The Upgrade Build... From 110 to 180

[Dj City]

I have an extra ro/di canister, cartridge, top and correct fittings here at the house so I don't "have to buy" a co2 scrubber. I pretty much have one already.
I bought the scrubber media (icecap) from BRS and once it arrives, I will hook it up and see if co2 scrubbing has any effect on my ph, corals and reef.
If it does raise the ph slightly and stabilize ph at night to where I don't have that dip down to 7.8 then I can think of getting a bigger one.

My Red Sea Trace Colors came in yesterday. I got the small 100lm bottles to start. Again, I did not want to get the big bottles of this stuff if it really doesn't do anything special.
I drilled the holes into the caps of the bottles and ran the lines to the doser. I'm going to start off with 1ml per day and monitor the reef.

I also hooked up my 2nd jeabo wifi 3.4 doser. I have one jeabo doser dedicated to the red sea trace colors A, B, C, and D. The other will pull amino acids, hydrogen Peroxide, bottled bacteria (if I can find some that does not need to be shaken before dosing) and the last dosing head will be open for whatever I might need in the future.
(EDIT)
I purchased a magnetic stirrer. I have one opening left on my Apex so I can program the stirrer to turn on like 2 minutes before dosing time then turn back off.

This is all a big experiment as I'm trying to get the reef from Good to Great. I really don't see a downside if this does not work out.

I'm going to take pics of the sump with the two dosers installed.

What do y'all think?

 

[Dj City]

Everything is up and running except for the bacteria and co2 scrubber.
I'm waiting on the media for the scrubber and waiting on the magnetic stirrer for the bacteria.

I'm going to have to figure out how to get my apex to shut down the skimmer and UV light for a few hours when I dose the bacteria. Good thing this is something doable.

I am dosing 2little fishes Acropower as that does not need to be shaken before use. I was using Brightwell CoralAmino but it says it needs to be shaken well before use.

Here are pics of my sump setup..

 

[Dj City]

Good news...
Fom Brightwell's site:

Using a Doser: Coral Amino works well in most dosers. Even though we recommend shaking the bottle before use, this product stays dissolved quite well and it usually isn't necessary to stir during automatic dosing. The biggest pitfall of using an automatic doser is keeping the product fresh. Because it is basically a protein, it can rot if the preservatives are diluted, so it is best to use in a doser at full strength. If you dilute it, the preservatives will be diluted and may not keep the product fresh. If you dilute it, pay special attention to foul odors. If they occur, then rotting is occuring and you must discontinue dilution. Also, the holding vessel and tubing should be washed and rinsed well once a week or so to prevent bacteria build up. Hydrogen Peroxide (3% from a drug store) will work well as a cleaning fluid. Soak the vessel with full strength hydrogen peroxide and fill the lines with it occasionally to kill any bacteria and clean the system. You can also run it through the pump. If a little H2O2 gets into your aquarium, it won't hurt anything.

Now all I have to do is find a liquid Coral food I can put on a doser.

 

[Dj City]

I'm still moving corals to permanent spots within the rockwork. I have taken my sweet time doing so but I think it's gonna be worth it.

I have been dosing Brightwell's "Replenish" trace elements for the past few months. I have not been consistent with it.
I have been dosing a combo of Brightwell's "CoralAmino" and alternating that with 2Little Fishes "Acropower" but again, I have not been consistent with it.

This past Saturday, just 5 days ago, I put the 2Little Fishes Acropower on the doser and I'm dosing 6ml per day. 3ml at 8am and 3ml at 8pm.
The change inside of just 5 days is really amazing!
My nitrates have gone down from 5ppm to 2ppm and my phosphates have gone down from 0.12 - 0.16ppm to 0.04ppm.
My alk and cal consumption have increased. I just had to up my dose from 25ml a day to 26ml a day and I will probably have to increase that even more but I will do that slowly as I monitor the consumption.
This is crazy but I'm happy with it. It means my corals are growing!

Red Sea Trace Colors just started dosing yesterday so it's waaaaaay to early to tell if it will be beneficial but I will be taking pics to see.
I have to pick a spot for the camera to be every time I take a pic of a coral or two to focus on. That should let me know how the corals are responding to the recent changes.

The magnetic stirrer arrives tomorrow so I will be able to start dosing the bacteria via dosing pump.
I don't know what's going on with BRS because my Co2 scrubber media has not even shipped yet.

Once I have EVERYTHING hooked up and running, I will try to take pics of key corals to see their progression.

 

[Janci]

Great update.
You are dosing and adding new things all at once. I do not think it will hurt, but to see where results are coming from, its not bad to take more time.
Happy to see exploded growth and colours soon

 

[Dj City]

Great update.
You are dosing and adding new things all at once. I do not think it will hurt, but to see where results are coming from, its not bad to take more time.
Happy to see exploded growth and colours soon

Thank you Janci

The Peroxide and bacteria dosing is a continuation of what I was doing before to combat whatever I was dealing with.
Regular bacteria dosing is a good thing on its own since the corals and skimmer deplete Bacteria. I'm using a combo of Microbacter7 and Dr Tim's Eco Balance so it's not just "tank starter" bacteria.
Peroxide dosing is good on it's own for its oxygenation, boost in ORP and fighting "uglies".
Trace Colors is just a detailed approach to dosing trace elements. I don't do water changes so I have to dose trace elements.
Dosing Amino acids is always a good thing for the corals!
The Co2 scrubber should help with Ph.
I average 7.93 but I would like to get to an average of 8.3 or 8.4. Coral growth pretty much doubles in that Ph range.

I am having success without these things but imagine what the reef could be like with these benefits..

 

[Dj City]

So...

I'm upgrading my Co2 scrubber even before I get it started.

I have an old Aquatop MR-30 media reactor. I've decided to use the Aquatop media reactor as my Co2 scrubber and the BRS canister as a moisture chamber for the Co2 scrubber.

It's going to be a recirculating design.
The Co2 scrubber will output into the skimmers silencer. There will be a tube going from the lid of the skimmer to the intake of the BRS canister. The canister will be filled about half way with water to provide moisture to the Co2 scrubber and to catch any condensation build up. The outlet of the BRS canister will go to the inlet of the Co2 scrubber creating a recirculating designed Co2 scrubber.

I will have my Apex shut the skimmer down if my Ph raises too high.. I think I will set it to shut down if Ph goes above 8.6

I will also be programming my Apex to shut the skimmer and UV Sterilizer light off for 4 hours from when I dose the bacteria, Aminos and Trace elements.
The Apex will also be programmed to turn the magnetic stirrer on 1 minute before dosing bacteria and off once bacteria has dosed.

This should be a fun little project and it should keep my reef VERY stable.

Pics will come when I have it all hooked up and running along with regular updates on how it's all working and updated pics of key corals to compare growth and coloration as it progresses.

Wish me luck!

 

[Dj City]

I'm just waiting on the Co2 scrubber media to arrive. Once it gets here, I will be all set up and ready to go.

I have all my dosing up and running.
I have the Co2 scrubber hooked up to the skimmer in a recirculating configuration.
I have my Apex programmed to turn magnetic stirrer on for 1 minute before dosing bacteria and it will also shut down the skimmer and UV Sterilizer light for 4 hours then turn both back on.
I also have my Apex programmed to shut the skimmer down if my Ph goes above 8.5

I really hope this Co2 scrubber does what I believe it will do.

 

[Dj City]

These are the 3 corals I will be using to track progress.
I have marked the tank so I know where to place the camera. All pics should be pretty much the same day after day.

Aug 13, 2021

Let's see how these 3 corals progress.

 

[Dj City]

Ok...
Everything is up and running.

Co2 scrubber media arrived last night and I set the scrubber up this morning about 30 minutes ago.
My Ph was 7.81 and in the past 30 minutes of gone up to 7.91

I'm going to check on it again a little later and report back.

(EDIT)
10am Ph has gone up to 8.03
(EDIT)
11am Ph is now at 8.06
(EDIT)
1PM Ph is now at 8.1
(EDIT)
3PM Ph is now 8.15

Pics to come!

 

[TheWB]

Ok...
Everything is up and running.

Co2 scrubber media arrived last night and I set the scrubber up this morning about 30 minutes ago.
My Ph was 7.81 and in the past 30 minutes of gone up to 7.91

I'm going to check on it again a little later and report back.

(EDIT)
10am Ph has gone up to 8.03
(EDIT)
11am Ph is now at 8.06
(EDIT)
1PM Ph is now at 8.1

Pics to come!

That’s great. Love it when things actually work as intended.

 

[Dj City]

Progress pics

Aug 17, 2021

 

[Dj City]

I need to pick a consistent time to take these progress pics to make sure the lights are at the same intensity for every pic.

On a different note...
I don't know if I feel dumb for making this mistake or smart for finding the mistake and correcting it.
I had my Co2 scrubber hooked up backwards. I had the output and input inverted. Co2 scrubber still worked (kind of) but I was in real danger of getting the media wet and It was not being efficient at all.
So...
I corrected the mistake this morning.

Let's see where this takes me as far as Ph.

I will report what happens.

 

[Dj City]

By this evening at 7pm, Ph has reached 8.22

I'm moving in the right direction!

 

[Janci]

I need to pick a consistent time to take these progress pics to make sure the lights are at the same intensity for every pic.

On a different note...
I don't know if I feel dumb for making this mistake or smart for finding the mistake and correcting it.
I had my Co2 scrubber hooked up backwards. I had the output and input inverted. Co2 scrubber still worked (kind of) but I was in real danger of getting the media wet and It was not being efficient at all.
So...
I corrected the mistake this morning.

Let's see where this takes me as far as Ph.

I will report what happens.

Consider it a smart move.
Many would find out when the media is wet already

 

[Dj City]

I'm about to add the final additive to the reef very soon.
I want to add kalkwasser to help Ph as well as allow me to tone down my use of 2 part.

I just have to figure out my delivery system and what dose to use.
I won't use my ATO and i'm not planning on using a walk reactor. I would like to simply use a container and the last head on my dosing pump to get the job done.

Any of you use Kalkwasser? If so, can you point me in the right direction?

 

[Dj City]

So after debating with myself and just ONE time of shaking/mixing a 6 gallon jug of kalk and ro/di, I bit the bullet and ordered the Avast Marine K2 kalk stirrer.

I'm going to have my neptune dos run it.

Telling the truth...
I'm NEVER going to try to mix kalk in a container again.
That was a real workout!
I would rather have the kalk stirrer do it for me and just add more kalk when needed.

Only good thing about doing the kalk in the 6gal jug is it will let me know about how much to dose once the kalk stirrer arrives.

 

[Dj City]

My kalk reactor arrives later today.
so far, Using kalkwasser has let me drop my 2 part dose in half. I was dosing 30ml of B-ionic 2 part and more I'm down to 15ml a day.

I still can't get my Ph up consistently though. I might have a Ph probe issue.
I'm getting Ph calibration fluid delivered today along with another Ph probe. I will calibrate both the new probe and the old one and see what I get.
The new probe is a Milwaukie probe I got from Amazon. It's a double junction probe but it's not their best probe. It should work good enough to Lee me know where I'm at.

 

[Dj City]

Progress pics
Aug 27, 2021

Corals are definitely coloring up!
Don't know if they are growing yet. Time will tell.
That's the reason for the progress pics.

 

[Dj City]

I got the new ph probe and the calibration fluid.
Calibrated the new probe and recalibrated the old one...
Probes are reading accurately.

I still can't get my ph up to where I want it.
I can't figure out what's keeping it capped pretty much at 8.12 or so.

Co2 reactor is not really providing the boost I was looking for and neither is the kalkwasser.
I tested the kalkwasser water and it's ph is 12.5 so I don't understand why the reef doesn't get above 8.12 - 8.15

What could be going on?