Melev's new 280g Starfire tank thread

[weatherson]

If you are using the AQII with its X-10 modules, be aware that the IC 400's create a huge amount of line noise that actually interfere with the control signal. So much so that even filters don't resolve the issue. IC is supposedly working on a new ballast to resolve this problem. Other than this, I too would recommend going electronic. You may lose a slight amount of light output but you will gain bulb longevity and a cooler running, more efficient ballast.

Joseph

[Randall_James]

Originally posted by Jamesurq
My dad used to tell me that a fully charged capacitor is a fun thing to make explode.... He wouldn't tell me how - though.

He did tell me that an O2 tank on a bonfire is a good way to get your neighbors to call the cops on you....

Growing up was fun...

Well a capacitor (incidentally the ONLY known device that actually stores electricity!) is made up of wax paper and aluminum. Having played more than my fair share of condenser pranks (charging and leaving laying around the shop) the only way they explode is if they are heated up and the wax has no place to escape (some caps are sealed much better than others) Epoxy sealed are more prone to the problem. Looking at this one, looks like you got lucky it did not explode. The superheated wax can spontaneously ignite when oxygen hits it also. Someone was looking over you

[melev]

Randall, I would hope the metal box would protect me as well!

Thank you Joseph for your input.

For now, because I didn't want to take a chance and have a problem next week (because you never know when something will break, I ordered a kit from HelloLights. With shipping, it was $71. I would have loved to just pay $10 or $15 for that one part, but it was not available at a price that makes sense to me. Once it arrives, I'll have two extra 400w Advance M59 ballasts and one extra capacitor.

I have a shipment of Phosbuster coming in on Friday. I'll be sure to let you guys know how it works in my tank, since there is so little information about it. I'm also going to try PurpleUp, another product that promotoes coralline growth.

[growyourown]

Marc,

Thanks for the heads up, Jamesurq sent that sand we were discussing, out on Monday, I should get it today.

Glenn

[Randall_James]

I started using the purple up myself about 3 months ago to try it out. I am dosing 3cc per 25g every other day and it in fact did bring my calcium up in pretty short order.

Make sure you shake the tar out of the stuff as the calcium begins to settle immediately upon stopping. I have been adding it during lights out as it does cloud the tank for about 30 minutes or so.

I will be cutting it back here shortly as my coraline is pretty much where I want it

I would buy it again

[Ehydo]

Originally posted by Randall_James
I started using the purple up myself about 3 months ago to try it out. I am dosing 3cc per 25g every other day and it in fact did bring my calcium up in pretty short order.

Make sure you shake the tar out of the stuff as the calcium begins to settle immediately upon stopping. I have been adding it during lights out as it does cloud the tank for about 30 minutes or so.

I will be cutting it back here shortly as my coraline is pretty much where I want it

I would buy it again

Did it increase the corraline growth. My calcium is fine.

[Jamesurq]

Originally posted by melev
I'm also going to try PurpleUp

From the Aquacon website: (should be a clue)

"Purple Up by Carib Sea uses a unique dual method approach to coralline algae acceleration for your live rock. Purple Up immediately raises dissolved calcium levels in your aquarium water. It contains 10 micron aragonite that targets the live rock surface, delivering calcium, strontium, magnesium and carbonate right where it's needed."

So am I reading this correctly, it's finely grated southdown?

IE: the silt from the southdown cloud - and you pour it on your rocks...

You can't be serious with this junk can you Mark?

[melev]

First of all, AquaCon is only a vendor, a flakey one that I won't even go to. CaribSea is the maker of sand for our aquariums, and yes they are putting some aragonite in this product. I also was told it includes some iodine.

The company is sending some sample for our club's raffle, and I'm going to try it out. I have almost zero coralline in my tank currently, but that could be a PO4 problem. I tested my water last night because I had high hopes for lower numbers, and I'm very discouraged by the results of the test kit.

[Randall_James]

The tank I used this on was setup and running for about 6 months. Coraline just was not spreading to base rock.

30 days in to treatment, patches of coraline were abundant on the bare baserock.

Was it this stuff? Maybe, maybe not but it sure looked like the formation coincided with the addition of the additive.

This was not exactly a controlled experiment, I just figured I would try the product out.

[Jamesurq]

Oh hey, if it's free - why not....

If you want a coralline starter culture I can send you some. I can't keep the stuff under control.

[steve68]

Marc i think the lack of coralline is due to the 400w MH, IME every tank i have seen with 400 lacks coralline but i was told that some times u just have to sacrifice one thing for another (coralline 4 awesome acro's) i have seen a little more on 400's with 20k but the look is up to u i love my 10k's & with my 250's the coralline that is on top is light & the coralline growing on the bottom is darker, i will looking forward to ur update on the AquaCon.
once again it's JME.

[ChloroPhil]

AragaMilk is the same stuff, or very similar, to PurpleUp and I've seen noticable differences when using AragaMilk. As long as one understands that it's not good for much else but stimulating coralline it's a worthwhile product. For comparison, I was using it on a 10g tank with a 150w 10000K MH and 2x 28w PC Actinics. It was well after the cycle was over when I started using it and as soon as I did coralline blew up all over the place.

[Knyght]

I found this rock, *dead coral skelton*, at my LFS here in Norman about 2yrs ago. At the time it had some coralline, but has really, really, turned purple since I got the MH`s.


All the polyps are hitchhikers, came up as a single polyp.
It breaks extremely easily. So if you would like a piece let me know Marc, *Marc only please, it`s not that big of a rock.*

[Awright]

Originally posted by ChloroPhil
AragaMilk is the same stuff, or very similar, to PurpleUp and I've seen noticable differences when using AragaMilk. As long as one understands that it's not good for much else but stimulating coralline it's a worthwhile product. For comparison, I was using it on a 10g tank with a 150w 10000K MH and 2x 28w PC Actinics. It was well after the cycle was over when I started using it and as soon as I did coralline blew up all over the place.

AragaMilk & Purple-up are made by Carib sea.
What are the differences? This is a brief description I got on line of the Aragamilk: "
The perfect alkalinity booster because... aragaMILKTM has a full pound of buffer in every 16 fluid ounce bottle. This buffer comes in two forms: a bicarbonate for immediate response, plus carbonate from aragonite. This second form makes for a safer, time-release buffer, over 2-3 days, for long term security without the wild pH swings that can stress your tank inhabitants."

Marc, you don't have a low Calcium problem do you? As I see it, this seams to raise & maintain Ca. Can anyone clarify me on why this would help?

[growyourown]

All,

Here is aragamilk:

http://www.carib-sea.com/catpage5.htm

Here is purpleup:

http://www.carib-sea.com/productsB.htm

Basically the same product in a different package, its CaribSea's way to try and boost sales, my guess...

[melev]

No, my calcium seems to stay just above 500ppm. I've been trying to bring it down. My calcium reactor is running a slow drip (1 drip per second) coming out and dripping into my sump. The CO2 tank has been turned off for 3 weeks, and all the CO2 that is in the regulator has yet to burn off, with one bubble per every 3 seconds, which the pH controller turns on and off as needed. I stopped using Kalkwasser because my alkalinity was getting way too high. I've been trying to level out the water parameters in this way, and overall the tank looks really clear. If it wasn't for a few SPS that are unhappy, I'd have no reason to believe there is a water issue at all.

I get a little algae growth on the glass, but it may take a week to build up enough before I'll use the cleaning magnet to remove it. I recently discovered some tiny egg sacs at the top of the viewing panels, so I got a Sharpie to circle those areas on the glass. That way I can remind myself not to clean the glass and remove those. Free snails!

I tried to get some pictures of the rotifers again, and they just didn't come out like I expected. Video would be better, for you see these little guys moving. They are tinier than fleas.

[melev]

Here are my pictures. I guess it is better than nothing at all, in case you just wanted to see what they are. A microscope might be better, in the future.

I took a small amount and rinsed them off the screen into a petri dish. I added a little tank water, and covered it. Then I put a magnifying glass on top and took a few pictures through that. I also took a few more with the lens of my camera within 1 cm of the rotifers. Let's just say, I tried quite a few times. Macro video would be nicer.

First, here is how I set it up. I put the edge of the dish on a white background.


In this picture, you can see a hair that fell in the dish apparently. Look for the honey-golden dots near the hair, all along the edge of the dish. The rotifers continued to gather along the edges for some reason.


Another view. The arrows are pointing in the general direction of where the rotifers are, but actually they are scattered throughout the dish if you look closely. The majority are in gathered along the upper edge of the dish.


The green stuff is probably consumed phytoplankton. I've been keeping this culture alive for about two weeks using my home-made phyto (the miracle grow version). Rotifers must be fed phyto every day to keep them alive. I'm still working out the 'recipe', but I have talked with a couple of people about their methods and think I'm on the right track.


These images were taken without magnification, just holding the Fuji S602Z very very close to the subject. Even at a mere 1cm, it is tough to focus on these little guys. I think the camera focused on the base of the dish, and since the distance was so close between the base and the rotifers, I figured it was good enough. Maybe I should have used manual focus and tried to get them a little more crisp.


Anyone feel like counting how many you can see in this shot? I guess it would be interesting to know how many I collected just for this photo session. It came from about 1 liter of rotifer culture.


In this image, I let Photoshop adjust the levels with "auto levels" just to give you one more way of seeing these little guys.

[chrisd4421]

Originally posted by melev
No, my calcium seems to stay just above 500ppm. I've been trying to bring it down. My calcium reactor is running a slow drip (1 drip per second) coming out and dripping into my sump. The CO2 tank has been turned off for 3 weeks, and all the CO2 that is in the regulator has yet to burn off, with one bubble per every 3 seconds, which the pH controller turns on and off as needed. I stopped using Kalkwasser because my alkalinity was getting way too high. I've been trying to level out the water parameters in this way, and overall the tank looks really clear. If it wasn't for a few SPS that are unhappy, I'd have no reason to believe there is a water issue at all.

Marc,
This is a great article on CALC and ALK levels. It has a pretty good explanation along with 4 common problems and ways to correct the problem

Link

If it doesn't apply, it still is a great article!!!!

Chris

[Knyght]

Now those are macro shots What lens did you use?
Any closer and it would be through a microscope

[melev]

Chris, thanks for the article.

Knight, that is the built-in lens.

[Knyght]

Originally posted by melev
Knight, that is the built-in lens.

Now who can`t spell.

[melev]

If you had a real name, I'd probably get that one ryght.

[melev]

Okay, today I woke up to more bleaching in some SPS I've had a very long time. My son's favorite is the orange Montipora foliosa, which many refer to as M. capricornis. The top is streaked with white.

I went ahead and moved the Tunze system into my sump, in the skimmer compartment to try to reduce the redness that my tank was about to endure. This idea was presented to me by the vendor/owner of that pump/magnet/media basket he loaned me. I didn't want to wait until tonight until the fish were sleeping.

I filled up the basket with Silphos, hooked it up and my skimmer section turned blood red. Like the movie the Ten Commandments, it looked like the angel of death working its way through the return section and pumping out of the returns as a quiet smoke that wouldn't not stop.

I studied the fish for a few minutes, and Spock was visibly irriated by this product. I'm sure it bothered his gills, but he calmed down and found a place to rest.

10 minutes later, the tank still has a little cloudiness to it, but the fish are swimming normally. This PO4 is really kicking my butt. I think I might try siphoning the surface of the sand in an effort to remove any waste that might be part of the problem. The PhosBuster Pro didn't arrive today, and by the time it does, I might be SPS-less.

I guess this could be a great softy tank....

If I do end up losing all my SPS, my best bet would be to erradicate the PO4 from the system once and for all, and start with new pieces.

For those of you that still believe I'm overfeeding, I've cut back and PO4 continues to rise. Maybe my rock is just throwing it up at this point.

I'm toying with the idea of setting up the frag tank again, and moving the SPS into that system for a while, with it's own water. That might allow me the freedom to keep some while resolving the issue in the main tank. I better make a decision soon. I'll have to dose it with B-Ionic daily, but I have 10g of it in the garage (the Bi-Carbonate kind that doens't boost pH unfortunatley - an error on my part when ordering).

[WILDTHING]

Oh Marc, what terrible news. I hope it isn't as bad as you fear. Sounds like setting up the frag tank would be good insurance and give you some piece of mind that even if the worst happens you would have been able to save some. So sorry this is happening to you.

colleen

[ratherbediving]

Man-- this thread is starting to get depressing I really hope you get this PO4 issue under control. I am sure you know what you are doing, but still-- I have to ask about this Silphos product that spills all those chemicals into your tank. I would be pretty wary about that. I like the idea of a chemical media (I've used a little Rowaphos) which stays in the tank, absorbs Po4, then you 'export' it by pulling it out. Adding stuff to a closed system always makes me wonder where it goes/ what happens to it over time.... maybe that is just me.

I just have to wonder what that stuff is doing in your tank. I'd probably want to use something that looks a little less like the 'Angel of Death' myself