Spark's 50g SPS Dominated Cube

innerspark

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Picked up a couple new frags today and started the process of eliminating the blue xenia explosion i n my tank. Here are a few photos.

Steve Garret Strawberry Shortcake. Little pissed off after its weekend and the dip I put it through. Will see how it does over the next few days.


Was told this is a RR Pink Smootie. Also will see how it does.


Before first phase of Xenia removal


After


Sorry for the crappy iPhone pics. Don't feel like busting out the camera right now. Been a long day.
 

innerspark

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So I had an issue with the tank about a little over a week ago. I came out into my living room where the tank is at and noticed my water super high up on the glass. Like 1/4 in or closer to the top. Turned everything and ended up pulling the standpipe out and cleaning it. Never did figure out why it was not draining correctly but I obviously flushed it out and just in case I fully opened the valve going into the sump (used to quiet it down just a little). Today I came home with a rattle noise in my Vectra M1. Yes, I know I need a cover to keep debris out, New one is on the way as of this am.

I opened up the pump and found one of those little clear upper cabinet door stoppers my wife likes to put around the house for some things. I don't know how it got into the tank but it was lodged into the impeller. I am sure this was the calibrate to the drain and I know for a fact it was for the pump. All I have to say is, if your plumbing your return pump externally, make sure it's super easy to remove without a big spill. The second time I have opened this pump up for a cleaning and if I did not plumb it like I have my floors would be destroyed.
 

innerspark

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Tank update. Everything's has been doing fine in the tank minus one of my MP40's started flashing Red/Green. Finally had a little bit of time tonight to research it and pull the wet sides out for a cleaning. During my cleaning I found one of the wet sides was hard to spin. I took off the grate and opened the cover on the back to take a look at what was going on and it was covered in rust. I'll be calling ecotech tomorrow it looks like.
 

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Just got an email back from Ecotech. They are shipping a replacement wet side. Got to love companies in this hobby that stand behind their products like that. Reason why I buy from them.
 

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What a busy day. I finally took my LED's down and rebuilt them. For some reason I've been without my UV's for the last year and then my royal blues went out about 3-4 months ago. So I gutted the heatsink and started fresh as the have been running for a few years now. Here is a few photos of the build when I was working on it. I have it up on the tank now but I'll have to take it back down tomorrow to figure out why my cool blue strain is not coming on.

Heatsink Scrapped clean


New LED's in place.
 

innerspark

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All LED's are now functioning. Found a few bad solder points and fixed them. Also mounted the lens on to the new LED's. love this setup and it's why I just bought brand new LED's to rebuild vs a new fixture.



With half of my LED's out for the last 3 months, I can't wait for the extra happy corals.
 
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innerspark

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FTS with all lights up and running again.


As you can see I get a much better light coverage with all 30 LED's going lol.
 
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innerspark

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Did some coral photography during my week off. Here are 3 of my favorite so far. All post more as I shoot more or clean up more photos.
 

innerspark

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Ok so here is a 26-day comparison on my Green Slimmer colony. I noticed in Oct that my Green Slimmer was not doing so well and ultimately one of the reasons I discovered my rusted MP40 wet side. It had started to die off on one side of the colony and I could not figure out why. I few things I changed back then was I finally got my Dosing Pump's back online since my move and I was no longer having to manually dose. This alone did not seem to fix the issue as it was still looking like crap even though I was getting growth. The top image on this comparison was taken a few days before I noticed the pump and removed it. Since that photo was taken I have also doubled my feeding now to try and add more nutrients into the system and started adding fish.



The other main thing I have changed in that last few days that does not effect this photo is I started to dose Potassium Nitrate again to raise my NO3 as of 30 min after my second dose this morning (I split my init dose and spread it over 2 days) I was at 0.25ppm NO3 this morning. I am hoping that doing weekly doses will be enough to help keep coral colors nice as well as hopefully get a little better growth.
 

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innerspark

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I've been getting a few people asking me if I dose or have a CalRX. The answer is I dose. Up until October I was dosing BRS's 2 part solution but when I'm going through 75ml a day it's just to expensive to keep buying my solution from them. A CalRX was out of the question once I started research them because of the potential that a CO2 take could leak and fill the room with CO2 and kill my 2 Cockatoos that are in the same room.

So I use the Randy Holmes 2-part recipe. The Calcium I use now I buy in bulk from Lesley's pool supply's and costs me around $1 to mix up 2 gallons and then I am currently using baking soda that I bake in the oven for 30 min to make my alk solution and also only costs me around $1 or less to mix up 2 gallons worth. Since switching I have not had any issues and still getting great growth. I've read a few posts of people using Lesley's soda ash and harder (Calcium) for years without any issues.

Mag I'll still buy from BRS though until I can find a equivalent cheaper solution close to home. It's super nice to just have to walk to the store to make my alk solution or drive to the next city to pick up Calcium as there are hardly any reef stores in the area.
 

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A CalRX was out of the question once I started research them because of the potential that a CO2 tank could leak and fill the room with CO2 and kill my 2 Cockatoos that are in the same room.
That's funny my wife won't let me get anything that has a CO2 tank either due to our nerd birds.
 

innerspark

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That's funny my wife won't let me get anything that has a CO2 tank either due to our nerd birds.
Haha I decided it before telling her. Once I did tell her she said she does not want CO2 in the house at all haha. So much for my Kegerator I want to build.
 

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