Chris' 180 Gallon In Wall Office Tank

iced98lx · Aug 15, 2018

Janci said:
Looking great Chris.
Alk rock solid!

Thanks!!! I am excited to see that sort of stability, and the corals are too. Several are gaining color at this point so that is good. Today I got parts and added in the 3rd MP40QD on the back glass. Not sure if it will stay there but it's a start. Also got a new pH probe and calibrated it. Not surprisingly it's reading the same as the old one. The old one was... old but also recently calibrated. Worth a shot.

At this point sort of planning to do the ERV fan but mostly just feeding every day, emptying the skimmer and keeping things stable as long as possible headed into winter.

Janci · Aug 16, 2018

Chris
do you still have that JF Sour Twist acro growing in the tank?

iced98lx · Aug 16, 2018

Janci said:
Chris
do you still have that JF Sour Twist acro growing in the tank?

Yes I sure do! Pretty fast grower. Lime green base, purple tips, white coralites.

iced98lx · Aug 16, 2018

Oceans Wonders N52 MAG Rack PRO arrived today. very impressed with @ocean wonders llc 's simple but quality execution on about the simplest version of a frag rack. Magnets also actually hold through my aquarium, which can be hard to find. Just wanted something to stash a few things on after I cut them or as they arrived from elsewhere. Good stuff.

iced98lx · Aug 20, 2018

Crappy phone picture, because updates without pictures are useless, right?

IMG_20180820_091802 by Christopher Uthe, on Flickr

Taking off today until Friday. Tank is generally on autopilot outside of feeding and filling the ATO anyway so all should be good in the capable hands of my wife.

Alk has been starting to creep slowly up, so I backed dosing down 1/2 of the jump I made last time I changed it. The daily water changes are doing the bulk of the heavy lifting there but I like to be able to maintain in that 8.1 range for a while here.

I'm not believing my pH monitor as of now, it's reading 7.3-7.6 with a brand new double junction probe and solid calibration. Not sure what I'll do there, but my little hand held one is reading 7.9->8.2 which, based on the coral not melting away seems more plausible. I'll have to figure out the next step when I get back.

iced98lx · Aug 25, 2018

Back from work trip, tank still standing! We lost a little alk, but my goal was for it to drift down if anything, not rise while I was gone. From 8.1 to 7.7 so I'll turn up the dosing a bit. Coral gaining color in the tank still, which makes me happy. Still piddling around with the flow. My clam and Alvepora are not as big fans as some of the SPS for all that flow. Trying to find a happy medium but I can't force my clam to move (foot on the glass bottom) so just waiting to see if it's annoyed enough to move or not. It has moved large amounts in the past, so I won't be surprised if it does again.

Janci · Aug 26, 2018

Great to hear things are still on track.
Would the clam not move to find a better spot if the flow is increased? They tend to do till they feel happy.

iced98lx · Aug 28, 2018

Trying to get some other perspectives on the tank, the Go Pro doesn't love the lighting from above, I would have to correct it in Premier, which I'm not super experienced with:

I also did a timelapse of the tank:

And caught my anthias popping out:

Janci · Aug 29, 2018

Nice videos.
Those montis are impressive.

iced98lx · Aug 29, 2018

Janci said:
Nice videos.
Those montis are impressive.

Thanks! The purple monster needs to be trimmed aggressively again to let the others catch up. The orange with yellow polyp is getting large on it's own, and hte other orange and green are are finally starting to take off. The red never did take off in a meaningful way, it grows and then dies in the old growth but keeps growing. Unsure what that is about.

iced98lx · Aug 29, 2018

Update: Received a "Battlebox" today - participating in a grow out contest and it was a great excuse to get some corals from @Battlecorals into the tank.

Arrived today: Snipes Blue (for the contest), BC Secale, Sunburst Milli, "Shag Priority", Poletti yellow tip, Fox Flame, "Brads Insane Defuego"

I've got them on the frag rack and will snap some photos as soon as the lights come on.