Brew's 187g slice of the ocean

Brew12 · Jul 21, 2019

RichtheReefer21 said:
Hope things are well around the home and with Bailey. You and @Fudsey have been on my mind. Time heals all, if you let it. I didnt want to intrude on your original post, of the fishing trip, but I decided to share a pic with you of my late boy, Diesel, he was 6 and in his prime here. 5 years ago. Your photo reminded me of it.

Lake Sebago, Maine. Big hugs bud.

Dang I miss him.

Thank you for sharing. A good dog is such an amazing blessing and does so much to enrich our lives.

RichtheReefer21 · Jul 21, 2019

Brew12 said:
Thank you for sharing. A good dog is such an amazing blessing and does so much to enrich our lives.

He was my life. They are unique with their impact on our lives. Cheers to them.

Forshurley · Jul 21, 2019

"I am making the center column removable to get the sump in and out. "

Great idea, all tanks should have a feature like this!

Brew12 · Jul 24, 2019

I know I've been slacking on updates. I miss the days where I had more free time!

Other than algae, the tank is actually doing great. The SPS are starting to get their color back although I'm guessing it will take another month or two before they get back to where they were. Even though I've lost a few coral, I noticed 2 corals that my Hippo tang broke off the rock and moved into locations they are alive and should be retrievable from. Hope to get them glued back to where they belong soon.
I'm also in the nice position that my coral growth is finally taking off again and alk consumption is climbing. I've had to increase dosing by over 20ml of 2 part daily and demand is accelerating. I'm very grateful for my alk monitor and I'd likely have crashed my tank without it. I have it limited to adjusting my dosing by up to 6ml per day (up or down) so I've only had to make a manual adjustment once per week or so.

As long as nothing new comes up, I should have time to take some pictures Thursday night. I want to photograph just how bad the cyano is in some areas and the newest algae issue before I get it cleaned up. Tank lighting won't be optimal for pictures by that time but I can also at least show some of the new growth.

Brew12 · Jul 24, 2019

And of course, right after making the previous post I ran into an issue. My KH Director showed my alk to have dropped by over 1dkh today despite me ramping up dosing. Verified it with my Hanna checker and it was a dead match.

Of course, it quickly became obvious that my dosing container was empty.

My Profilux controller was still showing 10 days worth of solution so refilling was on my weekend to do list. My guess is that when the controller ramps up dosing due to adjustments from the KH Director that it does not accurately track usage.

Now I know... fortunately, I doubt it did any harm since it went empty less than 18 hours ago and my Kalkwasser was still being added.

Brew12 · Jul 25, 2019

#honestyinreefing

Here we go... I actually took some pictures. Most of my rock is covered in this, except where my CuC is most active. I'm very content to have this algae right now since it is starving out the other stuff and isn't hurting anything.

Care to see my wonderfully clean sand bed?

Or how about my shiny clean pumps?

Crazy that my tank can look like this and I'm still pleased.... everything it has going on I can easily clean up once I have the time.

Brew12 · Jul 25, 2019

How about some growth pictures? All of my zoas are doing fine. Most of my SPS have browned out but they are slowly coloring back up. Here's a few quick picks of what is doing the best.

Hard to tell from this picture, but this monti cap has exploded in size the last month.

This milli was having trouble a bit ago and has rebounded nicely!

This guy had gotten very pale but has returned to its deeper colors in the last few weeks. Unfortunately, it was a bit deflated when I took this.

I haven't gotten the yellow back in the tips of this forest fire digi but its growing like a weed.

Its about as good as I could do with my lights starting to dim in the limited time I have. Now I need to start doing some work on the tank!

Victoria M · Jul 26, 2019

Sooo pretty.

RichtheReefer21 · Jul 26, 2019

On the up and up I see. Always nice to see the rebound happen. That monti has a sweet pattern to it. And the milli looks like it's very happy, growing out nice and even!

Good stuff!

Brew12 · Jul 26, 2019

Quick cell phone pics

GoVols · Jul 27, 2019

Your growth and fill in, looks great.

Brew12 · Jul 27, 2019

Been a busy day on the tank. I mixed up another gallon of each of the 2 parts so I could refill the dosing containers. Did a 30g water change. Cleaned the skimmate locker and the skimmer cup. Refilled the GFO reactor. Cleaned and refilled the Oxydator. Glued a few broken coral pieces to frag plugs and re-attached a few corals that had broken loose. My aquarium should appreciate the attention. I may even have it looking good again by the time MACNA rolls around.

As an aside... I was typing this while sitting by the pool and watching the Cubs game. We have a 0% chance of rain today. Except that it just started raining so I had to take cover under the patio. Go figure. Silly weather guessers......

RichtheReefer21 · Jul 28, 2019

Brew12 said:
Been a busy day on the tank. I mixed up another gallon of each of the 2 parts so I could refill the dosing containers. Did a 30g water change. Cleaned the skimmate locker and the skimmer cup. Refilled the GFO reactor. Cleaned and refilled the Oxydator. Glued a few broken coral pieces to frag plugs and re-attached a few corals that had broken loose. My aquarium should appreciate the attention. I may even have it looking good again by the time MACNA rolls around.

As an aside... I was typing this while sitting by the pool and watching the Cubs game. We have a 0% chance of rain today. Except that it just started raining so I had to take cover under the patio. Go figure. Silly weather guessers......

What's your water change routine look like if I may demand it?

Brew12 · Jul 28, 2019

RichtheReefer21 said:
What's your water change routine look like if I may demand it?

I try to change 25 to 30 gallons every 3 weeks.

RichtheReefer21 · Jul 28, 2019

Brew12 said:
I try to change 25 to 30 gallons every 3 weeks.

See that's what I'm afraid of if I go bigger next time. Right now in doing 5g weekly water changes, mainly because I'm not dosing yet. When I do a "big" wc, it's usually 20g and that's barely 15%. Unless I decided to go the auto wc route, I dont think I'm going over a 200g with my next build. Manual water changes on large systems are a mule. I have toyed with the idea of hard plumbing with a pump from a mixing station, and a ball valve drain system on the sump, for 1 touch wc's as well. But if I go automated, I'll just let the Dosers do small 3g wc's daily or something. So many options.

Brew12 · Jul 28, 2019

RichtheReefer21 said:
See that's what I'm afraid of if I go bigger next time. Right now in doing 5g weekly water changes, mainly because I'm not dosing yet. When I do a "big" wc, it's usually 20g and that's barely 15%. Unless I decided to go the auto wc route, I dont think I'm going over a 200g with my next build. Manual water changes on large systems are a mule. I have toyed with the idea of hard plumbing with a pump from a mixing station, and a ball valve drain system on the sump, for 1 touch wc's as well. But if I go automated, I'll just let the Dosers do small 3g wc's daily or something. So many options.

Definitely a challenge. 30 gallons is the most I can easily do, which is under 20%. With planning and extra work I can get it up to around 70g which is still under 50%. I think 45g is the biggest I have actually done.

RichtheReefer21 · Jul 28, 2019

Brew12 said:
Definitely a challenge. 30 gallons is the most I can easily do, which is under 20%. With planning and extra work I can get it up to around 70g which is still under 50%. I think 45g is the biggest I have actually done.

Yea no thanks. Ha