Diving The World's 80g Acro Wonderland!

[DivingTheWorld]

Well, I've been wanting some vacation piece of mind for a while. I thought long and hard about it and it came down to a unicorn and his arch nemesis. In the end I bucked the trend:

 

[DivingTheWorld]

Time for a FTS update. Yes, I'm slow with updates... Of note, I sold off a few colonies from my right rock work to make room for new frags. I got bored and wanted new stuff! Don't we all?

 

[bubbaque]

Nice colonies! I love seeing nice growth tips. Also you got some thick coralline on the bottom glass!

 

[tripdad]

Very jealous! I'm a long way from colony sizes, just little nubs after my restart. Well done!

 

[Skynyrd Fish]

Looking good.

 

[DivingTheWorld]

Got some new color for Christmas thanks to @ycnibrc!

 

[DivingTheWorld]

Some people might wonder why I run an auto Alk tester like my Alkatronic. It's not because I'm lazy, although I'd like to be. It's for vacations! All of my tank issues including my big acro crash years ago happened while I was on vacation. I never really figured out why, nutrient swing, Alk swing... But something ticked off my acros enough to start dying!

We just took our second trip since running the Alkatronic and the first in the middle of winter. Many of you know the relationship between CO2/pH/Alk, but have never seen it actually tracked. Since it's winter our house has been all closed up and with 4 humans sucking oxygen and breathing out CO2, my tank pH has been running very low (approx. 7.55-8.0).

Now for the graph... So we left on 12/22 and you can see prior to that my pH was low, but very consistent. My Alk was very consistent too, running around 7.5. As you can see, by the evening of 12/22 CO2 levels started dropping and pH went up and up and up until the new consistent pH (approx. 7.75-8.15). Not shown in this Apex graph is my Alk. During this same period, my Alk started dropping. I went from dosing around 135ml/day to 165ml/day.

I caught the drop with my Alkatronic and was able to keep it within range by adjusting my dosers. When we returned about 4 days later, pH/Alk went back to where it was before. It really amazed me at how fast Alk can swing in just a few days when no one is in the house! I saw something similar a month ago when we were gone for about 10 days. In both situations I was able to adjust Alk remotely to the new pH levels. Once you make the initial adjustments (takes a couple days), pH/Alk stay consistent till you get back home.

 

[Bob Weigant]

Interesting and honestly I never would have thought this. My tanks are in the garage and I try to test my alk 2-3 times a week. Usually goes from 8.5 to 7 in a week If I don’t dose. Yes I’m old school and still dose manually

 

[DivingTheWorld]

Interesting and honestly I never would have thought this. My tanks are in the garage and I try to test my alk 2-3 times a week. Usually goes from 8.5 to 7 in a week If I don’t dose. Yes I’m old school and still dose manually

I don't think in a garage it would be an issue. You probably get consistent pH year round in there. The only issue I would have in our garage is heat in the summer. How are you still manually dosing??!! Our tank is right in the family room so it's a congregation area for the house which likely has the highest CO2.

 

[Bob Weigant]

I don't think in a garage it would be an issue. You probably get consistent pH year round in there. The only issue I would have in our garage is heat in the summer. How are you still manually dosing??!! Our tank is right in the family room so it's a congregation area for the house which likely has the highest CO2.

I’m very hands on. Since I’ve been doing it for so long I know what to add. Also the Vinh I got from you was doing great and then it got knocked over into the Helios. It was losing the fight but I think I got to it in time to save it

 

[DivingTheWorld]

PC Superman

 

[24/7ReeFTime]

Can you send a link to order a custom aquarium from where you bought yours?

 

[X-37B]

So here's a PAR Map I did today for the first time. The bulbs have been running for approximately 6.5 months. I thought it might be a bit higher on the tops of my rockscape... Overall the light distribution is fairly even. I'm going to replace the bulbs tomorrow or the next day and re-map to see what I get.

Nice par levels and tank! I run my ati 4" off the surface. So if ya ever need more par just lower the fixture.

 

[DivingTheWorld]

Can you send a link to order a custom aquarium from where you bought yours?

The builder was LeeMar which which no longer makes custom tanks. As I understand it though, the builders from LeeMar opened a new company called Crystal Dynamics. I’ve seen mixed reviews, not quite as solid as when it was LeeMar.

 

[DivingTheWorld]

Nice par levels and tank! I run my ati 4" off the surface. So if ya ever need more par just lower the fixture.

I really love the access that a rimless tank with the fixture a bit higher allows. I can reach in at any time to mess with the tank. I have my hands in it probably every day (with gloves).

 

[X-37B]

Mine sits on T slot and I can slide it out of the way but my tank is rimmed. My frag tank hangs from the ceiling and is rimless.

 

[DivingTheWorld]

FTS to start the year off right.

 

[DivingTheWorld]

I took this in the evening after the fish had all gone to bed and turned the lights back on. I currently have 13 fish, most of which are adult size:

Blue Tang
Banggai Cardinal
Pair of Picasso Clowns
Black Cap Gramma
4 Lyretail Anthias
2 Green Chromis
One Spot Foxface
Spotted Mandarin

Amazing how they can hide for bedtime!

 

[DivingTheWorld]

Oregon Tort

 

[Bryce M.]

Love it!