Guess who is back? I thing. Lets see if this sticks.
Long story short, just after one of my last updates in Fall 2016, I had a hip injury that limited my activity/mobility for the past year. Kinda sucked but I am 100% back now. It also limited my ability to do tank maintenance too so other than feeding and top-off. Lifting, twisting buckets was kinda out, heck crouching and emptying a skimmer was tough. Heck, it was tough to go down into the "hobby room" or sit in front of the tank. I didn't have much time. I probably would torn down the tank. The display turned into a full scale hair-algae glob.
However, by about November I was able to turn my attention back to the tank and start doing things like water changes and attack algae. It is now ready to be "seen" in public. However, at that same time I got other news. We will be adding another "frag" to the family. So we are excited! But that also changed my plans (and of course budget). Changes have to be made.
The difference this time around is going to be the biotype and the tank philosophy. I have decided now the tank must be resilient, less finicky, ability to survive a toddler and his little sister. I also want it to more efficient and sustainable than a traditional SPS system. Less energy to power, less demands, and more movement. Yes, toddlers don't care about fuzzy sticks. Moving hair algae is more interesting. So, I am going to make a softie tank. Really, it is going to be a leather and mushroom tank. More of a mushroom tank. Nothing overly fancy. Something that will grow and thrive in spite of me. So when looking around I realized that there were few mushroom tanks. At least those over 100g. So, I thought it might be fun.
So, what have I been doing to get the tank back online? Nutrient export, water changes. I have replaced all the substrate. All of it. I removed a lot of the more infested rock, replaced that. I also have been using chemical media, Purigen, GFO, and poly-filter to help. Not a lot of activated carbon as my yellow tang is very sensitive to it.
This is what the tank looks like AFTER a 20% WC with algae removal. Algae will tell you when you are doing enough to hurt it. It does all dead-like.
As far as equipment, I am doing something odd. I am downsizing my skimmer. I am using the NWB with the Aquatrance 2000 pump rather than the 8" skimmer with the Bubble-Blaster 3000 pump. But the eagle-eye observer will note that the bigger skimmer is in the stand. It used to be that I could remove it from the stand but I reinforced it without realizing I could not move it. Oops. So, it sits to the side.
Skimmer:
Yeah, you can see me cleaning skimmers with a wonderful National Park off my back deck!
The reason for this change is energy. I don't need the big skimmer and I can cut the energy usage about 1/2. The NWB will still handle the system fine, especially with mushrooms.
But yeah, I broke the outflow... nothing a little PVC cement can't fix.
Humm, what else. Lighting is my normal 175w metal halides. I keep thinking about LEDs but the wattage seems to be similar. I will just run them for 6 hours and not worry about it. I am stocked with bulbs, no worries.
Flow is from two Tunze 6105 at a pulsing setting, offset with a maximum at about 50%. Those were maybe the only purchase in the last 18 months for the tank before the revival. Otherwise, I am still using the same 10 year old Eheim 1260.
I did complete my new hood. Now, I forgot to sand the hood but for me, that is a MINOR error for my carpentry standard. It hinges up and locks into place. It is more for toddler proofing.
So, here is the FTS. I will provide an livestock update in a later post but I figured I a lucky to type this up so far.
Long story short, just after one of my last updates in Fall 2016, I had a hip injury that limited my activity/mobility for the past year. Kinda sucked but I am 100% back now. It also limited my ability to do tank maintenance too so other than feeding and top-off. Lifting, twisting buckets was kinda out, heck crouching and emptying a skimmer was tough. Heck, it was tough to go down into the "hobby room" or sit in front of the tank. I didn't have much time. I probably would torn down the tank. The display turned into a full scale hair-algae glob.
However, by about November I was able to turn my attention back to the tank and start doing things like water changes and attack algae. It is now ready to be "seen" in public. However, at that same time I got other news. We will be adding another "frag" to the family. So we are excited! But that also changed my plans (and of course budget). Changes have to be made.
The difference this time around is going to be the biotype and the tank philosophy. I have decided now the tank must be resilient, less finicky, ability to survive a toddler and his little sister. I also want it to more efficient and sustainable than a traditional SPS system. Less energy to power, less demands, and more movement. Yes, toddlers don't care about fuzzy sticks. Moving hair algae is more interesting. So, I am going to make a softie tank. Really, it is going to be a leather and mushroom tank. More of a mushroom tank. Nothing overly fancy. Something that will grow and thrive in spite of me. So when looking around I realized that there were few mushroom tanks. At least those over 100g. So, I thought it might be fun.
So, what have I been doing to get the tank back online? Nutrient export, water changes. I have replaced all the substrate. All of it. I removed a lot of the more infested rock, replaced that. I also have been using chemical media, Purigen, GFO, and poly-filter to help. Not a lot of activated carbon as my yellow tang is very sensitive to it.
This is what the tank looks like AFTER a 20% WC with algae removal. Algae will tell you when you are doing enough to hurt it. It does all dead-like.
As far as equipment, I am doing something odd. I am downsizing my skimmer. I am using the NWB with the Aquatrance 2000 pump rather than the 8" skimmer with the Bubble-Blaster 3000 pump. But the eagle-eye observer will note that the bigger skimmer is in the stand. It used to be that I could remove it from the stand but I reinforced it without realizing I could not move it. Oops. So, it sits to the side.
Skimmer:
Yeah, you can see me cleaning skimmers with a wonderful National Park off my back deck!
The reason for this change is energy. I don't need the big skimmer and I can cut the energy usage about 1/2. The NWB will still handle the system fine, especially with mushrooms.
But yeah, I broke the outflow... nothing a little PVC cement can't fix.
Humm, what else. Lighting is my normal 175w metal halides. I keep thinking about LEDs but the wattage seems to be similar. I will just run them for 6 hours and not worry about it. I am stocked with bulbs, no worries.
Flow is from two Tunze 6105 at a pulsing setting, offset with a maximum at about 50%. Those were maybe the only purchase in the last 18 months for the tank before the revival. Otherwise, I am still using the same 10 year old Eheim 1260.
I did complete my new hood. Now, I forgot to sand the hood but for me, that is a MINOR error for my carpentry standard. It hinges up and locks into place. It is more for toddler proofing.
So, here is the FTS. I will provide an livestock update in a later post but I figured I a lucky to type this up so far.
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