My JBJ 28gal Nano Build Thread
- Thread starter ange062
- Start date
buddythelion
New member
There is a bunch of glare in the picture, but I finally got my canvas prints stretched onto frames as coral pr0n for the fish room! More pics once they are hung.
Man is that cool! I'd love to have posters of corals for my room.
ange062
New member
ange062
New member
Got the urge to test the tank tonight before a water change, and ITS A GOOD THING I DID!! Holy crap, hopefully a crises diverted but time will tell.
It started by looking at the temp, which I always check my thermometer vs. my chiller reading for accuracy, and found the chiller was powered off (for who knows how long). A little investigation shows a blown fuse, which will be replaced in the AM, but temps were still in line so no worries.
Next step showed pH reading down at 7.9, the lowest I've ever seen in my tank, but I thought maybe it was because of taking water just after lights out (and associated pH drop). Such was not the case...
All organics were inline, but measuring Alk freaked me out to the point of taking 3 retests. It was reading 3.5dkh... Ya, 3.5dkh!!!! It took a bit to purge the alk line from the doser, so not sure if it was clogged or if a bubble had just unprimed the doser, but apparently the tank had not been getting any alk for a while. Subsequent Ca test (as you would expect given ca/alk linear relationship) was wicked high at 610. The Elos Mg test reading was funky compared to normal (40 of A and 8 of C, vs. the normal 35 of A and 5 of C, Elos users will get it) though it resulted in effectively the same end reading. The alk just threw the test off.
Anyway, just about everything seems no worse for wear surprisingly, the clams all look great as do the corals. I finally decided, however, to ax the ORA green stylo which has been slowly fading, sad to see such a large but mostly dead colony. The exciting part is that once I get things back in line I'll have room for new corals (and hence motivation to maintain the tank).
I see a cool stag or table acro filling up that spot sometime soon.
It started by looking at the temp, which I always check my thermometer vs. my chiller reading for accuracy, and found the chiller was powered off (for who knows how long). A little investigation shows a blown fuse, which will be replaced in the AM, but temps were still in line so no worries.
Next step showed pH reading down at 7.9, the lowest I've ever seen in my tank, but I thought maybe it was because of taking water just after lights out (and associated pH drop). Such was not the case...
All organics were inline, but measuring Alk freaked me out to the point of taking 3 retests. It was reading 3.5dkh... Ya, 3.5dkh!!!! It took a bit to purge the alk line from the doser, so not sure if it was clogged or if a bubble had just unprimed the doser, but apparently the tank had not been getting any alk for a while. Subsequent Ca test (as you would expect given ca/alk linear relationship) was wicked high at 610. The Elos Mg test reading was funky compared to normal (40 of A and 8 of C, vs. the normal 35 of A and 5 of C, Elos users will get it) though it resulted in effectively the same end reading. The alk just threw the test off.
Anyway, just about everything seems no worse for wear surprisingly, the clams all look great as do the corals. I finally decided, however, to ax the ORA green stylo which has been slowly fading, sad to see such a large but mostly dead colony. The exciting part is that once I get things back in line I'll have room for new corals (and hence motivation to maintain the tank).
I see a cool stag or table acro filling up that spot sometime soon. 
martinphillip03
New member
Ange, Looks like your thru your funk. Looking forward to the re-establishment of your tank. Maybe I should buy some ORO stock.
Marty
Marty
ange062
New member
Well I was getting close, up until this latest incident anyway... Thanks as always for your vote of confidence!
And, unfortunately, a bit more sad news to report. Yoshi, my little ORA spotted mandarin, was found dead yesterday when I got home from work. He had been in the tank for just over a year. He looked fine and was eating well on Monday, so not sure what happened but it's pretty upsetting.
RIP Yoshi
Man, sorry to hear about Yoshi ange. I was so bummed when mine went south suddenly. It's easy to get attached to these guys with the personality they show and the extra attention you have to give them to make sure they're getting enough to eat. Bummed for ya buddy but looking forward to seeing your tank come back to ange-level awesomeness.
ange062
New member
Thanks for the condolences Chad. Hoping to see the tank some back also, and already looking for a new dragonet.
ange062
New member
I'm pretty sure, after all these months, that I have finally figured out the root cause of all my SPS die-off. I brought home a calibrated temp probe from work after noticing that my chiller thermometer and in-sump (aka back chamber) thermometer started reading about 3-4deg off. I found the calibrated temp probe was reading 84 despite the chiller reading down in the 77 (or bottom of it's set point cooling range). This means at the coolest the tank had been running at 84, and likely up to 86 or higher for many months.
I readjusted the chiller temp to match that of the calibrated probe and slowly cooled the tank down. Now to try another acro...
I readjusted the chiller temp to match that of the calibrated probe and slowly cooled the tank down. Now to try another acro...
ange062
New member
What a totally crazy couple of days this has been. I'm leaving town for a week long diving trip in The Keys, so was doing some Preventative Maintenance (PM) before leaving. A full disassembly of the skimmer to clean it out and I managed to snap the plastic part of the impeller on the HOB-1 like a dum dum. I figured some epoxy would help hold it together, but I couldn't get the pump to start back up after. Thankfully a super-awesome local reefer that had 4 HOB-1's running on QT tanks lent me an impeller since I couldn't find one to buy locally and had no time to order one. Problem solved....
So tonight I was continuing work, got the skimmer back together, and had to turn on the Radion manually to get some light in the tank so I could clean the glass. Since I haven't figured out how to get it back into a normal program mode without plugging into a PC, I plugged it in and was prompted for a firmware update. No problem, update completed with no issues. Then, the light wouldn't turn back on! Now every time I plug it in I get a "needs firmware update" warning, but when clicking OK it says no update is needed after a minute or so. But unfortunately, the light won't turn on, and any attempts to reprogram my profile fail. SO, my Radion appears to be bricked. Given the fact that I am leaving Tues very-early AM, I am going to have to go buy a Radion tomorrow to get the tank through the week, and will figure out the rest when I get back.
Always something, I swear!! Not what I needed right before a week long dive trip to go look at corals and fish in the wild!!! Uggghhhhh...
So tonight I was continuing work, got the skimmer back together, and had to turn on the Radion manually to get some light in the tank so I could clean the glass. Since I haven't figured out how to get it back into a normal program mode without plugging into a PC, I plugged it in and was prompted for a firmware update. No problem, update completed with no issues. Then, the light wouldn't turn back on! Now every time I plug it in I get a "needs firmware update" warning, but when clicking OK it says no update is needed after a minute or so. But unfortunately, the light won't turn on, and any attempts to reprogram my profile fail. SO, my Radion appears to be bricked. Given the fact that I am leaving Tues very-early AM, I am going to have to go buy a Radion tomorrow to get the tank through the week, and will figure out the rest when I get back.
Always something, I swear!! Not what I needed right before a week long dive trip to go look at corals and fish in the wild!!! Uggghhhhh...
Gagonzalez
Reef Fanatic
Sorry to hear all of this is happening now. Seems like when something happens, it happens in waves!
I am still trying to resolve my issue with JBJ and am on tank #5 now. Last 4 they sent me have had leaks or were broken upon shipment. Meanwhile, I've siliconed what I could on the current tank leaks till I get a decent tank to swap. What really sucks is that because of the swap over to the 1st new tank (That was found defective after I swapped everyone over), I have had a really bad cyano, dino and hair algae outbreak that I can't seem to control. And soon I'll have to do it again!
I tell you, it comes in waves! Good Luck and I hope everything gets better soon.
I am still trying to resolve my issue with JBJ and am on tank #5 now. Last 4 they sent me have had leaks or were broken upon shipment. Meanwhile, I've siliconed what I could on the current tank leaks till I get a decent tank to swap. What really sucks is that because of the swap over to the 1st new tank (That was found defective after I swapped everyone over), I have had a really bad cyano, dino and hair algae outbreak that I can't seem to control. And soon I'll have to do it again!
I tell you, it comes in waves! Good Luck and I hope everything gets better soon.
ange062
New member
Well the awesome folks from EcoTech helped me get the issue sorted out. Looks like my firmware got corrupted during an update using the old Ecosmart Config Utility. So we spent 45min on the phone getting updated to EcoSmart Live, then using some backdoors to get into the Radion and reflash with the latest firmware, and finally update to profile to somewhat reflect what I have been historically using.
Back in action thanks to awesome EcoTech customer service! And it didn't cost me a penny thankfully
Back in action thanks to awesome EcoTech customer service! And it didn't cost me a penny thankfully
Dainese954
New member
Hey brother it's Justin a friend of tran's. could you please post the steps to quite down my aquamaxx. Sorry it won't let me send pm until I have 10 post. Thanks for all your help!
Cheers,
Justin
Cheers,
Justin
ange062
New member
Hey Justin, nice talkin to ya earlier. Check out this thread and read it from start to finish, then hit me up if you have questions!
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2027481
And a picture of the tank from today. The big open gap at the top left has been bugging me, I was thinking a nice stag would look cool in that space, but my LFS also got some 5" Tahitian maximas that are amazing and considering that as well. Thoughts?
martinphillip03
New member
I think both would fit in your tank. If it doesn't work out. You can return one and get something else.
Marty
And a picture of the tank from today. The big open gap at the top left has been bugging me, I was thinking a nice stag would look cool in that space, but my LFS also got some 5" Tahitian maximas that are amazing and considering that as well. Thoughts?
Marty
And a picture of the tank from today. The big open gap at the top left has been bugging me, I was thinking a nice stag would look cool in that space, but my LFS also got some 5" Tahitian maximas that are amazing and considering that as well. Thoughts?
martinphillip03
New member
Congratulations on finding out you problem. The heat probably led to Yoshi's demise. With all this electronic stuff, a good themometer is probably a good idea. But it is tough to find one.
Hopefully this was the problem and your able to re-establish the tank. Saltwater should be fun./
Marty
Hopefully this was the problem and your able to re-establish the tank. Saltwater should be fun./
Marty
I'm pretty sure, after all these months, that I have finally figured out the root cause of all my SPS die-off. I brought home a calibrated temp probe from work after noticing that my chiller thermometer and in-sump (aka back chamber) thermometer started reading about 3-4deg off. I found the calibrated temp probe was reading 84 despite the chiller reading down in the 77 (or bottom of it's set point cooling range). This means at the coolest the tank had been running at 84, and likely up to 86 or higher for many months.
I readjusted the chiller temp to match that of the calibrated probe and slowly cooled the tank down. Now to try another acro...
ange062
New member
Thanks Marty!! I'm leaning towards going the clam route.
The premade EcoTech profile I'm now using is interesting, but I'm thinking it's too blue for my taste. My non-reefing friends seem to like it though. Definitely makes the flourescent colors pop!! And I do really like the lunar cycle feature that changes moonlight intensity daily.
The premade EcoTech profile I'm now using is interesting, but I'm thinking it's too blue for my taste. My non-reefing friends seem to like it though. Definitely makes the flourescent colors pop!! And I do really like the lunar cycle feature that changes moonlight intensity daily.
pleuralplexus
New member
I'm pretty sure, after all these months, that I have finally figured out the root cause of all my SPS die-off. I brought home a calibrated temp probe from work after noticing that my chiller thermometer and in-sump (aka back chamber) thermometer started reading about 3-4deg off. I found the calibrated temp probe was reading 84 despite the chiller reading down in the 77 (or bottom of it's set point cooling range). This means at the coolest the tank had been running at 84, and likely up to 86 or higher for many months.
I readjusted the chiller temp to match that of the calibrated probe and slowly cooled the tank down. Now to try another acro...
Yeah this is how my chiller operates too. I have to keep the chiller set to 72, but the actual temperature it cools to at this set point is around 76.
