ML's 14 IM Peninsula

[ml86743]

3 hours ago, Reefkid88 said:

Man,this this is hitting a stride right now and looking amazing. How are you like the Jump led ? 

Thank you!  It’s getting there.  Gotta clear the cyano and still have some issues with zoas but all in all I’m pretty happy.  Starting to see that my

kalk isn’t keeping up with demand.

 

Ive really had nothing but good experiences with the jump.  It’s powerful enough to grow just about anything and I like how it looks in general.

Cons:  not a fan of the OG mounting arm (btw it’s included with the light unlike AI or ecotech) the section where you fashion it to the tank wall is too big - I will say they came out with a 2.0 that I think has a smaller footprint.

 

spread is just ok, hence why I added a blade for the front of the tank.

 

i think this light would be perfect for like a standard WB or IM 20.  
 

all in all love it tho.

[Reefkid88]

Whatever scyedule you are running atm when you took those pics looks amazing. 

 

 Is it ? I am just curious because WWC has them on a softie tank and it looks amazing and yours looks amazing lol. I didn't even notice the blade bahahaha. 

[ml86743]

On 12/17/2023 at 10:25 AM, Reefkid88 said:

Whatever scyedule you are running atm when you took those pics looks amazing. 

 

 Is it ? I am just curious because WWC has them on a softie tank and it looks amazing and yours looks amazing lol. I didn't even notice the blade bahahaha. 

I pulled a lighting profile from the maxspect facebook and modified it to my liking.  I've always been a fan of a little more natural lighting so I have a good amount of white in the mix.  

 

The blade is waaaaay more blue ( I have the grow) but I think it mixes well with the maxspect.  I'm probably going to tweak the blade for a little more white light at some point.  

 

If the tank wasn't a peninsula I really wouldn't have a need for the blade..and I prefer the full spectrum of the maxspect.  The amount of shadowing in the front of the tank was horrible for the SPS.  If it was just straight LPS/softies I probably wouldn't have added anything as well.   Since the blade addition the couple SPS frags that aren't directly under the maxspect have colored up significantly, including that RR Tropicana Anacro.  The one side facing away from the maxspect was dull and brown, it has now developed that beautiful orange all around 🙂

 

Other News & Notes:

 

Next step is flow.  I was able to scoop another MP10 for real cheap but it might be overkill..I couldn't refuse the price and now I have a brand new backup.  

 

I think I'm going to have to add something though..

 

I also recently hooked up the other DoS head to drip some Magnesium, I'm not entirely sure but I think this has helped with general stability.  For a long time I would see levels down near 1200 and was hand dosing sporadically.  Now that I have it set to 15mL a day, I'm seeing 1350 consistently and better coralline growth.  I'm sure it makes a difference for some of the corals too.  

 

Biggest challenge now is keeping nutrients in line/dealing with cyano.  If I can get the zoas to open up that haven't been happy that'll be a bonus.  

[ml86743]

I have picked three asterinas off some zoas the past few days, clearly bothering/damaging the tissue...I'm usually pretty lax with these guys but I'm about to commit  starfish crime...

[ml86743]

Growth Shots!

 

 

 

 

This Chalice gets no love but it's been a slow growing trooper since the early days of the tank.  

 

 

 

 

[Fishy Guy]

Man, your coral shots are incredible! I know you mentioned your photo gear previously but remind me what setup you're using again, Sony?

[Reefkid88]

Gorgeous !!! 

[debbeach13]

Beautiful. 

[ml86743]

1 hour ago, Fishy Guy said:

Man, your coral shots are incredible! I know you mentioned your photo gear previously but remind me what setup you're using again, Sony?

Yeah I'm shooting a Sony A7iii with a sigma 24-70 2.8!  Still have plans for a macro at some point..might pull the trigger on a cheap manual focus or something..

 

1 hour ago, Reefkid88 said:

Gorgeous !!! 

Thank you!!

 

44 minutes ago, debbeach13 said:

Beautiful. 

Thanks Deb!

[ml86743]

Few pics:

 

[Fishy Guy]

Fantastic! Mind sharing what they are for a newbie?

[Elizabeth94]

Really loving that red and green monti cap!

[ml86743]

On 12/24/2023 at 7:32 PM, Fishy Guy said:

Fantastic! Mind sharing what they are for a newbie?

Thank you!! From 1-3

 

 1) Bizzaro Cyphastrea

 2) Green Goblin Anacropora 

 3) Ricordea

 

All relatively simple corals to keep!

On 12/24/2023 at 11:57 PM, Elizabeth94 said:

Really loving that red and green monti cap!

Thanks!!  That thing is growing like a weed, you want some (seriously)??  I have to frag some of it soon, starting to cause some severe shading...It's the WWC Jawbreaker piece.  I have to say, it pops waaay more than whatever the OG grafted cap was.  

 

In other news:

What I have been calling a "tubbs stellata montipora is actually the ROAB Purple Digi, at least I'm pretty sure.  It's a piece I did some reading about and it was pretty popular at one point but has since faded.  It's really developing a nice lavender color and starting to shoot up several branches.  I'll have to grab a better photo at some point but here it is fighting the grafted cap.

 

My skimmer pump also gave out on the bubble magus MiniQ.  I don't think they offer a replacement, I may just run the tank skimmerless for a bit.   

 

Top down:)

 

[Elizabeth94]

Omg do I want some? YES! But I’ll need to hit you up later, my new system is just finding its balance and I don’t think its quite stable enough for any sps.

 

Bummer about the skimmer pump. Is there no way to hook up some sort of mini pump to it? They make some that are super small nowadays. 

[Koleswrath]

Looking great! Going to go look up that purple Digitata now! Love it!

[ml86743]

1 hour ago, Elizabeth94 said:

Omg do I want some? YES! But I’ll need to hit you up later, my new system is just finding its balance and I don’t think its quite stable enough for any sps.

 

Bummer about the skimmer pump. Is there no way to hook up some sort of mini pump to it? They make some that are super small nowadays. 

Just lemme know!

 

I'm not sure, i could probably figure something out but the pump that they use is fitted to the bottom of the unit.  For 60 bucks i'll probably just scoop another. 

32 minutes ago, Koleswrath said:

Looking great! Going to go look up that purple Digitata now! Love it!

Thanks!  Yeah I'm really curious, it's not growing like any stellata that I've seen.  Branches are pretty thick like your standard digi.  

[Fishy Guy]

20 hours ago, ml86743 said:

Thank you!! From 1-3

 

 1) Bizzaro Cyphastrea

 2) Green Goblin Anacropora 

 3) Ricordea

 

All relatively simple corals to keep!

Thanks!!  That thing is growing like a weed, you want some (seriously)??  I have to frag some of it soon, starting to cause some severe shading...It's the WWC Jawbreaker piece.  I have to say, it pops waaay more than whatever the OG grafted cap was.  

 

In other news:

What I have been calling a "tubbs stellata montipora is actually the ROAB Purple Digi, at least I'm pretty sure.  It's a piece I did some reading about and it was pretty popular at one point but has since faded.  It's really developing a nice lavender color and starting to shoot up several branches.  I'll have to grab a better photo at some point but here it is fighting the grafted cap.

 

My skimmer pump also gave out on the bubble magus MiniQ.  I don't think they offer a replacement, I may just run the tank skimmerless for a bit.   

 

Top down:)

 

Thanks!
 

Did you run the skimmer from the start? Seems to be a point of debate whether they are necessary on nano tanks. 

[ml86743]

3 hours ago, Fishy Guy said:

Thanks!
 

Did you run the skimmer from the start? Seems to be a point of debate whether they are necessary on nano tanks. 

I did not - came online at about the 6 month mark.  I did just order a new skimmer, I went with the aquamaxx bullet 1 this time.   I saw a thread that used it on the tank I have.  It’s a HOB but it fits perfectly on the side of the return chamber, leaving the middle open.  The bubble magus took up the entire middle chamber so I was happy to spend an extra fifty for more space.  I might add some cheato in the middle now with a little fuge light 

 

do I think it’s necessary to run one? Not necessarily.  Depends on your bioload.  4 fish in my tank I consider pretty heavy.  I primarily got it to help with pH honestly.  Didn’t notice much of difference.  However, I did not have the option to run an airline outside with the bubble magus but this one I can.  
 

I would imagine routine weekly WC’s would suffice.  

 

[ml86743]

Picked up some AFR today.  I'm going to ditch the magnesium on the 2nd DOS head and switch to AFR starting tomorrow.  I'm having to dose 2-part here and there as my alk consumption is starting to get ahead of the kalk. 

 

I figured the AFR is a good choice to maintain mg/alk levels with the addition of trace elements.  I could increase the kalk to probably handle what It's lacking I guess..but it'll get to the point where im adding more than the tank is evaporating.  

 

Probably going to start with 3mL a day of AFR to see where that gets me. 

[Fishy Guy]

1 hour ago, ml86743 said:

Picked up some AFR today.  I'm going to ditch the magnesium on the 2nd DOS head and switch to AFR starting tomorrow.  I'm having to dose 2-part here and there as my alk consumption is starting to get ahead of the kalk. 

 

I figured the AFR is a good choice to maintain mg/alk levels with the addition of trace elements.  I could increase the kalk to probably handle what It's lacking I guess..but it'll get to the point where im adding more than the tank is evaporating.  

 

Probably going to start with 3mL a day of AFR to see where that gets me. 

Are you going to dose AFR and kalk? Are you doing kalk via dosing pump now or have it mixed in with ATO water?

 

I'm doing a lot of reading on aquarium chemistry so am very curious of your experience. Have you had any pH issues?

[ml86743]

4 minutes ago, Fishy Guy said:

Are you going to dose AFR and kalk? Are you doing kalk via dosing pump now or have it mixed in with ATO water?

 

I'm doing a lot of reading on aquarium chemistry so am very curious of your experience. Have you had any pH issues?

I will stick with both.  The kalk is on an apex DOS at 245 mL per day.  

 

In the summer time (Florida resident) my pH SUCKS haha.  Some nights I'll see lows of 7.59 per apex pH probe.  CO2 piles up in our house.  This is why I started with the kalkwasser which defiantly helped.  I'm envisioning making a transition where kalk is dosed evening/night and the AFR dose spread through out the AM.  

 

During these cooler months, we leave the windows open and the humidity is lower.  I rarely see pH dip below 7.8 at night now and have highs of 8.3 during the day.  Because of the higher pH, the SPS are growing very rapidly and using way more alk then the warmer months.  Which is why my kalk isn't keeping up.  I try to shoot for 7.7.5 alk but it's been decreasing to approximately 6.7-6.9 without intervention.  I've been manually dosing 3mL of 2-part almsot daily to keep up.   I anticipate that when we have to start shutting the windows and the heat/humidity increase I will have to adjust the dosing schedule accordingly.   Again, I could increase the amount of kalk but I fear that it may eventually add too much freshwater.  

 

For the record, I really do love kalkwasser.  It's cheap and reliable and I can appreciate the pH benefit.  

 

I also think my tank suffers from trace element deficiency periodically and the weekly 2.5 gallon WC's just do not keep up.  Another reason why AFR is interesting.  Now, I have no reliable way to test for these elements but I think having a consistent drip throughout the week may have a positive impact.

 

I would like to solve the summer time pH issue, I plan on running a skimmer line outside as well as starting a small refugium in my center chamber.  

[ml86743]

Got a sweet deal on a rainbow style/paletta pink tip.  High hopes for that paletta..not in great shape but I think I can turn it around.

 

in the process of breaking up some of my jawbreaker cap from WWC.  Starting to shade out some corals.  I’ll have 2-4 frags here in a bit.  Just giving it away, if anybody is in the NE section of FL or closer just hit me up.  Will ship if you wanna pay for shipping. 

 

i also did a little rearranging of the front section of the scape.  I had two blastos that I think were getting beamed with a little too much light from the blade.  
 

About a week into the AFR dosing.  So far so good @ 3mL a day.  I haven’t seen the drops I was and I’m holding at about 8.  

[ml86743]

I went ahead and changed out my old MP10 with the new one.  I can't believe the difference in the noise idk how I let the family deal with the mechanical buzzing from the old one.  I had recently knocked the dry side to the floor during a WC and it started to really sound bad..still works great though haha.  I might try to find a new dry side at some point.  That MP10 is almost 10 years old give or take. 

[debbeach13]

1 hour ago, ml86743 said:

still works great though haha

Defiantly would go in my old equipment bucket. For mixing salt water or emergency backup. 

[ml86743]

On 1/6/2024 at 3:38 PM, debbeach13 said:

Defiantly would go in my old equipment bucket. For mixing salt water or emergency backup. 

Not much is new, probably going to take a few photos before lights out.  Hit a bit of a rough patch, not losing corals or anything but something’s off.  Small Dino outbreak..again..slight alk fluctuation and a little bit of a hydroid explosion.   Reluctantly, I added a peppermint shrimp to hopefully deal with some of the hydroids and clean up any aptasia.  this guy has smoked 3-4 aptasia already l, actually kind of amazing.   Haven’t put a shrimp in this tank yet and I have to say they are an awesome addition.  Here’s to hoping he doesn’t get a taste for some of my corals.   I’ve read they like micromussa but I’ve only got lords..fingers crossed.   Really impressed with his performance in less than 24 hours though.   I check every time a have a chance and it’s one less aptasia..