Adding a filter sock

I used to run filter socks all the time on the drain line into my sump when I first started this hobby on my old smaller tanks. For about the last year I have been going without them. There are pros and cons to both. Running with them, it cleans the water column more which gives you that crystal clear water look, and catches a lot of debris and junk that would land elsewhere in your sump or tank. It helps keep everything clean. The cons to running it that you have to change them every few days, and they also can catch copepods and amphipods that live within the tank that feed your fish and ecosystem. But, if you have a lot of live rock in your tank, having pods should be no problem. Today I decided to start running one again just to see if I noticed any positive changes by running it. Wow, I could not believe how crystal clear the water got in about 2 minutes. No particles floating around, no micro bubbles, it looks just like pure crystal clear water...... Nice to see that again...... Will keep you updated if there are any changes within the tank of the corals coloration or growth rate.

Upgrading canopy fans

With me upgrading from 150w halides to 250w, I wanted to cool off my interior canopy a bit more. I just switched out my old SilenX fans for a little more airflow. I was using the 72cfm @ 14db, and just changed them out to 90cfm @ 18db. I can feel more air being pulled, and can't even tell an increase in noise.
Below are pictures, one is a fan on the back of my canopy, venting the canopy air into the attic through the wall.

Changing to a new salt brand

I have decided to abandon the Oceanic Salt that I have been using since my 150g tank has been set up. I have found that the calcium levels are just too high for my tastes. It is staying up at around 460-470ppm, even with my calcium reactor turned down to bare minimum drip and bubble count. Oceanic is known to have high calcium levels, so to bring it down I am switching to a new salt that has come onto the market in the last year. It is Seachems AquaVitro Salinity. The unique thing about their salt is that they test the parameters of every batch and print them right on the back label of the bucket. You can see the label in the pictures. I will report back after I do my first water change with  the new salt.

Frag Swap

We had our yearly coral frag swap in Memphis today, which went really well. I sold alot of my corals and old equipment, and made enough money to install a whole new lighting system on my tank. Stay tuned for pictures and updates of my lighting changes!

Trying to go ULNS

ULNS stands for Ultra Low Nutrient System. Phosphates and Nitrates are around 0, and allow the sensitive SPS coral to thrive and get beautiful coloration. The tricky part of achieving this is adding a carbon source and for bacteria to thrive and consume all of these nutrients. It can leave you tank starved for food/supplement, so additive are necessary. There are several ways of achieving this. One  is the Zeovit system, which is far more complicated than I want to delve into. It involves daily additives and multiple steps and procedure that consumer mucho time IMO. Another way that has become popular is to add vodka to your tank. Yes, that's right, vodka. The vodka is a carbon source to fuel the bacteria in the tank to take it down the ULNS. But this must be dosed carefully as not to overdose, and also must be done daily. A proficient protein skimmer is needed to skim out all the excess waste from doing all of these systems. The newest way, and the way I have currently chosen to test out, is with Biopellets. I chose Warner Marine EcoBak pellets. The beauty of this way, is that you simply add the pellets to a fluidized reactor and hand it on your sump, and leave it alone. The pellets last about 6 months. The pellets with help the bacteria to colonize and feed them. You have to do nothing except make sure your skimmer is working properly.

Here are some pictures of my setup:

 Mesh screen that I cut to keep pellets in:

 Rinsing the pellets first in freshwater:

 The Product:

 Here is a representative picture of what I am trying to achieve. This picture was taken from Reef Central from member "sanababit":

Are you curious what powers my reef?

New SPS Frag

I was finally able to get a frag of an SPS coral that I have been wanting for awhile. It is a Pink Lemonade. It is a yellow/lime coral with pink polyps. Very nice when it grows out into a colony.



















Here is a nice little colony this is in someone elses tank:

Lighting Change

I made a change in my lighting today. I have been using 3x150w halides with Phoenix 14k bulbs. Since I am progressing my tank to be exclusively SPS, I am starting to upgrade my lighting. I started with the center light first. I added a Lumenarc Mini pendant, and am using a Radium 20K 250w bulb.


Here are a few pictures. In the front tank shot, you can see how much brighter it is in the middle where I made the change.