Matt's loaded Aquapod 24g

[Mstefa1]

I hope nobody has to, but it happens and does allow you to begin anew

 

I placed it there out of convenience really. On ReefCrest mode there is plenty of randomness. The coral will adjust to the flow regardless; my birdsnest for example grew almost sideways on the leading edge because it was directly in the current. It also had the thickest base for a coral I had ever seen, it was easily over an inch and half in diameter. At this point that placement is just fine! I eventually moved to having two koralias, then realized I could have superior flow with less space consumption. I would definitely make the vortech next on your list

 

Wow, that's crazy with the birdnest! I hate the location of where my birdsnest is. Every time I feed my sun coral either I get scratched up or I frag my birdsnest lol! Due to it's shape I couldn't put it in very many places without cutting it. I loved where I put it initially however it was getting cooked under my MH light. Once I moved it to the side it seams like it grows fast enough to keep up with me accidently fragging it. Anybody what a birdsnest frag? lol

 

Every night I want to pull the trigger on the MP10 but my wife actually understands the cost of them and I haven't paid for our Disney vacation yet. I'm sure it will be a wonderful purchase. I want it for not only it's potential but also to keep the hardware out of my display. And if it lasts as long as people say it is absolutely worth it. In time though.

 

I actually almost dumped my pod for a 40b drilled with a 20l sump. Petco almost got the best of me! However I figured my tank hasn't been setup long enough for the hard work and expense I put into it. Also I was thinking that my next tank may be something more than a $40 tank... Something like a 40L rimless with starphire has gotten my attention. Perhaps my love for the hobby has gotten me to spend money I don't necessarily have but now that I'm setup I just need to let it ride. My 5yo son wants a tank so maybe the wife will let me build him a pico!

[Jacobnano]

Don't worry, I did that about a thousand times with what seemed like all of my coral, even some euphyllia!

 

Definitely don't dump the tank yet! I would get it perfect then move up haha. I would say go for the rimless but it is up to you, how serious you are and what not. I love picos! It looks like you are going in the same direction I went for everything! Pretty cool.

[Mstefa1]

It's a maintenance evening for me! I've pruned the bryopsis although it hasn't shown much growth in the past week and a half or so since I last pruned it. Hopefully running a high level of Mg has paid off! I'm going to slowly lower my level of Mg in my tank. Not only because I'm out of Tech M but because I've been running like this for about a month. I'm not going to do anything special to lower Mg, just perform weekly water changes as usual. If I notice that the bryopsis starts to rebound I'll jack the Mg back up.

 

Several pink corals in my tank have bleached now being whiter in color. My cloves, and hitchhiker Kenya trees are much whiter IMO. I also have a brown colony of zoas that are very light in color now and may have even receded. There is a lot of competition in their location so that could explain as well. It's my belief that they will return their color when the Mg drops.

 

I'd like to point out that my pink birdsnest is growing at a wonderful rate. It's common for me to accidently frag it when I feed my sun coral! Fortunately, it seams that the rate of growth of my birdsnest has matched or exceeded my rate of damaging it. The color on it as rather beautiful. A long time ago I had to move it because it was getting cooked directly under my MH light and was turning white at the tips. Now the color is just short of amazing!

 

I've seen a lot of growth and I won't name everything here. Actually I'm very poor at remembering the coral names. One of my recent additions... A tiny ultra clam that I spent a good amount for has settled in well. I've feed it regularly with phyto and it has attached it's foot to a piece of rock that I put under the sand bed. The first week I put it into the tank it looked awesome however it wasn't very responsive to my hand blocking the light. I'd imagine this is because it is a young clam and less photosynthetic and more relying on phyto feedings. Now it reacts quickly just like my other clam when I block the light.

 

Back to maintenance... A very thorough sand syphon blowing off all my rocks, etc was performed. I also cleaned my reactor and replaced the GFO and ROX. I can already tell I need to do a major cleaning of my rear chambers one day as well as clean my Aquafuge but that is for another day.

 

Until then...

[Mstefa1]

This guy thought he was getting a meal but he thought wrong!

[Mstefa1]

01/15/2013 Update:

 

I've taken several more pics. The full tank shots are not as nice as I like. Some of the pink corals have bleached white due to running a high Mg combatting bropysis so and the brightness is causing trouble with my shots.

 

However I know you will appreciate the macro pics that I've taken! I've discovered that pics taken from the top / open top turn out very nice.

 

Thought a nice corner pic would like great. I still have to take care of that ugly plumbing! The ugly plumbing is the main reason wifey wants me to upgrade.

 

Here's the FTS from the front and as you can see I haven't dialed this in yet.

 

And now on to the goodies!

 

Check out the polyps on my pink birdsnest!

 

Some nice zoas.

 

My orange funjia plate coral

 

My first clam

 

 

 

Love the close up on this guy.

 

I was told this Grandis Paly doesn't grow very fast but I have a second one on the way now!

 

 

 

Love to take pics of my sun coral.

 

This pic of my baby ultra which as already grown is the same clam in the next pic. This pic is taken from the top of the water which makes it look green.

 

This is a pic of the same baby ultra clam as the previous pic however looking at it from the front makes it look blue. Funny how glass can alter the light.

 

Fire & Ice

 

Who can resist another pic of my sun coral!

[markalot]

Nice update. I love the birdsnest closeup!

[Mstefa1]

Nice update. I love the birdsnest closeup!

Thank you Mark. I appreciate you following along!

[NicoS]

Great looking biocube, you should be very pleased with the results. The corals have pretty good coloration and look healthy.

[Mstefa1]

Great looking biocube, you should be very pleased with the results. The corals have pretty good coloration and look healthy.

Thanks NicoS, actually it's an old Aquapod heavily modded but this setup is very recent. I don't remember how long but I think it's only been about 6 months since I set it back up. Most of the corals have very good color however my pipe organ, cloves, and hitchhiker Kenyas have lost their color due to magnesium treatment.

[nanoreefnate]

Great looking stuff in your tank!

[Mstefa1]

Great looking stuff in your tank!

 

Thanks Nate. Now if you ever fly out east then you have to stop by with your camera.

[Mstefa1]

Ok, so for today's update I'll tell you that everything is doing great. Ever since I've been lowering my Mg, the colors on my corals are much better - even more beautiful. Unfortunately since I never was able to completely remove the bryopsis that is growing more as well. I'm planning on sticking to manual removal for a few weeks and let my corals recover. Then I'm going to hit the bryopsis hard again increasing the Mg faster and going to an even higher level. Don't get me wrong I don't have a large outbreak but I prefer to nip these things when they are small instead of waiting for it to become a problem.

 

I was at around 1700 before and I increased by about 50 per day which had effect but didn't destroy the algae. I'm going to shoot for 1900 with a 100 increase per day next time and see if it is more effective. I went slow as I have a lot to loose and I wasn't sure how everything would be effected including my clams. Also the only way to test that high with Salifert is to refill the syringe and I wonder of accuracy of the test is affected when your testing for levels this high.

[Mstefa1]

Pulling bryopsis out with tweezers is not my idea of a fun Friday evening.

[Mstefa1]

Update: On 2/1 I jacked up the Mg again. All corals are well but my turbo snail seems drunk Not sure if it is the high Mg or he has just seen better days. I've found him on his back a few times. After righting him he goes back to his business only to end up on his back the next day. My Mg is well over 2k which is extremely high but when I pull all the brown bryopsis out today I'm going to do a water change with regular saltwater so that should raise the Mg a little bit. I'm going to get started after I finish the easy bake oven with my kids. lol

 

Another note my hairy mushroom has split and it was huge. At the same time I noticed my goniopora which has always been beautiful has receded on about 1/3 of it for no known reason. I know they are harder to keep however I've never had a problem keeping mine. I speculated that the hairy mushroom was bothering it and I was correct. I tried to remove one of the hairy mushrooms since it has split but I wasn't successful. Unfortunately I lost it in the process of removal but I had no plans of keeping it anyway as I still have half of it. I was just going to take the removed one to my LFS. Since then the goniopora has almost made a full recovery.

[Mstefa1]

Here is a photo (taken with my cell phone). The bryopsis is actually browner then what the pic shows. Note that I haven't trimmed it in 2 weeks.

 

[Mstefa1]

My AI Nano for my new PicO being built came in today and I held it on top of my Aquapod for test run. The AI nano has a lot of punch, great color, and beautiful control however it isn't quite enough light for my Aquapod when comparing it to my 150w MH. Still, if I ever upgraded to LED the SOL would probably be a strong contender. If I never had the MH light I would probably think the AI nano is more than enough. That being said, I'm confident the nano will be enough light on my PicO it's a much smaller footprint.

 

So let's talk skimmers. I'm running the Tunze 9002 in my Aquafuge 2 and for the most part it has been running well. The water level remains constant back there so I haven't had any problems producing wet skimmate. Unfortunately ever since I started dosing Kent Tech M due to my Bryopsis problem the Tunze has been giving me problems. Normally I dose into my fuge so that I don't shock my tank. I've always left the skimmer not modded as Tunze claims it will skim less efficient with the mod. And frankly, I had it dialed in well so I didn't need anymore precision control from a mod.

 

Then add the Tech M and the skimmer has been a pain in the ass ever since. I kept getting build-up on the elbow to the venture which would reduce the airflow and I was no longer skimming even with the screw all the way open. I kept cleaning the elbow and it would work for a few days and then back to getting build-up. Finally I said the hell with it and modded my Tunze 9002. At first, I used an airline and I found that I still wasn't getting good a good skim. I tried another airline and with the same result. Finally I used a firmer, blue water line that was extra from my RODI unit and now I'm skimming like crazy! I'm using a cheap / poor adjustment screw valve that came with an acclimation tube and it doesn't adjust very well however I was easily able to dial it in and I love it. Best of all, it's quiet as a whistle. So if your having trouble with your Tunze and modding it didn't work for you then I recommend trying a larger airline as it's possible your just not pulling in enough air. It's been about a week since I've done this and still running strong. I've yet to re-adjust it since day one.

 

Additionally, after my last manual removal of bryopsis the residual in my tank seams to have disappeared. Could I have finally beaten it? I doubt it but who knows. I'd like to test my Mg level to see if I found a magic number but as I'm taking the kids away to Virginia this weekend I probably won't have time. I may even skip my water change this week so that the MG level remains unchanged.

 

[Mstefa1]

Ok, here is an update with my Tunze 9002 skimmer. Since I completed the mod, it has been skimming great. But I was looking for a little more precision in the adjustment so I went looking for a better valve. I found this recommendation on n-r.com searching way back so I ordered it.

 

 

I wasn't able to find the single valve at any of the regular reef sites so I ordered it on Amazon and paid for the shipping which came to about $7.53 shipped. This seams expensive but it isn't available directly through Amazon so it didn't quality for free shipping. I am extremely pleased with the precision in the adjustment and the valve is extremely quite as in I don't hear any noise.

 

Here is it in operation on my tank.

 

 

Wow, is my equipment's external surfaces dirty! They don't appear that dirty in person. I must admit that with going away last weekend I didn't do any maintenance but clearly I have work to do.

 

So as you can see I'm using a larger, firmer, blue tubing that came with my RODI unit for the airline because previous airline tubes I tried restricted the air too much. I currently have too much slack but I will probably trim it down when I confirm this is exactly how I want to keep it. This valve is extremely precise and I can dial in the exact air flow that I want. Happy reefing!

[Mstefa1]

After skipping out on my water change last week for probably the first time ever I performed a larger, 8 gallon water change just now. I'm sure I upset a few things as some corals on top were out of water but I'm sure they will get over it. I'm going to feed my sun coral and call it a night.

[Mstefa1]

Everybody was happy today and no thriving bryopsis. In fact, no pruning required. If you look very closely at my tank you may be able to find a few dying strands.

 

Where did my turbo go? Did he climb out or did he not make it? He took the Mg treatment pretty hard. He seamed drunk for awhile when Mg went extremely high.

[Mstefa1]

So just to let you know how much confidence I have in my Tunze ATO I just replaced the little 1.5g reservoir with a 4g reservoir. This should get me through about 8 days with the current weather which should hold me over for half my Florida trip. I'll have someone refill it when it's gone. This thing would be perfect for an apex breakout board and low level switch.

 

The old reservoir has been moved to my Tunze ATO on my new PicO. It's my belief that not running a MH light should greatly reduce the evaporation but I could be mistaken. We will see! In any event I may have to setup an RODI storage solution as sooner or later I will get tired of filling gallon jugs. )

[andi.rahl]

You've had a lot going on huh? I just love your sun coral...so I'm pretty pleased with all the pics you post of it.

[Mstefa1]

You've had a lot going on huh? I just love your sun coral...so I'm pretty pleased with all the pics you post of it.

 

Oh yeah. lol I doubt I'll every fully get rid of the bryopsis. Since I let my Mg drop it seams to have picked up again but nothing serious. I just hope I don't get any in the new tank. Unfortunately with sun coral is that 3 times a week feeding on a clean tank isn't enough to promote growth. I can't imagine how much I'd have to feed to get it to grow. I had a few fat head dendros lined up but they are pretty pricy and as you can tell my cash is tied up on the PicO. I'll get the fat heads at some point.

[Mstefa1]

Just update this thread, I got a phosphorous Hanna checker and tested the water yesterday. After the conversion, the phosphate level on my Aquapod was 0.02 so clearly bryopsis doesn't care about low phosphates. You can see my long and detailed write up on my Hanna Checker here. I've temporarily borrowed my BRS deluxe GFO reactor from my Aquapod and put it on my PicO.

[MiddReef]

Very nice AP24! These tanks are little machines once you get them tuned and modded like you have. I still regret taking mine down, they really have nice proportions!

 

Keep up the good work!

[Mstefa1]

Very nice AP24! These tanks are little machines once you get them tuned and modded like you have. I still regret taking mine down, they really have nice proportions!

 

Keep up the good work!

 

Thank you buddy! I love it too, however I've grown bored if it because it's stocked, and there is not much more that I can do beside let it grow. From a full package deal, it is a hardware nightmare so one of my goals with my new tank is making sure the hardware is hidden. It's cool though because I have a frag tank now so I plan to clean up my sand bed and frag a few of the corals I already have. Additionally, I plan to pick up 1 or 2 more and then I would be able to remove a coral and drop it in my frag tank if I want to move things around.