lhuynh's 750 Red Sea Reefer XXL
- Thread starter lhuynh
- Start date
Coral reefer
Past President
All lps? Cool. Where from?
The photo is of the LPS. A few zoa, palys, and a leather also came. I got them from Your Reef Aquarium.
You go all the way to Your Reef. I been there a few time. good little store with good owner and decent coral price.
Some new pictures.
Done a number of things. I certainly can tidy it all up, but it's nice to have some of this set up.
Set up ATO with kalk in the laundry room to feed through the wall to the sump, which has been great. Still fiddling though with the siphon break not always working properly after I refill the reservoir. Bought a solenoid valve to possibly install. Also have lines for automatic water change using DOS, which has been so nice.
RO/DI setup to feed both NSW reservoir and ATO reservoir.
Done a number of things. I certainly can tidy it all up, but it's nice to have some of this set up.
Set up ATO with kalk in the laundry room to feed through the wall to the sump, which has been great. Still fiddling though with the siphon break not always working properly after I refill the reservoir. Bought a solenoid valve to possibly install. Also have lines for automatic water change using DOS, which has been so nice.
RO/DI setup to feed both NSW reservoir and ATO reservoir.
Completely redid my aquascape to make it much more sparse, as I took to heart the idea of thinking where you want to go and know that corals will hopefully fill up the space. Ignore some of the rocks just siting on shelfs and in corners. Just moving some of those around, like the rock on the shelf on the left side. I didn't feel like taking it down. I don't want that there long term.
Also, the AI Hydra light mounts that came with the tank weren't my favorite, so I was going to buy new light mounts. Once I started adding up the costs of new mounts, I ended up going a different route and getting the Aquatic Life X18 hybrid fixture. Figured that will be enough light no matter what direction I go.
T5 only
LED only
T5+LED
Also, the AI Hydra light mounts that came with the tank weren't my favorite, so I was going to buy new light mounts. Once I started adding up the costs of new mounts, I ended up going a different route and getting the Aquatic Life X18 hybrid fixture. Figured that will be enough light no matter what direction I go.
T5 only
LED only
T5+LED
Coral reefer
Past President
I like that rock on the shelf.
I mean, to be fair, I must like it on some level too, since it's been there for 5 weeks 
!
!OK, so I decided to jump into dosing nitrates and possibly phosphates. I was starting to be stumped by no coralline growing. My nitrates were undetectable, so I let skimmer overflow and started dosing sodium nitrate at 2ppm for the last 4 days. Slowly the nitrate level is now 2ppm.
Nitrate 2ppm
Phosphate has been .02-.04
Ca 470
Alk 8.6
Now there's brown algae coming back. What is this? I was aiming for nitrate at 2-5ppm and phosphate from .02-.1. Does that make sense?
Nitrate 2ppm
Phosphate has been .02-.04
Ca 470
Alk 8.6
Now there's brown algae coming back. What is this? I was aiming for nitrate at 2-5ppm and phosphate from .02-.1. Does that make sense?
Coral reefer
Past President
You’ll need to look with a microscope to be completely sure.
OK, after months with stable parameters (NO3 2-5ppm, PO3 .03-.08, Alk 7.5ish, pH 8.3, Ca 395, Mg in acceptable range, ICP tests confirm nothing out of whack) and not much positive to show for it, I decided to have someone look at things under a microscope. Thanks to @IOnceWasLegend for taking a look.
Looks like dinos. My view is I'm glad I know now.
Here's the display tank sample:
Per his visual ID, it looks to Ostreopsis dinos.
In the QT tank, here's the photo:
IOnceWasLegend believes this to be small-cell amphidinium.
Recommendation is UV. I have a Reefer 750, so should I go with a 57 watt Aqua UV? Still need to figure out how I'll plumb it (using return pump, flow from overflow, or its own pump) but curious what others think.
Then in the Biocube 32, would a 9w Green Killing Machine work? Need something that would hopefully fit in the various compartments, since I use the OEM hood and lights. I looked at the UV Coralife has for the Biocube, and it's only 5w. Not sure that's enough here.
TIA for any thoughts or recs from folks.
Looks like dinos. My view is I'm glad I know now.
Here's the display tank sample:
Per his visual ID, it looks to Ostreopsis dinos.
In the QT tank, here's the photo:
IOnceWasLegend believes this to be small-cell amphidinium.
Recommendation is UV. I have a Reefer 750, so should I go with a 57 watt Aqua UV? Still need to figure out how I'll plumb it (using return pump, flow from overflow, or its own pump) but curious what others think.
Then in the Biocube 32, would a 9w Green Killing Machine work? Need something that would hopefully fit in the various compartments, since I use the OEM hood and lights. I looked at the UV Coralife has for the Biocube, and it's only 5w. Not sure that's enough here.
TIA for any thoughts or recs from folks.
I know coralife (biocube) makes a uv that fits between the return pump and outlet.
They do. It's a 5w bulb. Is that enough?
Squist
Guest
I’m running 25W on a RSR250 -- 1/3 the size tank you have. The sterilizer's dedicated pump is rated at 1000 gph. After plumbing down-steps it cycles at 500 gph. So--25W at 500GPH. It's working well and for a year now. I also added UV because of dinos.
I clamped the sterilizer upside-down inside of the cabinet. It makes a nice short and clean loop. You no doubt have a lot more room for install options.
(The pic says "500 GPH pump". It's a 1000 GPH pump that has flow measured at 500 GPH.)
I clamped the sterilizer upside-down inside of the cabinet. It makes a nice short and clean loop. You no doubt have a lot more room for install options.
(The pic says "500 GPH pump". It's a 1000 GPH pump that has flow measured at 500 GPH.)
max_nano
Supporting Member
I use the green killing machine if I get cloudy water from a bloom, and I originally got it for what I thought was dinos. It may have been diatoms.
Whatever it was I got rid of it with at attack of getting nitrates to be detectable, running the green killing machine, and a 48hr blackout.
Let me know if you’d like any measurements from the green killing machine to see if it’ll fit in the back chambers.
Thanks @max_nano. Reading around, folks have been able to fit it in the first chamber. I feel comfortable just grabbing one from the nearby Petco.
Now for the main tank, I think I've settled on going with a Lifegard 55w (though I'm not ruling out Aqua UV 57w), but I doubt I trust my ability to plumb this all properly. I don't mind paying someone to help me figure this all out and installing. Any suggestions?
Now for the main tank, I think I've settled on going with a Lifegard 55w (though I'm not ruling out Aqua UV 57w), but I doubt I trust my ability to plumb this all properly. I don't mind paying someone to help me figure this all out and installing. Any suggestions?
Coral reefer
Past President
I’m sure I could help you.
ofzakaria
Guest
+1 to having someone experienced like coral reefer help you. Good plan, design and installation will go a long way.