Carbon and GFO

After the big clean up, I've added fresh carbon and GFO.

 I use the Bulk Reef Supply carbon (ROX08) and GFO granules. This stuff is better than other products I've used in the past.  The carbon is so fine, it works better than the bigger granules, so therfore you can use less with a better effect.
The water in the tank is visibly cleaner now.

Waffleman

Big Cleanup

I have ignored the tank for a while. So, today I was going to do a wtaer change, but I started cleaning the baclk glass.
I only was able to do a small portion of the back glass. I will do more tomorrow when I do the actual water change.
I fragged some corals. and I will put them up for sale next weekend.
The front corner of the tank was becoming a dump for broken corals and Xenia. I cleaned it all out and the tank will look great after tomorrows' wtaer change.

Added flow

Yesterday, I added another Ecotech MP40W ES propeller pump. This adds another 3200GPH to the rank.
This pump is wirelessly linked with my older MP40W.
This will resolve the flow issue for awhile..

Also, I bought a clam. This clam is bright blue and is very healthy. I will take some pictures this coming weekend.

Happy Reefing!

Cleaning the tank

The last fragswap was not a success when it comes to selling corals. We all had a great time, wonderfull weather and great food.

Yesterday I did a big clean up in the tank and actually got rid of a bunch of xenias and elkhorn. Th eelkhorn made room for my cherry milly pora. So the tank looks a cleaner at the moment.

With the corals growing the way they do, flow is becoming an issue again.


Untill next time and happy reefing.

Waffleman

I'm making room for new stuff. see SPS corals for sale if you are interested.

going crazy!

Everything is growing like mad, good problem. I just don't have much time to maintain at the moment

I finally found pickling lime, so I will trying a kalkwasser method soon...

I will keep you posted.

Waffleman

Traded some corals

I traded some of my montis for a meteor shower coral. It has some decent PE even on the first day.

Also, I finally did the water change I wanted to do last week.

Finally a new full tank shot!

as the title says, I got the camera out today and took some pictures. Here is the FTS:

Enjoy!

Waffleman

PH probe calibration

Today I calibrated my PH probe on the Aquacontroller Jr.

 The PH values have been reading high, so I calibrated it to make sure that I was reading correct before adjusting the parameters. That proved to be the correct action.
My Ph reading was off by 0.3.
The calibration procedure is easy with the Aquacontroller. I used 7.000PH and 10.000 as calibration media.

My reading after calibrtation was 8.22 instead of 8.5, Much better...

Carbon replacement

Today I replaced the carbon. I usually have about a 1/2lbs  of carbion in my 90 G system. It just lays in a bag in the pump section of the the sump. I should get some goo flow but it is ineffecient.
Tomorrow I will have unhappy toadstools.

I getting ready for the next water change.

Where is my Setosa?

It seemed to be missing for a little while. I ended up finding it, totally white, laying inside my monti cap. Another sad day...

This coral was doing good, but apparently doesn't need much to RTN. I had other corals fall into this one and it hasen't been an issue before. The Monti Cap is not really aggressive, especially when touched by the same family of corals.

RTN stands for Rapid Tissue Necrosis, it loses all flesh within hours of the first onset. Not good.


Waffleman

Several weeks went by since my last post.... my new coral is doing OK. It hasn't grown much but is is showing some PE.
Today I scraped the glass  using a regular scraper. It's the only thing that works. Tomowwor I will do a water change and the tank will be looking awesome.

All my corals have been growing really good. So, knock on wood and let's not mess around for a while. I have enough projects around the house to keep me busy. :-)

Montipora Setosa added

This past weekend, there was a local frag swap. I was able to sell a bunch of stuff and I bought a Montipora Setosa for a very nice price. After 2 days, it is starting to turn pink, a little. It seems to be healthy. I will post a  picture later in the week.


Have a great day!

RIP little buddy

My CBB didn't make it past the 1 month mark, unfortunately. Even though it seemed to be eating OK and coming up up for feed, it looked like he was withering away.
And my aptaisia is still all there...

Waffleman

This weekend I spend some time and money to re-arrange the left side of my tank. After messing around for a few hours, I'm not happy with the results.
We will have to re-do this again, but I will wait until the fragswap is over, and have cleared some stuff out.

Waffleman

I did a water change last night. It's the second one in 2 weeks. My corals look so much better the 2nd day after a water change.

Also, I placed 1 one the Red planet frags up in the tank. One of them has great PE the other one doesn't. Don't know why, they are both under the same bulb, both have indirect flow around them. We will have to wait and see what happens in the next few weeks.

Waffleman

URS red planet added

This week I aquired a good size coral from a friend. it's a "mini colony" of the URS Red Planet acro.

This coral has been disputed for quite a while. It is believed that this coral is the source of the ORA red Planet coral.
I love the coloration and PE of this coral


My CBB is doing good at the moment, it looks like the tangs have accepted him now and the chasing has almost stopped.

Waffleman

New light bulbs

I received my new light bulbs and installed them last night. So my T5 arrangement is new as follows from front to back:

Aquablue special (ATI)

Aquablue plus (ATI)
Fijipurple (Koralenzucht)
Aquablue special (ATI)
Aquablue plus (ATI)
Aquablue plus (ATI)

It is definately more blue then before, Im hoping to improve coloration of the corals with this combo.

Waffleman

ORA Hawkins Echinata growth

Today, I wantedto share the growth of my ORA Hawkins Blue Echinata coral.
I really love this coral, as it branches differently from other acros.

This first picture is how I bought it in March of 2009

The first 6 months notthat much happened, the coral got used to it's new environment and I had to find the right spot for this guy.

 Picture taken in September 2009

After it settled in, it really started to grow pretty fast. It has lost some of it's coloration, I think it's because I use T5's and have a low nutrient system.
This is the picture taken mid February of 2010:

I hope you have enjoyed this progression history of my ORA Hawkins Echinata

Waffleman

new additions

Finally some action:
I bought a new fish and after a week it's still alive and well. My tang did beat him up for a couple of days but it sorta stopped right now.
My new fish is a Copper banded Butterfly. It's been eating Spaghetti worms, bristle worms and feathers. It hasn't touched the aiptasia yet. Altjhough it eats frozen foods, I've been spoiling it and cutting up small pieces of fresh oyster to feed it.

 This is what he looks like.

Also, last week I traded some corals with a local reefer. New acquistuions are a
Yellow Turbinara, a Lepastrea (white centers) and a turquoise stag.

Everything in the tank seems quite happy.

Waffleman

Just a quick update. I have been travling so my fingers have stayed out of the tank. It all looks good.

My Cherry Milly is finally starting to show some PE after 2 years. I just have to do something with the mushrooms and xenias. They are invasive.
I thought that I would be able to control them if the nutriants were less in the system. I've started to used GFO as well, in hope to starve Xenias from the phosphates that may reside in the system.

Waffleman

Today I actually sat back and enjoyed my reef tank. I didn't stick my hands in the wtaer, not even once.

Waffleman

Hello all,

I purchased a Rio 2500 to replace my Mag7. It took me 3 days to get all the right parts so that I could install the pump.
The old one had a 1/2NPT and the new one is 3/4" NPT. Of course I glued everything last time, exept for a few joints , so I had to go search for new couplings and adapters.

The new pump is now up and running, and I can not hear it. Mission accomplished! On to the next item.

Waffleman

While doing my last water change 2 days ago, my recirculation pump (MAG 7) didn't want to re-start.
So, I took it out of the sump, which is easy to do when you have a union in the return line, and took it apart.

Upon inspection I could see that the the impeller housing has excessive wear on one side where it holds the shaft in place .

There was also some wear in the impeller assembly, so I replaced it, hoping it would help and reduce the noise that this pump makes.

I put it all back together, hooked it back up  but the noise is the same. So, I will be looking for a new pump...

 

I will post some more pics, when I replace it.

Waffleman

Today I removed the canopy so that I have good access to the overflow, it's been noisy for week and I finally had it (and so did the rest of the family).

So, now that it is all cleaned up, there are no more gurgles and flushing sounds.

While to top was removed I took some pictures with flash, looking down in the tank.

 

Enjoy,

Waffleman