Reefer 425 Adjustments & Tuning

Bato367

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I am wanting to get your opinions or recommendations on fine tuning my parameters. I realize it's still re-maturing, but I'll lay out the equipment and params and please let me know how best I should go about making adjustments if any. Would you recommend running PhosGuard, waiting for refugium to catch up?

Red Sea XL 425 mixed reef, purchased used in December 2021 so I moved it, rinsed sand so it was basically a system reset of an established reef. Weekly 10% WC with Reef Crystals and new BRS RO/DI unit. Currently have 4 clowns, inverts and frags, 1 large Acan colony. All look healthy minus new frag of pulsing xenia that really hasn't opened much (possibly too much flow?).

I feed clowns Omega One pellets mostly once per day, and frozen omnivore or mysis cubes about 1 time per week. Feeding corals Elos brand foods and amino acids once per week. I am using these up, they came with the setup.

2 Ecotech MP40's running 35% power lagoon mode
Ecotech Vectra M2 return running about 50% power
Finnex 500w heater with Rainbird Controller
ViaAqua 300w heater with controller
Nyos Quantum 120 or 160? skimmer runs 24/7 on IceCap skimmer stand
2 Red Sea ReefLED 90'S on stock 20K schedule
Stock sump with chaeto and caulerpa with Kessil Tuna Flora H80 running about 8 hours from about 10pm-6am. Algae installed January 2022
Red Sea Nylon Socks and Seachem Purigen and Red Sea ReefSpec Carbon 24/7

1/22/22 Parameters with Red Sea Test Kits and cheap salinity refractometer:

Test Results 1-22-22.png
FTS 1-22-22.jpeg
 
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Randy Holmes-Farley

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That’s it…breaking down the tank, getting out of the hobby lol

lol

the refugium will not be able to remove that much phosphate unless you also dose nitrate, so some type of binder may be in order.
 
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Bato367

Bato367

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lol

the refugium will not be able to remove that much phosphate unless you also dose nitrate, so some type of binder may be in order.
Thank you for the reply! So today I implemented some PhosGuard and using as directed, although slightly less, 125mL.

Also maybe more importantly: I had a hunch my refractometer wasn’t accurate, so I purchased some BRS “Refractometer Juice”. It was way off; reading 1.024 when in fact it was 1.020!

So word to the wise out there and probably said many times before but, before tackling any chemistry issues make sure your numbers are verified and accurate and that your instruments are updated and calibrated!
 

Randy Holmes-Farley

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Thank you for the reply! So today I implemented some PhosGuard and using as directed, although slightly less, 125mL.

Also maybe more importantly: I had a hunch my refractometer wasn’t accurate, so I purchased some BRS “Refractometer Juice”. It was way off; reading 1.024 when in fact it was 1.020!

So word to the wise out there and probably said many times before but, before tackling any chemistry issues make sure your numbers are verified and accurate and that your instruments are updated and calibrated!

You're welcome and good luck! :)
 
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Bato367

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We’ll so far the phosphate hasn’t budged from 0.4ppm even after using Phosguard. I replaced the Phosguard and so we shall see but so far nothing yet.
 

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Still 0.4 phosphate using Phosguard and regular 10% water changes…Any other ideas?

Not a huge fan of phosguard due to its aluminum, but it will drop phosphate.

How often are you replacing it? How are you actually using it? How much?
 
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Bato367

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Not a huge fan of phosguard due to its aluminum, but it will drop phosphate.

How often are you replacing it? How are you actually using it? How much?

Using 125mL for 4 days in a mesh bag placed into the Reefer media cups in the sump then replacing with a new 125mL of it. The directions would require me to use 180mL of PhosGuard but I purchased a 250mL jar, so I split the dose in two.

0.4 PPM hasn't budged yet.

Do you recommend GFO or NOPOx instead or something else? I've used NOPOx on other tanks in the past.
 
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