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Alex’s IM 150 EXT

Let the female trigger out today. The algae on the box annoyed me, so did not want to wait until Friday/Saturday.

Unfortunately, a bit of agression between the male on the female trigger, and the white tail. So I used the mirror which has been very helpful in the past - 5-6 feet high.

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Finally, this weekend will be the time to clean the sumps for both tanks, the IM 150 and the nano tank.

Since setting up the IM 150 in December 2023, I have not cleaned the sump. It is not dirty, but I removed most of the mechanical filtration now, no longer use filter floss, and only use one of the three reef diapers for noise reduction.

I will see how the combination of this bucket head (recommended by @CaseyP, I believe) and the 7-gallon bucket (an upgrade recommended by @SupraSaltyReefer) works. I understand it is going to be very powerful.

The reason I am prioritizing this is that my PH has tanked - 7.7 to 8. The most likely reason for this though is that I increased sulfur to around 950 mg/l over several weeks + up to 3 ml of ElimiNP dosing daily. Since I started doing this, I saw a continous drop in PH which is not really a suprise as this is what sulfur increase and carbon dosing can result in. Also, I might have overdosed some traces, or did not elevate certain traces enough after the last adjustment. Will be doing an ICP soon.

To my surprise, coral growth and poly extension has not changed a bit with this low PH, so the old school recommendation to look into the tank does not at all cause of concern. I am also less and less convinced that high PH matters, and that generally a good setup of major and minor elements is much more impactful.

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Next time I clean mine I'm going to use a sieve to catch all the amphipods. The fish go nuts for them when I toss them into the tank. Haven't been running mechanical either in mine and get some mulm collection in my sump too.
 
Alexander1312 said:
Finally, this weekend will be the time to clean the sumps for both tanks, the IM 150 and the nano tank.

Since setting up the IM 150 in December 2023, I have not cleaned the sump. It is not dirty, but I removed most of the mechanical filtration now, no longer use filter floss, and only use one of the three reef diapers for noise reduction.

I will see how the combination of this bucket head (recommended by @CaseyP, I believe) and the 7-gallon bucket (an upgrade recommended by @SupraSaltyReefer) works. I understand it is going to be very powerful.

The reason I am prioritizing this is that my PH has tanked - 7.7 to 8. The most likely reason for this though is that I increased sulfur to around 950 mg/l over several weeks + up to 3 ml of ElimiNP dosing daily. Since I started doing this, I saw a continous drop in PH which is not really a suprise as this is what sulfur increase and carbon dosing can result in. Also, I might have overdosed some traces, or did not elevate certain traces enough after the last adjustment. Will be doing an ICP soon.

To my surprise, coral growth and poly extension has not changed a bit with this low PH, so the old school recommendation to look into the tank does not at all cause of concern. I am also less and less convinced that high PH matters, and that generally a good setup of major and minor elements is much more impactful.

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It worked quite well, and is not too loud, but the extensions slowed it down significantly. I took several minutes to clear out the sump in the nano tank. I took off the extension and used the main/larger noozle only to speed up the process. Generally, I wish the suction would be a bit stronger.
 
Alexander1312 said:
It worked quite well, and is not too loud, but the extensions slowed it down significantly. I took several minutes to clear out the sump in the nano tank. I took off the extension and used the main/larger noozle only to speed up the process. Generally, I wish the suction would be a bit stronger.
Click to expand...
I use the Sicce ultra zero pump to empty my sump then the bucket vac to clean it.
 
Srt4eric said:
I use the Sicce ultra zero pump to empty my sump then the bucket vac to clean it.
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The purpose was more to clean than to empty. The regular hose did the job, though, and I was also able to effectively clean the sump of the IM 150 yesterday rather quickly. The bucket head vac is a nice device if used with the standard hose.
 
Bi-annual skimmer cleaning

I have pushed this out several weeks but did not want to wait longer since I wanted to see if my low PH is due to the dirty skimmer.

Before and after is unfortunately not too impressive since I could not use citric acid for the body due to a lack of available containers where this fits in. The other parts stayed in citric acid overnight and came out very clean.

Cleaning the skimmer every 4 months could be better going forward.

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Removal of the green bird's nest colony.

This piece grew dramatically, and I wanted to remove and frag it for a long time. Given its size and location, I noticed today that the entire 50-60% lower area was dead, while the top was very healthy. Coral propagation is a big weakness of mine, but this was a good lesson in what happens when I do not cut them regularly.

I now have 20+ nice frags of this and no space or plugs, so I might pick the top 10 and bring a few to the swap.


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Darkxerox said:
Looks like good calcium reactor media!

Did you disassemble the pump or just let it sit? I usually find there's a pretty large amount of organics that build up and need to be scrubbed off even after citric acid.
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Yes, I have taken everything apart, including all pump components. I am always worried about not being able to put these things together again, but the second time felt super easy. The inside of the pump was suprisingly super clean already.
 
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