TGunn's First 37g in the Bay Area

[tygunn]

Let me know if you need a hand w the tank Tyler. Get well!

Thanks for the offer. I've taken this as a good opportunity to train up my wife for tank maintenance activities

 

[tygunn]

I ventured out to Neptune yesterday. I got some aiptasia-x, some replacement RO prefilters, new resin, and a charming little Midas Blenny who is happy darting in and out of the rocks.

They have so many nice tanks... Really makes me wish I had room for a bigger one

 

[denzil]

It was great seeing you yesterday!

 

[tygunn]

I just ordered two new gizmos for the tank:
1. a Jebao 4 channel dosing pump so I can properly dose Ca and Alk.
2. a JBWave controller for my WP10s; hoping to go for a bigger standing wave.

 

[tygunn]

Alrighty, the first of my goodies arrived on the weekend. The Jebao 4 channel dosing pump:

I've got it dosing 1mL per day each of Ca and Alk. I'm going to take a baseline reading tonight to see where things are at and then check in on it in a few days. I am pretty certain 1mL per day is probably not enough but I figured I should start somewhere.

 

[tygunn]

The JbWave controller for my wp10s came yesterday. I had it in my mind that I would be able to use it to get a stronger standing wave with a pump on each side. Turns out I was wrong. I can get a weak 1/4 wave where the left and right side of the water column oscillates up and down at the same time and the middle is opposite. I cannot get a regular standing wave to form though. I'll have to see if perhaps the two pumps need to be aligned or something.

 

[Enderturtle]

If you want to reduce evaporation, you could add a lid to the alk and calc bottles and drill a hole for the tubing.

Let us know how the jebao dosers serve you. I kinda want to get one.

 

[tygunn]

If you want to reduce evaporation, you could add a lid to the alk and calc bottles and drill a hole for the tubing.

Let us know how the jebao dosers serve you. I kinda want to get one.

Yes good point. I was planning on doing that. Just haven't gotten my drill out to do it. I also figure it'll lessen the chance of them spilling.

So far so good. The doser has been happily doing its thing each day.

The build quality of these is definitely not top notch. They don't feel very sturdy. But I'm sure it'll work.

 

[tygunn]

I tested my Ca and Alk now that I've been dosing for a while.
Ca is at 475 ppm and Alk is at 7.3 dKh.
PO4 is 0.33 pppm
I'm not sure if the Ca reading is right. The Ca Hanna test is a bit of a pain to use so I find it isn't quite a repeatable.
I definitely notice my coraline algae starting to go into overdrive!

Funny pic; I decided to target feed everything. OF course the stupid hermits like to mow over GSP and pick out what they can:

 

[tygunn]

Wow, I apparently had a snail explosion in my tank. The white spots cover the glass and rocks at night:

I added four 420nm LEDs to my light fixture yesterday. Nowhere near enough. I LOVE the florescence so I think I'll pick up some more:
This is with just the 420nm LEDs:

I'm actually thinking I may want to get some more blues in general. I've got 12 white and 12 royal blue crees over the tank right now. When I turn the whites down I prefer the overall color my corals have. So I think some more blue and 420nm LEDs would be a good addition.

 

[sfsuphysics]

Not too bad with the pictures. Usually when my "actinic" LEDs are on, all the pictures have an overall purple glow.. I mean more so than what you have, like I can see the water... probably too much crap in my tank is the problem

 

[tygunn]

My tank is so small that there isn't enough distance for the purple cast in the water to show up. stuff at the back of the tank (16" in) starts to have that problem.

Not too bad with the pictures. Usually when my "actinic" LEDs are on, all the pictures have an overall purple glow.. I mean more so than what you have, like I can see the water... probably too much crap in my tank is the problem

 

[tygunn]

Sheesh, did I really not post in this long??
Alright, here's an up to date FTS. Ick, color balance is off on this...

 

[tygunn]

Apparently I haven't taken tank pics in a long while.. So apparently my GSP has gone insane. Being in a cast I haven't been able to trim it in a while...

 

[tygunn]

My fancy montipora cap is STILL just doing nothing. However, the cap frag I got from Geneva's piece used in the fragging seminar is doing alright:

 

[tygunn]

The $9 birdsnest is of course doing well. Its getting killed off a bit on the left side by some coral warfare.

The odd yellow patch on the right is due to my lovely uneven LEDs.

 

[tygunn]

More proof of the coral wars:

 

[tygunn]

Slowly growing:

 

[tygunn]

Another cap shot... The one in the back is partaking in the great coral wars:

 

[tygunn]

So, where does this leave me? Well I REALLY need to get rid of some aiptasia and do a water change. I'm mobile enough now that I think I can get that done.

I also think I am going to get some more rock. Right now the rock is a pile in the center-back of the tank. But this leaves SO little space for corals its not even funny. So I think I'm going to just go for the "wall of rock" look and extend the rockwork to the left and ride sides of the tank.

I'm also not happy with my LEDs. I've got 12 RapidLeds Cool White, and 12 RapidLeds Royal Blue LEDs. The fixture is from an old nano so very concentrated on the center. I think I'm going to build a new fixture and spread the LEDs out and add some more. I'm thinking 3 channels: Cool White, Royal Blue, and some of those fancy violets.