Brew's 187g slice of the ocean

[Brew12]

Now how about an #honestyinreefing update

Isn't it lovely? It smelled so bad when I cleaned it that my dog didn't want to be outside with me. Yup.. that bad. I normally don't let it go nearly so long without cleaning it. The sludge was thick!!!

Of course, that isn't the main issue from the maintenance day on Sunday. When I put fresh salt water back in the tank I use an MJ1200 to pump water from a bucket up into the display. I feel it is much easier and less shocking than dumping a full bucket onto the coral. As the water gets pumped in, I go back and forth to the garage to get water from my mixing station to the bucket the pump is in. One trip out to the garage the hose came loose from the clamp. I figure I pumped about 3 gallons of saltwater onto the floor.
And if that wasn't bad enough, I changed filter socks... and didn't realize I pulled my discharge for the calcium reactor out of the sump and to the back of the tank stand. That was another gallon or two of water on the floor. Oops. I'm almost proud that I had my 2 worst tank spills in the same day. Fortunately, I have plenty of towels for the pool, but it took two loads of laundry to get them clean. Ah well....

 

[najer]

I have a major mental block to automation, I have a Kamoer doser and an auto aqua smart ato still in boxes, because I don't do water changes it makes life a bit easier, I have to top up ro twice a day, I dose twice a day, I have figured out how to sort the doser out on a double back up so that is just me being lazy!

 

[SkiCatTX]

Now how about an #honestyinreefing update

Isn't it lovely? It smelled so bad when I cleaned it that my dog didn't want to be outside with me. Yup.. that bad. I normally don't let it go nearly so long without cleaning it. The sludge was thick!!!

Of course, that isn't the main issue from the maintenance day on Sunday. When I put fresh salt water back in the tank I use an MJ1200 to pump water from a bucket up into the display. I feel it is much easier and less shocking than dumping a full bucket onto the coral. As the water gets pumped in, I go back and forth to the garage to get water from my mixing station to the bucket the pump is in. One trip out to the garage the hose came loose from the clamp. I figure I pumped about 3 gallons of saltwater onto the floor.
And if that wasn't bad enough, I changed filter socks... and didn't realize I pulled my discharge for the calcium reactor out of the sump and to the back of the tank stand. That was another gallon or two of water on the floor. Oops. I'm almost proud that I had my 2 worst tank spills in the same day. Fortunately, I have plenty of towels for the pool, but it took two loads of laundry to get them clean. Ah well....

Been there! The wife even donated a pile of extra bath towels to the fish tank for future events. Now I have a dedicated set!

 

[NautiTang]

Do they have any ideas as to what is wrong with your knee, or its it TBD upon MRI results? I have a knee issue that they told me I'm "most likely not a candidate for surgery" because its not that bad. Except when it is... It doesn't start hurting until I run hike or do anything active...

 

[Brew12]

Do they have any ideas as to what is wrong with your knee, or its it TBD upon MRI results? I have a knee issue that they told me I'm "most likely not a candidate for surgery" because its not that bad. Except when it is... It doesn't start hurting until I run hike or do anything active...

It is a torn meniscus. Should be a very minor surgery, compared to other knee issues. The MRI is to establish just how bad the tear is, or at least get a better idea. I've dealt with it similar to you. Now that I am working my way to a marathon I want it cleaned up. Fortunately, my company is self insured and we have a private doctor. He is very supportive and all I need is his authorization for insurance to let me get it cleaned up.

 

[Brew12]

I can't upgrade my system until I get some major flooring work done. That might take until spring. Things in life just seem to be going slow.
I've thought about setting up a fun minimalistic tank. I'm thinking about setting up a 55g with 2 heaters, 2 power heads, and a light. No sump, no skimmer, no HOB or canister filter. SPS only. Maybe try to catch my damsels and put them in it.
I think it would be a fun, low maintenance minimalistic system.

 

[NY_Caveman]

I can't upgrade my system until I get some major flooring work done. That might take until spring. Things in life just seem to be going slow.
I've thought about setting up a fun minimalistic tank. I'm thinking about setting up a 55g with 2 heaters, 2 power heads, and a light. No sump, no skimmer, no HOB or canister filter. SPS only. Maybe try to catch my damsels and put them in it.
I think it would be a fun, low maintenance minimalistic system.

I had a 10 gallon Damsel only tank in the early 90s with no filter at all and it was kind of awesome. It was my experimental stage. I had three tanks at the time and worked at an LFS so I was trying lots of different things.

Who am I kidding? I am still experimenting, LOL! Aren’t we all just winging it?

Who can really know the ocean?

 

[NautiTang]

It is a torn meniscus. Should be a very minor surgery, compared to other knee issues. The MRI is to establish just how bad the tear is, or at least get a better idea. I've dealt with it similar to you. Now that I am working my way to a marathon I want it cleaned up. Fortunately, my company is self insured and we have a private doctor. He is very supportive and all I need is his authorization for insurance to let me get it cleaned up.

Yea they told me its probably a slight meniscus tear as well, fortunately it doesn't hurt normally unless I want to do something active. Navy docs...

 

[Brew12]

The remnants of hurricane Delta are moving through but I really wanted to get a run in. So, I did. Over an inch of rain fell during the run. Felt great, but now I'm ready for a nap!

 

[Victoria M]

The remnants of hurricane Delta are moving through but I really wanted to get a run in. So, I did. Over an inch of rain fell during the run. Felt great, but now I'm ready for a nap!

Love walking in the rain!

 

[RichtheReefer21]

Great updates and the top down shots are epic. Been a blast watching this build come into full bloom. Well done sir!

Good luck w the surgery and fast recovery hopefully. Nice work on the races too. i need to find an exercise that i can get into. Runnin never cut the cheese for me.

 

[Flippers4pups]

Now how about an #honestyinreefing update

Isn't it lovely? It smelled so bad when I cleaned it that my dog didn't want to be outside with me. Yup.. that bad. I normally don't let it go nearly so long without cleaning it. The sludge was thick!!!

Of course, that isn't the main issue from the maintenance day on Sunday. When I put fresh salt water back in the tank I use an MJ1200 to pump water from a bucket up into the display. I feel it is much easier and less shocking than dumping a full bucket onto the coral. As the water gets pumped in, I go back and forth to the garage to get water from my mixing station to the bucket the pump is in. One trip out to the garage the hose came loose from the clamp. I figure I pumped about 3 gallons of saltwater onto the floor.
And if that wasn't bad enough, I changed filter socks... and didn't realize I pulled my discharge for the calcium reactor out of the sump and to the back of the tank stand. That was another gallon or two of water on the floor. Oops. I'm almost proud that I had my 2 worst tank spills in the same day. Fortunately, I have plenty of towels for the pool, but it took two loads of laundry to get them clean. Ah well....

You need a wiper on the skimmer! lol (That's more automation!)

Hope the knee gets better!

 

[Brew12]

You need a wiper on the skimmer! lol (That's more automation!)

Hope the knee gets better!

I have a wiper for the skimmer! It needs a little repair work right now. I'll get to it one of these days.... And the knee isn't bad. It should just be fairly minor clean up.

 

[Brew12]

Been doing some father/son bonding time but heading home now.

 

[Brew12]

 

[Brew12]

#honestyinreefing
Well... had another small alk spike. Not sure exactly what caused it. The only thing that seems to have been impacted is my large birdsnest colony. It is shedding flesh. I'm not sure if it is dying because of the alk spike (from 9.5 to 11.2 over 5 days, so not massive) or if it's dying has changed my demand that much.
The pH of my Calc reactor has also very slowly been dropping which may also be the cause. So, I shut off the CO2 to my reactor this morning to let alk drop. I figure it should be back down under 10dkh by the time I get home this afternoon. Then I will valve it back on.

I do think I'm going to bump my lighting intensity back up. I lowered it a few months ago to try and reduce growth. Unfortunately, I've also started to loose color in my blue acro's. Hopefully it won't take too long for them to color back up once I increase lighting by 20%.

 

[Victoria M]

Beyond happy you got to go to Disney with your son!

 

[RichtheReefer21]

#honestyinreefing
Well... had another small alk spike. Not sure exactly what caused it. The only thing that seems to have been impacted is my large birdsnest colony. It is shedding flesh. I'm not sure if it is dying because of the alk spike (from 9.5 to 11.2 over 5 days, so not massive) or if it's dying has changed my demand that much.
The pH of my Calc reactor has also very slowly been dropping which may also be the cause. So, I shut off the CO2 to my reactor this morning to let alk drop. I figure it should be back down under 10dkh by the time I get home this afternoon. Then I will valve it back on.

I do think I'm going to bump my lighting intensity back up. I lowered it a few months ago to try and reduce growth. Unfortunately, I've also started to loose color in my blue acro's. Hopefully it won't take too long for them to color back up once I increase lighting by 20%.

At least u caught it. How have things progressed?

 

[Brew12]

At least u caught it. How have things progressed?

Not great, but it could have been much worse.
The alk spike did cause my system to start crashing. It became a vicious cycle where the spike caused a drop in demand which caused alk to climb.... I took the CaRx offline to get better control of the dosing rate so I do have the tank stable again.
Currently, my alk demand is right around 100ml per day, which is about 1/5th of where it was before the crash. Still very little polyp extension and things aren't looking great. A massive birdsnest looks to be a complete loss. One staghorn has some significant STN but I think I've got it stopped. A few other corals have some minor issues.
All in all, I got very lucky.

 

[RichtheReefer21]

Not great, but it could have been much worse.
The alk spike did cause my system to start crashing. It became a vicious cycle where the spike caused a drop in demand which caused alk to climb.... I took the CaRx offline to get better control of the dosing rate so I do have the tank stable again.
Currently, my alk demand is right around 100ml per day, which is about 1/5th of where it was before the crash. Still very little polyp extension and things aren't looking great. A massive birdsnest looks to be a complete loss. One staghorn has some significant STN but I think I've got it stopped. A few other corals have some minor issues.
All in all, I got very lucky.

Hopefully the recovery is swift.