Reef nutrition

Alex’s IM 150 EXT

dangalang said:
Can you fit a webcam (one that has recording capabilities) under your sump and point it where the dosing lines are? You could check footage of when the doers are supposed to be dosing while you are away to hopefully give peace of mind.
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Do your dosing containers have a vertical volume scale? If not print one up and stick on so if you do get a webcam the levels will be visible so you can see progress or lack of..
Also if your more curious they do make rotating cameras that pan around
 
Definitely teach the neighbor kid how to test for alk and Ca, or pay to have a tank maintenance person (or someone in the club) swing by to test and check with you on the phone.
 
dangalang said:
Can you fit a webcam (one that has recording capabilities) under your sump and point it where the dosing lines are? You could check footage of when the doers are supposed to be dosing while you are away to hopefully give peace of mind.
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Yes, I will have a webcam in the sump, but pointing at the skimmer. The dosing pump seems as if it is moving, but did not push out any liquid until I did what I described above. So I visual seemed to not have helped in this case :(.
 
Patio said:
The versa dosing pump tubes had some small pinholes in them, I had heard from some others when I was inquiring about my inconsistencies a couple years back. I noticed air in the line like you mention. I replaced the tube which solved the issue. I have a backup tube on the shelf for when it will happen again. They don't seem to be sold at many online shops.
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Interesting. Tubes in both dosers were replaced as part of my annual maintanance in mid November and have worked well until last week.
 
Alexander1312 said:
Yes, I will have a webcam in the sump, but pointing at the skimmer. The dosing pump seems as if it is moving, but did not push out any liquid until I did what I described above. So I visual seemed to not have helped in this case :(.
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I was thinking more of pointing them at the end of the dosing line where the liquid come out, but that could be hard depending on how your sump is setup and the resolution of the camera. If you use @PjFish idea, you could point the cameras at the dosing containers.
 
derek_SR said:
Get rid of those Versas, it's bad enough you can't monitor/adjust via Wifi and have to use BT anyway. I always found that incredibly annoying.

Just curious, why do you feel the need for another XP8? I have a lot of crap running on my tank and still only have the one XP8 (with a dead outlet in fact, so it's really just an XP7...). I've managed to really get a lot of mileage out of the thing by using Y-splitter power cables to share outlets for items that should behave similarly.
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Yes, it's unfortunate as they used to be good dosing pumps despite their downsides. With other options available now, it becomes a question why to deal with these issues. I wonder if it is more a convenience decision though, except what happended today, which could result into an expensive problem if not detected timely.

Re the XP8 use case: This is actually an interesting question. Until yesterday, I thought only the XP8 can create rules and schedules. I read now that the Hydros Wifi power strip can do the same? I always thought this was just a rebranded KASA type power strip. So the benefit of using the XP8 over this is 'only' reliability of the plugs?

Rethinking this now, does the below allocation of devices to the XP8 vs the Wifi power strip make sense, considering the significance of failure for each device?

XP8
  1. AVAST Feeder Pump
  2. AVAST Feeder Drum
  3. Return Pump
  4. Skimmer
  5. ORP Controller + Airpump (turn Ozone on/off through a rule) - turning off Ozone will create issues, so I considered this an essential item.
  6. Ozone generator - see above - potentially combine this with no. 5 to make room for the ATO - see below.
  7. Aqualogic - Titanium Heater
  8. Helio back up heater

Wifi Power Strip (1-2 power strips, each with 4 plugs)
  1. Activated Carbon Media Reactor
  2. Inkbird Temp - for audio alarm in case of low temperature
  3. MP40 - left - these are only secondary flow pumps since my four gyres, connected to the wave engine, provide primary flow.
  4. MP 40 - right - see above.
  5. Red Sea ATO - given its importance, will need to move to XP8?
  6. ATLAS - Left (or combine with below)
  7. ATLAS - Right
  8. Helix - Front (or combine with below)
  9. Helix - Back
 
Alexander1312 said:
Yes, it's unfortunate as they used to be good dosing pumps despite their downsides. With other options available now, it becomes a question why to deal with these issues. I wonder if it is more a convenience decision though, except what happended today, which could result into an expensive problem if not detected timely.

Re the XP8 use case: This is actually an interesting question. Until yesterday, I thought only the XP8 can create rules and schedules. I read now that the Hydros Wifi power strip can do the same? I always thought this was just a rebranded KASA type power strip. So the benefit of using the XP8 over this is 'only' reliability of the plugs?

Rethinking this now, does the below allocation of devices to the XP8 vs the Wifi power strip make sense, considering the significance of failure for each device?

XP8
  1. AVAST Feeder Pump
  2. AVAST Feeder Drum
  3. Return Pump
  4. Skimmer
  5. ORP Controller + Airpump (turn Ozone on/off through a rule) - turning off Ozone will create issues, so I considered this an essential item.
  6. Ozone generator - see above - potentially combine this with no. 5 to make room for the ATO - see below.
  7. Aqualogic - Titanium Heater
  8. Helio back up heater

Wifi Power Strip (1-2 power strips, each with 4 plugs)
  1. Activated Carbon Media Reactor
  2. Inkbird Temp - for audio alarm in case of low temperature
  3. MP40 - left - these are only secondary flow pumps since my four gyres, connected to the wave engine, provide primary flow.
  4. MP 40 - right - see above.
  5. Red Sea ATO - given its importance, will need to move to XP8?
  6. ATLAS - Left (or combine with below)
  7. ATLAS - Right
  8. Helix - Front (or combine with below)
  9. Helix - Back
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Yes you can control any WiFi outlet with inputs and outputs. I use a single wifi outlet for my RODI booster pump and it works great. You could save an outlet by just having your avast pump on all the time too.
 
Alexander1312 said:
Yes, it's unfortunate as they used to be good dosing pumps despite their downsides. With other options available now, it becomes a question why to deal with these issues. I wonder if it is more a convenience decision though, except what happended today, which could result into an expensive problem if not detected timely.

Re the XP8 use case: This is actually an interesting question. Until yesterday, I thought only the XP8 can create rules and schedules. I read now that the Hydros Wifi power strip can do the same? I always thought this was just a rebranded KASA type power strip. So the benefit of using the XP8 over this is 'only' reliability of the plugs?

Rethinking this now, does the below allocation of devices to the XP8 vs the Wifi power strip make sense, considering the significance of failure for each device?

XP8
  1. AVAST Feeder Pump
  2. AVAST Feeder Drum
  3. Return Pump
  4. Skimmer
  5. ORP Controller + Airpump (turn Ozone on/off through a rule) - turning off Ozone will create issues, so I considered this an essential item.
  6. Ozone generator - see above - potentially combine this with no. 5 to make room for the ATO - see below.
  7. Aqualogic - Titanium Heater
  8. Helio back up heater

Wifi Power Strip (1-2 power strips, each with 4 plugs)
  1. Activated Carbon Media Reactor
  2. Inkbird Temp - for audio alarm in case of low temperature
  3. MP40 - left - these are only secondary flow pumps since my four gyres, connected to the wave engine, provide primary flow.
  4. MP 40 - right - see above.
  5. Red Sea ATO - given its importance, will need to move to XP8?
  6. ATLAS - Left (or combine with below)
  7. ATLAS - Right
  8. Helix - Front (or combine with below)
  9. Helix - Back
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Yes - the wifi outlets can be programmed exactly like the XP8 outlets.

My thoughts, and feel free to totally disregard - I think you can get away with way fewer outlets here:

I would combine the skimmer and the AVAST pump onto a single outlet using a splitter (assuming both run 24/7). You could even add the return pump and have all 3 on the same outlet - if you need to turn off the skimmer alone just do so at the controller. Again, assuming you are running these 24/7.

If your ORP/Airpump are running 24/7, why do they need to be on a smart outlet? If they are tied to the skimmer or return pump - again, you could potentially have them share an outlet?

On the Wifi strip - I thought your lights were controlled via 10v? Why do they need to be on smart outlets? I have quantas on smart outlets, but again - all 4 lights are sharing a single outlet! No need to eat up smart outlets unless you've got every single light on its own schedule?

Why not combine the MP40s onto a single outlet? Are there times when you want one off, and the other on?

You could use the Hydros ATO, which is excellent, and save an outlet there too!
 
MarcosD said:
Where do you buy these? I didn’t even know that was a thing
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Amazon.com



I bet you have some form of one of these or another in your house already! Like for your TV/Home Theatre system? Same idea. :)


BTW - if you're worried about "overloading" an outlet, the capacity of a typical duplex outlet is usually 20amps. The XP8 capacity is 14amps (1680watts) - which is still probably way more than you need (and possibly even more than the actual circuit you're on). Just be careful with big heaters and lots of lights.
 
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derek_SR said:
Yes - the wifi outlets can be programmed exactly like the XP8 outlets.

My thoughts, and feel free to totally disregard - I think you can get away with way fewer outlets here:

I would combine the skimmer and the AVAST pump onto a single outlet using a splitter (assuming both run 24/7). You could even add the return pump and have all 3 on the same outlet - if you need to turn off the skimmer alone just do so at the controller. Again, assuming you are running these 24/7.

If your ORP/Airpump are running 24/7, why do they need to be on a smart outlet? If they are tied to the skimmer or return pump - again, you could potentially have them share an outlet?

On the Wifi strip - I thought your lights were controlled via 10v? Why do they need to be on smart outlets? I have quantas on smart outlets, but again - all 4 lights are sharing a single outlet! No need to eat up smart outlets unless you've got every single light on its own schedule?

Why not combine the MP40s onto a single outlet? Are there times when you want one off, and the other on?

You could use the Hydros ATO, which is excellent, and save an outlet there too!
Click to expand...

That is very good to know. So the benefit of the XP8 over the Wifi Power Strip is then basically its more robust construction and the fact it can take over the collective if the other devices fail?

What is appealing to me to keep them separate is that I can see them individually in the app - and can create the rules based on ther unique purpose. But your suggestions would still work broadly for me.

Some might cause issues, so will need to think about this:
1. The skimmer and return pump needs to be separate for me since my tank turnover is intentionally low, so it takes a while for the return pump after feeding to lower the sump water level, so the skimmer turns on a few minutes later, otherwise it overflows rather quick.
2. The Ozone air pump needs to turn on with a delay after the skimmer as it otherwise pushes water out of the venturi of the skimmer which is a bit annoying.

The ATLAS cannot be powered with the 0-10V, only dimmed, unfortunately. But they can both be on the same outlet. Same as the Helix.

Combining the two MP40s makes a lot of sense actually.

Will test the Hydros ATO for the backup ATO and maybe buy another one for the primary. But I am pretty happy with the Red Sea ATO for now.

Based on the above, this is my plan to connect going forward.

XP8
  1. AVAST Feeder Pump
  2. AVAST Feeder Drum
  3. Return Pump
  4. Skimmer
  5. Ozone - Four-way split (https://a.co/d/70GUzlB): ORP Controller/Airpump/Generator/GAC media reactor
  6. Aqualogic - Titanium Heater
  7. Helio backup heater
  8. Red Sea ATO
Wifi Power Strip
  1. Inkbird Temp - for audio alarm in case of low temperature
  2. MP40s - Two-way split (left+right)
  3. ATLAS - Two-way split (left+right)
  4. Helix - Two-way split (left+right)
Thanks a lot for your help!
 
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I'm getting the acclimation box ready for a new member of the fish crew. I was not planning to add more fish, but I made an exception due to the generous gift from @SupraSaltyReefer. More to come.

I am never sure if this really makes a difference and how long new joiners need to stay in there, but every time I did not use it, there were problems—trying to keep it in there for a week. I typically position the box on the upper tertile of the water level, which is probably not a great idea, as I feel the other fish might not recognize the newbie, which then defeats the purpose. I am open to other suggestions or best practices.

Also, the box is 14 inches long, but it has been a bit painful to feed the fish inside it, partially due to the Eurobrace and how the box opens. I will try to find a better way this time.

IMG_7293.jpeg
 
Alexander1312 said:
I'm getting the acclimation box ready for a new member of the fish crew. I was not planning to add more fish, but I made an exception due to the generous gift from @SupraSaltyReefer. More to come.

I am never sure if this really makes a difference and how long new joiners need to stay in there, but every time I did not use it, there were problems—trying to keep it in there for a week. I typically position the box on the upper tertile of the water level, which is probably not a great idea, as I feel the other fish might not recognize the newbie, which then defeats the purpose. I am open to other suggestions or best practices.

Also, the box is 14 inches long, but it has been a bit painful to feed the fish inside it, partially due to the Eurobrace and how the box opens. I will try to find a better way this time.

View attachment 65767
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I've been squishing frozen mysis into the slats/holes of the one I'm using. As it starts melting it's pretty easy to stuff in.
 
Added a Female Blue Throat Triggerfish today - Xanthichthys auromarginatus. Thank you again @SupraSaltyReefer very much for the fish, and @under_water_ninja for quarantining - I very much appreciate you doing this and your flexibility!

She still has a bit of an injury on the belly from before the quarantine which has been healing up nicely, but is still very beautiful, and Kenny fed her very well.

Her friend came by instantly and greeted her. See pictures and video. We are glad she is in an acclimation box for now, as his enthusiasm was quite strong.


IMG_7297.jpeg
IMG_7296.jpeg
IMG_7295.jpeg
 
Alexander1312 said:
I have given away one of the two large toadstools and moved other corals from the frag tank into this tank now, including:

1. the golden rod originally received from Andy / @ReyDeFarts (which hopefully is ok with the light, it is the only lower light area in the tank),
2. the super healthy SBB gorilla glue colony from James / @jstiltne - polyps extended immediately in both the frag tank and this tank, and
3. one of the many frags I got from Dan / @dandemeyere, i.e., a TCK Master Holy Grail Torch - which also opened up instantly in the frag and this tank.

I also moved the larger toadstool from the back to the area where the other toadstool was previously but still needs to get used to its new place (and it's also shedding).

[No filter used and I know I still need to learn how to take better pictures - maybe this could be its own workshop?).

View attachment 64534View attachment 64535View attachment 64536
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How intrusive do you feel your Avast Plank is? I have a eurobrace in my tank too and still debating on the look. Ive been trying to find pics online but not too many. I need to decide soon because im getting my custom lid made soon and need to decide if ill need the cutout or not
 
MarcosD said:
How intrusive do you feel your Avast Plank is? I have a eurobrace in my tank too and still debating on the look. Ive been trying to find pics online but not too many. I need to decide soon because im getting my custom lid made soon and need to decide if ill need the cutout or not
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It's a big guy. Some folks buy two of them for aesthetical reasons :). Honestly, this is hands down the best feeder on the market, fish feeding is a key aspect to the hobby, so we just have to make it work.
 
Alexander1312 said:
It's a big guy. Some folks buy two of them for aesthetical reasons :). Honestly, this is hands down the best feeder on the market, fish feeding is a key aspect to the hobby, so we just have to make it work.
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That’s true. What do you put in the feeder itself? Reef jerkey? I’ve just been feeding frozen cubes till now so I wonder how the transition will be
 
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