Firstly another equipment change to report. I finally decided to change out the Beamswork EVO refugium light for a Kessil H80 Tuna flora. I had been considering replacing it for quite a while now, not because I was unhappy with the light but because the metal stand was rusting in all four corners where it sits on the top of the refugium. I'm not sure if this has caused any metal contamination in the tank yet or not but I wasn't happy with the situation so it had to go. The reason I opted for the Kessil is because it's pretty much the only light that I could find small enough to fit over the refugium, everything else was either too big/long and would have caused a huge light overspill issue or excess heat in the small sump area. To combat at least some of the light spill produced by the H80 I have added a small piece of black acrylic sheet between it and rest of the sump. The red light is something that does take a bit of getting used to but if the macro algae grows well under it then I'm happy, time will tell. Now for a Fauna Marin Skimbreeze update. The FM media lasted two and a half weeks before needing to be replaced, about the same amount of time as the most recent ATI 1l disposable unit. I'm not that keen on the design of this reactor itself as air is preferentially pulled from the side the outlet tube sits (as can be seen in the photo below). So when changing out the reactor some media is still unused. I think I will try rotating the cylinder next time to see if I can reduce the problem. To refill the reactor I used the Spherasorb media, it looks exactly the same as the FM stuff but costs a lot less. As for the livestock well everything is ticking along. Acropora growth is slow to nonexistent thanks to the red bugs but at least they are not dying. The exception to this is the A. hyacinthus which seems fine (with a rather odd growth shape it must be said), I've accidentally fragged it with the algae magnet a couple of times now because it's growing too close to the front glass. The Utter chaos zoanthids are becoming annoying as they keep detaching and floating around the tank ending up in spots where I don't want them in or sucked on to the powerheads. Since I don't have anywhere to place frags (and hate the look of frag racks in the DT) I've chucked the loose ones I've found so far. The sun coral is still releasing planulae and I keep finding baby polyps popping all over the tank. The more I look the more I can spot, they've even settled out on the clam shell. The larvae are fascinating to watch, tiny orange tear shaped blobs that wiggle around the tank until they find somewhere to settle out. It's very cool! As for the Balanophyllia now living down in the sump, I can't decide if it's doing better or worse. There is one thing though, I happened to knock it over whilst trying to feed it and when I set it straight again I noticed it has some tentacles poking out the back, my initial response was Oh ****! Aiptasia!! But on closer inspection it actually looks like a baby Balano bud. I'm not sure if this a good sign or a bad one? Is it failing so badly that it's sending out buds as a last ditch attempt to survive?? I surely hope not. I'll sign off with a few photos. And finally a FTS..
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I've been running the ATI disposable carbon dioxide scrubber since the 21st June 2017 during which time I've used up 3 units. The first one lasted for 12 weeks and 2 days which I thought was a decent amount of time for the cost. The tank pH was higher and more stable so I decided the experiment was worth continuing. An additional 2 units were purchased, the second unit lasted for 13 weeks and 3 days, still good, but the third unit exhausted in just 2 weeks! So what had changed (assuming the unit was not faulty somehow)? Well the skimmer was replaced, the windows in the house were closed because it was extremely cold outside and there were a few more people visiting due to it being Christmas. Aside from the lack of fresh air and more CO2 being breathed out the new skimmer pump is clearly pulling a lot more air than the old one and you can see that from the amount of bubbles being produced in the skimmer body.
So what to do? A two week run time for the disposable unit is no longer cost effective for me but I do like the higher pH levels that the scrubber produces (and so apparently do my corals if you take the increase in Alk/Ca usage into consideration). In the end I decided to scrap the disposable idea and try a refillable unit instead. The 4l refillable unit that ATI produces is just too large to fit inside my cabinet so I decided to give the Fauna Marin Skim Breeze a whirl instead. This unit holds 1l much like the ATI disposable version but can be refilled with fresh media when the old stuff is exhausted. It comes complete with 1l media to begin with and when that is used up I intend to refill it with a medical grade CO2 absorber called Spherasorb. I'll see how that pans out and report back later on. |
AuthorHi, my name is Lisa and I live in Derby, UK. I am a self-confessed reefaholic! Archives
July 2022
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