FarmerTy

KimP could build a house if you gave her all the tools to do it!

That's quite the tang list! Pretty awesome!

I heard this same symbol is stamped on all the GBR bleaching reports. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Ouch! [emoji26]

I've heard on good word that FarmerTy's stamp of approval is being adopted worldwide as an international symbol for quality workmanship and integrity. [emoji6]

Oh yikes... Can you build a worm trap?

Nice, you got some mysid shrimp as well in there. They are the saltwater version of the freshwater mysis we feed our fish. Leave the bristle worm, he's a beneficial cleaner.

Looks like popeye. Like Sascha said, it'll usually resolve itself in good quality water.

Picture of the fish?

How long did it take to transport the fish? What did you transport it in? Was the person's tank clean looking or dirty? Could either be asphyxiation from lack of oxygen during transport or as you described, popeye.

I use the tapatalk app personally.

I can see them acclimating over time as I'm assuming that's what mine are doing. I'm trying to get the alk back up to a normal level just for frag rehoming sake. I don't want people taking home a frag and it dying because it had to adjust from 5 dKh to something more normal like 8-9 dKh.

I'm shocked, dumbfounded... In utter disbelief. And I don't know what is more shocking to me right now. 1) My little frag tank takes up 2.9 dKh, daily! 2) My system is currently at 4.8 dKh with no STN observed on any acros! Man, I knew there was going to be some serious uptake in that tiny water volume (20 gallons) full of mainly SPS frags but jeez, 2.9 dKh daily! I'm going to empty my kalk ATO, refill it with the max saturation of kalk possible which is 2 teaspoons/gallon. For me, the container roughly holds 7 gallons so 14 teaspoons should do it. I'm curious if that even makes a dent to the 2.9 dKh daily uptake. I may have to run 2-part or even run a CaRX on that little frag tank.

If it were me, I'd cut off any rock base... basically anything that isn't living flesh. You'll lose some encrustment but at the rate that you grow acros, that shouldn't be a huge deal. They will ensure that if there is any AEFW on any coral, that you'll remove their potential eggs from the rock in the base where they love to lay eggs.

Just a thought, but now that all your SPS are easily accessible in a trough, any thought to prophalytically dipping them for pests while you have the opportunity?

Slide in system? As far as I'm aware, they are euro hinges. I need to install a lock on the cabinets to keep little grubby hands out of the sumpSent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Oh nice! Slide-in meaning it had a trim along the top and bottom of door and it slides into the open hole and is held there by the trim.

Looks great! How do those doors work? Is it the slide in system instead of hinges?

[emoji23] There's so much rubbish in this build thread that you really haven't diluted the content that much more bud.I want to see your wrasse list for the tank. I think it's going to be awesome!

I usually see some for sale at RCA if you need some immediately versus waiting for an online order.

Nice your frags are bigger than my colonies. Almost makes me want to stop doing water changes. Haha. There's actually some of my own collection awaiting the QT period before they get to go into the DT. So they aren't all frag-sized. The goal is actually to not do water changes on the frag tank as well. If I can get away with that on such a small system, then anything is possible.

I don't personally use bleach so can't comment but chlorine usually breaks down pretty fast in open air if I remember correctly. I use muriatic acid (you can get it at any hardware store). Once you've reached the amount you'd like to dissolve, throw baking powder into it to neutralize the acid. Any type of bacteria in a bottle will mostly work. Dr Tims is one of the best rated ones but I just grab whatever is at a LFS which usually happens to be the Fritz bacteria.

I only know my Al levels via Triton tests. You mail them your water and they test a range of parameters for you. I honestly would not concern yourself with Al concentration. It will have no effect and no point in monitoring it. I would not use the eggcrate. Place the rocks on the glass and then fill in sand around it. That way you won't get any borrowing creatures that could topple your rock structure. The eggcrate actually inhibits the ability for nutrients, oxygen flow, and bugs from moving through the sand consistently. For the rock, if it were me, I'd hit it with some muriatic acid to dissolve away the outer layer of rock and then start to cycle it in a trash can or tub. I usually add some bacteria in a bottle for a quick cycle. I'd then drip some Lanthanum chloride in a 10 micron sock to remove phosphates from the rock until I start getting a reading of less than 0.03 ppm of phosphate. For the tonga plate, a good swirl in a bucket and maybe a couple good blast from a powerhead should suffice. Then when in the tank, make sure you aim a good flow across it to keep detritus from settling.

Looks like it to me.

Finally getting some progress on the frag tank. Things have stabilized so well that my alk consumption has jumped from 0.5 dKh/day to 1.7 dKh/day. I've been manually hand dosing to keep up until it reaches a steady uptake rate and then I'll match my kalk dosing to it. For those looking for frags, be ready to load up at C4! For my previous and current real estate clients, come get your free frags or pick them up at C4.

On an unrelated note, I'm selling FarmerTy's miracle skimmate mud if anybody would like to pick up some? [emoji4] Just joking around folks... I've heard good things about the mud too but never tried it.

Very impressive list for someone about to run their first reef tank! Shows some thought definitely went into it. My two pieces of advice is to rinse the sand very thoroughly to remove as much of the fines as possible so your tank won't start too cloudy. Also, rinse the marine pure block very well and let it soak in a bucket of water for a couple of days before adding it to the tank. This will help minimize dust from it going in the tank and also keep your aluminum levels on the lower side as it has been known to leach aluminum. My personal opinion is you don't have anything to worry about with the higher aluminum levels as I'm running 20x natural levels in my tank with no issues. I have 2 of the blocks in my 215-gallon.