New 125 On The Block - Watch The Process! *Pictures Inside*

[TJcop]

Herbert: Thanks for the nice comment!
No, I don't have the new skimmer/pump running yet....because I don't have it! I'm starting to worry, since Andy hasn't answered my email on whether it has been shipped or not. I paid for it a week ago, and haven't heard anything.
Does anyone know if he builds them as they are ordered? How long should I expect for this thing to arrive. Maybe I just overreacting because I'm excited...but then again....:worried:

 

[supernip]

i have just one last question, nice tank btw it must have costed a ton, is there any light leakage from the halides out the vent slots on the pendant? uv leakage makes me extremely paranoid

 

[TJcop]

Supernip: No, I don't see any light leaking out. Everything is nicely directed down. Besides, I thought UV rays were linear, so I don't think they could "stray". I wouldn't worry about the UV anyways, unless you plan on standing in the light for a few hours to tan.
The glass that goes over the lights is coated to block UV. HTH!

Update: Andy from MRC contacted me and the skimmer shipped today! Yippie :dance: My cleaners and a few fish should be here Friday morn from reefermadness. I'll take pics when everything arrives. Tank is looking crystal clear again, and green too . I can't wait for that lawnmower..... Goodbye algae! :wavehand:

 

[supernip]

well Im sold. thanks, sunlight supply owes you some commision.

 

[TJcop]

Livestock Arrived!

Livestock Arrived!

This morning I got my two boxes of livestock! One was from Liveaquaria.com and the other from ReeferMadness. Both were packaged exellently, and there were no DOA's (I think). Everyone is in the tank and appears to be doing OK. I'm a little concerned because my once clear tank has become cloudy. I'm hoping that it's just from adding everything. I'm running my Micron filter to help out and the lighting is still on a reduced schedule. Pictures and a livestock list will be coming tomorrow!
PS: MRC skimmer will be here on Monday!

 

[TJcop]

One more thing...

One more thing...

In case anyone was going to offer an advice on the cloudy situation ( I hope you will ), here are my parameters:

Ph 8.1
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 0
Calcium 420ppm
Phosphate 0
Alk 7.84Dh / 2.8 meq/l
Spec Grav 1.025
Temp 80.8-81.1

The only thing I can see is maybe my alk is a little low, but would that cause the cloudiness? I also read that part of the new tank syndrome is a bacterial bloom around the 4-8 week mark, I've never heard/had this before. Also, could large amounts of algae cause some cloudiness. I'm just a little paranoid, since I don't want to lose anything. Thanks all!

 

[TJcop]

Well, if anyone is still reading this thread (and since no responses, I doubt it ) I have a problem....algae! My cloudy tank hasn't gotten worse, but I think the algae might be causing this cloud.
Today I started with some manual removal, and grabbed what I could off the rocks and sand. I also have the MH's off and just running actinics (should I kill those too?). Is such an algae bloom normal to a new tank? The snails are eating (doing their thang!), but it doesn't seem like they're gaining ground. I don't understand, since my fuge is full of macro that is growing and my params are norm!
The only other thing I can think of is extra nutrients in the water, since my DIY skimmer sucks and my new one doesn't come 'till tommorrow. Any suggestions?

 

[minfinger]

Could be the skimmer like you said. Also you PH stiring up the snad could have released some element that we don't normally test for. I would wait until you get that new Skimmer and see how things go.

 

[Todd March]

The skimmer will help, TJ... But I think you also added way too much life way too fast, and this is going to be a little problematic for at least a little while... Hang in there, it'll get better. Remember it's all so new...!
Water changes will help also....

Remember sometimes (and new tanks are prime) everything will test fine and yet you can still look at the tank and say, "Dang, somethin' is wrong...!"

 

[TJcop]

Thanks for the replies!

Todd: I really didn't think that adding 3 fish and a cleaner crew would be that bad. Besides, the algae was bad befoer I even put anything in the tank. I had to put the cleaners in otherwise I'd be raising an algae tank, not a reef

My solution for now is no lights until I get the new skimmer going tomorrow. Then I'll slowly increase the lights with actinics, then MH. Hopefully this will slow the algae down so the cleaners can get at it. Don't worry Todd...nothing else going in until this is under control! (Bad T.J.)

Thanks for all the help, it is really appreciated!

 

[minfinger]

Didn't you say you just put in LR this week?

 

[TJcop]

Minfinger: No, LR went in 5-6 weeks ago. Added my cleaners this week.

 

[minfinger]

Livestock / Live Rock
Tamato / Tamaato

LOL

 

[TJcop]

What about potatoe / potaatoe ?
LOL
Sorry if I confused ya! Hopefully this skimmer along with the cleaners, reduced lighting and some manual pulling will help clear this algae up!

 

[TJcop]

Another Update

Another Update

Well things are moving along...
It seems that I am slowly winning the battle against the dreaded algae. I think it would go faster if my snails would stay in the friggin' tank! They like to gather around the top edge and every now and then, one decides to crawl out. I've pulled lots of the long stuff out by hand, while to snails and Lenny the Blenny are taking care of the rest. Still on a reduced lighting schedule to help.
The new MRC MR-1 skimmer is in action and working great! Pulling out lots o' the green junk.
My newest problem are microbubbles coming from my closed loop. The problem is the pump cavitating and I can't fix it without severely restricting the output. During my attempts to find the air leak I cracked the stupid pump. Well a lot of epoxy later, it's still cavitating and now I've got more bubbles . My solution now is to dump the SCWD and CL, and I'm installing two high flow PH's that I think will work great! They are the high flow Seio's, which are a Tunzee knockoff. I'll let you know how they work out.
Everything appears to be doing great, except my Lobophytum that is sloughing off its skin and "wilting". On an interesting note, you may remember my bad ballast with the Maristar lighting I have. Well SLS replaced it in like 3 days, sent a prepaid mailer to send them the bad one back. I sent the bad one back and a week later (today) it's back on my doorstep! It seems they fixed it and mailed it back to me. I called and, being the honest person I am, advised them. They were quite shocked and thankful that I called. I told them that if they don't want it back, it'll go up to the members of RC! Oh well....
Hopefully pics to come as soon as the algae subsides...to embarrassed to show anything right now!

 

[Todd March]

Good for you TJ, how honest and great... You have good karma...

Todd

 

[minfinger]

Sound good TJ...Good luck with the pump.

Depending upon the type of CL pump you have, you might try getting a new housing for it.

 

[TJcop]

Thanks Todd and Minfinger!
Min: I have a Dolphin pondmaster 1200. The housing wasn't cracked, but the threaded intake section. I think I have it all sealed up, but it's still cavitating...no big deal, always nice to have a spare pump!
Talked to ReeferMadness about the Lobophytum, and Chris gave me some suggestions that will hopefully help. Thanks again Chris!

 

[TJcop]

Finally some new pics

Finally some new pics

Well, I finally got around to taking some new pictures of the tank. First are some older pics that were of the new guys being put in their new home.

Here's my package from ReeferMadness!

This is some of the newbies floating in the sumps, the rest of the 16 bags are upstairs in the tank!

Here they are!

A shot of my Gold Lobophytum. It didn't look too good upon arrival, and you can see some white spots on the tips and around the base. It seems like it's doing a come-back, so I'm keeping a close eye on it. The polyps almost want to extend now.

A nice blurry shot of my purple/pink plate coral. It really extends it's feeders at night!

 

[TJcop]

More Pictures!

More Pictures!

Some of my zoos, GSP's and my bass sneaking in the picture.

One of my new Seio powerheads. So far so good!

Some mushrooms. In person, they glow an awesome green! And they get HUGE under the MH's!

OK, the next two pics are of my closed brain. The first is with a flash, the second is with actinics only. It glows like you can't believe! I love it! I've never had a brain (ha ha ha) before, so I hope that it is a healthy one. Any opinions?