IM 40L Mixed Reef

[fishy408]

I’m gonna say that gfci might be bad. I still don’t see how you can pull 15 amps from that small aquarium unless your heater is bad causing the gfci to trip. That’s the only intermittent unit correct ?

I found the culprit this morning. I have two heater from the original setup. As soon as I plugged in the "culprit", the AFCI tripped. It's an older finnex heater.
Purchase date was 2018!

I also sent an image of my breaker box to an Electrician. He advised on a few steps, and if it tripped again he would replace the AFCI.

I have to edit GFCI > AFCI, lol, now I know where I got the GFCI from.

 

[Turkeysammich]

Eheim heaters were the go to back in the day. Just put the glass in the water , not the head unit as there’s a rubber seal in the head part.

 

[Chrism1330]

I just had to replace the gfci in my kitchen where i have my pico tank. It burnt out kept tripping the circuit breaker after a few mins of setting it back on.

 

[fishy408]

I just had to replace the gfci in my kitchen where i have my pico tank. It burnt out kept tripping the circuit breaker after a few mins of setting it back on.

Glad you caught it in time and got it replaced without any casualties.

 

[Adauqua]

Please correct me if I am wrong, we need GFCI near our tank to protect against electric shock and electrocution (it very tragically happened and caused the passed away of member Miami Reef on R2R)
The AFCI protect against fire. For breakers, we need a dual-function ones which have both GFCI/AFCI protections

 

[fishy408]

Please correct me if I am wrong, we need GFCI near our tank to protect against electric shock and electrocution (it very tragically happened and caused the passed away of member Miami Reef on R2R)
The AFCI protect against fire. For breakers, we need a dual-function ones which have both GFCI/AFCI protections

Good point, I'm not sure to be honest, maybe someone with more knowledge can chime in. I think I will be ordering a GFCI outlet soon.

 

[iani]

Even new heaters fail. My new Helio 400W stopped heating early this morning. Luckily we heard the audible alarm. I didn't think I would need a backup to an expensive heater, but I guess I will add another heater and set the temp to 76 and only turn on as a backup.

PSA: Check your heaters, especially in the colder months!

View attachment 75948

I would also consider a second heater not on the apex. I use a ranco for my second heater.

 

[fishy408]

I would also consider a second heater not on the apex. I use a ranco for my second heater.

Working on a replacement for the Helio. If it failed under 2 weeks, Its to risky to have around. Also using one of my other finnex heaters as a backup through Apex.

TBH, Im not sure why I keep buying Finnex. Definitely time for a change in brand.

 

[Kensington Reefer]

Eheim heaters were the go to back in the day. Just put the glass in the water , not the head unit as there’s a rubber seal in the head part.

And way back in the day…they were Ebo Jaeger!

 

[fishy408]

Boredom! - Corals are doing well which is a good, but it does get a little boring.

A few changes to make life easier.

• Changed out my mini protein skimmer to a K1-50. This allows me to empty out the cup every 2-3 weeks instead of every 3-4 days.
• Added snails to the Sump. Snails are keeping the Macroalgae chamber completely clean. Normally I would clean this 1/ ever 2 months but now it no longer needs to be cleaned. I am worried about the snails moving to other chambers but haven't thought too much on it yet.

Coral Changes

• I had about 24 different "named" torch corals which I trimmed down to about 10. This gives them room to grow and less work on trimming every couple of weeks. As you can see on the buy/sell/trade channel it really is a lot of work!
• Added a few Acropora for testing. I noticed PAR around 200-250 could possibly be greening out a few? I do want to keep it at that range so I don't disrupt the other corals.

Overall things have been pretty stable

• I haven't changed water in 2+months.
• It's probably been 6 months since I siphoned the sand and I plan to keep it that way until I see some deterioration.
• I still haven't used Carbon for a year now, I don't really see the difference.
• I test for Alk and phos every 2 weeks and adjust dosing accordingly. There will always be small changes due to growth but nothing major.
• I still clean the glass once a week for viewing.

Future:

• I do plan on making this tank more of a mixed reef. I enjoy the variety.

 

[fishy408]

Finally got my coralvue replacement filters. After replacement I always check the levels. It takes about 5 minutes for things to settle in. TDS meter with new filters clock in at about 60+, but after 5 minutes it reads 0. I am not sure if this is normal process but anyways, this will keep me running for another year.

 

[Darkxerox]

Boredom! - Corals are doing well which is a good, but it does get a little boring.

A few changes to make life easier.

• Changed out my mini protein skimmer to a K1-50. This allows me to empty out the cup every 2-3 weeks instead of every 3-4 days.
• Added snails to the Sump. Snails are keeping the Macroalgae chamber completely clean. Normally I would clean this 1/ ever 2 months but now it no longer needs to be cleaned. I am worried about the snails moving to other chambers but haven't thought too much on it yet.

Coral Changes

• I had about 24 different "named" torch corals which I trimmed down to about 10. This gives them room to grow and less work on trimming every couple of weeks. As you can see on the buy/sell/trade channel it really is a lot of work!
• Added a few Acropora for testing. I noticed PAR around 200-250 could possibly be greening out a few? I do want to keep it at that range so I don't disrupt the other corals.

Overall things have been pretty stable

• I haven't changed water in 2+months.
• It's probably been 6 months since I siphoned the sand and I plan to keep it that way until I see some deterioration.
• I still haven't used Carbon for a year now, I don't really see the difference.
• I test for Alk and phos every 2 weeks and adjust dosing accordingly. There will always be small changes due to growth but nothing major.
• I still clean the glass once a week for viewing.

Future:

• I do plan on making this tank more of a mixed reef. I enjoy the variety.

Careful with the snails and intakes to pumps. If not properly screened you could end up with a burnt out motor or flood.

 

[Turkeysammich]

I’ll trade boring for heartbreak any day. All I have is reef drama. Consider yourself extremely blessed.

 

[fishy408]

Careful with the snails and intakes to pumps. If not properly screened you could end up with a burnt out motor or flood.

Them snails are like ninjas. I screened off the second chamber but somehow they make it over! I haven't caught one in the action yet.

 

[fishy408]

Picked up this Glitter Goni from CFM, but forgot the name. Glitter Bomb or something like that.
Pearlberry from DBTC and Creamsicle Acros seems to be ok.

 

[fishy408]

Things aren't going so well in April

• (room remodel) Tank Move from one room to another. Took about 8 hours and temp dropped below 70.
• Added 20lbs of live sand which brought Nitrate down from 20 --> 2.
• (bad timing) - Went on vacation 2 days after the move.

When I came back

• Nitrate was 0, dosed 2.5 grams of Calcium Nitrate to bring Nitrate back up to 2.
• Lost a few torches :-( and the gonis were closed up)
• One of my favorite torches TCK lightning bolt lost 4-5 heads, I have only 1 head remaining that I am trying to save.
• Tank is currently in recovery mode for the past week.
• Softies/Zoas are all good

Single Head TCK lightning Bolt

 

[Turkeysammich]

Don’t let the Magic Out.