JCOLE's Big Box of Rocks

[JCOLE]

Sent off an ICP test to ATI and received results a week later. Not bad at all! The results look good. Low on Iodine. Will dose some tonight.

Symbol	Value	Calculated reference value	Difference	Result	Actions
Base elements
Salinity (NaCl)	36.66 PSU	35.00 PSU	+1.66 PSU		View
Carbonate hardness	8.37 °dKH	7.50 °dKH	+0.87 °dKH		View
Major elements
Chloride	20774 mg/l	20736 mg/l	+37.50 mg/l		View
Sodium	11499 mg/l	11520 mg/l	-20.80 mg/l		View
Magnesium	1446 mg/l	1377 mg/l	+68.49 mg/l		View
Sulfur	1107 mg/l	963.5 mg/l	+143.6 mg/l		View
Calcium	504.6 mg/l	440.9 mg/l	+63.68 mg/l		View
Potassium	418.1 mg/l	427.3 mg/l	-9.15 mg/l		View
Bromine	102.5 mg/l	70.17 mg/l	+32.32 mg/l		View
Strontium	8.77 mg/l	8.38 mg/l	+0.39 mg/l		View
Boron	5.35 mg/l	4.61 mg/l	+0.74 mg/l		View
Fluorine	0.55 mg/l	1.36 mg/l	-0.81 mg/l		View
Minor elements
Lithium	418.0 µg/l	178.0 µg/l	+239.9 µg/l		View
Silicon	143.2 µg/l	104.7 µg/l	+38.48 µg/l		View
Iodine	26.82 µg/l	68.07 µg/l	-41.25 µg/l		View
Barium	17.41 µg/l	10.47 µg/l	+6.94 µg/l		View
Molybdenum	16.86 µg/l	12.57 µg/l	+4.29 µg/l		View
Nickel	u.	0.52 µg/l	-0.52 µg/l		View
Manganese	u.	1.05 µg/l	-1.05 µg/l		View
Arsenic	u.	1.57 µg/l	-1.57 µg/l		View
Beryllium	u.	0.10 µg/l	-0.10 µg/l		View
Chrome	u.	0.52 µg/l	-0.52 µg/l		View
Cobalt	u.	0.10 µg/l	-0.10 µg/l		View
Iron	u.	0.52 µg/l	-0.52 µg/l		View
Copper	u.	0.52 µg/l	-0.52 µg/l		View
Selenium	u.	0.52 µg/l	-0.52 µg/l		View
Silver	u.	0.10 µg/l	-0.10 µg/l		View
Vanadium	3.33 µg/l	1.57 µg/l	+1.76 µg/l		View
Zinc	u.	2.09 µg/l	-2.09 µg/l		View
Tin	u.	0.52 µg/l	-0.52 µg/l		View
Nutrients
Nitrate	18.23 mg/l	2.00 mg/l	+16.23 mg/l		View
Phosphorus	32.40 µg/l	15.71 µg/l	+16.69 µg/l		View
Phosphate	0.10 mg/l	0.05 mg/l	+0.05 mg/l		View
Pollutants
Aluminium	15.37 µg/l	0.10 µg/l	+15.27 µg/l		View
Antimony	u.	0.10 µg/l	-0.10 µg/l		View
Bismuth	u.	0.10 µg/l	-0.10 µg/l		View
Lead	u.	0.10 µg/l	-0.10 µg/l		View
Cadmium	u.	0.21 µg/l	-0.21 µg/l		View
Lanthanum	u.	0 µg/l	+0 µg/l		View
Thallium	u.	0.10 µg/l	-0.10 µg/l		View
Titanium	u.	0.10 µg/l	-0.10 µg/l		View
Tungsten	u.	0 µg/l	+0 µg/l		View
Mercury	u.	0 µg/l	+0 µg/l		View

 

[JCOLE]

Also, started first Fluconazole dose last night. Fingers crossed!

 

[JCOLE]

3 days in Fluconazole treatment and GHA is not as thick and turning white. All SPS is currently doing very well.

Had a bucket of Tropic Marin Pro salt waiting around until I ran out of all of my Reef Crystal's which was my go to salt for awhile. I finally ran out of IORC. I cleaned out my mixing bucket and the crud and coloring is enough to make me never go back.

Cleaned everything out and start mixing Tropic Marin. One hour in and it mixed crystal clear. Looking good.

 

[JCOLE]

Some daylight FTS

 

[Robertellis30]

So much tank envy going on here!

 

[JCOLE]

So much tank envy going on here!

Thank you! Finally starting to come around.

 

[JCOLE]

This little dude just made himself a home.

 

[JCOLE]

Exited to get my first pack from @therman tomorrow. Picked up some nice pieces to fill what remaining space I think I might have left. :D I feel like a kid at Christmas every time. I cannot wait for tomorrow! Thanks again for working with me Tim!

RR Cylon Raider
RR Wolverine
BC Skinny Love
BC Honeycomb
BC Firecracker Table
CC Dark Knight
Tyree Pinky the bear
Snipers blue

 

[JCOLE]

Picked up a retro T5 kit to add (2) ATI Blue+ 80W bulbs to the tank to add some color. Did a test run before installation tonight. WOW! These bad boys are bright and blue!

 

[reefin_with_the_fam]

Picked up a retro T5 kit to add (2) ATI Blue+ 80W bulbs to the tank to add some color. Did a test run before installation tonight. WOW! These bad boys are bright and blue!

I'll be curious to know how these work for you, I've been thinking of doing the exact same thing. Tank looks awesome!

 

[JCOLE]

The bulbs are installed and add a nice layer of blue to the tank. The spectrum looks much better. Hard to tell from the photos. Never noticed how purple the tank was before.

Before T5's

After T5's

 

[JCOLE]

Added 10 more pieces yesterday. I think it is safe to say that I am out of room. Well, I do see a spot I could squeeze in maybe one or two.... I might have a problem.

I am also loving the spectrum the added Blue+ bulbs are putting out.

 

[JCOLE]

Going through pictures and found when I first set my tank up almost a year ago. Progress is looking good. Hopefully, by this time next year, the tank will be filling in nicely.

04/24/2019

04/12/2020

 

[JCOLE]

Loving the addition of the T5's so far.

Some late night blue shots

 

[JCOLE]

I received another 8 pieces from @therman yesterday. These are some nice looking pieces. They are sitting in my frag tank until I can clear some room this week in my DT.

CC Rainbow Hyacinthus
BC Aquabat
BC Blueberry nasuta
BC “therman's rainbow” nasuta
Greg Carroll Acroberry
Greg Carroll Ultimate efflo
Copps Calacali Stag
Vivid’s Rainbow Delight

 

[JCOLE]

I have noticed a jump in ALK Consumption and growth since adding the T5's. I currently dose 5tsp of Kalk in my ATO and for the last 1.5 weeks, I have had to also dose 20ml of ALK in the morning and afternoon to keep ALK steady. I ordered another 2x80W T5 RetroKit over the weekend along with two more Blue+ bulbs.

Removed the Big Orange ReefTech Starburst Monti cap, Bali green slimer, and purple tort to make room for the new additions I received from Tim last week.

 

[tehmadreefer]

The bulbs are installed and add a nice layer of blue to the tank. The spectrum looks much better. Hard to tell from the photos. Never noticed how purple the tank was before.

Before T5's

After T5's

Looks soooo much better with the t5’s, more balanced colors rather than that overly purple color!

 

[JCOLE]

Looks soooo much better with the t5’s, more balanced colors rather than that overly purple color!

I agree. My corals agree also. Either I was lacking PAR, Spectrum, or both. It is going to look a lot better when I change out the diodes in my Black Boxes. I have two black boxes over my frag tank in the garage and I put some tape over most white and green diodes. The spectrum looked a lot better.

My new diodes come in a week or so. Going to change half of my white channel over to blue on all my BB's. That coupled with 4-80w ATI should give them what they need.

 

[JCOLE]

I received half of my LED's today. Going to start soldering them tonight and tomorrow to see how everything looks. I have changed my layout a bunch from the start but I think I have landed on the layout I am going to go with. I have added some UV and lower end blues to the mix with only 8 whites.

@Flippers4pups how does this look? Should I change any of the 7500K or 12000K to 20000K?

Mars Aqua Factory Layout

My New Factory Layout

 

[JCOLE]

Changed one black box over the frag tank. That layout still appeared a little white. I am going to try a new layout on another black box to see how this looks. I will post what I had to do to get the new diode black boxes to work.

White Layout

Blue Layout

Full Layout