Smite's UNS 120s peninsula

Smite · Oct 29, 2020

ybotlang said:
That tank looks so slick, love these peninsula ones

It was a ton of work but I've always loved peninsulas as well and it's been well worth it. Thank you!

minus9 · Oct 29, 2020

Smite said:
I like that idea. How much are you running in your system? I've seen little tubs at Tong's, wonder how many I would need?

So far the tank has stayed between 78--79F. I got both my Vecton 400 UV and Reactor online in the last 24 hours and I've hit 80.9F. When I open the stand it feels pretty cool, makes me wonder if my convection attempt is working. I'm looking at wall mount options for fans or adding cross bracing to my current L channels so I can mount my 120mm Noctua fans to my light rack. I'll say my water was hazy before that UV and it's already clearing up pretty well.

I need to mount some type of top trim (out of rock) to my wrasse den, they have kicked about 1/2" of sand out of it already :p but found it in the first day. Both fit in there so far without issue but I'm maxed out for sure.

I killed 1 mp40 for a bit near the blue period tonight. All anthias came out from the rock and started swimming around. I think to get flow at the end of the 4' I'm needing to crank the mp40's up to the point where it's too turbulant in the first 1/2 of the tank. I'll be adding a gyre or preferably my Tunze stream 3 if it isn't to much of an eye sore or create additional heat.

My clowns and nem are going to a buddy's tank. Once that happens I'll be working on the final rockscape and I'll start placing acros in permanent spots.

Nitrates are 25ppm and phosphates .26 That's about where they were in my 180. So the browning isn't nutrient based.

I think I'm running about 15lbs. They do make 2lb trays, but the trays seem a little flimsy to me.
I find when my phosphates go above .2ppm my sps get darker and the color is more muted and not as vibrant. Once I get below 0.2ppm things look much better. Of course my nitrates always stay at 1ppm or below.

minus9 · Oct 29, 2020

Paletta just talked about his mud setup on a live stream yesterday and mentioned using plastic containers for an easy swap when you change them out. Also talked about the moonshiners elements. I think it was ReefDudes?

Smite · Oct 30, 2020

Boy did I just screw the pooch! I soaked my brightwell brick in MB7 overnight. I placed it in my sump and poured the water in on my way out the door. I came home to a rotten egg smell an hour later. My border line full skimmer cup over flowed all the contents back into the tank! First of all skimmer should have been off when adding mb7 durrrr! I didnt rinse the brick and I think that's what triggered the overflow of the skimmer.

I'm currently doing a slow water change via my skimmer overflow tube. Just letting it run into a 5g bucket until it normalizes, then I'll perform a large water change. I'm pretty dang nervous about how much was in that skimmer cup, LOTS, and how new this tank is. The only think I have going for me is the ton of MB7 I added to that brick. No doubt its got food to feed the bacteria! Tank is completely clouded at this point though, fingers crossed.

PSXerholic · Oct 30, 2020

minus9 said:
Paletta just talked about his mud setup on a live stream yesterday and mentioned using plastic containers for an easy swap when you change them out. Also talked about the moonshiners elements. I think it was ReefDudes?

Hey Guys, just came across this ;-)

Here is the Video with Michael Paletta and Devin, really good by the way.

minus9 · Oct 30, 2020

Smite said:
Boy did I just screw the pooch! I soaked my brightwell brick in MB7 overnight. I placed it in my sump and poured the water in on my way out the door. I came home to a rotten egg smell an hour later. My border line full skimmer cup over flowed all the contents back into the tank! First of all skimmer should have been off when adding mb7 durrrr! I didnt rinse the brick and I think that's what triggered the overflow of the skimmer.

I'm currently doing a slow water change via my skimmer overflow tube. Just letting it run into a 5g bucket until it normalizes, then I'll perform a large water change. I'm pretty dang nervous about how much was in that skimmer cup, LOTS, and how new this tank is. The only think I have going for me is the ton of MB7 I added to that brick. No doubt its got food to feed the bacteria! Tank is completely clouded at this point though, fingers crossed.

dang, dude! Sorry! I hope it equals out? Make sure you check salinity to be safe. I've been using MB7 daily to help with a little cyano and it's doing a good job. I added the last bit of PNS Probio, which helped as well.
Have you used Biodigest? I know that's what Andre recommends with the shiners. I'm thinking of picking some up or buy another bottle of PNS?
Good luck and I hope everything is okay? Keep us posted.

Smite · Oct 30, 2020

PSXerholic said:
Hey Guys, just came across this ;-)

Here is the Video with Michael Paletta and Devin, really good by the way.

Cool I'll check this out later tonight and thanks!

Smite · Oct 30, 2020

minus9 said:
dang, dude! Sorry! I hope it equals out? Make sure you check salinity to be safe. I've been using MB7 daily to help with a little cyano and it's doing a good job. I added the last bit of PNS Probio, which helped as well.
Have you used Biodigest? I know that's what Andre recommends with the shiners. I'm thinking of picking some up or buy another bottle of PNS?
Good luck and I hope everything is okay? Keep us posted.

My salinity looks good so far. I turned my ato off for the day while I let my skimmer pull out nasties to a 5g water jug and have been topping off with fresh mixed water. It's starting to clear up, I've got some film on the glass so I'm sure there was a spike of some kind. I didn't have enough water mixed so I'm waiting on that still. Fish are unphased, no RTN or negative sings. I had massive polyp extension during the cloud so the corals got a huge meal today. I threw a sock in there and I'll pull that in a few hours. Skimmer stabilized and I'm gonna run a few tests right now to see what the damage is. Yesterday I was 25ppm Nitrate and .29 Phosphate. If I had water ready I would have done a massive water change immediately but now I'm thinking it may just be another swing. I'm going to do a few smaller 15-20g water changes over the next few days.

I used biodigest a few times but not enough to really tell a difference. My 30ct of vials should show up today and I'll probably add some tomorrow when I can afford to turn my skimmer and uv off for a couple hours. I'll let ya know how it goes.

Smite · Oct 31, 2020

This thing was just killing way too much par. Does anyone know what I could use to adhere the screen to the acrylic? Some form of glue or epoxy?

minus9 · Oct 31, 2020

Smite said:
This thing was just killing way too much par. Does anyone know what I could use to adhere the screen to the acrylic? Some form of glue or epoxy?

When I made a DIY lid for my 22g, I made a frame, then I used strips of acrylic and sandwiched the mesh between and glued them in place. It wasn’t pretty, but it kept my fish in the tank. I did it in steps so I could stretch the mesh evenly. I started with the front, then the back, etc....

Smite · Oct 31, 2020

minus9 said:
When I made a DIY lid for my 22g, I made a frame, then I used strips of acrylic and sandwiched the mesh between and glued them in place. It wasn’t pretty, but it kept my fish in the tank. I did it in steps so I could stretch the mesh evenly. I started with the front, then the back, etc....

I’ve got an acrylic place near me. Also Weldon 16 and 4 on hand. I’m curious if either of those would melt the netting to the acrylic. I think I’ve got some scrap and may try a test tomorrow.

Smite · Nov 1, 2020

minus9 said:
dang, dude! Sorry! I hope it equals out? Make sure you check salinity to be safe. I've been using MB7 daily to help with a little cyano and it's doing a good job. I added the last bit of PNS Probio, which helped as well.
Have you used Biodigest? I know that's what Andre recommends with the shiners. I'm thinking of picking some up or buy another bottle of PNS?
Good luck and I hope everything is okay? Keep us posted.

I’m not sure what to attribute this to but It’s nice to see a reasonable number for once! I was expecting sky high after that skimmer dump and feeding my Mathias 4x a day. I’m going to write it up as a combo of mb7 seeding that Brightwell bio-plate and adding bio-digest yesterday. I got lazy and didn’t do a water change either.