SkiCat's Dream Build: [Saving The] Planet 180 - The Making Of An Epic Aquacultured Mixed Reef

[SkiCatTX]

Had complete success with Vibrant knocking out bubble algae, including not seeing a strand of cyano, like others, have reported.

It helped with those dinos up until a certain point, but could not fully destroy those. We'll see... ;Cyclops what you come to.

I'm hoping it will help with the GHA/Bryopsis or whatever, as nothing else has worked at all...I am seeing some good results in just a few weeks though, so I'll continue for now.

Anyways:
My regular-sized "The Flipper" magnets really started to lose their hold.
Worn out magnets. So was going to buy the new (floating) Flipper Max, but came across a video that showed it was not built as well as the original Max, inside part, lagged behind the outer part and the blade side is terrible in missing spots across the blade. Jumped online and found the original Max in stock at Premium Aquatics and jumped on it. This original Max Flipper is so nice, glad I watched the video on the new one before all the originals are were gone.

Even Flipper Products shipped that guy the original design.

lol
Just passing it along...

I'm using the Tiger Shark wooden cleaner, I'm very happy with it. However, it is super strong, so you do have to be careful not to scratch, or even break, the glass when you use it. It also can grab magnetic holders for coral racks, or pull the Gyre pumps right off their magnets if you get too close!

 

[SkiCatTX]

To be honest @SkiCatTX I would let Neptune know what is happening in this situation. At the least they will make a note of it and be aware of your individual situation or along with other's situations and try to redesign their product in the future. They also might be able to provide some advice for repairs that you may have overlooked.

You are right, I probably should do that, it's just a matter of taking the time...

From a manufacturing point of view, I think they could have spent $50 more on parts, and charged $100 more for the device, then saved $200 per device on repairs and phone support dealing with failures...but that's just one opinion of course...

 

[powers2001]

@SkiCatTX I bought some acetone in hopes of removing purple pvc cement primer stains on my plumbing. I’m going to remove the acetone with pet-safe citrus-based solvent. I tried the citrus-based stuff on the primer but it doesn’t work very well.

 

[SkiCatTX]

how thick is that, what was your source?

Palight ProjectPVC 159843 Palight NF .236" Black ST-90​

0.236" on Amazon

 

[SkiCatTX]

yay fish! I can't wait for mine to return. Congrats!

I hope to be ordering some here in a few weeks! Making my list now.

 

[SkiCatTX]

@SkiCatTX I bought some acetone in hopes of removing purple pvc cement primer stains on my plumbing. I’m going to remove the acetone with pet-safe citrus-based solvent. I tried the citrus-based stuff on the primer but it doesn’t work very well.

Cool, can't wait to see how that works out.

 

[SkiCatTX]

I went ahead and placed another order with https://drreefsquarantinedfish.com/ for an assortment of pre-QT'd snails. There is plenty more algae and there was a bit of die-off from the original orders, a combination of just falling off things and getting stuck, and the urchins carrying them off foot up...

 

[SkiCatTX]

I recently calibrated my pH probe, which I do every few months or so, and the result was that it read .2 higher than before. That meant the reading was now between 8.2 and 8.5, which was concerningly high after all the time trying to bring it up. I waited a day and ran the calibration again, and this time it was another .1 higher... That worried me a bit, which value was correct? Surely there was not way it was actually that high...

Not having any alternate way to measure pH, I decided to order a Hanna pH tester. I figure it's just a good idea to have around anyway. It arrived today and I soaked it in 7.01 solution for a couple hours to hydrate the probe as instructed, then calibrated it. Sure enough, it was reading about .2 lower than the Apex probe.

This time I decided to do a reset of the Apex probe. Until this time I didn't fully believe that the reset process was even a real thing, despite Neptune support posting about it all over the forums. Sure enough, after rebooting the Apex, running the manual calibration locally on the Apex with the probe disconnected, then doing a normal calibration (letting the numbers settle for several minutes at each step), it now reads almost the same.

So, lesson learned, if you doubt the reading on your "calibrated" Apex probe, reboot the Apex and do a full disconnected reset and that may fix it...

 

[SkiCatTX]

Another note, I also adjusted the output of the chiller return in the sump to aim directly at the Conductivity probe, and the salinity value is much more consistent (see image above). I have always had it aimed in the general direction, but I actually stuck my hand in there, then cut the pipe down a bit to make sure it was directly aimed at the bottom of the probe and that helped.

I've even read that turning it upside down can work, but it didn't work at all for me.

 

[powers2001]

@SkiCatTX good to know you were able to work out the calibration issues. When’s the last time you posted a FTS?

 

[SkiCatTX]

@SkiCatTX good to know you were able to work out the calibration issues. When’s the last time you posted a FTS?

Hmm, I thought I had just posted one...but it seems that was December...I'll have to get on it...

 

[SkiCatTX]

In the meantime, a couple fish pics:

Photo bomb! It's really hard to get a picture of just one of these two...

 

[SkiCatTX]

I started contacting several different people this week about pre-QT'd fish for the next round...With luck we can get a few new fish in the display over the next couple months!

 

[SkiCatTX]

Still working on fish. Unfortunately, captive-bred fish are very difficult to get right now. When I planned this tank, and decided to try to go full captive-bred, there were lots of options and it looked like more would be available every year...that's still technically true, but the reality is that with the pandemic, everyone is getting a fish tank, add the closing of various import locations like Hawaii, demand is higher yet again...

I am considering, for now at least, a single order of several wild-caught fish to be fully QT'd. Ideally, fish that I couldn't get captive-bred anyway, so that when captive-bred are available again I can get them at that time...

On the bright side...in the long run, this will be great for the industry, as there are now lots of people getting into captive breeding...it will just take a few years for things to ramp up...

 

[SkiCatTX]

So far, so good with the power, fingers crossed, we only had a single power cut for about two hours. Battery backups worked just fine. We have one more day below freezing...

We won't know about the citrus trees and palms for a few days or weeks. We covered everything with tarps and heat lamps, but who knows...

Lines at the grocery stores, though they are out of about everything, so we're eating out of the freezer for the next few days at least...

Fun times...!

 

[Jgerm]

So far, so good with the power, fingers crossed, we only had a single power cut for about two hours. Battery backups worked just fine. We have one more day below freezing...

We won't know about the citrus trees and palms for a few days or weeks. We covered everything with tarps and heat lamps, but who knows...

Lines at the grocery stores, though they are out of about everything, so we're eating out of the freezer for the next few days at least...

Fun times...!

Hang in there. Happy to hear you didn’t have a long power outage.

 

[SkiCatTX]

The tank survived just fine, thankfully, unlike many, many others all over Texas. Our heartfelt good wishes and prayers go out to all the others who were not so lucky.

The losses weren’t limited to fish tanks and humans, but also included animals and plants outdoors. We have found a number of lizards, snakes, tree frogs, rodents, etc. dead around the neighborhood. Also, many palms, citrus trees, bananas, etc. froze last week. I suspect not a single orange or grapefruit tree that wasn't covered will survive. Many of these trees people have had for decades...for people who spend as much time in their gardens as we do on our tanks, it’s a loss as well...

We covered much of our more sensitive landscaping, but here are some before and after pictures around the house. I just got started cutting away the dead branches this weekend...

These were covered, still look pretty bad...

Not covered

Covered

And to add insult to injury, check out the weather today...not even a week later...

 

[Jgerm]

The tank survived just fine, thankfully, unlike many, many others all over Texas. Our heartfelt good wishes and prayers go out to all the others who were not so lucky.

Among the less controversial, but significant, losses of note: we have found a number of lizards, snakes, tree frogs, rodents, etc. dead around the neighborhood. Also, many palms, citrus trees, bananas, etc. froze last week. I suspect not a single orange or grapefruit tree that wasn't covered will survive. Many of these trees people have had for decades...

We covered much of our more sensitive landscaping, but here are some before and after pictures around the house. I just got started cutting away the dead branches this weekend...

These were covered, still look pretty bad...

Not covered

Covered

And to add insult to injury, check out the weather today...not even a week later...

Hope your plants bounce back.

 

[SkiCatTX]

On a brighter note...

I just placed an order with Adam at @OceanDevotionLA / Ocean Devotion for several fully QT'd tangs and gobies. I'll pass on details once he has managed to get the fish in and settled, but I'm excited to get things moving after the battles with Ich and Algae...

Next up, I need to start looking for some starter corals to add to my few LPS that I've had since the beginning...

 

[SkiCatTX]

Whoa, grabbed a few tester corals from the @Tidal Gardens live sale today! I've never done that before but it was pretty cool, and it's about time I get a few things anyway.

I painfully stayed away from the named acros for now, just two until I see how these do. Also, a few Cyphastrea, Montis, Candy Cane, and Pavona, mostly to replace losses over the last year or two from my old tank during the new build.

I also paid $1 to designate next Monday as the shipping day, to give me time to set up the holding tank for them, and get ready for cutting, dipping, gluing, etc. That's pretty cool.