Red Sea REEFER 250 ALL Pre-Conditioned and most CAPTIVE-BRED Fish, SPS, Zoanthids. Slow Poke Reef. WE HAVE WATER!! start page 61.

powers2001

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I started this reefer 250 December 2016 after buying it in October 2016. I started adding fish early 2017 and corals a few months later. In December 2017 a Sea Cucumber died in my tank and released Holothurotoxin which is what most Sea Cucumbers do when they die unbeknownst to me. Well that killed just about everything as you can read at the bottom of page 1 of this thread. Fast forward to Summer 2018 on page 2 and I'm cleaning out the tank and getting it ready to go again.

Originally I was going to do Zeovit on this tank and was setting it up for it, had the zeo-reactor and everything but then the Triton method and ultra low maintenance came out. I said to myself, "Now this is worth a try." I will have 100% SPS or near 100% SPS in this tank since I like them so much. And then the captive bred fish. I really believe in sustainability.

Fast forward again to May 2020 and I’m configuring a cabinet separate from my Reefer 250 cabinet to house some of my controller electronics. I’m never satisfied with it as I’ve been working on it for a year now. I finally mounted the glass door made by Cronos Door Company. Top pic door closed and bottom pic door closed.
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powers2001

powers2001

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This is what my sump looked like before the crash in December 2017. My Skimz Recirculating skimmer is there sitting external. The 5 gallon Aqueon tank the skimmer is in is because water kept back siphoning through the air silencer !!! I was feeding the skimmer water from a tee off my return pump line.

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powers2001

powers2001

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This is the equipment and livestock I used before the crash and move:

This is equipment list as of August, 2017. If anything has been upgraded the old is strike-through and the new put beside it.

3 AI Prime lights
Kessil A80 for cabinet/refugium light
2 Sicce Stream powerhead 925 gph
Tunze 6040 Nanostream
Skimz SM122 recirculating skimmer Reef Octopus Elite 150-S
Sicce Synchra 4.0 return pump with manifold APEX COR-20
2 Eheim Jager 250 watt heaters (in case the door gets left open in the shop)
Tunze 3155 ATO APEX ATK
BRS 5" GAC canister
Seneye Reef with SWS
Skimz Zeo-Reactor

Elite Aquatics ATO reservoir
Reefkeeper Lite (backup, not currently using)
Classic Apex (currently using) APEX 2016

Ace Roto-Mold 50 gallon vertical tank for W/C's
Iwaki pump to mix salt water
Reef Crystals salt
Chemi-Pure Blue carbon
RODI

50 pounds BRS pukani
30 pounds Tropic Eden miniflakes sand

Livestock

Azure Damsel
CB Ocellaris clown
Flame Hawkfish
Coral Beauty Angelfish
 
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powers2001

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I ordered 5 Blue Green Chromis yesterday and they're suppose to be here today for my RSR 250. I don't have a quarantine tank setup but I'll do a double dip of formalin then methylene blue. I have a flame hawkfish that has to go and a large coral beauty that I love that could be potential bullies. I will isolate them in the acclimation cage for a couple days within the DT before I turn them loose and I will go to feeding twice a day. According to FedEx tracking I was supposed to get my livestock order today before 4:30 p.m. When 5:00 rolled around I called FedEx CS and found out my shipment was hung-up in Memphis, TN!! They said they'd call back within 1-2 hours and it hasn't quite been 2 hours yet. Whoa I was excited about an order of fish and coral from Saltwaterfish.com. If it doesn't get here til tomorrow then everything might be dead when I get it. What I don't get is why it went to Tennessee? That's 2,000 miles too far east!! In any case when they get here I'll acclimate everything and see how it goes and if anything dies within the 15 day guaranty I'm getting my money back.
 
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powers2001

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I ordered 5 Blue Green Chromis yesterday and they're suppose to be here today for my RSR 250. I don't have a quarantine tank setup but I'll do a double dip of formalin then methylene blue. I have a flame hawkfish that has to go and a large coral beauty that I love that could be potential bullies. I will isolate them in the acclimation cage for a couple days within the DT before I turn them loose and I will go to feeding twice a day. According to FedEx tracking I was supposed to get my livestock order today before 4:30 p.m. When 5:00 rolled around I called FedEx CS and found out my shipment was hung-up in Memphis, TN!! They said they'd call back within 1-2 hours and it hasn't quite been 2 hours yet. Whoa I was excited about an order of fish and coral from Saltwaterfish.com. If it doesn't get here til tomorrow then everything might be dead when I get it. What I don't get is why it went to Tennessee? That's 2,000 miles too far east!! In any case when they get here I'll acclimate everything and see how it goes and if anything dies within the 15 day guaranty I'm getting my money back.
Well I got my livestock order today just after 1:00, a two day delivery! The box was all wet on one side and part of the bottom. After opening in the dark I light acclimated the box with the top off. To my surprise I saw a fish alive in one bag. I put all fish bags in the tank to equalize the temperature and examined the mushroom coral rock. I was so disgusted with the late shipment I didn't want to take the time to drip acclimate all of the livestock and I also skipped the Coral Rx dip for the mushroom coral rock. Two of the fish were definitely dead and I bathed the remaining three for 30 minutes in Formalin then 45 minutes in Methylene Blue. I put them in the fish trap all closed up and into the tank for peer acclimation, introduction and noticed one more died. I will keep them in the trap in the display to see how they are welcomed and if all goes well I'll turn out the two that survived tomorrow.
 
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powers2001

powers2001

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I ordered a baffle specifically made for reefers from Reef Dreams UK on July 7 and it hasn't come yet. I emailed them 3 times and didn't hear back. I set up a dispute through Paypal two weeks ago and no word. Then I finally got through with a phone call this morning and the guy said they had a fire in their shop and it destroyed the machine that makes the baffles. He said they had to get a new machine and it will be another couple of weeks before they get things rolling again. Well that's a legitimate excuse but I wish they would've let me know about it.
 

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I ordered a baffle specifically made for reefers from Reef Dreams UK on July 7 and it hasn't come yet. I emailed them 3 times and didn't hear back. I set up a dispute through Paypal two weeks ago and no word. Then I finally got through with a phone call this morning and the guy said they had a fire in their shop and it destroyed the machine that makes the baffles. He said they had to get a new machine and it will be another couple of weeks before they get things rolling again. Well that's a legitimate excuse but I wish they would've let me know about it.

I'm realizing that waiting is an integral part of this Reef hobby & it's something I'm horrific at. Whether it's long manufacturing time frames, bad weather affecting shipping, or just realizing you've forgotten something & having to make a separate order --> all mean end up waiting! Hoping your baffles show up soon!

And I have to ask -- WHAT is your profile picture? Kind of creeps me out every time I see it :eek:
 
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powers2001

powers2001

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I'm realizing that waiting is an integral part of this Reef hobby & it's something I'm horrific at. Whether it's long manufacturing time frames, bad weather affecting shipping, or just realizing you've forgotten something & having to make a separate order --> all mean end up waiting! Hoping your baffles show up soon!

And I have to ask -- WHAT is your profile picture? Kind of creeps me out every time I see it :eek:
Yeah, kinda like what they always say about the military, "hurry up and wait." Someone should come up with a spin-off of the saying, "I've got too much month at the end of my money," and make it something like, "I've got too much reefing to do between purchases!" It was much worse back when you had to pay for shipping and forgot something. You had to reorder for one little item and pay an outrageous $12 shipping!! And to top that off they didn't give you a tracking number!!

About the deer I never thought it would end up upsetting anyone. I guess it is kinda "crypto-like." I was coming down the driveway on our ranch and saw the thing just dangling there by its flank all dead and everything just had to get a picture. The picture was a hit in my town-- we're in the middle of the Whitetail hunting belt and there was a deer tuberculosis scare going on and I thought that's what this was. We never bothered to find out and the hired hand and I just hauled the thing to the dump. What inspired the avatar was someone else on this forum has any avatar of a horse stuck in a fence and I thought we could start a trend. LOL
 

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Yeah, kinda like what they always say about the military, "hurry up and wait." Someone should come up with a spin-off of the saying, "I've got too much month at the end of my money," and make it something like, "I've got too much reefing to do between purchases!" It was much worse back when you had to pay for shipping and forgot something. You had to reorder for one little item and pay an outrageous $12 shipping!! And to top that off they didn't give you a tracking number!!

About the deer I never thought it would end up upsetting anyone. I guess it is kinda "crypto-like." I was coming down the driveway on our ranch and saw the thing just dangling there by its flank all dead and everything just had to get a picture. The picture was a hit in my town-- we're in the middle of the Whitetail hunting belt and there was a deer tuberculosis scare going on and I thought that's what this was. We never bothered to find out and the hired hand and I just hauled the thing to the dump. What inspired the avatar was someone else on this forum has any avatar of a horse stuck in a fence and I thought we could start a trend. LOL

Takes more than that to upset me :p It just catches my attention like WHAT is that, every time! No need to apologize!
 
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powers2001

powers2001

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Okay then no worries for the first time I realized it could be offensive to some people. Being in an urban area it might be a rare thing to see a dead dear but hear it's just about a daily occurrence to see a dead deer or other animal on the side of the highway. The auto body mechanics are well to do here because people are always hitting deer and denting up their cars and trucks.
 
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powers2001

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That's what I'm wondering too. The moderators must not have taken this thread seriously when they first checked it out but it's got a start now. B-)
 
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powers2001

powers2001

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Well got off of work today at 4 pm and only got two of the tests I wanted to get done, alkalinity and phosphate.

Alkalinity was 9.3 which is a lot and I think accurate since no hard corals to use it up. I'm not using RODI water just well water so that could be contributing to ALK. I want to test for alk finally for 3 reasons: it helps maintain a stable pH, it's the one of the big 3 that's depleted fastest, the lanthanum chloride use for high phosphates I'm looking into depletes alkalinity, so I'm planning on keeping an eye on ALK for awhile.

Phosphate was undetectable again using Salifert. This is totally unbelievable! I have either cyano or red micro algae growing thick on just the rock but not the sand. The reason I'm not sure it's cyano is it's not on the sand where it typically is. The rock is all Pukani dry, uncured/unrinsed/unbleached and is known to leach phosphate. I've heard once nuisances get ahold, their food source can go undeteced because it's getting used up as fast as it's becoming available. I'm looking into several different routes to go concerning the red slime and a couple in the pipeline are just waiting for the purchase of parts and equipment.
 

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I ordered a baffle specifically made for reefers from Reef Dreams UK on July 7 and it hasn't come yet. I emailed them 3 times and didn't hear back. I set up a dispute through Paypal two weeks ago and no word. Then I finally got through with a phone call this morning and the guy said they had a fire in their shop and it destroyed the machine that makes the baffles. He said they had to get a new machine and it will be another couple of weeks before they get things rolling again. Well that's a legitimate excuse but I wish they would've let me know about it.
I've looked at this site for a baffle as well, but they have always been out of production, they have been out a while. I have a custom shop here in WA that is setting up a new CNC system and were going to look at making one for me, and a few others. I need to reach out to them at the end of the month. I can let you know if they are able to do it. I have the RSR 250 as well. I have a rigged refugium set up with plastic canvas and zip ties. It does pretty well, but bits of chaeto and dragon breath sneak out...
 
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powers2001

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I've looked at this site for a baffle as well, but they have always been out of production, they have been out a while. I have a custom shop here in WA that is setting up a new CNC system and were going to look at making one for me, and a few others. I need to reach out to them at the end of the month. I can let you know if they are able to do it. I have the RSR 250 as well. I have a rigged refugium set up with plastic canvas and zip ties. It does pretty well, but bits of chaeto and dragon breath sneak out...
Where are you in Washington? I'm 165 miles from Spokane and my sister lives in Colville, WA.
 
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Well 2 weeks ago my pinky sea cucumber died and nuked the tank with holothuro toxin. Killed all fish and corals. Snails, skunk shrimp, and hermits are the only thing that survived.
 
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