Scorpius
Stick Head
I advise you try Unique Corals. I've ordered three times from them with great results. Only $19 for shipping under $200. They have some cool sps.
65 DSA SPS Dominant Mixed Reef
- Thread starter aggie13reef
- Start date
I advise you try Unique Corals. I've ordered three times from them with great results. Only $19 for shipping under $200. They have some cool sps.
Pife
Active member
Today I added a couple frags to the tank. Pretty excited to say that I now have a millepora. My wife actually picked it out. I also added another green acro that jumped out at me in the LFS. They had some amazing stuff today and I had to sit by and watch a guy buy 3 pretty big colonies right in front of me.
Heres a couple pictures of the new goods:
The top picture looks like a spathalata to me not a millepora.
aggie13reef
New member
Thanks for the ID, after looking it up its exact to what I have. Still new to the game!
aggie13reef
New member
Finally got in the dosing game! Ordered some thin 1 gal jugs off amazon, and picked up a salifert alk test kit. Tested my alk and its at 6 tonight. The salifert kit is so much easier to use than the Red Sea kit. The color change is much more noticeable.
As for the dosing pump I have not set it up yet and probably won't have time until this weekend. I need to come up with a decent DIY shelf for my stand that can hold the pump. Anyone have any ideas?
I am excited to see what my tank will look like with stable parameters.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
jbvdhp
Active member
Finally got in the dosing game! Ordered some thin 1 gal jugs off amazon, and picked up a salifert alk test kit. Tested my alk and its at 6 tonight. The salifert kit is so much easier to use than the Red Sea kit. The color change is much more noticeable.
As for the dosing pump I have not set it up yet and probably won't have time until this weekend. I need to come up with a decent DIY shelf for my stand that can hold the pump. Anyone have any ideas?
I am excited to see what my tank will look like with stable parameters.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
I have that same pump, although I believe my version is version 2. It says Jecod on it, so supposedly better software. You may have to take the rollers out and reverse them on yours. Mine were installed incorrectly.
I set it up last night and it doses fairly precisely. I eyeballed 100ml for calibration and I'm getting it to dose 11.5 ml instead of 10 ml so I'm buying a more precise measuring cylinder.
Pretty intuitive and easy to use.
Sent using your IP address
aggie13reef
New member
I picked this up from my LFS before I got on here and saw the thread about version 2... He had to knock the dust off of the box when I bought it :lolspin: Hoping this one will give me no issues, I have an RW-8 and a Jecod return pump so no issues with the company so far. Thanks for the heads up about the rollers, I still have not set it up as getting a shelf mounted in my stand is giving me a headache! I am just glad to have a dosing pump finally I cannot keep my alk above 6.7-ish by hand dosing anymore without causing a huge swing daily.
aggie13reef
New member
Update part 1:
Happy 4th to everyone! I have the day off today and since my wife is at work it is time to mess with the tank. Today I plan to mount my 2 frags I picked up last weekend and manually remove some more of the GHA that is still choking out the tank. The urchin is doing a great job, I just need about 4 more :lolspin:.
I also plan to start a project that will eliminate my messy wire pile that can be seen as soon as you walk in my front door. A couple weeks ago my grandfather gave my wife and I a small safe to keep in our closet (from the 70's). he insisted I take the safe cover with it even though I did not want to. I am glad I did as now I plan on using it to conceal my cords, ATO container, and power strips! All I have to do is paint it black to match the stand and get it in the house.
Here is a picture of the cover:
Happy 4th to everyone! I have the day off today and since my wife is at work it is time to mess with the tank. Today I plan to mount my 2 frags I picked up last weekend and manually remove some more of the GHA that is still choking out the tank. The urchin is doing a great job, I just need about 4 more :lolspin:.
I also plan to start a project that will eliminate my messy wire pile that can be seen as soon as you walk in my front door. A couple weeks ago my grandfather gave my wife and I a small safe to keep in our closet (from the 70's). he insisted I take the safe cover with it even though I did not want to. I am glad I did as now I plan on using it to conceal my cords, ATO container, and power strips! All I have to do is paint it black to match the stand and get it in the house.
Here is a picture of the cover:
jbvdhp
Active member
I just set it on a stool. Very easy to program. I'm so glad I did it, but I'm looking into a Ca Reactor now.
Sent using your IP address
aggie13reef
New member
Hopefully I will be setting mine up tomorrow as I ordered the mounting bracket off amazon for $29.
With a tank as big as yours I bet you are. I figure with mine being a 65g theres no need for a Ca reactor. But you never know...
aggie13reef
New member
Update part 2:
Here's the cover painted and ready to go. I just need to move it inside and get everything inside it. Possibly tomorrow after work.
I pulled quite a bit of GHA out of the tank. Only found one or two patches of bryopsis which is great. I guess part of the massive amount of GHA is due to the tank being broke. Down and set back up with new sand etc.
I also mounted the two frags I got last weekend and FINALLY got my purple tipped stag in a permanent spot!
Here's a few shots from today (top downs are way more difficult with the hood) :
This is the side I can see from the couch, my favorite side
And this is my wife's new favorite tank inhabitant, best picture I can get of it!
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Here's the cover painted and ready to go. I just need to move it inside and get everything inside it. Possibly tomorrow after work.
I pulled quite a bit of GHA out of the tank. Only found one or two patches of bryopsis which is great. I guess part of the massive amount of GHA is due to the tank being broke. Down and set back up with new sand etc.
I also mounted the two frags I got last weekend and FINALLY got my purple tipped stag in a permanent spot!
Here's a few shots from today (top downs are way more difficult with the hood) :
This is the side I can see from the couch, my favorite side
And this is my wife's new favorite tank inhabitant, best picture I can get of it!
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
aggie13reef
New member
This weekend I somehow got all of my projects done thanks to the help of my father in law.
Here's a picture of the dosing pump installed:
It's all calibrated and set up to dose. The only pain was I had to disassemble the heads and rotate the rollers as they were installed backwards, I have read this is common with this dosing pump. Classic case of get what you pay for but at the price of this pump if it doses how I need it too I will be happy. Currently dosing 30 mL of alk 2 part over 6 doses per day and 42 mL of calcium 2 part over 6 doses per day.
I also got the cord housing cover finished up!
I also am jumping on the Aquaforest train!
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Here's a picture of the dosing pump installed:
It's all calibrated and set up to dose. The only pain was I had to disassemble the heads and rotate the rollers as they were installed backwards, I have read this is common with this dosing pump. Classic case of get what you pay for but at the price of this pump if it doses how I need it too I will be happy. Currently dosing 30 mL of alk 2 part over 6 doses per day and 42 mL of calcium 2 part over 6 doses per day.
I also got the cord housing cover finished up!
I also am jumping on the Aquaforest train!
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
aggie13reef
New member
August Update:
It has been a while since I have posted an update. Nothing new and exciting just keeping up with the normal routine. I went to the LFS to get some of the Aquaforest salt but all they had was the sea salt. So I picked up a small bucket of Red Sea blue and did a water change today. Ever since moving the tank I have not done weekly water changes as I used to do in the old house. I had to bump my alk dosing up on the pump and lower my Ca. Alk is currently at 6.85 and Ca at 440. I want to get alk up to 7 and hold it there. GHA still plagues the tank but I have been skimming wetter having to dump the cup every other day and I think it it having a positive impact. I am still dosing the pro bio S and the NP pro and have almost used the whole bottle of each (3 drops of each every morning). I did find out the hard way that NP pro needed to be dosed directly to the tank as it would make the skimmer freak out
. But other than that I am happy with both products. I really want to get my hands on some of the AF salt when this red sea is used up. Anyone notice a huge difference between the Probiotic and regular reef salt?
Here are some pictures:
It has been a while since I have posted an update. Nothing new and exciting just keeping up with the normal routine. I went to the LFS to get some of the Aquaforest salt but all they had was the sea salt. So I picked up a small bucket of Red Sea blue and did a water change today. Ever since moving the tank I have not done weekly water changes as I used to do in the old house. I had to bump my alk dosing up on the pump and lower my Ca. Alk is currently at 6.85 and Ca at 440. I want to get alk up to 7 and hold it there. GHA still plagues the tank but I have been skimming wetter having to dump the cup every other day and I think it it having a positive impact. I am still dosing the pro bio S and the NP pro and have almost used the whole bottle of each (3 drops of each every morning). I did find out the hard way that NP pro needed to be dosed directly to the tank as it would make the skimmer freak out
. But other than that I am happy with both products. I really want to get my hands on some of the AF salt when this red sea is used up. Anyone notice a huge difference between the Probiotic and regular reef salt? Here are some pictures:
aggie13reef
New member
Looking good Nick
Thank you sir!
Thanks Mark, I was planning on using the reef salt (less $) and continuing the Pro bio S and NP pro dosing. I just need some better pictures of the tank! The hood makes top downs way more difficult...
aggie13reef
New member
Today I messed with the light settings for the first time in a long while. I turned the red and green LEDs to 0. I want to see if it has any effect on the GHA growth. Tomorrow I plan to pull as much as I can manually and maybe even get my hammer and frogspawn mounted finally.
aggie13reef
New member
Last night I tested Alk and Ca and came up with 7.5 and 500+. The 500+ reading was on my new nyos test kit. I tested twice to make sure it wasn't a false reading. Last time I tested Ca it was around 475 so I had a jump. The Red Sea blue bucket should have mixed to the low 400s so next time I will have to test the water before I do the water change. For the time being I have cut off the Ca 2 part mix on my dosing pump in order to let it fall down toward my target range of 420. Pulled handfuls of GHA out 2 nights ago so the tank is looking clean right now. Hopefully by this winter I will have it somewhat under control!
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
aggie13reef
New member
Aaaaaannnnddd one of my power heads bit the dust while I was at work today....
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
aggie13reef
New member
Yesterday I picked up a new PP-8 (formerly RW-8). I set it on the opposite side as my other RW-8 and turned it on. Man I didn't realize how low my flow was prior to the new pump. It's a wonder my SPS were growing! Algae and detritus blew all over the place for a while. Hoping this helps with my algae problem as detritus won't be able to settle as easily. The only issue I have is getting even flow throughout the tank. I have both pumps turned down pretty low as when they are turned up they blast some of the higher up corals.
The red area is the lowest flow in the tank. The yellow is moderate and the green is strong. I have an RW-8 on each side panel on the tank and I have one positioned more back and one more forward. The return line also provides extra flow. The LPS don't seem to mind the extra flow so far but they don't make up much of the tank.
I cleaned my lights today and air dusted the fans on top as they were pretty dirty and one was showing red status on my AI director portal.
Ca pump remains off for now. I will test tonight and go from there. Hoping some increased growth and happiness of all inhabitants is ahead!
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
The red area is the lowest flow in the tank. The yellow is moderate and the green is strong. I have an RW-8 on each side panel on the tank and I have one positioned more back and one more forward. The return line also provides extra flow. The LPS don't seem to mind the extra flow so far but they don't make up much of the tank.
I cleaned my lights today and air dusted the fans on top as they were pretty dirty and one was showing red status on my AI director portal.
Ca pump remains off for now. I will test tonight and go from there. Hoping some increased growth and happiness of all inhabitants is ahead!
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
I have a pair of RW8's and have found that they need to be cleaned pretty frequently in order to stay at normal operating range. Once they start to get dirty they have a pretty quick fall-off. Once cleaned they are back to normal.
I've since set up a monthly calendar appointment to remind me. Sometimes they make it a month otherwise it is about every two weeks. I have mine on my reef angel controller and their profile changes between reef crest and lagoon. Been reliable as far as continued use and no breaks but they do have a fall of. Nothing something I'll be using on my next tank though.
I've since set up a monthly calendar appointment to remind me. Sometimes they make it a month otherwise it is about every two weeks. I have mine on my reef angel controller and their profile changes between reef crest and lagoon. Been reliable as far as continued use and no breaks but they do have a fall of. Nothing something I'll be using on my next tank though.
