Andre’s Full blown 300Gallon SPS Reeftank up within a week ;-)

[PSXerholic]

So no big news on the tank so far.
Corals are start to grow and color up.

I'm in the process of adjusting the Calcium consumption and reactor.
So I do measure ALK 3 times a day and keep day to day increasing the CARX effluent rate and or the PH/Co2 rate.

Today I did increase the effluent rate from 20 to 25ml per minute. ALK sort of dropped very slightly so I did bump it up further to almost 40ml per minute this evening but with no Co2 rate change, so I got to measure and see where ALK is tomorrow through the day.

Also after 2 weeks the socks were dirty so I replaced them actually, not just washed them. Will see how long they will last this time and then I will punch holes into it and wash them.

 

[PSXerholic]

Tomorrow I may do some pictures if the time is there of some SPS pictures, so I can try out my new modified filterholder for the cell phone.

I did buy this Aquari clip which was a bad investment first. The original filter was orange and half colored.
Only the clip itself was good.

Well, I did take the filter out. The filter is a standard 37mm thread. So I bought on Amazon my favorite 52mm Filter that will fit my Canon macro lens.
Also I did buy an adapter that adapts from 52mm to 37mm and therefore does fit the Aquariclip

Now it's perfect for the cell phone !!!

​

 

[bubbaque]

What do you use for nutrient reduction?

 

[PSXerholic]

What do you use for nutrient reduction?

For nutrient reduction I use my Vibe 4 Nitrate reactor filled with XL Bio pellets.
That means carbon dosing via pellets.

 

[PSXerholic]

First new beauties arrived......

TCK Pikachu and ORA Pearlberry
Let'em grow.....let'em glow

 

[revhtree]

Nice "frags."

 

[PSXerholic]

Was wondering about some green algae growth on the overflows and thought I better check my Nitrates.
As expected it was low, but this even doesn’t need to be held against the color wheel. Clear as RODI water, no wonder I do see algae appear !!!

But clearly the Nitrate reactor works well. I’m feeding daily a tablespoon of Coral Frenzy soaked in Selcon.

 

[dragon99]

Is a nitrate reactor "adjustable"? I assume you can regulate the flow, but probably whatever comes out is 0.0 NO3?

 

[bubbaque]

What do you mean by no nitrate and now you see algae?

 

[PSXerholic]

Is a nitrate reactor "adjustable"? I assume you can regulate the flow, but probably whatever comes out is 0.0 NO3?

Well, yes. By the amount of media and flow going through.
Also the duration and quantity of vibes per day do have an effect on the bacteria colonies in there.
I can test inlet nitrate vs. outlet nitrate and that gives me an idea of the effectiveness. Changes on the No3 consumption will affect the bacteria population hence any changes on the tank will take some time. However, depleting all No3 in a few days is ok. I keep the minimum levels of No3 up via dosing.
Tank is still very fresh with 3 weeks almost now, and I need more fish etc., so Bioload will increase anyways.

An adjustment on the reactor takes a week or two to show effect.

-Andre

 

[PSXerholic]

What do you mean by no nitrate and now you see algae?

I did see starting green hair algae growing on the overflows with long hair ;-)

So that meant I was definately out of the optimal Redfield Ratio between No3 and Po4.
Since I have dosed just very little No3 recent days I thought I went slow with No3 and measured No3 again.
Shame on me, I should measure every second day or so in the beginning, to make sure!!!

So the result was that, No3 was not detectable, which brings other issues up if not corrected.
Google Redfield Ratio and read up on that.

See this Redfield Ration table as a courtesy of Andre Mueller, lol ;-)

 

[PSXerholic]

So my Po4 is since a while pretty good in the 0.08ppm range.
Means when I was in the last days with my Nitrates around 1,5ppm pretty good on the ideal line, hence no issues with algae appearance, at least nothing significantly.
However, not paying attention to the No3 behavior it dropped to non detectable and caused this offset in the RF ratio. If I'm not correcting it shortly, Algae will take over quickly.
The other solution I could do is to lower my Po4 to 0.02-0.03ppm and run Nitrates barely detectable in the 0.25ppm range.
However that is the issue in ULNS as explained in Reef Guide PArt 1, working nutrients in the low range with staying in a good ratio is difficult since every change in media, feeding behavior, exhausted media etc, will have an impact on the ratio very easily.

Hope that helps.

 

[PSXerholic]

So no big news on the tank so far.
Corals are start to grow and color up.

I'm in the process of adjusting the Calcium consumption and reactor.
So I do measure ALK 3 times a day and keep day to day increasing the CARX effluent rate and or the PH/Co2 rate.

Today I did increase the effluent rate from 20 to 25ml per minute. ALK sort of dropped very slightly so I did bump it up further to almost 40ml per minute this evening but with no Co2 rate change, so I got to measure and see where ALK is tomorrow through the day.

Also after 2 weeks the socks were dirty so I replaced them actually, not just washed them. Will see how long they will last this time and then I will punch holes into it and wash them.

CARX update.
I bumped up to 50ml per minute while dropped PH a bit via a faster bubble rate. PH in the Reactor went down to ~6.65. I'm not happy with my new PH probe ;-(

Very likely I will invest again in another Neptune APEX Lab Grade Probe !!! These probes are insane precise from what I can say since I had already 3 probes (1 still in use).

 

[PSXerholic]

@Terence , I do need the Trident system!
Any chance to review me for NSI ??? ;-)

-Andre

 

[PSXerholic]

Nice "frags."

THX Rev! Great job from our Sponsors @TCK Corals & @Pieces of the Ocean
Excellent frags that will be mini colonies in no time. This evening I will glue them into it's final spot.

Maybe I need to take another picture showing size for a bit of historical data available....Hmmmmmmmm

 

[PSXerholic]

Huge Shoutout to Brandon Wear @FraghouseCorals !!!
Watch in 1080P !!!

Received my Shipment today of 23 frags which I auctioned from him (Actually I auctioned only 20, thx for the superior freebies)
Extremely great quality and color on the frags received.
Very healthy and good sized as well.

I can say FHC is a really well and very professional Coral Vendor. No reason to be afraid about anything with him!
Even his FHC Houseline corals got to the level of absolute High end SPS with colors you won't find anywhere. Really great collection he has there. There are a few FHC corals from his lineage which are a must have for SPS collectors.

Sorry for the bad water quality dudes!!!! I had a power outage today afternoon and since the skimmer is not on APEX yet with start delay, the entire skimmer cup emptied itself when the tank went back online.........

Probably corals will look better tomorrow then ever before

-Andre

 

[Wrangy]

dang they're some gorgeous frags!!

 

[PSXerholic]

dang they're some gorgeous frags!!

Yes, at least you start with color and won't need to start with an either white or brown frag.
Here is the list not in order:
FHC Cali Mist
FHC King Purp
JF the Unknown
what the heck Nasuta
GB Majestic Mille
JF Tyree Pink Lemonade
JF Razmataz
UC Dippin Dots
Greg Hillers Aqua Marine Jewel
FHC Blueberry Muffin
Reef Pets Radiant Horizon
Jason Fox WWC Yellow Tips
Wet Thumb Frags Fiji Rainbow
FHC Electrolight
FHC Blue Goddess
CRT Ultimate Myagi Tort
Reef Raft USA The Vinh
FHC Master Blaster
Jason Fox UC OG Strawberry Shortcake
Gabe Ritters Red Planet
BC Battlejuice
Cherry Shortcake
and another one lol

 

[PSXerholic]

Well.... you guys know this?
You have the chance to sleep longer on sat!
7:30 the doorbell rings, the dog barks as there is a squirrel in the house!!!!

You walk down the stairs and see the Fedex guy leaving through the window and you think to yourself " This better is something for the fish tank at least *********", lol.
And you open the door and there is a box from Bluezoo Aquatics with Livefish on the floor !!!! Dang that made my day, lol.
Wife and kids got a few new fishies in for the new tank as an early B-day present ;-)

Next guy is coming around noon bringing me some frags back from a few particular corals I sold to him in the past as frags, now I'm glad I can trade them back in, lol. Tomorrow, another buddy will bring some very nice frags and then I'm all set for a while concerning seeded corals.

 

[Wrangy]

Well.... you guys know this?
You have the chance to sleep longer on sat!
7:30 the doorbell rings, the dog barks as there is a squirrel in the house!!!!

You walk down the stairs and see the Fedex guy leaving through the window and you think to yourself " This better is something for the fish tank at least *********", lol.
And you open the door and there is a box from Bluezoo Aquatics with Livefish on the floor !!!! Dang that made my day, lol.
Wife and kids got a few new fishies in for the new tank as an early B-day present ;-)

Next guy is coming around noon bringing me some frags back from a few particular corals I sold to him in the past as frags, now I'm glad I can trade them back in, lol. Tomorrow, another buddy will bring some very nice frags and then I'm all set for a while concerning seeded corals.

Spill the beans!! What fish did you get??