My lil reef

[Rick.45cal]

Tank looks amazing man! Loved that monologue a few posts up to. One of my biggest problems is hands in the tank... I feel like I try not to so hard but once every other day I feel like I’m getting in for something or another... also that purple favia is so cool! How did you get it to mound up so vertically? I would love to be able to do that with a few of my favias!

So that was a frag on a plug that was put into ceramic frag holder, then as it grew over it I put it ontop of another, larger ceramic mound, and that’s what it’s become, it worked out pretty well. That favia gets kind of lost in the tank since everything is purple, it was kind of interesting to see it stand out for a change.

 

[Rick.45cal]

 

[GoVols]

Rick,
Your reef is second to none and truly amazed with your success.

Thanks for starting your build thread and looking forward to learn along the way.

(lol)
Won't belong before half of Reef 2 Reef is tagging along... ;Wideyed

 

[Rick.45cal]

Rick,
Your reef is second to none and truly amazed with your success.

Thanks for starting your build thread and looking forward to learn along the way.

(lol)
Won't belong before half of Reef 2 Reef is tagging along... ;Wideyed

Thank you for you kind words Freddie!

 

[OMGitsManBearPig]

great work.
I've got nothing else to add.

 

[Rick.45cal]

great work.
I've got nothing else to add.

Thank you!

 

[Rick.45cal]

The tenius are looking mighty fuzzy! Even extra fuzzy since the CaRX has been running

 

[drawman]

The tenius are looking mighty fuzzy! Even extra fuzzy since the CaRX has been running

That's definitely great to see!

 

[GoVols]

Looks wonderful!!, Rick

Do you plan on doing Triton (trace element) testing with your cal reactor?

 

[Rick.45cal]

Looks wonderful!!, Rick

Do you plan on doing Triton (trace element) testing with your cal reactor?

I’ve got two ATI ICP-OES test kits, I decided to go with ATI over Triton because they give you N and P levels. I haven’t sent one in yet. The reactor has been running for 18 days now. My salinity is no longer climbing constantly, my alkalinity has been very constant between 9.9 and 10.2 dKh. Yesterday I added the sicce pump as a reactor pre-feed, and moved the peri pump back to pulling. I can already tell this is working much better now, the reactor has become more gas efficient and I’ve been able to cut back on the CO2 being consumed.

So today I cut back on the effluent rate, so I’m sure I’ll be able to cut the CO2 even more, because I had to clean the Tunze pumps on the back glass, they had become so covered with coralline algae that they weren’t moving any water anymore . So they needed to be soaked in vinegar. Well, I figured I better clean the back glass while I have the chance and scraped all the coralline algae off. Now past experience has taught me that when I effectively remove 3+ square feet of happy coralline algae my alkalinity will go up if I don’t cut back on my routine. So now I am again playing the waiting game to allow the tank to achieve it’s equilibrium.

It looks mighty sharp without the visual purple overload!

 

[CoralWealth]

very nice.

do you dose strotinum or something to make the coralline grow so fast and so much?

 

[Abhishek]

very nice.

do you dose strotinum or something to make the coralline grow so fast and so much?

I think he mentioned it all attributed to the Tropic Marin Balling salts but my bet is on the flow . You never see such thick growth because no body else employ such high laminar flow like Rick does !!!

Regards,
Abhishek

 

[Rick.45cal]

very nice.

do you dose strotinum or something to make the coralline grow so fast and so much?

I’ve been using the Tropic Marin K+ and A- elements, I’m guessing there’s strontium in one of those. Other than that I had been using Tropic Marin Balling salts and thats when it really took off. Since switching to the Calcium Reactor it’s still growing like crazy so it’s hard to say. I definitely think Abhishek is right I think the flow plays a major part in it.

@Abhishek I noticed one of my Tunze 6095’s has quit working on the back, so now I need a replacement... which got the wheels turning in my head last night. I’m trying to talk myself out of removing all the Tunze pumps on the back and replacing them. I’m kind of tempted to add a third ECM-42 to each side and then play with my timing on Apex. I also have their USB programmer and may attempt programing all the pumps, (the instructions are really horrible). What are your thoughts? Have I lost my grasp of what little sanity I had left? (You know how this is gonna end up already)

 

[Subsea]

Some more “blue LED” photos

Somebody put agent orange in the water, I am seeing intense colors with magnificent photography.

Rick,
Kudos to you. It takes a lot of hard work and persistence coupled with a through knowledge of reef coral husbandry to operate a SPS tank of that caliber.

 

[Rick.45cal]

Somebody put agent orange in the water, I am seeing intense colors with magnificent photography.

Rick,
Kudos to you. It takes a lot of hard work and persistence coupled with a through knowledge of reef coral husbandry to operate a SPS tank of that caliber.

Thank you, I’ve spent a lot of time keeping aquariums, but this is the crowning jewel of them all and it’s largely because of Reef2Reef. I spent probably 6 months reading and absorbing everything I could on Reef2Reef while I was setting up this system. I had a few of my own goals from previous tanks, I wanted a system that had constant water changes and that I wouldn’t need to pick up a bucket of water for. I’ve made it over some hurdles that I wouldn’t have been able to without previous experience but it’s all been refined and honed by the knowledge that other’s share here. In a lot of ways, this tank wouldn’t be this successful without people like you, and everyone else that shares their experience and knowledge, so thank you!

 

[SAVEtheFISHIES]

Wow looks psychedelic. Amazing

 

[JonJ]

Your Home Wrecker is amazing!

 

[Rick.45cal]

Wow looks psychedelic. Amazing

Thank you!

Your Home Wrecker is amazing!

Thank you, since I swapped the T5’s alot of the colors are coming back. I’m ashamed to say I let my bulbs go too long, lesson learned!

 

[Rick.45cal]

 

[Rick.45cal]

Awesome reef man!! Great job!
When I switched to a calcium reactor I also had issued with pushing or pulling.
When pulling it seemed to put the reactor into a low pressure and I think air was leaking in making the pump loud. And when I was just pushing, there was also not really any pressure in the reactor and seemed to cause CO2 to collect at the top.
Now I plumbed the input to my manifold to supply the reactor with pressure, and pulling with masterflex. I like this setup the best. I also think the reactor benefits from some pressure by helping the CO2 stay dissolved.
I might be wrong but I think of it like taking the top of off a soda bottle, release the pressure and the gas wants to get out of the liquid.
Great tank, I’ll be following.

So between you and @GoVols suggesting using a pump as the feed and the peristaltic pump metering on the effluent side it has completely fixed the gas problems, and it’s been running like a swiss watch since I added a sicce 1.0 as the feed pump. So thank you for your advice, I took it, and it’s been working great! I feel like this a is a very reliable system now, I also don’t feel like I am wasting CO2 like I was. This is definitely the way to go!