SuncrestReef

Here are some photos with my Nikon 60mm macro lens. I'll have a new 200mm macro arriving next week, so I'll do some comparison photos once it arrives.

I just use a damp sponge. If you squeeze the sponge and it doesn’t drip, then it’s just right. If it’s too wet it leaves a lot of streaks.

I'd like to add a calcium reactor to my Reefer XL 425 (112 gallon system), but my sump space is pretty cramped with existing equipment. I'm looking for a reactor plus CO2 canister that can fit within a 6" wide x 14" deep x 24" tall space in the dry equipment side of the cabinet. Any recommendations?

Question: Since this is my first time submitting a photo and don't know all the rules, are contestants allowed to vote? (to be honest, I like a couple of the other entries better than my own!)

Sure, I could be sleeping, but instead I'm looking at my coral after the lights go off. It's amazing to see how some corals change at night. Look at the difference between my lobo during the day and when the tentacles extend at night:

I've only been on this forum for about a month, so I don't know the whole routine yet. Are group meetings normally held each month, or do you take summers off? Just curious when the next meeting will be held.

Can anyone confirm if these are feather duster worms, or something else? The first photo shows one that's about 1/2" diameter, and the 2nd photo has several small ones about 1/8" diameter.

Yes, if the energy bars don’t get a reply from the Apex brain, each outlet will revert to the Fallback settings. If your heaters don’t have a built in thermostat, it’s best to set the heater outlets to Fallback Off, otherwise you will cook your tank pretty quickly.

With the summer heat wave, I was struggling to keep my water temp from spiking during the day unless I really cranked up the house air conditioning to the point where I needed to wear a sweater indoors. I looked into getting a chiller, but I don't really have room in my cabinet and don't want it external. Instead I picked up a basic 18" fan from Home Depot for $32 and attached it to an unused outlet on my Apex. I was amazed at how quickly it can cool the tank, with the Apex running the fan only about 10 minutes per hour based on the temperature probe reading. Here's the Apex code I used and found the temperature stays between 78.0 - 78.3: Fallback OFF Set OFF If Tmp > 78.1 Then ON If Tmp < 78.1 Then OFF Defer 000:30 Then ON Defer 000:30 Then OFF

I use mesh filter bags on the output pipes of my GFO and carbon reactors to catch any stray pellets. My sump used to be littered with shards until I added the filter bags.

Yes, your OSC command will run it for 20 minutes on then 10 minutes off and repeat. Question: Do you have the Gyre power plugged directly into an EnergyBar outlet, or is the Gyre being controlled by an IceCap module attached to your Apex? If you're using the IceCap module, then you'd be able to control the Gyre speed in addition to on/off, and could avoid using the OSC command. I have mine connected via IceCap and just use several profiles throughout the day to ramp up, pulse, and ramp down at night.

Here's a full tank time-lapse video showing my cleanup crew hard at work. (except for that one hermit crab that hitchhikes a ride on 3 different conchs...😂)

How can I shop there now without bursting into laughter? Awesome narration! 😂

@CuttleFishandCoral had a beautiful chalice that I couldn't resist: Here's my latest full tank shot. The new chalice fit in perfectly below my rock arch:

Thanks! You guys have been very helpful.

Today I added a new goniopora from @CuttleFishandCoral to my tank. Here are photos when I first added it and one hour later as it started to open up: I also made a time lapse video as it opened up, but there was also a lot of other activity taking place around it:

I guess what I'm trying to say is that your original question asks why the sump chambers are at the same level even when the pump is running at full speed. If your plumbing is set up so the pump can overload the drain, then I would expect the sump return pump chamber to empty and your display tank water level would increase beyond what the drain could accommodate. This seems like a dangerous situation as it could either cause the pump to run semi-dry, or cause the display tank to flood over the top depending on the overflow height. Most tanks are set up so the primary drain plus the emergency drain combined could handle the full rate of flow produced by your pump, so the water level in the sump chambers will never actually change when the pump is running, even at full speed.

This might be a dumb question, but could the water level in the sump chambers being at the same level be due to you filling the tank with more water than necessary? If you drained a gallon or two out, then the return pump chamber would be noticeably lower than the other chambers. The rate that water is pumped out of the sump should match the rate of the water draining back into the sump, so in my opinion the turnover rate should have no impact on the water level in the sump chambers.

Some people might be getting tired of all my pistol shrimp videos, but this one really cracked me up! 😂 The shrimp was basically kicking buried snails out of his front yard. Eviction #1 at 0:15, eviction #2 at 3:50.

Here's an updated full tank video.

Today I picked up my first torch from @CuttleFishandCoral. Based on this brief video, do you think this is too much flow for the torch or is it OK?

My cleaner shrimp molts about every two weeks. I'm always amazed at how they can completely slip out of their exoskeleton, leaving it fully in tact including the very fine antennae: I always pluck the exoskeleton out of the tank right away when I find it in the morning. The shrimp always molts at night, and I can tell it's happened because he doesn't eat the following morning (which is highly unusual since he's a glutton) so I know to look around the tank to find it.

The alveopora has really opened up nicely!

I just did my first test with ICP-Analysis last week. I used a USPS Priority flat rate envelope which cost $6.70 and they received it 2 days later. I was surprised ICP didn't send me any email notification that they received it, or when the test results were ready. I had to keep logging in to their website to check for results, and for a couple days their site was offline with "Internal Server Error". I eventually got logged back in and found my results: On their site they allow you to compare each element against samples from Fiji, Hawaii, St. Thomas, and Florida. It's odd that they say my Silver is low, even though it's listed at 0ppm at all four of the reference locations. Here's the full report with comparison to Fiji: ICP-Analysis.pdf