Terrys Red Sea Max E170 Build thread

Taxus812 · May 12, 2019

The most useful thing I built. This is just 1/2” plastic tubing that I heated, bent and drilled a small hole at the curve for a syphon break.

I drop a pump in my bucket of fresh saltwater during water changes and refill my tank. Rarely a drop spilled. It really cut my change time way down.

It fits into standard 1/2” tube. I drilled a hole after the curve so when the pump stops it breaks the syphon. When I remove the tube a don’t spill any water since it all ran back to the bucket.

I can fill directly in the sump of my AIO. I do t disturb the sand bed at all.

Taxus812 · May 13, 2019

What kind of Aquascaper am I going to be
Kinda feeling down right now. I got a small frag of GSP for my birthday April 4th. It appeared to be doing good for a while until I added the chemipure Elite and it started to melt away pretty quickly. I was checking my foundation parameters. I had good parameters with exception of alkalinity which wasn't horrible and phosphate which was zero (chempure Elite).

Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate between 1 and 2 ppm
Phosphate 0
Calcium between 425 and 450

Alkalinity 7.3 to 7.6
Magnesium between 1350 1360

PH between 7.9 and 8.1
Silicates < 1ppm

I removed the chempure elite as I stated above and let the phosphate creep up a bit. Phosphate before my last water change was .015 so getting close to my range of .03 to .07 I want.
I did a 33% water change last week and a 20% this weekend.
I added a lot of flow on my GSP and I thought I seen a ever so tiny wisp of green color from a polyp last night but its gone today.

I am concerned if I cant grow GSP (which is known to grow after sitting on a rock on the deck in the heat for months then thrown in a tank), what will happen to other corals.

I supplemented my water with this to see if I can bump up my Alk. I have been reading about gsp and it’s care. It tends to want dKh above 8.0 . Hopefully that will bring the little bugger back from the dead.

Before

a week ago

Today

Taxus812 · May 14, 2019

The molly crue
I have had the mollys in my quarantine tank now for a week. I am using this tank more for conversion to salt than for a quarantine. My original plan was to keep them in freshwater for two weeks before conversion. However, I don't have rocks in this tank and was hoping the biopellets would keep the amonia down. That isn't working to plan and I am doing daily water changes. Not a big deal in this location it takes me less then 10 min. I am more concerned about the molly's health. That said since I am changing the water daily already, I am starting the conversion to salt a bit early. I last night I got the salt SG to 1.008 and this Moring I changed the water again and brought it up to 1.013 and tomorrow I will bring it to 1.018. There is no logic to my values but it is what it worked out to when I changed 10% of the water. I thought about using a drip and my do that for my water change fill. I may work something out tomorrow.

I will have to pause the conversion for 4 days since I am having surgery on Thursday. Molly's love brackish water so I think they will be quite happy in it. I will resume the conversion to salt water Monday.

Here is a link to some information on saltwater mollies.
https://hubpages.com/animals/Keeping-Breeding-and-Raising-Saltwater-Mollies

The lights are down to reduce stress. Its much darker in here than it appears. My camera is just compensating.

Taxus812 · May 14, 2019

XPAqua Duette

Mailman came today. I got my XPAquat Duette ATO. Since it used the same pump and power supply as the smart ATO Micro I already had installed it was a simple 2 min installation. I took far longer wrapping my wiring.

*Bonus I didn't know about. The sensor wire was longer than the smart ATO micro so I could relocate the control at the front of the cabinet. This is good because the controller has a button to silence the QST alarm. (NOTE it will not shut off the QST just the alarm)
I was questioning if when the ATO's high level sensor was tripped would it generate an audible alarm and latch off. The answer is NO it will flash on the controller and not let the pump operate. Once the water returns to normal levels the ATO will return to normal operation. This is favorable for me when I shut off the circulation pump to feed my fish. The water level will rise far above the sensor. @William DeCoursey this means no dead zone for our AIO's with tall thin sumps. Hopefully the 6x first run will prove to be what I needed and not have anymore false alarms either.

UPDATE: I also realized that this ATO while it has a lot of similar features as the Aquaqua Smart ATO micro, it does one super important thing. It addresses a serious design flaw in the micro. The first run safety timer. If the smart ATO micro fails on the first run (like after a power failure) there is no safety since the time has not been set. This is what caused my overfill when I installed it incorrectly. The AquaXP Duetto addresses this with its high level water sensor. In the same scenario it might have detected the high water level and shut off the pump.

Old location and controller in the rear of the cabinet. I have a switch in the front to power cycle it.

New location. right in the front of the cabinet.

Taxus812 · May 15, 2019

LESSONS FOR THE DAY.

My skimmer was in need of tuning (still learning). The cup was filling up a lot with mostly water. My ATO was compensating for the drop by adding fresh water. After a couple of days of this I decided I should test my salinity. Sure enough I dropped from my 1.025 to 1.024. Not a biggie because I only have fish right now and they kinda liked it. I am getting some coral this weekend I wanted I wanted to just bump that back up to my normal parameters of 1.025.

So me in my infinite wisdom decided that I needed to bring the salinity back up by adding about how much I lost via the skimmer with a higher salinity water. Now how much saltwater ? I was looking at calculators (you might guess where this is going). Anyway most are in PPT and I have been measuring S.G. . I took a quick look at changing my Hanna salinity meter but it was not a simple menu choice so I abandoned that idea for now and went on my way (remember that).

I added new saltwater per the calculator , waited and measured. It was at 1.028 and I freaked. (I really had not added much water yet in hindsight I should have suspected it) Me in my infinite wisdom, proceeded to scoop out water and let the ATO fill in fresh. I measured it a few times along the way. After about a gallon I thought dilution cant be this much. It seemed like a lot of water was coming out and the salinity measured at different parts of the tank were still high?

Then I remembered I was mucking with changing S.G. to PPT uuuug ;Facepalm. I took out my backup and took a reading. 1.023. (I did just the opposite of what I wanted to. ) I must have hit the calibration and cleared it. I recalibrated the meter and it is reading properly now. I have a choice to do a water change to get it to 10.25 or to fill the ato with saltwater and let it raise slowly.

Now I am mixing and getting my salinity back to where I want it 1 gal at a time so I don't shock my fish...… again.

UPDATE: I got some good advice from other reefers (here) in tank emergency. I will use a container of saltwater on my ATO. Then the ATO will fill with saltwater as the water evaporates. (If you remember I designed my ATO to use the 5 gal containers that comes with premixed saltwater.) The only gotcha is I need to stop and switch back to fresh tonight because I have surgery to remove my gallbladder tomorrow. Barring any complications I will reconnect it to salt Friday evening to complete the adjustment. I was toying with the idea of hitting 1.026 (or 35ppt). I may switch since I'm already here.

Once done I will have to retest all my parameters. hopefully I haven't thrown them all out of whack.

Taxus812 · May 16, 2019

Today’s lesson realized:
One thing I have learned is you need to have a maintenance plan . What I didn’t expect is how it will affect you personally.

The major component in this tank is not an apex or a skimmer, lights, pump it’s me. Without me it all dies. Today I went into the hospital for gallbladder surgery. The plan was to come home the same day but life decided to change it up a bit. My gallbladder actually was dying (like my GSP is). The artery feeding it was crushed from my previous trauma so it is good it came out when it did. However that got me a stay in the hospital with a drain tube.

Now why am I bringing this up. Long before the surgery I started reading posts & asking questions on re2reef. I also started watching #brstv and other great online videos. As I learned I put together a maintenance plan. I even simplified it.

I check my parameters regularly, thanks to @randyBRS I mixed up enough salt for a few weeks of water changes, (stored in 5 gallon containers) . I added an innovative marine gourmet frozen food feeder. My XPAqua Duetto Automatic top-off is installed with the reservoir is full (With safety’s to prevent overfilling) .

What did that do for me in this situation?
Quite simply put, it allows me to rest and not worry about my tank (I also get to just enjoy it from my bed while I heal up ). I know my parameters should be good and stable for quite a few days. My daughter can drop in a chunk of frozen food into the feeder every night without needing to explain to her how to shut down pumps. She also has a freshwater tank so Sunday she can do a 5 gal water change by syphon out 5gal, fill another bucket with my premixed saltwater and refill. Good for another week.

We even worked hard at simplifying the water changes . I bought another return pump stuck 1/2” tube on it (I also made a bent fill tube to hang in the tank). Now you just hang the fill tube on the side of the tank, drop the pump in my freshwater and fill the tank. Takes about 10 min total.

Now if I can smuggle one of these IV machines out. They would make a heck of a dosing setup.

steelwrap · May 16, 2019

Praying for a speedy recovery. Sounds like all your planning is gonna pay off sooner than you thought

Taxus812 · May 16, 2019

steelwrap said:
Praying for a speedy recovery. Sounds like all your planning is gonna pay off sooner than you thought

I think so

and thanks for the well wishes.

Dub_G · May 16, 2019

Hope you feel better soon. My gallbladder came out about 20 years ago. The docs had a hard time diagnosing it because I was so young at the time.

Glad your tank is set up to give you the flexibility to help you during your recovery.

Taxus812 · May 17, 2019

Well I survived the surgery and my tank gets center stage for therapy now. I just really like to look at you fish from my bed. It doesn’t seem to get old. I’m in quite a bit of pain so I’m going to be here for a few days. I am so glad I got rid of y algae bloom.

Taxus812 · May 17, 2019

I decided I am going to convert to ppt for measuring my salinity before I get entrenched in S.G.. My Hanna is a digital meter and can display readings in S.G. to three decimals with an accuracy of +-.001 but it can can display ppt to one-decimal with an accuracy of +-.1.

I just did some conversions and if I had a salinity of 34.6 ppt my meter would read 1.026 s.g AND if I had a salinity of 35.8 I would still get a reading of 1.026 so using ppt will give me a bit more resolution.

Hanna Specifications:

Resolution 0.1 ppt (g/L);0.001 S.G.
Accuracy (@25ºC/77ºF) ±1 ppt for 0.0 to 40.0 ppt; ±2 ppt for readings over 40.0 ppt ±0.001 S.G.

Taxus812 · May 19, 2019

Shiny things!
I bought a couple of used checkers from a member on this site. I thought it would be fun to see what the hype is about. All I can say for sure is meh. I think I picked the wrong tests to play with.

First lesson learned. Do the math before buying used.
I got a great deal, two @ $65 shipped right ? - Well not as good as I thought

. The reagents were expired (and I knew) so I ordered reagents. So add reagents to the total. Ok it looks like I still saved a few bucks and instead of 35 tests I get 50. (A new phosphate tester comes with 10 tests and calcium comes with 25). I don't have cases so add that to the cost to get something to store them in. ok It is pretty much a wash now. The calcium tester is older and comes with a 1ml syringe instead of the 100uL pipette. If you wanted to buy that its an additional $20. ugg

Ok so that's

Checkers - $65
Reagents - $26 (adjusted price the Phosphate checker comes with 10 tests vs 25 in the refill)
Storage Case - $5
100uL Pipette - $20

For a grand total of $116. (new would have been $98 and much cheaper). oh well.
Lesson learned: The price (shipped) should not exceed the price requested plus the reagents (unless they come with new ones) . Subtract the cost of any missing parts or upgrades.

I wouldn't poop on Hanna test because of that. I just didn't do the math right.

Second Lesson - Hanna testers are EXPENSIVE per test.

The cost per test for calcium is $.92
The cost per test for Phosphate is $.36

My RedSea test kit for comparison

The cost per test for calcium is $.24
The cost per test for Phosphate is $.23

I got to play with the calcium test and my results were all over the place. I did some research and found to get accurate results you need to do the following. (calcium test only)

Clean the cuvette with acid (vinegar), Rinse them in steam distilled water and dry them before using.
The water to test uses a sample of just .1mL (or 100uL). being off by just one drop will throw the test off by 10% 0r more. This is why they now include a 100uL pipette BTW
You need 9ml of steam distilled water to complete the test
Make sure there are NO finger prints on the cuvettes (totally throws off the results)
Cut the powder packet (really ??) so it makes a funnel. You can get the powder in the cuvette with practice.
Expect to bow $10 worth of tests to figure all this out.

Now you are doing lab like testing you can get less than hobby grade testing results LOL. The tester is accurate to 6% of the reading. So if the reading is lets say 400ppm the real results could be somewhere between 376 to 424pm What

. Now add user error of one drop of sample or a few grains of reagent and you could be off by and easy -+50 ppm. That is what I got the first tests.

It would be ok if it was consistent and either high or low but its random. I got better results by looking at the cuvette and guessing. glad its easier ……. oh it actually harder than my redsea test to complete. I haven't given up but I wont trust the test. My redsea test is accurate to -+5ppm. With user error like missing the color change I might be off by 10 not hundreds. Also the test cost $.24 per test so I could do 4 for the cost of one Hanna.

The phosphate test is +/- 0.04ppm of reading. Much much more accurate than the calcium. You still need to clean the cuvette like the calcium but you use 10ml of sample water. One drop isn't going to destroy your results. I will test to see how this one works out.

My redsea is still more accurate and cost less per test. It just takes longer. I think a better comparison would be the ULR test. I actually wanted this one for my freshwater tanks.

Taxus812 · May 20, 2019

Ok here we go

.

We had a frag event at my club last night. I went home with 9 frags.I knew what they were last night but cant figure out what they are now (lol). I want to glue them down but I just got them in the tank for now. I figure as I learn what they actually are, I can get them where they need to go.

I think several are zoa's one might be a poly

I need to see what they look like mature to determine position.

Blue spotted mushroom

I loved this one but don't have any idea

Colony Polyp, Orange/Green ?

Poly ?

Unknown

Candy Cane

Zoa

Green Toadstool Leather

Poly ?

Im going to the LFS to buy a camera lenses so I can get better pictures.

Taxus812 · May 20, 2019

@WetPets came to my reefing club (#CTARS) last night and did a demo on fragging. As beginner it was super helpful. In return I decided to go to their shop and pick up a few items (that we spoke about). I grabbed a CoralView Lens so I can now get good pictures of my tank. I also picked up so ReefRoids for my frags.

Oh yeah,
This is kind of important as a new reefer. I joined the CTARS (Connecticut Area Reef Society) my goal was to meet more experienced reefers in the area. I figured I could trade corals and knowledge. making the learning curve easier and more enjoyable.

Taxus812 · May 20, 2019

I would love help in identifying these

. I just tucked them at the bottom of my tank for now. I will move them next week after my surgery wounds heal more (so not to risk infection)

(The coralView Lense is really great I will have to learn hw to get the most out of it)

Green Spotted mushroom coral

Toadstool Mushroom Leather Coral

Electric green trumpet coral

Rasta Zoa

Robg139 · May 20, 2019

Hey going thru the same thing with my tank that you went thru. How did the diatoms turn out for you. I change my chemipure n it seems to clear it up a little I just changed it yesterday as it was way overdue for a change and my tank is 3 months old. So far it cleaned it up hope to see what the next couple of days bring.

Taxus812 · May 20, 2019

@Rodg139 I actually removed my chempure entirely from the system. It was working exactly as it is supposed to but in a newer (under two years old) tank I found out that is bad

. It ran to good and dropped my phosphates to zero and nitrates to near zero. This setup the environment for an algae bloom (and a good environment for potentially dinos :O). Once I pulled the chempure and replaced with it with a good carbon bag it cleared up in just a day or so. I still get algae\diatoms on the sandbed but very little on my glass. I also added some filter floss like pad to my media tower to pull bits and chunks out of the water. It seems to also grab some of the algae but not as much as the carbon.

I add a few pictures. I haven’t cleaned the glass today. You can see just a light dusting. However the water is still super clear.

Robg139 · May 20, 2019

Yea I run chemi pure blue nano also have a chamber in the back of my tank that I converted to a fuge and have cheato growing in. So that should offset any unused phosphate and starve out the algae. That is what I understood what happens when phosphate and nitrate get to almost
Zero. ? I could be wrong tho. But yes the water is super clear. Mine is a little cloudy and could use somin to make clearer