kinetic RSR 170

[kinetic]

Another reason why I haven't been very active, I got a puppy =X

She is the sweetest. I've been training/socializing her non-stop for 4 weeks now. It was pretty terrible the first week, relatively better the second, and now on the start of my 5th week having her, and she is a dream. Very very rarely mouths, well behaved (almost never jumps, that was hard to train out of her, and loose leash walking is almost perfect now).

Check out her Instagram: https://instagram.com/keamoro

 

[Janci]

Another reason why I haven't been very active, I got a puppy =X

She is the sweetest. I've been training/socializing her non-stop for 4 weeks now. It was pretty terrible the first week, relatively better the second, and now on the start of my 5th week having her, and she is a dream. Very very rarely mouths, well behaved (almost never jumps, that was hard to train out of her, and loose leash walking is almost perfect now).

Check out her Instagram: https://instagram.com/keamoro

You are forgiven...

 

[MexiReefer]

not surprisingly, your puppy is white

 

[kinetic]

not surprisingly, your puppy is white

Hah! I've had my eye on this breed for years =)

 

[kinetic]

My puppy is all grown up after 2+ years. This is my first pup as an adult, and I just can't describe how amazing it has been. Everyone is different, but I don't think I could ever live without a dog in my life again. She's an extension of me. I guess this breed (like many others) are considered "velcro dogs," and there's not a moment she's not within a few feet of me at any given time. Right now she's curled up on her bed next to my desk. If my chair moves ever so slightly, she'll pop up and see if we're going to do something.

She gets me into a great routine of relaxing daily outings. Instead of just going for walks around the neighborhood, I'm excited every day to explore with her. Sometimes it's urban outings, and in the winter, it was hiking all over the place.

She reminds me of the joy of being present. She reminds me that life is fleeting, but fulfilling if you can see even the smallest things as valuable.

The best thing is, I've realized that owning a dog is all about "working" together. Play and interaction for us is hiking, trail running, cross-country skiing, and more... but throughout it all we spend most of the days/time training. Learning new tricks, practicing polite manners, and more. She's a working type of dog with a strong drive, and channeling this into "play," has been amazing.

TL;DR: Now that she's matured a bit, I've been spending more time on the tank. Here are some updates:

1. I got a Reefi Uno to replace the Hydra 52HD. I bought an extra case to paint it white. The Hydra fan, I believe, stopped working. I liked the Reefi because the "reflectors" keep it from glaring everywhere, and being in my home office I wanted that. It's compact size was really cool. I liked that I was supporting Daniel, who is a hobbyist himself who is really responsive and cares about the reef community. Aside from that, the Hydra's cool white LEDs were just too harsh on the corals I believe, so I wanted to try the Reefi's ability to overpower some of the blues to give the tank the whiter look I was hoping for. So far so good. It's a bit more purple, but I'll slowly keep adjusting it.
2. I started up my algae reactor again. A fellow hobbyist nearby gave me a big chunk of his chaeto and I'm now dosing 3ml of Brightwell Chaetogro. I'm hoping this will help grow chaeto this time to help overpower some of my algae that's growing on the sand.
3. I stopped dosing Amino acids and NoPox. I actually did this by accident as I was so busy I forgot to refill them, and realized that after a long time of not dosing, my dinoflagellates never came back. So what the heck, just stopped. Now I had two heads on the DOS empty, so I'm using one now for the chaetogro. This just feels more sustainable now.
4. I changed out from dosing Aquaforest Components for Alk/CA to simply using b-ionic Alk and CA solutions. This actually has helped a lot with the corals, and I'm starting to see a lot more growth and less "stunted" looks after the last 4-5 months. I should have gone this route from the beginning.
5. I'm going to be adding two AI Nero 3 pumps, and then using my maxpect gyre on a low setting pushing water down and behind the rockwork instead. I think I want to try a more chaotic flow, rather than the super distributed gyre only flow. These are ordered and I'm waiting for them to be delivered next week.
6. Now that the alk/ca levels seem to be good and my SPS have been looking great, I've added two mini-colonies of Shades of Fall and BC Battlestag. I've also added a small red robin stag frag. I lost my Walt Disney frag because it fell into the rockwork, bummer. So now I'm at those three pieces, a sunset montipora, and a recovering pearlberry (at least I think it's a pearlberry).
7. I ordered an Avast Plank feeder. I hope that using reef chili and other foods will help the tank thrive a bit more, especially feeding throughout the day. I haven't been feeding the tank at all, other than TDO pellets for the fish.

That's it. So just waiting on the new pumps, avast plank feeder, and paint my Reefi's case white. I'll post photos tonight.

 

[kinetic]

Latest FTS. I forgot how to take good environmental shots, this looks like it has so many hot spots.

Painted the Reefi Uno light casing white! So much better:

I could have been more careful with the edges, but you can only see it uneven from the bottom:

The hanging kit was for my Hydra 52HD, they're lined up perfectly, but these "eyelet" loops on the Reefi are all weird so it sits at an angle. I need to figure out a way to fix this.

Shades of Fall. This light is really blue...

 

[kinetic]

Good and bad news! Good news is, my home remodel will be happening soon and I will be building out a new tank. Bad news, time to take the tank down and sell it.

I just took it down last weekend (I have a temporary 40G breeder holding the animals), cleaned it up, and am now listing it for sale (take a look: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/f...e-near-mint-condition-ready-for-water.942605/)

I'll create a new build thread soon with the new tank (ELOS 120XL w/ absolute stand)!

 

[Janci]

Good and bad news! Good news is, my home remodel will be happening soon and I will be building out a new tank. Bad news, time to take the tank down and sell it.

I just took it down last weekend (I have a temporary 40G breeder holding the animals), cleaned it up, and am now listing it for sale (take a look: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/f...e-near-mint-condition-ready-for-water.942605/)

I'll create a new build thread soon with the new tank (ELOS 120XL w/ absolute stand)!

@kineti
Did you start a new thread on the Elos?
Would like to see more on these 120xl tanks.
I assume you got the white version?

 

[kinetic]

@kineti
Did you start a new thread on the Elos?
Would like to see more on these 120xl tanks.
I assume you got the white version?

I haven't started a new thread yet. I wouldn't recommend ELOS at all. I ordered the brand new 120XL with absolute stand, and it was incredibly disappointing. The worst part is the ELOS takes at least a month to respond to any inquiry, and even when they do, they make false promises and nothing ever gets resolved.

They gave me a crap overflow that looks very cheap and much worse than the Quiet Drain 2, and they claim it's a Quiet Drain 3, yet they have never given me any details on it (including max GPH) even after asking for over 4 months now.

The stand itself was painted horribly, splotches everywhere. The panels were yellowed in certain areas as well.

They agreed isn't great, but I've had no resolution yet.

For the money, it's horrible. Absolutely regret getting it. ELOS is going down hill. I wouldn't be surprised if they're close to shutting down completely.

 

[Janci]

I haven't started a new thread yet. I wouldn't recommend ELOS at all. I ordered the brand new 120XL with absolute stand, and it was incredibly disappointing. The worst part is the ELOS takes at least a month to respond to any inquiry, and even when they do, they make false promises and nothing ever gets resolved.

They gave me a crap overflow that looks very cheap and much worse than the Quiet Drain 2, and they claim it's a Quiet Drain 3, yet they have never given me any details on it (including max GPH) even after asking for over 4 months now.

The stand itself was painted horribly, splotches everywhere. The panels were yellowed in certain areas as well.

They agreed isn't great, but I've had no resolution yet.

For the money, it's horrible. Absolutely regret getting it. ELOS is going down hill. I wouldn't be surprised if they're close to shutting down completely.

After posting previouly, i found your thread where you explained your issues with Elos.
It is painful to read all that and not correct from Elos to ignore you.
I am in Europe and might still go with that option. For that price point maybe I can consider a visit to Verona prior to purchasing.

I hope things will be sorted out.
@ELOSAmerica for urgent action!

 

[kinetic]

Just a quick update:
My house remodel is coming along. I believe we will need 2-3 more months before it's all done. The good news is, all of the work for the tank is done. The floor can now hold many thousands of lbs and more, no problem. There's dedicated 20A breakers for the electrical for the plugs, which are purposefully located higher up off the floor for proper drip lines. I have RODI tubes running from where my RODI will be, through to the wall. I have a CAT6 cable as well (more than 12" away from the power outlets). The ceiling has blocking so I can hang any amount of heavy lights, as well as ceiling outlets (I'll probably run 2x or 3x ReeFi Uno 2.0 lights, so they just need power plugs and they can be controlled wirelessly).

I'll post photos once things are a bit more put together.

 

[Raptor72]

Great. Hadn’t seen anything in this thread in a while and was wondering what happened. Glad to see some activity

 

[kinetic]

Great. Hadn’t seen anything in this thread in a while and was wondering what happened. Glad to see some activity

Yes! Just focused on getting the house done. But the tank and all the equipment are sitting in storage, ready to go =)

 

[kinetic]

One big change I'm making is, I will be getting NSW delivered and holding it in a 200G tank. I'm not sure it will help my success, but so far in my experience, NSW has done better for me than mixing my own, and it's a little easier. I have a good solution for it too, as there's someone locally that can deliver for a price I'm willing to pay.

 

[rc8t6353]

One big change I'm making is, I will be getting NSW delivered and holding it in a 200G tank. I'm not sure it will help my success, but so far in my experience, NSW has done better for me than mixing my own, and it's a little easier. I have a good solution for it too, as there's someone locally that can deliver for a price I'm willing to pay.

I swear, you all by the coast are so lucky! Nothing but Lake Michigan near me lol