reef-rc WB 190.5 SPS

[reef-rc]

What was it before and can you tell a difference? I “should” buy a booster pump but mine is around low 60s. I have a 150 gpd system

Looks like we may have a similar if not identical system. Mine was a 75 gpd system before I upgraded to 150 along with this build.

imo if you have a consistent water pressure of low 60s i don't think you would need the booster unless you would like to to push it a little higher for more optimal filtering and faster filtering time.

Beyond water pressure, I have not used it long enough to tell the other differences. From what i gathered, 75ish gpd may be the most optimal for water filter time and filters utilization. I think the sediment filter should also be replaced more often than most; ideally when you see it's dirty. Mine was pretty nasty when I changed it and could have been done sooner as that may also have impacted the water pressure.

Mine has been fluctuating between 50 - 70. Lately it has been hitting 50s most of the day until late evening. However that has been a hit and miss lately. Even @ 9 PM, pressure would only be 50ish within the past few weeks.

Since I am in a new developing community, this may be why the water pressure fluctuate. It also does not help with summer approaching and the community has a lot of trails and watering needs.

With the booster pump, I can now filter water when I need instead of timing the water pressure.

 

[reef-rc]

The other thing I forgot to mentioned is that I had also installed the Aquatec auto flush flow restrictor. This is supposed to prolong the life of the RO membrane by automatically flushing the system every hour for 20ish seconds. I currently manually flush the system before I start the unit when I am not lazy. With this, I no longer have to do that as it's now automated. I can hear and see the flushing in action every hour. It's pretty cool.

 

[reef-rc]

Lights at the end of the tunnel...

What the lights are is current TBD. How many is TBD. I am waiting on a number of releases which have been pending due to the virus. Plus there is no rush here.

I am going with 80/20 Inc. industry erectors option since it look the most sturdy, modern and has the most minimalist look. I have been looking at a number of mounting options with all the light manufactures and none look to offer the versatility I am looking for.

This would be installed against the wall. Look to support 4-6 lights up to 50ish pounds.

Light height will be adjustable. How far from the wall will also be adjustable. These adjustable options are there as I do not want to be fixed in and like to make adjustments over time as needed.

The design is a simple T hanging unit.

The following is my draft

The following is the CAD version that I am getting:

If it all works out, I hope to have some lights on the tank by early June using the existing 24" T5 retro kit I already as a start.

 

[reef-rc]

Last Batch of fish...

Last night I introduced the last batch of fish during darkness to keep down the potential tang aggression from quarantine to display tank.

These included:

• Blue Face Koi Scopas Tang - this is my largest fish in the tank @ 5 1/4"
• Christmas Island Scopas Tang
• Purple Tang
• Yellow watchman goby
• Bicolor Blenny
• Yellow Banded Possum Wrasse
• Lost Bellus Angelfish due to jumping. Found her this morning ;Sorry

The tang gang seems to be getting along good so far. There is a little shuffling with a couple of them them; mostly with the Chevron tang. Seems it wants to settle on the pecking order with the purple tang it seems. That should settled within the next day or two.



Total fish load:

• Blotch Anthias - 2
• Pair Designer Clownfish
• Tang Gang:
  • Convict Tang
  • Blonde Naso Tang
  • Two Spot Bristletooth Tang
  • Orange Shoulder Tang
  • Gem Tang
  • Chevron Tang
  • Blue Face Koi Scopas Tang
  • Black Longnose Hybrid Tang
  • Christmas Island Scopas Tang
  • Purple Tang
• Yellow Banded Possum Wrasse
• Bicolor Blenny
• Yellow Watchman Goby

Future fish plan (plus tank lid ) :

• 1-2 wrasse
• 1 butterflyfish potentially
• 1-2 angelfish potentially

 

[reef-rc]

Gem tang got hammered...

I don't know what happened between yesterday and today but the gem tang got clobbered what look to be by the purple tang. Freaking purple tang was just not letting it up and keep bullying the thing. It's fins are all chewed up. I was pretty concern and still am hoping it will make it through this.

I was lucky and managed to pull it out using the acclimation box I had. It's currently in the 1 quarantine tank I still had running. I even ordered a fish trap today just to try and get the fish out in time to save it.

I will be trying to get this gem of a fish back to health and recover from the ordeal and go from there. Just hoping I don't loose this fish. Wish me luck...

anyone interested in a purple tang if I get to catch the thing? ;Punch

 

[najer]

Good luck little guy.

 

[SkiCatTX]

Gem tang got hammered...

I don't know what happened between yesterday and today but the gem tang got clobbered what look to be by the purple tang. Freaking purple tang was just not letting it up and keep bullying the thing. It's fins are all chewed up. I was pretty concern and still am hoping it will make it through this.

I was lucky and managed to pull it out using the acclimation box I had. It's currently in the 1 quarantine tank I still had running. I even ordered a fish trap today just to try and get the fish out in time to save it.

I will be trying to get this gem of a fish back to health and recover from the ordeal and go from there. Just hoping I don't loose this fish. Wish me luck...

anyone interested in a purple tang if I get the catch the thing ?;Punch

Wow, that's just awful, hope he recovers.

 

[ReefSentinel]

Nice build,
Tank and setup seems to be coming along nicely other than the Gem, hope it recovers.
Just wondering what was your quarantine method used?

 

[revhtree]

Ugh sorry to see that but if he’s swimming I think he’ll make it! Do you plan to remove the PT?

 

[reef-rc]

Wow, that's just awful, hope he recovers.

Good luck little guy.

Thanks. Besides looking like it got a bad haircut, it looks good. No visible body harm.

I am hoping the for the best. It's eating a little at least; yesterday and today. Probably still trying to get used the Q tank again.

 

[reef-rc]

Nice build,
Tank and setup seems to be coming along nicely other than the Gem, hope it recovers.
Just wondering what was your quarantine method used?

Thank you. It's a slow build but it's coming of age.

As for quarantine method used, I kept it pretty simple as I am no expert.

• I considered my fish list that I wanted.
• I prioritized the list according to how I would introduce it into the tank...first versus last. For example, I knew I wanted the tang gang and knew a yellow and/or purple tang should be last if possible.
• After a little research and planning, I started. I had 4 quarantine tanks going so it was a little crazy with all the maintenance.
• Equipment in every tank:
  • 20G long tank (i had one 25G tank)
  • Seachem Tidal Power Aquarium Filter 35
  • Heater
  • Seachem Ammonia Alert
  • light - I used the light in the room
  • Temperature - 78 degrees
  • Salinity - 1.19 - 1.20 (lower salinity to my understanding is easier on the fish. not good for corals however).
  • Water change - 1-2 times a week (1/4 or more depending on how dirty the water is)
  • I used a few bio blocks in each tank to help with filtration. These blocks were seeded in my nano tanks for weeks or months in advance. I always had these in the nano tanks so they were handy.
• Most of my fish I bought had already gone through the quarantine process from the store / online. This help me a lot as I did not want to and did not have the time to treat every fish. I did buy 2-3 fish that were not quarantine by the store that I knew of. The purple tang for example...but I knew the LFS had it for 1-2 months before I bought it.
• I quarantined each fish for around 30 days or more. A few I had in quarantine for 2 months. Blue Face Koi Scopas Tang for example had problem eating after 3 weeks into quarantine and that took a while to figure out.
• Although I tried to quarantine each fish individually when possible, a few I had to quarantine all in the same tank and tried to lessen the aggression by ensure the same family of fish are not in the same tank.
• One of the most valuable part of the quarantine process is to get the fish get used to you and what you are feeding. With the blue face koi scopas tang, I learned it liked algae pellet. It almost starved to death before I finally figured it out through trials and errors.
• I did not use any medication, copper treatment or any freshwater dip as it did not seem necessary. I do have a few treatments like prazipro and copper on hand just in case.
• When introducing fish into the display tank after quarantine, I introduced multiple fish at the same time to help with possible aggression.

hth

 

[reef-rc]

Ugh sorry to see that but if he’s swimming I think he’ll make it! Do you plan to remove the PT?

I am optimist about the gem tang too. It's eating and swimming so that's good.

I do plan to remove the purple tang if possible. Mostly because I prefer the gem tang and do not want to risk another encounter. I have also have a smaller black longnose hybrid tang I like which concerns me that it may go after that too.

The purple tang was the last fish on my list and the last purchase. I was a little hesitant to put it into the tank to begin with but I did it anyway.

Will see if I can get it with the fish trap that's coming. No rush as I still need to get the gem tang back to health and that may take a while.

any tips by chance?

 

[reef-rc]

Sad Moment...Gem Tang passed away

It seemed the tang passed away during the night. I noticed earlier. I had not realized it had a huge bruise on it's side. This was not visible when I took it out of the tank days earlier.

So frustrating to the say the least.

What's next?.... I am still thinking I need to get purple tang out if possible. I have noticed it's a bit more aggressive than others in the tank. It tend to go at things slightly bigger than it or similar size. Seems to be starting most of the aggression based on observation. I have the fish trap now so will be trying to capture it in the coming days if permitted.

 

[SkiCatTX]

Sad Moment...Gem Tang passed away

It seemed the tang passed away during the night. I noticed earlier. I had not realized it had a huge bruise on it's side. This was not visible when I took it out of the tank days earlier.

So frustrating to the say the least.

What's next?.... I am still thinking I need to get purple tang out if possible. I have noticed it's a bit more aggressive than others in the tank. It tend to go at things slightly bigger than it or similar size. Seems to be starting most of the aggression based on observation. I have the fish trap now so will be trying to capture it in the coming days if permitted.

Oh no, that sucks. so sorry to hear.

 

[reef-rc]

Oh no, that sucks. so sorry to hear.

It does. It's unfortunate and was a bad decision on my part to include the purple and the Christmas Island Scopas Tang in the last batch. I was a little concern how it would affect the tang gang.

On the positive side, the existing group seems to be getting along alright for now.

 

[reef-rc]

Upgraded EcoTech Marine Pumps to MOBIUS...

So I heard today that "legacy" EcoTech Marine equipment were slowly enabled for MOBIUS and I was curious. I had not realized until today but across all my tanks, I have 11 vortech pumps, 1 reeflink and 1 vectra pump. Seems I have a little bit of a money invested in these equipment over the years.

Anyway I tried to figured it out if it was true. After a few hours, I did managed to:

• Upgraded and configured four MP40s onto Mobius
• Upgraded, calibrated and configured M2 Vectra onto Mobiusi

The process was definitely long. I did encountered a few trials and errors along the way and learned it was best:

• Ensure the phone close to the pump as reasonable.
• Upgrade one pump at a time
• If the pump does not show up on the list of choices in MOBIUS, unplug the pump and refresh the devices on the app
• If you had reeflink and wanted to setup the same schedule as before on MOBIUS, best to have the schedule info ready
• Programming the schedule for the pump at first is not the most intuitive or user friendly process. The customization piece takes a little time to figure out. I was frustrated at first as it did not look like I could create a custom pump schedule with all the different patterns.

At the end of all this, I have created the same simple schedule I already had on reeflink. Once it was setup, I did noticed the pumps I upgraded are no longer shown as active on reeflink.

For someone that already have reeflink, there may not be much "new" except the MOBIUS app and the ability to make changes via phone or tablet without having to use the unsecured website associated with reeflink imo.

It's nice and easier now. Now I just need to spend another few hours to upgrade the remaining 7 pumps and redo all the scheduling again.... JOY

Adding + Upgrading all the "Legacy" devices:

Mobius Schedule:

Before - Reeflink schedule: - Same as MOBIUS:

Reeflink after pumps were upgraded to MOBIUS (no longer visible on reeflink):

 

[reef-rc]

Light Mount Almost Ready + Lights finally!!

I had a chance to kill 1/2 day installing the 80/20 light mount onto the wall behind it. Definitely a pain to have to do after the tank has been running. Removing the sump and then bolting the light mount to the wall took the longest. Overall it worked out.

I still have a number final touches remaining while waiting on parts to arrive before I can finish. In the interim I am able to leverage an almost brand new 24"x24" aquatic life T5 fixture I had laying around to finally add lights to the tank.

The T5 fixture is an interim solution until I can decide on what lighting to go with. Looking to add 1 LED fixture @ the end of this week.

 

[reef-rc]

The Bully (purple tang) is Caught!!!

I am so excited to be able to trap the purple tang shortly after putting the fish trap together four hours earlier. I was luckily enough to get it into the trap trying to eat algae and trapped it there. It's now in my quarantine tank eating the remaining algae it wanted .

Brief video of it trapped in the box:


This is the kit I put together just hours before (during my lunch time). The kit just paid itself off .

 

[reef-rc]

I received some goodies today to light up 4th of July. I already had one Radion X15 Pro installed 2 weeks earlier. This last batch complete the light setup

 

[reef-rc]

I was able to get the lights installed and the light bar mostly finished. I say mostly finished because I was a little short on a few wire hooks that would make this neat and tidy. Hopefully those pieces will be here within the next week or so.

I like how this turned out and the flexibility to adjust light heights horizontally as well as vertically. I was hoping to keep the 24" T5 lights on but the size was not working out when I installed both units.

I currently have this on acclimation mode for the next 3 months to help keep growth algae low as possible.