johnanddawn
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nice tank - really like the scape kinda makes me miss my softy tank
Electrobes' sumpless 40Br
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Electrobes
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I know, I fail! :sad: I wanted to take pics when the clam was happy so y'all would see where it was when it got itself situated. That and the silly skunk cleaner I just got decided to play hide and seek with me. When I least expect it, he shows up and I swear he's flipping me the bird and then giggling. :xd:
Come back to the dark side! :wink:
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Electrobes
Valuable Member
So no pictures yet as I still need to do my water change, but I have some things to share:
- I am an idiot. I've had the Vortech MP10 for a while now and just discovered "Night Mode" yesterday. It's now been activated.
- I got a Salifert Phosphate Test Kit in my Box O Crap and thought... why not? I am happy to report I have 0 phosphate! :D
- I am an idiot. I've had the Vortech MP10 for a while now and just discovered "Night Mode" yesterday. It's now been activated.
- I got a Salifert Phosphate Test Kit in my Box O Crap and thought... why not? I am happy to report I have 0 phosphate! :D
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Electrobes
Valuable Member
Some new, but terrible, pics! I just can't get the color to show what my tank actually looks like, plus it also looks like I still have dusting on the sand... but I don't. Oh well I tried.
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Electrobes
Valuable Member
So to recap on what's new/different with the tank that I can remember:
- I am switching from Black Diamond Carbon to Rox 0.8 Carbon from BRS. I am also switching from Phospure (Drs. Fostersmith) to BRS's cheap grade. For as much as I use phosphate, I see no need to get the super expensive stuff... I am lucky I don't have a phosphate problem.
- I am officially switched over to Kalkwasser (Via my ATO). If I had an automated dosing system I would not have switched over, but since I don't... this will do. I now only have to feed as a daily maintenance thing.
- I finally went through ALL of my fish stuff. I am donating a bunch of useless stuff (For me anyway) to one of my LFS. I organized my reef nook and it looks a lot more emptier, yet less stuffy. That and I can find my stuff with far more ease.
OVERALL:
The tank is doing spectacularly. I have 0 phosphates (Salifert test kit from my box o crap order), the water is crystal, the reef inhabitants are looking phenomenal, and growth seems to be in full gear.
My new creatures, the clam and skunk cleaner shrimp, seem to be doing well... but time will tell. I am always suspicious until about a month or so in my tank before I am more laid back about new purchases.
Yay!
- I am switching from Black Diamond Carbon to Rox 0.8 Carbon from BRS. I am also switching from Phospure (Drs. Fostersmith) to BRS's cheap grade. For as much as I use phosphate, I see no need to get the super expensive stuff... I am lucky I don't have a phosphate problem.
- I am officially switched over to Kalkwasser (Via my ATO). If I had an automated dosing system I would not have switched over, but since I don't... this will do. I now only have to feed as a daily maintenance thing.
- I finally went through ALL of my fish stuff. I am donating a bunch of useless stuff (For me anyway) to one of my LFS. I organized my reef nook and it looks a lot more emptier, yet less stuffy. That and I can find my stuff with far more ease.
OVERALL:
The tank is doing spectacularly. I have 0 phosphates (Salifert test kit from my box o crap order), the water is crystal, the reef inhabitants are looking phenomenal, and growth seems to be in full gear.
My new creatures, the clam and skunk cleaner shrimp, seem to be doing well... but time will tell. I am always suspicious until about a month or so in my tank before I am more laid back about new purchases.
Yay!
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Electrobes
Valuable Member
Been a while and so many things have happened!
Well to start off I am sorry I haven't been around updating this thread. To say the least, it's been kind of a nutty month or so, most of which consists of traveling, being sick, making rock to sell (my season is well under way) and being the house dad to my son.
While I was travelling my tank decided to surprise ninja me in the groin. My backpack (HOB) sump pump decided to stop working. No good reason has led to why this happened. I took it out and cleaned the whole dang thing, but it was working before then! :xd: The tank suffered like this for a week, but for the most part it survuved just fine. My only true casualty was one of the gorgonian frags. I did have some slime here and there, but mainly the corals were just angry as I was.
After putting it all back together, it then started leaking air (Magically I tell you) and spitting a lot of micro-bubbles into the tank via the phosban reactor. I got so frustrated that I junked the whole dang sump. As of right now the machinery is in my display tank. It's not too ugly, but by no means is this permanent.
After two days of solid cleaning and two water changes, and maybe about a day or two waiting period.. the tank seems to have rebounded better than ever. For now the tank is looking great but eventually I'll have to figure out what do to about my machinery in the tank. I may get a real hob sump, but I hate the idea of the pump being in the tank. It annoys me to no end that most of these on the market don't have a pump inside the hob portion of the sump.
Anyways I'll soon be updating more often and taking pictures, plus some video with my iphone 4. Stay tuned!
Well to start off I am sorry I haven't been around updating this thread. To say the least, it's been kind of a nutty month or so, most of which consists of traveling, being sick, making rock to sell (my season is well under way) and being the house dad to my son.
While I was travelling my tank decided to surprise ninja me in the groin. My backpack (HOB) sump pump decided to stop working. No good reason has led to why this happened. I took it out and cleaned the whole dang thing, but it was working before then! :xd: The tank suffered like this for a week, but for the most part it survuved just fine. My only true casualty was one of the gorgonian frags. I did have some slime here and there, but mainly the corals were just angry as I was.
After putting it all back together, it then started leaking air (Magically I tell you) and spitting a lot of micro-bubbles into the tank via the phosban reactor. I got so frustrated that I junked the whole dang sump. As of right now the machinery is in my display tank. It's not too ugly, but by no means is this permanent.
After two days of solid cleaning and two water changes, and maybe about a day or two waiting period.. the tank seems to have rebounded better than ever. For now the tank is looking great but eventually I'll have to figure out what do to about my machinery in the tank. I may get a real hob sump, but I hate the idea of the pump being in the tank. It annoys me to no end that most of these on the market don't have a pump inside the hob portion of the sump.
Anyways I'll soon be updating more often and taking pictures, plus some video with my iphone 4. Stay tuned!
Electrobes - Sorry to heard about the groin kick - Nothing worse than leaving to come back to a problem...sounds like you go things under control though. This hobby is so frustrating at times!!
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Electrobes
Valuable Member
Hey thanks tangboy!
Here's an iphone video:
Here's an iphone video:
cdness
2006 - Present
From the pics I would have never guessed you are running sumpless. The thing I love about softie tanks is they tend to grow in and fill up so much faster than the LPS/SPS tanks. The movement is also something that draws people to the tank. I know in mine people like the RBTA, and hammers more than the sticks because they actually move and look alive to them.
Have you ever had issues with the cucumbers going toxic?
Have you ever had issues with the cucumbers going toxic?
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Electrobes
Valuable Member
Not once in the 8 years I've been reefing. I do run an absolute ton of carbon though... pretty sure it could take on a cucumber death... I hope! ;)
skinz78
10K Club member
word!
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Electrobes
Valuable Member
Hey guys! So sorry about the lateness in my updates. A lot had changed structure-wise in the tank and filtration, and I am really looking forward to making that post about it.
I've been slammed time-wise with my business (funny enough you guys may see something on Reef2Reef soon).
The tank is doing well and I am still sumpless! I'll update everything with pictures when I get back from Florida. :)
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I am here: http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=26.529840,-80.137433
I've been slammed time-wise with my business (funny enough you guys may see something on Reef2Reef soon).
The tank is doing well and I am still sumpless! I'll update everything with pictures when I get back from Florida. :)
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I am here: http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=26.529840,-80.137433
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Electrobes
Valuable Member
A before and after update!
Hey everyone, been a while.
A lot is happening with the tank now and a couple weeks before. In short, I've added a skimmer (It fits in the AC110!), today marks the first day of using a new salt (Red Sea), and today I received my Mr.Coral special order (10 sps)... making it the first sps (not counting the monti caps) coming to my tank!.
Excuse the reef mess... once everything settles down a bit and I mount the sps frags, I am going to razor the tank. We'll call this the "Before" update.
Hey everyone, been a while.
A lot is happening with the tank now and a couple weeks before. In short, I've added a skimmer (It fits in the AC110!), today marks the first day of using a new salt (Red Sea), and today I received my Mr.Coral special order (10 sps)... making it the first sps (not counting the monti caps) coming to my tank!.
Excuse the reef mess... once everything settles down a bit and I mount the sps frags, I am going to razor the tank. We'll call this the "Before" update.
OP
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Electrobes
Valuable Member
Haha lies, my pictures stink! ;) I am finally going to use my new video camera.. I am hoping my system will comfort the new sps well. I am seriously debating taking out the slowly faily zoos from the middle rock and sticking the sps.. to form a crown.. maybe? XD
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Electrobes
Valuable Member
A couple of other differences, some I've been doing a while, others not:
- I used to feed Spectrum once or twice every few days. Finally saw the error in my feeding ways and now the tank gets: Morning - Pellets, Early afternoon - Rogger's Food (been doing this for about a month now), and late afternoon - Reef Pearls. I just started the Reef Pearls today and will prob feed it once every 2-3 days. I will say that since I started target feeding with Rogger's Food, my ricordeas exploded, and the growths of the LPS have followed suit. Really cool to get results like that.
- Switch salts: I have been using Reef Crystals for quite a while (years), but the last box has really bothered me. The parameters are super-duper high, and I believe it has been stressing my corals. I decided to try Red Sea, though I really wanted to try ESV's salt. Either way, I'll see what it offers and hopefully no weirdness going on. I hasn't realized I got the regular version instead of the "reef pro" version, but no biggie.
- I bought a second Vortech MP10. I was happy with my single one, but with the addition of sps, I've really been trying to make sure this tank is suitable for them to thrive. It should arrive Thursday.
- I mentioned this earlier but a couple weeks ago I added a skimmer: The Tunze 9002. Someone gave it to me a while ago, and as a funny thought, I tried putting it in my AC110. Lo and behold it fit and started skimming. Again... this came about because of the sps corals. I do get some micro bubbles but I've decided to just get used to it. I now have a "foot button" that turns both the skimmer and the Phosban Reactor on or off when needed. (I turn it off for 20 minutes-1 hour during feeding times).
Problems with my tank: Like any reefer there's always at least one battle going on. My problem is Bryopsis. I don't have a full blows outbreak, but patches of it that refuse to go away. I "mow" it about once a month or earlier. It comes right back. I may try the magnesium trick, and if that doesn't work, I'll try others. It'll be the first time I take a more direct approach as opposed to super filtering the water.
I don't think I'll be mounting any of the sps for at least a week or two, because i want to make sure they stay happy in the tank. Once that happens I'll go ahead and take some pics and what not! :)
- I used to feed Spectrum once or twice every few days. Finally saw the error in my feeding ways and now the tank gets: Morning - Pellets, Early afternoon - Rogger's Food (been doing this for about a month now), and late afternoon - Reef Pearls. I just started the Reef Pearls today and will prob feed it once every 2-3 days. I will say that since I started target feeding with Rogger's Food, my ricordeas exploded, and the growths of the LPS have followed suit. Really cool to get results like that.
- Switch salts: I have been using Reef Crystals for quite a while (years), but the last box has really bothered me. The parameters are super-duper high, and I believe it has been stressing my corals. I decided to try Red Sea, though I really wanted to try ESV's salt. Either way, I'll see what it offers and hopefully no weirdness going on. I hasn't realized I got the regular version instead of the "reef pro" version, but no biggie.
- I bought a second Vortech MP10. I was happy with my single one, but with the addition of sps, I've really been trying to make sure this tank is suitable for them to thrive. It should arrive Thursday.
- I mentioned this earlier but a couple weeks ago I added a skimmer: The Tunze 9002. Someone gave it to me a while ago, and as a funny thought, I tried putting it in my AC110. Lo and behold it fit and started skimming. Again... this came about because of the sps corals. I do get some micro bubbles but I've decided to just get used to it. I now have a "foot button" that turns both the skimmer and the Phosban Reactor on or off when needed. (I turn it off for 20 minutes-1 hour during feeding times).
Problems with my tank: Like any reefer there's always at least one battle going on. My problem is Bryopsis. I don't have a full blows outbreak, but patches of it that refuse to go away. I "mow" it about once a month or earlier. It comes right back. I may try the magnesium trick, and if that doesn't work, I'll try others. It'll be the first time I take a more direct approach as opposed to super filtering the water.
I don't think I'll be mounting any of the sps for at least a week or two, because i want to make sure they stay happy in the tank. Once that happens I'll go ahead and take some pics and what not! :)
OP
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Electrobes
Valuable Member
As luck would have it, one of my hellolights' ballast is defective and went out in under a year. I am definitely a little miffed because I have to pay shipping on something that isn't my fault. Worst yet... I stupidly got ground shipping for a ballast coming out of California (Not great for my corals). Just great. I may order another ballast (as back up) from Aquarium Specialty (Neighboring city and a great online reef store). This has also caused me to go ahead and start re-wiring the screwed up parts of the hood. I'll get a video out after I finish the work.
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