My Slice of Nature (Part 3)

[Ashtrax]

Thanks for the write up leon.

[Nooblenny]

On 16/02/2018 at 9:51 PM, SubzeroLT said:

Remember to feed your anemones.

I didn't feed this max mini carpet anemone for 4 weeks. It took out a perfectly healthy spotted mandarin which must have swam too close. The spotted mandarin was badly stung. Didn't make it. 

 

More pics.

Midas Blenny found a new fav spot in the rocks.

 

It was opportunistic that the large 6 line wrasse swam into a basket. I took the chance to isolate the 3 year old wrasse & introduce a baby 6 line wrasse. They are both swimming peacefully together for the past week  

 

 

Yikes! Poor mandarin 

 

Anyway beside being beautiful, your tank is really high tech with lots of cool gears! 

[SubzeroLT]

4 hours ago, Nooblenny said:

Anyway beside being beautiful, your tank is really high tech with lots of cool gears! 

Thanks

 

On 2/16/2018 at 11:36 PM, Ashtrax said:

Thanks for the write up leon.

Just sharing. I think the product has a lot of potential & benefits with its close loop feedback on KH levels.

 

[SubzeroLT]

A dreaded task of changing out the calcium reactor pump this weekend. Irritating rattling sound

This motor/impeller lasted about 9 months before the rattling sound started to get 'too loud'. Not sure why the impeller does not last very long. Some say its because i run externally & the motor gets warmer. Some say my pH levels are too low (around 6.3pH).

New pump. 

 

The ceramic shaft from my old pump/impeller. Shaft is still in good condition with  slight wear. The design change by Skimz to switch from steel to ceramic shaft was the right one.

 

The noise was caused by the impeller hole getting worn out. Too big a gap now causing it to spin unevenly & rattle. I knew it was likely a worn out impeller but a new motor didn't cost much more. Old pump could still be used as standby.

 

Best practice to change out o-rings when the pump is replaced. Note it does NOT come with the pump. Needs to be purchased separately.

 

 

Topped up the CR with Rowalith CR media & Grotech Magnesium chips.

 

Mg media goes in first since its smaller & have higher chance of being sucked into the recirculating pump. I don't use the sponge on top anymore.

Then purge the CR to get rid of fine particles before letting the effluent flow into the tank.

 

Had a spare heat sink lying around. Attached it to the motor in an attempt for it to run 'cooler'.

[Ashtrax]

Hope it can last you many years to come..


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[SubzeroLT]

Visited 2 reefer's tank over the weekend for PAR measurement service. Very lovely tank & set up indeed.

 

Venturing into softies.

Got this Japanese neon Kenya tree from a reefer over the weekend. (polyps not opened yet). Thanks for the nice gesture.

 

Preparing for travel. Set up the large bucket for skim waste & Alkatronic output.

 

Simple DIY to share. 

Quite a common occurrence that the RODI collection tub or bucket overflows because i forgot about it.

Put together a simple water alarm using extra parts lying around. (piezo buzzer, battery holder, float switch)

 

 

[Harlequinmania]

From your experience with alktronic now is it internet dependant ? I.e ; when the internet at home fail, will it still work ?

As I know some of the controller is linking up with cloud base to program it

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[SubzeroLT]

7 hours ago, he said:

From your experience with alktronic now is it internet dependant ? I.e ; when the internet at home fail, will it still work ?

As I know some of the controller is linking up with cloud base to program it
 

Yes, it will work even without the internet or wifi. As long as there is power, its able to test & auto dose KH solution on its own if the auto dose feature is enabled. 

It triggers the white plug via bluetooth (not wifi) for your 'balance dosing' pump or calcium reactor.

 

The upload to cloud is for data viewing only.

 

 

 

[SubzeroLT]

Its nice to be able to monitor tank parameters remotely when travelling.

4 measurements/day @ 6hr intervals. 

 

Its interesting to see how KH drops during lighting hours & increases again when lights are off at night. This makes me think that its possible to keep KH absolutely constant during the day. Something to think about.

 

Plotting the moving average on excel, it appears to be creeping up marginally. This calls for a 30 minute reduction in CO2 hours for the calcium reactor (that can be done remotely)

 

 

[Kumar 1981]

Wow! Dam chimp bro Leon! Good write up as always!


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[Mahesh]

On 11/6/2017 at 4:17 PM, SubzeroLT said:

Testing out a chaeto reactor.   Some pics to share.

 

Got some chaetomorpha from fellow reefers some weeks back. Took advantage of the time from having time to set up the reactor by growing it in a tub for a couple of weeks. Dosed the water with Zeo Cyanoclean & Salifert Flatworm exit as a precautionary measure.

 

Prepping the stand

 

Close up of the light tube

 

 

 

Running it for about 2 weeks now. Able to see the chaeto growth progression through the translucent housing. 

 

• Didn't go the DIY route for the chaeto reactor due to fear of  getting the DIY external LEDs wet.
• So far, this reactor has been running well. I don't see any stray chaeto  escaping into the sump.
• Installed additional Eheim double taps for ease of moving the reactor to the toilet to open up for maintenance

 

Hi Bro, can PM patrick contact no and the price of the reactor? Thank you

[SubzeroLT]

Hi Bro, can PM patrick contact no and the price of the reactor? Thank you

PMed


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[LoReNsIa]

Bro Leon,

can share the chaeto reactor to me as well? i wants to run mine outsump like yours too.. haha.

Regards,
Lorenzo

[SubzeroLT]

On 17/03/2018 at 1:43 PM, LoReNsIa said:

Bro Leon,

can share the chaeto reactor to me as well? i wants to run mine outsump like yours too.. haha.

Regards,
Lorenzo

PMed as well.

[SubzeroLT]

Got a couple of things recently.

 

Full length gloves - up to armpit.

 

Additional Apex PM1 module to enable the 2nd breakout box.

 

Ordered some live phytoplankton that contains accessory pigments for photosynthesis and antioxidents. Not cheap though. That 4 vials came to US$80.

 

FTS : 19th March

 

[Kumar 1981]

Wow! Nice !!


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[Kumar 1981]

Wow! Nice !!


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[boyington]

Wow nice FTS, can PM where to get the gloves & price, thanks!


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[SubzeroLT]

1 hour ago, Kumar 1981 said:

Wow! Nice !!

Thanks.

 

1 hour ago, boyington said:

Wow nice FTS, can PM where to get the gloves & price, thanks!
 

You can get it from Amazon. Else, Madpetz sells it locally (currently out of stock though)

 

[boyington]

Thanks Leon


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[SubzeroLT]

Verdict on the full length gloves : Its good for keeping your arms dry but not for more 'delicate' work. Not able to pick frag plugs from the sand bed with the gloves on.

 

3 types of phyto culture going

 

Dripping in about 2 cups of phyto a night.

Isochrysis are supposed be beneficial to the juvenile stages of mollusk. i.e. hopefully find developed baby emerald crabs soon

 

[LoReNsIa]

[SubzeroLT]

I received some queries about phytoplankton. So here are some comments.

 

The objective of adding phytoplankton is to feed small organisms (zooplankton) which in turn feed larger organisms. Those that benefit  most are species that are deemed 'difficult to keep in a reef tank' because they simply starve to death due to missing base of the food chain / zooplankton in the water. (eg. flame scallops or non photosynthetic sea fans). Other corals like SPS generally should benefit as well.

Not all phytoplankton are alike (ease vs benefit). Some like Nannochloropsis is generally 'easy' to culture. Hence you see them commonly used for culturing rotifers or used in bottled phyto mixtures. 

Others like Isochrysis are considered difficult. Difficult means they are sensitive to salinity, temperature & cleanliness & tend to crash easily. Isochrysis is considered the 'gold standard' due to its benefits. Literally, its also 'golden brown' in color.

Copy/paste from AlgaeBarn & other websites:

Isochrysis is capable of building stores of fats and oils. Isochrysis is high in polyunsaturated fatty acids such as docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), stearidonic acid and alpha-linolenic acid. The Omega 3 composition is often over 22% total fatty acid content. For this reason, it is frequently used to enrich live zooplanktonic feeds (rotifers, copepods, brine shrimp, etc.). It has been used effectively to feed very demanding phytoplanktivorous corals such as Dendronephthya (Carnation Tree Coral).

It additionally boasts high concentrations of vitamins (Vitamin A, B1, B2, B6, C, E, folic acid, nicotinic acid, pantotenic acid, etc.). These essential vitamins play a large part in overall health, including factors such as eye health, larval development and growth rates. Isochrysis is also a good source of the amino acids leucine, lysine and alanine. 

It suppresses growth of dominance of Vibrio spp (a type of bacteria) resulting in improved egg hatching and larval survival

 

Acknowledgement to Chun Wai for the education on phytoplankton. Quite interesting indeed.

 

[MarCal]

On 3/20/2018 at 11:06 PM, SubzeroLT said:

Verdict on the full length gloves : Its good for keeping your arms dry but not for more 'delicate' work. Not able to pick frag plugs from the sand bed with the gloves on.

 

3 types of phyto culture going

 

Dripping in about 2 cups of phyto a night.

Isochrysis are supposed be beneficial to the juvenile stages of mollusk. i.e. hopefully find developed baby emerald crabs soon

 

Sorry to divert. I see some succulents below your phyto culture station. May I ask what lightings are u using for the succulents? 

[SubzeroLT]

9 minutes ago, MarCal said:

Sorry to divert. I see some succulents below your phyto culture station. May I ask what lightings are u using for the succulents? 

The succulents on the lower shelf is using my old freshwater planted tank lights  - Odyssea Evo Green Elements (model 36P 3ft 72W lights).