My Build - Reefer 250 G1

[WhatCouldGoWrong71]

I hope by tonight to have the plumbing done. Big thanks to @DocRose for his insight and knowledge into updating the Reefer 250. I plan to run 2 pumps. One for the tank and the other for a manifold/redundancy. I have a full Hydros, but I may wind up moving that over to my IM 20 and putting an Apex on this. I have an Apex setup on my Max 500 and am getting really comfortable with it. I am adding dosers to the Max this week, so I will likely replicate that setup as I get more comfortable with it. I'll document along the way.

The big thing I need to figure out is if I should cram the UV light under the cabinet, it will fit, but will be really tight and will not be servicable under the cabinet. But, I am not crazy about it being behind the tank, I have a 4 foot one behind my Max, not ideal. I may be able to put this one to the side, as there is a blind side that no one walking in or around my house would see.

 

[dschuffert]

It looks like a fun project! For my 90-gallon, I put mine on the outside of the cabinet; I ran out of room on the inside and put it on the side in a corner where no one noticed it. I then ran flexible tubing from my return pump to the UV unit and from the UV unit to my tank. It has been running for over a year and seems to work well.

 

[DocRose]

Glad I could be of assistance! I'll be following along with you on this journey!

 

[WhatCouldGoWrong71]

Well fast forward 2 months and 16 days. I used 50 pounds of Gulf rock from KP aquatics shipped on SW in water along with 20 pounds of the same from a 20G that crashed due to a heater failure (on the night after I took this pic... sigh...) That rock turned white and is in here and sump. What's in the sump will get pounded into rubble likely.

I had been seeding 10 pounds of biomedia in my big display, but I am guessing I didn't have it seeded long enough. I had the biomedia in the sump for a couple months, but I have a very light bioload for a 130G system and didn't take that into account when thinking 2 months was enough. I put the 50 pounds of (premium, never again for premium but will always use gulf rock) in the display and within 12 hours the entire first floor of my house smelled like death. I knew I would have some die off but most of all the non-organics died, the rock was delayed by 12 hours getting to me, so I am guessing that was the catalyst for this. Now, my entire first smelled like death, how about this tank is in our bedroom - Yeah - Guess who slept on the couch for a week? Not me, the wife, I had to enjoy the aroma of death while sleeping next to this thing. I was doing 75% water changes daily for 7-10 days... Glad that was over. There is no way that the biomedia could digest that level of ammonia. The water would get almost milky... it was wicked. So...

I then decided to dark cure the rock in the display for the first 30 days with no lights at all. OK, maybe a couple times for photo ops... I'll share one here. Can you guess which one is death?

So I played with the plumbing and played around with adding a refugium above the main sump. I've been running it with no socks and I may have had the skimmer on for a total of 4-5 days since day 1. I haven't hooked up the ATO yet, I will, I'll explain in a minute. But, the system is way too new to support a refugium, and while I like the idea, I am scrapping that, the sump and all the plumbing (went 1 inch, converting it to 3/4 to get rid of some head issues. I like trying things and while it's not a failure, it's not something I will continue with or do again. I recently added a Reefmat to our big tank and love that thing, I plan to add one to this in 2 weeks when I get everything online (ATO/Apex/new lighting). I don't feel like hacking this sump up and in fact I could use it for a frag tank I am going to set up. It will get really tight in there when I add a Reefmat, so I am going to add the ATO reservoir outside the cabinet and put a 20G long in there as a sump. I can't find a sump to fit that I don't have to hack up due to the rollermat. Petco was having their 50% sale and I got the 20G L for $25. Using this will allow me to have a refugium in the sump and be able to toss a reactor or two in the sump on demand.

I am running two return pumps - 1 dedicated to UV and the other using the standard return route. I am putting AFR in, probably don't need to, but there is drop in DKH when I go to do my weekly WC (20%).

I've put 6 half gallon jugs of copepods in this when it came out of dark curing. I feed it phyto daily and it has a file fish, foxface, lawn mower and a brown and a blue tang (don't call the po-po on me...). There is also a few CUC in there.

The fish are all doing their jobs, as are the pods and the limited CUC. We are waiting for the uglies to get here but the only thing we have going on are diatoms from time to time. The lights (2 Prime 16HDs and a Hydra 26 - will be replacing with a XR30 G5 BL Thursday) just got through acclimating late last week.

I think we are going to load it with frags on or around 10/15 and let her ride. I know the uglies are around the corner but maybe it won't be Putin like bad? We shall see...

 

[OctaviusBrine]

How’s the progress goin for you?

 

[WhatCouldGoWrong71]

I think it's going "OK". Tank has been up and running since around 7/4. I loaded frags in the last 45 days or so. As you can see this will be a SPS dominate tank. I included pics of the 20L sump to make it easier for the roller, and my dosing cabinet, which is a hot mess and temporary. I have a custom frag tank being built at Glass Cages and will now have to plumb it into this tank, when the tank is ready, plus it will be a couple more months until it is ready. I plan to relocate the sump under the frag tank using a 40 breeder, which is the same 18x36 as the frag tank, I'll put it (I think) on T slot directly to the right of this stand and then use the underneath of this stand for equipment.

I am really struggling with stability on this tank, and I know it's operator related. I got the PH bug and started increasing my PH, which has caused some of these issues. I am dosing 85% of my daily evaporation with kalk opposite my light schedule and set up a recirulating skimmer. Those two shot my PH well over 8.3 (new probe, weekly calibrated). I then tested using sodium hydroxide, and that was like rocket fuel. Was riding higher than 8.6 for a while until I hit near 8.7 and pulled the plug, literally. As for 2 part I now use soda ash with a rule that shuts this dosing head off >8.50 and use sodium bicarb, with a rule that this dosing head is off <8.51. It works well. But I had 3 frags in this tank and started dosing as the rocks were sucking some up, about 40 mls a day. Then I loaded most of this and a few days later played with the PH and I was pushing well over 500 mls a day. I have had minor precip, nothing crazy, so far. But, I am well over 500 mls right now. I am seeing growth on many of the acros. May are encrusting the plugs, or just starting to grow. I have 4 or 5 that have browned out, and I am not sure what to do with those. But, I can't seem to get any stability with dosing. I have used the Trident for auto dosing to me manually doing it. It's all over the map. Added to that, pushing all this through this tank is taking its toll on the pumps. I have had to relocate some of the dosing lines out of the return chamber, my pumps were shutting down after about 10 days, and within 12 hours of each other due to the amount of dosing in a small confined area. I have ordered a Geo calcium reactor, way over kill, but will grow with me when I have to upgrade this tank, cough cough. Since this is in my bedroom I went with the silent version. This should greatly help with stability. So why not just cut the dosing back? For fear. I have rules on my dosing to also shut off if > 8.80, if I have it on auto dosing, and the Trident's schedule for testing is say, 4 hours, within that 4 hour period my DKH has hit 6.2 from 8.8. So... I also ordered Geo's upgraded Kalk stirrer. Why not

I have 1 XR30 G6 Blue on this tank. It's running a altered AB+. Colors are at 75% and the schedule is about 80%. I am going to add the Aquatic Life DX18. I just need to double check the sizing after watching a BRS video on it this weekend.

The only uglies I have had to contend with were a short stint with diatoms. There is a lawn mower, blue tank, scopus, fox face and a file fish in the tank. There is only 1 emerald and a handful of bumble bees. They look to be doing a good job and keeping the algae back. I know it would be there if they weren't, I can see it in places and then it is gone.

"Project train wreck" coming at you!

 

[WhatCouldGoWrong71]

I can tell the systems "wants to get going" as really deep dark purple coralline pops up all over the place, but then stalls. I know this is due to my stability issues. My other display has super bright pink coralline everywhere. But this is a completely different color and it even looks a little different, more smooth then the other. But my other tank is >4 years old, so it's way down the road.

 

[WhatCouldGoWrong71]

Fast forward exactly 4 months. I liked looking back at the pictures. I am seeing decent solid growth. Lots of PE. Fish are doing great. I feed froze twice a day and the auto feeder is on 4 times a day x2. I have a lawn mower, scopus, file, dory and a foxface. They will be ready for the new zip code when the new tank is up and running.
Since the last update:
- Had a 10 day battle with chrysophytes. That was really horrible. At one point I had to unhook my roller and dump into a very fine filter sock. I was going through a roll every 3 days. And then with some treatments (3 different) it went away just like that.
- Had a wicked precipitation event. Got carried away using sodium hydroxide chasing PH.
- I got some new gear. Overkill huh? lol - The wife and I have decided to get rid of this tank, our Red Sea Max 500 and the nano.
- For one 400G custom build. So, I am buying items for that build and using them in the meantime.
- I am just tinkering with some things. I have the CARX's PH at 6.7 and 20ML a min. I am pushing about 2L through the Kalk reactor with it stirring every 4 hours, it's always hazy / somewhat milky. And dosing 30 ML of sodium hydroxide during the day. Tank seems to really like it. I am able to keep the PH between 8.2 and 8.35
- NO3 5.0, PO4 .05, DKH 8.37, CA (high) 509 and MAG 1430.
- My G5 Blue's LED module went. I sent it in and for $200 I got a upgraded G6 Blue. I also put a dimmable Aquatic Life T5 fixture. 3 Blues and a Purple.

 

[Gumbies R Us]

Fast forward exactly 4 months. I liked looking back at the pictures. I am seeing decent solid growth. Lots of PE. Fish are doing great. I feed froze twice a day and the auto feeder is on 4 times a day x2. I have a lawn mower, scopus, file, dory and a foxface. They will be ready for the new zip code when the new tank is up and running.
Since the last update:
- Had a 10 day battle with chrysophytes. That was really horrible. At one point I had to unhook my roller and dump into a very fine filter sock. I was going through a roll every 3 days. And then with some treatments (3 different) it went away just like that.
- Had a wicked precipitation event. Got carried away using sodium hydroxide chasing PH.
- I got some new gear. Overkill huh? lol - The wife and I have decided to get rid of this tank, our Red Sea Max 500 and the nano.
- For one 400G custom build. So, I am buying items for that build and using them in the meantime.
- I am just tinkering with some things. I have the CARX's PH at 6.7 and 20ML a min. I am pushing about 2L through the Kalk reactor with it stirring every 4 hours, it's always hazy / somewhat milky. And dosing 30 ML of sodium hydroxide during the day. Tank seems to really like it. I am able to keep the PH between 8.2 and 8.35
- NO3 5.0, PO4 .05, DKH 8.37, CA (high) 509 and MAG 1430.
- My G5 Blue's LED module went. I sent it in and for $200 I got a upgraded G6 Blue. I also put a dimmable Aquatic Life T5 fixture. 3 Blues and a Purple.

That's some nice new equipment!