djkms' 225 SPS Dominant build thread
- Thread starter djkms
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How do you like the Marine Magic Dosing Pump vice the Litermeter 3? The litermeter is like 3-4x the cost. BRS had a door buster black friday on thier 1.1ml pumps for $49 each. I got two of them, but was looking into the Marine Magic - questions and issues seem to be with long term ml accuracy. Thoughts?
Its a great dosing pump. Cant really compare the MM to the LM3. The LM3 is good for dosing throughout the day and is very accurate, however it cant really do small doses, it has a 50ml per day minimum. The MM is great for dosing additives and such, it can dose by the second and by the drop. The MM is cheaply made (Chinese, go figure) while the LM3 is all high quality construction and parts. Not sure on longevity since my first MM was accidentally dropped in my sump. The MM has been very accurate and consistent for me so far.
The BRS dosers are fantastic, its what we use for all of our maintenance accounts.
The BRS dosers are fantastic, its what we use for all of our maintenance accounts.
As stated earlier in the thread this system was a upgrade from my 125. Back in the middle of August I tore down the 125 and moved it to the shop (Premier). When I broke it down I trashed my substrate and put all new water in the system and ran bare bottom. The 125 sat at the shop pretty much unattended for 3 months. During that time I had a few alk and temp spikes. I tried to make it in twice a week to refill my 2 part containers but I was pretty bad about it. I did run heavy on GFO but didnt run carbon and did no water changes. My system also tripped the breaker a couple of times so I also lost some fish in the process.
When my 225 finally arrived I broke down the 125, got all the live rock and livestock into buckets and started the transition. I used brand new live sand, brand new saltwater (100%) and about half of my rock is new (well cured rock from other systems). The good thing was my alkalinity was almost exactly the same between the new water and old 125 water.
Needless to say my corals have been through hell the last couple of months and it shows. Fortunately during this whole fiasco I only lost 1 coral so far but plenty of them are ****ed off.
I know most people take pics and show their beauts in their prime and all colored up. Well, here are some pics of my angry corals. I hope to show them off again in 6 months back to their former glory!
Slideshow - Livestock November 2012
Garf Bonsai
Staghorn Acropora
Had to frag this up, its skin was pealing away after placing it in my 225
Acropora Sp
Staghorn Acropora
This should be a nice rich teal color...
Northstar Prostrata
This should be a rich purple with pink polyps
Birdsnest
Strawberry Lemonade Acropora
So now its just a recovery process and the waiting game begins. For the last week or so though the corals seem to be doing very well, showing great polyp extension and slowly starting to color back up.
When my 225 finally arrived I broke down the 125, got all the live rock and livestock into buckets and started the transition. I used brand new live sand, brand new saltwater (100%) and about half of my rock is new (well cured rock from other systems). The good thing was my alkalinity was almost exactly the same between the new water and old 125 water.
Needless to say my corals have been through hell the last couple of months and it shows. Fortunately during this whole fiasco I only lost 1 coral so far but plenty of them are ****ed off.
I know most people take pics and show their beauts in their prime and all colored up. Well, here are some pics of my angry corals. I hope to show them off again in 6 months back to their former glory!
Slideshow - Livestock November 2012
Garf Bonsai
Staghorn Acropora
Had to frag this up, its skin was pealing away after placing it in my 225
Acropora Sp
Staghorn Acropora
This should be a nice rich teal color...
Northstar Prostrata
This should be a rich purple with pink polyps
Birdsnest
Strawberry Lemonade Acropora
So now its just a recovery process and the waiting game begins. For the last week or so though the corals seem to be doing very well, showing great polyp extension and slowly starting to color back up.
Thanks Dave. The coral was a Seasons greeting montipora. I also can't find my Jedi Mind trick. I know you wanted a piece of that yellow acro and the tank is settling in, I can spare a piece for you. Either of the 2 corals I just named would be ok to trade or any colorful encrusting corals I would be ok with.
The red planet I gave you will encrust out for a while before it starts growing up
The red planet I gave you will encrust out for a while before it starts growing up
Spent last night with my brother in law getting the T5's setup. I bought 2 6ft white boards from Home Depot that are 5" wide and 1/2" thick. Each board holds 4 36" T5's with 4 36" Tek Retro Fit Reflectors on the bottom side. On the top side are 2 Workhorse 5 ballasts, each ballast powers 2 bulbs (one color). Each board is mounted 4" down to give the ballasts room to breathe and to help keep the canopy open and able to breathe. Cooling is provided by 4 120mm Kama Scythe fans and they do a fantastic job keeping everything cool! The Neptune turns on the fans when the first halide kicks on and turns off the fans when the last halide turns off.
Just noticed one of my halides isn't mounted even!
Also need to mount a board between the top of the canopy and the white board right in the middle. Its bowing in the middle...
There is literally no room for anything else, the 4deep T5's BARELY fit.
Front to back:
Giesemann Actinic+
Giesemann Pure Actinic
Giesemann AquaPink
Giesemann Aquablue+
Just noticed one of my halides isn't mounted even!
Also need to mount a board between the top of the canopy and the white board right in the middle. Its bowing in the middle...
There is literally no room for anything else, the 4deep T5's BARELY fit.
Front to back:
Giesemann Actinic+
Giesemann Pure Actinic
Giesemann AquaPink
Giesemann Aquablue+
Well I finally tied in my fuge to the system. Instead of doing macros I am going to do a cryptic fuge. I have read places that macro algaes release certain chemicals into the water that actually stunt coral growth. I'm not really doing a cryptic zone for filtration as much as I am for diversified life. I am hoping to get some decent zooplankton going, not sure how much 24/7 darkness will change that.
I also dealt with Cyano all the time in my 125. I think a lot of it had to do with running a slow flow, lit fuge. I have not seen a bit of Cyano since I disconnected my lit fuge. I hated dealing with Cyano, I did 3 days lights out every month to keep it at bay and it always came back.
I also dealt with Cyano all the time in my 125. I think a lot of it had to do with running a slow flow, lit fuge. I have not seen a bit of Cyano since I disconnected my lit fuge. I hated dealing with Cyano, I did 3 days lights out every month to keep it at bay and it always came back.
Not sure yet, kinda seems to be slow going. I'm not seeing much life in there yet so I just started dosing Phyto Feast live into my fuge daily. I turn off my line to the fuge for a hour every day during feeding time and my skimmer off for 2 hours after I turn the fuge return back on so it doesn't skim out all the phyto. Hope that makes sense.
As far as PH, cant say I see much of a difference. On my 125 (with reverse light and macros) it would swing from 8.05-8.25, now with my 225 it swings from 8.02-8.3. IMO I think following PH is way overrated, as long as you are within safe values it is not worth chasing or even worrying about it.
On a side note I cant get measurable NO3 for the life of me. I feed real heavy 3 times a day and notta. Not sure if its my oolite sand (1-2" depth) or the cryptic fuge but I would like at least some measurable nitrate.
As far as PH, cant say I see much of a difference. On my 125 (with reverse light and macros) it would swing from 8.05-8.25, now with my 225 it swings from 8.02-8.3. IMO I think following PH is way overrated, as long as you are within safe values it is not worth chasing or even worrying about it.
On a side note I cant get measurable NO3 for the life of me. I feed real heavy 3 times a day and notta. Not sure if its my oolite sand (1-2" depth) or the cryptic fuge but I would like at least some measurable nitrate.