HighEndOfTheLow's Red Sea Reefer 750 XXL

[highendofthelow]

Right so it's a quiet month and a quiet month for a reason! Very little has changed in the tank, fish are doing well, unfortunately we lost a few special sps pieces due to instabilities as we waited for the calcium reactor but there's finally an update.

Which after 3 months of painful waiting has FINALLY turned up!

Que a mad after work dash tonight to pick it up, we've just got back home!

I also got given a replacement echinata frag as this was one I lost over the past month which is currently aclimmatising.

 

[highendofthelow]

I don't know if to laugh or cry, after spending most of yesterday till the early hours and then again today completely ripping out the power and re-setting it up, checking over the calcium reactor and getting everything into place to find the feed pump appears to be DOA.

After a few phone calls and email chains I've had a response from D and D / Deltec UK technical who have appologied and said they can't do much today (given that it's sunday) but promise to get on it tomorrow morning ; which although has caused a number of stressful hair pulling moments (as we're out of the country shortly) is the best response I could ask for given it's a weekend.

So for now...

 

[Brew12]

I don't know if to laugh or cry, after spending most of yesterday till the early hours and then again today completely ripping out the power and re-setting it up, checking over the calcium reactor and getting everything into place to find the feed pump appears to be DOA.

After a few phone calls and email chains I've had a response from D and D / Deltec UK technical who have appologied and said they can't do much today (given that it's sunday) but promise to get on it tomorrow morning ; which although has caused a number of stressful hair pulling moments (as we're out of the country shortly) is the best response I could ask for given it's a weekend.

So for now...

Ugh.. problems like that are awful. The tank however is looking fantastic. Those monti caps are impressive!!!

 

[highendofthelow]

Ugh.. problems like that are awful. The tank however is looking fantastic. Those monti caps are impressive!!!

I have a bit of a love hate relationship with them, they are impressive but I can't help but feel they take up a lot of room, and they're also looking s touch worse for wear as they've been moved through 3 house moves and 3 tank set ups.

I may in the future "re start" them from frags.

 

[Brew12]

I have a bit of a love hate relationship with them, they are impressive but I can't help but feel they take up a lot of room, and they're also looking s touch worse for wear as they've been moved through 3 house moves and 3 tank set ups.

I may in the future "re start" them from frags.

I'm clumsy enough when I clean the tank that my big orange one is always getting pruned back.

 

[RumMnky]

Beautiful, Beautiful Tank... I've been following your thread for a couple months, Sorry to hear about the issues with the deltech.. I was curious if you had any issues with the 2 bleeder valves during your set up. As a side note if your sure its the feed pump and your pressed for time, I think the replacement is readily available.
example https://www.fish-street.com/jebao_dc650_nano_dc_pump

Cheers

 

[highendofthelow]

Beautiful, Beautiful Tank... I've been following your thread for a couple months, Sorry to hear about the issues with the deltech.. I was curious if you had any issues with the 2 bleeder valves during your set up. As a side note if your sure its the feed pump and your pressed for time, I think the replacement is readily available.
example https://www.fish-street.com/jebao_dc650_nano_dc_pump

Cheers

Thank you RumMnky,

The tank is Slowly getting there, like most of us we tend to focus on the negatives when it's our own but it's nice to be reminded every now and then!

We had no issues with the bleed valves and managed to get both the recirculation pump working and the Co2 injection working (needs fine tuning) but it simply wouldn't pump in.

I knew it was a rebadged generic feed pump but wasn't sure which one so I may end up taking the hit and ordering a jebao replacement and getting it fast tracked if I can source a UK one if I haven't heard any further by today etc.

 

[highendofthelow]

So............

We are still waiting to get the calcium reactor set up.

A replacement pump and controller unit was sent to our not so local LFS 12 days ago and we picked the replacements up a day later. Unfortunately, we have been away on holiday since then until Sunday, meaning yesterday was the first chance we have got to try again..... and still cannot get the thing to work and it would seem we have a knackered controller. We want to point out that this is the replacement controller as we had to give up the original controller and pump to get the replacement pump (they wanted us to change the controller too just in case).

So far the people on the ground have been good at responding to queries and sorting us out, but.... it doesn't fill us with confidence with the kit.... does lighting hit twice without some external issue? We are concerned about the quality control that is going on to leave us with 2 knackered parts.... its not a cheap bit of kit! Fingers crossed that we can get it sorted.... we lost more coral during our time away because we hadnt the time to get it online before we went, not that it would've worked anyway. It certainly leaves you frustrated.

Will keep everyone informed.

 

[najer]

This sucks big ones guys, hopefully third time a charm, I have never really looked into them but I would be demanding my money back and go elsewhere, that is rubbish quality control!

 

[highendofthelow]

so the distributor has checked our old controller and pump set up and confirmed there was an issue with the connection with the pump to the controller and hence the original issue of the pump not working, he has fixed the problem and going to send it back to us tomorrow. Fingers crossed all will be up and running tomorrow and we will be updating with how brilliant it is!

 

[dragon99]

I'll race you to see who gets their ca reactor up first. Mine has been in the sump for 2 months and I've had the CO2 tank filled for a couple weeks now. I'm nervous about switching from kalk because it's stable currently.

 

[highendofthelow]

Ok so the post office waited until we had popped to the shop yesterday morning and refused to leave the package when we had left a note asking for it to be left, so we have picked it up from the depot today.

We are now cautiously optimistic that we have a working calcium reactor! Did we beat you @dragon99 ?

125 days its taken from purchase to working product.... and don't we know it!

 

[Brew12]

125 days its taken from purchase to working product.... and don't we know it!

Sounds like you guys have blown through the cautiously optimistic phase! I hope it actually works this time!

 

[RumMnky]

My fingers are so crossed I think my left knuckle is turning blue......

 

[dragon99]

You definitely won. I managed to get the CO2 tank hooked up, solenoid programmed/tested on Apex, and new ph probe calibrated and installed in reactor. However, I haven't turned on gas yet, gonna wait till next weekend to make the switch when I can be home and testing Alk several times throughout the day.

Hope your Deltec is cruising along.

 

[highendofthelow]

We are cursed...

Yes that's a brand new co2 cylinder that's bled out on us I checked the seals for leaks and didn't spot any but there must be one somewhere or I literally burnt through a co2 cylinder peeing around trying to sort this co2 reactor..

Sigh

 

[Brew12]

We are cursed...

Yes that's a brand new co2 cylinder that's bled out on us I checked the seals for leaks and didn't spot any but there must be one somewhere or I literally burnt through a co2 cylinder peeing around trying to sort this co2 reactor..

Sigh

Never underestimate the power of Murphy.

 

[najer]

That sucks large ones!

 

[highendofthelow]

What's annoying is it was pressurised for weeks until Sunday when I swapped the faulty controller for the replacement so I suspect the issue is between the regulator and the solenoid, i must have knocked it in Sunday

I'm just trying to locate a local supplier to refil it, I have a backup but that's a quite a drive away.

I also have 1 x disposable which was meant to be my backup but my adaptor for the thread hasn't turned up yet!

We also have a second disposable at my not so near LFS which is different to the one I have here and should in theory not need an adaptor so I'm just trying to work out which is best use of our time.

 

[highendofthelow]

I can't believe my bad luck run with this calcium reactor. you genuinely couldn't make it up...

So we decided that we'd go drop off my empty 5KG at my not so near LFS that also had my spare CO2 bottle waiting (a 2KG bottle which is to act as a backup), on the basis that atleast I'm guaranteed to come back with CO2 (or so we thought...) drove the 55 miles each way, had some lunch, cracked the shrink wrap seal and pulled the cap on the new sealed box CO2 plugged my reg in and opened the bottle and...nothing.

Zero pressure in the bottle on the primary gauge, and approx 0.1 bar on the second gauge which depleted within a few seconds.

We remove the regulator and gently crack the valve open trying to listen for gas escaping again nothing, sling the bottle on the scales and yep you guessed it my 2 KG bottle is approx 2 KG light...

This makes....
3 months waiting
2 x faulty mainboard controllers (I've been informed i have the official 1st and 2nd RTM logs for Deltec Twintech 1500's in the UK)
1 x Empty 5 KG CO2 bottle ( combination of me trying to fix / trouble shoot the CA reactor in the first place and what i suspect was a leak on the check valve causing CO2 to free flow out)
1 x Empty 2 KG "backup" CO2 bottle, which was empty when opened.

... ;Rage;Sorry