Isaac's Cadlight 70 Gallon Artisan II Build

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Isaac Alves

Isaac Alves

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Love it when the sun hits the tank. I also love that my fish know me well now and come over to greet me in the sun. :)

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Isaac Alves

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Saturday project:

Set-up my new "Wal-Mart purchased" phytoplankton reactor. Just did a bit of acryllic drilling for holes, glued some washers and water tightened the central light compartment.

Happy reefing!!

 

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Hey Isaac, I removed the middle glass panels of the sump for more growing chaeto. Took some time with a razor blade but was well worth it.

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Isaac Alves

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3 years. 3 years passed while I'd gaze into my make-believe-ocean and wish my Clowns would live in my over-populating anemone rock; Instead of hugging the back right corner swimming upside down.


My daughters would ask, "are they broken?"

I still can't get over this behavior change. It's like I got a new tank!







 
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Isaac Alves

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Just over the 3 years of running my 70 Gallon Reef
I just made a purchase of another Vectra M1 as a backup for my current one — albeit used from another R2R member; but, it’s a backup and I want something that I can just drop in. And with the M2 out I was able to save a ton on the 6 month used M1.

In any case,

What I want to do is start documenting my current situation with this tank. I’ve reached a point where I know there are issues that have to be addressed. I’ll list some here:

• Backup power is a must in Southern California. I have taken steps to alleviate my fears. Probably not enough. I should put down the investment on a larger Generator inverter that is gas powered.

• I’ve gotten lazy at testing. But I’ve also developed a sense of the status of my tank based on the reaction and state of certain animals, but it’s not enough. I need to test more. I have spent a lot of money on testing equipment and just this passed month have started really watching my phosphate trends and Alk stability again — sort of a new year resolution to test at least once a month. Maybe one day I’ll get the Trident but not before a backup generator.

• I know some of my fish are too big for my tank now. This issue weighs on me, but I’m stubborn to make a decision and stick with it. My yellow tang and Foxface are fat and healthy, but are they happy not being able to swim? I know my foxface is lazy and probably doesn’t mind not having distance to swim — She’s developed a bond with me and eats out of my hand and recognizes my presence...but she’s outgrown my tank. My yellow tang is a beautiful animal, but I see her jet around the tank in a frenzy swimming as fast as she can; is she stretching, chasing her reflection, or releasing stress from the lack of room? I know my selfish emotional desire to keep them is what stops me from finding them new homes. I need to consider what I want and what is good for the animals, and if I want a bigger tank I need to start planning and commit.

• Apitasia. I’m realizing my tank’s age and ecological balance has made it very good for some coral but also for Apitasia. I saw one or two about a year ago and now they have anchor colonies sprouting everywhere. I’ve tried Peppermints but my Neon Pseudochromis, I believe, makes a meal of them, and the larger ones that do survive don’t seem to devour the Apitasia. I’ve tried Nudibranchs that eat Apitasia but my wrasses make quick meals of them. Apitasia-X is a pain in the butt and doesn’t seem to work as effectively as I wish it did, plus, I’m never feeling good about using it for some reason. Then the lasers, which are fun as hell. Lasers seem to be very effective at destroying the flesh of the animals but they heal up very fast, and this probably has aided in their spreading. I want to try a file fish but have been dragging my feet because I do a very long quarantine process. A mandatory quarantine is part of my reef mentality so it’s a time investment that I’m currently having a hard time making because of work hours and family life. Also, I don’t want to buy a file fish, or mated pair, from anywhere so I’m looking at budget as well, plus, it’s adding to the bio load. Attacking from multiple fronts might be the way to go.

• Lights need a refresh. I know my T5s are in need of replacement. This is more budgetary but is past-do.

• I need to start removing the marine pure bio blocks from my system and replacing it with a larger refugium. Another R2R member mentioned to me that they have the same system that I have but they cut the baffles out of the filter section to allow for a larger fuge. I like this idea a lot.

• I have a good water change schedule now. And I enjoy it. But I need to invest in a saltwater reservoir that would last me longer and take less space than my seven 5 gallon carboys. I need space back in my garage area.

• What do I want out of my tank? I need to start thinking about transitioning. My clowns have actually reinvigorated me again because of their strange sudden move into my anemones....3 years and then suddenly they decide it’s time.

• I need a backup skimmer

• I need to replace my sump. I don’t like having a glass sump and the cadlights sump is badly designed. It works but it can be done better. This is another budgetary decision but one that needs to be done. I need to decide between a new one or trying to enlarge the fuge section.

• I don’t mind sock filtration. But I think with a newer sump I might be able to get away with a larger 7 inch mesh sock at 300 microns. This would be the sweet spot for me. I’m not convinced yet about the cost effectiveness around the roller mats in the long term. I rather do flat poly filter flat pads plus a refugium, but would need to custom a sump for this.

• I also need to do another ICP test. I did one almost a year ago but I need to do a second to get a trend line going.

• I need to get off my butt and frag some stuff to sell to pay for some of this stuff I’ve already mentioned.

• I need to document my status of this 3 year tank here on R2R more regularly. It can help others and definitely get me reengaged into the forum.

That’s all of my rambling for this 3 year mark. I still love this 70 gallon tank and I love all of my fish and coral..., but now my animals are outgrowing my tank, my ecological maturity is showing me the tough side of the hobby with the Apitasia, and my increased confidence and current knowledge level has me complacent and lazy.

It’s time for a revamp.
 
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Isaac Alves

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Apitasia is fighting back. I think I’m going to load up on large Peppermints and try out an Apitasia eating file fish.

Here are some pics I just took. These are not good pictures at all but it shows the sections that have the Apitasia colonies breaking out. So this is tonight 9:21PM PST, July 2, 2019...


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I’ve tried and still can’t get a handle on this outbreak. I’m not overwhelmed just yet. I’m going to reach out to Marine Collectors and see if I can acquire some Apitasia eating file fish that are proven and quarantined for ich / velvet. I’m very curious if his service can acquire the fish and treat them as well as people are saying. Even if the filefish is twice as expensive it’s worth the cost based on the amount of time, salt, and meds i would go through myself.

Happy Reefing.
 
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Isaac Alves

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Starting a Blue Life[emoji769] Phosphate Rx[emoji769] dosing tonight with a 10 micron sock I picked up from @melevsreef.

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Why? My phosphate is stuck at .3-.38 after running GFO or Rowaphos for a few weeks.

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I’ll be sitting here for a couple of hours (timer on phone) and watching some Netflix.

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Oh, and I used @Larry_L’s liquid phosphate remover calculator. So I’m really grateful for that.

Check out the calculator here:

http://bit.ly/po4rx


And the original forum post here:

http://bit.ly/R2Rlink1
 
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Isaac Alves

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Results are in. Phosphate RX, using the calculator from @REEF2REEF dropped my phosphates down to 0.17ppm.


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That’s a pretty good conservative drop considering I know the calculator is based on the Mfr recommended dosage—- Randy Holmes from R2R considers it a bit on the cautious side of how much to use per 10 gallons.


In any case, I think as a first test this is great. I know how much to dose now to drop ~.2ppm and my tank does not respond to it negatively at all for 24 hours. .


• Phosphate Rx and the 10 micron sock are available from @melevsreef

• Liquid phosphate reducer chemical calculator can be found here: bit.ly/po4rx

I’ll be doing another dose later this week, but in the meantime I’ve got a couple of captive breed Aiptasia eating filefish coming in from @AlgaeBarn that I need to QT tomorrow...and test feed some actual Aiptasia.
 
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Isaac Alves

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Fourth tank transfer happened tonight for these two Apitasia eating file fish from @AlgaeBarn. So now, I’ve moved some actual Apitasia into the QT tank to train them.

But seriously, the fish from @AlgaeBarn, although captive bred, which is awesome, were, and are, very small.

I’ll keep doing the tank transfer method until they fatten up and I witness them chowing down on some of these glass anemones. But their size makes me a bit worried about putting them my main display.


 
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I shot this to help out @ecotech help me figure out what is going on with my NYOS 160 pump. The impeller is not behaving correctly and doesn't start up after feed mode is off and the skimmer off duration has passed. It just hums...See video for specifics.

I hope they can tell me what's up.

Happy Reeffing.
 
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