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

Susan Edwards · May 13, 2022

just tested. No3 1.7 and po4 .2 Will add a bit of phosguard and feed more for no 3 and take nopox from 5 to 3ml

Surprised that no3 so low as skimmer hasn't been working. Been draining it into socks until it settled (from chemiclean). Did do a 20% water change this week, so that really brought no3 down from 16-20.

Wishing I wasn't leaving for a week! Wish things were a bit more stable. House sitter doesn't know reef tanks for fish!

blaxsun · May 13, 2022

I like your idea of draining the skimmer into the filter socks. Why the heck didn't I think of that?

Sgchick · May 13, 2022

Hey Susan…Enjoy your trip and try not to worry. Are you relying on an auto feeder or will your house sitter feed? Sounds like everything is under control!! Give your sitter my number if you’d like as a back up.

fishface NJ · May 13, 2022

Enjoyed reading this morning your whole fantasy dream build journey! Try to relax while on vacation. The tank will be fine even though she doesn't know too much about tanks. Sometimes we tinker with our tanks too much. Maybe you'll come home and be pleasantly surprised

Susan Edwards · May 13, 2022

blaxsun said:
I like your idea of draining the skimmer into the filter socks. Why the heck didn't I think of that?

I'd have lost tons of saltwater if I hadn't lol's

Susan Edwards · May 13, 2022

Sgchick said:
Hey Susan…Enjoy your trip and try not to worry. Are you relying on an auto feeder or will your house sitter feed? Sounds like everything is under control!! Give your sitter my number if you’d like as a back up.

thanks. If she has a major problem, I'll call you. Can you pm me your number in case I can't find it. I'm sure it is in my phone...

Susan Edwards · May 13, 2022

fishface NJ said:
Enjoyed reading this morning your whole fantasy dream build journey! Try to relax while on vacation. The tank will be fine even though she doesn't know too much about tanks. Sometimes we tinker with our tanks too much. Maybe you'll come home and be pleasantly surprised

That is true lol's. And thanks for stopping by!

Susan Edwards · May 23, 2022

I am back from being gone a week and the tank and I survived! Need to do some work tomorrow! I cleaned the glass which was so bad it took the tunze care and then the flipper and still some parts near the sandbed that will need the razor on a stick. Also need to rake the sand bed.

I think cleaning the glass, and it was bad, tweaked my no3 and po4 as both are pretty high, plus I used some mb clean and had skimmer off for a couple hours. I'll retest in the morning before I feed. I did add back in the boyd's blue that I took out for the chemi clean. I used plain carbon after to save the more expensive stuff. Kept it in rodi water. So it is back in the reactor (in bags). Also upped my nopox from 3ml to 6. No3 was 26 and po4 over 4 which I know is not right. But added a bag of phosguard just in case. Do not want the return of algae!

Salinity is still good which I'm surprised. No ro water was added all week! Friend had trouble with the downpipe and the overflow being too low/return chamber too high for m ost of the week. I think once I saw on the fusion software that the ato was low and turned it on. I kept it off. Today, before leaving Oregon I saw it was okay to turn on. Several times I set it to auto and watched it. Worked good except 1 time it turned off. Once the level got right, it seemed to work. Still kept it off except when I was watching it. So far tonight, seems to be working. Overflow is good and skimmer. Friend called in a panic as the skimmer was overflowing. It needed drained.

I'll start doing some daily water changes starting tomorrow with the awc. Maybe a few days of 6 galLove that! I can still see some algae in there. Not much but need to stay on top of this. I have a feeling the tank was way over fed while I was gone!

Then need to figure out how to get the alk stable at 8.6 or maybe even 9 as it keeps dropping to 8.4. I'm dosing 45 ml. Cal also drop to high 300's. also dosing 44. Mg is back to 1400 dosing 40 ml. I am happy the ph is staying 8-8.1

So am relieved that going away didn't do too much harm that I can see, as long as I can get numbers back!

blaxsun · May 23, 2022

Glad to hear your trip was fairly uneventful! Have you hooked up your Trident/DOS and configured Trident-controlled dosing yet?

fishface NJ · May 23, 2022

Your tank survived and you had some needed time away to relax.

Susan Edwards · May 23, 2022

blaxsun said:
Glad to hear your trip was fairly uneventful! Have you hooked up your Trident/DOS and configured Trident-controlled dosing yet?

Trident is hooked up. Not always accurate with hanna. Most times it is. Right now, alk is 8.25 but hanna said 8.6. Cal and mg also low. Might need to recalibrate. So need to find some to buy. I have 1 left.

What do you mean configured. It's testing lol's. Also have the DOS awc going. Going to do 3 gal a day which is 22 gal a week or 10%.

what I have to do is program all the feeds and equipment. Most are just "on".

I work tue-Fri and then 30--3rd. Ugh! Most are half days though

blaxsun · May 23, 2022

Susan Edwards said:
Trident is hooked up. Not always accurate with hanna. Most times it is. Right now, alk is 8.25 but hanna said 8.6. Cal and mg also low. Might need to recalibrate. So need to find some to buy. I have 1 left.

What do you mean configured. It's testing lol's. Also have the DOS awc going. Going to do 3 gal a day which is 22 gal a week or 10%.

what I have to do is program all the feeds and equipment. Most are just "on".

I work tue-Fri and then 30--3rd. Ugh! Most are half days though

Are you calibrating from your tank or the calibration fluid? If the latter, opt for the former - you'll find it's much more consistent with Hanna (etc.) testing. I meant do you have a DOS hooked up for alkalinity, calcium and magnesium dosing. If you do you can influence the amount to maintain specified parameters.

Susan Edwards · May 23, 2022

so as I figured, numbers not so bad this morning. no3 is 3 and po4 is .2 which is high. Adding rowaphos to the phosguard. Doing a 3 gal awc every day to equal 10% per week. Unless numbers all drop.

trident is at 8.25 but hanna is at 8.6. Cal is 376 and mg 1388. Need to calibrate again but need more solution. Have 1 but don't want to use it yet. Hard to find to buy!

going to build a trap for those damsels so I can get more fish! Oh, in my 40gal observation tank, had the little clown go floor surfing. Tank has lid but he managed a slim gap! Thinking whether to get another or trade the one left in

blaxsun · May 23, 2022

Susan Edwards said:
so as I figured, numbers not so bad this morning. no3 is 3 and po4 is .2 which is high. Adding rowaphos to the phosguard. Doing a 3 gal awc every day to equal 10% per week. Unless numbers all drop.

trident is at 8.25 but hanna is at 8.6. Cal is 376 and mg 1388. Need to calibrate again but need more solution. Have 1 but don't want to use it yet. Hard to find to buy!

going to build a trap for those damsels so I can get more fish! Oh, in my 40gal observation tank, had the little clown go floor surfing. Tank has lid but he managed a slim gap! Thinking whether to get another or trade the one left in

Ditch the Neptune calibration solution - it's notoriously inaccurate. Just use tank water for the sample and manually calibrate using your test results, then compare the Trident with new test results every 1-2 weeks. Mine barely drifts...

Susan Edwards · May 23, 2022

blaxsun said:
Ditch the Neptune calibration solution - it's notoriously inaccurate. Just use tank water for the sample and manually calibrate using your test results, then compare the Trident with new test results every 1-2 weeks. Mine barely drifts...

Okay, so you calibrate with tank water, see what the trident says and then use that for the n umbers? I think you have to put the numbers in first?

blaxsun · May 23, 2022

Susan Edwards said:
Okay, so you calibrate with tank water, see what the trident says and then use that for the n umbers? I think you have to put the numbers in first?

Leave the Trident sample line (black) in your sump, perform your Hanna (etc.) tests, click on the modules icon, select the Trident and then under configuration click the "Perform Calibration" box. Then manually enter your test results and wait roughly an hour for the Trident to recalibrate. Then throw out all your Neptune Trident calibration fluid...

Susan Edwards · May 23, 2022

I will do this! I'm eagerly waiting for the hanna mg test. Wish they had a simpler ca test

Susan Edwards · May 24, 2022

Not sure why my sump level rises when the overflow is right at top of the pipes. I am doing an awc but that is equal in and out. Drives me nuts! I think until I get it sorted, I'll do my awc every other day to let water level for sure. 5% a week should be okay if my no3 stays below 10

Spent part of the day checking tank and really looking at corals. All seem much happier. The green pavona is "hairy" again and even from my desk I can see it flowing. The tenitus has PE as do the other acros. 1 of the monti's has a white border which means it is growing and the sunset? also has some white. All the pocilipora nice and full. Feed the sun corals and the duncan and hammer last night and all happy right now

Not sure what this one is. But the growth from just a "piece" to now is a wow!