Lukinrats 75 gallon tank thread!!!

[copps]

On the pocillopora, the polyps are still retracted on the frag... when it settles in it will get very fuzzy... also, you are seeing the top of a huge colony in my picture... it will grow up like that to the point where you only see the branches towards the outside...

The spumosa will encrust and then branch... the piece you have is cut from an encrusting part and will grow in...

You'll see though... I'm 100% sure on those IDs...

 

[lukinrats]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13114529#post13114529 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by copps
On the pocillopora, the polyps are still retracted on the frag... when it settles in it will get very fuzzy... also, you are seeing the top of a huge colony in my picture... it will grow up like that to the point where you only see the branches towards the outside...

The spumosa will encrust and then branch... the piece you have is cut from an encrusting part and will grow in...

You'll see though... I'm 100% sure on those IDs...

I did not mean that I did not believe you... I was just saying that I could not believe how much the corals change as they grow... It is just amazing

I love the Frags, and I know you are 100% percent right on the ID... Heck, you should know!!!

Later,
nathan

 

[copps]

Sorry Nathan... I didn't mean to come off like that... I just said I was 100% sure so you knew you had the right ID... I have a ton of colonies but I know each well...

Thanks again bud!

John

 

[lukinrats]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13114605#post13114605 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by copps
Sorry Nathan... I didn't mean to come off like that... I just said I was 100% sure so you knew you had the right ID... I have a ton of colonies but I know each well...

Thanks again bud!

John

You bet!!! Let me know next time you are having a sale, I would love to get some of those others :eek2:

 

[lukinrats]

Hey Copps, the frags are looking great today... I will probably try to get some pics of them up tomorrow... I just wanted to see what you think about placement... I started them out @ the sandbed, and I am getting around 250 Par on average @ the sand... Do you think they should be left down there for a while, or are they going to need more light than that, pretty soon?

Thanks,
Nathan

 

[lukinrats]

My new QT setup

My new QT setup

Well, I got tired of sticking fish in the little 10 gallon that I had for a QT... So I went looking for a 20 gallon, and figured that would seem a little better... I went to the LFS (even though I hated to), and they guy wanted like $45 for just the tank itself.
I decided that I would go to Wally World and check out one of those cheap all-in-one setups they sell.......$90

I really was PO'ed at this point to have to spend all kinds of money for just a QT... I decided that I could go with a Sterlite since that is where my Reef was housed for almost 9 months... I put all my live rock, fish, and corals into a 55 gallon Sterlite until I could get my living room redone, and my tank drilled, sump installed, etc, etc.

Here are some shots of what I set up in my laundry/mud room... I just put my new perc. clown pair in it yesterday, and they seem to love that room... I know I sure like it better than the other setup... The best part is that I only have about $50 in it (including the skilter)

Later,
Nathan

 

[melev]

Looks great. If you kept the lid(s), you can screw those to the top of the container, and cut out an opening in the center. That will help prevent the walls from bowing outwards.

 

[lukinrats]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13118330#post13118330 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by melev
Looks great. If you kept the lid(s), you can screw those to the top of the container, and cut out an opening in the center. That will help prevent the walls from bowing outwards.

Ya, I kept them, and had thought about that idea, but I was worried I would bust it or something when I tried to put the screws in

I may have to give that a try tomorrow!

Thanks for the suggestion!! :rollface:

Nathan

 

[lukinrats]

Well, it is official!!! I suck with photgraphy... I brought home a Fuji fine pix 700 today, and have played and played with it... It has a super macro mode, but even when I use that, I take sucky pictures... Colors do not show up at all... I guess I really need to do some studying.

Anyway, after playing around for like 2 hours, I have come up with this FTS, which is about the best I have ever been able to get

I hope I can figure something out, I wonder what I could do to make it better?

Thanks,
Nathan

 

[melev]

Buy more colorful corals!

 

[lukinrats]

Melev... Thanks for your suggestion! You are one of the few that actually reads/replies, and I appreciate it.

As for the suggestion... Working on it!! Trying to not over do it... I think those frags I just got will be some beutiful coral when they grow in... I suppose that is the problem with frags, they are just a speck of nothing down on the sandbed :lol:

I did a little reading in the photography forum last night, and I think I understand a whole lot more about how this Fuji works now... I should be able to get a better shot soon

Later,
Nathan

 

[melev]

The Fotos page on my site talks about taking pictures too, and I've been shooting with Fuji since 2003. Not the model you have, but there must be some similarities.

Close ups tend to come out better than FTS (full tank shots).

 

[lukinrats]

Ya... I did a lot of research last year... Starting with the features that your ?602? had... I found that there were a whole lot of Fuji cameras that were more expensive, and/or newer, highly touted... So, anyway, it turned out that the one most similar to yours was the Fine Pix 700s... I was going to buy one, and it was around $200 at Wal Mart.

One day, my boss came to me, and said that he was going to go get a camera to have around the office... He asked me what would be a good and fairly cheap camera... The light bulb went off in my head, and I told him to get the Fine Pix 700... So, anytime I want to take some shots of my tank or anything else, I can just take this one home

I think I can figure it out! I just need to play with it some more... I only messed around with it for about an hour last night... I was trying to set the white balance most of that time... I figured out that it has a custom WB option, where you point the camera at your picture source, and then it sets itself... That is how I ended up with the picture above... I still did not like the colors that I ended up with

I read some info last night, from the photog forum, and learned that the best way to do the auto WB adjustment, is to hold a piece of white paper under your reef lighting... Use the white paper as the source, and then the camera can better choose the correct settings that way... I have not gotten a chance to try this, but I plan to tonight

BTW... Is this thread even showing up in the public forums? :lol: I feel like I must have posted it in one of the sponsor forums or something, and it is not viewable by many

later,
Nathan

 

[melev]

Yeah, I've got this thread set to hidden so only you and I can see it.

You can take a piece of white cutting board material or PVC and put that in your tank, then focus the camera on it to set the white balance.

One important step I didn't realize was to click "OK" when you set the WB, rather than to click on "Back" to back out of the menus. I kept using the "back" option, and it never set. Finally I clicked "OK" and it worked. D'oh.

 

[lukinrats]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13140984#post13140984 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by melev
Yeah, I've got this thread set to hidden so only you and I can see it.

I knew it!!!!!

 

[lukinrats]

I am getting a light goldish green film in my sump (only)... I am not sure what it is, but I can tell you 2 things that may be causing it... The first is that I recently started adding vinegar to my limewater... I am only adding 24 ml per gallon of LW, so this does not seem like it could be the cause, as most people suggest 46 ml per gallon of LW

I also got a new Phosban reactor, so when I got it, I took the GFO out of the old one and put it in the new one... When I did this, I poured the GFO into 1 gallon of RO water, and swished it around a bit... I figured this would remove any dust that was accumulated... Then I ran another gallon of RO water through the new reactor when I had the GFO in it, and before I installed it in the sump

These are the only 2 things I have changed, and the film sort of looks like what my hands look like, after handling GFO

The only other thing that I can think of is Coral Frenzy... I put some into the water night before last... I accidentally put too much into the water when I was mixing it up to feed the tank... I figured what the hey, as I do not have any fish in the tank right now... I am running very close to 0 phosphates and less than 5mg/l on nitrate, so figured it would not hurt to add a little extra of that food to the water... I guess this could have settled out in the sump

What you guys think? If it was the vinegar, wouldn't it be a white film?

 

[lukinrats]

Mark, I know these are not the sump pictures you wanted, but when I took these pictures, it reminded me that you wanted to see it... I will get some good ones of it tonight, hopefully!!!

I took these pictures at lunch... Normally when I see something like this, I just assume some sort of algae... However, because of the color, etc... I feel like it has got to be all that food, or maybe something else... It was not there the other night before I dosed the reef chili and coral frenzy

Here is the pad that is always in between one set of my baffles in the sump

The main reason I think it is the food, is because of my skimmer neck looking this way

Here are a couple of other shots from the skimmer section and the fuge

Thanks,
Nathan

 

[melev]

That could be combination of both. When I've used GFO, I have the reactor run 3 to 5 gallons of water out of it until the top section of the reactor is completely clear.

 

[Phillybean]

I have a confession...I've been lurking.

Tank looks good, not sure about the film but I would say it's the GFO. I made the mistake yesterday of not rinsing a new sump sock...bubbles, cloudy water and a skimmer that went nuts!

It happens, when id doubt, if you aren't already, run carbon.

Also for the camera, any advice you can give me would be welcome. I have the Finepix 1000 which I can't seem to get ANY decent shots with. I can get the color where I want it, but everything is always blurry, even when I adjust the aperture settings

 

[lukinrats]

Ok, I don't think I was very descriptive... The GFO that was put in the TLF reactor had been running in a Kent reactor for about 2 weeks... I checked the effluent with my hanna meter, and it showed that the GFO was not exhausted... I decided to run it a little while longer, so I got it out of the kent reactor, and put it in a gallon of RODI water for about an hour... Then I poured it all throught a coffee filter... I put the GFO into the new TLF reactor, and ran a gallon of RODI through it before going back in the sump.

Now, I am not saying that it did not cause this film, but it seems as though most of the dust would have already been off of it... This looks like it would have had to be a lot of dust to make the sump, skimmer, and filter pad look like that... I guess it could have been ground into some more dust by swapping it

I also may have had the water moving through the reactor too fast.
Hey this gives me an :idea:!!!!

Melev... Are you good enough with that camera of yours to capture a shot of what the top of the GFO should look like when set right?

I am going to go ahead and bet that you already have!!

Later,
Nathan