reef-rc WB 190.5 SPS

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With lights, next comes coralline algae - from ARC Reef. I got these in today and will be adding it to the tank.

I could have just used some coralline algae growing on my other nano tanks but I thought of trying these and see how it compares. This will likely take months to start and does not help that my lights are on ramp-up mode @ 40% and still have 3 months to go before completing the acclimation period.

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SkiCatTX

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With lights, next comes coralline algae - from ARC Reef. I got these in today and will be adding it to the tank.

I could have just used some coralline algae growing on my other nano tanks but I thought of trying these and see how it compares. This will likely take months to start and does not help that my lights are on ramp-up mode @ 40% and still have 3 months to go before completing the acclimation period.

00100trPORTRAIT_00100_BURST20200709165452971_COVER.jpg
Cool, how long can they stay in the bottle before you have use them?
 
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Cool, how long can they stay in the bottle before you have use them?
According to the manufacture, entire contents has to be used on the day your receive it or no later than 14 days from the bottling date. These bottles have Best Before 7/16/2020. I am using all mine today.

In short, the life span is short and the manufacture does mentioned that when ordering. One concern is shipping. Freaking USPS delivery service is really snail mail and could kill that time in half. Mine took 9 days just for shipping.
 

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According to the manufacture, entire contents has to be used on the day your receive it or no later than 14 days from the bottling date. These bottles have Best Before 7/16/2020. I am using all mine today.

In short, the life span is short and the manufacture does mentioned that when ordering. One concern is shipping. Freaking USPS delivery service is really snail mail and could kill that time in half. Mine took 9 days just for shipping.
Wow, OK, good to know.
 
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It's unfortunate but my AC had issues recently and was down over a day. Temperature in the tank was reaching 81-82. The issue started over a week ago and the AC service people had problem diagnosing the issue until late Thursday.

The AC seems to be working again today...fingers crossed.
The event has caused extreme stress to all my tanks and now I seeing the fallout from it.

So far a few fish have not been able to deal with the stress. I just pulled 3 out 20 minutes ago. One is on it's last breath it seem. As for the rest, the next few days will tell. It's so frustrating.

I was within one step away from purchasing a portal air conditioner. Wished I need about this option sooner but only occurred to be early this morning. Probably could have made this whole event a little tolerable.

The ups and downs of maintaining a reef tank :(
 
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Belated Updates -

Bad
:(:
  • I lost a number of my prized fish due to the August AC issues. The new tank suffered the most. I don't know exactly why; maybe because it is relatively new or could be my own doing. Even my Q tank with the semi-aggressive purple tank had issue and he too passed away.
Fish:
  • I have been acclimating and quarantining 3 pyramid butterfly fish, mystery wrasse and royal gamma for the past month and will look to into them into the tank this week after I get the equipment below installed and operating.

Aquascape & Corals:
  • A few weeks ago I started to add a selected number of LPS corals from my nano tanks over. Been so busy just had not had time to take some pictures. It's been a few weeks for some of the LPS and so far so good.
  • In additions to adding corals, I also drilled a number of holes in the aquascape during the last few water changes to accommodate coral plugs. Wished I had the foresight to have done this earlier before I started the cycling process. It's not hard with MarcoRocks; with CaribSea, it's more like concrete and so drilling is limited.
Equipment:
  • My lighting schedule finished it's 90 acclimation process recently. Up to this point, algae growth have been modest.
  • I recently received the algae scrubber and UV sterilizer. Will be adding these this week to assist now that lighting is on it's normal schedule.
    • I settled on the Clear Water CW-100 algae scrubber. I plan to place the unit inside the sump.
    • I settled on the Pentair Aquatics Smart High Output UV 50 Watt UV Sterilizer. Not yet sure whether I will put this behind the tank or on the other size of the wall. I will have to play with the plumbing before deciding.
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Algae Scrubber - Trial Run
I finally got the algae scrubber up and running as a trial run underneath the sump. This is not the final position but it gave me a better idea how things will fit inside. Just in time as I recently added some additional bio-loads to the system with the additions of: 3 pyramid butterflies, small mystery wrasse and a royal gamma to the display. These have been in quarantine for some time and doing great. All have been added earlier this week and so far everyone in the tank is getting along ;Nailbiting.

This weekend's project is to get the UV sterilizer up and running.

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UV Sterilizer - Test Run

Due to my excellent planning or lack thereof :) , I was short on tubing when I got around to installing the Pentair Smart UV High Output 50W UV Sterilizer - E50S. In the interim, until I can get the tubing to put the unit behind the tank, I have it running in front of the tank for testing the unit out.

Somehow I thought I could use a separate pump to feed the UV but realized plumbing would be more complicated if I did. As a result, I went with the KISS approach and has it installed as part of the return water line. I leaked tested for a few hours and then installed the UV light just before I went to bed last night. So far so good.

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Trident Installed

Next up is the Trident. I was not planning to install the unit so soon until I found out a few weeks back my ALK was very low. This was after placing a few corals into the tank only a few weeks earlier.

It was very surprising and took me for a loop thinking how when I hardly had any corals in the tank. Apparently look can be deceiving and I should have checked. One sign I had noticed was that the small lobo did not look it's usual self. Since I started to bring the parameters back up; surprise, the lobo looked much healthier. You can almost see it smiling ;) .

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The trident is installed behind the tank. There was enough tubing which did not require that I install the unit close by the tank. So far so good. Will look to calibrate the unit once it has a chance to run for 48-72 hours.

Behind the tank is also where I plan to house the various dosing pumps and solutions and AWC in the coming weeks.

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Minor Update + an interesting observation on my fish bathroom habits o_O

I have noticed all 3 three tangs: chevron tang, blonde naso tang and orangeshoulder tang prefer to poop in the cave. Yeah...they go to the bathroom in the cave. The chevron tang would usually just back into it and go.

As a result, a pile of poop have been accumulating in the cave. Wonder what they will use once they get too big to enter or back into the cave and have to go to the bathroom? ;)
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Overall, tank is progressing good. Still no visible sign of coralline algae on the rocks yet as far as I can tell. I have added a few coral pieces with coralline algae already growing on it so that should help.

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What's New - Equipment:
  • Added Kamoer X1 dosing pump to help with ALK, Calcium and Mag​
PXL_20201112_010604867 (1).jpg

  • UV Sterilizer has been moved behind the tank​
  • I am trying to capture PAR data points to ensure there is ample coverage and PAR. I am currently ramping up the lights again to get to the SPS range. This will likely max out all the lights @ 100% intensity.​
What's New - Corals:
  • I have been slowly adding a number of pieces from my nano tanks
  • Also got a few new pieces.
  • Most of the corals are LPS, a few SPS and 1 soft

What's Not So Good:
  • wire management is still a message. Hopefully will be addressed this coming holiday
 
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Quick snapshot back one year ago this week - 2019.

One Year Ago (this week 2019):
This was the tank. Brand new and just setup on the stand this week last year.
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Year Ago Post

A Year Later: this is how it stands (top)
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Bottom (mess in the making. a year later and it's a work still in progress)
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Jminasalli

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Looks good just for my wb reefpro 180.5 plumbing wrapped up and leak tested today. How are you liking the tank so far a year in?
 

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how is your exp the Carisa filter roller?
any smell.. any issues?
do you still need the algae reactor even with the carisea and skimmer?


the nk looks great.. good progress
 
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Looks good just for my wb reefpro 180.5 plumbing wrapped up and leak tested today. How are you liking the tank so far a year in?
A year and it's good. It's a nice tank. Outside of a few items I around the sump, I do not regret buying the tank.

Like many things in life, there are improvements that I think could make it better. If your setup has not already gone too far, maybe the following sump improvement suggestion may help with your journey.
  • Sump a little small
  • Sump ATO is a waste of valuable space IMO. I can't imagine how many reefers actually use this for ATO without having to constantly refill their ATO.
  • Sump drain could be design to be more flexible. If you wanted to use anything besides socks, you're going to have to put in efforts.
 
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how is your exp the Carisa filter roller?
any smell.. any issues?
do you still need the algae reactor even with the carisea and skimmer?


the nk looks great.. good progress
ClariSea - good experience. would definitely recommend this over filter socks.

It does have a little smell if I had to sniff close to the roll but smell is not more than my skimmer. Plus it's in the sump so any smell is not really noticeable.

ClariSea + Skimmer + Algae Reactor = NEED MORE FISH POOP + FOOD :D
It's funny you asked. These 3 comb is a huge nutrition export tool. With the Algae Reactor, I have noticed a higher PH level is the primary benefit. I am looking to balance all three as I have noticed my nitrate and phosphate are reaching near zero. What the balance approach is something I am still trying to figure out (i.e. turn off skimmer part of the day, turn off algae reactor part of the day, turn off filter roller part of the day). Not sure yet. I have been turning of the skimmer 6 hours between 12-6 AM. Will share my approach soon.
 
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