270 Gallon SPS tank for JBNY

Hey Joe,
Just got off the phone with Tristan and I ordered an E18 for my system. I went with the Quick Disconnect as an option, but passed on the calcium reactor input. I understand the purpose behind it, but Tristan stated that was the cause of the back pressure on your C30.

Hopefully it works as well on my set up as it does on yours. Looks like I'll find out shortly!
 
I feel like I have been spending a lot of time with the tank but not much to show for it.

I just switched salts back to IO, what I was using like 10 years ago. I was using RSCP for the last 4 months and while the tank looked pretty good and fish and almost all the coral did well under it, none of my acropora looked good and I was really struggling to keep them. So I switched last week to IO and did about 200 gallons of water changes. I can't tell if things are better yet, but the definitely do not look any worse.

So while I have been doing that I am starting to focus on getting more fish in the tank. I have a decent amount but I am still adding about 1ppm of KNO3 to the tank daily just to keep Nitrates at a low level. I figured if I was adding that much N to the tank I might as well have more fish, as I would enjoy that more than dosing Nitrates. :)

So after going back and forth and much discussion with friends, it came down to either buying a group of Royal Gammas or Yellow Assessors (Assessor flavissimus), both are basslets so it was either one or the other. In the end it came down to the chance that the Royal gammas might hide in the rock work and the assessors stood the most chance of being out in the open. So I bought 12 of them from live aquaria last Thursday, and Friday morning a big box showed up.

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Floating the bags in the sump
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Set up a drip to acclimate them
DSCN_20150422_02.jpg


DSCN_20150422_01.jpg


In the Quarantine tank.
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Even though they are captive bread I have still been having some issues getting them to eat. They just started picking on brine shrimp today. So hopefully they will pick up eating better and can be in the main tank in a week or so.
 
I dont have any personal experience with Assessors, (yellow or blue), but everything I've read about them indicates they are more shy and retiring than Royal Gramma's....might need a few days to acclimate and begin eating with gusto.

ETA - Joe, how long was it before you began to notice changes in your Phosphate level and system overall after starting up your ARID C30?

I've had the ARID E18 running since April 17th and I'm curious.
 
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They are both shy, the more people I spoke with, I felt I had a better chance with the assessors. No turning back now, I hope they don't hide, but I have a pretty mellow tank so who knows.

I noticed the ARID dropped my NO3 by about half in the first 3 weeks, then pulled it down to under 1ppm over the following 3-4 weeks.
 
I dont have an issue with NO3....PO4 on the otherhand is out of hand.
I purchased Pukani live rock back in the day when it was brand new....
Finally traced it to being the source of PO4 issues and have replaced it.
 
So once the ARID is pulling down N and it starts to get very low say under 1ppm, start dosing Nitrates and the PO4 will start to drop.
 
Ahh....Okay.

Had to find some chaeto locally.....I think I'm seeing growth in it, didnt get much....

Hard to tell.

This thing lights up like a christmas tree. Do you have any pictures of how yours is set up? Mine is resting in front of the tank for now.
 
It takes about a week to a week and a half for the chaeto to grow. I started out with just a little bit in each chamber (I had to get some at the LFS too), in two weeks the whole unit was packed with it. Light it for no more than 18 hours, you will get maximum growth that way, I cut mine back to about 12 hours because it was pulling too much out of the tank.

This is post is the unit in the fish room, it sits to the left of the sump. I'll take another picture tonight if you want so you can see how I have it plumbed into the sump.

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showpost.php?p=23584993&postcount=991
 
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So this thread is getting boring without a few pics. While I am waiting for some other corals to grow here are a few macro shots of some LPS that are doing well.


DSCN_20150423_01.jpg


DSNC_2015041501.jpg
 
JB NY said:
It takes about a week to a week and a half for the chaeto to grow. I started out with just a little bit in each chamber (I had to get some at the LFS too), in two weeks the whole unit was packed with it. Light it for no more than 18 hours, you will get maximum growth that way, I cut mine back to about 12 hours because it was pulling too much out of the tank.

This is post is the unit in the fish room, it sits to the left of the sump. I'll take another picture tonight if you want so you can see how I have it plumbed into the sump.

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showpost.php?p=23584993&postcount=991
Click to expand...

Thanks for that info Joe.
I'm seeing a little growth from the chaeto...noticed it last night.
Also noticed the pH was staying very stable at night...wonder if this means I can ditch the kalk and swap back to Ca Reactor. I'll have to wait and see.

I havent had the ARID reactor running a week yet, so it's too early to tell for sure...but it appears that this will do exactly what I want/need it to...export nutrients. The bonus is that it's pretty contained and not taking up sump space or growing nuisance algea in my skimmer.

Thanks again for the info about Pax Bellum and the ARID Reactor.
 
Joe good luck with the Assessors. Although I never had one from what I've read and been told they are peaceful and cryptic. I think John (Bigsink) had them and rarely saw them in his big tank. So hopefully with that many they will feel more secure and openly swim. Just curious why a dozen of one species and not a more diversified selection of fish which most people including myself do.
 
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