Aquabacs' Cadlights Artisan 50 Azooxanthellae Tank build
- Thread starter Aquabacs
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Aquabacs
New member
Gary I have been looking for a custom reactor to be made for me. Not sure yet if it will be coming from Avast or MRC. The reactor I wanted, Avast can not make at this time because smoke grey acrylic cylinder tubing is not available through their distributors. Since that option is a no go...I am am looking at going a different route. I want something that is not functional for this tank but usable as well once I upgrade my tank later down the road. So planning for the next is just as important as the present.
Mike
Mike
Sounds like he's back in but I'm thinking of just tossing the towel in. I have so little free time to devote to it and my lack of time is a big factor in why it has not gone live yet.
Last edited:
slapshot
Active member
Hi Mike. here is a picture of it. I can't tell if it is new growth or it is just expanded more but it is 1/4 inch taller then a couple of days ago. FYI it sat in the sand for weeks before it attached itself.it looked alive so i just left it.
BTW I will be removing the gorg tonight when the lights go out. My eel broke it last night eating.
Lastly go look at my post in the Dendronphthya study thread. Something amazing happened in my tank last night. I can't figure it out? Sorry about the bad pix my camera's battery was dead so I used my phone.
BTW I will be removing the gorg tonight when the lights go out. My eel broke it last night eating.
Lastly go look at my post in the Dendronphthya study thread. Something amazing happened in my tank last night. I can't figure it out? Sorry about the bad pix my camera's battery was dead so I used my phone.
wireefman
reefin chef
fast as fast can be they will never catch me!!!!!
any progress on the custom reactor yet?
Aquabacs
New member
:beer:
It is going to take two weeks or so before I actually get them. Since they were custom...had to wait until Avast gets the materials in to make them. Overall they should look pretty dam sweet when their done and I will be able to add a slight amount of water volume to the tank as well.
Mike
It is going to take two weeks or so before I actually get them. Since they were custom...had to wait until Avast gets the materials in to make them. Overall they should look pretty dam sweet when their done and I will be able to add a slight amount of water volume to the tank as well.
Mike
Aquabacs
New member
I have been playing around with a few things with my tank as in the upcoming months it needs to be baby proof and my time will be limited down the road. First concern was getting the autofeeding set up and with dry & refrigerated systems in place, that is good to go.
What my biggest concern with the tank is water quality. All that food in the water column is great but other issues come along with it. Nitrates were the easiest out of the mix to get a handle on. Since September with addition of Warner EcoBak, adding the pellets in increments, nitrates have become easily controllable using solid vodka dosing. With using 750ml of pellets the nitrates have been hovering around 1 (Elos Test Kit) and more pellets to be added once my new Avast Marine Reactors come in.
Now my biggest evil is phosphates. Not going to lie on this, it has been a nasty battle, phosphates were way out of control, did some killing over ths journey too. This is an issue that came more into play as the system becomes more mature. I test Phosphates every single day of the week now, with a Hanna tester. With doing water changes alone: minimum 25 % two times a week the phosphates were way over 1 with an ELOS test kit and over 2.5 on a Hanna. So next step was to add Bulk Reef Supply HC GFO into the mix. Started adding it slow and the GFO was quickly exhausted. You might want to buy stock in BRS now
(that was your stock tip of the day). Ramped up the GFO and started using 1 cup of HC GFO every 5 days. I know, to cut down costs, you can recharge it. The effluent from the GFO reactor is run through a 10 micron filter sock which is changed between 2-3 times a day. All depends on how quick it clogs and starts to overflow. 10 micron socks might be excessive but you will see why 10 micron in a few minutes. Phosphates became manageable down to 1 but I wanted to get them lower than that. The high phosphates did not have effect on the soft corals but did cause issue with the LPS (tissue recession and growth). So the next step to get them lower was to dose Sea Klear lanthanum chloride (LC). Disclaimer: This is something not to be played around with as you could potentially kill everything in your tank if you overdose it so start off slow. First off I did a bulk order of 10 micron filter socks, ordered the LC, then waited to get everthing from the respected vendors. The start off batch of LC was 1ml of Sea Klear to 1 gallon or RO/DI for a weeks worth of dosing. This is the dosing for treating 50 Gallons of aquarium water. I set the LC drip to only take place when I was home in the evening, so from 6pm to midnight it was dripped into the overflow. At the end of the overflow there was a 10 micron sock. By midnight the sock would be clogged and the LC dosing was finished for the day. The exact amount that was dosed each day slightly varied but the gallon jug was close to the end on Sunday. Now could I have I dosed more aggressively but I did not want to cause more harm than needed. With the LC dosing the phosphates dropped to aprox .5 daily. I then decide to cut back the GFO. Started off with taking away a 1/4 of a cup. After another 2 weeks of testing it was still at .5. That made me estatic! Cutting off 1/4 cup of GFO a week and my phosphates being at .5. Now I am starting to save some cash (thinking in my head 1/4 cup x 52 weeks...sweet). Here is where it got interesting, pellets been running for a few months, I decided to try not dosing LC. No LC, GFO at 3/4 cup every 5 days, phosphates stayed between .46-.5 every day. F-yah! that made me happy.
But nothing ever makes me content so I wanted to play around some more. Decided to see what would happen if instead of doing water changes 2x a week if I could pull poing them at 1x a week. So skipped a water change, tested the water, nitrates at 1, PO4 at .5 so far so good. Did it another week, very close to the same results. Next step, push the water changes to every week and a half. This is something that scared me. I have been so used to doing water changes automatically it was hard not to do them. At a week and a half between water changes the nitrates have been testing at 1 and the phosphates.......between .26-.37. Week after that the numbers were close to the same. That is where I am at now.
Cutting down water changes & media is something that will come in handy down the road....and in pocket. It is progress as well in the care the system.
Mike
What my biggest concern with the tank is water quality. All that food in the water column is great but other issues come along with it. Nitrates were the easiest out of the mix to get a handle on. Since September with addition of Warner EcoBak, adding the pellets in increments, nitrates have become easily controllable using solid vodka dosing. With using 750ml of pellets the nitrates have been hovering around 1 (Elos Test Kit) and more pellets to be added once my new Avast Marine Reactors come in.
Now my biggest evil is phosphates. Not going to lie on this, it has been a nasty battle, phosphates were way out of control, did some killing over ths journey too. This is an issue that came more into play as the system becomes more mature. I test Phosphates every single day of the week now, with a Hanna tester. With doing water changes alone: minimum 25 % two times a week the phosphates were way over 1 with an ELOS test kit and over 2.5 on a Hanna. So next step was to add Bulk Reef Supply HC GFO into the mix. Started adding it slow and the GFO was quickly exhausted. You might want to buy stock in BRS now
(that was your stock tip of the day). Ramped up the GFO and started using 1 cup of HC GFO every 5 days. I know, to cut down costs, you can recharge it. The effluent from the GFO reactor is run through a 10 micron filter sock which is changed between 2-3 times a day. All depends on how quick it clogs and starts to overflow. 10 micron socks might be excessive but you will see why 10 micron in a few minutes. Phosphates became manageable down to 1 but I wanted to get them lower than that. The high phosphates did not have effect on the soft corals but did cause issue with the LPS (tissue recession and growth). So the next step to get them lower was to dose Sea Klear lanthanum chloride (LC). Disclaimer: This is something not to be played around with as you could potentially kill everything in your tank if you overdose it so start off slow. First off I did a bulk order of 10 micron filter socks, ordered the LC, then waited to get everthing from the respected vendors. The start off batch of LC was 1ml of Sea Klear to 1 gallon or RO/DI for a weeks worth of dosing. This is the dosing for treating 50 Gallons of aquarium water. I set the LC drip to only take place when I was home in the evening, so from 6pm to midnight it was dripped into the overflow. At the end of the overflow there was a 10 micron sock. By midnight the sock would be clogged and the LC dosing was finished for the day. The exact amount that was dosed each day slightly varied but the gallon jug was close to the end on Sunday. Now could I have I dosed more aggressively but I did not want to cause more harm than needed. With the LC dosing the phosphates dropped to aprox .5 daily. I then decide to cut back the GFO. Started off with taking away a 1/4 of a cup. After another 2 weeks of testing it was still at .5. That made me estatic! Cutting off 1/4 cup of GFO a week and my phosphates being at .5. Now I am starting to save some cash (thinking in my head 1/4 cup x 52 weeks...sweet). Here is where it got interesting, pellets been running for a few months, I decided to try not dosing LC. No LC, GFO at 3/4 cup every 5 days, phosphates stayed between .46-.5 every day. F-yah! that made me happy. But nothing ever makes me content so I wanted to play around some more. Decided to see what would happen if instead of doing water changes 2x a week if I could pull poing them at 1x a week. So skipped a water change, tested the water, nitrates at 1, PO4 at .5 so far so good. Did it another week, very close to the same results. Next step, push the water changes to every week and a half. This is something that scared me. I have been so used to doing water changes automatically it was hard not to do them. At a week and a half between water changes the nitrates have been testing at 1 and the phosphates.......between .26-.37. Week after that the numbers were close to the same. That is where I am at now.
Cutting down water changes & media is something that will come in handy down the road....and in pocket. It is progress as well in the care the system.
Mike
slapshot
Active member
Looks just the same. So far so good. I had a small problem while I was out of town. My furnace broke. When we walked in the door it was 38 in the house. The tank was at 75.6 but the MH had been on for several hours. Actually they were probably on the entire time as I have a safety stop on my Neptune to turn on the MH if the temp falls below 75. For all I know the MH were on for 6 days. I may have lost the LPS due to too much light. I lost a couple of LPS but everything else looks the same. Waiting to see if anything gets affected as the heat returns to normal.
slapshot
Active member
Ditto....
CJO
New member
If you have a Neptune Apex, you can log onto it using your web browser and show a graph that tells you how long your metal halides have been on.
CJ
Aquabacs
New member
I believe the LC and GFO were able to get the PO4 to a manageable level for the bacteria to maintain. Could the pellets do it by themselves? Possibly but I dont know what the time frame would be to have the same effect.
slapshot
Active member
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