Reefahholic
New member
Very nice!
drummereef's 180g in-wall build
- Thread starter drummereef
- Start date
drummereef
Team RC
drummereef
Team RC
Yeah man, I really like them. I think I like them better than the Radiums at this point both in color and price. Corals are responding well and colors are good too.
How's your tank doing?
henrystyle
Member
Cool. Are they coloring the acros like the radiums do?They are 14k but with the color of a 20k bulb. They are crisp white with a hint of clear blue to my eye. No PAR results other than they are making my corals grow.PA has them for 69.99, which is where I bought mine from.
dzhuo
Active member
Very clean. Looks like everything is starting to go in the right direction. I like how coralline are starting to spread which gives the tank a mature look.
In this photo, are you aware the dino are still on the tips? Or is that just a lighting effect? I notice there are still stuff growing on the tips and thought to bring this up in case you missed it.
In this photo, are you aware the dino are still on the tips? Or is that just a lighting effect? I notice there are still stuff growing on the tips and thought to bring this up in case you missed it.
Pink Birdsnest
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dancewithethan
Ethan M
Brett
Off topic, from this picture there are many Vermetid snail on your rocks and snail :uzi:. How did they get there and spread so fast? Having use all dead rock from the beginning, I would have thought you can avoid this type of unwanted organism?
P.S After 2 years of fighting with dino/chyno I have use the Kent tech-M treatment. Wow, my tank is now 99.9 clean form it. My sand bed is clean and white again. the only place I can see is where the dead coral tissues are. Should I commence another round two of tech-M?
Best
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drummereef
Team RC
Hard to say since I was running into issues with my corals when I was using the Radiums. I do however really like the way the corals are responding to the Phoenix bulbs and in general how the tank looks with these bulbs. I think they have a more realistic "glow" to the tank than the Radiums had. JMO though...
Thanks dzhuo, yeah I am actually on day 3 of a lights-out period for that very reason. It's amazing how quickly the Dinos seek out their new prey. I'll see how things look when I turn the lights on tonight, hopefully it will be better, but I'll keep a close eye on it.
I think the Vermetid snails originally came from the live sand I added to seed the tank, which was months ago. That and feeding heavily since. Many of the tubes are empty skeletons though. I need to get in there and knock them off just to clean up the rock a bit. But there's only a few that actually release their webs when I feed or stir up the sand.
I've been using the Tech-M to keep my Mag levels up, as of last night Mag was 1575. I think it's helped a bit but I'm not sure I've hit the balance point where the contaminants of the Tech-M have snuffed out all the bad stuff yet. At this point I'm going to let the Mag drop a bit and hit it again in a few weeks.
drummereef
Team RC
UPDATE:
Well here's something interesting... PO4 is 0.00 (hanna) but NO3 is 15ppm (API). Probably from my lack of water changes the last 2 months. :lol: Corals still look good and are growing but I plan on doing another 10% water change today and see if it makes a dent. Want to try and get it down to around 5-10 ideally. Hopefully weekly water changes for a few weeks will take care of it. Seems like 20ppm is the magic number where people start losing SPS, which is obviously what I don't want to happen.
Thoughts??
Well here's something interesting... PO4 is 0.00 (hanna) but NO3 is 15ppm (API). Probably from my lack of water changes the last 2 months. :lol: Corals still look good and are growing but I plan on doing another 10% water change today and see if it makes a dent. Want to try and get it down to around 5-10 ideally. Hopefully weekly water changes for a few weeks will take care of it. Seems like 20ppm is the magic number where people start losing SPS, which is obviously what I don't want to happen.
Thoughts??
psteeleb
Team RC
that's not a bad number considering you haven't done many water changes lately. Water cahnges will dilute it proportionatly, so a 10% water change will reduce your nitrate by 10%
As slow as they are building some macro algea or a small DSB will most likely be enough to keep them in check.
As slow as they are building some macro algea or a small DSB will most likely be enough to keep them in check.
fishmonkey
Member
Yes, do a 10% water change, and then more frequent water changes. Which, will drop it from 15 ppm to 1.5 ppm.
drummereef
Team RC
Thanks Pete. I'm considering adding a little Tupperware container, like a dish washing pan which has perforated sides for flow, to the sump and fill it with some macros. That way it would be compartmentalized within the return section. Like a little herb garden.
I'd obviously have to light it with a DIY light of some kind but that would be pretty easy. Still have it in the plans to set up a remote fuge but this would be quick and easy in the mean time. They have a couple of these type things at my LFS and it seemed like a clever idea. What do you think?
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drummereef
Team RC
Yes, do a 10% water change, and then more frequent water changes. Which, will drop it from 15 ppm to 1.5 ppm.
Thanks fishmonkey. I was doing some experimenting with the limitation of trace elements through infrequent water changes and how it would effect the Dino population. I think it works pretty well but obviously doesn't help with the growing NO3s within the water column. :lol: I did a water
change last weekend and then again today. Fingers crossed...
I'll re-test tomorrow.
psteeleb
Team RC
Thanks Pete. I'm considering adding a little Tupperware container, like a dish washing pan which has perforated sides for flow, to the sump and fill it with some macros. That way it would be compartmentalized within the return section. Like a little herb garden.
should work just fine.
if you get cheato you don't need to compartmentalize it. Cheato will just ball up on itself and grow like a string ball if you just let it float around in the sump
If you get a Caulerpa you will want to compartmentalize it. Caulerpas are better for nutrient export then cheato but can be a pain for their desire to grow all over everything, also they are asexual and release gametes that will cloud up your water, some say it can be toxic. Keeping a light on Caulerpa 24/7 prevents them from going asexual.
For a quick, easy and inexpensive light get a clip on light holder from your local hardware store like this
http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-5yc...splay?langId=-1&storeId=10051&catalogId=10053
and get a 5500 to 6500k spiral compact fluorescent. Most hardware stores have them you just have to check the labels. Walmart will probably have the clip holder and bulb
drummereef
Team RC
Great info Pete, thanks. Picked up some Chaeto today so I need to run to HD for the work light. How long do you run the light, I'm assuming you run it overnight after your display lights have gone off?
Hey aquaph, I forgot to get a pick of their baskets but I did find out what they use. It's a pond basket used for aquatic plants. You can get them really cheap from HD in the pond/outdoor section. They just have them clipped to their tanks so they can move small bunches of macros around as needed. Pretty cool. Here's a link...
http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-5yc...splay?langId=-1&storeId=10051&catalogId=10053
psteeleb
Team RC
mine are on 24/7 only because of the caulerpa. If I ran only the cheato I'd run my fuge lights on a reverse light cycle for 12 hours
cromedogg33
Member
Brett,
Have you decided to keep the pellets offline for good and going the old school proven way or do you plan on implementing them again?
Have you decided to keep the pellets offline for good and going the old school proven way or do you plan on implementing them again?
drummereef
Team RC
Great, thanks Pete.
I haven't completely decided...
For right now my nutrient levels are insignificant enough to justify keeping the bio pellets off-line for now. I'm hoping the Chaeto will be a nice refuge for pods until I get my other proper refugium setup. And, hopefully it will have other side benefits such as NO3 reduction and pH stabilization. But you know me, always experimenting!!
drummereef
Team RC
UPDATE:
Got the Chaeto setup going tonight. The only thing I'm leery of is keeping the Chaeto in the return section of the sump. A traditional fuge was not part of my original sump design as you probably know, but it seems to be tumbling nicely so far. I'm considering putting the skimmer in the return section and the Chaeto where the skimmer currently sits. Thoughts??
I also picked up a hammer coral today as well. I've been partial to the LPS lately.
Return section Fuge. I used a Bayco brand 75-Watt Incandescent Clamp Light with a 60 watt 5000k compact fluorescent bulb, all purchased at Home Depot. I currently have it programmed with the Apex to come on for 12 hours after the display daytime cycle.
New Hammer Coral
Got the Chaeto setup going tonight. The only thing I'm leery of is keeping the Chaeto in the return section of the sump. A traditional fuge was not part of my original sump design as you probably know, but it seems to be tumbling nicely so far. I'm considering putting the skimmer in the return section and the Chaeto where the skimmer currently sits. Thoughts??
I also picked up a hammer coral today as well. I've been partial to the LPS lately.
Return section Fuge. I used a Bayco brand 75-Watt Incandescent Clamp Light with a 60 watt 5000k compact fluorescent bulb, all purchased at Home Depot. I currently have it programmed with the Apex to come on for 12 hours after the display daytime cycle.
New Hammer Coral
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