LegalizedReefers “4th times the charm” Reefer 350

[legalizedreefer]

Update: my Hydras don’t match

I purchased a second Hydra in anticipation for this larger tank. I set it up on Mobius and quickly noticed the spectrum looked much different than my unit I already had.

at first, I thought it was probably just not syncing with my light spectrum/schedule from my original light.

I made a “scene” through mobius to test this. In the scene I turned every light channel off then tested one by one.

UV, Violet, Royal Blue, Cool White, Green, Red channels all matched perfectly between the unit.

the plain blue channel, however, had a massive color difference. The old unit (on the right) is more of a teal and the new unit (left) is a darker blue.

I’ve opened a support request with AI but haven’t heard back quite yet so I don’t know what to do about it at the moment.

the difference between the two is visually distracting even with the other color channels mixed in.

I was already prepping for worst case scenario where AI says too bad so sad. I was thinking worst case I’d just set the blue to 0% and try to make it up with extra royal blue. I did a trial run of this spectrum already and it didn’t look too bad. I just hope it doesn’t compromise coral growth. I already didn’t overdo it on the blue/white ratio as it was, and I don’t mind a whiter look.

 

[nuxx]

Setup looks super nice so far, can't wait to see you start to stock it

 

[legalizedreefer]

Setup looks super nice so far, can't wait to see you start to stock it

thanks for the kind words!!

curreent livestock going in:
2x clowns
1x Bynoe Goby
1x juvenile BIOTA yellow tang

wish list:
- lyretial anthias (3)
- hawkfish
- 1x another small tang species (maybe tomini)
- Royal gramma
- I’ll leave sole open slots for things that show up at my LFS that I haven’t previously considered

I want to have a “busy” tank. Lots of fish occupying different parts of the tank

corals moving over from my 40:
- green candy cane (about 18 heads)
- Duncan
- variety of mushrooms
- montipora setosa
- seasons greetings Monti cap
- red Monti cap
- Rainbow Loom acro (small frag)

 

[nuxx]

Those Anthias a nice, had 3 or 4 myself.

Kinda wish I had more.

 

[legalizedreefer]

Starting to move livestock tonight. Can’t get my skimmer to settle down. Bubble Magus curve 7. It’s not new, I bought it lightly used. I had it in recommended depth of 9.5” and it was overflowing like crazy. Raised it 2 inches with Tupperware and it’s still overflowing like crazy. Water output is wide open. Anyone have any ideas?

 

[legalizedreefer]

Bof an update: did the move last night.

no losses yet. All my fish are acting normally today. Skimmer is going nuts, likely from the bottled bac.

finally have a everything done under the cabinet as well.

 

[legalizedreefer]

Little bit of an update: everything has survived the move. Even some frags that were looking a little rough pre-move have managed to hold on so far.

Sweety, the new harlequin Sweetlips

And managed to pick up my favorite fish - the spot cheek tang. They color up as nicely as anything I’ve ever seen. This one is tiny, about 2”

 

[AKLiving]

You know i discovered that using baking soda and water based superglue did the job for me. I did reenforce the heavier areas with E400 cement, but man what cheap alternative and i had a blast building the scape, looks like you did too! I like your server room quote, i'm IT and wires boil my blood too! Good Job.

I knew about the baking soda trick from my grandfather teaching it to me over 40 years ago.
I'm waiting on my RSR 350 order and hopefully will soon join you in documenting a build.

While I wait, I too have been doing some rockscaping. Taking what I knew about the baking soda and some composition of MarcoRock I tried crushing some into a powder and using it instead. It works so well you have to stand back sometimes and let it cool down the reaction is so exothermic.
Even better was finding out how superior the joint was. My first attempt I used some mortar after finishing the shape. The next day I decided to change it. The mortar broke fairly easily (but not too easy) but the superglue/marcopowder joints would often break the rock around it instead of the joint. The best part of these near instant joints (holding for no more than 5 seconds) is that they are the same color since it is the same rock.

I'll try to document some of that when I do my build thread.

Thank you for posting your build.

 

[legalizedreefer]

Ok. Time for a loooong overdue update.

Since I last posted, I’ve added an apex, ATK, recirculating CO2 scrubber, extra hydra 32, more flow, switched to TM all-for-reef, yada yada yada

New livestock includes a spot cheek tang, Sweetlips, dottyback, mandarin, baby blue tang, and a few other small fish like lyretail chromis and blue eyed cardinals.

The recirculating CO2 scrubber is new. I wired a motorized ball valve to a 1Link cable to allow fresh air when pH > 8.4 and otherwise remain closed for recirculated air only. I’m in a condo so running skimmer line outside was out of the question and my pH was bound by my CO2 so scrubber it is for me! See if you can tell which day that was installed…

All for reef has been amazing for me. I’ve been mixing up the powdered version so I don’t find it very cost prohibitive. That’s the only thing I dose. Wait I lied, I also dose Acropower and KZ coral vitalizer every night (3 drops)

Here’s a random picture of my s***-show of a cabinet for no reason:

Fish are all healthy. I only feed frozen. I thaw a cube each of mysis, spirulina brine, calanus, Hikari plankton, and a good chunk of LRS together and feed over the course of 2 days. My girlfriend spoils them when I’m not home. She doesn’t know what nitrates and phosphates have to do with the happiness of our fish and I lost that battle long ago. No sweat though, because I already struggle to keep those detectable as is. The Reefmat I think gets the credit for that.

I finally fired up the DSLR for the first time in years and took some rookie shots of corals. Of course, I already feel the need to drop a small fortune on macro lenses. I’m so far restraining but we’ll see how long that lasts.

Here are a couple comparison shots to showcase some of my growth. All the “before” photos are taken on iPhone. All the afters will be on my DSLR. I’ll try to update this thread with more photography as time goes on.

Montipora Digitata May 21:

September 6th:

I’m already bored of searching my photos for before, so here’s a few random recent shots:

 

[legalizedreefer]

Also, looking for feedback on a few products I’m considering trying on my system:

TM bacto balance
KZ coral booster
KZ flatworm stop
KZ acro glow

 

[HudsonReefer2.0]

Hi. I add Kz booster and flatworm exit. To help color and build tissue. Well that’s the plan. Tanks happy atm. Also dose esv 2 part w the Mg.

 

[HudsonReefer2.0]

 

[legalizedreefer]

Oh yeah I’d definitely consider that happy!!

 

[HudsonReefer2.0]

I can’t say specifically that using those products produced some of the results seen my corals but I just keep it as stable as I possibly can and and tweak things.

 

[legalizedreefer]

Update: I bought this guy:

This is the AquaVitro Element Z zeolite reactor. It has a small Sicce feed pump and a larger Sicce pump for a “backwash” function. That one is timed by my apex to backwash for 3 minutes right before lights on and right after lights off.

I kinda, somewhat unintentionally found myself doing a Zeovit system (without the Zeo spur to reduce Xoaxanthelle)

My current regime

Daily: 0.5ml Topic Marin Bacto Balance
KZ coral vitalizer: 3 drops
KZ flatworm stop: 3ml
KZ Poh’ls Xtra special: 3ml
KZ Acroglow: 3 drops
AcroPower: 2ml
Tropic Marin All-For-Reef: 45ml/day (consumption of this has drastically increased from 20ml/daily over the last couple months)

Every second day: KZ coral booster (3ml)

Twice weekly: KZ zeobak (3 drops)

Some may not like the complication of all this daily dosing, but I kinda of look forward to it to be honest. I spend a couple minutes every morning before work enjoying the tank and doing my dosing.

 

[legalizedreefer]

I also ordered my 8020 aluminum and fittings to make a custom light rail. I didn’t want to drill into my stand nor did I want to hang something off the wall (steel studs, don’t hold a lot of weight)

I’m going to build something that goes up and over the tank down to the floor along both sides of the tank.

I’ll be moving my 3 Hydra 32’s over to that as well as adding 2x Orphek OR3 bars (1 along front, 1 along back) for added fill light to reduce shadowing. Thanks to @vetteguy53081 for the recommendations, I’m going to go with 2x Sky Blue spectrum and my light rail will have room for 2 more after that if I decide I need it!