ReefGuy's 55gal Journal

[ReefGuy69]

Yeah it has been fun. I got the phosban reactor all hooked up and running. About to cook some baking soda in a few so i can have it ready if and when my alk drops. I didnt know that my alk would drop when using the reactor, but im glad i found out now rather then waiting for the tank to crash to find out. This place is priceless. You cant find all this in books. Peppermint shrimp is still MIA along with the Cleaner. very odd because i can see 98% of the tank from different angles. They must have found a magic door that lead to Narnia or something.

Got a quesiton on feeding. I stopped feeding my mush mix so that i could get my algae problem fixed. Can my two clowns live off of Formula Two Marine Pellets? ive been feeding them about 6-10 pellets a day. they like them and seem to keep growing. I worry that the shrimps wont have anything to eat. But they dont come out when i feed pellets and didnt when i fed the mush either... what should i do?

[ReefGuy69]

My wife spotted at least one shrimps head today peeking out behind a rock. She wasnt sure which one. But at least i know one is still around. My Reactor is still chugging along. I got worried about the Alk dropping fast so i cooked a batch of Baking soda. Its all dissolved in RO/DI water. I tested my water tonight and it said Alk was in the normal range (i know i got to get a better test but its all i got for now) Ph is running at 8.2-8.4. So im not worried. I wasnt able to test calcium. I will try to do that tomorrow night. I plucked all my bryopsis and a few pieces of hair algae the other night in anticipation of the reactor. So far its not growing back and the peices that missed are seeming to fall off here and there and are getting filtered up. Im cleaning them out as quick as they come so i dont get them decaying or anything. So far so good. Cant wait to get the algae problem under control so we get get more coral or fishies. I think i got a good cleaning crew now. We have about 12 Astrea Snails, 12 Nassarius, 8 Cerith, 1 Cleaner and 1 Peppermint. Next i want to get some neon blue/yellow gobies, and hopefully some Ricordeas.

[CMG]

Dennis,

Can you explain to me the first picture on the first page of your chronicle. I dont understand why the pipe in the overflow has a 180 degree turn so that the intake is facing down. Why isnt there just a piece of pipe in there and the water get sucked down into it? Also what is the second smaller diameter pipe behind that one for? I also have a 55g thats not setup yet (currently running a 40g no sump) so I am trying to plan ahead and figure out how all this stuff works. I can't even imagine how I am going to figure out what size pipe and pumps and all that stuff to plumb!! haha

[ReefGuy69]

Yeah when i was hooking it up i didnt understand it either. Still kind of dont... HA HA HA but it works. The one that is turned 180 is the drian tube. Basically it will fill the overflow cavity and then it will go up in that tube and then overflow down into your sump. It has a little tiny hose at the top to prevent it from getting glogged i guess from snails and stuff. But they would have to be pretty big snails. Then the other tube is the return tube. that is where the water will get pumped back up from the sump. Ive seen some people remove the entire drain tube assemply and leave just the black bulkhead. but that will leave a splashing noise (which i didnt want) and i think i can remove the 180 piece and just have an open pipe there. but if a fish ever jumped or a snail got into the overflow area it would make it easier to get sucked down in. and i think your would hear a sucking gurguling noise by just leaving the pipe open like that. Its pretty easy to figure out once you get going. just measure the pipe it came with and once you have that diameter you can size up the correct pump. hope i was some help.

[CMG]

Ok that makes sense, heres my next question..haha.

I read people telling you to drill two holes in the drain pipe. One below the T and one above it to "break" the syphon incase of a pump failure. I dont understand how a hole anywhere is going to break the syphone because the way I see it is that the syphone wont break until the water level is below the intake 180 pipe thingy. hehe. I love my nomenclature of these parts.

[ReefGuy69]

yeah you want to drill holes. one on each side and one at the top. snails can block these holes and stop the drain or something and it will cause your tank to overflow. it will also prevent backflow or something. The return hose will also need a hole depending on how you do it. This is because i had my hose under the water about an inch so i didnt have to hear it splashing. but when i turn all the power off it would backflow into the sump. by adding two holes right below the water line on the return hose it back flows alittle until it gets to the holes then it sucks in air and breaks the siphon and doesnt overflow the sump. hope that helped. like i said i dont know it all.

[ReefGuy69]

Tank is looking good. I havent noticed anymore algae growing. So i think the reactor is working. Im going to pluck every last piece i can tomorrow and then i will know for sure if its working. Snails are all good. Havenet spotted the shrimps. Going to try and peek tonight when its dark. Fish are great. Each day they venture more and more into the rockwork and explore. They are getting some meat on them which is nice. they were real tiny babies when i got them. budget is real tight so i dont have the money to get any more corals or fish right now. oh well patience is key.

[ReefGuy69]

i did a mini frag today.. well kind of.. i had one little zoo in my zoo colony that was like growing on top of other zoo's. it was like that when i bought it a few weeks back. well today when i was cleaning i decided to see how lose it was. Well it popped right off and was in my hand. I then decided to glue him with super glue gel to a small piece of live rock rubble i saved in my fuge and place him on another rock. So hopefully i will have two zoo colonies going. he was closed up for about 30 min. Now he is open and happy he doesnt have to stand on top of other zoo's.

[JWarren]

You are now a frag man! Kinda!

Come on, lets see an updated full tank shot!

[ReefGuy69]

Ask and you shall receive. Since I was taking a full tank shot. I decided to take others. I went alittle crazy.

heres the full tank shot.



Here is my little frag. You can see it on the rock in front of the zoo colony. Isnt he cute?



My peppermint Shrimp came out to see what all the comotion was. Hes still alive.



An updated pic of my fuge with the chaeto and its now a hermit hotel, for the time being.



My new phosban reactor at work



The clowns just clowning around



and the last full tank shot

[JWarren]

Lookin good Dennis!

When I get back to fragging, I'll set something aside for ya.

[framerguy]

Excellent Dennis! Nice aquascaping. You're right, that little frag brought a smile to my face... thanks!

[Craig Manoukian]

Nice photos Dennis!

[AQTCJAK]

Comming along beautifully

[ReefGuy69]

Thanks all. heres tonights test results. Seems everything is in balance.

Temp. 77.6
Ammonia:0
Nitrite:0
Nitrate:0
Ph: 8.2-8.4
Calcium: 400
Alk: 2.7 milli equivalents.

I am using my ATO. with Kalk. Seems to be keeping everything in check. Alk hasnt dropped since using the phosban reactor. Algae still is fading away. I have a few spots on the sand of browning. Dont know if its diatoms or not. Im going to add two small power heads to blow across the sand at one another to create turbulence and i think that will fix that. I found a sea slug type thing chugging around and eating stuff on the rockwork. It looks like a slug or a snail without a shell. Has a little snout like a snail to eat from. with little antenna thingies at its head. Hes white whith black and brown spots to blend right into the rock. Hopefully he will help with the algae to. I never see him on the sand just stays to the rocks. My peppermint keeps coming out when i feed, which is cool. Still no sighting of the Cleaner shrimp. My little frag is going good. Once i get the algae under control i want to work on getting my shrooms and Zoos to multiply. It looks like the zoos are spreading a little bit But my shrooms havent. Here is a pic of my skimate from my skimmer. Its wet and dark green.