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No rims here--60g DBP (1 Viewer)



Unfortunately lost my starki damsel. I'm assuming the constant harassment from the flame angel finally did him in. I've been attempting to catch the angel with no luck. I will be taking more drastic measures now to get him out. Crazy that the dendro caught him. Had a nice size chunk out of body that the dendro I'm assuming munched on. Great fish, will have to look for another eventually
 
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I purchased this March of last year, just found the video on his FB page


[video=youtube;cxrWTzpmuMM]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cxrWTzpmuMM&feature=youtu.be[/video]
 
Been on auto pilot with the tank. A few trips (no mishaps thankfully) and things have just been growing. Tried a few different fish but unfortunately lost them so just been letting things be. Water changes, feeding, top off water, and manual dosing two part. As James "LowersMyBP" once said when things aren't going wrong the tank gets boring. So I did the last thing you ever want to do, re-do and organize your wiring and electronics. :brick:

My Apex and controllers are all under my sump, as you will see (pictures following this post) I had Jason "jlanger" build me some skin for the front and light cover.

Here's what I came up with. Very pleased on how it turned out.


Some pics along the way. Picked up a stereo cabinet on Craigslist and started tearing it apart. Drilled some cord holes and installed grommets. I have an iPad mini that is primarily used for my tank so that was the first thing mounted.


Laying out what goes where.


IPad mini, Aqua illumination director, DC return pump


Everything mounted. The MP controllers are just 3M stuck on. Couldn't wait for BRS shipment with the mounts. Left room on top for 2 more MP controllers. Going to need at least one more in the near future.


Ahhhhh the wires! It actually looks a little more organized in person. But that's the point of hiding it behind the door!







Full tank and electrical cabinet
 
Now for some props to Jason. We went over some options. He stopped by and measured/advised and this is what we came up with. Wanted a rustic look. Turned out great. Hard to get good pic as the room has poor lighting so tank lights take over.




 
I love the stereo desk idea! I've been thinking of something similar for my ato bucket. Awesome!

Sent from my SM-G920V using Tapatalk
 
How could've I missed seeing this thread for two months?!
Looks really good!

Here's a picture showing a better color representation under "normal" lighting.
Rough-sawn pine with full thickness horizontal grain panels and 5"W frames; stained various shades.
Mounts to steel stand with magnets.



And I love the electronics cabinet!
It sure looks nice (organized) when all of the Vortech controllers are neatly arranged together. My OCD applaudes you!
I currently use my iPhone to control the lighting (via ReefLink and EcoSmart Live) when I take photos. And I use the phone to shut off the water pumps (via Apex Fusion) when I do water changes. Now I'm trying to think of a way to incorporate my old iPad into my system so it's always right there by my tank. (You know how easily phones are put down where you cannot remember them.)
Great job!
 
This thread is in need of an update!

On my trek through The Cities today, I stopped in to see Mark and take some photos of his tank, fish and corals.

Here's a FTS showing the whole works; lighting, tank and sump.



The pair of Sustainable Aquatics Black Onyx Clownfish hosting in a frogspawn coral.



The Flame Angelfish; a bugger to get a photo of as it would hide beneath various corals.



One of his two Staghorn Damselfish; these are actually very pretty fish.



Here are some various coral pictures; and an anemone.













And my photo session isn't complete without some macro photos.





Thanks, Mark, for having me over. Tank looks great!
I realized I should've tried getting some photos with the rustic panels installed; next time.
And thanks for the frags; easily acceptable form of "payment".
 
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I really like the stereo cabinet idea for the electronics it looks great and the complete isolation from the tank is great.
 
Arg things are struggling on the homefront. A few months back I noticed some corals not doing so well. Others seem just fine though so it has me wondering whats going on. I decided to have my water tested by someone else and turns out my salifert KH kit was off almost 2 dkh (i thought i was around 8.5-9, it was really at 10.54).

Coral that has been effected

2 of my 6 acan colonies (losing heads can see skeleton)
Duncans (lost half of colony so far, from 15 down to 8)
2 head hammer went to 1, then lost other head a few weeks later
large frogspawn colony 30-40 heads now was 50 (only lower heads have died so could be cause not getting light?)
2 frags of acan enchinata are starting to recess
favia just started receding (almost half gone in last week)


Coral not effected

Green digitata, red montipora, orange setosa
zoas, mushrooms, plays, nepthea
large welso
Dendros
Long tentacle torch (growing!)
maze brain
leathers
maxi mini anemone
others i can remember off hand


Parameters tested by myself, SWE, jlanger (thanks again)

Salinity 1.026
Calc 456
Alk on 1/14 10.46 , today 9.1
Mag 1440
Nitrate 8
Phos .04


Things that have changed

I switched from Reef Crystals to HW Marinemix.
Moved Skimmer to different compartment (more consistent skim now)
Started dosing NoPox ( nitrate was around 30 ppm in november) The recession had started before i started dosing



What other back to basic things can i do? i know people run their Alk in the 10's and I don't know how long my kit has been bad so I assume it has been high for a while.
 
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How long have you been trusting that test kit? If it's been around 10-10.5 the whole time, I don't necessarily see that being a problem as it was still constant. Especially given you have somewhat higher nutrients to go along with the somewhat high alk

Since I started dosing kalk 3 weeks ago my alk has raised to over 11 (from 10) and corals still look great. We'll see if/how long it lasts however

Just to make sure, I'd recalibrate your refractometer to make sure that isn't off. Lately I've been seeing so many people find out their refractometer was wayyy off.
Edit: I see others tested salinity so nvm
 
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Test kit is probably 8-12 months old, been testing weekly. According to my apex log I never got a reading much over 9. So it shouldn't of gotten over 11 at any point.
 
So if it was always that and the corals just recently started looking unhappy, my opinion is that it probably isn't alk related. Only other thing I can think of is if you recently changed your LED intensity/photoperiod.

Or maybe they're just going through seasonal depression like most of us around this time :)
 
Greentree said:
Any updates? I am going through the same thing... so frustrating :'(
Click to expand...

Sold tank. Downsized to a 30 gallon all in one. Replaced most equipment thinking that could be the issue. Red monti cap died a few days in, lost a few others.

Zoa's, leathers, maxi anemone, muxhrooms all doing great. Had to frag my frogspawn up as it was dieing and creating a weird white substance on the dead heads. The healthy ones i fragged are doing great.

Waiting on ICP test results. Hoping they tell me something.
 
I'm actually planning the same move right now. I'm tired of coming home and being bummed out every night, just "hanging in there."

Good luck with your new setup!
 
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