HTown Reef - 200g Waterbox Reef LX 270.6 (SPS Dominant)

[Ugin]

Is that Brightwell brick a standard one or the one with sulfur in it?

It's just their standard dimpled brick (below). They have ones with Sulfur in it?

Xport-NO3 Dimpled Brick with 250mL Microbacter7

Dimpled Brick Dimensions - 9.0" L x 4.5" W x 2.625" H Xport-NO3 is a superior biomedia that utilizes NanoIntelex technology allowing Brightwell to create one of the best, most adaptable denitrifying biomedia cubes on the market today. Made specifically to allow beneficial denitrifying bacteria...

www.bulkreefsupply.com

 

[Sean Clark]

It's just their standard dimpled brick (below). They have ones with Sulfur in it?

Xport-NO3 Dimpled Brick with 250mL Microbacter7

Dimpled Brick Dimensions - 9.0" L x 4.5" W x 2.625" H Xport-NO3 is a superior biomedia that utilizes NanoIntelex technology allowing Brightwell to create one of the best, most adaptable denitrifying biomedia cubes on the market today. Made specifically to allow beneficial denitrifying bacteria...

www.bulkreefsupply.com

Yep, you don't need it yet though.

Xport NO3 Brick with Sulfur

Edit: I just fixed the link to Breightwells site.

 

[Crabby48]

I’m not the person to answer about dosing more bac7 as I never used it. I did talk to brightwell and was told bac7 is slow to cycle and wasn’t recommended to start. I would hold off since you are keeping track and see what happens.

 

[Ugin]

Yep, you don't need it yet though.

Xport NO3 Brick with Sulfur

Edit: I just fixed the link to Breightwells site.

Yea my brick doesn't have any sulfur, so should be ok. Thanks for the heads up!

I’m not the person to answer about dosing more bac7 as I never used it. I did talk to brightwell and was told bac7 is slow to cycle and wasn’t recommended to start. I would hold off since you are keeping track and see what happens.

Good to know. I'm not in any hurry so it's ok, but i'll follow the recommendation and just stop dosing it. Ammonia is going down and nitrites are spiked, so the cycle is happening, just maybe not as fast as some prefer.

 

[Ugin]

So since my thoughts have been on cycling, I was wondering if yall could help me with my question. The tank should be cycled before my fish get here. I'd rather not let the bacteria die, so any suggestions on how to keep that from happening? A few thoughts...

• Dosing ammonia
• Raw shrimp
• Phantom feeding

 

[Sean Clark]

So since my thoughts have been on cycling, I was wondering if yall could help me with my question. The tank should be cycled before my fish get here. I'd rather not let the bacteria die, so any suggestions on how to keep that from happening? A few thoughts...

• Dosing ammonia
• Raw shrimp

My vote:

Phantom feeding

 

[Crabby48]

Phantom feed.

 

[Ugin]

My vote:

Phantom feeding

Phantom feed.

Whelp, phantom feeding it is! My ammonia dropped a bit today, nitrites still in the unreadable (1+ppm) range. I assume everything is going in the right direction.

 

[Crabby48]

I will say you assume correct. Easier to phantom feed without over doing it or under.

 

[Ugin]

Electrical Update

Most of the wires have been routed through the electrical cabinet. The door closes just fine, but the extruded cables connected to my power strip still need fine-tuning. Eventually I plan on putting some ikea accent piece in that spot to cover it up, but also to act as storage for dosing containers, etc.





Aquascape Update

I do like my aquascape, but I keep looking at the right structure and not liking the flow of it. I've made one change to it that...

• Gives me more space for SPS coral
• Adds a swimthrough/cave
• Adds a minor drop-off aesthetic

BEFORE




AFTER




At the end of the day, most of the rock structure itself will be covered by SPS. Adding the extra space for mounting coral plus the added benefit of a swimthrough/cave makes me happy.

 

[Badfish405]

This is an amazing build. Looking forward to watching it grow.

 

[Ugin]

Cycle Update

Ammonia is hovering around the 0.1ppm~ range and Nitrites are still 1ppm+. The camera doesn't do the ammonia picture justice, the color range is slightly below that of 0.2. Either way, it looks like Ammonia should be reading 0 soon!

 

[Ugin]

Some odd looking catfish was checking out my sump earlier....

 

[Sean Clark]

Some odd looking catfish was checking out my sump earlier....

Those are definitely not reef safe. What are you thinking!?

 

[Ugin]

Strange Heater Inconsistencies

I use one of the BRS heater controllers along with 2 of my heaters (the one below)



After having my APEX online for a few days and my BRS controller still controlling my heaters (set to 78), I've noticed that my temp fluctuates way more than I'd like. The below screenshot shows my temp (left) with a daily low of 76.8 to a daily high of 78.2. This in turn impacts my salinity which fluctuates along with the temp. I know very little about the direct correlation between temp and salinity, except that they have a relationship with each other.

What I've Done:

I've since swapped my heaters over to my APEX energy bar and set my On/Off temp to 77.8-78. For those of you with an APEX (@Crabby48 ), how are you setting your APEX heater for on/off temps?

 

[Crabby48]

You might not have ammonia as test kits aren’t that accurate or I guess you could. Tank is cycling pretty quick

I control my heaters with apex and use heater control set at a higher temp then apex. Here is a screen shot how I programmed apex for heaters. Basic and simple.
Last line is for a virtual outlet to shut down all sump equipment for water changes.
3 years and so far eb832 is still working and it gets a workout

Any questions just ask but think the picture says it better then me



My new tank I haven’t hooked up to apex yet but I use ranco controller’s with 1 degree difference so I’ll use apex as a backup

 

[Ugin]

You might not have ammonia as test kits aren’t that accurate or I guess you could. Tank is cycling pretty quick

I control my heaters with apex and use heater control set at a higher temp then apex. Here is a screen shot how I programmed apex for heaters. Basic and simple.
Last line is for a virtual outlet to shut down all sump equipment for water changes.
3 years and so far eb832 is still working and it gets a workout

Any questions just ask but think the picture says it better then me



My new tank I haven’t hooked up to apex yet but I use ranco controller’s with 1 degree difference so I’ll use apex as a backup

So really the only difference is that your minimum baseline is 78 and you go up by half a degree as opposed to mine (now) which goes down by .2 degrees. Now that I think about it, my house is never above 78 degrees, so I prefer your method more. Thanks for the tip!

 

[Crabby48]

You are 1.4 degree difference? I think a little swing is good as in nature. If everything is used to perfection how will they handle a problem. Just my thought.

Down fall with apex controlling it can burn out the eb832 port. Also you will lose both heaters if only one inkbird.
I use two outlets, 2 controllers, 2 heaters

 

[Ugin]

You are 1.4 degree difference? I think a little swing is good as in nature. If everything is used to perfection how will they handle a problem. Just my thought.

Down fall with apex controlling it can burn out the eb832 port. Also you will lose both heaters if only one inkbird.
I use two outlets, 2 controllers, 2 heaters

Fair enough, good level of redundancy added. I think my larger concern is more about the impact of the salinity fluctuations which correlates to the temp swings.

 

[Crabby48]

If you test the salinity it should move in little temp swings. Think it’s apex correcting for temp changes and giving weird numbers.