Reefer 350 build

[neiltus]

Today I added the Yellow Prawn Goby and the Potter's Angel to the DT. They spent 8 weeks and 4 days in QT (formalin + 2x prazi + observation). Both were eating excellent in the QT. Drip acclimated then netted them in...did 30 minutes lights out. Potter's went into hiding and the YPG is cruising around-I think looking for the pistol shrimp who I hear popping about every minute or two.

Tank Parameters are good (NO3-12ppm, PO4=.08, Ca=420ppm, 35ppt, pH+8-8.1), Mg was a little low 1320 so I touched it up a bit. Been dripping Kalk and like the help in pH and keeping the dkh up around 9.6, I have started to see improvement in the coralline since I started Kalk and only touch up with 2 part.

New Orders
Splurged for an early Christmas present and ordered a new ATO container. Ordered a 10.2 something gallon from Royal Exclusive. The white matches the reefer stand and it's made from welded PVC. With gas heat running I get maybe 3-4 days out of the 2.5g, so hoping I can go 10+ with the new container.

Also got a shipping note from Advanced Acrylics that my cover is shipping this week. Excited about this...don't want jumpers. It was against better judgement to move the fish out of QT into the tank without a cover yet-would hate to have a jumper after going through 8 weeks of QT.

Rhomboid and Tanaka
Approaching 2 weeks in QT, they have had their second dose of Prazi and both appear eating well and healthy. Both these fish came from Live Aquaria...so their going to go 8 weeks plus in QT. Plan on starting TTM this week since I have my other 10 gallon free. One thing I did not plan for, the Rhomboid is a pretty messy pig...my guess is the bio filter is struggling with the mess he leaves...so I test regularly and have prime and water ready. His color has improved via some variability in the diet...PE Mysis and some LRF.

Will get photos of the equipment up when installed (or when Royal actually ships it, since it has been queued to ship for a week now-ha).

[Brieninsac]

Post pictures of the lid when you get it. I want to see how it compares with the Artfully Acrylic lids.

[neiltus]

Originally Posted by Brieninsac

Post pictures of the lid when you get it. I want to see how it compares with the Artfully Acrylic lids.

Brain fart...it's an Artfully Acrylic lid....

[neiltus]

Well it took four months to get here...

[neiltus]

Things seem to be settling in well.
NO3-4ppm
PO4-.02
Dkh-9.6
Ca-435
Mg-1335

Early Xmas Gift
The reefer 2.?g ATO container was not cutting it, even with a lid. Gas Heat dries out the house and my evap rate is up, so I splurged on a Royal Exclusiv ATO container. Very well built, the white of the container matches close enough to please the wife with the red sea stand. Best part-12.6g of ATO goodness in a barely noticeable profile next to the stand.



PO4 fun
I had high PO4 and was running quite a bit of GFO to get it down from 1ppm. Seems the salt I was using tested for some PO4. I suspect the issue with the dino was also due to the salt, I made a change and it seemed to make the dino "bloom" less, Details here:

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/sh....php?t=2615141

Livestock
I think my nems need more light, as they seem to be reaching. I am slowly tweaking the Kessil settings. Currently I am ramping up to 51% Int. Still using a lot of blue.

The Potter's and Goby are eating well, the Goby hangs out by the pistol shrimp, but they have not made the connection yet.

The mantis made a new hole in the rock the other day, it's cool to see how he covers it then opens it up. He is hiding less and takes a krill from a long stick. I still have a few undesirable crabs in the tank, I hope he and the pistol make short work of them.

The wrasses in QT are eating well. The Rhomboid is a hog and the possum gets the leftovers. Next Tuesday marks 4 weeks in QT for them. I plan on doing TTM at some point towards the end of their 8 weeks.

NO3 and Cheato
I sectioned off a portion of the return pump area with egg crate and added some cheato in there. It doubled in size in about 3 weeks and I pulled it in half. Regardless, my NO3 is now between 4-8ppm with the red sea pro test kit. This test kit is much easier to read than salifert fyi. I am not dosing carbon, but the cheato has helped reduce water change volume to get NO3 down.

Next few months
My wife really wants corals. I have been looking and plan to make an order after I get the wrasses out of QT. I want to properly QT the corals so I don't accidentally introduce something nasty.

Still waiting on the lid from artfully acrylic. I received an email stating my lid was going to CNC, but they had some backup/it's the holidays, so still waiting patiently.

Merry Christmas all....

Tank shot

[Brieninsac]

That ATO is nice! It'll probably last you a month.

[neiltus]

Originally Posted by Brieninsac

That ATO is nice! It'll probably last you a month.

Maybe in the summer with the AC on, past couple weeks running heat I use about 1.4g a day.

But it is decent quality, seams are beautiful.

[neiltus]

I am considering:

1) Making the stock ATO into a Kalk container, it's a decent size for about a week of kalk and keeping it in the stock position.

or

2) Building a shelf or base to fit three small dosing containers.

I prefer kalk to soda ash, and can easily see my needs being met with kalk, and only using soda ash to occasionally adjust. Ideally I need something that allows control and forgiveness while I am away from the tank or out of town. Mg is needed only about once a water change, to touch up from the lower levels of the salt. I also currently use soda ash in the same way.

A pump from APT (drew's doser) could easily handle a kalk load. And they make adjustables as well.

http://aptinstruments.com/Merchant2/...tegory_Code=P2

[Oldcabin]

Nice progress! Love the Potters angel.
Your ATO is making me jealous, I'm getting tired of refilling mine every 1.5 days as well.
I'll have to look into the RE container.

Removing the Red Sea ATO opens up plenty of room in the sump; can't go wrong with either dosing pumps or kalk -- looking forward to see which way you go.

[Brieninsac]

Personally, if I was to do away with the internal ATO I would do the dosing pumps. Kalk works, but still requires a lot of work to maintain all my levels.

[neiltus]

I don't have near the CA/ALK load as you Brien. I also don't know when I will get to that point. I may have a couple of SPS pieces, zoas and some LPS in addition to the 2 nems I have.

I think I could meet needs with Kalk and the occasional dosing of 2 part maybe to bump up to where I need to be if I get behind. But, you don't know where your going till you get there in this hobby.

I think I have figured out Kalk needs in two weeks of dosing it. Basically with each WC I do I have been adding about 20ml of mixed soda ash and dripping saturated Kalk, Ca has been around 420-435 via salifert, DKH is about 9.3-9.5. Mg has been giving me more fits-I think this is due to the cheato I added in the sump.

OCabin- RE makes some neat slim ATOs, I imagine with the heat load up there (what do y'all use Nat Gas or is it something else), that you evap pretty darn fast. Not the cheapest equipment on the planet, but their service and performance of their stuff is top notch.

[Bobbitworm13]

Just so you know, the goby probably won't pair with the pistol shrimp. Carribean pistol shrimp don't pair with gobies in the wild to my knowledge. You could catch the pistol shrimp and get a pacific pistol shrimp that will pair with your goby.

[neiltus]

Originally Posted by Bobbitworm13

Just so you know, the goby probably won't pair with the pistol shrimp. Carribean pistol shrimp don't pair with gobies in the wild to my knowledge. You could catch the pistol shrimp and get a pacific pistol shrimp that will pair with your goby.

I assume they probably will not pair-but figured I would give it a try and I like the Goby.

However judging from the past couple evenings, I think the pistol might be trying to pair with the Potter's. They hangout in the evenings near each other, often touching, and neither seems phased. Hope one is not sizing the other up for dinner.

[neiltus]

Minor Updates.

ATO-I get two weeks out of it. Damn that is happiness.

New Gear-Still waiting on the lid from Artfully Acrylic. 2 weeks ago it was cut and needed edge treatment and screening. I assume there were delays with the holidays. Virginia boys still could be hungover from New Years.

Via discussions with Slief, I decided I needed an Aquadriver head for my MBK160. This will be set to come on once a day for 15 seconds to keep my skimmer neck clean. Not a cheap upgrade, but something that will help with my 2 week target of being able to automate the tank for that period of time...their website http://aquadriverusa.com

Also ordered a Kessil A80 and a Tunze 6040 for QT use. I want to be able to put corals in an OT for a few weeks after their dipped to observe if anything nasty is hiding.

Wrasses in QT-both dead NY day. No clue, and that bothers me more than their death. No parasite signs, whatever, it was quick. The had been formalin dipped on Nov 29th when they arrived, went through 2 rounds of Prazi about a week after, were on their 3rd TTM transfer. Both were eating well, fed the night before (fed the same food to the DT so ruled that out). The Tanaka was dead at lights on in the morning, I did a tank change for the Rhomboid and he was dead within the hour. NH3 would be the next thing, tested both tanks and zero, was dosing 1ml of prime on 2nd day of TTM, also using a seachem badge, so ruled out NH3, also tested NO3, NO2, PO4 and nothing weird. No stray voltage, and temp on tanks were both around 78.

I have a theory as it was some type of internal parasite that made it past two rounds of Prazi. The QT tank did not have much fecal matter in it when I was cleaning it out. That is about the only abnormal observation I could make.

Broke down both QT tanks and gear and cleaned in bleach, rinsed in RODI with prime, then again with just RODI.

Yes, it sucks loosing two expensive fish, but better in QT than in DT and repeating the process in the DT.

New Stock-got in touch with Adam at Battlecorals and told him I have x dollars, can he pick out some beginner frags for me. Excited to see what I get...should be here within a couple weeks. I told him about my tank and lighting and flow, letting him do the rest.

DT-Goby and Potter's are eating well and acting normal. Inverts are doing well, pistol just molted. Seems my peppermint shrimp either ate the one glass anemone I had or the RBTA stung it to death by moving under it. Regardless it's been gone for a couple weeks.

Params as of this morning
Cond - 34.7
Ca - 425
dkh - 8.55
Mg - 1410
NO3 - <8ppm
PO4 - .05ppm
pH - 8 to 8.15

Been adjusting my DT water with Mg (if needed) and soda ash after my weekly water change. Then dripping saturated Kalk. I think my Kalk dripping has raised my pH and resulted in more use of Ca/Alk. Pretty happy with that result. Small victories....

[neiltus]

Some interesting updates



Dino
So, I had a dino outbreak on the substrate about 2-3 months back, I made some changes, and it went away. A week from last friday I did a WC with some of the HW marine mix salt, not 5 days later, the dino came back. Needless to say, but the rest of the HW is now in the trash bin. This is the same box of salt that tested high with PO4.

SPS
Ordered a battle box of SPS from Adam at BattleCorals, instructions were, less finicky, tolerant to LED, mix of colors. Got 8 frags in, dipped in Bayer, put them in the coral QT tank for a week, redipped and removed plugs. Used some 'reef safe' Oceans Wonder putty to put them down, it's purple, and made my skimmer go ape. Anyway, it was time to change carbon.

New wrasses in QT
Small Rhomboid and small Melanarus in QT, started on 11th, got a formalin dip for 50m, dosed two doses of API General Cure for worms as prophy. Still on the fence with TTM on these fish bc of the issues I had with the previous wrasses in TTM. Their eating well and VERY friendly, it's cool to watch the Melanarus come out of the sand in the morning-I put a small tub of tank sand in the QT. I suspect the previous two wrasses passed from either velvet or most likely internal worms. This is why I went with General Cure on the recc of resident wrasse expert Evolved....also has a little less Prazi in it.

I have to go to CE out of state for 5 days so they are only going to get 5 weeks in QT. I would rather do 8, but don't want my parents to deal with strict QT restrictions while I am out of town. Not thrilled about this. I do think they will have easier care with multiple feedings in the DT without having to worry about them spiking the levels of something.

New Equipment
Got the aqua driver installed. Pretty sweet piece of equipment. Have it off and out now till the skimmer settles down.

My Artfully Acrylic lid shipped Jan 9th, and has been MIA at the Dallas FedEx hub since the 13th. FedEx is all but useless on the phone, they told me to tell the shipper to file a claim. I spoke with someone at Artfully Acrylic on the phone and they said they handed it to someone to "look into it". Hope I don't have to get in line again for another one.

[neiltus]

FWIW, I am training the Melanarus to go ballistic on the few remaining small stone/gorilla crabs and polyclad flatworms (I got most of these out-but still see one every so often) while not in the least bit touching my cleaner shrimp, pistol shrimp or mantis shrimp.

This will not end as planned.

[Brieninsac]

That really sucks about the lid. People don't realize how long you've got to wait for it to begin with. And I'm sure the prospect of have to wait agin is discouraging.

[neiltus]

Originally Posted by Brieninsac

That really sucks about the lid. People don't realize how long you've got to wait for it to begin with. And I'm sure the prospect of have to wait agin is discouraging.

It does suck, but, it's a lid to an aquarium, and it's no fault of the fabricator. FedEx on the other hand are incompetent in my area. I hate to bash an entity, but this lid is the least important bone to pick that I have with them....they have lost documents going to my office, gifts, luggage, and a few things I don't wish to name on the internet. I wish I could say my address is difficult or at least give them the benefit of the doubt. Whomever is in charge in this region is an inept moron.

Maybe I am on their 'crap' list?

[GXPKY]

Dinos tend to love water changes, just a heads up that it might not be a problem with the salt, I had to use vibrant and gfo to get them to go away and starved them out.

-Dennis

[neiltus]

I have a bottle of vibrant. Just not at a point where I want to go that route.

[neiltus]

Well, it's been a couple weeks, I know everyone has been holding their breath (jk). Few changes...

DOS / DDR
Added a dos for 2 part. Mostly because I will be traveling next month or so and wanted to not drip kalk and just dose 2 part. Right now i am dosing a whopping 18ml of alk and 15ml of Ca per day. Unit is a very nice addition to the Apex.

Artfully Acrylic lid
The other one went missing thanks to FedEx, there is a replacement in shipping now. AA was very helpful and attentive with this.

Tank stuff
My NO3 has creeped up to about 12ppm and my PO4 is up to .1 today. Going to do a nice large water change to bring that down. Still running GFO. Dinos are still there on the sandbed, I am slowly removing some of the sandbed with each water change, going to make it less of a crap trap but still enough for the Melanarus.

I added about 12 sps frags, they are all doing well, even see growth on a couple. One is puzzling as it lost a little color but is growing fast...strange. Might need to move it.

My LPS are sucking. I have a wall hammer, bought because it was cheap, it's in a lower light lower flow area but it just looks like it's going south. Also have a trumpet frag next to it, both are constantly trounced on by the cleaner shrimp (might have something to do with it).

The melanarus and rhomboid made it through TTM and got intro to the tank last week. I shortened their QT to only a month because of the pending travel-however they still were formalin dipped, got two doses of API General Cure, followed by 14 days of TTM. I like the API General Cure for deworming vs prazi, think it's a little more tolerated and more effective for the internal stuff. The melanarus went into hiding and the rhomboid went through a *** period of shock. Both are acting normal and eating well and get along with the Potter's Angel.

Melanarus has not yet touched any shrimp (peppermint, cleaner, pistol, or mantis). I think the mantis is molting as he has been hiding in his covered hole.

I am using egg crate for the lid...ugly, hopefully the new lid will get here.

I am going to pause here for about a month on fish additions, since I am traveling I don't want to have stuff in QT while I am gone.

Some shots:

[Brieninsac]

I've been thinking about switching over to DOS too. I spend too much time dosing kalk, CA and Kh. I need to start doing some research on it.

[neiltus]

The DOS is nice. And I might consider adding one in the future for WC.

[Brieninsac]

Hey Neil, how's the dosing pump working out for you? I'm starting to look for one. One of the challenges I'm facing is how and where to fit it in the cabinet. Are you dosing kalkwasser too?

[neiltus]

Have not updated in awhile. Things are going normal. The two wrasses + potter's + goby all get along well. Tank has just been going. I put in some SPS, some are doing great and others are crapping out. It's funny how one is encrusting like crazy but some of the others just petered out.

Mantis and Pistol are still there and doing well. Cleaner shrimp is the most annoying thing and my peppermint just hangs under the powerhead.

I was gone for about 10 days my wife fed, PO4 went up, had a little algae bloom, seem to have got that back to the die off with GFO and water changes.

Brien-I love the DOS, it's pretty freaking simple, I set the containers on the bottom of the cabinet and put in a couple stainless screws for the pumps. Right now I am dosing about 22ml of soda ash and about 15ml of Ca, and that keeps things pretty stable with water changes. NO3 is running about 8ppm to about 16 ppm during the feeding issue above. PO4 is currently zero but I imagine there are a few PPB there, it was up to .18 during the feeding issue.

Both the melanarus and potters have gotten bigger. I feed frozen once a day and then some Cobalt Omni flake in the AM...everyone eats the flake...