BackbayReef’s 450gal

[backbayreef]

After several years looking for a gigantea, we’ve finally scored a blue specimen! It’s still a baby but no doubt will grow fast. Super excited - Xmas comes early this year!

 

[Jimbo327]

Blue gig. And you are growing SPS. Nice, I'm sure it will start filling up soon.

 

[backbayreef]

Blue gig. And you are growing SPS. Nice, I'm sure it will start filling up soon.

Thanks man - the big tank got mini SPS colonies now and doing well. My N&P are finally down to 32/0.17, respectively so I can see that SPS is happy & encrusting. Alk is super stable around 9dKH.

The blue gig is in the frag tank — not going into the 450gal since I don’t want to lose my prized fish later. Tonight’s video of frag tank:

 

[backbayreef]

@Jimbo327 - hopefully you can recognize the baby OG Bounce (bottom right) I got from you several months ago? It’s all grown up & looks awesome — thanks again!

 

[backbayreef]

My son helped mix a year’s worth of ABC Reagents for the 2 Tridents. I could play with the schedule to extend by another 6mos but not sure on the shelf life of these things.

 

[backbayreef]

Sulfur denitrator update - remotely controllable now!
1. Kamoer is pulling from the reactor at 45mls/min
2. ORP inside the reactor is -175 to -185 mV

Currently pointing a camera to check ORP. I bought a reverse polarity BNC connector, arriving tonight. This will allow us to monitor using the Apex. The Apex doesn’t support negative ORP - very disappointing.

Anyway, will tune and stabilize at 10 nitrate and 0.10 phosphate (which is already stable at 8mls/day of Phosphat-E)

 

[backbayreef]

More toys! The fish room is getting a UPS. With 10,000 watts of battery, we can take full load of all 3 tanks and run for ~8 hours. We can power off non-essential and just run the return pumps - that should easily last 24-48 hours! Add some DIY solar panels and we can run for days.

This is the work of my son - I just handed him the credit card and did the grunt work. lol

 

[EliMelly]

Just came home from work to this — slowly but surely corals are coming back in, including mini-SPS colonies.

Gorgeous man looks amazing

 

[danreef55]

More toys! The fish room is getting a UPS. With 10,000 watts of battery, we can take full load of all 3 tanks and run for ~8 hours. We can power off non-essential and just run the return pumps - that should easily last 24-48 hours! Add some DIY solar panels and we can run for days.

This is the work of my son - I just handed him the credit card and did the grunt work. lol

Sweet set up congrats

 

[backbayreef]

Sweet set up congrats

Thanks — believe it or not, our power situation is ridiculous. During peak window (4pm - 9pm) SCE is charging us $0.57 per kWH!!! Even without solar panels, we will offload to run exclusively on battery during that 5hrs window. It should save $60/mo. The fish room alone is costing us $300/mo in power - it’s crazy!

 

[backbayreef]

We are live with the 90gal frag tank - at peak, it was consuming 650W of power, yikes! Just avoiding the peak time should save us $30/mo, even without solar!

 

[backbayreef]

So we are done for now. The UPS is taking load for all tanks - 1600 watts! Yikes At the very least, we are protected should our utility company yank power for hours. Next step is to program the Apex to power off non-essential equipment (skimmer, UV, etc) during a power outage.

Next few weeks, we’ll need to install solar panels to offload from grid power. Challenging part is finding an optimal location with plenty of sun. My wife already nixed our initial plan of proposed location. Oh well - we’ve accomplished the UPS part while saving some $$ so I’m somewhat pleased.

 

[danreef55]

So we are done for now. The UPS is taking load for all tanks - 1600 watts! Yikes At the very least, we are protected should our utility company yank power for hours. Next step is to program the Apex to power off non-essential equipment (skimmer, UV, etc) during a power outage.

Next few weeks, we’ll need to install solar panels to offload from grid power. Challenging part is finding an optimal location with plenty of sun. My wife already nixed our initial plan of proposed location. Oh well - we’ve accomplished the UPS part while saving some $$ so I’m somewhat pleased.

Awesome setup. I think there are online apps that can help you determine the best locations for installation of the solar panel

 

[backbayreef]

Awesome setup. I think there are online apps that can help you determine the best locations for installation of the solar panel

Oh I know - the perfect location for solar is aesthetically not perfect for the Boss! Dooh

 

[danreef55]

Oh I know - the perfect location for solar is aesthetically not perfect for the Boss! Dooh

Been there and have the tee shirt:)

 

[backbayreef]

We recently bought more torches and mushrooms to add some color and motion. The tank is very stable so I can finally see SPS encrusting, not as fast as I hope; but nothing is dying!

 

[backbayreef]

Not advocating for any products here but clearly the tank is missing trace elements (Iron, Zinc, etc) per our ICP test 3mos ago. Last week, I’ve started putting Brightwell Replenish on a doser at 10mls/day. Coincidentally (or the effect of missing traces) there was a direct feedback from the Yuma mushrooms — they opened up a lot wider now! Will do another ICP test next week to see where we’re at but the tank is pretty much on auto pilot, waiting for SPS to grow out.

 

[backbayreef]

Green gigantea just came home — sitting in the frag tank’s basket for now. Let’s hope this guy will make it due to shipping. The vendor already Cipro’ed it so fingers crossed.

 

[backbayreef]

Got home from work and the nem deflated with a gaping mouth. So I’ve set up a 20gal QT tank with just 5gal of tank water, Radion XR30, Nero 5 for flow, and a heater.

Will Cipro later tonight after lights are out.

 

[backbayreef]

I believe that it’s 500mg of Cipro per 10gal so I’ve crushed half a pill (250mg), diluted it, and mixed in front of the wavemaker. Will see how things go tomorrow. Will do a 100% WC and apply Cipro the next day.

Thanks to @billysprout for his help & guidance. Billy - you’re a true Gig Whisperer. ;)