frags

got these great frags from a local reefer Racenrich. big thanks to Jose for picking these up.

stream loop

we've been intrigued lately at the use of closed loops and mj1000 "loops" used by many japanese reefers. it allows flow to be directed towards the coral (front to back) without actualy viewing the pump. the black triangle flow directors seem particularly popular.

becoming just as popular on many japanese reef blogs is the use of mj eco-mods. taking a normal maxi-jet power head and creating a propeller stream type pump. by doing this you are able to get 1600gph @ ~20watts. these kits are inexpensive and energy efficient, the problem though is they are large and unsightly. after some trials with our tunze 6025's i've found that the flow isnt significantly reduced by directing it via tubing. the wide dispersed flow is then channeled to a smaller stream, but it is still a powerful current and better than a typical powerhead.

possibly in our new tank we will use a mj1200 eco-mod kit hidden in the rock work. however, at the output we will use ABS pipe and channel the flow in different directions; this will help eliminate dead spots and be more energy efficient and less hassel than a closed loop. below is an image showing a reef with closed loop plumbing hidden withing the sand bed. i have also seen where powerheads are hidden and directed via plumbing under the sand bed so they are "invisible" to most users. a pic below shows the "triangle's" used.

lighting

with the new tank coming soon, we've been looking at more lighting options to supplement the halide spots. we stumbled across a few...what do you think?






for some eye candy click the link below for a great video!

aqua online angels video

Rhynchocinetes durbanensis, the cure?

Korallen Zucht was posted on their home site and forums the recent success had with Rhynchocinetes durbanensis, commonly known as camel shrimp, eating acropora eating flatworms and montipora eating snails. here is a quote from the site...

"Very annoying the small beasts! Acropora and Montipora are becoming pale, colorless and the tissue is getting thinner and thinner until it completely dies. Acropora flatworms and Monti snails are dangerous enemies for our corals!

As iodine bathing of the corals is rather time consuming, have to be repeated several times and are highly stressing the coral which is already damaged by the pest we tried something new: A cleaning station for the corals!

Within 30 to 60 minutes the shrimp Rhynchocinetes durbanensis cleans the corals completely in our separate shrimp tank. Acropora flatworms as well as their eggs and Montipora snails are eaten completely.

Caution: We recommend to keep the shrimp separately in another tank, because the shrimp will eat the coral tissue as well after all flatworms, eggs and snails are eaten. If the coral remains a whole day in the shrimp tank, the complete tissue also is munched! The coral hence should remain only 30 to 60 minutes in the cleaning station and then back into the coral tank."

test results

we've been using the elos kits and two part with good results so far. boosted the alk 1.5 dkh and the numbers are shaping up.

ph 8.1
No3 0
Ca 425
Alk 9 (with seachem's borate this is closer to 8)
Mag 1600


mag is high, but before a large water change it was at 2000...a slight OD you could say. the pocciliporas are not liking the switch from the two-part....they've been closed up now for 5 days. color is still good but no PE. we're not too worried, but would hate to lose them.

the lights....are just awesome. a bit too far up right now, but should be just right for the rimless. the stand for the new tank will be about 6in taller and the tank itself will be 8in taller. there is no glare from any angle and the glitter lines are stunning. i wish my camera could capture the glowing corals from the blue spot....we'll have to call over some friends to snap some nice shots.

teaser shot

light rack is up. 150w MH spot and LED spot for supplement. we need to complete the wiring up in the lofted space...wiring will all be hidden, that's next weekends project.

new stuff

we received our orders this week. i am most excited about the lights, both the halides and LED's came in. The halides are beautiful to look at when turned off. they have a dichroic coating that gleams this violet-blue color...it reflects the infra-red heat out the back. the LED's are suprisngly intense and bright. I put them over the tank and my pocci's just glowed.

Jose (dohc97 on RC) should be swinging by today to help me with some wiring and other good stuff...then tomorrow it's off to home depot to finish the light rack. we hope to have the lights over the nano by this weekend.

we also received our order from twopartsolution.com. we've been dosing it now for two days and i can already see a huge increase in growth...the corals actually have cal/alk to use! we'll continue to drip kalk, but at night for evap. we are currecntly dosing 30ml of each part. I know the tank consumption is more, but we dont want to OD.

we received the elos test kits this morning and will be fine tuning the dosing according to those measurements.

iwasaki 50k

just got some bad news....sounds like iwasaki/eye will no longer be making the par36/38 in the mediteranean blue color. this really is a shame for the aquarium world...especially those with SPS reefs. most people on the boards refer to them as 20k or 50k. i got my hands on 2, and will test them out.....may have to stock up. i received my ballast, just waiting for the bulbs to arrive, they should be here early next week along with some LEDs, halogen, and other goodies.

the power to my building was shut off yesterday, ran 2 battery powered air pumps for the day and suffered no losses. just a huge mess from the popping bubbles. a little tissue necrosis on an encrusting monti, but that's all...i can live with that.