing special to report. Started going buckwild on gorgonians and then decided I had more than I wanted before I started buying more. Fragged the ones I already had for aesthetic or practical reasons (corky sea ginger was touching the water line, sea plume was growing into the front glass, the gorg in the back was a bit bigger than I really wanted). 

 

Im slowly increasing lights still at about 5% every week or two. I’m around 92% max intensity at the moment, as I try to get to the BRS AB+ schedule. 

 

I’ve been fooling around too much with powerhead placement after one of them went out on me. I’m considering picking up a second Sicce 1.5 and hoping I won’t need any powerheads in the tank. Created a different post about that to gather opinions but I never received any feedback on it. 

 

Posting pictures to reference coral growth. 

 

spacer.png

L9rYZQG.jpg

40tWzCy.jpg

 

F2Eqb6B.jpg

2CFy3oE.jpg

TxePa14.jpg

Fe0CnGk.jpg

pyQRUrb.jpg

eVpaMdV.jpg

 

  • Like 2
  • Wow 2
Link to comment

Hey. How do you like the sicce 1.5? I tecently purchased it and had it running for about a week now and it is loud to me. I bought it specifically for the “silence” but I hear no silence. Any thougts?

Link to comment
7 hours ago, Falcon789 said:

Hey. How do you like the sicce 1.5? I tecently purchased it and had it running for about a week now and it is loud to me. I bought it specifically for the “silence” but I hear no silence. Any thougts?

I’ve loved mine. If it’s still giving you trouble, I’d return it. 

Link to comment
  • TatorTaco changed the title to Fusion 20...Updated FTS (Nothing much going on)
  • 2 weeks later...

RIP Yasha Goby.

 

I have a screen net, but it appears my Yasha managed to still squeeze out. The super frustrating part is that he ended up in the rear chamber on top of some filter floss. If I hadn’t put so much floss in the tank, at least he’d have enough water flow to survive a day or two before I noticed.

 

He was my most expensive livestock purchase and I quite enjoyed him. I understand the hobby is expensive, but it still stings when I encounter a loss. I can’t imagine replacing him with a different type of fish (especially one that’d pair with my candycane pistol) so I suppose I’ll pinch my pennys and get another in a month or three. 

 

On on another debated note, I’m personally not a huge fan of powerheads and I think I could benefit from adding a 2nd one to the tank.  Instead, I ordered/received a Sicce 1.5 to pair with my existing Sicce 1.5. I hope that this will create sufficient random flow throughout the tank and I can ditch the powerhead. I forgot to order rubber tubing so I’ll pick some up later this week and hook it up over the coming weekend.  

 

I’m almost finished ramping my lights to the BRS AB+ schedule, and I’m finally getting growth out of my corals. That’s great news, but I fear that messing with my flow with the additional return pump is going to stall coral growth while they adjust. 

  • Like 1
  • Sad 2
Link to comment
  • TatorTaco changed the title to Fusion 20...RIP Yasha & Dual Sicce 1.5s planned.

I'm so sorry about your fish. Especially sucks since you were obviously trying to do everything right with having a lid and all! Thanks for sharing though. It makes me nervous because I have a similar mesh lid and little yasha. I would never have expected it to make it through! I haven't seen my yasha at all since I put it in though (except when I lifted out the big rock it's hiding under to make sure it was alive), so I guess I'm probably safe enough until it actually starts getting a little braver and exploring the tank. I'll start looking into other options!

  • Like 1
Link to comment

Oh no! Sorry to hear about the Yasha. They are such beautiful gobies too... and your poor pistol shrimp is probably wondering where his buddy has gone! 😞

 

Honestly though, you took the proper precautions; beyond that there is only so much you can do. Hopefully the next goby to take up residence will realize that in a nice tank like this there is a whole lot to live for!

Link to comment

Y’all are right. I might go with a Yellow Watchman Goby, but I don’t think they naturally pair up with a Candycane Pistol and I read that as YWG age they can sometimes turn into a grey color, which I’d like to avoid.  However, they’re 1/3rd of the price of a Yasha and they tend to grow larger. On one hand they may become too chunky to fit through the mesh if they try to jump, but my pistol might not create a big enough burrow for it either. 

Link to comment

I had a randalls goby with my with a candy cane no problem. I have seen many types of larger gobies with candy canes.

 

Sorry about the yasha. I lost two...my 3rd one seems to be doing fine. Expensive on the wallet.

 

BRS sells 1/8 inch mess I believe as well so you could try replacing the 1/4 stuff.

  • Thanks 1
Link to comment

Update: spent waaay too much at my LFS.  Picked up 2 new RFAs, a new Yasha Goby, and misc stuff like salt, Rod's Food and a few items for another tank. The Yasha hid on the wrong side of the tank, but I'm optimistic he'll find his new pal. 

 

Installed an additional Sicce 1.5 and HOLY crap that was a disaster. They fit, but it's simply too much flow in this tank - even paired with 2 Spin Streams which reduce the flow. I had to fill up enough water in the rear chamber to keep the return pumps from pulling air.  When the pumps are off, the tank floods.  When the pumps are running, the water level reaches almost a 1/16" from spilling out the front of the tank.  I really wanted to eliminate the need for a powerhead, but I just can't see how that's feasible. Maybe if I ran a pair of Sicce 1.0s? It was apparent that while Spin Streams and RFGs disperse the flow, it only covers the front 50% of the tank and I get no flow in the back 50% of the tank. 

 

Maybe this isn't worth the headache and I'll just deal with it? I do need a solution on how to get more flow in the back/left of the tank for my toadstool coral though. 

Link to comment
  • TatorTaco changed the title to Fusion 20...Dual Sicce 1.5s was a bad idea.

I know some of the smaller nano-sicc pumps are flow-adjustable by spinning the inlet at the base, you could also consider trying out a DIY pvc spray-bar which would help deal with allot of the excess energy from either pump through dispersion and just by forcing a larger-effective head-height (added benefit is of course the more evenly-dispersed flow which you could aim at the back of your tank).

Link to comment
50 minutes ago, TatorTaco said:

Update: spent waaay too much at my LFS.  Picked up 2 new RFAs, a new Yasha Goby, and misc stuff like salt, Rod's Food and a few items for another tank. The Yasha hid on the wrong side of the tank, but I'm optimistic he'll find his new pal. 

 

Installed an additional Sicce 1.5 and HOLY crap that was a disaster. They fit, but it's simply too much flow in this tank - even paired with 2 Spin Streams which reduce the flow. I had to fill up enough water in the rear chamber to keep the return pumps from pulling air.  When the pumps are off, the tank floods.  When the pumps are running, the water level reaches almost a 1/16" from spilling out the front of the tank.  I really wanted to eliminate the need for a powerhead, but I just can't see how that's feasible. Maybe if I ran a pair of Sicce 1.0s? It was apparent that while Spin Streams and RFGs disperse the flow, it only covers the front 50% of the tank and I get no flow in the back 50% of the tank. 

 

Maybe this isn't worth the headache and I'll just deal with it? I do need a solution on how to get more flow in the back/left of the tank for my toadstool coral though. 

Get one of those!! I have one for my IM lagoon 25g and love it!! It's the size of an egg! Easy enough to hide and super quiet! And really powerful! I run mine at 30% or so. 

https://www.marinedepot.com/wavelink-dc-flow-pump-1500-gph-auqa-gadget-desktop-innovative-marine

 

I have 2 return pumps (the stock one and one Aqeon 1200) and the wavemaker.

Link to comment

I don’t see my new Yasha much compared to the previous fella who happily lounged around the several caves the candy cane pistol made. However, this guy will swim all around the tank when it comes to feeding, which is nice. 

 

I’ve defaulted back to the single Sicce 1.5 + spinstreams in tandem with the OW-10. 

 

I also ordered quite a few zoa frags that should deliver on Thursday plus a frag rack (Innovative Marine N32) to clean up the sandbed. I’ve never bought a frag rack before but I’m optimistic it’ll fit and be unobtrusive.  Compared to other Fusion 20s I’ve seen, I have quite a bit of liverock so I hope it’ll fit. 

Link to comment
  • 2 weeks later...

Rented a PAR meter through BRS. Pretty straight forward to use.

 

I will admit I couldn’t figure out how to use it out of the box, just to learn their was a rubber protection cover over the lenses. Oops!

 

Running 2 AI Prime HDs on the BRS AB+ program. 

D78E0427-7ABF-45DF-A16A-AF047E14F43E.jpeg

F14311B0-D94E-416C-A660-E20184E54156.jpeg

93F6F39A-45F9-4708-B991-CF0C6E2ED8E3.jpeg

B8AF59F0-1787-4613-9D1D-3C2D547E12B7.png

 

Other than my Duncan being blasted (directly under the light), I suppose everything else is pretty normal.  I'm not sure if I'll get any more growth out of the duncan though.  😞

  • Like 3
Link to comment
  • TatorTaco changed the title to Fusion 20...PAR Measurements Taken

I know what you mean about the spinstreams, by themselves, leaving the back half with hardly any flow. But I dont like the detritus spot a powerhead leaves underneath it. And the side with the powerhead gets the most algae. 🤷‍♂️ Thats some crazy bold coralline youve got going on!

Link to comment

Cool to see your PAR results! I've been meaning to do this. I have 2 AI Primes over my 20 as well, though it's the peninsula. How far are the lights from your water surface?

Link to comment
4 hours ago, lizzyann said:

Cool to see your PAR results! I've been meaning to do this. I have 2 AI Primes over my 20 as well, though it's the peninsula. How far are the lights from your water surface?

Just measured and they’re 7.5” from the bottom of the puck to the top of the water line. 

  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
  • 2 months later...
On 1/22/2019 at 9:07 AM, TatorTaco said:

I decided I wanted Gorgonians, so I ordered through KP Aquatics.  I didn't think that order through very well.  While I made a point to get photosynthetic ones, I didn't consider where they'd go.  

Those are awesome!

 

What's the lil guy up front?  You remember? 

Link to comment
  • TatorTaco changed the title to Fusion 20...Rebuilding after a tank crash

Uploaded a picture of the tank in it's prime from a few weeks ago.  I got lazy and didn't dip a frag which introduced planaria (flatworms).  I thought I had excess flake food building up until I noticed that the it was worms and not food.  I dosed to kill the worms but didn't follow the instructions exactly (didn't take my time slowly siphoning them out until their numbers were low enough to dose). I'm not sure what died after the flatworms, but an ammonia spike followed and long story short, my brittle stars died, then most of the bristle worms, and a LOT of corals plus my 2 clowns, yasha goby, and my pistol shrimp. 

 

I reduced my lighting in an attempt to not kill off what hasn't died off.  I'm not sure if that's a good idea or not though. 

 

I've still got a few mini zoa colonies hanging in there and my duncan corals are beginning to rebound. I think I'm almost over the hump here, but I do need to dose one more time to finish off the planaria this weekend.  Thankfully, their quantities are very small.  After that, I'm back to restocking.  I'm thinking about designer clowns this time, so if you have a favorite pair, I'd welcome the suggestion.  I'm also considering a rainbow bta, but not at the risk of it continually splitting, so I think a torch coral might work out nicely. fish.thumb.jpg.e69e80dfa52fd84fc02628296d7223cf.jpg

  • Like 1
  • Sad 1
  • Wow 1
Link to comment

Hey @TatorTaco! I was wondering where you disappeared to! Glad to see you're back around, even though you come bearing dreadful news. Flatworms! That's something no aquarist wants to deal with... I'm really glad to hear that this ordeal has not quenched your passion for reefing though. After the tank restocks and recovers from the crash, I'm sure things will be even more beautiful than before. 👍 Welcome back! 😁

  • Thanks 1
Link to comment

My employer was bought out by a competitor so that’s kept me off NR. I actually have to be productive at work now and have to be more discreet online. How messed up is that?  LOL. 
 

I definitely plan on being more active but with my own tanks and here too. 
 

I’m glad to see you’re still here and the tank is up and running. 

  • Like 2
Link to comment
  • 4 weeks later...

Tank is rebounding, but so are my planaria worms.  I did a water change on Saturday and then noticed them on Sunday.  So...I dosed the tank again, then performed another water change.  I noticed that I had a small herd of hermits climbing on top of each other in the top corner of my tank before I left for work this morning, but I still had other hermits doing hermit crabs stuff on the sand bed and on the rocks.  Not sure if that's the norm or an anomaly.  

 

I'm so "done" with these worms.  Maybe I'll just stop dosing to kill them off and try to live with them?  

 

I picked up a pair of Black Ice Snowflake clowns at the end of January that seem to be quite happy.  I've also picked up a 2 headed acan frag which I'm excited about, and a RBTA which I'm fairly sure I'll return sooner than later.  RBTAs look so pretty much I think they're just too much of a headache for me.  

  • Like 2
Link to comment
  • TatorTaco changed the title to Fusion 20...March Update

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

  • Recommended Discussions

×
×
  • Create New...