Tank Journal Archive

macca_75

Member
Apr 22, 2012
2,125
844
I'm bored - lets give a quick update...
22/4/2012

Well it's about time for an update. Not a lot has gone on, but at the same time I feel like I've been pretty busy at it.

Let’s start with a few front shots.

This on is before we had the architrave put on (the front arc's have now been completed - I just need to fill the nail holes and paint).

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and the left

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and the right (excuse the bit I missed this morning with the magnet)

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Today the Electrician was around so I now have a wall mounted exhaust farm. It's rated for over 200m3/h so I figure that’s a little over 10x. At the moment it's on a manual switch, but the plan is to hook it up to a thermostat, humidistat or similar eventually.

View attachment awww.imagerocket.net_photos_1335089111_IMG_5674.JPG

I still need to work on a mounting board to tidy up all the pump cables

View attachment awww.imagerocket.net_photos_1335089111_IMG_5670.JPG

but over the past nights the pumps have all had a clean and Vinegar bath where needed.

I did manage to add a valve so I could get the TLF550 hooked up and the Rowaphos running again - but I didn't have any 12mm hose handy. Another trip to Bunnings I guess

View attachment awww.imagerocket.net_photos_1335089111_IMG_5675.JPG

A few shots or various corals and I don't know why I like it so much, when trying a little top down photography I accidently caught the MH doing it's thing. I love it - as boring a shot as it is. Lucky I use point and click so the camera did the rest in terms of exposure, etc.

View attachment awww.imagerocket.net_photos_1335088835_IMG_5653.JPG

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And last but not least I am not sure why but some of my Coralline seems to be going brown/black. I'll need to do a separate post and figure out why - I haven't had a chance to run tests but when I last checked everything seemed OK. But on a positive note the algae doesn't seem to be getting any worse.

View attachment awww.imagerocket.net_photos_1335089112_IMG_5676.JPG

That reminds me - my Alk kit is out so I need to buy another egg - more money - Arhhhhhhh. It never stops.
 
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macca_75

Member
Apr 22, 2012
2,125
844
23rd Aug 2012

And here are a couple of shots taken the other day

First the mandatory FTS

FTS.JPG


And then 4 shots covering Left to Right

Left.JPG


Middle1.JPG


Middle2.JPG


Right.JPG


One of the Tank room (with the lights on this time - it's bigger than it looks but I can't get a good shot with the lenses I own)

TankRoom.JPG


And last but not least how the tank fits in the wall

Front_angle.JPG
 
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macca_75

Member
Apr 22, 2012
2,125
844
23rd Aug 2012

But in the tradition of doing things backwards here are some even older shots....

First up is a clam from Rob (Geez - Rob's making my tank look better :D)

Clam.JPG


And then some of the "inmates"..

First up - the old PJ Cardinal...

PJ.JPG


He's recently developed a growth behind his fin - looks like algae - not sure what it is though. He's a tough old fish - been through a lot so hopefully he'll get through this. I've had him for about 10 years now and he was reasonably large when I bought him as a wild caught fish (was one of 6 at the time)

growth.JPG


Clowns playing around in one of the BTA's

Clowns.JPG


and a couple of Frags still going strong from the Vic Frag fest a few months back

Frag.JPG


Frag2.JPG



A sponge growing under a rock - there are a few of them - not sure how they got there

Sponge.JPG


And a few of the Tangs (I know - I should have cleaned the glass first :()

Orange.JPG


Scopas.JPG


Yellow.JPG
 
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macca_75

Member
Apr 22, 2012
2,125
844
2nd Sep 2012

Turns out I only need to wait another day for the green frag

23/08/12

Frag1.JPG


24/08/12

New_Frag.jpg


Everything else is going great. The other frags are always out and seem to be doing well. Best I just leave mind hands out for a few months, but I so want to add a blue fish or 2 (Powderblue + something else), something to clean up the sand (thinking six bar here), a few Bangaii and then a small school of something really active - love Anthias but they seem a little touch and go for my liking.

On the Hardweare side

Need to replace current heaters with soemthing smaller so I can gtet them in the sump, stick a controller on the evaporation heater, get 1 (or 2) of the Tunze to Occislate (the controller is an unfinished project to control Futuba S3003 servos). The brackets will be bought from here (sure I could DIY but I would never get around to it and I couldn't do a job as good as these)

http://translate.google.com.au/tran...a=X&ei=2CtDUPODGaW1iQe3-4GwAw&ved=0CCUQ7gEwAA

And of course I'm keeping a close eye on Rob's Pi controller.

And then there is the conversion to LED - not sure if off the shelf (thinking of looking at the Tunze when they come out) or DIY.

Arhhhh - it never ends.
 
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macca_75

Member
Apr 22, 2012
2,125
844
14th Sep 2012

Not a lot to report here. Everything seems to be going along nicely.

The clam and "older" frags from Rob are alive and going well, as do all the other corals.

Scored a few more frags from Rob the other night (4 to be exact) - and when I say frags I mean 2 corals and 2 frags.

Happy to say I have managed to keep the SPS "frag" alive for about 1 week now - personal best for me for a SPS :p The zoa's are also opening nicely.

Unfortunetly the other 2 frags didn't attach so well. I have found the pulsing Xenia - ended up under a rock. It'll be fine as it seems to have attached. Can't for the life of me find the other frag though. It's floated somewhere. Pity - it was an awesome looking flubber tree. Maybe it will turn up one day.

I'll try and get some pics on the weekend.

Good news though. Finally had SPAusnet re-program my meter yesterday and we are now exporting (and being credited for) excess power from the Solar. This means I get to switch the lights back to their normal timing (currently I have the entire time shifted forward to try and "use" the power rather than feed it out for no credit). This means more looking time after work.

More for my own record keeping....

Test results as of 9/9/12

Temp: 26.0
pH: 8.4 (API)
Alk: 8.736 (156 ?? ppm) (Hanna)
Salinity: 1.025 (Refractometer)
Ca: 437 (Hanna)
Mg: 1245 -(Salifert)
PO4: 0.00 (Hanna)

I've given the skimmer a good clean (completely pulled apart). Man - the Tunze is heaps easier than my previous one. Only took around 20 mins all up. Used to take me a good 2 hours or so to do the RO skimmer (it did have 3 pumps and the plumbing was a prick to undo/do up). I don't doing it as much and will probably do it more often now :)

I've also removed the Phosban and RowaPhos to see if the PO4 stays low without media. Fingers crossed.

Tonight's (which means this weekends) job:
1. Make more Alk and Ca supplements.
2. Clean heaters in a vinager bath
 

macca_75

Member
Apr 22, 2012
2,125
844
18th Sep 2012

More for my own record keeping.

Observations so far is the skimate is darker and thicker (when running not in overflow mode). Somehow it has stopped the skimmer from running as wet. Not sure why/how. Also the corals actually look better, although this could be wishful thinking and is pretty subjective.

I have also adjusted my MH lights now (trying to save a few $$$ now I am on Time of Use power)

Mon-Fri
Left - On 2:15pm & Off at 10:15pm
Right - On 2:30pm and Off at 10:30pm

Sat/Sun
Left - On 12:15pm & Off at 10:15pm
Right - On 12:30pm and Off at 10:30pm

The overall lighting period is almost the same, on the weekends it's +2hrs/day and slightly shorter weekdays @ -0.5hrs/day.

Will monitor the corals and see if the lighting and/or any difference in PO4 makes a difference.

Took some photo's but still need to get time to upload.:(

And finally ordered a new 300W Schego heater. Will probably stick it on a ATC-800 controller. Hopefully 1 will be enough (given my tank currently only has 1 heater switched on and seems to be OK). I'll keep the ehiems as a "backup" - maybe in the wier and set slightly lower than the controller in case.

1) The new heater and/or controller fails.
2) The new heater and/or controller isn't enough.

Open to offers to swap (I want to downgrade to something shorter if someone out there wants a 300W).
 

macca_75

Member
Apr 22, 2012
2,125
844
18th Sep 2012

OK. I'm still no Pro at pics and other than "auto correct" there is no such thing as post editing for me.

First up - the 2 new "Frags" from Rob.

IMG_5829.JPG


The other frags have gone MIA (I can see the Xenia under a rock but can't get a clear shot). No idea where the other ended up.

And some growth shots of the older "frags"

IMG_5836.JPG


(you can see in the pic below how it has taken to the rock and already started spreading)

IMG_5834.JPG


One of the frags form the Frag fest at Synodontis (thanks Agent M for the P/U service)

IMG_5840.JPG


And last but not least the picture hogs that tried to get into every shot.

IMG_5839.JPG
 
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macca_75

Member
Apr 22, 2012
2,125
844
29th Oct 2012

Not a lot to update....

I have got sick of pulling the Flame Hawk from the wier (probably 2 out of 3 days) so have built a "make shift" wier comb out of egg create. Knowning me it will be there for years to come....

My Shego heater arrived last week - Thanks Rob

My poor planning has meant I forgot to order the controller :( It's on it's way thanks to eBay and should be here any day now.

On a slightly seperate note I've also now got my power monitoring device installed and working.

It's an EnviR, 3 phase kit and 2 IAM's (Individual Appliance Monitor). Using the IAM I can confirm that my eHeim heater only actually uses 230W, not the rated 300W it's sized to be at. Interesting, but usless, information ;)
 

macca_75

Member
Apr 22, 2012
2,125
844
2nd Nov 2012

Arhhhh - the good old days.

Whilst cleaning up the study I had to throw out about 1 billion burnt CD's. Of course I needed to go through each one to amke sure there was nothing I needed on them.

Anyway.....

Found (amoungst some other pics) some early shots of my tank. I haven't cropped or touched up this pic, but digital camera's back then weren't what they are today. This was taken

10 Jan, 2001



Reason for adding this is I really loved this substrate. I bought it from a fellow reefer while on Holiday in Perth. It maintained my Ca at 450 without any additives (looking back the coralline was exactly booming back then though). It never blew around and when the lights were on (they must have been off as the Starfish was out) it looked really natural.

Was about $20 per 20Kg bag. Oh - I wish I coulld get this again today - I would swap it out in a heartbeat......
 

macca_75

Member
Apr 22, 2012
2,125
844
7th Dec 2012

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly....

OK - let's start with the good. I finally got around to having the controller mounted in a box for the Heater. Works like a charm, is easy to program and offers a high degree of accuracy (You can set it to 0.1 of a degree as a target range and set a tolerance of 0.1 degrees). I currently have it set at 26.3 +/- 0.3. The only problem - stupid me forgot to order a conversion plug for the Shego so I am using an Eheim for now.

(Sorry Guys - I have no idea why every picture I host on this forum turns sideways - any idea's @thereefuge ?)


The Bad...

My Hanna Reagents were faulty. for a while now I have been reporting 0.00 and couldn't for the life of me get the reading up. Anyway (refer tot he ugly a bit down) I've had a few algae blooms of late which lead me to really rethink why. Anyway I tested my tap water and got a 0.00 result - something isn't right here. Sure enough a quick trip down to Hanna and they replaced the reagents. I now get a reading of 0.1 ppm (not great, but great I am getting a reading). I have been running Rowa for the past 2 days and will continue to do so and will do a water change on the weekend. I think I've also lost a Pocci @Rob gave me in the past week (the tips are bleaching out). Maybe it will come good.

The Ugly...


Need I say more...


@MagicJ - You'll be happy to know the heater is out of the DT finally ;) I've also re-positioned my Tunze so I can now cable tie the pumps so it appears only 2 cords go into the DT. Once the algae goes I'll get a new FTS.

I also order and received (today) a Raspberry Pi so that's the next project - with @Rob help - to replace the monitor currently on loan with a few improvements ;)
 

macca_75

Member
Apr 22, 2012
2,125
844
4th Jan 2013

The great algae bloom of 2013 begins....
Arrrrrrh

2012 finished off with me having a pretty bad case of Algae bloom. I'm not sure what triggered it although as you can see from below I have a few ideas’ (I disturbed the sandbed fairly massively trying to get it to "look right" - I suspect this was the straw that broke the proverbial camels back.
So, winding back the clock a bit. I decided to do a little experiment and see how long I could go without RowaPhos before my Phosphate levels climbed. I was monitoring every 2nd day or so and using a lot of reagents, so I ran out and bought some more. My system had always reported 0.00 - 0.02 (depending when I tested it) as I had a 5L bucket of Rowaphos and wasn't afraid to use it...
Turns out I had a bad batch of reagents - what I thought was a 0.00 test actually wasn't. Anyway, sometime after removing RowaPhos from the system I decided to move the sandbed around and level it where the power heads had blown it around - STOP - we need to go back even further:

At 1 stage I was down 2 power heads (for different reasons). Still having effectively between 12x and 24x (based on a controller running between 50% and 100% alternating) and a tank of softies I was too concerned - but these were replaced/repaired and my flow is back to where it should be). Wind to clock back forward again.

OK - Back to my levelling the sandbed out as the increased flow and different patterns from the power heads (they were put back in different, less conspicuous positions) had blown the sandbed all over the place. I SUSPECT THIS WAS THE FINAL STRAW...

Anyhow, I began to develop algae in the tank - prior there was not a sign of it anywhere to be seen - literally (even though it is always there somewhere in some shape or form).

Hmmm - Cyano I thought to myself. I might check my Hanna Phos Meter against "dirty" tap water - still 0.00. That’s not right I thought to myself.

Anyway, Hanna had no issue replacing the batch of Reagents even though there had been no report of any faulty batches. BINGO - 0.17ppm

Now my research into Cyano led me to believe it was caused by 3 things:

1) Excess Nitrate and Phosphate (bad test kit co-inciding with my "testing" of no RowaPhos)
2) Poor flow (see my story about my pumps above - since fixed)
3) Poor lighting - typically caused by aging tubes.

Hmmm - on point 3 - when did I last replace my Halide globes? That long ago I can't remember. Doh. As luck would have it I happened to buy 3 last time (I only have 2 lights) so I changed 1 over for the new "spare" - oh god that 14000K goodness instead of the 6500K I had become accustomed to. So - as luck would have it a few days prior I had put in an order for some heat sink and LED's from the states for my first "trial" module (I will be replacing the 2 current halides with 3 "modules" of DIY LED lighting - see .........

Other observations from today
A) Some of my snails appeared to have been dying in the past few days. When I got there upside bodies off the sandbed today (not wanting them to decay and add fuel to the fire) I noticed they did respond to movement, just really slowly.
1) I have placed these on a rock in a low flow area to see if they recover and move by tomorrow.
2) Further research required.

B) The algae seems to spread far too quick for Cyano
1) Further research required.

C) I tried a manual remove. This algae is thick and dense
1) Further research required.

I stumbled upon http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-05/eb/index.php
I am now convinced I have Dinoflagellates - not Cyano (or at a minimum a combination of both). The reference under "Dinoflagellates in the Aquarium: "Snotty" Dinoflagellates and Fish Parasites"

Besides the precautions that should be taken for toxic dinoflagellates which are certainly potentially present in marine aquaria, and the obvious interest in symbiotic species such as zooxanthellae, aquarists are probably well-familiar with reports or experiences of a brown, slimy, snotty algae that traps gas bubbles and covers the surfaces of live rock, tank walls, and even corals. A web photo of the appearance of this material can be found here. Such periodic blooms are often reported in the spring, and seem to correlate with deaths of fish and especially with lethargy or paralysis and death of herbivorous snails. These are covered extensively by Sprung and Delbeek (1994), along with methods of eradication. Such cases may indeed be blooms of toxic dinoflagellates. There are, however, other toxic microalgae, other slimy snotty algae, and other algae that trap gas bubbles. The gas bubbles are likely oxygen being produced by photosynthesis, and of the many mat or film-forming microorganisms, photosynthetic protists, algae, and cyanobacteria can all appear very similar. Cyanobacteria, in particular, are also well known for producing toxins.

Describes exactly what I am seeing.

Further reading in Sprung J, Delbeek JC. 1994. The Reef Aquarium, Volume 1 - Pg 326-328 also supports this.

So, where to from here.

1) Open the vale more and pass more water through to the skimmer.
2) Stop all current dosing (Randies 3 part mix).
3) Start using a Kalk solution and see if I can raise pH to 8.4 or above.
4) reduce the Photo period to 4 hours per day (temp band aid fix)
5) Get the building the LED lights as soon as the parts arrive to replace the older halide globe that is still that golden colour we all love so much – see http://www.thereefuge.com.au/board/...ng-questions-for-those-who-have-done-it.5158/ for more updates.
6) Order some new RO filters - damn - meant to do this today but forgot. They are due for replacement anyway I guess.
7) Order more NSW - I have 200L left or 1 change which I will probably do over the weekend.

Oh - I had already started to reduce the Phosphate as well. In the past week I am onto my second lot of RowaPhos and am also dosing the liquid Phosphate remover for pools into a sock at the rate of 2 daily doses of 2.5ml each. I have gone from 0.17 to 0.06 in 1 week and aim to get it to 0.02 (or less). Thinking about setting up a dosing pump for the liquid pool starver straight into the ozone port of the skimmer and reusing the TLF550 for carbon. This can wait - to many things on the go at the moment.

I have always order a little plastic aquarium "set" from ebay - a whole of $4 (inc delivery).
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/4in1-Aqu...314?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item5d37d0ff8a
To be honest I am only interested in the little rake head bit - I guessing it will be so small it might actually prove useful it getting the "hard to reach places". Plan here is to try and rake the top surface of the sandbed gently (it feels sort of encrusted) and see how much I can manually remove.

Been to long sitting here in from of the computer so hopefully things will start to look up by the end of the month.
I'll try and add some photos tomorrow. Until then - good luck reefing....

Oh - I forgot to add the heater controller is now in playing and working really nicely. I'm still not using the Shego (need to put a shelf in and set it up right) but the tank bottom temp is much more reliable. Once the halides are out of the room it should also stop the 2 degree swings I see towards the end of the photo period.
 

macca_75

Member
Apr 22, 2012
2,125
844
5th Jan 2013

Thanks for the offer rob - but I will need to setup the dosing pump first before I remove the Rowaphos, and won't be doing that until this issue is fixed.

On a side note I was thinking of something like this as 1 one of separate unit dedicated to the task.

http://www.marinemagic-online.com/catalog/item/8196440/9377856.htm

awww.marinemagic_online.com_i_MM01B_Master.jpg


Now - for the bit for my reference.

  • I have cut the lighting cycle down to 4 hours.
  • Increased the flow to almost 100% through the skimmer sump. This has raised the water level and subsequently I am now skimming really wet - about a cup full per day I suspect.
  • Swapped out my Randies Alk recipe from #2 to #1 (which will raise the pH slightly) rather than switch to Kalk. I figure this will be a less stressful way of increasing the pH. Same dosing quantities.
    • For the sake of history my starting point for Alk on the Hanna is 191ppm (10.696 dKH) and the pH on the digital meter is 8.58 (not sure this probe is calibrated so using it for trending only). Both measurements taken at 8pm.
  • I'm about to go and manually remove what I can from the Sandbed - not looking forward to this and am really putting it off.
I've also had a few more snails keel over, although the one I moved out yesterday seems to have recovered. Not sure wether to just ditch them as I have literally hundreds of babys at night time swarming all over the glass.

The blue eye tang is also showing the first signs of ich - he seems to be the indicator fish when something isn't right. Not to bad at the moment though.
 
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macca_75

Member
Apr 22, 2012
2,125
844
OK - I can feel a little better about myself. All the reading I have done suggests manual harvesting does little however I figure it can't hurt - as a minimum it's like a macro harvest, remove potentially trapped Phosphate and Nitrates.

All the shots are straight off the iPhone - no editing, etc. The water quality in the after shots is also a little murky as it was literally minutes after playing (gently) with the top of the sand bed.

Anyhow, a picture is worth a thousand words they say...


Before
 

macca_75

Member
Apr 22, 2012
2,125
844
Now onto what has been the major Bain of my tank for the past (as long as I can remember) - damn algae.

I think I have made progress. I have been keeping my PO4 at 0.05 (or lower) with regular water changes and nothing else. My nitrates have been somewhere between 0.75 (Red Sea Ultra low kit) and 7.5 (Salifert). Either way I am not to concerned as both are acceptable numbers - reminder to self to get around to @Elias as he has offered a 3rd (and different brand) kit to figure which was correct.

So what's happened recently

1) Summer is over. This means my tank is now more stable (in terms of heating during the day). I have always been able to control to *low* temp accurately but during the summer it could raise by as much as 3 degrees over a day (although this would be the extreme number).
2) I have started using Rowa Carbon (thanks @Rob)
3) time.... oh so much time.
4) Regular 25%+ water changes (going through a lot of water here at 250L + per change)

Anyway, I no longer have any algae issue on my sand bed. Some rocks still continue to have the issue but there are to many and they are towards the base of the structure so I can't just remove them. I guess I just need a little more time and keep doing the things I am doing.

I WILL WIN THIS BATTLE.

So, starting yesterday I

1) Did a 30% water change, syphoning out what I could from the rocks.
2) started a "blackout" for 5 days. It's not exactly black, but there are no lights and the room curtains are remaining shut. Let's call it a brown out. It's fairly dark during the day and very dark all other times.
3) Added what Rowa Phos I had left. Let's see if I can get it below 0.05ppm
4) Changed out Rowa Carbon for a new batch. Was due for a change anyway
5) Temp is staying a stable 26.1 (now summer is over and the lights are off, the heater is on often to keep it there)

I suspect this won't fix the issue but won't hurt. Maybe I just need to give the rocks more time to leech their crap. Also going to give some Coral Snow a try as a *fix* in the hope that the water conditions are now OK and good enough to keep it at bay.

Stock wise, nothing else has been lost (other than a few Xenia frags @Rob gave me - they literally melted in a day - no idea why). Everything else is looking good (although I can't get the green weed to come out ;) )
 

macca_75

Member
Apr 22, 2012
2,125
844
13th Jul 2013

Only just noticed my last update was lost when there was a slight outage to the site.
Oh we'll - in short.
I left the tank for nearly 2 weeks while we went on a holiday. Learnt a few lessons but in short everything seemed to come through OK.
my nitrates shot up to around 100ppm, but everything else was good. Issue was I left a filter sock in place for 2 weeks without being changed and the skimmer was off for the same 2 weeks (didn't want to ask the tank sitter to empty fish poo every 2nd day.
Maybe before my next trip I can try and hook up a avast skimmer cleaner and the cup to auto drain (collects about a litre per day).
Anyhow I also got a PowerderBlue from @chruchy - well a few weeks on and it seems to have settled in nicely. Got a few small battle scars as it fits in with all the other tangs but there appears to be no aggression now and everything is almost healed (they were next to nothing anyway).
Just did a water change and will check the params either tonight or tomorrow.
Algae seems to be all but cleared up and softies are looking really fast and plump.
As soon as the tax man is nice the DIY LED's will be next ;-)
Until then - happy reefing......