Flippers reef 125 gallon

[Flippers4pups]

I didn't get much done this weekend. I did get the legs cut and drilled for the frag racks and did start assembling one.

I did take the skimmer off line and cleaned it with vinegar and put it back in service. Needed it bad, the cone was full of algae.

I'll finish them this week and transfer all the frags over. This coming weekend I'll hope to frag one of the big toadstools.

I need to have a barbecue for the family this coming weekend! Haven't barbecued since early May. Need to badly!

That's all for now. Fins up!

 

[Flippers4pups]

Update: new frag racks are done.

 

[Daniel@R2R]

Update: new frag racks are done.

Nice work, Don!

 

[RichtheReefer21]

Update:
Another trip to Lowe's tomorrow! Ugh!

You love it stop lyin!

Update: new frag racks are done.

Looking sharp. Congrats on hitting the new 240 benchmark for twv! Nothing like adding more stability and never concerning with multiple tests and systems to track.

So...

Whats next?

 

[Flippers4pups]

Update:

SOW 15 will be here Friday, as will be my order of Ulva.

I posted this in the "tired of battling dino" thread. Worth posting it here as well:

"Here's my run down and observations of my last ditch effort to deal with ostreopsis for the last 5 years!

Microscopic identification was done with the sample taken to my work. We use some high-powered microscopes. None of which have any abilities to take photos, so I don't have a photo of them. So the best of my ability at 200x, 99.9% confirmed ostreopsis.

N03 consistent around 40 PPM.
P04 consistent around .03.
Approximately 240 gallons total system.
Uv 15 watt.
Total flow through UV 300 gph.

I've tried every trick in the book to eliminate them.

4 day blackout.
Addition of bottle bacteria.
UV plumbed directly to display tank.
Hydrogen peroxide dosing.
Addition of copepods and phytoplankton.
No addition of nutrients as my tank has been stable at those numbers for years.
Removing sand bed and replacing with brand-new aragonite sand.
Vacuuming sand with a micron filter.
Reduced water changes.

None of the above worked in reducing them.

After reading about some of the hobbyist having had success with raising the water temperature to 80-81 degrees Fahrenheit, I figured why not give it a shot.

I adjusted my heaters until I reached the final temperature of 81 degrees Fahrenheit confirmed with a fluke digital thermometer that is calibrated. After day 4 of the temperature being at 81 degrees, I witnessed a reduction in dinoflagellates. Now after a week and a half at 81 degrees Fahrenheit, there is no visible signs of the dinoflagellates on my sand bed. Rocks, tank glass, wavemaker pumps....etc never showed any signs of them the whole 5 years. The elevated temperature during this duration has not shown any negative signs to any of my corals, inverts or fish. Growth and coloration has been maintained.

I feed the tank by broadcasting frozen food, unrinsed, the size of a thumbnail twice-daily.

I do not dose anything into my system other than Kalkwasser (calcium hydroxide) through my ATO reservoir.

I am skeptical by nature and willing to try any method within reason understanding by researching before applying it and having little doubt that there could be a negative outcome before attempting anything.

At this stage right now I'm fairly convinced, though anecdotally at this point, that increase and stability long-term at 81 degrees Fahrenheit has had a positive effect in reducing or possibly eliminating the ostreopsis dinoflagellates that I have battled with all this time.

What needs to be done in a controlled setting is an experiment with the increase in temperature to verify its validity with ostreopsis."

Sand is nice and white now!

 

[NDIrish]

Update:

SOW 15 will be here Friday, as will be my order of Ulva.

I posted this in the "tired of battling dino" thread. Worth posting it here as well:

"Here's my run down and observations of my last ditch effort to deal with ostreopsis for the last 5 years!

Microscopic identification was done with the sample taken to my work. We use some high-powered microscopes. None of which have any abilities to take photos, so I don't have a photo of them. So the best of my ability at 200x, 99.9% confirmed ostreopsis.

N03 consistent around 40 PPM.
P04 consistent around .03.
Approximately 240 gallons total system.
Uv 15 watt.
Total flow through UV 300 gph.

I've tried every trick in the book to eliminate them.

4 day blackout.
Addition of bottle bacteria.
UV plumbed directly to display tank.
Hydrogen peroxide dosing.
Addition of copepods and phytoplankton.
No addition of nutrients as my tank has been stable at those numbers for years.
Removing sand bed and replacing with brand-new aragonite sand.
Vacuuming sand with a micron filter.
Reduced water changes.

None of the above worked in reducing them.

After reading about some of the hobbyist having had success with raising the water temperature to 80-81 degrees Fahrenheit, I figured why not give it a shot.

I adjusted my heaters until I reached the final temperature of 81 degrees Fahrenheit confirmed with a fluke digital thermometer that is calibrated. After day 4 of the temperature being at 81 degrees, I witnessed a reduction in dinoflagellates. Now after a week and a half at 81 degrees Fahrenheit, there is no visible signs of the dinoflagellates on my sand bed. Rocks, tank glass, wavemaker pumps....etc never showed any signs of them the whole 5 years. The elevated temperature during this duration has not shown any negative signs to any of my corals, inverts or fish. Growth and coloration has been maintained.

I feed the tank by broadcasting frozen food, unrinsed, the size of a thumbnail twice-daily.

I do not dose anything into my system other than Kalkwasser (calcium hydroxide) through my ATO reservoir.

I am skeptical by nature and willing to try any method within reason understanding by researching before applying it and having little doubt that there could be a negative outcome before attempting anything.

At this stage right now I'm fairly convinced, though anecdotally at this point, that increase and stability long-term at 81 degrees Fahrenheit has had a positive effect in reducing or possibly eliminating the ostreopsis dinoflagellates that I have battled with all this time.

What needs to be done in a controlled setting is an experiment with the increase in temperature to verify its validity with ostreopsis."

Sand is nice and white now!

Great! Maybe this will do it for you. I hope it will.

 

[Flippers4pups]

Well it's Friday! Yeah!

Update:

The SOW 15 and the algaebarn Ulva showed up yesterday. Ulva is now in the refugium with my grow light on a timer.

SOW 15 is in the display tank.

All is good!

 

[DiefsReef]

Update: new frag racks are done.

These are awesome!

 

[Flippers4pups]

These are awesome!

Thank you! Should have them installed tonight.

 

[Flippers4pups]

Transfer complete.

 

[NDIrish]

Transfer complete.

Looking good

 

[Flippers4pups]

Looking good

Thanks!

 

[Flippers4pups]

Not much reefing going on today as I'm babysitting this little fellow:

I'm calling him "Apple wood" ! Lol ;Joyful;Smuggrin;Hilarious

 

[Flippers4pups]

Now working on that "bark"!

 

[User1]

Just do it man! Sell some, trade some, get store credit when you can! Side hustle! Lol


Building the new frag racks:

Just look at that polyp extension! Lol

Looking great.

Side note - sure hope the middle car isn't your daily driver

 

[Tahoe61]

Transfer complete.

Great design, so many options for placement as it relates to lighting.

 

[Flippers4pups]

Great design, so many options for placement as it relates to lighting.

Thank you!

Last night was a doozy. Major thunderstorms rolled through and we had 3"-5" of rain in about an hour. Damaged our gazebo:

Good thing it can be fixed. So I'll be doing that before the next round of storms come today.

 

[Flippers4pups]

Sowing it up now.

 

[Flippers4pups]

Canopy repaired:

 

[RichtheReefer21]

Thats an impressive journey against dinos. And to see them just up and vamoosh, and it happened to be in conjunction with a simple raise of temperature? Fw parasites nostalgia? Snake oil?!!?

Pow! Right in da kissa! Good stuff man, whatever the bottom line is for why or how.

Canopy repaired:

Did u use thread and a paperclip?