Taco's 65G LPS Fiesta

[tacosricos]

[url=https://flic.kr/p/LRexwx]

[url=https://flic.kr/p/29vKF73]

[url=https://flic.kr/p/LReyy2][/url][/url][/url]

 

[Janci]

Getting there step by step.
The pictures do not show the uglies it is going through.
Looking great.

 

[Viking_Reefing]

Great looking tank and I love the dwarf lion! I’ve been wanting one myself for a long time but I’m unsure if I would trust it with my anthias and blackcap basslet.

Not to start something up but my personal observation when I came back to the hobby after a 10 year break and started using LEDs is that they are better than MH fixtures in every aspect except one, growing coral.

I feel that compared to today my husbandry was severely lacking (I just tipped in som arbitrary amount of ca, kh, mg every once in a while for christ sake) but the coral growth/coloration was superior.
So I’m not all that surprised in your observation.
I will most likely add some supplemental T5s to my set up.

I also feel that when I started my tank with 75% dead rock it took a lot longer to stabilize than what I was used to when I used all Fiji live rock back in the day. My current tank is about two years old at this point and it wasn’t before six months ago that it started to get properly dialed in.

Just my two cents (or two öre in my currency [emoji6])

 

[tacosricos]

Great looking tank and I love the dwarf lion! I’ve been wanting one myself for a long time but I’m unsure if I would trust it with my anthias and blackcap basslet.

Not to start something up but my personal observation when I came back to the hobby after a 10 year break and started using LEDs is that they are better than MH fixtures in every aspect except one, growing coral.

I feel like it's the adjustability of LED's that can be it's achilles heel. I've had great results with the kessils on a restaurant tank I take care of, and from the nanobox fixture on my anemone tank. they both put out a nice diffused light, and are pretty much set-and-forget in terms of adjusting different channels.

With the vertical aquascape, the Primes definitely need some help to illuminate beneath the ledges.

 

[Viking_Reefing]

I feel like it's the adjustability of LED's that can be it's achilles heel. I've had great results with the kessils on a restaurant tank I take care of, and from the nanobox fixture on my anemone tank. they both put out a nice diffused light, and are pretty much set-and-forget in terms of adjusting different channels.

With the vertical aquascape, the Primes definitely need some help to illuminate beneath the ledges.

Yeah, I also think that the fact that most LED fixtures gives the owner the ability to constantly mess around with the light is at least part of the overall issue.

 

[tacosricos]

I was feeding the tank this morning when the maroon clown deliberately grabbed a piece of mysis by the tail and proceeded to swim to the other side of the tank where he spit it out onto the larger of the fungia plates. I have never seen a clownfish intentionally feed a coral like this before, very exciting!

 

[NY_Caveman]

I was feeding the tank this morning when the maroon clown deliberately grabbed a piece of mysis by the tail and proceeded to swim to the other side of the tank where he spit it out onto the larger of the fungia plates. I have never seen a clownfish intentionally feed a coral like this before, very exciting!

In my experience they feed what is too big for their mouths to whatever is hosting them. Awesome to experience!

 

[Janci]

I was feeding the tank this morning when the maroon clown deliberately grabbed a piece of mysis by the tail and proceeded to swim to the other side of the tank where he spit it out onto the larger of the fungia plates. I have never seen a clownfish intentionally feed a coral like this before, very exciting!

Great experience?
My clowns do not share... they bite and eat what ever is under the definition of "food" (or even my hand).

 

[tacosricos]

I've been having some issues with my chaeto and slime algae, and phosphates have been on the rise. I did a 5 gallon water change today using tropic marin salt and 0 tds water. the pH actually rose immediately after introducing the new water, which has never happened in my recollection. I haven't sent an ICP test in yet, so I've decided to add small regular water changes into the schedule to keep trace elements in check.

The long term plan is to beef up filtration with a skimmer and macro algae reactor, and to have some level of redundancy with the triton supplements and small water changes. This will allow me to reach my goal of stocking and feeding the tank more heavily.

 

[Janci]

I've been having some issues with my chaeto and slime algae, and phosphates have been on the rise. I did a 5 gallon water change today using tropic marin salt and 0 tds water. the pH actually rose immediately after introducing the new water, which has never happened in my recollection. I haven't sent an ICP test in yet, so I've decided to add small regular water changes into the schedule to keep trace elements in check.

The long term plan is to beef up filtration with a skimmer and macro algae reactor, and to have some level of redundancy with the triton supplements and small water changes. This will allow me to reach my goal of stocking and feeding the tank more heavily.

I am using the Tropic Marin Pro reef salt with good results.
pH stays around 8.00.
Water changes are always a good idea.

 

[tacosricos]

Since doing the water change yesterday, the pH has stayed between 8.25 and 8.3, whereas normally it was hovering between 8.15 and 8.25. It looks like I've barely started using the salt and I'm getting positive, measurable results.

 

[tacosricos]

 

[tacosricos]

I've been siphoning film algae out of my sump with each daily small water change. I think the funk in my sump was the result of the low flow through the chaeto, and possibly depleted trace elements. Upgrading to a chaeto reactor should provide a lot of benefits: better light/flow through the algae, room for a skimmer and removing the overhead light will eliminate the pest algae in the sump.

 

[Janci]

That is a great update.
I do believe that for smaller tanks, a algae reactor is providing a lot of benefit. Especially as smaller tanks go with smaller sumps and the impact on nutrients will be more effective.
Which reactor did you have in mind?

 

[tacosricos]

That is a great update.
I do believe that for smaller tanks, a algae reactor is providing a lot of benefit. Especially as smaller tanks go with smaller sumps and the impact on nutrients will be more effective.
Which reactor did you have in mind?

I was looking at the skimz reactor, but I'm open to suggestions!

 

[Janci]

I was looking at the skimz reactor, but I'm open to suggestions!

Sorry I can't help you here as I do not run such a reactor. I guess all are not that different from each other and you just pick what goes with your tank volume and load and your available pump flow.

 

[tacosricos]

Since doing the series of small water changes last week, I've seen my pH fall back into the range it was at before the WC's (8.15-8.2). I initially saw the pH rise after doing the water changes, and thinking that this means that the tropic marin salt has soda ash in it. This isn't a negative, it just means that the pH boost is a temporary effect that subsides after a day or so.

One of my goals with this system is to try and match oceanic parameters as best I can. I would prefer my pH to be at 8.3. I'm not going to use buffers or anything, but I've been thinking that when I do finally get a skimmer installed, that I'd like to try running the intake through a co2 scrubber.

 

[Preme]

The tanks looking really good! I like the lion fish a lot!

 

[Janci]

Since doing the series of small water changes last week, I've seen my pH fall back into the range it was at before the WC's (8.15-8.2). I initially saw the pH rise after doing the water changes, and thinking that this means that the tropic marin salt has soda ash in it. This isn't a negative, it just means that the pH boost is a temporary effect that subsides after a day or so.

One of my goals with this system is to try and match oceanic parameters as best I can. I would prefer my pH to be at 8.3. I'm not going to use buffers or anything, but I've been thinking that when I do finally get a skimmer installed, that I'd like to try running the intake through a co2 scrubber.

Even with the skimmer alone, you will get extra oxygen in the water which would boost pH.
Do not get the scrubber before seeing the effect of the skimmer first.

 

[tacosricos]

Even with the skimmer alone, you will get extra oxygen in the water which would boost pH.
Do not get the scrubber before seeing the effect of the skimmer first.

I won't, I'm still a ways of from getting a skimmer at all. It usually takes me 3-6 mo's after I decide I need a new piece of equipment before it is actually on the tank.

The tanks looking really good! I like the lion fish a lot!

Thanks! The lionfish was an impulse buy that has worked out really well so far.