Raeges 75 gallon Adventure

[Raege]

Well my fellow vinegar / salty friends the cleaning continues changed out 25 gallons and two pumps are soaking. Taking a break to make some pizza on the grill and to check out the filter @Paul C. is loaning me.
Paul’s been working straight out last two weeks 7 day weeks and no free time but still hooked me and Rich up with pods and his premium juice. Since Paul is working his wife Mary Beth dropped of the delivery to my house! Paul please thank your wife for me again was awesome to meet her. Behind every reefer is an awesome tolerant spouse :)
If ya all need pods or phyto nano check him out. If he don’t like it and wouldn’t use it he doesn’t sell it. Another of the awesome folks I have met here on R2R
Back to the tank breaks over lol wife wants it done! ;Hilarious

 

[RichtheReefer21]

I pulled my socks a few weeks ago, best decision yet ;)

+1 , smartest decision I’ve made in reefing.

This is the reason I splurged on the overflow and got a Synergy Shadow. 3 drains. So I run one sock on the primary, no sock on secondary, and it flows up through the bags of carbon and phosguard. I dialed back the primary VIA the ball valve I put in. (Should have done a gate valve but I was penny pinching)

So I run about 30% flow through my primary and sock, and 70% through the wide open secondary as my Cheapskate GFO reactor ;)

 

[RichtheReefer21]

@Raege cant wait for the pods.

The fuge is ready, so is my rock.

 

[Raege]

Grilled pizza was delish! The grilled poundcake and pineapple dessert not to shabby either

 

[Raege]

Cleaning is done! Waters a bit cloudy and my hand is beat up from the clown :mad: but ready for some new frags :) if the lights are up will get pics tonight of new additions but for now nothing to see :(

 

[Fudsey]

That pizza looks good :)

 

[Janci]

It’s clean up day.
30 gal WC
Skimmer clean out
Filter socks
Glass scrape
Pumps getting soaked and scrubbed in vinegar dunk
May not put socks in full time thinking something easier to clean and ensure not leaving a nitrate factory in sump

I pulled my socks a few weeks ago, best decision yet ;)

I would not run a tank without filter socks. I change them every 2 weeks. It takes longer to test Alk and NO3 than to change and put the socks in the washer.
Keeps it all nice and crisp.

Grilled pizza was delish! The grilled poundcake and pineapple dessert not to shabby either

Good looking pizza, but I am a dessert person... any pics of that? LOL

 

[Fudsey]

@Janci my tank is crystal clear without running socks for the last few weeks. I was more interested in saving the pods caught in them. ;)

 

[Raege]

Hello fellow enthusiasts of all things reef it’s been 24 hours since introduction of some new zoas. Many are opening up nicely a couple still not fully loving the tank.
The first are the full rock of polyps I got. Some are popping others lagging. They were transferred from the rock to a small piece of egg crate had trouble gluing this to the rocks as the crate had a T shape and didn’t want to hurt polyps trying to trim

The last one is the only one realllyyyyy lad hasn’t opened as of yet hopfully it will mellow out

 

[Raege]

heres latest FTS and a few more pics

 

[Victoria M]

Looking beautiful!

 

[Raege]

Thanks! Im excited have the borrowed nitrate reactor that should be running Friday when the pump comes in. Im curious to see how this helps clean my mess faster than just vodka dosing alone.

 

[Raege]

Happy Wednesday my salt family. The clean up crew from reef cleaners came in today. In pics you can see they do things different. The snails and crabs come in just a little water and with damp paper towels. Acclimation is just for temp 15 minute float and into the tank. Ph and salinity not a big deal they are very tolerant coming from intertidal waters. See some pics below
Also here’s a pic of the MONSTER Aquaripure nitrate reactor @paul C is loaning me to try. You might have guessed he’s got much bigger tank he used it on lol. It worked like a charm for him and hoping it gets me rest if way to where I want it to be in a few weeks after it cycles.
On a coral note all new zoas are opened and looking good. The orange oxides I dug out of hole in rock are just a few small polyps now not the huge ball of color before they got dislodged and lost, but I’ll take a cpl surviving polyps that will come back :-)

 

[RichtheReefer21]

Happy Wednesday my salt family. The clean up crew from reef cleaners came in today. In pics you can see they do things different. The snails and crabs come in just a little water and with damp paper towels. Acclimation is just for temp 15 minute float and into the tank. Ph and salinity not a big deal they are very tolerant coming from intertidal waters. See some pics below
Also here’s a pic of the MONSTER Aquaripure nitrate reactor @paul C is loaning me to try. You might have guessed he’s got much bigger tank he used it on lol. It worked like a charm for him and hoping it gets me rest if way to where I want it to be in a few weeks after it cycles.
On a coral note all new zoas are opened and looking good. The orange oxides I dug out of hole in rock are just a few small polyps now not the huge ball of color before they got dislodged and lost, but I’ll take a cpl surviving polyps that will come back :)

Fire that Bad Boy Up baby!!!

How are the zoas settling?
@thejuice24

 

[Raege]

All zoas opened lookin oakly doakly

 

[NY_Caveman]

All zoas opened lookin oakly doakly

Nische!

 

[Raege]

I heard about this new thing on @najer s thread so giving it a go :)

Nitrates 45ish still struggling I had hoped a week with no socks would show a difference. Visually the water looks clearer since socks out but numbers unchanged
PO4 0.08
Ca 500
Mg 1500
DKH dropped to 7.2 from 8.4 4 days ago
GHA is patchy down low in tank getting long again have to cut back feedings and get reactor online see what that does for us. I keep thinking it’s got to be a heavy hand feeding but we see them chasing and eating the bits as we drop them in. Hopefully between CUC boost from Reefcleaners and nitrate reactor will nail this down.

 

[Goodair]

that's a lot of bags floating lol!

 

[Raege]

that's a lot of bags floating lol!

Yeah it is lol. I was a little surprised at the recommended heavy clean up crew size by ReefCleaners but I have GHA and current guys not getting it done. Will see if all the bags are worth it in a week or two :)

 

[RichtheReefer21]

Yea the recommended cuc for my tank is, ohhh, say, 200+ of a variety... that's like $300 is cuc. Haha. This hobby almost costs as much as a wife and kid.