ac7av tank build

[ac7av]

Found something really interesting in my tank today that I was not expecting to see. As I was doing my monthly clean up and macro algae clean out I noticed an animal on the glass of the refrugium about 1.5X2 mm in size. I didn’t think much about it it first, I just thought it was a flat warm or something like that since I know I have them in the sump. As I was cleaning out the screens I noticed another one about twice the size in the skimmer tank. Since that tank is not lighted I watched it for a while as I was cleaning and decided to get a flashlight to get a better look because it looked like a snail mouth moving back and forth on it. So I went and got a flashlight and low and behold they are Black Ribbed Limpets, (Lottia leucopleura). What do you know? How cool is that. And so I started look around for more, I had not seen any in the main tank. I did purchase 5 from ReefCleaners.org 2 years ago and I know at least 3 of them died with in a few weeks and I just figured that other 2 died and the shells were just some ware I couldn’t see them. I guess they survive but I have never seen them and I spend a considerable amount of time studying ever crevice of the tank daily looking for new stuff to pop up and I have never seen them in the tank since I put them in so long ago. I found that I have dozens of them in the skimmer tank and in the skimmer body it self. How weird is that? They must like it in the chamber with the bubbles for some reason because there are tons of them in there and I have only seen the 2 other ones out side of the skimmer. That explains why I never really see them because they are living in the skimmer. I wonder what else is in there I don’t know about???

 

[TJL]

Thats pretty cool Erik, and was just about to prod you into posting an update on your tank. How is everything going with you lately ??? Gotta get you back to one of our NSR meetings my friend going to be a great new year for the club. How about an updated FTS while your at it.

Cheers, Todd

 

[ac7av]

I’ve been trying to find excuses to post stuff but since I’m not making any changes, nothing ever changes, the fish just get bigger and I’m up to $55 every 2 weeks on the fish food. It’s like having another kid in the house. We just stopped over to Island Pet center and had the family with me, my wife pointed out a couple of fish she would like to ad to the tank and it figures one is the most expensive fish they have in stock. Harlequin Tusk fish @ $119.00 but it looks nice and colorful. And then the fancy fire fish @ $69.00 a piece and of course you can not have only one, I could spend a few hundred real fast with her list. I had to put my food down on that because we don’t have another tank set up to use for QT, and I’m not taking any chances anymore. Way too much invested, money and time, in what I have now, to have some pest blow threw my collection of tangs.

Ill have to get a few pictures and a feeding video tomorrow, every one is sleeping now.

I purposefully let the fuge overgrow to the point it looked like a bog just to see if any of the baby fish would survive in it but so far no luck. I keep hoping something will catch.

 

[Krish]

$55 in fish food every 2 weeks!! That's crazy!! They must ray really good lol


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[ac7av]

 

[ac7av]

 

[ac7av]

 

[ac7av]

 

[ac7av]

 

[ac7av]

$55 in fish food every 2 weeks!! That's crazy!! They must ray really good lol


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That’s called supporting the local pet store.
I’m not confident enough to make my own fish food so I have to hope that the people that make it know more then I do about it.

 

[TJL]

Oh Boy, ask and you shall receive. That's some update Erik, quite the feeding frenzy on the vid. I have 3 Tangs in my DT plus 2 in QT so will expect something similar once all together in new tank. That Vlamingi is one sweeeet Tang and as peaceful and unbothered as a St Bernard gotta love that.

Cheers, Todd

 

[ac7av]

Ya, I love that fish. He is so easy going all the time. I feel I may have to give him up for adoptions by this time next year though. Ill just have to see if he keeps growing as fast as he has. Its kind of limited on where this guy could even go to since he is in a 210 already and the percentage of tanks out there larger enough to make a difference is significantly small.

But on the other hand maybe he will be fine for years. He is just so darn big. He doesn’t zoom much, at least when I’m in the room. He keeps a close eye on my at all times and never has me out of his site. Some times I feel like I’m being watched. Hmmmm!

 

[NC2WA]

Erik.

wow...that RBTA you got from me really grew..good to see..

 

[ac7av]

Well I don't know if it's really any bigger but it's not one anymore it's too, the other one is on the left side of the tank up near the top. It's up against the top of the rock pile where the power heads are just Blasting it.

 

[NC2WA]

oh..two...nice...i told you these are splitters..glad u r enjoying them...

 

[ac7av]

Since a lot has been going on since the first of the year I thought I’d update everyone on what’s been up and down. First off it started with trying to quiet down the plumbing a little bit. Don’t get me wrong it wasn’t loud, I just thought it could be improved on. I replaced the drain and intake lines that were the hard pvc pipe to the flex pvc tubing. I had a little trouble dialing it in at first. I was getting the toilet flushing noise after the change but it was due to the increase in over all water turnover. When I removed the UV sterilizers from the return to the tank the water volume increased from the return pump by probably a good 25%. I have a silencer on the top of the drain but it wasn’t allowing for enough air to enter the tube. I increased the size of the air vent hole by about half and this took care of the flushing.

 

[ac7av]

I purchased new ballasts for the light fixture. I have been battling with a startup problem on the bulbs due to low line voltage in the winter time in the house. I purchased the black Odyssea ballasts and these things rock. I replaced the old silver odyssea ballasts. Even after I modded them to get the full 250 watts they sill had some starting issues when the line voltage was low in the house. This happens every winter for me. It’s nice to be done with that problem. The new ones fire up so much faster, and they are up to full power in a fraction of the time.

 

[ac7av]

I replaced the expensive 14,000K DE bulbs with the Odyssea 10,000K and replaced the 430nm UV brand PC bulbs with the 12,000K Odyssea bulbs. I added in 124 blue LED’s for night viewing and all together it’s all amazing. I have never been happier with the color and brightness. I kept trying blue’er and darker lights and I just wasn’t getting what I wanted. I even went all the way to 22,000K MH with 430nm PC. It looked like nuclear blueberries. I went brighter and whiter and this thing rocks now. The yellows and reds and so bright, It’s almost like sunlight shining in the tank.

 

[ac7av]

I think I made a discovery on my coralline algae growth problem in my tank with all this. It seems that the Odyssea hood is not equipped with UV glass over the MH bulbs. The Odyssea bulbs have UV block glass on the outer housing of them. From what I’ve read DE bulbs need a UV shield glass over them so they don’t cook the tank with UV light. All this time for 2+ years since re-setting up the 210 I have been running everything but Odyssea bulbs in it trying to get something better. All this time I was cooking every in the tank with hi UV. This totally explains why coralline would grow only in the edge of the shadows of the tank and nothing at all under any direct light. This may also be responsible for not being able to keep any hard corals. And a lot of other corals as well. In just a few short weeks I have red and pink coraline algae starting to grow every ware in the tank.

 

[ac7av]

And to top it all, here is a FTS of what was left after the die off.