EXT 170 Build

[X-37B]

Its been awhile. This is the song I was thinking of, lol. Both bring back memories from the good old 70's.
Tomorrow's Gonna Be Another Day https://share.google/RteKxx0j4yjsz6FZi

 

[X-37B]

I was inspecting the system with a flashlight and found this whelk snail today on an acro. It had been eating it?.
It left a small 1/2" trail and there was a circular white spot when I pulled it off. Anyone see this before?
I inspect often and have been removing around 10 asterina starfish a day for the last few weeks and saw the whelk by chance
There are probably more so I will look for them now. If its not on an acro or the glass I would never see it.
I am going to use the mantis trap for a few days to see if I can catch any others.

Current parameters today.
Temp 77
SG 1.0265
ALK 7.6
CA 410
Mag 1350
K 410
Po4 .177
No3 6.5

 

[X-37B]

Cleaned the 2 6255's. Bubble algae grows on/in them. 2 years of coralinne growth.
Clean and back in.

 

[reef’r]

Cleaned the 2 6255's. Bubble algae grows on/in them. 2 years of coralinne growth.
Clean and back in.

I’m considering an orca mounted back left or right of my 48x24 SPS tank. It has an internal overflow which is the only down side. Do you feel one of those would be sufficient? Or maybe would be better to mount on one of the front corners? I currently have 4 wavemakers in the tank lol

 

[X-37B]

I’m considering an orca mounted back left or right of my 48x24 SPS tank. It has an internal overflow which is the only down side. Do you feel one of those would be sufficient? Or maybe would be better to mount on one of the front corners? I currently have 4 wavemakers in the tank lol

2 6075 Orcas and you won't need anything else. I had 6 powerheads in my old 120. Get one and try it in different areas. You will see how 2 would work well once you see one on your system.

 

[reef’r]

2 6075 Orcas and you won't need anything else. I had 6 powerheads in my old 120. Get one and try it in different areas. You will see how 2 would work well once you see one on your system.

It seems as like my ice cap pump is failing. I have a big Jebao sow-20 back left corner and my ice cap was mounted front right. If I wanted to replace the ice cap with just one Tunze pump what would you recommend? Not sure if I’m sold entirely on the orca just yet but would you do the 6075 or 6105? 4’ SPS dominant reef

 

[X-37B]

It seems as like my ice cap pump is failing. I have a big Jebao sow-20 back left corner and my ice cap was mounted front right. If I wanted to replace the ice cap with just one Tunze pump what would you recommend? Not sure if I’m sold entirely on the orca just yet but would you do the 6075 or 6105? 4’ SPS dominant reef

2 6105's is what I would use. It has 50% more flow than the 6075 and can be turned down.
I just saw a Orca 6105 yesterday at lfs. The motor is 2×2, the sweep is 4×6. Very small motor and the 6105 comes with wide and regular flow housings.
See if a lfs has one to look at. The 6105 is a big powerhead and I have not seen the 6075 in person.
I ran 3 6105's, 2 6095's, and 2 jebao ow-40's in my old 120.
2 6105 Orcas would replace the 6 easily in that old system.

 

[X-37B]

Today I found one of the 6255's had shut off. A large turbo snail was in the grate. Removed it and its back running.
Cleaned up the sump a bit while cleaning both skimmers.

I have been turning up the carx every few days as alk was 6.7 2 days ago and 6.9 today. Bumped it to 7.5 and turned up the Kamoer to 15mlm. It was 12mlm 3 days ago. Growth is looking good

I need to replace the check valve. Its still stops flow but you cant see in it now. I removed the check flapper and will run without once I change it out.

 

[X-37B]

This urchin came in on the live rock. Its grown quite a bit in 2 years.
I have one in my 50 also.

 

[X-37B]

Alk demand has really taken off. Once coral colonies get large the alk demand gos up exponentially.
I have been adjusting the Kamoer daily for 2 weeks now.
Effluent is 30+dkh with kalk at 4mlm for ph control.
Two weeks ago carx mlm was 12 and is now 21mlm and holding an alk of 7.3.
Back wall coral, I forgot the name, has seen considerable growth in the last month.

 

[PrattysReef]

I love your tank! From where it started to now, its just grown in so well. Im not gping to lie i wasnt a huge fan of the base rock at first but it looks so great now. You were a man with a plan and its worked out great!

 

[X-37B]

I love your tank! From where it started to now, its just grown in so well. Im not gping to lie i wasnt a huge fan of the base rock at first but it looks so great now. You were a man with a plan and its worked out great!

Thanks!
Yea if more reefers had a plan from day one they would be ahead of most.
All rock is premium. I dont use base rock.
Just started this 112 directly across from the 170. Going to be a growout system. Started with 35lbs of live rock. System is not 2 months old yet.

 

[PrattysReef]

I love your tank! From where it started to now, its just grown in so well. Im not gping to lie i wasnt a huge fan of the base rock at first but it looks so great now. You were a man with a plan and its worked out great!

Thanks!
Yea if more reefers had a plan from day one they would be ahead of most.
All rock is premium. I dont use base rock.
Just started this 112 directly across from the 170. Going to be a growout system. Started with 35lbs of live rock. System is not 2 months old yet.

Its all real live rock yes ? I feel like its become almost impossible to get here in australia. Even though tonnes of it are harvested every year. Would have loved to have started with live rock if i had the opportunity, but had to settle for real life rock.

 

[reef’r]

Thanks!
Yea if more reefers had a plan from day one they would be ahead of most.
All rock is premium. I dont use base rock.
Just started this 112 directly across from the 170. Going to be a growout system. Started with 35lbs of live rock. System is not 2 months old yet.

New tanks looking sweet! Hey halide question for you. I’m running a reef brite dual 250w fixture, double ended bulbs. I have a 16”
Deep SPS tank and looking for a bit more par I’m already supplementing with Orphek bars which give me a good bump. 14k bulbs I know I could get a bit more out of it if I went to a 10k but should I consider bumping up to 400 watt? Not sure the additional heat would be worth the output but thinking I could raise the fixture a little higher

 

[X-37B]

New tanks looking sweet! Hey halide question for you. I’m running a reef brite dual 250w fixture, double ended bulbs. I have a 16”
Deep SPS tank and looking for a bit more par I’m already supplementing with Orphek bars which give me a good bump. 14k bulbs I know I could get a bit more out of it if I went to a 10k but should I consider bumping up to 400 watt? Not sure the additional heat would be worth the output but thinking I could raise the fixture a little higher

My 112 is only 17" deep.
400's produce 40% more power.
Heat wont be an issue any more than the 250's. The reason I went with 400's is availability of bulbs, ballasts and the power they deliver.
Honestly the RB fixtures are just old grow light hoods. Nothing special about them. Certianly not "space age reflectors" as they call them. They do work fine though.
Par was considerably higher using the Lumenbrite fixture.
190 par with a RB and 350 par with the LB running a 20K.
10K Ushio bulb pushed it to 550.
I would keep the 250's, do ypu know par levels, and look into Meridian edge bars. 2 14K 24" edge bars increased par by 150 and pushed the 20K's to over 500 par. With a 10K it went to over 700.
The 10K Ushio looked good but the 20K Hamilton looked better.
I just picked up 10 Giesemann 12.5K bulbs and I am going to get one running to test par and color.
If you want more par you will need to find some old Lumenbrite fixtures which are very hard to find today. Im trying to find 16" and 20" LB's so I can use them and possibly have someone replicate them.

 

[reef’r]

My 112 is only 17" deep.
400's produce 40% more power.
Heat wont be an issue any more than the 250's. The reason I went with 400's is availability of bulbs, ballasts and the power they deliver.
Honestly the RB fixtures are just old grow light hoods. Nothing special about them. Certianly not "space age reflectors" as they call them. They do work fine though.
Par was considerably higher using the Lumenbrite fixture.
190 par with a RB and 350 par with the LB running a 20K.
10K Ushio bulb pushed it to 550.
I would keep the 250's, do ypu know par levels, and look into Meridian edge bars. 2 14K 24" edge bars increased par by 150 and pushed the 20K's to over 500 par. With a 10K it went to over 700.
The 10K Ushio looked good but the 20K Hamilton looked better.
I just picked up 10 Giesemann 12.5K bulbs and I am going to get one running to test par and color.
If you want more par you will need to find some old Lumenbrite fixtures which are very hard to find today. Im trying to find 16" and 20" LB's so I can use them and possibly have someone replicate them.

I think I’m getting around a similar par bump with my orpheks as you are with the edge bars. My par range is 225-250 at my lowest acro and ~400 at my highest. Using the VRB-aqua par meter but I do want to rent a 510 and compare readings

 

[X-37B]

Replace the check valve today after 2 years. Dirty but still sealed. I removed the flapper on the new and will run without.

 

[X-37B]

I have been removing asterina's daily, 10+, for the last few weeks.

Systems alk useage has increased quite a bit since I started dosing 0.5grams a day of CRT.

Po4 has held around .1 and no3 was 0.7 last test.
System looks better at these levels but it may be from the CRT. Vodka doseage has been reduced to 5ml a day.

 

[X-37B]

I cleaned the LifeReef cup last night. This is <12hrs. The Lifereef is really all I need on this system and I am possibly going to take the 9430 offline if po4 and no3 remain low.

 

[X-37B]

A different look.
Left to right today before the lights come on. Taken with a flashlight no filter.