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

[Pancho75]

Good video Shaun, a lot of activity in your tank!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[nanoreefing4fun]

You can click on the little film strip icon & add the youtube url - great vid, love all your fish !

 

[SPR]

Here’s a picture I think of a Lobophyllia coral, a green version which has grown really well

 

[saintsreturn]

Love it!

 

[SPR]

Here’s a couple more ‘up closer’

 

[SPR]

I’ve been keeping an eye on my nitrate levels over the last few weeks which I ‘think’ are around 16ppm.

I’ve always used the Red Sea Nitrate Pro but i seem to be struggling to match the colour on the high range test as it just seems very vague as to which it is. I wonder if I’m going partially colour blind to pink colours! The kit is still in date until 2019

I’ve tried the Salifert one which again is pink (and the maths is hard!lol) so I’ve read lots of reviews and have just ordered the NYOS nitrate test kit which has a yellow colour chart so I’ll see how I get on with that.

 

[SPR]

This is picture from the deep of a ‘green’ coral!

 

[Nobbygas]

Shaun - How did your Harlequin Shrimp get on with the Asterina's?
I'm asking because my GSP is also struggling, with a few holes here and there. I cannot see any Asterina, but I think they are the most likely culprits.

 

[SPR]

Shaun - How did your Harlequin Shrimp get on with the Asterina's?
I'm asking because my GSP is also struggling, with a few holes here and there. I cannot see any Asterina, but I think they are the most likely culprits.

Well I spent a few weeks removing the asterina by hand each morning, and I’m talking 50 at a time, so there were a lot in the system and this went on for a while. I have a very long pair of tweezers that reached in to get them.

I added 1 harlequin shrimp and didn’t see much reduction so a month or so later I added a second and now I’m not removing them anymore, so it’s worked. Whether the first harlequin perished I will never know, but I see at least 1 roaming around from time to time

They completely decimated my central GSP and then started on other patches at an alarming rate, but they have stopped receding now so I think it’s under control.

I found the best time to catch them is first thing in the morning before the lights turn on when they are clearly out and visible. You might see one in the GSP in the morning, but I never saw them when the lights were on so they must hide somewhere.

If you have any ‘good’ starfish remove them before adding the harlequin. I haven’t seen my large sand sifting starfish, or red one since and I tried to find them just a few days after adding the harlequin when I realised the potential for a problem.

 

[Nobbygas]

Ha, ha, Starfish are also on my list of 'can't keep'. I've added two at different times, and they both disappeared within two days never to be seen again. Something/somebody ate them I'm sure, but I don't know who.
I shall have a look in the morning/night at the GSP to ssee if I can see anything, but a Harlequin may be on the shopping list. I don't have any Shrimps at all !

 

[SPR]

This is a picture of one of several frags taken from the colony being overwhelmed by the montipora coral in the second picture

I think it looks a little more healthy!

 

[SPR]

The NYOS nitrate test kit arrived today so I’ve done my first test with it and I have to say it’s very easy to do the test, and also and more importantly, for me the yellow results are far more clear than the Red Sea, or Sailfert pink colours. The wait time is just 5 minutes and the result very clear, to my eyes anyway.

Over the last 6 months I can only say that I’ve been testing with the Red Sea Nitrate Pro, and the readings have been based on an intensity rather than actual colour as the colours simply don’t match the results card. The kit is in date until 2019.

I have been using increased Nopox dosing and also added some Seachem Matrix and you can see from the pictures below that the result is somewhat in between 5-12ppm so let’s say around 9ish as middle ground and inline with my targets.

So at the moment I will stick using the NYOS nitrate and when ready for new kits I also try out the Calcium and maybe Magnesium kits

I’m very impressed with NYOS is general and especially the NYOS Quantum 160 skimmer I use.

 

[Nobbygas]

Yep, I've fallen out of love with the Red Sea test kits. After doing various tests between Red Sea, Salifert and ICP results, I found that the RS Mag and Alk results were way different to the other two test results......and as these are two of the Big Three things we test for, I thought the results I get, and rely on, should be accurate.
RS Phos, Nitrate and Calc seem to be the same as the others though.
I do have a NYOS Phos test kit which I use sometimes just to confirm that the RS Phos results are true.

 

[Danreef]

I stopped measuring all those parameters a few years ago. I Only keep track of Alk for my sps. As it is a 2 part dose I do not measure Calcium.

Stability is prime for success. If you feed your tank always the same amount in the same frequency with small variation on the type of food, then you nutrients parameters will achieve an equilibrium. Corals will adapt to it. Could be some die. But those are not meant for your tank conditions. The others will drive healthy.

Chasing numbers is when we most affect that stability.

Of course, do not feed tons of food

Just adopt a system. For example, to my tanks (display and fuge) (I have fish and corals in both) I feed them every other day 3 frozen cubes on each one. I change the food type of the cubes (brine, mysis, blood worms), but always is 3 cubes on each tank. No food for corals. They feed from all that is in the tank and photosynthesis.

Just a tip from an old guy on the hobby.

Cheers
Daniel

 

[SPR]

I stopped measuring all those parameters a few years ago. I Only keep track of Alk for my sps. As it is a 2 part dose I do not measure Calcium.

Stability is prime for success. If you feed your tank always the same amount in the same frequency with small variation on the type of food, then you nutrients parameters will achieve an equilibrium. Corals will adapt to it. Could be some die. But those are not meant for your tank conditions. The others will drive healthy.

Chasing numbers is when we most affect that stability.

Of course, do not feed tons of food

Just adopt a system. For example, to my tanks (display and fuge) (I have fish and corals in both) I feed them every other day 3 frozen cubes on each one. I change the food type of the cubes (brine, mysis, blood worms), but always is 3 cubes on each tank. No food for corals. They feed from all that is in the tank and photosynthesis.

Just a tip from an old guy on the hobby.

Cheers
Daniel

Thanks Daniel for stopping by, and I completely agree with the feeding.

I still test for my own piece of mind as although the parameters are stable, I would sooner pick something up sooner and deal with it, rather than react to a situation.

I have about 8 different types of frozen Cubes with different additives, which I vary from day to day with 2-3 cubes, and then I feed a mixed portion of dry pellets, ocean nutrition in the early evening including a 50% mix of algae for the vegetarians.

I have gone from feeding Red Sea reef energy every day, to probably twice a week, if that, as the corals get sufficient food from the fish.

And your only as ‘old’ as you feel!

 

[Danreef]

Thanks Daniel for stopping by, and I completely agree with the feeding.

I still test for my own piece of mind as although the parameters are stable, I would sooner pick something up sooner and deal with it, rather than react to a situation.

I have about 8 different types of frozen Cubes with different additives, which I vary from day to day with 2-3 cubes, and then I feed a mixed portion of dry pellets, ocean nutrition in the early evening including a 50% mix of algae for the vegetarians.

I have gone from feeding Red Sea reef energy every day, to probably twice a week, if that, as the corals get sufficient food from the fish.

And your only as ‘old’ as you feel!

Thank you !!!

We have to remember that we are trying to have corals from all different places that have different conditions (light, flow, nutrients, you mention it) . Yes, we keep our water as nearest as we can with the "Average Ocean Parameters". But a lagoon is different as deep ocean.... etc.

So, your tank will be different from all other tanks. Will be unique to "the best conditions that you can achieve, similar to real ocean condition " . When you let corals "adapt to your tank" you will see they are happy and healthy. No more issues.

So, set a way of feeding, cleaning, light schedule..... and keep that as constant as you can. Again, most corals will adapt and some will die.

Have a nice weekend!!
Daniel

 

[Danreef]

BTW...the tank in the video looks great. Well done !!!!

 

[SPR]

Thank you !!!

We have to remember that we are trying to have corals from all different places that have different conditions (light, flow, nutrients, you mention it) . Yes, we keep our water as nearest as we can with the "Average Ocean Parameters". But a lagoon is different as deep ocean.... etc.

So, your tank will be different from all other tanks. Will be unique to "the best conditions that you can achieve, similar to real ocean condition " . When you let corals "adapt to your tank" you will see they are happy and healthy. No more issues.

So, set a way of feeding, cleaning, light schedule..... and keep that as constant as you can. Again, most corals will adapt and some will die.

Have a nice weekend!!
Daniel

Very wise words Daniel and you to

 

[SPR]

So today I’ve taken out 2 of the original Brightwell NO3 bricks which have basically started to disintegrate. They were replaced free of charge but I just left the originals in place which is why i had 4

I’ve added another 4 litres of Seachem Matrix so now have 6 litres in total which I’ve put into the Seachem zip bags to keep it together. According to the write up this is enough for a very large water volume at around 4800 litres, but you can’t have to much filtration!

You can see the mess the Brightwell bricks have made in the sump with all the brown ‘sand’ and I’ll get that cleaned out when I do a water change, but I wanted to get the Matrix in to start bacteriaifying! Yes this is a new word for you non technical people!lol

The remaining Brightwell bricks seem to be reasonably ok at the moment, as is the Marine Pure block which seems very solid.

I’ve tried Matrix as it doesn’t need to be replaced and is basically a type of porous rock with holes for the bacteria to do its stuff.

Anyway a picture showing the changes, and forgive the sandy mess......

 

[SPR]

Here’s a picture taken with some camera filtration.....