Wife approved upgrade arrives!

[thomb]

Funny story about that thing, the same day I installed it we ordered pizza. The delivery guy came to the door - was complaining about something in his eye (I am pretty sure he'd coughed into his bowl, blowing the smoldering contents therein into his eyes). This was my moment, I couldn't believe it!

I was practically giddy and was like "Dude I have exactly what you need!". Being only mildly skeptically stoned, he followed me and was the first person to use my eyewash station for its intended purpose. He was pretty impressed.

 

[choff]

Man, why I have I not been reading this thread?? First off, stunning build! I think, actually I know, I enjoy the build more than the actual growing of coral and watching fish. Yep, loved the shot of all the cepex valves. Why people use those silly $3 jobbies from HD is beyond me. Love following along and love the honesty. I think one trait many of us reefers share is our desire for perfection. Few (none) of us achieve it, but your honesty is hilarious in your strive for it. Although, you come about as close to it as I've seen for sure. Love the attention detail and ability to follow through. I wish I had some of your skills. Would love to see the tank someday and test out your beer shelf.

Cheers,
Mike

 

[thomb]

Absolutely you'd be welcome to - heck anyone would be so long as they are on the up and up of course. We'd like to see you're tank as well - those last sets of pictures looked pretty sweet.

 

[thomb]

Quick update. We've had company so this will be textual only. Got the Apex's communicating with the internet. Needed to add a wifi to ethernet adapter and ethernet hub. Surprisingly painless.

Haven't got all my alerts and sensors set up yet. Sure hope there's nobody out there doing ransomware for reef tanks

Saw my first ammonia reading three days ago. .25 (API) - then yesterday, nothing. Testing for nitrate/nitrite - nothing for either both times. Going to be testing daily now.

Seeing diatoms and interestingly even small splotches of coraline! (I did buy one rock with it). I've been adding Aquaforest Bio S daily.

Need to raise the skimmer, the compartment is too deep so will fabricate a base - probably not tomorrow as I hope to be down in RI surfing! Gotta remove it anyway as the pump isn't starting - GRRRR. Ecotech PLEASE make a needlewheel version of the Vectra.

 

[thomb]

An update - non pictorial, no need to send images of a cycling tank.
I spiked the ammonia - it held steady at 2.0 API for 5 days. I've been adding Aquaforest Bio S as well.
Had a "wishful thinking" nitrite reading yesterday. Ammonia at 1.0
Today, ammonia at .25, nitrite 0, nitrate actually 5.0. Cool, seem to be getting somewhere.

Hair algae pretty much everywhere - ugh, I may put a blanket over it

Had to get a new impeller shipped to me for that brand new Tunze skimmer - that annoys me really. I could see the impeller was visibly defective. How that got past QA on a piece of equipment that costs hundreds..I hate internal mag pumps - they are always loud, I don't care how folks try to fool themselves by saying an audible hum is silent -I have never had a pump be what I'd call silent - ever.

-well other than the Vectra. Gads I love that pump.

 

[thomb]

Oh and Apex... gads the configuration through Apex Fusion is wonky. I actually find the hard wired display somewhat easier than the web UI - I am sorry but that's pretty sad.
1. If I want to track a custom measurement - like Ammonia, I shouldn't need to type in Ammonia the second, etc time.
2. The outlet and notification setup is cryptic and balky. I mean seriously how hard is it to create a UI to program - turn on at X, turn off at y, store z, notify if J...

I know exactly how hard it is to program something like this because I've written something like it before - programmed/constructed an Arduino based replacement control board for my dad's drycleaning machine. Its not rocket science. Perhaps someday I'll dive into fixing this myself...eh probably not...

 

[thomb]

Oh and Apex... gads the configuration through Apex Fusion is wonky. I actually find the hard wired display somewhat easier than the web UI - I am sorry but that's pretty sad.
1. If I want to track a custom measurement - like Ammonia, I shouldn't need to type in Ammonia the second, etc time.
2. The outlet and notification setup / visualization is cryptic and balky. I mean seriously how hard is it to create a UI to program or display the configuration of - turn on at X, turn off at y, store z, notify if J...

I know exactly how hard it is to program something like this because I've written something like it before - programmed/constructed an Arduino based replacement control board for my dad's drycleaning machine. Its not rocket science. Perhaps someday I'll dive into fixing this myself...eh probably not...

 

[thomb]

What the heck, how did I do that.double post ... that serves you right, brag about technical prowess and you can't even navigate a forum.

 

[Marshall O]

What the heck, how did I do that.double post ... that serves you right, brag about technical prowess and you can't even navigate a forum.

Sent from my XT1565 using Tapatalk

 

[thomb]

Ammonia just a touch below the .25 color. Nitrate still at the 5.0 ish color

Got into the filter socks - I've never run them before. Had fair bit of sand residuals. Learned I am not going to bother with attempting to wash them anymore... Maybe I can get them auto delivered on Amazon Prime like I've got my coffee...unless these are some proprietary rectangular eShopps design only available from who knows where. I suppose instead of speculating, could just look.

 

[thomb]

Getting closer to the big day...Ammonia zero when I got home from the meeting and zero this morning. So today, I made sure to take care of what is arguably the single most important factor for successful coral husbandry. Sure, light spectrum,PAR, flow, stable and ideal water parameters are important, don't get me wrong - but the giants upon whose shoulders we all stand knew that this one strange trick is the key. While of course no descriptions are necessary, I realize there are folks who are new to the keeping of reefs. So I shall spell it out plainly. You must corral your dosing media containers! They cannot, nee verily I say unto thee, must not simply rest upon their own. Please, look upon your dosing media containers. Assure they are safely corralled, preferably upon a base of PVC.
The reef you save may be your own!

 

[thomb]

Oh and I installed some shelving in the fish closet. Its getting pretty full'd up.

 

[s_kelley]

Nice! Things are coming together very nicely

 

[thomb]

Well here we go! Moved the livestock over. Everything is looking and acting better that it has in months in the temporary tank. Fish much calmer.

The algae is pretty bad, but this is new - I expect it to clear off pretty quickly. Yeah probably should have gone dark for weeks, killed it off but thing is, that temporary tank was going to kill what I had left. Sometimes you just have to make a decision and go with it.

 

[thomb]

It really isn't <that> blue in real life not sure if its the room lighting or this iPhone 6s but I can't get a true to color image.
Or even a single picture of a whole fish for that matter.

 

[thomb]

Here is another sub standard image for the collective viewing enjoyment. I know everyone loves looking at algae and weirdly colored balanced images.

 

[thomb]

I just don't get it... I couldn't photograph my way out of a paper bag. Taken with iPhone eh... yeah right. Its kinda frustrating really. The lighting looks awesome on this system, and it looks like I'm taking pictures in a cave or something.

 

[Owen386]

I just don't get it... I couldn't photograph my way out of a paper bag. Taken with iPhone eh... yeah right. Its kinda frustrating really. The lighting looks awesome on this system, and it looks like I'm taking pictures in a cave or something.

I couldn't agree more. I have almost bought a decent camera a few times for the sole purpose of getting a picture of my reef the way I see it.

Looking great! Most exciting time IMO

Sent from my MotoG3 using Tapatalk

 

[Joe Rice]

I just don't get it... I couldn't photograph my way out of a paper bag. Taken with iPhone eh... yeah right. Its kinda frustrating really. The lighting looks awesome on this system, and it looks like I'm taking pictures in a cave or something.

I've never purchased from this site so I can't vouch for it but you can buy a set of gel filters here that should help to color-correct for the blue.

http://www.coralfish12g.com/module/...way=desc&search_category=all&search_query=gel

 

[this is me]

Tank looks great! What camera are you using?