Jason's Tank Journey

[jason2459]

Couple more days and the WSR ACS will be getting it's first swipe down since seeding about two weeks ago

Looked about the same for the past week up until tonight and looks like some good growth starting now

Upper



Lower

 

[jason2459]

This mushroom has been struggling to get off the urchin for days now

And I spotted a little filter feeding hitchhiker in the middle ofmy galaxea. Blurry white thing in the middle of the blurry green stuff.

 

[jason2459]

Looks better then I thought it would. It's filled in nicely. Next time I'm hoping it will be thicker.

I also want to figure out something better then those little push pins that's easier to take out.

Before cleaning. The other side is filled in a bit more.

After cleaning

 

[jason2459]

Well, I was just shocked to see my filefish grab one of my cleaner shrimp by the tail and proceed to eat the entire tail off. That SOB is a fat hog and I guess he really will eat anything.

 

[jason2459]

Yeah, he knows he's in trouble. Like a dog in trouble he just saw me, put his head down, and backed up to hide behind that rock. lol

 

[jason2459]

Turbo ATS cleaning is tomorrow but I noticed a lot of water going out of the 3/4" drain on the WSR. I took off the 1" drain and found a nice amount of algae growth




I started pulling on it and it just kept coming out and ended up with a nice wad of it

 

[jason2459]

I absolutely love this @Turbo's Aquatics ATS. Starting to get that 3D growth again.

I started lifting up the screen and felt instantly how heavy it was. I had to take the inside area out to clean too. It was full on the bottom of algae.

 

[Miami Reef]

Turbo ATS cleaning is tomorrow but I noticed a lot of water going out of the 3/4" drain on the WSR. I took off the 1" drain and found a nice amount of algae growth




I started pulling on it and it just kept coming out and ended up with a nice wad of it

That looks so satisfying!

 

[jason2459]

That looks so satisfying!

Thanks, it was crazy pulling it out and it just keeping pulling. I felt like a magician doing the scarf trick.

 

[jason2459]

Corky starting to get its little hands back

Since moving it to that spot I haven't seen it get picked on. I figured the culprit would be more interested in grazing on the green stuff that I see him do quite often.

Yes you

 

[jason2459]

WSR cleaning weekend. I'm getting fantastic growth from both the Turbo and the WSR. I couldn't be happier and surprised considering both are fairly oversized for my system.

One thing I really like about the Turbo Aquatics ATS is being able to remove the insert and clean it out. The WSR is pretty easy to disconnect and slide off the LED fixtures to rinse clean as well. I just take off the pipes, disconnect the power, and lift off the platform it's sitting on. Then slide off the lights to rinse out.

Here's some pics and the growth I was just pealing off with my hands.

 

[jason2459]

Color me impressed. I'm trying out a couple new pumps. Didn't need to but they were cheap. Like really cheap. They are Jebao/Jecod pumps so for one they are pretty low cost new and I bought these second hand but never used even cheaper.

I got an ECP-150M gyre and an EP-10000M return. I figured the gyre is slightly over rated for my tank size but can run it at lower percentages and the return is rated lower then my current DCT 15000 but it's in spec for my needs and will just have to run it at a higher percentage.

These are also WiFi enabled and there's an app for them. Which doesn't sound to handy for a return pump until you need to adjust a drain and pump with the pump in the basement and the drain gate valve by the tank.

For this though, I was trying to tune the pump up to the same flow volume of the previous return so I didn't touch the drain valve. It was very handy being able to watch the water level in the back overflow and adjust the return right there with out running up and down stairs.

I got the pump dialed in and I was really surprised to see the wattage used on the new 10000 is running at 15watts less then the old 15000 for the same flow rate. Went from about 65watts before down to about 50watts now.

The new 10000 is a smaller footprint and dead quite. The DCT 15000 had a audible hum to it after all these years. I did have a puzzling issue with the adapters to plumb it into my 1" PVC piping. The 1" adapter the pump came with did not fit any 1" PVC piping or fittings I had. I got lucky and did find that a 1 1/4" to 1" bushing spg/slip fit into the 1 1/4" pump fitting that came with the pump. Stupid me though forgot to put the threading nut on the pipe first before glueing it all together. Cut the pipe again and joined back together with a coupling. Yes, I'm a very messy plumber.





The Jebao gyre is nice and strong and very quite. My old maxspect gyres weren't noisy unless I wanted to pulse them. Then they were very loud. So, I've always ran them at constant speed for years now. Kinda cool to try a new flow pattern now that I only have a single gyre in the tank.

The programming through the app made it pretty easy. I liked that I could setup multiple profiles and set what time I wanted each profile to run at. Like right now I have it set to sine wave pulse up to 60% during the day. I assume it goes down to 30% which is it's minimum speed it can be set to run at but it doesn't specifically say what the minimum is or allow me to set it. Then in the evening I have it set to 30% constant flow.

The pulsing up to 60% generates a lot of flow but causes it to do some chaotic patterns at random spots which I'm liking. What it is lacking is a reverse option like the maxspect has.

Otherwise, I like the ease of programming and multiple profiles vs the xf250 advanced or simple controllers I have. I can create very complicated programming for the maxspect through the Apex which I've done before but the Jebao app can almost match those capabilities with a lot more ease and everything I need it to do now minus the running the motor in reverse.




The app is easy to use and I just followed the directions to get the pumps added. And the app has this experience center tool that you can see what all kinds of equipment that it could control and test programming on them.





Can added many profiles from constant mode, pulse, sine wave pulse, random, and feed modes.


Test out programming multiple types of devices.

 

[jason2459]

Still pulling a good amount of algae here off the the Turbo after the last big pull. The last pull off both screens was a lot and didn't leave much on the screens. That didn't stop the Turbo at all and will see next week how the WSR reacts.

Nice harvest again

 

[jason2459]

So, I've always read some wrasses like a melanurus could clean off tank mates. I've never seen it and figured the tank mates had to be really big and the wrasse really small...



I just saw my melanurus peck on my multi color angel. First time I've ever seen it pay any attention to any other fish in my tank. It was either a very rare cleaning event or it was a "get away I'm working here." He's always super focused on the rocks. But neither fish flared or reacted negatively after that. They just kept going on about their business.

 

[jason2459]

Only took 3 day and 5 billion pictures and this is the best shot I have gotten of the melanarus.


He doesn't like the camera. lol

 

[jason2459]

WSR cleaning time and it did really well again. I wasn't sure how it would do with how clean I got the screen last time. Both ATSs still going strong .

Nice production and harvest. A lot came off very easily. Not much left again like last time.

 

[jason2459]

Some of my Angels

Coral Beauty
Bi Color
Multi Color
Flame x2

 

[jason2459]

Couple more of the flame and CB

 

[jason2459]

 

[Miami Reef]

Hi. I’m not a paid scientist. I’m not even an unpaid scientist, but I wish I was.

I really wish I had a turf algae scrubber. It looks so satisfying to harvest the algae every week. I would love to have one, but it’s so expensive!