Wonder's 30 gallon (reboot)

1Der9_3hy · Dec 27, 2012

My wifes pretty cool.

150 GPD boosted Melev setup...im talking big water production for such a small tank! This will be the last RO unit i need to buy regardless of how big my tank gets

1Der9_3hy · Dec 30, 2012

Im making water!

Starts here..

RO water goes here...

(ignore the dingy basement, its your typical Michigan basement with 82" ceilings and an uneven cement floor)

And for now ill be mixing water here...

I am selling this:

I was going to mix water in that, but i cant figure out a way to mix water in it and get it out with drilling/installing a bulk head in it...and TBH this thing is way to nice to be cutting up. Id rather sell it than drill a hole in it. It holds about 40 gallons, very lightweight...PM if anyone nearby wants it.

For those who are curious, my tap water TDS moves between 700-800. After the membrane my TDS is around 20, 0 after DI. Im making about 4 gallons/hour or almost 100 GPD, which is way under this units rating BUT i have to remember my water temp this time of year is around 55 F. I think in the summer, ill be making closer to 150 GPD.

A few posts back i made mention of some lingering algae issue i cant get rid of no matter what. Well i think it may be source water related. My new inline hanna meter is saying the old source water is around 8-10 tds. My two old TDS meters both say 0-1. So i dumped out 20 gallons of pre made salt water i had made up (which was hard for me being a cheap *******!) and ill be making "fresh" salt water tonight. Hopefully after a few 10 gallons changes ill see an improvement.

1Der9_3hy · Dec 31, 2012

Got some new stuff today.

Green Pavona (maldensis variety?...never seen this before)
Orange digi
Red monti cap
Setosa monti
Superman shroom
Mohawk palys (gold/tan pattern)
Radioactive Dragon eyes (these were free, they guy dropped the frag on some LPS yesterday...not sure how they are going to do)

And I finally glued everything that was loose down. Ill be laying off on the waterchange intensity now that i have sps, instead of 10 gallons/change ill be doing 5 every 2-3 days. Im running some GFO for a few days to hopefully wipe out the remainder of the cyano. Im up to 1.4 mls of vodka and 1 capful of MB7 daily (I know, dont combine carbon dosing with GFO...but its temporary).

Anyways onto the pics. Hopefully ill remember on 30 days, and every 30 days after that to take some more pics

I used photobuckets auto color correction on a couple pics in there and the last pic of the zoa (thats the burnt dragon eyes btw)...not sure i like how it "enhanced" the colors. I probably wont be using it anymore.

bocomo · Dec 31, 2012

It does look a lot better! Good work.

1Der9_3hy · Jan 2, 2013

Thanks! Im working on it.

Since ive got some stonys in there i figured i should start testing my water again. I could only use the tests i had on hand, that i know are not expired so i couldnt run the full gamote today. Anyone know if mag/cal tests get old? Ive got a test for each of those, but i bought them about 18 months ago.

Temp: 76.3-80.1 <---kind of on the big side for swings, might need a new heater.
Alk: 7 DKH
pH: 8.0
N03: 0

Got some PE on the pavona and digitata i just added, but the montipora cap is still not looking happy. The setosa is unhappy as well, but ill give them a few more days. No RTN/STN as of now, so maybe just settling in? The zoas are are expanding, but the "Free" frag of dragon eyes may need a fragging as a few of the polyps are covered in cyano and from past experiences that has always been the nail in the coffin unless i frag.

1Der9_3hy · Jan 27, 2013

Well good news on the above SPS problem i was having...most likely i just poorly acclimated them to my light + a local guy said it can take a month or two for SPS to "settle" in. I was unaware of that. The digitata, monti and pavona have all lightened up a lot, almost pastel. Ill blame that on the vodka & MB7. The Setosa is a goner, i think i put it into too much light too quickly.

More good news, i picked up some new frags last night! Tryee mystic grape, bryans baby breath, Raptors peace coral, Woodstock paly, tubbs blue, captain america, nuke green, purple death and happy people eaters. Since they went in last night i only have a good pice of the favias and the woodstock..more to come later if they open up today.

Literally, more to come later. Ill be meeting another guy later today for Miami Vice zoas, Sonny D's, star gates, chong bongs, blue hornets and some pink rimmed people eaters. Im excited!

1Der9_3hy · Feb 4, 2013

Newest FTS:

Note pile of corals in lower right hand corner. Need to trade them away for other stuff....anyone local want to do some tradding?

I was given a Canon G5 and i ordered a Tripod and CF memory. Ill have the tripod and memory by Thursday. Pic quality from here out should improve lol.

edit: Please disregard ornaments (spong bob and Sandy). My wife picked them out as a joke, but then our 9 month old seen them and well...they are permanent.

MarvinsReef · Feb 4, 2013

1Der9_3hy said:
edit: Please disregard ornaments (spong bob and Sandy). My wife picked them out as a joke, but then our 9 month old seen them and well...they are permanent.

my 4yrs old son's nano has a Capt America and a shark ornaments.. and PVC pipes & clay pots. he thinks they are the coolest things. :wink:

1Der9_3hy · Feb 4, 2013

MarvinsReef said:
my 4yrs old son's nano has a Capt America and a shark ornaments.. and PVC pipes & clay pots. he thinks they are the coolest things. :wink:

funny how that works huh? Lol....

im just waiting patiently for something to change her mind. i dont see you posting on Michiganreefers anymore.

revhtree · Feb 4, 2013

I'm digging the aquascape.

1Der9_3hy · Feb 5, 2013

revhtree said:
I'm digging the aquascape.

Thanks. Although, im not crazy about it. I built it for use in a 20 long. And this tank is almost the size of a 29, so it lacks some height i would like otherwise. But it works for now...i may have mentioned it before, but we are moving or adding on soon. There is no real point in setting up a bigger tank now just to take it down in 6 months when everything gets settled in and happy.

This tank is very frustrating and very enjoyable all at once. Frustrating because it was setup when i new only a tiny bit about proper tank setups, so there are many annoying things about it (the HOB skimmer for one, that i can hear occasionally). Enjoyable though, because it is a reef tank. I just cant wait to move up to a bigger tank...ive been waiting for 3 years! Hopefully only another year or so.

1Der9_3hy · Feb 13, 2013

I got my Canon G5 up and running finally. It was gifted to me a few weeks ago, but i didnt have a tripod of CF memory card. This is as close to a correctly colored FTS i can get. Its 95% correct. also i added sand

I like it with sand.

And for laughs, here is my FTS from 8-16-2012 (almost 5 months to the day)

Its coming along...