Reefer 250 build

[tenurepro]

Originally Posted by msquires

Nice looking Wrasse!

Thanks!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[North Borders]

Originally Posted by tenurepro

Also regarding the mp10s - they do work on the side. You have to ease them into operation first time and whenever you clean the wet side. Mount them and run them on constant for 40% or so for an hour, then crank them up as high as you want. If your put them on a high setting right away, the wet side will spin...

Like the radion question - how much flow you need is a function of the corals you plan to keep. 2 mp10s will be enough for softies and LPS. For sps, you aim to run at least 40x system volume per hour. You have to run both mp10s at above 80% to get that flow through. I don't have issues with the mp10s running at 80% or above with the reefer. If you have 2 x mp40s, then you would need to run them much lower % to get the same flow.

If you are starting from scratch, then maybe consider mp40s which would serve you well if you upgrade in the future. For me, I already had an mp10 for my nano and I picked up a second used for for a good deal.

- ps just saw that you have two mp10s now... I would stick with them, they WILL work on the reefer 250
https://youtu.be/Jg0e1fEbIRQ

You can always decide to upgrade later, but the mp10s will be good for up to 50x turnover on a reefer 250.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Thanks for that info! I have a bunch of SPS so I might need to do the mp40's after all. My mp10's are newer so I could probably get most of their value back out in a classified on the forums.

I'm starting to lean heavily towards 2 XR15's as that would seem to give much better spread and I could do a "two island" rock scape with sps on the tops of the mounds.

[tenurepro]

Originally Posted by North Borders

Thanks for that info! I have a bunch of SPS so I might need to do the mp40's after all. My mp10's are newer so I could probably get most of their value back out in a classified on the forums.



I'm starting to lean heavily towards 2 XR15's as that would seem to give much better spread and I could do a "two island" rock scape with sps on the tops of the mounds.

Sounds like a good plan; you can always add a third light in the future. But 2 xr15 is a better option than 1 xr30 imho


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[tenurepro]

Little update and follow up post chemiclean treatment
https://youtu.be/_8BuLOrPSqo
In brief: po4 increased from undetectable to 0.03 10 days post chemiclean treatment. Noticing a bit of red cyano on rocks and sand and GHA on rocks. Seems the chemiclean did an nuisance algae re-rest in my tank
Decided to use my fuge to export the excess nutrients.
Got a ball of chaeto and upgraded my light on the fuge from a really cheap LED bar to this 5000k 17w Phillips par38 led. Hoping this will do the trick



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[mystikal]

Originally Posted by tenurepro

Little update and follow up post chemiclean treatment
https://youtu.be/_8BuLOrPSqo
In brief: po4 increased from undetectable to 0.03 10 days post chemiclean treatment. Noticing a bit of red cyano on rocks and sand and GHA on rocks. Seems the chemiclean did an nuisance algae re-rest in my tank
Decided to use my fuge to export the excess nutrients.
Got a ball of chaeto and upgraded my light on the fuge from a really cheap LED bar to this 5000k 17w Phillips par38 led. Hoping this will do the trick



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I see you picked it up! Start feeding your cheato, zooplankton, or reefsnow, heavy feeding also helps...after you figure out how to control the po4


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[tenurepro]

Originally Posted by mystikal

I see you picked it up! Start feeding your cheato, zooplankton, or reefsnow, heavy feeding also helps...after you figure out how to control the po4


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Yeah thanks for the tip - works great. I removed the hood because the par38 light is pretty directional. I'll wait and see how the GHA situation develops in the display. It's actually looking pretty manageable. I feed three times a day, and reefroids once a week


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[neiltus]

Nice pick with the BK mini...love mine...easy to set, rarely adjust or tinker other than cleaning. The neck scrubbing top is a cool addition.

[tenurepro]

Originally Posted by neiltus

Nice pick with the BK mini...love mine...easy to set, rarely adjust or tinker other than cleaning. The neck scrubbing top is a cool addition.

Yeah I am thinking of getting the fancy German neck cleaner for it


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[tenurepro]

So my nitrates have dropped to zero (undetectable). This coincided with adding chaeto & upgrading fuge light, and moving siporax from low flow to high flow


Here is a video with some ideas about how I went from 5 to 0 ppm nitrates
https://youtu.be/M93iPXUgd58

Curious to hear your thoughts on the matter


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[tenurepro]

So tank is now 11 month old. Will try to shoot an update video this weekend.
A bit of cyano persists, also, spotting a few more patches of GHA... decided that i needed a few more herbivores, so picked up a tuxedo urchin and a lawnmower blenny. Also contemplating putting my gfo reactor online. Haven't used it for a few months. Just want to stay on top of nutrient export to give my herbivores a chance to catch up with the GHA.

More positive news. Noticed some good growth and color on sps this past month, coinciding with the addition of a third xr15 to the tank. When I added the new light, I cut down max intensity to the original lights from 72 to 65, and started the new light - which was placed in the center, at 55% max; I didn't want to shock the corals. I've been brining the intensity of the middle light slowly to 65, to match the other two; this will be achieved tomorrow. Then I plan to bring all the lights up by a couple of % per week until I see the best colors.

But even with the reduction in intensity on the original lights, the addition of the third light seems to have helped. Check out these pics (iPhone; cropped but not edited)

Red planet last month, this month




RR pink Cadillac, month 10 vs 11


RR orange passion, month 10 vs 11; note new side branches






Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[tenurepro]

Ora blue voodoo (I think) month 10 vs 11.


Top view of the voodoo from this month; it's getting some very attractive accents in color from bright blue tips to the whitish base


Green slimmer, month 10 vs 11



This slimmer had lost all of its color during nitrate spike 4 month ago... we've come a long way; glad I didn't toss it




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[tenurepro]

Pink milli month 10 vs 11



Shockaholic, month 10 vs 11



And my favorite; the surreal mystery tort





Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[tenurepro]

11 month update video
https://youtu.be/GNkwG15fQZE


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[tenurepro]

Upgraded my fuge light to this kessil h80. Chaeto Growth from the par38 was less than desirable; I think it may have been too strong in the shallow and small dyi fuge.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[mystikal]

looking good! I will have to update my build in the near future.
For the high phosphates, have you tried vodka dosing? I am planning on dosing sporadically to lower my levels.

[tenurepro]

I did some carbon dosing in the form of nopox to reduce nitrates, and that worked really well, but ended up giving me a bacterial bloom. Also it was difficult to dose because it's pretty corrosive, which did a number of my tubing and it evaporated in the dosing lines. So I stopped it. I typically don't have high phosphates. I had a few 0.03 ppm readings a few weeks ago but I think it was measuring errors as I forgot to clean the glass vials and I think i ended up standing them. Chaeto and a bit of gfo seem to be doing the trick so far for phosphate reduction.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[tenurepro]

The nitrate dosing experiment!

Ok... this is going to sound a bit crazy but I am going to dose some nitrates to see if they improve sps color.

I've been developing a love/hate relationship with nitrates. First I tried to run the tank clean with undetectable no3 and po4 and the sps were very pale. Then I overfed and stoped water changes, no3 increased but I kept po4 in check with gfo; sps started coloring up when no3 was between 2 to 5 ppm.
Then tank got too dirty, no3 ~ 10 and my sps turned brown real quick. I implemented a new filtration and water change regime and no3 dropped to 2 - 5 ppm and sps looked as awesome as ever. then had a cyano issue which led to a chemiclean treatment, spike in po4, added chaeto/fuge, and now my nitrates are back to 0 ppm and some of my sps are looking pale.
The hardest hit corals appear to be the ones with a green base and red/pink tips.
For example
Red planet - April 18, 5 ppm nitrate

Red planet today - 0 ppm nitrate


Pink lemonade - April 18, 5 ppm nitrates

Same frag now at 0 ppm no3


SSC - April 18 5 ppm no3

SSC now, 0 ppm no3


Some frags look the same though like this pink milli over the same time period




Note that all frags are growing and showing good polyp extension... it's just the color that is leaving something to be desired

So, solutions to improve color - feed more! Well I tried. For the last 3 weeks, I've more the doubled on food. 2 cubes of shrimp instead of one, pellets twice a day vs once, acropower (10 ml) every other day vs once a week or two.. the extra food has resulted in phosphates going up a bit and more algae on the rocks, but no3 has remained undetectable over the same time period?

Why? I think that my tank's filtration is unbalanced; many things that export no3 (dsb, matrix, siporax, chaeto), few that remove po4. (Chaeto and tiny bit of gfo). So overfeeding leads to much higher phosphates relative to nitrates.

So after some debate and a bit of research on nitrate dosing, i've decided to give it a try. I'll start tonight and continue with it for a couple of weeks. Will take pictures and update the thread.

I'll be dosing potassium nitrate. I made a solution of 50 grams in 500 ml rodi. 1 ml of that solution should contain 31,000 mg of nitrates, which should increase no3 in my 220L tank by ~0.3 ppm. I'll start with that and up the dose gradually, aiming for a stable no3 of 2 ppm.

I'll go back to feeding the normal amount of food. Will keep lights, alk and everything else the same...

hope it works! I am optimistic, but I feel that I will blow up in my face (like all of my other attempts to improve things in the tank ah well, I am a curious cat!



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[tenurepro]

KNO3 update
Nitrates are climbing, slow and steady
Dosed 1 ml of 0.1 g/ml KNO3 on day 1, 2 ml yesterday, and increased it to 3 ml today


Was also curious about potassium which can also influence sps colors. Perhaps my tank's was potassium deficient leading to pale sps? Picked up a salifert kit and found that my tank has potassium = 400 ppm, close to nsw. Will continue to monitor it as KNO3 dosing will increase both nitrate and potassium.

In terms of effects on tank; nothing obvious. I perhaps detect the slightest hint of brightness in the green Christmas monti and the pink lemonade, but that is probably wishful thinking. Will take some pics next week.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[neoh74]

Is your Chaeto growth more significant with the higher intensity lighting? I have a 12w grow light in my sump but dont think im getting the full benefit.

[tenurepro]

Originally Posted by neoh74

Is your Chaeto growth more significant with the higher intensity lighting? I have a 12w grow light in my sump but dont think im getting the full benefit.

It's been a week or so since adding the kessil h80, and I've been slowly ramping up the intensity.
While o haven't observed any obvious new growth on the chaeto, it is looking healthier. I was getting a lot of white-ish slimy strands that would fall off and collect on the intake of a small mj 400 pump that I used in the fuge for circulation. I have seen that at with the new light. The chaeto is looking green and healthy.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[tenurepro]

KNO3 - 1 wk dosing update
A bit early but had detectable nitrates for the past week. Started with 1 ml/day 0.1 g/ml KNO3 on day 1, then 2 ml on day 2, then 3 ml/day, but then cut it back to 2ml/day once I hit 1.5ppm NO3. Today levels dropped a bit to 0.75 ppm; I'll test again tomorrow before deciding to go to 3 ml/day.


Tank appearance. A bit more GHA on a few spots that already had GHA but is not what I call a bloom. About 2 days in, I noted that buildup of algae on glass was very slow. Glass was essentially clear for a good 3 days once nitrates hit 1 ppm. I am not sure what to make of this but I did note this pattern of exceptionally clear glass before. It's been a harbinger of change for me. It happened when I started vibrant before onset of cyano bloom; it happend after dosing chemiclean, before my nitrates went from 5 ppm to undetectable. My hypothesis is that I am somehow resetting the nutrient balance in the tank, which leads to shifts in the algae that is growing in the tank... stuff to think about

I can see some subtle improvements in sps color. Mind the crappy iPhone pic, with their random auto balance.
Here is red planet @ 0 ppm no3

And red planet at ~ 1 ppm no3

Pink lemonade also showed a slight improvement
0 ppm

~1 ppm

SSC @ 0 ppm

SSC @ 1 ppm


I think I will keep the tank around 1 ppm for another week, then see if I should push it higher


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[tenurepro]

2 vs 3 Radion Par comparison!!
I should have done this sooner. I was running the tank with 2 x radion xr15 gen 3 with the 120 wide angle lens. I picked up a third xr15 about 2 months ago and spaced the lights evenly across the tank. The old lights were running at 70% max intensity in the sps ab program. I dropped them to 65 and set the mid one to 45%. I slowly brought the middle light from 45 to 65 over a month, then brought all three lights to 67%. I was curious about par with three lights so I measured with the Seneye and did a comparison.

Wow. What a difference!

2 xr15 at 70%

3 xr15 at 67%


You will note 2 things
1) par increased everywhere in the tank
2) par is more even in the tank

The latter is very important I think. Almost all of the acros are in lower range of the sweet spot! And I am only at 67%. With the two lights, increasing the intensity would only exacerbate the spotlight effect.

I really think it's important to consider more than two point source leds for the reefer 250 if acros are your target


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[tenurepro]

Yay! The reef is now one year old! Thanks to all of you for helping my journey, giving helpful advice, and listening to my ramblings about the tank!

One year update
https://youtu.be/ifc3vHN2hDs


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[jordimex]

Hey Tenurepro im getting a Reefer 250 sometime tomorrow i got the deluxe version with the Hydra lights what would you recommend getting as well to start right away?

[tenurepro]

You'll need a heater, return pump and a skimmer to get things going. Also getting a stand alone ato would be a good investment, the stock RO tank is pretty small and you will not want to manually fill it every couple of days


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk