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brent

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Everything posted by brent

  1. All fish are stable, healthy, and have been with me for 4 - 10 months Yellow Hogfish -- Nice looking and very healthy but I have two of them and together they can be a bit aggressive towards new additions Here is a photo of the little brother since big brother is already in the sump and ready to be picked up. Sailfin Tang --- About 3". Absolutely lovely personality. Eats anything. Will eat out of your hand. It's still relatively small but make sure you have enough space for it grow. This should give you an idea of it's size. Longnose Hawkfish --- My porcelain crab, acro crabs, and cleaner shrimp are still alive. So, it appears that it is invertebrate safe. Algae Blenny ----- Make me an offer for all. Finding a good home for them is more important than getting the best price. Minimum 3 foot tank Also willing to consider a fair trade for SPS / zoas Trading in the East near Haig Road
  2. Clownfish have preferences for certain anemones. Sometimes they will still bond with anemones that are not their preferred anemone but the chances are much less. Unfortunately, the most popular anemones seem to pair up with the most aggressive clownfish. And the most popular clownfish seem to pair up with the most difficult & aggressive anemones. For example, BTA (bubble tip anemone) pairs best with a maroon clown. Unfortunately, maroon clowns can be quite aggressive. This should give a decent idea of the pairings: http://saltaquarium.about.com/od/anemoneclownfishprofiles/tp/tpclownanemonematches.htm
  3. Here are some more updates regarding my build out: Temperature Control I’m using the same 1/5hp Artica that I bought for my last tank. I know, I know. I should have listened to the helpful advice from others and upsized to a 1/4hp in the beginning. While I initially thought it would be underpowered, it seems to be doing fine. I have a 1/10hp Artica for my reserve chiller that woefully underpowered. CRA constructed an external chiller box that matches my cabinet. For now I have the reserve chiller in there, but it would make more sense to put my primary in the external chiller box and my reserve in the main cabinet so that heat from my primary chiller doesn’t output into the cabinet and heat the water in the sump. My plan is to configure the Apex to automatically turn on the reserve chiller if the tank temperature goes above 28.5C since I normally set the main chiller to 26.3C. At my request, the CRA guys installed two 120mm computer fans in rear of the cabinet to help with air flow. There are also ventilation slots in the front of the cabinet on the side where the chiller in positioned. In order to help save some energy, I bought a cooling fan that blows air across my sump to help cool it off. It seems like after I installed the fan the chiller doesn’t turn on as often. I definitely noticed a difference in the amount of freshwater evaporation. When running this fan, my 4G ATO reservoir needs to be topped up twice a week instead of once every two weeks. While I like the idea of the fan, it runs at 220V and to be honest I’m not so comfortable running 220V AC in my cabinet over water. So, for now I have removed this fan and I will replace it with DC fans running 12V. Most likely I will use the same model of 120mm 12V computer fans that I currently use to ventilate my cabinet. I would also like to set up a float valve so that the fans only run if the ATO reservoir is at least half full. Filtration Skimmer - I’m still running the Reef Octopus SRO 1000 LSS that I bought for my previous tank. I added an automatic neck cleaner which is in on a timer to run 10 minutes 3X per day. While I like the neck cleaner, it takes a lot more space and so I have to remove the egg crate box I was using to elevate the skimmer. This has resulted in the skimmer being positioned towards the lower end of the recommended range. I just built a shorter egg crate box to see if I can at least hit the middle of the range. (My very crowded cabinet with the skimmer & neck cleaner) I would also like to install a drain tube and container for the skimmer output. I’ve been waiting to get the float valves hooked up to the Apex since I would want it to automatically stop the skimmer if it starts overflowing. I was thinking of installing two valves: 1. The 1st float valve would be about half way up the waste container and it would send an email to me so I know that it is time to empty the container. The 2nd float valve would automatically shut off the skimmer to prevent the overflowing the container. Filter wool - I occasionally use filter wool for a couple of days before it gets clogged up and starts slowing the flow between the chambers of the sump. In retrospect, I would have installed a filter sock on the main overflow since there is so much redundancy with the Bean overflow. Biopellets - I have been running NP Biopellets with a biopellet reactor. Seems to work fine and so far I like having to not worry about tweaking my vinegar dosing. I just bought some Reef Octopus Biospheres and I will give them a try next. In order to enhance their effectiveness, I also occasionally dose MB7. My nitrates never seem to go past 1 PPM and in most cases they are completely undetectable. This is the same as when I dosed vinegar and vodka. GFO - My standard setup includes Rowaphos since it’s the only way I can manage to keep my phosphates under control without daily water changes or starving my fish. Before I started running Rowaphos, it was very difficult for me to get decent SPS growth or coloration. Personally I think it is the most underutilized technique when beginners transition to SPS. The Rowaphos is run in a Phosban reactor and replace it when my phosphates start creeping up. To test phosphates, I use the Hanna UL checker. None of the other test kits seemed to go low enough. I try to keep my phosphates below .03 PPM or 30 PPB. Ideally they are between 10 and 20 PPB. Fuge I used chaeto in my sump on my last tank and it seemed to grow quite well. Unfortunately, it died when I was switching tanks. I recently managed to get some replacement chaeto plus green grapes. Hopefully, they will also thrive. Live Rock According to most guidelines, I am supposed to be using somewhere between 65 to 130 KG of live rock in my 150G tank & sump. There is no way I have anywhere close to this much live rock. I would guess that I use approximately 35 kgs. For this tank, I tried out using Sea Chem Matrix (the biomedia. Not the carbon) since I don’t have enough live rock. It seems to be working since I never really saw a significant nutrient spike as part of the tank cycle.
  4. Here are some more updates regarding my build out: Temperature Control I’m using the same 1/5hp Artica that I bought for my last tank. I know, I know. I should have listened to the helpful advice from others and upsized to a 1/4hp in the beginning. While I initially thought it would be underpowered, it seems to be doing fine. I have a 1/10hp Artica for my reserve chiller that woefully underpowered. CRA constructed an external chiller box that matches my cabinet. For now I have the reserve chiller in there, but it would make more sense to put my primary in the external chiller box and my reserve in the main cabinet so that heat from my primary chiller doesn’t output into the cabinet and heat the water in the sump. My plan is to configure the Apex to automatically turn on the reserve chiller if the tank temperature goes above 28.5C since I normally set the main chiller to 26.3C. At my request, the CRA guys installed two 120mm computer fans in rear of the cabinet to help with air flow. There are also ventilation slots in the front of the cabinet on the side where the chiller in positioned. In order to help save some energy, I bought a cooling fan that blows air across my sump to help cool it off. It seems like after I installed the fan the chiller doesn’t turn on as often. I definitely noticed a difference in the amount of freshwater evaporation. When running this fan, my 4G ATO reservoir needs to be topped up twice a week instead of once every two weeks. While I like the idea of the fan, it runs at 220V and to be honest I’m not so comfortable running 220V AC in my cabinet over water. So, for now I have removed this fan and I will replace it with DC fans running 12V. Most likely I will use the same model of 120mm 12V computer fans that I currently use to ventilate my cabinet. I would also like to set up a float valve so that the fans only run if the ATO reservoir is at least half full. Filtration Skimmer - I’m still running the Reef Octopus SRO 1000 LSS that I bought for my previous tank. I added an automatic neck cleaner which is in on a timer to run 10 minutes 3X per day. While I like the neck cleaner, it takes a lot more space and so I have to remove the egg crate box I was using to elevate the skimmer. This has resulted in the skimmer being positioned towards the lower end of the recommended range. I just built a shorter egg crate box to see if I can at least hit the middle of the range. (My very crowded cabinet with the skimmer & neck cleaner) I would also like to install a drain tube and container for the skimmer output. I’ve been waiting to get the float valves hooked up to the Apex since I would want it to automatically stop the skimmer if it starts overflowing. I was thinking of installing two valves: 1. The 1st float valve would be about half way up the waste container and it would send an email to me so I know that it is time to empty the container. The 2nd float valve would automatically shut off the skimmer to prevent the overflowing the container. Filter wool - I occasionally use filter wool for a couple of days before it gets clogged up and starts slowing the flow between the chambers of the sump. In retrospect, I would have installed a filter sock on the main overflow since there is so much redundancy with the Bean overflow. Biopellets - I have been running NP Biopellets with a biopellet reactor. Seems to work fine and so far I like having to not worry about tweaking my vinegar dosing. I just bought some Reef Octopus Biospheres and I will give them a try next. In order to enhance their effectiveness, I also occasionally dose MB7. My nitrates never seem to go past 1 PPM and in most cases they are completely undetectable. This is the same as when I dosed vinegar and vodka. GFO - My standard setup includes Rowaphos since it’s the only way I can manage to keep my phosphates under control without daily water changes or starving my fish. Before I started running Rowaphos, it was very difficult for me to get decent SPS growth or coloration. Personally I think it is the most underutilized technique when beginners transition to SPS. The Rowaphos is run in a Phosban reactor and replace it when my phosphates start creeping up. To test phosphates, I use the Hanna UL checker. None of the other test kits seemed to go low enough. I try to keep my phosphates below .03 PPM or 30 PPB. Ideally they are between 10 and 20 PPB. Fuge I used chaeto in my sump on my last tank and it seemed to grow quite well. Unfortunately, it died when I was switching tanks. I recently managed to get some replacement chaeto plus green grapes. Hopefully, they will also thrive. Live Rock According to most guidelines, I am supposed to be using somewhere between 65 to 130 KG of live rock in my 150G tank & sump. There is no way I have anywhere close to this much live rock. I would guess that I use approximately 35 kgs. For this tank, I tried out using Sea Chem Matrix (the biomedia. Not the carbon) since I don’t have enough live rock. It seems to be working since I never really saw a significant nutrient spike as part of the tank cycle.
  5. Thanks guys! I appreciate the feedback. For a while, I was wondering if I was talking to myself Although I'm just a beginner, I'll try to put together a post with my maintenance and philosophy. Since I tend to be a bit verbose, it might be a few days. Here are some more photos: New frags from last weekend Old Frags / Small Colonies After remaining stagnant for more than 6 months, the fiber optic is finally starting to glow. The last one is a rainbow stylo that I'm hoping to color up since it darkened quite a bit.
  6. $210 firm. No additional offline discounts. In the interests of fairness, cheapest price will always be posted online
  7. Some more photos. Tricolour valida was from Iwarna. Others are a couple of new frags from Dr Ang.
  8. Hi All. $215 firm. No additional offline discounts. In the interests of fairness, cheapest price will always be posted online. Thanks for looking
  9. Hi All. $80 firm. No additional offline discounts. In the interests of fairness, cheapest price will always be posted online.
  10. Thanks bro. Hopefully, by sharing others can avoid some of the mistakes that I have made and vice versa.
  11. My corals are starting to color up again PE has also significantly improved in the new tank. Here are a couple of current photos. A majority grew from frags that I got from Cedric around Xmas time. The 2nd one is a Walt Smith colony I bought from Iwarna a few months ago. This weekend I picked up some more frags and so stay tuned for updates.
  12. Did anyone check out the Pinnacle shipment? Did it include any SPS? Thanks!
  13. Yes, I provided CRA my recommendations as well as photos from the bean animal site and the glassreef.com site, which uses a similar pipe & overflow configuration as I wanted. I also sourced the bulkheads and some of the valves myself. CRA already had experience making a Herbie overflow on my previous tank and so they understood how everything should work. The main issue I had with the Herbie overflow on my shallow tank was that the overflow pipe went too deep into the sump. Originally it was over 6 inches under water and this made it extremely difficult to get the siphon started. When I designed the 125G tank, I came across some threads where people were having similar problems getting a siphon started. The solution in most cases was to shorten the overflow pipes going into the sump so that they were only barely under the water. So I shortened the overflow pipes on the Herbie so that they only went 1" below the normal water line. This drastically reduced the amount of time required to get the siphon started. Also, if you are planning to use bulkheads, make sure the tank maker leaves plenty of space between the holes. Since almost no one uses bulkheads in Singapore, they are not accustomed with the large holes required. If you are going to use bulkheads, I suggest you go for the threaded versions since the slip type do not seem to match the pipe sizes used in Singapore. Lastly, I don't think I was prepared for how big a 1.5" gate valve would be. I'm sure it's overkill and in retrospect I probably didn't need so much overflow capacity.
  14. Thanks all for the support. I'm really happy with the C2C bean overflow. I understand from the perspective of the tankmaker it can be difficult and time consuming to build something new. One thing I really like about CRA is that every time I proposed something different or complicated, they embraced it as a challenge. On a side note, the overflow comb isn't glued to the tank. It actually fits into a slot. This is ideal for maintenance or replacement. I also requested this arrangement because I've heard that using a flat combless overflow provides much better surface skimming than using the comb. This gives me the flexibility for swapping out the comb for a piece of flat acrylic. It also allows me to adjust the height of the water level by 1-2 inches. I haven't tried this yet since I still need to devise a solution to ensure my fish don't end up in taking a ride down into the sump and end up as skimmer chop Thanks bro. I'm liking the two island look but the small island needs a bit of tweaking. I would like some additional color on the small island that helps balance the large island. It also needs some additional depth. So far I'm satisfied with it but aquascaping is a never ending process.
  15. My first FTS: It's definitely not finished but it's getting there. I also need to work on my photography technique...
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