Monday, December 29, 2008
Sunburn
12/25 - 2 bulbs 9 am to 5 pm, 4 bulbs 5 pm to 10 pm, 2 bulbs 10 pm to 11 pm
12/26 - 2 bulbs 9 am to 4 pm, 4 bulbs 4 pm to 10 pm, 2 bulbs 10 pm to 11 pm
12/27 - 2 bulbs 9 am to 3 pm, 4 bulbs 3 pm to 10 pm, 2 bulbs 10 pm to 11 pm
12/28 - 2 bulbs 9 am to 2 pm, 4 bulbs 2 pm to 10 pm, 2 bulbs 10 pm to 11 pm
12/29 - 2 bulbs 9 am to 1 pm, 4 bulbs 1 pm to 10 pm, 2 bulbs 10 pm to 11 pm
12/30 - 2 bulbs 9 am to 12 pm, 4 bulbs 12 pm to 10 pm, 2 bulbs 10 pm to 11 pm
12/31 - 2 bulbs 9 am to 11 am, 4 bulbs 11 am to 10 pm, 2 bulbs 10 pm to 11 pm
1/1 - 2 bulbs 9 am to 10 am, 4 bulbs 10 am to 10 pm, 2 bulbs 10 pm to 11 pm
1/2 - 2 bulbs 9 am to 10 am, 4 bulbs 10 am to 4 pm, 6 bulbs 4 pm to 5 pm, 4 bulbs 5 pm to 10 pm, 2 bulbs 10 pm to 11 pm
1/3 - 2 bulbs 9 am to 10 am, 4 bulbs 10 am to 3 pm, 6 bulbs 3 pm to 5 pm, 4 bulbs 5 pm to 10 pm, 2 bulbs 10 pm to 11 pm
1/4 - 2 bulbs 9 am to 10 am, 4 bulbs 10 am to 3 pm, 6 bulbs 3 pm to 6 pm, 4 bulbs 6 pm to 10 pm, 2 bulbs 10 pm to 11 pm
1/5 - 2 bulbs 9 am to 10 am, 4 bulbs 10 am to 2 pm, 6 bulbs 2 pm to 6 pm, 4 bulbs 6 pm to 10 pm, 2 bulbs 10 pm to 11 pm
1/6 - 2 bulbs 9 am to 10 am, 4 bulbs 10 am to 2 pm, 6 bulbs 2 pm to 7 pm, 4 bulbs 7 pm to 10 pm, 2 bulbs 10 pm to 11 pm
1/7 - 2 bulbs 9 am to 10 am, 4 bulbs 10 am to 1 pm, 6 bulbs 1 pm to 7 pm, 4 bulbs 7 pm to 10 pm, 2 bulbs 10 pm to 11 pm
1/8 - 2 bulbs 9 am to 10 am, 4 bulbs 10 am to 1 pm, 6 bulbs 1 pm to 8 pm, 4 bulbs 8 pm to 10 pm, 2 bulbs 10 pm to 11 pm
1/9 - 2 bulbs 9 am to 10 am, 4 bulbs 10 am to 12 pm, 6 bulbs 12 pm to 8 pm, 4 bulbs 8 pm to 10 pm, 2 bulbs 10 pm to 11 pm
1/10 - 2 bulbs 9 am to 10 am, 4 bulbs 10 am to 12 pm, 6 bulbs 12 pm to 9 pm, 2 bulbs 9 pm to 11 pm
1/11 - 2 bulbs 9 am to 10 am, 4 bulbs 10 am to 11 am, 6 bulbs 11 am to 9 pm, 2 bulbs 9 pm to 11 pm
1/12 - 2 bulbs 9 am to 10 am, 4 bulbs 10 am to 11 am, 6 bulbs 11 am to 10 pm, 2 bulbs 10 pm to 11 pm
1/13 - 2 bulbs 9 am to 10 am, 6 bulbs 10 am to 10 pm, 2 bulbs 10 pm to 11 pm
Sunday, December 28, 2008
Fragging Xenia
From Paul's Reef - Apr 15, 2008 |
Scissors were closer so I decided to cut a few stalks. I placed them in a small reusable Glad container that deli meat comes in along with some sand and rubble rock. I covered the container with some bridle veil netting and secured it with a rubber band. I'm hoping that some of these will attach themselves to some of the rocks and begin to grow. The pieces I cut off are already pulsing in the container even though they are upside down.
Xenia is too slippery to super glue to rock so it either needs to be secured to the rock by sewing with fishing line or it needs to attach itself on its own. I'm trying the latter approach.
From time to time I still see a piece of colt coral that I fragged rolling around on the sand. It actually looks healthy but it hasn't attached to anything yet. If I see it again, I'll throw it in the container.
Saturday, December 27, 2008
Xenia Warrior Princess
From Paul's Reef |
It split not too long after I got it. Once of the split stalks ended up growing on a piece of rubble rock that kept falling off the ledge it was on. I ended up finding a nice spot for it on the other side of my tank. So now I have two colonies growing and spreading.
The colony on the left side seems to be spreading faster than the colony on the right side. Also, the Xenia on the right side is growing taller than the Xenia on the left. This is probably due to differences in current between the two sides of the tank.
The video below shows the Xenia in action. On the right side there are two stalks that have closed up tightly. They will do this from time to time and I have no idea why. They will will do this when I perform a water change probably because of the additional debris that gets stirred up.
Friday, December 26, 2008
Tomato Clown Video
Tuesday, December 23, 2008
Sleeping with the Anemone
This relationship continues to grow as time goes on. It keeps spending more and more time within, around and even under the anemone. It is now inside the anemone more often than not.
I'm pretty sure that the clown did not take to the anemone right away because the anemone wasn't looking great. It took two months of manual feeding to fatten it up to the point where the clown felt it was a suitable anemone. The anemone really opened up the day after I upgraded my lighting to T5s. It must have looked too inviting for the clown not to dive in at this point.
My advice to people that can't get their clown to host an anemone is to make sure you are pairing the right fish to the right anemone. Not all clowns will host all anemones. Secondly, make sure your anemone looks healthy. Your clown, like every creature, wants a nice home to call its own.
Saturday, December 20, 2008
Holiday Hosting
From Paul's Reef - Apr 15, 2008 |
The new lights look great. They really don't look that purple to me anymore. instead, everything else that I used to think looked white, like my computer screen as I'm typing this, looks yellow. My bubble tip anemone appears to like the new lights too. It opened really wide today under the new lights to soak it all in.
Up to this point my tomato clown that I purchased the 1st weekend of November had never gone into the anemone. It would often hang out a few inches above it for a while and then go merrilly on its way. Today was different. All day today the clown kept visiting the anemone. It started getting closer than usual and let a tentacle touch it for the first time that I've seen. It then started getting territorial and would occasionally chase away a green chromis, my firefish and my oscellaris clown.
It would still venture away from the anemone and swim around the tank. There always seemed to be an attraction that would pull the clown back after a few minutes. It would get close again and look at the anemone.
Finally, tonight, it started nipping at a few tentacles. Then, it actually went between a few tentacles and came back out, almost like dipping a toe in a hot bath to test the water. It didn't stay for long but contact was indeed made. It kept visiting the anemone more and more over the course of the evening and making brief contact with it. Eventually it stayed longer and started wiggling and twitching amongst the tentacles. It was almost as if the tentacles hurt it a little bit and it was getting used to it. Each stay was short and lasted only a minute or two at a time and then the clown was off swimming around the tank again.
From Paul's Reef - Apr 15, 2008 |
Now, the lights have gone out in the tank for the night. I do miss the blue moonlights my old fixture had. Oh well. The clown is no longer in the anemone. Instead it is swimming up against the side glass of the tank where it has spent every night since I bought it. I wonder if it will eventually spend the night in the anemone.
So, tonight it finally happened. This was something that I wanted to observe ever since I got my first saltwater tank in the early 90s. That tank failed and I didn't pursue the hobby any farther until last October. There is just something about observing a symbiotic relationship like this. Way way cool. I love this hobby.
Friday, December 19, 2008
Nova Extreme Pro Review
I ordered it from Marine Depot. I found it for about $20 less on Amazon after the fact. Oh well.
I couldn't ask for it to be packaged any better. It was essentially triple boxed. The regular box was wrapped in bubble wrap. The wrapped box was then wrapped in a piece of cardboard.
From Current Nova Extreme Pro |
Must be I-talian.
From Current Nova Extreme Pro |
The inner box was mounted in the second box and secured with spacers to maintain a gap between the two. The fixture was mounted in 3 Styrofoam spacers within the innermost box.
From Current Nova Extreme Pro |
Despite all of the packing one of the bulbs arrived broken.
From Current Nova Extreme Pro |
From Current Nova Extreme Pro |
I wasn't concerned about the broken bulb because I wasn't planning on using them anyway. However, it was a pain to get the broken pieces of glass out of the fixture. I heard from multiple sources that the Current bulbs should be replaced. My LFS said that their corals lost color and turned brown under them
The reflector is stamped out of a piece of highly reflective material. The reflector surrounds each bulb and reflects the light that goes out the sides of the bulbs down into the tank.
From Current Nova Extreme Pro |
From Current Nova Extreme Pro |
After installing my bulbs the fixture looked like this:
From Current Nova Extreme Pro |
The bulbs from left to right are ATI Blue Plus, Giesemann Aqua Blue+, Aqua Science Special 15000 K, Giesemann Midday, Giesemann Aqua Blue+ and ATI Blue Plus. The Aqua Science and Giesemann Midday were substitutes for a UV 75.25 and GE Starcoat respecively. It turns out that the Aqua Science special looks pretty much the same as the Giesemann Aqua Blue+.
Before placing the fixture on my tank I wanted to take some comparison photos with my 4x65 PC fixture first. For the following pictures I placed the camera on a tripod in manual exposure mode and with manual white balance. This way no camera parameters were changed between pictures.
First, is my PC fixture alone with my supplemental 6500 K bulbs turned off.
From Current Nova Extreme Pro |
In the following picture, the supplemental 6500Ks are turned on.
From Current Nova Extreme Pro |
Finally, the Nova Extreme went on the tank.
From Current Nova Extreme Pro |
Obviously the bulbs I purchased cast a very purplish tint to the tank. They are also much much brighter. Now when I take close up pictures the camera stops down the lens to f/8 and decreases the shutter speed to about 1/125 s. Previously, the lens would be wide open and the shutter speed would be about 1/40 s.
From Current Nova Extreme Pro |
Here are a few more pictures:
From Current Nova Extreme Pro |
From Current Nova Extreme Pro |
The fixture is very solid. The main housing of the fixture is made out of metal and not plastic. The legs, on the other hand, seemed a little flimsy. The manual does not include instructions on how to install the legs. It's not difficult but you need to figure it out on your own. The legs slide in through grooves. To access the grooves the acrylic shield needs to be pulled out a few inches. The shield also slides in on a different set of grooves. In order to get one of the legs on, the center brace needs to be removed since it slides into the lamp on the same grooves used by the legs.
The fans pump out a lot of warm air. Directly under the lamp you can just barely feel some warmth. I don't expect this to increase the tank temperature at all. The fans do make some noise. They are a little louder than the return pumps in my sump.
Despite the broken bulb I'm very happy with the fixture. The quality of the fixture seems very high.
Star Polyps Closed
EDIT: The star polyps opened this morning. I also discovered that I created a leak of sorts when I added the carbon last night. I had the sock draped over my HOB skimmer box and it was wicking water and dripping it onto the carpet behind the tank. I noticed that the level of RO water in the reservoir went down more than usual in one night and got curious and heard a drip while investigating. Carpet is a little wet behind the tank. I have a small fan blowing on it to dry it up. Hopefully it doesn't start growing mold. Water and I just don't get along.
New light fixture should be arriving today if the UPS guy can make it through the snowstorm. Bulbs arrived yesterday without any casualties.
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
Aquascaping
I received a lot of formerly live rock years ago from someone I work with that ripped down his tank. I bought a 75g tank from him with a stand for $50 or $100. With it he gave me a lot of this rock. It had been dried out for some time. I decided that it was time to bring this rock back to life so I bleached it for a few days and then let it sit in dechlorinated water for about a week. Changing the water every day and adding dechlorinator each time I changed the water.
When I lowered the water level in my tank two days ago during my water change I took the opportunity to add this rock into the tank. It is basically one 5 gallon bucket full of various pieces. I have another 5 gallon bucket in the bleach phase right now that I may add later.
The amount of live rock I had before allowed me to build a low wall in the back of the tank. I didn't have enough to make a nice slope that would allow adding more corals. So, with this new rock I did some aquascaping. I used as much as this white rock for base rock and placed it under my coraline encrusted live rock. A few large bleached pieces are visible at the top but they too will be encrusted with coraline.
Here are some pictures after the aquascaping:
From Paul's Reef |
From Paul's Reef |
From Paul's Reef |
From Paul's Reef |
Monday, December 15, 2008
Christmas is Coming Early
Nova Extreme Pro 6x54W T5HO
MH vs T5 seems to be a raging debate right now. It appears that T5s are gaining popularity. Metal Halides are a point source so you get a nice shimmering effect in the tank. You also get the most light penetration under the bulb and less further away. They have been around a long time so there is a big following. Haklides consume a lot more electricity and often require the use of a chiller to keep the tank cool.
With the T5HO fluorescents the lighting is more even so it reduces shadows in the tang and allows corals to get more light, in theory anyway. They also run much much cooler. You also have the ability to mix and match bulbs to get the color light you want. I've read and heard that the bulbs that come with this fixture are not great and should be replaced. I've read this and heard it from multiple sources so I ordered bulbs along with it.
This is the arrangement of bulbs I selected from front to back:
ATI Blue Plus
Giesemann Aqua Blue+
Aqua Science Special 15000 K
Giesemann Midday
Giesemann Aqua Blue+
ATI Blue Plus
The Aqua Science bulb was a substitute for UV Lighting 75.25 Bulb 14000K. The Giesemn Midday was a substitute for GE Starcoat. Both of these were out of stock at Aquarium Specialty.
I found this combination of bulbs at Reef Central used in a tank by Wendy. She has a most impressive tank. I figured if that combination of bulbs works for her I'll also give it a try.
Sunday, December 14, 2008
War of the Worlds
Canon Rebel Xti, Canon EF 100mm f2.8 USM Macro |
This picture of my Bubble Tip Anemone reminds me of the alien spaceships from War of the Worlds. I'm not talking about the piece of crap Tom Cruise movie. I'm talking about the 1953 classic. Each ship had a "head" that was lit red at the end of a long neck that would look around and fire lasers at overconfident priests.
When I took this picture each tentacle seemed to be capable of independent thought. They seemed to move about independently looking for prey.
Monday, December 8, 2008
Nitrate Update
After posting about my rapid nitrate reduction on the 3reef forum and reading the responses I became a little worried that the 6500K bulbs would encourage too much algae growth in the tank. I decided to reduce the "on time" of these bulbs from 9 hours/day to 5. I'll keep measuring the nitrate level and observing the effect of the reduced light on the small amount of algae in the tank and my corals. The Xenia is pulsing extremely rapidly, even at night. I'm concerned it will slow down once the amount of light is reduced. That may not be a bad thing because it is spreading quite rapidly and I'm afraid it may some day want to take over the tank.
I did some aquascaping when I added my dead piece of live rock back into the tank. One of the Xenia colonies got moved a bit. I also created a flat ledge that I moved my open brain coral to that is about mid height in the tank. The open brain hasn't opened completely yet. It expands slightly in the morning but that's it. Now that the nitrate level is down I'm not sure what else to try so I decided to move it higher in the tank where it can get more light. Hopefully, this helps.
Resurrecting Live Rock
I also have some old rock that someone gave me from their SW tank years ago when they gave me a used 75 gal tank. I decided it was time to turn the pieces that I could tell were coral skeletons into LR too. Those pieces are soaking in bleach now. Lots of the pieces have dried up hair algae on them. I'm not sure what the other pieces are so I'll probably throw them out.
Friday, December 5, 2008
How to Reduce Nitrates in Reef Tanks by Increasing Illumination
I believe I have reduced the Nitrate level in my tank dramatically from 25 mg/L down to 0.2 mg/L simply by adding four spiral compact fluorescent bulbs from the hardware store. This post describes in detail all the steps I've taken to reduce my Nitrate level. The chart below illustrates my Nitrate measurements and is annotated with the dates of various things that I tried along the way. Click on the chart to enlarge.
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I've been recording my tank parameters since July 1st of this year. I have been most interested in reducing my Nitrate level. The Nitrate level in my tank was staying around 25 mg/L for several months. The level didn't go down by reducing feedings to once a day. Finally, I broke down and added a sump and refugium with a deep sand bed on August 2'nd. That really did nothing to reduce my Nitrate level over the course of a month. I added Chaeto algae and illuminated my refugium on a reverse light cycle on 10/9. On 10/25 the Nitrate level was still at 25 mg/L. Around this time I became concerned that my light output may be too low. The tank looked dim compared to my refugium which was lit with a single 6500K spiral CF fluorescent bulb. Perhaps some of the problems I was experiencing were due to low light levels rather than elevated Nitrate levels. Being on a budget I decided to purchase four 26W 6500K spiral CF bulbs from Lowes along with four clip-0n shop light fixtures with reflectors. So, by going the cheap route I was able to add 104W of daylight illumination for about $30. These were installed at the back of the tank on October 25'th. At the same time I ordered replacement PC bulbs for my hood. The replacement bulbs were installed on 10/29. All the while I continued to measure the Nitrate level as shown in the graph above.
The bulb I'm using is shown below. It is a 26W 6500K Bright Effects bulb purchased from Lowe's. It has the numbers BE26T3/D and E170197 printed on the label.From Paul's Reef - Apr 15, 2008 |
The picture below shows the bulb and hood clipped to the front of the tank for easy viewing.
From Paul's Reef - Apr 15, 2008 |
Here is what the tank looks like with the extra bulbs and clip on fixtures.
From Paul's Reef - Apr 15, 2008 |
So what does the graph show? It shows that four days after installing the four spiral bulbs at the back of the tank over my live rock my Nitrate level dropped from 25 mg/L to 10 mg/L. At this point I installed the new PC fluorescents. Three days later, on 11/1, the Nitrate level had dropped to 5 mg/L. Up to this point this was the lowest I had ever measured. Five days later the Nitrate level was cut in half again and were reduced to 2.5 mg/L. Another 5 days later the Nitrates dropped to 1 mg/L. The Nitrate levels have continued to drop and are now at 0.2 mg/L.
In all the reading I did about techniques for reducing Nitrate I never came across anybody recommending increasing illumination. I read about using a deep sand bed and using macro algae such as Chaeto. I also read about Nitrate sponges and Nitrate coils. I tried the DSB and Chaeto and did not see a reduction. You can argue that I did not try the Chaeto for a long enough time period. True, it's possible that the Chaeto helped. However, I would have expected to see a gradual decline beginning with the introduction of the Chaeto. However, two weeks after the introduction of the Chaeto the Nitrate level stubbornly remained at 25 mg/L.
The chart, however, suggests that the catalyst for the Nitrate reduction was the addition of the cheap spiral 6500K CF bulbs. After the introduction of these bulbs the Nitrate levels literally fell off a cliff. But why?
It is my belief that the algae that was already in my tank took off after the additional lighting was added. The color of my live rock noticeably changed with the increase in illumination. Looking closely at the rock you can see very fine green algae growing over the coraline. This algae is remaining very short and well kept and provides natural grazing food for my tangs. I do not have any hair algae growing that I can see although I did fear this would happen. At times fine bubbles can now be seen over my rock clinging to the fine algae. I'm not sure of the origin of these bubbles. I do not believe they are microbubbles that are captured by the algae. Perhaps they are nitrogen bubbles generated anaerobically in the live rock and trapped by the algae. Perhaps they are produced by the algae. Is it possible that the algae is reducing the flow of oxygenated water to the rock and encouraging anaerobic denitrifying bacteria to thrive.
From Paul's Reef |
This fine algae which has a lot of live rock surface area to grown on may be absorbing the Nitrate. The tangs are keeping the algae manicured. One would think that the Nitrate would be reintroduced in the tangs' waste. Perhaps it is but it is being quickly reabsorbed by the algae to repeat the cycle. Is it possible I have created a self-sustaining ecosystem?
Some might suggest the the reduction of nitrate occurring with the additional lighting is strictly coincidental. Twenty years of engineering experience has taught me that true coincidences are rather rare. Usually, there is some causal relationship between the two observations.
I would encourage others with Nitrate problems to try the simplest approach first. There is nothing simpler and cheaper than adding 6500K spiral bulbs from Lowes or Home Depot to the back of your tank. This is certainly cheaper and faster than building a refugium. Having some shop lights clipped to the back of your tank may not provide you with the best look. Eventually, after you are convinced it works, you can build a nicer hood. If your tank responds as mine did you may have the results you are looking for in about four days.
I'd be interested in knowing your experiences. Please send me an email at pguidarini@yahoo.com.
Thursday, December 4, 2008
Mushrooms Clones
Canon Rebel Xti, Canon EF 100mm f2.8 USM Macro |
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
Hey Crabman
This crab is very fast and very very skittish. The slightest movement outside the tank causes it to scurry away - quickly. It is extremely fast. Because it is so skittish it is next to impossible to get a good picture of this guy. These pictures of it attacking my Koralia powerhead are the best pictures I have been able to take of it so far. You need to click on the one above and zoom in on the one above to really see it.
Its claws seem to be smooth on the inside, lacking any serrations. It appears to be built strictly for eating algae. I have read some of the debate about crabs on line that tend to reply that the only place for Mithrax crabs, emerald aside, is in your refugium. I haven't seen this guy do any evil so I'm going to leave him in the tank for now. I don't think I can get him out even if I wanted to. Hopefully, he doesn't develop an appetite for toadstool leathers.
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
Toadstool Time Lapse
Monday, December 1, 2008
Better Get a Bucket
So, last time I performed a water change I noticed that the new water was noticeably clearer than the old water I drained out of the tank. Don't get me wrong, the water in the tank looks really clear. However, the new water when compared against the old looks clearer and bluer. Judge for yourself.
This picture was taken with the flash. The old water is on the right.
From Paul's Reef |
This picture was taken without it. Just for fairness and confusion I took this picture from the opposite side of the buckets. Here the old water is obviously on the left.
From Paul's Reef |
Based on the color and clarity difference alone it would seem to me that regular water changes are very important. The difference is probably not merely "wafer thin."
In other news, I added activated carbon this evening. I filled an old sock with it and rinsed it in RO/DI water. I added the sock to my overflow box so I can get the most water flowing through it. I must not have rinsed it well enough because my tank looks noticeably darker now. I never really stopped to think about how much slightly dirty water reduces the amount of light reaching your corals.