roni June 22, 2013 Share June 22, 2013 Kevin's email is Pacific Island Aquatics <sales@pacificislandaquatics.com>. He sometimes takes a little time to respond but is usually pretty good about replying. Yeah, I would imagine that the biopellets and scrubber aren't going to be compatible since the biopellets primarily pull no3 down and the scrubbers tend to be no3 limited (at least in my experience). I would either run biopellets and skimmer with rowa/p04x4/gfo for p04 export or run the skimmer and ats, and try to balance p04/n03/k+. Long thread on RC about this but the gist of it is: in a nitrogen limited system with excess p04 (which seems to occur with good live rock and sand bed + aggressive skimming and heavy feeding), it's sometimes useful to dose nitrogen in order to promote p04 uptake. http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2210947 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimlin June 22, 2013 Author Share June 22, 2013 Kevin's email is Pacific Island Aquatics <sales@pacificislandaquatics.com>. He sometimes takes a little time to respond but is usually pretty good about replying. Yeah, I would imagine that the biopellets and scrubber aren't going to be compatible since the biopellets primarily pull no3 down and the scrubbers tend to be no3 limited (at least in my experience). I would either run biopellets and skimmer with rowa/p04x4/gfo for p04 export or run the skimmer and ats, and try to balance p04/n03/k+. Long thread on RC about this but the gist of it is: in a nitrogen limited system with. excess p04 (which seems to occur with good live rock and sand bed + aggressive skimming and heavy feeding), it's sometimes useful to dose nitrogen in order to promote p04 uptake. http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2210947 wow, very interesting read. thanks for sharing. i am not running gfo just yet, but have it on standby if needed. i want to see if the macro algae will be able to live in the sump. algae is in the drain chamber of the sump and would get first crack at pulling the nutrients from the water. return line feeds the biopellet, skimmer and uv sterilizer. i may try to only remove the detritus from the sump during water changes to see if that makes a difference, but i also dont want the detritus in the display to go unchecked. is there anything legal in hawaii that i can add to the display that is known to eat detritus? so far i added a bunch of saltwater opae to the display. they do a great job of picking up all the uneaten food, but not sure if they will eat detritus. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaddc June 25, 2013 Share June 25, 2013 Keep it going! Looking good! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimlin June 27, 2013 Author Share June 27, 2013 Keep it going! Looking good! thanks. update: so i was having trouble with my tlf 150 reactor lately. when i first started using biopellets, it was really tumbling in there. i had to actually turn down the flow 50% but lately it will not tumble due to buildup of bacteria on the biopellets. i cleaned out the screens which were covered with bacteria slime and placed it about two inches from the bottom. i also placed the top screen lower towards the media and it it is tumbling again. we will see how long this lasts before it stops tumbling again. the only hitchhiker hermit crab in my system which came from a rock in my sump discovered the return pump today. result = dead crab. found it this morning stuck on the return nozzle covered in bacteria slime. another hitchhiker was discovered in my display today. actually two. they look like some kind of goby. not sure which kind. it hides in a hole on the rock, goes out to eat some stuff off of the rock and goes back to hiding. got a picture of him sticking his head out of the little hole. took a picture of some rocks in my tank. i like the light green and purple coraline that is growing on it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YHSublime June 27, 2013 Share June 27, 2013 Free fish! Nice! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimlin July 6, 2013 Author Share July 6, 2013 (edited) Free fish! Nice!yup, but i wish i knew what fish it is so i can at least know how to take care of it.here is more pics of it. after dosing vitamin c, i guess it dont work for my system 6 jul 2013 20 jun 2013 so i been checking out my sump since i added a bunch of rubbles and noticed a bunch of clear worms on the glass and a single bug that looks like a beetle that looks like it is eating stuff on the glass. also seen some other mystery fish in there hiding in the rocks. not sure how i can get rubbles without getting any fish. i shake the rubbles around to get most of the stuff off of them and then shake it around in a bucket of water and i still have hitch hikers. oh well. hopefull it dont die. cant take care of something i know nothing about. full tank shot. Edited July 6, 2013 by jimlin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YHSublime July 6, 2013 Share July 6, 2013 Chances are if it was able to hitchike in your live rock, it will probably do alright in your tank. It seems like it's tough little thing already, I wouldn't worry that much about it. Hate to say it, but the zoas are not looking as hot as they were before... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimlin July 6, 2013 Author Share July 6, 2013 Chances are if it was able to hitchike in your live rock, it will probably do alright in your tank. It seems like it's tough little thing already, I wouldn't worry that much about it. Hate to say it, but the zoas are not looking as hot as they were before... ya, i stopped dosing vitamin c. guess it is not for everyone. on the bright side, the fishes are super healthy now. the clowns no longer have white dots on their body. have to wait and see if it comes back now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sachabballi reef July 7, 2013 Share July 7, 2013 Looks like a blenny? Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimlin July 21, 2013 Author Share July 21, 2013 Looks like a blenny?Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk 2 think you are right. so i have three of those suckers in my system and no way of getting them out. boo for hitch hikers. ----------------------------------------- moving---- sucks but it has to be done. across the street from the beach which hopefully means cooler temperature. all my shrimps died - temp reached 89 and ac still not installed due to move. added a bunch more zoas. zoas are alright, but all look kind of the same after a while. upcoming changes to the tank within the next two months: 1 yellow tang (4 in) 1 rhomboidalis wrasse (3 in) 3 ugly pajama cardinals (2 in, need to add some ugly to the tank) adding live sand -- tried bare bottom and zoas not liking the flow to keep the bottom clean. prob works better for sps tanks. apex jr jebao dc 6000 clip on sump fan more rocks still debating: flame wrasse - not sure how it will get along with the rhomboidalis copperband butterfly - not sure if i need it. sure the aiptasia is fighting for space with the zoas, but who cares - its only zoas. aiptasias also ****** any uneaten food from the water which is pretty cool to watch. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimlin August 17, 2013 Author Share August 17, 2013 aiptasia are actually growing on top of my zoas. after talking to the local fish store workers, i think i will be getting a aiptasia eating filefish. they are easy to feed and a lot hardier than the copperband. aiptasia after eating a large piece of flake food. aiptasia eating flake food. starfish split. good sign? inside my sump before the move. took the picture through the top of the avast cs1 skimmer collection cover. even using that, there were just too many micro bubbles coming down from the overflow to get a decent shot with this tablet. i pretty much made the drain side of the sump into a refugium by adding a bunch of live rocks. moving day. had to gut everything out from under the stand in order to move it because it was only me and my wife moving it. she is def. a keeper. i always thought she hated the fish tanks in the house, but after this move realized my whole family loves it as much as i do. they now even feed the fish for me when i am away. tank in the new home. almost complete. brave! it was small pieces of zoa that floated away from the rocks after the move. wrasse did not make it *tears* . it did not survive the acclimation process. maybe it got too stressed out during the two hour drive in my car without ac. guess it wasnt meant to be. uummm, how do i set this thing up again? finally added a chiller so hopefully that means no more fatalities. *fingers crossed* new jebao dc6000. more powerful than the eheim 1262, but because i am running everything my my system through this pump, more valves may be needed to make everything work together. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sachabballi reef August 17, 2013 Share August 17, 2013 Is captain America to ward off more blennies or aptaisia? Or is that your offering to the AC gods? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimlin August 17, 2013 Author Share August 17, 2013 (edited) captain america and deployment govie bob are suppose to be there to protect my tank from future terrorist attacks in my tank (unwanted blennies, aiptasias, bubble algaes, parasites). we will see how that turns out. p.s. the blennie made it through the move as well. i guess he was hiding in the rock during the move and managed to survive. Edited August 17, 2013 by jimlin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimlin September 15, 2013 Author Share September 15, 2013 new addition. flame wrasse. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smallreef September 15, 2013 Share September 15, 2013 He's so cute! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimlin September 22, 2013 Author Share September 22, 2013 ya, it is rather cute. i picked the smaller one because younger fish seems to do better during transport. i had problems with my tlf 150 reactor with piopellets. it seems like only one side tumbles after about two months of use. after a little research, i wanted to purchase the reef octopus biopellet reactor, but then decided to try mod it. one side tumbling while the other side becomes a detritus trap. even after taking out half the biopellets in the reactor, only one side tumbles. the mod. took out the bottom plate and glued the pipe to a funnel. looks real ugly, but im just testing to see if this mod actually works. hmm, added all the pellets back into the reactor to test. looks like its a go. will see if it will still tumble in two months. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sachabballi reef September 22, 2013 Share September 22, 2013 need a stronger pump? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimlin September 22, 2013 Author Share September 22, 2013 It is currently running off of a manifold. Jebao dc6000 is running the reactor, chiller and return water to the display. I tried running the reactor with a separate pump eater a little over 300 GPS, but would get the same result. Took out half the bio pellets and put in another tlf 150 and both reactors had the same problem. I think it's a design flaw. Don't think these reactors were meant for bio pellets. The mod is still working today and my skimmer is getting the foamy stuff in the collection cup again. Jebao dc6000 have been working well so far. Push button feed mode is pretty sweet. I still have my eheim pump on standby just in case the Jebao takes a crap on me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimlin September 29, 2013 Author Share September 29, 2013 Pretty close to 100%. Not hit or miss like Peppermint shrimp. finally picked up a copperband butterfly. currently eating live brine shrimp and will try to get it to eat what everything else eats. (frozen brine, flakes, pellets). although i see it pick stuff off of the live rocks, im not sure if it is aiptasia. he hangs out with the yellow tang in my tank, even at night they hang out together behind the rockwork. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YHSublime September 30, 2013 Share September 30, 2013 Looks like a nice cb, well done! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimlin October 6, 2013 Author Share October 6, 2013 thanks. it is still not eating aiptasia, but started eating frozen brine. the moded tlf reactor works great. no clumping so far so i filled the whole thing up with pellets to see how it will do. i did notice the pellets are getting smaller after the mod. not sure if it is because bacteria are eating it or if it is too much flow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaddc October 6, 2013 Share October 6, 2013 Nice! I'd guess bacteria. Hawaii treating you well? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimlin November 10, 2013 Author Share November 10, 2013 hawaii is nice. feels like im on vacation every day of the week. new boss of the tank. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YHSublime November 10, 2013 Share November 10, 2013 Living the dream ! Nice boss! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fscbishop November 10, 2013 Share November 10, 2013 I had a problem too, nice mod. i ended up getting this when they had a 15% off + free shipping ended up being 83 bucks. http://www.petstore.com/hydra-aquatics-biopellet-reactor and works great! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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