HighEndOfTheLow's Red Sea Reefer 750 XXL

[highendofthelow]

double post

 

[dragon99]

Well that's a terrible run of luck. Better to get through all the problems now though than when you are depending on it to keep your Alk/Ca up.

 

[highendofthelow]

So rummaging around in my stores / spares I managed to locate my old CO2 Cylinder; After fighting with the heavily rusted regulator I managed to get it open and to my surprise it actually contains a small amount of CO2 even thought its probably 8 years old (Note I will not be using this bottle, nor would i recommend using such an old bottle!) but figured Id use it to try and confirm / test where my leak is coming from.

Being a logical person generally I've started testing between each stage.

My test process / logic was was as follows:-

1) Co2 Bottle open, Regulator Opened to pressurise reg gauges before closing both, this will test the primary gauge = Passed, after 15 minutes there was no loss of pressure indicating the seal between the Bottle and the regulator was good, along with the primary gauge.

2) Co2 Bottle Opened Regulator fully opened, Needle valve closed to pressurise regulator, CO2 Bottle re-closed after pressurising regulator; This will test for leaks between the primary and Secondary stage, along with the ensuring there is no leak on the needle valve when fully closed. = Passed, after 15 minutes or so there was no loss of pressure, implying that the secondary gauge is good, the needlevalve when closed is good and the connection between the needle valve and primary regulator is good.

3) Close regulator back down (as its currently on MAX), open CO2 bottle, pressurise bottle and regulator to 1 BAR pressure. with Needle valve open, then close CO2 bottle, this will test if the connection between the needle valve and the solenoid is good and the solenoid itself is not leaking air out = Failed, trying to use washing up liquid to locate the bleed however proved inconclusive, So I'm currently re-cutting and sealing the CO2 lines between the needle valve and solenoid.


Luke.

 

[highendofthelow]

So this Calcium reactor will be the death of me,

Air pressure remains in the valve If i have the needle valve / fine adjustment valve closed, if i open it i have a micro bleed which causes the regulator to lose pressure over time and in a "real world" scenario would eventually bleed a tank dry.

I've triple checked, PTFE taped and cut new lines between the regulator and the solenoid and still cant find the bleed so I'm now wondering if its the thread on the fine adjustment knob on the fine adjustment valve which is causing the issues, but i cant get washing up liquid in around that thread to test, but given that it only starts to lose pressure when its open its making me wonder,

I'm currently trying to dig out my petroleum jelly / vaseline to put some on the thread and work it into the screw thread to see if that helps seal it but can i find our tub which we used to cover the tank cabinet hinges... :mad:

 

[flyfish]

This has been quite the set up and build thread. Following along

 

[RumMnky]

Any updates on the reactor, good or bad? We're still pulling for you..

 

[highendofthelow]

Any updates on the reactor, good or bad? We're still pulling for you..

Hey RumMnky,

Sorry for the radio silence this end, honestly? No, I got that frustrated with the CO2 regulator I had to take a breather from it.
However revitalised with your post; this evening I stripped the regulator and went over it PTFE taping various threads and although early days it seems to be holding (or at least it isn't Pee'ing CO2 out).

I fully dis-assembled the needle / fine adjustment valve and actually noticed a bit of burred metal/metal filings on the inner rubber washer which I cleaned up along with PFTE tape on the thread (this was the part that I had my suspicions on from day one).

On slightly more positive note there's been some small new additions to the tank;

We picked up a couple more Ricorida mushrooms for the Ric garden which is slowly growing to a respectable size including a quite nice pink/purple one which is pretty unusual here in the UK (I miss the good old days of Florida Rics before the keys got wrecked I remember picking up 6 assorted Rics for £60 approx 10 years a go now its £15-25 a head but there just isnt the variety like there used to be...)

We also picked up a few small frag plugs of Zoa, which were Liz's picks; nothing overly expensive but just to give a pop of colour to the tank.

Finally we also picked up 4 x female Lyretail Anthias (Pseudanthias squamipinnis) which were looking lonely at my LFS's; Given that Anthias have been on the cards since day one (and having past experience with them in the past one of my old tanks i had 24 )
I figured I could give them a good home, I've asked my LFS to pick up another ~3 to bolster the size of the group up to a more sensible number, Assuming these go well I'd like to explore another variety.

 

[najer]

I dose 2 part manually, if someone came and set a perfectly balanced reactor for me I might try it, just saying!

 

[highendofthelow]

I dose 2 part manually, if someone came and set a perfectly balanced reactor for me I might try it, just saying!

There's pros and cons to both Ca and Balling; one of the pros of a Ca reactor is it supplies Alk and Ca in a balanced form along with a number of trace elements.

It also depends on how often you test, I found with my old ghl I was constantly tweaking my dosing and was never 100% happy

I'm hoping however between the Deltec and the Alkatronic I should have a super stable set up.

The Deltec being total staturation should give a very stable and predictable effluent which is easily adjustable with a push of a button (plus it has things like empty co2 alarm) coupled with the Alkatronic regularly testing the tank and having the ability to ether supplement Alk or turn off the Calcium reactor it should be rock steady.

 

[highendofthelow]

Urgh so the reg failed the overnight test; no where near as bad as before but still bad enough. It can't hold pressure on the fine adjustment stage.

There's a few other bits I can try first including swapping out the tubing to see if that improves things failing that I might just bite the bullet and order a second regulator

 

[highendofthelow]

So after stripping the old reg and re sealing it numerous times we finally got fed up and brought a second regulator, this one's a JBL pro flora (m001) regulator, it feels reasonably well built with a 4 year warranty and a built in needle adjustment valve.

We're currently letting it sit pressurised for a few hours to ensure it's sealled but hopefully this should finally be it
To say I'm sick to death of CO2/calcium reactors is an understatement at the moment but needs must!

I'll need to go get some bottles of Co2 soon as this old bottle old shows 50 bar pressure so I'm not expecting it to last more then a week or two but considering it's been sitting in storage for 8-10 years I'm amazed, (the bottle will get recycled and not reused once it's drained but I figured I'd burn this CO2 for testing the regs and not my main bottles).

 

[highendofthelow]

Oh we also picked up a few extra lyre tails last night; We now have 7 in the tank!

 

[najer]

I bet the anthias' look great as a group.

 

[highendofthelow]

I bet the anthias' look great as a group.

Yea they help give a bit of movement to the tank though they're still a touch squabbling at the moment but they'll settle down over the few days or so

 

[Devaji]

Yea they help give a bit of movement to the tank though they're still a touch squabbling at the moment but they'll settle down over the few days or so

I think we need a FTS with them.

 

[highendofthelow]

Eh the tanks a bit of a mess at the moment SPS wise and the glass needs a razor (it's not been done in 4 weeks...;-) )

We just woke the tank back up as the blues were on and the anthias had bedded down for the day but here you go..

(Please ignore the gyres they're on my to do list)

Whilst I'm posting I might as well say, last week we had a weird bug with the Alkatronic, in short it didn't test for 3 days in a row, after speaking with Jonas it was a known bug with firmware version 3.1.4 when you trigger a manual test under certain circumstances

Although my device is set to auto update it hadn't picked up the latest firmware which fixes this bug whilst adding a few tweaks.

So this afternoon I manually upgraded the firmware which was a reasonably straight forward process and I'm now on the latest firmware.

As we were looking into firmware I also knew my Maxspect Gyres were due an upgrade in order to get them to talk with my IV6 controller, again 15 minutes later I can now control my gyres via our smart devices; (I needed to increase the flow but couldn't remember how to set it on the controller by hand so it was a double incentive)

All in all a pretty productive day.

The stock list now reads:-

2x clownfis
2x helfrichi firefish
7x lyre tail anthias
1 x regal tang
1x lineatus wrasse
1x pintail wrasse
1x possum wrasse
1x spotted mandarin

2 x (I think) cleaner shrimp
1-3 monico shrimp (never see these guys)
1 x porcelain crab
Various snails
1 x hermit crab vanished to the sump

 

[highendofthelow]

the reg passed the overnight pressure test therefore the calcium reactor is now finally online (well at least until 50 bar lasts!)

I also gave the skimmer a reasonable clean as it was overdue.

Question however for you all.

I need to give the gyres a clean as they're caked up with a slow growing but irritating red bubble / similar algae. (Actually on closer inspection most of it is a very fine red scrub/turf algae, looks like the red bubble has more or less died out)

I'm going to order a product but I'm not 100% sure what to get.

Ether bulk buy white vinegar which is my typical go to; alternatively I'm considering picking up some citric acid powder or possibly peroxide (as its predominately algae I need to get off not calcium etc)

I'm intrigued to try citric acid as it has a long shelf life compared to peroxide etc and is quicker than vinegar?





Anyone got any comments?

 

[dragon99]

the reg passed the overnight pressure test therefore the calcium reactor is now finally online (well at least until 50 bar lasts!)

I also gave the skimmer a reasonable clean as it was overdue.

Question however for you all.

I need to give the gyres a clean as they're caked up with a slow growing but irritating red bubble / similar algae. (Actually on closer inspection most of it is a very fine red scrub/turf algae, looks like the red bubble has more or less died out)

I'm going to order a product but I'm not 100% sure what to get.

Ether bulk buy white vinegar which is my typical go to; alternatively I'm considering picking up some citric acid powder or possibly peroxide (as its predominately algae I need to get off not calcium etc)

I'm intrigued to try citric acid as it has a long shelf life compared to peroxide etc and is quicker than vinegar?





Anyone got any comments?

I'd give citric acid a try, I've heard good things about it and it should take care of the algae and any calcium buildup.

 

[highendofthelow]

When your local LFS uploads a photo and you call them within a few minutes...

One fo those don't show me the price tag I don't want to know but that piece is mine.

(Ironically my LFS and best friend brought it with me vaguely In mind he was going to frag it , once I knew it had a large acro crab in I brought the whole piece)

 

[highendofthelow]

Urgh so a new LFS opened up near by and today was their opening day; they're a small ish store (similar size to my friend and usual LFS) but had a few interesting bits including a small SPS frag section.

We picked up what was sold as a "tyree pinky the bear" lookalike frag which shows some real potential and a "tubbs stellata montipora" lookalike frag

Both of which are frag we don't typically see so pretty chuffed (if not absolutely broke this month now!)

Plus it's always a good thing to see a other LFS open within 30 minutes of us.