"OverKill" Reef - My Project

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14140405#post14140405 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by melev
Not if you take the empty shells out. ;)

The pyrams are in abundance. Here's a good article about their removal:
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2008-02/nftt/index.php
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LOL. I know that. I just keep leaving them in there hoping the hermits will find no lack of housing choices and therefore will leave the snails alone.

Thanks for the article link.

Jeff
 
I thought the same thing, until I realized that hermits like a free meal with every new home. :rolleyes: At that point, I started yanking out the shells every few months to clean up the system.
 
I just read the entire blog, and I am nothing short of impressed. I was waiting for the big SURPRISE 250g in your living room, but nope. You took what normally would have been an even greater challenge without your system, and made it look like a cake walk. I know it wasn't easy, but it sure did pay off, so when are you building that new tank =D Very impressive, I tip my hat to you sir.
 
Thank you. I appreciate you taking the time to comment. I would say that in some ways it was somewhat easy but only because of the community @ reefcentral. I read a lot of threads and I mean a lot before I did anything...especially anything written by Waterkeeper and Melev.

All that being said, I think the bigger challenges are ahead of me. Maybe it was beginners luck but things seemed to be going better back in the days of this post: http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=5157041#post5157041 (June '05). Today my growth is not nearly as fast even though all my numbers are good and basically the same (at least the ones I can check for).

Possibly Old Tank Syndrome?
 
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Did I hear my name? :lol:

Tell us all the latest details, and maybe we can figure out what seems to be slowing things down. I don't know that I believe in OTS, although I do believe that we as hobbyists can get lackadaisical in how we care for our systems, leading to the decline of the system.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14147023#post14147023 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by melev
Did I hear my name? :lol:
Click to expand...

Yes you did. :D

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14147023#post14147023 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by melev

Tell us all the latest details, and maybe we can figure out what seems to be slowing things down. I don't know that I believe in OTS, although I do believe that we as hobbyists can get lackadaisical in how we care for our systems, leading to the decline of the system.
Click to expand...

...get lackadaisical... Heck I've been that way since the beginning. That was the point of all that water for such a small display. :)

Anyway, I will retest over the next couple of days and post the results but a couple of thoughts did just pop into my head: Back in '05 my calcium levels were very high (I can't recall the exact numbers but I remember always having to use almost double of the testing solution drop by drop to get a reading) and now I have the calcium numbers more in line with excepted norms (approx 488 ppm with Oceanic salt). Also, I wonder if I actually have more coral in my system then I did back in June '05? I didn't have a frag area back then or if I did it was tiny. I know I had more in my tank but still there might be more. Or maybe those 2 things combined have had a impact on growth rates.
 
Dude I just got done reading the thread and I have to say I love the system!. I don't care what size tank I end up with I WANT one of those overkill rubbermaid tubs. Maybe after the wife is outta school I can insulate a 300g for a sump and use a 70g for frags (that dripping sound is my drool hitting the floor). That'll have to be the closest I get to having a full blown salt water pond! Reef on and thanks for the updates (keep em comin while you're at it!).
 
Thanks, Rusty.

Well, I intended spending some quaility time with my testing kits this weekend but as luck would have it I ended up sick most of the weekend but I now less concerned with growth because A) I have noticed sizable growth on most of my corals by comparing some slightly old pics to what I see today and B) I came home to this tonight:

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!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I've been waiting for years to see if these two would mate (or even if they were the same species :rolleyes:

Sorry for the cruddy pics but of course they laid the eggs on the bottom of a rock shelf at the back of the middle of the tank.

How long before there's a feeding frenzy in my tank?

Jeff
 
That's great, mine spawn every 3 weks or so. Sometimes if I get a chance to look in the rock work I can see fry, but they never survive the frenzy.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14213655#post14213655 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Bax
That's great, mine spawn every 3 weks or so. Sometimes if I get a chance to look in the rock work I can see fry, but they never survive the frenzy.
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I found this on a site..."If the eggs are to be left in the main aquarium then some planning will have to be made. To make things easier, the lights can be turned off as the larvae hatch within 2 hours of darkness. Once the lights have switched off all circulation to and within the tank must be ceased. This will ensure that the larvae are not sucked up and damaged by pumps and water currents. After the pumps have been turned off and the tank is still it's time to wait! The eggs will hatch in waves, and as the larvae hatch they will swim to the surface. Once at least a quarter of the eggs have hatched it's time to use the torch (flashlight). The torch is shone in the water from above, and used to concentrate the larvae into a small group. Once this is done the larvae can either be siphoned into the larval rearing tank with airline tubing, or dipped out with small plastic cups/containers. This is done repetitively until all larvae are caught."

So I am going to give it a shot and see if I can't get some of the larvae down into my sump.

Jeff
 
Oh, well. Slept through that batch last night. Boy that was fast...7 nights. I checked the fuge/sump this am but couldnt see anything. Hopefully I get another shot in a few weeks.
 
Sweet! Now its time to bust out the phyto, rotifers and by day 4 or so baby brine shrimp. You may not have many survivors on this first round, but now that you know they're spawning maybe you can be ready for the next batch. My wife's hooked on the idea of breeding clowns (totally caught me by surprise!!!). She bought a great book on em last week (Clownfishes by Joyce D. Wilkerson) and I'm already half way through it. It's a great read so far, I'd highly reccomend it.
 
I can't believe how long it's been since I've updated this thread. There's much to say but little time to say it. This tank is still relatively healthy but I have more cyno growing in my fuge than ever before. I am going to do some major water changes over the next week and then get my numbers stable before I do anything more drastic (like swap out all the sand I have in the remote DSB part of my sump system.

Anyway, the true reason for my post is that I want to report that after 6 plus years of constant operation (no timer) one of my 'moonlights' from autolumination.com has finally stopped working (and I'll bet it's corrosion not a dead led). Not bad for a $5 purchase.

I just ordered a new set so hopefully the new set will last just as long.

Jeff
 
Amazing tank.. This just inspires me, but I am still on the research stage. Maybe a couple of years more to really have a reef system in place.

Kudos to you Jeff! Thanks...
 
Wow. Your first post went to my stale thread...from the Philippines no less. I'm honored...but now I have to prepare an update. More to follow.
 
I'm baaaccckkk....In the middle of total redo (I'm calling it Overkill Reef v2.0) but I wanted to show off my new lights:
Hanging%20Bracket%207.JPG


New rock formations (using acrylic rods) and coral (currently in basement fuge) to follow in the coming weeks/months.

Jeff
 
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