Reefingbuddha's 300 DD

[Murfman]

Great tank build murf, I really like the rock work and coral placement. I like the idea of a introduction box as well, have to make one of those. I also really like the bar top and wish I could have incorporated a side view as you did. At least I can enjoy it from the tank room.

Thanks, I enjoy it and the bar makes a good elbow resting spot when I am looking deep in to the tank. I have to keep wiping the oil from my nose off the acrylic though :tongue:

 

[reefingbuddha]

wow. it looks great. The sand is very clean. What is the secret?

So much flow that its hard to keep it in place! I currently have to shuffle around sand every few days... still trying to get the flow worked out. Thanks for the kind comments.

 

[reefingbuddha]

Awesome set up!

Thanks!

 

[litenyaup]

very cool to see a nice clean setup. i have been following this thread, and hope to see more as it grows!!

 

[reefingbuddha]

Thanks for the interest. :D

A vortech question to throw out to everyone.

What is the longest pulse time for the MP40w? From what I can tell its somewhere around 40 seconds but that seems to be pretty fast. The thing is that I'm getting a good gyre going but 40s is a little bit limited for it to reach its full potential before switching. Anyone know a way around this or how to extend the pulse. I'm looking for something around 5-10 minutes. Is it bad to put the pumps on a timer (such as apex controller outlets)?

 

[reefingbuddha]

Made some fish food tonight. Thanks Jnarowe for your detailed guide. Here is the link. http://home.wavecable.com/~jrowe/DIY%20Fish%20Food%20Procedure.htm
I went to my local publix and they had some specials. The recipe includes the following
- PE Mysis: 1/2 package
- Tilapia: 1/2 a fillet
- Swordfish: 1/2 a fillet
- Scallops: 3 small scallops
- Wild Shrimp (uncooked): 8-10
- 1 sheet Julia Sprung Sea Veggies (Green)
- Vitamin C Food Soak
- Selcon
Total raw ingredient cost was somewhere around $25 total but I only used about 1/4 of what I purchased. The rest will be going to feed me. I think I should be able to feed the tank for about 2 months with this amount of food... very rough estimate.

All fresh ingredients were tested to see if the fish like them and then minced as small as I can chop them. The PE mysis remained unchopped and the algae was cut into thing strips as recommended by J.

All the raw ingredients were soaked in RO and then rinse 5 more times with RO as well. Then water was drained as much as possible, some selcon, vitamin C, minced garlic and the algae strips were all mixed together in a bowl and left to soak. They were then put in a ziplock bag, flattened, and the mix is currently freezing. First trial run of the whole thing will be in about an hour. Looks pretty good so far.

 

[reefingbuddha]

Anyone with suggestions on the vortech question?

 

[reefingbuddha]

Time for an update.

1) I have been battling ich for a few weeks and seem to be winning with the combination of self prepared food and a very big UV sterilizer hooked up to my return pump.

2) All but a few fish are rid of the infection. Unfortunately the goldflake angel got it especially bad and even after getting rid of the parasite he unfortunately got a mysterious secondary infection which did him in after a few days. He was hospitalized and treated with melafix and pimafix during that time.

3) Still no corals in the tank until I'm sure the ich is under control, otherwise I might end up hypoing the entire display. Things are looking good thought so I might be taking donations of frags sometime soon. :D

4) And last but not least the new skimmer is finally here. Its a ATB 12.5 Delux skimmer designed for in sump use. Its replacing the Deltec AP 1003 I have now which unfortunately is kinda noisy for my situation and more importantly significantly over-sized. The ATB is dead quiet and already trying to do its job. Here's a video of it after about 20 minutes running with the wedge pipe wide open

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oiW8Q0LJbfU[/youtube]

 

[reefingbuddha]

btw, putting the Vortech driver on a timer will not harm it. This recommendation comes from Tim at Ecotech.

 

[reefingbuddha]

Another interesting observation today! Found all the snails piled high in the tank this morning spawning like there is no tomorrow. The tank is full of thousands of eggs? now, floating around. I threw on some filter socks to try and polish the water a bit but I'm pretty happy.

 

[reefingbuddha]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5XvlRqWUDYk[/youtube]

 

[reefingbuddha]

Update:
- Fish are all doing well
- Two of my vortech drivers need to go in for service since putting them on a timer as suggested by ecotech. This reallysucks and cost me $40 in shipping. Not very happy. Worse yet that are two of 4 pumps which are key to my gyre flow to work effectively.
- Skimmer issue is due to them shipping a pinwheel that's too big for the pump. It runs but needs some back pressure to get to full speed. It was supposed to only be 50mm but is 60mm.

 

[reefingbuddha]

Pearlberry Front

Pearlberry Back

Purple Stylophora

Red Planet (mounted horizontally, picture is head on but the frag is about 2.5" from bottom to tip.)

Skimmer

Cleaned up wiring

Display tank (little algae on the sand-bed at the moment. Hopefully it will be resolved once I get those two vortech drivers back)

 

[stunreefer Verified Sponsor]

Spawning so soon, awesome!

Victor should take care of the pinwheel if you give him a call...

 

[litenyaup]

very nice!!

 

[reefingbuddha]

Victor has taken care of the pinwheel! Its already on its way. I had a tracking number the same afternoon he figured it out. Great customer service.

The vortech controllers were sent out yesterday and by this afternoon I already had a email confirming their repair and that they are in the mail.

Score +2 for customer service in our hobby.

 

[reefingbuddha]

Gyre flow observations:

Its actually pretty amazing. With only one functioning vortech to power the counter-rotation (the tunze is currently having problems too), there is still significant flow circulating the whole tank. Not at the same speed as the other direction aided by the tunze but still significant.

I'm thinking of removing the two extra vortech's when they come back from service.

Once I get a decent camcorder (still waiting for the new releases to take advantage of price breaks) I will see how good of a video I can get of the flow using air bubbles, food, or maybe even neutrally buoyant plastic pellets if I can find some around here.

 

[K-MAN]

how is that pink lemonaid frag doing...alive?

 

[reefingbuddha]

Alive but completely bleached out. I see polyp extension but no coloration at all. I hope it picks back up. I need to take some par measurements tomorrow to see what intensity I'm getting in different spots since I switched around some of the bulb combos.

Left you a message the other day. How are those LEDs? Feel free to come over to shoot the **** sometime.

 

[Murfman]

Buddha, looks like diatoms on the sand, not algae. you can use ribbon to show the pump flow too.