99sf
Guest
20 gallons isn't bad for a tank of that size!
Making Lemonade - Mike's Lagoon
- Thread starter sfsuphysics
- Start date
sfsuphysics
Supporting Member
Maybe not, but it may be more too, like I said the days kind of merge together so I forget how often I need to refill my RO container.
sfsuphysics
Supporting Member
sfsuphysics
Supporting Member
sfsuphysics
Supporting Member
Call this one "Use a computer instead of your phone" Acro - $150/1 inch 
Kensington Reefer
Supporting Member
oh yeah!!
Coral reefer
Past President
I don’t get it?
Kensington Reefer
Supporting Member
the lagoon is looking good!
EBJ
Supporting Member
How do you still have a mechanical meter?
Mike that meter might be worth something to the Technology Museum, rare sighting lol
sfsuphysics
Supporting Member
Well I used to have a mechanical meter, unfortunately when I got solar they replaced it with a digital one claiming it will "spin backward" however that's a lie because the mechanical one spun backwards too. That said I think it did "run slow" so was a bit disappointed when they removed it it. But yeah, it's digital, it just doesn't dial home like a smart meter.
Coral reefer
Past President
I still have the old one. I hate them bad enough I haven’t Let them in to switch it. They’ve showed up multiple times to say they are there to switch it and I tell them No they aren’t.
EBJ
Supporting Member
I didn't know they had digital non smart meters that don't transmit data.
sfsuphysics
Supporting Member
Too much to type up to put on the photo, so here comes essay mode
So the "trick" is to do so at an angle such that I don't see the reflections off the surface, here there's some lights at the very bottom which are the farthest lights away, the downside is everything tends to get smooshed. Also I turned most of the pumps off, save the return (which dumps underwater) and an old Tunze pump, but you can see the ripples quite predominantly. That said 12 watt AC pump does a good job of getting the water moving in a gyre flow, now the middle of the lagoon is largely dead when the pumps are off so I can't just use a single pump, but I do tend to turn off the pumps just to watch as the nearside is very turbulent when all the pumps are on. While I've been thinking of one of those Gyre pumps, or two of them so that I can get the gyre going one way then the other after a set amount of time, it's hard to justify the expense when a single old pump like this can effectively move the water in a gyre, perhaps with a controller in the future I can get 2 pumps like this and just go ham with complicated flows (over complicating it too I'm sure).
All the rock on the right side is a new addition, as you can see it's still quite a bit whiter than the stuff in the middle which is getting it's coraline on. Also I'm sure is partially responsible for trying to keep up my alkalinity, too much coraline growth. But I wanted some more swim throughs and hidey spaces rather than mostly the center so there's not too much aggression, they still chase each other, but honestly no one fish is particularly dominant, Yellow chases purple occasionally, rarely chases Kole but still does, then I've seen the purple chase the yellow right back, and the kole chases whatever is in front of him if he feels like it, part of me wondering if it's a bit of a game. Or if I'm only seeing this because they see me and assume feeding time, my Naoke wrasse most definitely is a friendly fish who comes right up to where I'm at and just stares up at me.
Ok 2 paragraphs is my limit per picture.
So instead of the FTS, here's the HTS, this is the far side of the lagoon. Eventually I'm going to tear down the old stand, as it's much too custom for anyone to use... and honestly I couldn't get it out the door, it's taller than the door is wide, it's wider than the door is wide, and it's longer than the door is wide. Check check check.. no good. Water is a bit more glassy from this angle, at least in the middle. You can see a handful of fish near the middle. One interesting aspect of the lagoon is that algae typically forms where there's good flow, so in an aquarium it's along the walls of the tank as water just sheets over it, here it's along the edges of the gyre, now with glass I'd be scraping that at least once a week, here? I don't care one bit. It's an algae turf scrubber, or snack for the tangs/snails, and I'm perfectly happy with it. I do have some ideas of gluing corals to the side though, especially on the rim that makes up each level, hopefully that works out, already have good growth on a purple montipora (Idaho Grape) on the left side, in FTS looks like there's a white outline, and a orange digitata that got fragged over on the right side, both definitely have started to encrust onto whatever plastic this tub is made of.
Red arrow represents where the overflow drain is, last week or so the thing was completely brown in wavy algae (again like I care, it's pulling nutrients from the tank) then I noticed it was mostly clean, and a fat turbo snail right on it nom-nom-nom. So there ya go algae growth to uptake nutrients, then removed by life, just need to make sure to get the snail out when he dies so all those nutrients don't go back in
Orange arrow is where my orange bubble tip was, before moving. No this doesn't count as a 3rd paragraph
Here's the near side, a bit harder to get a picture, trying more to not drop my phone into the tank. Unfortunately couldn't get the right angle to be light free, two T5s shown, also the window on the door is reflecting on the surface and I believe one of the overhead room lights. The bulk of the water movement is over here. (white arrow) Rossmont MX4100(?) 4100GPH really gets the gyre moving faster, and more turbulent, unfortunately also creates a bit of an undertow that moves the sand out of the way, which is the one thing I do want in this tank because it does make it look better, flow is not a problem for me. Also a Vortech MP60, and MP40 (light blue arrows), currently set on a long pulse mode to try and get some flow across the center of the tank where the gyre doesn't quite do much. I will say putting food in is a very valuable tool to see where the water flow is to identify potential dead spots, especially when I use the tiny little things like "coral food" or "cyclops" (not sure what the hell that stuff is, but it's super old frozen stuff I'm trying to get rid of. When I want to just enjoy the tank though, I flip a switch which turns off all 3 pumps, because they do rip up the surface pretty good.
Orange arrow, where the orange BTA ended up setting down which my be a coincidence that it's near the RBTA I have in here. I'm pretty sure he just went with the flow of the gyre and that's where he landed. He first went over to the Idaho grape I glued to the side, then went back briefly before moving back again, then beyond. This is only a few days worth of movement though, so not quite convinced he's going to stop.
Not going to list corals, because... yeah I got every color represented that's good enough
Fish
Kole tang
Yellow tang
Purple tang
Royal gramma that was gifted for being too aggressive in a nano (pre-quarantine) now he's got plenty of room, but typically hides away.
3 green chromis
Naoke wrasse
PJ cardinal (the lone survivor, both Bangaii died and the other PJ cardinal was never found), the cardinal typically hangs under the branches of the blue stag (which branches more than encrusts)
Inverts
3 turbo snails (that I know of)
Not sure how many of the other snails I had, I lost untold numbers during the leak/move/move, I think some babies survived but the larger ones were just shells.
Cleaner shrimp (lost my fire shrimp due to stupidity on my part)
2 sea cucumbers (aka someone dropped a deuce in the tank.. TWICE!), they do a good job cleaning the sand though, eat the sand poop out clean sand.
Kind of want more fish though, mostly smaller fish, not sure what though. Definitely want some clams because the whole lagoon is a top down view they will look awesome, but maybe wait until I get my calc/alk stablized (got a dosing pump coming for 2 part). If there are those trochus babies in the tank I'm sure they'll come back large population levels soon enough, especially with all that tasty algae on the sides.
Equipment wise. Return pump works, skimmer works, light work, maybe change up the in lagoon pumps but we'll see. Definitely want to pretty up the outside though, my initial thought is to do something in wood, similar to how an old school hot tub looked, then I could hide cords, the side of the tub, hide pumps that are on the outside (vortech), and maybe even have some storage there too. Then make some sort of wooden lip that overhangs the top, so I don't see the the top edge (and any cords hanging over) , not quite like a Eurobrace just like a little ledge. But then it might look more like a traditional koi pond or something which I don't think I want. I'll see, plenty of time to think about things.
Ah crap... I did type up an essay, sorry.
Thanks, while getting a FTS of it compared to a traditional "pane o' glass" is a bit difficult due to reflections off the surface which the camera instantly focuses on, the human eye however can focus beyond them so that they all but disappear (they're still there, just you don't notice them quite so much). Translation: It looks better in person
So the "trick" is to do so at an angle such that I don't see the reflections off the surface, here there's some lights at the very bottom which are the farthest lights away, the downside is everything tends to get smooshed. Also I turned most of the pumps off, save the return (which dumps underwater) and an old Tunze pump, but you can see the ripples quite predominantly. That said 12 watt AC pump does a good job of getting the water moving in a gyre flow, now the middle of the lagoon is largely dead when the pumps are off so I can't just use a single pump, but I do tend to turn off the pumps just to watch as the nearside is very turbulent when all the pumps are on. While I've been thinking of one of those Gyre pumps, or two of them so that I can get the gyre going one way then the other after a set amount of time, it's hard to justify the expense when a single old pump like this can effectively move the water in a gyre, perhaps with a controller in the future I can get 2 pumps like this and just go ham with complicated flows (over complicating it too I'm sure).
All the rock on the right side is a new addition, as you can see it's still quite a bit whiter than the stuff in the middle which is getting it's coraline on. Also I'm sure is partially responsible for trying to keep up my alkalinity, too much coraline growth. But I wanted some more swim throughs and hidey spaces rather than mostly the center so there's not too much aggression, they still chase each other, but honestly no one fish is particularly dominant, Yellow chases purple occasionally, rarely chases Kole but still does, then I've seen the purple chase the yellow right back, and the kole chases whatever is in front of him if he feels like it, part of me wondering if it's a bit of a game. Or if I'm only seeing this because they see me and assume feeding time, my Naoke wrasse most definitely is a friendly fish who comes right up to where I'm at and just stares up at me.
Ok 2 paragraphs is my limit per picture.
So instead of the FTS, here's the HTS, this is the far side of the lagoon. Eventually I'm going to tear down the old stand, as it's much too custom for anyone to use... and honestly I couldn't get it out the door, it's taller than the door is wide, it's wider than the door is wide, and it's longer than the door is wide. Check check check.. no good. Water is a bit more glassy from this angle, at least in the middle. You can see a handful of fish near the middle. One interesting aspect of the lagoon is that algae typically forms where there's good flow, so in an aquarium it's along the walls of the tank as water just sheets over it, here it's along the edges of the gyre, now with glass I'd be scraping that at least once a week, here? I don't care one bit. It's an algae turf scrubber, or snack for the tangs/snails, and I'm perfectly happy with it. I do have some ideas of gluing corals to the side though, especially on the rim that makes up each level, hopefully that works out, already have good growth on a purple montipora (Idaho Grape) on the left side, in FTS looks like there's a white outline, and a orange digitata that got fragged over on the right side, both definitely have started to encrust onto whatever plastic this tub is made of.
Red arrow represents where the overflow drain is, last week or so the thing was completely brown in wavy algae (again like I care, it's pulling nutrients from the tank) then I noticed it was mostly clean, and a fat turbo snail right on it nom-nom-nom. So there ya go algae growth to uptake nutrients, then removed by life, just need to make sure to get the snail out when he dies so all those nutrients don't go back in
Orange arrow is where my orange bubble tip was, before moving. No this doesn't count as a 3rd paragraph
Here's the near side, a bit harder to get a picture, trying more to not drop my phone into the tank. Unfortunately couldn't get the right angle to be light free, two T5s shown, also the window on the door is reflecting on the surface and I believe one of the overhead room lights. The bulk of the water movement is over here. (white arrow) Rossmont MX4100(?) 4100GPH really gets the gyre moving faster, and more turbulent, unfortunately also creates a bit of an undertow that moves the sand out of the way, which is the one thing I do want in this tank because it does make it look better, flow is not a problem for me. Also a Vortech MP60, and MP40 (light blue arrows), currently set on a long pulse mode to try and get some flow across the center of the tank where the gyre doesn't quite do much. I will say putting food in is a very valuable tool to see where the water flow is to identify potential dead spots, especially when I use the tiny little things like "coral food" or "cyclops" (not sure what the hell that stuff is, but it's super old frozen stuff I'm trying to get rid of
. When I want to just enjoy the tank though, I flip a switch which turns off all 3 pumps, because they do rip up the surface pretty good.Orange arrow, where the orange BTA ended up setting down which my be a coincidence that it's near the RBTA I have in here. I'm pretty sure he just went with the flow of the gyre and that's where he landed. He first went over to the Idaho grape I glued to the side, then went back briefly before moving back again, then beyond. This is only a few days worth of movement though, so not quite convinced he's going to stop.
Not going to list corals, because... yeah I got every color represented that's good enough
Fish
Kole tang
Yellow tang
Purple tang
Royal gramma that was gifted for being too aggressive in a nano (pre-quarantine) now he's got plenty of room, but typically hides away.
3 green chromis
Naoke wrasse
PJ cardinal (the lone survivor, both Bangaii died and the other PJ cardinal was never found), the cardinal typically hangs under the branches of the blue stag (which branches more than encrusts)
Inverts
3 turbo snails (that I know of)
Not sure how many of the other snails I had, I lost untold numbers during the leak/move/move, I think some babies survived but the larger ones were just shells.
Cleaner shrimp (lost my fire shrimp due to stupidity on my part)
2 sea cucumbers (aka someone dropped a deuce in the tank.. TWICE!), they do a good job cleaning the sand though, eat the sand poop out clean sand.
Kind of want more fish though, mostly smaller fish, not sure what though. Definitely want some clams because the whole lagoon is a top down view they will look awesome, but maybe wait until I get my calc/alk stablized (got a dosing pump coming for 2 part). If there are those trochus babies in the tank I'm sure they'll come back large population levels soon enough, especially with all that tasty algae on the sides.
Equipment wise. Return pump works, skimmer works, light work, maybe change up the in lagoon pumps but we'll see. Definitely want to pretty up the outside though, my initial thought is to do something in wood, similar to how an old school hot tub looked, then I could hide cords, the side of the tub, hide pumps that are on the outside (vortech), and maybe even have some storage there too. Then make some sort of wooden lip that overhangs the top, so I don't see the the top edge (and any cords hanging over) , not quite like a Eurobrace just like a little ledge. But then it might look more like a traditional koi pond or something which I don't think I want. I'll see, plenty of time to think about things.
Ah crap... I did type up an essay, sorry.
ashburn2k
Supporting Member
The trick is getting a polarized lens for your camera so it will let you actually see through water without the reflection.
If you are shooting with phone, get this.
UKCOCO Phone Camera Lens - 37mm CPL Filter Lens Circular Polarizer - Universal Clip-On Cell Phone Camera Lens Compatible with iPhone, Samsung, Android Smartphones https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07Z9C3F6X/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_Za10Eb7808GXN
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro
If you are shooting with phone, get this.
UKCOCO Phone Camera Lens - 37mm CPL Filter Lens Circular Polarizer - Universal Clip-On Cell Phone Camera Lens Compatible with iPhone, Samsung, Android Smartphones https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07Z9C3F6X/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_Za10Eb7808GXN
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro
sfsuphysics
Supporting Member
Interesting, didn't even think about this. Think I still have my polarized sunglasses somewhere from back in my youth before I needed corrective vision glasses, could try with those, to see if it does anything worth wild first.
sfsuphysics
Supporting Member
So having a hard time keeping up with alkalinity with kalk reactor, stupid reactor has a tiny leak, so I stuck it in a bucket, unfortunately I can't see as clearly when all the kalk is dissolved ... yeah first world problems. So decided to get my 2 part going in full swing. Added some calcium, alkalinity to try and bring it up over the course of 2 days and it was partially successful, managed to increase the calcium no problem, the alkalinity didn't quite go up to where I wanted it I have a suspicion my "soda ash" is actually just sodium bicarb (too lazy to mix a solution and dilute it to test it). But whatever, found a couple old Aquavitro buckets, cleaned them out, filled them with about 4.5 gallons of water and dump in the goods with a pump....
and
What in the actual fu... yeah this supposed "food grade" stuff, that a local place sold, and was gifted to me by another reefer looks dirty AF, now graded I didn't buy directly from said store and it has been stored for a while but it has been in a sealed bucket, so shouldn't have contaminants from the environment and storage. Now I'm fairly sure the bucket was "mostly" spotless, either way I don't think there could be so much unseen dirt (fresh RO water had that "bluish" crystal clear look) that made it like this because I'd have to have a cup of potting soil to make it look this grey. But geeze, when I used pure pool calcium chloride it never looked this dark. The crystals of stuff looked pure white when I was measuring it out. This is just gross
the alkalinity solution looks marginally better
But still don't know if I want to use this, but at least I can see the pump I stuck in to mix.
Oh well, might have to splurge for some of the BRS pharma grade stuff.
and
What in the actual fu... yeah this supposed "food grade" stuff, that a local place sold, and was gifted to me by another reefer looks dirty AF, now graded I didn't buy directly from said store and it has been stored for a while but it has been in a sealed bucket, so shouldn't have contaminants from the environment and storage. Now I'm fairly sure the bucket was "mostly" spotless, either way I don't think there could be so much unseen dirt (fresh RO water had that "bluish" crystal clear look) that made it like this because I'd have to have a cup of potting soil to make it look this grey. But geeze, when I used pure pool calcium chloride it never looked this dark. The crystals of stuff looked pure white when I was measuring it out. This is just gross
the alkalinity solution looks marginally better
But still don't know if I want to use this, but at least I can see the pump I stuck in to mix.
Oh well, might have to splurge for some of the BRS pharma grade stuff.
sfsuphysics
Supporting Member
So a series of unfortunate events...
So earlier I came to the conclusion that kalk wasn't going to do it as a 1dKh change in ~300G of water was about 2.75 gallons of kalkwasser solution, which in the grand scheme isn't horrible as it's about 2 tablespoons of powder it's more the saturation point with how much water is necessary that becomes problematic, sure I can possibly mix with vinegar to increase the potency but I run a reactor so not sure how I could make that work, but I still haven't figured out my consumption amount, I have a feeling it's more than 1dKh but I'll investigate that in the future. So fine kalkwasser still gets dosed, I'll just dose 2 part, after figuring out consumption which is bound to change as things are getting very coraline covered.
Ok so 2 part ingredients I have... well you can see the above picture, all that stuff is now trash... or garden grade (not sure if calcium carbonate or sodium bicarb are useful in the garden, later research on that). I'll order some BRS "pharma grade" stuff... ahh crap they're sold out of literally every size, not that I'd want smaller sizes but 5gallon buckets were all sold out.
Check the alkalinity last night... 5.6 dKh, ok I can't wait Arm & Hammer will be fine, damn the impurities it's still food grade stuff. How much do I need? 68grams to raise from 5.6dKh to 7.6dKh? Well damn, mix solution, dose a little bit now, will dose more over the next few days. Kalkwasser reactor water is a bit low (just fresh RO/DI) so lets add water to that.
Whoops forgot about water it overflows, I quickly catch it though, tiny mess, but I need to empty some water in it I can see quite clearly the surface tension in the water over the top of the bucket. So I unplug my aqualifter from the controller and plug it into a regular socket to start sucking it out, a little extra kalk doesn't hurt. Get everything ready good night..
This morning I hear a sound, realize it's the aqualifter pump sucking air in, oh damn guess I forgot to fill up the bucket... wait I did fill up the bucket... awwww damnit I forgot to remove the pump from the socket and back into the controller. Stupid thing is so quiet I forgot it was on. Probably 7 gallons of water drained into the kalk reactor.
Now I'm not TOO worried, it's not like I dumped 7 gallons of kalkwasser solution into the tank, because of the nature of how it mixes with a slow stirrer I probably dosed no more than a gallon or 2 over the course of a few hours (those aqualifter pumps don't move much water). How much? Well the alkalinity was 7.0dKh this morning, yeah not ideal, but between the sodium bicarb and kalk... yeah that's a bit much, hopefully no RTN occur over the next couple days.
Of course all that water increased the water WAY too much in the sump, skimmer overflowed and there was some stank in there I was going to clean out this morning. So unplug the skimmer because it's just bubbling like a pot of soup, water level is really high too, don't think I can wait for it to evaporate away as the skimmer will be offline for a few days to do that.
Look into the lagoon to see if everything is fine or if it's a bunch of skeletons, nope it's fine, oh wait looks like an ROYGBIV floated up and is against my Tunze pump, try to pull it out... realize it's not ROYGBIV, it's actually that orange bubble tip that's been wandering... geezus f*ckall! Luckily the holes on those tunze pumps aren't too big so it was just wedges against it and I got it before it send a hailstorm of chopped up stinging cells into the lagoon. Not sure if it was a wander or a detatch and floated over there though, maybe the later due to the excess kalkwasser. Either way, into the recovery basket so he can't go anywhere else, and see where he goes.
WHEW!
All because of absent mindedness of me.
So earlier I came to the conclusion that kalk wasn't going to do it as a 1dKh change in ~300G of water was about 2.75 gallons of kalkwasser solution, which in the grand scheme isn't horrible as it's about 2 tablespoons of powder it's more the saturation point with how much water is necessary that becomes problematic, sure I can possibly mix with vinegar to increase the potency but I run a reactor so not sure how I could make that work, but I still haven't figured out my consumption amount, I have a feeling it's more than 1dKh but I'll investigate that in the future. So fine kalkwasser still gets dosed, I'll just dose 2 part, after figuring out consumption which is bound to change as things are getting very coraline covered.
Ok so 2 part ingredients I have... well you can see the above picture, all that stuff is now trash... or garden grade (not sure if calcium carbonate or sodium bicarb are useful in the garden, later research on that). I'll order some BRS "pharma grade" stuff... ahh crap they're sold out of literally every size, not that I'd want smaller sizes but 5gallon buckets were all sold out.
Check the alkalinity last night... 5.6 dKh, ok I can't wait Arm & Hammer will be fine, damn the impurities it's still food grade stuff. How much do I need? 68grams to raise from 5.6dKh to 7.6dKh? Well damn, mix solution, dose a little bit now, will dose more over the next few days. Kalkwasser reactor water is a bit low (just fresh RO/DI) so lets add water to that.
Whoops forgot about water it overflows, I quickly catch it though, tiny mess, but I need to empty some water in it I can see quite clearly the surface tension in the water over the top of the bucket. So I unplug my aqualifter from the controller and plug it into a regular socket to start sucking it out, a little extra kalk doesn't hurt. Get everything ready good night..
This morning I hear a sound, realize it's the aqualifter pump sucking air in, oh damn guess I forgot to fill up the bucket... wait I did fill up the bucket... awwww damnit I forgot to remove the pump from the socket and back into the controller. Stupid thing is so quiet I forgot it was on. Probably 7 gallons of water drained into the kalk reactor.
Now I'm not TOO worried, it's not like I dumped 7 gallons of kalkwasser solution into the tank, because of the nature of how it mixes with a slow stirrer I probably dosed no more than a gallon or 2 over the course of a few hours (those aqualifter pumps don't move much water). How much? Well the alkalinity was 7.0dKh this morning, yeah not ideal, but between the sodium bicarb and kalk... yeah that's a bit much, hopefully no RTN occur over the next couple days.
Of course all that water increased the water WAY too much in the sump, skimmer overflowed and there was some stank in there I was going to clean out this morning. So unplug the skimmer because it's just bubbling like a pot of soup, water level is really high too, don't think I can wait for it to evaporate away as the skimmer will be offline for a few days to do that.
Look into the lagoon to see if everything is fine or if it's a bunch of skeletons, nope it's fine, oh wait looks like an ROYGBIV floated up and is against my Tunze pump, try to pull it out... realize it's not ROYGBIV, it's actually that orange bubble tip that's been wandering... geezus f*ckall! Luckily the holes on those tunze pumps aren't too big so it was just wedges against it and I got it before it send a hailstorm of chopped up stinging cells into the lagoon. Not sure if it was a wander or a detatch and floated over there though, maybe the later due to the excess kalkwasser. Either way, into the recovery basket so he can't go anywhere else, and see where he goes.
WHEW!
All because of absent mindedness of me.