Mariner 100 Build

[Dr. D]

Sorry about the torch, but the tank is looking great.

 

[Starry Night Reef]

Updates on the tank: some good, some bad. I lost the Holy Grail Torch. It completely bailed out while I was away for a few days during Christmas. I have no idea why, the parameters were in check the whole time. One day it was fine, and the next it was completely gone. Fortunately, as far as I know, it wasn’t brown jelly. All the other corals look fluffy and healthy. My only guess is that it was getting a bit too much flow. I did change a few things here. I moved the gyres back to the sides and added both Nero 3s I had from the old tank to the back. This seemed to help with the flow being more balanced. However, it didn’t help the torches, maybe getting too much flow in the middle. After trying a few things, I decided it was best to move the torches to the outside of the tank. The SPS will take their prime middle spot in the tank shortly.

In other new additions, I added a 48” @Orphek OR4 Blue Sky. I am really impressed. I might even swap fully to @Orphek eventually if the budget allows. I like the Reefi’s, but I have always struggled to get them to a point where I was happy with the tank color. I couldn’t really tell if it was me or the lights. It’s the Reefi’s. After playing around with them for months on both the old tank and this one, I felt like it was missing around twice as much output on the 470 nm or thereabouts as it needed to balance out the spectrum. It always seemed very purple, even on a more white look, it felt too purple and missing something. It looked dull almost. Even if I ran the other channels at half, it felt better, but still not complete. And this would have been way too low of a PAR output.


So, I began exploring supplemental bar options, which I had planned to add in the future for better coverage. After narrowing it down, I chose the OR4 Blue Sky bar, which I believed provided the ideal spectrum. It was spot on! It addresses all my concerns. It includes 460nm, 470nm, and 480nm wavelengths. My corals now have that vibrant glow or pop that I had felt they were missing, and it’s not a UV glow, have plenty of headroom on the Reefi’s for that still. For now, I’ve placed the bar on the back side of the tank. I might eventually add a second one to the front to provide more coverage and fill in some shadows.



I’m excited to see some new fish and corals arrive in the next couple of weeks.

Aww sorry to hear about the torch! In regards to the Reefis, Ive been feeling the same. The blue always have a purple hue. I placed a cheap RB light strip above my tank for fun and popped some colors on my corals I havent been able to see with Reefis.

Im considering going back to AI, but hate to be sitting on all the money spent on the Reefis.

 

[josh57]

Aww sorry to hear about the torch! In regards to the Reefis, Ive been feeling the same. The blue always have a purple hue. I placed a cheap RB light strip above my tank for fun and popped some colors on my corals I havent been able to see with Reefis.

Im considering going back to AI, but hate to be sitting on all the money spent on the Reefis.

In their groups, they always comment how you can dial it into the spectrum you like and get rid of the purple. But it’s impossible to keep the right par output. And even dialing in the right spectrum it’s just missing that pop.

I am loving this orphek bar and probably down the road when I have some spare money I’ll upgrade to all orphek. This 4 foot bar puts out almost 100 par on its own.

 

[josh57]

Removed

 

[Connor At CoralVue]

Ugh. So frustrating. Purchased a new Kamoer KH carer to auto test alk. Got it from coralvue directly as its on closeout. Well it showed up broken. The magnetic stirrer doesn't work. Which things happen whatever. Been working with support to get it fixed. They sent a replacement part to swap in. Which still didn’t fix it. Which is still fine. Have to ship it back now which would be fine minus me having to pay for shipping. I have never heard of any company making you pay for shipping on something that was DOA. Kinda crazy and a bad customer service experience. Will make me really think about who I purchase things from.

@Connor At CoralVue

@josh57 As you pointed out, we wanted to help, so we sent out a new stirrer free of charge.

Then, on late Monday, you reported that it didn't fix the issue. We made it clear that we’re happy to sort this out; we don’t want you stuck! However, let's not forget: you purchased a closeout item from our outlet store at a steep 60% discount. While we're all for providing deals, the CoralVue Outlet has a clear-cut policy:

-Items marked as "Final Sale" cannot be returned or exchanged
-The customer is responsible for shipping costs for returns

For those who know us, we’re a family-owned business that often will make exceptions to keep a customer happy. But in your case, the policy was properly applied by our agent.

You gave us less than 18 hours before our inbox was updated with messages on Reef2Reef, Instagram/FB, Groups... yet not another message through our official support portal.

Now, as a sign of good faith, to keep a customer happy, and not because we feel like indulging this, we’re offering you a prepaid shipping label exemption. Keep an eye on the OFFICIAL support portal for an update shortly.

We hope this will help in resolving any issue.

 

[josh57]

@josh57 As you pointed out, we wanted to help, so we sent out a new stirrer free of charge.

Then, on late Monday, you reported that it didn't fix the issue. We made it clear that we’re happy to sort this out; we don’t want you stuck! However, let's not forget: you purchased a closeout item from our outlet store at a steep 60% discount. While we're all for providing deals, the CoralVue Outlet has a clear-cut policy:

-Items marked as "Final Sale" cannot be returned or exchanged
-The customer is responsible for shipping costs for returns

For those who know us, we’re a family-owned business that often will make exceptions to keep a customer happy. But in your case, the policy was properly applied by our agent.

You gave us less than 18 hours before our inbox was updated with messages on Reef2Reef, Instagram/FB, Groups... yet not another message through our official support portal.

Now, as a sign of good faith, to keep a customer happy, and not because we feel like indulging this, we’re offering you a prepaid shipping label exemption. Keep an eye on the OFFICIAL support portal for an update shortly.

We hope this will help in resolving any issue.

To be clear on a few things

• I did reach out to the support agent (who was great) and was not his fault he was just relaying policy. I followed up a second time bringing my concern hey this is crazy and explained why I felt that way. They responded it was policy and there was nothing they could do. I did bring my concerns through that official channel of communication.
• I apologize for being impatience but it is taking a while to get to a working solution.
• I did reach out on instagram as well. Message showed as seen and never had a response. I felt like it was then time to make a post about it.
• I love supporting smaller companies instead of mega corps. And love that Coralvue is a family owned business. And why I have chosen it for many products over more common options.
• I am not nor have I ever stated I am trying to return the unit. And understood that it was a clearance item. But I bought a new what should be working. Regardless of clearance or not. If I was returning it (assuming it wasn’t a clearance item and I wanted to return it) I would totally understand I would be responsible shipping it back. That is a choice. However the unit arrived dead. Shipping it back to get a working one is not a choice. I still want the unit obviously but I still need a working one.
• On the policy part. It’s your choice to have whatever policies you choose. That doesn’t require customers have to like them. Never in any reefing company. Or any other company for anything have I experienced something showing up dead and them not taking care of me on shipping to get it back to them. And to get a working item. Until this. The policy on your website only says refunds or exchanges. You have it hidden under the frequently asked questions at the very bottom, but not on the item itself or the actual policy page that doa items the customer is responsible for shipping. I shouldn’t have to question or dig through policy to find out if a vendor will take care of issues. And never even questioned or had a concern about it with you guys until it happened.
• I appreciate that after posting my experience of unsatisfactory customer service policy that you are taking care of the shipping label in this instance.

 

[josh57]

Tank is really starting to take off.

 

[Proud]

Tank is really starting to take off.

beautiful

 

[Starry Night Reef]

Awesome video! How are you liking the Hydros? Finding it useful?

 

[josh57]

Awesome video! How are you liking the Hydros? Finding it useful?

Sometimes I can work extremely long hours for multiple days in row. Like a couple 16 hour days back to back. So my tank may get neglected for a couple days here or there. Sometimes without being able to see it in the day with lights on at all for a week period.

So I mainly got it as an extra safety net. Hasn’t saved me from anything yet. But it’s there if I need it too. I haven’t had any issues with any of the hydros devices. They were easy to setup and have been rock solid. 1 X4, 1 XP8, and 1 Wave Engine LE.

In the tank I have everything except the lights plugged into the XP8. Skimmer. Doser. Return pump. Primary heater. Secondary heater. Uv Pump. UV. Alk Tester when it gets back from repair. 2 Icecap gyres on the wave engine. 2 level sensors. One in the sump. One in ato container. Micro pump in ato container. Ph and temp in sump.



My only real complaint is the app. For what it does it works fine. The language is just kind of not industry standard terms to it takes getting use too.



I don’t love how you have to program things. It could be simpler and much less confusing if it used if x do x and y or z.

You cant do an ‘and’ statement and an ‘or’ statement on the same item without doing some funky things. You end up having to make double or triple inputs anytime you want to do this. One for and statements then one for or statements. And potentially one to combine them. And thats only if you want that once on that one item.

I think in some ways it trying to be simpler actually made it a little more complicated. And it is a little bit too easy to screw something up. Seems easy to have human error.

I still like it. It just makes me very nervous anytime I have to change anything. And sometimes I end up just leaving things to avoid the chance of messing something up.

 

[Dr. D]

Looking great!

 

[Starry Night Reef]

Sometimes I can work extremely long hours for multiple days in row. Like a couple 16 hour days back to back. So my tank may get neglected for a couple days here or there. Sometimes without being able to see it in the day with lights on at all for a week period.

So I mainly got it as an extra safety net. Hasn’t saved me from anything yet. But it’s there if I need it too. I haven’t had any issues with any of the hydros devices. They were easy to setup and have been rock solid. 1 X4, 1 XP8, and 1 Wave Engine LE.

In the tank I have everything except the lights plugged into the XP8. Skimmer. Doser. Return pump. Primary heater. Secondary heater. Uv Pump. UV. Alk Tester when it gets back from repair. 2 Icecap gyres on the wave engine. 2 level sensors. One in the sump. One in ato container. Micro pump in ato container. Ph and temp in sump.



My only real complaint is the app. For what it does it works fine. The language is just kind of not industry standard terms to it takes getting use too.



I don’t love how you have to program things. It could be simpler and much less confusing if it used if x do x and y or z.

You cant do an ‘and’ statement and an ‘or’ statement on the same item without doing some funky things. You end up having to make double or triple inputs anytime you want to do this. One for and statements then one for or statements. And potentially one to combine them. And thats only if you want that once on that one item.

I think in some ways it trying to be simpler actually made it a little more complicated. And it is a little bit too easy to screw something up. Seems easy to have human error.

I still like it. It just makes me very nervous anytime I have to change anything. And sometimes I end up just leaving things to avoid the chance of messing something up.

Thanks for all this information. Im considering picking one up, and found a good deal on a control 4, just not entirely sure Ill need it right now. Also, just followed you on IG, thanks for the nice reef content!

 

[josh57]

Thanks for all this information. Im considering picking one up, and found a good deal on a control 4, just not entirely sure Ill need it right now. Also, just followed you on IG, thanks for the nice reef content!

Thanks for the follow! Still learning how to get decent pics and videos of it. For sure not my strong side.
I added hydros right at the beginning knowing I wouldn't need it right away. But I didn’t want to have to redo everything adding it later. And also it gave me a chance to learn it a little bit before the stakes were higher with more livestock. But I did stock up very quickly. Tank is only about 5 months old right now.

 

[josh57]

Hi. Been a while. Sent off my second ICP. It got delayed a little bit because of a holiday but all good.
Tank is going great. Still trying to work on balancing out phosphate.
Icp came back mainly good. Had less corrections than the first one. Daily dosing I am upping my Iodine from 4 drops to 5. And Manganese from .5ml to 1.5ml. It is barely detectable still.
Keeping a close eye on a couple of things creeping up. Specifically aluminum. Probably from my bio media that I am slowly working on removing.
Had some more corals today so tank is a slight mess. Will try and get some new pictures soon.

 

[josh57]

Wanted the tank to be more organized. Was a great time to work on the dosing lines out of the gate when I am adding the GHL doser.

Wasn’t happy with any of the options out there. So I designed and 3d printed my own. Turned out pretty nice in my eyes. Dosing containers and doser are in a separate cabinet next to the tank.


Everything is going well. I promise I will get a picture eventually

 

[josh57]

Well the Reef Moonshiners method for sure works. Swapped from using Fauna Marin Ready2Reef to full moonshiners. Starting to really see some growth. Consumption has gone up so much since I started. And nutrients have bottomed out from increased usage. Started on 12.6.2024. Then was dosing around 20 ml of alkalinity a day. Up to 72ml today.

 

[PhamousPhish]

Well the Reef Moonshiners method for sure works. Swapped from using Fauna Marin Ready2Reef to full moonshiners. Starting to really see some growth. Consumption has gone up so much since I started. And nutrients have bottomed out from increased usage. Started on 12.6.2024. Then was dosing around 20 ml of alkalinity a day. Up to 72ml today.

Hey Josh could you send your thoughts and pics of your tank? I am debating getting the Eden Morroca Rock? What are your thoughts on the rock?

 

[josh57]

Hey Josh could you send your thoughts and pics of your tank? I am debating getting the Eden Morroca Rock? What are your thoughts on the rock?

Absolutely love the rock. See pictures below. I have some of the branch and regular. Did a mix of arches. The normal pieces. And the flat ones. It is a little bit more expensive than other rock. But you are also getting more because it is lighter and more porous.
@premiumaquatics had every piece wrapped very well. And lots of styrofoam so it didn't arrive in a million pieces. Like some other vendors and brands of rock.
It has so many natural caves, gaps and holes for all the fish to hide or swim in. Seemingly more than other rock options. To me it looks much more natural because of that.

 

[josh57]

 

[josh57]

Tank is looking really good