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Cultivated Reef

Kimber's Contest Pico - The End of Bad Crab


kimberbee

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I hope your foot is feeling better & you've been able to get outside for some sun boosters!

 

I like how your tank & rock scape are looking!!!

Also, your husband is very sweet for making the equipment box (;

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5 hours ago, Wendy said:

I hope your foot is feeling better & you've been able to get outside for some sun boosters!

 

I like how your tank & rock scape are looking!!!

Also, your husband is very sweet for making the equipment box (;

Thanks!! My foot is feeling better!! Just in time for me to jack up my back this past weekend!!

 

🤦‍♀️

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1 hour ago, kimberbee said:

Thanks!! My foot is feeling better!! Just in time for me to jack up my back this past weekend!!

 

🤦‍♀️

Damn girl...you almost as big of a wreck as I’ve been lately.

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8 hours ago, kimberbee said:

Thanks!! My foot is feeling better!! Just in time for me to jack up my back this past weekend!!

 

🤦‍♀️

Sounds like you are having awful luck, take care of yourself

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Finally got a lid made! I was having an awful time trying to find something premade. This is really just a mock up and I'll be fixing it to look a bit nicer soon. 

 

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This guy is extra salty
1 hour ago, kimberbee said:

Finally got a lid made! I was having an awful time trying to find something premade. This is really just a mock up and I'll be fixing it to look a bit nicer soon. 

 

I like it

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  • 4 weeks later...

Well looky here, another contest that I've sort of left fall to the back burner... 

 

June has been a little busy around here: the little one not only started to crawl, but has also started to climb up on things, stand, and move around the room shimmying along the furniture! Yikes! Mama doesn't get a break! My two main tanks have taken priority (of course) so there's not much time left in the day to care for the mini tank. 

 

The GOOD NEWS is that with the new lid, top offs don't have to be daily. In fact, if the tank sits for a week salinity only goes from 1.025 to 1.027. 

 

The BAD NEWS is that the tank will get put even further down the list of priorities, as our week-long cruise vacation is in fact turning into a 12-day adventure. Our house sitter's to do list is unfortunately rather long - have to feed the dog, feed the cat, let the dog in/out, scoop the litter box, water the hanging baskets in the front, water the garden in the back, check on the pool, take out the trash, check my two aquariums... So when it came time to add any real livestock to the contest tank, I hesitated. 

 

For now, the tank has been very easy to maintain - top off once a week and drop in a few pellets for the snails, asterina stars, and half a dozen bristle worms. Water changes, so far, have only been once a month. Adding any coral or livestock at this point will upset the balance, even just slightly, and will make more work for the house sitter. At this point, he doesn't have to even blink at the tank and if anything goes wrong, he can unplug the whole thing and likely it will all survive. So, it'll remain in this state (#longestcycleever) till after our vacation and I'll use September and October as a final mad rush to get it in tip top shape to beat out the competition!! 

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  • 3 weeks later...
  • 1 month later...

Aug 31 FTS:

20190831_140837.thumb.jpg.97134e9cc1cc6178b09231ea7994f163.jpg

 

Well itty bitty tank did just fine during our vacation... and the couple weeks to follow. I cleaned it up right before we left and then pretty much didn't touch it for a whole month. I did drop in pellets for the bristle worms and starfish, and topped off a little here and there. 

 

It was nice to come home to some color on the rocks!!

 

But I have a little bit of a new dilemma... I seem to be losing saltwater, or have salt creep somewhere. My salinity should be going up with evaporation but it doesn't seem to be. 

 

I left the tank filled a touch higher than normal and at a salinity of 1.027. A month has gone by and the salinity is at 1.025, but the water level is about 1/2 an inch lower than "normal". 🤔

 

The only think I can think is that there's more saltwater splashing onto the underside of the lid than I realize. 

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13 hours ago, Wonderboy said:

Good news  :] 

Very strange with the salt dropping... there should definitely be some visible creep I would think - refractometer may need calibration?

Everything is all good and normal when I test my ro/di water and the other tanks. 🤷‍♀️

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I collected the "condensation" on my lid to test it's salinity. It was 1.001- which doesn't seem too off to me.

 

I really expected it to have a high salinity which would explain why my tank has been losing water but maintaining salinity. If it was splashed water and not actually condensation, that would explain things. looked everywhere around the tank and can't find any salt creep so I'm baffled. 

 

Salinity is testing at 1.027 for the tank water and it's about half an inch lower than normal. I'm going to get the level back up to normal and see where the salinity is at. 

 

😕

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Over the course of an hour:

 

Added 2.5 cups of ro/di

Raised water level 3/8 inch

Lowered salinity to 1.024 (0.002 difference from start)

 

Now we'll see what happens in 24 hours. And then I'll track it over the course of a week.

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Looks like I got my answer...

 

24 hours later:

Salinity = 1.025

Added 1/4 cup water back to "normal" level

New salinity = 1.025

 

I took the lid off, held it over a large tray, and tried to pour/shake as much of the condensation off as I could. That water reads 1.005. 

 

I guess I do have some sort of splashback from the HOB. Not sure what to do next... 

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I wouldn't worry about it too much.  It should still be fairly easy to manually regulate specific gravity with top offs (of either pure water, or of saltwater).

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7 minutes ago, seabass said:

I wouldn't worry about it too much.  It should still be fairly easy to manually regulate specific gravity with top offs (of either pure water, or of saltwater).

The hope was that the tank would be self sufficient for at least a week at a time. Other than dropping in some pellets a few times a week. 

 

But actually, I'm *gaining* salinity, so now I'm even more confused. 

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5 minutes ago, kimberbee said:

I'm *gaining* salinity, so now I'm even more confused.

Obviously you won't be adding salt if just topping off with freshwater.  Specific gravity can be raised by dosing things like magnesium.  Could also be testing issues with a hydrometer or refractometer. :unsure:

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16 minutes ago, seabass said:

Obviously you won't be adding salt if just topping off with freshwater.  Specific gravity can be raised by dosing things like magnesium.  Could also be testing issues with a hydrometer or refractometer. :unsure:

 

I'll do the same testing again tomorrow,  just in case it's my eyes that are off... 

 

I double tested my other tanks and ro/di containers too. All are normal.

 

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16 minutes ago, seabass said:

Obviously you won't be adding salt if just topping off with freshwater.  Specific gravity can be raised by dosing things like magnesium.  Could also be testing issues with a hydrometer or refractometer. :unsure:

My salinity fluctuates with temp...and of course when I forget to recalibrate my refractomer/Hanna checker. 🤫

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14 minutes ago, SeaFurn said:

My salinity fluctuates with temp...and of course when I forget to recalibrate my refractomer/Hanna checker. 🤫

I suppose in a smaller tank that could be a possibility. I just want to make sure it's all stable by the weeekend so I can add some livestock. 

 

I suppose I should have been checking salinity this who time, but because bristle worms and snails seem to be fine, I figured they could handle it. I was only testing monthly with water changes. 

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So the tank swings between 1.026 and 1.022 on the daily. I'm pretty sure I figured out what's happening.

 

20190909_113325.thumb.jpg.62b9eeea3944bc24012ab66332bf44c5.jpg

 

First, water starts evaporating and I get a lot of condensation on the underside of the lid. 

 

Second, as the water level goes down, the waterfall from the HOB hits harder on the rock below, causing more saltwater splashing as the water level gets lower.

 

Third, as enough condensation and saltwater collects on the underside of the lid, it gets heavier/bigger droplets and rains back down into the tank. 

 

I'm sure I'm overthinking this a bit, but I am going to look into other lid options to help keep salinity more stable.

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2 minutes ago, kimberbee said:

So the tank swings between 1.026 and 1.022 on the daily.

That seems like a lot; even if what you are saying is true.  However, assuming that your hydrometer or refractometer is accurate, that's as good as explanation as anything.

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3 hours ago, seabass said:

That seems like a lot; even if what you are saying is true.  However, assuming that your hydrometer or refractometer is accurate, that's as good as explanation as anything.

I thought it seemed like quite a bit too. 

 

I cean it, dry it, and I check it against my other two tanks and my ro/di every time. If it's user error, I'm realling f-ing it up!!

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This guy is extra salty
On 9/9/2019 at 4:26 PM, kimberbee said:

So the tank swings between 1.026 and 1.022 on the daily. I'm pretty sure I figured out what's happening.

 

20190909_113325.thumb.jpg.62b9eeea3944bc24012ab66332bf44c5.jpg

 

First, water starts evaporating and I get a lot of condensation on the underside of the lid. 

 

Second, as the water level goes down, the waterfall from the HOB hits harder on the rock below, causing more saltwater splashing as the water level gets lower.

 

Third, as enough condensation and saltwater collects on the underside of the lid, it gets heavier/bigger droplets and rains back down into the tank. 

 

I'm sure I'm overthinking this a bit, but I am going to look into other lid options to help keep salinity more stable.

Best drawing ever!

why don’t you have an ATO?

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