Je®vis Marine Tank

[Jervis]

Hey! That gadget after the reactor is what Illumnae is trying to find!!

Very informative journal with mouth watering equipments as usual Jervis.

Good work!

You were referring to the Aquamedic T-off? Bought it from Petmart

[Jervis]

Went back to the office to check on things...

It was quite a warm afternoon with temperature reaching 31ºC outside!

I am quite pleased that the tank temperature peaked at 28.5ºC at 4pm. 4pm is usually the warmest with heat build-up within the office since noon.



Seems like the Iceprobe and fans are working (to a certain extent). I used to get around 30ºC on a day like this. Now the question is... what else can I do to limit the temperature to 28ºC? I could add a small chiller which will only be operational during the weekends.

Oh yeah... manage to catch the crab

[Jervis]

Bought a small bag of Chaetomorpha today.



Tied them (loosely) to small pieces of styrofoam to keep them afloat... things are progressing smoothly so far

[planted86]

wow... what is that equipment that you use to grow your chaeto??

just guessing... is it grotech??

[Jervis]

wow... what is that equipment that you use to grow your chaeto??

just guessing... is it grotech??

It's a phytoplankton breeder (see post #99 for link). An old equipment I couldn't sell.

[Jervis]

Nothing much to update... finally gotten some new ATI tubes to replace my old tubes. From front to back:
ATI Aquablue Spezial - Switch B
ATI Blue Plus - Switch A
Arcadia Pro Plan - Switch B
ATI Actinic - Switch A



Lighting duration:
Switch A - 9am to 6pm (9 hours)
Switch B - 10am to 5pm (7 hours)
Moonlight - 6pm to 9am (15 hours)

[carlfsk]

Hey Jervis, what's that with switching on different tubes at different time of the day?

Simulating dawn and dusk effect?

[MbmC]

Hey man, you mind sharing your rationale behind your mixture of light tubes/spectrum?

I'm considering switching one of my blue plus tubes to actinic as well, wonder if that works out.

[Jervis]

Hey Jervis, what's that with switching on different tubes at different time of the day?

Simulating dawn and dusk effect?

Yupe! It's the old fashion way of creating a more natural lighting simulation for the corals (not so much for the fish, although they will benefit from less light shock)... the newer trend is to use high-tech computer-controlled dimming device to dim the light more naturally. But that's a bit on the extreme

[Jervis]

Hey man, you mind sharing your rationale behind your mixture of light tubes/spectrum?

I'm considering switching one of my blue plus tubes to actinic as well, wonder if that works out.

There's no strong rationale behind the mixture really... the 3 ATIs are pretty standard mixture (for a reef tank)... the addition of the Arcadia Plant Pro (pink tube) is something that I'm experimenting on... I believe the pink/red spectrum will boost growth and visually enhance the colour of red/pink corals. However, it might promote algae growth too. Time will tell...

As for your case... I believe it's a matter of intensity and brightness in the end of the day. I heard from a reliable source that the ATI Blue Plus tube can somehow replace the need for actinic. But in comparison, Blue Plus offers much more punch and intensity. If you only have 1 extra slot to spare... I suggest you go for Blue Plus as it will make your tank brighter/more blue. Actinic is for those who have 4 slots and above... a good to have.

[MbmC]

I have 4 slots in total. Problem is, have 2 in back cotrolled with 1 switch, and 2 in front on another switch.

Currently doing this.
Back -> BB (10 hours) -> 250W (6 hours) -> WW (8 hours) -> Front.

Just worried the blue plus tubes don't provide enough coverage to the front of the tank. The Aquablue Spezial tubes (W) should provide enough coverage to the important parts of the tank. I use these tubes to provide the light spread since I ended up only using 1 x 250W.

What do you think, any need to replace on of my Blue Plus tubes with Actinic? From your point above, I think not...

[carlfsk]

Yupe! It's the old fashion way of creating a more natural lighting simulation for the corals (not so much for the fish, although they will benefit from less light shock)... the newer trend is to use high-tech computer-controlled dimming device to dim the light more naturally. But that's a bit on the extreme

Yeah man, I have always wanted to have the dawn and dust effect in my tank. Maybe one day...

[Jervis]

Yeah man, I have always wanted to have the dawn and dust effect in my tank. Maybe one day...

You will definitely get it one day... as it becomes more and more common feature

[Jervis]

Plenty to update tonight

Let's start with the Elos protein skimmer shall we? Well... disappointingly the skimmer took longer than expected It took 12 days to form consistent foaming!

Pix taken yesterday morning... beginning to show its potential.



Here's the funny thing... on day 11, I decided to dump in my Deltec MCE300 to salvage the situation (since the Elos still not foaming). Coincidently, the Elos started to foam the next morning... probably "pressured" by the Deltec



Light skimmate accumulated within the first 8 hours.



But whatever it is... I have removed the Deltec and am very happy with my Elos now. I cleaned the collection cup last night and after less than 24 hours... I got this!



Looking good for a lightly stocked tank... don't you think?

[Jervis]

Finally hooked up a chiller... decided to go for a 1/5hp Arctica to allow more flexibility in the future



Here's my cooling plan (monitored and controlled by Aquatronica):

When water temperature reach 27.5ºC, the Ice Probe (50W) and 12" Fan (25W) will be activated. In weekdays (when office air-con is operational), the Ice Probe and Fan will be able to bring the temperature down to 26.5ºC.

If the Ice Probe and Fan failed to bring down the temperature, continues to hike to 28ºC, the Arctica 1/5hp chiller (400+W) will kick in to bring the temperature down to 26.5ºC.

Hopefully the above plan will reduce the dependency on chiller at least 5 days a week. The remaining 2 days will require a lot more action from the chiller.

Will continue to monitor the situation

[BlackShrimp]

Hi again jervis,

congrats on the elos skimmer working.

anyway, the IceProbe you mentioned. it is the same as this? http://www.marinedepot.com/ps_Aquari..._iceprobe.html

[Jervis]

Hi again jervis,

congrats on the elos skimmer working.

anyway, the IceProbe you mentioned. it is the same as this? http://www.marinedepot.com/ps_Aquari..._iceprobe.html

I can't access the link... but yes marinedepot do sell this Iceprobe. Quite cheap but I believe they are out of stock This little guy is only suitable for a small setup... don't expect it to completely replace a conventional chiller for anything more than a 1ft cube

[Jervis]

I am getting really good result with Purple Up Been dosing 1 cap per day for the past 2 weeks. Here are my observations:

Patch of liverock on 13 Oct 2008:



Same patch of liverock on 23 Oct 2008:



Good formation of purple coralline algae all over...





I believe the addition of a new ATI actinic tube helps too.

[joe faria]

I am getting really good result with Purple Up Been dosing 1 cap per day for the past 2 weeks. Here are my observations:

Patch of liverock on 13 Oct 2008:



Same patch of liverock on 23 Oct 2008:



Good formation of purple coralline algae all over...





I believe the addition of a new ATI actinic tube helps too.

Hmmm.... where I saw this pics?

Honestly, can you share a pic of the Purple Up product and specs?

Regards,

Joe Faria

[Jervis]

Hmmm.... where I saw this pics?

Honestly, can you share a pic of the Purple Up product and specs?

Regards,

Joe Faria

I didn't you are on nano-reef.com too

Here's the LINK