KrazyKuch's & Michika's 180Gal Tank Build - Page 34

Delphinus · #**331** 09-14-2008, 05:00 AM

Heh, I miss babysitting that gigas!

michika · #**332** 09-14-2008, 05:07 AM

Not sure what it is. The other two colonies don't photograph well unfortunately.

The gigas probably misses all the other clam friends it made at your place!

michika · #**333** 09-14-2008, 02:44 PM

I just wanted to share this thread, Gone Solar. Its an awesome idea and I wish for our big tank something like would be possible.

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showth...readid=1457056

michika · #**334** 09-14-2008, 04:34 PM

So a few reasons why you should keep up with your regular WCs and dosing. Apparently the kalk. reactor has been bypassed for the last week due to a stopped up check valve. I didn't know this until this morning.

Last water change was August 9th, so over a month ago, and it shows. Coupled with the lack of a kalk. reactor, and my numbers are looking pretty abysmal. Ca. 345, dKH 4!, Mg 1275, Nitrate 71, and phosphate 0.11. Water change is being prepped, and I will raise up the levels in the new water instead of just dosing the whole system as usual. Then I can come back and dose the tank. On the plus side my pH is great, and so is my temp!

Polyps are out on some of the new SPS. I also had Kevin rearrange some of the SPS in the tank. Hopefully the orange digitata, which isn't doing so well, will perk up and start to improve. It used to be on the right side of the tank at the bottom. Its counter part, a green digi, was just 3" above it and its doing better.

The sump is going to be completed today, and we've decided to drill the holes for the bulkhead after is assembled rather then wait for a bulkhead to drill it. This will give the silicone 2 weeks to dry, and if the sump doesn't get drilled before we move, then at least we can use it for water storage.

michika · #**335** 09-15-2008, 02:13 AM

Alright so 9 hours after dosing just a few tablespoons of baking soda to raise my super low dKH I am now seeing the usual crazy polyp extension I am used to seeing when my tank is healthy. I'm sure that getting a few other things adjusted will result in more polyp extension, but for now I can actually see the change that just a little bit of baking soda has made.

This is one of the new colonies, it was the one previously pictured as being dipped.

michika · #**336** 09-15-2008, 02:32 AM

All my frags from Wicked Frags are doing well.

The lovely little colony that I bought which we all called the "bush coral"

michika · #**337** 09-17-2008, 01:17 PM

I was bored on Monday night and decided that I should upgrade my ghetto refugium. Originally I'd hacked the top of a pop bottle off and drilled various holes for some slow flow. Well it worked and a short time later the bottle was so full of cheato, that it was deforming the bottle slightly. There was also no more room to grow.

My solution? Upgrade! The tank is now sporting, for just another 19 days, a ghetto fabulous modified milk jug! Things seem better, the cheato has relaxed a bit, and lost some of the pop bottle shape it was holding.

I also forgot to take an after shot of the final product. My bad, I will post one later.

fishytime · #**338** 09-20-2008, 02:50 PM

Cool idea for a ghetto grow-op. Did Kevin tell you about the tangs we got in last week(and probably clams today....shhhhh).

michika · #**339** 09-20-2008, 03:43 PM

I just read that PM, now I am super excited!

The ghetto grow-op container is now full, hopefully it can last a couple of weeks then it can have its own sump space.

michika · #**340** 09-20-2008, 09:37 PM

I would just like to proclaim that thanks to Red Coral I am now Queen of the Clams. I bumped my clam count up by 4, and can now boast 14 clams; gigas, maxima, crocea, derasa, and squamosas. I still want more...

I also came home with a couple of fish I'd put on hold. I also realized when I got home that I'd forgotten a fish, a mimic tang, that I'd put on hold last week. Anyways new fish are a powder blue, and a orange shoulder tang. Total tang count is now 8. The powder blue ate nori from the feeding stick less then 5 minutes after being introduced into the tank!

I also took a few photos of some of the tanks at the store. I want this super cool Stonefish, but don't think I have the time or cash to give it the life it deserves.

These are top down shots of the clam tank. Some with the tank lights on and some with them off.

I of course took the two in the middle here, I couldn't resist.

Close up!

Took this home too!

One of the seahorses Kevin had ordered in for another client

A couple of little frags that had just come in. I, for once in my life, used will power and didn't buy them!