GoVols: Red Sea S-400

[GoVols]

What an amazing tank! Love the blue throat, one of the coolest we've owned.

DSC,

Thank You!!!
He's getting bolder by the day

 

[GoVols]

Went to the Aquatic Critter in Nashville and picked up several things.

Out of the "Blue Bucket" so got a bucket of Salinity salt mix
Have seen some bubble algae in the S-400 and bought 3 large Emerald crabs
Got a new tiny Sea Urchin
And so more LRS "Reef Frenzy" fish food

 

[GoVols]

Just some more random shots of the S-400 (taken today)

 

[elisa h]

Very beautiful tank! I love that Duncan colony! I got a little single head duncan the other day I hope he gets that big one day

 

[GoVols]

Very beautiful tank! I love that Duncan colony! I got a little single head duncan the other day I hope he gets that big one day

elisa,
Thank You!!!

I bought the ducan colony as a two head and over time it just kept growing and splitting heads. It used to be in one piece until I was moving it and it split in half. Wanted to trade in one half, but my wife said "No Way"

Very different type of reef than Shaun's but I'm happy with the S-400. Used to be SPS to the hilt but I missed the swaying of LPS over time.

You can do it with your ducan and it will take off.

Thanks for taking the time to see the S-400.

Freddie

 

[GoVols]

Growth shots of the Setsoa:

April the 13th / 2017

June the 6th / 2017

Today December the 21st / 2017

 

[GoVols]

@SPR1968
Shaun,
Just wanted you to know that the "Blue Throat" started eating nori, today.
Still a tad shy but he's warming up to his new surroundings.

Talked to Kevin Davies and he's good, healthy and wished us a Merry Christmas.
He's moved up within Red Sea and no longer in charge of customer support. (Thank goodness that we can still contact him if need be)

Was good to talk with Kevin, as always and glad he's healthy

Freddie

 

[SPR1968]

I’m glad to know Kevin is doing well as he has always been very helpful.

The Triggers eat like pigs they do, and will eat vegetarian food as well as meat as you’ve found.

They are very active and glad to know he his doing well

 

[GoVols]

I’m glad to know Kevin is doing well as he has always been very helpful.

The Triggers eat like pigs they do, and will eat vegetarian food as well as meat as you’ve found.

They are very active and glad to know he his doing well

Thank You
He was out a lot this evening. So I torn up some nori strips and he finally ate

My new Apex died two weeks after we tuned in the cal reactor and today Neptune Systems got inline with me using "Team Viewer".
He said that the main computer board was dead and I'm shipping the controller back to them next week.

 

[GoVols]

Some shots of the male "Blue Throat" trigger.
Really sorry for the quality.
My ole cell phone just can't do justice to how truly beautiful the colors of this fish are.

 

[GoVols]

Time laps with another sps with the Kessil/T5 lighting.

@MrMichael and myself wondered how this coral would grow out after we got rid of the aiptasia that was just about to sting it to death ;Dead

April 13th / 2017

June 24th / 2017

Today Christmas eve / 2017

 

[HolisticBear]

Awesome. Up + Over he grew. Fantastic growth.

I love the trigger, he really shows off how huge that pink setosa is ;Woot

 

[GoVols]

Awesome. Up + Over he grew. Fantastic growth.

I love the trigger, he really shows off how huge that pink setosa is ;Woot

Micheal,

Thank you so much for being huge part of the S-400 this year.
Seems like we just dropped in the nudi's yesterday ...;Woot ;Woot

(lol)
This BT trigger is schooling with the other fish ;Wacky

We've seen a few sps take off this year and that wall hammer is a monster.

I'd say, that the way I'm running the a80 Kessil/T5 hybird, with only 2 t5's would be the wrong call for speed growth of Acropora's.
I could still add six more t5's but I'm really happy with the the shimmer and color spectrum that the reef has.

How long has your Reefer been up and running?

 

[HolisticBear]

I could still add six more t5's but I'm really happy with the the shimmer and color spectrum that the reef has.

You could do that because of the chiller yes? What you have seems to be working, I wouldn't rock it. It's good to drive Salty crazy with your Kessil flashlights.

How long has your Reefer been up and running?

5.5 months! The last 3 months have flown by. The portions of the rocks that see light are all purple now, so it's been looking so much better in the last 6 weeks with all the coralline rather than dead rock look.

 

[HolisticBear]

Seems like we just dropped in the nudi's yesterday

Don't forget writing that article! So far I'm aiptasia free (partly because I trashed that invested frag I received), but I'm ordering nudis the second I seem some.

 

[Daniel@R2R]

Just dropped in to say hi. Looks like everything is doing good!

 

[GoVols]

GoVols: S-400 - Update for the week

Well,
We do have some bubble algae and I know exactly where it came from. Bought an sps two summers ago and though that I got all of the bubble algae off and I was wrong. So, I just started H2o2 dosing twice a day but it probability won't do the job. Purple Tang has been picking at it but not making much of a dent in it. He does pull off hunks and I have been finding them in my filter socks. Emerald crabs have not touched it. Tagging along with @Jason mack and we'll see the pro and cons of Vibrant.

The New Apex:
After it was running for two weeks and we got the cal reactor tuned in, it went down.
Tried to connect to Fusion but it could not connect. So I re-started the Apex, got back on Fusion but the four plug switches were gone.
I could not see them but they were stuck in the "on" mode. The next Wednesday, I had done nothing but the display was solid yellow with no control-ability at all and added that to my Neptune Systems support ticket. Work got busy + the upcoming holidays so I just left it alone. So thanks to @hybridazn for getting on my case about fine tuning the cal reactor, it has stayed dialed in, on it's own. Neptune systems and I got together last Friday and Louis called me for phone support and he tried to get the new Apex up. Bottom line was the new Apex has a bad system board and I'm shipping it back for repair next week. Apex is flipping the bill and it just was a lemon box and could have happened to anybodies product.

Busy:
I was really busy over the past few months and got behind on maintenance.
Went 14 days without water change and then went 21 days + I was not keeping up with the GFO.
As you would expect by last weekend we had some green algae. So re-charged both reactors, made 3 - 18% water changes and got her back inline and green algae is gone and live rock looks clean and healthy. So really got lucky on that one.

Salinity Salt Mix:
Used this mix for over an year when it first came out. The buckets do come with a report and checked by third party.
Noticed ;Wideyed that Seachem raised the alk and mag and wanted to give it another go + it supports my local reef shop.
This is a different kind of mix. 1/2 cup per gallon comes in at .35
If you mix it too long it does precipitate and the alk will drop. At 4 hours of mixing alk is at 9.5 dkh and at 24 hours of mixing alk is at 7.5 dkh with grey precipt at the bottom. So I mix it for about 5 hours and use it while it's still cloudy and it holds the alk in the display. Change in late evening and reef is crystal clear in the morning (no big deal). Kinda like it's new #'s and the reef is so clear the next day with this mix.

Over all the S-400 is in great shape and I've had a blessed year in this crazy ;Wacky reefing hobby.

Regards, GoVols

 

[HolisticBear]

It's still cloudy after 5 hours? We're spoiled by Red Sea, but that higher Alk is better for you.

Good luck with the vibrant, I followed that thread closely for awhile. Watch out for cyano, it's seems somewhat common since Vibrant will use up a little NO3, but no PO4.

Your tank looks amazing and glad to hear Apex treated you well. I don't know what you're going to do for an encore in 2018

 

[jsker]

It's still cloudy after 5 hours? We're spoiled by Red Sea, but that higher Alk is better for you.

Good luck with the vibrant, I followed that thread closely for awhile. Watch out for cyano, it's seems somewhat common since Vibrant will use up a little NO3, but no PO4.

Your tank looks amazing and glad to hear Apex treated you well. I don't know what you're going to do for an encore in 2018

+1

 

[GoVols]

It's still cloudy after 5 hours? We're spoiled by Red Sea, but that higher Alk is better for you.

Good luck with the vibrant, I followed that thread closely for awhile. Watch out for cyano, it's seems somewhat common since Vibrant will use up a little NO3, but no PO4.

Your tank looks amazing and glad to hear Apex treated you well. I don't know what you're going to do for an encore in 2018

Yeah,
I can't complain about Neptune Systems. It is a bad box... but I drug my feet too

I've seen the cyano issues with vibrant too and we'll see if I use it. I may siphon it, while cutting it out
Haven't had a new cyano outbreak in a year and a half and smoked the last strain almost a year ago.
@Rick.45cal took the ride on that one with me and case subject #2 (lol) @jsker ...not so much??? ;Hilarious

The Salinity has always been known to be cloudy unless you pour in each 1/2 cup about 10mins apart ;Wacky and don't heat that stuff while mixing