Lunchbucket's New 58gal RR inprogress - LOTS OF PICS

[melev]

Wow, that has really grown so well for you, that maze coral. It was adorable then, and has spread out beautifully. Thanks for the answer.

 

[Travis]

Oh ok, I will let you slide. For some reason I was thinking this

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6875085#post6875085 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Lunchbucket

was the one you got from me. If that was the case I was going to have to come up there, slap you hard, and take off running with your 400 watters.

 

[Lunchbucket]

melev - it really has gone through a lot. the color has REALLY changed a lot..guess that is the 400watters doing it anyhow i still like it but i'm thinking i'm gonna have a brain growing on the glass soon!!

Travis - the coral you posted is the green w/ purple/blue tip milli that i gave you!! the one in your tank that based out and then started shooting out nubs out of the side. know which one i'm talking about? your right side in the middle.

later
Lunchbucket

 

[maxxII]

Eric,
Not implying your weak, just that we hadnt heard from you in awhile and I was about to send out the search parties for you...feelin a little self concious there girly man????




Thanks for the info about how youre doing the media....I cant seem to get my reactor's internal pH above 6.6 (While maintaining tanks DKh of 8.0 and Ca level of 415) and I'm running ARM media. I bought a 50 lb bag of the stuff so Its not like I'm in danger of running out, but still.

I've been looking at the Deltec Skimmers for a future tank upgrade, (I've got an Oceanic 120 RR sitting in the basement and my wife actually wants an inwall tank!!). Interestingly enough, several people suggested I check out H&S skimmers too. Same pumps as Deltec, allegedly equal or better build quality, and slightly ($13 for the model I was looking at) cheaper than Deltec. This all away off so I'm just thinking and planning.

I was curious about your PCH chiller cause mine's doing pretty close to what yours is...cycles on and off frequently, and allows temp swings. Nothing huge, (4 degrees) but enough to cause me to wonder if its contributing to slow/non existant growth of my corals.
Why the Artica's?

Nick

 

[Travis]

Ok, I see which mille that is now. Looks like that one is growing like crazy in your tank too.

 

[Lunchbucket]

maxx - :lol: girly boy...man the insults keep coming

how much effluent on your reactor at 6.6pH are you running? i used to run my ARM media at 6.5. lower the pH more you get out of it...but watch for the crappy melting or mudding...that is why i switched to the Schuran style

i'll let you know what i think of the Deltec. i looked at H&S but i talked to Doug at Deltec and he won me over. Fin's reef was out of the 110 H&S too. only thing i don't like is that H&S only uses about 1/2 the reaction chamber. seems dumb IMO....like you are paying for 1/2 a skimmer. Deltec and H&S pumps are different (from what Deltec says...yeah this is a HUGE debate).

the JBJ artica chillers are supposed to be VERY nice. and they make a 1/10 HP model. well i'd prolly upgrade to a 1/5 so if i upgrade the tank i'd have a bigger one.

Travis - yeah that milli is growing mad. i'm sure yours has taken off too

Lunchbucket

 

[maxxII]

maxx - girly boy...man the insults keep coming

Actually, I called you Girly Man.....but its just my way of saying I care.

I'm running about 100 drops per minute with 10 bpm of Co2. Its holding steady so far, but its the first time I've set up a reactor at all.

Thanks for the heads up about the Deltec skimmer and the Artica chillers. I'll definately dbl check w/ you later on to see what your long term feelings of the Deltec skimmer.

I wanted to give you a heads up about a way to treat bryopsis.

I've got bryopsis now in my tank too, (Man this stuff sucks!) and I talked to a friend of mine who has had to deal with it twice in the last 5 years.

Here is a PM to her about it:

Hey Kat,
Hope all is well with you and the tanks.

I've been seeing an increase in algae in my tank lately, and I'm thinking its bryopsis. Nikki has told me a couple of times that you increased your magnesium levels to something like 1600 and held it there for ahile and it wiped out your bryopsis?
Could you tell me what you do to get rid of it and how that works? Any side effects or things to watch out for?

Nick

Hey Nick,

Good to hear from you. I raised it to 1500 over a few days per the directions on the container and held at that level until the bryopsis fades which is usually very quickly. I've only used the Kent brand and it has worked for me three times. Seems safe--1500 is the top of the recommended range and it goes back down on its own when you stop supplementing. LMK if it works for you.

Katrina

And just for reference I sent Boomer a PM....I didnt post it up on Randy's forum for two reasons:

If he started laughing uncontrollably, I didnt want it to be public

Boomer is just as good as Randy when it comes to Chem questions, and he's answered several of my dumb questions over the past couple of years....

High Mag gets rid of Bryopsis?

Hey Boomer,
Quick question for you. I've been told by a friend of mine that raising Mag levels to 1500 ppm in the tank will take care of bryopsis. She swears she did this twice and each time it worked, (5 year period).
I was thinking about it and couldnt understand why this would work. I realize Mag is important for photosynthesis, but how does increasing it take care of bryopsis? What are the potential consequenses of raising Mag that high and maintaining it for a week or two?

Thanks for your time,

Nick

How is she adding it ? It may not be the Mg but the anion it is attched to, such as chloride or sulfate. High Mg increases photosynthesis it does not decrease it.

A good guess that has been brought up before but not in relation to your question, is there is a shift in the osmotic pressure gradient and the plant may be expending to much energy. Some marine algaes show much lower internal Mg with respect to seawater concentrations. Raising the Mg up along with higher sulfate or chloride levels may be to much of an osmotic shift for this plant. The plant may be fighting to keep the Mg out and at the same time fighting not to loose water.

1500 should be no probem for a week or two. Many people have asked about Mg levels that high.

I'm in the process if raising my Mag levels up from 1280, (last check was at 1400...need to check today) and will let you know what happens.

Nick

 

[Travis]

Nick,
I am curious to hear your results with the elevated Mg. FWIW, a couple months ago I decided to raise my Mg with magnesium chloride hexahydrate. I raised it over a few days and stopped when it was at around 1450. Over the next couple days it kept rising to around 1560. I left it there for a couple weeks and then did a 100 gallon water change (33%) with IO (used IO as it is low in Mg) every week for 5 weeks and it has finally come down to 1390.
Here is what I noticed from the increased Mg:
1)Before increasing the Mg, my coralline was growing out of control. It was literally to the point where I would scrape my whole front pane and 4 weeks later it would be 90% covered with coralline and would need to be scraped again. After raising my Mg, I scraped all of the walls in my tank. Over the past 2 months or so there is no more than a few tiny specs of coralline growth. The elevated level had a major effect on coralline growth.
2)I also noticed that some of my corals seemed to slow in growth a tad, but this could also be because I was watching them more.
3)I have a couple of patches of bryopsis in the tank (man I hate this stuff). The bryopsis continued to grow at the same rate before, during, and after my Mg level changes.

Right now I am having some problems with some of my corals. The tissue is getting very thin on some of the corals and is actually cracking and peeling off on the undersides. The damage looks very similar to an AEFW attack. I don't know if this could be because of my Mg level changes or not. There are a few other factors that come into play that could also have an effect such as I have lowered my alk from 11 to 7.5 over the past 1.5 months, Ca has been lowered from 500 to 380 over the past 1.5 months, and I have put 4 different brands of salt through my tank in the past 5 months.

 

[Lunchbucket]

Nick, thanks for the heads up...but not sure if i want to start messing w/ my water chem. i'm a guy who believes in NOT changing it. if it stresses the algae i'm betting is stresses the corals in some way and that is not good IMO. even for a short period of time.

the bryopsis is slowing leaving after manual extraction, limited feeding, changing PO4 medai (even when not needed), bi-weekly water changes, and blowing off the junk out of it. i'm winning the battle slowly but surely. thanks for the heads up though..i'll keep that in my mind.

i'll keep you updated on the Deltec..i'm sure you gys will get sick of seeing pics should have it in a week or 2

Lunchbucket

 

[maxxII]

Travis,
I will definately let you know how this turns out, either by PM or here on the thread...not to hijack, but because I posted about here.

The changes in your tank are interesting, but difficult to pin down since you did have so much going on in that time period. I would certainly think that lowering your Alk levels would slow/stop coralline algae growth like you've observed. I dont think that lowering your Ca levels would have slowed down coral growth since thats right at NSW levels, and since higher Ca levels dont increase coral growth.....but thats really just a WAG on my part...I'm not a chemist. I can say you are a brave man for running 5 types of salt through your tank. After the Dr Ron salt debacle/coral massacre of 2003-2004, I decided to keep using IO and the only switch I'd ever make was to Reef Crystals, (made by IO) to avoid loosing everything.

3)I have a couple of patches of bryopsis in the tank (man I hate this stuff). The bryopsis continued to grow at the same rate before, during, and after my Mg level changes.

this was not something I wanted to hear........

Ive never had bryopsis before, so I didnt recognize it intially...when it was confined to one spot in the tank. Now its freakin everywhere. Supposedly, blue Tuxedo urchins will eat it however. I have a long spined urchin in the tank already, but he doesnt seem to wildly interested in it.
I'll keep you posted though.....

Eric,
You're thoughts on messing w/ the water column are just like mine. Its not something I do happily. However, My friend Katrina swears by it....so I dont know. I also agree w/ your thought process on stressing out the Zooxanthellae in the coral...its an algae too. I'm willing to give it 2 weeks (per Boomer) to see what happens. If I have a meltdown.....well, bryopsis wont be the main problem anymore....:rolleye1:

Nick

 

[Lunchbucket]

i've heard that upping your pH to 8.6 or something like that does the same thing to bryopsis...but i'm not gonna do that one either

please let me know what happens!
good luck buddy
Lunchbucket

 

[melev]

Nick, post it publicly please.

 

[arconom]

Lunch did you order the AP600?

Your corals are growing fast! And look incredible.

 

[asnatlas]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6896068#post6896068 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by arconom
Lunch did you order the AP600?

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6877557#post6877557 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Lunchbucket
(just upgraded to a Deltec skimmer AP600).

I take that as a yes

 

[arconom]

Yeah I saw that I just wasn't sure since I think his Custom Er was sold before he even bought the Deltec. Also in the Deltec forum It seemed it was still up in the air with the purchase.

Well Lunch you will be happy now

 

[Lunchbucket]

arconom - yes i placed my order for the Deltec ap600..it's a done deal!

the RC80 custome EuroReef skimmer is not getting sold. it is going to be kept and tested against the Deltec. i sold my www.reefmania.net skimmer

Deltec should be here in about 1wk

Lunchbucket

 

[maxxII]

Dude you change skimmers as often as some change underwear.

But I look forward to hearing your evaluation and opinion of the new skimmer.

Nick

 

[Lunchbucket]

maxx - yeah kind of i guess i'm an equipment freak and none of the upgrades costed me a whole lot as a sold some reef stuff to get some reef stuff

i wanted to get a Deletec to test and help put some of the ER vs Deltec to rest. i wante to get an H&S 110 to do the H&S vs ER vs Deltec...but i don't think that will happen

Lunchbucket

 

[MiddletonMark]

Nick, let us know what you see from your Mag experiment. We promise, we'll only quote you for the next 3 years about it
j/k ... hard to learn, if never never hear.

---
Lunch - looking good and getting to exponential growth time
Just seems like the steps from 4 tips to 12 is a long time - but from that point, at least visually, is starts to speed up.

 

[Lunchbucket]

Mark - i hear you on the increased growth. it takes a while and then BOOM it explodes. i'm finally getting to that point i'm loving it!

Lunchbucket