Sam's Oceanic 120

[projectsWithSam]

6/30/2022
So I turned it on at 4 and the pH goes straight up! I have it opening to ambient air at 8.1 but it keeps going up I am guessing because there is a delay. I'll post more graphs as time progresses. I cant wait to see what happens when the Solenoid turns off again! The solenoid is powered by an old phone charger I got at goodwill for $3; the solenoid was $7, there was $5 in tube, $15 in fittings $15 for the housing, $8 for the mount, $7 for the inner tube. Then the Soda Lime I could have gotten locally for $11 and an hour drive but I just amazoned it for $24... I 3D printed some fittings and think I could have printed more that I ended up buying.

 

[projectsWithSam]

7/1/2022
I still have the solenoid opening to ambient air at 8.1pH for now. I've learned my lesson about abrupt change...

I'm stoked; I'm seeing pH numbers that I haven't before.

 

[projectsWithSam]

Checked on my pH this afternoon and found this:

Checked the CO2 scrubber and found that where I thought it would fail, it did... I just didn't anticipate it would fail so soon. I unclogged the air-line but feel I really need to find a more permanent solution.

 

[projectsWithSam]

7/7/2022
Ate all my Zoas... (I did, thankfully, save a bunch in my exile tank.)

Storage / Sump room --> Fish storage /QT/Food room


Fixed (I think) my CO2 scrubber. added a drip-catcher to prevent liquids making it to the CO2Scrubber. Modified my Filter floss roller to accept the 200 yd. rolls of floss from Steve @ Precision Converting.

 

[griss]

Love the Emperor Angel.

 

[projectsWithSam]

7/7/2022
Rehomed corals to escape the angelfish.

My scrubber drip-catcher works! Don't know how I get so much. I have the skimmer a few inches above recommended turned all the way down... don't know how I get any skimmate at all!

 

[projectsWithSam]

7/10/2022
I don't mean to, but I keep calling the Emperor Angelfish 'Timmy'. I keep trying to look into the tank to see what other corals he's eaten and he gets all up in my grill and grunts at me. I inadvertently find myself scolding him for eating the corals - he just seems like a Timmy so that's the name I derisively use when scolding...

 

[projectsWithSam]

7/14/2022
Fish Utility Room Buildout:
The sump closet was dingy with two metal shelves, one was decrepit, and one of those plastic-drawer stacking bins that never works because the plastic buckles under the weight and its hard to get the drawers out... I had my fishy stuff in disarray in the drawers and on the other nasty shelf.

I couldn't do anything about it though because the conduit in the first photo didn't run against the other wall... I built a metal shelf around it before...
So, I had todo a bunch of electrical before I could rehab the room. I even tied into a GFCI in the other room and pulled the wire to have a GFCI outlet in there now.


Also, I noticed my CO2 scrubber was acting oddly so I checked it out and the media chamber had a lot of water in it. I think the skimmer was having trouble pulling air so I hooked up an aqua lifter pump to help out. Its on the same extension cord as the skimmer so the apex will turn it off when the skimmer is turned off. I think it turbo-charges the skimmer and now water in the CO2 media chamber can bubble-away...

I've been lax about checking my levels and I let my Alkalinity drop too low... I've corrected and have upped my kalkwasser dosing substantially.

 

[projectsWithSam]

7/18/2022
The fish cave is shaping up to be pretty instrumental in raising the baby cardinalfish. I finally have a spot todo all the stuff needed for them. I just got a new brine shrimp grow out tank and just cleaned out and started a new batch of brine shrimp in the original container.
I'm up to almost 3 full gallons of Phyto! I only started with the last 3 fingers of a 16oz bottle. I've been using these instructions.

 

[griss]

Love the Emperor Angel.

I guess I should have said, I love Timmy

 

[Reefing102]

Looking great!

 

[projectsWithSam]

7/19/2022
My Alk, Ca, and Mg are starting to really get used. I've been having to dose 2-part nightly as I increase my Kalk to keep my levels. I STN'd/RTN'd (I dunno difference) an SPS that was just holding on the first night a few days ago that I noticed all my levels were being depleted quickly; I may have spiked the Alk a little a few days ago. everyone else seems to be ok with it. Thankfully it was an inexpensive one I got at a fish show that was never very promising. My Mg was down to 1100 so I've been slowly increasing that over the past few nights. I should be in the 1200s after last night's dose.

I guess I'm still at the nightly test phase.

After putting in the fan my temperature variability has significantly dropped. I need to put it on a timer (the two hood fans are on the same psu) so it doesn't run all night. I put the fan in right at the peak that flat-lines for a bit. The big peaks and valleys are replaced by more jitter around the target temp! yay.

 

[projectsWithSam]

7/20/2022
Several days ago I noticed my Alkalinity, Calcium, and Magnesium were really low so I started dosing but I may have dosed to much Alk on that first day and I noticed an acro STNing. I didn't think too much about it because that stick was always having issues. But now I notice two others with white patches.
Should I cut a frag of a good portion and hope? Or just leave alone and hope?
below are my latest numbers:

Obviously I have learned my lesson about getting 'back-on-track' so quickly. Now I am trying to mitigate my stupidity.

 

[projectsWithSam]

7/20/2022
I need to delete OfferUp from my phone... Just found my Exile tank replacement! A proper frag tank for all the stuff I don't want Timmy to eat.
I got a 30Gallon Breeder (36x18x13) for $30 in great condition. - so like a short 40 breeder
I also got an extra Apex temp probe!

 

[projectsWithSam]

7/21/2022
On another note; I so want to setup my frag tank but I know I can't till later... I washed it and it is cherry - not a scratch on it - silicone in great shape. Obviously the reefer I got it from took care of it. He said he got out of the hobby after one too many losses after the inevitable emergency. I so want to buy his leftover Apex EB8 and AWC/ATO setup - too much just for an unnecessary maybe upgrade.

Too much flow?

 

[projectsWithSam]

7/27/2022
Just made some DIY Coral Snow and used it so it may be a little hazy...

 

[projectsWithSam]

7/27/2022

there we go! I think I need to blow off the back... starting to see coralline... don't trust ARC reef when they say to run hot... it wasn't till I dropped it down to 78 that I started seeing growth.
exile tank for all the emperor snacks...

 

[projectsWithSam]

8/13/2022
Just designed and printed a holder for my bladed algae scraper added a little holder for the extra blades because I always loose stuff like that. This scraper is awesome for those tough to get-off bits.

 

[projectsWithSam]

8/14/2022
So, not the prettiest at the moment; but things are looking up I suppose. Coralline has finally started coming in...
I think I have Bryopsis bad in the exile tank; some in the DT. The DIY coral snow with MB7 seems to make it easy to lift off the rocks in sheets. I keep meaning to design and print a syphon-scraper for the back walls too... just need to do it.

 

[projectsWithSam]

8/14/2022

2022-08-14 10:07 PM	Alkalinity	7.5
2022-08-14 10:18 PM	Calcium	410
2022-08-14 10:29 PM	Magnesium	1275
2022-08-14 10:39 PM	Nitrate	10
2022-08-14 10:39 PM	Phosphate	0.25

And that was after upping my Kalk to 90ml/hr last night and dosing 10ml BRS alk. I just upped it to 100ml/hr... I need to get a kalk stirrer; mixing up the gallon jugs is getting old. I usually only use about 1/2 before switching jugs because I'm nervous about missing a dose...
Dosed my BRS two part... all three parts... hope it'll get me back in-line.
I was pretty happy to find one of my algae blennies in the overflow the other day so I moved it over to the exile tank todo some cleanup.
Did another round of my DIY coral snow with Brightwell MicroBacter7, Restör, and Coral Amino. Have started manually dosing Phyto now that I'm all setup to grow it.