Nowell's Reef Savvy Pastel Peninsula/Black Widow factory

[Nowell]

Sarcophyton elegans, added yesterday, settling in nicely to its perch. Amber filter on iPhone gives decent color rendition.

 

[Brynn]

Beautiful carpentry skills!!! Envious.

 

[Nowell]

Went clamming this morning. This T. crocea really stood out among its blue squamosa neighbors.

 

[GoVols]

Went clamming this morning. This T. crocea really stood out among its blue squamosa neighbors.

Nowell,
The electric blue Crocea does stand out and looks like some golden's are in there too.

Are those clams at a local reef shop?

Thanks, Freddie

 

[Nowell]

Nowell,
The electric blue Crocea does stand out and looks like some golden's are in there too.

Are those clams at a local reef shop?


Thanks, Freddie

Yes...Reef Systems Coral Farm.

 

[Daniel@R2R]

Went clamming this morning. This T. crocea really stood out among its blue squamosa neighbors.

Those are nice!

 

[Nowell]

See edits at bottom of post.

Had a bit of a scare last night. Set up GHL Doser 2.1, primed tubes. Tested manual dosing. No issues save intermittently squeaky pump 1. I had calibrated the pumps a few nights ago. Filled my three dosing containers with 1000ml of ATI Essentials 1, 2, 3. I set it up to start dosing later that evening after I returned from dinner. This was through GHL Connect app for iOS. All three containers in a siphon proof relationship to the sump.

Came back to a cloudy aquarium. Ugh. Precisely 200ml of ATI Essentials 1 (alk soln) had dosed while I was gone. However, the indicated volume in the app was still on 999ml. It was set to start dosing hours later (2ml, 10x/d). Pump 1 hangs up occasionally, however, this has decreased through calibrating and priming the system. There should have been no dosing and no dosing was recorded to have occurred while I was out.

KH was only at 9.3 from 8.0. The dilute nature of ATI Essentials saved me. I did a 40-50% WC about one hour later. I replaced the dosing solutions with RO water and filled each reservoir to 500ml and set dosing to 5ml 48x/d just to have many successfully doses to regain some confidence. Everything looked fine last night and this AM. Dosing fine now. Recording estimated volume remaining in the containers.

I really have no need for a computer and don't own one, but I'm concerned that the Doser 2.1 and/or GHL Connect is buggy right now. I'm going to see if my wife's work lap top will allow me to add GHL Control Center (need a secure WIFI connection anyway). If not I'm going to buy one and a Profilux 4 to have the ability to turn the Doser 2.1 off if I see a rapid pH swing.

ETA: just posted this on the GHL Support Forum and the Reef2Reef GHL forum.
ETA2: Marco quickly reached out to me to help me resolve this. Will try to hook up to myGHL tonight through wife's laptop.
ETA3: All fixed, I believe. Using myGHL and GCC seamlessly once we put in a driver for Win 7 which my wife needs for some medical devices at work. This allowed me to update firmware. GHL/Marco are great to work with. Also pump no. 1 is smooth now, allowing it to run at slowest speed without sticking.

 

[GoVols]

@HolisticBear
Do you have any incite for @Nowell and the above GHL post?

Thanks, Freddie

 

[HolisticBear]

@HolisticBear
Do you have any incite for @Nowell and the above GHL post?

There are two iOS apps, you're using the newer + recommended one GHL Connect. The old one is GHL Control. @GoVols mentioned me because the old app (the one you aren't using) has some pretty serious bugs where it failed to correctly save the individual dosing amount (0.1 ml) and instead saved the default dosing amount (10ml). 100x more and potentially kill your tank.

I have limited experience with the new app. My experience is that the old GHL Control was badly broken and left in a broken state for many years until the new app appeared last fall. In general, the PC app seems to be supported better, but sadly it refuses to work with my doser (random disconnects).

My pump 1 also hangs, but I avoid the problem by running at a faster speed. It only hangs at slower speeds.

I wish I had more advise. The GHL forum here on R2R is pretty active.

 

[Nowell]

There are two iOS apps, you're using the newer + recommended one GHL Connect. The old one is GHL Control. @GoVols mentioned me because the old app (the one you aren't using) has some pretty serious bugs where it failed to correctly save the individual dosing amount (0.1 ml) and instead saved the default dosing amount (10ml). 100x more and potentially kill your tank.

I have limited experience with the new app. My experience is that the old GHL Control was badly broken and left in a broken state for many years until the new app appeared last fall. In general, the PC app seems to be supported better, but sadly it refuses to work with my doser (random disconnects).

My pump 1 also hangs, but I avoid the problem by running at a faster speed. It only hangs at slower speeds.

I wish I had more advise. The GHL forum here on R2R is pretty active.

Thanks for the info--I didn't see the GHL forum here. Will post the info there so I can get some more eyeballs on this.

 

[Nowell]

In other news, Chaeto growth ate my nitrogen cycle. 130g to 229g of growth in 6 days. Nitrates 0 this morning. Peak ammonia was 0.25, followed by rapid rise of NO3 to 20 and then fall to 10, 2, and 0 this morning. Did not check NO2.



100g exported for the garden. Six days of production:

Whenever my nitrates approach zero I’m going to toss about half of the Chaeto to prevent lack of nitrate and phosphate for the coral. This is an excellent problem to have.

 

[lbacha]

In other news, Chaeto growth ate my nitrogen cycle. 130g to 229g of growth in 6 days. Nitrates 0 this morning. Peak ammonia was 0.25, followed by rapid rise of NO3 to 20 and then fall to 10, 2, and 0 this morning. Did not check NO2.



100g for the garden.

Whenever my nitrates approach zero I’m going to toss about half of the Chaeto to prevent lack of nitrate and phosphate for the coral. This is an excellent problem to have.

I have a similar issue, I have a 8g nano with a 10g sump and half of that is for cheato and Xenia. The only way I can get measurable (Hanna low rang Phosphate and nyos nitrate) nutrients is to dose potassium nitrate and mono potassium Phosphate. I feed my tank reef roids and chili twice a day and still nothing measurable. I'm about to add some fish so hopefully that will help a little. I accidentally dosed my rank up to 28 ppm nitrate and .71 ppm phosphates. I turned my fuge light on 24 full time and it was back to 0 ppm for both in less than 24hrs.

Like you said nice problem to have.

 

[dbraun15]

Beautiful yellow Figi leather! One of my favorites!

 

[Kar]

Finished the sump. Water flows into the refugium, down the front of the divider, forward along the bottom, up the front and then back into the skimmer chamber, rolling the chaeto. (Update: 90 degree elbows added to push flow across surface instead which worked better in practice). The drain pipes also will prevent the Chaeto roll from catching on the edge of the divider. Supplements will drop directly on the edge of the divider to enhance mixing. Lids are tight to reduce humidity in the stand. Also, my Tunze skimmer will fit completely within the sump.

That’s a great looking sump, I’m looking to make one. Can you give me some pointers on how to start etc

 

[dantimdad]

What wattage are those plant bulbs? I may have to replace my DIY setup before I even get the tank going.

 

[Nowell]

That’s a great looking sump, I’m looking to make one. Can you give me some pointers on how to start etc

Appreciate it. I learned with scraps of acrylic from a local acrylic store, the Weld-On 3 or 4 solvent from a needle bottle, my router table with a flush cut trim bit and a spiral upcut bit, a perfectly flat surface and youtube searches. I did that for my first sump. The second one, for this build, I used a table saw with a Plexiglass blade. The router gives superior edge treatment and in my experience, nicer seams. Will use router table in the future. I also use the router table for the cutouts using the same bits and a sanding drum. Finish up with a 1/4" radius round over bit. My router table is a board on saw horses with a maple board for a fence held down with a wingnut at the pivot and a clamp at the other end. Acrylic is relatively unforgiving for a newb like me.

What wattage are those plant bulbs? I may have to replace my DIY setup before I even get the tank going.

https://www.amazon.com/TaoTronics-Lights-Hydroponics-Organic-Applicable/dp/B01HPIPM70
36W. $54 for a pair. Good, cheap and fast. You will need two plugs from hardware store.

 

[ChiCity]

Amazing skills brotha...
I wish I had half the carpentry wherewithal that you guys have!!

 

[Nowell]

Will post FTS next week. Clearing up a bacterial bloom right now with UV. All corals fully expanded and beautiful. Drove 400mi round trip to get a special anemone that I’ve wanted for some time. As I’m acclimating the Black Widow, I see one A. ocellaris starting to host my T. crocea...

 

[Kar]

Appreciate it. I learned with scraps of acrylic from a local acrylic store, the Weld-On 3 or 4 solvent from a needle bottle, my router table with a flush cut trim bit and a spiral upcut bit, a perfectly flat surface and youtube searches. I did that for my first sump. The second one, for this build, I used a table saw with a Plexiglass blade. The router gives superior edge treatment and in my experience, nicer seams. Will use router table in the future. I also use the router table for the cutouts using the same bits and a sanding drum. Finish up with a 1/4" radius round over bit. My router table is a board on saw horses with a maple board for a fence held down with a wingnut at the pivot and a clamp at the other end. Acrylic is relatively unforgiving for a newb like me.

https://www.amazon.com/TaoTronics-Lights-Hydroponics-Organic-Applicable/dp/B01HPIPM70
36W. $54 for a pair. Good, cheap and fast. You will need two plugs from hardware store.

Thanks a lot a man, I will show your message to the guy who working on a diy sump

 

[Nowell]

Tonight, still hazy:

Five days ago: