150g Water Change Challenge

[kaserpick]

Hey everyone. I wanted to share an update of the 60g. It's been almost 6 months. While things haven't been bad, progress hasn't been amazing. I believe this has been due to starving the corals, dosing bacteria and carbon, and not doing frequent water changes (like 10% per month). I'm a little ashamed of that, since I worked at a place that pushes 20% weekly water changes. That's when I've had the most success in this hobby.

So, with all of that in mind, I've stopped dosing bacteria and carbon, started dosing oyster feast 2x a week (target feeding), and started performing 15g weekly water changes. My system has a net amount of ~60g, making this more than 20% per week.

While in Virginia Beach, I purchase 3 50g bags of Instant Ocean from my old and favorite LFS. The plan is to use all of it up and take pictures along the way. I'll post 4 pics after every other water change.

Here's the first 4 pics that I'll use as a base line:

 

[aandfsoccr04]

What was your old favorite local fish store in va beach?

 

[kaserpick]

Fish Safari! I worked there.

When I was a customer and very new to the hobby, they would recommend that I did NOT buy certain things, due to poor water quality or lack of equipment. Leroy (one of the owners) really knows his stuff. I believe he has a degree in Marine Biology.

Reef Chief is another nice store. Jeff has a great selection, but he can be a bit pricey. Of course, that didn't stop me from buying.

Animal Jungle wasn't too good, at least when I lived there a few years ago. Their saltwater manager didn't know much about basic water chemistry. They had OK setups for the coral tanks, but without good chemistry, things never did well there. I worked there for about 3 weeks. The people were nice but not knowledgable; I felt like I was always fighting an uphill battle.

 

[kaserpick]

Also, here's some tank specs:

Tank: 60g Deep Blue Rimless: 48" x 24" x 12"t
Sump: 20g long, no frills
Return: Mag 9.5
Skimmer: Bubble Magus 5.5 (set to skim wet and heavy)
Flow: 2 x Tunze 6055 (on Apex), 1 x Tunze 6065, 1 x Tunze 6045 (all in DT), and 1 x Tunze 6025 in sump (helps with dead spots)
Lighting: 250w Radium 20k SE, Lumenmax Elite, and IceCap ballast
Controller: Apex Jr.

Upgrade in the Works: DIY T5/LED Hybrid: Here's a list of bought and future equipment:

-Bought Equipment-
2 x IceCap 430 ballasts
1 x Mean Well LPC-35-700
4 x Cree XT-E Royal Blue
4 x Cree XP-E Blue
2 x Cree XP-E Green
2 x UV, sold by Rapid LED
2 x Philips Rebel ES Cyan
0.063" thick aluminum sheet metal for housing
10' 9-conductor cable (each wire is rated for 6A, overkill)

-Future Equipment-
4 x ATI 36" Reflectors
8 x Shunted, low profile socket end caps
2 x ATI Blue Plus
2 x ATI Coral Plus (I might swap one of these for an ATI Purple Plus)

I planned on trying to have a 5 bulb fixture, but 430's won't fire 3 bulbs. Also, I wanted to try a hybrid light. The LED'S are not dimmable; I figured it wouldn't be an issue since almost half of them will be lower output 3w LED's. The Green's, Blue's, Cyan's, and UV's, are not lumen monsters. The driver and ballasts will be in a remote, fan cooled box. I'm doing this to keep the fixture thinner and cooler. Finally, the housing will have the LED's in the middle, with 2 T5's on each side, and the T5's will be angled inward by 10 degrees. I'm very excited about this fixture, but I'll start a thread in the DIY Forum when I start building. I'll post a link in this thread, in case anyone is interested.

 

[teo reef]

Nice set up Kasey!!

Looking great:thumbsup:

 

[blakers82]

10 weeks of fun! 5 sets of pictures. 2.5 hours of camera time, $1.25 in tolls, 62.5degrees Fahrenheit will be the inaccurate read out on your digital thermometer when mixing up a new WC batch, 31.25 is my age in years, 15.75 is just a number.

Ok. I'm done.

 

[kaserpick]

Nice set up Kasey!!

Looking great:thumbsup:

Thanks Teo! I hope it grows in well!

10 weeks of fun! 5 sets of pictures. 2.5 hours of camera time, $1.25 in tolls, 62.5degrees Fahrenheit will be the inaccurate read out on your digital thermometer when mixing up a new WC batch, 31.25 is my age in years, 15.75 is just a number.

Ok. I'm done.

Haha, nice! Yeah, I'm looking forward to the end result. I'm hoping there's a marked difference in the corals and that the difference is positive.

Side Note: That T. Maxima was in my care for 2 years, then my friend, Jack's care for around 2 years, and has been in my care again for around the past last year. Continues to have a fresh white layer of growth all the time. So, that's an achievement!

It was a baby when I bought it, measuring right at 2". It's close to 5" now.