Courtney's Red Sea Reefer 350

[SPR]

My phosphate is at 0.25ppm and nitrate is between 5.0-10.0ppm.

For my lights someone sent me a profile which I was using with a 20% acclimation setting on it.

No I know you guys will say ist really long which is what I thought but I gave it a go and seems ok so far but the whole light cycle is from 7am until 11pm
which is 17 hours but the it is a really slow ramp up of the colours and leds. The main photo period is 1pm-5pm with all of the leds and them being brighter then the start to drop off until 11pm where the off completely.

Below is the graph in the ai app so you can see properly what I mean with the times and colours.

Your phosphate is very high at 0.25ppm, it should ideally be around 0.03ppm or thereabouts. When I hit around 0.1ppm I had hair algea outbreak and that was the point I added Rhowaphos so maybe that is the cause of your issues as your nitrates, in my view, are fine.

The best thing I did with my tank was lock phosphate down with Rhowaphos. Not had any algea or anything since and I run nitrates 5-10ppm.

Your best running GFO in a reactor as it’s not very effective if you just put it in a bag so I would do that and get those phosphate levels down. Also just check you RODI water TDS readings and make sure your not introducing nutrients from that. It should be 0 TDS or around there ideally. If your not making your own check what your getting from the LFS as most arnt anywhere near 0.

As you have got Nitrate present I would start dosing NoPox as it should work for you now. I was hesitant before in case you came back and said the Nitrate was 0. Just read up on it and is basically carbon dosing but part of the Red Sea Reef Program. You might be able to just use NoPox once you get your phosphate down on its own without the Rhowaphos (or whatever you get). I have to use both which is fine.

On the lights, it’s your tank so you do what you like for the effects etc. Just remember to have zero on Red/Green as that can encourage algea growth. When you get lots of corals they need a lot of light. Me personally, sunrise is at 11.45am with a 1 hour ramp to ‘full power’ and then a slow ramp down from 7pm, then full blue, and then off at 10pm (because my wine has taken effect by this time! Lol)

 

[Courtney]

I had a look at the Deltec FR 509 Fluidized Reactor as that will handle tanks up to 200 gallons so would be ample for my system. As would run the rowaphos and could also run carbon in it as well at some point.

I have changed out all the filters in my RODI unit recently so all brand new and the inline TDS meter was saying 0 and I have a handheld TDS meter which I also tested the RO water and gave me 0 TDS as well.

I might give NoPox ago as I used it a longtime ago so will get some and try again.

Yeah my corals are loving the light so far which is good but might have a play with it at some point but want to get the water sorted first and hahaha well always good to relax with a glass of wine [emoji23]

 

[Courtney]

Well added the rowaphos last night although not sure if it is any good as it was a dark brown instead of black and seemed like a finer consistency than I remember although it is still damp so never dried out. It is also quite a few years old so that might be the case although I couldn't find an expiry date so I put in 50g of it in the sump so will see how we go but just incase it is no good I ordered a 1ltr of NoPox as well.

This is a picture of it

Also did a bit of cable management as I used a part of the stand packing material which looked like stand off cuts as a controller stand for my pumps to make it neater.

 

[Courtney]

Received my Loc-Line flexible return nozzle and Reefer 350 baffle kit which I will be putting into the tank over the next couple of days .

Might shorten the Loc-Line joints down a bit as there really long at the moment which will make it a bit easier to move about and won't look out of place in the tank. As I'm going to use the return pipe to push flow to the back of the tank and let my 2 power heads deal with flow at the front of the tank well that is my plan haha.

As for the baffle I'm just trying to find a decent grow light and place to get some algae from. Was wondering if any of you who have refugiums in your tanks use a substrate or just live rock or maybe some other type of media like a marine pure block type substance?

As I want to use it to remove some nitrate and phosphate from the water although I know for it to be really effective at that the refugium would have to be massive but would like to have some pods in there which I could grow for the tank.

Loc-Line with all its joints but will make it smaller

The baffle is all black to stop light leak but just left the wrapping on it until I put it in

 

[Nobbygas]

I'm a Marine Pure block man myself!

 

[SPR]

I use the Brightwell Xport NO3 Brick x 2 in my sump to 'help' with Nitrate control.

I also have 'a lot' of live rock in the main display.

 

[Courtney]

I have seen both of those and wasn't sure what to get and what would be best as I'm also going to put algae and pods in there.

In my main tank I have 20kg of live sand and 20kg of live rock.

 

[SPR]

I have seen both of those and wasn't sure what to get and what would be best as I'm also going to put algae and pods in there.

In my main tank I have 20kg of live sand and 20kg of live rock.

If your going to be growing algae for nutrient control you may not need either, or you may end of with nutrients being to low, in particular Nitrates (as phosphate should be very low anyway), but I suppose you can take whichever 'brick' you choose out if things get to low.

As to which one to choose that will be a little difficult to decide I recall. I went for Brightwell after researching as much as I could but I suppose its whichever you feel comfortable with or can easily buy. The Brightwell ones certainly work and I can recommend them, and they haven't fallen to pieces which was mentioned when I researched them (old batches I believe which were replaced).

There was some mention/posts in forums of aluminium issues with the Marine Pure, but I think that was disproved and its detailed in research they did on this and there is an article on their website published in January 2017

Or just buy both! lol

 

[Nobbygas]

I don't think there is any real difference between the two. I have a Marine Pure Block because (I think) when I bought it, the Brightwell ones were not on the market ! They both do the same thing, just different manufacturers. I found no Aluminium showing up on any ICP tests.

 

[Courtney]

Thank you both for the information.

Well I won't be getting anything until after Christmas now anyway but I could put in the algae to grow and add maybe the marine pure block cubes or the brightwell xport cubes as I can add just a few pieces in at a time until I get the right amount of nutrients out of the tank.

My acrylic skimmer stand just turned up as well which is cool so I can put that in to get my skimmer up higher to the recommended level.

 

[Nobbygas]

That has to be the poshest skimmer stand in the whole world......Ah, you're in Surrey. I understand now

 

[Courtney]

Hahaha it is fancy isn't it [emoji23] and yes I am where you located then?

 

[Nobbygas]

I am in Offenbach which is basically Frankfurt. Originally I come from Bristol.
I can't read and I can't write, but I can drive a tractor !

 

[Courtney]

That's cool and hahaha well driving a tractor would be fun! [emoji16]

 

[Courtney]

Wanted to ask you guys how many times a day or week do you feed your fish and corals?

Also I have lost 2 of my green chromis can't think why as everything else in the tank is feeding and seems ok. I was always told and thought that chromis where very hardy fish but who knows.

Also have any of you guys that have Red Sea tanks with the ATO's have any tips for getting the flow correct as I'm always fiddling with it.

 

[SPR]

I feed my fish Gamma frozen mysis and about 6 other Gamma frozen variations around lunchtime (3 pieces) and then a mix of dry pellets including algae pellets for the vegetarians around 6.30pm. And I also feed seaweed on a clip a few times of week but I have lots of vegetarians.

The chromis sometimes have a pecking order so you may loose one occasionally. I started with 7 18 months ago and still have 5. They tend to pick on the weekist despite looking very sweet and innocent

I have a Tunze Osmolator for primary ATO and the tank as backup, but I set the built in one so that when is called for, it just pours out water as required. The instructions say set for drips but I like it to pour slowly. My ATO will last 2 1/2 weeks between top ups for holidays etc as opposed to just 4-5 days with the inbuilt one

 

[Courtney]

I normally feed my fish a few blocks of various food meaty and vegetarian and a mix of dry vegetarian pellets and flakes and a seaweed clip and various powders for the corals and filter feeders.

Yeah so I assume the 2 chromis I have left are the strongest of the 4 that I had.

I think I set my ATO to drip like it said in the manual but when I check the level in the pump chamber it always seems low as I have stickers to mark certain depths of water. I didn't want to set it to pour out as I have been trying to raise my salinity as it dropped from 1.026 to 1.023 so I have been bringing it back up slowly and at last check I was at 1.024-1.025 so almost back to where I want it.

 

[Nobbygas]

With the ATO, the recommended drip rate is one drip per second. However, I have mine set so it 'drizzles' out a lot quicker. Now and again (once every couple of months) I do unplug it and open the valve fully for a few seconds to clear out any build-up (of anything?) in the tube. I find this helps.
As for the Chromis, how many do you have? A lot of people say that their numbers in the tank fall off at regular intervals because of the aggression within the group. It appears that the group will pick on the weakest one, until it succumbs, then once it's gone, they pick on the next weakest, and repeat. On the other side, many people report that they do not see this type of behaviour. My personal theory is that it's all to do with tank size versus the amount of fish, and the amount of food they receive. With enough space and food, it is my personal opinion that aggression in the tank is greatly reduced. On a real reef in the sea, it's a dog-eat-dog world (or fish-eat-fish if you like!). Everything is competing against everything else. All animals can be eaten by another animal, so in an artificial reef in a tank, these life pressures are increased because of the confined space. So, in a group like Chromis, if there isn't enough space or food, nature says that the weakest member must be sacrificed to save the others and give them more space/food. It also happens with humans !

Feeding the fish is a bit hit and miss as I work shifts, but I always try to feed them at least three times a day. I feed a mixture of frozen food, normal flakes, Spirulina flakes and usually twice a month some live Copepods (or something similar) I get from the LFS. I also put some dried Seaweed in three times a week. I use Mini Me MKII to feed them if I'm not around. It's one way he has to earn his pocket money! He's seven. Start working them early I say.
The corals get fed daily with Red Sea Energy A+B, and once a week I feed ReefRoids, mainly for the Goniapora, which really reacts well to the ReefRoids. Once a week I usually throw in some Phytoplankton as well when the lights are out.
Thinking about it, more thought, care and attention goes into feeding the fish and corals than She Who Casts No Shadow does with feeding me !

 

[Nobbygas]

I normally feed my fish a few blocks of various food meaty and vegetarian and a mix of dry vegetarian pellets and flakes and a seaweed clip and various powders for the corals and filter feeders.

Yeah so I assume the 2 chromis I have left are the strongest of the 4 that I had.

I think I set my ATO to drip like it said in the manual but when I check the level in the pump chamber it always seems low as I have stickers to mark certain depths of water. I didn't want to set it to pour out as I have been trying to raise my salinity as it dropped from 1.026 to 1.023 so I have been bringing it back up slowly and at last check I was at 1.024-1.025 so almost back to where I want it.

The ATO shouldn't affect the Salinity, as the water evaporates, not the salt. What can affect the salinity over a period of time is the skimmer. If you are removing a lot of 'wet' skimate, then you are removing saltwater which is topped up by the ATO. Over time, this could affect the salinity levels.
Yep, four Chromis down to two sounds likely. If the group were bigger, then the weakest fish can hide more.

 

[Courtney]

I might start feeding a bit more than I am currently am to make sure no more fish start picking on each other.

I'm still playing with the skimmer. Might play with the ATO a bit to get a better flow as I don't think it is helping at the minuet with the way it is set up.

I have some Nyos coral foods coming this week hopefully. Wish I had a helper haha going to need that when I'm at work once I change my feeding schedule [emoji23]