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Saltees

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Finally able to lay my hands on 6 all black mollies (2males and 4females). Gonna drip acclimate them over the weekend and into the display coming Monday!
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Finally, gotten down to redoing the netting on the CLEARVIEW LID, the earlier one I did was done too tightly, where it’s impossible to put in the center bracing. This time round, I installed the center bracing before I spliced in the netting. Word of caution, get the plastic splicing tool not the metal ones, the metal one will cut your netting during splicing.
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I'd introduced the mollies into the display prematurely and they've been there for the past 24 hours, they are out about swimming and eating pellets. Earlier this week, I'd raised the salinity from the tank cycling 18-20ppt to the current 25ppt and will be continuing with 5ppt raise per week till 35ppt.

Still working on my aquascaping though...

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Ammonia remains at 0. Probably be testing once or twice a week from now on.
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Lost a Molly over the weekend, tank water is clear but with a yellow tint. ATS is live today, a yellow film is observed on the algae mat. Salinity at 25ppt.
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There’s a correlation between UV and ORP...there’s very obvious spike and drop when UV is turned on and off.

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Still not getting the scape right. The 5 mollies are having the time of their life, with 120G to themselves along with my AFS feeding 6x a day. No hair algae observed so far on my ATS even with the 2xTUNZE ECO CHIC running 24/7.

Ammonia at 0 mg/l with all the above activities.
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Setting up of APEX and Dr Tim gotta wait till Monday! Till then...
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Really nice build so far. How did you mount the face/false wall in your apex cabinet? I saw you used an ikea cabinet but not sure how you did the interior you mounted face (with the grommets) into the cabinet in a manner to still be able to access the cords, etc. Thanks.
 
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Really nice build so far. How did you mount the face/false wall in your apex cabinet? I saw you used an ikea cabinet but not sure how you did the interior you mounted face (with the grommets) into the cabinet in a manner to still be able to access the cords, etc. Thanks.
Thanks FFTFK! I assembled the IKEA EKET table-sawed to the required depth, capped the cut edge with PVC corner strips. Then I recessed the unused door of the cabinet onto the back of the cabinet, and bored holes for the grommets that will give you the exact thickness of the NEAT AQUATICS GROMMETS. But the EKET boards are fragile, make sure your saw and cutters are sharp, I actually did cause some hairline cracks by just inserting the grommets. To access the wires, just lift the cabinet from its position, but wouldn’t be doing that often once

BTW, I’m planning to laser cut some 5mm acrylic to redo the EKET to house all the APEX modules + DOS. To do so, I will have to remove the door(s) permanently.

I will be installing a chiller after the UV running off the COR 20 return pump. The return volume is still controlled by 1” Flow Sensor.
 
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Took half a day yesterday just to relocate the UV out of the stand, 2m further away and along side with the TECO 500 chiller. To pull the UV out was a feat given the tight space, even if it’s once a year for bulb replacement is a feat, I am glad I don’t ever have to repeat the exercise ever again.

Before the shift I was getting 1500LPH from my COR20@50%, now with 4m of horizontal 1” hose in total to and fro the chiller, I am getting only 750LPH from my COR20@100%. That’s 1.5X turnover of the total water volume through sump down from the 3X, and double the retention time of water through my 80W DELTEC UV (1500LPH is the manufacturer’s recommendation for PROTOZOA control). I turned on the chiller today, I will be monitoring on how fast it takes to chill the water to 25C@750LPH.
 
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Nailed it, 35ppt @ 25C and the chiller’s working great @ 750 LPH.

3EA46B48-1013-45DF-9D3A-150F9ADC5948.jpeg
 
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Good progress!
What flow rate are you getting through your UV?
750LPH thru from COR20 > DD UV 80W > TECO 500 > 1” Flow Sensor > DT. Slow enough to contain protozoa twice over. Cheers!
 

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Slow enough to contain protozoa twice over. Cheers!
That's pretty slow flow.
Are you under the recommend minimum flow for your UV?
If you are shooting to sterilize protozoa, too slow of a flow will allow them to reproduce faster than the UV can sterilize them.
 
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That's pretty slow flow.
Are you under the recommend minimum flow for your UV?
If you are shooting to sterilize protozoa, too slow of a flow will allow them to reproduce faster than the UV can sterilize them.
Hmm... didn’t think of it that way. Yes my flow is half that of the recommended protozoa kill rate. Maybe I can drop DD/DELTEC a line to ask. From my Temp probe readings, my chiller is keeping my tank equally cool regardless whether my UV is on or off.
 
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Zip-tied and super-glued the CARIBSEA BRANCHES together and lowered into the DT with couple of spare 1/2” hoses. Given the height of the tank, the hoses allowed me to adjust the rock work in place. I had the finished piece sitting on 3/4” PVC pipes, instead of resting directly on the glass. Turned up the WAV and hope to see what sand scape will I get tomorrow.
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That's pretty slow flow.
Are you under the recommend minimum flow for your UV?
If you are shooting to sterilize protozoa, too slow of a flow will allow them to reproduce faster than the UV can sterilize them.
Reply from Tony@DELTEC:
“For the 80 watt unit we don’t suggest running very low flow ( suggested minimum 1830 l/hr – 72’000 µWs/cm² radiation intensity ) as the water running around the quartz tube helps cool the lamp, if the flow is too low the lamp can start to run hot and efficacy and lamp life will be reduced.”

I ran a chiller and even at my 750LPH (~200GPH) slow flow I’m keeping my UV cool to the extend where I get condensate on my UV casing, so I’m not too concern about overheating.

But if I were to based on the protozoa limiting norm of 180,000 µWs/cm², the math should be:

(72,000/180,000µWs/cm²) x 1,830LPH = 732LPH.

This is the effective flow rate that I feel should be aiming for to limit protozoa.

On the extreme end, if I were to target Cryptocarton Irritans (marine white spot) and if I recalled correctly the industry number is 280,000 µWs/cm². Then the math is:

(72,000/280,000µWs/cm²) x 1,830LPH = 470LPH (~120GPH).

470LPH is about 1X my total water volume (DT+Sump).

Either way, I am glad I’m in the strike zone for protozoa, that’s where I want my UV to be.
 
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Acquired 3 x 1.5" Wrasses (Solar, Naoko & Flasher) and 2 cleaner shrimps. Putting them through the QT. Wrasses breeze through the 30 mins (45 mins actually) of H2O2 bath.

I'll be skipping the medicated food to the 2nd or 3rd Tank Transfer, trying to get them on TDO Chroma Boost pellets first.

Skipping the PARAGUARD as well, no stock at my LFS.

Pulled out the Black molly (canary) from the QT too, they are too active for the wrasses! My Black Mollies have been fatten up on TDO Chroma Boost since Day 1.

Keeping my fingers crossed.

Quarantine Protocol (adapted from @Humblefish)

A. Run in sequence for 12 days.
  1. Equalized temperature between fish bag and TANK A.
  2. Before going into TANK A, dip fish into 30 mins in 150 ppm of H2O2 (5 ml of 3% H2O2 per 1 liter of saltwater) for 30 mins (external parasites).
  3. Dose for 2 wks @ 5ml/40L daily with PARAGUARD (antiseptic)
  4. Feed for 2 wks @ 2x/daily with 1 tbsp x PELLET + FOCUS (antibacterial binder) + GENERAL CURE (internal parasite/dewormer) + NEOPLEX/KANAPLEX (broad spectrum antibiotic) + EPSOM (laxative).
  5. After 72 hrs max - Transfer fish from TANK A to TANK B.
  6. 30 min before Tank Transfer, dip fish into 150 ppm of H2O2 (5 ml of 3% H2O2 per 1 liter of saltwater) for external parasites.
  7. After 72 hrs max - Transfer fish from TANK B to TANK C.
  8. Before going into TANK C, dip fish into 30 mins in 150 ppm of H2O2 (5 ml of 3% H2O2 per 1 liter of saltwater) for 30 mins (external parasites).
  9. After 72 hrs max - Transfer fish from TANK C to TANK D.
  10. After 72 hrs max - Transfer fish from TANK D to DISPLAY TANK.
  11. TANK A to D to contain BLACK MOLLY (canary/control) for the whole process.
 
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A worm with high fashion and practical utility: Have you ever kept feather dusters in your reef aquarium?

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