My 500 + gallon system. Last 13 years to now. Build, Aquascaping & more. Lots of pics
- Thread starter slief
- Start date
pmrossetti
Active member
Beautiful shots. Thank you.
reef_of_flames
Member
Very nice! What kind of unicornfish is that? Is a Vlamingi or are they the same thing as the ones with streamers?
slief
RC Sponsor
Thanks!
Thanks. It's just a run of the mill unicorn tang as far as I'm aware. It was tiny (2") when I got it a year and a half ago. It's over 8" now. As for the Vlamingi, yes, it's the same kind that have the streamers. The males have streamers, the females don't. Mine is a female.
slief
RC Sponsor
Yep. The coraline is making an advance again. It's about time to get busy on it. I was looking to order some new scrapers this week.
It's funny you mention my pumps. I was just having a discussion yesterday elsewhere on the forum about those. They are looking like rocks right now and overdue for a cleaning. I might just do that this weekend. I just pop them off their mounts and pull some cord through the pipe and clean them on top of the tank in a container of vinegar and rinse them in a container of water. It's not a big deal and there is plenty of slack outside of the tank to pull the pumps to the top of the tank.
As far as fish count, I think there is about 60 fish.
scubadan206
Member
How is your little SPS frag doing? Your water tests look right, they should be growing.
slief
RC Sponsor
My Moni cap frags that I got a few months ago have trippled or quadrupled in size. They are growing crazy fast but I think that isn't surprising. My green slimer isn't getting much taller but it's spread a lot at the base and has lots of new growth where I crammed it into the rocks. I forgot what the other SPS frag was but it mostly died in a hurry and recently it sprouted new growth that is thin but almost an inch tall with a couple other branches growing off what was once a dead branch. I will probably move that frag as it's a bit too close to a soft coral colony. I'd move the green slimer but its grown onto the rocks that I wedged it into. I wish I had chosen a better place for that one because it's kind of hard to see where I placed it. Now that I know my levels are rock solid, I will probably add some new frags in the near future and choose better placement for them.
Achilles Torben
Member
Hello Scott
You have also a acrylic tank and problems with carolin algae in the corners. My tank is over 1 meter deep. You have something for cleaning the corners down?
Greetings Torben
You have also a acrylic tank and problems with carolin algae in the corners. My tank is over 1 meter deep. You have something for cleaning the corners down?
Greetings Torben
slief
RC Sponsor
I don't test often because my Ca. Rx is spot on consistent and doesn't waiver thanks to the Masterflex feed pump and Carbon Doser regulator. I tested last week and it was about the same as my tast test from a few months back.
CA 450
Alk 9.7
MG 1430
pH 8.1 at night and 8.2 during the day.
My Po4 was a bit high as I had neglected my GFO and hadn't done an LaCl treatment in 8 months. I tested at an alarming .15 last weekend according to my Hanna ULR Phosphorus checker. While I don't have any nuissance algae issues, I changed my GFO and a did a couple smaller LaCl treaments and knocked it back down to .06 over the course of 2 days. Fortunately my two refugiums do their job in keeping the nuissance algae out of my display. I'm sure without those, I'd have nuissance algae isses in my main display given my lack of maintenance when it comes to GFO and Po4.
There is a trick to the coraline that I learned from a friend and it's about time to address that again as it's been about 9 months since the last coraline removal. Kent coraline scrapers and the metal ones designed for glass than are made by Continuum Aquatics! It takes the coraline off like butter. You just have to be careful to get the scrapers flat against the glass and at the right angle to peel the coraline off. Ever several minutes, we used 600 grit sand paper to take any burrs off the edge of the scrapers. We also did this before using a new scraper. When the scrapers get bent at all, we replaced them with a new scraper. I have 3 different length scrapers ranging from one that is about 6" long to one that is 3' long.
Here is a few videos covering the removal of coraline on my tank. Also if you go a page or two back, there are videos of removing scratches inside the tank while the tank was full. Note that we did not make any new scratches when removing the coraline. All the scratches we removed were from over 15 years of scratches enduced from bits sand in the cleaing pads which isn't much of an issue now since removing most of my sand.
slief
RC Sponsor
Not often. I never have detectable nitrates. Everytime I test, they are at 0 but that doesn't surprise me. I've have 700+ pounds of live rock. 2 refugiums, one has a 36"x30" deep sand/mud bed. I have a great skimmer, filter socks and plety of soft corals to consume nitrates. Plus my 5 gallon daily automatic water changes help keep my water quality up as well. Nitrates will never be an issue in my tank and haven't been since I did my sump upgrade nearly 6 years ago.
