My Slice of Nature (Part 3)

[SubzeroLT]

Thanks Larry for the reactor. Made a new kalk stirrer reactor

 

In case you want to see the inside of Two Little Fishies vege clip magnet.

its not epoxy sealed but does a great job to keep water out.

[Harlequinmania]

Are u be able to maintain the yellow coloration of the tenuis?

The growing of the rock anemone is a good investment return.. haha

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[SubzeroLT]

9 minutes ago, he said:

Are u be able to maintain the yellow coloration of the tenuis?

The growing of the rock anemone is a good investment return.. haha

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Got the colony on 28th Oct. Its 2 months now. Still yellow. Fingers crossed it maintains this way.

 

Aiyo...rock flower anemone can be quite fragile at times. 2 died so far

Still trying to build a nice collection if budget allows.

[Harlequinmania]

Got the colony on 28th Oct. Its 2 months now. Still yellow. Fingers crossed it maintains this way.
 
Aiyo...rock flower anemone can be quite fragile at times. 2 died so far
Still trying to build a nice collection if budget allows.

That's why I said is a good investment of return if u can manage to grow the rock anemone

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[Cliff]

Growing well.

 

 
Tenuis in white light. Looks quite yellow

 
Same tenuis in blue light
 
Forest Fire digi. 

So nice


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[ronnieloong]

Growing well.

 

 
Tenuis in white light. Looks quite yellow

 
Same tenuis in blue light
 
Forest Fire digi. 

Bro what is the 1st photo sps. Bird nest ?


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[SubzeroLT]

4 hours ago, ronnieloong said:

Bro what is the 1st photo sps. Bird nest ?

 

This one? Yes, pink birdsnest.

[SubzeroLT]

Night time flashlight lit pics :

 

 

Spider Sponge. Not easy to keep though

 

Candy Cane closeup

 

Candy Cane :

 

Orange Pavona :

[aloy]

how often do u feed your NPS?

[SubzeroLT]

3 hours ago, aloy said:

how often do u feed your NPS?

I reef roids/oyster feast about 2-3 times a week. Aside from that, I also feed frozen (DIY) fish/prawn meat 2x a day. 

Still monitoring.

I've had the NPS since late Nov. OK so far.

 

 

 

[SubzeroLT]

'Common' clowns and they are my fav ones

 

Anemone splitting in progress

 

Recovering in a basket. A good time to get it to attach to a new rock

 

Notice the algae blenny will often rest inside the wavemaker when they are turned off. Its a good thing the Vortech wavemakers have a feature to 'pulse' a couple of degrees before starting the full rotation. This gives time to fishes inside to swim out. 

[SubzeroLT]

Finally replaced the sediment filter & carbon filters.

Roughly 6 months & gone through about 2600 liters.

 

Replaced the DI resin as well. 

 

The carbon filters will have loads of sediments due to movement during transportation. Hence its important to flush it out & not let it get into the RO membrane.

 

After about 2 minutes. White pail looks quite clear.

 

Hooked everything up.

TDS measurement after RO membrane but before DI resin. TDS still quite high.

Good time to backflush the membrane.

 

After about 2 minutes backflush. Water out from RO membrane TDS ~ 3

 

Water after DI resin : 0 TDS

[SubzeroLT]

Some macro shots :

 

Non photosynthetic gorgonians

 

Brittle Starfish from my tank under a microscope. 

 

 

 

[SubzeroLT]

Pocillopora Symbiot crab spawning. Its quite interesting that these crabs were released into other types of SPS in other parts of the tank previously but they 'migrated' towards to pocci. I now have 3 in the pocci colony.

 

Baby blue gorgonian (non photosynthetic). 

 

I received some queries on what I feed the gorgonians. Mostly DIY frozen food (minced fish meat, oyster, prawns. No supplements) 2x a day for fishes & corals. The minced fish meat particles are small enough for the gorgonian polyps. And Reef Roids/Oyster Feast 2-3 times a week.

Skimmer hard at work:

 

Many thanks to Alex for the nano tank. Please let me return the favor one day.

 

I peeled off the Dymax sticker at the side as i needed to see the IOS easily (eg. water level, cleanliness of the pump etc). Super sticky film. Lighter fluid was best for softening the adhesive. Turpentine to clean up the sticky residue left on the acrylic. Then a thorough wash.

Cycling starts.

 

[SubzeroLT]

Got this nice piece from reefer Dez. 

 

Super tiny royal blue milli frag.

 

Sea Plume (photosynthetic)

 

This non-photosynthetic gorgonian is still doing OK.

 

Coco worm

 

Rescaped the tank today  & moved  some clams onto the upper rocks (instead of sand bed) in an attempt to provide more light for the crocea clams.

 

 

 

[SubzeroLT]

This is a very good article about activated carbon : https://joejaworski.wordpress.com/2008/05/09/does-a-reef-tank-need-carbon/

Some notes :

• Activated carbon works by adsoption (i.e. adhere to the surface). Not absorption. Google for clarity.
• Fluidizing carbon in a reactor will generate fine dust that'll end up in the tank. I think that tumbling may dislodge stuff adhered to the surface of the carbon (adsorption). Personally i prefer to use use a small  mesh bag. 
• Tried a couple of brands so far. DD Rowa Carbon (mentioned in the article as 'excellent) seems to work best for me
• Place the mesh bag in a high flow area in the sump. Replace every 2 weeks

 

Rowa Carbon

 

Tie it up & rinse in a small amount of RODI water (not tap water). Not much dust is generated. 2-3 rinse is sufficient

 

 

[Harlequinmania]

Very good idea on washing the carbon in a pail of water instead of running tap , which might cause the carbon to loss some of it's effectiveness absorbing chlorine in the running water.

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[sherman]

I also remove my reactor and use tea bag instead. 

Changing every 2 weeks also

[SubzeroLT]

Careless of me to use cheap/soft tubing for the phosban reactor. It kinked & blocked water flow into the reactor that contained the rowaphos

 

Phosphate rose increased to ~ 0.2ppm ( =69 ppb phosphorous)

 

Got the tubing reliability resolved. Using thicker Eheim tubing now.

 

Phosphate drop to ideal levels within a couple of days (~ 0.04ppm phosphate = 14ppb phosphorous)

 

Some folks stress over high phosphate levels. In my opinion, phosphate is relatively easy to manage with a good phosphate binder in a reactor. All settled within a week. Once within range, slightly reduce the flow through the reactor to 'maintain' the right levels.

 

I'm using this.

 

 

[SubzeroLT]

General maintenance weekend.

 

Change water & dripping in new water for the baby banggai cardinals. 

 

Only 10 out of the original 15 fries survived to date

 

Added leak detectors around the calcium reactor.

 

That's where the bag of carbon is placed.

[SubzeroLT]

Thanks Aqua Illumination for featuring my tank in a magazine ad.

There are many other nice tanks featured in the Signature Series. Their profiles can be to download as well. 

http://www.aquaillumination.com/signature/

 

 

[boyington]

Wow nice Leon!


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[Harlequinmania]

On 1/6/2018 at 9:37 PM, SubzeroLT said:

Finally replaced the sediment filter & carbon filters.

Roughly 6 months & gone through about 2600 liters.

 

Replaced the DI resin as well. 

 

The carbon filters will have loads of sediments due to movement during transportation. Hence its important to flush it out & not let it get into the RO membrane.

 

After about 2 minutes. White pail looks quite clear.

 

Hooked everything up.

TDS measurement after RO membrane but before DI resin. TDS still quite high.

Good time to backflush the membrane.

 

After about 2 minutes backflush. Water out from RO membrane TDS ~ 3

 

Water after DI resin : 0 TDS

 

Wow.. Your post give me a good ideal to install a " Y " adapter after 3 stage after carbon filter to flush out the dirt during filter replacement, since the dust could choke the membrane filter . 

[dsam]

Leon, may I know where did you get the stainless steel bracket for your RO/DI canisters?

[SubzeroLT]

35 minutes ago, dsam said:

Leon, may I know where did you get the stainless steel bracket for your RO/DI canisters?

It came as a set from Madpetz' ZERO RODI system. Think they sell it separately.