Marc Weaver

A few random coral shots:

It's been a long time for me. I ran into lots of problems and learned much over the last year. Lots of coral changes / fish additions and removals. Generally, things are looking a little better. Here are some updated pics. Some coral just will not stop dying.

Nice growth!! Looks like you are on the right track. Congrats.

Nice!! I love it!!

If it were me, I would do the following: Call a windshield repair company and have them fill or rebond the chip with glass epoxy. This will hopefully stop the chip from cracking more. Don't let them cut into the existing silicone seam. Silicone a 1/4" piece of glass, around 6" X 6" or so over the repaired chip. This will spread out the pressure. Do NOT use acrylic, as silicone will not form a structural bond with acrylic. Since the chip is right at the edge, I would make sure you butt the repair patch as close to the front glass as possible and fill the gap with clear or black silicone. Also, apply silicone under the patch as well as all the way around the perimeter. New silicone will not bond with old silicone, so make sure your bead at least touches the front glass. You can even have the patch chamfered so it can get closer to the front glass while still sitting flat on the bottom. This should set you back less than $100, and it will be well worth the peace of mind in the end. I'm not saying it will work, but if it were me I'd feel better knowing I did everything I could. There are many things you can do to cover the ugliness, such as installing trim to cover the bottom of the tank, or using black automotive vinyl to make a false "strip" around the bottom of the tank. It should not be that noticeable, especially if you are using sand.

Welcome.

You should at least use a SEA SALT grinder!!! LOL

I would bet on the probe being dirty or out of calibration. My probe did the same thing and I cleaned it with a soft brush and some dilute acid, re-calibrated and it is working fine now. You may be able to get a 1mL syringe at a pharmacy. Just tell them what it's for and tell them you don't need the needle on it and maybe you will get lucky and they will sell you one. Or maybe try your vet's office if you have one. If you know someone with diabetes maybe they will have one.

I used Tropic Marin Pro Reef for a year or so, then I switched to IO. The only difference I notice so far after 3 water changes is the much lower cost.

That's what I would do, yes.

I checked out the build thread and it looks like he did reduce the pump inlet to 1". The pump he was using had a 1 1/2" inlet. That was probably degrading performance like tom said. I had to use a 1 1/2" bulkhead to the inlet of my return pump which is a Pan World 100PX-X (1270 GPH.) even though the pump has a 1" inlet. I tried 1" first, but I had some serious cavitation (excessive vibration, microbubbles like crazy, and the pump was HOT.) After the switch to 1 1/2 inch, the pump works great. I think you will be happy with the Mag 12. I had 2 of them originally on my 220, 1 for each return and it was too much IMO.

+1, I was lazy one time and let my TDS get up to 10 before I changed my resin. I was using the color changing kind from bulk reef supply. It was still half blue. Who knows what the TDS would have been if I would have waited for the color change to complete.

Keep it away from power outlets, etc. as it may spit a stream of water out when removed from the tank.

Google a Drain Saddle Clamp for the wastewater line. Install it above the trap on the tailpiece of the sink drain. I'm not sure whether HD or Lowe's carries them. The two above are for the supply. The saddle valve linked by PotomacBoater will pierce the pipe when tightened and can never be removed unless the section of pipe is replaced (or if it remains permanently closed,) but will work fine. The one linked by GreenHornet can simply be removed from the valve if you ever move. My Lowe's does carry both of these.

Your tank is coming along nicely. If you ever make it up to the Frederick area, PM me. I have tons of frags that I'll give you if you'd like to try some hardier stony corals, like montpora and birdsnests.

Nice job Frank!!

I thought I'd post some coloration shots to show what maricultured corals do (in my tank at least) when they are placed in a reef tank. All these colonies cam direct from Indonesia. Enjoy!! First up is some kind of Tenius: April 2012 10 Days Later (Bleached) Nov 2012 Now a milli: April 2012 10 Days Later (Bleached) Nov 2012 Another Acro: April 2012 July 2012 (This one eventually died)

I've also had good luck with Blue Zoo Aquatics.

After the first month, the colors started deepening to brownish. At the 4 month mark, the colony turned green over the course of a few weeks and growth finally started to happen, albeit SLOW growth. I have not seen any growth over the past month since this started happening. I take growth shots of everything every month to track progress.

It's common for maricultured colonies to turn brown or green from what I have read. Some never change back to resemble their natural colors.

I have a maricultured deepwater colony I bought back in April. This was part of a group buy from Indonesia which came right to us. Recently it is been expelling zooxanthellae (I think.) I'm not sure whether it is changing from green to its original color or whether there is something wrong. I have seen white stringy things all over it for the last few days, especially when the lights first come on. Any ideas?? Tank parameters have not changed. I use glass under my halides to keep heat down and it's pretty grungy. That's the only thing I can think of that changed. Other corals near this look fine and are growing. Some pics: This is how the colony looked when I received it (beautiful I think!!) This is it after it turned green. Picture was from Sept 16th Here is a picture from a few days ago. It is turning a pale purplish-brown.

Duh!! I forgot about the 24V jumpers for the Tunzes. There is much more flow now and corals are definitely responding in a good way.

Sometime I vacuum the areas. They eventually come back so I have been a little lazy with that lately. I cut my NOPOX dose in half and will monitor the tank and see what happens over the next week or so before I decide whether to use GFO or not. I just want to rule out excess carbon in the system before I use GFO again.

Man, those pics are older than I thought. There is no algae on the overflows or back anymore. Everything is covered in coralline now with some cyano growing around the upper slots. I have around 30 hermits and 10 snails (huge snails) that help. Maybe I'll try one of those conches before spending $300 on hermits and snails LOL. Here are some pics from today, sorry about the glare.