Happy New Year!

To all,

to summarize 2009, it's been a good year for my Reef system. I didn't do many upgrades.

• Temporarely used vodka dosing with no real noticeable improvements.
• Replaced both Koralias with 1 Vortech MP40, big enhancement right there
• Started to use GFO, to reduce possible phosphates, the jury is still out on that one.

The corals are all growing good, Xenias and mushrooms a bit too much imo.

For 2010 I hope to build a basement sump, as I will be finishing the basement itself (slowly but surely)

Thanks to the few readers, and that there may be more readers to come. I will try to post more regularly with interesting topics or product reviews.

Waffleman

I just added a link to Frags.org so you can see what kinds of corals I have available for sale or trade.

There is no sign of peppermint shrimps in the tank anymore :-(. I'm pretty sure that the purple Psuedo is the bully.

Waffleman

Today I added 3 pepermint shrimps again. The first ones I had disappeared without a trace within 24 hrs. Hopefully it will be better his time.

Waffleman

finally a new picture!

I finally broke out the tri-pod and the camera.  So this is what the tank now looks like.

Some adjustments

I have been using a different calcium supplement but from the same company. I didn't expect the concentrartion levels to be different but apparently it is higher. a few weeks ago, I measured my calcium levels and they were over 500ppm.
Since then I have been trying to get them back down. I'm back in the 400ths  at about 460ppm.
I seem to have better growth when the CA levels are a bit less.


Also, I have some aptasia i'm trying to fight. I've put in 3 peppermint shrimps but they seem to have perishe din the same day.

Waffleman

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

I will try to post an updated picture this weekend.

Waffleman

Quick Update

The tank has been running fine.  Things go better when you leave it be.
The new frags I've made a few weeks ago are attaching to the plugs quite nicely now.

I have been thinking of re-scaping the complete tank, this to allow more flow and more room for SPS's to grow.

Waffleman

New Addition: Vortech MP40

A member of our informal reefclub, URS, had organized a group buy on the Vortech propeller pumps. Because of these substantial savings I was persueded to buy one. Not that I needed much persuasion, since I've kept an eye on one of these for quite a while.

The pump arrived on Friday afternoon. I bought the MP40 for my 90G tank, some poeple suggested to get 2 but I see that that is not needed.

Over the past couple of months I have been reading about the pumps and I have been lurking on the Ecotech forum of Reefcentral, to see what issues if any, that poeple may have with these pumps. It sounds like Gen 1 had lots of issues and upgrades were made available for those. I have the Gen2 pump. One of the biggest issues seems to be alignment.

As far as installation goes, it was very easy. I first took all the parts out of the box, to take inventory and check if anything was missing. Everything is inlcuded, even the zip-ties and the little blocks to attach the wire.

First you have to measure the thickness of your glass. Mine is 3/8" thick, so I adjust the spacer on the motor to 3/8". Next thing to do is to the place the impeller portion in the tank and the motor on the outside. To ensure that they are properly assigned Ecotec recommends to run the pump at full constant speed and adjust the impeller so that there is a minimal amount of noise.

That's it. Of course the hard part is not the installation but chosing the mode of operation. I first had it running at long Pulse at max speed, but I have adjusted the setting for Reef Crest, this mode randomizes the flow output over time, my corals seem to like this a lot.

This pump creates a lot of undertow as well as forward push, It pushes the water across my tank (48"). This pump replaces 2 Koralias (K3,K4) and taks up less room than 1/2 a Koralia.

I can recommend this pump to anyone, I believe it is worth the money.

Here are some linksto get more information:
The Ecotech Web site
The MP40's in action at the show

Waffleman

My tank is doing great. I think I can see the growth in corals from day to day.
I need to replace my light bulbs, they are now 16 months old.
The nuisance algea is now noticeable but manageable.

Waffleman

Guest is missing

Last weekend I purchased a six line wrasse to help with a small snail problem.
After reading up about them and their potential aggression , I made the move to buy one.

So, I get the tiny fish home, and I start acclimating it. After about 1.5hrs of adding water bit by bit, I transfer the little guy in the display tank.
As soon as it is in the water, all the fish in the tank go on high alert. Intruder Intruder, it's as if I can hear them say it. My purple pseudo is the one that started chasing the new fish. It finally settles in one of the lower corners in the tank, and then it disappears. I looked all over, tank, overflow the sump, behind the tank etc but no sign.
It's been a week and there is still no sign of the new guy, I have to assume that it has perished.

Everything else in the tank is doing great.

Waffleman

Picture day

I took some pictures today : enjoy! just click on the picture for a full view.

So, I've sold quite a few corals this week. It doesn't look like I gained a lot of space :-(

Tomorrow I will go to Walmart and purchase pickling lime so that I can start using Kalkwasser for top off and hopefully save a lot on the 2-part solution I use at the moment.

Waffleman

What I forgot to mention yesterday is that while I i cleaning the impeller there were some hard pieces inside. I'm not sure if they caused the breakage of the shaft.

My LPS's have been looking less then optimal for a few weeks, and there has been some die -off. Somehow it has stopped and my lps's are looking better.
Also, my SPS are looking great and growing fast. No polyp extension however. I have no idea on how to promote that, That will be my next endeavor.

I will be selling some of my big frags to clean out the tank and to rasie money for the next purchase.

Waffleman

Skimmer maintenance

First off, let me share this picture with you. They are 2 pocilloporas (pink and green) that grew together from spawnings.



Last week, my skimmer pump started to make some rattling noise. So I decided to take it apart and clean it, to see what was going on inside the pump.

At first I didn't notice anything, as I didn't know what to look for anyway. So I put the pump back together, back in the sump and fire it up. Oh my! It was louder then before!

That's when I decided that I need a new pump and that my impeller assembly was still OK. I went to one of our LFS's and picked up a new Sedra 5000 pump. They didn't have the impellers but I didn't think I needed one anyway. So I get home and take the old pump apart again to move the impeller to the new pump and that 's when it finally clicked. It was the shaft that was broken I started to pull the pieces out to confirm that I don't need a pump but a new impeller assembly or a new shaft.

The LFS (Salt Water Paradise) took the pump back and sold me a ceramic shaft. Of course my check book was happy about this.
I took some pictures of the sequence of operation to replace the shaft.

1) Take the pump out of the sump.

2) Disassemble, notice on how a piece of the shaft is stuck in the impeller housing.


3) all the pieces of the shaft are removed


4) Insert new shaft and re assemble



Now that summer is almost over, it will be easier to provide updates.

Regards,
Waffleman

Picture Update July 29,2009

Boy, time flies when you are having fun!

In the past month I have been fighting Calcium levels And I add about 200ml/day to keep up I still add an additional amount (50ml) to get it to go near 400ppm.

My new dosing pump which I purchased at Bulk Reef Supply is set up to add 150ml of the alkalinity part every morning.

I still have the noisy fans, and I stopped using Vodka for now I didn't see much aafetr a few months so I've decided to give it a rest for now.

Last weekend, there was a frag swap here in Buffalo and I ended up with nice pieces. A bright red Zoo frag. a rainbow montipora, an efflo and 2 mystery acros.

That's from the new room for now.

as my friend would say : "happy reefing!"

Wow it's hard to believe but my system is almost a year old. I have not made any hardware changes at all since the start of the project. I will replace my fans in the canopy because these ICE cap ones are very noisy imo, even at lower speeds. Here is an updated FTS.

Critique and/or suggestions are welcome!

Waffleman

Too many sweepers!

The pavona cactus coral is stinging my duncan coral pretty badly, so I moved the Duncan to the sandbed. Even within a day it already looks better.

Tomorrow my Hammer coral will be sold, so that it will no longer be able to sting my Blue echinopora.

I have decided to up the quantity of 2 parts supplements to 120ml each. and see if I can get back on target that way. We will see what gives.

Waffleman

measurements and what they mean

I took all the usual measurements today and this is what I have:

• PH: 8.39
• Temp: 83.0F
• Sg: 1.029
• KH: 5 dKH
• Ca: 350ppm
• Mg: 1470ppm

So, the conclusion is:

• My salinity is a bit high but I haven't added my top-off yet
• Mg is a bit high (target is 1350ppm but UI'm still keeping it a bit higher to see if coloration will improve.
• Alkaninty & Calcium (KH & Ca) is at it's lowest ever. There could be a couple of reasons, one is that the Bulk Reef Supply doesn't have the same concentration as the B-ionic. At first I thought that the Mg would have anything to do with it but that's not the case, if anything, the elevated Mg levels should have slowed down the precip of Alk and CA. So I will increase the dosing of Alk and CA.

I will use some powder form to raise Alk for now, together with the BRS mix.

Waffleman

Hello,

First off, The frag swap was a great, I didn't sell all the pieces I wanted to but I had a great time.

Since it was hosted at the Strong Museum of Play in Rochester we got a behind the scenes our of the Rainbow Reef. Even for non reef related activities it's great to spend the day at the museum with your family, there is so much to do.

For the Vodka dosing experiment I see some improvements at the moment. I'm dosing 1.2 ml per day now. The following things have been observed:

• - Water clarity (continuos)
• - LPS polyp extention: This is almost ridiculous, my Pavona coral used to have an occasional 1/2 sweeper. Now there are many 3" sweepers, It is starting to attck my Duncans. Same is observed on the Hammer and the torch coral.

• - some algea has been reduced
• - one of my milliporas that was receding seems to be bouncing back, some nw skin and coloration is observed.

However, there has not been a reduction in the Xenias. I will continue the dosing for a couple more weeks and see what happens.

Waffleman

Frag swap again

This weekend the is a frag swap at the Strong Musuem in Rochester. For me it's the first time I'll be traveling a bit with the frags and water to set up a small display.
The Sign-up through the Fragswapper hasn't been all that great but I staill exepect that I' be able to sell most of my corals.
The money will be used to replace my light bulbs that are almost 1 year old.

As far as the ststaus with the Vodka dosing, I see no more changes since my last report. My dosage is now 0.8 ml.

Waffleman

Science gone bad!

I've been doing a lot of reading up about carbon dosing in reef tanks and decided to give it a try.

I have have low amount of Nitrates, I believe that the reason why it is low is the fact that I have a lot of pulsing xenias in the tank. These xenias are really a nuisance and I want them gone.
That's why I'm resorting to Vodka Dosing, adding the carbon source to feed to good bacteria that will consume the Nitrates before the Xenias do.

Today is day 3 of the inital amount (4 ml). Tomorrow I have to double the amount of Vodka I add.
So far, I have observed better water clarity and the glass remained cleaner.

I will keep posting progress during the coming weeks, this is to create a record for myself as well as to share my experiences with the rest of the world.

Waffleman

It's been a while!

I've been maintaining the tank, so no new additions at this point.

Last time I posted I had mentioned that I was going to add magnesium in order to improve the coloration of some of the corals.
I just checked all my parameters today and I found the following:

Mg= 1500
Ca: 365ppm
kH: 6 Deg
Sg: 1.029 ppm

So , the magnesium addition really boosts the levels in the tank, and as the bottle says it increases the salinity as well. There has not been an improvement on the coloration however.

Apparently the magnesium addittion has a negative effect on KH, So I will need more Alk addition as well as CA.
I have also switched form the bi-ionic to the bulkreefsupply 2 part recipe 1 for economical reasons.
My new challange is to find out why my milly's have NO polyp extention unless they are in the bottom of the tank. :-(

Waffleman

Slow week

This week, not a lot happened.

I did a 20% water change on Thursday. I use the cheapest stuff, Instant Ocean, but it does work for my system. While I have been thinking of switching to a different brand, I'm very reluctant to do so, since everything is growing well.

I've been reading up on coloration of my purple Montipora Capricornis and I'm giving the tank additional Magnesium supplement (ESV) to raise the level to about 1400ppm. It should help, time will tell. At the moment the polyps are purple but not the body.

It looks like all my new acquisitions from the frag swap pulled through as well. However the the purple pillows isn't looking that great yet....

I have moved them from the frag rack and attached them to the rocks, using reef putty.

new arrivals

Frag swap report:

The frag swap was success! I had to hustle to get everything loaded in the car, pick up my son and go the place where the swap was held. Twice a year Randy, owner of A Reef Creation , hosts the event in a vacant room above the store.

So I got there pretty early to have table and good spot, and already a half a dozen people had already set-up their display system.

I sold nearly all the stuff I had brought which allowed me to byuy some new corals, some supplies and still have money in my pocket for future supplies.

That said, I ended up with some decent coral frag at a very low price(compared to store prices).

• Superman Montipora
• Supernatural Montipora
• ORA purple pillows staghorn
• Blue and Teal acro
• Blue-ish with red skirt zoo's

When I got home, many hours later, I started acclimating the corals to the tank water using a 2.5 G tank. After it is adjusted to the tank water, I give the corals a dip using TMPCC for about 10 to 15 minutes.


After that the corals get transferred to the big tank. This dip kills a lot of nasties if they were to exist. You can't be too careful when you make an investment like this system, you may not only lose the new stuff but potentially wiping out the complete system.

Happy Reefing and till next time,
Waffleman

SPS frags

Fragging of SPS's

I just documented the fragging sequence I use:

Step 1:

Get all the tools you might need. Hammer, chisel, glue, drying rack, cutters towel etc..

Step 2:

get the corals you want to cut out of the tank.

Step 3:

cut and glue the corals. I use super glue gel, the corals quickly grow over the hardened glue.

Step 4:

Return the frags to the tank after the glue has set.

These corals are quite resilient. The montiporas seem to be the easiest ones to frag. They are for me at least...

Happy fragging!

Busy times

Sorry it's been taking a little while to post on the blog.

In preparation of the frag swap I've started to frag some of the corals already.

I just picked up crazy glue gel from the dollar store, this stuff works the best. They must think I'm crazy since I probably go through at least a dozen tubes a year.

The cut costs even more, I've bought a mat with 1x1" ceramic tiles to use as a base for my frags. This way I have a about 100 tiles for $4.

Our WNY group has a swap page set up where people can list their items:

www.fragswapper.com

Waffleman

frag swap coming!

Our local friends of URS are setting up a Frag swap for March 28th, 2009

We usually get people from all over western NY but also Toronto and even Pennsylvania.

So this evening I started fragging so that the corals have a chance to recoup before being sold at the swap.

Stuff that I will have for sale are:

• Leptastrea
• Red Montipora Digitata
  
• Purple Polyp Montipora Digitata
• German Blue Montipora Digitata
• Orange Zooanthids
  
• Green Zooantids
  
• Pink Zooantids
  
• People eaters
  
• Green Favia
  
• Teal Favia
  
• Green Poccilipora
  
• Pink Pocillipora
  

I always look forward to this event, it's a chance to see the friends you chat with on line and an opportunity to acquire new corals without loosing your shirt.

RIP little friend

As said before, I was able to isolate my starry blenny into a 2.5Gallon QT. Apparently it was too late. When I checked up on him in the morning he had already moved on. I will miss him and his cat like manors.

Causes? I have no idea, but by the fact that he didn't seem to be able to get up, I'm going to assume that he had some kind of a swim bladder issue. If that's even possible.

Every thing else in the tank seems unaffected.

As I'm typing this I notice that I use the word "seems" a lot. I guess I do that because it is just my observation, the way I see it. I'm not sure if that is the fact or not. In this hobby there are so many variables that we do not control. So, unless you have a Lab and a controlled environment where everything is monitored and you do biopsies when something perishes, we are just guessing, even if it is an educated guess.

Here is one of my favorite pictures of him hanging out in the toadstool coral.

So, my starry blenny is sick. :-(

He can't get up anymore, he doesn't eat but it doesn't look like he /she lost weight yet. I was able to quarantine him today and I will see what happens tomorrow. All the parameters are in line noting new is added either.

I hope he gets better. It a fish with a lot of character, and he likes to hang out in my toadstool or the frag rack, sorta like a cat on the window sill.

Hawkins Echinata

Catch of the day:

I purchased an ORA Hawkins Blue Echinata today at my LFS for $15 for a 3/4" frag. I think that's a good deal, compared to prices I see on line.
Today was a good day!

Thinking of expanding

Basement sump ideas


I've been thinking of moving my sump to the basement. This would include

• Getting a stock tank
• Getting a bigger pump
• Adding more heaters
• Adding a new electrical circuit to the basement

The advantages are:

• No more pump noise
• no more water fall
• More water volume
• Easier access to the sump

This is my sump at the moment.

New aquisition - spotted mandarin goby

Trouble in paradise?

Over the weekend I added a spotted mandarin goby to the tank. See the picture here on the side.

I haven't noticed him eating much of anything. Several evenings I have douched him shrimp brine but he doesn't seem to eat it, nor does he touch cyclopeeze or even Rod's food.

I know that these guys are hard to keep , but I didn't expect a real issue. So, I'm going to keep doing what I was doing and maybe he will adjust before it's too late.

There were some scuffles at the introduction of the fish in the tank but he/she seems accepted in the tank community as the fish leave him alone.

Today I've added a few new pieces of live rock to back fill the pieces that I've lost by the sale of some corals. I picked op some nice branches from a local fish store.
The total weight of live rock in my system is about 100lbs.

This is not really enough but I don't want that usual "wall of rocks".

Maintenance schedule

Maintenance schedule

I would consider my tank a fairly low maintenance system. All the tweaking I do on an almost daily basis is self inflicted and IMO does not count as maintenance.

Daily:

• top off water
• add B-ionic (75ml)
• feed the fish
• Count and inspect all fish

Twice weekly:

• Feed the corals
• Clean the glass
• Empty the skimmer cup
  

3 weekly:

• Measure and record all parameters
• Perform water change

Monthly:

• Replace carbon
  

---

I'm starting listings of my coral collection on the right side. I will split the up in soft, LPS and SPS. As i'm writing these out, I'm starting to realize how many different corals I really have.

Introduction

System Description

I will start with the description of my reef system.
The main tank is a 90Gallon reef ready tank made by Perfecto

Filtration:
The filtration is directly below the tank and consists of a 30Gallon long with a double bubble trap built in.
In this sump I keep my filter sock from the tank return, my ASM G3 skimmer and my return pump, a Mag7, giving me about 500GPH back into the tank.
The estimated total system volume is 100Gallons.

Circulation:
The display tank has a Koralia 3 and a Korialia 4 to provide the necessary flow to keep the corals happy.
Total flow including the return is about 2500GPH.

Lighting:
Lighting is provided by 6 54W T5 high output bulbs. These bulbs are staged in pairs to provide a dusk to dawn effect. This type of lighting allows me to keep SPS on the sand bed of the tank.

Automation:
The lighting, heating and cooling and the pumps are controlled by a AquaController Jr . This simplified my life immensely and is by far the best investment made.

Waffleman

Opener

Hi, my name is Nico aka Waffleman and I'm a reef fanatic...

I started my reef hobby after about 6 years with freshwater tanks. All I wanted to do is keep a pair of clown fish after we went to see Nemo with teh family. This hobby is very addicting but rewarding at the same time.

It is great to come home from work and unwind while looking at the tank. Corals swaying, fish darting in and out of rocks or caves and the colors, they are out of this world.