Shaun's 2000 Litre (530 USG) Living Reef & Red Sea Max S 650 LED Design & Build

SPR

Well-Known Member
The Asterina starfish population has increased to the point I’ve been removing them by hand with some long tweezers, so I’ve added a harlequin shrimp again

They are just so small in the system and disappear. I’m still trying to get a glimpse of him to make sure he’s alive and well and filling his belly!

7518851248_IMG_2151.jpg
 

Nobbygas

Well-Known Member
The Asterina starfish population has increased to the point I’ve been removing them by hand with some long tweezers, so I’ve added a harlequin shrimp again

They are just so small in the system and disappear. I’m still trying to get a glimpse of him to make sure he’s alive and well and filling his belly!

View attachment 49045
Mine tends to stay in the same area and doesn't really move much. At the other end of the tank the Asterina's are having a Party ! I think they are breeding faster than he can eat them. I'm thinking about adding another one or two !
 
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SPR

Well-Known Member
Mine tends to stay in the same area and doesn't really move much. At the other end of the tank the Asterina's are having a Party ! I think they are breeding faster than he can eat them. I'm thinking about adding another one or two !
I had 2, and took the last one out one night as he was wandering looking for food and there didn’t seem to be any starfish left.

So I gently caught the little fellow and put him in a bag in the sump overnight to take back to the LFS first thing in the morning.

For whatever reason he didn’t make it, I actually felt very sad and guilty but I tried my best.

I don’t know if it was an oxygen issue in the bag water, or he was not in a good state, I will never know.
 

SPR

Well-Known Member
My water change schedule has changed recently to around every 4-8 weeks, and I change around 18% of the water.

I think the result of this is that nitrates have increased to around 20ppm, maybe a bit less, but a bit higher than I want and one of my nitrate indicating corals is telling me to reduce it.

So I’ve done another water change, will do another in the next few days but I don’t want to get back into regular water changes (like weekly) as I find it upsets the water chemistry, in particular foundation element levels.

So, I’ve increased the Nopox dose to 22ml per day, and added another 2L of Seachem Matrix. In addition, 2L of Seachem De Nitrate with another 2L about to be added in the next few days.

The De Nitrate needs to be in a slow flow area, so I’ve buried it within the Matrix bags of media to hopefully provide this. It’s basically exactly the same product as Matrix but just smaller ‘rocks’.

The target Nitrate level is ideally around 10, but around 15 or less will be fine.

The Nopox dose is getting towards 4ml/100 litres which is above the recommended but I’ve been here before and it’s fine. It does increase the amount of glass cleaning, as you get a fine layer of white ‘dust’, and you also need to avoid white slime, bacterial flocks, mainly in the sump. I ‘ripple’ the water surface at higher doses and this stops the slime forming.

So we shall seen how the major increase in biological filtration affects the levels over the next few weeks.

Oh I nearly forgot, a picture of a ‘green coral’.....

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SPR

Well-Known Member
Love Starry Blennies ! Great pic !

Thanks Glenn !

That’s actually a picture I entered into a competition in the UK last year and won a years subscription to Ultra Marine magazine which was handy.

I can only enter once a year, so I’ve just entered another picture and I’ll post it once the results have been voted on.

He lays on a bed of green star polyp and stares at the TV. I think he can see all the lights flashing which attracts him and it’s quiet funny. He stays there for ages especially for Game Of Thrones! Lol
 

Nobbygas

Well-Known Member
Thanks Glenn !

That’s actually a picture I entered into a competition in the UK last year and won a years subscription to Ultra Marine magazine which was handy.

I can only enter once a year, so I’ve just entered another picture and I’ll post it once the results have been voted on.

He lays on a bed of green star polyp and stares at the TV. I think he can see all the lights flashing which attracts him and it’s quiet funny. He stays there for ages especially for Game Of Thrones! Lol
I think your Blenny is related to me !
 

Nobbygas

Well-Known Member
It's more a question of 'do I need it'? I probably test for Alk about once a week. Calc or Mag once every two or three weeks. Alk/Mag, Alk/Calc, no need to test for all three. If two of the three are ok, then the third will be ok.
For an Apex unit plus a Neptune Apex I'm probably looking at 1500 Euros?
 

SPR

Well-Known Member
It's more a question of 'do I need it'? I probably test for Alk about once a week. Calc or Mag once every two or three weeks. Alk/Mag, Alk/Calc, no need to test for all three. If two of the three are ok, then the third will be ok.
For an Apex unit plus a Neptune Apex I'm probably looking at 1500 Euros?
Yes, but its a gadget! lol

I do weekly testing so for me its potentially very useful, but i will watch a few videos and reviews before i buy it. If its in any way a pain to clean or service I might not get one.

Apart from the 15 minutes or so it takes to do the tests, my auto doser does the rest very well
 
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