RWB's Reefer 250 build and lesson's learned

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Boaz

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Sorry for the rant in advance. I've worked in IT for about 30 years and consider myself an above average geek. I usually know when a problem is my equipment or my configuration. 1GB fiber internet, 3 wi-fi 6 AP's covering the property. Two of us WFH and are online all day, including video conferencing. Peak usage there are 5-10 computers and TV's streaming content with very few issues, buffering or disconnects. When the support team at Red Sea tried to tell me it was my equipment/configuration.... I was done.

BTW, the RS Reef Mat 500 never loses connection and it's 2 feet below the lights and inside a cabinet. Obviously, the chips and firmware are different. IMHO - it's recall time, if they can't do a firmware upgrade to fix it. Rant complete. Otherwise, I'm happy with my Red Sea equipment. :cool:

My coral has never shown better color than since the upgrade to Radions. Expensive, yes, but the tank looks fantastic. And my fabulous wife bought them for us. Sweet!

Full Tank 7am 22-07-28.JPG
 
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Sorry for the rant in advance. I've worked in IT for about 30 years and consider myself an above average geek. I usually know when a problem is my equipment or my configuration. 1GB fiber internet, 3 wi-fi 6 AP's covering the property. Two of us WFH and are online all day, including video conferencing. Peak usage there are 5-10 computers and TV's streaming content with very few issues, buffering or disconnects. When the support team at Red Sea tried to tell me it was my equipment/configuration.... I was done.

BTW, the RS Reef Mat 500 never loses connection and it's 2 feet below the lights and inside a cabinet. Obviously, the chips and firmware are different. IMHO - it's recall time, if they can't do a firmware upgrade to fix it. Rant complete. Otherwise, I'm happy with my Red Sea equipment. :cool:

My coral has never shown better color than since the upgrade to Radions. Expensive, yes, but the tank looks fantastic. And my fabulous wife bought them for us. Sweet!

Full Tank 7am 22-07-28.JPG

A recommendation from another geek. Their expressif chips want and prefer legacy 2.4ghz and have issues with negotiation on newer AC and AX networks. Since moving to enterprise-hardware and annual licensing, I haven't had an issue with the RedSea gear.
 
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A recommendation from another geek. Their expressif chips want and prefer legacy 2.4ghz and have issues with negotiation on newer AC and AX networks. Since moving to enterprise-hardware and annual licensing, I haven't had an issue with the RedSea gear.
Thanks. Sounds like they are making progress. New lights solved my issues.
 
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WOW, 2023 has arrived! It's been a long time since I updated my thread and a lot has happened. The UV seems to be providing the ich management I needed and I haven't seen any outbreaks since. Both tangs are still with me. Great excuse for a bigger tank soon, right.... :)

One of my primary goals is to spend more time enjoying the tank and less time on maintenance. In June, I had to RMA my trident due to inaccurate calcium readings. Neptune support was great and didn't waste a lot of time arranging the replacement. On June 17th, I added a Red Sea Reef Mat. Maybe the best purchase I've made, IMHO. I hated changing filter socks.

Getting my dosing dialed in took several weeks. ALK was low in late June, I saw readings of 6.4 and 6.4. By early July, I was consistently reading 8 - 8.15. No issues since. I'm dosing KALK to maintain PH. My well water is low usually under 7. so it's needed. I also dose BRS 2 part, Soda Ash and Calc in small amounts, along with MG.

Added some Zoa's and thought I was ready to try a few Acro's. In August, I noticed a few corals were looking weak. First, it was a chalice from an LFS (not my regular LFS). A couple of days later, my candy cane, which had grown from 4 heads to 9, started to retract. Within a day or two, everything was losing flesh, acro's, birdsnest, almost everything. I literally was in shock and every day looked at the losses of flesh in disbelief. And I couldn't find anything wrong. In one week, my collection of coral was cut in half, and I could do nothing. Now I know it's called RTN, but I'm still not sure what caused it.

So much to learn in this hobby. I was testing the big three with the trident and cross checking-occasionally with Hanna checkers. I was using an API kit for nitrates and phos. After several weeks of 0 nitrates, I decided to dose them. Bad choice, since when I got my Hanna checkers for nitrates and phos, my nitrates were over 40. I'm told this didn't cause the RTN. Otherwise, the water parameters looked decent, even if I need to slow my feeding occasionally to keep the phos in line. Seems to creep over .10 occasionally.

September was quiet and I didn't log much activity. Mostly I just wanted to let the tank recover from the RTN and it seemed ridiculous to throw more money in the fire pit. I also used the time to remove the gravel with each weekly water change. Tank is bare bottom now. and much easier to clean. Ironically, a few corals have come back from the RTN. Most notable are an orange plating monti and the candy cane. So sad, I lost this blue acro from my LFS. It was a beautiful animal with so much potential.
 

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At some point I had purchased a 40g breeder and decided to set it up in the basement. I hated hauling water from the basement and with the roller mat, it was really crowded and hard to work in the sump area of the main display. I made plans to tie both tanks into a single sump in the basement to make things easier to work and also to add stability with the additional water. I built a stand and started looking at DIY sumps and other options. I eventually settled on a 39g Trigger Sapphire. I set up the breeder and sump and let it cycle. About this time, I was drawn to a marketplace listing on R2R. It was a reefer leaving the hobby. I bought his entire livestock and rock, 8 fish and 17 coral. It was a fantastic buy and the aged rock gave the breeder an immediate bump in stability. I began preparing the plumbing from the LR to the basement. This work took several months and I changed it a few times before settling on the final design. Space behind the tank was limited and I wasn't in a rush. On Christmas day 2022, I completed the plumbing to add the LR display into the sump to make a single system. Very happy with this setup. Yes, I might changed a few things in a do-over, but this really worked out well. Both pictures are from December 2022.


Lesson: IMHO, established rock is the best way to start up a tank. Other than a little bubble algae, this tank has been a thousand times easier than buying new and working through the whole break in period and fighting the uglies. If I had it to do over, I'd probably buy my whole system used, tank, equipment and livestock.
 

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