Obscure Reef Tank Tips and Hacks

[Macdaddynick1]

Hi everyone,

I am making this post mainly to memorialize a few things and make them searchable for others. Also, this is going to be a post about a few things I thought made a huge QOL improvement for myself and my tank. Some of the hacks will require you to have a 3d printer and at least a tinkercad know-how. You are also encouraged to post tips here as long as you think they will be helpful to others.

 

[Macdaddynick1]

Tip #1: Interceptor Spectrum will work at least 6 years after the expiration date, for the treatment of red/white/brown bugs. I had some interceptor that expired in 2016, still decided to try it out, and it worked like a charm. I keep my interceptor in a fridge, not sure if that made any difference.

Bonus tip, Interceptor seems to have knocked back my chiton population as well as tiny double tail flatworms (unintended consequence on both). Chitons are usually good, however, they can be a nightmare in an acrylic tank, they will destroy the acrylic tank pretty quickly.

 

[Macdaddynick1]

Tip #2: If you are struggling to dial in air intake on your skimmer, get a needle valve. I purchased an LQ Industrial air valve after watching one of the BRS videos, and it was one of the two best things I did for my skimmer. Prior to getting a needle valve on my skimmer, there was either too much or too little air. I see that very few skimmers actually implement a needle valve for adjustment of the air flow.

 

[Macdaddynick1]

Tip #3: Turn your tank into a frag rack. This is my favorite one, however, this is also the most time-consuming project. With this hack you are able to remove any piece of coral whenever you want to frag it, move it, dip it. I used to have AEFW and approximately 100 different acro colonies, I was able to dip all of my corals in a matter of a few hours. In my current setup, I do not have a single Acropora glued directly onto the rockwork, and I am able to remove all of my colonies from the tank within less than 30 minutes. Anyways, you get the point.

This hack requires some rigid tubing of different diameters. I use 5mm and 10mm versions.

Step-1, You will have to cut off about 2" pieces of a thinner (5mm) tubing and slightly melt the end of it. For this, I use an old Phillips screwdriver and heat it up, then I force the screwdriver into one end of the tube, this splits the tube into a star-shaped pattern. Or you can just glue a piece to a rubble rock if you do not like the look of the frag plug.
Step-2 You then have to superglue the thinner tubing to a piece of rock, or a frag plug.

Step-3 Cut off approximately 1" piece of 10mm tubing and superglue putty it anywhere on your rockwork. I personally use putty as it hides the tubing very well in the tank. You are also able to glue this piece absolutely anywhere in your tank with ease, due to its lightweight. After a few hours of curing, you can no place your DIY frag plug into the tube.

This set up if glued correctly can hold a coral that is several pounds in weight. I also use this set up to hold some of my Tonga branches. To make my tank mostly modular.

Here is the full shot of my entire setup, none of the acros in the photo are glued to the rock, not even the large colonies. =) well you get the point.

 

[Macdaddynick1]

Tip #4: Vermetid Snail Picker. Vermetid snails could be difficult to get rid of, especially the large ones. I found coral clippers to be one of the best ways to manually remove them from the rock. However, in very difficult-to-reach places Cricut Weeder tool works absolute wonders. You are able to penetrate the shell of these snails with ease and destroy them pretty quickly.
I bought mine for 99 cents at a dollar tree but I also found one on amazon.

 

[Macdaddynick1]

Tip #5: Calcium Reactor effluent off-gassing. Since I set up my calcium reactor I have been battling with low Ph. I am not sure why I haven't tied this earlier, but running the effluent directly into the skimmer improved my ph substantially. I have a trident and I see no difference in Alk or CA whether I dose effluent directly into the tank or into the skimmer. To answer a few questions right away. No there is no abiotic precipitation of calcium or alkalinity inside of the skimmer, nor is there any precipitation inside of the pump. As a matter of fact, ideally, the internal components of the skimmer pump should not come in contact with the effluent. I believe this should be a standard way to run a calcium reactor. PS. I am too lazy to drill a hole in the top of the skimmer cup.

 

[ReeferBud]

Thanks for sharing the tips. Please keep them coming.

 

[bakbay]

Thanks for sharing. I run a CaRx, Kalk in ATO, and recently pump+co2 scrubber (more on this later) yet my pH swings between 7.9 to 8.1. I will definitely try this tonight and share my results.

 

[bakbay]

I’ve tried tip#5 but did not notice any improvement in pH. Will keep tinkering with it though — thanks again for the suggestion.

 

[bakbay]

It’s entirely possible is that since I’m already degassing near the intake of my skimmer so the effect is negligible? That said, my pH would rise by .15+ if I turn off my CaRx CO2’s supply. The CaRx is a single chamber hence still introducing CO2 back into the tank.

 

[Macdaddynick1]

It’s entirely possible is that since I’m already degassing near the intake of my skimmer so the effect is negligible? That said, my pH would rise by .15+ if I turn off my CaRx CO2’s supply. The CaRx is a single chamber hence still introducing CO2 back into the tank.

Interesting. If you add your effluent near the skimmer intake, I think you won’t see much of a difference here. The only reason I stopped doing that is that my skimmer pump would always have calcium deposits on it, and slow down. I drip directly into the chamber to bypass the pump.