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

Pancho75

Well-Known Member
LOL !

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SPR

Well-Known Member
I hope your all well and keeping safe in the current situation we all find ourselves in.

The new tank is around 3 1/2 months old at this stage, all parameters are stable and for those interested the last test results are as follows:

Nitrate 2ppm
Phosphate 0.05ppm (rowaphos will be changed this week as the target is just above zero)
Alkalinity 7.8 dKH (target Around 8-8.5 so turned up another 2 litres/day on the Twin Tech)
Calcium 465 ppm
Magnesium 1425

i haven’t started water changes yet, other than around 5 litres per day to maintain water movement through the Apex DOS unit. I’m aiming for a nitrate target of around 5 so I’m Just balancing everything out and still have an additional 16 litres of Seachem Matrix and 4 litres of De Nitrate to add when needed in addition to the 10 litres or so already in.

I haven’t installed the additional Abyzz a200 yet. I’m holding off, because I’m about to start testing the Teco 2000e chiller and the flow requirement is only around 600-800 lph. I think the main Abyzz a200 will be able to cope with that without affecting the flow through the sump to much. If I don’t need the additional flow, it means there is just one single pump to maintain in the whole system, which is also super reliable with a 10 year warranty. I will just keep the backup a200 ready in case of any issues and swap them around every year or so.

The X Filter 1.7 with 25 micron filter roll is absolutely brilliant and keeps the sump spotless, nutrients down, and of course the waters crystal clear. When I buy some more roll I might actually go back to the 32 micron as it lasts longer.

The Deltec Twin Tech calcium reactor is brilliant. It maintains all the foundation element levels in line and all you do is press a button to amend the flow through it. That’s it and it just, well, works. I just amend the flow according to alkalinity requirements.

All the corals including SPS are growing at an incredible rate (doubling in size) and this Just shows that if you can maintain the correct parameters you can keep SPS in a new system if anyone has any doubts. But you MUST maintain and monitor the parameters

Rowaphos. I can’t recommend the use of this stuff enough, especially in a new system. If you can keep phosphate below 0.03 you will avoid many unwanted issues and that was the plan from the very start. Ive been running around 1kg (yes that’s a lot) from the very start, but it means I can change it less. I’m probably going to reduce the amount to half that and just change it more often and then once I find the right spot I don’t need to test for phosphate as often.

In the S650 I use around 250g of rowaphos and just change it every 2 weeks and hardly ever test for phosphate in that system. I can tell by the look of the tank when it’s ready for a change.

So everything’s running to plan and here’s a short video. As usual, this doesn’t give the full beauty if the actual real system but I hope you’ll enjoy it....

 

Pancho75

Well-Known Member
I hope your all well and keeping safe in the current situation we all find ourselves in.

The new tank is around 3 1/2 months old at this stage, all parameters are stable and for those interested the last test results are as follows:

Nitrate 2ppm
Phosphate 0.05ppm (rowaphos will be changed this week as the target is just above zero)
Alkalinity 7.8 dKH (target Around 8-8.5 so turned up another 2 litres/day on the Twin Tech)
Calcium 465 ppm
Magnesium 1425

i haven’t started water changes yet, other than around 5 litres per day to maintain water movement through the Apex DOS unit. I’m aiming for a nitrate target of around 5 so I’m Just balancing everything out and still have an additional 16 litres of Seachem Matrix and 4 litres of De Nitrate to add when needed in addition to the 10 litres or so already in.

I haven’t installed the additional Abyzz a200 yet. I’m holding off, because I’m about to start testing the Teco 2000e chiller and the flow requirement is only around 600-800 lph. I think the main Abyzz a200 will be able to cope with that without affecting the flow through the sump to much. If I don’t need the additional flow, it means there is just one single pump to maintain in the whole system, which is also super reliable with a 10 year warranty. I will just keep the backup a200 ready in case of any issues and swap them around every year or so.

The X Filter 1.7 with 25 micron filter roll is absolutely brilliant and keeps the sump spotless, nutrients down, and of course the waters crystal clear. When I buy some more roll I might actually go back to the 32 micron as it lasts longer.

The Deltec Twin Tech calcium reactor is brilliant. It maintains all the foundation element levels in line and all you do is press a button to amend the flow through it. That’s it and it just, well, works. I just amend the flow according to alkalinity requirements.

All the corals including SPS are growing at an incredible rate (doubling in size) and this Just shows that if you can maintain the correct parameters you can keep SPS in a new system if anyone has any doubts. But you MUST maintain and monitor the parameters

Rowaphos. I can’t recommend the use of this stuff enough, especially in a new system. If you can keep phosphate below 0.03 you will avoid many unwanted issues and that was the plan from the very start. Ive been running around 1kg (yes that’s a lot) from the very start, but it means I can change it less. I’m probably going to reduce the amount to half that and just change it more often and then once I find the right spot I don’t need to test for phosphate as often.

In the S650 I use around 250g of rowaphos and just change it every 2 weeks and hardly ever test for phosphate in that system. I can tell by the look of the tank when it’s ready for a change.

So everything’s running to plan and here’s a short video. As usual, this doesn’t give the full beauty if the actual real system but I hope you’ll enjoy it....

Really nice video Shaun !

Good to know you experience with CaRx , are you planning to adopt CaRx also for S-650?
 

SPR

Well-Known Member
Really nice video Shaun !

Good to know you experience with CaRx , are you planning to adopt CaRx also for S-650?
Thank you Pancho

I’m not planning on using a CaRx on the S650 but only because it’s already set up for dosing etc. if it were a new system, and the only one I had, I definitely would it’s just so much easier, at least with the Twin Tech anyway
 

SPR

Well-Known Member
The temperature probe on the Apex in the S650 has been going haywire for the last few weeks or so and it also affects the salinity probe, so having spoken to Neptune, a replacement has been installed yesterday.

I was going to leave it, but the monitoring especially of salinity is so helpful for piece of mind. The actual temperature in both tanks is controlled by DD Temperature Controllers as I just don’t trust Apex to do it (several failures) Apex just oversees the DD‘s with autoswitch off if and when required.

Ive also cleaned the rear circulation pumps in the S650........ but no I haven’t because I took those stupid pumps out and installed 2 MP40’s. So cleaning involved lifting it out, soaking in citric acid for a few hours, lightly scrubbing and then reattaching. It was an absolute delight compared with what I used to have to do!

Anyway here’s a few pictures and one of the S650 so it isn’t forgotten as it’s still a beautiful tank.

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SPR

Well-Known Member
This is the first time the Tang Gang have been fed Nori, well in lumps anyway. I usually feed them pellets from the Apex auto feeder. I use Ocean Nutrition formula 1 and 2 in small pellet form.

 

SPR

Well-Known Member
I’ve being doing a few tank maintenance jobs today on the ‘big tank’ and one was changing out the rowaphos.

Ive been using a heavy dose since I started the new system, 1kg, mainly so I don’t need to change it so often and I am aware it can have an effect on pH/alkalinity but it’s never really been an issue.

Today is the day I do my testing, Sunday’s normally, and I changed the rowaphos around 10.00 am and it’s interesting to see the Apex pH graph below.

The alkalinity has been steady at around 8-8.5 from last week, and when I tested it about 4 hours later it had dropped to 6.8dKH. I double checked the test and it came out at 6.2!

Ive never noticed any issues before but probably because I haven’t changed the rowaphos and then tested afterwards before as far as I recall.

Anyway after adding some Red Sea alkalinity supliment for an immediate ‘boost’ I’ve also turned the Twin Tech Calcium reactor up another 3 litres/day. And then I remembered that this can happen, so I’ll just keep an eye on the alkalinity for the next few days and maybe turn it back down again.

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SPR

Well-Known Member
One of the final decisions to make on the new tank, it a second return system. I’ve been debating this for a while, mainly due to a concern with flow reduction once the Teco 2000e chiller is brought online. The chiller is the new eco version.

Of course there is always the potential for a failure, and the benefits of a secondary system, but it’s something else to maintain, and fail, so I’ve decided not to install it, certainly for the time being anyway. The Abyzz pumps are supposed to be super reliable and come with a 10 year warranty so I’m hoping so.

We had some warm weather a few days ago so I switched on the chiller and tested the system. There was a small leak from one of the hose connectors which I fixed and then opened the ball balve just a little, and set the flow to around 700 lph which is midway between the recommended flow rate.

For those who can’t remember, the whole system is powered by a single return pump, the Abyzz a200 and this powers the main return pipe, a UV-C, Deltec rowaphos reactor and now the Teco 2000 chiller.

Its taken some flow from the main return but I’ve adjusted the UVC down a little and we are still around 3 x turnover trough the sump or thereabouts. The flow sensors on Apex are quiet useful here.

I was sat watching the TV in the evening, fuelled by some ‘light refreshments’, when I heard a bizarre noise, like humming. Now both my tanks are very quiet, especially the new one. I turned the TV down and though what the heck is that noise, and after a few minutes realised it was the chiller. So these chillers are not silent by any means, but I guess it’s only a few months of the year when their needed.

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