New 265g from Portugal

[rmgaspar]

BTW ... if you want to see my APEX programming you can go to:

http://www.reeftronics.net/programns.php?member=rmgaspar

All the best,
Rui

 

[rmgaspar]

Hello again,

Continuing my monologue ...

Yesterday a very good friend of mine came here and we started to build the aquascape.

This is what we came up to:

We used a special resin to glue the rock ... something went wrong and as we pick it up to put inside the tank all broke.

I was until 1am in the morning drilling, putting acrylic rods and epoxy ...

Today after the epoxy cured, I have put the rock inside the aquarium

I was able to create 3 islands and after just laid on the bridge connection.

Part I

Part II

Part III

This is the final result. Hope you like it.

So officially started today ... Hope it cycles soon.

All the best,
Rui

 

[Achilles Torben]

Very nice your monologue [emoji1]

 

[rmgaspar]

Hello

Very nice your monologue [emoji1]

Thanks !!! I will continue

Twelve days after the scenario was brown ...

The day after my SUMP Broke !!!!
Consequence? 200l in the floor ... Not nice. All sort of bad luck is happening to me.
I installed a temporary one ...

And I introduced 55Kg of Aragonite Sand sugar size.

All the best,
Rui

 

[rmgaspar]

Hello again,

As if the bad luck was not enough, I broke my kalk reactor.

Bought and installed a new one.

twenty days after the official start and the brown stuff is going away.

and I introduced the initial CuC.
I have now: 1x holothuria, 3x Strombus SP, 1x Archaster Typicus and 12x Turbo snails.

A friend from the LFS gave the three pieces of coral to try out the aquarium:

Purple milka

and an orange digitata

These picture were 20m after being in the water.

Hope you like it.

All the best,
Rui

 

[Achilles Torben]

Yes I like.

Continue... [emoji6]

 

[GSMclowns]

Really like the rock work and the two overflows. Tank looks so clean

 

[Settings]

After the sump broke are you still married? Just kidding. Nice build by the way.

 

[rmgaspar]

Yes I like.

Continue... [emoji6]

Thanks! I will ... I will ... I keep this more as a diary ...

 

[rmgaspar]

Really like the rock work and the two overflows. Tank looks so clean

Thanks GSMclowns.

That was the objective. I came a long way not to have a single pump in sight!

I really wanted a clean as possible scenario!

All the best,
Rui

 

[rmgaspar]

Hello,

After the sump broke are you still married? Just kidding. Nice build by the way.

Shhhhiiiiiiiuuuuuuuuuu!
It happened while my wife was away ...

Thanks! I hope some day it will come a nice build.

All the best,
Rui

 

[rmgaspar]

Hello again ,

Today I progressed some more ...

Finally I finished the cabling part and also connected the float switches to APEX. I was running a temporary solution with a 3rd party ATO (fish-street) and I was not really happy about it.

With the little time I had today I managed to make it work.

Float Switches

Cabling I

Cabling II

The SUMP part is still temporaty as I need to buy another SUMP

And finally I moved the APEX probes to the SUMP and removed everything.

This is the final result. No returns, No Pumps, No Silicone, No Overflow and No Waterline.

OBJECTIVE ACOMPLISHED .... :dance::dance::dance:

Just need to glue the hole protections in the Tunze boxes.

All the best,
Rui

 

[evo187]

What is the media in the baskets??

Loving your build so far, subscribed for sure!!!

 

[rmgaspar]

What is the media in the baskets??

Loving your build so far, subscribed for sure!!!

Thanks. Siporax.

I currently run 6 liters but I have to push it to 12 because of the small amount of live rock I have.

All the best,
Rui

 

[rmgaspar]

Wellllll....

If this wasn't my tank I would not believed it ...

On top of all ... I had a bacterial bloom. Don't know why because I am not dosing anything aside Kalk.

Initially I tough it was Kalk overdose but I had a flat pH graph in APEX.

I started UV, did a 350l water change and that was it.

Before the bloom

After the 350l water change.

I went on business trip and when I returned everything was fine.

Meanwhile the business trip was to San Jose California and I manage to visit Neptune Aquatics before I went to the airport. Really nice store and people. Really enjoyed it guys. Thanks for the hospitality.

I looked like a kid in christmas eve in "toys-r-us" ...

I didn't resist the temptation on bringing with me a few frags. I used it not only to start the tank but also to test the trip of 24h back to Portugal.

24h transit on the cargo hall and two planes after here are they in my aquarium

One of them came pretty bad (middle one in the first picture) and STNed in 12h. The others are doing really well with a lot of polyp extension.

lesson learned: bring a heat pack with me .... the water was really cold even inside a Styrofoam box.

Now ... can you help me identify these frags?

All the best,
Rui

 

[FloformAustria]

Hey Rui!

really like you monologe!

Scaping looks really good!

Will tag along

FLo

 

[rmgaspar]

Hello,

Hey Rui!

really like you monologe!

Scaping looks really good!

Will tag along

FLo

Thanks FLo

Meanwhile I release the fishes that were in quarentine. One of them was there since February ...

And I picked up new toys

The MP40w are already attached to APEX and are connect in the back of the aquarium just for uniform flow.

The DC is for Backup in case my Jebao decides to stop.

In an aquarium this big there is no way not to have some backup.

Here is some zoomed picture (iphone sorry) so you might want to help me identify them.

Unidentified #1:

Unidentified #2:

valida tricolor?

Unidentified #3:

Unidentified #4:

All the best,
Rui

 

[rmgaspar]

Hello again,

Three more pictures:

tenuis blue tips:

This one was already here but I also don't know what it is

This one was the one that didn't survived the trip.

All the best,
Rui

 

[rmgaspar]

Hello everyone,

Thanks to those who follow the build.

I ran some tests today:

Salinity: 1.026
Temperature: 25.0
pH: 8.20 a 8.28
KH: 7.7
Ca: 410
Mg: 1350
PO4: 0.00
NO3: undetectable.

The setup started 45 days ago although the rock was curing for almost three months. Since I had the rock more than 24h outside water to build the aquascape I am assuming July 5th, 2015 as the official start date.

No algae what so ever. The ones you can see in the frag pictures above disappeared 24h after introducing in DT the Olivaceus tang.

Now what bugs me is the constant values of PO4 and NO3 that remain undetectable or 0.00.

The colors of the frags are there, they haven't loosed the color altough I don't have any polyp extension. i don't see the angel nipping at any coral at least and I spend the day contemplating while I work.

I will also add 4x T5 80W to the three Radions to have better coverage.

Here is the FTS

What to do next? any suggestion?
How long should I expect before I start to see growth? even if minor?

All the best,
Rui

 

[rmgaspar]

Just for future reference.

This frag is one and a half week old in my tank after a 24h journey on the plane.

It's the unidentified #4 from above.

It's keeping and improving the color I think!

All the best,
Rui