Diving The World's 80g Acro Wonderland!

[DivingTheWorld]

The last week or so was crazy busy with BF shopping, family coming into town, get togethers, dinners...so who else bought new stuff for their tank?

I try to time most of my year purchases (salt, dosing, replacement parts, test kits, replacement probes, etc.) to fall during Black Friday week. IMO, it's the best time of year because not only do you get discounts, you get free swag too.

What was your best deals or swag?

 

[JCOLE]

Sorry, it's been busy with out of town Thanksgiving guests and family get togethers. Here's a couple pics that show my very simple setup. Air is pulled from the lid of my skimmer cup into my srubber which is mounted higher than the skimmer. I've heard if it's lower it can fill up with water. The air is pulled through the scubber into the intake on my skimmer silencer.

Looks good! I just hooked up my CO2 scrubber last night and ran it outside. How often do you go through media?

 

[JCOLE]

The last week or so was crazy busy with BF shopping, family coming into town, get togethers, dinners...so who else bought new stuff for their tank?

I try to time most of my year purchases (salt, dosing, replacement parts, test kits, replacement probes, etc.) to fall during Black Friday week. IMO, it's the best time of year because not only do you get discounts, you get free swag too.

What was your best deals or swag?

I am guilty of buying stuff. I had covid a couple weeks ago and really spent a lot of much needed time with the tank during quarantine. My Wife just said last night "the tank sure loves your wallet" LOL!

Everything I picked up was on sale.

Picked up new T5 bulbs
a bunch of new filter socks
BRS 50ml doser
A second apex display module for the display tank
Mount for display module
Co2 scrubber and media
Replenished Additives - kalkwasser, 2 part, etc
New Jebao 15000 pump for the main tank return
Hanna Nitrate high ranger checker - love this!
hanna Reagents
Rodi filters
Apex A1 adapter for Jebao gyres
500 watt heater
Handheld pH tester
Salt and misc supplies

The internet is dangerous

 

[DivingTheWorld]

Looks good! I just hooked up my CO2 scrubber last night and ran it outside. How often do you go through media?

Just over 30 days. So I have a timer in my app and just swap it out every 30 days.

 

[DivingTheWorld]

I am guilty of buying stuff. I had covid a couple weeks ago and really spent a lot of much needed time with the tank during quarantine. My Wife just said last night "the tank sure loves your wallet" LOL!

Everything I picked up was on sale.

Picked up new T5 bulbs
a bunch of new filter socks
BRS 50ml doser
A second apex display module for the display tank
Mount for display module
Co2 scrubber and media
Replenished Additives - kalkwasser, 2 part, etc
New Jebao 15000 pump for the main tank return
Hanna Nitrate high ranger checker - love this!
hanna Reagents
Rodi filters
Apex A1 adapter for Jebao gyres
500 watt heater
Handheld pH tester
Salt and misc supplies

The internet is dangerous

Nice. I always pick up 2 sets of T5 bulbs during BF sales. I swap out every 6 months so every little savings helps. I also picked up the new Hanna Nitrate High Range checker. It just arrived today so I'll need to start playing with it!

Also picked up:

2 new BRS Deluxe GFO/Carbon Reactors
BRS Bulk Deionization Resin
BRS HC GFO
BRS Magnesium Chloride
Hanna Alk Reagent
Replacement BRS Doser Tubes
Replacement BRS Reactor Pads

Ended up with a new sweatshirt, a couple t-shirts and a ski hat. ;Woot

All my aquarium purchases have to come out of my personal savings and not joint family savings. So my wife doesn't usually care too much. She also knows this is the time of year where I spend a bunch.

 

[JCOLE]

Nice. I always pick up 2 sets of T5 bulbs during BF sales. I swap out every 6 months so every little savings helps. I also picked up the new Hanna Nitrate High Range checker. It just arrived today so I'll need to start playing with it!

Also picked up:

2 new BRS Deluxe GFO/Carbon Reactors
BRS Bulk Deionization Resin
BRS HC GFO
BRS Magnesium Chloride
Hanna Alk Reagent
Replacement BRS Doser Tubes
Replacement BRS Reactor Pads

Ended up with a new sweatshirt, a couple t-shirts and a ski hat. ;Woot

All my aquarium purchases have to come out of my personal savings and not joint family savings. So my wife doesn't usually care too much. She also knows this is the time of year where I spend a bunch.

Nice! Our lists were close or at least on the same page! You are going to love that high range checker. I have the low range and I couldn't stand using it. The high range is one packet and the same as the phosphate. I do the nitrate first and during the 7 min countdown i do the phosphate and they are done around the same time. I test both every night in under 10 min. Really easy and the No3 tester gets it down to the decimal. No more guessing at colors.

Also, just an FYI, they only give you 10 nitrate reagents and everywhere seems to be out. I picked up some at saltwater aquarium.

I wish I had a personal account. My last name could be Bezos and I would still get questioned about my $10 carbon purchase. Haha, it's not that bad.....yet.

 

[DivingTheWorld]

Sapphire Milli

 

[DivingTheWorld]

Those that follow my thread know I use NYOS for testing Nitrate. I mostly average between 5-8 ppm. Today I tested both with NYOS and my new Hanna High Range checker. NYOS measured around 8 which is normal, but Hanna measured 28.9...??

Which is right? Clearly my tank is fine and nothing is out of control, so I have no plans for major changes in Nitrate control. That said, would love to know which one of these is more accurate.

 

[ScottB]

Those that follow my thread know I use NYOS for testing Nitrate. I mostly average between 5-8 ppm. Today I tested both with NYOS and my new Hanna High Range checker. NYOS measured around 8 which is normal, but Hanna measured 28.9...??

Which is right? Clearly my tank is fine and nothing is out of control, so I have no plans for major changes in Nitrate control. That said, would love to know which one of these is more accurate.

Just looking at the image above, the sample looks darker than 5 and maybe even the 12. My son's eyes always saw a darker color than I did when we tested with NYOS. Maybe try a Salifert kit?

Anyway, in my experience with the two kits, they came out fairly close, but with the Hanna HR registering LOWER values.

Intuitively and anecdotally, I think the Hanna does a better job. Obviously it has more precision. A couple times we tested before/after a 20% WC and got a roughly 20% reduction.

Last note: I nearly purchased the wrong (low range) Nitrate reagents before realizing my error.

 

[Aquanino]

Those that follow my thread know I use NYOS for testing Nitrate. I mostly average between 5-8 ppm. Today I tested both with NYOS and my new Hanna High Range checker. NYOS measured around 8 which is normal, but Hanna measured 28.9...??

Which is right? Clearly my tank is fine and nothing is out of control, so I have no plans for major changes in Nitrate control. That said, would love to know which one of these is more accurate.

Interesting, Aquaforest gave me a reading of 5-10 and Hanna 36. I am going to compare with Salifert when I get back from holiday. Not sure what to trust.

 

[DivingTheWorld]

Pirates Reef Fruity Pebbles / BC Bubblebath Unicorn

 

[DivingTheWorld]

 

[JCOLE]

Is that CB Maleficent in the top left?

 

[DivingTheWorld]

Is that CB Maleficent in the top left?

Yep, growing out of control!

 

[JCOLE]

Yep, growing out of control!

Looks great. What placement and PAR do you have it at?

 

[DivingTheWorld]

Looks great. What placement and PAR do you have it at?

Around 450. Check out this post.

Build Thread - Diving The World's 80g Acro Wonderland!

RRU Firecracker

www.reef2reef.com

 

[JCOLE]

Around 450. Check out this post.

Build Thread - Diving The World's 80g Acro Wonderland!

RRU Firecracker

www.reef2reef.com

You can tell I have forgotten somethings over the last year. But hey, atleast I still have the same taste. LOL, Thanks for the reminder.

 

[DivingTheWorld]

AV99 Rouge Envy

 

[ScottB]

AV99 Rouge Envy

Dang that is a nice rich, darker red.

 

[ap1194]

It's the start of my first full year on R2R so I decided to start a build of my acro tank. I've had one on another forum for years which I'll link here in case you have some time and want to go back through the first 4 years of my build but I'll try to summarize a little here as well.

Where to start? I started my first reef tank when I was about 8, so almost 40 years ago. It was a 2.5g with a fish, a snail, and an urchin. It wasn't my first fish tank, but was my first saltwater fish tank. Over the years growing up, I had as many as 4 fish tanks in my room. I did everything myself, self funded from working at pet stores and paper routes. My parents didn't really know what I was doing other than being very supportive of my hobby and overflows on my carpet.

Fast forward a number of years and I got married, we bought a house, had a couple awesome kids and I started growing tired of my 29g Tru Vu I had dragged through several moves over the previous 10 years. It was time for a real reef tank! I had saved some money on the side so planned to do it right. I've found the key to reefing and a happy marriage is to not impact your family finances by the fish tank. So far that's worked out for me.

Space was limited by what the wifey approved for our family room. I stretched that a bit and ended up custom ordering a Lee Mar tank:

40" x 24" x 22"
3 Side Starphire, 1/2" glass
Black Back, Black Silicone
Rear Center Internal RR Overflow
Two 1" Drains (Herbie)
Two 0.75" Returns
Trigger Systems Ruby 30 Sump
Reef Octopus POV-DC1 Skimmer
Reef Octopus Auto Waste Collector
2 MP40w ES (since replaced with 2 MP40WQD)
2 Radion XR15 Gen 3 LEDs
Apex Classic Pro
Tunze 3155 Auto Top Off
Reef Octopus RODC-5500 Return

I custom built my stand to match the other furniture in our family room. It was my first (and last) attempt at furniture so took me almost a year working nights and weekends as I had time.

2x4 Frame
Skinned in Solid Alder
Open back with 4 flush doors (two front, both sides)
Stained in Mahogany
Interior Sealed and Painted w/White Boat Paint
Soft Close Hinges

Over the years I've made some changes as this is my first Acro tank and I've learned a lot! First is lighting. After a couple years I switched out my Radion XR15's to an ATI 8 bulb T5. To this day I think that was the biggest improvement I made with my acros. I also started off using Red Sea Coral Pro salt, but later switched to regular old Instant Ocean. I started out with a thin layer of sand but found I couldn't maintain high flow, so I sucked it out and have been bare bottom ever since. I've adjusted my parameters over time and are currently running +/- the following:

Calcium 400
Alkalinity 8.0
Magnesium 1380
Salinity 1.0264
Nitrate 4-5
Phosphate 0.05-0.08 (would like this to be a little lower)
pH 7.7-8.1
Iodine 0.05-0.06
Temp 79.5-80

I've battled demons over the years from Bryopsis (thank you Fluconazole), Bubble Algae (thank you Vibrant), Cyano (thank you Chemiclean). I found a couple Asterina stars once, but it was an easy pluck out. I've been vary careful and lucky that I've never had any coral pests or fish diseases over the years. My current dip regime is Melafix followed by Bayer.

I'm probably forgetting a million things so feel free to ask me whatever you want. I'm an open book and love to share my successes and failures to help others in this hobby. Here's a link to my full thread on that "other" site. If this is not allowed, let me know.

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2345585

And here's a few pics to get this thread started:

Tank looks great!