Rob A
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Posts posted by Rob A
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A little over a week in. I got a great magnet cleaner from WAMAS member small reef so I was finally able to clean the sides if the tank. All my old cleaners were for glass...
Here are some pics. The corals and anemone are the survivors of the 12 weeks of living in a tub. Captions will be beneath the pics...a change from how I've been doing it.
Full tank shot
Action shot
Acans
Frogspawn
Duncans
Favia of some sort
Acans
Gorgonian
Blastos. It was packed with polyps on top but has died off in "storage"
Hydnophora
Zoas
A turbinaria peltata (I think) and some dreaded blue clove polyps.
Hammer
Rainbow BTA
Impromptu frag tank with a bunch of pulsing xenia, kenya tree, and a very sad yellow leather coral hidden in the back. Oh and a couple of palythoa grandis
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I had several pumps that kept seizing up (impeller shafts) and couldn't figure out why, and it was only in the last few months of operation after more than a year with no issues. It seemed to be a calcium issue because a vinegar bath cleaned them up but I wasn't sure why it was happening. I was dosing BRS 2 part and the calcium was generally in the upper 400's. The setup I was using had the solutions dripping into the sump but 2 of the pumps that were seizing up were in the display section, a Jaebo wavemaker and a Gyre 130. My Mag 12 in the sump locked up once or twice. I wasn't tending my tank very well during this period and my sps were declining so maybe the calcium was actually higher than I remember.
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When I broke down my 2 tanks (display and frag) to move in June there were 2 different pipes that just pulled apart while I was taking it all down. I just stood there trying to figure out if the glue had failed or if I forgot to glue it. I guess I forgot to glue it. oops. Both systems had been running for more than a year...
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Replacing the top frame might be an option for you if your seals are not compromised. Assuming you can find the right one for your tank. Glass cages sells one for a 55 gal for $15. It's near the bottom of this list. I don't know how far down you'd have to drain it to make it safe enough to fully remove the old frame without the sides just blowing out. I guess I would make a 2 x 4 frame around it or something to hold it together.
I have never tried this with an occupied tank, so I don't know how it will go. I did it with an empty 40 gal breeder once (took it apart and re-sealed it)
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Here is an end shot of the tank. I only had blue lights on this end while the corals get light acclimated. I'll have to try and get a better pic. See if you can see the Picasso clown. He camouflaged by the spotty looking rock. Everyone but the filefish made it into this shot.
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Well......
I'm very happy to have everyone moved into their tank and happy that I can actually see them.
Most of the fish that I had have survived but I did lose a few over the last 13 or 14 weeks that they lived in the barrel. It has been hard to manage them in there where you can't see them well enough to take inventory and catch potential problems before they become critical, so I guess it wan't the best long term holding solution.
Among the missing fish are 4 small lookdowns that I got at MACNA 2015 and a hippo that I had for a little over a year. I know at least one lookdown died while we are on vacation in June according to my pet sitter who reported a "silver fish" was floating.
Anyway, I have 10 fish left. I went from a 220 to a 150 so maybe it's too many, but we'll see how things play out.
1 percula clown
1 Picasso clown
1 3-stripe damsel
1 file fish
1 foxface
1 sailfin tang
1 yellow tang
1 clown tang
1 kole tang
1 naso tang
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I kind of feel that heaters in general are ticking time bombs. I'm sure some are better than others...
Someone did a write up recently about one that broke in his tank and when he reached into the tank the shock knocked him across the room.
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I have an assortment of heaters (some work better than others, might have to do some testing), 10 and 20 gal tanks, powerheads etc if you feel like coming to Stafford, Exit 143 off of 95. You are welcome to borrow whatever.
Managing pH in a bare bucket or tank for more than a few days becomes a tricky in the absence of rock or sand, which would normally help keep the pH up. I think most people just use baking soda for this type of setup but you have to watch it because the pH drops fast.
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I received the wiring adapter for the rollermat and ran it for a bit to get the water cleared up. I had to remove it while I fill the sump with rock, and will install it later, hopefully with it being fed from the overflow.
On Sunday I broke down tje holding system and moved everything the tank and sump and frag holding tank...
Here was the barrel...just had to find the fish, lol. Every piece of rock had to Co e out first.
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I would like better impellers. Tiny critters have gotten trough the cages and broken some of them. I also have a 130 and recently it appears the impeller bushing on one side is worn out as it barely turns while the other side is normal.
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Josh, I recommend this book:
The author also has some free downloads on itunes that you can listen to. Her stuff is rooted in Buddhism but she talks a lot about how we are conditioned by society to beat ourselves up and seek perfection, etc. I don't want to get into a big religious thing, it's the principals that are helpful. You don't have to believe in anything mystic, just the principals that life is hard, wanting things creates suffering, we should live in the moment etc. It's very helpful for depression and anxiety.
As for snarky responses from people, I don't like them either. I have seen some nasty comments on some other boards and one of the things I really like about this one is that people seem to care about each other. Not saying that I haven't seen people get snippy but I sometimes think it must be their personality and everyone is different.
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I read that they improved the cords and the rotors, but not sure what else. Looking forward to getting a pair. The controller looks fantastic.
This post made me ask about what was Improved...I have frayed insulation, and Alan said:
That's the issue that they fixed. If you email Coralvue they may be willing to exchange it for you.
So, thanks to both of you I wrote to Coralvue about my frayed insulation and it looks like they are sending me a new motor! THANKS!
Here is my motor:
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Ha! That's a pretty blatant mismatch! Glad that they're taking care of you.
I'm very pleased! It is supposed to arrive today so I can stop manually rolling the paper and let it work on it's own, lol. In other news, I think Coralvue is going to send me a new motor assembly for my Gyre 150 under warranty. I got it in Dec 2014 and noticed frayed insulation 6 months later. I just assumed it was somehow my fault but I saw a recent thread where AlanM mentioned that it might be a warranty fix so I wrote to them and they just wrote back asking for my address, so...I assume they are sending me a replacement.
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I set up an ATI Bubble King 250 skimmer and temporarily plumbed the rollermat (minus the overflow...I will do that today). It has done a great job at clearung up the initial cloudiness. The rollermat will move to the left to be fed from the tank overflow...at least that is the plan. It will have to have a bypass line since it's only rated for 600gph max and the overflow is about 900. Oh, and clearly I need to do some wire management. Things are still in flux while I figure out how I want to set it all up.
Here is a shot of the tank from this morning. I have some temporary lights up (Chinese Evergrows) until I decide how I want to hang my programmable ones. I have around 500 PAR at the surface and 100 at the sand bed with these at 60% so I'm in no hurry i guess. The left one is just blue and white while the right side is full spectrum so the color is a little different.
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I made an initial attempt to scoop some fish out of the barrel last night but they were not having any part of that. I might have to wait until this weekend when I can plan on just taking the whole holding system down to catch everybody.
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I had an RBTA for several years (and several splits!) before I nuked my tank last summer. Most of the time it stayed in the same place but one day I cam home from work and it had moved and was sprawled out all over a couple of monti's and it killed them.
I want another one for my clowns but I will most likely move them to their own tank first. I picked up a small nem that was labeled as a rainbow something or other from Dr MAC's at MACNA 2016 that hasn't grown much in over a year so that will go in my display for now (when I move everything out of their holding tanks).
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Back at Christmas time I got a Theiling rollermat but I was not able to set it up due to a lack of space in the system at the other house. Now that I have room I got it out and started plumbing it and when I went to plug it in the wires didn't match between the unit and the power block. I called Bulk Reef Supply to ask them if I was missing something and they said that had been an issue back when they were first shipping them out and they would be sending me an adapter 2nd day air. So, shout out to Bulk Reef Supply for great customer service!
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I wanted to tier it. I'm afraid of there being too many shadows and wasted space, but I am no artist and not very creative :(
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That was cool! So the next time I need to get an anemone off a rock, I'll just rub it's foot with a big hermit crab for 15 minutes!
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I've never felt like I was any good at aqua-scaping but here goes. 155lbs of rock...
There is space behind so fish can go all the way around if they want. I tried to add plenty of holes for them to swim through or hide in as well.
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What was the aftermath of that bloom, Rob?
I lost everything but an engineer goby and a few palys. I did 2 massive water changes of 200 gallons each, about a day or 2 apart plus siphoning out the sludge. This happened 1 week before we left on a 3 week vacation. When we got back the tank was in good shape and I restocked. But the loss was devistating. Just posting that pic made me sick to my stomach. Among other things I lost a bunch of tangs, and my breading pair of clowns and their nem.
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I think you have a hitchhiker. Who knew that could happen on dry rock.
That's how we got all of our cats, lol. They just show up. -
Here is what happens when you accidently dose a whole liter of vodka into 270 gallons worth of water after making a mistake with your apex programming... everything died.
Here is the "before" pic
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Time to start stacking rock. My live rock that is in the holding tank is going to go in the sump for awhile and I'm going to start over with dead rock in the display.I have about 130 lbs picked out so far on the table. The stuff on the far left came from the National Aquarium - I won it in an auction at a WAMAS meet.
Then I have another 100+ lbs of smaller pieces. I'm aiming for 150 lbs minimum.
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The pump is the Reeflo Dart hybrid but I'm not sure which impeller it has (2,500 or 3,500 GPH) since I bought it used. I wrote to Reflo to see if they could tell me what the 2 different impeller dimensions are but they never wrote back.
I had actually intended to run the 1-1/2" line closer to the tank but I figured that first I would stop it just past the manifold and see what I got then if it wasn't enough i would run it farther. I would have to move the tank away from the wall to repipe the back of it and since the flow was okay I decided not to. I thought about trying to do a flow test with all 4 manifold valves open at the same time, just for fun, but right now that just sounds hard.
I was getting tired of buying and then having to cut out fittings and valves so the ones installed on my manifold are threaded (so they can be reused if i have to redo the piping again) which means they probably have even less flow than the socket style valves. The threaded adapters seem a little narrower inside compared to the pipe but I didn't actually measure it.
In other news I got my Apex out of the box where it has been sitting for the last two-and-a-half months and the display wouldn't work but after fiddling with it for the last two days ir finally started working.
Rob's 150 gal reef build
in Dedicated Tank (Build) Forum
Thanks! Yes! And now I am less stressed because I can actually see/monitor the fish and corals much better than I could when they were in the tubs.