crvz's hole in the wall

[crvz]

Looks cool. Can't wait to see how it turns out. Any reason you didn't give yourself more clearance above the sink?

really only so I could reach into the top tank without a stool.

 

[Newbie Aquarist]

I love the new aquascape. Hope all is well with the Achilles. I have heard of surge tanks in the attic, not a QT. That's definitely a first unless I'm just late.

 

[prop-frags]

How are things going Chris? Just checking in since we haven't heard from you in a while...

 

[saf1]

We took one boat trip to get to a bit more of an isolated location, where there were loads of turtles, corals, and larger fish. Probably saw 20 or more turtles at this location, it was pretty slick. I've never been impressed with the coral I've seen in hawaii (this was my fourth trip), at least in terms of diversity and color, but there were huge colonies here too.

Sadly, this is pretty much the case with most dives in Hawaii. You will see turtles, sharks, and of course some fish - but nothing related coral say like you might see in other warm waters say like, Cozumel. At least that is my take after doing some dives in Hawaii vs. other parts of the world.

Then again I dive yearly in Monterey for which I consider some of the best diving in the world.

 

[crvz]

Things are chugging along. Tank is pretty status quo, though I have some algae growth that I need to attend. I've got about 10 red mangroves that are just starting to shoot leaves, so I'm hoping that will help once they get a bit more mature. I might get a few more fish strategic to algae reduction, but we'll see. The algae I have in the tank is some kind of hair algae but it pulls off rather easily (I siphon it when I do water changes, and I can get a good amount out without any scrubbing).

Hardware wise, I think one of the chambers in my calcium reactor leaks, so I need to tear that apart and investigate (it sits submerged in the sump, so it's not obvious). Some of my equipment is nearing ten years of age, so I'll probably need to pursue some preventative maintenance or replacement.

 

[crvz]

I replaced one of my old Tunze 6100 pumps with a maxspect gyre today. So far, very happy with it. We'll see long term, but I may replace the other two tunzes with another one of the gyres.

and couple images. I've been enjoying the halichoeres wrasses, and I've got six of them in the display right now. a pair of canary wrasses.

christmas wrasse

three spot wrasse

redline wrasse

hoeven's wrasse

In some of those images you can see the tufts of algae that are growing in various areas of the tank. I can siphon them out pretty easily, but they've been dying off a bit as the red mangroves are starting to sprout leaves. Hoping these keeps up the good work of nutrient export and will work as a good refugium.

 

[nuxx]

Looking good Chris

Also went on the Achilles hunt when in Maui. Ended up seeing a ton

 

[prop-frags]

Earth to Chris, come in Chris...

 

[crvz]

Earth to Chris, come in Chris...

I'm around! These kids, man, who knew they took up so much time? I've still got the tank running, fish are doing great, corals are ok, but algae... man, algae is thriving. I'm pretty impressed with my ability to grow some algae. I actually spent yesterday siphoning a bunch out. What I want to have occur, in my abundance of laziness, is to have the mangrove trees take up all the nutrients and never have to do anything else to cull algae again, but that's going to take some time. I have 9 red mangroves that are sprouting leaves, but they're not large enough to be my sole nutrient export. I've also boosted my magnesium levels in an attempt to help stymie some of the growth, but that's not really helped in the last month (it was low, around 1000ppm, so I brought it up to a bit over 1500ppm, which is on the high side but no negative effects have I seen thus far).

In other words, I've been ignoring maintenance and it's caught up to me. I'd like to pull the rocks out and start over, but that's a lot of work. And cost. I probably will start pulling some out just to get better water movement in the tank. I also replaced two of my old Tunze 6100s (as in, first generation) with two of the Maxspect 150 gyres. I like those.

I still enjoy having the tank, the kids (now almost 4 and 7) like to help out, and I don't mind the algae to be honest. I do need to get back into good habits with maintenance, but I don't think I'll do anything drastic. I had a LOT better success in my aquariuming when I was barebottom (no sand bed, cutting board on the bottom of the tank), as it lends itself better to the laziness I'm so good at, but I'm unconvinced I want to go back to that. Though it could happen.

There are a lot of other things I have in mind with the overall system, though. I've taken down the larger stock tank (110 gallons) and now just have the 40 gallon breeder as a quarantine. Neither have had anything in them for months, so it felt foolish to give up the space and electrons to keep them both going. Other things that may require attention in the near future (that are cost bearing):

- dual stage CO2 regulator
- metal halide lights (only 5 years old, but I may want to move to LED as that technology continues to improve)
- new fishes (a new naso tang specifically, and I still havent had longterm success with an achilles)
- water change automation (I have no design in mind for this at this time, however)
- new netting for the top as the screens are starting to tear

I'll try to get some imagery up in the next week or so. I'm proud to show off my algae success.

 

[crvz]

Here are a few pictures as promised. I took them this morning under just the LEDs (no MH on), and you can see the light bleedthrough on the right side of this image from the lights I use over the mangroves.

A close up shot of the vlagmini tang and algae in the birdsnest.

And the mangrove grove.

 

[crvz]

Proof of life. The colors are weird as its just the LEDs on, and the production value is incredibly low. But hey, this was from today! Everything is still in operation. The sump sprung a leak a few months ago, but that was a pretty easy fix (just a bit of time to pull it out). I got a few new fish, and lost a few others. Algae grows too easily, and most of my hardware is nearing 7 years of age, so I'm starting to have to replace bits and pieces (float switches, solenoids, LEDs, etc.). I like it all the same, and while my internet presence isnt very high these days, I'm still around. Enjoy the short video.


<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/JLbR07-phmc" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

 

[gotfrogs]

Looks great to me!

 

[veloboy]

Looks great to me!

For sure! For a guy with a couple young kids tank looks great Chris!

 

[crvz]

I was playing around a bit today, then grabbed the macro lens on my camera. First, I changed out the light for my mangrove trees. I was using simple CF bulbs, and I measured the light at the water surface, and it registered a whopping 26 on my par meter. I put this home built LED fixture on at it was over 300 (I built this a few years ago, but didn't have it in service for a while). I did this as I bought a clam, had it in this little side tank for a while and it was doing fine. I put it in the display, and immediately showed pinched mantle signs. Well, turns out one of the fish nips at clams, which explains why I lost a bunch a few years ago. So I decided I'd try some in here for a while, and I wanted more light. I imagine the mangroves would have been fine regardless, but I thought the clam would appreciate more light.

With the macro I captured a few of the SPS in the tank. I've had this german blue polyp for years (from when you gave me a frag, Clint), and somehow it has survived all the various transitions. It's been coming around for a number of months.

This red bubble tip anemone has split again recently. I've got four in the tank after starting with the one (again, your fault clint).

I don't remember where I got this. But I like it.

This is a psammacora (spelling?) species that I got I think when MACNA was in Houston. That may have been 10 years ago. But, it's held up. I've got a purple one as well.

That's all I have to say about that.

 

[gotfrogs]

Great pictures. I really like the mangrove setup and the clam in there.

 

[crvz]

Did you guys know I've still got a tank. Who would have thought? Here are a handful of comparos since I last posted. This was three years ago. Major changes in the tank is that I've gone to the maxispect gyres as the old Tunze 6100s I had began failing (they were 12 years old and I bought them used).

And a full tank shot of today.

I'll follow this post with a bunch of other shots from around the tank room and things I've either replaced or upgraded.

 

[crvz]

The mangrove tank from about 18 months ago vs today. I moved it to the side of the utility sink, and the light fixture I had built (cree LEDs and mean well drivers) started failing, I think due to thermal loading, so I recently bought a Kessil 360 to light it up. You can see the mangroves are growing pretty well, I've pruned them down a few times.

I turned down the Kessil brightness just for this image, it's usually on at 100%.

 

[crvz]

Some other shots from around the fish room. Here's the back of the tank. Major changes here are that I've had to replace all the MH ballasts (blue ballasts mounted top right) and I've redone all the electrical (went away from the home made switches and now just run Apex power strips).

Also, much like the LED light fixture I built for the mangroves, the LEDs I used to illuminate the tank on the aluminum light rack started to fail. In lieu of trying to fix it, I decided to just run a simple LED light strip to replace it (Truelumen Pro LED 48" strip light). I might add another one down the line, but this was a much more straight forward and plug-and-play solution for running lights when the MH aren't on.

 

[crvz]

The sump is basically unchanged, though I'm only running 1 return pump (instead of two).

Here's the side of the display and sump, the larger brute is for water changes and the smaller has some spare live-rock in a constant state of curing.

Other storage around the fish room has increased. I stopped using a lot of the support tanks, so I have a 40 gallon breeder hospital tank dry but ready to fire up if needed (which can run wholly redundant of the main display). Ignore the shoes drying on top, it was wet during a run yesterday. ;-)

Opposite wall from the mangrove tank is just a cabinet and some open space I may use for kids bikes and scooters in days to come (hoping to add a third car to the garage).

 

[crvz]

Finally, livestock. In reality, the tank has turned more into a fish tank over a dedicated reef tank, though I do enjoy the simple corals that have done well. Primary fish in the tank include:

vlagmini tang
whitecheek tang
small naso tang
chevron tang
female Japanese swallowtail angel
male bluejaw trigger
dozen or so yellow tail damsels
pair of clowns
checkerboard wrasse
green wrasse

all the fish seem to be doing well. Here are a few shots of the tank this evening.