Melev's new 280g Starfire tank thread

[Micki]

I couldn't let your new split go without my special additive!


Now if I could just figure out how I did that!

 

[Micki]

Marc, when you grow phyto, are you supposed to top off every day or are you talking specfically about the gallon jug and going on for long periods of time?

 

[Spiffyguy]

Marc that phyto looks pretty concentrated. I was thinking about starting a small batch of rmy 24 gallon. Since your's doesn't have the crash potential it may be good for a small batch. Maybe 2 liter or even a liter. Normally I do a capful of DTs twice a week. Since this is concentrate it seems to work good for me. What do you think the ratio of a strong batch of your moonshine would yeild?

 

[richfavinger]

Melev,
Could you post your phyto links? New recipe? Or is it on your site? I might want to try this some day. But don't really know how, I don't really have a free, warm place to let something gurgle away.

Rich

 

[melev]

Rich - The phytoplankton page is in the Food category of the Hidden Treasure page. Or type Phytoplankton in the search engine on the front page of my site.

Spiffyguy - It isn't concentrated, although it is nice and dark green. I really can't compare home grown to DT's Live Phtyoplankton. If you have a microscope handy, you can compare a drop of each to get an idea of how many cells you are getting, to do some math. If you dose a tsp of DT's, you probably need to dose two tablespoons of home grown.

Micki - I top it off if it has been bubbling for 3 or 4 weeks. Like right now, the jug is 3 weeks old, and is down about 1". Adding more water will get the salinity back to 1.019 again.

 

[melev]

Here's a picture of a puddle of A. millepora from April 05.

January 06:

And from March 06, same coral:

 

[Cprowler]

Wow, in 11 months even with the PO4 issues you had a few months ago.

Very Nice

 

[melev]

Yes, this coral has been through it all. Here's an interesting comparison for you to consider - those of you that love Clown Gobies.

Jan 05

March 06

Now you see why I wasn't upset when Fang was evicted.

 

[FroMan]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7042342#post7042342 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by melev
My new salt is literally on its way to my door as I type this. Our club did a group buy for OceanPure, by TAAM in California. The person that was supposed to receive the shipment went to work, so the truck is rerouted to my door. It won't be convenient to the club members, but it sure makes my life easy.

how does Ocean pure salt compare to instant ocean or reef crystals?

It is "cleaner"?

 

[melev]

I can't answer that yet. I did receive the order last night around midnight, and opened up a box. The bags are relatively unmarked, but they each have a Lot # on them, which is good. The recent Kent Sea Salt debacle (dangerously low alkalinity of < 1.0 dKH) has made me more aware of the need for some type of lot numbers, so bad products can be recalled effectively.

Konadog and Loserkidz both use OceanPure, so you might talk to them to see what they think of it. I'm going to try it out, especially since the price was right.

 

[rottface4]

I was always hesistant about getting a clown goby. They seem almost ideal for a smaller tank like mine. I'm sure glad I withheld from getting one.

Do you think with products like Prodibo (and Zeo, even though you aren't testing it), you would notice coloring up in Sps, Lps and softie (ie zoas), or do you think the it is more beneficial for one genre over others?

 

[21Reefman]

melev, I had an Arc eyed hawk fish that loved to perch on the pavona and a few other sps. He had killed the new growth and algea was growing in rapid succesion. He Gone! The corals love it! I will try to look for comparison pics.
The guy I sold the fish to? LOL, It's his favorite fish! He only has softies though.

 

[itstheantitang]

Melev,
Any news or plans for your drilled 29....?

 

[chrisd4421]

Does anyone know how many splits/posts this thread has now?

Chris

 

[DerekW]

If my math is correct, including this post, there are 3086 posts in this thread and it has been split 4 times.
But the first section reached 107 pages (page 107 only has 2 posts) before they split it, otherwise there would be 2 more splits.

 

[DerekW]

3087....and I'm really glad I caught this thread the day it started

 

[Lordhelmet]

I know what you mean about being happy fang was evicted. About 3 weeks ago my clown goby turned up missing and all my SPS frags have never looked better.

 

[FroMan]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7044755#post7044755 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by melev
I can't answer that yet. I did receive the order last night around midnight, and opened up a box. The bags are relatively unmarked, but they each have a Lot # on them, which is good. The recent Kent Sea Salt debacle (dangerously low alkalinity of < 1.0 dKH) has made me more aware of the need for some type of lot numbers, so bad products can be recalled effectively.

I'll just keep my eye out for your review later in the thread I'd give it a try, but I still have 3.5 buckets of reef crystals to go through.

Lot numbers are definatly a good thing!

 

[danmp18]

Marc

Are you still thinking of building some sort of crazy cylindrical tank for your snowflake? I'd love to follow the progress on that if you ever start it up.

Also, are you ever going to finish the woodwork? :lol:

 

[melev]

<b>rottface4</b> - I don't know. I've seen some amazing tanks that don't use products like Zeo or Prodibio. Look at Weatherson's tank, or JB NY, or Steveweast's setup. All are amazing. I'd like to see what this does, that's all.

<b>fisharefoodtoo</b> - it is still waiting for me to have time to deal with it. Wish I had more hours in the day.

<b>chrisd4221</b> - I think we are on the 6th split now. When I do the TOC, I'll double check.

<b>danmp18</b> - I like the concept, but haven't done anything. Currently there are 4 tanks in my house, and to be really honest, I'd prefer to have all of them on the one sump so I don't have to maintain individual systems. The benefit would be less power consumption, and consistency in all tanks parameters-wise.