Shaun's 2000 Litre (530 USG) Living Reef & Red Sea Max S 650 LED Design & Build

[SPR1968]

I got home yesterday Freddie and all is well. The salinity was 34.5 not 52 which the Apex was saying but I have a video feed and all looked well.

I’ve done a water change today and cleaned all the Apex probes in a 50/50 vinager mix so will just leave the probes a few days and then recalibrate the salinity if it needs it, which is probably will. It’s currently reading 27 but it’s only been in an hour or so.

I’ve tried to automate things into Apex that may need switching off in my absence but anything that should always be on, like the main return pump and rear circulation pumps are still in the power centre.

 

[GoVols]

Shaun,
Welcome Home!!!

The above post sounds good and I just let my Apex control the cal reactor's pumps and regulator.
Could have used that leak detector this week ;Wacky

Did you run the Apex auto feeder while you were gone?

Freddie

 

[SPR1968]

Shaun,
Welcome Home!!!

The above post sounds good and I just let my Apex control the cal reactor's pumps and regulator.
Could have used that leak detector this week ;Wacky

Did you run the Apex auto feeder while you were gone?

Freddie

Yes I have the auto feeder on all the time but just for 1 feed around 6.30pm were i feed a mix of algea and general small pellet food so everyone is happy.

In the daytime I feed 2 cubes of frozen food myself, although when I’m away my mother has been trained to do this every other day.

The Apex autofeeder is very good which is why I now run it all the time, with an additional sprinkling of manual food from me when they looked starved to death!! Lol

I would get a leake detector because you never know. You can program it to shut of any systems that could be causing the leak, like rear circulation pumps for example!

I’ve got one at the moment and the skimmer/UVC are set to shut if in the event of detection.

 

[SPR1968]

I’ve just got back from a little break in Grenada, and all is well with the tank. Infact after cleaning the glass it looked better then when I left it! Lol

Brightwell replaced the two Xport NO3 Bricks which have been turning to sand, so I’ve just installed the two new ones in addition to the existing two, and also a new Marine Pure Block to see how good it is in comparison to the Brightwells. The old ones are at the front and you can see how they have crumbled.

I’ve seeded them all with Microbacter 7 (although I probably didn’t need to in an established tank) and I may remove the two old bricks if they continue to drop sand as it makes a mess in the sump

So currently I’m running 4 Brightwell Xport NO3 Bricks and 1 Marine Pure Block. You can’t have to much filtration right.

I’ve also just changed over to the Red Sea Felt filter socks a few days ago instead of Mesh. I can honestly say the difference is astonishing. The water has always been relatively clear but the Felt is far superior to mesh and the water is like gin clear.

I’ve never used the washing machine before for filter socks, but I did a rinse to get rid of any soap, then just added about 8 of the mesh socks, started a long 1.45hr wash and they all were very clean with no effort. I then did a 20 minute rinse of the washer with water to get rid of any fish stuff, before handing back to my wife!

I’ve got to wash the new Felt ones for the first time, but I assume the washer will do the trick on these and I’ve ordered some more so will shortly have 10 Felt socks.

 

[SPR1968]

And here are a few up to date photo’s

 

[najer]

Loving the fts, everything looks great!

 

[GoVols]

Loving the fts, everything looks great!

+1...

 

[SPR1968]

I’d like to do a little review and give my thoughts on the difference between Mesh and Felt filter socks.

I’ve always used mesh since I started out, so thought I would try the felt ones to see how they fare up.

I’ve spent about £90 on 8 sets of 2 and have used them for the last 2 weeks or so.

I think the felt are better in terms of filtration than the mesh, but they only last about 2-3 days (compared to 3-4 for mesh) and are an absolute pain in the bottom to clean compared to mesh!

I have to wrestle with them to turn them inside out, as this is the only way they will come out of the washing machine clean. Then when clean I have to put them back the right way round again.

I’ve got them in the washing machine now to clean them and think I’ll go back to mesh as although felt seems to be better for filtration, it’s not that much better to make me go through the constant changing and cleaning routine. Mesh are just so much easier.

Anyway pictures.....

 

[GoVols]

Shaun,
Your reef is still looking great and thanks for the new pictures.

I like the mesh filter sock too. So much easier and you just have to (high power) rinse it out.

(lol)
Just noticed that booth of our Regal's has a misbar pattern on the same stripes

Freddie

 

[SPR1968]

All my Felt filter socks have been cleaned and put in a plastic bag were they can stay! Lol.

Yes they are far better than mesh for filtration but the washing is just a nightmare. So I’m currently running the mesh ones along with floating pieces of filter wool in the sump to carry out additional filtration as required and I just throw this away once a week.

Nitrates are currently running at around 6ppm despite the huge bio load (phosphate around 0-0.03ppm with Rhowaphos) and this is due to a combination of NoPox along with my Marine Pure and 4 Brightwell Xport NO3 Bricks. Problem is I don’t know which! Lol

What I’m going to do is wait a little while longer and if the Brightwell Bricks continue to break down I’m going to swap the 2 bad ones of them for a single Marine Pure.

I’ve actually reduced the NoPox dose from 18ml per day (was 24ml at one point) to 16ml to get it all balanced and may drop a little lower as I don’t want Nitrate any lower.

On a fish note, one of my 2 original tiny little yellow gobies has vanished and the other sits in its own looking lonely so when I see another I will have to get it a new friend.

My 7 Lyretail Anthias have reduced to a single male and 3 females which is a shame as they are so beautiful but I think although they look very sweet, they are not, certainly the big male! So I think I’ll pick up another 5-6 of these when I get half a chance.

Basically the above gives my an excuse to go back to the shop!! Lol

 

[SPR1968]

I was looking at the tank today and some of the corals have really started to grow significantly. Its starting to really fill out to the point we’re I’m going to have to be careful when I start my usual ‘impulse buying’! Lol

They just keep growing and spreading out.

 

[najer]

Looking great!

 

[HolisticBear]

Yes they are far better than mesh for filtration but the washing is just a nightmar]

I have two oxo containers like below. I take the sock out and throw it in the dirty container, which contains mostly bleach. After a few days I remove the clean socks, rinse in sink, and drop them in the other container with water to ensure bleach is out.

I have 6 socks and just rotate. The two containers live under the sink. It's pretty painless.

https://www.oxo.com/products/storag...-storage/fliplock-glass-canister-2-5-qt-2-3-l

 

[GoVols]

They just keep growing and spreading out.

 

[SPR1968]

One of my favourite times to sit and watch the tank is around 11.30am which in my case is sunrise when the systems lights start to come on and the coral reef starts to come alive.

I find it absolutely magical to see the corals slowly open up for the new day ahead.

I’ve taken a few pictures although these do not do any justice to the effects and what it actually looks like.

Ive also taken a picture of my Foxface being cleaned by the Cleaner Wrasse which is fascinating to watch until he nips a little to hard! Lol. Excuse the quality but I had to take it from a distance with zoom otherwise they all think I’m going to feed them and become fish puppies!

 

[GoVols]

Shaun,
Back in the 90's I had a cleaner wrasse like yours. He was really cool.
Cleaned up my porcupine puffer real nice from parasites.

(lol)
After he cleaned off the parasites he was pecking at the puffers spikes all the time

 

[HolisticBear]

Love. Are the two triggers always together? In the pics, they always seem to move as a pair. So very cool.

 

[SPR1968]

Love. Are the two triggers always together? In the pics, they always seem to move as a pair. So very cool.

Yes they are together a lot of the time and have spawned on 2 occasions I believe. There are 2 videos a little earlier in the thread showing the behaviour before and after the event. I think the female may be getting ready again as she starts blowing into the sand to prepare a nest and today she was getting aggressive with anything that went near it!

I managed to catch their original moment (the earlier videos) on a video as I could tell something was going to happen and it did.

They are always ‘dancing’ together when they start getting ready and twirling around the tank, up down etc and it’s fascinating to watch them.

They live under the bottom of the rocks on the left hand side of the tank which they dug out when I first got them. Thankfully the rocks are directly ontop of the glass on the bottom.

Edit. You can see the Triggers from post 188 And video of the event 119: about 1.17seconds if your inpatient!
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/s...0-led-design-build.309184/page-6#post-3950587

 

[SPR1968]

My pair of Blue Throat Triggers are starting to spawn again I believe.

They suddenly change their behaviour and the female has started preparing and guarding the area at the centre left of the tank were there is a patch of sand. She very precisely removes any rocks or crabs that offend her eye by lifting them with her mouth and then throwing them somewhere which if your a crab isn’t very dignified!

When she is there she will chase off any other fish quiet aggressively.

The Freckle Face Tang although looking very sweet, is actually quiet aggressive and was actually trying to slice the Trigger with its razor on its tail which was fascinating to see.

 

[SPR1968]

Here are a few up to date photos