New Build Red Sea Reefer Nano 21

[Tiger-Paws]

24 hours on the new Skimmer and all is well, performed a 4 gallon water change yesterday evening and installed a new 225 micron Red Sea Sock.

Note: I tried some aftermarket socks but the plastic ring is to large for the Red Sea holder. The socks are fine, held onto the holder with a string it is just that they do not fit. I am searching the DIY section for suggestions to solve this issue.

This evening the tank is much clearer with less micro bubbles from the skimmer, but part of the problem is with the bubble trap, the foam insert Red Sea provided is to short and the water flows over the foam allowing the bubbles into the return pump. Looks like I will need to order some foam from Amazon and cut my own to the correct size.

 

[Tiger-Paws]

11:50am CDT well the Skimmer is still producing a lot of clear foam which is putting micro bubbles into the return pump.

The 225 micron I replaced yesterday evening was alread plugged with a thin film of brown stuff, 15 hours to plug a filter sock?

What is going on? Any thoughts?

I am on day 16 of the cycle and still nothing showing?

 

[Tiger-Paws]

Not good.... The Aqamai KPS WiFi pump https://www.marinedepot.com/Aqamai_...s_for_Aquariums-Aqamai-6P01181-FIWMIW-vi.html came in today.

The pump will not work with the Android version 4.4.2 on my LG phone, I called Aqami's telephone in Sacramento CA and NO one answered, only a message that their phones were down and no one would be able to assist me and to send an e-mail. The issue is the lady on the recording in speaking SO fast that I was unable to copy the e-mail down and their web site shows an e-mail in Italy.

I was able to get through to sales but he was unable to help. SO for right now I have a $119.99 USELESS box.

I am NOT happy.

 

[Tiger-Paws]

Question?

Is this normal on day 17 of the cycling process? The water went cloudy on day 15 in about 4 hours and has stayed that way.

Any thoughts?

 

[JaaxReef]

Question?

Is this normal on day 17 of the cycling process? The water went cloudy on day 15 in about 4 hours and has stayed that way.

Any thoughts?

Looks to me like a bacterial bloom. I forget if you mentioned, so I apologize, but what are you adding as an ammonia source? What are your ammonia/nitrite/nitrate levels when testing?

 

[Tiger-Paws]

Thank you for answering. I just added Dr.Tim's Ammonium Chloride For Fishless Cycles. 26 drops per instructions this morning. I will be checking Ammonia levels later this evening.

Yes I figured it was a Bacterial bloom but it has been 10 years since my last Reef Tank, so I am relearning many things.

About how long before the bloon subsides? I am 17 days into the cycle.

 

[JaaxReef]

I would say it depends on how much you are feeding the bacteria with ammonia. I would probably slowly reduce how much ammonium chloride you are adding after confirming levels from testing. From my experience, the time it takes for the flocks of bacteria to subside with vary with how much they are being fed.

Maybe let us know what your test results are this evening and we can figure out the best action from there?

 

[Tiger-Paws]

Again thank you for the reply.

I will do so.

 

[Tiger-Paws]

Update on the Aqamai KPS WiFi pump, while I have yet to hear from Aqamai (at least as of 2:00pm CDT), an update came through for the Android app and now it works.

While I appreciate them fixing the app it would have shown superior customer service to at least e-mail me regarding the issue with the app.

 

[IslandLifeReef]

Thank you for answering. I just added Dr.Tim's Ammonium Chloride For Fishless Cycles. 26 drops per instructions this morning. I will be checking Ammonia levels later this evening.

Yes I figured it was a Bacterial bloom but it has been 10 years since my last Reef Tank, so I am relearning many things.

About how long before the bloon subsides? I am 17 days into the cycle.

I used Dr. Tim's ammonium chloride to cycle my tank as well. It took about 3 weeks from the first dose of ammonia. If your bottle has a date after Nov. 2016, then you need to add 4 drops per gallon for the first dose. After that, I followed the directions Dr. Tim's gave about waiting until ammonia and nitrites came down before dosing again.

Also, why are you doing water changes during the cycle? I thought that you wanted to wait until the cycle was complete and then do one or two large water changes (30%-50%) to get nitrates down. That worked really well for me. My nitrates were about 10ppm when the first fish went in.

 

[Tiger-Paws]

Interesting, I just received the bottle of Dr. Tim's Monday, the instructions call for 1 drop per gallon, why are you suggesting 4 drops per gallon?

I was following the Red Sea Mature program which instructs to change 5% roughly every 2 weeks. Now I am winging it with this cycle so any comments and suggestions are welcome.

 

[IslandLifeReef]

It depends on the date of manufacture on your bottle. They changed the formula in November. My bottle said to add 4 drops per gallon which was different than my LFS said, so I went to the website to find out why. Any bottle after Nov 2016 is the new formula and should be dosed at 4 drops per gallon. If your bottle says 1 drop per gallon, I would go with that and check your ammonia tonight to see if it is around 2ppm. If its really low, 1ppm or less, I would add another 1 drop per gallon and then wait a couple of days to test again. If it is close to or higher than 2ppm, I would just wait.

I did not use the Red Sea mature program so I can't answer why on that.

 

[Tiger-Paws]

Thank you. I will surf on over to their web site and read up on this shortly.

 

[Tiger-Paws]

Up-Date on the Aqamai KPS WiFi pump. I just received a telephone call from Aqamai (4:08pm CDT) letting me know that they had pushed an update fixing the Android app problem.

Well at least someone did call me back.

 

[Tiger-Paws]

Ok, went to Dr. Tim's website and I see what you mean. I will be following the provided directions closely and posting the results as needed.

Again thank you for the assistance.

Oh! By-the-way the tank has become even more cloudy after adding the Ammonia... A LOT more cloudy... ;Nailbiting

 

[Tiger-Paws]

8:00pm CDT, I am becoming a bit frustrated with the IceCap K2-50 Protein Skimmer. The water depth in my sump is 7-3/4" and even with the bubble outflow regulator wide open the collection cup is filling up with water within a few minutes and overflowing. I tried raising the skimmer 1-1/4" and still no noticeable difference.

Additionally the bubble regulator is filling the sump with foam and if I close the regulator the collection cup fills in seconds.

I submitted a trouble ticket CoralVue support explaining the issue in detail, so we will see what they suggest..... :mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad:

When you pay hard earned money it is NOT unreasonable to expect results. I will give the skimmer and CoralVue until the end of the week to come up with a solution before packing the skimmer up and shipping it back.
Am I being unreasonable?

 

[IslandLifeReef]

Is your tank still cloudy? Maybe that's causing the overflow problem. Vivid Aquariums has a youtube series on a reefer 170 build that might be worth watching. I would wait on the skimmer until the tank clears and then see how it works.

 

[cmcoker]

Is your tank still cloudy? Maybe that's causing the overflow problem. Vivid Aquariums has a youtube series on a reefer 170 build that might be worth watching. I would wait on the skimmer until the tank clears and then see how it works.

Agree

 

[Tiger-Paws]

Gentlemen; thank you for the replies, yes the tank is still cloudy and after extensive research yesterday I am 100% convinced that I have an extensive bacterial bloom going on. As to why this bloom is happening is another issue, I have several suspicions but they are little more than a guess.

I have decided to stop adding anything and let the bloom run its course, I replaced the 225 micron felt filter sock with a 225 mesh sock, stopped using the skimmer (more on that in a minute).

For now it is wait and see. I will post any significant changes as they happen.

As for my question to CoralVue support regarding their IceCap K2-50 Skimmer I sent at 7:51pm CDT:

modelNumber: IceCap K2-50 Protein Skimmer
purchaseDate: 07/28/2017
I have a new Red Sea Nano Reefer with a 7 gallon sump, the water depth is 7-3/4" I have been running the skimmer for 5 days and with the bubble relief valve wide open and still the skimmer is overflowing the cup with water. I tried raising the skimmer 1-1/4" and nothing changed, I am becoming very frustrated that this piece of equipment is not even close to operational.
I can send a video if that would be of assistance understanding my issue?
Michael Xxxxxxx PhD

On a positive note at 7:46am CDT I did receive a reply from CoralVue's support staff:

Hello Michael,

Your skimmer is likely overflowing either from a bacterial bloom which is common with cycling aquariums or some other form of chemicals react with the air that the skimmer produces and causes the skimmer to over produce foamate. Chemicals known to cause skimmers to overflow are, red slime remover, medications, reef/frag putties (epoxy Putty) frag glues, water conditioners, dechlorinators, stress coat, fresh filter socks, newly mixed salt, bacteria (seeding) additives as well as other dosing medias. In order to remove these chemicals from the water column we suggest that you do several 20% water changes over the period of a month and add a good amount of fresh activated carbon to the system and change out every week till the skimmer has returned to normal operation.
Also note that skimmers usually take 3-4 weeks to fully break in before it can be considered operational.
---
Sincerely,
Jeremy Rykiel
I cannot fault their service and they are correct in the base assumption considering the limited information I gave them.

Oh! Well I will wait, watch and hope this issue passes, unless anyone else has any suggestions?

 

[Tiger-Paws]

cmcoker, thank you for the suggestion on the Vivid Aquariums reefer 170 build videos, I have watched those from begining to end at least twice and I have the video series bookmarked.

For now I need to be paitent, something that was a great deal easier when I was still working full time (I am mostly retired now) as I was often busy with issues at work and traveling. It is difficult to see the tank every moment of every day right in front of me looking like this.

This was supposed to be something to keep a gear head like me occupied, something I could tinker with, try new things and enjoy a different line of learning, working on, driving and flying cars, boats and aicraft is now a thing of the past as I physically can no longer do those things (getting older and having your health deteriorate sucks).

Oh! Well! It will get there, later rather than sooner.