d2mini's "Essential Focus" Mixed Reef Build

jonnybravo22 said:
Do you find that is better than having it run for an hour or a few hours constantly? I am using ghl also changing about 1gpd in a 110g total volume system
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Probably no real difference either way, but I figure it's more like a constant water change this way, kinda like the ocean. And it's less wear and tear on the doser. The rollers are plastic and they got hot during continuous runs. When they get hot they are more apt to wear down. At least that has been my experience in the past with other dosers.
 
d2mini said:
The rollers are plastic and they got hot during continuous runs. When they get hot they are more apt to wear down. At least that has been my experience in the past with other dosers.
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That's a worthwhile consideration. How do you handle topoff though?

I run mine for an hour in the morning and use the profilux to disable topoff while the water is being removed and refilled from saltwater container so it doesn't automatically start adding freshwater when the level drops. then when that is finished i reactivate topoff.
 
jonnybravo22 said:
That's a worthwhile consideration. How do you handle topoff though?

I run mine for an hour in the morning and use the profilux to disable topoff while the water is being removed and refilled from saltwater container so it doesn't automatically start adding freshwater when the level drops. then when that is finished i reactivate topoff.
Click to expand...

Easy! The amount being changed out is so little it doesn't affect top-off. :thumbsup:

On my old 200g tank, I used to use the AWC programming in GHL, using two level sensors and two small hobby pumps, and later I switched to a dual head Masterflex pump. It did exactly what you are doing with the ATO shut-off. But no need to do that when using a doser and swapping out such small amounts of water.
 
Man, I read your thread and it sure seemed like the Triton method failed for you and you gave up and switched back to basic Berlin. You even sold your custom Triton-method sump less than a year in.

Do you mind elaborating why you abandoned Triton?
 
miston said:
Man, I read your thread and it sure seemed like the Triton method failed for you and you gave up and switched back to basic Berlin. You even sold your custom Triton-method sump less than a year in.

Do you mind elaborating why you abandoned Triton?
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I need to start putting this info in my sig. Getting tired of typing it. lol :D

Nutrients dropped to zero, thus the tank could no longer support the massive brick of cheato (that Triton told me not to trim back) and it started dying off and wouldn't stop. Even after I realized why this was happening. So all those nutrients went back into the tank, along with the refugium food that was being dosed daily as part of the Triton Elements. BOOM. Massive outbreak of brown snot algae that I fought for a few months before throwing in the towel and restarting.

In the end, I just didn't see the point of triton. Why do that when I was fine running a standard Berlin system that was basically just like Triton but involved water changes? I usually run a daily auto water change setup anyway. The only thing I'm missing is maybe some minor trace elements, that even Triton isn't sure what benefits there might be?

My setup with the AWC, Protein Skimmer, decent sized Refugium and Calcium Reactor is simpler and safer, in my experience.
 
d2mini said:
Very interesting!
I hadn't heard that light intensity dictated color like that. So are you going push more power?
I'm going by what BRS and some reefers I know personally have found which is PAR under LED should be around the mid 200's.
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I thought so too and tuned my tank to the 250-350 par advised by BRS. Some anecdotal sharing on the other forum said that they noticed their high end corals only starting to show their colours after turning par up to 400.

I notice the same colours on mine as the frags that my fragseller friend are still "burning in" (ie not ready for sale). He sells them when they eventually colour up. He mounts his Radions using the ecotech arm, so maybe only 12 inches above the water surface. The walt disney and homewrecker I bought from him were fully coloured up when I bought them, but have reverted to the "burning in" colours (but not the wild duller colours)
 
illumnae said:
I thought so too and tuned my tank to the 250-350 par advised by BRS. Some anecdotal sharing on the other forum said that they noticed their high end corals only starting to show their colours after turning par up to 400.

I notice the same colours on mine as the frags that my fragseller friend are still "burning in" (ie not ready for sale). He sells them when they eventually colour up. He mounts his Radions using the ecotech arm, so maybe only 12 inches above the water surface. The walt disney and homewrecker I bought from him were fully coloured up when I bought them, but have reverted to the "burning in" colours (but not the wild duller colours)
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Cool, I'll keep that in mind! Thanks!

Speaking of color, got some fresh pics coming up shortly... :)
 
pitbullceasar said:
Would you mind giving an update on the smaller ufo style refugium light that you started using after the mars hydro?
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It's working ok for me, growing my dragon's breath really well. My cheato is slow growing but it seems like darker, denser strain than I've had in the past. Not sure if that has something to do with it or not. I know someone on the other forum who got the exact same light and is chaeto exploded.
I'm probably going to try a different ball of chaeto if I come across some and see what happens.
 
Some of my colors are really starting to pop this week.

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And then I was goofing around and put my two week old little orange plate on top of my 6 year old big blue plate. lol

i-92MZ68w-XL.jpg
 
Hello Dennis, I just came across your Life Reef calcium Reactor thread and was wondering if ur still running this Ca Rx?
The reason I'm asking is that I'm in the begining stages of transitioning from hand dosing (everyday) and looking for a good review on Ca RX.
Are you running, or were you running a ph probe on your reactor?
Do you have to drain the entire reactor when needing to do maintenance on the probe.
Any advice is welcomed.

Thank you.
 
lwmnfrvr said:
Hello Dennis, I just came across your Life Reef calcium Reactor thread and was wondering if ur still running this Ca Rx?
The reason I'm asking is that I'm in the begining stages of transitioning from hand dosing (everyday) and looking for a good review on Ca RX.
Are you running, or were you running a ph probe on your reactor?
Do you have to drain the entire reactor when needing to do maintenance on the probe.
Any advice is welcomed.

Thank you.
Click to expand...

Yes bad placement of the ph probe on that one.
On this tank I'm running a Geo.
 
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