Michael's Reefer 170

[HolisticBear]

What an amazing tank and selection of corals. Very well done!

Awesome looking tank [emoji106]

holy - ;Cow

Thank you!!

 

[Rakie]

That acan garden is gonna look stellar when they grown in.

 

[Fudsey]

SWEET PICS ! ! !

 

[HolisticBear]

Tank Update:

• Gyre Controller died. No power, followed FAQ to no avail. CoralVue sent me a new controller that day, awesome! Couldn't ask for better support
  
• Killed all MacroAlgae for probably the 4th time (cooked it). Algae Barn out of stock as usual, trying Sea Lettuce w/ 1h photoperiod
• Struggling to resist chasing numbers to lower NO3 from 10ppm to 5ppm, tank looks fine
  
• Using NoPox, no cyano, but you see bacteria bubbles in low flow areas, makes me slightly nervous.
• Abandoned custom tank, can't DIY a stand and cabinet quotes were too much
• Leaning towards a Reefer 350 with T5/LED hybrid and replacement sump, however I change my mind often. Elos 100 isn't available for awhile, Max E-260 possibility due to clean back.

 

[kinetic]

Tank Update:

• Gyre Controller died. No power, followed FAQ to no avail. CoralVue sent me a new controller that day, awesome! Couldn't ask for better support
  
• Killed all MacroAlgae for probably the 4th time (cooked it). Algae Barn out of stock as usual, trying Sea Lettuce w/ 1h photoperiod
• Struggling to resist chasing numbers to lower NO3 from 10ppm to 5ppm, tank looks fine
  
• Using NoPox, no cyano, but you see bacteria bubbles in low flow areas, makes me slightly nervous.
• Abandoned custom tank, can't DIY a stand and cabinet quotes were too much
• Leaning towards a Reefer 350 with T5/LED hybrid and replacement sump, however I change my mind often. Elos 100 isn't available for awhile, Max E-260 possibility due to clean back.

I had a similar issue with my Gyre controller. Unfortunately it was way out of warranty, so I just bought a new one.

How do you cook the macroalgae? Too much light?

10ppm NO3 should be totally fine! Don't chase it.

What's your phosphate level?

Also another tank to look at are Waterbox. They're probably comparable to Red Sea Reefers.

 

[Janci]

Tank Update:

• Gyre Controller died. No power, followed FAQ to no avail. CoralVue sent me a new controller that day, awesome! Couldn't ask for better support
  
• Killed all MacroAlgae for probably the 4th time (cooked it). Algae Barn out of stock as usual, trying Sea Lettuce w/ 1h photoperiod
• Struggling to resist chasing numbers to lower NO3 from 10ppm to 5ppm, tank looks fine
  
• Using NoPox, no cyano, but you see bacteria bubbles in low flow areas, makes me slightly nervous.
• Abandoned custom tank, can't DIY a stand and cabinet quotes were too much
• Leaning towards a Reefer 350 with T5/LED hybrid and replacement sump, however I change my mind often. Elos 100 isn't available for awhile, Max E-260 possibility due to clean back.

Elos 100.... ;Drool

Still looking great!

 

[HolisticBear]

I had a similar issue with my Gyre controller. Unfortunately it was way out of warranty, so I just bought a new one..

Bummer on your gyre.

How do you cook the macroalgae? Too much light?

I own the H380, which is ridiculous on the 170, but I bought it last month intending to use it on the next build. The algae seemed ok for 1h, increased it to 4h and it was toast.

10ppm NO3 should be totally fine! Don't chase it. What's your phosphate level?.

I noticed white pinhead sized spots (STN) on Pink Setosa last October which alerted me to 0 PO4. I immediately dosed PO4 and it recovered quickly. Repeated that cycle at least twice.

I thought I could move off dosing once I switched to Petco brand mysis (dirty compared to LRS). So mix of Mysis/LRS since November.

Things hummed along with detectable PO4 and I ignored NO3, until I noticed last month it crept to 10pm. So I had 0.04-0.08 PO4 and 10ppm, so I decided to try NoPox + PO4 dosing, that worked but don't want to continue that. So I stopped NoPox, tried a Fuge and dosed a little PO4 so I wasn't limited. Macros did not grow at all, NO3 creeping back up.

I dose Iodine + Iron in case that limited Fuge.

I've been terrified of Dinos for awhile and I saw what 0.0 did to Setosa, so I kept PO4 measurable as the expense of increasing NO3

It makes sense to to dose PO4 and either feed less or dose NoPox, but ideally I wouldn't have to dose PO4 and could use Fuge rather than NoPox.

Also another tank to look at are Waterbox. They're probably comparable to Red Sea Reefers.

Agreed. I think the better sump / US plumbing / better ATO will sway the majority of people. Most people want a 24" deep tank, but with apartment living, the narrow Red Sea appeals to me.

 

[HolisticBear]

I should add that my SPS are growing, but it is embarrassing how slowly. This was my reason for hoping to get NO3 in lower range. LPS are growing a little too fast given tank size

My WWC Silver Surfer has kept it's blue color from the beginning and so has my CC Plutonium Tenuis, they look great, both growing.

But my CC Lava Flow Milli has gone brown while the CC Sunset milli has gone brown with green tips. Alk has been stable, so I assume NO3 is reasonable for color change. But the Silver Surface + Tenuis never changed, so I don't know. Both of the milli are encrusting, but not branching

 

[SPR1968]

When I first started out everyone said ‘low nutrient, you must have low nutrient’ and that’s what I aimed for to start with and I panicked when Nitrate went to 16ppm. But my corals thrived at this level and grow like crazy to the point some need fragging

Since i locked Phosphate down to 0-0.o3, so virtually nothing as far as measuring goes, Ive had no algea or anything else. Just remember as well, if your feeding your very unlikely to actually have 0 Phosphate anyway despite what our test kits say as they all have margins of error.

If you look at the parameters of the Tanks Of the Masters article, most run on raised Nitrate levels compared to the ‘normal advice’.

I wouldn’t worry about 10 Nitrate at all, as long as you can control the level rather than letting is run free. I find NoPox a very simple solution to Nitrate control but in my system it’s just 1 part of the Nitrate control picture do to a very high bioload.

All systems are different, as are our own personal likes and dislikes as to how we run them, and there are many ways to do things.

I actually quiet fancy trying one if the new algae reactors but can make my mind up as NoPox and Rhowaphos currently work fine so......

 

[HolisticBear]

Thanks for the reply! The tank is healthy, the real question I want the answer to: "why did my two milli's turn brown / green". The LPS are my favorites, so maybe I only get SPS that like 10-16ppm. The other SPS kept their colors.

I don't need to dose PO4, but I think I do if I use NoPox heavily.

The DIY macro-algae was a fail for me due to maintenance. 1) you can't see inside to know if things are dying or growing 2) as it grows, less light hits the macros 3) nasty micro algae grows on the glass

So you need to disconnect the reactor from your plumbing, disassemble reactor, empty it, scrub the inside to get ride of algae, and reconnect every 1-2 weeks. Too much work for me.

With a fuge, macro can escape, but a 5 second glance tells you how it's doing and easy to grab some and throw it away.

 

[SPR1968]

The DIY macro-algae was a fail for me due to maintenance. 1) you can't see inside to know if things are dying or growing 2) as it grows, less light hits the macros 3) nasty micro algae grows on the glass

So you need to disconnect the reactor from your plumbing, disassemble reactor, empty it, scrub the inside to get ride of algae, and reconnect every 1-2 weeks. Too much work for me.

This is exactly what I was thinking and why I haven’t done it yet and probably never will (today anyway lol!) It seems more bother than its worth and much worse than changing the Rhowaphos every 3-4 weeks.

Like you I don’t want to be messing around like that.

 

[HolisticBear]

In prep for a taller aquarium, I created a little platform with Stax rocks and perched one of my rocks on top. The tank definitely looks stuffed:

I ordered a custom 36x20x26 with external overflows from Coast to Coast aquariums. 36x20 is the largest footprint that works, but with the external overflows + extra height, I should have 2x more usable volume than the 170. I'll keep most of the gear, except I'll sell the Mitras and switch to Orphek Atlantiks!

 

[Janci]

Orphek will be great for that tank dimensions.

 

[GoVols]

Micheal,
We're all pumped up for you on the new build ;Woot ;Woot

Since BRS is carrying Orphek now, I'd pull the trigger on them too ;Singing

Does the new build mean that your 170 thread will fade away?

Freddie

 

[HolisticBear]

Micheal,
We're all pumped up for you on the new build ;Woot ;Woot

Since BRS is carrying Orphek now, I'd pull the trigger on them too ;Singing

Does the new build mean that your 170 thread will fade away?

Thanks Freddie! I'm real excited about the Orphek after watching the BRS video.

You know R2R, you can't delete anything, so the 170 thread will always be around, but you're right that I probably need a new thread.

I'm getting an 80/20 Aluminum stand from Anthony @ Framing Tech, and the tank from Coast to Coast Aquariums. I've been trying since February to get quotes from other makers or LFS and it was mostly a nightmare, both Framing Tech + Coast to Coast are awesome on customer service.

I'm guessing we are 5 weeks out. I'll move everything over with no new rock. Once the rock is in, I'll find a perfect piece from VidaRock to complete the scape.

 

[GoVols]

Once the rock is in, I'll find a perfect piece from VidaRock to complete the scape.

Those VidaRock "center pieces" are awesome!!

Never seen ;Wideyed those, but they sure could set off a really nice scape ;Woot ;Woot

Thanks for sharing

 

[Rakie]

New tank sounds nice, really like the dimensions.

 

[HolisticBear]

New tank sounds nice, really like the dimensions.

Thabks @Rakie, I'm excited for the extra space

 

[HolisticBear]

Went thru all coral purchases and updated status. Oldest corals are from March 2017 (my AIO). The tank feels dialed in and NO3 are lower due to NoPox and color seems a bit better. Not sure sure what to do for unhappy or brown ones, wait them out?

Healthy & Growing too fast!!!

• SPS - CC Plutonium Tenuis
• SPS - Purple Stylophora
• LPS - Pinkurple Hammer
• LSP - Ultra Ghost Hammer

Healthy & Growing Fast

• SPS - Mystic Sunset Monti - touched an acro and seemly insta-killed it
• LPS - Tyree Miami Hurricane chalice

Healthy & Growing

• LPS - All Acans
• LPS - Ultra Green Eye Pectina
• LPS - Space Invader Pectina
• LPS - War Favia
• LPS - Unknown Favaite
• SPS - WWC Silver Surfer Acro
• SPS - Nuclear Grapes Acro (went dark, color coming back nice)
• SPS - WWC Blueberry (went dark, color coming back nice)
• LPS - WWC Bizarro Cyphastrea

Looks fine, but minimal growth

• SPS - WWC Slimeball
• SPS - Green Psamacora
• LPS - Lucky Shrine Acan Echinta (ate 1/3 war favia, helped kill a torch)
• LPS - JF O'lantern Leptoseris
• SPS - Orange Setosa

Looks fine, but zero growth

• LPS - Blue Cyphastrea - Looks unchanged in ~12 months!
• LPS - BSA White Lighting Lepto (only got two months ago)

Looks healthy, but....

• SPS - WWC 500 Degree - went green and minimal growth
  
• LPS - Pink Chalice - went brown
• LPS - Jedi Mind-Trick Monti - grew fast for 3 months then completely stopped
• SPS - ORA Yellow Fuzzy Acro - went brown, but new growth is green?
• SPS - Birds Nest - fast grower, but damaged by me + fish + python water changer
  
• SPS - CC Sunset Milli - went brown, slowly encrusting thou
• SPS - CC Lava Flow Milli - went brown, encrusting thou

Killed

• LPS - Cynerina - thrown away after arrival, covered in aiptasia
• SPS - Ultra Gallwraith Acro - dead after Mystic Monti damage
• LPS - Black Cyphastrea - Too much light?
• LPS - Dragon Soul Favia - Killed while treating bubble algae on frag
• SPS - WWC Man of Steel Table - Shipped poor, unknown
• SPS - WWC Terra Red Acropora - Mistreated frag (banged it up, knocked over, etc)
• SPS - WWC Blueberry Acro - DOA (not in water)
• SPS - WWC Highlight Acro - DOA (not in water)
• SPS - WWC Christmas Mirabilis Acropora - Don't remember cause, maybe mistreated frag
• LPS - Torch - Stupid purchase, too many aggressive LPS in small tank (hammer + echinta killed it)

 

[Fudsey]

I missed this thread....again....

Sounds like you got a lot going on in that tank. Hopefully everything will go smooth in the transition to the new one