SithRico's RedSea Reefer 250

sithrico · Jul 1, 2017

New job has me updating less. Things going on in the tank. Added a Banggai Cardinal in a week ago. Skimmer is now in the tank and foaming like crazy. Need to break it in. I should have done the vinegar trick. Have a small LED strip on the Refugium and it seems to be doing good. Added a cabinet for the Controllers. That's the past. Today I noticed diatoms so I hit the LFS and picked up 3 more astrea snails and 2 hermit crabs. Don't really like crabs in the tank, but you need them right. Also, was talked into get two more clowns. They are about 1 to 1.5 inches. In the last tank when I bought some that size they died the next day. Same thing happened today. The smallest one went belly up. I think it's because of the flow in the tank. They are too weak and not muscular enough to stay up with the flow. The other one seems to be doing good, yet he is breathing pretty hard. Looking into getting a lid for my next purchases. Going to get three at one time so the aggravation is put to a minimum. Don't want them jumping. I'll get some pictures up soon of all the progress. Thanks.

ruthlesshatter · Jul 1, 2017

definitely flowing, what type of clowns where you talked into getting? I got my sebaes at maybe an inch and they both survived the harse finally couple days of my cycle.

sithrico · Jul 1, 2017

ruthlesshatter said:
definitely flowing, what type of clowns where you talked into getting? I got my sebaes at maybe an inch and they both survived the harse finally couple days of my cycle.

Just basic ocellaris clowns. The littlest one was as long as the top crease to the 2nd crease of my middle finger. The other looks as if it's doing good. Woke up this morning and it's swimming with my previous one I have. So I may have a pair again.

jordimex · Jul 15, 2017

Hey Sith sorry to bother you, i appreciate you sending me the list for all the pvc stuff to hard plumb it i should get it in monday, just 1 question which are the bulkheads you bought from brs?

sithrico · Jul 15, 2017

1/2” BULKHEAD ABS SLIP X SLIP
1/2IN SLIP LOW PROFILE STRAINER - LIFEGARD
These are the bulkheads and guards I got for the DIY Refugium.
Makes sure to get some pictures up so I can check out your work. Good luck.

jordimex said:

Hey Sith sorry to bother you, i appreciate you sending me the list for all the pvc stuff to hard plumb it i should get it in monday, just 1 question which are the bulkheads you bought from brs?

Click to expand...

jordimex · Jul 15, 2017

Definitely will do @sithrico just to be clear its 2 of each right?

sithrico · Jul 16, 2017

jordimex said:
Definitely will do @sithrico just to be clear its 2 of each right?

Yes sir.

Sppf121 · Aug 3, 2017

Hey buddy. I hope all is going well with the new Job. I have a question about your refugium. I am noticing some When everyone goes back to school I am going to make a manifold. Have you noticed
Cyanobacteria growth. I have been getting some. Its probably do to the slow flow I have going to prevent overflowing... When summer break is over and I have time I am going to set up a manifold. Just wanted to see if you were getting enough flow to prevent this...

sithrico · Aug 5, 2017

Sppf121 said:
Hey buddy. I hope all is going well with the new Job. I have a question about your refugium. I am noticing some When everyone goes back to school I am going to make a manifold. Have you noticed
Cyanobacteria growth. I have been getting some. Its probably do to the slow flow I have going to prevent overflowing... When summer break is over and I have time I am going to set up a manifold. Just wanted to see if you were getting enough flow to prevent this...

I have low flow as well. Not getting any growth from cheato. Just one side of the cheato is turning white so I mix it around. I too have to watch the lvl. I should have put the drain lower maybe that would have made the return flow faster? I haven't cleaned socks filters or been running my skimmer either and haven't even gotten growth. I'm trying to get my Dino outbreak but it's just not happening. I think my tank is too clean. I get zero nitrates and zero ammonia. Zero phosphorus and the levels are amazing for sps. I haven't done a water change since starting and feed pretty good amounts of food. This tank is definitely one of those how is he keeping that so clean. Even my qt tank is kicking and I haven't done a water change on that one for like 6 months. Really weird things are happening over here.

sithrico · Aug 5, 2017

If you read the last post to Sppf121, chime in if you can give some thought to why my tank isn't getting dirty. Not to say I don't like it. I'm just worried that if I add corals they will bleach out because of the crazy good parameters.

Sppf121 · Aug 7, 2017

sithrico said:
If you read the last post to Sppf121, chime in if you can give some thought to why my tank isn't getting dirty. Not to say I don't like it. I'm just worried that if I add corals they will bleach out because of the crazy good parameters.

So my tank shows no phosphates and for the first time ever I am showing nitrates. They are still less than 2 but thats unusual for my tank. I think that was do to be over feeding. I have found that I do have slow growth which I think is from my tank being to clean. Its note worthy that I did lose a birds next which is an easy coral to grow, but my dragon soul favia, and my Jackolantern lepto are encrusting and doing well. I am watching nitrates to see if they are effecting these corals. My soft corals seem to be doing well and my Zoas are growing really well right now. Not sure if that is a time thing or the extra nutrients..

Clayton Jessup · Aug 22, 2017

The tank looks really good keep up the great work , love it [emoji23]

litenyaup · Aug 22, 2017

How is your reactor floating?

Branespikin · Aug 22, 2017

Great job man!!

sithrico · Aug 24, 2017

litenyaup said:
How is your reactor floating?

It's not floating. It stays in place with the plumbing.

sithrico · Oct 22, 2017

Long time no updates guys.
Boy, when life comes knocking it wants you to know it's there.
Big life things have happened. I want to share my moving of the tank most of all.
We had to move from our house because it was being sold without notice to us. He is a quick rundown of what I did. Didn't get video or pictures so
you'll have to paint a picture. Put all the rock in my Rubbermaid trash can and mixing tubs. Saved water from the tank in each tub and as much as I could in others. I kept the pallet the Reefer came on and drilled 4 pieces of 2/4 on it to give hight to the tank so I didn't have to remove the pipes from the tank. They stick out 1 inch from the bottom of the tank. I wasn't even going to deal with the silicone job I had to do for the initial install. I left the sand and about 2 inches of water in the tank. Moved all livestock in the 10-gallon tank I had when I first got the tank. Got everything set up in the new place and just turned on the gyre and return to keep things alive until we were moved out of boxes in the new place. The tank was getting very cloudy and almost couldn't see through it. After 1 week and unpacking everything, I started working on the tank finally. It's been horrible. Good note, I haven't lost any livestock. Just have a really cloudy tank.

When the lights are on it even looks worst.
Right now I haven't done any water changes since the move. I've been adding stability for the past 2 days to try to level out bacteria. It's not salt because I took a glass of water and let it sit overnight and there wasn't any settling. I'm going through a major bloom in bacteria. I might have to add a UV sterilizer to help the cause. I'm going to let mother nature take it's course right now. I am going to be more active on updates maybe even get back to youtube videos. If you have any suggestions feel free to add them in. I'm waiting for some salt to arrive so I can start mixing up water to do a good water change and maybe speed the process. Fingers are crossed.

Sppf121 · Oct 22, 2017

sithrico said:
Long time no updates guys.
Boy, when life comes knocking it, wants you to know it's there.
Big life things have happened. I want to share my moving of the tank most of all.
We had to move from our house because it was being sold without notice to us. He is a quick rundown of what I did. Didn't get video or pictures so
you'll have to paint a picture. Put all the rock in my Rubbermaid trash can and mixing tubs. Saved water from the tank in each tub and as much as I could in others. I kept the pallet the Reefer came on and drilled 4 pieces of 2/4 on it to give hight to the tank so I didn't have to remove the pipes from the tank. They stick out 1 inch from the bottom of the tank. I wasn't even going to deal with the silicone job I had to do for the initial install. I left the sand and about 2 inches of water in the tank. Moved all livestock in the 10-gallon tank I had when I first got the tank. Got everything set up at the new place and just turned on the gyre and return to keep things alive until we were moved out of boxes in the new place. The tank was getting very cloudy and almost couldn't see through it. After 1 week and unpacking everything, I started working on the tank finally. It's been horrible. Good note, I haven't lost any livestock. Just have a really cloudy tank.

When the lights are on it even looks worst.
Right now I haven't done any water changes since the move. I've been adding stability for the past 2 days to try to level out bacteria. It's not salt because I took a glass of water and let it sit overnight and there wasn't any settling. I'm going through a major bloom in bacteria. I might have to add a UV sterilizer to help the cause. I'm going to let mother nature take it's course right now. I am going to be more active on updates maybe even get back to youtube videos. If you have any suggestions feel free to add them in. I'm waiting on some salt to arrive so I can start mixing up water to do a good water change and maybe speed the process. Fingers are crossed.

Hey buddy , This is going to be long but it may help someone in the future. Hope it's ok...

So I live in Naples Florida, and hurricane Ivan went right over my house. To make matters worse being a firefighter I knew I was not going to be able to be home. My plan was to just keep water flow moving. I had my Apex automatically shut everything off except one MP10 when we lost power. I have the ecotec battery back up and to my suprise it was still running the MP10 when I was finally able to quickly run home after the storm which was around 40 hrs after losing power and All of the livestock was still alibe. Because of the damage created by the storm I assumed I would be on very limited generator power for at least a week. I was only able to be home for 30 minutes so I decided too increase my flow and just run the two MP10s using generator power. I would not have a sump or lights until the power was fully restored. I was relying on the tank to take care of it self. The only thang working on the tank was the MP10s and the everyday fish feeder.

I would be relying of friends to fill my generator when I could not get home. I had bought several days of fuel in advance. I would not even try to cool the tank because I would not be home for several days. I had enough generator power to keep my refrigerator a few fans and the tank on limited power running. Over the next several days the tank would reach 86 degrees in the afternoon.

7 days after the storm I did a 9 gallon water water change. I ended up completely cleaning out the sump, including cleaning the pond matrix and all filters.

Our power turned on 11 days after the storm.

Once I had my power restored I slowly dropped the temperature back two normal at a rate of 2 degrees every 24 hrs.

The photos above are what it looked like after a 40% water change on the day I was able to turn on the full tank power. I kept all my soft corals and live stock. My sps did not like the heat. Have been trying to nurse them back to health but I am not sure if they will bounce back. It's been several weeks and the are still alive but no growth.

On a cool note I removed the Cheato and my tanks Hamers, leathers and ZOAs are going through a crazy growth spurt.

Ok so now my point. When you get your salt do a few water changes and your tank should rebound. I did three 9 gallon water changes 3 days apart after getting my power restored.

Good luck buddy hope the new place is awesome for you.....

sithrico · Oct 26, 2017

Did an 18 gallon water change today. Still cloudy. The wife says it looks a bit clearer, I don't see it. Not to sure what's going on. Going to do another 18 gallons on Friday. I'll get a picture of a before and after up then. Fingers crossed.