AlanM

Getting some more info on the summer meeting. I will start updating this post with more info about the talk and about Sanjay as well as raffle items that have started coming in.

Really interesting. I assume that you just drilled out the holes in the top of your ReefOctopus (I think?) skimmer air intake in order to run it into that container? I'll be interested in a followup of how long that media lasts.

The summer meeting date has shifted back out to July 22, 2023.

Small update. Since it connected to Fusion and was happily on the network I knew it must be something odd with not allowing local IP connections. I checked the network settings and saw that somehow the port number for running the local Apex interface was set for port 0. I set it to port 80 and it works fine. No idea why the thing was set to that. I also got the pH probe working. I had to do a manual configuration because the automatic complained about the range it was reading. I bet those calibrated offsets were vastly off as well and were zeroed out somehow. I had some long-expired 7 and 10 pH solution which should at least get the probe working since I don't really care about the exact number, just the swings. ORP is a bit harder to try to calibrate since you're not supposed to do it yourself. I'll see if I can source some solution or see if Apex phone tech support can help at all on Monday.

I got the new Pro, plugged it in, and followed the forum instructions for doing a restore of the old configuration which was not exactly seamless. I eventually got everything manually reconfigured, but there are still some hiccups. It doesn't seem to be reading my ORP and pH probes. It just always gives max/min values from what I can tell. It also doesn't give me access on the local IP address. I'm continuing the ticket with support on the issues.

Don't worry, we can satisfy that itch by sending 1000 bags and some large coral colonies to you in October so you can still do fragfest and overnight it all back to us. 8)

It seems logical to me that since the low pH is due to acidification of the water from an increase of CO2 then if the folks that worry about the effect ocean acidification on coral growth are correct it would have some effect on your coral growth. Mine doesn't have that large of a swing, but I do see the low points and high points at the same times you do.

Yep, they are trying again to ship a Pro. It will be USPS priority mail, so should get it by the end of the week. I'll just put the Apex Jr and the broken Apex Pro in the same box for RMA return. The Apex still seems to be working, and I can see the data in real time, just can't see anything in the past. It's "not the painless replacement experience they strive for" hah.

RMA replacement arrived finally. It's an Apex Jr they sent, not an Apex Pro despite the invoice in the box saying Apex Pro. Looks like it will be a while longer.

I did make a backup and will try to restore it when I get the new one in.

They didn't say, but I gave them access to my fusion account and they came back with an RMA replacement of the head unit. I think jhOU called it with the bad SD card. If it wasn't in warranty I would have cracked it open myself to try to replace it.

It's an RMA return. They are cross shipping one with deposit refunded when they get mine returned.

Would love that, honestly, but no. Once I run this tank successfully for a few years lets see how an upgrade looks. Already it's drawing more interest from the family because of the location. They like watching what's going on in the tank during dinners since it's in our dining room. I feed the fish the same time as we eat. If everyone in the house is emotionally invested in the tank, then it's a bit easier to justify financial investments as well. 8)

Yes, I've rebooted and manually power cycled it. I have a tech support case open. I thought maybe it was a fusion outage on the server, but it doesn't sound like it. SD card issue is interesting.

Here's what I see. The numbers are correct. It's connected to Fusion. It's doing the correct dosing and keeping temp steady. I can control outlets on it, but it doesn't seem to be uploading data to the Fusion graphs since about 4pm yesterday.

I've added two more fish. I got a tailspot blenny from Reef Escape and a royal gramma from monkiboy at ERC. Both are doing great. Both are a little cryptic and like their caves, but I'll try to get a shot soon when everyone is out. I think that's about it for fish. The clownfish seem to have paired up and decided to share the same bubble-tip anemone. They spend a lot of time in it and as a result the nem is getting bigger and looks happier. Less bubbly and more spread out, though.

I did a 30% water change last night and added carbon. The water is beautiful today and the sand and rocks are very clean. So far no visible losses. Now to see if the clean rocks last. 8) I'll do another large water change this weekend just because I have it. I made up 50g of water before doing the chemiclean just in case. I keep considering adding a display refugium next to it to put the mantis shrimp in with some macro algae and rocks to get it out of my sump so I could actually see it. Aqueon makes inexpensive 14g frameless cubes that would fit right on an end table I have which could look nice. I'd drill it for an overflow, put the supply over the edge, and light it with a daylight spectrum planted tank light.

I would not do it. There are rimless 40 gallons and higher, but they are specifically designed to hold that way with thicker glass and higher tolerance on the seams. It would probably hold for a while, but it's a big risk.

I'll take one of those emperor angels. It will be fine in my 20 gallon right? (kidding, of course. They're beautiful)

Yeah, I don't know what all the Erythromycin will take out. At least that seems to be the consensus for what chemiclean is. So far all of the (visible) inverts are fine including zoas, LPS and SPS corals, sponges, bristleworms, porcelain crabs, hermit crabs, one remaining gorilla crab (just saw him months after I thought they were all gone), cleaner shrimp, urchin, nassarius, cerith, astrea snails, etc. And the clowns seem like they don't notice either. I don't think lots of bio diversity can prevent the cyano bloom. Honestly the TBS liverock was pretty dirty and surely had a lot of die-off and is much more full of nutrients than "clean" dry rock would have. It does add some fun fauna and gives you a jump start on a variety of aspects of the new tank cycle, but it doesn't create a pristine healthy environment to immediately start having success. It's possible that I could have worked it out over time with some combo of what people try to prevent it: live phyto, MB7, low-dose peroxide, lanthanum, tons of flow, blackouts, UV, constant siphoning out for months, the list goes on.

After struggling for a month with daily sessions with the turkey baster to get green cyano off the rocks and sand I broke down and added the recommended dose of chemi-clean yesterday afternoon. I'm not doing a blackout, but did dim the lights way down. As of today nearly all of the green cyano is gone. Nothing else seems affected. I took the cup off the skimmer and opened the valve all the way and even with that it's still rising up and spilling out of the body. I also opened the gate valve on my drain all the way so that there's a bunch of agitation as the water descends from the pumps and turned the vortech powerheads up higher. The ORP plummeted through the night but seems to have stabilized today. It's not decreasing anymore. Tomorrow evening will be 48 hours. I have 20 gallons of water prepared for my 30 gallons of total water. I'll do a few 20% water changes one per day and then see where I'm at with the cyano. Fingers crossed, but so far it looks pretty good.

Looks great Mike!

Event: WAMAS Summer 2023 Meeting (in person, not streamed) Saturday, July 22, 2023 Time: 2:00 PM - 5:00 PM (Speaker starts at 3 PM) Where: Green Acres Center, 4401 Sideburn Rd., Fairfax, VA WAMAS members get in free. Guests are $5 each (paid at the door). Join WAMAS at this link. Refreshments provided by WAMAS. Note that this meeting starts a little bit later than our normal meetings. Officers and other volunteers will not have access to the facility until 1:00pm to begin setting up (we normally arrive at around 11:45am), so anyone arriving before 2:00pm may have to wait outside or may be put to work inside. Please be patient at the start because everything may not be ready at 2pm. Speaker: Dr. Sanjay Joshi, Professor of Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering at Penn State Sanjay Joshi has been an expert voice in reef aquarium lighting for over 30 years, online and in person. He was a pioneer of aquarium lighting from the early days of LED lights, is the keeper of the 500 gallon Penn State reef tank as well as a 500 gallon tank at his home. He regularly gives invited talks at conferences such as MACNA and Reefstock, publishes in Coral Magazine, Advanced Aquarist, and others, and comes to clubs like WAMAS to share his knowledge. If there is a question you have about your tank lighting and it's ability to keep your livestock happy, Sanjay will likely have the answer. We're very privileged and happy to have him here for our meeting. Topic: LIGHTS, CORAL, ACTION The talk will discuss the basics of lighting as it pertains to reef-keeping, with a focus on understanding light, both in terms of quantity (PAR) and quality (spectrum) and how these are measured and evaluated. We'll discuss how corals use the light and the implications to reef keeping, along with some experimental data collected on my system and recent research results. Agenda: 2:00 Sign-in / socialize / frag sales 2:50 Club business 3:00 Speaker: Sanjay Joshi 4:00 Break 4:30 Raffle! Directions to the Green Acres Center: Green Acres Center is next to George Mason University in Fairfax, VA. Here's a map from Google Maps: https://goo.gl/maps/neGSWGJ2G8APuh5k8 Special thanks to theses sponsors. Please support them & say thanks next time you shop with them. You can find their website address by visiting their forum or the sponsor page on the WAMAS website. WAMAS Platinum Sponsors - Air, Water & Ice - AquaHaus - Avast Marine - Blue Ribbon Koi - Capital Aquarium - ChemiPure (Boyd Enterprises) - Coral Magazine - Dr. Mac's Pacific East Aquaculture - Exotic Reef Creations - FishnReef.com - Frank's Tanks - ICP Analysis - Maxspect - Premium Aquatics - Puddle Aquatics - Reed Mariculture (Reef Nutrition) - Reef eScape - Reef Nerd Aquatics - SaltwaterAquarium.com - Supreme Reefs WAMAS Banner-Only Sponsors - Cobalt Aquatics - Jellyfish Art - MASNA - Two Little Fishies 2023 virtual meeting support provided by Eureka Strategic Consulting, Discover the Extraordinary. Raffle Prizes $50 Gift Certificate for Reef Nutrition products (with $40 bump-up for shipping). (2 chances to win!) $100 Gift Certificate for Reef Nutrition products (with $40 bump-up for shipping). $25 Gift Certificate for fish from Exotic Reef Creations. (4 chances to win!) The Plank Autofeeder from Avast Marine. $209 value. 1 chance to win! VorTech MP40wqd powerhead. $430 value. 1 chance to win. Handmade soap from Silverbook Soaps. $15 value. 2 chances to win! Acropora coral frag. $40 value. 1 chance to win $75 livestock gift certificate from Blue Ribbon Koi. (3 chances to win!) Many frags from members selling to win in raffle! More raffle prizes to be announced. Sponsors On Site, Selling AquaHaus Avast Marine Members On Site, Selling @copps @SkiCurtis @Samayoa @ReefdUp @ECreefer More to be added. Stay tuned!

I'd run the water level in the external box higher so that the entire passthrough bulkheads are submerged. It will be quieter that way and even if the steady state flow is up pretty close to the top of the external box it will never overflow because both of those emergency drains will convert into siphons first. I'd also put two 90 degree fittings on the full siphon drain instead of just leaving it pointing up at the sky like that. So make kind of a U shape coming up from the bulkhead and then facing down. That will keep it from making a whirlpool in the box when the flow is going good. You should be able to run a silly amount of flow through that one full siphon drain with the adjustable gate valve on it.

You're killing me with these great fish. I should have set up a bigger tank.