Randy's Redsea Reefer 250 and the rest of the Coral Farm

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RandyC

RandyC

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@RandyC awesome color in your corals !!! Can we get a FTS?

Thanks!

Here are some lazy, quick snaps I took without any cleanup of the tanks.

Reefer 250
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Frag/Growout Tank
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RandyC

RandyC

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Oh geez....what did I do. I picked up two acros I probably shouldn’t have because of my silly coral addiction and twitchy fingers from being home for 29 days straight with my three kids. C’est la vie, I guess. ;) I got the frags yesterday morning and will update with progression pics every so often.

SBB Half-Baked (Vendor Photo)
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SBB Half Baked (My Frag)
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BK Chem Fruitloops (Vendor Photo)
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BK Chem Fruitloops (My Frag - got some coloring up to do!)
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Robertellis30

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Looks like you have plenty of pieces you can sell off to help support the habit!
 

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You ever sell off any frags? I want to get on your level! Have a lot of space to fill up in my 300xl
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RandyC

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Has the cotton candy gonipora turned red over time?

Top has turned red-ish, but bottom polyps are more dark pink with yellow tips. I kept meaning to experiment with moving it to lower light, but always forgot to move it. Lights are off now, but I'll try to grab a pic tomorrow to show what I'm describing. I did make some frags a few days so once they heal, I'll move one to lower PAR and see what happens.
 
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A little DIY action post today. I’ve been sick of the noise that I’ve had from my Geo 612 calcium reactor (Pre-2019 version) for a long while now, but finally got around to doing something about it. My Geo reactors would always end up collecting air/co2 gas which made a crazy amount of noise once the Sicce pump recirculated it. I measured it with my phone and the reactor added 7-8 decibels to ambient noise level. I’ve tried everything that didn’t include physical modifications to the actual reactor. Changed from pulling to pushing tank water, took apart the whole reactor and used liquid Teflon tape and silicon grease everywhere; no matter what I did, air always ended up driving up the noise of the reactor.

Here’s a picture of the pre-2019 unmodified unit (pic from google)
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The problem was that air didn’t get much of a chance to get released from the reactor before it was recirculated in the pump. Although the outlet was in the top of the manifold, the outlet was exiting horizontally and in the middle of the manifold. The newer models (sometime in mid-2019) changed the input and output to be at the top of the lid.

2019 Model with input/output on lid
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So what I did with the lid was lower the input of the recirculating inlet so the air could collect above that inlet and added an output of the effluent above that point in the lid so the air would definitely exit before recirculating.

To lower the input of the recirculating pump, I used a flexible extension tube that came with the Innovative Marine spin stream return nozzle. It was almost perfect to fit snuggly, but nothing Teflon tape couldn’t fix. I used this solely because I had it sitting around. I’ve seen some 3D printed ones, but this works just fine.
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I then used a tap drill bit to add a 1/4” NPT threaded hole to fit a 1/4” John Guest push connect elbow. I used RectorSeal Pipe Thread Sealant to ensure elbow didn’t leak.
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You can see the inlet in the middle is lower than the John Guest elbow (the small hole), the effluent output, so air should now exit the main reactor to the secondary reactor chamber without any air being sucked into the recirculating pump.
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One of the 1/4” push connects on the manifold now needed to be plugged up and John Guest makes these great stem plugs that give a nice clean look. You can see a whole plug sitting on top of the lid.
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And here’s another shot of the new elbow in the lid.
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So far so good. Quiet as can be and visually looking at it, the reactor doesn’t look like it’s collecting any air at all. No leaks so far either. Hoping this is a solid fix.

Part List
- 1/4” NPT tap (I actually used a 1/2" step drill bit to drill the 7/16" hole and not the 7/16" drill bit included with this tap to make the initial hole before using the tap. I find it much easier to use and less likely to crack the acrylic versus switching out standard drill bits from smaller to bigger).
- 1/4” NPT thread John Guest Elbow
- 1/4” John Guest plug
- RectorSeal Pipe Thread Sealant
 
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Yes, I do have stuff other than acros! I've had my fair share of goniopora killings during the early years, but I seem to do pretty okay with them now. This one is definitely one of my favorite gonis that I've ever seen. Been with me now for at least 2 years. So bright!

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Yes, I do have stuff other than acros! I've had my fair share of goniopora killings during the early years, but I seem to do pretty okay with them now. This one is definitely one of my favorite gonis that I've ever seen. Been with me now for at least 2 years. So bright!

goni_for_sale_20200528_8610.jpg

goni_for_sale_20200528_8612.jpg
@RandyC I really like your goni. Are you spot feeding it?
 
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@RandyC I really like your goni. Are you spot feeding it?

I do not. I just broadcast feed using my daily mixture of food in my squirt bottle. It a mix of:

- LRS Reef Frenzy
- Reef Chili
- Freeze Dried Calanus
- Freeze Dried Mysis
- Reef Nutrition ROE
- Reef Nutrition Oyster Feast
- Nori
 
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