Need recommendations for Upgrades

[ReefBrownie]

*LONG POST*

Ok, so I am looking for recommendations on what things to get for an upgrade. Let me go over what I currently have and please let me know some ideas of where I should go from here.

Budget is around 300.00

I started this tank up in May 2018.

Equipment

the tank:

75 gallon drilled tank
Modular Marine 1800gph ghost overflow plumbed with Beananimal overflow.
1 jebao SW8 pump
2 hydor Koralia 425 pumps
2 Bloomspect 165w Blackbox LEDs
~100 lbs of Caribsea Life Rock and ~20 of live rock
60lbs of Bahamas oolite arag-alive sand and 20lbs of special grade aragonite sand
DIY clear screen lids
Instant Ocean Salt



The sump:

20 gallon long DIY sump with 3 chambers
Bubble Magus Curve 5 protein skimmer
2 filter socks with carbon bags in them
2 eheim 150w heaters
deep blue triton 3 return pump
refugium: crushed coral substrate/rubble rock and cheato with 28w LED grow bulb
autotopoff.com ATO system- double with bracket



LiquaGen - 4 Stage RO/DI Portable System (100 GPD)
ATI reef master test kit
ATI saltwater test kit
Salifert: Calcium, Magnesium, Alkalinity, Phosphate kits
Saltwater refractometer



Livestock:
2 ocellaris clownfish
Carpenters flasher wrasse
Mellanarus wrasse
Coral beauty
Wheelers goby
Fire shrimp
Tiger pistol shrimp
Mystery minnow that was hitchhiker.
4 trochus snails
12 nassarius snails
20 blue leg and red leg hermit crabs
5 zoa frags (dragon eye, eagle eye, people eater, and 2 unidentified with from 2-20 heads)
Toadstool leather
Cabbage leather
Grizzly grape Leptastrea frag
Green goblin Favia frag
Red/green Favites frag
Red with blue acan frag
Red encrusting montipora frag
20 or so mint chocolate mushrooms
Pompom xenia on an island
Hammer coral frag
Green Candy-cane frag
Bubbletip anemone


I am thinking maybe carbon/gfo reactor, better return pump, another wavemaker in tank, media blocks in refugium instead of crushed coral, or other test kits?

What do you all think? Sorry for long post.

 

[Abhishek]

My friend - you are about to embark on a journey which will never be satiated !!!!!!

That said, what is your ultimate goal with the tank ? Where do you see the tank ending up in long term - 3-4 years ?

Upgrades are great only when they cater to a goal .

If it was upto me without knowing your goals, blindly I would look at a reliable return pump as its the heart of your system and definitely power backups . Believe me , we often overlook the power backup but it just takes 2-3 hours of power outage to wipe out all you have worked upon till date .

Just my 2 cents !

Regards,
Abhishek

 

[Oldreefer44]

Need to know more. Are there any issues you are trying to address other than equipment quality? If things are going well with what appears to be a fully stocked tank, I would be hesitant to mess with success.

 

[ReefBrownie]

My friend - you are about to embark on a journey which will never be satiated !!!!!!

That said, what is your ultimate goal with the tank ? Where do you see the tank ending up in long term - 3-4 years ?

Upgrades are great only when they cater to a goal .

If it was upto me without knowing your goals, blindly I would look at a reliable return pump as its the heart of your system and definitely power backups . Believe me , we often overlook the power backup but it just takes 2-3 hours of power outage to wipe out all you have worked upon till date .

Just my 2 cents !

Regards,
Abhishek

Great idea regarding the backup power.
I just moved from a house that had a whole home generator so I didn't even think of that, but I still have a portable gasoline powered generator that can run everything on my tank plus some. Only thing I would need would be something automatic in the event I am not home to hook up portable generator.

 

[ReefBrownie]

Need to know more. Are there any issues you are trying to address other than equipment quality? If things are going well with what appears to be a fully stocked tank, I would be hesitant to mess with success.

I wish that I could say that I don't have any issues, but unfortunatly I seem to be dealing with a Cyano bloom at the moment. I had to move my tank about 3 months ago to a new house that was 10 minutes away, so I think it was caused from that. Before the move I had what I believe was hair algae or bryopsis. So during the move I took all the rock and sprayed it with hydrogen peroxide before setting the tank back up. I used as much of the water from old tank as possible, and moved the rock and sand since the tank was only 5 months old at the time. The hairy looking algae is gone now, but for about a month now I have had cyano on my glass and sand. I just got the salifert phosphate test kit, because my API tests were showing 0 phosphates. My chaeto does not grow, and has been steadly shrinking since i bought it 4 months ago. Which is why I was thinking carbon/gfo reactor, or more flow.

 

[Oldreefer44]

Doubt any equipment is related to your issues other than increased flow in the areas with cyano should help alleviate it, although more treating the symptom than the disease. How often do you clean your filter socks? Can be a huge source of phosphates and especially with bags in them which tends to inhibit flow. Many have removed them completely for just that reason. The general consensus is that they should be cleaned every few days.

 

[ReefBrownie]

Doubt any equipment is related to your issues other than increased flow in the areas with cyano should help alleviate it, although more treating the symptom than the disease. How often do you clean your filter socks? Can be a huge source of phosphates and especially with bags in them which tends to inhibit flow. Many have removed them completely for just that reason. The general consensus is that they should be cleaned every few days.

I have been replacing them about every 4 days. I need to get more so I have more to rotate