kinetic RSR 170

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kinetic

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It feels like ages, but it's only been two weeks since I've setup my NYOS Quantum 120 skimmer. This thing stinks (in a good way?). So much gross skimmate! This is probably the best performance out of a skimmer I've ever had. I've had a LOT of skimmers. Tunze, ELOS, Bubble King, Simplicity, and now the NYOS Quantum. This one has been the easiest to dial in, probably the quietest (other than the skimmer lid rattle), and is currently pulling out amazing skimmate. This is 2 days:

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Noise
Decibels on my iPhone app read about 60 dB when running, with an ambient sound around 48 dB. Not the quietest, but the sound is a very low deep hum and pretty quiet. To me, it's quieter than my Simplicity 120 DC, which had a higher pitch that was a lot more distracting.

Quality
The skimmer build looks nice, seams are beautifully done, the wedge pipe adjustment is a dream, and the details down to the titanium screws are really incredible. I'm not sure why they are using titanium screws over plastic ones, or why there's little tabs holding the skimmer down rather than it being screwed right in (maybe for the sake of not needing to replace the skimmer body if you damage the screw hole?), but it's nice. It feels like it's built to last a lifetime, rather than something that works for a few years and needs replacement. Despite a lot of the skimmer feeling nice and polished, there's a few surprising things that aren't that nice. The plastic feels a bit more plastic than acrylic, and feels slightly cheap. The skimmer cup walls are pretty thin, and I feel like I could easily crack it with my hand while twisting on and off the body. The light gray bits around the skimmer look kind of cheap up close, for some reason reminds me of the plastic of caps on plastic soda bottles. The tip of the air screw has imperfections in the plastic, so it has a strand of plastic sticking out sideways. It doesn't hurt the performance, but is oddly out of place on an otherwise beautiful skimmer.

Design
The design of this skimmer is beautiful and functional. I think the skimmer cup is nicely done so it's easy to be cleaned out. Everything has slight natural curves, with few hard angles. So far, it's performing well so I can't say much else about how it's shaped. By far the best part is the wedge pipe adjustment. It's screw based, and has the perfect amount of give. It's easy to do small adjustments, which is key. The only strange thing is the cutout for the pump cord on the bottom of the skimmer doesn't give it much room, and the skimmer actually sits on the cord since it sticks out downwards and has to bend up. Good thing it's soft so it dampens any sound. It's also right where the wedge pipe outlet is. Kind of strange. The one big flaw about this skimmer is probably the skimmer cup lid. It rattles so much and is incredibly loud. I have to constantly go into my sump to slightly move the lid so it will stop rattling, but it will eventually start rattling again. I'm not sure what to do about it, other than get some large rubberbands to tie it down.

Performance
Two week performance is great. It started skimming only a few days after setting up. It was skimming pretty wet, but I didn't adjust it to get darker since I wanted to let it break in for awhile. This is after giving it a 1 hour vinegar bath. I did add a ton of reef epoxy into the tank a week later, so it went a little nuts for days. I decided to open the wedge pipe quite a bit, and it was actually able to skim despite all the reef epoxy being in the water. I could tell it was skimming the epoxy remnants out, because the cup smelled so much like the reef epoxy for a few days. Then things calmed down, and I had to close up the wedge pipe again to get the water level correct. As of 2 weeks, it's now skimming incredibly well. It's definitely helping keep my parameters at a minimum.

2 week Conclusion
Overall, I'd highly recommend the skimmer. It skims really well, easy to adjust, and isn't too noisy. I wouldn't say dead silent, but that's just subjective. I'm interested in trying the rumored Bubble King Micro skimmers that have the DC Aquabee pumps. Hopefully that is actually dead silent. Noise is such a big factor for me. The NYOS is tolerable when the lid isn't rattling, especially with how well it's working, but there must be a quieter way.
 
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kinetic

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Updates:

Clownfish Circus
Unfortunately I'm now down to 4 clowns. I gave the others away to good homes due to aggression. The largest and most aggressive of the small males always became the aggressor, and each time I removed him, the next one would take his place. I'm down to two who are pretty docile, but the smallest one is now becoming more aggressive. I isolated the last little guy who is being picked on, and we'll see what happens after a week. I may just end up with 3.

The next thing to try is to bring in a big group of small clowns from the same clutch (instead of mix and matching). I found a breeder who will put a group together and remove the aggressors for awhile until they're good. I'm not sure if I want to keep trying this, I'm running out of friends to give clowns to.

NYOS Skimmer Noise
I added an airline tube that I sliced lengthwise to line the lip of the skimmer cup. This reduced the noise by 4 decibels! The lid was rattling so much. Now it just sits on the airline tubing. It's a great easy fix.

Algae
Picked up quite a bit of algae after accidentally dropping 4 months worth of food into the tank. All parameters are reading 0, but of course the algae is growing and eating up the phosphates. Just film algae for now, but I'm seeing some weird stuff that probably hitchhiked on some snails. I'm going to try to run some GFO to battle this bout of algae. I'm also thinking of getting some more snails.
 

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Clown fish are real jerks. I know they look harmless and goofy when they wiggle around, but man they are some of the meanest fish you'll find. I've never been attacked and bitten so much by any other fish. They aren't afraid to go after fish several times larger than them. Even my "docile" skunk clowns bully the third smallest clown and won't let him into their mag. I've been charged by clownfish in the wild while scuba diving!
 
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Clown fish are real jerks. I know they look harmless and goofy when they wiggle around, but man they are some of the meanest fish you'll find. I've never been attacked and bitten so much by any other fish. They aren't afraid to go after fish several times larger than them. Even my "docile" skunk clowns bully the third smallest clown and won't let him into their mag. I've been charged by clownfish in the wild while scuba diving!

I'm finding this to be true. I haven't had the current ones show any aggression towards me or the Geometric Pygmy Hawkfish, but yeah they're not very nice to each other! My past clowns have all been very gentle seemingly to all other tank inhabitants, and would eat food out of my hands (ocellaris pair and a sanjay black photon breeding pair).

Today the mocha is still attached at the hip to the fancy white extreme. Their names are actually Caramel and Champagne (caramel because the guy is kind of caramel colored, and champagne because that's fancy?). They don't seem to be open mouth rushing each other anymore. Carmel does the twitching dance almost constantly whenever Champagne looks his way. Champagne still rushes at Carmel, but without an open mouth, and receives the twitching dance.

I'm just crossing my fingers that they're getting along. Best case scenario is they pair up and I'll have two somewhat accepting pairs in the tank. A fancy white extreme + mocha ocellaris pair might be pretty interesting.

All these black friday deals have me thinking of getting another tank or doing a major upgrade so I can keep two mags ;)
 
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kinetic

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My OctoAquatics (@cromag27) custom lid arrived:

38687008781_17c19982b1_b.jpg


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Fit
The fit is perfect. I gave some very specific measurements, and I was worried it would be too perfect and possibly risk not fitting, but looks like there was plenty of wiggle room built into it.

Build
The edges are all straight and perfect. The edges are smooth for the most part, but not super smoothly polished (they never advertised as so, just think that would be nice?).

No slack in the netting which is great.

There's a bit of "extra" netting that sticks out on the bottom, but not enough to be annoying or unsightly. It would probably be a big challenge to tuck that in somewhere.

The tabs holding the lid up are nicely rounded and are very sturdy.

Cutouts are nice and neat

Looks
I never was a fan of a top over a tank. I love the rimless look. But this lid doesn't look too bad (and as far as lids go, looks really great). I won't keep it on normally, just when I'm away for a few days and at night if I remember. I've had two clowns jump out within the first few days of having them, but they haven't jumped since. I think it's good to have the top just in case. If I ever get a wrasse or something, this lid will probably stay on 24/7.

Conclusion
I'd highly recommend the OctoAquatics lid. Matt at OctoAquatics is always no frills and to the point, which I really appreciate. The lead time for the lid was super fast, and was even a bit earlier than the estimated time.

He's also prototyping out a filter sock silencer for the Red Sea Reefer sumps. Not sure why nobody else has done it, but can't wait test them out and get my sump quieted down!
 

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looks nice on your tank! thanks for the review. want to address a couple of your concerns.

edges - i use a special type of polycarbonate and it does not polish the same as acrylic. polycarbonate in general is a lot harder to work with than acrylic.

extra netting - that is the leftover after i trim it. it shouldn't be visible when looking at the tank. if i trim too closely then i risk damaging the soft surface of the lid.

even though you're not a fan of lids i'm glad you like yours!
 
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looks nice on your tank! thanks for the review. want to address a couple of your concerns.

edges - i use a special type of polycarbonate and it does not polish the same as acrylic. polycarbonate in general is a lot harder to work with than acrylic.

extra netting - that is the leftover after i trim it. it shouldn't be visible when looking at the tank. if i trim too closely then i risk damaging the soft surface of the lid.

even though you're not a fan of lids i'm glad you like yours!

That all makes sense! Yeah you can't see the extra netting at all. These were just nitpicks, but glad you are able to address them a bit. Super happy with the lid! Thanks again =)
 
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Black Friday deals really did a number on my wallet. But purchases were good.

  • Spare Reef Octopus VarioS-4 return pump
  • Icecap Battery Backup for my Gyre (prep for potential power outages)
  • AquaUV 8watt sterilizer (replacing my cheapo, though great working, green killing machine). Runs inline so I don't need an extra pump, is 1 watt less, and has a wiper for easy maintenance
  • Apex things: another FMM, solenoid, optical sensor, power suppy: this will control refilling my ATO reservoir from my RO/Di automatically
  • Aquaforest Reef Salt x2 (just loading up on this while it's cheap)
  • Aquaforest Iron (need some to see if it'll help my chaeto grow)
  • Marinepure biospheres. Kind of an impulse, they were on sale. I think I might seed a few of the balls and use it for a hospital tank?
Not black friday, but purchased anyway from LiveAquaria today:

  • Another Tonga Fighting conch. My current one is so cool, but really not making a dent on his own.
  • Another mexican turbo snail. One isn't enough I think.
  • ORA captive raised Orchid Dottyback! About 1.25"
  • Golden Sailfin Blenny - Philippines , only 3/4". Hope it stays gold. Probably better sized for my tank than a regular lawnmower blenny
  • ORA Hawkins Enchinata - one of my favorite corals ever, never was able to keep it successfully. Crossing my fingers
 

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Black Friday deals really did a number on my wallet. But purchases were good.

  • Spare Reef Octopus VarioS-4 return pump
  • Icecap Battery Backup for my Gyre (prep for potential power outages)
  • AquaUV 8watt sterilizer (replacing my cheapo, though great working, green killing machine). Runs inline so I don't need an extra pump, is 1 watt less, and has a wiper for easy maintenance
  • Apex things: another FMM, solenoid, optical sensor, power suppy: this will control refilling my ATO reservoir from my RO/Di automatically
  • Aquaforest Reef Salt x2 (just loading up on this while it's cheap)
  • Aquaforest Iron (need some to see if it'll help my chaeto grow)
  • Marinepure biospheres. Kind of an impulse, they were on sale. I think I might seed a few of the balls and use it for a hospital tank?
Not black friday, but purchased anyway from LiveAquaria today:

  • Another Tonga Fighting conch. My current one is so cool, but really not making a dent on his own.
  • Another mexican turbo snail. One isn't enough I think.
  • ORA captive raised Orchid Dottyback! About 1.25"
  • Golden Sailfin Blenny - Philippines , only 3/4". Hope it stays gold. Probably better sized for my tank than a regular lawnmower blenny
  • ORA Hawkins Enchinata - one of my favorite corals ever, never was able to keep it successfully. Crossing my fingers

I think we all went a little crazy on the Black Friday deals.[emoji24] I wish I knew you wanted a Hawkins frag! I could have included one with the anemone shipment!
 
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kinetic

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I think we all went a little crazy on the Black Friday deals.[emoji24] I wish I knew you wanted a Hawkins frag! I could have included one with the anemone shipment!

Ah bummer! Well I guess I wouldn't have been ready for it just yet. My BTA's were still wandering quite a bit.

Nice Lid. I've considered going with Octo Aquatics as well. How is the netting secured to the lid?

Netting is really great. Nothing to complain about. It does its job and looks good.

Very nice Black Friday order .. I think we all went a little crazy, I know I did lol

It's so bad, but so good at the same time. =)
 

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Looks good!
 
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kinetic

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Wow, the orchid dottyback is incredible. He is currently in my QT tank, and seemingly is always staring at me. When I get close he hides a bit, but then comes right out. Such a beautiful fish. I'm considering getting another and introducing them to the DT at the same time, and hoping they pair up. Is that a bad idea for my tank? Should I just stick to one?

The sailfin blenny is so small. I literally thought I just got a bag of water lol. And upon closer inspection, there he was, a tiny dot! He's also in the QT, but I can barely see him hanging out on my powerhead's suction cup. I literally have no idea what he looks like, just a dot of yellow haha. I don't have a light over the QT, so it's hard to see him.

I'll just keep an eye out on them and add prazipro if they look like they need it. So far there's no scratching, so I don't think they came with any flukes. I don't know if I have the ability to do a TTM to make sure there's no ich, so I might just observe and dose with prazipro if I see any bad signs. Otherwise I might just dump them into the DT this weekend. =P
 

HAVE YOU EVER KEPT A RARE/UNCOMMON FISH, CORAL, OR INVERT? SHOW IT OFF IN THE THREAD!

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