RS Reefer 425 G2 Build Thread Adelaide Australia

[Gumbies R Us]

It's been a while and significant additions have been made to the tank.

The automatic water change system is complete. The only addition will be to put in a float valve for the RO outlet into the bin so I don't flood the basement (again) when I set the Neptune shutoff valve incorrectly. Water changes at the push of a button (from anywhere in the world) are the best thing in reefing!

I did an ACP test and it took a couple of weeks to get the results. In that time, I went away and my poor house sitter watched the Basslett population go from 4 to one (one didn't make it out of Q). The results of the test showed elevated copper readings which was a worry but also super high Barium levels. Luckily the report tells you exactly what to do (start by buying more Triton products!) and I've used DETOX and AL99 plus weekly 15% water changes to resolve the problem. It's been about 6 weeks since that test and I've just sent another one yesterday so hopefully it shows an improvement.

I'm also dosing a small amount of Iodine twice a week and have started feeding the corals with Aqua Forest Power Elixir which seems to help. I'm not seeing an Alkalinity drop yet so the Triton dose is still 8ml per day of each although I have manually added Calcium and Magnesium to get those levels up.

The good news is that my corals are thriving. I've got mainly LPS with some softies too. Upon introducing an expensive Scoly (above) however, I watched my Blennie tear a big chunk out of it and spit it out before moving to every other coral in the tank (which he had previously ignored) and eating or knocking them over....or both!

It took me 3 days of trying to catch the little prick but I eventually got him with a trap made from a plastic bottle and returned him to the store. After that, all of my zombie snails re-appeared and my other fish started exploring the tank a lot more. That probably explains the missing Basslets as well.

No more Blennies.

I've added 8 Chromis and a Mandarin. I put a bag of rotifers in last week and the Mandarin seems happy. Copepods are difficult to get at the moment but I've got some on order so hopefully he can hold out until they arrive.

I also went and met Dan at Dan's Zoas (on Facebook) and spent about an hour trying to decide what to take from his enormous selection. I have never kept them before and I love them. I'll be paying him another visit soon!

I've also added a Reef Factory Small Reef Bar. As usual, their mounting hardware is **** and not compatible with their Reef Flare mounting arms. I rigged up a couple of nuts and bolts to hold them in but the backup of some cable ties is probably enough on their own. It's a great light though and it covers the back and centre areas that are shaded by the rockwork. Eventually there will be a clam in there.

The next step is going to be just adding some more LPS meat before another ACP test or two to confirm that I'm ready for SPS at the top and the clam. I've also got a request for my LFS to find me a small Purple Tang and I'd like to put some more Basslets in to keep my remaining one company.

I might learn how to take better photos soon too.

Nice looking Rodi system you have. Alos your photos look really good!

 

[JonoH]

Following your progress keenly! I am also in Adelaide - there is a guy up at Mawson Lakes with a great selection of Coral Frags also if your looking for more.

 

[Dee Tee 75]

Hi all,

I'll give a quick update now and follow up with some photos when the filter kit for my phone arrives.

The tank has been a bit up and down. I've added heaps more corals and it's all starting to look much more filled in rather than a barren landscape with a few interesting bits scattered around the place.

Mariah and Brett at Seaview Aquarium centre have been taking great care (advantage) of me and I've spent a bunch on corals from their amazing selection.

I've also been back to Dan's Zoas a couple of times. He's been awesome and is launching an online store in the next couple of months so everybody in Oz can order from his excellent selection.

The down parts are related to water chemistry. I think I bottomed my nitrates and phosphates which killed my chaeto and promoted an algae bloom. I've subsequently managed to get the levels back up but also killed another lot of chaeto because my filter socks were affecting the flow in the refugium and the chaeto couldn't move so it got taken over by green algae.

Currently I'm sitting at 22.3 Nitrate and 0.13 Phosphate but the refugium is now working with a new ball of chaeto and no socks. I never wanted to use socks but sed them while cleaning the algae from the DT and clearly left them in too long.

I'm also currently battling Cyano (hopefully not Dinos too) and am awaiting the results of a Triton N-DOC test which has to be sent to Germany. It's been over 2 weeks and it still hasn't arrived (it was sent via the Oz office in QLD with my latest ICP test which came back clear).

My next post will contain the results of my first N-DOC test. I'm not really sure what information and advice this will give me but I'm hoping it will help me control the cyano.

 

[KrisReef]

Nitrate cycling is an interesting topic. Seems like once the tank microbes get settled in nitrate heads towards zero while nitrites are what provide the test results. Not sure why, @Lasse convinced me to purchase a (Tropic Marin) test that differentiates NO2 & NO3 and I've found my nitrates are almost always near / at zero. Phosphate tends to head towards the levels you our measuring currently and I've been toying around with GFO schemes and Tropic Marin's Elimi-Phos to bring levels closer to NSW. I'm curious that you didn't have more issues with your corals with the parameter flux but I presume that they are still alive speaks to the overall health of the system. Congrats!