Reduck's Cad SAIO 75g build

[WilRams]

I don't think I have seen a SAIO build yet. Looking good!

I also had trouble adjusting their skimmer which I now have in my frag tank. Like you mentioned water level is critical. Once I raised the skimmer and adjusted the body its actually not too bad of a skimmer.

 

[Reduck]

I don't think I have seen a SAIO build yet. Looking good!

I also had trouble adjusting their skimmer which I now have in my frag tank. Like you mentioned water level is critical. Once I raised the skimmer and adjusted the body its actually not too bad of a skimmer.

Thanks.
Yea, the skimmer is not too bad. When it works! Last night it decided to stop pumping air. Didn't notice till this 6AM morning. Had to crank it up to the point of it overflowing to get it going and adjust it back down again. I got to do something about the lock nut. Like put an extension on it. Unlike a sumped system, its a bit hard to reach in the SAIO. I'll probably wedge it in tighter with egg crate too, so I can adjust it without the whole unit turning on the suction cups. Hopefully it isn't overflowing into the sump while I'm at work today.

 

[Reduck]

So a couple days with the PMK now and I have some meaningful data. Not that I didn't already know what it was going to tell me, but it's good to have backup. Since I moved into this tank, and added the second Radion, I cut the power back 20% to let the tank settle in. I have also been using the cloud setting to help the tank occupants acclimate. After one day of monitoring, I realized the PMK could not keep up measurements during the cloud patterns. This leads to a visual dip in PAR as seen in the photo below. So to help get back to normal lighting patterns, I have been shutting down the cloud effect one line at a time. You can see the effect immediately. The tank also responded favorably. The biggest downside of the PMK IMO is the wire. I can hide the sensor rock in the back of the tank. But the wire still needs to go up the back and out. Yuk.
The indophyllia is settling in nicely. I'll post some pics later as the lights come up.

 

[Reduck]

The new creature from the deep! He's big (about 6"), he's round, and he's hungry!

And an obligatory FTS.

 

[Reduck]

Stopping @ Ultimate Corals is always a good thing! Mark got this brain in last week when I picked up the monster, and he asked me to wait a day to let it puff up. Then he sends me a pic of it to show the wife. (He knows her and her taste in corals)

I don't know about you fellow reefers that hide this stuff from your significant other, but when mine saw this heart shaped brain...she had to have it. So this morning I ran over and got it for her. It's settling in just fine. And she loves it!

 

[Reduck]

Nothing special going on this week. Just did the routine WC and I'll change socks later today. Have a small bed outbreak but I kind of expected it as the bacteria population grows in the new substrate. I'll change the phosguard later when I do the socks. Tests are all good. Dosing is still spot on. Need to do some probe calibration and maintenance as I am seeing a lot of drift in my conductivity probe. If I'm doing the one, I might as well do them all!

The new LR is already showing signs of coraline growth so we are getting near time to start adding coral to it. Thinking some SPS!

 

[Reduck]

Some happy tank shots..

 

[jguinn]

Looking great! Looks like the coral in that top shot is enjoying some good flow. Did your MP10 end up fitting into the new build? I recall some discussion earlier about the glass thickness and whether or not it would work on the new tank.

 

[Reduck]

Yup. It stuck! That Duncan is getting its motion from the MP40 on the opposite side, almost 3' away. I have the MP10 providing flow to the back, anti sync.
Need to get some video up here soon....

 

[Reduck]

Let's try this video!
It's short, and mythbusters is in the background...

 

[jguinn]

That's so cool! Great flow in there. Everyone seems to be happy. Glad that the MP10 was able to couple through the back glass. Coloration is looking nice as well.

 

[Reduck]

That's so cool! Great flow in there. Everyone seems to be happy. Glad that the MP10 was able to couple through the back glass. Coloration is looking nice as well.

Thanks! It's getting there! The Mrs is already thinking fish stock. I'm thinking SPS. She will undoubtably win.

 

[Reduck]

So got my Triton test results back. Not too bad. Some expected, some unexpected. The Zinc was unexpected. Looking into causes and cures now.
The others were expected. Phosguard does leach Al. S low due to salinity being slightly low at the test time. I'll switch back to GFO for a month and then alternate between Phosguard and GFO. Salinity is back at 1.026 after last WC. Zinc...well thats a different subject. I'll figure that out and let you know!

 

[Reduck]

Today's short video is clam versus gonipora. Seems my clam is infringing on its space!

 

[choss]

The new creature from the deep! He's big (about 6"), he's round, and he's hungry!

And an obligatory FTS.

Just catching up on your build. That is just a beauty!

 

[Reduck]

Started using NYOS PHOS ex today. We shall see how that does for phosphate reduction. It appears to be a type of GFO and not aluminum based. I'll just keep up my WC to reduce the Al in the tank for now. Hopefully the zinc will also drop on its own.

 

[Reduck]

Not to leave anything to chance I did a full water panel on my well output tonight. Rather than waste my money on testing the actual output, I did the test post softener and post carbon stack. Since that's what we drink and that's what feeds the rodi. No iron, no copper, no lead, no measurable nitrates or nitrates, no measurable phosphates, and ph 7.5.
I guess the treatment system is doing its job!
One less thing to worry about.
Oh yea. There is. The Mrs decided to house paint. Looks like I'll be tearing the tank down for a day or two to move it for the painters....argh...that should be fun...NOT!

 

[Reduck]

Got shipping notice for my new Adavanced Acrylic ATO container, 9G. That should go at least a full week. It'll be here Thursday.
I noticed that Neptune posted arrival of the new batch of DDR so hopefully that will get here soon too.

Also some new inhabitants arrived last night, courtesy of Ultimate. Marks tanks are stuffed with some spectacular stuff. I went to pick up a really nice plate, and came home with that and a wall hammer colony. Both acclimated pretty quick.
I'll post up some pics later as the lights come up.

Painters start today upstairs. I'm hoping we can time the tank move with routine wc day, in two weeks...it's still not going to be fun!

 

[Reduck]

The new additions from Ultimate Coral @hcker99
Awesome!

 

[Reduck]

Yay. Boxes! Today my Advanced Acrylic ATO tank arrived. Nice piece of craftsmenship! I have about a day left in my 5g tank, so I'll let that empty a bit more and change them out tomorrow.
Also on deck for this weekend, I'm going to try to go more natural, so I ordered up a Santa Monica Drop .6 scrubber. I have not really had any algae issues with this tank but I'd like to lower my use of gfo. So I'm going to give this a go to see what it grows.
I'll post pics this weekend once they are both installed.