UNS R90 Mixed Reef Build

[Justfebreezeit]

Your phosphate will be 0 most likely and thats ok.

Once you start feeding fish it will be in your system.

 

[eggyplantz]

Your phosphate will be 0 most likely and thats ok.

Once you start feeding fish it will be in your system.

Cool, really appreciate all the help. I'm hoping the bacteria have been multiplying sufficiently such that the ammonia/nitrites will clear relatively soon and I can get a fish or two in within a few weeks.

 

[Greenycrew]

Yea no it was/is definitely a ride on the struggle bus for me. I've gotta figure out a way to make it less fussy because every time I turn off the pump/close the overflow valve it takes forever to rebalance. Maybe @UNS_Brandon has some tips?

I also realized last night after losing about 6L of ATO water into the sump when I needed to turn off the pump briefly and close the return gate that there's nothing stopping the ATO from just draining all in there if the water level drops suddenly (and I forget to close the ato line valve). So today I'm buying a Hydros solenoid valve for the ATO line and a water level sensor to hopefully avoid that in the future.

Also, did you have trouble fitting the cover of the return chamber on once the pump was installed? The thickness of the tube added enough that I couldn't get it into the slot without forcing it. I'm gonna take a dremmel and shave about 1/8" off the sides of the slot but just haven't gotten around to it yet. May be worth investigating a different tubing thickness first if you didn't have this issue.

 

[Greenycrew]

Yea no it was/is definitely a ride on the struggle bus for me. I've gotta figure out a way to make it less fussy because every time I turn off the pump/close the overflow valve it takes forever to rebalance. Maybe @UNS_Brandon has some tips?

I also realized last night after losing about 6L of ATO water into the sump when I needed to turn off the pump briefly and close the return gate that there's nothing stopping the ATO from just draining all in there if the water level drops suddenly (and I forget to close the ato line valve). So today I'm buying a Hydros solenoid valve for the ATO line and a water level sensor to hopefully avoid that in the future.

Also, did you have trouble fitting the cover of the return chamber on once the pump was installed? The thickness of the tube added enough that I couldn't get it into the slot without forcing it. I'm gonna take a dremmel and shave about 1/8" off the sides of the slot but just haven't gotten around to it yet. May be worth investigating a different tubing thickness first if you didn't have this issue.

I just set mine up today as well. Cover over return flex tubing is really tight as well. On prior r90 builds looks like return pvc was longer and union with flexible tubing was below the return cover slot. With the change to the union above the cover the flex pipe no longer fits easily like the pvc would have. I guess the change does make servicing the pump a bit easier. Did you wind up dremeling the cover? I can get mine to fit with a little force and not sure it’s worth to modify the cover.

 

[eggyplantz]

I just set mine up today as well. Cover over return flex tubing is really tight as well. On prior r90 builds looks like return pvc was longer and union with flexible tubing was below the return cover slot. With the change to the union above the cover the flex pipe no longer fits easily like the pvc would have. I guess the change does make servicing the pump a bit easier. Did you wind up dremeling the cover? I can get mine to fit with a little force and not sure it’s worth to modify the cover.

Mine was so tight that it was actually causing it to flex and leak water up at the top, so I just didn't feel comfortable having to flex it like that every time I take the cover off. It's been cycling so I haven't really had to access it much but the Dremel will still be what I do when I get to it.

 

[Greenycrew]

Mine was so tight that it was actually causing it to flex and leak water up at the top, so I just didn't feel comfortable having to flex it like that every time I take the cover off. It's been cycling so I haven't really had to access it much but the Dremel will still be what I do when I get to it.

Took the leap with the dremel. Very easy and now fits as it should….

 

[eggyplantz]

Took the leap with the dremel. Very easy and now fits as it should….

Great to know! I'll have to take care of it once I figure out where the Dremel box is lol

 

[eggyplantz]

For better or worse, the room where my system has been cooking away recently hosted a bunch of surprise plumbing work unrelated to the tank. The good news for me is that this means everything's been sealed in plastic doing its thing for the last couple of weeks and I haven't had to think too much about it. Ammonia seems to be down to near zero after testing this weekend (need my partner who sees colors correctly to verify the exact shade) so I believe I'm ready to start planning the next steps.

The chaeto in my refugium has grown remarkably well in the last couple of weeks considering I haven't dosed any nitrates and there's nothing major in there to feed it.

First thing to do that I've been putting off is to get my quarantine setup ready, so that will likely be this week's project. Then I think I'm going to go the classic route of adding a pair of clowns.

Second, I need to figure out once and for all my dosing components and whether I will in fact be using the Triton elements. I think as of now that's still my preferred route, so I'll probably get the tests sent off soon.

Third, I'm seriously considering a BTA down the line to host the clownfish. I've seen all kinds of perspectives as to when this is appropriate. Some say to do it before corals so it can find a place it likes. Some say wait a year, some say wait 6 months, and inevitably some say they put one straight in and it's doing great. So we'll see what I end up doing.

In general system updates, I'm struggling to dial in the heat settings on the Hydros to keep it in a more stable range with no spikes, so that's another project for this week. I'm sure I have some settings wrong but just need to do trial and error.

I've also noticed that despite the system being sealed, the water levels slightly changed just enough that the overflow is pretty loud where it was mostly silent before. It doesn't look like there is too much evaporation so I need to fiddle with the gate valve again. I also need to get the ATO hooked back up after the accidental dumping incident a few weeks ago since the whole thing is unsealed again now.

Much to do as usual but happy to be nearing more exciting milestones.

 

[eggyplantz]

Another Monday update. I'm gonna try to be a little more consistent for anyone keeping up.

I spent the weekend doing some research and getting a few housekeeping items done around the setup. I'm ordering the Triton elements and testing kits this week to start dialing in my parameters for corals. Otherwise, I'm ready for other inhabitants!

I stopped into my LFS and bought a 9 gallon UNS AIO (Model 45A) for my quarantine setup. This should serve me well and the peninsula style fits perfectly on a bookshelf across the room from my setup. It will soon have its own Kraken lid and I'll use some seeded biomedia from my main setup to get it going shortly.

Regarding quarantine, I've really gone back and forth with how I want to address it for the initial residents. For the first clownfish pair, I think I'll be getting them pre-quarantined from Ocean Devotion up in Los Angeles because I can go up there in person (I think) and he has some beautiful long fin clowns. For everything after the first clown pair, I'm going to do the full quarantine using my own system.

I've begun to see some algae populating the DT and areas of the sump/refugium, which is expected. The chaeto has grown so much that I'll definitely need to cut a big chunk out this week, so I'm pleased with its performance so far. I'm planning to add a clean up crew shortly now that there is stuff to feed them in the DT with the new algae forming. I'm planning to get those guys from Inverted Reef because of their quarantine procedures.

For corals, I'm lucky to have several great LFS in the city with beautiful corals that are well priced so it's just a matter of getting the parameters correct before I can let myself get too excited about that.

I joined @Greenycrew (finally) in using a Dremel to get my rear return pump chamber cover to fit better and I don't know why I waited so long. Definitely recommended to anyone else having issues with tightness at the return line.

Onward and upward!

 

[eggyplantz]

Photo update even though not that much is happening. The ball of chaeto chilling and slowly spinning 24/7 is a bit mesmerizing. It's impossible to see in the photos but there's a nice dusting of random algae on the rocks, sand, and pebbles in the DT that will make some nice foundation food for the CUC incoming soon.

Also wanted to mention that I've been really pleased with the Tunze refugium light you see down there. Magnetic mount, multiple ways to configure it with the clever mounting bracket, and most importantly submersible. It's worked very well, as you can see from the size of the ball. It was about the size of a grapefruit when I got it a few weeks back. The light is currently set to come on at night and turn off during the day. I need to probably slightly lower the on time since it's growing so fast.

A slight strategy pivot: I was misunderstanding dosing (saltwater newb problems) and was way ahead of myself there. Had a very helpful chat with my LFS yesterday where they suggested beginning with CUC and some true soft corals to begin for a few months and move up into dosing as needed with water testing. I originally called to find out if they had ICP test kits and in the conversation realized I was ahead of myself and stressing over things that I didn't need to for my level.

SO, with that in mind this weekend's focus will be doing the full battery of tests and getting the lighting schedule sorted since it's been off almost the whole time. Then I'm going to swing through my LFS to grab some some clean up guys and maybe a small soft coral or two and we'll be finally building the reef proper.

Fun times ahead, happy Friday Eve to all.

 

[Nan.roti]

Set up looks great! Can't wait to see it filled with fish and coral!

 

[Greenycrew]

Were you able to hook up the tunze refugium light to a drive port? It is next on my list but I am really trying to eliminate power adapters.

 

[eggyplantz]

Were you able to hook up the tunze refugium light to a drive port? It is next on my list but I am really trying to eliminate power adapters.

That was my original plan but unfortunately the Hydros adapter cable male plug was ever so slightly too big for the Tunze cable's port. I ended up putting the Tunze on Outlet 1 of the WiFi 4-outlet unit.

That small brick and my two heaters are the only normal plugs I had to accommodate inside the stand. Dosing pump, main pump, flow pumps, and everything else was able to be plugged straight into various Hydros modules.

 

[Greenycrew]

I may try an adapter then. I already have a tunze submersible light on my other tank and will see if any of these fit.
Same boat as you. Only have my heaters hooked up to launch for now. I thought I would need more ac outlets and bought an xp8. May be getting rid of it as I was able to integrate almost everything.

 

[eggyplantz]

Definitely, and please let me know if any of those work because I was irritated when that didn't go to plan lol. It doesn't really matter functionally, I just find it satisfying filling up the Hydros ports and hate how bulky the bricks get.

And yea when I was planning my system I had a hard time figuring out what the xp8 would accomplish in my setup that the much cheaper 4 outlet wifi guy wouldn't, other than power monitoring at each outlet which I don't feel like I need. I also found the added USB outlets in the 4 outlet to be pretty useful. Otherwise there's no USB plug accommodations that I'm aware of in the Hydros system.

Out of curiosity, do you also have the Kraken? I've had some trouble getting my lead acid battery hooked up to it because of the differing terminal types. Curious if you have any thoughts.

 

[Greenycrew]

My preference for the xp8 and launch 4 had to deal with a physical bus connection over WiFi only. I am very hesitant regarding complete control of outlets over WiFi especially for critical equipment such as heaters. I may be wrong in this regard. I do not have a kraken.

 

[eggyplantz]

My preference for the xp8 and launch 4 had to deal with a physical bus connection over WiFi only. I am very hesitant regarding complete control of outlets over WiFi especially for critical equipment such as heaters. I may be wrong in this regard. I do not have a kraken.

Fair enough, that makes sense. I was a bit hesitant to have them be wifi controlled as well but we'll see how it goes.

 

[eggyplantz]

Finally a more fun Monday update: this weekend I added some life to the DT in the form of 10 little hermit crabs and a handful of soft corals from my LFS.

The crabs made themselves immediately at home and it's been fun watching them go on adventures all over the rockwork. The corals seem to all be happy, getting full extension during the day before closing at night. One toadstool leather is being a bit shy but I understand those are somewhat temperamental and moody anyway. We'll see how it does.

I also began adding copepods and phytoplankton into the system this weekend and I hope they'll begin populating the live rock in the sump as well as the chaeto ball spinning away in the refugium.

On the subject of the refugium, I've decided to go ahead and add miracle mud to the bottom to give more substrate for beneficials to populate. I'm going to try and get that in tonight or tomorrow.

The UNS 45A AIO that I'll be using for my quarantine tank is in its final location. Just need to order a few additional pieces for that system and it'll be ready to roll. We're going out of town in a few weeks so I'm hopeful I can get the cycle for the quarantine tank completed by then. I'd like to get my first few fish into quarantine when I get back.

Pics of the new residents coming soon!

 

[Greenycrew]

That was my original plan but unfortunately the Hydros adapter cable male plug was ever so slightly too big for the Tunze cable's port. I ended up putting the Tunze on Outlet 1 of the WiFi 4-outlet unit.

That small brick and my two heaters are the only normal plugs I had to accommodate inside the stand. Dosing pump, main pump, flow pumps, and everything else was able to be plugged straight into various Hydros

 

[Greenycrew]

I used the 5.5 by 2.5 fork adapter and refugium light works direct drive.