conix's 75G

[conix67]

Although my tank's been doing fine so far, some SPS species some colors I liked. Out of many parameters, I decided to try upgrading the lighting system first, as I'm still running 4 T5HOs in this system. I've made a purchase from AP on used stuff, but were missing endcaps. Just days ago I obtained the endcaps via trade, and finally I had chance to complete the lighting system upgrade..

Old look -



First problem - can't fit 5 retro mounts on the lid, ended up with a small piece of aluminum plate to extend the mount.

2 pieces were prepared.



Mounted with a screw.



Endcap mount installed.



Another view.



Wirings and others all complete. Took much longer than expected



all lights on! Glad it worked at first try!



With reflectors. Notice missing a reflector, and a short one. Need to order some now...



New FTS. Color level auto adjusted as there's stronger actinics and messes up camera's view. Looks like a little more pop to color due to 2xactinics+ added now.

[Boomboy]

wow man everything looks really great. nice job at fitting 2 more in there.

[conix67]

Well, RKL finally arrived. This is actually a little exciting moment, as it could be the beginning of automation of this tank. For now, I'll be using it as temperature control and for some timer functions. Here's what came in the package

• power module with 4 outlets (8A 3A 3A 8A), status lights
• temperature probe (connects to the power module directly)
• head unit (2 line backlit LCD display and 5 buttons)
• USB module, cables for firmware upgrade
• users guide, etc

Paid ~$95US (plus shipping, tax, etc) at bulk reef supply, and this is supposed to be very inexpensive considering what it offers - capability of a dual stage temperature controller, digital timer, wave maker, etc.

You can do things like controlling your main lights with temperature monitor such that it would shut off the light if temperature's too hight, etc. However, advanced programming is not possible.

I have it setup to control heaters, and skimmer/return pump in standby mode, which is really a neat feature and let you delay start skimmer/return pump while feeding the fishes/tank.

Here's the pic with the head unit visible (lower left corner) and actinics on.



It was very hot today, and I had my air conditioner turned off. I did not realize my tank's temperature shoot up to 84F !!! Fortunately, everything seemed to be ok.

I realized this only after RKL was installed. Good thing the temperature is now clearly visible all the time, and never thought the effortless temperature monitoring can bring this much relief!

Anyway, I'm very happy with RKL so far. I do plan to add at least PH monitoring in the near future, and possibly moon light control... and maybe replace all timers with another power module.. we'll see

[conix67]

Update today - growth shots of some frags..

I've noticed substantial growth from my birdnest frag.. it is known to be a fast grower, but the growth rate is amazing regardless!

Original frag mounted on a plug.. it was a tiny piece, about an inch tall...



2 1/2 months later



Notice the green frag on the left side, it's the frag of a frag (to save it from other parts suffering from some sort of tissue recession) grown from a tiny frag also.. definitely not as fast as the birdnest, but growth is visible



and here's my purple millie colony



about 3 months after



Showing good growth, but the growth is not very even . You can see clearly the left edge shows substantial growth, but the rest isn't showing much of the growth at all. I wonder if this is related to flow...

Anyway, last update of today.. seeded few frags just days ago, will let them heal and grow for a while..

[conix67]

I had a very difficult time last weekend. One of the major salt water aquarium store had a big sale, and had to resist temptation, very hard. However, still ended up with two more SPS corals. One I'm very happy with, another I'm not too sure...

Deep purple-blue Acro



Yellow-neon green body, purple tipped, brown polyp acro /w acro crab



Finally added two more 48" reflectors, so the lighting hardware is now complete @ 6 bulbs.

Some of my tiny frags aren't doing well, but SPS frags have been doing well. Multi color frags on a single frag plug.



Finally added ATO system, using a container outside. Looks ghetto but someone told me to do it this way



Next up is a matching stand to house the 15G tall tank for ATO..

[conix67]

As the "Reef Crystals" bucket doesn't really fit in my living room, I'd been looking into ways to build a small stand to hide it under. I was thinking of complete DIY stand with similar look and color as the tank stand.

I found something that comes very close to it, without much of DIY from Ikea and decided to use it instead.





It's supposed to be black-brown, but looks quite brown under certain lighting condition. Anyway, it blends in well, and hides my ATO container.

With more hidden space available, next step is to add larger water container for ATO, 15G high will fit nicely inside, and I already have a glass lid for it. Also, a decent size containers (slim and tall) for 2-part solution would be needed.

Anyway, today I found a mystery creature on my green monti digi. looks like either a snail or nudibranch.. what could it be?? Crossing my fingers hoping it's not something bad..

[conix67]

Just got a pocket digital video camera. Tried it out on my 75G tank and it looked decent, so uploaded my first Youtube video. Take a look -

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1h8iC4diwzo