imisky's 30G custom system
- Thread starter imisky
- Start date
imisky
New member
Good to hear you got it up and running, me and a couple of other guys say that setting up a BP reactor is probably the most anti climatic piece of equipment you can get. You expect it to do something immediately but it doesnt do anything but tumble around. You will get a thicker skimmer foam though and it'll probably smell 2x worse than before as well.
After the media has been seeded with the bacteria you can run it without adding any more. In my system i add a little bit of MB7 into my system after every water change just to ensure that there are a variety of strains utilizing the BP.
Reeferon
New member
Any idea why NP biopellets got such bad reviews on Marine Depot?
http://www.marinedepot.com/NP_Biope...r_Media-NP_Biopellets-XB1113-FIFMCHNR-vi.html
http://www.marinedepot.com/NP_Biope...r_Media-NP_Biopellets-XB1113-FIFMCHNR-vi.html
imisky
New member
its kind of hard to say why they gave bad reviews for the NP biopellets. But the 2 reviews that didnt like it seemed to have had some form of bacteria bloom when they first set it up on there system. The only time ive seen a bacteria bloom from a system is when the system originally started with high NO3 and PO4 if thats the case dosing a form of bacteria will help with the situation dramatically.
Just to give you an idea, out of the 8 biopellet reactors ive helped setup not one went through the cloudy bacteria bloom phase when used in conjunction with a bacteria source. However cyano bacteria does gain hold in a small patch usually for a little bit but the bacteria source helped out as well and it went away after a week or so.
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imisky
New member
:lmao: thanks
while im at it.. im currently planning to switch my lighting system over to LED spotlights. During the heatwave up here my tank easily gets to 83F and thats with the chiller constantly on.
Im thinking 6 or 7 27W (9x 3w emitters Cree XP-E spotlights). Will update everyone once i get them it will all have 60degree optics with the configuration of 5 blue 4 white driven at 750mA roughly 2.5watts of output per LED
*reefermadness*
New member
I hope that my 30G can grow up to be like yours someday...
imisky
New member
With enough work i think most tanks can get to this state so keep it up!
I think the CPR aquafuge is great for hiding equipment but not so much for growing any form of macro algae. If you put some loose plastic mesh in there pods will reproduce quite nicely and get washed into the tank without dying. But i now mainly use the fuge for equipment storage purposes to hide everything from the display.
The dosers are just put onto timers, start slow and increase until the parameters become stable is the way to go. once you find that mark all you have to do is test every month or two to see if an adjustment is needed to the dosage.
As an update,
as i mentioned earlier i had PAR38 XPE spotlights coming to replace the light system over my tank. These are 4 cool white, 5 royal blue spotlights being driving at 750ma with 60degree optics over it. So far im really liking the change going from 400W of lighting to 150W and producing more intensity than before is always a plus. The following pictures was when set them up yesterday, i didnt get a chance to adjust the white balance on the camera as it was set for the MH setup i had before but i'll get better photos in a few days. Enjoy guys
sammy33
Member
Any further thoughts since the change to the PAR38's? The light looks to cover very nicely. How high are the bulbs off the water?
I really liked your T5 add-on you built for you metal halide pendants. Very slick custom job for some supplemental lighting! I wonder if something like that could be combined with the PAR38 bulbs? Best of both worlds with the point source spot LED's and the "fill-in" coverage from a couple T5's.
:thumbsup:
I really liked your T5 add-on you built for you metal halide pendants. Very slick custom job for some supplemental lighting! I wonder if something like that could be combined with the PAR38 bulbs? Best of both worlds with the point source spot LED's and the "fill-in" coverage from a couple T5's.
:thumbsup:
imisky
New member
I'm loving the change over, from what i can tell so far the corals have reacted really positively to the change. Most of them have started to color up more as i used to use 10K Ushios which turned yellow on me. The Chiller never turns 100x in a day anymore (exaggeration) but i hear it on for maybe 5 mins everyday while i am home from 4pm-12am-ish
The lights are currently hanging at 8inches like my halides were at and it feels brighter overall in the tank. The best part is at 8 inches above water level the light doesn't hit the front and back panel and since the switch over I've only had to clean the glass once and the side panels green algae has reduced dramatically.
Something like what i did with the T5 add on is possible with the LEDs, though it would just look a little odd and wont be as clean as the MH version of the add on. But as of now i don't think i need to supplement the tank with any T5s because the LEDs are doing a great job with highlighting and bringing out the colors in the coral.
Mike de Leon
New member
I have similar experiences with the NP pellets turning my corals lighter. I was told to dose AA and Potassium. My oregon tort used to be dark purple. It is now very light but growing. My tenius turned completely white. Careful with that stuff!
Awesome job on the tank though!!
Awesome job on the tank though!!
imisky
New member
Thanks
My experience with the biopellets has been pretty good, i personally like the benefit they bring to the table more. I do dose AA and potassium on the low scale but the main thing i do now is feed my fish 1-2x a day and the BPs is able to keep the NO3 at 0 and PO4 at 0.02 on my hanna PO4 checker. Ever since i started to feed everyday the corals are no longer bleached and the colors are quite nice on them now even the ones that used to be bleach!
The ability to feed my fish everyday without algae growing all over the place at the same time keeping my fish healthy and well fed is always a plus in my books.
imisky
New member
update! Im loving the switch to the LEDs, so far no regrets at all with the switch. All corals are happy and i find that my fish are alot more interesting to watch now that there are some shadows under corals (mostly the middle millipora).All the corals are reacting pretty good to the switch as well even though my parameters are fluctuating a little.This is because I'm in the process of finding out if my 2 part dosing is working again as i switched from recipe 2 to 1 so im getting a bit of fluctuations in my parameters but so far its not effecting the corals too much.
Heres some pictures of the tank and new inhabitants (tang police is going to come after me) enjoy it guys.
**im trying to figure out the correct white balance for the LEDs still...it is harder to do than the MHs but im getting there, these pictures are pretty close i would say 80-90% to what they would be like in real life.
New FTS
Size difference
Anyone see something odd in this pic?
corals
Heres some pictures of the tank and new inhabitants (tang police is going to come after me) enjoy it guys.
**im trying to figure out the correct white balance for the LEDs still...it is harder to do than the MHs but im getting there, these pictures are pretty close i would say 80-90% to what they would be like in real life.
New FTS
Size difference
Anyone see something odd in this pic?
corals
ultreef
New member
anyone know the name to this sps? BTW nice tank imisky.
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