commod0re's UNS R90 Build

[commod0re]

well I was afraid of this but it looks like I did indeed wait too long to start a second culture of Isochrysis galbana so I'll be making a trip down to one of the shops this week to grab whatever phyto they have, most likely tetraselmis or a blend, to tide my pods over until I receive the new starter culture I just ordered. This time I'm going to try Rhodomonas lens instead, mainly because the isochrysis isn't in stock, but also why not? it looks like the nutrition profile is more on the protein side vs iso's high lipids, and it looks like it's possibly easier to digest (has higher absorption rates with at least some creatures) so I wanted to culture it anyway, in the future maybe I'll even end up doing both so I can blend them together!

 

[commod0re]

New coral day! UPS arrived nice and early so I’ve already got the devil’s hand temperature acclimated and in the tank

To help make the shipping worthwhile I also grabbed some stomatella snails:

which look to have brought along some spirorbid worms on their shells. Neato!
I’ve heard these guys are great at reproducing in the tank so looking forward to that

 

[commod0re]

That didn’t take long to start happening , nice!

 

[commod0re]

Kind of amazing how much it can change shape! Playing with placement a bit because I was worried the first spot I picked had too much light intensity, it had shifted all the green pigment down low and the finger appeared inflated, almost as if it was trying to shade itself, even with the lights turned down

In this spot it seems to have deflated its one finger and shifted the volume to the other part. The green is much more distributed now, which I assume is a good sign

 

[commod0re]

Almost immediately proven wrong, it did the same thing down here lol

 

[TheWB]

Almost immediately proven wrong, it did the same thing down here lol

That picture makes it appear that the Urchin is getting it.

 

[commod0re]

That picture makes it appear that the Urchin is getting it.

Hah I guess so, it has rotated since then lol

 

[jabberkaycee]

New coral - yay! It would be cool to have a time-lapsed video of the hand shapeshifting.

 

[commod0re]

New coral - yay! It would be cool to have a time-lapsed video of the hand shapeshifting.

I was thinking the same thing! I’ll have to try to set that up soon

 

[commod0re]

So I finally got sufficiently tired of the water level fluctuations and inconsistent ATO usage, and trimmed down my emergency drain stand pipe today. Getting it out the first time was the hard part. That should help keep the water level in the overflow where I actually want it, which should also help keep the water level in the sump return chamber more stable as well

 

[jabberkaycee]

I don’t notice any water level fluctuating. Maybe it is and I just don’t notice it. How much did you cut the pipe down?

 

[commod0re]

I don’t notice any water level fluctuating. Maybe it is and I just don’t notice it. How much did you cut the pipe down?

I mostly notice it after the pump power cycles, it often won’t return to the same exact level after feed mode or maintenance, or even just over the course of a few days, and with the stand pipe at the default height that’s enough volume moved up out of the sump that it pulls extra water out of the ATO and I notice that some days will drop less than 1/4 gallon out of the ATO and some will be as high as 3/4 gallon! It’s kinda wild

I think I cut a little over an inch off, it took me 3 cuts to get it right where I wanted it which is juuust below the overflow baffles, so that there’s a tiny waterfall going into the overflow but not enough to be noisy