obrien.david.j

I'm a fan of cleaners from Algae Free. Currently running the Tiger Shark plus (floating) on a 1/2" glass tank. Wicked strong, Do Not get your finger pinched between the two halves. Blood blister time.

Great Teaser Picts. I'll be back when running comfortably again.

Noticed this post in facebook today, and found this article in USA Today. Looks like our aquarium friends in New Orleans are in for a rough ride. Looks like I better start thinking of my Winter backup solution. We didn't lose power last winter, but you never know what mother nature may bring this year. Plan ahead folks! (Side note, I've gotten a generator since last year, but planning to add a 12v battery based system directly into my MP40/MP60's as well. It will bridge the gap if I'm out of town or can't get back to the house for a day.)

In our house hold, we know who lives there!

Looks like you've got a nice collection of corals going. ... But is that a Pineapple, under the sea, in the lower right corner?

Pictures! We love Pictures. (of the tank, of the new coral frag you just bought, of the new bucket of salt dragged home, of the spill your water change hose just made when it fell out of the bucket... We love Pictures!)

Thanks for the Defer recommendation, all 4 header outlets updated. And I'll file something with Neptune later this weekend. THANK YOU

I don't get pop-ups in my browsers. And so I've never seen this message. I'm on windows, I know you're on a mac. we're getting a different experience. It would be nice if this wasn't a pop-up. (BTW, I tried chrome, edge, changed the settings to put apexfusion.com on my approved pop-up list /etc. no luck. Suspect all the security SW/etc has them turned off...) BUT, what's causing it... DataLog on Misc screen is set to 10 minutes, like it has for the past 10 years. BUT... looking at my heater programming, I don't have any bounce protection, which I should add. Which do you prefer on a heater, so it doesn't turn on/off too often - two Defer statements or two Min statements? Current programming: Fallback OFF If T-Tank < 77.8 Then ON If T-Tank > 78.0 Then OFF Addition option 1: Defer 002:00 Then ON Defer 002:00 Then OFF Addition option 2: Min Time 002:00 Then ON Min Time 002:00 Then OFF For the display problem, I'm at a loss. Just "lots of data?!"

Granted.

All, (+ @SuncrestReef) I've been having a strange problem with my apexfusion web account. Graphs show/don't show data, depending on how I scroll. I used Tank Temp, Heater (on/off) and Heater (Wattage) to demonstrate the problem. Here's screen captures, pay attention to the date on the X-axis in each graph, as I scroll back in time. Anyone else experiencing this issue?

The heck with color. I started with red sea "Coral Pro Salt" too (left side of my pict), and switched to "Red Sea Salt" (right side of my pict) because my KH was too high. I stuck with the same brand of salt, under the idea of minimizing overall changes. That logic may have been junk, but I did it.

Might you have a typo in your intro post? ... do a 10 gal water change once a week with the Red Sea coral pro salt (blue bucket = KH of 12). My history is the red sea PRO has the high KH, but is the Black bucket. I was using this salt, and had the same Higher Alk scenario as well. I switched to Red Sea (BLUE) bucket, with lower KH, and am running fine now. Which salt are you using?

Doesn't sound like you missed anything. You could have taken the CaReactor completely out of service, and changed/check it there... But how would you have known it would split a seam later. Sounds like a fluke.

I concur. My sump / equipment room is open air in the garage, and I get extra above and beyond rusting. For the inside of my house, I've installed an exhaust fan that draws from inside my hood, and expels into the garage (or outside). The whole idea is to draw the moist air (from over the tank) OUT of the room. This is the model I use, it's nice and quiet and has a speed controller to enable slower==quieter. (under $100 on Amazon, but checkout this company's website, they've got a whole line of exhaust products) The key, Draw from your tank hood and exhaust Outside-the-room! Then the AC unit doesn't get the moisture AC Infinity CLOUDLINE S4, Quiet 4” Inline Duct Fan with Speed Controller - Ventilation Exhaust Fan

Found this cool article about Bioluminescence on the southern coast in July. https://www.beachconnection.net/news/glow_southcoast.php (Copied here, in case original article goes away) Glowing Blue Waves Light Up Southern Oregon Coast | Where to Look Published 07/06/21 at 5:25 PM PDT By Oregon Coast Beach Connection staff (Gold Beach, Oregon) – Here's something you don't see every day – largely because it's only seen at night. (Photos courtesy Steven Smith / Solution 7 Media) Bioluminescent phytoplankton hit parts of the southern Oregon coast in full form over the holiday, with a McMinnville photographer there to catch the otherworldly spectacle. Steven Smith runs Solution 7 Media out of the Oregon wine country town, but over the weekend he was on a mission down at the other end of the state to try and capture what he's snagged in the past: glowing blue waves. An 11-hour ride to the south on July 2 got him his treasure, but not at first. What Smith snagged on camera this time (as well as last year at Fort Stevens) was a form of phytoplankton called dinoflagellates, which are bioluminescent – meaning they glow. They're not unlike fireflies and they glow in a similar manner, but these are microscopic creatures and to find them in a stretch of surf like this means you're looking at practically incalculable trillions and trillions of them. Smith calls it “electric blue,” and that's certainly what it can look like, at least in-camera. To the naked eye, it's more of a twinkling effect: the surf sparkles. On the sands itself, these teeny, tiny critters create what's called “glowing sand,” where the wet sand near the tideline will glow or sparkle a green / blue with each step. In fact, the best way to see it is scrape your feet while going backwards and you'll see the glittery little lights fly up with the sand. The most spectacular sight that comes about with the tiny dino's is if they're in a pool of sea water in the sand. Stomp your foot in there and you'll see an entire galaxy light up beneath you (a tad reminiscent of that mini galaxy in the first Men In Black movie). Late at night, Smith was around Gold Beach when he was trying to find them, checking out viewpoints around Pistol River, Meyers Creek and more. “I checked at 11 p.m. and saw nothing, although the waves seem to crash brightly white,” Smith said. Still looking well past midnight, he was closing in on giving up. “At the last moment, I decided I would try another location,” he said. Driving some ten minutes south of Meyers Creek he found Arch Rock Picnic Area at the edges of the Samuel H. Boardman Corridor. As he put it: “BOOM, electric blue everywhere.” These shots from Solution 7 Media / Smith show the full, glowing glory of the scene. "They were also visible from Secret Beach," Smith said. The Oregon and Washington coast get this a lot in summertime, but it definitely occurs other times of the year. However, it's easier to spot the glowing phytoplankton on the beaches as this sight in the waves is not especially common. When and where to look for this? Yes, your chances of seeing this along the coast of Oregon or Washington are not bad right now. However, just as Smith discovered, it comes and goes in any particular spot. It may show up near Port Orford and Manzanita, but it won’t be elsewhere, for instance. Then the next night it could be many places. Your best shot is simply hitting the beach and night and looking for yourself. Often, the sparks are so faint it's impossible to see unless you know what to look for. So what increases your chances of seeing glowing sand or waves? Sheanna Steingass is a biologist with Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW) specializing in phytoplankton. “Dinoflagellate and algal blooms happen during periods of heavy upwelling in which northerly winds cause upwelling of cold, nutrient rich water along the coast, making these nutrients available for primary producers,” Steingass said. “So look for times when that cold wind blows heavily from the north, and for a few days/weeks thereafter.” Often people misuse the wording regarding glowing sand and call it “phosphorescent” sand – but that's not anywhere near correct. Phosphorescence is a purely chemical reaction; bioluminescence comes from a process within living creatures. For these tiny critters on the Oregon and Washington coast, it's about oxygen interacting within them as they are poked or touched. “The mechanism for glowing in different plants and animals varies a lot,” Steingass said. “For dinoflagellates, this is created by an oxidative reaction (adding oxygen) to a compound luciferin (named from the latin 'light' or 'lucifer' with an -in added).” See the full story on what these are at: Bioluminescent Phytoplankton: What Makes Glowing Sand On Oregon Coast, Washington. MORE PHOTOS BELOW Smith's technical specs: Sony a7rii - 35mm f1.4 Sky - Tracked 120 seconds - Foreground - 240 seconds

See everyone there!

Thanks for the heads up. My normal winter time TDS is low/mid single digits. It's 46 today.

I'll admit to a bit of research here, but there is a path back to the original question. We started with how much volume did it take to reclassify a tank as a pond. But the difference between a pond and a lake is not about volume, apparently it's about light penetration. Although not called out in such terms, the variation in penetration is both depth dependent and turbidity dependent. Using the graph as general guideline, if your "tank" allows light penetration to 200 meters of depth - then we can move the conversation towards further classifying your tank as Open Ocean, verses merely costal waters. https://rwu.pressbooks.pub/webboceanography/chapter/6-5-light/ Once you move the discussion into classification of tropic levels of lake, you've moved us back to checking your tank against Lake considerations. In classifications from Oligotropic to Mesotrophic to Eutrophic, all still maintain aphotic zones. Side note, I swam in hypereutrophic lakes growing up in MN, although by the original pond vs lake criteria, I suspect they would always been classified as ponds with no aphotic zones in their history. Further side question, is the evolutionarily next step of a hypereutrophic "lake" really called a Meadow? https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/Eutrophication-of-Lake-Reghaïa-Togola-Aljaouja-Liu/a6f6a9f7886ff11150372878fdef876ac549009a/figure/0 Further, tropic lake classifications have a strong relationship to thermocline existence. I suspect your tank has never had a thermocline, we've moved our discussion back to checking your tank against Pond considerations. Especially assuming your system is fully photic. No matter how much temporary turbidity has increased from food fed, sand stirred up, or phytoplankton added. (Temporary black out periods to fight dino's don't count as aphotic.) So, what criteria would you like to use to differentiate a Tank from a Pond? According to this reference, maybe its not about volume but size. Is your tank yet 10' x 15, Yet? What Is The Size Of Your Average Pond? The average size of most ponds is 10′ x 15′ (roughly 150 square feet) with the deepest point being 24″. If you have underwater shelves for plants they usually go 12″ down. https://premierpond.com/what-is-the-average-pond-size/

Now you're thinking too small. It's not about number of gallons, it's about Depth. (see Red below) https://www.quora.com/When-is-a-pond-considered-big-enough-to-become-a-lake When is a pond considered big enough to become a lake? Definitions for lake range in minimum sizes for a body of water from 2 hectares (5 acres) to 8 hectares (20 acres) (see also the definition of "pond"). Charles Elton, one of the founders of ecology, regarded lakes as waterbodies of 40 hectares (99 acres) or more. Most would say it’s size, a lake is bigger, a pond is smaller. That’s actually wrong. From government websites to Wikipedia, the information is wrong. The difference is actually a result of the depth. Ponds, according to limnology (the study of water bodies) are shallow enough where plants could conceivably grow across the entire surface. This area, where plants could grow is known as the “photic zone,” meaning where the sun’s rays can reach the bottom. A lake, by contrast, has an “aphotic zone,” meaning there is an area deep enough that sunlight can’t reach the bottom. As a result, there are some very small bodies of water, less than an acre that is deep enough to be called lakes. Conversely, there are some very large, but shallow water bodies, particularly in the south that are technically ponds, (though they’re called lakes) because their “photic zone” expands the entire length and width. So, at least with lakes and ponds, size doesn’t really matter. Now, what if a lake became infested with zebra mussels, which cleared the water to the point where lake weeds could grow in depths where they couldn’t before? The jury’s out, but I’d say if it was once a lake, it should continue to be an “honorary” lake. Ponds and lakes are both inland bodies of freshwater that contain living creatures. At first glance, they seem very similar! To help determine the difference, both the depth and the surface area must be considered. Lakes are normally much deeper than ponds and have a larger surface area. All the water in a pond is in the photic zone, meaning ponds are shallow enough to allow sunlight to reach the bottom. This causes plants (sometimes too many) to grow at the bottom of ponds as well as on their surface. However, sunlight can’t reach the bottom of all areas of lakes. Lakes have aphotic zones, which are deep areas of water that receive no sunlight, preventing plants from growing. In general, ponds have smaller waves than lakes. Waves smaller than 12 inches in height would generally be considered small. Water throughout ponds also tends to be more uniform in temperature, unlike water in lakes which can have a variety of water temperatures depending on the depth.

Thanks - Great inputs. I've got to watch what i put in closer. Generally I have not been using any general additives. but clearly I need to do some.

Naah, he's finally setting up his salt water POND!

No. nothing obvious. Tank, hood, light rack/etc are all new, as of August last year. Equipment room setup was mostly re-done May last year. A couple of painted shelves are original from many years ago. Equipment reused, which has age. GenX pumps (all plastic impellers), 1/3hp Chiller. Any chance chiller "coils" aren't 100% titanium and have zinc in the middle? Chiller has been in service since the mid 90's. Has been removed and descaled a couple of times. (and serviced, recharged, etc) But I have found nothing obvious.

Good insights. I don't think I'm sweating into the tank, and no lotion. I'll check my favorite soap I use before putting my hands into the tank. All glass tank, no metal framing. Aluminum 8020 bar holds lights over the tank... So It's time for a hunt in the equipment room. Zinc COULD be from galvanized screws I've used to build the equipment stands/etc. I'll go looking for an older one, corroding, without pain on it, and dripping into the sump.

I've likely got a spare 10g tank. PM me, and I can confirm tomorrow for you. You'd need to come pick it up, west side of portland, off Hwy 26. 97229

@SuncrestReef Thanks for opening your home to us. I plan to be there, am vaccinated, and will be wearing a mask indoors per your wishes. As much as I dislike masks, tough times call for reasonable measures.