Sawdonkey’s 210 Rebuild / Redo

[bubbaque]

He looks to be pretty big!

 

[sawdonkey]

He looks to be pretty big!

Yeah, I’d say he’s close to full grown. He’s close to three feet long and pretty thick. My bioload just really increased, but the biopellets I have running are already helping my skimmer to produce an nice black skimmate.

 

[Fudsey]

Watch your fingers with that guy....;Wideyed

 

[sawdonkey]

Watch your fingers with that guy....;Wideyed

Nah, he doesn’t even have teeth besides the “pebble” teeth on the roof of his mouth. More for crushing rather than biting.

 

[Fudsey]

Nah, he doesn’t even have teeth besides the “pebble” teeth on the roof of his mouth. More for crushing rather than biting.

Ahhh OK that's good

 

[sawdonkey]

He’s eating and becoming more brave, but has not ventured all the way out of his cave.

 

[bubbaque]

Nice pic!

You seem to enjoy keeping the species that can bite when you put your hands in the tank.

 

[rs1831]

Everything looks great! Have you started the biopellets yet? Which reactor are you using?

 

[sawdonkey]

Everything looks great! Have you started the biopellets yet? Which reactor are you using?

Thanks and yes, I’ve started pellets using a modded TLF reactor......just because that’s what I had around. Most of my SPS has looked pretty bad lately. Nothing dying on me, but just browned out. I gotta get my nutrients under control.

 

[sawdonkey]

This guy should help with the fragging.

 

[sawdonkey]

Few pics

 

[James Emory]

Well if she isn't the sweetest looking girl, congrats Gunner.

Oh, there’s a baby! That’s why I have so much time on here and working in my aquarium. Im not getting any sleep, but I have s lot of free time. I’m off work and working the night shift with the baby. Here’s Selene!

As for the tank, my ph has been really low, around 7.7. I think it’s because we’re constantly in the basement with the baby and the house is closed up with ac on. I bought some soda lime from a vet store and I’ll be making a diy co2 scrubber tomorrow. I also bought an air pump and wood bubbling stone to micro bubble at night. I normally dose Kalk through my top off as my sole source of alk/cal, but with no real coral to speak of, nothing is consuming alk and it is already at 9.0.

Tomorrow I’ll receive my second WAV pump so my flow will be good (along with a gyre). My algae issues seem to be improving. I’ll probably move my frags to the DT soon and start collecting more.

Really anxious to see what these Orpheks can do.

 

[James Emory]

My Ecotech M1 return pump sounds like a helicopter. I took it apart, cleaned it, put it back together...sounds like a helicopter. Must be the motor in the sealed part.

The thing is, I always used to buy Jeboa pumps and they’d die after about 1.5 years. I thought I’d buy some quality and reliability with the ecotech, but after 1.5 years, it’s junk.....except I’m out $325 instead of $80.

So, do I go Jeboa? Does anyone have and like the Neptune pump that works with Apex? Suggestions?

I've got an Ecotech M2 pump and it performs quite well. When I do hear any noise from it then it needs a cleaning.

 

[James Emory]

Yes, make sure your fingers don't smell like shrimp or crab or he will nail you. They can't see for crap there is nothing wrong with the smelling ability, thats for sure. I got nailed bu a Snowflake many many years. ago. I really don't like to keep stuff in the tank where I have to keep one eye on it and one eye on where I'm cleaning.

 

[Jase4224]

Yeah, I already have chaeto, and a decent wad of it. It just doesn’t seem to take off even under a red grow light for 20 hrs a day. However the bryopsis growing in the same chamber was REALLY thriving. I recently switched to a whiter grow light (zetlight) and the bryopsis seems to be fading.

My NO3 is up around 20, maybe higher. My PO4 is .3 or so.

I know the trend these days is to runs a tank with some nutrients, and even add nutrients back in.....but for many years, I ran biopellets, skimmed heavily and fed a lot, aimed for zero, and it worked really well for me. I’m going back to what I know. Plus...biopellets are “set is and forget it.” Although, in my experience, they didn’t do much for PO4, so I’ll continue with the chaeto until it dies.

Just out of curiosity why run your chaeto lights for so long? Plants do best with a day/night cycle and 12 hours of light is ample.. not trying to tell you how to run your tank I just want to know what the reasoning is for your method

 

[sawdonkey]

Just out of curiosity why run your chaeto lights for so long? Plants do best with a day/night cycle and 12 hours of light is ample.. not trying to tell you how to run your tank I just want to know what the reasoning is for your method

Because I’ve heard other people do it and do it successfully....and I’m too lazy to research actual science. Plus, my chaeto is growing pretty well. I recently started dosing some iron and it seems to have made a big difference.

 

[Jase4224]

Because I’ve heard other people do it and do it successfully....and I’m too lazy to research actual science. Plus, my chaeto is growing pretty well. I recently started dosing some iron and it seems to have made a big difference.

Fair enough. Interesting about the iron dosing, makes sense I’m pretty sure the Triton method includes trace elements specifically for macro. Btw nice tank. Love the moray eel it’s beautiful..

 

[sawdonkey]

These two no-namers were brown/green when I got them....they stayed brown for months.... now they’re really coloring up!

 

[sawdonkey]

Windy City Reefs Rainbow is looking good.

CRT Peachy Delight is.....getting peachy:

Reef Raft Event Horizon has been a great grower. I’ve owned a lot of millies over the years. Most don’t do much for me, a few really take off...this is one of the few.....

BC Nilbog Resident is a great grower too:

 

[sawdonkey]

Should be seeing some improvement in my top-downs soon! Should have bought this years ago. I’ve been using a top down viewer and this gives so much control and blocks the light from the sides too.