RDA's 4.1 Pico

[Daniel92481]

Just a few pics to show off the new lifeguard aquatics crystal 4.1!

[The Rainy Day Aquarium]

@Daniel92481 I've noticed (at least with mine) that the strainer and the hole needs to be pretty clean for it to fit, even then it can be tight. 

 

For starting a journal you can go to the plus symbol at the top of the site and click on "start new forum discussion" and there should be a drop down menu with "Pico reef journals" 

 

Dang a Kessil A360x on a 4 gallon 😂  I do like your rock scape though. Simple is best as these small tanks can get busy looking real quick.

[The Rainy Day Aquarium]

Got some new frags the other day. I think I went a little sps crazy 🙃

 

 

And a baby clownfish for your enjoyment 😊

[Daniel92481]

Cool, I appreciate the info. I will start a tank journal today for sure! I tried multiple times with the strainer, but no luck. Hopefully the plug works out. So far, so good. Haha the Kessil is definitely over powered for this tank! I kept the same settings from my 40 setup, only raised the light about 12 inches instead of about 7 on the 40. Your tank is looming really nice over there! I love your little clown! How’s the challenge on keeping your SPS? Are you constantly testing your parameters or just watching for polyp extension? Looking good man!👌🏼

[The Rainy Day Aquarium]

2 hours ago, Daniel92481 said:

Cool, I appreciate the info. I will start a tank journal today for sure! I tried multiple times with the strainer, but no luck. Hopefully the plug works out. So far, so good. Haha the Kessil is definitely over powered for this tank! I kept the same settings from my 40 setup, only raised the light about 12 inches instead of about 7 on the 40. Your tank is looming really nice over there! I love your little clown! How’s the challenge on keeping your SPS? Are you constantly testing your parameters or just watching for polyp extension? Looking good man!👌🏼

*Note the plus symbol/icon shows up on mobile devices (it's the pencil icon next to your account menu at the top if you're on a desktop) sorry if there was any confusion about that.

 

Yikes. Did the strainer come preinstalled or was it with a bag of parts that came with the tank? there is nothing wrong with just using the plug also! Haha I was always curious about what an A360x would look like on a tank like this, I guess I'll get to find out! 

 

Thank you! It has come a long way for sure and I think it's in a lot better state than earlier this year 😬 the tiny pair of clownfish are super fun to have in this tank, howbeit temporary. SPS has been an adventure for sure, rewarding yes, but it has had its ups and downs like anyone might experience. Ironically, I do not test my water; the exception being salinity and temperature. Like has been preached time and again, stability and consistency are key. I try by best to be consistent with weekly water changes and small feedings once every other day or so and that has given me most of my success. I have found keeping it simple, like you mentioned earlier with "K.I.S.S", leaves less room for error and more room for enjoyment of the hobby. 

 

 

 

 

[Daniel92481]

Yea, it was in a bag with the bio balls, carbon balls, strainer, and plug. I messed with it, but the male part of the strainer is too small for the female (hole) on tank. Weird. Like I said though, seems like the plug is working as designed so far. I think I will probably test for a couple weeks just to be sure things are within range. Definitely salinity and temp are a must for sure. I use a Hanna digital salinity/temp reader and have really enjoyed it. So effortless and quick! I will probably add an SPS of some sort sometime. I just sold a bubblegum digi, German blue digi, rainbow pocillopora, and a bizarro cyphastrea. Oops! Haha just part of the hobby I guess. I’m enjoying the simple nature of this tank. 

[The Rainy Day Aquarium]

20 hours ago, Daniel92481 said:

Yea, it was in a bag with the bio balls, carbon balls, strainer, and plug. I messed with it, but the male part of the strainer is too small for the female (hole) on tank. Weird. Like I said though, seems like the plug is working as designed so far. I think I will probably test for a couple weeks just to be sure things are within range. Definitely salinity and temp are a must for sure. I use a Hanna digital salinity/temp reader and have really enjoyed it. So effortless and quick! I will probably add an SPS of some sort sometime. I just sold a bubblegum digi, German blue digi, rainbow pocillopora, and a bizarro cyphastrea. Oops! Haha just part of the hobby I guess. I’m enjoying the simple nature of this tank. 

Huh? Mine came preinstalled. I guess the guy at the factory couldn't get it in either and just threw in in the bag? 🤔😂 Ooo I need to get myself one of those, I've just been using a refractometer and a thermometer. Would be nice to consolidate the two.

 

It'll get there. It's kind of nice with just easy to keep coral as most of the time it's just "set it and forget it." 😎

[Daniel92481]

Yea, not sure why it doesn’t fit, but oh well! Makes for funny comments haha. Yea, I highly recommend the Hanna salinity/temp checker. Best $50 I’ve ever spent in the hobby. I like to tell people that by the time you get your reading from your refractometer, I’ve already checked mine, yours, and the neighbors lol. 👌🏼

[gabe3eb]

I see you put an MP10 on there in a previous shot. Were you able to run it at 10% (or higher) and prevent a sand storm? I am sorely lacking in build threads lately, but I just picked one of these tanks up yesterday. I will have it setup tonight and move over a problem anemone from my main tank. I did get a really small sicce nano powerhead, but I obv can't control it, which kind of sucks. 

 

 

[Daniel92481]

14 minutes ago, gabe3eb said:

I see you put an MP10 on there in a previous shot. Were you able to run it at 10% (or higher) and prevent a sand storm? I am sorely lacking in build threads lately, but I just picked one of these tanks up yesterday. I will have it setup tonight and move over a problem anemone from my main tank. I did get a really small sicce nano powerhead, but I obv can't control it, which kind of sucks. 

 

I know RDA can give you some more insight here, but I also recently set up this specific tank with an MP10. I am currently running in reef crest mode at 30% without a sandstorm.👍

 

[The Rainy Day Aquarium]

1 hour ago, gabe3eb said:

I see you put an MP10 on there in a previous shot. Were you able to run it at 10% (or higher) and prevent a sand storm? I am sorely lacking in build threads lately, but I just picked one of these tanks up yesterday. I will have it setup tonight and move over a problem anemone from my main tank. I did get a really small sicce nano powerhead, but I obv can't control it, which kind of sucks. 

 

 

I only have two mini pumps in my current setup. I aimed them towards each other and the turbulence creates a nice randomized flow in my tank. 

 

@Daniel92481 @Break both have MP10s in their tanks and can better help you with the pump settings and their experience in using it 👍

[Break]

8 hours ago, The Rainy Day Aquarium said:

I only have two mini pumps in my current setup. I aimed them towards each other and the turbulence creates a nice randomized flow in my tank. 

 

@Daniel92481 @Break both have MP10s in their tanks and can better help you with the pump settings and their experience in using it 👍

The MP10 is definitely overkill for this tiny tank - I can only run it at around 1-2% 😅. I'll be happy to have it when I upgrade to a larger tank in the future, though.

 

Also, if using an MP10, keep in mind that small fish can swim into the front of the pump when it is turned off, say for feeding or tank maintenance. I lost my beloved Sharknose Goby this way and now have a NemProtect guard on VorTech which makes it looked even more ridiculous in this small tank, but keeps my gobies safe.

[raul lopez]

how’s the sps corals doing? And what settings do you run on the asta 20 

[The Rainy Day Aquarium]

@raul lopez everything is doing okay! Keeping things as simple as possible has helped keep everything alive and happy (and myself sane😅). I only keep the blues and violets on the Asta 20 on at 100% for about 7 hours a day. I was also thinking about getting another light to help minimize shadowing, but we'll see. 

[raul lopez]

I just switched back from a aqua knight back to the asta 20 and I also have the lifegard 4.1 but I switched because I was running into issues and after a bit of research I found out that the light needed to be higher up since it was only 3 inches above the surface and since I couldn’t adjust it to go higher do to the neck being stiff I decided to switch back and now I placed the light 7 inches above the surface and I think I’m going to try running all channels at 70 percent for about 7 hours a day and 2 hours on mostly blues, what do you think ?

[The Rainy Day Aquarium]

On 10/18/2020 at 9:05 PM, raul lopez said:

I just switched back from a aqua knight back to the asta 20 and I also have the lifegard 4.1 but I switched because I was running into issues and after a bit of research I found out that the light needed to be higher up since it was only 3 inches above the surface and since I couldn’t adjust it to go higher do to the neck being stiff I decided to switch back and now I placed the light 7 inches above the surface and I think I’m going to try running all channels at 70 percent for about 7 hours a day and 2 hours on mostly blues, what do you think ?

I think that will work. I have my asta 20 about 4" above the water and my corals are happy (although my SPS I know want more light haha). As for the color/settings of the light IMO it is personal preference so whatever looks good to you I'd go with that. The 9 total hours should be fine too.

[The Rainy Day Aquarium]

Well, I am loosing a lot of faith in the product called Vibrant. I started using it in super light doses again to help get on top of some bubble algae that was starting to pop up and all of my corals have really taken for the worse. Almost all of my SPS has melted away, sluffing off tissue like crazy. And even my soft corals are looking poor. It reminds me of the first time I used the product and had simular side effects with my corals that ultimately led to my tank crashing.

 

It's confusing because so many others have had success with Vibrant and some even use it as a part of their regular dosing regiment. Maybe I just have a bad bottle? For now I've stopped using it altogether and have done several waterchanges to help flush it out of the system, although I'm affraid that most of my SPS and a few of my prized LPS corals have been consigned to certain death which really bites. 😣

 

To add insult to injury, I have also developed a large cyano bacteria bloom which, I suppose, can be rectified by water changes (if not I have some chemi-pure as a last resort). 

 

In other, better news I might be adjusting the mechanics of the filtration on this tank. I was thinking of making the rear chamber a fuge for macro algae and running the fuge light at night to offset potential imbalances with ph. (Also so I won't see the glow of the fuge light during daylight hours as the back pane of glass is a smoked out, transparent gray). Along with adding another light to the display to help the (now dead) SPS coral be more happy and colorful 🤗

 

Sorry for the lack of photos with this update, I haven't gotten around to getting any lately. Hopefully next time though 😉 

 

Thanks for stopping by and happy reefing!

[Daniel92481]

I’m sorry to hear about all of this. You are definitely no stranger to mishaps in the hobby, and always seem to bounce back! I know this time won’t be any different. I have never used vibrant, but I have heard of adverse reactions, including cyano, RTN of acros, etc. I have used Ultralife Red Slime remover in the past with great results! The good thing about this one is, no water changes required. Just use as directed and you will see results in as little as 24 hours. I would do a 100% water change and go from there. 👍🏼

[The Rainy Day Aquarium]

On 10/28/2020 at 5:05 PM, Daniel92481 said:

I’m sorry to hear about all of this. You are definitely no stranger to mishaps in the hobby, and always seem to bounce back! I know this time won’t be any different. I have never used vibrant, but I have heard of adverse reactions, including cyano, RTN of acros, etc. I have used Ultralife Red Slime remover in the past with great results! The good thing about this one is, no water changes required. Just use as directed and you will see results in as little as 24 hours. I would do a 100% water change and go from there. 👍🏼

Thanks. Yeah the good things that I've heard from it outweighed the bad when I was looking at it, but lesson learned I suppose. 😣 I'll have to look into that for sure. Water changes have seemed to help a lot, but after this blows over I'm afraid I'll have to go and replace all of my SPS. 

[raul lopez]

On 10/27/2020 at 8:37 PM, The Rainy Day Aquarium said:

Well, I am loosing a lot of faith in the product called Vibrant. I started using it in super light doses again to help get on top of some bubble algae that was starting to pop up and all of my corals have really taken for the worse. Almost all of my SPS has melted away, sluffing off tissue like crazy. And even my soft corals are looking poor. It reminds me of the first time I used the product and had simular side effects with my corals that ultimately led to my tank crashing.

 

It's confusing because so many others have had success with Vibrant and some even use it as a part of their regular dosing regiment. Maybe I just have a bad bottle? For now I've stopped using it altogether and have done several waterchanges to help flush it out of the system, although I'm affraid that most of my SPS and a few of my prized LPS corals have been consigned to certain death which really bites. 😣

 

To add insult to injury, I have also developed a large cyano bacteria bloom which, I suppose, can be rectified by water changes (if not I have some chemi-pure as a last resort). 

 

In other, better news I might be adjusting the mechanics of the filtration on this tank. I was thinking of making the rear chamber a fuge for macro algae and running the fuge light at night to offset potential imbalances with ph. (Also so I won't see the glow of the fuge light during daylight hours as the back pane of glass is a smoked out, transparent gray). Along with adding another light to the display to help the (now dead) SPS coral be more happy and colorful 🤗

 

Sorry for the lack of photos with this update, I haven't gotten around to getting any lately. Hopefully next time though 😉 

 

Thanks for stopping by and happy reefing!

yes I’ve realized this too while using dr Tim’s  waste away, I was told it was because it affects nitrates 

[The Rainy Day Aquarium]

On 11/3/2020 at 11:11 AM, raul lopez said:

yes I’ve realized this too while using dr Tim’s  waste away, I was told it was because it affects nitrates 

Huh, that's interesting! I don't normally test my water so I wasn't sure if any of my parameters were out of balance, but either way I'm very leary of "fix it all" claimed products. Especially now 😅

[I'm Batman]

On 11/16/2020 at 11:12 PM, The Rainy Day Aquarium said:

I'm very leary of "fix it all" claimed products.

Have you used other products other than vibrant to get rid of ugly stages?

[The Rainy Day Aquarium]

On 11/22/2020 at 12:22 AM, I'm Batman said:

Have you used other products other than vibrant to get rid of ugly stages?

I have not. I don't normally use products like these anyways as I feel they are a temporary fix for a more rooted problem (usually with algae it's too many nutrients in the water due to excess feeding, etc.)   

[farkwar]

On 10/18/2020 at 4:37 PM, raul lopez said:

how’s the sps corals doing?

Same

[I'm Batman]

2 hours ago, The Rainy Day Aquarium said:

feel they are a temporary fix for a more rooted problem

Just curious what were your No3 and Po4 before the vibrant dosing. If I remember right I think I may have pre-ordered vibrant or got it like right when it came out. Had serious bubble and hair algae issues, dosed a few weeks and had corals melt away too. I’ll admit, never tested Po4 at the time and nitrates were 0ppm on that “algae takes it up faster than you can test for it,” trip.