An Alaskan Reef (38G)

koffee

koffee

Member
Wow, that's the first time I've seen blue on the ammonia test. I forgot to mix up more SW last night... DOH! Well, the rock will be fine for today. I'll buy that rubbermaid and work on it some tonight after work. I'm going to get budget salt for the curing too. I'll save the Oceanic for my tank.

I mixed up more Oceanic, though. I figured that I'll do a minor WC: siphon and vac the sump. I'll use the old tank water to rinse off the rock before moving it into the bigger curing bin.

I should be happier about getting this new rock. However, I am stressing over what I'll have to do eventually: a partial or major tear down of a tank that seems to be doing fine. On the other hand, I think there are various issues with my tank and this would be a good time to fix it. I have too much sand in the DT, and though the aquascaping looks nice, I don't have enough ledges and flat spots to support future corals.

The irony is that we will probably be moving this year, and I could do all of this then. But it is not 100%, and there is no better estimate of when other than "this year".
 
koffee

koffee

Member
A setback yesterday. I decided to mount my non-retro-kit lights in the canopy to help with the heat some. I also added an egg-crate top. Somehow I destroyed the NO fixture. It is a crappy light, but it is better than no light.

Luckily, I was able to get it functional again today with a Lowes ballast. I can't afford new lights yet, but an $18 ballast was within my budget.

This got me thinking, though. I want to upgrade to T5HO when I can, and was thinking of a retro for the canopy. The fixtures, however, come with a lens to protect against splash and condensation. How do I do that with a retro if I have an egg crate top? Do I need to somehow install glass in the canopy, just closer to the light and off the tank? I'll have to do some research and maybe ask this question in the DIY forum when I get closer to affording the light upgrade.

And my rock is still curing. No more blue ammonia test results, though.
 
tbittner

tbittner

Well-Known Member
If it's T5's, a really clear piece of plastic would work. MH's would melt it though. And I'm thinking of expense here. A piece of acrylic, 1/8" would be thick enough, would work best. But you can get a piece of clear, thicker plastic anywhere and it's inexpensive too.
 
koffee

koffee

Member
I had to top off a lot more yesterday and this morning, so I'm getting more evaporation with the egg crate top. My temps weren't always high - 85 was rare, but 81-82 was fairly common. It is too early to tell how much of an impact this will have, but in the two days I've had egg crate, the temp ranged from 78.8 to 80.6. Of course, my tank has only been running in fall and winter, so I have no idea what spring and summer will be like.

I think it is spring now, even though it is snowing today.

Yesterday, my GSP looked more extended than ever, and the larger clown was hanging out near it. It is hard to get a good picture when she is wiggling around doing the clown thing.

04-clown.jpg
 
koffee

koffee

Member
Thanks, all. The red will go away soon enough. I always added the algae in smaller batches, but this time I put in a lot. I would like to see the sea hare actually eating some. He loves the stuff, but I never seem to catch him eating it.
 
koffee

koffee

Member
In the past week or so, my temps have ranged from 78.5 to 79.9. So it seems the switch from the glass top to egg crate helped. I was at 80-81, but it would sometimes jump to 85. Of course, I'll still have to see what the warmer weather brings.

My params still test bad - my tank appears to be cycling (low ammonia and nitrites), even though there hasn't been any livestock changes. Sure, a snail or crab could go missing, but nothing major has died. Once again, the corals look open and happy, and the fish are doing fine. Nitrates are way high, as always. I'm just not going to worry about it until the new rock has been cured and added to the tank.

Since switching from Kent Superbuffer DKH back to Seachem Marine Buffer, my pH has gone up to 8.3 and is holding steady. I'm now adding Seachem Reef Builder to bring the alkalinity up beyond 2.5 where it was staying with Kent. I already had Marine Buffer, otherwise I would have tried Reef Buffer to do both in one shot. Based on the pH alone, I'm happier with Seachem.

My calcium is back down to 360, so I'll need to address that. My tank doesn't have a huge demand, but the coraline and two small LPS will probably be happier if I can keep it a bit higher.

I made a cheap mod to my Coralife skimmer which hopefully will help some. I don't have a micron sock (have to order them), so I'm just using a filter media bag for now. The sock/bag isn't on the sump intake, so I'm not trapping everything. Maybe I'll attempt that when I order real socks. This also places the skimmer back in the sump, which will prevent disaster if I have any leaks or overflows. But the positioning makes things easy to get to, unlike the first time I had it haging off the front of the sump. The skimmer pump is in the intake chamber, and the return goes to the first baffle chamber.

This probably cost under a buck at Lowes; I already had a length of PVC and a 90 El. I didn't even bother gluing it since any drips would fall into the sump.

skimmer-sock-01.jpg


skimmer-sock-02.jpg


skimmer-sock-03.jpg
 
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