Red Sea Reefer 350 w/ 2 ReefLED 90's & 1 ReefWave 45

[SCHAULJ]

15gal WC completed on Tuesday the 3rd. Completed my first phosphate test with the hannah ulr checker... phosphates 0ppm. No good. Nitrates 0ppm as well. This has been an issue. Ordered Brightwells NeoNitro, NeoPhos and Micobacter 7 (arrives in a few days). Will begin dosing until i get parameters in check to starve these dinos. Goal is to get Nitrates up to 2/3ppm w/ phosphates around .02/.03 or so. Added 5 green chromes and 1 six line wrasse today from a LFS. More fish equals more waste which equals nitrates. This should help a bit. More to come!

 

[SCHAULJ]

Update. I HAVE PHOSPHATES!

I purchased some Brightwell products a week ago. Received the diluted Phos & Nitro..Brightwell was kind enough to send me the stronger formula as they temporarily diluted the product which they said was a mistake.

NeoPhos - calculation gallons 91 X .02 (ppm increase desired, im at 0) x 3.875 = 6.887ml. 1 capful is 5mil per the bottle. Because im at 0, I manually dosed 2 capfuls daily since 12/9. Longterm goal is .02 - .04 phosphate.

NeoNitro - calculation gallons 91 x 3 (ppm increase desired, im at 0) x .1261 = 34.425mil. 1 capful is 5mil per bottle. Because im at 0, I manually dosed 2 capfuls daily since 12/9. Longterm goal is 3-5 nitrate. I should have dosed more but nitrate dosing scares me a bit so I am taking it slow here.

MicroBacter 7 - I manually dosed 2 capfuls on day 1 and 2. 2 drops daily since. I struggle with this usage and how to properly dose this product as it directly impacts phosphates and Nitrates... I emailed their support asking for guidance. Haven't heard anything yet.

The plan - test nitrates w/ the Red Sea Pro kit (arriving today, after delayed shipping) and test phosphates w/ the ULR Hannah checker every other day and dose needed amounts of desired Nitro and Phos to achieve the levels noted above.

I have used filter floss in both cups. I change filter floss twice a day and have been blowing off the rocks 3 times a day or so. Its getting dirty! Previously this stuff wouldn't budge when i took the baster to it... now it easily blows off.

Phosphates .03
Nitrates TBD
Nitrite 0
Ammonia 0

 

[SCHAULJ]

Quick update. I also have Nitrates!

Red Sea Nitrate Pro Test Kit registered 1ppm

Phosphates .03
Nitrate 1ppm

Dosed
MicroBacter7 - None
Neophose - None
NeoNitro - 20ml

 

[SCHAULJ]

Dinos i will beat you

15g wc performed.

Pretty impressed w/ these Brightwell products... they are doing exactly what they say they should do.

Forgot to include fish update. I lost 3 of my green chromis w/in 2 days of adding them. I have had issues w/ them in the past. I purchased 5 with the hopes they would all live (obviously) but wanted a minimum of 3. The remaining 2 are eating like pigs and appear very healthy. I will let them settle in further but I plan to add 1 or 3 more moving forward. Might be an issue adding 1 new chromis w/ 2 established chromis?

6 line has been an awesome addition as well! Love watching him dart around the rock work.

 

[SCHAULJ]

Dosed
MicroBacter7 - added 3 drops to some marine pure spheres, added to the sump
Neophose - 5ml (1 capful)
NeoNitro - 10ml (2 cap fuls)

 

[SCHAULJ]

Test
Nitrate 4ppm
Phosphates .03ppm

Dosed
MicroBacter7 - added 2 drops to display
Neophose - None
NeoNitro - None

Pretty pumped im w/in my desired range!

 

[SCHAULJ]

Tuesday Dosed
MicroBacter7 - None
Neophose - None
NeoNitro - 5ml

Wednesday Dosed
MicroBacter7 - added 10 drops to display
Neophose - None
NeoNitro - 5ml

Will test parameters tomorrow.

 

[SCHAULJ]

Thursday Dosed
MicroBacter7 - added 2 drops to display
Neophose - None
NeoNitro - None

Test
Nitrate 4ppm (Red Sea)
Nitrate 5ppm (API)
Phosphates .03ppm

 

[SCHAULJ]

Nitrate and phosphates have been steady.

Dinos transitioned to Cyano and the battle continues... The red slime mat became thicker over the last few days and I've been tired of looking at an ugly tank. Ive read so many articles and have watched pretty much all the youtube content I can find related to this mess and kept going back to the reefdudes video on chemiclean... @melev suggested this product to reef dudes.

I ended up treating w/ chemiclean.

This is day 3 of chemiclean. I will being a 20% WC today. Product suggests 20% after 48 hours but reefdudes (at the suggestion of melevs) let t go 72 hours. This product certainly helped as I can tell its getting better. Likely I will need to do another treatment but want to see how the sand bed looks tomorrow morning after siphoning for the WC. I will test nitrates and phosphates tonight as well

Wasn't a fan of treating this chemically but...

 

[funkstatic]

Hello! All right? I am from Brazil (sorry my English) and I also own a Reefer 350 + RSK-300 and I am in doubt about the noise. Has your noise decreased after a few days of use or remained noisy? Mine is pretty noisy.

 

[SCHAULJ]

Hi funkstatic, it will take a few days to a week before its broken in and running smoothly. Even after i do a good cleaning now I've noticed its a bit noisy for the first day or two.

 

[SCHAULJ]

20% WC completed. Round 2 of chemiclean.

 

[SCHAULJ]

Friday Dosed
MicroBacter7 - added 2 drops to display
Neophose - 5ml
NeoNitro - 30ml

Test
Nitrate .5ppm (Red Sea)
Phosphates .02ppm

Seeing minimal improvements w/ my bacteria issue after treating with chemiclean - as noted above this is the 2nd treatment... Was expecting significant improvement...

Frustrating.

 

[SCHAULJ]

Pics of this mess.

 

[SCHAULJ]

Saturday Dosed
MicroBacter7 - None
Neophose - 10ml
NeoNitro - 30ml

I will be increasing my targeted ranges for both nitrate and phosphate to help combat this mess and switching my lighting more towards white vs the blue to promote algae growth. Currently running 85% blue, 50% white.

 

[SCHAULJ]

Completed 20% WC after 2nd chemiclean treatment. Lowered lighting to 70% Blue / 50% white. Added 360ML of Reef Spec carbon to sump to help pull out remaining medication. Will let the system run for a bit prior to putting the skimmer back online. Once skimmer is online, I anticipate it will go nuts... I have 5g of fresh salt standing by as I will let the cup drain into a container for a bit... will replace will salt water instead of my standard top off to maintain salinity.

Testing tonight once al is settled and will dose NeoNitro and NeoPhos as needed.

Sunday Morning Dosed
MicroBacter7 - None
Neophose - None
NeoNitro - 20ml

 

[ScottB]

Sorry I have not made it through the entire thread, but do you have an ID on your dino species?

Glad to see you dosing/tracking nutrient as that is certainly part of the treatment. In the pics it looks like a sand species, but is it also attaching to rock, glass, plastic?

Does it dissipate overnight, then bloom as the photoperiod runs?

 

[SCHAULJ]

Scott - no ID on what species it is. I had no idea how important the nitrate/phosphate tracking was either... Things I wish I knew when i started! But tracking closely now.

It grows on the sand, little on the rock but easily blows off the rock. Ramps up during the day and grows very stringy. Settles at night. Doesn't really grow/attach to glass.

Just used all 5g of the backup salt water as the skimmer cup fills up quickly... Read how some just let it drain back into he sump for a few days after chemiclean treatment until it settles. Trying that now.

 

[SCHAULJ]

Test
Nitrate off the charts (Red Sea) - need to do a diluted test.
Nitrate 20ppm (API)
Phosphates .02ppm (Hannah ULR)

Ill test a diluted sample tomorrow or the next but will test API first to ensure its above 5.

Sunday Afternoon Dosed
MicroBacter7 - None
Neophose - 7ml (Should bring to .04ppm)
NeoNitro - None

Skimmer still going nuts - bubbling out the lid. I laid a paper towel over the top of the lid so it would just drip back in instead of splattering all over. Drain line still going into sump as well...

 

[Nburg's Reef]

I hope your dino mess gets better soon. Thankfully, I have never had to deal with it in all my years. I look forward to seeing your tank looking the way you want it to look soon!