Reefer 250 build

[tenurepro]

Ora blue voodoo (I think) month 10 vs 11.

Top view of the voodoo from this month; it's getting some very attractive accents in color from bright blue tips to the whitish base

Green slimmer, month 10 vs 11

This slimmer had lost all of its color during nitrate spike 4 month ago... we've come a long way; glad I didn't toss it

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[tenurepro]

Pink milli month 10 vs 11

Shockaholic, month 10 vs 11

And my favorite; the surreal mystery tort

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[tenurepro]

11 month update video
https://youtu.be/GNkwG15fQZE


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[tenurepro]

Upgraded my fuge light to this kessil h80. Chaeto Growth from the par38 was less than desirable; I think it may have been too strong in the shallow and small dyi fuge.

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[mystikal]

looking good! I will have to update my build in the near future.
For the high phosphates, have you tried vodka dosing? I am planning on dosing sporadically to lower my levels.

 

[tenurepro]

I did some carbon dosing in the form of nopox to reduce nitrates, and that worked really well, but ended up giving me a bacterial bloom. Also it was difficult to dose because it's pretty corrosive, which did a number of my tubing and it evaporated in the dosing lines. So I stopped it. I typically don't have high phosphates. I had a few 0.03 ppm readings a few weeks ago but I think it was measuring errors as I forgot to clean the glass vials and I think i ended up standing them. Chaeto and a bit of gfo seem to be doing the trick so far for phosphate reduction.


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[tenurepro]

The nitrate dosing experiment!

Ok... this is going to sound a bit crazy but I am going to dose some nitrates to see if they improve sps color.

I've been developing a love/hate relationship with nitrates. First I tried to run the tank clean with undetectable no3 and po4 and the sps were very pale. Then I overfed and stoped water changes, no3 increased but I kept po4 in check with gfo; sps started coloring up when no3 was between 2 to 5 ppm.
Then tank got too dirty, no3 ~ 10 and my sps turned brown real quick. I implemented a new filtration and water change regime and no3 dropped to 2 - 5 ppm and sps looked as awesome as ever. then had a cyano issue which led to a chemiclean treatment, spike in po4, added chaeto/fuge, and now my nitrates are back to 0 ppm and some of my sps are looking pale.
The hardest hit corals appear to be the ones with a green base and red/pink tips.
For example
Red planet - April 18, 5 ppm nitrate

Red planet today - 0 ppm nitrate

Pink lemonade - April 18, 5 ppm nitrates

Same frag now at 0 ppm no3

SSC - April 18 5 ppm no3

SSC now, 0 ppm no3

Some frags look the same though like this pink milli over the same time period

Note that all frags are growing and showing good polyp extension... it's just the color that is leaving something to be desired

So, solutions to improve color - feed more! Well I tried. For the last 3 weeks, I've more the doubled on food. 2 cubes of shrimp instead of one, pellets twice a day vs once, acropower (10 ml) every other day vs once a week or two.. the extra food has resulted in phosphates going up a bit and more algae on the rocks, but no3 has remained undetectable over the same time period?

Why? I think that my tank's filtration is unbalanced; many things that export no3 (dsb, matrix, siporax, chaeto), few that remove po4. (Chaeto and tiny bit of gfo). So overfeeding leads to much higher phosphates relative to nitrates.

So after some debate and a bit of research on nitrate dosing, i've decided to give it a try. I'll start tonight and continue with it for a couple of weeks. Will take pictures and update the thread.

I'll be dosing potassium nitrate. I made a solution of 50 grams in 500 ml rodi. 1 ml of that solution should contain 31,000 mg of nitrates, which should increase no3 in my 220L tank by ~0.3 ppm. I'll start with that and up the dose gradually, aiming for a stable no3 of 2 ppm.

I'll go back to feeding the normal amount of food. Will keep lights, alk and everything else the same...

hope it works! I am optimistic, but I feel that I will blow up in my face (like all of my other attempts to improve things in the tank ah well, I am a curious cat!



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[tenurepro]

KNO3 update
Nitrates are climbing, slow and steady
Dosed 1 ml of 0.1 g/ml KNO3 on day 1, 2 ml yesterday, and increased it to 3 ml today

Was also curious about potassium which can also influence sps colors. Perhaps my tank's was potassium deficient leading to pale sps? Picked up a salifert kit and found that my tank has potassium = 400 ppm, close to nsw. Will continue to monitor it as KNO3 dosing will increase both nitrate and potassium.

In terms of effects on tank; nothing obvious. I perhaps detect the slightest hint of brightness in the green Christmas monti and the pink lemonade, but that is probably wishful thinking. Will take some pics next week.


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[neoh74]

Is your Chaeto growth more significant with the higher intensity lighting? I have a 12w grow light in my sump but dont think im getting the full benefit.

 

[tenurepro]

Is your Chaeto growth more significant with the higher intensity lighting? I have a 12w grow light in my sump but dont think im getting the full benefit.

It's been a week or so since adding the kessil h80, and I've been slowly ramping up the intensity.
While o haven't observed any obvious new growth on the chaeto, it is looking healthier. I was getting a lot of white-ish slimy strands that would fall off and collect on the intake of a small mj 400 pump that I used in the fuge for circulation. I have seen that at with the new light. The chaeto is looking green and healthy.


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[tenurepro]

KNO3 - 1 wk dosing update
A bit early but had detectable nitrates for the past week. Started with 1 ml/day 0.1 g/ml KNO3 on day 1, then 2 ml on day 2, then 3 ml/day, but then cut it back to 2ml/day once I hit 1.5ppm NO3. Today levels dropped a bit to 0.75 ppm; I'll test again tomorrow before deciding to go to 3 ml/day.

Tank appearance. A bit more GHA on a few spots that already had GHA but is not what I call a bloom. About 2 days in, I noted that buildup of algae on glass was very slow. Glass was essentially clear for a good 3 days once nitrates hit 1 ppm. I am not sure what to make of this but I did note this pattern of exceptionally clear glass before. It's been a harbinger of change for me. It happened when I started vibrant before onset of cyano bloom; it happend after dosing chemiclean, before my nitrates went from 5 ppm to undetectable. My hypothesis is that I am somehow resetting the nutrient balance in the tank, which leads to shifts in the algae that is growing in the tank... stuff to think about

I can see some subtle improvements in sps color. Mind the crappy iPhone pic, with their random auto balance.
Here is red planet @ 0 ppm no3

And red planet at ~ 1 ppm no3

Pink lemonade also showed a slight improvement
0 ppm

~1 ppm

SSC @ 0 ppm

SSC @ 1 ppm

I think I will keep the tank around 1 ppm for another week, then see if I should push it higher


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[tenurepro]

2 vs 3 Radion Par comparison!!
I should have done this sooner. I was running the tank with 2 x radion xr15 gen 3 with the 120 wide angle lens. I picked up a third xr15 about 2 months ago and spaced the lights evenly across the tank. The old lights were running at 70% max intensity in the sps ab program. I dropped them to 65 and set the mid one to 45%. I slowly brought the middle light from 45 to 65 over a month, then brought all three lights to 67%. I was curious about par with three lights so I measured with the Seneye and did a comparison.

Wow. What a difference!

2 xr15 at 70%

3 xr15 at 67%

You will note 2 things
1) par increased everywhere in the tank
2) par is more even in the tank

The latter is very important I think. Almost all of the acros are in lower range of the sweet spot! And I am only at 67%. With the two lights, increasing the intensity would only exacerbate the spotlight effect.

I really think it's important to consider more than two point source leds for the reefer 250 if acros are your target


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[tenurepro]

Yay! The reef is now one year old! Thanks to all of you for helping my journey, giving helpful advice, and listening to my ramblings about the tank!
[emoji485][emoji482][emoji485][emoji482][emoji481]
One year update
https://youtu.be/ifc3vHN2hDs


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[jordimex]

Hey Tenurepro im getting a Reefer 250 sometime tomorrow i got the deluxe version with the Hydra lights what would you recommend getting as well to start right away?

 

[tenurepro]

You'll need a heater, return pump and a skimmer to get things going. Also getting a stand alone ato would be a good investment, the stock RO tank is pretty small and you will not want to manually fill it every couple of days


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[jordimex]

as for the return pump i got the Vectra M1 read your thread and had to get one, the skimmer the guy at the LFS told me that i don't need one right away so i might wait a bit, unless you recommend not waiting what skimmer do you have?
also could you recommend me a good heater?

 

[jordimex]

also saving money for the ATO

 

[tenurepro]

as for the return pump i got the Vectra M1 read your thread and had to get one, the skimmer the guy at the LFS told me that i don't need one right away so i might wait a bit, unless you recommend not waiting what skimmer do you have?

also could you recommend me a good heater?

I think you should plan to get a skimmer soon; it's an important bit of equipment. I am running a bubble king mini 160; got one used; they are really expensive new and mine is loud! I would suggest doing a bit of research and find a good skimmer that will not break the bag. The old ac bubble magus curve 5 is supposed to be pretty good. It's important to leave some space in your sump to accommodate the skimmer.
For heaters, I ran a jager 200 but it is bulky and really only fits in one direct in the 250 sump. I swapped them out for two finnex titanium 100w heaters, which can fit in all three chambers in the sump; you can probably get away with a single 100w depending on the ambient temperature in your home. You may also want to think about getting a cheap gfo reactor; it may come in handy on the early days if you are using uncured dry rock, which will put out a lot phosphates.


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[jordimex]

i am buying all live rock and live sand ill definitely look into getting that heater!!

 

[jordimex]

i was looking at the Reef Octopus Classic 110INT 4” Internal Protein Skimmer what do you think about that?