madweazl June 25, 2016 Author Share June 25, 2016 (edited) Wow, I have to say that those don't look that great. I'm sure black hides the blemishes much better. I spoke with Mike at SBReef about it and he went out of his way to make it right (offered to cross ship so I didnt have any downtime along with a few other options) but I'm ok with them the way they are since they will be under a canopy anyways. Now that the lights are here, I was able to confirm that I had the right connectors so I soldered up the adapters. Then I soldered and sleeved the control cables (each cable has two 3.5mm plugs to control a channel on a pair of lights). Drilled a pair of holes (one at each end) on the back of each lights for the 3.5mm jacks. Not too bad (besides the ugly craftsmanship on the box itself...) Edited June 25, 2016 by madweazl Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madweazl June 25, 2016 Author Share June 25, 2016 Tomorrow I'll wire up the other two temp sensors and try to figure out how I'm going to address this canopy conundrum. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madweazl June 25, 2016 Author Share June 25, 2016 (edited) One more set of floats for the skimmer compartment. While the Bubble Magus does a fantastic job, it has a really small tuning window when it comes to water level. These floats will be used to turn the skimmer off if the water level gets a little too high (which only takes about 1/2"). Edited June 25, 2016 by madweazl Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madweazl June 29, 2016 Author Share June 29, 2016 I ran across a beautiful BTA over the weekend that was about the size of a quarter and had to have it. The tank is young (30 days today) but I've done it in the past with BTAs that looked healthy without issue. It has been sitting under the overhang that is right above it in the picture the last few days but peaked out for some light yesterday. The green mushrooms that smuggled themselves in on the live rock a few weeks ago are looking really good and now open to about twice the size they were upon initial entry to the tank. I'll try to snap a shot of them this evening. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madweazl June 29, 2016 Author Share June 29, 2016 Only have a couple cerith snails (came in with the macro starter pack) but they are dropping babies like crazy. Female anthias munches on the little crawlers all day long (male is lazy and just waits for feeding time); pretty cool to watch. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madweazl June 30, 2016 Author Share June 30, 2016 (edited) I'm running a 6500k CFL over the sump and the chaeto was dying off but the gracilaria and caulerpa (paspaloides and prolifera) are doing really well. I removed the chaeto and may or may not replace it (had it growing great under a 6500k JBJ nano fuge light for a couple years in the past so perhaps I didnt have enough output or there just wasnt enough nutrients to feed it yet). For now it is pretty cool to see the others growing so well (the prolifera lives up to its name and grows pretty fast). Edited June 30, 2016 by madweazl Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madweazl June 30, 2016 Author Share June 30, 2016 The pH has been falling gradually over the last week or so and I figured it was because of excess CO2 in the house but it has just been too nasty outside to open a window/door until last night. I opened two windows in the man-cave (er, office...) before I went to bed and as suspected, the pH went up. At a time when it typically is within a couple hours of its lowest point, it is actually near its highest of late. It is nice to know the causal factor but I dont really have a way to address this problem either. I cant think of a realistic means to correct the problem (rooms on two sides and above it) since I'm not willing to drill a hole through the wall (yet). I'd like to be able to keep it higher (not that I'm particularly concerned with where it is at) but wont bother with things like soda ash since the setup is capable of holding the desired value (just needs fresh air). At 5:00am yesterday, the pH was 7.90 (continues to fall until about 9:00am) but today it was 8.05 (presumably will continue to rise the entire photo period today). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
monkiboy June 30, 2016 Share June 30, 2016 (edited) what about a scrubber/soda lime? Edited June 30, 2016 by monkiboy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madweazl June 30, 2016 Author Share June 30, 2016 I've been considering a scrubber; like keeping things as natural (and simple) as possible. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madweazl July 1, 2016 Author Share July 1, 2016 Since purchasing the anthias, I've been feeding three times a day (10:30, 16:30, and 21:30ish). I know I've been over feeding (probably not quite a cube a day) but their need for food along with the ich that made its way into the tank with them necessitated keeping them as healthy as possible. I was completely ready for a GHA outbreak and about three days ago I started to see the first signs of it. I ordered an ultra low range Hanna checker (never much worried about testing things the past seven or eight years but decided what the H-E-double hockey sticks) along with some more red PVC (have to re-plumb the return pump so it isnt in the way of the refugium light) and other odds and ends this evening. I looked over the sump and all was looking pretty good down there; the skimmer is dialed in pretty well but needs to be lowered a bit so I can increase the flow, the macros are growing well in there, the filter sock is nasty as all H-E-double hockey sticks (think I replaced it Saturday or Sunday), and there is a bit of detritus down there but overall, I'm pretty pleased so I focused attention to the display. Hmm, the 1/4" long GHA that was present yesterday is completely gone today. Not mostly, sort of, or kind of, it is GONE! I was truly surprised a tank this young was capable of overcoming the relatively huge amounts of food (waste) that were being presented to it with almost no clean-up crew (15 hermits in the display and two cerith snails in the refugium). This isnt to say it wont come back with a vengeance but the steady macro growth is a pretty good indication that it is able to keep up with my current "abuse." The anthias are doing fantastic; the male is starting to grow yellow streamers on his tail fins and the females tail fins are going from a light yellow to a vivid yellowish orange. On the negative side, the male is being more pugnacious and chases her more than should be happening creating some stress (and some banged up markings on her noggin) but for the time being, they look fantastic. If the third female is still available, I'll probably add her tomorrow (cant help it, they're gorgeous and I'd rather have her than most other options right now). I'd really love to find a couple shrimp gobies but they're proving a bit difficult locally for what I want (hi-fin red banded, yasha, and/or tangaroa). So anywho, here are a couple FTSs that arent very good (ordered some gel film today too). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlanM July 1, 2016 Share July 1, 2016 For pH, some folks take the air input to the skimmer and run a hose to the outside. You get a tremendous amount of air exchange in the skimmer foam, so you can supposedly raise the tank pH by sucking in outside air for the skimmer foam instead of using inside house air. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madweazl July 1, 2016 Author Share July 1, 2016 Finally got everything together to switch over to the red power cords. I had to add different ends to the cables and remount everything which ended up being a four hour project and a ridiculous amount of money in wires and various connectors. Tomorrow I'm going to grab some spark plug wire organizers to try and clean it up around the relay box a little better. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madweazl July 1, 2016 Author Share July 1, 2016 Slowly but surely... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
surf&turf July 2, 2016 Share July 2, 2016 Looks great!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madweazl July 2, 2016 Author Share July 2, 2016 (edited) Looks great!! Thank you. Tank maintenance done! What, you thought my buckets would be a different color? Edited July 2, 2016 by madweazl Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madweazl July 2, 2016 Author Share July 2, 2016 Well, what a difference 24 hours makes. At some point, somebody beat up the male anthias pretty good (wounds near his dorsal streamer, pectoral fins, and mouth). Cant imagine but the female would have done it (she looks great after having similar wounds the other day but not as severe) but I dont really have anything else to pin it on (clown is tiny and doesnt bug anything and the coral beauty is very docile). He's not wasting any energy today; swimming but very lethargically (not the typical darting around) and he was an unbelievably voracious eater. Hope he recovers :( Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madweazl July 3, 2016 Author Share July 3, 2016 (edited) Naturally, there is a faint reflection of my monitor screwing up what would otherwise be a decent picture. The male's condition remains unchanged. Wounds might be slightly better but didnt eat this morning (and he doesnt want his picture taken). Edited July 3, 2016 by madweazl Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madweazl July 4, 2016 Author Share July 4, 2016 Male anthias died today Wish I knew what happened; I just havent seen any physical aggression (male would chase the female occasionally). Obviously I dont see everything they do (especially when the lights go out) but it makes me wonder if I might have a crab running around. The wounds on both were just before the dorsal fin; the female hid in the rock for a couple days when it happened to her but came out occasionally and always during feeding. When it happened to the male, he stopped eating altogether. After four or five days, you couldnt tell anything had happened to the female but the male never showed signs of healing.Any other ideas? I only two pieces of live rock in there so there wasnt a huge chance of introducing some sort of hitchhiking predator but it's certainly possible. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
surf&turf July 5, 2016 Share July 5, 2016 Sorry, that bites!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madweazl July 7, 2016 Author Share July 7, 2016 Sorry, that bites!! No pun intended Coral beauty is out a lot more since his death, hmm. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
surf&turf July 7, 2016 Share July 7, 2016 That could be your culprit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madweazl July 7, 2016 Author Share July 7, 2016 Well, today the coral beauty has a couple scratches up near his dorsal fin. These are pretty superficial but best I can tell, something is spooking them and they're getting banged up in the rock work; whether it is them doing it to one another or some other predator, I dont know. Guess it's time to set up some traps to see if I can find a crab. I'd suspect fins getting tore up if it were a crab but I havent seen any of that (male had a pectoral fin with some damage). It's a little blurry in the pic but they are like two little slices about 1/8" long side by side (could be teeth I suppose). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madweazl July 8, 2016 Author Share July 8, 2016 (edited) Before and after (chaeto was either starved for light or nutrients and was dying off so I removed it a couple weeks ago). 15 June 2016 macro algae 8 July 2016 macro algae Edited July 8, 2016 by madweazl Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madweazl July 9, 2016 Author Share July 9, 2016 Carbon replaced 8 Jul 2016 (sorry, it's my build thread and journal). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madweazl July 9, 2016 Author Share July 9, 2016 Installed a Jebao RW8 on the opposite side of the WP25 and wish I would have ordered the RW15 instead. I'm not really planning on SPS but the extra headroom would have been nice in the long run I think. If I moved the pumps to the back wall it would probably be fine but across 4' it is merely adequate. Overall flow seems similar to the WP25 but it is definitely spread over a wider pattern. It is very quiet which is nice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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