12DX LED Build

[Jimbo7]

haha it shouldnt be too long. I leave on a 3 month internship right after christmas, so im going to try and prune them back to grow evenly while im gone. My roommate is being trained in how to look after everything, but its been pretty self sufficient so far.

 

[cmor1701d]

I can't wait <lol>

 

[Ziggy953]

haha it shouldnt be too long. I leave on a 3 month internship right after christmas, so im going to try and prune them back to grow evenly while im gone. My roommate is being trained in how to look after everything, but its been pretty self sufficient so far.

You are brave!

 

[Jimbo7]

UGHH. Problems galore.
-Came back from thanksgiving and the tank was 88 degrees. No idea how it got that hot.
-One of my blue LED's has a bad connection so it has to be resoldered.
-Algae outbreak is getting really nasty, and I have no idea how because I haven't been feeding, and there is nothing to really put off waste except a couple snails and the clam.
-My ORA Purple Plasma RTN'd and died over the weekend and my pearlberry is looking more and more unhappy.
-Not to mention as I was leaving for break I knocked 3 different coral off their new mounts and over break my Oregon tort rolled into the pink millie and got chewed up.

Oh yea, and its finals week so I barely have time to do what is needed. I finally caved and plugged in the protein skimmer so hopefully that will start doing something.

On a lighter note...I did visit some friends right before leaving to drive back here and picked up two new friends. Though I feel horrible they will be living in squalor for the next few days while I try to pull everything together.
They are tank bred true Onyx clowns from Rod's line. They are only 4 months old and are just starting to get their second stripe.

I got some pictures I will put up later tonight, I have to run to practice for now.
Hope everyone had a good thanksgiving!

 

[Jimbo7]

I figured out it was my heater. I had left it in a bucket during practice to heat up some water for a water change. Got back and the bucket was a solid 108 degrees. Now I just have to worry about the temp of the tank dipping too much at night before I can get a new heater.

Anywho, here is the best shot i was able to get of the little guys before I had to leave. They are quick and still pretty tiny, so a better quality picture then this is going to take some time.

 

[ryshark]

Nice clowns. Sorry to hear about the mishaps with the tank. Look into getting a controller for your reef. Now that I have one, I can't imagine not having one. They are a huge failsafe piece of equipment. Neptune makes good ones and ReefKeeper.

 

[iDream]

I figured out it was my heater. I had left it in a bucket during practice to heat up some water for a water change. Got back and the bucket was a solid 108 degrees. Now I just have to worry about the temp of the tank dipping too much at night before I can get a new heater.

Anywho, here is the best shot i was able to get of the little guys before I had to leave. They are quick and still pretty tiny, so a better quality picture then this is going to take some time.

those guys are onyx? i'm guessing it'll be a bit before the begin to show their colors considering their age

 

[Jimbo7]

Yep! They are still just little guys so yea it's going to be some time.

 

[Ziggy953]

Are they from the same batch? Brother and sister so to speak?

 

[Jimbo7]

Are they from the same batch? Brother and sister so to speak?

Yep.

I also think I will be asking for an RKL controller for Christmas (awesome to still be young) plus and ALC module to control my lights. Should make things much easier and a lot safer while im gone.

 

[Jimbo7]

Boring update:

My heatsink came loose and smacked one of my LEDs against the splash guard thus busticating it. I had to open it up and bypass the broken one to get the rest of the strip to fire at full power. I am leaving for my internship in the next few days, so this is the last time I will probably be at my tank for a couple months. I am going to mod my skimmer with the mesh mod before i leave and hopefully get my RKL sent to my roommate so he can hook it up right after christmas.

I also am going to have him set up a biopellet reactor to help make things easy. So, its about to be a very quiet couple months on here, but the fish are fat and happy, the corals are bright and we'll see where it goes!

 

[iDream]

I see you've been posting recently but haven't updated your own thread! How dare you!


Updatesplz?

 

[pat8you]

He has had a friend watching his tank the last couple months. Should be back before long.

 

[Jimbo7]

My roommate has been watching my tank for the last 3 months. The way my school program works is I do 3 months of school, then 3 months work, then school, work, ...etc.

Anywho, just got back tonight. My roommate has no experience in fish tanks much less saltwater, but he did a pretty good job. There is a GIANT outbreak of red flatworms, which seem to be leaving all my corals alone, but just covering evvveerrryythingggg.

I know i lost at least 2 SPS, and they were lost on a simple miscommunication from me to him, so I take responsibility. Other then the flatworms, it just looks like an unscrubbed tank. The coral that is still alive has boomed in growth. I'm charging my camera battery now, I should have some pictures up later.

This is going to be a HUGE cleaning process for sure, but all in all, I think everything went really well for the circumstances.

 

[XxVooDooxX]

Those red "flatworms", are they actually flatworms? I saw those in a display tank at a LFS and they told me it was something different. I can't remember what though. They did say they were ok for the tank?

Sent from my iPhone using Aquarium

 

[Jimbo7]

They are Red Planaria, and yes I do believe they are technically a flatworm.
I haven't noticed them actively eating or destroying tissue, but they do tend to just create a giant mat and can blanket out the light for coral. So they are ok? but not recommended and you should get them out. And definitely dip anything you get from that store, who knows what else they have lol.

 

[iDream]

Awesome! So you're back for 3 months? I just want to see the growth and how those clowns are doing.

 

[ryshark]

Looking forward to the growth shots.

 

[Jimbo7]

Having trouble finding my camera charger...

Also tonight I noticed that along with the red flatworm bloom I had a massive bloom of brittle stars. They are seriously everywhere. It's crazy.
Doing my best to bring the pics soon!

 

[Jimbo7]

Well, seeing as how I didnt get raptured, figured I didnt have any reason to delay cleaning the tank anymore.

I had scrubbed it pretty well the last time I had posted, but then ultimate season got into full swing and I let it go once more. Now that the season is over, I have a slight calm before the storm that is my finals, and have some time to devote solely to the tank.

So after 2 hours of scrubbing, rinsing, cleaning, and swearing at myself for letting it come down to this, 10 gallons has been changed and things look better.
Still no luck with my camera charger, so I took some iphone pics. Im figuring someone in my studio has a camera charger, so im going to see tomorrow because i really want to show you guys everything. The colors on some of the corals are outstanding. Brightest neons I have seen.
Here are some bad pictures.