Author Topic: Chromiumlux's 150 Deep Dimension Post Bryopsis Wars (Read 12334 times)

chromiumlux · « **on:** July 26, 2012, 21:24:52 »

Well, I've not been around here much the past few years. Wanted to get back and get involved. I am currently nursing the 150 back to health. The bryopsis war was a tough fight and left the tank pretty well barren. So, I figured I would start with this.
Update for Thursday 7/26/12
Been working on getting the tank back to sea worthiness. Today I performed a water change 30g. Installed one of the new Finnex 300w heaters. Dug out my old shock buster and have the heater, skimmer, carbon and gfo reactors, and fuge pump (for flow) hooked up to it.
Re-worked the lighting. Placed the Orphek Nilus in the rear of the tank. Placed the Orphek 156 in front. Changed up the Orphek PR25s to go along the sides. Looks great! and improved the coverage.
Been blowing off all the rock work during the day. Lot of crap coming off the rocks. Noticed an outbreak of dinoflagellates that seem to have taken the place of the bryopsis...lol. So I changed out gfo and carbon and started running skimmer wet.
The fuge was kinda messy so I addded a low flow pump for better circulation and to help export detritus to the filter socks. Pruned the cheato a bit.
Plan to get another shock buster for the other heater and put on a different circuit.
All in all a good day of maintenance.
A few pics

lazylivin · « **Reply #1 on:** July 26, 2012, 21:35:19 »

Those lights are off the hook Andy. Welcome back to Ohio Reef.

chromiumlux · « **Reply #2 on:** July 26, 2012, 22:03:11 »

Thanks Brian! Glad to be here. Bright aint it?...lol

discus513 · « **Reply #3 on:** July 26, 2012, 22:27:56 »

I love that tank! Glad to see you back at it, let me know if you need any frags of your corals back

NEWMAN · « **Reply #4 on:** July 27, 2012, 01:36:53 »

Nice to see your tank turning around. I have to come see it sometime.

HUNGER · « **Reply #5 on:** July 27, 2012, 08:22:20 »

looks good

Kenn · « **Reply #6 on:** July 27, 2012, 14:29:17 »

One of my favorite tanks. Glad to see you posting again

chromiumlux · « **Reply #7 on:** July 27, 2012, 18:44:41 »

Thanks for the support and the kind comments!!

I was off the hook with trying new things. I am returning to what made this tank gorgeous in the past....namely....old tried and true methods coupled with good old fashioned patience....and a QT tank.....lol.

Sunny · « **Reply #8 on:** July 30, 2012, 05:30:12 »

Fabulous !!

Bluewater · « **Reply #9 on:** July 30, 2012, 09:16:33 »

New lighting set up looks great.

marineman · « **Reply #10 on:** July 30, 2012, 11:44:36 »

Quote from: chromiumlux on July 27, 2012, 18:44:41

Thanks for the support and the kind comments!!

I was off the hook with trying new things. I am returning to what made this tank gorgeous in the past....namely....old tried and true methods coupled with good old fashioned patience....and a QT tank.....lol.

Way to go, Andy. From one believer in the KISS (keep it simple, stupid) methods, I'm sure everything will come together nicely!

chromiumlux · « **Reply #11 on:** August 04, 2012, 11:10:21 »

Ok, This is my final rock work. I decided to go with the old addage..."Less is sometimes more". This will give me plenty of room to grow out some nice sps colonies. I removed most of the Reef Saver rock. What I found with this particular rock is that it is a detritus trap. How I found out? I was playing with my Vortechs yesterday and set them in parallel to run on high reef crest mode. They sucked out a bunch of crud into the water column and this was not a pretty site. So, using all the left over Tonga rock and a few dense peices of the reef saver I came up with a solution. I went through 7 filter socks yesterday.....lol

Anyway, it is more open all around and allows the pumps to keep foods suspended while fish are feeding. I also decided to seperate my black clown from the Duncans. Apparently he has irritated them to the point that several heads have died.
I received the Hydra biopellet reactor yesterday. I am still on the fence as to which pellets to use. I will set that up later after I mod the output to fit the intake on my skimmer. After much research, I am planning to start with a quarter of what is recommended for my system and load. I will add more pellets as needed with additions of corals. I may switch to a Reef Dynamics reactor later as these have a controllable effluent output. I may also invest in a Hanna nitrate and phosphate checker so I can tweek both as the biopellets kick in. The key to this is to know what your numbers are before applying pellets and test daily. Once your desired NoPo level is good you can make adjustments to keep it in that range. I dont want to strip the water completely as acros do need some phos and nitrate. Although I did a partial water change yesterday, I will do a full water change today and service GFO and Carbon today. I beleive I am almost ready for a new coral.

100% Bryopsis free!!! Yeah baby!!!

chromiumlux · « **Reply #12 on:** August 04, 2012, 11:16:56 »

Whoops! forgot to add the pics. Bubblegum survived!!!!

chromiumlux · « **Reply #13 on:** August 04, 2012, 11:17:45 »

Not the best pics....

lazylivin · « **Reply #14 on:** August 04, 2012, 12:24:42 »

It looks good, whenever you frag it again put me down for an eye.

Kenn · « **Reply #15 on:** August 04, 2012, 13:23:17 »

Quote from: Lazylivin on August 04, 2012, 12:24:42

It looks good, whenever you frag it again put me down for an eye.

Same for me Andy. I've coveted that Bubble Gum Monster of yours since I first laid eyes on it

chromiumlux · « **Reply #16 on:** August 04, 2012, 13:48:35 »

I will put you guys down for frags. It is recovering from a fierce battle....lol. Seems to be a pretty tough chalice. Perhaps we can do some traditional trades when the time is right.