Husker 40 Breeder

[HuskerBioProf]

Yep, the ATO is nice. I haven't been keeping track of how frequently I have to top it off, but it seems like around a week.

Update:
My cheap and piece of junk RODI went out on me, so I bought a BRS Universal Plus setup. The old RODI was letting a decent amount of chloramine (which was getting picked up as ammonia in my test kit) through the filter. The new one is working great.

My cycle was over but the RODI was adding ammonia back. I did around a 20 gallon water change to get ammonia undetectable and it has since stayed that way. Nitrates were around 10, so I decided to get 4 Cerith snails to start putting a dent in the diatoms I am getting. Nitrates are up to ~15ppm, so I am going to do another water change today and then let it sit for the 7 weeks that I have to be out of town for business [cross your fingers]. It will have a 35 gallon trash can for my ATO and only snails as inhabitants.

Bad idea? My wife will be around during that time, but she will have her hands fun with the kids and dogs while I am gone.

 

[mystikal]

I recently went with the RO Buddy when MD had their sale on the RODI units..I like it thus far...Cost me less than $100 for a unit with TDS meter and flush valves

 

[HuskerBioProf]

Here is an update:

I was gone for 2 months this summer on business. I decided to shut off the ATO and let the tank "cycle" while I was gone in order to avoid major problems. I came back to 0 ammonia, >50ppm nitrates, and specific gravity of 1.055. Amazingly, 2/5 cerith snails were alive.

I did a few water changes and waited a bit, and decided it was good to go. My wife and I decided on an SPS dominant system. I am dosing kalk in the ATO.

Nitrates have been at 0 for a couple of weeks now.

Parameters:
Specific Gravity: 1.026
Calcium: 420-450
Alk: 8.5 (stable over the last 4 days)
pH: 8.2
Nitrate: 0-2
Ammonia: 0

Flow:
~75x with 2 hydor koralias

Skimmer:
Reef Octopus Space Saver 110

Lights:
2x AI Hydra 26 HD

Fish:
Longtail Fairy Wrasse
Yellow watchman goby (always hiding)

Coral (so far):
Red monti cap
Purple monti cap
Green slimer
ORA green birds nest
ORA verde acropora
ORA mint pavona (struggling with the high light I am running at the moment)

The acros, birds nest, and red monti cap are all doing well. The purple monti cap and pavona have a little bleaching. I think it is due to the high light. I started them under an overhang for a while, so we will just see if they get use to it.

Verde acro:

Green slimer:

Red monti:

ORA Green Birdsnest (my favorite frag so far):

The wrasse is way more active and visible than the goby. My nearly 2 year old daughter is a pretty big fan.

Our LFS rents out par meters for $10/day, so I think I am going to give that a shot in the next week or so. I would like to see what I am actually running. I suspect my peak values are pretty high in the upper/middle tank.

 

[CafeReef]

Nice Green slimer, get it at NAS? I got mine from there, but last week one of my hermits decided to turn it into a snack. Polyps are still there, but color is gone, it may recover, I have hopes. Hermit got banished to the sump.

 

[Korak]

how is the overflow working for you? Any updates on the system?

 

[HuskerBioProf]

Nice Green slimer, get it at NAS? I got mine from there, but last week one of my hermits decided to turn it into a snack. Polyps are still there, but color is gone, it may recover, I have hopes. Hermit got banished to the sump.

Yep, it was NAS. I have heard they are pretty hardy for SPS, so I thought it would be a good one to test how my tank is going. They get some pretty nice frags in there from time to time. Mine lightened up a bit for a couple of days, maybe due to my lights being cranked up pretty high. It seems to be stabilized and recoloring now, though.

 

[HuskerBioProf]

how is the overflow working for you? Any updates on the system?

Having a drilled tank is great. This is my first. I will never mess with siphon-based overflows again. Such a huge pain to get dialed in.

Everything seems to be doing pretty well. I had a bit of an Alk spike, but I think it might have been due to a water change with Reef Crystals. Corals didn't seem to mind, though.

I do have a purple monti cap that doesn't seem that impressed right now. The LFS had it near the edge of the tank, so I think it may be getting too much light right now.

 

[HuskerBioProf]

Just to update:
I got a few more frags from some locals for great deals: blue stag acro, orange setosa, PC rainbow monti, and a pink birdsnest with purple polyps. PE is good on pretty much everything, although except my mint green pavona. Colors seem pretty good, but I am still trying to get my lights dialed in and acclimated up to full levels. Phosphate is really high (from the first time I got my Hanna checker:0.5 ppm). So I have done a few water changes and just bought a BRS reactor for GFO. After the water changes it is down to 0.32 ppm. We'll see if the GFO can bring it down to acceptable levels so I can start seeing some coral growth.

I also added Gyre 130s that are facing each other. The left is on alternating mode (forward/reverse) at ~60% and the right is on 10 second on/off pulses at 40%. I really like these pumps so far.

 

[HuskerBioProf]

More updates. This is my first fully SPS tank and I really like it. For those who say they lack movement, I don't think it is true. I love watching the tiny polyps sway back and forth in my opposing gyres. Plus, I get to pretend I see new polyps of growth after looking at them for weeks. The ORA green birds nest is definitely growing: mostly getting thicker branches for now. I have only had the frags a few weeks so it is going pretty slow on the Acros still.

Parameters:
dKH: 10 (now very stable)
PO4: 0.2 (slowly dropping from GFO... I added 1/4 BRS recommendation)
NO3: 0 - 2 ppm
pH: 8.2
Calcium: 410-450 ppm
Salinity: 1.025-1.026

New blue stag from a local guy. It was green under his lights but it is starting to turn more blue under mine (even though we interestingly both use them same LEDs with nearly the same settings... just a different tank).

ORA Green birds nest starting to thicken up.

Orange setosa from a local.

PC Rainbow from a local guy. This was is green with rusty polyps now, but his mother colony was pretty sweet. It looks like the new growth will be more pink.

Pink with purple polyp birds nest from the same guy. It really helps to have a great local community.

I just put a order in with Adam at Battlecorals for some cool stuff that should come in about a week. I look forward to it. I got a couple Millis... excited to watch the sway of the fuzz.

 

[HuskerBioProf]

It is so fun to monitor tiny amounts of growth on these guys. It is hard to tell because I never get the same angle each time. I probably need a tripod. This red cap does seem to be gaining multiple different subtle shades of colors from dark red to pink.

From a few weeks ago:

To today:

 

[HuskerBioProf]

I am becoming an SPS groupie, so I decided to move all future updates over the SPS forum:http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?p=24706573#post24706573