Mini reef tank fit for a mad scientist

[MadScientist]

currently temperature controller is decommissioned due to controller reading lower temperature than chiller controller. both controllers are reading the same initial and final temperatures. chiller currently kicking in for 3 minutes at every 10 minutes.

It seems cooling a 3L water is very expensive and difficult.

[yeo99]

Temperature controller with exhaust fan

Look complex!

In the market, there are two temperature controllers that you can buy. One is very good, similar to the temperature controller you brought. Good thing is it is without DIY.risk.

And best of all, it is about $50, I guess this cost is cheaper than your DIY cost.

I suggest those who are not trained, please do not DIY. In an environment with water and salt, it becomes more dangerous.

[MadScientist]

Look complex! In the market, there are two temperature controllers that you can buy. One is very good, similar to the temperature controller you brought. Good thing is it is without DIY.risk. And best of all, it is about $50, I guess this cost is cheaper than your DIY cost. I suggest those who are not trained, please do not DIY. In an environment with water and salt, it becomes more dangerous.

What brand would that be? Complex to remove the risk of melting the contacts on the controller, hence the need for a contactor. I have to agree that there is a risk for DIY, that's why the box is IP66, haha. I still have not seal the holes for wires with silicone yet though. Bring water tight, even if the components burn in the box, it should extinguish itself very rapidly. I also chose a proper rating wires instead of thinner wires for use in and out of box to minimise any overheating of cables (excluding DC power to fan since it is only 12V, 0.65A - max 1.3A, even so, wires are still thicker than those fitted by fan manufacturer).

[MadScientist]

Any purple coralline algae experts out there? I would like to ask you all a question. Would coralline algae be able to grow around 1cm2 in a day? I have dosed calcium the night before and alkalinity last night. Both are overdosed. Is that even possible for them to grow at this rate?

[MadScientist]

Are they healthy looking? Hmm

[desideria]

3L of water? Such a small volume. why don't you just get an ice probe from coolworkz?

[MadScientist]

No place to put, need an inline solution, haha. Does TEM work well in our climate? Went to many lfs and literally all claimed TEM doesn't work for us in this country.

[MadScientist]

Are they healthy looking? Hmm

Since there's no one around that can verify their health and I do not know of any non-destructive methods/test kits that can quantify their health, I am basing on their reaction to light and stimuli (sudden, partial blockage of light and a light physical touch) to determine their health.

The clam is reactive to blockage of light and touch. The mushroom is reactive to touch.

Temperature is now ranging from 30-32 degree celcius. It is weird that there is no sign of bleaching (zooxanthellae expulsion) from the high temperatures. The specimens were accidentally acclimatized in an unconventional technique. They were brought from shop to tank within 15 minutes using a cabby. Tank at the shop was cooled using air conditioner chilled air (temperature possibly 26-28). They were introduced to the new tank with a temperature of 25.5 degree celcius. After approximately 8 hours, chiller pushed the temperature down to 18 degree celcius due to a malfunctioned temperature probe. Chiller was restarted and it tripped immediately. Chiller was then decommissioned, allowing tank's temperature to gradually increase to room temperature (29 degree celcius) and above (30-32 degree celcius).

It may seem that high temperatures may not always induce bleaching. With regards to the specimens, this may due to their adaptability or the unconventional acclimatization. As the global temperatures are rising, it may be of interest to determine the causation of the adaptation. Health of specimens will continually be monitored and temperature will be reduced back to 25-28 should they show any adverse reactions to prolonged exposure to high temperatures (bleaching, etc).

[MadScientist]

nitrate level: 0.2ppm (side wall view of reaction chamber, 2/10ppm) (Salifert Nitrate Profi Test; Batch: Unknown; Expiry 11-2014). It is actually in between 0 and 2, hence, I rounded it up.

Temperature is 32 degree clecius (GEX mini alcohol thermometer).

Currently dosing 2 drops of 5% acetic acid with critic acid (vinegar) daily.

21 days since water change. The clam really is a powerful and compact nitrate filter.

[MadScientist]

Hopefully the clam can recover with the new lighting.

[stevenchia]

wat happen to ur previous live stock? sun coral n pair of clown? no chiller or fan?

[MadScientist]

wat happen to ur previous live stock? sun coral n pair of clown?no chiller or fan?

Got robbed, haha. Friend took both.

Currently, got tem and compressor chiller and fan. All not in use. Temperature now hovering around 30-32, towards 31-32.

Have been feeding aquapharm 5-in-1 coral food (8 drops), reef nutrition oyster feast (2 drops), cyclop-eeze fried dried (1 5ml spoonful) and new life spectrum small fish formula (1 5ml spoonful) daily for this few days since last nitrate measurement.

No feeding of tank tonight as new livestock added and readjusted salinity to 1.025 (refer to previous posts for measurement details).

Today's nitrate is 0.5ppm. Not bad, my efforts to raise nitrate is working.

[stevenchia]

Got robbed, haha. Friend took both.

Currently, got tem and compressor chiller and fan. All not in use. Temperature now hovering around 30-32, towards 31-32.

Have been feeding aquapharm 5-in-1 coral food (8 drops), reef nutrition oyster feast (2 drops), cyclop-eeze fried dried (1 5ml spoonful) and new life spectrum small fish formula (1 5ml spoonful) daily for this few days since last nitrate measurement.

No feeding of tank tonight as new livestock added and readjusted salinity to 1.025 (refer to previous posts for measurement details).

Today's nitrate is 0.5ppm. Not bad, my efforts to raise nitrate is working.

Hopefully everything go fine. Think above 30 degree and above.. is hard to survive.. try putting ur finger in. u will feel the water is warm..

[MadScientist]

Hopefully everything go fine. Think above 30 degree and above.. is hard to survive.. try putting ur finger in. u will feel the water is warm..

I know, haha. The problem is it is difficult to cool water down at such small volumes. I just tried insulated the hosings. Time before kick increased only by a few minutes. Such a small volume gains heat too rapidly. The tank is a giant heat sink now, only gaining heat. I don't think any controller /relay /compressor /equipment /components can survive for long for such frequent kicking in and out. I know my wallet can't survive the massive electrical bill and equipment replacement costs too.

[MadScientist]

Would be great if someone can id the ls as I am horrible in id-ing.

Any suggestions as to scaping as I think the tank is running out of space for more ls and it is not easy to scape with a hand that's big and can't really move around in the tank?

[Rukas]

Bro

How is your clam? is she recovering? its a Crocea right?

[MadScientist]

Appears so, Used to have white patch on brown. Now there's brown patch on the white patch. Will post closeups real soon. Yup, it is a crocea. When I first bought, there's around 2-3 white patches, small though.

It should recover fast as I just upgraded it to a multi-storey condo instead of landed, haha

I hope crocea don't grow fast, I do not want to see the clam become the tank when I get home one day, haha

[MadScientist]

As of today

[MadScientist]

Duplicate post. Please remove/ignore, sorry.

[MadScientist]

Sorry for the mandarin fish. It wasn't there just before I pressed the shutter. Biopellet in tank. Strangly, photo gets automatically rotated when uploading. Sorry.

[MadScientist]

Top left of the clam is the area where the bleaching was the most serious. There is a light brown patch in between 2 white patches. It was originally 1 large white patch. I believe that is indication of zooxanthellae repopulation.

The second severe area is the bottom left. It is rather difficult to see the white patch in the photo. There is a light white patch with some purplish pigment. It seems to be recovering too.

For the top and bottom right patches, as of today, there's literally no indication of white patch.

Not very sure if the unidentified coral is opening. No idea of the health status. Any experts?

Just measured nitrate. 0ppm. Reaction in the vial occurred as there are bubbles in the solution. Left for 15 minutes and there's still no visible colour change. Getting frustrated with the attempt to increase nitrate naturally. May end up having to hunt for ammonium nitrate to add to tank (if desperate).

Suddenly realised tank is suffering from cyanobacteria problem even with low nitrate. It is forming sheets partially peeling off wall now.

Not sure what is the brownish stuff on the wall. Any experts?

Even at such a temperature, it is strange that most livestocks are not bleaching horribly. Numerous articles, in fact, most articles suggested maximum temperature is 29 degree celcius. It is even stranger that the more I feed and add livestock, the lower the nitrate becomes. I am not sure of the exact reason for that. Possibly is the reduction of nitrate by cyanobacteria or the dosage of vinegar. It may also be due to the high temperature, causing the zooxanthellae to photosynthesize faster or increasing population more rapidly, resulting in the increased consumption of nitrate.

I believe the cyanobacteria may be caused by the single biopellet in the tank which I cannot remove without hurting any livestock.

[MadScientist]

Added 2 teaspoons of cyclop-eeze, 1 cube of hikari rotifier, 8 drops of 5-in-1 coral food and 16 drops of oyster feast today.

[spkentchai]

Would be great if someone can id the ls as I am horrible in id-ing.

Any suggestions as to scaping as I think the tank is running out of space for more ls and it is not easy to scape with a hand that's big and can't really move around in the tank?

You squeeze everything in this small tub???

[MadScientist]

<p>

You squeeze everything in this small tub???

Yup, need to figure a way to scape it in such a way I can put in more livestocks. Too many rocks end up not much water left, water change will be cheaper though, haha. The more rocks = less water = more unstable parameters, especially temperature for my case.Somemore the tank has ios, totally no space now, =( that's why the clam is side ways.

[RushAct]

mandarin fish feeding?