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Mike's 17gal tank


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Tonights tests:

 

ammonia - 0

nitrite - 0

nitrate - 5-10

phosphate - read 84 on hanna ulr which is .257, which is WAY high.

 

I have chaeto in the tank and added some snails and mb7 every other day just a few drips.

 

Going to start ghost feeding to raise nitrate and add a BUNCH of gfo to drop phosphate.

 

Question: Do fish mind high phosphate or only corals?

Edited by BowieReefer84
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Added a filter bag with about 8 tablespoons of GFO.  Still need to tie in the sump, but need some 1/2" pipe/tubing to make that happen.  Hoping to get phosphates to drop by heavy GFO usage, and then planning on a 50-100% waterchange sometime in October before adding first fish.

 

Going with Instant Ocean Salt and Bionic for calc/alk.

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Could you just drip a little LaCl3, SeaKlear, in there while you have no livestock and drop it in a hurry?

 

Apparently the precip'd lanthanum phosphate is inert.

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Funny you say that.  I do have a bottle of that stuff I purchased a while back with the intent to use it.  However, I heard that the white precipate/film is hard to remove from anything it lands on.  I'm not in a rush, and I know GFO is safe.

 

If you want some of it for your tank let me know.  I have what seems like a lifetime supply.

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Funny you say that.  I do have a bottle of that stuff I purchased a while back with the intent to use it.  However, I heard that the white precipate/film is hard to remove from anything it lands on.  I'm not in a rush, and I know GFO is safe.

 

If you want some of it for your tank let me know.  I have what seems like a lifetime supply.

I would like some, actually. Was planning to go to the local pool store soon to look for some.

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You know I have the Jedi Mind Trick from your old tank, when you get going I'll frag you a chunk.  Your fat 6 line wrasse is still living and in my frag tank also.

 

Nice!  Steve175 got a small piece, and I was at his house and it's huge now.  Nice seeing corals grow out in the club, and fish doing well.

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Moving along!

Getting this up and running is so fun to watch!

Thanks.  I am looking forward to stocking it with corals including:

 

Sunset monti

Mike Paletta Blue monti

Grinch monti

Jedi Mind Trick monti

Tyree Rainbow monti

Pink Cadillac monti

superman monti

vesuviius monti

setosa

 

I want to do 3 sps in the top of the tank, but still need to decide.  Def a blue acro like oregon tort or california tort.  A red like red dragon or red planet, and then maybe a green mili

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I think your tank would look better if you put the heater somewhere other than the front glass.. But thats just my opinion.

Otherwise I think  it looks good. And I think thats a pretty nice monti list, but I think you forgot a few..

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I think your tank would look better if you put the heater somewhere other than the front glass.. But thats just my opinion.

Otherwise I think  it looks good. And I think thats a pretty nice monti list, but I think you forgot a few..

I was actually about to add another heather in there on the front, and another dangling bag of carbon.

 

What monti am I missing?  There seem to be a lot...  I am not putting mystic sunset on the list, as I only see brown base.

 

I guess I should add reverse sunset monti.  I basicallly want to jam pack it.

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Set up the skimmer tonight.  SC-301 is already breaking in an hour after setup.  I modded it by cutting the output of the pump about 1.5" to change how it works.  Saw it on nano-reef as a good mod.  Really quiet, and I am going to diy a silencer out of a film canister to drop it down even more.

 

9792609703_f7ff7c7f2e.jpg
skimmer 2 by mteske1, on Flickr

 

9792542014_aec64ff148.jpg
skimmer 3 by mteske1, on Flickr
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Added a Banggai and frag of mystic sunset this afternoon.  Levels are all spot on.  Phosphates still a little high, but I am using a lot of gfo for now.

 

Will rely on water changes for now, then at some point move to two part on a dosing pump like I had on my old tank.

 

I just couldn't resist a nice size healed up chunk of mystic sunset for $45 at Todays Pet.  Color is amazing.

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Added a Banggai and frag of mystic sunset this afternoon.  Levels are all spot on.  Phosphates still a little high, but I am using a lot of gfo for now.

 

Will rely on water changes for now, then at some point move to two part on a dosing pump like I had on my old tank.

 

I just couldn't resist a nice size healed up chunk of mystic sunset for $45 at Todays Pet.  Color is amazing.

Todays Pet actually had something worth buying in that algae infested frag tank? :)

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They get some good stuff man, you just have to keep checking (it's so close I don't mind leaving empty handed).  I have picked up a LOT of nice montipora there before for good prices.  Water was spot on at 1.026 unlike some place that keep the coral tanks lower.

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That's a cool skimmer mods. Have you used the skimmer stock before in order to maybe compare performance? Do you think you're seeing better results?

 

Any pictures of the new additions?!

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That's a cool skimmer mods. Have you used the skimmer stock before in order to maybe compare performance? Do you think you're seeing better results?

 

Any pictures of the new additions?!

I got the skimmer used with the tank.  I didn't run it before modding it so I can't say, and also the tank is empty basically.  I figure if it can pull anything from an empty tank it's good enough.  It's rated for a 65 gal tank and I only have about 22 gallons including the sump.

 

No pictures.  I've decided pictures are lame.

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You should add a small phosban 150 to the sump for carbon/GFO.

Yea, that is on my list of things to get.  For now I threw a 2nd bag of GFO in the sump.  Phosphate has gone from 84ppb to 64ppb to 40ppb in the past week.  End goal is 10ppb.

 

Here is the frag of mystic sunset (the base is more redish than this pic shows) and I have cleaned everything up:

9861343876_3d2e6d5234.jpg
20130921_161942 by mteske1, on Flickr

 

 

 

9861424673_4aefe01bf7.jpg
20130921_125459-1 by mteske1, on Flickr
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