Salted_Waffle’s 26g C-Vue

[Salted_Waffles]

Hello folks!

I’m Waffles and I’m new around here and to reefing in general. I live in Eugene Oregon. 

I started April last year with a Fluval Evo and have been adding gear over the past year. I recently switched everything over to a C-Vue 26g by Cobalt aquatics.

 

Here’s a list of my hardware:

C-Vue 26g from Cobalt Aquatics

2 AI Prime Hd’s

Icap K1 nano skimmer

Syncra Silent 1.0 return pump

Innovative Marine Spinstream Return Nozzle

Hydor 240 powerhead

Hydor 550 powerhead

Hydor Smart Wave Controller

Tunze Osmolator ATO

150W Cobalt Neotherm Heater

2 50w grow LED bulbs from Amazon for fuge 

 

I love, love, love this hobby and I’m sure you can all understand how fulfilling and rewarding it can be. The peace I feel when I just sit and stare into this ecosystem in a little glass box is so serene.

I look forward to becoming more involved in the PNW reef scene and becoming a part of the community.

 

If you have an Instagram account you can find me @Salted_Waffles. 

 

 

 

Edited April 18, 2018 by Salted_Waffles
Added pictures

[albertareef]

Welcome Waffles!  That is a really nice looking setup - seems like your time since last April has been well spent. I know there are at least a few regular members on the forum from down your way.  Hopefully you will find some helpful information and advice here when you need it and maybe even make it to a meeting in person. We try and have events outside PDX with some regularity and will likely get as far south as Tangent again soon. 

[Salted_Waffles]

8 hours ago, albertareef said:

Welcome Waffles!  That is a really nice looking setup - seems like your time since last April has been well spent. I know there are at least a few regular members on the forum from down your way.  Hopefully you will find some helpful information and advice here when you need it and maybe even make it to a meeting in person. We try and have events outside PDX with some regularity and will likely get as far south as Tangent again soon. 

Thanks. I’ve been doing tons a research long before I got a tank. I actually hadn’t even planned on getting the tank in the first place, but my partner surprised me with it as an early birthday present. I guess they realized how much time I spent looking at, reading about, and talking about saltwater aquariums.

I just put an order in for a Hanna Checker Reef kit. Should be here around Wednesday next week. Can’t wait to get some accurate testing done so I can really dial in the tank.

I’m hoping to try my hand and some sps’s soon. 

Next purchase will be a RODI unit. 

[Emerald525]

32 minutes ago, Salted_Waffles said:

Thanks. I’ve been doing tons a research long before I got a tank. I actually hadn’t even planned on getting the tank in the first place, but my partner surprised me with it as an early birthday present. I guess they realized how much time I spent looking at, reading about, and talking about saltwater aquariums.

I just put an order in for a Hanna Checker Reef kit. Should be here around Wednesday next week. Can’t wait to get some accurate testing done so I can really dial in the tank.

I’m hoping to try my hand and some sps’s soon. 

Next purchase will be a RODI unit. 

Great looking tank! That’s an awesome birthday present. Sps really isn’t that hard. The true challenge is having a mixed reef where everything is happy.  I love the Hanna Alk checker. The calcium one I didn’t find to be as accurate. The magnesium one takes a little bit longer but fortunately I don’t need to test that as much. Alk in my opinion is the one that needs To be tested the most. I also like the Red Sea tear kits too. I love your pictures and if you make it to the meeting I would be happy to give you a few frags of some hardier sps that have been through tank changes and all kinds of conditions and survived.

[Salted_Waffles]

3 hours ago, Emerald525 said:

Great looking tank! That’s an awesome birthday present. Sps really isn’t that hard. The true challenge is having a mixed reef where everything is happy.  I love the Hanna Alk checker. The calcium one I didn’t find to be as accurate. The magnesium one takes a little bit longer but fortunately I don’t need to test that as much. Alk in my opinion is the one that needs To be tested the most. I also like the Red Sea tear kits too. I love your pictures and if you make it to the meeting I would be happy to give you a few frags of some hardier sps that have been through tank changes and all kinds of conditions and survived.

Yeah, I’ve read multiple times that Calc and Alk are tied together so you would notice a drop in your Alk if your Calc was dropping as well.

I figured it was worth the kit though just to have both as well as low end Phos checker.

Mixed reef is what I’m going for, so hopefully I can get there. I like a good challenge. 

Some free hardy frags would be awesome. I don’t have much in trade but if you wanted maybe some Orange Rainbow or Halle Berry Zoa frags I’d be happy to trade you some. 

[Emerald525]

3 hours ago, Salted_Waffles said:

Yeah, I’ve read multiple times that Calc and Alk are tied together so you would notice a drop in your Alk if your Calc was dropping as well.

I figured it was worth the kit though just to have both as well as low end Phos checker.

Mixed reef is what I’m going for, so hopefully I can get there. I like a good challenge. 

Some free hardy frags would be awesome. I don’t have much in trade but if you wanted maybe some Orange Rainbow or Halle Berry Zoa frags I’d be happy to trade you some. 

You have a deal! I can bring them to the May meeting !!

[wantanewtank]

Hello folks!
I’m Waffles and I’m new around here and to reefing in general. I live in Eugene Oregon. 
I started April last year with a Fluval Evo and have been adding gear over the past year. I recently switched everything over to a C-Vue 26g by Cobalt aquatics.
 
Here’s a list of my hardware:
C-Vue 26g from Cobalt Aquatics
2 AI Prime Hd’s
Icap K1 nano skimmer
Syncra Silent 1.0 return pump
Innovative Marine Spinstream Return Nozzle
Hydor 240 powerhead
Hydor 550 powerhead
Hydor Smart Wave Controller
Tunze Osmolator ATO
150W Cobalt Neotherm Heater
2 50w grow LED bulbs from Amazon for fuge 
 
I love, love, love this hobby and I’m sure you can all understand how fulfilling and rewarding it can be. The peace I feel when I just sit and stare into this ecosystem in a little glass box is so serene.
I look forward to becoming more involved in the PNW reef scene and becoming a part of the community.
 
If you have an Instagram account you can find me@Salted_Waffles. 
 
 
 

Welcome to this addicting hobby. I had a family member who saw me doing all the chores associated with having a reef tank. I was constantly reading Coral magazine and looking at vids. He said “you are so addicted” I said thank you lol. He did not have a clue how much I love it. Don’t like all the bad stuff that happens but isn’t that how we learn?


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[wantanewtank]

Yeah, I’ve read multiple times that Calc and Alk are tied together so you would notice a drop in your Alk if your Calc was dropping as well.
I figured it was worth the kit though just to have both as well as low end Phos checker.
Mixed reef is what I’m going for, so hopefully I can get there. I like a good challenge. 
Some free hardy frags would be awesome. I don’t have much in trade but if you wanted maybe some Orange Rainbow or Halle Berry Zoa frags I’d be happy to trade you some. 

Salted, I forgot to say how awesome your photos are. What camera do you use?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Salted_Waffles]

10 hours ago, wantanewtank said:

 

Welcome to this addicting hobby. I had a family member who saw me doing all the chores associated with having a reef tank. I was constantly reading Coral magazine and looking at vids. He said “you are so addicted” I said thank you lol. He did not have a clue how much I love it. Don’t like all the bad stuff that happens but isn’t that how we learn?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

There is a fair share of tough things and any loss really gets me gutted. I just try to take solace in the fact that each loss wasn’t in vain as long as I learned something.

10 hours ago, wantanewtank said:

 

Salted, I forgot to say how awesome your photos are. What camera do you use?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

I just use my IPhone 7. I also use a clip on gel filter from AlgaeBarn called Aquariclip. It works wonders. I highly recommended  it. I barely do any editing and the photos are great. Here are some examples of edited on the left and unedited on the right for some comparisons.

Edited April 19, 2018 by Salted_Waffles

[Salted_Waffles]

Just a short quick update. 

I have a Hanna Checker Reef Kit on the way, as well as some Marinepure balls and some of Live Aquaria’s salt mix. 

Should all be here Wednesday. I’ll try to get some pics when everything comes in. 

[Salted_Waffles]

Looks like I melted my macro by not acclimating them to the new lights I got. Which cause my phosphates to spike. Testing at .012ppm. 😰

I got some chemipure blue and some water and will be doing frequent water changes over the next few weeks in an attempt to get them back down. Good thing I just ordered a bunch of salt.

 

So I got my marinepure balls in the mail and got them all rinsed and in the sump. I know how everyone loves pictures so here’s a couple.

I’m excited for the meet coming up and can’t wait to bring back some awesome corals.😁

Edited April 29, 2018 by Salted_Waffles

[Jeremevans]

I've been using maybe pure balls and the thick block for over a year now and nitrates are always near 0.

I don't think they will drop anything for phosphate--at least I've never heard that.

Do you know where your phosphate is coming from? Macro algae can help reduce phosphate but reducing the input could be a big help.


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[Salted_Waffles]

4 hours ago, Jeremevans said:

I've been using maybe pure balls and the thick block for over a year now and nitrates are always near 0.

I don't think they will drop anything for phosphate--at least I've never heard that.

Do you know where your phosphate is coming from? Macro algae can help reduce phosphate but reducing the input could be a big help.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I ordered the balls just to help with long term stability before my spike.

 

I’m almost certain the spike is from nearly all of my macro melting. I switched the lights on them, more than double the watt, and didn’t think to acclimate it to the new power. 

I am doing several water changes of the next few weeks.  Today being the second one since I noticed the spike. I made sure to clean all my equipment in my sump and siphoned out all the littles bits of macro that where left. 

 

Plan is to wait a little bit and get some more macro and this time slowly acclimate to the lights. 

Edited April 29, 2018 by Salted_Waffles

[Salted_Waffles]

Update on my first attempt at fragging.

decided to try my hand at fragging some Zoas a little bit ago. I wore googles, gloves, and a face mask. 😷

Was very aware I could hurt myself with these corals.☠️

I’m alive and so are most of the frags.👍

One for sure melted, but I had a feeling that one would. The other, well the other came unglued. So it might show up somewhere.🤷‍♀️

 

As always, pics to keep it interesting.

Halle Berry

Tyree Orange Rainbow

Mother

[Salted_Waffles]

My phosphates are coming down. They were .09 last I checked. Had to order some more reagent so i’ll know if they keep falling soon.

Corals look okay but I know they could be happier with gongs more stable. Ordered a dosing pump to help with that a little more.

Any suggestions on what to dose? Was thinking something like B-Ionic. Would love some input though.

 

Here’s some pics of my trachy for you all. Really loving how this thing is coloring up.

 

[Salted_Waffles]

Tanks is still coming along. Recently bought a dosing pump and plan to start dosing Red Sea. Moving in the beginning of June so won’t be setting it up till after the move. I have been trying to keep up with manual dosing.

 

Alk 145-150 ppm

Calc 450-550 ppm

Sal 33-35 ppm

Ph 8.2-8.4

Hoping the automatic dosing helps keep things more stable in the future.

My Phos is down to unreadable, which most likely means the algae in my tank, the Cheato, and everything is consuming it at a steady rate. Now to just let the cheato outcompete the other algae and wait for it to die back.

 

I also have been using Polyp Lab’s Reef-Roids and Polyp-Booster with a lot of success. The food combined with the dosing has my coral visible growing again, which is a nice site.

 

Check out the feeding response of my Trachy.

 

Edited May 22, 2018 by Salted_Waffles
Added more info fixed mistakes

[youcallmenny]

Looking really good!  I've been using marinepure balls since the start and really like them.  I like those brain shots in particular.  

[Salted_Waffles]

3 hours ago, youcallmenny said:

Looking really good!  I've been using marinepure balls since the start and really like them.  I like those brain shots in particular.  

Yeah. One  of the first things I learned about this hobby was the Nitrogen cycle, beneficial bacteria and how they need surface area to live. So I’m surprised it has taken me this long to consider using a biomedia like this. You would think it would be a no brainer. 

 

Thanks! My Trachy is right upfront in my tank so it tends to be the easiest to shoot. I’m just lucky they happen to be so photogenic. When I first got it it didn’t look so good. 

 

I really think the Primes are coloring my coral up nicely. Though as I get into more sps, or rather more sps get into my tank, I’m wanting to go hybrid and add some T5’s. 

[Salted_Waffles]

Really haven’t updated this in a while but the tank is still going along. Things look well now.

 

Back in summer the early heat caused some bleaching before I could get the ac up and running. Lots some things, mostly the sticks I got from the May meeting. 

 

A Blue Stag and a chunk of Tierra De Fuego both survived and are starting to color back up and grow nice now.

If you gave them to me feel free to remind me. I’ve totally forgotten what I got from whom.

Edited October 17, 2018 by Salted_Waffles

[CrabbyCrabs]

Nice tank. Awesome pics. Would you mind sharing your light schedule? 

[Salted_Waffles]

On 10/21/2018 at 5:19 PM, CrabbyCrabs said:

Nice tank. Awesome pics. Would you mind sharing your light schedule? 

I can send you the file if you want, just send me an email address. 

 

Heres a pic.

[Salted_Waffles]

I’m pretty sure I got this piece from @badxgillen back in May. It was just a white little stick with a hint of pink. Now it’s a chunky mess of pink and green. 

Shot under all blues with an Aquariclip. No editing.

Edited October 25, 2018 by Salted_Waffles

[Salted_Waffles]

 

Well, dang...

Not what I wanted to see when I get home from a 12 hour shift at work.

Poor little guy. I’m going to redo my lid and bury his fella tomorrow. 

Edited November 7, 2018 by Salted_Waffles

[Deuce00]

Great looking tank. Bummer deal sorry hear about your wrasse taking the leap. Dustin 

[Salted_Waffles]

9 hours ago, Deuce00 said:

Great looking tank. Bummer deal sorry hear about your wrasse taking the leap. Dustin 

Thanks for he compliments and condolences.

He was the jewel of my tank and I miss him a bunch. It’ll be a while before I have money to replace such an expensive fish, or at least an expensive one to me.