Susan's RS Reefer 3xl 900 Fantasy-Dream Build

[Susan Edwards]

Ugh! The strong magnet from garage can't handle it either. Guess I need to go to amazon lol's

 

[Susan Edwards]

Ugh! The strong magnet from garage can't handle it either. Guess I need to go to amazon lol's

Ordered a magnet. We will see! Be here tomorrow.

 

[Susan Edwards]

Ugh. that magnet didn't work. Ordered a different fish trap. Hope I can return the trap that won't work.

Did some tank maintenance after work. Raked the sand bed. Been over a week, maybe 2 since I last did it. A couple spots looked a bit dirty so used a turkey baster. will have to keep an eye or ck flow in that area. Shifted a couple corals on the sand bed. Not seeing growth on a few. Will do a coral post in a few days. Need to take pics for my record.

Algae on glass has turned white. Not sure if it is algae or something else. Tried to pull some of the algae in tank off rocks and it does not pull off. Too thick. But I am seeing some of it starting to turn a bit white so maybe it's on its way out. I hope.

Chaeto all died. Not sure if the mb7 isn't good for it. Had stopped the vibrant. Dosed vibrant again to help with algae. Will retry with chaeto.

Testing:
Alk Hanna 8.7 trident 8.8
MG trident 1520 Falling. When it hits below 1500 I'll test with salifert
CA API 380-400 trident 469 Big difference in CA still. I think salifert is testing too low
NO3 hanna 1.2 Dropped from 12 yesterday
PO4 hanna 0 today and yesterday. Will dose tonight
Been feeding a bit less, esp coral food. Will use AB+ tonight and feed coral after lights out
Also been changing socks and floss every other day. If nutrients still too low, will change floss when it clogs and give socks a few days or until they clog.

Things to work on:
--Make sure nutrients are that low and if so, get them both up a bit. Hanna checkers sometimes give me false readings. Test tomorrow as well
--Add raking sand bed to my calendar of tank chores.
--see if I need to add more flow to return area (PH) as the ca/alk still precipitate. Or move dosing lines to main chamber--or just 1 of the lines. Alk doses top of the hour, CA 30 m in later, and mg at 40 min. Just changed from the 20 min after hour.

This weekend--I hope.
--New trap arrives friday. Get damsels out and into other tank. Then catch again on Sunday and take to lfs
--Add a new coral. Or 2. Or 3.... No euphillia yet. Need to take alveopora out and dip as there is some bits of brown.
Looking for meat corals, plates or nice acans. And elegance.
--Add a fish or 2. Maybe a fish to eat vertimid snails. Or more anthias.
--picking up 2nd doser-red sea. Want to dose the coral colors. Trouble is I'm guessing what to dose as I don't use the RS CA/alk/mg to figure it out. I do test once in a while. Potassium is good, iron no show, iodide no show, and strontium too hard to get results. So I dose about 2.5 ml daily or 5 days a week if I forget a day or 2. Directions are based on added Ca. So by adding 40ml a day I'd be adding about 2 ml supplement so I think that is close
--if nutrients stay controlled, consider dosing AB+ and getting a cooling cup for it. Means 1 of the 4 colors I'd have to do by hand. Prob. potassium as that seems in the normal range.
--Order more cuc. Some turbo snails and more emeralds. Would love an urchin but not enough to worry about my frags.

Still to do: Lights in cabinet, control panel in works, get cor 20's hooked to apex after it is up, move UV/manifold pump to main sump, and try to figure best use of that second sump. Flow is an issue.

Hubby making progress on frame for control panel

 

[fishguy242]

hi,just a comment,opinion,all are different...

running too close to trouble, low nitrates,low phos, JMO...;Blackeye
have a great night...

 

[Operator Wrasse]

Ugh. that magnet didn't work. Ordered a different fish trap. Hope I can return the trap that won't work.

Did some tank maintenance after work. Raked the sand bed. Been over a week, maybe 2 since I last did it. A couple spots looked a bit dirty so used a turkey baster. will have to keep an eye or ck flow in that area. Shifted a couple corals on the sand bed. Not seeing growth on a few. Will do a coral post in a few days. Need to take pics for my record.

Algae on glass has turned white. Not sure if it is algae or something else. Tried to pull some of the algae in tank off rocks and it does not pull off. Too thick. But I am seeing some of it starting to turn a bit white so maybe it's on its way out. I hope.

Chaeto all died. Not sure if the mb7 isn't good for it. Had stopped the vibrant. Dosed vibrant again to help with algae. Will retry with chaeto.

Testing:
Alk Hanna 8.7 trident 8.8
MG trident 1520 Falling. When it hits below 1500 I'll test with salifert
CA API 380-400 trident 469 Big difference in CA still. I think salifert is testing too low
NO3 hanna 1.2 Dropped from 12 yesterday
PO4 hanna 0 today and yesterday. Will dose tonight
Been feeding a bit less, esp coral food. Will use AB+ tonight and feed coral after lights out
Also been changing socks and floss every other day. If nutrients still too low, will change floss when it clogs and give socks a few days or until they clog.

Things to work on:
--Make sure nutrients are that low and if so, get them both up a bit. Hanna checkers sometimes give me false readings. Test tomorrow as well
--Add raking sand bed to my calendar of tank chores.
--see if I need to add more flow to return area (PH) as the ca/alk still precipitate. Or move dosing lines to main chamber--or just 1 of the lines. Alk doses top of the hour, CA 30 m in later, and mg at 40 min. Just changed from the 20 min after hour.

This weekend--I hope.
--New trap arrives friday. Get damsels out and into other tank. Then catch again on Sunday and take to lfs
--Add a new coral. Or 2. Or 3.... No euphillia yet. Need to take alveopora out and dip as there is some bits of brown.
Looking for meat corals, plates or nice acans. And elegance.
--Add a fish or 2. Maybe a fish to eat vertimid snails. Or more anthias.
--picking up 2nd doser-red sea. Want to dose the coral colors. Trouble is I'm guessing what to dose as I don't use the RS CA/alk/mg to figure it out. I do test once in a while. Potassium is good, iron no show, iodide no show, and strontium too hard to get results. So I dose about 2.5 ml daily or 5 days a week if I forget a day or 2. Directions are based on added Ca. So by adding 40ml a day I'd be adding about 2 ml supplement so I think that is close
--if nutrients stay controlled, consider dosing AB+ and getting a cooling cup for it. Means 1 of the 4 colors I'd have to do by hand. Prob. potassium as that seems in the normal range.
--Order more cuc. Some turbo snails and more emeralds. Would love an urchin but not enough to worry about my frags.

Still to do: Lights in cabinet, control panel in works, get cor 20's hooked to apex after it is up, move UV/manifold pump to main sump, and try to figure best use of that second sump. Flow is an issue.

Hubby making progress on frame for control panel

Vibrant is known to kill chaeto and most other forms of macro algae. I wouldn't restart the refugium until you're done dosing Vibrant.

 

[Susan Edwards]

hi,just a comment,opinion,all are different...

running too close to trouble, low nitrates,low phos, JMO...;Blackeye
have a great night...

i know. NO3 was at 20 and po4 at .05-.08. I was aiming for no3 between 5-10. Not sure the test was accurate as day before it was at 13 via hanna. So will test again tonight and if still too low, will stop changing socks that often and start feeding more. dosing po4. forgot last night... And as always, thanks!

 

[Susan Edwards]

Vibrant is known to kill chaeto and most other forms of macro algae. I wouldn't restart the refugium until you're done dosing Vibrant.

I had stopped dosing vibrant before I put the chaeto in. Was still doing MB7 once a week. Just started vibrant again and will wait on the chaeto until algae gone or at least almost gone. Thanks

 

[blaxsun]

Vibrant works wonders for me. I dose 20ml on my 200-gallon every week. Red Sea has a "recipe" feature on their website that you can use to plug in your tank size, reef type and then it calculates how much of the Trace Elements ABCD (etc.) it recommends. At the very least it's a good starting point.

Let me know how you fare with your Nyos fish trap. I might snag it off you if you're not able to return it.

 

[Susan Edwards]

Vibrant works wonders for me. I dose 20ml on my 200-gallon every week. Red Sea has a "recipe" feature on their website that you can use to plug in your tank size, reef type and then it calculates how much of the Trace Elements ABCD (etc.) it recommends. At the very least it's a good starting point.

Let me know how you fare with your Nyos fish trap. I might snag it off you if you're not able to return it.

will ck the recipe. I'm back to vibrant. Dosed 20ml. Out of my 240 gal s ystem, I figure I'm only running prob. 220 at most. Maybe not even that much but close. I put in a santa monica algae scrubber but nothing there and won't be while doing vibrant. I'll continue with mb7 as well. I do 40ml weekly.

tested
no3 0.2
po4 .02

still too low so will feed more tonight and add just a bit neo phos and retest tomorrow

So far, I can't use the nyos fish trap. I can't find a magnet strong enough! No word from them yet

 

[Susan Edwards]

Apex ato not staying on auto again. Not sure what is going on.
Fallback OFF
Set OFF
If 9-1_lo OPEN Then ON
If 9-2_hi CLOSED Then OFF
When On > 005:00 Then OFF
Defer 000:10 Then ON
Defer 000:04 Then OFF
Min Time 015:00 Then OFF

any ideas what is wrong?

also not happy with my flow from the rs45's. The middle of the tank surface is pretty smooth. I run 40 at night and a variety of 50-70 during day. Maybe I need to clean with a vinegar soak tomorrow.

 

[Susan Edwards]

I think I figured out the ato issue. My skimmer was skimming wet which means taking more water out than the atk could put back in. I just added a pitcher of saltwater and we'll keep an eye on it today. If working, I'll put back the numbers to where they were before (5 on instead of 8 and back to 30 min instead of 5

Second fish trap out for delivery so will ready the observation tank to receive some DD (danged damsels) tonight.

Ugh. I can't return the nyros fish trap!

 

[Susan Edwards]

fish trap in. Fish I want in it are ignoring it... Leaving it in overnight with trap door off. Will feed in there tomorrow after my morning shift. Working a split shift so not much time. Guess I need to do some googling or asking on forum for ideas if this doesn't work.

PO4 0 Will dose neophos
no3 13 Didn't change socks yesterday or today. Just changed.

Will remove the phosguard tomorrow, or half of it if more than 1 bag.

 

[blaxsun]

also not happy with my flow from the rs45's. The middle of the tank surface is pretty smooth. I run 40 at night and a variety of 50-70 during day. Maybe I need to clean with a vinegar soak tomorrow.

What's your placement like? I have m 45s placed horizontally on either end of my Reefer facing towards the overflow down about 3". The highest I run them at is 40% during the peak and there's plenty of surface action. I have a pair of supplemental XF330s also placed horizontally on either side of the overflow that run at a constant 10%.

 

[blaxsun]

It could take a few days for the fish to get used to eating inside the box.

 

[Susan Edwards]

What's your placement like? I have m 45s placed horizontally on either end of my Reefer facing towards the overflow down about 3". The highest I run them at is 40% during the peak and there's plenty of surface action. I have a pair of supplemental XF330s also placed horizontally on either side of the overflow that run at a constant 10%.

At either end of tank, facing toward the center/each other. About 2-3" down pointing toward surface. Running Step 70 right now and that gives good middle ripples. 50% reverse. 15 min forward, 5 min reverse. Using 3 steps, 10sec pulse.

2 mp40's on back wall approx 8" down. almost centered. More like 2/3rds from side of tank toward overflow. They don't add to surface ripple.

Maybe I just need to use 1 or 2 flow types and go 70% except at night I go straight 40. Seems 50% doesn't make it to the center, esp as the 2 returns cut across the flow and maybe disrupt it if it isn't strong enough.

I prob. should do a vinegar soak. Last time I tried, I couldn't get the m otor to shut off unless I unplugged from wall and that wasn't easy. Just turning them off, I still felt the "hum". So not sure it was safe to remove the 2 ends to clean.

 

[Susan Edwards]

It could take a few days for the fish to get used to eating inside the box.

Yeah, and then in order to get them out I have to remove trap, let most of water drain out and then dump fish and start over. Going to take a long time to get 6 fish out. If it works... Feel almost like using a big net stretched from from to back, drapped into the water and when they swim over the net, yank it up! Knew I should not have put them in...

 

[Susan Edwards]

More progress. 1 control cabinet is on the wall. The door lifts out or swings open. Not enough room to open all the way. Cabinet number 2 going up. Or in process lol's. Not sure. Should be able to get 1 control panel up on wall maybe by Monday!

 

[Susan Edwards]

So, I guess my ATO went a bit haywire. Need to go check the program. My sump was like 5 gal almost too full! Took out almost 5 gal to bring levels back to where they needed to be. Will let the water evaporate down. Added some more salt water and will retest. Might have to mix a small amt and add to the sump.

Going to a couple lfs stores tomorrow so need to get it stable! Will try to catch those or some of those damsels in the morning. Not super hopeful...

 

[Susan Edwards]

Just reset the atk.
Fallback OFF
Set OFF
If 9-1_lo OPEN Then ON
If 9-2_hi CLOSED Then OFF
When On > 005:00 Then OFF
Defer 000:10 Then ON
Defer 000:04 Then OFF
Min Time 060:00 Then OFF

 

[blaxsun]

I think I really take my gravity-fed ATO for granted...