ojonas JBJ 28g build thread

[ojonas81]

kalosbios: Yes you can. The Apex have a built in web server which you can connect to and review everything more or less. You can plot graphs for just about anything connected to it such as probes, temperature, pH, salinity, ORP etc. (although it only comes with temperature and pH out of the box, at least my model), and outlets when they are turned on and off.

Graph over my Chiller outlet
<img src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8018/7268591350_ce2374d17a_b.jpg" width="1024" height="649" alt="Outlet graph">

Graph over my temperature swings over the day which correlates to my chiller outlet. Might consider keeping a tighter span of min/max temperature
<img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7098/7268591108_8cb2bd57ca_b.jpg" width="1024" height="786" alt="Temp graph">

Finally a graph over my pH fluctuation over the day. Hope this will be more constant when I add automatic dosing of Alk and Ca this weekend. The pH spikes happens when I have manually dosed Red Sea buffer solution.
<img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7228/7268591200_c12b2bb5c8_b.jpg" width="1024" height="781" alt="PH graph">

Got a big shipment from BRS today with 2 dosing pumps, their 2 part solution, bulk GFO and bulk carbon. Hope to have time this weekend to add the dosers and start dialing in the amount. Then life will be much simpler with less daily maintenance.

 

[jeremyml]

Tank is looking great, love the colors!! How much evaporation do you have on a weekly basis?

 

[Sidefunk]

Great thread. Just read most of it going to and from work. thanks for a good read and pics.

 

[kalosbios]

tracking

tracking

Thank you for the feedback--that's great information that gives a lot of credibility to a controller besides automating your tank.

Have fun with your wonderful project--I hope it has a long, beautiful life.

Gordon

 

[ojonas81]

jeremyml: Before I had the chiller and my ATO I used to add about 2-3 cups of water every day. Since adding the chiller and my ATO I have noticed a huge drop in evaporation. My ATO container holds 4L of RO/DI water and it has been running now since middle of the month and I am down maybe 1/3 of the volume.

 

[ojonas81]

Since here in Jacksonville we got hit with a tropical storm yesterday I got a perfect opportunity to install my two new BRS dosers. Mixed the Alk. and CA solution per instructions in the included containers, drilled a small hole in the cap to feed the hose through. Then programmed my Apex to dose 3 times for each solution throughout the night hours. CA is dosed for 3 minutes at midnight, 2am and 4am. Alk is dosed for 3 minutes at 1am, 3am and 5am. Now the fun begins to dial in my dosage and adjust the time the pumps are on for each dose. hope to have it dialed in by the end of the week. I am liking the Apex more and more every day. Made the maintenance of the tank so much simpler. Pictures to come soon.

 

[ojonas81]

A week or two ago I noticed that my YWG had a white area behind one of his fins. Not sure what it is but it is concerning me a little. The area is still there with no improvement (or for the worse) but does not seem to have any impact in the daily routines for him. I am concerned though if it is a disease and if so that it could spread to my other fishes. Anyone know what it could be?

<img src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8014/7258331128_713899e78d_b.jpg" width="1024" height="683" alt="Gobs_white_spot">

 

[ojonas81]

Time for another update. Think I have dialed in the dosing pumps pretty good now. Seem to keep my parameters steady over the day. Nice not to have to remember to manually dose each day.

Still have some bleaching on my LPS but they do seem to have started to recover. Hopefully they will all be back to normal soon again.

Got two new corals from my LFS this past weekend.

First I got a Maze brain coral.
<img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7230/7156934209_32350001cc_b.jpg" width="1024" height="683" alt="Maze_Brain_June_4_2012">

Then I found a very nice ORA Plum Crazy I could not pass up on.
<img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7088/7342138616_c8fc3e850f_b.jpg" width="1024" height="683" alt="ORA_Plum_Crazy_2">
<img src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8013/7156943387_fd6f851e34_b.jpg" width="1024" height="683" alt="ORA_Plum_Crazy">

i am starting to run out of space now. Maybe one or two more SPS and then I am done. Would really like to find a nice tabling Strawberry shortcake.

Took new FTS as well.

<img src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8158/7156936591_268205af25_b.jpg" width="1024" height="907" alt="FTS_June_4_2012">
<img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7083/7156944523_86cb7ee7c1_b.jpg" width="1024" height="683" alt="FTS_Side_June_4_2012">

Tank turned 6 months recently and wanted to do some comparison of the progress that has been made.

First out is my very first FTS back in November.
<img src="http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6215/6358963573_a04eb79b29_b.jpg" width="1024" height="683" alt="FTS_November_14_2011">

Then some growth shot as well.
<img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7099/7156942263_78c464aaf8_b.jpg" width="1024" height="683" alt="Pink_Birdsnest_Comp_June_4_2012">

<img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7233/7341834390_41f588b911_b.jpg" width="1024" height="683" alt="Grass_Comp_June_4_2012">

<img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7223/7341840676_90f9519e50_b.jpg" width="1024" height="683" alt="Zoa_Comp_June_4_2012">

<img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7071/7156641141_3c2f76a83d_b.jpg" width="1024" height="670" alt="Stylo_comp_June_4_2012">

 

[ojonas81]

<img src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8020/7341856886_93090c86f6_b.jpg" width="1024" height="342" alt="Green_Bali_Slimer_Comp_June_4_2012">

 

[ojonas81]

My Yellowtail Damsel have started to bully one of my clowns (the smaller one which I believe is the male). No good sign. Stopped by my LFS and they will take the fish back so now I "just" need to catch him. Should be fun.

Since I now will get an open slot for a new fish, any recommendations for what to get?

I left the store with a small frag in a fairly bad shape. It is supposed to be a strawberry shortcake Acro. Got it for $5 so if it is something else or it it won't make it no big loss.

<img src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8022/7348462360_e7fa82d4f7_b.jpg" width="959" height="1024" alt="Strawberry_Shortcake_June_6_2012">
<img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7072/7348460490_d4f986b4eb_b.jpg" width="897" height="1024" alt="Strawberry_Shortcake_2_June_6_2012">

 

[Jacsubi]

A barnacle blenny would be fun. They like to sit in their shelter and watch the world around them. Also, feeding time is always an interesting occasion with these guys.

 

[NMC]

Your tank is very pretty. I don't know why, but I really like that little pale pink coral on the bottom left. What is it?

 

[ojonas81]

That is actually not supposed to be pale pink. It is an Acan that is very bleached from when my temperature spiked a month or so ago. It has started to make a comeback but still has a long way to go.

 

[NMC]

Oh wow, leave it to me to pick the ailing coral as one whose color I like:hmm5:

I see you have the Two Little Fishes Phosban reactor. How are you liking it and how hard was it to make it fit? Looks like we have all the same stuff otherwise, but I've been considering some sore of reactor.

 

[ojonas81]

Back in business again. have been away on a business trip for two weeks and the tank have had minimal supervision. Came back to a tank that looked better than ever inside but a lot of algae on the glass (no one had cleaned the glass for over two weeks). The PE was longer than I ever seen them on most of my SPS. Color is also starting to come back to both my bleached LPS and SPS as well as to my RBTA.

Checked my water parameters and saw that my alk. was steady at around 8.9 dhK but my CA was low at 330 ppm and Mg was low for the first time in the tanks history clocking in at 1200ppm. I do not dose daily for Mg because I have always had really high Mg values (>1600ppm).

Another cool thing happened the other night. My smaller emerald crab sat on the top rock in front of the MP10 and bounced around. I looked closer and saw that her whole belly was "open". She was throwing out eggs like there was no tomorrow. Looked awesome. Of course my fishes loved this and got themselves a late night snack.

 

[ojonas81]

Finally an update. Have been on vacation for 16 days over in Europe.

Have some really sad news. When we came back home late yesterday night the tank was completely silent and the water was think milky white. Had a house sitter but they could not stop by the house the last 4-5 days. Found that my GFI had tripped (for no apparent reason) shutting off all power to the aquarium. Must only have been for a few days but the heat and lack of circulation killed everything. :-(

My guess is that the while milky water is from the dead anemone but I don't know for sure. This really sucks. Tank had been running so good lately and required next to no maintenance (except regular window cleaning and bi-weekly water changes).

I am really bummed but will not give up and are already planning for the restart. Learned a lot from this start-up and will do some things different this time around. Will probably not add another anemone this time even though it did do very well when it was alive.

Any tips for how to best proceed cleaning out all the mess in the tank? Thinking of getting rid of everything except the hardware and start all over with dry rock, new sand and everything.

 

[iced98lx]

Dry rock, dry sand == No Uknowns added to the system.

Sucks to hear that, I enjoyed your tank pictures. I would start with a couple 50% water changes if you're not 100% sure everything perished. Sometimes clowns are way more hearty than one would imagine.

Good luck!

 

[ojonas81]

Well I am pretty sure everything is dead. The clowns are floating on the surface upside down and even bristle worms are lying dead on the bottom. Don't think there are any hopes here unfortunately.

Will definitely do dry rock on the new setup. Got far too many unwanted items with my original setup of live rock/sand. Maybe dry sand too but don't I need something to "seed" the new setup with?

 

[Cloudburst2000]

Man, that sucks to hear. Sorry for your loss. And your tank was coming along so nicely too and looking so pretty

I'm assuming that you didn't have a controller that would alert you if the pH or something got out of whack? If not, I would definitely get one for the future setup. Get one that sends alerts so you can avoid this type of thing in the future.

 

[ojonas81]

I do have a Neptune controller that does send me updates by email and texts. However, it was not connected to a backup power source and when the power disappeared to the tank, so did it to the controller as well. Checked the log on the controller and everything was fine and inline until the loss of power, then I have no more data to check.