Ian Atkins

We will be trying to make it, depends on my work schedule coming up. Really look forward to it though! 

On 12/13/2023 at 3:41 PM, Krux said:

Do some searches for Interceptor as an in-tank treatment for red bugs.  There are some drawbacks but there aren't a lot of other options.

That's what I've been seeing, the interceptor in tank treatment, only problem I'm finding is acquiring the medication, which I could be mistaken. But I believe I need to make an appointment with a vet and I don't even have a dog so I'm not sure how I'm supposed to do that. Will they prescribe the medicine for a fish?  

I am still reading up on this, so I might find solution down the road. But I definitely want it figured out sooner then later.  

It's been a little over a year since I started my new reef tank, I guess I shouldn't call it new anymore, the corals have been growing in steady. Please forgive my android phone photos lol 

I've added a lot of more sticks on the top, coming with its challenges as I test out Acropora for the first time.  

Green slimer from Cuttlefish growing good and holding color. 

Mystery acropora Cuttlefish, was brown and still kinda brown but now has purple tips and orange polyps, camera doesn't do it good. Also bad timing on my end, in the daytime it looks amazing

blue acropora from Cuttlefish, the newest piece

both the green and pink acropora are from Aqua SD got them back a couple months ago, but now it seems I got acropora red bugs on them, not just these one but all I can see, that's detoured me from getting  any more acropora till I figure a way to rid these things without nuking my tank. Kinda hard to see on the pics but I can seem them clearly with a magnifying lens.  

This is a lime light hydrophora I got from my first meeting with PNWMAS at Woody's, had great time meeting a bunch of reefers and I have this piece to remember that, it's also the home to my tailspot Blenny, he sleeps in the corner and has a runner under it hahaha. 

ORA red Goniopora, recent pickup from Cuttlefish 

I'm pretty sure this a Diaseris plate coral, also a recent pickup from Cuttlefish 

Man it's been a while since I went into all things aquarium, I actually used to to work their, I should try to stop in and say hi! 

I'll be a bit late but I'll be there for the last 2 hours. 

Hey Reefers! Have you heard about Fishtoberfest??

Well for the past 2 years it has been 100% freshwater based. As a lover in both worlds salt and fresh I would love to see more collaboration in a big event such as this. 

Fishtoberfest is unlike any other events that I've been able to attend, full of amazing vendors from the local areas and some not local. Raffles , auctions, and guest speakers. It's a great place to meet people, hang out and just relax.

I know this is a bit of bad timing for upcoming events here, but I wanted to share in case anyone is interested, there are TWO vendor tables left. Anyone interested can DM me and I'll get you connected with the treasurer at GPAS who handles all that stuff.

Also just a fun time!! There will be drinks and food at the hotel, lots of speakers in if your into freshwater and it's only $5 entry for adults, 17 and younger are FREE!! 

so come on by September 30th, October 1st at the Shilo INN by the airport. I'm not trying to compete with PNWMAS but wanting to include. I'm just a hobbyists trying to push the love of fish, I do not work with GPAS except payed membership and coming to meetings. (To be transparent) I been waiting for someone to say something about fishtoberfest to you all,(maybe some already knew) I get nothing for doing this.     

I hope to see some new faces this year!! 

This is a great deal for anyone wanting to get a head start!! Wish I had the room! 

12 hours ago, half-astronaut said:

I’ll take one. PM’d. 

Got you down for one! 

1 hour ago, WeBeReefin said:

I’d be interested in getting one but I’m not back in town until Friday evening. 

Pm me, I'm off work on weekends if that works 

3 Zoa's Frags have been claimed already, only have 3 left so once there gone, ITS GONE!  

20 minutes ago, waldoz said:

I'll take some, we lost ours in the last tank transfer.  I will be in NE Portland to night. Will pm you pick up time if that's ok.

Yeah that's fine I'm more of a night owl, I work graveyard so should work fine, send me a message 

Looking to give out some mohawk Zoa's completely free!!  Pick ups only in SE Portland, PM me for info 

I have 6 good sizes chunks, well established and growing onto the rack.  I would like these frags to go too newer hobbyists that might be hesitant on buying some coral. These are very hardy and grow fast, an isolated island is best for these!!  

Don't ask about the acropora and candy cane frag, I'm saving those for a friend. 

8 hours ago, obrien.david.j said:

Nice update.  I've enjoyed your whole build thread and process.  It's looking good.

I placed a BRS order during the most recent give away day.  Like 1 in 10 orders were supposed to be free.  I didn't win either.

Thanks!  At least we got a free carbon block right! 🤣🤣

Update for June/July, I moved out the leather to my other tank, and added some SPS, a small bubble coral.

I also got a frag of blushing coral from cuttlefish, a lot of my corals caem from them. Love the staff!! 

I also added a Hydros control X3 to start my first room control, but right now it's only my reef, but I plan to add more wifi strips and some XS brains for the freshwater tanks and make a collective for my whole fish room, which I think is totally not needed but I did want redundancy for all the tanks not just the reef, and I went with hydros because it's not as expensive as the apex, and no codeine required like an apex, so it's easy control

And the last bit of tech I added was an AI blade grow 21 inch, got it on that BRS appreciation day thing, and no I didn't win my points back lol 😆 did anyone else try? And did anyone win? I'll still have the prime 16 HD running only UV and violet channels, thinking I'll add one blade glow and I can remove the prime. I would like to check the par numbers but so far no bad affect from adding it. 

Figured I would throw in an update on my first reef, over 2 years old, and going strong. All easy softies, and super stable. 

On 6/13/2023 at 10:44 PM, mrscuito9833 said:

Nice, maybe you wanna fix my rats nest?

Hahaha, I would love to see it! 

I eventually got all the nems out, they are cool, but probably best in a nem only tank, but I want to grow coral so it's not gonna work out

I also built a control board for my tank and got wires in order 

It's not perfect, but it's a hell of a lot better, and easy to flip switch's instead of pulling plugs when I do maintenance/waterchanges. I didn't want controllers mounted inside the stand because of clutter, I think it keeps the sump area looking cleaner. I also added a RODI filter finally, this whole time 2+ years I've been using my tap water and prime. . . Not recommending this, it's just what I did and it worked

This was the tank after the May frag swap, the sandbed is cluttered with frags, the rock is bulky and touching the back glass which is giving me dead spots and my pistol shrimp this whole time has been snapping at fish, flipping frags, so I decided to just reset the scape, like a freshwater tank I just ripped everything out, caught the shrimp put him in jail, (THE SUMP) I broke some rocks and made a complete new layout, something I thought looked more natural and also provides flow around the whole structure 

I broke parts of the big arches and made lots little holes, swim throughs, and territories around the tank. Taking inspiration from my cichlid tanks, I think it fits in very well 

After adding coral, and letting it clear up, I still had some coral on the sand, some didn't make it. Then cyano came in, and currently treating that now. Some things to change still, the big toadstool is going into my 10 gallon softies only tank, and I also want to move my clowns into their own tank so they can hopefully breed, if they want too. I'm noticing aggressive behavior from them towards tank mates, so I'm not sure what I should do in that regard.  

I still have so much to figure out, and gain inspiration from you all in the hobby. I'm a 20 something dude with some fish tanks and a camera trying to keep it simple. 

February 2023

Testing and doing 5 gallon water changes every week. Wire management really getting out of control but I have a plan you'll see soon. 

Just letting the tank find it's numbers, not really chasing a set number. 

It's was around the end of February I got my tax return and I ordered some fish from biota.

Small Royal Gramma 

Small male Mandarin Dragonet

I knew I wanted to keep a mandarin fish at some point again, but this time I wanted success, so I thought buying a captive bred option was a good choice. He eats very well, even at pellets and flake which I still find crazy.  Royal Gramma are just so pretty, I just had to add one too.I don't like big fish in small tanks, so trying to find cool smaller fish, that don't beat everyone up is challenging.

Does anyone else have success with biota captive bred mandarins? Or other fish too, would love to hear it! 

January 2023 update

The anemone split and I was able to get one half out when it moved to the glass(why I don't want big nems) 

The main nem stayed in place for a long time but I also eventually rehomed it 

Around the end of the month, a new reef buddy gave me a simplicity 120dc skimmer, I was shocked by the amount of love people have in this hobby. I don't make alot so any savings I can find, and deals, freebies. I'm on that, a little citric acid and toothbrush goes along with good used equipment.  

December 2022updste

I added a fire fish after getting a red sea screen top from BRS. Sadly the fire fish died after a few weeks. It was a Petco fish and no QT so maybe it just wasn't a healthy fish from the start 

The screen wasn't to difficult, for my first time I say it fits well, no gaps but the mesh is wavy, I want to change it to a black mesh tool material. 

I also forgot to mention this crazy pistol shrimp, he came from the old setup. he's cool but I ended up rehoming him to the fish store, he liked to snap at my fish 

I started to add some corals and rock from my 10 gallon tank, it seemed at that time I also had a diatom bloom 

before the fire fish died I thought all was good so I also added one my established fish from the 10 gallon, a tail spot Blenny which is also a Petco fish 

After the fire fish died, i thought all my would be at risk, but no they are all still here and getting fat.

After leak testing for a week, getting salinity to 35ppt, letting that run at temperature for another 2 weeks, I did 2 tank transfers into one, the rock is 2 years old running from the old owner, it came with all sorts of algaes, pods, bristle worms, aiptasia, sponges. They gave me pretty much everything, snails hermits, corals, a long spine urchin, 2 clownfish and an anemone that split pretty quick after introducing it. 

These are clownfish I adopted from the old owner, they are at least 3 year old pair. 

I let the tank run like this for about a month with no water change. 

This is the late start to my main display tank thread. I'll be posting pics of when I set this up back in October 2022, and some of the challenges I had. 

Ive been researching saltwater aquariums since 2019 when I started freshwater keeping, I always knew I wanted saltwater as well but took my time to figure out what I wanted. 

October 15th, water is in and leak testing for a week with tap water. 

The tank is a Waterbox marine 45.2 the display is about 30 gallons with a 15 is gallon sump. This system is discontinued and I picked up the whole system used. Came with the AI prime, Tunez nano ATO, hydor 700 return pump, mp10qd,  Nero 5, new sand still sealed in the bag, and all the livestock from a different smaller system the old owner had. And a bunch of Hanna checkers. They were getting out of the hobby and they graciously donated all their stuff to help me get my start in this hobby.  

I will post more soon, the tank has changed alot through trial and error. I hope to learn not just myself but input from others is greatly appreciated and welcome. I hope to pass on the love as I grow in the hobby with extras that we all accumulate over time. 

19 hours ago, obrien.david.j said:

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 1.51 MB · 6 downloads

 

Thank you for this!! That helps 

21 hours ago, goldenbasketreef said:

RO and DI filters work with minimum flow/pressure rating (gpm), the filter unit always stated as how much it produce as gpd.

We thought that reducing the flow / pressure would make the water spend more time in the filter and will filter better. It is actually the reverse happened, less filtration or improper filtration flow when minimum flow or pressure not follow. In the case of DI, IME resin will be exhausted faster with less quality (higher tds) water when minimum flow requirement is not flowing through the chambers.

Ready RODI unit has been set to proper minimum flow/pressure rating usually stated in the manual, sometimes if minimum pressure / flow is not met a booster pump is needed so the unit can have proper range of flow/pressure.

The only reason I go with no waste water is the cost of water. I used to have close to 12K gallons of saltwater systems, having waste water to feed this systems for new water mix will cost a lot in the water bill alone. Now I only have about 1000 gallons systems and go through 200gal a week. Certainly the cost with waste water is not much now but I like to fill 44gal brute container in about 10 minutes so I still go with no RO just for my convenience.

RODI is the best water quality you will ever get for reef tank, this should be the top priority on any filter you choose.

 

Ok I can see how thats a lot better in the long run. 44 gallons in 10 minutes!! That's awesome, How often are you replacing DI resins? 

Thanks for the info, I'm gonna keep it how it is, since I'm not trying to make tons of water.  

11 hours ago, goldenbasketreef said:

My tap water has 22-25 tds so I just use caralytic carbon and mixed bed DI resin to bring down to 0 tds with no waste water.

This is how my new water flow from the filter, it is about 3-5gpm.

 

 

 

I was using a sediment filter, and 2 carbon blocks for a long time, I just think something was off with my water so I got the RODI to make sure it's not my water 

12 hours ago, Eatfrenchfries said:

KISS is what I was taught in regard to water. 

That being said, it depends on the quality of your source water and intention.  Request your local water quality record for your zone but be wary because things change. Also your mileage with this may vary depending on your actual piping. 

Some people run 3 - 4 because it fits the budget and tackles majority of what they would typically see. 5+ would be for efficiency (water waste, easy recharging media) and to pull specifics.

Getting into resins is it's own world but you would need your mixed DI (color change) to catch whatever your other filters do not. I'd only focus on water if it has been narrowed down as a problem. 

 

In SoCal I ran a 3 stage unit. Moved to Portland and had to upgrade to a 5 stage unit based on water reports (Silicates, hardness, chloramine, TDS etc)

Ran into issues with making certain microalgae and the need to minimize waste water led to me setting up a 7 stage system. My location has me burn through anion a bit faster so I will probably add another stage to prolong maintenance. 

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!