d2mini's "Essential Focus" Mixed Reef Build

Fin · Sep 27, 2017

Very, very nice!

d2mini · Sep 28, 2017

Thought ya'll might like to see where my clowns sleep.

This is just a cell phone pic this morning before the tank lights came on.

The Percula and the open brain coral used to be in my nano tank and the Perc always slept there. This used to bother the brain (which I've had for about 6 years now, and at one point lost 90% of it's tissue about 3-4 years ago due to an annoying yellow bellied blue tang) but eventually it got used to the clown and no longer closes up at all when he starts swimming in and out. The Davinci clown had been in this tank for several months, when one day I moved the Perc and Brain from my nano to this tank. The Perc continued to "host" the brain, and it didn't tank long for the much younger Davinci to follow suit.

d2mini · Sep 28, 2017

So I quickly found out that the little ball valve that comes with the Geo is impossible to fine tune. It's basically worthless as far as regulating flow out of the effluent line.
So now I have a nice new needle valve that works great.

That must have been what Nona was trying to tell me.
She's pointing her nose right at it.

Here's the new valve...

ws6kid · Sep 28, 2017

Yea he will actually put the needle valve on if you request it. Looks awesome though.

aquavista99 · Sep 28, 2017

Good to know about the AP regulators ...I purchased a few just in case one failed and I am intrigued with your dual stage regulator. Very nice updates as well.

d2mini said:
Yeah, the AP is just a cheap single stage reg with cheap solenoid inside a big plastic box.
It works fine and is a good option, but a dual stage reg is a better way to go... no c02 dump, just as easy to use, and will last forever.
And this one I got was the same price as the AP.

I've used a masterflex before, but wasn't have a problem feeding with an MJ before that.
So I'll see how it goes this time. I will control the flow with a valve and fine tune with the ph.

d2mini · Sep 29, 2017

ws6kid said:
Yea he will actually put the needle valve on if you request it. Looks awesome though.

Good to know.
The check valve was an option, but no option on the calcium reactor page for the needle valve. I see it now on a separate Valves page.

Hreef · Sep 29, 2017

Dennis is top notch! Looking good as always!

d2mini · Sep 30, 2017

Here's a few more pics of the science lab under the tank.

There is a dense ball of cheato and a few big tufts of dragon's breath rolling around in the fuge.

Also, the CaRx is doing well! Now that I have the needle valve, it's very close to being dialed in. Alk is at 8.4 this morning, dropping just .1 from last night.

LoneStarReef · Sep 30, 2017

Wow. Still amazed by your tank. I’m sure you have answered this already but what kind of fuge light is that?

d2mini said:
Here's a few more pics of the science lab under the tank.
There is a dense ball of cheato and a few big tufts of dragon's breath rolling around in the fuge.

Also, the CaRx is doing well! Now that I have the needle valve, it's very close to being dialed in. Alk is at 8.4 this morning, dropping just .1 from last night.

treedog5 · Sep 30, 2017

Yeah that's a science lab for sure...

d2mini · Sep 30, 2017

LoneStarReef said:
Wow. Still amazed by your tank. I’m sure you have answered this already but what kind of fuge light is that?

Thanks!
I don't recall the exact model off hand, there is a bunch of them on amazon.
Go back to around April in this thread and I should have the info there.

jporter17 · Sep 30, 2017

Dennis, what wattage is your UV?
Tank looks great! JP

d2mini · Sep 30, 2017

jporter17 said:
Dennis, what wattage is your UV?
Tank looks great! JP

Thanks! It's the 25w AquaUV Classic. I'm running around 680 gph through it.

csund · Oct 4, 2017

Out of curiosity, what are the dimensions for the sump and refugium?

d2mini · Oct 4, 2017

csund said:
Out of curiosity, what are the dimensions for the sump and refugium?

CFL1 - 25x16x14h
Refugium - 10x16x18

csund · Oct 5, 2017

d2mini said:
CFL1 - 25x16x14h
Refugium - 10x16x18

Thanks!

Is the return water from the refugium noisier with the PVC pipe versus the overflow style of your last Lifereef refugium. How do you like the filter cylinders for carbon?

d2mini · Oct 5, 2017

csund said:
Thanks!

Is the return water from the refugium noisier with the PVC pipe versus the overflow style of your last Lifereef refugium. How do you like the filter cylinders for carbon?

No, i don't hear it.

I don't mind the filter cylinder for trickling water through for carbon. They're easy to remove/replace too.
And easy to control the water flow for each cylinder.

Decat · Oct 5, 2017

d2mini said:
New FTS!
I'll take a couple other close shots soon, too.

Looks fantastic, I would love to swing by and see it in person and pick your brain. Thanks for all the details!

d2mini · Oct 5, 2017

Decat said:
Looks fantastic, I would love to swing by and see it in person and pick your brain. Thanks for all the details!

Thanks. That can probably be arranged.

roberthu526 · Oct 10, 2017

d2mini said:
Here's a few more pics of the science lab under the tank.
There is a dense ball of cheato and a few big tufts of dragon's breath rolling around in the fuge.

Also, the CaRx is doing well! Now that I have the needle valve, it's very close to being dialed in. Alk is at 8.4 this morning, dropping just .1 from last night.

What do you think about the Dragon's Breath? I am going to setup a 125 with a decent size sump and I plan to run macro algae in the refugium section. But I can't decide which algae to use. I have not had luck with chaeto. They just slowly die off. I have not tried caulerpa but I have seen quite a few people saying it went sexual for them and caused crashes. So I am wondering is the red Dragon's Breath is a good algae for nutrient control. Thanks