Reef Log

Breaking News.....

2007-09-02T21:17:00.001-05:00

Well it's not really breaking news but it is exciting news. I'm finally getting around to updating my reef log. I can't believe it's been well over 3 months since my last update. In that time I've collected about a dozen more SPS frags, but most importantly I've got my 24g Nano Cube up and running. Boy, it feels so good to be out of that 10g tank. The move to the nano cube took about 7 days to complete and all livestock survived the transfer, so I guess I did something right. Here's some other news before I post a few picture of the 24g.

Prior to the tank move I lost one frag and had some severe RTN on 3 other frags due to a high salinity issue that I failed to catch until it was too late. I was hesitant on doing the move with three frags being in such bad condition but I went ahead with it. Hopefully those frags recover and get back to making me proud again.

For a while I battled low pH levels do to the CO2 build up in my home but I've been able to fight that by opening windows to allow air exchange. This has helped out tremendously and I've also been dose additives late at night limit my pH swing. Some of the equipment that I'm adding in the near future should help relieve me of that duty.

Now on to the new tank. This tank has been sitting around for about 6 months collecting dust while waiting on me to get a stand and everything else need to get it running. I finally got the stand I wanted (Bio Cube 29g stand), so it's was time to get moving. For lighting I went with a 250w HQI Sunpod. I eventually plan on keeping clams in the tank so I wanted to make sure I had more than enough light for them to survive. This tank will be mainly SPS and clams but a few of my favorite Zoanthids and LPS coral will definitely have a place in my reef. I've been placing my frags on disc and plugs but I'm hating the way this looks in my tank. Hopefully I can get them out and on to some rock rubble soon or maybe even moved over to the 15g frag tank that I'm working on setting up now. Well here are the pictures. You can click the images below to view a larger photo.

Website Update, Tank Move & New Frags

2007-05-22T22:05:00.001-05:00

Well I accidentally scheduled a major server change and a tank move in the same week so I'm currently dealing with getting both back online and stable. I've been working on the tank for the past few days and it seems to be stable and back to its original status. All of the coral frags survived the moved even though they were subjected to some extreme but temporary temperature swings. I'll continue to monitor their health over the next few days to make sure they are doing well. The tank status page will not be 100% functional until I get my internet service activated, but I expect that to be taken care of by the end of the week. The repairs to the website should be completed by the end of the week also. It looks like I have several broken image links and some style sheet issues to resolve.

There are several new frags in the tank now. Pictures coming soon.

SaltwaterU 3

2007-05-06T18:11:00.001-05:00

This past weekend I attended Saltwater University 3 hosted by the Atlanta Reef Club. This was my first time attending an aquarium hobby conference, so I had been looking forward to this for a while. This SWU was held on Saturday and Sunday but I was only able to attend the Sunday session and I have to say it was still great. The presentations and workshops were well put together and the all speakers did an awesome job. I was fortunate to meet several well known people in the hobby like Anthony Calfo, Bob Fenner, Tullio Dell Aquila and Jake Adams. I also won several great prize, so that made the conference even better. If you haven't attend SWU in the past, you should really check it out. Plan a trip to Atlanta next year, it's going to be HUGE!

I forgot to take my camera, so I don't have any pictures to post. If and when the pictures are posted on the Atlanta Reef Club website, I'll post the link and pictures of my new zoas I picked up at SWU3

The latest

2007-05-03T22:36:00.001-05:00

Where do I begin?????

I guess I can start by explaining my reason for not updating my blog in over a month. See, I found this blog software names BlogJet that I really liked. It was very simple to set up and has a very user friendly interface, so I downloaded the trial version. It expired before I could use it enough to justify the $40 they wanted for it, so I then went on searching for a new blog tool that I liked. Today I found it, so I'm back.

The Tank.

The Crocea clam that was added back in March is no longer living. Unfortunately the problem that killed my clam, also affect several other hobbyist that purchased clams from the same batch. The exacted cause of death is still unknown but it's being researched.

I did add a new coral (which I have yet to talk a picture of). I was told it's an Orange milli, but in the 3 weeks it's been in my tank it's began to turn pink. I'm starting to think that it lost it's color due to the lighting that it was under prior to being added to my tank. Seems like I may have lucked out with this frag.

The website.

Another good addition has been the Reef Status page. I'm using a great program that was written by one of my fellow ARC members (Thanks again Cameron) to produce the data for this site. Unfortunately development was stopped right as the web support features were being implemented, so I was unable to get some of the kinks fixed. For now, the patch I have in place seems to be working well as long as I'm constantly using the software.

Well that seems like everything. I'll post more if anything comes to mind.

Reef Log Subscribers??

2007-03-21T20:19:00.001-05:00

Do they even exist? If you are following this log feel free to say “hey” or leave a comment. It would be good to know you are here. Also, for those of you who like to receive instant Reef Log updated, you can subscribe to this log by clicking on the subscribe icon below or you can click on the same icon at the bottom of the left menu.

If you do not have a RSS feed tool, there are several free tools out there or you can use Internet Explorer 7.0.

ReefKeeper 2 Update

2007-03-11T23:47:00.001-05:00

I finally got around to updating the software on my ReefKeeper2. This was a much anticipated updated since it added a logging feature for the tank temperature and pH. I have been waiting for months for this update to be released and it’s finally done, well kind of done. The logger software was realeased as beta. This really means that they made me wait for a basic not extravagant app. On a good note there is alot of potential in this software. I hope to one day have realtime tank parameters hosted on this site.

Testing BlogJet

2007-03-11T23:31:00.001-05:00

Another test post. I had to reconfigure my blogging tool.

Another New Addition

2007-03-01T18:41:00.001-05:00

Thanks to several awesome members of the Atlanta Reef Club and Cappuccino Bay Aquarium, this Crocea clam has found a new home in my reef.

News

2007-02-27T10:59:00.001-05:00

I have added the Photo Gallery to the site. I’m not using the best camera in the world, but there are a few nice shots in there. The Photo Gallery and Reef Log pages are still being tweaked, so minor adjustments may be seen. I’ll also be making small adjustments to the overall appearance of the site as this project winds down.

New additions. I’ve added 3 new coral frags.

Purple Monti Digita

Dragon Eye Zoos

Blue zoos

Here’s a picture of the Dragon Eye Zoos under my Blue LED

Progress

2007-02-24T22:53:00.001-05:00

Well, the Reef Log page is about 90% complete. I have some tweaking to do, but I’ll leave that for a later date. I’m moving on to the gallery which I’m really looking forward to adding, but it will also be the most tedious part of this project. I have tons of coding, image choosing and editing before I can mark the Photo Gallery as completed.

Red bugs - aaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!

2007-02-23T13:35:00.000-05:00

While taking a look at one of my favorite corals (Starry Night Acro) in my 10g frag tank I noticed a bunch of tiny red dots toward the base of the coral. My first thought was "No, this can't be what I think it is", but I soon came to grips with reality and began to research treatment methods. After doing a brief 30 minute search on RC, I now realize that this treatment has the potential to be a huge pain. It's not the treatment itself that is going to be the problem, but more so the lack of needed equipment. Here are a couple of link showing the treatment method that I'm going to try.

Treatment Method #1
Treatment Method #2

I'm definitely going to try the quick method first since these are small colonies and I lack the necessary equipment to run QT. I'll try to post my treatment process. It will not me fancy like melevs's method so don't get your hopes up.

First Blog

2007-02-22T22:50:00.000-05:00

After months of thinking about completing this site, I've finally decided to get it done or should I say "GIT-R-DONE!”. I've recently sold my show tank so I don't have much livestock or equipment to list. I'm currently running a 10g nano which is home to several sps, lps, soft corals and pods. The 10g tank is serving as a show/frag tank at the moment, but I'm working on setting up another tank that can function as my reef tank. I'll definitely post updates on the new tank as it comes together.