*d2mini's 200g Reeftastic Reef - Part Deux!*

[gettaReef]

Just chiming in, hope that's okay. I've used reefcleaners several times and must say I am very impressed. Quality stuff, nearly everything comes in great condition, and those that don't make it (2 emerald crabs on one of my orders) my money was refunded no questions asked.

Also I'm curious to know exactly what "fluke tabs" are and why they are difficult to find?

 

[d2mini]

Yeah, I use reefcleaners all the time. John is great and so are his prices.

Blue Clove Polyps can be an invasive coral. Sometimes they stay pretty contained, other times they go nuts and take over a tank.
The fluke tabs were the original treatment but they are no longer on the market. There is another product out there that is mentioned in some of the BCP killing threads, but I forget what it is.
It works almost identical but seems to be a little bit harsher on worm populations and other inverts.

 

[dodger745]

I have used reefcleaners.org one time about two years ago. I got a rather small order but everything arrived in good shape. I guess my main question was how do you like the reefcleaners.org snails versus turno, and astrea type snails that most ppl are familiar with.

 

[dodger745]

*turbo

 

[d2mini]

I've gotten a bunch of their snails. I like the small ceriths and regular florida ceriths the best. As well as their nassarius snails.
Also like their little blue leg hermits. The hermits and small ceriths really get everywhere.
And the florida fighting conches are great for the sand bed.

 

[dodger745]

I've gotten a bunch of their snails. I like the small ceriths and regular florida ceriths the best. As well as their nassarius snails.
Also like their little blue leg hermits. The hermits and small ceriths really get everywhere.
And the florida fighting conches are great for the sand bed.

Cool deal. I ordered a good sized pack from John earlier today. Thanks for the input.

 

[TangUVeryMuch]

haha, awesome. Dave is great.


New IP camera installed!
Well, kinda. I still have to mount it on the wall.


Out with the Dropcam Pro, and in with the Foscam F19826P.
Look at the difference in clarity/resolution.
The dropcam is too wide for me so I'm going to move it to the fish room which really needs a wide angle.
The foscam is not as wide and it has optical zoom, whereas the dropcam has digital zoom and is zoomed in around 50% all the time.

Thanks for posting this! I'm going to look into a Foscam now!

 

[Damon]

Just wanted to show off pics of my rocks completely free of BCP!!!
Can't even tell they were there, and I didn't even have to scrub them or anything.
The entire tank is clean and free of BCP.
Sayonara you little cockroaches!

Dude, I'm really thinking about nuking my tank also. I have some Denis that came in on a piece of rock. It's about 3x3. It's a larger rock, so outs a critical part to my structure. Not to mention it has frags on it.. Any suggestions? I have tabs, just haven't tried it on this tank..

And I took my sodium off the sump. Mainly because of the algea growth in other parts of the sump.. But, I'm really thinking about putting it back on. The led that I replaced it with, it isn't doing a good job growing the cheato. And thus, it seems like my pod population also had tremendously gone down.. And I also noticed a tiny bit of hair on my return nozzles. And I haven't had hair in a display tank in Lord knows when.. But, the sump constantly looked a mess with the sodium.. Lol, how do you keep your cheato tank so clean? Lol...

I am curious though about your spraybar. Do you have a ton of powerhead pushing it? I am wondering, because I am thinking, possibly about powering one from my UV output? I want to say it flows at around 50gpm or so.. I know it's what emperor recommends for the target range.. What do you think? I'd like to avoid adding another powerhead..

 

[d2mini]

Dude, I'm really thinking about nuking my tank also. I have some Denis that came in on a piece of rock. It's about 3x3. It's a larger rock, so outs a critical part to my structure. Not to mention it has frags on it.. Any suggestions? I have tabs, just haven't tried it on this tank..

And I took my sodium off the sump. Mainly because of the algea growth in other parts of the sump.. But, I'm really thinking about putting it back on. The led that I replaced it with, it isn't doing a good job growing the cheato. And thus, it seems like my pod population also had tremendously gone down.. And I also noticed a tiny bit of hair on my return nozzles. And I haven't had hair in a display tank in Lord knows when.. But, the sump constantly looked a mess with the sodium.. Lol, how do you keep your cheato tank so clean? Lol...

I am curious though about your spraybar. Do you have a ton of powerhead pushing it? I am wondering, because I am thinking, possibly about powering one from my UV output? I want to say it flows at around 50gpm or so.. I know it's what emperor recommends for the target range.. What do you think? I'd like to avoid adding another powerhead..

You have BCP on that rock? Is it spreading? I had it in my tank for a long long time before it actually started spreading around the tank. If it's just sitting there on that one rock minding it's own business, i wouldn't bother. But if it's quickly spreading, probably better to take care of it now.

Funny you mention the HPS bulb... I do get a clumping turf algae in the refugium. In fact, I started cleaning that finally this weekend. Just scraping it off the walls.
But my refugium is separate from my sump, with black walls so the light from the HPS doesn't really hit the sump. So no algae there.
As far as flow, i'm not sure how much because it's fed from a Tee off my main return pump. But pretty sure it's a lot more than 50 gph. Probably more like 250-300 if I had to guess.

Another local guy I know duplicated this setup and it's crazy how identical his results are. I get texts from him, amazed about the growth and now he's having the same problem with no nitrates and low P04. lol

 

[Damon]

You have BCP on that rock? Is it spreading? I had it in my tank for a long long time before it actually started spreading around the tank. If it's just sitting there on that one rock minding it's own business, i wouldn't bother. But if it's quickly spreading, probably better to take care of it now.

Funny you mention the HPS bulb... I do get a clumping turf algae in the refugium. In fact, I started cleaning that finally this weekend. Just scraping it off the walls.
But my refugium is separate from my sump, with black walls so the light from the HPS doesn't really hit the sump. So no algae there.
As far as flow, i'm not sure how much because it's fed from a Tee off my main return pump. But pretty sure it's a lot more than 50 gph. Probably more like 250-300 if I had to guess.

Another local guy I know duplicated this setup and it's crazy how identical his results are. I get texts from him, amazed about the growth and now he's having the same problem with no nitrates and low P04. lol

Nope, no box on it, just xenia. And the tabs kill that, and I used it before on anthelia that ran away.. So nope, no bcp on that rock..

And the light.. Lol,I just decided after posting to you, to just throw it back on there. I guess, I'm just going to have to do more maintaining on the sump then.. Lol,I wish I had another area that I could dedicate strictly to growing cheato. And I may just end up buying another powerhead to run the spraybar. Probably easier than adding to my existing plumbing..

But, I agree, people just don't realize what those little sodium lights do for tanks. My pod population had massively decreased since taking that light off. And ok, glass ids not just me with the algea from the light. Yours just always looks so well kept. But yeah, I'm looking forward to getting things back on track because of that light.. I mean things don't look terribly bad, but I can just tell there is a difference in the display. No doubt about it.. But they are insanely good(as you and I both know) fir algea growth and scrubbing the water..

I'd like to do some mangroves again also. But that would require a but more work than I want to do right now. However, those grew well fir me under the sodium also in the past...

 

[d2mini]

Nope, no box on it, just xenia. And the tabs kill that, and I used it before on anthelia that ran away.. So nope, no bcp on that rock..

Ah, xenia.... your post auto-corrected so I was trying to figure out what you were really talking about. lol
But yeah, the fluke tabs will do it.

 

[Damon]

Ah, xenia.... your post auto-corrected so I was trying to figure out what you were really talking about. lol
But yeah, the fluke tabs will do it.

Yeah,I hate my keyboards.. Lol..

 

[d2mini]

So for the past 7-8 months I've been collecting parts on eBay for a custom built high end dual stage regulator for my CaRx.
I finally finished it up while treating the tank for the blue cloves and got it dialed in. It's a nice piece of kit. All stainless steel.
The whole thing cost me close to $350 but it's more like a $1000+ setup. Now I can sell the Aquarium Plants Carbon Doser I was using.

 

[TangUVeryMuch]

Nope. Never saw any benefit from AcroPower.
Between the Reefbuilders glowing review of that stuff, and the Red Sea Refractometer which I also own, I will NEVER trust one of their reviews again.

I do have some Zeo Flatworm Stop or whatever its called and I forget to dose it. This i've heard decent things about but since I always forget about it, i can't report on it at all.
I should probably hook it up to a doser.

So yeah, right now the only thing dosing is my CaRx.

I was considering buying the Red Sea Refractometer...so is the hype/PR all bull$h!t then? I would be just as well off buying a cheaper alternative? Any suggestions?

 

[d2mini]

I was considering buying the Red Sea Refractometer...so is the hype/PR all bull$h!t then? I would be just as well off buying a cheaper alternative? Any suggestions?

In a word, yes.
I guess it depends how you interpret the hype. It's definitely a very accurate tool. The "problem" is that it does need to be calibrated every single time. I don't understand what causes the flux over a few days, but if you calibrate it monday, by thursday you need to calibrate again. This may vary up or down but generally every few days. A week or more... definitely. I've tried using it the same time of day, in temp a controlled room, and it was still off.
Once calibrated, it's accurate, very easy to see, etc.
Just a PITA.
And I even got a replacement from them and returned the old one. Same thing.

 

[KDawg0623]

Awesome tank and set up!

 

[TangUVeryMuch]

In a word, yes.
I guess it depends how you interpret the hype. It's definitely a very accurate tool. The "problem" is that it does need to be calibrated every single time. I don't understand what causes the flux over a few days, but if you calibrate it monday, by thursday you need to calibrate again. This may vary up or down but generally every few days. A week or more... definitely. I've tried using it the same time of day, in temp a controlled room, and it was still off.
Once calibrated, it's accurate, very easy to see, etc.
Just a PITA.
And I even got a replacement from them and returned the old one. Same thing.

So do you know of a better one to recommend then? Thanks for your feedback again.

 

[d2mini]

So do you know of a better one to recommend then? Thanks for your feedback again.

Not really. I have one I got off eBay like 8 years ago. Works well.

 

[TaylorPilot]

So when can we expect a new blog post?! I keep checking back for a new one!

 

[Wrangy]

So for the past 7-8 months I've been collecting parts on eBay for a custom built high end dual stage regulator for my CaRx.
I finally finished it up while treating the tank for the blue cloves and got it dialed in. It's a nice piece of kit. All stainless steel.
The whole thing cost me close to $350 but it's more like a $1000+ setup. Now I can sell the Aquarium Plants Carbon Doser I was using.

So I have to ask because this is basically the perfect (IMO) CaRX setup, why the change in regulator and the choice of specific parts? I've been following your thread with great interest and would love to hear a bit of a rundown on the regulator part choices as your CaRX is basically what my plans are going to be designed around! They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery for a reason lol tank, frag tank and mangrove tanks are all looking amazing Dennis!