Astrophotography: The Outer Limits Galaxy (NGC 891)

Have you ever wondered what our Milky Way galaxy would look like if you saw it edge on?   Well look no farther than NGC 891 also sometimes called the Outer Limits Galaxy 

I had taken these pictures last winter, but had been working to process them into the final picture seen below.  I was using a Celestron Edge 8 telescope and I did not get the most round stars in this outing, however I think the galaxy is just so cool.   The picture below is almost 4 hours worth of exposure.

A couple other fun facts about this galaxy are:

• It is a spiral galaxy 
• It is 30 million light years away from us!
• It was discovered in Oct 6, 1784 by William Herschel
• The galaxy appeared in the end credits of The Outer Limits TV show and thus how it got its nickname.

Here are the acquisition details that I used to get this final image the can also be found on Astrobin.

Link:  My Astrobin account with the Outer Limit Galaxy

Saltwater Aquarium Waterbox 100.3 Build - Raising the pH

Some weeks have passed since adding the first couple clown fish to the saltwater tank.  I even added a second fish, a yellow watchman goby paired with a pistol shrimp.  I love how the shrimp burrows in the sand and the goby sets up guard.  It was a great pair to watch and while the goby always had a sour look on his face, I could usually find him standing guard in one of the tunnel openings the pistol shrimp had created.   When feeding time came I could usually also find the goby coming to grab some morsels.   However after a few days I stopped seeing the watchman goby even though I still heard the pistol shrimp making his popping sound for which he got his name.  I looked and looked, even behind my tank fearing he jumped out.    A couple weeks passed and I still don't see him so I fear I lost him either from jumping out of the tank or some other unknown reason.  I went to my LFS and got another one and he has been doing awesome.  It only took a few hours and he was already buddies with the pistol shrimp.

The other thing I have been monitoring lately is the pH in my tank.  The pH would go up during the light cycle to around 7.95 and drop to around 7.85 or even lower when the lights went out.  I really wanted to try to get the pH up a bit closer to 8.0 or 8.1 as I start to think about adding some coral.   The pH a bit closer to 8 and above can be a bit more stable for incoming coral in my past experience.  

Here the pH before and after trying to find a simple way to have it trend a little higher.  

One of the ways I have seen to get the pH up just a bit is to use a CO2 scrubber.   Too much Carbon dioxide gas in the house will get into the water and bring the pH down.  Some folks just open a window to bring fresh air in the house and can raise pH.   Due to the weather, I will our windows shut most of the time, so the other option is that you can run so air going into your tank through some media that absorbs CO2.   If you hook a reactor with CO2 absorbing media to your skimmer then the air in pulled into the skimmer after being scrubbed of CO2 and the "cleaner" air gets mixed into the tank water through the the skimmer.

Bulk Reef Supply has a general media reactor and you can also get CO2 absorbing media to add to the reactor.  I added the media to the reactor, and attached plastic tubing to the air inlet valve on the skimmer.    Once I turned the skimmer on you can see above the pH has now jumped to over 8.0 in the light cycle and does not tumble quite as much as before at night.   

Here is the picture of the setup.   The plastic tube that came with the reactor was too big to fit on the skimmer.  I could have gotten an adapter, but I found another way was just to push the smaller tube inside of the larger tube.   It works for now although i know there is a much more professional solution.  The incoming air is pulled through the reactor, C02 is absorbed and the air is fed into the skimmer where it goes into the water from the tank.  Since there is less CO2 entering the water, the pH does not dip as much.

Here is the media I use:

One other modification is to have the skimmer itself actually supply the air that goes into the reactor by adding a tube from the "IN" side of the reactor to the collection cup.   I have not done this yet, but will probably try in the near future.   By having this "closed" system you can get a even better bump in the CO2.   

Waterbox 100.3 Saltwater Aquarium Build - First fish

My aquarium is was all set up, the lights are on and everything seems to be running pretty well.  The initial build post can be here:  Waterbox 100.3 build

The only big tweak I have to made in the last weeks is that my Nyos skimmer was not adjusting very well and was sending the bubbles up too high.  Some of this was just the skimmer needed the normal  break in period.    However the skimmer was still acting up on me even after a few days of continuous running.   The big adjustment I made was raising the skimmer up one inch t match the manufacturer recommendation.  I did this with a little eggcrate stand I found on amazon.   It raised the skimmer exactly one inch and the skimmer is now really working well.

I had been patiently waiting to finally get some fish!  I made a trip to my local fish store with the intent to get 2 bonded clown fish as the first inhabitants.   The store had a few bonded pairs, but I kept coming back to a pair of Longfin Mocha Clown fish.  These are captive bred designer clown fish that originated from Sea and Reef Aquaculture and the fishstore had a beautiful pair.

This was information from the Sea and Reef site on the creation of this Longfin Mocha clownfish.

The creation of our Longfin Mocha Clownfish

The mutation that created our longfin clownfish came from a single fish. In December 2013 our Hatchery Manager Brandon Weik was looking into a tank of several thousand Black and White Ocellaris (also called Darwin Ocellaris). He spotted a fish that looked very different than his brothers (all clownfish are born male). It had long flowing fins and was getting beaten up, probably because of its different look. The fish was isolated and later paired up. A story was published about our findings in Reef Builders in April 2014. You can read the article by clicking here.

Our Black and White longfin clownfish was paired up and shortly after the pair started to produce offspring.  Unfortunately, less than 1% of the offspring produced displayed the longfin trait. For the last five years the Sea & Reef team has been working tirelessly on increasing the yield of longfin clownfish offspring and producing different variations. While the yield has increased, we are still not able to produce longfin clownfish in very large quantities so expect the release to be somewhat limited.

I brought these two home and started acclimating them to my tank's water.

And here they are exploring.  They are inseparable and do everything together. 

I'll give these two some time in the tank before seeing what I add next. 

Saltwater Reef Aquarium Build - Waterbox 100.3

It's now been a little over two years since I moved from North Carolina to Indiana.  I was reflecting on our moves throughout the years and realized I had essentially had some sort of fish aquarium at every house I had ever lived in.   Before we moved to Indiana, I broke down and sold my saltwater tank and I have really missed the hobby.   So here is what I am working on and where I stand to getting a saltwater reef tank set up again!

Choosing The Aquarium

I went back and forth on the size and aquarium I wanted to try based on previous learnings.   It is kinda like owning a house, in that over time you realize what you like and what you would like to change next time.  My last tank was a 125 gallon tank and it took up a lot of space.  I wanted to have a bit of a smaller footprint.  My last tank also was rimmed and had a unfinished stand and I must admit that a rimless tank is so much more aesthetically pleasing.  My wife also put her foot down that the stand should look nice and not just a bunch of unfinished 2x4s.  The biggest learning was that I wanted more of a plug and play system.  On my last system, I drilled holes in the aquarium for the overflow, I built all the plumbing with PVC piping,  I added a sump and pieced the system together one project at a time.  I was a fun learning experience. but this time I am ready to just set a system up with all the pieces right at my fingertips.  

I looked at so many aquariums to find a set up I thought I would like.  The aquariums that I really liked were from Red Sea, Planet Aquarium and Waterbox.  I read reviews and looked at many pictures from other owners.  In the end I chose to go with Waterbox.  Their aquariums are beautifully constructed and come with a stand, a sump and all the plumbing.  Basically you can set up the aquarium, stand and have it plumbed all in one package.  

The specific Waterbox aquarium I ended up ordering was the Waterbox 100.3 as it had the footprint i was really looking for.

I placed the order and waited for it to arrive which took about 6 weeks.  The delivery process went very smoothly. I got a call from the freight driver saying he was on his way and he put the pallet right in my garage.  

Once I unwrapped everything the crate for the actual aquarium is secured with screws and very well packaged.

The next step is assembling the aquarium stand and getting the aquarium set on the stand.   The stand was well constructed and was easy enough to put together.  There are plenty of videos that are on Ythat are even easier to follow than the printed instructions.    A neighbor was nice enough to come over and help me move the aquarium from the garage onto the stand.

Adding the sump and plumbing was also very straightforward.   Waterbox has a bunch of youtube videos that made the plumbing setup even easier to follow.

The Equipment

I was also working on acquiring all the other equipment I would need as well as pulling old equipment from my last tanks out of storage.

Return Pump

The return pump is the heart of your aquarium.  Water overflows from your aquarium into your sump and then is pumped back up to the aquarium by the pump.   I really wanted a silent sump and the ability to easily change the flow and chose the Ecotech Vectra S2.    

Lights

I chose the Ecotech Radion XR15 Blue.   Radion's come with a XR15 "Blue" model and a "Pro" model.   The blues give a bit more of a blue hue while the Pros give a bit more of a white hue out of the box.  I prefer the blue light for viewing a reef tank over the white, but it is mostly personal preference.  People have success growing coral with either type.    The RMS mounts also make hanging the lights a breeze.

Skimmer 

I also wanted a very quiet skimmer and staying within Ecotech family I chose the Nyos 120.

Flow - Powerheads

Again keeping with on the Ecotech theme,  I received 2 MP40 quietdrives to add to the system

Here is the waterbox sump, lights, skimmer and powerheads.   My original shipment was missing one MP40, but the supplier quickly shipped me the second one.

Sand 

I went with Special Grade "live" sand from Caribsea.  When I did the calculation 80 lbs of sand (4 bags) was the recommendation, but once I added the sand to the tank I just used 60 lbs (3 bags).

Rock

I wanted to go with dry rock as opposed to already cured rock.  I had some dry rock from my last tanks, but that rock had been through some high phosphate blooms and a really bad dinoflagellate outbreak over the years.     So I figured it was good time to just start over.  I went with the Caribsea LifeRock.   I got ~80 lbs of rock that was a combination of the original,(40 lbs) shapes (20 lbs) and arches (20 lbs).  I played around a bit with how I wanted the rock to look before putting it into the tank.

 Controller

I had an Apex system set up on my last tank.  It basically comes with a power strip and a controller that supports probes such as conductivity, temperature and pH. 

Once everything is plugged in and the probes are are online the Apex controller connects with an app where you can monitor the water parameters as well as turn on/off any equipment that is plugged in.

Here is the apex app after I have everything plugged in.

Controller Board

The Apex power strip,  the Apex controller unit, the S2 vectra pump and teh 2 MP40s all have units that need to go somewhere.  I used an adaptive reef controller board to help organize all the cords and controllers.  

Other Apps 

The Ecotech family of products also has its own app called Mobius where you can control the equipment.   I prefer going into APEX to control everything, but for initial setups the Mobius can get your your lights, pumps and powerheads scheduled with a template.   I still use the APEX app to turn things on/off if needed (feeding, etc.)

I have  set the  MP40s to 60% flow on Reefcrest mode and the Vectra return pump to 75% constant.  Changing the settings are very easy in the app.  I did have to do a lot of updates to firmware for the equipment through the app and to try it multiple times in some cases, but once I got through the updates the app has seemed pretty stable. 

The lights also have a way to set automated times, spectrums and ramping schedules.   I am using the AB+ template for now.  

Water 

The water is the most critical piece of of any aquarium system.  Most saltwater systems use RO water.  You can usually purchase this from a fish store or make your own.  In order to make your own, there are RO systems that will do the job and I  am using a 5 stage RO system from Bulk Reef Supply.   It has a TDS meter built in so that i can target 0 TDS output water.

Salt

Everyone has opinion on the best salt.   I went to Tropic Marin Pro salt and have been targeting a 1.025 salinity.  It mixes amazing! and does not have any residue at all.    One note is that it does have a low alkalify.  So far I am reading a 6.8 and would rather be around 8.  So I will probably add some soda ash in the future to any water I make.  

The Final Build

After getting all the supplies, adding the rock and sand and making the water, I filled the tank.  I used a pump to pump in water from a big Brute 40 gallon trash can to the aquarium.   

Here was everything up and running with the water added. I also added some LED strip lights underneath the cabinet to make for some fun lighting.

Cycling

Once everything is up and running, the patience has to kick in to cycle the tank.  this is where the tank needs to build up bacteria that can convert Ammonia to Nitrite to Nitrate.   In order to do this I added Dr Tim's Ammonia.  I started with 12 mL of ammonia and ran an ammonia test.  Sure enough I had a lot of ammonia in the system.   I also added a bottle of Bio-spira which is nitrifying bacteria.  This just helps colonize the tank.   

 I ran an ammonia test every day and sure enough after about 7 days I had 0 ammonia.  At this point I added about 6 more mL of ammonia and after only 1 day it was back to 0.  This let me know that I had bacteria that was successfully converting ammonia which is important because ammonia is toxic to fish.   I also ran nitrate tests and it was pretty high so I did about an 60% water change and brought it under 8 ppm.  In about 3 weeks I had a cycled tank with addition of ammonia, live sand, and bio-spira.  I felt my tank was ready to introduce its first fish so stay tuned.