Mhucasey's SPS obsession

[mhucasey]

Nicely done!
Loving that soli/efflo

Thanks! Its a Soli, from Steve Garrett, and its finally getting purple at the tips!

 

[biggles]

Really sorry to hear of that nem disaster Matt Glad to see you're bouncing back fast mate and congrats on ROTM - i meant to say something ages ago :thumbsup:

I see you still use a long handled scraper thingy so i assume you're not allergic to salt water like flipper boy Sahin is.........

 

[mhucasey]

Really sorry to hear of that nem disaster Matt Glad to see you're bouncing back fast mate and congrats on ROTM - i meant to say something ages ago :thumbsup:

I see you still use a long handled scraper thingy so i assume you're not allergic to salt water like flipper boy Sahin is.........

Thanks Andrew,
As you know there will always be disasters when it comes to reef tanks, I just try to be prepared to meet them when they occur. Unfortunately in my case, the disaster took out two of the most expensive fish in the tank along with three others. The cheap baby chromis? Totally fine:facepalm:

I use a long handle scraper and mag floats, and thank god I'm not allergic to saltwater, I'd be dead many times over by now!

 

[mhucasey]

I rarely test the water any more, but I tested a bit last night and the evening before. A couple of numbers are out of whack but not by too much:
Salinity: 34ppt(fine, shooting for 33-35)
Potassium: 370(low, need to bring up to 390-400)
Magnesium: 1350 (Technically fine, but want to bring up to 1500)
Calcium: 420(Maybe a bit low but I don't care as long as between 400-450)
Alk: 7.7(maybe a tad high for me) This was at 7.0 on Saturday, I increased the dosing amounts a bit and with the trauma in the tanks Sunday the corals didn't use much all one day. I expect this will settle out at about 7.5.


In other update news, the Percula clowns have finally discovered the new Nem and are getting acquainted, very happy about that!

 

[GSMclowns]

is there a benefit to run Mag so high in the 1500s? I have always run mine in 1200 to 1300 and never really thought much about it.

 

[mhucasey]

The higher the number the more prevalent the Coraline algae growth, in my experience. I was running at 1800-1900 before and it seems to discourage nuissance algae somewhat, and coraline algae growth exploded. Mainly I try to stay near 1500 to avoid the number dipping below 1200 if I stop watching it for a while.

 

[reefmutt]

So, even at 1800-1900 mag, the acros don't notice?
System is looking good, Matt!

 

[mhucasey]

So, even at 1800-1900 mag, the acros don't notice?
System is looking good, Matt!

Thanks Matt, I'm looking forward to the part where I get done building it and get to enjoy it
I raised mg with magnesium chloride and other than the test kit, there was no way to tell it was that high. I topped out at 1950. Green algae other than bryopsis pretty much went away and there was an explosion of coraline algae when I passed 1800. I may give raising it another shot.

 

[cugly]

You lost your borbonious Matt?

 

[mhucasey]

You lost your borbonious Matt?

Yep, check out post 453 for the whole sad story

 

[mhucasey]

Things are getting stable, after a lot of detritus removal from the new tank. It's easy enough to siphon out, but I hate to use a sock since they are a pain to manage. I looked around and bought this:

It is a cyclonic filter for sediment. I plan on constructing a Tank Vaccuum for the system to make the process really easy. It will be plumbed into the sump with its own feed pump to grab detritus that lands there, and will have a separate inlet that I will plumb to a connector near the top of the tank. It will pull gunk out of the sump but when I want to vacuum the system ill just connect a flex hose to the extra connector, close the line from the sump off, open the flex line pipe, and suck out the gunk. It will be like those house vacuums that have outlets in each room of the house.

I may have the outlet of the cyclonic filter empty into a sock as well, ill have to see how efficient this filter is. If it works as shown, i will just open the bottom valve and drain off detritus from time to time.

The tank is starting to stabilize, and the corals are coloring nicely. Here are full tank shots from each side:

 

[cFloor]

I was sorry to hear about the nem and fish loss. It looks like everything is coming back nicely though. The FTS looks wonderful

 

[mhucasey]

I was sorry to hear about the nem and fish loss. It looks like everything is coming back nicely though. The FTS looks wonderful

It was a bummer, man. This hobby can be a bit frustrating at times. Luckily in the grand scheme it was only a small part of the livestock that were affected...just a bummer that two of the newest and most expensive fish were part of the number

 

[mhucasey]

Im officially in cleanup, trim, and refine mode now with the System, yay!. I'm starting to address potions of the system that had temporary or initial setup options, and getting things to their long-term state.
First up was the pH probe. With the system in the garage and lots of fresh air feeding the skimmer, the pH was ridiculously high. I just moved the dirty probe to the new system and hadn't really looked at it. Yesterday I cleaned the probe with a detergent made for cleaning pH probes and re-calibrated it. The pH was about 7.95 with the lights out.

I knew this would be the case when the skimmer came back in the house, but I had forgotten about it until yesterday. I had planned on plumbing an intake air line in from outside, so i got on that and it went pretty easy. A bit quieter now that the intake is outside, though the Diablo skimmer had a pretty good silencer:

I did more organizing/tying down of pumps and wires, the Sump area is looking pretty good:

 

[sahin]

Woah, some very extensive plumbing; gives me a headache just looking at it; too complicated for me. :lol:

 

[mhucasey]

Woah, some very extensive plumbing; gives me a headache just looking at it; too complicated for me. :lol:

It would be a lot simpler with only one overflow line per tank, but with backup and safety overflows the back is filled with five lines just for overflows only. You add supply lines for tanks, the skimmer, and the pellet reactor, its a lot of pipe for sure.

My trusty 9" bandsaw made the whole process of cutting the pipe to fit very easy

 

[mhucasey]

I also got some livestock this weekend, mainly turbo snails for cleanup, but I also got a whole mess of chromis since I know how much Biggles like them

They are "The Jets". I also got a longnose butterfly, aka "Bucky":

Today's water test results: Mg1440, pH 8.28, K: 395, Total Iodide: 0.06, PO4: 0.00, Ca: 450, KH: 8.6.

The KH and Ca are both up a bit high so I will be reducing the dose of each by 12%.

 

[tdb320reef]

Love the chromis! Great looking tank.

 

[mhucasey]

Love the chromis! Great looking tank.

Thanks Tom IMO there is nothing that makes a reef tank look more like a reef than a school of fish!

 

[sahin]

I got rid of my Chromis some months back. I miss them LOL. They are greedy and eat all the time; this is excellent if one wants to feed the tank lots. My current fish dont eat as much. I might pick a few up again...