bondolo's defunct tanks
- Thread starter bondolo
- Start date
lattehiatus
Past President
Looks fantastic, it will be stunning when it's all grown out!
bondolo
Guest
houser said:
That's what happens when your tank room is also your office and you spend 50-60 hours a week 5 feet from your tanks. Not to mention the 5-8 hours of weekly phone meetings that are perfect for combining with tank maintenance or, by the end of the week, slack jawed spaced out staring.
houser said:
Ha! I wish. I did get the civil engineer to calculate the maximum allowable load for the upstairs floor though... I also installed water supply lines into my office for RO/DI since the downstairs ceiling is entirely open. Is your fridge currently on the back deck like mine?
houser
Past President
My fridge is in the garage. It was the beer fridge (periodically brew it) until the inside one died a few yrs ago. Quite frankly the extra space is appreciated. But we bought a new one to go inside, and we're thinking of a smaller one for the garage so as my lady says
"you can put all your fish stuff in it.". And beer, of course. In fact - a downtown brown, single kessil on, full iPhone charge and a couch is letting me dork out on BAR this evening!!!!
"you can put all your fish stuff in it.". And beer, of course. In fact - a downtown brown, single kessil on, full iPhone charge and a couch is letting me dork out on BAR this evening!!!!
Not_Now_John
Guest
Looking good mike! This is why its nice to read older build threads sometimes, I want to fast forward to what this will look like in a year or two.
And houser... I think you have exactly the right idea.
And houser... I think you have exactly the right idea.
yardartist
Guest
I remember what some of those frags looked like when they were cut. Nice to see them still growing.
Fish was always the tricky part for me because each one seemed to have a coral interaction I did not like until I got the assesors, and the green banded gobies. I know there are others out there like them, but finding them.
Fish was always the tricky part for me because each one seemed to have a coral interaction I did not like until I got the assesors, and the green banded gobies. I know there are others out there like them, but finding them.
Kensington Reefer
Supporting Member
Did I hear you say PC's over your frags!?
Whaaaaaa ;(
Whaaaaaa ;(
bondolo
Guest
Kensington Reefer said:
I know, I know. The plumbing setup is all finally done and tank parameters are encouragingly stable. Better lights for the frag tank are now at the top of my list. Even ahead of getting/building a larger frag tank (48x24x12-16). I just need to figure out what lighting I need/want and then find it on ReefCentral, CL or eBay.
Ideally I think I would like a 48" fixture with 2 or 3 150-175W DE Metal Halide (12K or 14K unsure of brand), 2 or 4 48" T5 HO ATI Blue Plus and a Reefbrite strip for moonlights. This is a frag tank with a mix of LPS and SPS so I am leaning towards MH/T5 combo for maximizing growth.
My unanswered questions:
48" shallow tank -- 36" or 48" lighting fixture?
Metal Halide
- Number of bulbs and wattage
- DE seems better
- 150W or 175W. Higher?
- Blub brand and color
- up to date info is mixed with old info. Hard to tell what's current wisdom.
T5
- Actually I don't really have any questions about the T5 assuming I go with MH combo
Coral reefer
Past President
I have a 2x150 hqi coralife collecting dust....
And an 8 bulb tek t-5...
And an 8 bulb tek t-5...
bondolo
Guest
Parameters May 13th, 2012 1915 PDT
1.025 SG NSW (attempting to increase by lowering ATO level)
8.3 pH
26.1 C
2.8 Meq / 7.8 dKH doser + 30%
425 Ca ppm doser + 20%
1400 Mg ppm
Parameters May 20th, 2012 1230 PDT
1.025 SG NSW (no change, overzealous skimmer counterbalanced lowered ATO level)
8.3 pH
25.9 C
3.0 Meq / 8.4 dKH -- adjust doser down -12.5% (8 to 7)
500 Ca ppm -- adjust doser down -10% (10 to 9)
1440 Mg ppm -- I intentionally double dosed and didn't go up. I suspect mangroves sucked it up.
0.03 ppm PO4
< 1 ppm NO3
I have been able to keep the parameters, including temp, pretty much locked in for more than a month. The growth is really noticeable. The good clean water has been bad for my green open brain (trachyphyllia geoffroyi) which perished this week after a long slow death. Nothing I did, except for failing to do water changes, ever seemed to make it happy since it started to go down hill almost a year ago. It just slowly died, bit by bit. This week the hermit crabs finished it off. Every other coral, except my one ricordia, has been giddy with delight at the water conditions and feeding regimen. This has made me wonder though if I am trying too hard to keep phosphates low. Perhaps 0.1 PO4 ppm is a sufficient goal and I should cut back on GFO and phosguard.
1.025 SG NSW (attempting to increase by lowering ATO level)
8.3 pH
26.1 C
2.8 Meq / 7.8 dKH doser + 30%
425 Ca ppm doser + 20%
1400 Mg ppm
Parameters May 20th, 2012 1230 PDT
1.025 SG NSW (no change, overzealous skimmer counterbalanced lowered ATO level)
8.3 pH
25.9 C
3.0 Meq / 8.4 dKH -- adjust doser down -12.5% (8 to 7)
500 Ca ppm -- adjust doser down -10% (10 to 9)
1440 Mg ppm -- I intentionally double dosed and didn't go up. I suspect mangroves sucked it up.
0.03 ppm PO4
< 1 ppm NO3
I have been able to keep the parameters, including temp, pretty much locked in for more than a month. The growth is really noticeable. The good clean water has been bad for my green open brain (trachyphyllia geoffroyi) which perished this week after a long slow death. Nothing I did, except for failing to do water changes, ever seemed to make it happy since it started to go down hill almost a year ago. It just slowly died, bit by bit. This week the hermit crabs finished it off. Every other coral, except my one ricordia, has been giddy with delight at the water conditions and feeding regimen. This has made me wonder though if I am trying too hard to keep phosphates low. Perhaps 0.1 PO4 ppm is a sufficient goal and I should cut back on GFO and phosguard.
Coral reefer
Past President
Ahhhhh yeahhhhh!
