Ratvan's Fluval Spec 3 - [THREAD CLOSED - LEAK]

[SeaFurn]

2 hours ago, Ratvan said:

Most likely going to run the ASTA 20 over this or the chinese black box, this bulb is cool and all but it is 18W so potentially a little too strong.

I also dislike the colour it puts out

Oh ok. I was gonna say - based on the one photo you posted above, I’d hate to be the coral directly under that bulb without a little sunscreen! Well, unless I was an acro I suppose. 

[Ratvan]

6 minutes ago, SeaFurn said:

Oh ok. I was gonna say - based on the one photo you posted above, I’d hate to be the coral directly under that bulb without a little sunscreen! Well, unless I was an acro I suppose. 

Acro in tap? I'm listening lol.

 

I do like the way that the coral looks under these bulbs but the light just looks like a cold white to my eyes. (Setosa and the Garf Acro I had. Omg I miss the colour on that acro) I've looked on amazon and the price has gone back up so a tuna blue version is out. I could look at maybe knocking out or covering a couple of the cold white and see if I can get a colour I like, or play with glass tint. 

 

Will not be putting a Damsel in here again. That was a mistake last time. Had to drain it almost empty and just turn the tank almost upside down to get the bugger out. He hid up in that little cave. Amazing little fish though. So ballsy and really active. Glad he went back to the LFS safely. Well apart from the water slide into bag part

[Ratvan]

Right, I remembered the light (forgot the plants for the RSM though - dammit) 

 

I also plan on removing that top row of Eggcrate that you can see, it's blocking the wier a little too much still

 

As I said yesterday I prefer the look of this light compared to the PAR38, I just wish it was more powerful for the corals. I am planning on seeing if I can make a stand for the PAR38 bulb, also i think i have worked out which are the Cold White Diodes (bulbs whatever the word is) so will try and make that appear more attractive (to me at least) 

[Ratvan]

Free frag from the 5g order looks to be a monti cap, so go again I guess. 

 

Will know more later once its finished floating

[Ratvan]

[Ratvan]

So seems like I have diatoms and film algae growth which is encouraging,

ammonia tested at 0 nitrates at 40 so assuming this has cycled over the long weekend. 

 

I have set a lighting schedule with the PAR38 bulb and think that I should get the PAR levels that the corals require fairly easily. I think flow will be the largest issue. Plan is to keep tank cycled until payday and see what is avaliable to me at that point and take it from there

 

[EthanPhillyCheesesteak]

What you planning on doing with the monti cap? Did I read somewhere that your planning on giving it to your lfs? Why don’t you just put it in one of your other tanks for now till this tank is ready?

[Ratvan]

2 minutes ago, EthanPhillyCheesesteak said:

What you planning on doing with the monti cap? Did I read somewhere that your planning on giving it to your lfs? Why don’t you just put it in one of your other tanks for now till this tank is ready?

I returned pretty much everything I owned to my LFS so I have a nice little credit waiting for me. I made the choice before lockdown as I don't have the space. 

 

The little Superman Monti is getting fragged once I am allowed to open the warehouse and workshop (so I can use the bandsaw) half will go in the tap water tank (this one) other half..... Dunno, Frag swap

[EthanPhillyCheesesteak]

14 minutes ago, Ratvan said:

I returned pretty much everything I owned to my LFS so I have a nice little credit waiting for me. I made the choice before lockdown as I don't have the space. 

 

The little Superman Monti is getting fragged once I am allowed to open the warehouse and workshop (so I can use the bandsaw) half will go in the tap water tank (this one) other half..... Dunno, Frag swap

Did you take down your one tank that you had euphyllias and an elegance in there? 

[Ratvan]

5 minutes ago, EthanPhillyCheesesteak said:

Did you take down your one tank that you had euphyllias and an elegance in there? 

No that's the only one I kept running. 

[Ratvan]

Anyways, I did a quick PAR Reading this morning as I was able to pick up the probe from my LFS on the way into work. With the Par38 bulb 9" from the surface I can contain most of the light within the tank with limited spill.

 

I get readings of 400-355 PAR on most of the rockwall, the barnacles have 345 and the open area on the sandbed about 295

 

So yes High Light, Low Flow Corals needed

[Ratvan]

So this is an experiment with Tap Water because I have always been interested in the claims about TDS, contaminants, etc and lets face it, i'm one that learns by staring at the remains of failed experiments rather than reading about it or taking "accepted knowledge" into account, so that's, that. I can get a Water Report for my Tap Water and have access to a TDS Machine. I have my set levels of what I willing to take as "acceptable risk" so make as much water as possible when these parameters are found and wait out the storms, rain, droughts, whatever wonderful weird weather we're having.

With that taken into account I would like to try and see what I can achieve growth wise with SPS, I do really enjoy the colours and its completely different from my Home Euphyllia Reef as I do not yet have something larger that I can rely on... yet. So Budget and boogers it it. £60.00 total (not including shopping) gets me the following 13 Boogers
 

green polyped acro
blue montipora danea
green yellow montipora
rusty pavona
green montipora plate
orange montipora plate
 

green lepto
orange monti
twin monti plates
green pavona
 

apple berry hystrix
green monti
acropora efflo

A Couple of the Frags might double up (Green Monti Plates) but other then that this looks promising. The Frag Plug Holders I have some of already but these will help the construction of the "Rockwork" for the 15 Gallon that I will convert from Freshwater once I move the livestock in the next couple of weeks I hope.

[Chadicus Meridius]

Yo , a tap water tank. That’s pretty dope.

 

All 13 of those corals only £60 Dang. That’s a steal.

 

what is you’re TDS?

 

 

[Ratvan]

Just now, Seea said:

Yo , a tap water tank. That’s pretty dope.

 

All 13 of those corals only £60 Dang. That’s a steal.

 

what is you’re TDS?

 

 

They are tiny, tiny Frags. Have bought from them before and have always arrived Healthy and generally done well in the system. Got Encrusting growth from the ASTA 20 on some of these before (Montipora Danea Pack), mounting them is going to be fun in such a small space. Might have to do that while I do the water change.....

 

The TDS varies from 5-65, I have set an acceptable limit of Under 10 TDS. I will treat for Chlorine and Chloramine as well as Heavy Metals  

[Chadicus Meridius]

1 minute ago, Ratvan said:

They are tiny, tiny Frags. Have bought from them before and have always arrived Healthy and generally done well in the system. Got Encrusting growth from the ASTA 20 on some of these before (Montipora Danea Pack), mounting them is going to be fun in such a small space. Might have to do that while I do the water change.....

 

The TDS varies from 5-65, I have set an acceptable limit of Under 10 TDS. I will treat for Chlorine and Chloramine as well as Heavy Metals  

Wow that TDS is straight from the tap, that is amazing. I believe mine is 200 TDS straight out of the Tap

[Ratvan]

13 minutes ago, Seea said:

Wow that TDS is straight from the tap, that is amazing. I believe mine is 200 TDS straight out of the Tap

I havent had a big storm yet 

[EthanPhillyCheesesteak]

I had to use tap a while back and I actually didn’t notice any adverse side effects, besides more algae growth. My sps even seemed to be happy, so idk🤷‍♂️

[Ratvan]

And I'm out

 

 

Good luck to those who remain

[debbeach13]

Well that sucks! Sorry.

[jservedio]

Oh no that really sucks! Sorry you sprung a leak - I hope you were able to at least save some of the livestock. At least it isn't a super expensive tank to replace, so there is at least that. I really hope it didn't do too much damage to your furniture and floors.

 

My tank overflowing last year prompted me to get a water sensor below the tank, so even if I can't stop it, I can at least try and save livestock and my floors.

[Ratvan]

1 minute ago, jservedio said:

Oh no that really sucks! Sorry you sprung a leak - I hope you were able to at least save some of the livestock. At least it isn't a super expensive tank to replace, so there is at least that. I really hope it didn't do too much damage to your furniture and floors.

 

My tank overflowing last year prompted me to get a water sensor below the tank, so even if I can't stop it, I can at least try and save livestock and my floors.

No livestock it had just cycled from the last crash 🤣 

Not going to be replacing it, maybe replicating it on a larger scale would be a fitting tribute?

 

The office furniture is all cheap plastic coated crap so have a lot of salt everywhere thanks to the warmer weather and not a lot of damage, or smell. Plus we are currently discussing working from home as a permanent choice for all employees so may need to offload the RSM soonish too

 

[jservedio]

1 minute ago, Ratvan said:

No livestock it had just cycled from the last crash 🤣 

Not going to be replacing it, maybe replicating it on a larger scale would be a fitting tribute?

 

The office furniture is all cheap plastic coated crap so have a lot of salt everywhere thanks to the warmer weather and not a lot of damage, or smell. Plus we are currently discussing working from home as a permanent choice for all employees so may need to offload the RSM soonish too

 

Upgrading a tank is always a fitting tribute. The only real solution I see to a failing seam on an $80 pico tank would be go to out and replace it with a sturdier tank that has 10mm low iron glass with beveled edges and black silicone - you know, for safety. You didn't really like that light over it anyway, so might as well get a brand new G5 Radion while you're at it. Also, can't have it sitting on cheap office furniture, this probably calls for a cabinetmaker and the word "bespoke" on the quote.

 

In all seriousness, really glad you didn't get that stank - my office smelled for like 2 months when my tank overflowed. My wife was not nearly as pleased as the dogs were.

[karisma]

Sorry to hear about this buddy. At least it wasn't a huge tank!

 

 

[Ratvan]

21 minutes ago, jservedio said:

Upgrading a tank is always a fitting tribute. The only real solution I see to a failing seam on an $80 pico tank would be go to out and replace it with a sturdier tank that has 10mm low iron glass with beveled edges and black silicone - you know, for safety. You didn't really like that light over it anyway, so might as well get a brand new G5 Radion while you're at it. Also, can't have it sitting on cheap office furniture, this probably calls for a cabinetmaker and the word "bespoke" on the quote.

 

In all seriousness, really glad you didn't get that stank - my office smelled for like 2 months when my tank overflowed. My wife was not nearly as pleased as the dogs were.

I mean this is well timed to distract me

 

[Coolbreeze]

6 hours ago, jservedio said:

Upgrading a tank is always a fitting tribute. The only real solution I see to a failing seam on an $80 pico tank would be go to out and replace it with a sturdier tank that has 10mm low iron glass with beveled edges and black silicone - you know, for safety. You didn't really like that light over it anyway, so might as well get a brand new G5 Radion while you're at it. Also, can't have it sitting on cheap office furniture, this probably calls for a cabinetmaker and the word "bespoke" on the quote.

 

In all seriousness, really glad you didn't get that stank - my office smelled for like 2 months when my tank overflowed. My wife was not nearly as pleased as the dogs were.

Radions are awesome. Just ordered a new XR15 pro and waiting for it to arrive. Will be using on my new build.