Jadette's 140g Rimless Build Thread

[jadette]

Hi Shirley! I hope to meet you sometime. This thread cracks me up. You really have a way with words.

I'm just wondering how things are going with the TM Bio Actif. I have been slowly switching from TM Pro to Bio Actif and I had just mixed up my first full 100% Bio Actif batch of water for a water change and tested CA, MG and ALK. The CA and MG are both in the right range but the ALK is off the charts I get no color change at all with my Salifert test kit so its higher than 15.7! My tank ALK is 8.6. I even started doubting the test kit so bought another one. Same result. Are you getting high ALK readings with the Bio Actif? I don't dare do a water change with it.

So how do I like the Bio Actif? I don't. Not at all. I blame all my tank problems on this salt. My cyano bloom? Bio Actif. My smooth skinned acros dying? Bio Actif. My Icecap 660 ballast crapping out? Bio Actif. That darn zit on my chin that just won't go away? Yep, you guessed it. Bio Actif.
In all seriousness though, I think this salt has caused more good than harm in my tank. Like I posted earlier, I got a cyano bloom within days of switching over to this salt. I didn't want to believe it (even though 454356 google searches prove otherwise) because I had spent $100 on the bucket, and gosh darn it, I'm going to use it even though my >>> $100 acro colonies gave it a thumbs down. So after the outbreak, I did daily 5 gallon water changes with IO salt. After 2 weeks, most of the cyano was gone. Good, I thought. I'm in the clear to start using Bio Actif again! Apparently, learning from my mistakes isn't something I can put on my resume. Needless to say, I had a second outbreak of cyano. So I went through another round of Instant Ocean water changes and as of today, I'm 98% cyano free. Maybe I should give Bio Actif another shot... Hmmm...

I can't help it! It's like crack to me! Darn Tropic Marin and their clever marketing tactics!!!!! I was totally sold on that cute trimma goby they have on their boxes.

But I digress. You asked for the ALK. It tested about 7.5 on my Hanna checker.

Those anthias are really pretty. As is your new addition, Achillies.

Aren't anthias just simply the best? How are yours doing? I couldn't find a trio of ventralis for sale long enough for me to buy them. Decided on getting more purple queens instead. Just need to find healthy ones.

Shirley
I see that your LEDs doesn't have fan just a aluminium tubing will that affect the longevity of LEDs bulbs ?

I eventually put some fans on once I ramped up the LEDs to over 50%. Didn't do anything fancy. Just plopped them right on top of the channels. They cooled down quite nicely once I put them down. Rather loud though, so I went and bought ultra quiet ones. Too lazy to install them. As far as if you think you need them or not, I figured out a very scientific way to determine this. I call it the "ouchy" method. I basically press my finger against the aluminum channel and if I can keep it there for roughly 10 seconds without cursing the gods, I know I'm good to go. My LEDs never really get hot though. I put the fans there more for the sake of the T5s than the LEDs. Those icecap 660 ballasts really drive those bulbs hot. No matter now, b/c I had to take down my fixture b/c the icecap ballasts went bad. Guess I should not have purchased them used. I currently have a Tek 8x54W fixture over my tank until I have the time to fix the T5s in my DIY fixture. I went with just my two tubes of LEDs for awhile, but the spread of light was just not good enough to cover my 30" deep tank.

Here's my current FTS (fish are hiding b/c I just stirred up the sandbed):

I have to admit. I'm not happy with my tank. Things just don't look healthy in it. And it's not "quite" turning out to what I wanted. I don't know. Maybe it's because I've been so busy with work lately that I've kinda let things go. I have corals on my sandbed that have fallen over and I'm just too tired to fix it. I have a large clam that keeps repositioning himself and ruining my aquascape. Aiptasia is growing like mad on my zoa garden. And to top it all off, my zit on my chin won't go away.

 

[bullitr]

Aren't anthias just simply the best? How are yours doing? I couldn't find a trio of ventralis for sale long enough for me to buy them. Decided on getting more purple queens instead. Just need to find healthy ones.


I eventually put some fans on once I ramped up the LEDs to over 50%. Didn't do anything fancy. Just plopped them right on top of the channels. They cooled down quite nicely once I put them down. Rather loud though, so I went and bought ultra quiet ones. Too lazy to install them. As far as if you think you need them or not, I figured out a very scientific way to determine this. I call it the "ouchy" method. I basically press my finger against the aluminum channel and if I can keep it there for roughly 10 seconds without cursing the gods, I know I'm good to go. My LEDs never really get hot though. I put the fans there more for the sake of the T5s than the LEDs. Those icecap 660 ballasts really drive those bulbs hot. No matter now, b/c I had to take down my fixture b/c the icecap ballasts went bad. Guess I should not have purchased them used. I currently have a Tek 8x54W fixture over my tank until I have the time to fix the T5s in my DIY fixture. I went with just my two tubes of LEDs for awhile, but the spread of light was just not good enough to cover my 30" deep tank.

One of the reason I go DIY because I've seen your tank and I know that if I run in to trouble ( I always do!) between you and Nicole I can have some help.
I want to see how do you install the fan since my DIY should be coming in a week or so.

Also your post are very clever and witty! That's why Doug speak highly of you.

my purple queens are great and surprisingly very hardy but I only have 2 and i can't have more unless I let go of my dispar's

And Thank you for all the help.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[ChefZilla]

Shirley, From what i see your tank is beautiful! And as far as that zip...POP IT!

 

[rhkingsfan]

I saw that zit last week.. it was HUGE!

 

[ChefZilla]

LOL... Ok than lance it ;-)

 

[bobafet1]

If you are that unhappy I can swing on by and take those corals off your hands. I'll also bring some surgical gloves and pop that zit for you. You see, there is a solution to all this. haha...

But seriously though, your tank is one of the most beautiful one's here I must say.

 

[socalmonty]

I agree, Shirley. Your tank looks awesome. I like everything about it. My tank is very vertical. It's okay but I long for a nice, wide one with lots of available coral real estate and sand.

As for the rightfully-maligned Bio Actif, I got Drs. Foster & Smith to give me a $50 credit which I promptly used to order a bucket of Pro-Reef. Back to what I know works for me. I'm with you on the Tropic Marin advertising mystic (if Tropic Marin is considered to be the best, then their most expensive salt must be the best of the best, right?). Even though I started seeing some cyano when I started blending Pro and Bio Actif a month or so ago, my brain is still telling me I should just mix the two until I use up the Bio Actif. I think we need to start a support group for ex-Bio Actif users. I'm sure we can come up with a nice ten-step program.

 

[jadette]

One of the reason I go DIY because I've seen your tank and I know that if I run in to trouble ( I always do!) between you and Nicole I can have some help.
I want to see how do you install the fan since my DIY should be coming in a week or so.

I am actually a terrible example of why a person should go DIY. I'm sure my fixture will be lovely when I finish it, but I've been dragging my feet on it for 5 months now. I will always be here for help and info, but I am severely lacking in the motivation department!

That said, if you want to go with green LEDs, I would recommend cyan ones instead. RapidLED just started carrying them. You'll get the green with a hint of blue, so I think it'll just blend in better in a reef tank.

Shirley, From what i see your tank is beautiful! And as far as that zip...POP IT!

I saw that zit last week.. it was HUGE!

LOL... Ok than lance it ;-)

If you are that unhappy I can swing on by and take those corals off your hands. I'll also bring some surgical gloves and pop that zit for you. You see, there is a solution to all this. haha...

But seriously though, your tank is one of the most beautiful one's here I must say.

Note to self: Try to avoid anecdotes that will lead to responses that promote visuals of white ooze gushing out. OMG. That can be misinterpreted in so many wrong ways. I must quickly redirect.

I agree, Shirley. Your tank looks awesome. I like everything about it. My tank is very vertical. It's okay but I long for a nice, wide one with lots of available coral real estate and sand.

As for the rightfully-maligned Bio Actif, I got Drs. Foster & Smith to give me a $50 credit which I promptly used to order a bucket of Pro-Reef. Back to what I know works for me. I'm with you on the Tropic Marin advertising mystic (if Tropic Marin is considered to be the best, then their most expensive salt must be the best of the best, right?). Even though I started seeing some cyano when I started blending Pro and Bio Actif a month or so ago, my brain is still telling me I should just mix the two until I use up the Bio Actif. I think we need to start a support group for ex-Bio Actif users. I'm sure we can come up with a nice ten-step program.

My sentiments exactly! I've been sneaking in a cup of the bio-actif into my water changes every now and then. I feel so terrible. I feel like some drug dealer slowly trying to get my corals addicted to this horrible salt. What is wrong with me???!?!?!?!

Okay. Okay. Maybe it's not fair of me to post a decent picture of my tank and then go out and say how much I hate it - as if I was begging for "But your tank looks great!" comments. The truth is, my tank isn't doing great. This tank has given me nothing but problems, and I've hid that fact well on this thread behind conversations of my love of velcro.

Here's a recap:

1) Corals not happy b/c I've been swapping out lights left and right, b/c I have not had the time to work on my "perfect" light fixture
2) Cyano outbreaks x 2
3) Coral deaths due to me switching salts three times in the short duration the tank has been up. Started with Reef Crystals. The box I had tested with ALK levels at 14. I did not realize that until I started seeing my smooth skin acros start to STN. Switched to Bio Actif (ALK levels were good), but then had cyano. Now I'm using IO.
4) Aiptasia out of control. I thought I was good in making sure I brought in clean rock, but I had a large colony of blue zoos (over a thousand polyps!) on a tonga branch that I've had grow out for 3+ years that introduced some into my new tank. Purchased peppermints, but they're not touching the stuff. I feed my tank too heavily for them to care for aiptasia.

The only good thing I had going were my healthy fish. I say that in the past tense b/c as of a few days ago - I have acquired marine velvet in my tank. It is unmistakable. The white sheen on my fish, heavy breathing, and the rapid deaths.

Day 1: Lost my sunburst anthias of 2+ years
Day 2: Lost one of my purple queens (the largest male, and the fattest)
Day 3: Lost my Kole tang of 3+ years and the recently acquired Achilles
Day 4: Lost two of my lyretails (one that I had for 2+ years), 2 more purple queens, and 1 chromis

The remaining fish do not look good. From what I'm reading, they're probably too far along to save.

What may have caused this? The last fish I put in was my Achilles, but that was almost 2 months ago. Who knows. Another possibility is the clam that I recently acquired (just 1 week prior to this outbreak). It was the only thing I got that I did not dip b/c I did not have any other clams in my tank and did not feel a need to defend the tank from hitchhiker pyramid snails because of this. I've read that you can infect your tank with marine velvet by putting anything 'wet' in your tank, not only fish.

Whatever the reason, I had been so busy with work the last two weeks to really care or notice. What little spare time I had outside of working, I spent with my kids instead of my fish.

But I do not want to end this post on a negative note. Yes, I am sad that I lost some fish that I was attached to (the sunburst and kole were a huge blow), but at the end of the day, my zit has disappeared without the need for popping - so there are still good things in life.

That - and I did manage to wrangle some free time in the month of January to set up my skimmate locker and swabbie from Avast Marine:

Yay!

Also, I stopped by Ikea and saw these lovely 1/2 gallon cereal containers that I thought would be PERFECT for dosing containers! They were only 4 bucks each too. All I had to do was buy rigid tubing from petsmart for 2 bucks, drill some holes, and viola!

They fit so nicely in the shelves inside my cabinet.

Yay!

 

[pandimus]

wow, sorry about the loss of fish.. i was shocked when i read that you lost the achilles you just bought. Still havent figured out the cause?

 

[bullitr]

Sorry for the fish loss I know the feeling !
I commend you for all help and honesty.
It seems like everyone is willing to open up with the bad side of this addiction.

The IKEA container is great I will definitely using it for my cube.
How do you like the marine magic?

Thanks and good luck.

 

[solitude127]

Sorry for the losses. I once added a Blue Spot jawfish that took out almost every fish in my tank. My only survivors were a six line wrasse and my purple tank which are still with me. Keep your head up, it can only get better.

 

[jadette]

wow, sorry about the loss of fish.. i was shocked when i read that you lost the achilles you just bought. Still havent figured out the cause?

Not really sure of the cause. The Achilles was the last addition to the tank. Even though he was healthy and eating for 6 weeks in my tank, there could have been something that caused him stress and triggered the whole mess. The other possibility is the large squamosa clam that I picked up. I'm not familiar with fish diseases, so it's not easy for my to diagnose. Guess that's a good thing. Over 6 years in the hobby, and this is the first outbreak of fish disease in my tank.

Sorry for the fish loss I know the feeling !
I commend you for all help and honesty.
It seems like everyone is willing to open up with the bad side of this addiction.

The IKEA container is great I will definitely using it for my cube.
How do you like the marine magic?

Thanks and good luck.

I was happy enough with the first marine magic that I purchased another one. The guy that sells them provides great customer service and is very responsive to emails. The only negative thing I have to say about it is that the programming on it is not very intuitive. Kinda needed to keep the manual handy.

Sorry for the losses. I once added a Blue Spot jawfish that took out almost every fish in my tank. My only survivors were a six line wrasse and my purple tank which are still with me. Keep your head up, it can only get better.

Thanks, Mike. I guess I'm actually holding up okay since all the bad things didn't really happen all at once. My coral deaths had stopped and in total, only lost about 4 pieces. My cyano outbreak was just about completely gone by the time my fish started dying. No more fish deaths for a week now. Though all I have left now are 3 anthias, my mystery wrasse and the bulletproof clownfish pair. Debating if I should catch them and put them in QT to let my tank go fallow for a period, or should I just let things ride out in the tank.

Next things to work on:

1) I've decided to start up my frag racks in my sump again. That way, I can remove all of those loose pieces of coral I have in my sandbed and let them grow out there. Also would make it easier for me to make give away frag packs for folks without making my DT look like a chop shop.

2) Set up a UV system. It's amazing how much equipment one can find in a reefer's garage. Found two turbo twists that I used on my first two saltwater tanks back in 2006. Just need to buy new bulbs.

3) Figure out if and when I should restock my tank with fish again.

In the meantime, more pictures!

Here's one of the top of my tonga branch. I put a couple of polyps of rainbow palys on the branch hoping they would eventually grow and cover the branch. Instead, they just grew in one big ball. Kinda cute.

Here's part of the same tonga branch. The whole branch is about 14" long. This is the side with fewer polyps. I put nuke greens and tubbs blues on it hoping that I would get a nice combo of blue and green. Instead, the tubbs grew at a much faster rate and smothered what little green I had. The whole branch has easily over a thousand polyps. Unfortunately, some xenia got on the branch too.

This one was a total impulse buy at Jim's Exotics last week.

 

[pandimus]

Thats pretty dope..

 

[CynicalCnidaria]

This is a great thread, I love your tank and the time you put into it!

 

[bullitr]

I will removed all the fish out and Qt and go fallow for a while
If you have velvet on your tank you will have the same issues like my tank last year.

Ick is always present even with 2 months of qt and fallow ,ick will still show up when the fish is stress but it's not bad (I still have some in my tank but nothing deadly).

Good luck.

 

[jadette]

Just wanted to share that since I have no more fish to feed, I've been spoiling my anemone. Came home today with him all full and happy. I should really capture this on video. The sucker is monsterously huge.

My corals have been happier of late as well.

And look! no cyano at all!

Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee.................................

 

[bullitr]

looks good shirley
if your fish is healthy again i wont put another fish for a while

 

[jadette]

Hey Lawrence. Recognize that efflo on the left hand side?

 

[bullitr]

Hey Lawrence. Recognize that efflo on the left hand side?

Its pretty
I was there today nothing exciting just pick up some sand for my cube.

 

[jadette]

So it's been about month since I last updated this thread. This usually means:
1) I've been too busy
2) My tank crashed and I'm too ashamed to admit my noobness
3) I decided to wait for the official release of Diablo III before doing anything reef-related
4) I'm hiding from the tang police
5) I lost my battery charger, so I couldn't take photos and I did not want to update the thread without them

For this month at least, the reason was #5 above. Found the charger last night so here's an update!

First off, my tank had quickly stabilized (a reefing oxymoron, I know) from the mishaps of last month.

No more fish and coral deaths.
No more cyano.
No more new episodes of The Walking Dead.

I decided to get rid of most of my remaining fish and start all over - keeping just my mystery wrasse and my pair of clowns. Which meant that I had to get a few lyretail anthias and chromis out of my tank. Not an easy task on a 30" deep tank with corals. Traditional traps don't usually work on anthias. Since they feed from the water column, it wasn't likely they would swim into a bottle to pick a snack or two (I knew this, but tried anyway and failed miserably). So what I decided to do was to sew together up a large tank divider made out of craft mesh. I then attached suction cups to the side of the mesh netting which was reinforced with plastic report spines and slowly push all of my fish to one side of the tank with it. I moved what rock and coral I could to the other side of the tank. After cornering all the fish in one small section of the tank, it was easy to just scoop them up. I wish I had pics to show of my concoction, but see #5 reason above.

Anyways, all that moving of course meant reaquascaping, which all of you dear readers know that I [SARCASM] ABSOLUTELY LOVE DOING [/SARCASM]. I couldn't get the aquascaping quite the way it was before, but managed to get something I could live with for now.

I actually preferred how my tank looked before, but to be honest, this new setup gives the corals more room to grow out, and the corals look a lot happier in their new spots. The pink milli colony I have was not getting enough light and had terrible PE in its old location. It looks a lot happier now.

My favorite SPS in my tank. I've had this one for over a year, but did not really take off until recently:

​

This acroberry is growing very interesting nubs everywhere:

My clowns just love their RBTA home. So much so that I didn't have the heart to remove them when I wanted to "reset" my fish collection. They're finally spawning again on a regular basis. A new clutch of eggs every 2 weeks.

My tuxedo urchin knows how much I loathe aquascaping, so he helps out whenever he can. Here he is moving a patch of zoas for me:

I also transformed the chaeto section of my sump into a massive frag rack. I modified an LED fixture that I picked up on ebay for $160, and swapped out some of the white LEDs with red, green, and blues/purples. It was a fun and quick project. It was interesting to see how a 'commercial' LED fixture is built. I learned a thing or two from taking it apart. Look how clean everything was packaged:

I also love how the leds are connected through a printed wiring board instead of discrete wires, and then the PWB is mounted to a heat sink. I'm contemplating designing my own PWB with a CAD program and sending it to China for them to build (I had the controller board built this way. Came out to $30 for 12 boards). I honestly wish I had more time for these little projects.

I'll show pics of my "frag tank" in my next update. Lights are off ATM.