Coming back after 15 years...

[MNtadpole]

I put in a flasher wrasse the other day. He's doing well. He found that hole in a rock right away, he goes in there every night. He's a bit of a bully to my 6 chromis if they get too close.

Corner Reef got in a Harlequin Tusk, thinking of getting him. I had one previously. If I remember correctly he only lived about 2 year. I've been reading up on them, seems they can get mean/aggressive. I don't recall that at all with the one I had, but it was also a very long time ago. He was in with my 2 big Clark clowns. He was bigger than them but if I remember correctly, they bullied him more than he bullied any of my other fish. Anyone else have experience with a Harlequin Tusk?

I don't mean to jump in on your conversation, but I recently moved to the Southern Illinois/ STL area for work. I've found The Corner Reef to be a pretty awesome resource. I bought my Picasso Clown pair from them...pretty fish, but a little aggressive during feeding time.

Oddly enough, I actually remember seeing that particular fish in the corner of their store on Saturday afternoon. My wife actually pointed out.

 

[ClarkiiClownfish]

Hi there! I passed on the HT & got an exquisite fairy wrasse.

Corner Reef is a great store! The owner Steve & all the guys that work there are knowledgeable & helpful.

 

[ClarkiiClownfish]

So I bought this beast Co2 scrubber & it has really boosted my PH well beyond expectation. Before I got it, low was 7.8, high was 8.0. Now my low is 8.1 & high 8.3. I have put in 14 small frags over the last couple months, one did not make it, 2 others looking so-so but the rest seem to be doing well. The scrubber has only been online 4 days so hope to see a boost in coral growth/color, haven't seen any media color change yet. I'm recirculating it thru my skimmer.

Next up is the Versa 4-bank dosing pump. I'll use two heads for 2-part & the other two for auto-water changes. I am really enjoying taking care of this tank!

 

[griss]

Awesome update.

 

[ClarkiiClownfish]

Co2 scrubber media after 12 days. I see many people complain the media goes fast but at this rate it should last at least 6 weeks, maybe more. I also see complaints that people can't see the color change but it looks quite obvious to me. I do have to drain the intake line everyday. The moist air recirculating thru the skimmer builds up in it. I need to get a tee & a small ball valve to make it easier to drain.

 

[griss]

Glad it’s working well for you

 

[ClarkiiClownfish]

Thanks Griss!

By the way, Steve at Corner Reef brought in 5 Ritteri nems over the last couple months. 3 were doa, one lived 3 days, and the one in the link below is now in my tank. He held onto it for a month to make sure it was OK. I got it Friday afternoon. The video was shot Saturday morning as the lights were coming on. As expected, it climbed to the top of that big rock, directly under an XR15. I fed it a small piece of silverside shortly after I took the video, it gobbled it right up. Gave it another later on Saturday & three pieces today. Ate each in no time flat. It's about 7-8 inches across. All my parameters are on point so I took the plunge.

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Crazy thing is, that big rock was strategically placed there by me. It is the exact same rock my other Ritteri (bought around 26-27 yrs ago) crept up to the top of & spent over 11 years on. Deja Vu all over again

 

[griss]

That's a nice Ritteri. I always liked those but, when I've had them in the past, they always seemed to like attaching to the top of the front glass pane. So, I haven't gotten one in years.

 

[ClarkiiClownfish]

Hello All! Little update. Ritteri is doing awesome. Corner Reef brought in a pair of Clarkii's for me. They've been in about 10 days to 2 weeks & now run the tank

Got some new gadgets. Two Versa base stations. Tired of hand dosing every day. Dosing CA +trace/Alk +trace/Meersalts/MG Balling method one the first. Just set up a 5 gallon/day continuous water change on the second. Plan to use another one to dose phyto at some point. The last head will be a spare. Playing it unsafe right now (but only running it while I'm home) with no hi/low water alarms which brings me to my next purchase (and last for a while). Probably hitting the buy button for a Hydros controller tonight. Likely going with the Launch version so I'll have high/low float switches with notifications & a plug strip to kill power should water get to levels it shouldn't be. Also ph & salinity probes. Still massively enjoying the tank. Everything is looking good.

Here is a pic of the Versa banks & a link to the female clown stealing a piece of shrimp meant for the eel & feeding it to the Nem.

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[griss]

Awesome update and congrats.

 

[ClarkiiClownfish]

OK, here we go! All in on Hydros!

I'll try to start setting it up this weekend if I get the time. I've never had a controller. I'm on the waiting list for Mavin too. This setup has ph/orp/salinity/temp probes, high/low for sump/ato/awc reservoir, and the Kraken to get rid of the power brick mess on the sump side.

 

[Reefing102]

Lots of controller stuff

 

[Dustin07]

OK, here we go! All in on Hydros!

I'll try to start setting it up this weekend if I get the time. I've never had a controller. I'm on the waiting list for Mavin too. This setup has ph/orp/salinity/temp probes, high/low for sump/ato/awc reservoir, and the Kraken to get rid of the power brick mess on the sump side.

your technology game is on point... this is so far beyond my understanding. I see a guy local selling a "complete Apex" setup for dirt cheap and I'm super tempted....

 

[ClarkiiClownfish]

your technology game is on point... this is so far beyond my understanding. I see a guy local selling a "complete Apex" setup for dirt cheap and I'm super tempted....

I did a lot of research before purchasing. The controller game for aquariums is mostly a sham, but I think Hydros was the best option. Seems a bit easier to set up and run vs the Apex's stupid coding system, but we will see. This weekend is shot as the wife has a honeydo list for me and I will not have time, so it will all sit here another week. I say sham because EcoTech does not play well with Hydros. In fact, it doesn't play at all. I planned to start off Hydros with a Wave Engine on the tank side, but EcoTech has blocked control by Hydros with their firmware, so no EcoTech products can be controlled with Hydros, except basically on or off. So I had to rethink things because I have a lot of Ecotech products. Hydros told me they hope EcoTech will open up their products to Hydros control sometime in the future. Seems EcoTech is pushing you to Apex. But I've seen and held an Apex and a Hydros device, there is no comparison on the build quality. Hydros has that by miles. A ton of people love Apex and a ton of people have a ton of problems with Apex. To me, it looked and felt like a total piece of cheap Chinese plastic junk.

We will see how it goes. It's going to be a pain in the butt doing this now though. Would have been much easier to do it when I set the tank up.

Tank Update
I do have some STN going on in my tank. I have 3 different colors of digitata, 1 staghorn and 1 piece of green something sps. All have STN from the base up. I have fragged all of them. I cut off the dead area and inch up, dip them, glue to frag plugs and re-stick them in the tank. They grow like weeds for a couple months and then the STN comes back from the base up. Always from the base up. I am tired of it and decided just to let them die off and go with no sps for the time being, and hopefully whatever is causing it will dies off and/or go away and I'll try some more digi's later on down the road. Not sure what else to do. Everything else seems to be doing fine. I have 6 LPS torches, a ton of frags of zoa's, and a bunch of encrusters, all doing good, growing and multiplying and expanding. Maybe my tank is still just too new for sps?? The Magnifica is doing great and has double in size since I got it. The clowns are doing great too. One has turned female and has literally doubled in size. The smaller male is about the same size as when I got him, but the female is literally twice his size. He is constantly biting at the rock just below the foot of the nem and vibrating his body. He is ready to go! No spawning yet, but I think it may be coming soon. I'll get some pics posted later.

 

[EchoVetEcho]

Hello RC, It's been a minute. I have the wife talked in to spending the money for a new reef tank! That's like 75% of the battle, right? It looks like things have changed just a tad bit from 30 years ago! I've been out 15 years, but I set up my first tank 15 years prior to that.

I'd like some advice on step 1, acquiring the tank, and the stand, sump, plumbing.

What we know:
1. We love the completely rimless glass look, but we are also practical & if it's too much of a risk, then we go with a rim.
2. Tank will be a peninsula. Hopefully 6ftx30"x30". Cost and rim vs no rim could affect this. We may need to scale back to 4ftx24"x24".
3. No Red Sea. They look beautiful but just too many horror stories.
4. Considering & researching Cade, Waterbox, Planet. Are there others I should be looking at? Would appreciate feedback of your tank if you are kind enough to take the time to reply.
5. This will be a mixed reef, sps/softies/fish.
6. I love tinkering with tech, so I want to incorporate as much automation & smart devices/monitoring, etc as is reasonable. I do know automation cannot be fully trusted though. I will be hands on & maintaining the tank myself & realize daily visual inspection & water tests using test kits is required.

So what about water changes though? I hear you don't have to do them anymore with these new smart tanks! Just kidding!

This is going to be a slow & methodical process with copious amounts of research & planning. I learned the lesson of moving too fast 30 years ago. We will likely pull the trigger late spring/early summer 2024 after research is done & we are convinced we have selected the right product & company to do the installation (I was young man 30 years ago with 3 less back surgeries, no way I'm picking up a fish tank! )

Thanks for reading!
Ken in StL

Welcome back Clark

 

[ClarkiiClownfish]

Had a couple free hours to tinker with Hydros. It is even easier to set up than I thought it would be! I mounted the Launch & X3 devices on a board, set up both, updated firmware on both, created a collective, temporarily set up & installed the ATO kit & the temperature sensor in under 90 minutes.

It is way easy. The Hydros app is top notch & easy to operate. The Hydros website has step by step instructions for setting up each of their devices. I followed the instructions on my tablet & input everything to the app as I went. Tons of settings & notification levels for each device. A little overwhelming at first but it all came to me and made a lot of sense in a short period of time. I'll mount the Kraken next & get it added to the collective. The hardest part of this by far is going to be taking down the wire/power brick mess & getting the boards mounted. Setting up all the Hydros stuff temporarily & getting it all ready to go beforehand will minimize downtime.

The Kraken will replace all of those power bricks in that basket, both Sicce drivers, the Octo skimmer driver, & that long power strip. The Kraken & Launch will power & run all of that, and I'll have salinity, ph, & orp probes! I'll have high/low sensors in the AWC reservoir, high/low sensors in the ATO to avoid TDS creep, and high/low sensors in the sump that will kill power to the AWC pumps in case of any troubles or malfunctions with one of the dosing heads.

Can't wait for the Mavin. The release has pushed off so they must be having issues with it, but if they can get it working like they say it should & the reviews are good, I am absolutely getting one of those.

 

[ClarkiiClownfish]

Hydros install nearly completed. I'll post some pics once cable management is all done. I'm loving it. Couple issues I'm still working through, and I was sent a wrong item which is being exchanged. I am already planning on expanding.

I've had problems with the newer Versa 4 bank base station I use for AWC & Ecotech has agreed to exchange it. I may just try to sell it & get a couple of Hydros Soles to do AWC & I'll be able to control them with Hydros. Currently all I can do with the Versa as far as Hydros is power them with Kraken. Control is still with Mobius Bluetooth only

If you guys ever need some chaeto, OMG I have a TON of it. It is growing like mad! I saw a Kessil A360x Refugium light on Ebay with the 90 degree mounting arm for cheap so I bought it. Completely blows away the one that came with this sump. That thing didn't make the chaeto grow even 1/10th as fast as this Kessil. I started it at 24 hrs full power red spectrum, which I quickly cut back to 12 hrs because my phos plummeted to zero & nitrates went way down too. I have also had to turn down the intensity. I am feeding heavy & dosing phos & still dialing in the light to get levels to where I want them. I'm pulling out basketball clumps every week to 10 days. It's very clean. Thinking about getting some kind of small pump down in that fuge to try & get it spinning.