Austin's Build

[austinl]

Which AI controller were you using? The Director?

I'm pretty sure it was just called "AI Controller" it was a little white box powered by USB.

 

[austinl]

Quick little update...

Monitoring my tank going through the cycle everything looks to be on track although I have yet to see any algae.

Ammo has begun dropping
Nitrite has risen and fallen
Nitrates are on the rise.

We have our quarantine tank all setup with our first inhabitants

2 cleaner shrimp
3 turbo snail
3 hermit crabs
1 emerald crap

And an extra shell encrusted with coralline.

I though the hermit crabs might try and fight over the shell but I guess something else found a home in there first.

Sorry for the bad picks....would this be a fire bristleworm or a regular?

And most importantly would you keep it or get road of it.

 

[Roy 9121]

I'm pretty sure it was just called "AI Controller" it was a little white box powered by USB.

Do you still have it

 

[austinl]

Hey Everyone,

Time for a much needed update. I have been doing lots of maintenance on the tank to prevent as much ugly tank syndrome as i can, so lots of testing, careful feeding, skimmer and sump cleaning and lots of water changes.

My cycle went as well as can be expected, no more ammonia and nitrites, just dealing with residual nitrates.

It looks as though I am having Diatom and Green Hair algae at the same time, but thankyfully no Cyano (fingers crossed)

My quarantine of the inverts went well and I avoided adding some nasty bristle worms that were in some empty shells that came along with my snails, hermits, shrimp and emerald crab. We had one Astrea snail fatality out of the entire clean up crew so all in all not bad.

The tank is currently housing the following;

2 Perc (names forthcoming)
5 Astrea Snails
2 Nassareus Snails
3 Hermit Crabs
2 Cleaner Shrimp
1 Emerald Crab


Im thinking about getting my Tang to help with the algae as I have a yellow and bristletooth on hold at a local shop where all my fish are coming from. But we will see how the tank goes over the next week or two.

Im also starting to plan out my corals and would appreciate hearing from you guys on your thoughts for types and placements given my two island style layout. My goal is a mixed tank with SPS being more dominant but definitly want some softies and a torch/nem for my clowns.


Here are some updated shots of the tank, cant wait to hear from you guys.

Full Tank Shots

Aquascape details

 

[austinl]

Weekend update.....

Did a little maintenance this week, cleaned up the sand bed a little after a few sandstorms from playing with pump placements. I think I have decided to keep one MP40 on each side offset a bit in both horizontal and vertical positions. I am running the WWC program of alternating Reef Crest and Constant mode from side to side at around 30% with one phase of NTM after feeding and a lower intensity at midnight until 6am.

I also tuned my Bean animal drain height on the open channel so that the water doesn't fall as far over my overflow making it even more quiet than it already was....I actually hear more water from my sump area behind a wall now than I do from the main tank.

Still attempting to tweak my Radion schedule for the Gen4 XR15's. I am running the coral lab AB currently but trying to find a nice balance of colours for the viewing period at night. This is seemingly hard to do with no corals in the tank so I'm sure it will change.

As for corals I want to start adding them soon. I have some ideas in my head but I would really like to hear from other more experienced reefers on this topic.

My first thought was more SPS dominant on the left side with large colonies rather than smaller multitudes. I kind of envision say 3/4 and then need to pick some stuff for the lower areas that match well with them.

The right side i envision some zoa/mushrooms on the lower small rocks off in front of the main structure. The main structure would see hopefully a hosting anemone for our clownfish or a torch depending on availability (hard to find a nice anemone currently up here in great white north) matching the anemone would be some green star polyps maybe.

Also in the opening between the two I can see maybe a plate of some kind to creat an overhang like a bridge or overpass.

I would like all of your guys input especially on what is best for the vertical spots and what mixes well.

I posted some shots of just the rocks so if there are any coral gurus that feel like photoshopping some coral on a blank canvas that would be great!

Thanks guys

 

[wowkingjames]

Nice set up.

 

[austinl]

Nice set up.

Thanks wowkingjames

 

[austinl]

Friday night update.

Quite a few changes since my last update. The tank cycle has come and gone and I was super aggressive with water changes to limit the dirty tank / ugly tank syndrome.

The Clean Up Crew did a great job as well, every morning I see my Emerald crab scurrying about across the sandbed and over the rocks.

The lonely clowns got some tank mates this week as the tangs I had on hold were picked up however the hawkfish we also had on hold got sold somehow. So we opted for a few green chromis to add some flashes of color and movement as the clowns don't venture too far from one corner of the tank.

Some corals were also added along with a nem for the clowns but the nem is in hiding after a 3 days with the clowns in a acclimation box and I hope he makes his return from the hole he has climbed into.

Here is a list of what corals we have so far,

Tyree Le Purple Starburst Porites(would love to know what if the white thing in the picture is it expanding)

Midnight Grand Acan Lord
Fiery Heart Acan Lord

Rainbow Bubbles Florida Ricordia
Sweet Pea Florida Ricordia
Pool Party Florida Ricordia

Green bubble tip Anemone

This week also saw delivery of some new products as I made the switch to Aquaforest for supplements and Salt.

So far I can say the salt is great and the carbon and GFO are working wonders already and are far easier to use than my previous products.

Now what update would be complete without some pictures. Im thinking im going to see a new macro lens in the future, but hopefully these will do. Still working on post processing especially white balance but here they are.

 

[PmRg]

The tank looks very clean still young.

Your pictures quality is very nice, loving the angles.

About the tank size vs XR15, I would like to see some PAR readings humm

 

[austinl]

The tank looks very clean still young.

Your pictures quality is very nice, loving the angles.

About the tank size vs XR15, I would like to see some PAR readings humm

The tank has been running since February and I have done lots of water changes to keep it clean.

There does seem to be a bit more algae as of late few brown patches and some green on the rocks. Can't seem to get any coralline yet.

I'm going to see if I can find a par meter near me to borrow/rent.

Currently I'm running the lights at about 30% only....if I go higher it really seems to stir up algae growth right now.

 

[PmRg]

The tank has been running since February and I have done lots of water changes to keep it clean.

There does seem to be a bit more algae as of late few brown patches and some green on the rocks. Can't seem to get any coralline yet.

I'm going to see if I can find a par meter near me to borrow/rent.

Currently I'm running the lights at about 30% only....if I go higher it really seems to stir up algae growth right now.

early stages... that's normal... I ran mine at 45% for 6-8months if I recall it correctly then I got a PAR meter and started to raise 5% every 15days.

anyway a good way to get coraline algae to kick in is to grab hermit crabs with coraline algae on the shells lol they go around the rocks eating algae and bumping the "coraline shells" on the rocks there for "seeding coraline algae" everywhere

 

[austinl]

early stages... that's normal... I ran mine at 45% for 6-8months if I recall it correctly then I got a PAR meter and started to raise 5% every 15days.

anyway a good way to get coraline algae to kick in is to grab hermit crabs with coraline algae on the shells lol they go around the rocks eating algae and bumping the "coraline shells" on the rocks there for "seeding coraline algae" everywhere

Yeah my snails and crabs have a good amount of coraline on them at the moment.

I'm going to try your lighting at a much lower level and see how it goes and work on those par numbers.

 

[austinl]

Quick little update, finally got around to selling some stuff that I had from the original build and stuff I had upgraded. What better place to meet than at a coral shop so I could spend the money [emoji16]

Picked up a couple nice pieces if anyone can identify and name them it would be a great help.

 

[choss]

Any updates to this build?

 

[austinl]

Any updates to this build?

Yeah my thread is in serious need of some updates. I will post some this afternoon with some updates shots.