Flip's Reef

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Flipside

Flipside

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I'm sure it's higher now, bro. My Ca reactor stopped working, or something, and we all know those things "gotta" dose phosphates. LOL! My dKH dropped to 5.125 at some point. I cranked-up the Ca reactor and it's back to normal now. I'll have to recheck my phosphates tonight. I'm going to do Alk, Ca, Mg and phosphates tonight, if I get a chance.

In other news... I added a clam to the system. My buddy, who owns a LFS, knew that I'd have to come get one of these bad boys as soon as he got them in. He said they are called "Ultra Maximas" and they are from Tahiti. For the MARSHians reading this, I got it from Dennis/FJW. I think ole' Mark L. stole the one I originally wanted! LOL! First come first serve, I suppose! :) I got stuck working on Saturday... I snoozed and "lost" (that doesn't rhyme, effect went South).

Any way, pardon the phone pics... It's just easier. :)


d707ea33-e958-44bc-a18c-8da5a732ca1e_zps2e1efaa3.jpg



And here's a closer shot to see the patterns. There's actually some yellow in there, but I couldn't capture those colors. They are very subtle.


a14646be-4df2-4fd2-a1fc-c9fdd5fee6c1_zps39f62647.jpg



It's about 6-7" long and the colors are bangin'! My other clam make's this one look teeny, but this one has louder color to it. Loving it!
 

Diesel

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That's so clam.............hey wait a minute..................NICE CLAM!
If I ever get in the KTT you can see my Black and White clam stole him from your Buddy 5 or 6 months ago.
 
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revhtree

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Great shots!
 
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Thanks guys! Imagine of I whipped out the heavy artillery (dSLR). :D This thing pops!

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Nice clam ..I would like one soon ..I missed out on a few nice ones last year ..

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LOL! Thanks guys!

I guess my other clam is a T. Gigas! :eek: A buddy of mine just told me that... I thought it was a maxima! Haha! That does explain a lot! The thing is getting bigger by the minute!

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Phenomenally well, Cat! I do 2 water changes a week (anywhere from 50-85%) and feed a smidge of food every other day. Paper bags, algae wafers, and boiled potatoes pieces. Don't know if that's doing much, but they are extremely wriggly when I grab a pinch for my tanks. Very pleased with it. :) all the fishies are looking like the day I got them. :)

Imagine my happiness here! I've always loved CBBs. I may upgrade my tank and try an Achilles next. I already got a quote from Planet in Dallas. LOL! If I do that, I'll probably use the 138g out in the garage as a fancy macro tank. Then, I'll just start signing my checks over to you for awhile. LOL!

Sorry to hear about your woes on the home site. :( If anyone can pull it off, its you.

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Diesel

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Worms......................if I tell my Honey that I'll feed my fishies Worms.........Blackworms, she will freak totally out.
If I ask her what is better blackworms for the fishies or a triple upgrade and stay frozen...................the answer will be...........the triple!
 
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Whoops! I spoke way too soon!! All worms died! Doh!

Whole house smelled like rotten cabbage when we got back from trail riding today. We were gone for several hours. The microwave's clock was blinking... Ugh... Power outage, I'd imagine.

Back to the ole drawing board... Haha! :D

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Mark L.

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Awesome clam man! It sure looks familiar. LOL! I swear Dennis told me to pick which ever one I wanted! I blame him. Haha
 
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Awesome clam man! It sure looks familiar. LOL! I swear Dennis told me to pick which ever one I wanted! I blame him. Haha

LOL! It's all good, brutha! ;) At least I know it's in an awesome tank. ;)

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Just checking in Leo! Nice new clam. Bummer about the power outage -- keep me posted on the next blackworm adventure. I still need to go pick some more up.
 
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Just checking in Leo! Nice new clam. Bummer about the power outage -- keep me posted on the next blackworm adventure. I still need to go pick some more up.

Will do bro! I just ordered 1/2 lb, or maybe it was 3/4 lb, for arrival tomorrow. I'm just going to kick it old school for now, and rinse then everyday until I have the chance to build something like Cat (tektite) has at her house. She has a cool little setup that would be easy to reverse engineer.

I'd like to keep these things our of the house, but I dunno.... They funked up the house pretty bad. LOL!

Read about your losses! Owee! I love my 30K Lokani! That, the clam, and the trigger... Bro... So sorry to hear! Bit, you have the perfect mentality for this game; and I'm sure you'll do fine going forward.

On another note, the bluejaw trigger is probably my favorite trigger. I like to try and get them small, and raise them with a group off already comfortable fish. Once they are comfy, they are like puppy dogs! I'd like to get a pair after I upgrade this tank. They are hard to keep, for the first 6 months, IMO. They are also MI magnets, like most tangs. You can do it though! I know I will soon enough.

Rant off. :) can't wait to see your updates!

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So, I guess the blackworm folks accidentally shipped my order to the wrong person. I guess his name was similar to mine. LOL! I should get them tomorrow, hopefully. I know my fish miss them. I may go get some oysters and try feeding my tank that... I think I'll do that now, actually.
 
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Updating das thread...

1) Got blackworms, fed fish, fish happier. I am keeping them in the fish keepers that came with my order, the first time I ordered. Also using the small fridge so I don't tick my wife off. :) If momma ain't happy, .... blah, blah... LOL!

2) Setting up 40B. It's going to be a remote sump for...(wait for it...)

3) Bought a new skimmer! I've been wanting to work with Avast Marine for awhile, and well... they came out with THIS (Aquanerd is Brandon Klaus. He's a fellow, local reefer so gotta show his blog, right?). I have one on the way right now. Just got my shipping confirmation. I really enjoy working with acrylic, and you get to put this one together. [Tangent: In my opinion, I think it's a good idea for hobbyist to consider options like these, at some point in the hobby. Assembling a skimmer really gives you an strong understanding on how these things work (and how overrated most of them really are)]. LOL! I've never owned a PSK 1000 pump, and this skimmer requires 2 in recirculating fashion! 16x16 footprint, too! Impressive to say the least, but it's going to take a lot of performance to sway me from a Laguna/Askoll/Maxjet 1500 pump.

4) My laguna pump went out on the SWC 230 Cone. I guess item 3 can be seen as the result of item 4. But, those that know me know better than that. I really like tinkering with skimmers. Of course, I ordered 2 of them yesterday to replace and have a backup for both my return manifold (that I built a few pages back) and for the skimmer. It's always a good idea to have a backup, but my backup (in this case) ended up being an old pump that I should've thrown away a long time ago. Ha!!! I'm a dork. :D

5) I'm quitting Aqua Vitro Salinity like a bad habit. I'd rather not go into it because I don't want to start a debate. Just to keep it clean, I know some strong reefers that swear by the stuff. It's just not for me.

6) Going to try, for the first time in this reef, Red Sea Coral Pro. Picked up a 200g bag from a buddy for a great price.

I should have saltwater in the 40 breeder tonight. I didn't want to mess with it last night because it was getting late. So, leak test tonight. Just FYI, all I did was drill a 1" hole in the back wall of the 40B, add a bulkhead, and some PVC fittings. I'll bring the return up and over the back somewhere. It ain't gotta be pretty.

In the grand scheme of things this is not the most efficient design for this, or any tank, IMO. You're skimmer should be in the same chamber where the water drains from the display tank. It just makes sense; however, I'm going to try this out and see how it works for me. At some point, every bit of water will have to hit that 40B, right? So, the original sump will act as a bubble baffler and settling area for the tank, so it's still serving some important functions. Oh, and by adding this 40B as I am doing, it will also give me great access to the skimmer, and make water changes extremely easy.

Okay... next post will probably be a bunch of pictures to aid in explaining my drivel a bit more. Hope you're all having a great day! Friday tomorrow!!! :rockon:
 

zibba

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Dude! Congratz on the new skimmer. I saw it posted on reefbuilders and it looks really nice -- will be good to get your take on it. Re: RSCP, I've been trying to convince myself to move to another salt but now that I've been using RSCP for the past 4 months, I just can't get away from how clean it mixes and the colors I'm getting. I don't want to mess up a good thing...even though the alk is a little high. At the end of the day, I haven't had issues with alk going too high due to the salt -- I've been hanging in the upper 7s low 8s with min. 20% w/c e'rry 10-days or so.

I agree that the optimal set up is to have the skimmer in the same chamber as your drains but considering you'll have more access to maneuver and clean and sufficient flow-through, I think it's a good trade off. Not to mention, you're adding more water volume...again. If ya'z gotz the room, ya'z might as well use it!
 

A worm with high fashion and practical utility: Have you ever kept feather dusters in your reef aquarium?

  • I currently have feather dusters in my tank.

    Votes: 73 37.6%
  • Not currently, but I have had feather dusters in my tank in the past.

    Votes: 66 34.0%
  • I have not had feather dusters, but I hope to in the future.

    Votes: 25 12.9%
  • I have no plans to have feather dusters in my tank.

    Votes: 28 14.4%
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