Blue's 40G Mixed Reef

Blue Space

Well-Known Member
Yes sir, it was great to have the luxury of placing the skimmer and roller mat filter in the first chamber of the sump. The increased size of the refugium is also a bonus. I'll be testing phosphates (Hanna Checker) and nitrates (Salifert) to monitor any changes. Which reminds me, my reagents are now past the expiration date so I'll need to replace.

Now on to the next order of business which is researching dosing pumps... I've been dosing BRS two-part (Alk/Calc) & Aquavitro's Ions for magnesium/strontium/boron (all-in-one) manually since the start and I'm very happy with the results. However, I will admit that when life gets busy or traveling away from home the tank does suffer. So, I'm ready to hand that manual task off to an automated system.

I was leaning heavily towards the GHL 2.1 SA4 (Master) or the EcoTech Marine Versa Pump (4) w/ base station. Though, after reading through the reviews both seem to have some trade-offs in regard to ease of operation/programming, and controlling or monitoring w/ a smart device via an app.

My main reason for adding a dosing pump is to dose BRS two-part and to perform auto-water changes, to start. Would be nice to add another pump or possibly a slave unit down the road so that I can also dose Ions, Acropower and the like. This is now 2021 so I'd like the capability to EASILY access and monitor/control via an app from anywhere my phone gets signal.

Can anyone recommend or advise on the subject?
 
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Pancho75

Well-Known Member
Yes sir, it was great to have the luxury of placing the skimmer and roller mat filter in the first chamber of the sump. The increased size of the refugium is also a bonus. I'll be testing phosphates (Hanna Checker) and nitrates (Salifert) to monitor any changes. Which reminds me, my reagents are now past the expiration date so I'll need to replace.

Now on to the next order of business which is researching dosing pumps... I've been dosing BRS two-part (Alk/Calc) & Aquavitro's Ions for magnesium/strontium/boron (all-in-one) manually since the start and I'm very happy with the results. However, I will admit that when life gets busy or traveling away from home the tank does suffer. So, I'm ready to hand that manual task off to an automated system.

I was leaning heavily towards the GHL 2.1 SA4 (Master) or the EcoTech Marine Versa Pump (4) w/ base station. Though, after reading through the reviews both seem to have some trade-offs in regard to ease of operation/programming, and controlling or monitoring w/ a smart device via an app.

My main reason for adding a dosing pump is to dose BRS two-part and to perform auto-water changes, to start. Would be nice to add another pump or possibly a slave unit down the road so that I can also dose Ions, Acropower and the like. This is now 2021 so I'd like the capability to EASILY access and monitor/control via an app from anywhere my phone gets signal.

Can anyone recommend or advise on the subject?
Hello Blue, I have read good comments about both Versa and GHL. I would say if Versa if your are not using Apex. I would be particularly interested in a quiet operation. I am using Neptune’s DOS, they are nice and very accurate, can be controlled via Apex but they are a bit noisy, of course the Apex environment is a big plus specially counting I am adding the DDR to get notified when I am running out of kH/Ca solutions.
 

Blue Space

Well-Known Member
Apex... touchy subject with me, lol! Let me fill you in on the back ground.

I have an apex but it's not currently employed on this system. Currently sitting in a box (with all the rest of the apex units) after a power outage. It never came back online and I emphatically dislike dealing with Neptune support. This was 5 years ago (or more) so maybe things have changed but that is particularly why I purposely, did not consider DOS. After my last engagement with them I decided not to buy another Neptune product. Who knows... I may use it again if I could ever get it fixed. Maybe I should check back with them to see if they have anyone available to troubleshoot on the weekends.



Needless to say, I think that I'm going with Versa... Soon as they're back in stock, lol! :)
 
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PSU4ME

JoePa lives on!!!
Staff member
PREMIUM
I’m waiting for my apex to disappoint me then I’ll take a hammer to it. I don’t have this big connected system so I want something reliable that does it job so I don’t blame you.

Thank god for WiFi cameras!
 

Pancho75

Well-Known Member
I am sure everyone have their own experiences, in my case my tank crashed due a power failure 2 years ago. After that I bought the Apex and have already saved twice from another power failure and a chiller failure. I have also read people complaining the Apex inaccuracy or lack of alarming. ‍:dunno:
 

Blue Space

Well-Known Member
Dang!! Still waiting on brs to get the dosing pumps in stock so that I can use my points... EcoTech can't still be moving or they should have hired someone else to plan the move out as to not hinder production. Seriously, not sure what the hold up is.
 
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Pancho75

Well-Known Member
Dang!! Still waiting on brs to get the dosing pumps in stock so that I can use my points... EcoTech can't still be moving or they should have hired someone else to plan the move out as to not hinder production. Seriously, not sure what the hold up is.
I am not sure why so many issues with BRS. Perhaps they are also suffering from the global supply chain problems? Nevertheless it is very frustrating. Nowadays I use Marine Depot instead of BRS.
 

Blue Space

Well-Known Member
BBU... nice that'll keep your mp-40 running until you can get home to fire up the Honda generator to put some heat on the subject. I use a server UPS for my mp-10 for now but looking at a Champion 14KW whole home generator, along with finishing the basement and new fish room for the future 180.UPS.jpeg
 
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Blue Space

Well-Known Member
I'm beginning to think that perhaps Ecotech Marine's supply chain (more than likely from China) is the reason for lack of stock on the shelves. It's not just brs either... I decided to take a stab at finding a Versa dosing pump from somewhere else like MarineDepot or the like but all of my favorite online stores show it as out of stock too.
 

Blue Space

Well-Known Member
Speaking of param's -everything is right in line. However, since changing salt mixes (from RC to Fritz RPM) and upgrading my sump I've noticed a slight loss of color, especially in my monti cap. Probably related to the fact that only did one water change with the new salt before swapping out the sump, in which all of that new water was the new salt mix. So, may have just swapped over too aggressively. But other than that everything is doing good.

Before
Purps.jpg


After
afterRPM2.jpg


From the beginning of this 40 gallon tank I've been running one Kessil A150W Ocean Blue (has worked like a champ) and one Qmaven ZetLight fixture because I wanted to see if there was a difference as an experiment.

One thing I noticed is that my purple stylophora did grow under it and so have the other corals... but the stylo tried to grow toward the Kessil! The anemone I had (previously) also parked it, right under the Kessil. Going back to the purple stylo, I noticed that under the Qmaven, after it started to branch out the tissue that becomes shaded started to die off. So, what you end up with is a nice size stylo that has no polyps on the bottom quarter. I have another Kessil A360W that has been on the bc29 since new that I'm that I'm thinking about using to replace the Qmaven on the 40 to see if I can change that. I can always hang the Qmaven over the bc29 instead. Though, it was nice having the Qmaven for the moon lights... I'll have to see if I can get some actinic strips or something now. What are you guys using?

And since removing the shelf-rock with the anemone on it I think it's time to do some re-scaping in an attempt to create some more room in the tank.

front.jpg
side.jpgside2.jpgsys.jpg
 
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Pancho75

Well-Known Member
The salt change may have affected the corals, it is very likely the trace elements have shifted, ICP?
No experience at all with actinics. One of the things I have to start using is the Hydras app to simulate moon light and its cycles.
 

Blue Space

Well-Known Member
yeah the qmaven is programmed to dim so that once the kessil turns off it was just dark blue allowing the corals fluoresce (not good for pics but looks killer in person) for a while before actual moon lights came on. Now that I'm switching the Qmaven out I'll need to find another way to achieve that again.
 
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Blue Space

Well-Known Member
I measured alk today and it's dropping about the same amount since swapping the sump. After starting at 9 dkh (that's where I like to shoot for) it dropped to about 8.23 in 24 hrs. I've been dosing about 1 fl. oz. of liquid soda ash solution (brs) per day.

Measured Ca today as well it's still at 425. When it gets down to 415 (natural sea water) I'll dose and take it up to 450. They recommend you don't raise it more than 50 ppm per day. I'll test again next week to see if it's time to dose again.

More than likely I won't be using a fancy new dosing pump any time soon, as everyone is still sold out. :(...
 

Blue Space

Well-Known Member
idk... I think you're setup pretty nicely with your peninsula. you'll be glad you have the reactor when the coral are grown out... :)
 
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