The Ultimate Eight Foot Softie Reef

[InsaneClownFish]

This skimmer is a little beast. Here's 18hrs online- it's still breaking in and there's skimmate already:

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Here's 24 hours in. Yum.

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72 Hours in and rich gold/brown skimmate. Seems to be self tuning to dry.
Talk about working as advertised. :thumbsup:

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Interestingly enough, I've read zero Nitrates from the beginning. During the sump swap I was skimmerless for 10 days and read .3ppm Nitrates for the first time. 64 hours with the new skimmer inline, no water changes of any kind and heavy feedings, and Nitrates are down to .1ppm. Now those aren't high levels, but it's still a 2/3 reduction.

 

[this is me]

John,
Very nice on the skimmer.

 

[InsaneClownFish]

this is me- Thanks, and I hope I helped you with your skimmer issues. How's it working after you tuned the pipe?

One of the LED cases has popped out in my fixture. It's still operational- it just needs to be popped back into place- when I get around to cleaning the shield I'll fix it.

Very strange. My Acropora sp is showing new growth tips, but the hot pink Chalice, directly underneath it, is starting to bleach. I did some reading, and I really had not realized how particularly sensitive to light changes chalices can be- and in fact, if they are receding or bleaching, it is often recommended to completely shade them. The changes I made to flow and light, and moving it toward both has irritated it. I've moved it 6-8 inches up and out from the flow and light, so hopefully it will improve. Initially, it had been buried partially in the sand, and I surmised this was the issue. It's not.

I broke off pieces of purple Monti cap that are completely brown. Once again- too much light and flow. I placed small pieces in random locations to see if they take.

Tonight I finally had the time to tackle a few pests. I removed two Zoanthid colonies and a very unhappy Green/Pink Sinularia. I made up some Kalk paste and went to work on the hydroids. Thankfully, they're only on two pieces of rock. I also nuked some brown button polyps(ever so carefully) by covering them in Kalk paste and subsequently injecting them with lemon juice. These brown polyps have completely overrun my beautiful pink zoanthids.

I took one Valonia off the Sinularia rock, and I noticed a few strands of what could be Bryopsis- this was thoroughly removed. I noticed another Aiptasia and attempted to paste it. The other two that I haven't quite killed I took more time to actually move the rock, get a better angle, and completely inject it with lemon juice. We'll see. :hmm2:

The Sinularia and Pink Zoanthids are already perking up.

I wiped down the tank, because it seems to be getting dirty pretty quickly. I've been feeding heavily because my Magnificent Foxface always acts like he is completely starved- even though he eats! I can outline all his weird behavior as of late, but I really think it's just that...goofy Fox. :spin2:

I decided to go with Reefcleaners.org because they had a slightly better selection than KeysCritters.com. I especially wanted to try Nerites over Astreas, and I needed Nassarius Vibex which Keys didn't seem to have. Our club uses Reefcleaners.org quite often for group buys, and I've gotten the baby Ceriths from them. Ironically, they almost completely died off in my system while the reefer I split them with has them spawning in his system- go figure.

On top of a nice mix of inverts, I ordered a variety of macros. I also snagged some freeze dried Nori and Ulva to supplement the Fox's diet(he's getting some greens atm, but not nearly enough).

Breaking News! Alright it's not that exciting. I started dosing Iodine tonight. I'm starting with 6 drops a week. From everything I read, I'm anticipating excellent results.

 

[harper]

Very pleasing and soothing. I'm incredibly impressed with both the intensity and spectrum of Aquatic Life's bulbs. Even more so because I assumed I would be swapping them out. When I talked with Dave on the phone about their bulbs, I knew they had really put some heart into their product. He had actually tested other bulbs on the market and worked up charts to compare their color spectrum. Their 420/460 bulb is very much an ATI Blue + with some purple hues. I think what pleased me the most was that they were doing this as a development tool rather than a marketing tool; and they were very open with their PAR readings compared with other bulbs. :fish2:

InsaneClownFish,

Very nice tank! I too have an Aquatic Life fixture. I was wondering if you could share the PAR numbers Aquatic Life told you. ballpark numbers are fine. I have one of the 420/460 s running with a B+ for my 420/460 bank. the 420/460 seems a bit more dim. I replaced the 700's but was wondering how much par they may have. Thanks for any info. Again nice tank!

 

[InsaneClownFish]

InsaneClownFish,

Very nice tank! I too have an Aquatic Life fixture. I was wondering if you could share the PAR numbers Aquatic Life told you. ballpark numbers are fine. I have one of the 420/460 s running with a B+ for my 420/460 bank. the 420/460 seems a bit more dim. I replaced the 700's but was wondering how much par they may have. Thanks for any info. Again nice tank!

harper, I'm not sure they had actual par numbers. What I think they were using was a scale that measures spectrum in relation to the other T5 bulbs. Those 700s are pretty bright. Give Dave over at Aquatic Life a call. I'm sure he has numbers handy.

Actually, I just had an impromptu tank tour at the house, so maybe some of the folks from CTARS can chime in as to how bright the tank is.

What a great day my wife and I had greeting fellow reefers and showing off the tank! :bounce1:

 

[InsaneClownFish]

I must have lost my mind. I'm adding an SPS tank to the system. :hammer:

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1717250

 

[InsaneClownFish]

The tank looked simply amazing tonight under actinics. Everything looked particularly healthy too, so I broke out the camera for some quick shots.

 

[LUVSPS]

It looks beautiful! I love those shots. Your Foxface really compliments your reef.

 

[cfarrow2]

Looks great! You must work pretty hard on it; looks really clean. Have you had any problems with your Foxface munching on anything?

 

[InsaneClownFish]

Thanks guys. The Foxface is a model citizen and a really interesting fish. He's very personable and very gentle with other fish despite his size.

The only thing I've seen him eat are the leftovers of some brown polyps I killed off. I've just started supplementing his diet of my homemade fish food with Ulva and Nori. He loves it, and it is so neat watching him eat- Imagine giving a dog a milkbone.

 

[Ken B]

Good looking tank. I like the look of a shallow tank. One of the first reef systems I saw that got me interested in the hobby was 100g long. Very impressive indeed!

 

[stumpovrtyme]

Pretty awsome! Very slick.

 

[adddo]

Looks great!

 

[Emg2]

Beautiful ! Must be really something to see !

 

[pmrossetti]

What king of light is that?
Abolutely beautiful tank.

 

[frenchie]

been following this thread since begining an this is one awesome tank, very nice job on this setup and love the new lights.

 

[InsaneClownFish]

Thank you for all the kind words! I'm very proud of my tank right now.

Interestingly enough, I've started some night time feedings with the pumps off. Tonight I noticed the first tiny patch of cyano. My RO/DI filters are badly in need of changing. They should be here by the end of the week.

What king of light is that?

The fixture is a 72" Aquatic Life T5 fixture. Controller, HO T5s, and LEDS. I absolutely love it! :thumbsup:

 

[InsaneClownFish]

Whoops! Looks like I exceeded the bandwidth of views for the month on Photobucket. Pretty cool huh?

The pics should be viewable again on Saturday or Sunday!

 

[InsaneClownFish]

I'm just finishing up changing my RO/DI filters. These instructions are fantastic:
http://www.melevsreef.com/rodi_filter_change.html

I'm not going to post pictures of how dirty they are.

More to come, and once again, apologies about the pictures. Everything should be corrected soon.

 

[InsaneClownFish]

I ran approximately 2.5 gallons through the RO portion of the unit, and I then ran another gallon or so through the DI filter before I put the unit back into service. I'm trying to make enough water tonight for a morning water change.

I showed my wife the dirty filters and she asked me if I could rinse them out and reuse them. :worried:
Someone please remind me of this date when it's time to change my RO/DI filters. This time around, I'll be shooting for the 5 month mark.

I took some of melev's recommendations, both here and from what I've read on his build thread, to heart and put them into practice. One important thing he suggested, which I've failed to do, is to periodically clean out my salt water holding container.

The 44 Brute Trash can received a thorough white distilled vinegar rub and RO/DI water rinse. I wiped it out using paper towels. It makes total sense to not "clean" water into a container that could be leeching TDS.

Two nights ago I performed a 15 gallon water change, and I took the opportunity to clean out my skimmer. I noticed melev had been cleaning his skimmer once a week, and I'll be honest I thought this was a bit overkill. After I thought about it, and read the logic behind cleaning it weekly, I decided that this was a smart bit of maintenance.

My skimmer cup was a little less than a third full, but the amount of caked on residue from approximately 10 days of use was unbelievable. Keeping the neck nice and clean keeps any residual organics from settling back into the skimmer.

I'm quite embarrassed to say this- I think I actually enjoyed cleaning out my skimmer. :strooper: I'm so pleased with the new setup. Cleaning the skimmer is a cinch, because the neck and cup seal via a gasket, and there is oodles of head clearance where I've installed the new sump. The MSX Mini S Cone also has a drain plug, but I'm newly dedicated to a firmer skimmer cleaning schedule- so it should never, ever need use.

More updates are coming. I actually have an early day, so I'm going to bed early for once.