Skimmer back in effect

Posted on June 1, 2009 by Clinton

Got my new impeller/mesh fixtures from Sapphire late last week.  The new piece is a rigid mesh (as opposed to the old soft mesh).  Took all of about 20 seconds to get the cover off the pump, get the new piece on, and then re-install the skimmer into the center chamber.  PRESTO – kicking out tons of skim mate (which is to be expected after being out of commission for the past 10 days).  In fact, pretty sure the rigid mesh is kicking out more bubbles than the soft mesh, but that won’t be solid until the  I can get the params back to normal.

Next up, tear everything out of the display – find the b$ast$rd crab that keeps killing my fish, and re-assemble.  Details coming soon!

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Skimmer pump goes down

Posted on May 18, 2009 by Clinton

Almost made it a month … lost my nova skimmer pump tonight. Guess I’m gonna start looking for a replacement. All the guys over on the ReefCentral board seem to be having similar probs with this unit — too bad, it’s a good skimmer if you can keep the pump running!

Cracked plastic on the housing

Cracked plastic on the housing

here is a link to the original part (if you care to check it out):

Posted in Clinton's Corner, Fishes | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

The green algae dust storm

Posted on May 1, 2009 by Clinton

Green algae blanket. That’s the only way to describe what was building on the sand in my display. I tried siphoning, some chemical dosing, but in the end it would always come back in a couple weeks.

I figured it was finally time to start fighting fire with fire, so I went to the LFS and picked up a diamond goby. I’d had a couple of these before (at different times) but they had a tenancy to not do so well in my tank. Not sure if it was the size of the tank, if they weren’t getting enough food or what. I looked into a couple of other options to get more sand turnover (engineer gobies, dragon goby, more nasarius snails) but in the end this little guy was cost effective and a fun addition to the tank.

After a 45 minute drip acclimation, I turned him loose. Shortly there after, the sand storm began. I’m guessing I just had an OBSCENE amount of junk in my sand, but the more he sifted the worse the storm got. I ended up doing 10% water changes every other day for a week – and finally the storm started to settle.

No that he’s settled in, and the cloud has subsided, things are looking MUCH better. My sand is looking clean and healthy again and he continues to pound out some serious turnover!

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Clinton gets a new skimmer!

Posted on April 20, 2009 by Clinton

After a 3 month back order, my new Sapphire Aquatics skimmer finally came in today!!  Rather than bore you with ALL the details – here is a link:

http://www.nanotuners.com/product_info.php?cPath=51&products_id=596

Installation was quick and painless.  I added a bunch of pics to the gallery ( and a few randoms below) – check em out and tell me what you think!

Lip is cleaned up ...
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Lip is cleaned up …
Top view after the skimmer is slid into position
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Top view after the skimmer is slid into position
Chords run, cup sitting nicely on top
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Chords run, cup sitting nicely on top

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New lights, fish + coral update

Posted on April 19, 2009 by Clinton

Got the new 14k pheonix 150w bulb installed over the weekend.  Didn’t really take any pics because it was so easy to take care of.  I also got some of my frags cleaned up and gave them a Revive bath.  Would have helped if I had read the directions a little more carefully (or would have had my second cup of coffee before started in …).  Guess I wasn’t paying attention and used FRESH water to give my frags their bath … not things aren’t really looking that good (I think I might have lost the whole rack – time will tell).

In other news, SJ’s mom sponsored us a new fish!! We have a new Royal Gramma – that pretty much does nothing but hide in the rocks – these pics might be all you ever see of the little guy!  I’ve also got my new Saphire skimmer coming in the mail – I’ll have pics up of the install as soon as it gets here (I’m hoping for tomorrow!)

Clinton + Royal GrammaClinton + Royal Gramma
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Clinton + Royal Gramma
Frags post cleaningFrags post cleaning
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Frags post cleaning
Full Tank ShotFull Tank Shot
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Full Tank Shot

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Easter surf, frag racks, and 6 packs

Posted on April 12, 2009 by Clinton

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The sadness is overwhelming …

Posted on April 1, 2009 by Clinton

That’s what Sarah Jon said this morning when we woke up to find Clown #2 being gobbled up by our peppermint shrimp.  In fact, she said that the death was too much … I have to sell my tank, part it out, and be done with the hobby.  I feel her remorse, however the tank is staying (haha)

I ran a solid 20% water change last night after a 48 hour exposure to a round of red cyano killer.  I’m pretty sure at this point that it didn’t treat the fish well … I lost em both.

Posted in 28g HQI, Algae, Clinton's Corner, Fishes | Leave a comment

Clown down

Posted on March 31, 2009 by Clinton

Lost my female clown yesterday.  I’ve been fighting off another round of red cyano – dosed the slime gone and when I checked back later that night I couldn’t find her.  She showed up in the grate this morning …

The little male I pickedup 6 weeks ago looks fine … not sure why I can’t keep one of these little suckers longer than 3 months?! Perameters look good, doing weekly water changes, etc … 

In other news my new Sapphire skimmer is finally shipping!  Just talked to Nick over at Nanotuners and they should be out sometime this week, can’t wait!

C

Posted in 28g HQI, Algae, Clinton's Corner, Fishes | Leave a comment

RBTA on the move!

Posted on March 14, 2009 by Clinton

Been awhile since I posted so I thought I’d do a quick tank update.  First off … my anemone is on the move!! After a year in one place, he has decided it’s time to pick up and move along.  I knew that they did this sort of thing, but I figured since he was so well established that it wasn’t likely to happen to me (first mistake right!?).

I came home from work this week to find him crawling toward the back of my tank and closing on some of my better coral!!  Luckily my frags hadn’t fully encrusted yet and were just held on with a little dab of modling epoxy.  I was able to pull them off and move them to the sand bank in the front of the tank for safe keeping while the aneneme tries to find a new place to call home.

I also have some new shot s in the growth gallery, although I still don’t see too much of note there.  Here are couple pics of the anemone before and after:

before

before

after

after

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Clinton places 2nd round of frags

Posted on January 26, 2009 by Clinton

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