Miami Red Sea Reefer 425xl

[rerana]

Felt a little inspiration and finished off the plumbing. Luckily no leaks and I dialed it in to run nearly silent. Emergency drain was a tad bit too long around the elbow, but works just fine.

I still need to hookup the BRS Carbon+GFO and the Omega 180i skimmer, but I will wait a few weeks. I feel tank is still cycling and parameters are still looking good (Amonia 0, Nitrite 0, nitrate 0, Phosphate 0.12). Though that hair algae...not liking it very much...

That sand dust on the bottom of the sump also needs to go soon.

 

[rerana]

I keep killing torch coral. One head looks like it is nearly dead and I assume the second one will not last long. This is the second torch frag that does not make it in my tank. Only had it for about 3 weeks.

All other coral doing fine. Funny enough, one of my best corals over last year has been my hammer head, which has gone from one tiny head to six+ in 9 months.

 

[rerana]

Quick update shot of the reef. Things generally looking good, but had a few SPS melt away last few weeks. So I finally hooked up the Carbon and GFO reactor to try to combat whatever the coral did not like and also set up the protein skimmer while I was at it. Numbers were stable and coming in good every week, but two coral dying and small amount of persistent algae, made me try to step up the game.

I made a stand for the protein skimmer out of an egg crate sheet from HD and leftover red PVC pipe from when i did the hard plumbing. Put it together with some basic 4" cable ties.

I also bought some red cups for filter floss for the sump . These are better than the restaurant DIY ones i had been using to replace the filter socks, though I wish they had some more flow like the acrylic ones I have seen around.

 

[rerana]

Weekend update - Got two new coral on saturday: A large torch coral colony with about 5 big heads and red & green grafted Montipora. Still plenty of space in the tank. Hopefully some of the SPS will start growing soon.

Only issue with the tank these days is that I have a ton of small Vermetid snails which are multiplying like crazy. I am thinking of getting a yellow wrasse to help control or rid of the pest...

 

[rerana]

Took some time this weekend to update my doser canisters because as I was rewiring my electronics to a board, i noticed that the loser tops i was using may have started to rust on the top.

I went out and got some cheep new bottles to use. These are just plain glass water bottles and i drilled a hole on the top. Kind of what i was using before, but the ones before i had chosen because the top had a hole in it for a straw. This one im using now is all plastic so hopefully i won't have the same problem again.

Rusted cap


Old Set up


New Set up


Wiring still looks terrible. The velcro had started to pull off and the energy bars were all off from the wood. I used zipties this time. Not neat, but at least they are in place.

 

[Brent Behringer]

Looking good. Following

 

[rerana]

Tank took a hit due to hurricane Irma, but on the bright side, its a fresh start. I got a chance to rearrange some of the rock work and vacuum the sand under the rocks. Rocks are more stable this time around. Also, I found about 15 dead bristle worms. I was never a fan and now glad they are gone. I also found what looked like about 5 flat worms. I am also gone take the opportunity and not add any fish or food to for a while. I have an invasion of vermetid snails and plan to starve them out.

I'll be on the lookout for new corals soon!

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[rerana]

Quick update, tank is slowly coming back to life after the hurricane. I have gone on a bit of an SPS buying spree. I'll let these settle in before getting more. Just in case.

I haven't put much food at all in the tank over the last month. Until last week, I only had a small amount of zoas and acans. I have put in about two cubes of frozen food and one feeding of the coral with reef roids. Still trying to get rid of as many vermetid snails as I can. I don't know how they are still alive, but a whole bunch are surviving. I have also been crushing them when i have time, and the has helped reduce the population a bit, but there are so many. Though i have noticed they don't release their slime as often as before. I'll also try to keep it fish free for another month or two. I do have some hair algae, but its not too bad yet. Got to keep an eye on it.

Here is a nice picture of a bubble gum monti I got yesterday. Pops really nice when the lights are set to blue.

 

[rerana]

I made a few changes yesterday: I moved the ATO tank (the pet food plastic container) outside and moved in the dosing pumps. I found that it is easier to fill the ATO when it is outside and there was too much risk of the dosing lines to be disconnected while exposed.

Now I have a ton more room in the cabinet and it looks a little cleaner. Some wires sill, but its not bad. I also upgraded from small containers ~300 ml to 1.5 L ones, and now using acrylic tubes inside. I found that i was filling them up once a week given im dosing about 40ml/day of Alk and Ca.

Since I am now also dosing Mag, I added a powerbar connected to the internet that allows me to program each outlet on/off to drive the dosing pumps. So far, so good. I will keep close eye on it as I don't trust it yet. This also allows me to dose each one separately (before Alk and Ca were on the same timer).

Here are some update pics.
1. new dosing setup
2. new power bar
3. Favorite acro with its daily 5 min of morning sun
4. Side shot of the reef. Something is messing with the coraline, but have not found the culprit yet.