jimlin's 75 gallon

[L8 2 RISE]

Where'd you manage to pick those up?

[jimlin]

Where'd you manage to pick those up?

i bought it from a local. it looks like local hawaiian stuff which typically have bigger polyps than what i was used to seeing back in d.c.

they all look like they have adjusted quite nicely.

 

i added about 20 saltwater opae to the display as part of my cleaning crew. will see how they do.

[jimlin]

installed a brs auto topoff pump. with the failure rate of the aqualifters, this seems to be the best option.

 

 

after running my biopellets, i noticed my skimmer producing a lot of bubbles which dont pop. i ended up having to clean the collection cup daily, sometimes twice a day.

 

 

algae scrubber after about a week. already see algae growing on it. still not sure how well this will work.

 

[jimlin]

 

after biopellet reactor, the skimmer has really been picking up some nasty gunk. i only have 3 small 1 inch fish.

 

 

besides biopellets, i am also going to start adding a little bit of vitamin c as well as feed food which contain garlic to the fish. this will be the before vitamin c picture of one of the zoas. i will just have to see how it does in a month to see if vitamin c actually does anything to promote zoa growth.

 

 

white spots still present on the top fin of this fish. so far no scratching, eating like a pig and my hippo tang still does not have white dots on its body.

 

 

 

 

avast cs1 with recirc kit came in today. spent the afternoon putting this beast together. it turned out to be a lot bigger than i thought it would be. maybe this will allow me to clean the collection cup once every 3 days than what i am doing now which is everyday. biopellet output will go straight into the skimmer. woohoo.

 

next, put together a manifold for my return so that i can put the eheim 1262 online.

[Mattiejay6]

Let me know what you think of the cs1 I have been thinking of buying that or an SWC 150bmk. Are you using the Eheim to pump the cs1?

Edited June 14, 2013 by Mattiejay6

[jimlin]

Let me know what you think of the cs1 I have been thinking of buying that or an SWC 150bmk. Are you using the Eheim to pump the cs1?

will do. eheim will be the return pump. im working a manifold so that the eheim will run all the various reactors rather than having a bunch of mj1200s running the reactors.

[jimlin]

 

best $50 i ever spent. purchased all the parts from a sprinkler warehouse. only place where they had all the parts i needed.

 

 

hooked up and no leaks. woohoo. turned off the eheim 1262 and the check valve work. have to rework everything around one of these days. not the prettiest thing to look at plus water and electricity next to each other. not sure i like it. put the avast beast of a skimmer online on the best day of the year. armys birthday. second day of breaking in and still overflows from time to time. it was so big it did not fit in the other chamber, but thank goodness for the recirc kit it will still work with about 5 inches of water. love it.

 

so i guess the new avast cs1 comes standard with the recirc kit. i ordered a recirc kit so if anyone want to make their non recirc cs1 into a recirc skimmer i got the plate you can have for free.

[jimlin]

 

several hours after cleaning the collection cup.

 

 

next morning. hmmm, think my skimmer is broken in. sweet. clean collection cup once ever two days is what it is looking like so far.

 

 

a hitch hiker starfish on a zoa. should i be worried?

[jimlin]

IT IS OFFICIAL!! I GOT AIPTASIA IN MY DISPLAY!!! seen three baby ones already.

[OldReefer]

Time to add a Copperband Butterfly! You should be able to get a nice healthy one in HI.

[jimlin]

Time to add a Copperband Butterfly! You should be able to get a nice healthy one in HI.

good idea. what are the chances of them actually eating aiptasia if i do buy one?

[OldReefer]

good idea. what are the chances of them actually eating aiptasia if i do buy one?

Pretty close to 100%. Not hit or miss like Peppermint shrimp.

[jimlin]

Pretty close to 100%. Not hit or miss like Peppermint shrimp.

sweet, i just pinged the local fish store to see if they can get one thats the same size as my other fishes. one inch.

 

guess that means i cant buy the rock nem i saw at the pet store in the mall.

[rebekwl]

So this is a bare bottom tank? Very nice! I have to say that, I have never had the brass to try a bare tank.... I would think It would take way more attention to detail  then a DSB? Much less room for error? just curious, i want to start a FOWLR and if I could go w/o a DSB i will....

Edited June 17, 2013 by rebekwl

[jimlin]

So this is a bare bottom tank? Very nice! I have to say that, I have never had the brass to try a bare tank.... I would think It would take way more attention to detail  then a DSB? Much less room for error? just curious, i want to start a FOWLR and if I could go w/o a DSB i will....

i think it is better because you can vacuum up whatever is on the bottom during the weekly water changes. if u want to go bare bottom, i suggest siliconing a piece of starboard to the bottom so that way if one of the rocks fall, it will absorb some of the impact and prevent your glass from cracking. i could have added a deep sand bed if i wanted to, i mean the sand and water here is free, but to me it is just easier without sand when it comes to maintenance and the types of live stock you need to stir it. also got a lot of my ideas from checking out oldreefer's tank.

[OldReefer]

So this is a bare bottom tank? Very nice! I have to say that, I have never had the brass to try a bare tank.... I would think It would take way more attention to detail  then a DSB? Much less room for error? just curious, i want to start a FOWLR and if I could go w/o a DSB i will....

Bare bottom is real easy if you have a lot if flow and a big skimmer. I never vacuum anything and my nitrates and phosphates are zero.

[jimlin]

 

day 3 and it looks like that may be my limit.

 

copperband butterfly- looks like you may need to wait a couple of weeks until aiptasia starts taking off. this will also give the other fish some time to grow and for me to start dumping a bunch of snails in the tank in preperation of the copperband. is 100 at one time too many? not going to add any crabs since they are my worst enemy.

 

a buddy here is going to help me get the hawaiian chaeto. a little different than the ones in the states because it grows like a carpet rather than just hang around like a luffah. i am taking the algae scrubber offline once i get thechaeto since the algae scrubber isnt really doing a whole lot for the system.

 

next to do is to see what pods are legal here and where to get them. the local university has a program actually grows them and gives them out for free, but i am still trying to get a point of contact.

[OldReefer]

Lots of little snails are a great plan. If you can get a steady supply of pods, that is great! It sounds like a pair of Mandarins could be a possibility.

[jimlin]

Lots of little snails are a great plan. If you can get a steady supply of pods, that is great! It sounds like a pair of Mandarins could be a possibility.

yup, still working on the pods, but got the chaeto and going to get the snails this weekend. macro algae in the sump and out goes the algae scrubber.

 

so i had cyano bloom since i started the biopellets, but after hooking the outlet for the biopellet reactor to the skimmer, it is starting to die off.

 

got some new zoas for the tank. hope i did not go overboard and added too many at one time. zoas are attaching themselves on the bare bottom which may work out for me.

 

 

 

[jimlin]

day 1 of vitamin c.

[YHSublime]

What's the plan? Fill er' up with Zoas?

[jimlin]

What's the plan? Fill er' up with Zoas?

yup. thats about all i can do here. there are also blue leather available, which nobody knows where they sell them, and rock anemone which looks kinda ugly compared to the bubble tips. my plan from the beginning was to setup a fowlr tank since i know i cant keep anything i really like, but purchased some zoas for food for a lemon peel angel and now i think i may just keep the zoas around and not get the lemonpeel. main star of my tank will be two flame wrasses which costs about the same as a clown fish in d.c. i have to admit the fish here are really cheap, but bad part is they are mostly wild caught and not quarantined and wholesalers dont offer guarantees on livestock. Edited June 21, 2013 by jimlin

[jimlin]

 

using this pic as baseline for vitamin c dosing. just got this along with the large colonies and it wasnt looking too good when i got it. only one polyps open and the rest looks like they are melting away. when looking at it now, i would say it has minimal chance of making it. this is day 1 of dosing vitamin c.

[roni]

Hey, just noticed you are in Hawaii.  What island are you on?  From what I recall, the rules for collection are that if it's not attached, you can collect a certain amount for personal use?  If so, lots of really nice yellow porites and amazing colored polyps were present in tidepools on the Kona coast of the Big Island.

 

Also, in terms of livestock, there are a couple big wholesalers out there though I'm not sure what they do about local traffic.  Pacific Island Aquatics is also out there.  Kevin, who runs it, is a great guy and may be able to hook you up with good fish that have gotten acclimated/qted.  you should drop him a note.  

 

How do you like your ATS?  One thing I found is that if you're using LEDs to light, you have to use a diffuser and reduced flow to get good growth initially and then slowly increase lighting and flow.  Also, if you don't have the correct proportions of K+, NO3+ and P04+, it won't work as well.  I ended up picking up a salifert K+ kit and dosing K+ regularly with some success.

[jimlin]

Hey, just noticed you are in Hawaii. What island are you on? From what I recall, the rules for collection are that if it's not attached, you can collect a certain amount for personal use? If so, lots of really nice yellow porites and amazing colored polyps were present in tidepools on the Kona coast of the Big Island.

 

Also, in terms of livestock, there are a couple big wholesalers out there though I'm not sure what they do about local traffic. Pacific Island Aquatics is also out there. Kevin, who runs it, is a great guy and may be able to hook you up with good fish that have gotten acclimated/qted. you should drop him a note.

 

How do you like your ATS? One thing I found is that if you're using LEDs to light, you have to use a diffuser and reduced flow to get good growth initially and then slowly increase lighting and flow. Also, if you don't have the correct proportions of K+, NO3+ and P04+, it won't work as well. I ended up picking up a salifert K+ kit and dosing K+ regularly with some success.

i live in oahu, dirtiest water out of all the islands imo. i heard the big island has a lot of stuff worth collecting from the guys here as well. not sure how i feel about pulling a piece of yellow porites from the waters. the locals would probably flip out, but aiptasia is a different story. they hate aiptasias as much as we do. locals pretty much said anything that is reef building is off limits so unless it is a soft coral, chances are it wont be available. i am also not allowed to get in the water without the presence of a lifeguard which means i have to buy all of the stuff from the locals or the stores.

 

i tried to buy two wireless modules from kevin, but he didnt respond to my message when i was having trouble paying for a item on his web site. (cant find where to put the discount code). does he own a store? if so i would like to go there and deal with him face to face rather than through messaging since kapolei isnt too far from my house.

 

scrubber wasnt working on my system. not sure if it has to do with me running a biopellet. i gave up on that idea because i was having better luck growing bacteria on the screen that came out of the biopellet than algae. since i installed the avast skimmer, i dont see the wandering bacteria from the biopellet wandering around the tank anymore, but i still have my doubts if the algae scrubber would work so i started harvesting local macro algae instead.

Edited June 21, 2013 by jimlin