Old Reef, just not happy...

[bjcooper]

I have a Ocean 120 RR reef that I have kept for about 10 years or more. Ever since I moved the sucker from Oklahoma to Texas (not a fun thing), it has never really recovered and that's been a number of years its just been limping along. The plumbing needs to be reworked, the electrical is in a fairly non-safe location in the stand...yeah big time deferred maintenance there. My gear is pretty good, water quality is not horrific (CA and hardness all good, a few excess nutrients). I did change out the lighting to the Evolution LEDs (a couple of 1 G 20K's), but it was no worse off. I have been lifting water into an external mangrove planter (iffy results) with some extra plants in there...sort of a nutrient sink. Euroreef skimmer, an off brand calc reactor (that seems very solid). A couple of Hydor Koralia Evolution 1400 powerheads on a mini wavemaker. Getting a little cyano, but no pop out of the reef....I guess I'm looking for direction on a way to reliably and consistently gather better information on the health of the reef and get it out of the ditch.

 

[Znut Reefer]

Are you doing reg water changes?

 

[bjcooper]

Yep. 20 percent every two weeks. Make up the water 24 hrs before hand and stabilize the temperature. Using Instant Ocean.

 

[cdness]

hmm... That's a tough one if everything is spot on. It sounds like you are doing everything right. By a little excess nutrients, can you elaborate? Maybe include a full parameter test rundown?

Did any equipment get damaged in the move, causing stray voltage in the water? Get a multimeter and check.

Air quality, is there a higher or lower O2 levels in the house? What are the air quality specs from where you were before to now? The skimmer pulls in air so if the air quality is not as good, may need to look into a filter of some sort.

Tap water quality, is the RO removing all it needs to be? Sometimes different treatment plants use different chemicals (see Chloramine removal). This can cause the RO system to perform differently. Also I am assuming you are doing your water changed with RODI.

Just a few off the wall ideas since it sounds like you have tried the normal stuff...

 

[bjcooper]

I've not run a nutrient check in a little while - sort of cheaped out on that and let the LFS do the test (they are very competent). It wasn't anything exciting as I recall. No, no damage to the gear...although I've had repeated failures of gear over the course of the last 7 years. Just age. Yes, RODI for the water changes, Spectrapure 4 pass unit, I replace the filters every year. They seem to hold up that long. Good question on chloramine, I have a buddy in the water department here, bet I can pick his brain on that one. A filter for the skimmer might be a good idea. This is a major metro and the air quality is crappy in general.

I realize this is all sort of why is the sky blue line of questioning, but its been a disappointment overall.


*Aha! Yes, there are chloramines in the water! Seems there is a carbon block + remover replacement I can order to plug in in place of my carbon unit in the RODI filter...

 

[dallas reefer]

How long is your lighting schedule?

 

[bjcooper]

How long is your lighting schedule?

15 hours overall, 1 hour blues only on both ends.

On the theme of gathering more information, does anyone have an opinion on this device? Been looking at it (and for similar devices) for a while. seneye Reef Might be good for basic monitoring.

 

[dallas reefer]

Ive got my schedule, as a total, at 12hrs. Fwiw, you might try tuning that a little. Not to mention, most of your problem could be this north Texas water system. Another reefer friend of mine in Richardson/ Dallas area mentioned a high bleach smell(chlorine) to his tap water. And we all know you need more than JUST RODI for chloramine.

I figured mixing ammonia AND chlorine together would be bad. But I wasn't a Chem major.

 

[cdness]

Yeah there is a specific carbon block you can get to remove the chloramines... That may be part of your issue right there.

Also carbon blocks I believe are good for 6 months before they need to be replaced, but I may be wrong.

 

[bjcooper]

Yeah there is a specific carbon block you can get to remove the chloramines... That may be part of your issue right there.

Also carbon blocks I believe are good for 6 months before they need to be replaced, but I may be wrong.

Probably so, and especially here. I went ahead and reordered everything for the RODI and specified a carbon block + chloramine remover filter in that. Just checked and I had not replaced the RO membrane since 1999. Embarassing. Was blowing detritus off the rock with a turkey baster (yes, dedicated to the reef) and noted that half my returns were not working and that my powerheads had quit. Go figure. Pressed a couple of old MJ 1200's into service and fished the plugged return line, got that up. Sheesh...very poor flow. Trying to post a few pics of the tank as it is today into my profile, give you an idea of what I am dealing with. I do have a ton of deferred maintenance to do. But I do a little at a time not to upset the proverbial apple cart as it were...

 

[bjcooper]

Probably so, and especially here. I went ahead and reordered everything for the RODI and specified a carbon block + chloramine remover filter in that. Just checked and I had not replaced the RO membrane since 1999. Embarassing. Was blowing detritus off the rock with a turkey baster (yes, dedicated to the reef) and noted that half my returns were not working and that my powerheads had quit. Go figure. Pressed a couple of old MJ 1200's into service and fished the plugged return line, got that up. Sheesh...very poor flow. Trying to post a few pics of the tank as it is today into my profile, give you an idea of what I am dealing with. I do have a ton of deferred maintenance to do. But I do a little at a time not to upset the proverbial apple cart as it were...

Fixed. Current tank pics up.