My Slice of Nature (Part 3)

[SubzeroLT]

Giving the frag rack a good wash.

 

Using just a bit of vinegar in a bag. Least vinegar used. 

 

After 15min and a quick scrub......Clean!!

[ryanlio]

Great tip.

Sent from Singapore Reef Club mobile app

[SubzeroLT]

Trying out this new Glue Onz.  Good strong glue. 

 

This colony grew too big an pressing against the rocks on the sides. Too heavy for the tiny base too.

 

Time to trim. About 3kg

]]

 

Got rid of some of the parts that died off due to total lack of light.

 

All done. Next to settle the monti

 

[SubzeroLT]

Bubble algae on a colony of birdnest. 

 

Broke off the stem & cut out the affected parts

 

Quite a lot discarded

 

Soaked in iodine & re-glued back onto the colony. Hopefully its gone for good.

[SubzeroLT]

Installed the Versa this weekend. 

Well built continuous use peristaltic pump. And highly controllable with the Ecotech Mobius app.

 

 

Comes with attachments to fit soft hoses.

 

Calibration was quite simple. You can actually calibrate to the exact amount you want to dose (even large volumes) which makes it very accurate.

 

In my case, i'm using it for Kalkwasser dosing. So its set to dose 1.5L of Kalk when lights are off (12am - 11am)

 

And 500ml of kalk when lights are on (11am - 12am). 

Versa  in action. Drawing water from ATO -> Kalk Reactor -> Tank. Slow drip at v controlled rate.

 

 

 

 

[SubzeroLT]

Dosing Kalk 24/7. Different rates along the day

 

[SubzeroLT]

Pics taken during day time today. Some pieces coloring up better with the Hydra64 in place.

 

 

Orange Pavona from Seasonal Aquarium 2yrs back

 

Leptastrea frag from a fellow reefer

 

Below Walt Disney was from Reefing Reality. Thanks Jonathan for helping pick a nice piece. 

 

Frag from Lorenzo

 

Croc Island Scoly. Sprouting a 4th head behind.

 

Blastomussa merletti from Ah Beng

 

Candy Cane from Ah Beng (2014)

 

[Harlequinmania]

I think the best part of the versa dosing pump is that it can be programmed to run at certain speed , dosing rate at different tike of the day. Just got hold of mine today as well..

Sent from Singapore Reef Club mobile app

[SubzeroLT]

On 3/3/2020 at 10:45 PM, he said:

I think the best part of the versa dosing pump is that it can be programmed to run at certain speed , dosing rate at different tike of the day. Just got hold of mine today as well..

Sent from Singapore Reef Club mobile app
 

Look forward to an update on your setup

 

 

[SubzeroLT]

The next 2 posts is all about cleaning up.

Cleaned the skimmer last night. Last wash was probably 1 year or maybe even 2 years ago.

Skimmer body :

 

An old credit card, filter wool + dishwashing liquid works well.

 

For the features here, I used a small bit of filter wool + 3D plastic filament to push it through. A toothpick or paper clip will work just as well.

 

 

 

Titanium screws in good condition. No rust (as expected)

 

Done

 

Up & running in less than an hour.

 

The next morning.

 

 

 

[SubzeroLT]

Cleaned the pump a couple of days earlier.

 

1 year of dirt

 

Stuff a piece of filter wool to wash the insides without the need to disassemble the clips.

 

No rust on screws (as expected)

3

 

Just a general clean up of simple scrubbing & inspection. I don't soak pump parts in vinegar to minimize risk of acid damage.

 

Proceeded to calibrate the pump. I attached a long flexible hose to the outlet pipe to monitor the water flow.

Now all the pumps go into proper flow rates when feed mode is triggered -> no siphon effect for food to flow into the sump. 

[SubzeroLT]

A random pic taken with my mobile phone during the past week - Starry Blenny

 

My regular dosing regime : Nyos Active Elements, Strontium, Iodine (2-3 times a week). And Nyos Bio Booster (daily)

 

Time to empty the skimmate pail (connected to skimmer). This is about 3 weeks of stuff

 

 

 

[SubzeroLT]

Salt water prep process before water change :

 

 

 

[SubzeroLT]

Some pics from today

Octo

 

Another octo

 

Fiji pipe organ

 

Encrusting Bali Slimer

 

SSC

 

SSC in whiter light

 

Pink stylo

 

Valida

 

Spotted mandarin getting fat

 

Max-mini anemone. Not so mini actually (about palm size)

[SubzeroLT]

Full tank shot

 

Side view

 

Side view before lights on

[nornicle1]

Hi  this is a very impressive tank especially when you consider the limitations of homes in singapore. I feel bad now hemming and hawing over whether to go 5’ or 4.5’. If you went custom would you suggest i go 60cm, 70cm or 75cm wide, 61cm deep of course. 

Im keen to ask you about how you started this tank, as you seemed to do it very rapidly with quite a few colonies going in at about week three? did you suffer any brown outs or die offs, and were they all store bought or from an earlier tank? 

What advice would you have for others starting out now? Have you only used revive coral dip and avoided most coral pests?

[SubzeroLT]

15 hours ago, nornicle1 said:

Hi this is a very impressive tank especially when you consider the limitations of homes in singapore. I feel bad now hemming and hawing over whether to go 5’ or 4.5’. If you went custom would you suggest i go 60cm, 70cm or 75cm wide, 61cm deep of course. 

Im keen to ask you about how you started this tank, as you seemed to do it very rapidly with quite a few colonies going in at about week three? did you suffer any brown outs or die offs, and were they all store bought or from an earlier tank? 

Bigger is always better. In particular, width is important. 2.5' enables a much better rock scape than 2'. So i'd suggest 75cm

For depth, 61cm is about right. Deeper tanks are nice but it makes maintenance harder. Its important to be able to reach the back of your tank to retrieve things easily.

 

I had a 3ft tank running when i upgraded to this 5ft tank. And just simply transferred over (refer to my earlier threads "My Slice of Nature" & "My Slice of Nature Part 2). 

No major issues during the transfer as they were added slowly. Some corals did bleach a little. Possibly because the new tank has much cleaner water (low nitrate/phosphate) and high power lights. That was easily resolved by lowering the light intensity temporarily.

 

15 hours ago, nornicle1 said:

What advice would you have for others starting out now? Have you only used revive coral dip and avoided most coral pests?

Key advise

1) Join a good forum (like this one) or chat group. Read up. Make educated decisions.

2) Use good reliable equipment. Don't get cheap products & keep wasting money upgrading. 

3) For livestock, choose compatible fish/coral. Add fish in the correct order. 

4) For corals, MUST use coral dips. Many brands out there. TLF Revive is good. CoralRX is another popular brand. You can make DIY blends of coral dips but suggest to stick with store bought ones for a start. Its not expensive.

Coral dips can kill pests that are exposed to the dip for sufficient period of time. Hence eggs or worms/crabs hiding in crevices may still survive. You can reduce the risk by cutting away the original rock or to quarantine the coral in a separate tank. 

 

 

[SubzeroLT]

I'm using a Skimz CM152 calcium reactor. An affordable & reliable model. #supportlocal 

There are many methods to tune the CR. My process parameters are : 

• pH ~ 6.52 
• CO2 timing : 24hrs
• Effluent flow rate : 140cc/min
• Bubble count tuned to meet the above
• Media : Grotech Rowalith + ~30% Grotech Magnesium Pro
• Target parameters : Ca: 400, Mg : 1400, KH : 8.3

As with most CR media brands (Grotech Rowalith, Caribsea ARM, TLF Reborn), it provides mostly Ca, KH only.

In order to supplement magnesium, one should add some Magnesium media. Popular brands are Grotech Magnesium Pro & TLF ReMag. Suggest to start with 10% Mg media first. If its not able to maintain Mg levels with respect to Ca, KH, then just add more Mg media. For my system, the sweet spot is around 20-30% Mg media.

 

Here is a quick video on prepping for the top up :

 

 

[SubzeroLT]

Some recent shots :

 

Porcelain crab on a rock flower anemone

 

Superman blasto

 

Forest fire digi

 

Got this from Larry about 3.5yrs back

 

Think the hammer corals got used to the crazy high flow just inches away from the wavemaker.

 

 

 

[nornicle1]

Beautiful and really great creation of your own tools... 

What clean up crew or snails do you recommend to others? Would you consider a sand bed a positive thing or negative thing for you?

[SubzeroLT]

On 4/24/2020 at 8:28 PM, nornicle1 said:

Beautiful and really great creation of your own tools... 

What clean up crew or snails do you recommend to others? Would you consider a sand bed a positive thing or negative thing for you?

Thanks.

For clean up crew that do work, a couple of snail will be useful (eg. astreas, trochus and possibly cowries). Cleaner shrimps can get to tight places. Red tip hermit crabs are safe to have in a mixed reef. Abalones are fast movers & great for the glass.

 

I would avoid nesaurus snails as I've seen mine penetrate LPS to get to prawn meat (badly damaging the LPS in the process). Same goes with larger hermit crabs (eg blue leg hermit crabs). I also avoid sand sifting star fish as they are known to eat a ton of pods (which i'd rather the mandarin dragonets eat).

 

Sand bed? Personally i would always have sand bed for a display tank. Looks more natural. Using aragonite sand also helps with tank stability (also mentioned on BRSTV). 

 

[SubzeroLT]

Its frustrating when you need to take a coral out to cut.

The stag got stung by another coral & the flesh started to recede (and spread). Had to take the frag out to trim.

 

Re-doing the kalk stirrer since i'm now able to print a nicer housing. The total print time of top & bottom is about 32 hours

Will share more once its done.

 

This is the kalk stirrer made in 2016.

 

 

 

 

 

[SubzeroLT]

Since installing the Ecotech Versa peristaltic pump last month, it was possible to better control the dosing rate & time to dose. And hence gave me the motivation to improve the kalk stirrer.

Decided to re-do the stirrer box with better water proofing & cable management. The drawing here shows the feature to hold the speed controller PCB in place.

 

 

 

Using a good quality PC fan (uses ball bearings). A PWM speed controller. And a couple of magnets.

 

The top & bottom halves were printed with ABS material. Total time about 32 hours (top & bottom) halves.

 

 

View of the kalk set up.

Programmed to dose 2L from 12am to 12pm. And 200cc from 12pm to 12am. In this way, the bulk of the kalk is added during night time where pH is lowest.

[SubzeroLT]

Background :

The Apex temperature probe is placed in the same compartment as the compressor coil (as a double check for the compressor temperature controller). This is in the return pump section of the sump where the water level may fluctuate a little. And when the return pumps are off, the water level in the sump rises quite a lot.

 

Issue statement :

The issue is its hard to find a sweet spot location (vertically). When the pumps are off, water level rises above the probe which risks having water seep in. Over time, the seal will be compromised and may short out the temp probe. 

 

One mini project was to float the temperature probe instead. Able to float in a secure location at various water height levels. Maybe this just complicates things. May drop the idea. Testing in progress.

 

Some pics :

Float device printed in ABS. Foam in place to ensure buoyancy.

 

Articulating arm

 

Testing in progress

[Darren Sim]

Very Creative. I seen inappropriate reefer did a video concerning about this probe issue but is there any case study to prove this is true? Because I using a suction cup to hold my probe and when water change the water level will rise to the top of my probe.


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