My Slice of Nature (Part 3)

[SubzeroLT]

FTS : 28th July 2018 before water change

 

Finally had time to preform a water change after 3 weeks. Some folks asked how i manage the water change.

Sacrifice the shower area in one of the toilets to house the 2 blue drums.

• 120L drum for fresh RODI.
• Another 160L drum for waste water.

Mix the salt  using an old Eheim 1260 pump for several hours. Fresh salt water is pumped back to the tank using a long 15m hose connected to the same Eheim pump. 

 

 

 

This was a frag from another reefer. Started out as a 5c coin piece with no idea what it looks like. Turning out quite nice

 

Frag from Lawrence a year ago (Thanks)

 

Hosting this for a fellow reefer. Hope it survives.

 

This as well.

 

Miserable frag of royal blue millie

 

 

 

[SubzeroLT]

The body was attached to a rock. The tube was attached to the glass bottom of the tank. Accidentally pulled out the tubeworm from its tube when I lifted the rock 

 

This tube should work (backup plan)

 

For now, I tried to stuff the worm back into the original tube (partially). Hopefully it backs in on its own over the next days. Else the artificial PU tube will be used.

 

 

 

[loong mun seng]

Nice tank


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[Jeebusai]

8 hours ago, SubzeroLT said:

The body was attached to a rock. The tube was attached to the glass bottom of the tank. Accidentally pulled out the tubeworm from its tube when I lifted the rock 

 

This tube should work (backup plan)

 

For now, I tried to stuff the worm back into the original tube (partially). Hopefully it backs in on its own over the next days. Else the artificial PU tube will be used.

 

 

 

Amazing shots as usual. I like your creativity for the tube worm! Rofl. 

[SubzeroLT]

Looks like the tube worm went back into its tube fully on its own.

 

Small DIY to raise a duncan off the sand bed as the the bottom heads were constantly covered by sand.

 

 

.

 

Done

 

[JMW]

Very nice DIY Leon, the Duncan’s stand is virtually invisible!

[SubzeroLT]

Sump pics.

Several folks asked my opinion about the Clarisea for their new tanks.  

• its one of the nice equipment that adds A LOT of convenience. Change fleece every 4-5 weeks instead of changing wool every 2-3 days. Love it!
• If you are designing a new tank/sump, consider having a roller mat system. Else design the space for future upgrades. Its a worth while investment for convenience.
• Small foot print & suitable for compact sumps. I'd rather keep the space for a refugium or larger skimmer

 

Another worthwhile equipment is the Apex Neptune. Also adds a lot of convenience to automate stuff & trigger you if things go wrong.

 

[SubzeroLT]

13 hours ago, Jeebusai said:

Amazing shots as usual. I like your creativity for the tube worm! Rofl. 

Somehow they seem less disgusting with the feather. In fact, we pay good money for a worm.

 

20 hours ago, loong mun seng said:

Nice tank
 

Thanks

 

8 hours ago, JMW said:

Very nice DIY Leon, the Duncan’s stand is virtually invisible!

Thanks.

 

 

[SubzeroLT]

Made a change to the water flow into the sump.

Instead of 100% flow going through the Clarisea, I bypassed about 20% away to flow through the XL sized biopellets. 

 

The Clarisea is performing well with the slightly lower flow (2x Vectra M1 with 20% bypass). Below is the media usage in one week (compare it with a new roll). At this rate, the fleece will probably last about 2-3 months

 

Close up of 1 week usage.

 

 

Water parameters today (water change was done last weekend) :

• KH : 8.5
• Magnesium : 1410
• Calcium : 400
• PO4 : Not measured
• Potassium : 370 (need to top up)
• NO3 : 2-5ppm 

 

Added a pair of shrimp gobies. 

 

Attempted to 'guide' them to a particular area with a pipe. But as expected, they disappeared from sight soon after.  

[nemonary571]

Super beautiful tank. 

[SubzeroLT]

5 minutes ago, nemonary571 said:

Super beautiful tank. 

Thanks

 

[SubzeroLT]

Random snaps of whatever could be captured with iphone (no filter) and blue light

 

Hosting this for a friend. 

 

Turquoise Birdsnest (L) & Radioactive Birdsnest (R)

 

More Radioactive Birdsnest

 

There should be 3 clowns hidden in there

 

 

[SubzeroLT]

Maintenance weekend.

1) Changed Clarisea roller fleece. The last roll lasted 6wks

2) Replaced Rowaphos (every 2 months routine). This small amount has been running in a BRS reactor for 2 months. 

Did a quick measurement. 21ppb phosphorous = 0.06ppm phosphate. 

Still quite OK numbers but its time to change the rowa anyway.

 

At this rate, this tub of rowa can last quite long. Don't let it dry out as it'll be damaged & render the absorption capacity useless. One thing I do is to place a small tub of wet sponge in the tub to humidify  the container.

 

3) Topped up the kalk reactor (every 2 months routine)

 

4) Send water for ICP testing

 

[SubzeroLT]

Several reefers asked me via whatsapp to share more about the Clarisea fleece usage.  One key concern folks have is how fast its consumed which ultimately affects running cost. 

Some reefers say the fleece last 3wks to a month. That's possibly because they push too much water through the unit, causing water to rise prematurely & roll to advance too fast. I had this issue initially but realized its not necessary to do this especially if you have a high flow rate system (I'm running 2x Vectra M1). I opened up the  bypass valve on the Clarisea to let more water pass through. Now the fleece is consumed less quickly & looks 'darker' in color => fleece is fully saturated & not advanced prematurely.

Currently NO3 is running around 2ppm which is right where I'd like it to be. Opening up the bypass has absolutely no effect to worsen water quality. 

Pic below shows 1 week usage.

 

Added a small Achilles Tang recently. 

Its clear that ATs must be quarantined to ensure survival. It took a week in a 'quiet' isolated tank for it to eat comfortably. Dumping it into the display tank on day 1 & be stressed by other fishes will very likely end up with stress & ich.

I added display tank water & bio media into the QT early on.

As there were other large tangs in the display tank, the introduction process had to be threaded carefully. Once the AT is deemed resilient enough, I added the most aggressive yellow tang (and 2x larger) into the QT to stress it out & for them to make peace. If they were to get hurt or ich appears, at least its still in the QT.

Fingers crossed it survives. A short clip of the journey

 

 

 

[SubzeroLT]

This is the MP10 wavemaker profile for the QT.

The AT seems to do better with strong flow since. Then slow speed at night to allow it to rest.

[Jeebusai]

Good advice on the method of introducing the AT or any new dishes. My yellow tang killed 3 fishes directly or indirectly due to its aggressiveness. I’m thinking of the Clarisea but it seems abit too big for new Red Sea sumps according to the dimensions on the web. Sigh

[SubzeroLT]

54 minutes ago, Jeebusai said:

Good advice on the method of introducing the AT or any new dishes. My yellow tang killed 3 fishes directly or indirectly due to its aggressiveness. I’m thinking of the Clarisea but it seems abit too big for new Red Sea sumps according to the dimensions on the web. Sigh

Its probably necessary to 'displace' the existing territorial fishes before adding new ones. Just sharing this video in a hope that more reefers have a better shot at keeping ATs alive. Its such a pity to hear so many dying in the initial phase. 

Having said that, its still very uncertain how my AT will do. 

There are 2 models of the Clarisea fleece system. Maybe the smaller one may fit or place it in the skimmer compartment & feed it with a pump. The filter wool section can be used to place bio media. 

[Zoas]

Gorgeous tank, one question.. is the clarisea filter more effective than a protein skimmer in removing DOC?


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[SubzeroLT]

7 minutes ago, Zoas said:

Gorgeous tank, one question.. is the clarisea filter more effective than a protein skimmer in removing DOC?

 

Thanks.

Its really hard to say which is 'more effective'.  Don't think anyone has done a quantitative experiment on this.

 

Roller mat/fleece filters filter very effectively & quickly winds the clogged media out of the water. So that's very strong plus point versus filter wool/sock.

Protein skimmers effectiveness is very subjective. There are many brands/designs with various pump power. Nevertheless, its a very critical equipment for mechanical filtration.

 

[Zoas]

Thanks.
Its really hard to say which is 'more effective'.  Don't think anyone has done a quantitative experiment on this.
 
Roller mat/fleece filters filter very effectively & quickly winds the clogged media out of the water. So that's very strong plus point versus filter wool/sock.
Protein skimmers effectiveness is very subjective. There are many brands/designs with various pump power. Nevertheless, its a very critical equipment for mechanical filtration.
 

I see.. thanks bro for the insights


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[Jeebusai]

Its probably necessary to 'displace' the existing territorial fishes before adding new ones. Just sharing this video in a hope that more reefers have a better shot at keeping ATs alive. Its such a pity to hear so many dying in the initial phase. 
Having said that, its still very uncertain how my AT will do. 
There are 2 models of the Clarisea fleece system. Maybe the smaller one may fit or place it in the skimmer compartment & feed it with a pump. The filter wool section can be used to place bio media. 

Thanks again. Will rethink while I do my rescape.


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[MarCal]

Thanks for sharing the beautiful video. May I ask what method do u use to trap you tangs in main tank?

[SubzeroLT]

23 minutes ago, MarCal said:

Thanks for sharing the beautiful video. May I ask what method do u use to trap you tangs in main tank?

Used a DIY isolation box with a fairly large door. I think the trick is the food for luring fishes into the trap. Best is dried seaweed tied to a rock. Fishes tend to linger around longer in prep to nip on seaweed.

 

[SubzeroLT]

During quarantine, AT was fed with a mix of Ocean Nutrition Formula 1 & 2. 

And always enriched with Selcon to boost the nutritional value.

 

As mentioned on BRS website :

Selcon is a vitamin supplement for marine fish and invertebrates. Use to help maintain a healthy reef system, protect against disease and assist in boosting nutrition for breeding tanks. Combine with freeze-dried or frozen foods or feed to brine shrimp to enhance the nutritional value.

• Contains Omega-3 Fatty Acids, Vitamin C and B12
• Will NOT alter water chemistry

 

More reef pics :

Hate these vermetid snails. Popping up everywhere & killing stuff. This one killed several heads of duncan 

 

The 2 halves of the split sea cucumber started moving (eating & shitting) about 2 weeks ago. Interestingly, they remained in one spot for almost 2 months.

[weizhi10]

Can i check where did u buy the selcon? And how much is it?

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