Sniperhank's UPGRADED 55 gal Build

[Sniperhank]

Didn't ask for me to return the original. Shrug. If wanted they'll get ahold of me. It's getting swapped out...just when I get around to it. Hoping that is tomorrow since I have tomorrow off too. Have had trouble updating them before and caused them to just turn off. Don't want any issues, so going to set up good chunk of time for it. Just now finishing up the water change for the week...usually Monday affair.

[Sniperhank]

New radion installed! Works like a charm. I have to say, once I got the software onto the other laptop it was smooth. Unscrew the old radion and screw the new one up and on. Then gen 2 are a million times easier to wirelessly update than the gen 1. Didn't expect it to go that easily.

[Sniperhank]

Just got the email asking when the radion is going to be shipped back. Take care of that today hopefully.
An actual question though. In my 55, what would be more appropriate, a mp10 or cranked down mp40?

[Sniperhank]

Any input on mp10 or 40?

[Keithhjs]

I would opt for the mp40. I have one in my 4' tank (125 gal) and have it set at close to maximum.

[Sniperhank]

Darn. I prob can't get one for Xmas.

[Sniperhank]

Got a tad busier than I wanted to today...was going to take pictures today but never got around to it...though I did get a larger than average water change done and did more reaching into hard to reach corners of the tank to pull algae growth out. Now I have these green hair algae balls tumbleweeding across my tank. How odd is that, right? Either way, things are still on the up and up.

While I was out buying my weeks worth over DI water, I of course had to stop by the 2 LFS I frequent...out of them being the only 2...There was a cool starry blenny at the one. Had never seen one before besides in pictures. Then, at the other being a Petco, I wanted to see if they had the "macro" rocks with mushrooms the other Petco at the Mall at Robinson had. They didn't, but MAN...2 carpet anemone larger than my head. Crazy.

Also changed out the panty hose, chemipure elite, and phosguard. Ran out of chemipure elite and just threw in the BRS activated carbon in its place. Oh, and finally shipped out the replaced Radion today.

Still need to rehouse the mother birds nest colony. It is so big it is now growing into the direct flow from one of my powerheads and that got covered in algae real quick. I'd have so much more room if it was gone...

[Sniperhank]

Quick Thanksgiving update. I woke up this morning to my derasa clam appearing to be "gapping". As this is my "I quit smoking" clam, I wanted to freak. Tested nitrates and didn't see any issue in the reading I got. Didn't test phosphates since I work the 3-11 shift tonight. Before I left for work, it was looking just fine, like nothing happened. Still has signs of growth on the shell, so I'm not worried. Has done this in the past and I believe it was the result in a change of flow in my tank due to power flickering off/on, which then changed the directions the powerheads were going. Might be a similar issue since I came home from work yesterday from the tank on the verge of overflowing. HOB overflow lost siphon. Quickly fixed thankfully. Could also been the change in salinity. I'll report on it again tomorrow if I get the chance.

[Flaxon-Waxon]

Originally Posted by Sniperhank

Any input on mp10 or 40?

After seeing my 10 in action, would have to say go for the 40 Hank... You will be happier and it will be quieter with a 40 on half power than a 10 running wide open.

[Sniperhank]

Well, things are going down the crapper. Woke up today to see that not one, but both of my clams have pinched mantle.

WOnderful. Been reading, and they are saying to run carbon, which I am, and to stop running GFO. I'm running phosguard, and don't really want to stop running it. So, thoughts on a 30 min freshwater dip? Reading several opinions on if it is beneficial or not, due to it being too stressful for the not opinion.

[Sniperhank]

Ok, jumping the gun some. Not even 20 minutes later it looks just fine. My maxima though still looks like the mantle is pinched.

Hard to see with only the blues on...but its there I think.

[Keithhjs]

Sorry 2 hear the troubles. Hopefully things rebound. I never heard the stop phosguard before. Where & why does it say that? I run several of those medias with my clams & haven't had an issue. Hoping for the best.

[Sniperhank]

Stopping GFO was off of reef2reef stuff...haven't seen it anywhere else yet, hence why I asked about it. Still thinking about a freshwater dip on my maxima. Thoughts?

[Keithhjs]

Considering a pinched mantle left untreated will result most likely in death the FW dip sounds viable providing it's not already in its way out. Hard part is describing is it actually a pinched manly or not. Sometimes my Derasa will look funky for a little while and then go back to normal lol.

[Sniperhank]

Yeah, I'm not so worried about the derasa...atleast for the PMD part. The maxima def has it. I just can't get my plastic bowl to float with water in it or I'd have done it before work. Tomorrow it'll get the treatment since I'm off until Tuesday. Get some wooden spoons to go across the tank to hold the container up, but still in the water, to keep the same temp and do the dip.

[Sniperhank]

Ok. So things started off slow today but I just got the water floating in the tank to get it to the temp of the tank. I'll do a 20 min freshwater dip before dinner tonight at the latest. I'm thinking about dipping both of them just because.

The side story on my late start. I worked 3-11 last night as I normally do on weekends. Driving home I see ahead of me what I thought was a guy driving drunk...it turned out to be a guy braking to avoid a dog running around in the road. Talk about running into odd situations. I scooped it up and did the normal where do you live crap. Ended up with this dog until this morning. Thank god for facebook to get information out there so I didn't get stuck with that ugly thing. Atleast it didn't get hit by a car. I'm over due for good things IMO, lol.

[Mrc8858]

Hope all goes well with the clams. Especially since it seems as though you are finally getting to the tipping point of your algae battle. On a side note keep building up that good karma and maybe it'll pay off in terms of a healthy tank lol

[Sniperhank]

I know right? Need something at this point. Never parameter issues really, just small phosphates. The red bone grass has finally started growing nicely though. Sadly also out of ohosphate reagent. All doable without though. Just don't quite know what could be stressing the clams out.

[Keithhjs]

Let me know how the dip goes. I just picked up four Maximas this week & I considered it before adding to the DT. Hope it wasn't a mistake skipping it lol.

[Sniperhank]

It should be ok. In the future, I want to have a tank of massive sandbed so I can have a ton of clams. To do this, I'd need a QT for them to be safe. I just finished with the dip. So far, can't tell you results until they start opening up again. I also adjusted one of my powerheads as for some reason the flow in my tank has gone down.