The not an Evo anymore Redemption Reef - Meet Hector

[Ash1176]

On 11/27/2020 at 9:44 PM, mipster said:

shame me until I do this.

[mipster]

38 minutes ago, dj23bol said:

Just read your thread looking good 

 

Thanks! It's definitely coming along better then I was expecting lol 

[mipster]

21 minutes ago, Ash1176 said:

Come on, we are SO not at naked walk of shame level yet! 

 

We're maybe just here:

 

[mipster]

Ok ok I've done it, no more tangled cables on the floor, everything bound up and zip tied as neatly as possible. It's still not "pretty" cause there is only so much you can do with cables from 9 different things lol

 

Those cables on the floor are from my lamp and the extension cord for my TV power bar so it doesn't count as part of the tank cable mess lol 

 

 

 

 

 

 

No more shame!

 

 

[farkwar]

I have a pile currently

 

I will take your shame from you

 

And multiply it

[mipster]

3 minutes ago, farkwar said:

I have a pile currently

 

I will take your shame from you

 

And multiply it

It's a huge pain to do but very satisfying now that it's done.

[Ash1176]

Well done! Hahaha

[mipster]

7 hours ago, Ash1176 said:

Well done! Hahaha

I'd like to see your cable management situation!

[mipster]

So my nitrates are getting far too close to 2 ppm for my taste which I find so shocking. 

 

I feed the fish vitalis pellets daily - more then they can even eat really so my scavengers have something to munch on.

 

I dose 4 ml of Red Sea AB+ daily.

 

I feed the corals (and the fish take some too of course) a slurry of reef roids, 1 cube PE Mysis and 1 cube PE calanus, and brightwell coral aminos a couple times a week.

 

My filtration is just biological (matrix gems and live rock), some brightwell purit, and a small chaeto refugium in a media rack with the IM chaeto grow light stuck to the back of the tank running each night while I'm asleep, maybe 10 hrs or so?

 

No skimmer, haven't done a water change since November 12th.

 

No algae issues (though I did spot a single bubble of bubble algae - evil devil where the F*&% did you come from!!! managed to get it out without popping it), I get some thin algae film on the glass every 3-4 days or so but it's gone with a couple swipes of the tunze scraper.

 

I just find it so amazing the ability this little tank has to process nutrients.

 

Guess I need to add in another coral feed day?

 

I also find it so interesting the better understanding in the hobby today as to what our pets need. The first tank I set up (and pretty much royally failed with), the conversation was all about keeping your nutrients at zero across the board. Now I'm concerned that I'm getting too close to zero and want to get more food in the tank lol 

 

It will be interesting to see how the correction in my lighting levels will change this over time as I haven't had a ton of coral growth (zoas not included lol) since I changed from the fluval evo and I know now that was largely due to insufficient light. As the lights slowly ramp up to their new settings over the month, I'm hoping we will start seeing that growth take off and maybe I'll need to up the feeding even more. Not sure - time will tell!

[Tired]

If your nutrients are too low, something is probably removing them. The chaeto might be contributing. Try pulling most of it out, and see if that helps. 

 

I think part of the reason people used to think you should keep nutrients low was, nutrient levels in the ocean are pretty dang low most of the time. The difference is, nutrient levels are low in the ocean because all the released nutrients are immediately used up. Nutrients are available in the ocean, just not for very long. If an aquarium's nutrient levels read very low, usually that just means there aren't any nutrients, period. 

[mipster]

14 minutes ago, Tired said:

If your nutrients are too low, something is probably removing them. T

Absolutely, I know coral consumption mixed with the chaeto and the brightwell purit are what is causing the low nutrients. I'm just so impressed by how well my little bits of filtration (because there is really not a ton of room in those media racks where the purit and chaeto are) work.

 

You hear people saying it's best for your corals and fish to be able to feed heavy and filter heavy to provide them with all the nutrition they need without polluting the tank. I just never expected to be able to feed as much as I am with what filtration I have running and actually realize that I have room to feed more (cause feed is honestly one of my fave things to do lol :P)

[mipster]

I'm trying to really plan out my dream SPS corals that I want when my lights are done their acclimation mode and there are SO MANY CHOICES!!!!! I can't handle it, I want them all lol

 

What are your guys favourites?

[farkwar]

There are a couple on NR here

 

That I have never seen anywhere else

 

I'll see if I can find them

 

 

 

[mipster]

14 minutes ago, farkwar said:

There are a couple on NR here

 

That I have never seen anywhere else

 

I'll see if I can find them

 

 

 

 

 

Good lord the reef porn going on in that thread....

 

 

You know, that doesn't help with the decision paralysis lol In fact, it adds more to the wish list and I really only have room for 2 or 3 lol

[mitten_reef]

1 hour ago, mipster said:

I'm trying to really plan out my dream SPS corals that I want when my lights are done their acclimation mode and there are SO MANY CHOICES!!!!! I can't handle it, I want them all lol

 

What are your guys favourites?

Did you look at the tank of the month this month?

[mipster]

52 minutes ago, mitten_reef said:

Did you look at the tank of the month this month?

Yes, I did. Absolutely stunning and so much amazing eye candy. I want it all!!!

 

[farkwar]

There's an electric neon technicolor favia I noted somewhere in these pages

 

Just couldn't find it for the above post

 

I want one of those too

[mipster]

7 minutes ago, farkwar said:

electric neon technicolor favia

I'm afraid of favias in my tank. They are SO NICE but I've heard they are really aggressive and have have pretty shockingly long sweepers which I just don't have room for lol 

[farkwar]

They are killers

[Tamberav]

2-3?
 

SC orange passion

Homewrecker

Vivids Confetti 

[mipster]

14 hours ago, Tamberav said:

2-3?
 

SC orange passion

Homewrecker

Vivids Confetti 

Orange Passion is def on my list of possibilities! 

 

A frag of homewrecker up here is $600 and Confetti is $300. That's a bit too rich for my blood while I am still getting the sps thing figured out lol Maybe once I get things really dialed in lol 

[Ash1176]

On 12/1/2020 at 4:41 PM, mipster said:

I'd like to see your cable management situation!

Don’t worry about mine hahaha!

 

no but in all honesty it’s a mess... but it’s a well hidden mess behind the big speaker next to it, so it’s not a huge issue, but i would like to get it sorted soon, as I want to be able to pull out gear easily to clean it, so I’m gonna have to figure this out somehow

[mipster]

These were EXTREMELY helpful for me. You can open and close them any time you need to so you can get cables out or add new ones as necessary. Highly recommend.

 

https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B07F6YX4M1/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

 

[mitten_reef]

3 hours ago, mipster said:

Orange Passion is def on my list of possibilities! 

 

A frag of homewrecker up here is $600 and Confetti is $300. That's a bit too rich for my blood while I am still getting the sps thing figured out lol Maybe once I get things really dialed in lol 

I don't know price range up in Canada.  But perhaps, you do want to start out with $40-50 (or less) acro frags, vs designer ones, if these will be your first acros.  Just because you plan to limit yourself to "the select few", it doesn't mean that acroporas will cooperate with you.  and losing $100+ frag as "testers" won't be fun.  I'd rather spend the same money, and get a few frags to test them to see if I could keep any/all alive during the tryout period.

 

everyone, at least those that I know and interact with on here, killed their acros at one point or another, especially more so in the beginning.  

[mipster]

5 minutes ago, mitten_reef said:

But perhaps, you do want to start out with $40-50 (or less) acro frags

100% I've got a red planet frag on hold to be my first tester. Only $45 for a nice size. Just waiting for my lighting to finish ramping up nice and slowly.

 

I'm more playing the dream game for the rest of them. Start with one, don't kill it. That's the plan lol