Looking for a mentor

[Nordy]

Hi,
I have a nice reef setup with a lot going for it. I currently do 2 part dosing and always have in the past. By next week, I will have an Apex pro with two dosers and a dual reservoir and a Red Sea 4 part dosing system that will be run on my reef beat app. I currently have an apex jr, and primarily use it as a redundancy measure from a heater malfunction. Now I feel like I got the whole shibam, but don’t have the experience. My manual dosing methods are meticulous. I always side on using less, and do multiple dosings throughout the day. I try and avoid spiking, and keep variances to a minimum. I test once per week, Ca, Alk, sometimes Mg. With the apex, I want to set up a Kalkwasser dosing regimen in the evening when my PH is dropping. I’ll need help dialing that in, and also becoming versed in apex’s many features. The Red Sea dosing system I’ll get myself prepared, and checkout the protocol with calculating the tanks needs, but I still wouldn’t mind a mentor or two. I have around 60 corals in my 158.5 gallon tank and I’m loving it, just nervous to take the next step, I am a bozo, and don’t want to make a costly mistake. All my LPS look terrific, hoping I can be great with some Acros too, I currently have 2, and there doing alright. My King Curaçao is really puddling at the base, and colors are coming back with polyps always out. Hoping I can also get away from my tank with all the new controllers and gizmos I’m getting. I babysit it too much… even to turn over a fallen astrea snail, but that’s just me, obsessed reef tank manager.
Should have all new stuff by next week. In the meantime, if you have a great link or two for my reading homework, much appreciated, I’ll make time for it!
Thanks!!

 

[SliceGolfer]

I found this set of articles to be incredibly helpful when I started with my Apex

Neptune Apex Programming Tutorials Part 1

The first in a series of articles about programming Neptune Apex Controllers for your reef aquarium.

www.reef2reef.com

 

[Nordy]

I found this set of articles to be incredibly helpful when I started with my Apex

Neptune Apex Programming Tutorials Part 1

The first in a series of articles about programming Neptune Apex Controllers for your reef aquarium.

www.reef2reef.com

Thank you, I’ll be looking at that link soon.

 

[BryanM]

A little hard to tell what you're asking for.... But any apex programming can be easily searched for and answers found pretty quickly.

As for mixed reef with lps and sps, I still feel this is pretty complicated. I haven't tried yet to be quite honest.

 

[TangerineSpeedo]

I run four tanks off of one Apex head. It has saved at least one tank each time I am on vacation. But I use it to monitor trends, because the probes are never accurate. I mean they can be for a short time, but it is not worth the effort to me because I do not need the accuracy. But it is great for turning off pumps/skimmers during feedings, refugium lights on in the middle of the night etc. But since you already have a junior you are familiar with the possibilities and limitations of Apex. Good luck and if have questions there are plenty here on the forum that are great with it.

 

[VintageReefer]

I would offer to be a mentor but our styles and methods don’t line up.

I don’t use controllers, I don’t dose any of your products, and I don’t do water changes. I don’t run socks or fleece rollers. All I have that’s automated is alkalinity and all my filtration is natural

I’m sure you can find someone with a similar setup who can help

 

[Llyod276]

I would offer to be a mentor but our styles...

Is that your tank vintage reefer??
God its brighter than a pride parade...
Let me be the first hater. nothing about that tank is natural. Like sticking a T-rex in the middle of Santa Barbara...
But good job growing all that stuff...happy reefing and keep on reefing!

 

[VintageReefer]

I would offer to be a mentor but our styles...

Is that your tank vintage reefer??
God its brighter than a pride parade...
Let me be the first hater. nothing about that tank is natural. Like sticking a T-rex in the middle of Santa Barbara...
But good job growing all that stuff...happy reefing and keep on reefing!

I’ve done natural
Now I want insane out of this world jaw dropping I can’t believe that’s all living creatures

Also, technically this tank is 2 tanks in one space.

50% is just in grow out for the new build

It costs a lot to fill a tank with high end coral. So rather than wait for the new build to be ready and then start buying coral, I have been spending a year acquiring and growing out while I sourced the tank and parts and gear and get it ready. This way, I can transfer everything over in a weekend and instant stock it. And instead of filling with tiny frags, I’ll have mini colonies

Also it’s not normally THIS bright. It’s just that with the right coral selection and lighting you can make it look like that

Evening

White heavy

I have a lot of colonies on the rocks that have been growing in for years. You can’t see rock in most places. It does look natural in person by you have to look beyond the racks, difficult from a photo

This entire tank is also designed to be almost zero maintenance. Excluding feeding, 5 min of work each week normally. I don’t have dosing pumps, I don’t use any “products”, no ato, no fleece rollers, no skimmer, no mechanical filtration at all actually. I haven’t done a water change on it in many many years.

I clean glass every few days, I add 1ml manganese daily, I add 1.5g fw top off water every week. That’s about it.

I have a few small tasks that rotate monthly. But for the most part this is super simple to maintain. No real work from me. It absorbs any nutrient swings and is self stabilizing.

 

[Llyod276]

I would offer to be a mentor but our styles...

Is that your tank vintage reefer??
God its brighter than a pride parade...
Let me be the first hater. nothing about that tank is natural. Like sticking a T-rex in the middle of Santa Barbara...
But good job growing all that stuff...happy reefing and keep on reefing!

I’ve done natural
Now I want insane out of this world jaw dropping I can’t believe that’s all living creatures

Also, technically this tank is 2 tanks in one space.

50% is just in grow out for the new build

It costs a lot to fill a tank with high end coral. So rather than wait for the new build to be ready and then start buying coral, I have been spending a year acquiring and growing out while I sourced the tank and parts and gear and get it ready. This way, I can transfer everything over in a weekend and instant stock it. And instead of filling with tiny frags, I’ll have mini colonies

Also it’s not normally THIS bright. It’s just that with the right coral selection and lighting you can make it look like that

Evening

White heavy

I have a lot of colonies on the rocks that have been growing in for years. You can’t see rock in most places. It does look natural in person by you have to look beyond the racks, difficult from a photo

This entire tank is also designed to be almost zero maintenance. Excluding feeding, 5 min of work each week normally. I don’t have dosing pumps, I don’t use any “products”, no ato, no fleece rollers, no skimmer, no mechanical filtration at all actually. I haven’t done a water change on it in many many years.

I clean glass every few days, I add 1ml manganese daily, I add 1.5g fw top off water every week. That’s about it.

I have a few small tasks that rotate monthly. But for the most part this is super simple to maintain. No real work from me. It absorbs any nutrient swings and is self stabilizing.

Great plan, hope it works the way you're planning. I question my colorblindness at this point.

Yeah i went water change free for a while and while it didnt kill the tank only the softies thrived... in the end every sps and lps i had was dead or dying. Stn and rtn took most. The gsps and kenya trees ruled my tank and my toadstool. Of the three only the toadstool moved to the new tank. I sent everything else to the great reef in the sky...

 

[VintageReefer]

Great plan, hope it works the way you're planning. I question my colorblindness at this point.

Yeah i went water change free for a while and while it didnt kill the tank only the softies thrived... in the end every sps and lps i had was dead or dying. Stn and rtn took most. The gsps and kenya trees ruled my tank and my toadstool. Of the three only the toadstool moved to the new tank. I sent everything else to the great reef in the sky...

I haven’t done water changes on any tank in over 10 years. There are methods needed for this to be successful. And I spent 10 years prior figuring it out. And I do keep a number of sps. And more
Challenging / sensitive lps like gonipora (26 at the moment)

You can’t just “stop doing water changes” there are a number of things that need to be in place. But you absolutely can be successful

 

[VintageReefer]

. I question my colorblindness at this point.