Susan's RS Reefer 3xl 900 Fantasy-Dream Build

[blaxsun]

So help me G-- if any of them hatch and become baby DD's

Awe, but they'll be sooo cute...

 

[Eagle_Steve]

I need to buy some tiny barbless hooks. Trust me, thinking about it. Will try the screen netting as soon as I can find it...

Heck, you may be able to lay a net in there tonight, then feed into the net in the morning and they swim in it.

 

[Susan Edwards]

That is sort of my idea. Clip a net on 3 sides of tank, let it droop a bit and feed then pull up the loose edge. Troube is, my rockwork and the sticks. Has to be where the net won't catch or rip anything. If only they made net gloves. Put hand in closed and open wide and trap!! I have a fish trap. I may try that with a mirror at the back. Trouble is, it is big and have to watch the sticks. So far, not a one has gone into the trap

 

[Susan Edwards]

Awe, but they'll be sooo cute...

hmmm, what did you say your address is??????

 

[blaxsun]

hmmm, what did you say your address is??????

Hey, ship ‘em to me and I’ll rehabilitate them for you!

 

[lubeck]

Hey neighbor, your tank is amazing. I’m in discovery bay.

Serious question do you really get any work done when you're in your office?

 

[Susan Edwards]

Hey neighbor, your tank is amazing. I’m in discovery bay.

Serious question do you really get any work done when you're in your office?

Lol's. I do get some computer work like household budgets etc (gotta make sure I have funds for the tank lol's. And of course my tank spreadsheets. I'm supposed to be writing. Have a bunch of published novels that I want to update and put back out (pub went under in 2010). I can't blame the fish totally though, as I started a part time job in 2019 and it takes a lot out of me! Next week I'm actually back to 13 hrs (we'll see if that lasts lol's). Last week was 30.

I'm actually thinking about taking the desk out, getting a small table on wheels and putting a recliner in here. My monitor blocks my view haha. But then my cats lose 3 cat beds!

So no, not as much as I should, or rather what I should be doing <g>

I have some frags I'm looking to rehome. And a bunch of chaeto and sea lettuce. Frags are birds nest, montipora digitata and a couple others.

 

[Susan Edwards]

Hey, ship ‘em to me and I’ll rehabilitate them for you!

you take, you keep lol. One way tickets!

 

[lubeck]

Removing the desk and getting a lounger is a great idea. My tank is a baby. Not much room left anyway. I just went to Neptune and picked up a bunch of frags. Can’t wait to upgrade.

Lol's. I do get some computer work like household budgets etc (gotta make sure I have funds for the tank lol's. And of course my tank spreadsheets. I'm supposed to be writing. Have a bunch of published novels that I want to update and put back out (pub went under in 2010). I can't blame the fish totally though, as I started a part time job in 2019 and it takes a lot out of me! Next week I'm actually back to 13 hrs (we'll see if that lasts lol's). Last week was 30.

I'm actually thinking about taking the desk out, getting a small table on wheels and putting a recliner in here. My monitor blocks my view haha. But then my cats lose 3 cat beds!

So no, not as much as I should, or rather what I should be doing <g>

I have some frags I'm looking to rehome. And a bunch of chaeto and sea lettuce. Frags are birds nest, montipora digitata and a couple others.

 

[Susan Edwards]

If watched pots don't boil, does this mean watching corals won't make them color up faster lol's. Hoping the new corals start showing their true colors sooner rather than later. I know it can take weeks. Blue Tort and Strawberry show their colors and the darth maul. Others are all brownish but with PE. The chaos cyphastrea shows pink. I'm gonna be like a mother hen...

Oh, for you following the DD saga: There is another entire branch covered with eggs. The one above now . I'm lucky I got that blue tort mounted up there with n o attacks

Guess this means my tank is doing something right to have breeding fish...

 

[blaxsun]

Guess this means my tank is doing something right to have breeding fish...

So let me get this straight... you've got a second pair that's bred? lol

 

[fishguy242]

have to ask, aren't you a knitter ?
knit yourself a webbed elbow length glove ,and just grab em' ,they should get tangled ...

 

[Susan Edwards]

So let me get this straight... you've got a second pair that's bred? lol

Same pair. Eggs are on the branch above the pic above. Yesterday only saw eggs under the one branch. Today on the branch above where I just placed my oregon blue torte.

Ordered reef flux today just in case. Wondering if my dosing of chaeto gro and the RS Trace Colors ABCD and AB+ isn't contributing to the algae or at least feeding it. Wondering if I need to stop for a few weeks to see if the algae will fade on its own. I don't want to remove my chaeto and sea lettuce to dose

 

[Susan Edwards]

ugh, my purple eyes acro turned white this morning. I hope it's not dead. Moved it to the sandbed. All others doing fine. I'm at around 21 kelvins with lighting. Most of the new sps are brownish in color so hoping they come back from shipping. Blue tort still blue, strawberry shortcake has color. All the reddish frags are m ore brownish. Most with some pe.

 

[blaxsun]

Ordered reef flux today just in case. Wondering if my dosing of chaeto gro and the RS Trace Colors ABCD and AB+ isn't contributing to the algae or at least feeding it. Wondering if I need to stop for a few weeks to see if the algae will fade on its own. I don't want to remove my chaeto and sea lettuce to dose

RS Trace ABCD and AB+ shouldn't be contributing to algae (at least not a significant amount). I dose 12.5ml of AB+ daily and 25ml of Nyos Active Elements, 12.5ml of Nyos Strontium weekly and 12.5ml of Nyos Iodine every 2 weeks. I did find the algae growth on the glass really slowed down the past week when I started dosing NOPOX again (25ml/daily).

 

[Susan Edwards]

RS Trace ABCD and AB+ shouldn't be contributing to algae (at least not a significant amount). I dose 12.5ml of AB+ daily and 25ml of Nyos Active Elements, 12.5ml of Nyos Strontium weekly and 12.5ml of Nyos Iodine every 2 weeks. I did find the algae growth on the glass really slowed down the past week when I started dosing NOPOX again (25ml/daily).

thanks. That relieves me. Putting off using reef flux as I don't want to move my chaeto and sea lettuce out. First time I've been able to grow the stuff. I have a icp test to do and send off. Also ordered the RS test kit for the abcd. I hate the test kits I have and don't think they are accurate. Depending on the test results will determine if I dose extra iodine and strontium as I have separate bottles of those. I usually do about 10ml of each per week and sometimes I disolve an iron tablet for some extra iron. As I'm dosing chaeto gro I prob. am better with iron numbers now.

Wonder if shooting some h. peroxide with a syringe into some of the algae clumps would work

 

[Susan Edwards]

Actually have some PO4 unless it is a testing error lol's. I'll cut the neophos in half today to see.
PO4 = .14
NO3 = 11.7

Having a bit more of algae on glass. Had a couple days where it was back to the real powdery stuff. On Sunday I actually had to clean glass 2x's! after cleaning on Saturday. Sunday I dosed mb clean. Monday, my tank was so clear, it was like there was no glass between me and the fish. Almost a bit freaky! Some coating today. Might adjust my no3 a bit higher--at 9ml and dosing approx. 4-5 mil of nyos zero and bio so may cut those down to 2 ml a day and up the nopox from 9 to 12 and then to 15 to start.

Per the RS recipe, I should be around 16 for good growth and exceptional coloration but I'm going by my algae! Of which there is a lot so I think it needs to increase. Will do mb7 today as well. I'm rotating the 7 and the clean. Rotating each every few days.

strange thing with my apex feed programming. I used my feed d for uv and skimmer off for dosing mb stuff. When I went to bed, I noticed the equipment had not come back on. Checked the feed times and it had somehow changed to 65K seconds!!! Went to google and looked up 4 hrs which is 14400 so reset it!

One of the clearest shots of my tank.

 

[Susan Edwards]

Got my 2nd doser hooked up. Hubby didn't like how the short tube that came with the caps at the top to hook the dosing line too was bigger than the tubing (a fight to get it on) so he custom made the fittings using his epoxy molding! All 8 of them lol's and even different colors. Trying to figure out now how much RS Trace Colors ABCD to dose and when--1 right after the other like 10 min apart or spaced out. Day or night?

The pluses of switching to voss bottles is I can see how much left and cleaning them will be easy. I had a 3 chamber container for A/C/M and there was no way to easily empty any of the chambers (turkey baster! And you had to do all 3 chambers to clean. So I'll use that with a regular cheaper doser on my observation tank which I so neglect! The disadvantage is I can only fill 500 ml for the main three instead of 1000. 375 for the trace colors if fine. I also like that it frees up cabinet space.

I'm going to order a 3d printed trident shelf to mount outside and also mount my co2 scrubber outside. Make it much easier for me to change things and give me some storage space. Or room for a chiller maybe next year. So far tank stays at 78-80 with me keeping the house ac around 76 to 75. Electric bill is 1000 bucks this month! But a chiller would also raise it. Might add a fan to the sump. Feel like progress is being made. Still need to move UV pump, add cabinet lights, maybe a pegboard to hang everyday equipment on and mount the 2 battery backups for the mp40's. Might eventually add a mp60 down low on sides to get more flow along back bottom. Or 2 more mp40's, 1 each side.

Dosed MB7 and took advantage of skimmer off and cleaned the cup. Yuck... And that cup is so big,, it is hard for me to get it off! I even use silicon grease around the bottom oring. Noticed the reactor wasn't really working. Time to change some of the media anyway so took it apart and cleaned the motor best I could in the sump with a pitcher of water. Too hard to pull power cord out and put back! Both sponges are full of <haha> sponges. Put the bottom one on top (worst) and still not a lot of flow. Just removed that one. Will wash with socks and order 2 more sets if I can. Have 1 bag of nyos zeo, a bag of boyd's chemipure blue (instead of 2) and bag of purigen in there. Each filter cup also has a bag of zeo (1000 ml total). Debating ordering another 1000 as that is what my tank should use.

Voss water is so pricey!

View of the molds

 

[Susan Edwards]

New acros seem to be okay. All are brownish except the blue tort. Strawberry short cake still has come color. Most have at least some PE. The panera rose has the most. The darth maul porite is so fuzzy with PE I can see it 6 feet awaay. The dragon eyes might be getting back some brown color. It went completly white. Hope it doesn't take these corals 6 months to color back up!! Dosing AB+ and my Trace colors. Maybe need to keep tank a bit cooler. Also turned the flow down on the right side to between 50 and 60% instead of up to 70 in case those near that gyre aren't happy with maybe too much flow. Also turned lighting down to 90/40 which is less than 20K (was between 20 and 21).

This is my first big sps buy so hoping I'm doing things right

My yellow tort has great PE but only when Lights go down. Wondering if it needs to be lower. Growth is exceptional though. From a nub in Jan to a nice brancing acro so it is happy where it is except for daytime PE

Jan, April, July

 

[Susan Edwards]

Don't you just wish your tank would get stable and just stay stable! At least for a few weeks lol's. I got concerned when I started to see my prized new acros all browning. One is also bleaching from base. Tank got up to 80 so put a fan in the sump and turned the a/c way down. Coming down now. Then I decided to test salinity and it was very low!!! My salinity never changes much so this was a shock. Spent the day adding pitchers of super salty water slowly. Think it is back to where it should be. Tomorrow when I leave for work I will turn the air down. And hope the corals all recover.

Everything else is good. PO4 a bit higher but I just didn't dose neophos this morning. Will prob. add a small amt before bed as I haven't feed as heavy today. Will retest tomorrow