obrien.david.j

Harvest #36 complete (June 25th)

- Easy Summary, no change to procedures, same good results.

- BUT, harvested Tigri pods and started an extra 5 gallon grow container in the fish room.  Will keep feeding PhytoFeast, but also bought some Spirulina powder to augment.

• This grow was 100% Poseidon Reef Fertilizer, and we're back with fully dark/dense cultures

Phyto:

• Nannochloropsis Oculata  (Original Culture, from Poseidon Reef)  <-- 3 gallon jars
• Tetraselmis (culture from @Eatfrenchfries) <-- 2 gallon jars

Copepods:  

New 5 Gallon Tigriopus Pod Jar & Phyto Harvest

Have a great time today everyone!   

1 minute ago, Lexinverts said:

No, it's the pvc fragment I wrap nori around to feed my tangs. I should build a bristleworm trap, though.

Sweet!

Looking fantastic!

Is this a bristle worm trap?

52 minutes ago, Lexinverts said:

Many thanks to all of you. I look forward to working with you this year!

Thanks @Lexinverts for being our President.   We are here to all keep the club going strong for the next year.

13 hours ago, Eatfrenchfries said:

Whenever I work hands on with the cultures I do it in the dark and use light sparingly so as to manipulate them better. They shy away from bright light but will choose points that recieve subdued lighting that barely allows some photosynthesis to occur. (Red light makes their eye pop. I think it messes with their orientation if too intense)

The only zoo cultures I have that purposely receive Direct light are adult brine, amphipods, and backup Tigriopus. They are under T5s that heat the water enough to maintain greenwater/macroalgae without a bubbler. (Note: brine and Tig thrive in constant greenwater where others do not. Amphipods are photophobic but love macroalgae)

Tigriopus are exactly what I was thinking of expanding.  Big, Meaty, Fun.  Sounds like I'll want to augment the light.    

Thanks!

39 minutes ago, Eatfrenchfries said:

The more diversity I try to maintain forces me to increase biosafety measures. I can't risk any cross contamination since procuring certain single cultures is no longer possible. 

 

A few people have been keen on how I produce copepods. Nothing special to it. 

Make sure ambient temperature is suitable for pods. Salinity varies between 1.018 - 1.026. One or two bubbles per second.

Congrats on the Zoo-Room-Redo.    I've been wondering/worried about cross contamination between my two pod cultures.  I'm currently using one sieve series (250um->120um->53um stack).   Harvest species 1.   Use them, restart, etc.   Then try to clean the sieve stack with as hot of water as I have.  Plus lots of spraying.   Is it Enough?   Or does your biosafety measure call for dedicated equipment, per species.

On your pod culture technique, how important is light?    I've been playing with the idea of moving some under a stand in my fish room - but it means Super Subtle lighting only.   Some, but not much.    thoughts?

1 hour ago, concrEETdonkey said:

This was the beginning of my first reef tank. Back in 2011, 42g bowfront with 250w metal halide bulb and two actinic T-5s. Had a tiny piece of pulsing Xenia that very quickly took over the entire tank. So much live rock!

Looks like a Potters Angel.  Always loved how they look.

Let's try some debug.

Is it the heater itself?

• Original heater, plug straight into an outlet (or extension cord).  No apex, no inkbird. 
  • Wait 30seconds, is it hot.  (do this still while submerged)
  • Wait 2 minutes, is it still hot.
  • If cold, original heater is bad/dead.

Apex Outlet problem?

• plug something else into the eb832 outlet, like a lamp.   Force Apex to ON.
  • Is lamp lit?
  • Does Apex say it's drawing Watts?
  • Wait few mins, confirm still on.
  • If lit and drawing watts - Doesn't mean EB832 is fine.  You said original heater would draw watts for ~10seconds, and then stop.
  • If ON.  How many watts did it draw, how many watts did your heater draw (for only 10seconds).   Plug MORE in, until same or more wattage drawn.
  • wait, confirm EB832 will power for a while

Maybe replacement heaters are bad, or have internal temp just set too low?

• Plug replacement heater straight into outlet (or extension cord).  No apex, no inbird...  But yes, Submerged.
• Wait 30seconds, is it hot.  (feel it)
• Wait 2minutes, is it still hot.
• If no to either, is the temp setting of the new heater too low

15 minutes ago, mpfinnigan said:

Dang!  My frag RTN overnight.  Not sure why.   Other corals are fine, no change to the system recently.  Tested last weekend with normal parameters.

Lets see if the base will survive.

 

Oh No!   I've been there, it's no fun.

2 hours ago, Lexinverts said:

These are from 2014. This was a Red Sea Max 250 all in one system. If I go back as far as @obrien.david.jI would have to post pictures of freshwater systems. This was my first successful reef tank. I started it in 2012 or 2013, I think.

That's one nice looking "first reef tank."

10 minutes ago, Flash21 said:

I was just thinking about this today! That’s crazy.  
I have only one pic from 2006. This was my pride and joy 30L. 

is that 30 Liters (8g), or 30 gallons?  

7 minutes ago, half-astronaut said:

I was encouraged to dig around this morning and found pics I thought I’d lost. They were pretty early, no livestock in yet, but it was a cool build. 

That was an impressive build.   280, 110 sump, and major remodeling to make it happen.    Does it still exist?

** Post OLD Photos of your tank and setup**

@mrscuito9833 Inspired this thread, by posting old tank photos from Jan 2010.   So I went digging tonight.

https://www.pnwmas.org/forums/topic/52649-i-knew-i-had-a-profile/

My history photo is from Sept 1997.   45 gallon, 48" long tank.  Lit by four 110W VHO lights (ballast tray, with four mechanical timers on bottom right of stand).   Sump is 10gallon tank, return was a fantastic Quiet One pump.   Tank is setup as a giant pile of rocks, and that brain coral lived so long it ended up owning >half of future upgraded 120gallon tank.   Enjoy, and post yours. 

On 6/11/2023 at 4:41 PM, Flash21 said:

Tank is looking great!  looking forward to seeing these grow out.

What lights are you using on this tank?    The current "white" (new) state shows the LED patterning nicely.  This is what my frag tanks looked like, before coraline/algae/etc growth covers things.

Pretty awesome.  I've got some old (film) photos of my earlier tanks around.  You're motivating me to go digging this weekend and find them.

Thanks for sharing.

On 6/10/2023 at 7:21 AM, Lexinverts said:

How is the dino issue in your display?

Dino's no longer overrun the tank.  But at the same time, I still get brown dusty gravel - aka mild dinos.   So Not Gone, but under control.

I'm also one of those people trying out PNS.   I'm a believer in diversity.   Still too early for me to judge, but a few corals are sprouting when they hadn't for the past few months.   Causation or Correlation, can't tell.

Harvest #35 complete (June 9th)

• Continuing to add mid-grow fertilizer kicker.   
• Copepod cultures continue to be fed PhytoFeast, feeding daily.  
  • harvested and restarted pods
• This grow was 100% Poseidon Reef Fertilizer, and we're back with fully dark/dense cultures

Phyto:

• Nannochloropsis Oculata  (Original Culture, from Poseidon Reef)  <-- 3 gallon jars
• Tetraselmis (culture from @Eatfrenchfries) <-- 2 gallon jars

Copepods:  

• Tisbe (Original Culture, from Poseidon Reef) <-- 1 gallon jar
• Tigriopus (culture from @Eatfrenchfries) <-- 1 gallon jar

Getting ready to harvest

Harvest Results, look how dark these are

Pod Harvest

Sorry everyone, we're already booked this weekend and will miss.   Enjoy!

@J-Dog - you posting a May picture today?

** Last Official day of Frag contest **

My Frag Entry, #20.   End of May photo

(Still living on the same frag rack spot, in display tank.  - but Color is great this month)

Frag continues to bump out, and fully encrust the plug. But It's not exploded in the last 6 months.

12 hours ago, Ian Atkins said:

Yeah I probably should get a report from my local water source, I've also thought about doing a couple freshwater ICP test. One on the tap water, and the other from the RODI. Thanks! 

What perfect timing.  I subscribe to Tualatin Valley Water District reports, which come out once a year.   Guess what mail showed up yesterday!   Attaching the report to this thread.

TVWD's 2023 Water Quality Report is available at tvwd.org/wqreport. This annual publication summarizes the findings from thousands water samples taken in 2022. Thank you for enrolling to receive water quality updates by email. Join us virtually on July 12 at noon to learn more Joel Cary, Water Resources Division Manager will host an online Talkin' Water episode to further explain the water quality report and how we know your water is safe. A link to the forum and a YouTube video after the presentation can be found at tvwd.org/talkinwater. Future Water Supply Changes In 2026, TVWD will transition away from purchasing water from the Portland Water Bureau. The Willamette Water Supply System will provide high quality drinking water from a resilient system. Learn more about the system and local construction impacts at ourreliablewater.org.

water_quality_report_2022_data.pdf

4 hours ago, LavenderTi said:

My incoming water in SE averages around 28 tds. I use a similar system to Rudy. It’s been great and I do like the zero water waste. I do notice the Anion burns through a lot more. I have a chlorine tester but haven’t gotten around to using it. 
 

For those using RO around here have you adjusted your rejection ratio if you have low incoming TDS?

That was also part of my motivation for buying a new RO unit.  I bought a unit with a 1:1 rejection rate.  Cost a few more $, but then I'm not a Rudy level user.

@goldenbasketreef 3-5gpm is impressive!

Here's my last RO unit upgrade.

And here's my thread about my 2022 battle.