Jimbo327’s Faux Baller Reef

[Jimbo327]

love how the OGs are just growing everywhere.

how's the acan you won at the last OC Coral Show?

Some of the OG’s detached from the wall and floated off. I need to add more, but the flow may be too much.

That acan from the raffle….well….that one is still alive but not growing. I don’t know if it is in the right spot. Let me take a photo later when blue light. It looks even worse in white light, LOL.

 

[Jimbo327]

Here you go. It hasn’t done much. It is a small type of acan.

 

[Jimbo327]

I was restarting my ozone when I saw the tuxedo urchin spawning. I guess it is a male. Only got one, so won’t be getting any babies. Still pretty cool to watch.

 

[Smite]

What ozone are you running jimbo and how to do you have it set up?

 

[Jimbo327]

The simple explanation is that I'm using a Poseidon 200 Ozone unit that is connected to my RO skimmer.

The more detailed explanation is: To feed the ozone with air, I'm using an air pump to push air through a desiccant box (before going into the ozone). I have a fresh air hose feeding my skimmer, and I tee off of this air hose with the ozone hose.

Currently, I'm only running the ozone for 30 minutes per night (at 2am), and just to polish the water at this point (remove yellow and any smell). Not trying to chase Orp. I think my Poseidon is only set at 5 setting.

 

[Smite]

Thanks Jimbo. I ran one for a short while and am considering setting it back up. I didn't run an air dryer, so I was curious if you were using one.

 

[Jimbo327]

Yes, just a desiccant box, not a heated air dryer that automatically recharges. So that's why I took mine down, I got tired of changing and recharging the desiccants manually.

 

[Jimbo327]

Finally getting around to test the water again with the Hanna kits.

Nitrate @ 6ppm
Phopshates @ 0.27ppm

Phosphates is a bit higher than I want. Lowering it very slowly with some diluted LC. Plan is to get it down below 0.20ppm.

I think some of my corals have actually lost color...so I'm going to try to get my tank back to normal. And hope the color returns. For instance, my JF Homewrecker SPS has lost the pink corallites, etc. I may also need to send in an ICP to see what I'm missing. The good news is that my SPS has stopped STN/RTN, and I can see some recovery on certain frags.

 

[drexel]

I think if you can get them to 0.18-0.15 you’ll see a positive change with N at that level. I’ve just been dosing TM A and K, along with extra iodide, manganese and cobalt. I’ve also been adding reef roids every couple days and have noticed a positive result. I’m also dosing live phyto daily (twice a day, as I split the dose in half). But I think with just you paying attention to your tank will make a difference.

 

[Jimbo327]

I did adjust my DIY A+K trace mix recently...but have not done another ICP to know if it is working. I'm usually low on iodide, zinc, iron, manganese, fluoride and a few other minor traces.

I feed my tank pretty heavy with all kinds of food (Brightwell, Reef Roids, Oyster Feast, TDO Pellets, and 2-3 frozen cubes of mysis, worms, etc.) I think that is why my phosphates are high.

All of my fish are fat and happy. LOL. My naso is like 1inch thick. He rockets across the tank when the frozen cubes are thawed.

 

[drexel]

I did adjust my DIY A+K trace mix recently...but have not done another ICP to know if it is working. I'm usually low on iodide, zinc, iron, manganese, fluoride and a few other minor traces.

I feed my tank pretty heavy with all kinds of food (Brightwell, Reef Roids, Oyster Feast, TDO Pellets, and 2-3 frozen cubes of mysis, worms, etc.) I think that is why my phosphates are high.

I feed live phyto every day and feed reef roids every 2-3 days. Whole tank feedings happen in the morning, but I hand feed the fish for the most part, with the auto feeder feeding twice a day. Smaller meals throughout the day is good.

 

[Jimbo327]

I think if you can get them to 0.18-0.15 you’ll see a positive change with N at that level. I’ve just been dosing TM A and K, along with extra iodide, manganese and cobalt. I’ve also been adding reef roids every couple days and have noticed a positive result. I’m also dosing live phyto daily (twice a day, as I split the dose in half). But I think with just you paying attention to your tank will make a difference.

That's what I'm thinking, 0.15ppm phosphate target would be ideal.

But in the past, when I drop my phosphates actively...my tank usually react negatively and stunt growth on all corals. I'm trying to avoid that, I got a SPS growout contest to compete in! LOL. My plan is to drop it very slowly over months, so the corals can adapt easier. My Trident has stopped working, not sure exactly what is wrong, so need to disconnect and open it up to fix it. I don't know what my alk/calc/mag is. I haven't made any adjustments to my dosing 2 part amount, so I figure it should be close. Will use my test kits to figure that out later tonight when I get home from work.

With my 3D printer setup, I may print out a mini Trident housing since I'm going to open it up anyways.

 

[Deleted member 20245]

Whatever you're doing, keep it up! Tank is growing so I wouldn't make drastic changes. Surprisingly, my Trident is close to Hanna. I've only tested Alk, NO3, and PO4 -- I honestly don't know what's my Ca & Mg level is at nor I care.

Mini-trident is cool. It's so much easier to replace reagents!

 

[Jimbo327]

Carpooled with @joeoliver and @mescobar to the SCRM Inland Empire Tank Tour yesterday (Saturday), and I picked up an ultra RFA at Ocean Aquatics in Redlands. And saw some crazy and massive tank setups on the tour (450g was the smallest tank and going up to 1200g). Impressive would be an understatement when you are standing next to these monster tanks.

Today (Sunday), I went to the OC Coral Show in Placentia, and it's always a good time. Got 4 raffle tickets for $20, and 3 tickets got prizes Woohoo! (coral show merch shirt, frag rack, and Eshopps coral viewer)...pretty lucky. And the coral viewer is my favorite because now I can take better top down photos. Look out POTM! I was going to DIY one, but now I got a legit one.

And I did not intend to buy any corals at the show, just wanted to pick up a harlequin shrimp from Reef Factory US and drop off some corals. But it's always cool to walk the show, and see something special. The most unique thing I saw at this show was something I've never seen before. I forgot the species, but it's not your typical anemone and super aggressive sting. I took a photo. No I didn’t buy it. I asked if a clown can host in it, and vendor said probably not.

I did end up buying several unique looking corals (torch and SPS) from a vendor I've not seen at the show before (Chunningham's Reef)...yup, they got me. It's like a kid going through a candy shop. I'll have to dip them and get some photos later.

 

[Jimbo327]

Dipping with Melafix and potassium chloride for 15-20 minutes to kill most pests. Second dip with 50% peroxide on the plug only to kill macroalgae. Always dip!

Acclimating the harlequin shrimp. I’m going to enjoy watching him eat asterina stars.

Here are the corals I got this weekend on really good deals.

 

[Deleted member 20245]

Nice score! Looks like you had a great weekend.

 

[drexel]

Nice! Seems like a pretty good weekend all around.

 

[Jimbo327]

Weekend was great.

I think the asterina stars can sense the harlequin shrimp. I swear there is a lot more stars on the glass this morning.

We named him Davidson.

 

[Jimbo327]

check out this aptasia loveshack, even used the solo cup to prop open the lid.View attachment 130938

Quick update on this crazy experiment to grow aiptasia in a cooler. Well, it failed miserably. LOL. All of the aiptasia melted into goo. I did use tap water and very weak led lighting, which probably contributed to their deaths.

Back in the days, Leroy Headlee (founder of GARF) built an aiptasia chamber on his setup to lower nutrients. It's fun to try new things and see how it works. I think I want to try it again in a different setup, and use a better light for photosynthesis.

So I'm looking for a waterproof refugium light for the next attempt at this...I'm thinking something like the Neptune GRO or Tunze refugium light. Anyone got an used one they want are not using or know someone who does? Hit me up. I'm leaning towards a Tunze because it's a Tunze, completely waterproof and uses less power. Just don't know if aiptasia grow with only blue light?

 

[drexel]

Quick update on this crazy experiment to grow aiptasia in a cooler. Well, it failed miserably. LOL. All of the aiptasia melted into goo. I did use tap water and very weak led lighting, which probably contributed to their deaths.

Back in the days, Leroy Headlee (founder of GARF) built an aiptasia chamber on his setup to lower nutrients. It's fun to try new things and see how it works. I think I want to try it again in a different setup, and use a better light for photosynthesis.

So I'm looking for a waterproof refugium light for the next attempt at this...I'm thinking something like the Neptune GRO or Tunze refugium light. Anyone got an used one they want are not using or know someone who does? Hit me up. I'm leaning towards a Tunze because it's a Tunze, completely waterproof and uses less power. Just don't know if aiptasia grow with only blue light?

Go for the Tunze. Aiptasia don’t care about the spectrum, if you have light and feed them, they will grow.