My 30g breeder mixed reef

[aquarius77]

Thank you marv! Im glad im getting a good response. I might do a little minor tweaking of a few corals placement but other than that i think im satisfied.

 

[aquarius77]

Well I went to the city today to do a bit of shopping and ended up at one of the lfs in that area. (imagine that)
I have been considering doing a school of cardinals but I did not know how the one i have had for over a year would feel about pajama's in his tank and i really like them as well. So I thought anthias but i dont feed nearly often enough for them. I saw a tank with about 15 blue-green chromis shimmering away under the lights and i asked if i bought a group if they would cut me a break. I ended up with 5 beautiful little chromis, I think they will accent the tank nicely.

 

[aquarius77]

Oh yea

I mesh modded my super skimmers needle wheel pump... Is that stupid? I seem to be pulling nastier skim and it seems like its moving more water than it was previously.

 

[aquarius77]

Some updates!

The new AB bulbs are in transit, i will take some fts pics with my current bulbs and then some after pics as well to compare and post them.

I ordered a Phosban reactor after much debate and many brown sticks. I also ordered 1000g of Phosar to run in it. I dont have any real alge problems but i have a 55g tank half full of chaeto that i cant control. I cut it back so the fish can swim around in the tank and it just EXPLODES with new growth. Seems like in a few days you cant even tell i trimmed, something is feeding it.
I do have a massive bioload of fish now as well and i have stepped up my feedings. My skimmers werent doing anything before i added all the fish and started feeding the tank so im pretty sure with the chaeto, reactor and skimmers that i can keep the fish load i am shooting for. I will get some pics of the reactor and the tank before i add it, then ill take some pics as things progress, should be interesting with all the changes im making.

On another note.
I dose two part and drip kalk slowly 24/7. I have the 30g display with a few hard frags in my 20g fuge and both are connected to a 55g sump with no corals in it so i have roughly 100 gallons but really only have corals in the 30 display. I cant get over the ammount of ALK and calcium my system uses, its insane! I realize my stuff is starting to grow pretty well but man, im dumping in the alk and cal and its not percipitating out, its being used. My ph rides about 7.9-8.1 and my pumps dont get caked up with deposits and i never see a snowstorm so i know for 100% sure that its being used up. I have not hammered down exact usage of each just yet but im guessing my alk drops about 1 dkh per 24 hour period if not more and the calcium is about 30-40 ppm in 24 hours. Does that sound about right with my large volume and small display thats not over loaded with SPS? I am thinking i need to start saving for a calcium reactor setup, it would take alot off my mind.

All 5 chromis are doing very well, eating and very active, they seem to enjoy playing in powerhead streams, its funny when the wave maker switches things up on them LOL

 

[aquarius77]

I might have overdid this mod just a hair, but ill have pure water :hammer:

I got a second ro/di unit that was exactly the same as the unit i already had. I got the unit used from a buddy and really did not know what i wanted to do at first, i was thinking a dual membrane system but i think that would involve a booster pump that i dont want to buy. I knew i wanted some extra prefilters because i have very fine sediment in my water and it would bleed past a 1 micron prefilter and clog my first carbon stage. I also knew i wanted dual DI just as an extra insurance that i will get 0 tds at all times, even if the first stage is used up. I was getting 0 tds before i did this but i was constantly changing prefilters and damaging the first carbon stage wich could put alot of unneeded wear on my membrane if left unchecked.
Now i dont have to worry, I have a 9 stage unit :D

I left the original unit as is, it is on the left in the pics. I completely stripped the the 2nd unit and emptied all stages and bleached it all just to be safe. I then mounted it on the wall and decided how i wanted to configure it, i came up with what you see.
The source water comes in on the far right side and right now i have 2x 1 micron prefilters and then a carbon, then the water goes to the original unit and runs through 3 carbon blocks then goes to the membrane, then it goes back over to the 4th stage on the right side to the first DI canister then back over to the left side fourth stage di canister and then out to my mixing tank or jug. I set it up with a di on each side because thats how the units come and i did not want to rip mine off the wall and switch it all up just so it looked cool.
I plan to have the first 3 stages all be prefilters, i would like to do a 5 micron then a 1 and then a .5 I then plan to run three carbons each will be different but i have not decided wich ones i will use, I would like for the micron rating to start out at say .6 on the carbons and end up at .5 with the last one but im not sure where ill be able to find the filters, i need to shop around yet.

Over board a bit i think but what the heck, prefilters are cheap;)

 

[aquarius77]

Some more pics i took tonight, the lights were out in the main tank so you get some shots of the frags in the fuge.

 

[143gadgets]

U have some nice SPs. I will be in the IL/IN area for Christmas. Care to share where u got some of ur frags?

 

[aquarius77]

I have gotten them just about everywhere. If your going to be in the area, you are welcome to anything you see in those pics. I have been wondering who was going to take my last birdsnest frag off my hands.

 

[shivametimbas]

got a link for the super skimmer mod? or mind explaining it?
thanks,
tk

 

[aquarius77]

I got some enkamat and i cut a square larger than the impeller. I then cut a hole about an inch acrossed right in the middle of the square (keep the square and toss what you cut out) and slowly worked it into the needlewheel impeller. The impeller has like a split level prop with knobs to chop the water, i just spread the top level from the bottom and i slowly worked the enkamat in between the two levels. I am impressed with the difference it made. I can send you some enkamat when we trade and next time i clean the skimmer ill take pics of it. I did not see this on a link so to say but have read and understood how the mesh mod works in general.

Ive got a huge double mouth ric with your name all over it.

 

[shivametimbas]

what color ric and how much ya chargin me for it? i should have some pics for you soon. i really like the yellow rics ya got!

 

[aquarius77]

Everyone likes the yellow rics, no one likes to hear what i paid for em...

The ric sitting below the zoos and to the left and above the sps in the pic. Id call it a bicolor and if ya count the mouth, tricolor. Its an orange blue combo would be the best way to describe it.

 

[shivametimbas]

dont think i can pay around 50$ plus shipping for it ;)

 

[aquarius77]

Absolutly not, i have more stuff, i was not implying that was all that is on the trade table. I can pay to ship it to you and you take care of ship on mine.

 

[shivametimbas]

i figure we can both just do overnight shipping so we both come out the same.
sound good?

 

[aquarius77]

I see no reason to send softies overnight? I have styro boxes and heat packs and plenty of shipping under my belt. My first frag of zoos arrived when it was 9 degrees outside and they came priority, i still have them.
I see no need for you to send mine overnight either, Normal mail is fine by me. PM me when your ready so we can get it all figured out.

 

[aquarius77]

I got the aqualine 10k in yesterday and installed them last night. They are horribly yelllow and i cant stand them at all. I need atinics. If anyone has any used 20" or 36" t5 or cf setups please pm me. Retro or prefab i dont care, let me know.

 

[aquarius77]

Ok am i crazy or are these lights 2 complely different colors?

Whole tank:

Right Side:

Left Side:

Acrossed the screen looking left to right:

Looking right to left:

Future reefers:

 

[Reef Goddess]

They are definately different maybe a 10 and 12k or 14k. I like how you took like 8 pics to show the difference. lol

Your tank is coming along nicely btw.

 

[aquarius77]

They are definately different maybe a 10 and 12k or 14k. I like how you took like 8 pics to show the difference. lol

Your tank is coming along nicely btw.

Thank you!

I took like 17 lol i only showed a few....

http://s31.photobucket.com/albums/c373/euchre_skillz/HL aqualine AB/