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vlangel
Seahorse whisperer
I took some close up shots today.
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Dawn's natural nutrient reef garden
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vlangel
Seahorse whisperer
I made a longish (11+ minute) narrated video of my tank yesterday. Last week a nem had parked on the ATO float valve causing almost 10 gallons of fresh water to be dumped into the system. Amazingly only a few feather duster worms seem to be affected from the .3 points of drop in salinity. I am sad to lose the feather dusters but extremely thankful not to lose anything else. I am pondering now how to remedy that situation. For starters, I am going to switch the 10 gallon tank to a 5 gallon clean salt bucket and not fill it full. Then in the event of another incident not as much water will be added. I am also trying to think of a way to cage in the float valve so nems and crabs can't get to it. Anyway, here is the video:
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vlangel
Seahorse whisperer
Hi PR_nano, I have very large, dense live rock being used as a retaining wall to hold the sand back on the right side of the tank.
Thanks for the kind words regarding the tank. I know that everything I have is common, easy stuff to grow. I prefer thriving common stuff to exotic languishing stuff, LOL.
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vlangel
Seahorse whisperer
Aw, thanks docforestal!
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vlangel
Seahorse whisperer
I can not remember if I shared that the ATO I bought a month or so ago caused a problem 2 or weeks ago. A BTA parked it's carcass on the float valve causing about 8 gallons of freshwater to be added to my tank system. I am amazed that my only casualties were featherdusters and the tank is fine otherwise. However I took the ATO offline until I could come up with a solution.
Today I decided on a course of action. After I cleaned the sump and did my water change, I reset up the ATO but only in a 1 gallon container. I also covered the sump tank (to slow evaporation) as best I could with plumbing coming in and out of it. The display tank is already covered which has slowed evaporation greatly. If that container is adequate for 5 or so days, I will consider this an acceptable solution. One gallon of water dumped into my 80 gallon system is no big deal, should a mishap take place. I am anxious to see how this works.
Today I decided on a course of action. After I cleaned the sump and did my water change, I reset up the ATO but only in a 1 gallon container. I also covered the sump tank (to slow evaporation) as best I could with plumbing coming in and out of it. The display tank is already covered which has slowed evaporation greatly. If that container is adequate for 5 or so days, I will consider this an acceptable solution. One gallon of water dumped into my 80 gallon system is no big deal, should a mishap take place. I am anxious to see how this works.
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vlangel
Seahorse whisperer
With my macroalgae growing so well along with the green polyps and purple photosynthetic sponge popping up different places, I used today as a time to reclaim some areas for the marine life that I want to grow there. That means using tweezers to eradicate and then just plain doing some old fashioned weeding. I got lax the last few weeks at doing a good job on the glass so started that process too. Tomorrow I will finish what I started.
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vlangel
Seahorse whisperer
Today I ran my gyre and Tunze powerhead in a bleach/water bath to clean the algae off of them. The gyre especially is moving a lot more water now. I also finished the glass although I could still do even a better job but will probably settle for 'good enough'! LOL
I did a water change and also used a brush on rockwork to clean debris and detritus off of it. Tomorrow I should test my nitrates and phosphates just to make sure that they are not being depleted too much. Maybe I will take a few pics too.
I did a water change and also used a brush on rockwork to clean debris and detritus off of it. Tomorrow I should test my nitrates and phosphates just to make sure that they are not being depleted too much. Maybe I will take a few pics too.
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vlangel
Seahorse whisperer
I tested my nitrates and phosphates because I was worried that they may be being depleted. They are still ok but have definitely come down and will need to be watched. NO3 is 10 ppm and PO4 is .25. I am sure that it is the ulva because of it's phenomenal growth. I am going to need to keep it trimmed back a lot and I plan to increase the frozen food for the fish by adding a 3rd feeding, which they won't mind, I am sure. Pics to come this afternoon hopefully
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vlangel
Seahorse whisperer
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vlangel
Seahorse whisperer
Thanks for watching my video Jrain904 and the positive feedback.
My display tank is in our living room and my sump is directly below it in the basement. I moved the sump to the basement when the display was a seahorse tank so that water changes would be easier. Seahorses need pristine water conditions to prevent pathogenic bacteria from building up. One way to combat that is a lot of water changes, the other way is using an oversized skimmer. I have a water change station down there where I can make water, drain and fill the sump without lifting any buckets. It takes the 'chore' out of water changes.
The location of my sump is next to what used to be our well room and it's not easily photographed since the space is small and narrow. Also my sump is very utilitarian and not very pretty. It's a former seahorse tank, a 30 gallon XH. Here is a pic and like I said, it's not very pretty. It is home to an old True Percula clown that was given to me and to Rice Krispies, my pistol shrimp.
Sump Crab
Valuable Member
Your sump looks like a second display tank! With the water so high how does it not overflow in a power outage? I’mThanks for watching my video Jrain904 and the positive feedback.
My display tank is in our living room and my sump is directly below it in the basement. I moved the sump to the basement when the display was a seahorse tank so that water changes would be easier. Seahorses need pristine water conditions to prevent pathogenic bacteria from building up. One way to combat that is a lot of water changes, the other way is using an oversized skimmer. I have a water change station down there where I can make water, drain and fill the sump without lifting any buckets. It takes the 'chore' out of water changes.
The location of my sump is next to what used to be our well room and it's not easily photographed since the space is small and narrow. Also my sump is very utilitarian and not very pretty. It's a former seahorse tank, a 30 gallon XH. Here is a pic and like I said, it's not very pretty. It is home to an old True Percula clown that was given to me and to Rice Krispies, my pistol shrimp.
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vlangel
Seahorse whisperer
Hhm, you are right about the water height. I may have turned off the return pump for the photo, and this is an old pic. My sump runs about 3" below the top of sump.
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vlangel
Seahorse whisperer
Today our local club sponsored a coral show/frag swap. It was really good for my tank, not so much for my wallet. I really went in hopes of maybe seeing NPS gorgs to buy but the last 2 years I had not seen any. One vender had some really nice red and yellow gorgs so got 1 of each.
However I also came home with a Duncan frag (with 3 heads), a gsp frag and a coco worm. And I bought a small magnet frag rock to put on my back wall where I hope to grow the gsp.
It was nice seeing friends at it too. Great day and hopefully pics coming soon.
However I also came home with a Duncan frag (with 3 heads), a gsp frag and a coco worm. And I bought a small magnet frag rock to put on my back wall where I hope to grow the gsp.
It was nice seeing friends at it too. Great day and hopefully pics coming soon.
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vlangel
Seahorse whisperer
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