VanDalsenReef
Valuable Member
I hope the hydros works well for you. Hearing a lot of "new products" bugs but looks promising
Look what you made me do
- Large Build
- Thread starter kenbennedy
- Start date
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- dry rock mixed reef refugium
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kenbennedy
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There have been some hiccups, but I have made myself happy overall. Right when I set it up it prompted me to update firmware, and there was a very specific sequence required of closing the mobile app/reopening it, powering something off in order to succefully complete the update. Sometimes when making output or schedule changes they don't stick, and I have to just delete the old item and make a new one to get things working. It is pretty easy to program and very flexible, but the logic of the programming elements needs more documentation from Coralvue. The Coralvue forums were pretty helpful.
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kenbennedy
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I'm overdue for an update:
I bought about 35lb of live rock from Pacific East Aquaculture, and threw in about 1" of sand in the bottom of the refugium. I have been pretty antsy and it was hard to not jump the gun while waiting for the tank.
After rinsing the rocks and sand, and letting everything settle for a week, I had to go to the LFS and bring something home. First livestock is the fire shrimp! I am going to have to work on the lighting and camera setup, this H80 is not doing any favors for my cell phone photos.
He molted about a week later and seems happy but pretty shy. I will move him to the DT after everything gets settled. I also seeded the rocks with some pods from Algae Barn and have been dosing a small amount of phyto to keep them going. Another order from Pacific East Aquaculture brought some Nassarius and Nerite snails and my first two frags - euphylia cristata and galaxea (an almost-freebie)
I bought about 35lb of live rock from Pacific East Aquaculture, and threw in about 1" of sand in the bottom of the refugium. I have been pretty antsy and it was hard to not jump the gun while waiting for the tank.
After rinsing the rocks and sand, and letting everything settle for a week, I had to go to the LFS and bring something home. First livestock is the fire shrimp! I am going to have to work on the lighting and camera setup, this H80 is not doing any favors for my cell phone photos.
He molted about a week later and seems happy but pretty shy. I will move him to the DT after everything gets settled. I also seeded the rocks with some pods from Algae Barn and have been dosing a small amount of phyto to keep them going. Another order from Pacific East Aquaculture brought some Nassarius and Nerite snails and my first two frags - euphylia cristata and galaxea (an almost-freebie)
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kenbennedy
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And lastly, the tank is on dry land, and is finally on the way!
The delivery date keeps creeping to the right, but I finally feel like it is happening for real! Fingers crossed at this point.
The delivery date keeps creeping to the right, but I finally feel like it is happening for real! Fingers crossed at this point.
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kenbennedy
Active Member
IT'S HERE!
It's a little too unwieldy for my wife and I to manage on our own, but the tank is here, unscathed, unpacked, and in the garage! I will have to enlist some friends and family to help roll it on it's side and squeeze through the door threshold into the living area.
I have to say, I am impressed with the value of the tank from SCA. I have not gone over all the glass, edges, and silicone with a fine tooth comb, but it sure looks good in person.
It's a little too unwieldy for my wife and I to manage on our own, but the tank is here, unscathed, unpacked, and in the garage! I will have to enlist some friends and family to help roll it on it's side and squeeze through the door threshold into the living area.
I have to say, I am impressed with the value of the tank from SCA. I have not gone over all the glass, edges, and silicone with a fine tooth comb, but it sure looks good in person.
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kenbennedy
Active Member
The only other minor updates were fitting up the overflow box to check the factory drilled holes, check the Avast Plank feeder (I will need a longer mount arm, or some spacers), and cut the overflow bulkheads inside the overflow box.
I have to say - the Modular Marine overflow is another thing of beauty. The quality is 10/10.
I have to say - the Modular Marine overflow is another thing of beauty. The quality is 10/10.
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kenbennedy
Active Member
How could I forget! I put in my first fish order at Ocean Devotion LA for three fish. They should be ready in about 4 weeks. Hopefully just the right amount of time to get the tank plumbed in and wet. I have about 35 lb of live rock in the sump/refugium already, so three fish should be just about right. I have a few bottles of Fritz on hand that I will probably dose just in case.
Yellow Tang
Whitecheek/Goldrim Tang
Spotbreast Angel (Female)
Yellow Tang
Whitecheek/Goldrim Tang
Spotbreast Angel (Female)
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kenbennedy
Active Member
Its 12mm, so just under 1/2" thick all around. I was really impressed when I first laid eyes on it. I haven't had a tank in decades, and the last one was a petco 30 gallon, so this is a whole new level for me.
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kenbennedy
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With the help of some family, the tank is in the house!
I absolutely did NOT leave myself enough room behind the stand to make plumbing easy. It's been challenging so far, both regarding reach and access, as well as the fact that I am not good at plumbing! The first thing I did was glue up my union to a short 1" run of pipe, but left off the joining nut, so that's $10 right into the trash :-(
I have to work up some minor tweaks to the Plank feeder setup in order to grab the fat eurobracing, and to make sure it doesn't get in the way of plumbing in the back. I'll also have to get my hands on a PAR meter before I lean in to stocking with corals.
I found laying out the rockscape much more enjoyable. I added a few more pieces of rock compared to my initial draft from a few months back. It's not perfect but I am pretty happy with the volume of rock and the amount of swimming space. There are tons of hideouts in the structures, especially the large formation in the back/left.
My wavemaker layout is still very much TBD, I think when I fill it up and start mixing salt, I will simply see how the flow moves among the rocks and open space. Let me know what you think of the aquascapce.
I absolutely did NOT leave myself enough room behind the stand to make plumbing easy. It's been challenging so far, both regarding reach and access, as well as the fact that I am not good at plumbing! The first thing I did was glue up my union to a short 1" run of pipe, but left off the joining nut, so that's $10 right into the trash :-(
I have to work up some minor tweaks to the Plank feeder setup in order to grab the fat eurobracing, and to make sure it doesn't get in the way of plumbing in the back. I'll also have to get my hands on a PAR meter before I lean in to stocking with corals.
I found laying out the rockscape much more enjoyable. I added a few more pieces of rock compared to my initial draft from a few months back. It's not perfect but I am pretty happy with the volume of rock and the amount of swimming space. There are tons of hideouts in the structures, especially the large formation in the back/left.
My wavemaker layout is still very much TBD, I think when I fill it up and start mixing salt, I will simply see how the flow moves among the rocks and open space. Let me know what you think of the aquascapce.
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kenbennedy
Active Member
Can't believe I slacked off for a whole month without an update! I moved the fire shrimp to the display tank, got him a little brother/sister, and picked up some CUC from both Pacific East Aquaculture and ReefCleaners. I grabbed some more nassarius and nerite, as well as some cerith, bumblebee and 2 conchs. I grabbed a serpent star, some live sand for biodiversity, and 4 small porcelain crabs as well. Since most of my rock is dead and bleached, I added a bottle of Fritz turbo start, as well as PNS substrate sauce and Pro Bio for additional good bacteria. Perhaps the uglies are unavoidable, but I would like to give the good guys a fighting chance.
I find the fire shrimp particularly nice to look at, I wish they were less shy. While waiting for fish, the other thing I have noticed is that I have a TON of copepods swarming the glass, both in the refugium and DT.
First group of fish came from Ocean Devotion, and I could not be happier with how well that went. Reminded me of Finding Nemo when I floated everyone for acclimation.
All the fish were in great shape and started eating almost immediately. The Royal Gramma took up residence behind the overflow box for about 10 days, but just moved into one of the rock structures, and now ventures out into the water column much more.
I am really struggling to get decent photos or videos with any of my cameras, and a big part is the PWM that my Reefbreeders lights use to operate at less than full power. I discovered that at 100% power there is no flickering or banding, but at 99% or less power, no matter what framerate or shutter speed I use, there is flickering or banding on the camera/phone screen and in recorded video. It is not really noticeable in still images, but wow is it distracting in videos. I'll just have to turn the lights all the way up for video, and ask forgiveness from the fish!
I find the fire shrimp particularly nice to look at, I wish they were less shy. While waiting for fish, the other thing I have noticed is that I have a TON of copepods swarming the glass, both in the refugium and DT.
First group of fish came from Ocean Devotion, and I could not be happier with how well that went. Reminded me of Finding Nemo when I floated everyone for acclimation.
All the fish were in great shape and started eating almost immediately. The Royal Gramma took up residence behind the overflow box for about 10 days, but just moved into one of the rock structures, and now ventures out into the water column much more.
I am really struggling to get decent photos or videos with any of my cameras, and a big part is the PWM that my Reefbreeders lights use to operate at less than full power. I discovered that at 100% power there is no flickering or banding, but at 99% or less power, no matter what framerate or shutter speed I use, there is flickering or banding on the camera/phone screen and in recorded video. It is not really noticeable in still images, but wow is it distracting in videos. I'll just have to turn the lights all the way up for video, and ask forgiveness from the fish!
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