Waterbox 100.3 Orphek Back to SPS Reef Madness

[Tuffloud1]

Quick pics of the pearlberry and purple plasma. Although expensive the frags direct from ORA are proper size, not little nubs! The PB is totally encrusted down the plug.

Hate ora plugs. Cut the base off with Dremel cutoff wheel.

How far down from the surface did you have the Pearl Berry? Was it growing well under the Orphek’s?

 

[hart24601]

How far down from the surface did you have the Pearl Berry? Was it growing well under the Orphek’s?

I had it around 12” under the surface so it was getting strong PAR. It never did take off for me very well.

 

[hart24601]

Biota has just started selling retail so I made an account and placed an order picking up this amazing colored crocea. They didnt have sizes listed and i was surprised how small it is, although small crocea seem to be imported norm around 1.5”.

They had so many neat mantles was hard picking but this one stood out on their site and in tank is amazing. Even from the side its a brilliant turquoise cobalt metallic, unlike any i have had before. I couldn't capture the colors on my phone although i tried in the last photo but it looks more like the 1st pic which was on Biota's site.

 

[hart24601]

Looking at the clam today my iphone photo doesn't do it justice. Not sure how I can capture it.

 

[hart24601]

I broke out the old canon g15 point and shoot, it does a much better job! This is far closer to how it looks.

 

[hart24601]

Still looking good aside from a hermit moving the frag disk, which I glued down now. I think seeing some new growth too.

Clams in the sump continue to do well.

Found out I won the coralvue $1,000 battle box contest so that is exciting! I also sent another $300 to upgrade it further as i have a problem!

converted my wifes glowfish tank into a frag system for BC only corals. Will be interesting to see what comes this week. I was nice i had most the equipment just sitting around, amazing how much extra gear i have horded over the years.

 

[hart24601]

I had thought pyramid snails were eradicated and decided to do one final scrub. But I found a single snail on the gigas!! Dang it! I have been doing this since October!

The new biota crocea looks great. Look at that growth!.

I also ordered even more nems because I have a problem.

 

[hart24601]

I really like this gorg!

 

[hart24601]

I am just saving this post here. Since moving to all for reef I asked about the carbon dosing amounts. Hans from TM was nice enough to answer:


I am not Randy but I think I can calculate this for you:
100 US-gal. is 378.5 liters
to increase alkalinity by 1 dKH you need 378.5 dKH
The description says 140 gram of Carbo-Calcium Powder contain 6,000 dKH
To add an alkalinity of 378.5 dKH you need 378.5/6,000 x 140 gram = 8.8 gram of Carbo-Calcium Powder or 378.5/6,000 x 1 liter of the solution = 0.063 liter or 63 ml of solution.
8.8 gram of calcium formate is 8.8 g/130.1 g/mol = 0.0677 mol.
For comparison I recommend the caloric value, the amount of energy that can be released by the oxidation of a substance. For availability reasons I will calculate with the caloric value of formic acid. 1 mol of calcium formate contains 2 mol of formate.
1mol of formic acid has a caloric value of 254.6 kJ/mol; This means calcium formate has a caloric value of nearly 509.2 kJ/mol. 0.0677 mol has a caloric value of 34.47 kJ.
Ethanol has a caloric value of 1371 kJ/mol, a density of 789 g/l and a molar mass of 46.07 g/mol.
1 l of ethanol has 789 g*l-1/46.07 g*mol-1 = 17.126 mol/l with a caloric value of 17.126 mol/l * 1371 kJ/mol = 23,480 kJ/l.
1 ml of pure ethanol has a caloric value of 23.48 kJ which is nearly the same as from 23.48 kJ/34.47 kJ*dKH-1 = 0.681 dKH in 100 US-gal. or 0.681 * 8.8 g Carbo-Calcium Powder = 6 g of Carbo-Calcium Powder or 43 ml of the solution.
1 dKH in 100 US-gal., 8.8 gram of Carbo-Calcium Powder or 63 ml of the solution have nearly the same caloric value as 1.47 ml of pure ethanol.

Now you only have to look how much volume-% your vodka has. If it has for example 40 vol-% of ethanol you need 3.675 ml of vodka to dose 1.47 ml of pure ethanol. 3.675 ml of vodka 40 vol-% have the same caloric value in your 100 US-gal. tank as an increase by 1 dKH with Carbo-Calcium or All-For-Reef.

Was anybody able to follow my complete calculations? Was everything correct?

If eveything was correct this shows that formic acid or formate is really a bad energy source for bacteria. This is because 1 mol = 46.025 g of formic acid has a caloric value of only 254.6 kJ which is quite low. Ethanol with nearly the same molar mass has 5.4-fold the caloric value.

 

[hart24601]

Picked up a fluval 307 just to clean the bottom and sump easier. I was pretty torn about spending that much just to use it for monthly bottom cleaning but my sicce 1.0 and tubing into a filter sock was burdensome. The 307 has larger tubing than the 107 and 207 which is needed with the various shells. Overall it worked great and the 7 series canister filters are nice. I didn’t run the carbon or ceramic included, just floss. And boy did it pick up a lot. Here are shots of the prefilter... the internal water was even dirtier.

interesting you can zoom in and see dozens of pyramid snails. I have not seen any on the clams in months, so I am hoping these are ones that traveled off and died.

 

[hart24601]

Updated full tank shot. I wish that I could capture the depth and arches better. There is a lot of negative space but can’t see it well.

fts, right side, front details , and left side.

 

[hart24601]

The video shows the open spaces a lot better.

 

[hart24601]

The acros from the $1,000 battle corals pack are doing well and encrusting. I did kick in more money since I won the pack, so it was more a 1200 pack and I lost 5 of the 20 right off the bat but the other 15 are solid. Also got boom corals order of Limitless Stag, JF TNT Anacropora, Boom's Blueberry Stag Acro, and boomberry. I had the boom berry years ago and loved it.

After a couple weeks the anacropora is growing very quickly, nice to see!

 

[hart24601]

I have to say I never thought much of bounce corals until I saw one. They might now be my all time favorite.

Also including the larger hippo clams as I love the layers of metallic color. Have been doing well under the kessil h380.

 

[hart24601]

I have always wanted a small tank with a elegance centerpiece. I found one on DD that is ice blue which is pretty neat and not like most I see so I ordered it. I will keep in sump at 100 par as I think I have overilluminated them in the past and they died. After it grows a bit more maybe next year I will get a 20g AIO and just have it alone. DD pic and then under the red h380. Despite the red cast it is pretty striking and blue, be interesting to play with the colors once in its own tank next year.

 

[hart24601]

And the last bit.... elegance have a strong sting as we know, but normally can’t get past our skin, they are just sticky. Well I had a tiny cut on my hand I didn’t know about from moving some oak, spot fed the elegance and instantly felt it sing the cut, pretty intense burning for rest of the night and even next day. 1 day later my finger looked like this pic, but happy to day today it’s looking better.

 

[BeardedMcG]

Quite the update.

 

[hart24601]

Well you hear it all 1st! It’s also not much of a dedicated rock flower tank now....

 

[hart24601]

This mushroom is amazing under actinics, but it’s starting to get a bit large!

 

[hart24601]

I tossed my IM frag rack in the sump for a while for no real reason, took it out so elegance had room but it amazes me how coralline grows. All over the rack you can see it started layering, it’s really amazing how thick this stuff can grow.