Derek's 225g - Magnifica / SPS Reef

[H2OPlayar]

I decided to move away from Kalk. I started with kalk in the spirit of simplicity, but i've decided to stop with it, also in the spirit of simplicity...

I don't have the space or desire to mix up huge batches of kalk, so I decided when setting up this tank to use the Avast Kalk Stirrer. It's designed well but I was seeing a lot of fluctuations in alk and ph, and just generally struggled to get consistent saturated kalk out of the thing. The idea was to monitor it with a PH probe, but those probes can barely be trusted on good days, and when exposed to such high PH all day I found it quickly de-calibrated and wandered all over the place and was generally useless. Dosing kalk also consumed two dedicated outlets - one for the versa and one for the stirrer, so it'll be nice to get those back.

I switched to ESV 2-part and already appreciate the consistency. I measure alk twice a day with the Alkatronic so it's nice to be able to judge alk consumption now without just wondering if it's the kalk's saturation wandering around...

One less piece of equipment and 2 fewer outlets is a win too. Maybe once my tank is consuming enough alk that I can replace the ATO with kalk I'll go to mixing it traditionally into the ATO and pumping it to the tank via versa, but for now I think ESV is the way to go...

PH is still ~ 8.05 - 8.35 without Kalk and I'm good with that.

I didn't want to say it untill you did, but I agree with this move. 2 part is solid and easier to tune IMO and if you use soda ash for the alk, you get the same ph boost.

 

[SupraSaltyReefer]

I didn't want to say it untill you did, but I agree with this move. 2 part is solid and easier to tune IMO and if you use soda ash for the alk, you get the same ph boost.

I use ESV Bionic. Is there something in soda ash vs ESV Bionic Alk that increases pH more?

 

[derek_SR]

Day 3 of dosing LaCl3 into the skimmer.

I diluted 15ml of Brightwell Phosphate-E into 1400ml of RODI, dosing about 200ml of the solution per day. I used the calculator here to sort of ballpark a target with the intent of going slowly: http://larryl.emailplus.org.user.fm/fish/dosing-instructions-phosphate-removers.html

I was worried about dosing into the pump so I just ran some silicone tubing down through the top similar to what Rich Ross did:

Po4 currently at .37. No cloudiness in the water or anything weird going on. Seems to make the skimmer skim a little wetter...

 

[derek_SR]

Our electrical bill has been sky high this winter - partly what's driving it is my obsession with the CO2 readings, tank PH, and the need to keep the doors and windows cracked all the time. It's making the house cold and/or very expensive to heat. While the wife also enjoys the tank and is generally very supportive, I decided I needed a better solution before she gets too upset!

My first thought was a CO2 scrubber but...ugh. More equipment, more media, another maintenance chore, no thanks.

I decided to run the skimmer line outside via an outlet that connects to an external outlet (the dedicated circuit that feeds the tank).

Airline on the inside:

On the outside:

The final product - wife approved:

I'd like to add some kind of simple filter to the exterior (mostly to keep ants or something from crawling into the tube), but will have to find one online.

Current PH levels are 8.0-8.3, but that can reach 7.8 if we keep the house shut tight. I'm very curious to see how much of an impact this has on my PH.

 

[Kensington Reefer]

@SepToob
First... love what you did
there is a hose connection (possible point of failure) inside the electrical box with wiring.
If there is anyway to move that connection outside the electrical the box
Would make me feel better

 

[derek_SR]

@SepToob
First... love what you did
there is a hose connection (possible point of failure) inside the electrical box with wiring.
If there is anyway to move that connection outside the electrical the box
Would make me feel better

Yeah it's not ideal...I originally did not have this connection, but the bending of the hose from the exit point on the wall to the exit point at the bottom of the box was causing it to kink up. I added a 90 elbow to make the transition smoother and avoid any kinking. It's a pretty tight squeeze in that box though, so I'll check it on periodically just to make sure everything is all good. It's stiff vinyl tubing so it fits on that elbow pretty tightly!

 

[Kensington Reefer]

Yeah it's not ideal...I originally did not have this connection, but the bending of the hose from the exit point on the wall to the exit point at the bottom of the box was causing it to kink up. I added a 90 elbow to make the transition smoother and avoid any kinking. It's a pretty tight squeeze in that box though, so I'll check it on periodically just to make sure everything is all good. It's stiff vinyl tubing so it fits on that elbow pretty tightly!

I get it
Kink in hose is very bad
Positive vibrations

 

[Coral reefer]

Yeah it's not ideal...I originally did not have this connection, but the bending of the hose from the exit point on the wall to the exit point at the bottom of the box was causing it to kink up. I added a 90 elbow to make the transition smoother and avoid any kinking. It's a pretty tight squeeze in that box though, so I'll check it on periodically just to make sure everything is all good. It's stiff vinyl tubing so it fits on that elbow pretty tightly!

That outlet should be on a breaker equipped for kitchen/bath duty then arc fault interior I believe

 

[derek_SR]

The airline outside has helped quite a bit. PH is still 8.05-8.35 or so, but that’s now with the doors shut and a warm house. I’ll take it.

Closing on the 2nd week of Lanthanum dosing. po4 is down to around .25.

Tank seems to be doing really well, now just about 7 months old! I’m still struggling with the DSLR but here’s some iPhone shots of each viewing pane:

 

[Coral reefer]

Fresh air for ph and slow and steady reduction of phosphate to below .25!
Love it. Nice work!

 

[Darkxerox]

Tank is looking sweet! Can't wait for those colonies to grow upwards.

 

[Patio]

Would you say you gained the ph back -that was lost with kalk removal- with the new outside are intake?

Water looking really clear down the length of the tank!

 

[derek_SR]

Would you say you gained the ph back -that was lost with kalk removal- with the new outside are intake?

Water looking really clear down the length of the tank!

It's hard to say, my kalk dosing felt so inconsistent. I think with fresh kalk that I knew was fully saturated, the PH increase was greater.

The CO2 in the room also varies, so the outside line isn't as big of a deal when CO2 is lower like in the milder parts of the year with windows open and such. There's just too many variables..

What I can say is that the outside skimmer line keeps PH above 8.0 all day long even when the CO2 levels in the room start to get high. Previously, once the CO2 started creeping past 600 or 700 the PH in the tank would start to go down within minutes, and would reach 7.7 or so at night with windows closed.

 

[derek_SR]

Fish look so good in natural sunlight!

Spot the blenny

 

[Kensington Reefer]

Yes they do
But it’s such an unnatural occurrence at that angle
On the reef sun only comes from above, not at eye level
Gotta wonder what they think?

 

[Coral reefer]

Eating in n out ain’t exactly natural, but I love it!

 

[derek_SR]

Yeah this time of year the sun is so low it hits the tank for a while in the late afternoon. The fish look amazing but the corals look like dookie.

In other news my magnifica has been moving around on his rock…causing great anxiety.

 

[derek_SR]

A lot of great advice was shared in the haddoni thread but I decided to ignore it all and put one in my tank anyway:

It’s still attached to the egg crate from @H2OPlayar ‘s tank, so I put it in what I think will be a good spot for us both (my viewing and his habitat) but expect it to move some regardless.

I will of course document any fish death for everyone to revel in the “I told you so!” moments. We shall see! Very cool critter, thanks Michael!

 

[H2OPlayar]

A lot of great advice was shared in the haddoni thread but I decided to ignore it all and put one in my tank anyway:

View attachment 51530

View attachment 51531

It’s still attached to the egg crate from @H2OPlayar ‘s tank, so I put it in what I think will be a good spot for us both (my viewing and his habitat) but expect it to move some regardless.

I will of course document any fish death for everyone to revel in the “I told you so!” moments. We shall see! Very cool critter, thanks Michael!

Erica told me after that it was one that she liked, so if you decide to give it back one day, I'll try to make space for it. Enjoy! I hope to gets even bigger in your tank.

 

[Coral reefer]

Anemone lover!
I like this tank…
Now, i have to turn my back…