Griff's Reefer 525XL Build

[Griff]

Can you see the spots? I'm thinking ich

 

[Griff]

Roughly 5-6 months after purchasing I'm almost ready to add fish! Things are finally coming together. I do have a question though. My water is quite cloudy. Thoughts on what it could be? I am running a biopellet reactor and oversized skimmer. I did use some phosphate rx but that was over a week ago. Nitrates are close to 0, not measurable with Api test kit and phosphates are at 0 Hannah checker. I do have some diatoms and detritus build up probably from curing the rock in tank. Not bad in my opinion at all. I only have to scrape the glass once a week or less. Could the bio pellets be causing the cloudiness? Would a fish less tank cause some sort of bacterial bloom? Could it be from the phosphate rx? I dosed over several days and tested after each. I'm not running carbon or anything else.

Thoughts?

 

[Clarksski]

Hmmm.. If it were me, I'd take the bio pellet reactor offline for a bit..
If your nitrates are zero, than you don't really need it for now.. But after you slowly add fish..you could bring it back online if you detect nitrates..but some nitrates are ok too...
Idk about phosphate rx..

 

[Griff]

I was thinking the same thing but was concerned I'd lose all my beneficial bacteria. Nitrates were 20 when I brought it online. It brought them down to 0 in about a month. Phosphates were .27 it was was not as effective at bringing those down that's why I used the phosphate rx.

Maybe I could pull out 75% of the pellets but leave it online.

 

[Clarksski]

You could do that... If you have live rock, you will have nitrate reducing bacteria. It takes awhile for those populations to build up.. If you don't have any fish in the tank, there's probably not a whole lot built up yet. If it were me, I'd minimize use of bio reactor and do a big, maybe 25 gallon water change.
If your planning on having fish, just add slowly and retest to see how the bio-load is on the system. Systems can withstand some nitrates. 20, to me is ok.
Now phosphates, I don't like! Have you ever tried gfo for phosphates?
As you found out, bio reactors really don't do anything for phosphate.

 

[Griff]

I have used phosban in a bag in my 30g. Didn't do a whole lot. I am planning on starting a fuge. I have the light for it and small pump to keep the cheato turning. The only reason I used the phosphate rx is because there was nothing live in the tank yet and I wanted to bring the phosphate down as fast as possible before adding anything.

 

[bknapp]

Cloudy, almost milky looking water is usually a bacterial bloom. Without a bioload I wouldn't be too worried about the bio-pellets. You could slow the tumble of the pellets to lower their activity. Zeroes across the board (phos and nitrates) isn't a good, viable long term plan.

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

Cloudy, almost milky looking water is usually a bacterial bloom. Without a bioload I wouldn't be too worried about the bio-pellets. You could slow the tumble of the pellets to lower their activity. Zeroes across the board (phos and nitrates) isn't a good, viable long term plan.

Yup. Zero nutrients means zero food.

Good advice.
Still an odd problem.

 

[Griff]

Finally after months of prep, planning, QT, fighting off ich, uronema, then moving fish into observation tank and finally into display I feel a sense of accomplishment. As everyone says good things don't happen quickly in this hobby or maybe I should say lifestyle.

I was so frustrated through out this process as I seemed to have more issues than most. I will say that makes tonight that much sweeter! Hopefully everyone acclimates as well as I expect based on all the steps and precautions I took.

Thank you everyone who helped along the way! Specifically #humblefish and Harold & Robert at Deborgem pets in fredericksburg/thornburg Va.

 

[Clarksski]

Finally after months of prep, planning, QT, fighting off ich, uronema, then moving fish into observation tank and finally into display I feel a sense of accomplishment. As everyone says good things don't happen quickly in this hobby or maybe I should say lifestyle.

I was so frustrated through out this process as I seemed to have more issues than most. I will say that makes tonight that much sweeter! Hopefully everyone acclimates as well as I expect based on all the steps and precautions I took.

Good work Griff!! Keep us posted on the rest of the developments with your tank. It's never easy but almost always worth it!

 

[Griff]

Everyone in tank is doing fantastic. I really need to learn how to take tank pics I have an old dslr but no filters and no macro lens. I can't see buying a macro lens anytime soon unless someone has a suggestion on a relatively inexpensive one.

An update to the water cloudiness. It is my opinion that it was the phosphate rx bound to so much phosphate it clouded the water.

What I learned is dose the phosphate rx over the course of a week or more. Dose into a 10micron or less filter sock. Filter floss in a baffle does wonders. This is just my experience so take with a grain of salt.

 

[Sabellafella]

Check out building an obsession or zen reef for frag racks. The panes on the 525 unfortunantly need large magnets. But nice tank bud! Looks great

 

[Griff]

Check out building an obsession or zen reef for frag racks. The panes on the 525 unfortunantly need large magnets. But nice tank bud! Looks great

Thanks it took months but things finally came together.

 

[stevo01]

@NHreefguy check this out!

 

[Griff]

@NHreefguy check this out!

Now I'm curious as to why? My threads a little empty. See something you liked or have a similar issue going on?

 

[Germ42]

Now I'm curious as to why? My threads a little empty. See something you liked or have a similar issue going on?

Well it's an awesome tank, prolly just tagging a friend so they can share! You might see a bit of this!

 

[Griff]

Well it's an awesome tank, prolly just tagging a friend so they can share! You might see a bit of this!

I need to do some work on this thread but with 3 kids 4 and under I'm usually to tired by the time they go to bed or have actual tank maintenance to do.

 

[stevo01]

Now I'm curious as to why? My threads a little empty. See something you liked or have a similar issue going on?

Im looking to see how the members on R2R have their RS 525xl's setup. I see the picture of the other tank so i know youve got great things coming

 

[Griff]

My reefer has been going down hill for the last couple months. I've lost 2 fish (regal angel & six line wrasse). I purchased a 50 pack of sps that did fine for a bit but then rapidly started going down hill of which only 1 is thriving the rest I'm not sure will make it. I also just lost a colony of neon green bubble coral 2 heads of frogspawn and 2 acans. I had an issue with GHA and cyano when I went on vacation in late september and although I was able to get rid of the cyano quickly with a couple of water changes the GHA just got worse and worse. I just took care of that this week (see my hydrogen peroxide thread). Going to put a ban on all incoming livestock coral and fish alike until I feel like I have things under control. I've rushed into a few things that I should have waited on.

The frustration is I feel like I've learned so much that I should be able to keep a tank relatively algae free but I continue to battle GHA in this tank too. I think I've taken care of it this time but we will see. (Again see hydrogen peroxide thread). Maybe there is just a piece of the process I'm missing not sure what it could be though. This hobby is complicated but after 3 years I don't feel like I should be having these kind of losses. Unfortunately the hobby is thin here in Fredericksburg Va. I wish I had someone that could come by and take a look at my setup IRL.

I almost called it quits and posted it online for sale but I think the better option is to get things stable even if that takes 6 months to a year. I've never had any real growth on any of my corals other than one hammer that has split into 5 heads from one over the last 3 years a duncan that went from 5 head to about 15 (now he's declining too. lost 4-5 heads) and last a bird of paradise that has had minor but noticeable growth over the last 6 months.

I know I'll get these questions so just to answer first
RODI and change cartridges when needed
No stray voltage
test all levels weekly NO3 PO4 ALK CALC MG all redsea test kits except for PO4 hanna
I do vac sand bed when doing water changes. I do roughly 25 gallons every week to every other week.
Manually dose alk and calc weekly but don't have to dose much as the levels don't change to much
flow is maxspect gyre 150 running it at about 35% anything more and it creates a sand storm.
lights are hydra 26 HD's I've had a few people look at my schedule and they all say it's fine.
running over sized skimmer
small fuge with cheato (now covered in GHA)
phosban reactor 15o previously all carbon now 50/50 carbon and phosguard.
change socks every 3-4 days.
auto top off
clean up crew is nerites astrea's and ceriths.
only 1 hermit as I've had the worst luck with them decimating my snail population
3 shrimp
1 hippo
1 yellow tang
4 carberryi anthias
2 clowns

Any other thoughts questions comments are welcome.

 

[Griff]

Recently ordered clean up crew refresh and vibrant hopefully this helps with my GHA issue