Tswifty's Custom 40g Rimless Build Thread

[Tswifty]

CO2 is back up and running again... so the solenoid is definitely the problem.

Here is a picture of the needle valve I installed to control the input flow to the reactor, and now there is no restriction on the output.

[Tswifty]

Water Params:

Temp: 79.4
SG: 1.026
pH: 8.15
Alk: 11.2 dKH
Ca: 450 ppm
Mag: 1410 ppm
NO3: 10 ppm

[psteeleb]

TJ
where did you pick up that valve?

[Tswifty]

I picked it up from US Plastic Corporation - Needle Valve

[Tswifty]

Well since the nutrient levels are running higher than I want, which explains the lack of/darker coloration I am getting out of a lot of my SPS... I decided it's time to get the refugium up and running. First step was to cut and install the egg crate wall between the return pump section and refugium section. This will allow both sections to share the a common water supply, while keeping the macro out of the pump.

[chrismunn]

i've probably over looked this earlier in the thread but what type of macro are you going to put into your fuge?

[Tswifty]

Cheato

The flat rocks (shelf rock) currently residing in the sump are for an acan mounting project that I need to get around to. The acans are growing at an abnormally fast rate. I counted 15 new baby heads on one of the frags the other night after the lights were out.

[chrismunn]

well, abnormally fast growing acans are never a bad thing. i sure wish i could say the same with some of my zoas!

one of these days i want to try my hand at some acans, i just cant get past the price. every time i see how much they cost i forget to breath!

are you planning on letting different colored acans colonize the flat rock?

[Tswifty]

Finally got around to installing the acrylic sheet that will keep a buffer between the inside of stand and any salt creep.

[Tswifty]

Originally posted by chrismunn
well, abnormally fast growing acans are never a bad thing. i sure wish i could say the same with some of my zoas!

one of these days i want to try my hand at some acans, i just cant get past the price. every time i see how much they cost i forget to breath!

are you planning on letting different colored acans colonize the flat rock?

Yeah, I got some good deals on some at a LFS that was trying to clear out some.

I'm not sure how I'm going to do it yet. Laura's wants her's all mounted on the same rock. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with mine yet.

[Tswifty]

Added the macro to the refugium today:

[Tswifty]

Also spent the afternoon trimming away STN that has been slowly but surely killing off two of my milleporas.

...and managed to cut a few small chalice frags for Laura's tank.

[melev]

Originally posted by chrismunn
one of these days i want to try my hand at some acans, i just cant get past the price. every time i see how much they cost i forget to breath!

You should have attended TMAC last Saturday. They had some very pretty ones for sale at $25 per frag.

[psteeleb]

Originally posted by Tswifty
Also spent the afternoon trimming away STN that has been slowly but surely killing off two of my milleporas.

sorry to hear

were they maricultured ? when ever I get a maricultured sps it always seems to rtn/stn. Some become total loss and some stop eventually.

hope things settle in

[Tswifty]

Yeah they were Maricultured. I've heard a lot of similar stories. Luckily my Diver's Den Green Millepora still looks to be unaffected.

I'll be very happy once everything finally stabilizes out. I'm going to try and pursue some nutrient reduction methods over the next week or so to try and get my nitrates and phosphates in check as well. I've been extremely disappointed with the SPS coral's coloration up to this point.

I'm going to be getting my hands on a PAR meter on Saturday, and will take some readings... but I feel that the nutrient levels are the main culprit at this point.

[Padrino]

STN? i keep seeing that acronymm, someone fill me in.

Nice work with the sump how much flow do you think you have in teh fuge? the water goes from teh skimmer to the fuge to the return?
Btw how are things withe teh ca reactor? is teh alk saying constant?

[psteeleb]

Originally posted by Padrino
STN? i keep seeing that acronymm, someone fill me in.

STN = Slow Tissue Necrosis (over a few days)
RTN = Rapid Tissue Necrosis (can happen in a few hours)

the flesh peals off the coral leaving the bony structure exposed

it's a result of stress or other issues with the coral. Most believe it's more a result of an issue then a specific symptom

[kudora]

i just lost my elephant skin sps to stn. all of my other corals are fine but this one would start peeling like crazy, i would cut that section off then a couple of days later it would do it again.

[chrismunn]

i didnt know TMAC was happening, where or when? last saturday was a bad time though because i had to prepare my home for the reception after my wife and i had our new daughter baptised. next time there's a local event you should pm me.

i was looking at the site where tj and laura got some of thier last frags from, tropicorium, and they have acan lords for like 8.50 a pop! i think i can hanlde that! the best part is that they're all blue and red, which are the two colors im missing in my tank!

thats a pretty big ball of cheato tj! it would take me a year to grow that much in my fuge! well there's the obviouse tank size difference, but still!

sorry to hear about the STN! thats something ive never had to deal with before since i havent kept any SPS other than a couple different species of montipora. good luck with that, i hope everything turns out alright!

[melev]

Chris, TMAC has been in the Upcoming Events page of Reefkeeping for the past few months. All you had to do was look. Plus it was being promoted on MAAST, MARSH, ARC, and DFWMAS. I even discussed it in my thread at least twice, including the day before I left. Sorry, I can't personally PM folks. I'm a busy guy.

It took place in San Marcos, 30 mins from Austin. It was a beautiful venue, and there were 4 speakers and ~12 vendors that day.

[Tswifty]

Originally posted by Padrino
STN? i keep seeing that acronymm, someone fill me in.

Nice work with the sump how much flow do you think you have in teh fuge? the water goes from teh skimmer to the fuge to the return?
Btw how are things withe teh ca reactor? is teh alk saying constant?

As Pete said... STN stands for Slow Tissue Necrosis. I seem to notice it whenever my alkalinity shifts.

Thanks... Yes the water goes the skimmer, then fuge, then return. I have no idea how much flow is moving through it though.

The Ca reactor is beginning to stabilize out, but the alk is still on the high side (11-12 dKH).

Originally posted by kudora
i just lost my elephant skin sps to stn. all of my other corals are fine but this one would start peeling like crazy, i would cut that section off then a couple of days later it would do it again.

I've had about 50/50 luck with it thus far. If you remember... my ORA Tri-Color Valida , and a Purple Stag were suffering from it as well. I fragged off the dead portion and the Tri-Color recovered, while the Purple Stag eventually died off.

Originally posted by chrismunn
i was looking at the site where tj and laura got some of thier last frags from, tropicorium, and they have acan lords for like 8.50 a pop! i think i can hanlde that! the best part is that they're all blue and red, which are the two colors im missing in my tank!

thats a pretty big ball of cheato tj! it would take me a year to grow that much in my fuge! well there's the obviouse tank size difference, but still!

sorry to hear about the STN! thats something ive never had to deal with before since i havent kept any SPS other than a couple different species of montipora. good luck with that, i hope everything turns out alright!

I wasn't a fan of the acans Laura ordered initially, but recently they seem to have really been coloring up nicely. Especially the purple and green ones she ordered... the colors are so much brighter now.

Haha... the cheato was from my 90g tank... I had standing by in a separate container for the past few months with only a powerhead and a light. Then whenever I performed water changes I would dump the old water from the other tanks into the container.

I wasn't planning on running a refugium, or wasn't sure... since I had so much trouble with keeping the macro algae alive on my 90g tank. However, after my last water test results... it can only help at this point.

I also need to redo the mesh mod on my MSX-160. It's been about a year, so needless to say it's a bit overdue. I ordered replacement mesh this morning, as well as the pin wheel. The people at Marine Solutions seem to believe the pin wheel is more than enough for the 160, but I'm not as confident. So I'll give both a shot, and see if there is a noticeable difference in performance.

I just hope the Rose Millepora comes back. Lately it looked like it had really taken a turn for the better... the STN looked to have stopped, and I was getting nice polyp extension as well. It's a shame, because now my mini colonies look like nice size frags.

[chrismunn]

gosh san marcos huh? yeah thats pretty close to where i live. im frequent;ly on ARC, i guess i just didnt notice it? i suppose its a good thing im not a private investigator, or investigative reporter, or anything where i have to notice something or see things!

i might just order a frag or two from that tropicorium. some of the cheaper stuff of course! i like the fact that you say everything is coloring up nicely, thats a score! i just went out and picked up a few frags from the LFS, i hope they color up nicely as well!

[Tswifty]

Some shots of the Acans:















Laura's Tropicorium order:



...and a new chalice I picked up in a trade:

[chrismunn]

lauras acans dont look bad at all! i wouldnt deny them a home in my tank, thats for sure!

seeing all those tempts me to go put in an order.

[Tswifty]

Haha... I need to get a new camera or a macro lens, because everything in macro mode seems to come out grainy.

Also, I have some more shots uploading, and the pictures came out pretty dark... so I need to re-read my picture taking notes from Marc's presentation again.

Also, you'll see how most of my corals don't look very good at all right now.