Time for a Re-Boot

[joe0813]

Mee too, but ... There is always 2026...
Maybe Orlando? Who knows .. i could use an East Coast trip... Maybe @revhtree would be conned into coming out to the West Coast if I poke the bear a bit in Orlando...

I think rap needs a Boston show instead of NY this year

 

[ndrwater]

My aluminum extrusions were delivered today...
Not to my house, but one of the local FedEx locations... Welp... Apparently tomorrow I'll pick em up because, to quote @Paul B , my supermodel wife wanted some adult beverages with her apparently very appealing reefer nerd husband which delayed the lights install a day...
Till tomorrow....

 

[Daniel@R2R Verified Admin]

My aluminum extrusions were delivered today...
Not to my house, but one of the local FedEx locations... Welp... Apparently tomorrow I'll pick em up because, to quote @Paul B , my supermodel wife wanted some adult beverages with her apparently very appealing reefer nerd husband which delayed the lights install a day...
Till tomorrow....

Sounds like a great reason to delay! Haha!

 

[ndrwater]

Ever wonder what a 100 gallon water change looks like?

 

[ndrwater]

So... As i have been plugging away at this re-re-boot, a couple things I never thought of have popped up... For example, being a FOWLR for the last few years, and me being about a diligent as a kindergartner, my Nitrate was..... Um ..... Lets just say unacceptable...
Thanks to by shiny new high range Nitrate tester, I am now fully aware of this oversight.. today i take step one in rectifying this issue... We'll see if the Hanna registers anything other than ABORT!!! after this water change...

 

[ndrwater]

Welp..... At least its not flashing and choking itself anymore, but ... Apparently i have work to do ..
Gonna prep another 100 gallons for tomorrow....

Oh... And the aluminum extrusion finally ahowed up at the local FedEx... Good thing i paid extra to have it delivered to my house ... C'est la vie . Light upgrade post coming soon...

 

[ndrwater]

#2 100 gallon water change done....
Good thing I hold a lot of RODI in reserve...
I am running low on salt though..
As soon as things settle a little bit, I'll test again...
Next are the lights!!!

 

[Daniel@R2R Verified Admin]

I think large water changes are likely in my future on the big reef as well. It's been operating on algae filtration for the entirety of its existence.

Here's to 2026 being a year of finally getting to these reboot operations.

 

[ndrwater]

Tested after water change #1 and I was at 71ppm... After #2 51ppm... Still lots of work to do, but if my math maths correctly, I was +/- 150ppm before the water changes... Ill take the >100ppm reduction in Nitrate.
Maybe its just because I spent 3+ hours doing water changes, but the corals already seem happier...

 

[ndrwater]

On the evergrowing list of things to do/have done was replacing the old Ph probes... Unfortunately, of the two I ordered, one was unable to calibrate right out of the box. The other was just fine.
The one that was defective, would calibrate at 7.0 no problem, but wouldn't calibrate at either the low end of 4.0 nor the high end at 10.0. its going back..
So for now, the CaRx is off line which is a bummer, but we'll get there ..
Lights are being worked on as I type.. Updates with pics to follow soon.

 

[ndrwater]

Okay... Lots happened..
New lights are in.. photos below.. i made new hang tabs with the extrusion i found thanks to my buddy @IvanW . Worked out great . I have finally set the intensity and on/off timer and acclimation period in the app. Seriously no thanks to the app which is... How do i say this diplomatically....
Garbage..
I still need to run the cords anywhere else than down the front as they are now. I had to have the cords out because the ONLY place the Serial number is on the cord to the unit not on the light, not the box.. the cord.. so when setting the individual lighs I needed to know which was which. The good news is that i have reset the "name" to each light and now will know which is which for later adjustments..
Now for the bad news... My CBB died... Zero explanation why. 2 days ago happy healthy front row eating anything I put in the tank.. yesterday, no signs of wanting to eat, today, he's gone...
Keep in mind I have had this fish in my tank for +/- 3 years at this point. Not a mark on him... Just gone...
I am usually pretty good at keeping CBB's with a long history of success.
Let this be a lesson to anybody new reading this . Sometimes, things just happen no matter how experienced, or not, you are ..
I really hate losing fish.. i always plan to have them long term. This one stings..
More updates on the way soon..

 

[joe0813]

Okay... Lots happened..
New lights are in.. photos below.. i made new hang tabs with the extrusion i found thanks to my buddy @IvanW . Worked out great . I have finally set the intensity and on/off timer and acclimation period in the app. Seriously no thanks to the app which is... How do i say this diplomatically....
Garbage..
I still need to run the cords anywhere else than down the front as they are now. I had to have the cords out because the ONLY place the Serial number is on the cord to the unit not on the light, not the box.. the cord.. so when setting the individual lighs I needed to know which was which. The good news is that i have reset the "name" to each light and now will know which is which for later adjustments..
Now for the bad news... My CBB died... Zero explanation why. 2 days ago happy healthy front row eating anything I put in the tank.. yesterday, no signs of wanting to eat, today, he's gone...
Keep in mind I have had this fish in my tank for +/- 3 years at this point. Not a mark on him... Just gone...
I am usually pretty good at keeping CBB's with a long history of success.
Let this be a lesson to anybody new reading this . Sometimes, things just happen no matter how experienced, or not, you are ..
I really hate losing fish.. i always plan to have them long term. This one stings..
More updates on the way soon..

Lights look good and i probably missed it but what are they? Bummer about the CBB

 

[ndrwater]

Lights look good and i probably missed it but what are they? Bummer about the CBB

Maxspect Ethereal Infinite E8-230
So far, the PAR seems to be higher than the Radions at a similar intensity. Also, being a bigger fixture, the spread is pretty good. I did some very preliminary PAR readings just to get a feel for where I wanted to set the initial intensity so I didn't nuke the corals. I ended up at 40% adjusting to 50% in acclimation mode over 7 days. Granted my Radions are older, but at 40% on the Maxspects, i was matching PAR on what was 70% on the Radions.
I will also say that at the default 100%, Im surprised I didn't burn a hole through not only my tank, but through the core of the planet as well. To say they are bright at 100% would be a vast understatement.

 

[ndrwater]

Because this is what needs to happen to get nitrates down .. i have gone through a ton of DI resin to get this far .. talking to my car wash guy, I may install a commercial RODI ststem... I pay more for DI resin than he pays to rent his whole system...ill update if that happens...
So, officially down to.......29....
Getting there....
For my next trick, I need to fugure out a way to hide these light cords...

 

[ndrwater]

Today was the last BIG water change for a while (I hope)
Got the Nitrates back into an acceptable level..Alk is a little high, but ill live with it . Added some CUC thanks to @joeoliver. Getting some new nubs off the corals and I THINK I am starting to see a bit more color in the corals.. Getting there ..

 

[joe0813]

I need to figure out mine too. algae is soaking up all the nutrients and making the coral/nems angry

 

[ndrwater]

Now on the next big thing since becoming a reef again ..
So in case you didn't know, frozen food has a LOT of phosphate... I used to feed heavy back in the FOWLR days .. paying the price now. I just installed a GFO reactor because this is the numbers I am working with AFTER those big wayer changes ..
Thankfully, GFO works well... Well see how long this takes to get to a reasonable number...

 

[ndrwater]

positive progress since last night...
I think i'll ride this horse a bit longer before going down the LC route.
Been doing a bunch if reading and there are lots of positives for LC, but also a lot of not so positive issues.
Almost ALL of the warnings on ALL the products out there day not to dose the main display.
Was also reading some stuff from @Randy Holmes-Farley Farley and he has a polymer that is a competitor to LC . Not sure if its available for reef tank applications

We'll see .. i may refresh the GFO in my reactor later today to keep maximum efficiency

 

[ndrwater]

Down to 1.33 today... Been 24 hours since the last test.
This is down almost a full point in two days ..
Think im gonna stick to the GFO...

 

[ndrwater]

Down to 1.11 today...
Didn't take a pic because i am slightly slow..
The reality is I was still working and on the phone when the results were done ...
You'll all have to believe me