Reefer 250 build

[tenurepro]

Sounds like an eventful morning! Hate that that happened! When I setup my apex classic I was ready to use everything Neptune. Situations like this made me rethink that plan. I refuse to allow the apex to control every piece of equipment, for instance I'll probably never run the WAV pumps simply because if the apex craps out the pumps will also.

I do have all of my equipment plugged into my EB8, if it craps out I am out of luck. Luckily I work 5 minutes from home. As you said I may plug critical components into my battery backup when I go on vacation to eliminate the apex. It's nice to have the apex control heaters, my lights and delay start my skimmer. The breakout box has nice functions for my setup as well.

Your experience is another example on why I won't let rely on a controller 100%. I don't regret my apex purchase, I'm happy with the few functions I am using. In the long run the classic was a great price I couldn't pass up.

Hope it gets squared away for you!

I am with you. Like the controllability and the monitoring but the new system is not rock solid so shouldn't be relied on when one is away for too long. I am glad this happened while I was near by; I was starting to get a false sense of security with the system and was actually thinking of using it while away. Now I will get another power bar and plug the vectra, ato, skimmer, and one of my heaters into it.


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[tenurepro]

Wow nice setup just really love the fish! You have deep sand do u touch it a or just let it be on its own?

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Thanks! I love my sand dwelling wrasses so a decent sand bed is a must. I left the sand bed as it for the first 7.5 month, but only recently started to lightly vacuum it when doing water changes, in efforts to cut down on hidden detritus that may have contributed to my nitrate issues. I don't think it is making too much of a difference though. Nitrates are pretty stead at 5 ppm and vacuuming does not seem to influence the readings that much. I also have a healthy crew of sand dwelling snails; about 10 nassarius and 8 cerith snails


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[tenurepro]

Little update; things are mostly going well. Nitrate still at 5 ppm, phosphates are undetectable. I have been seeing a lot of accumulation of green slime cyano on my sand. I had a red cyano issue two month ago, but regular water changes made it go away. After the red cyano was gone, the green cyano started to take hold and the water changes don't seem to help. It was coating / irritating some of my corals on the sand bed so I decided to try out chemiclean
Here is before pic.

I dosed 6 scoops last night at 9 pm. Kept skimmer on but removed cup and let it overflow in sump.
12 hours later, noticing very obvious sings of recession

Sps and LPS seem normal and so do the fish. I repointed the return nozzle to increase surface agitation. Low o2 can be a problem with this treatment, but I think my massive skimmer is keeping the water nicely aerated - My display is full of microbubbles.


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[tenurepro]

Reefer 250 build

24 h after dosing

 

[tenurepro]

10 month update video.
Added 1 more radion xr15 and two small power heads. Also chemiclean treatment did its job... but for how long? Sps are starting to look good and growing.
Enjoy
https://youtu.be/TVNtYVuQG9c


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[North Borders]

Hi there! I LOVE your tank!

I'm looking to upgrade from the Reefer Nano to the Reefer 250 in a month or two.

I have 2 quick questions for you. I was looking at doing Radion lights like you. Do you like the dual XR15's? Debating between 2 of those vs. 1 XR30.

Also, how are the mp10's doing for you? I have a pair on my Nano and wasn't sure if I could get them to work on the 250 as the glass is thicker. Some people have said they fall off, but it looks like you're having success? Debating selling my mp10's and picking up a pair of mp40's when I upgrade.

 

[North Borders]

Nvmd, I see you have 3 XR15's now in your video. How are you liking the 3 way setup?

 

[msquires]

Nice looking Wrasse!

 

[tenurepro]

Hi there! I LOVE your tank!



I'm looking to upgrade from the Reefer Nano to the Reefer 250 in a month or two.



I have 2 quick questions for you. I was looking at doing Radion lights like you. Do you like the dual XR15's? Debating between 2 of those vs. 1 XR30.



Also, how are the mp10's doing for you? I have a pair on my Nano and wasn't sure if I could get them to work on the 250 as the glass is thicker. Some people have said they fall off, but it looks like you're having success? Debating selling my mp10's and picking up a pair of mp40's when I upgrade.

Thanks Man! Regarding light; I like the spread of 2 x xr15 vs 1 x xr30; spread of 3 xr15 is a lot better than 2 xr15. It also depends on types of corals you plan to keep. You can get away with 1 xr30 or 2 xr15 in an LPS tank with sps right under the light. Scape also matters; the coverage of light gets bigger with depth away from surface, but at the expense of par. What kinds of corals are you planing on keeping; and will your scape vary a lot in height ?


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[tenurepro]

Reefer 250 build

Also regarding the mp10s - they do work on the side. You have to ease them into operation first time and whenever you clean the wet side. Mount them and run them on constant for 40% or so for an hour, then crank them up as high as you want. If your put them on a high setting right away, the wet side will spin...

Like the radion question - how much flow you need is a function of the corals you plan to keep. 2 mp10s will be enough for softies and LPS. For sps, you aim to run at least 40x system volume per hour. You have to run both mp10s at above 80% to get that flow through. I don't have issues with the mp10s running at 80% or above with the reefer. If you have 2 x mp40s, then you would need to run them much lower % to get the same flow.

If you are starting from scratch, then maybe consider mp40s which would serve you well if you upgrade in the future. For me, I already had an mp10 for my nano and I picked up a second used for for a good deal.

- ps just saw that you have two mp10s now... I would stick with them, they WILL work on the reefer 250
https://youtu.be/Jg0e1fEbIRQ

You can always decide to upgrade later, but the mp10s will be good for up to 50x turnover on a reefer 250.


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[tenurepro]

Nice looking Wrasse!

Thanks!


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[North Borders]

Also regarding the mp10s - they do work on the side. You have to ease them into operation first time and whenever you clean the wet side. Mount them and run them on constant for 40% or so for an hour, then crank them up as high as you want. If your put them on a high setting right away, the wet side will spin...

Like the radion question - how much flow you need is a function of the corals you plan to keep. 2 mp10s will be enough for softies and LPS. For sps, you aim to run at least 40x system volume per hour. You have to run both mp10s at above 80% to get that flow through. I don't have issues with the mp10s running at 80% or above with the reefer. If you have 2 x mp40s, then you would need to run them much lower % to get the same flow.

If you are starting from scratch, then maybe consider mp40s which would serve you well if you upgrade in the future. For me, I already had an mp10 for my nano and I picked up a second used for for a good deal.

- ps just saw that you have two mp10s now... I would stick with them, they WILL work on the reefer 250
https://youtu.be/Jg0e1fEbIRQ

You can always decide to upgrade later, but the mp10s will be good for up to 50x turnover on a reefer 250.


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Thanks for that info! I have a bunch of SPS so I might need to do the mp40's after all. My mp10's are newer so I could probably get most of their value back out in a classified on the forums.

I'm starting to lean heavily towards 2 XR15's as that would seem to give much better spread and I could do a "two island" rock scape with sps on the tops of the mounds.

 

[tenurepro]

Thanks for that info! I have a bunch of SPS so I might need to do the mp40's after all. My mp10's are newer so I could probably get most of their value back out in a classified on the forums.



I'm starting to lean heavily towards 2 XR15's as that would seem to give much better spread and I could do a "two island" rock scape with sps on the tops of the mounds.

Sounds like a good plan; you can always add a third light in the future. But 2 xr15 is a better option than 1 xr30 imho


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[tenurepro]

Reefer 250 build

Little update and follow up post chemiclean treatment
https://youtu.be/_8BuLOrPSqo
In brief: po4 increased from undetectable to 0.03 10 days post chemiclean treatment. Noticing a bit of red cyano on rocks and sand and GHA on rocks. Seems the chemiclean did an nuisance algae re-rest in my tank
Decided to use my fuge to export the excess nutrients.
Got a ball of chaeto and upgraded my light on the fuge from a really cheap LED bar to this 5000k 17w Phillips par38 led. Hoping this will do the trick

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[mystikal]

Little update and follow up post chemiclean treatment
https://youtu.be/_8BuLOrPSqo
In brief: po4 increased from undetectable to 0.03 10 days post chemiclean treatment. Noticing a bit of red cyano on rocks and sand and GHA on rocks. Seems the chemiclean did an nuisance algae re-rest in my tank
Decided to use my fuge to export the excess nutrients.
Got a ball of chaeto and upgraded my light on the fuge from a really cheap LED bar to this 5000k 17w Phillips par38 led. Hoping this will do the trick

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I see you picked it up! Start feeding your cheato, zooplankton, or reefsnow, heavy feeding also helps...after you figure out how to control the po4


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[tenurepro]

I see you picked it up! Start feeding your cheato, zooplankton, or reefsnow, heavy feeding also helps...after you figure out how to control the po4


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Yeah thanks for the tip - works great. I removed the hood because the par38 light is pretty directional. I'll wait and see how the GHA situation develops in the display. It's actually looking pretty manageable. I feed three times a day, and reefroids once a week


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[neiltus]

Nice pick with the BK mini...love mine...easy to set, rarely adjust or tinker other than cleaning. The neck scrubbing top is a cool addition.

 

[tenurepro]

Nice pick with the BK mini...love mine...easy to set, rarely adjust or tinker other than cleaning. The neck scrubbing top is a cool addition.

Yeah I am thinking of getting the fancy German neck cleaner for it


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[tenurepro]

So my nitrates have dropped to zero (undetectable). This coincided with adding chaeto & upgrading fuge light, and moving siporax from low flow to high flow

Here is a video with some ideas about how I went from 5 to 0 ppm nitrates
https://youtu.be/M93iPXUgd58

Curious to hear your thoughts on the matter


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[tenurepro]

So tank is now 11 month old. Will try to shoot an update video this weekend.
A bit of cyano persists, also, spotting a few more patches of GHA... decided that i needed a few more herbivores, so picked up a tuxedo urchin and a lawnmower blenny. Also contemplating putting my gfo reactor online. Haven't used it for a few months. Just want to stay on top of nutrient export to give my herbivores a chance to catch up with the GHA.

More positive news. Noticed some good growth and color on sps this past month, coinciding with the addition of a third xr15 to the tank. When I added the new light, I cut down max intensity to the original lights from 72 to 65, and started the new light - which was placed in the center, at 55% max; I didn't want to shock the corals. I've been brining the intensity of the middle light slowly to 65, to match the other two; this will be achieved tomorrow. Then I plan to bring all the lights up by a couple of % per week until I see the best colors.

But even with the reduction in intensity on the original lights, the addition of the third light seems to have helped. Check out these pics (iPhone; cropped but not edited)

Red planet last month, this month

RR pink Cadillac, month 10 vs 11

RR orange passion, month 10 vs 11; note new side branches

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