Reefer Peninsula 500 and Red Sea Ecosystem

[Chee-tomorpha]

Reef Mature Program Day 15 Update

Dosed 15ml NOPOX
Dosed 18ml KH-Coralline Gro

I looked ahead in the program and will need a bottle of KH-Coralline Gro to sustain the Alk until I get corals and switch over to dosing Alk, Ca, and Mg. So I put in order along with a Red Sea mesh top kit. I will consider getting a custom-made acrylic one in the future as I don't actually know if the way I have set up my tank won't change.

Other than that, nothing special today. The tank is just bone white and lifeless still. I can't wait to relocate the current inhabitants from the 250.

 

[kronos571]

Thanks for posting! I’m interested to see how the Reef Mature goes. Considering doing the same thing with Marco, no seeding media from another tank, with a Reefer 350 G2. I’ll be following along to see how you progress!

 

[Chee-tomorpha]

Thanks for posting! I’m interested to see how the Reef Mature goes. Considering doing the same thing with Marco, no seeding media from another tank, with a Reefer 350 G2. I’ll be following along to see how you progress!

NP, I'm glad I can help. I am curious too, and I will do my best to follow the program as close as possible.

 

[Kittypowpow]

This looks amazing! I absolutely love how it flows. I think it’s going to be beautiful in the tank!

 

[Chee-tomorpha]

Thank you @Kittypowpow.

I am practicing as much patience as possible for this build. Hopefully I can follow through and do it proper.

 

[legalizedreefer]

Thank you @Kittypowpow.

I am practicing as much patience as possible for this build. Hopefully I can follow through and do it proper.

I’m so happy to have found this thread. I’m currently torn between the 500 and the reefer 350.

the 500 would look so much more stunning visually for me as a room divider. But where I’m at in Canada it’s $1200 (CAD) more than the 350…..

 

[Chee-tomorpha]

Devil's advocate here but if budget allows, I'd say go as big as you can. My argument is you can easily add/upgrade tank equipment but not the tank itself.

 

[Kittypowpow]

Thank you @Kittypowpow.

I am practicing as much patience as possible for this build. Hopefully I can follow through and do it proper.

I can’t wait to see the finished product!

 

[Chee-tomorpha]

I can’t wait to see the finished product!

I'm hoping before end of August it'll be ready to relocate the fish from the Reefer 250. Then slowly add LPS from it as well by the end of the year. Eventually add SPS sometime next year.

 

[Chee-tomorpha]

Reef Mature Program Day 16 Update

Dosed 15ml NOPOX
(Not dosed) 18ml KH-Coralline Gro

I didn't have enough KH-Coralline Gro to dose today but my Alk is above 8.4 anyways so I'm not worried about skipping today's dosage. Also the program does allow you to catch up should you miss a dose for KH-Coralline Gro. My new bottle should arrive tomorrow.

Aside from that, nothing special to report today.

 

[Chee-tomorpha]

I didn't get as far as I wanted to with running the tubing in the basement. Will see if I can get to it this weekend.

I did get to modifying the reservoir/refugium mod in the sump.

I added an emergency drain to the reservoir. I wasn't sleeping at night knowing there's no back up should it overflow. I should have just done it in the first place. Not sure why I didn't do it.

I now have the main drain on the left side. I drilled the bottom of the reservoir for the secondary drain. The pipe worked out well and looks pretty good. Nothing is glued so I can adjust as needed. For now this seems to be working good but may want to lower the emergency drain more. I want a higher water level so will see.






I now have to figure out how to utilize the rear section of the sump where the filter socks used to be. I'm thinking about moving the MarinePure cubes down there once I start the refugium but they could just be blown around.

i installed the third ReefWave right below the ReefMat to circulate the fresh filtered water throughout the sump to prevent stagnant water due to the equipment layout. But it does blow the sump pretty well. I think it'll keep the main area clean. This might be an issue since it's clogged the sponge in the bubble trap to the return chamber.

I may just leave the MarinePure cubes in the reservoir and lay sand directly over them. Anyone know if this is a bad idea? Or can grow macro algae directly on the cubes?

 

[Chee-tomorpha]

Reef Mature Program Day 17 Update

Dosed 15ml NOPOX
Dosed 18ml KH-Coralline Gro

My order arrived an hour later than my usual dosing time around 3:30pm. I dosed just today's dosage of KH-Coralline Gro. I'm guessing I've been keeping the Alk around 9-10dKH but will test tomorrow since I forgot to test before dosing.

I've been keeping the Alk above 8.4dKH in hopes to promote better coralline growth. At this point I hope the seeding from scraping the gyre from the 250 helped; otherwise it's just a waste haha.

I also received the Red Sea DIY mesh cover kit as well. I didn't have time to put it together today. Hopefully I can do it tomorrow.

Here's some tank shots with the moonlight on. Looks pretty good without the blue blasting.

 

[Chee-tomorpha]

Reef Mature Program Day 18 Update

Dosed 15ml NOPOX
Dosed 18ml KH-Coralline Gro

I tested Alk today and got 9.5dKh so didn't apply the missed dose on day 16. I don't think I'll adjusted my dosage. It's been slowly creeping up, but I read elevated Alk can help coralline growth.

Got the lid assembled and put on. I'm ready for fish when the time comes. Woot!

I'm 5'5" so the top of the tank is a little above eye level for me. Looking at this, the DIY kit isn't so bad. It almost blends into the tank and is almost unnoticeable.

I will see what kind of access I need/do on a regular basis and take that into consideration when it comes time to go custom.

I have one on my 250 and it gets a bit annoying. I access the tank fairly often and the auto feeder is also clamped DIY-style on the edge of the glass and the aluminum frame. So if I have to get full access I have to remove the feeder then the mesh cover. I will see what kind of access I would need for a tank much taller than I.

 

[Chee-tomorpha]

Reef Mature Program Day 19 Update

Dosed 15ml NOPOX
Dosed 18ml KH-Coralline Gro

Nothing special today. Dosed daily amounts.


The DT has been building a layer of protein on its water surface. So today, I decided to play with the ReefWaves and make a cleanup cycle early in the morning. I tested it and cleared out the surface skim, hoping this automates it and maintain a clear water surface.

I've also been reading up on varying the flow in the tank since it's been a topic of discussion on here. The tank will be fish only for a few months, after introducing fish, but I may try some LPS soon after. I hope the schedule will keep the sand cleared of fish poo and not blow the sand bed around too much. I was thinking of adding a very turbulent cycle to swish things up but will leave that till later.

 

[Chee-tomorpha]

Reef Mature Program Day 20 Update

I just realized I didn't post this update yesterday. It was still sitting in my thread. So here's yesterday's update.

Dosed 15ml NOPOX
Dosed 18ml KH-Coralline Gro

Nothing special today except some more specs of algae growth on the sand.



One more day before the big reveal of the parameters. I've not tested any parameters outside of the days the program recommends testing, except for Alk the last couple days to maintain KH-Coralline Gro. I am hoping the parameters came down or, fingers crossed, is fully cycled - at least for fish.

A few things I'm looking forward to finding out:
1. Did sealing the dry rock inhibit the Reef Mature program or from cycling properly?
2. If the tank is showing signs of the nitrogen cycle working. Can the sealed dry rocks continue to prevent algae growth?
3. Does the Reef Mature program work if you don't use live rock? (Note: 80 lbs of live sand and one month old cured MarinePure cubes were used at the start)

Here's some really blue shots of the tank at day 20. It's still bone white with no algae anywhere to be seen.

 

[RyonFly]

So I've been searching around the forum for ideas for a lid. My current 250 has a Red Sea DIY lid kit and has built up some salt creep at each connection point. Although it is working well at keeping suicide jumpers, it is a bit flimsy and can be aesthetically unpleasing when the salt creep builds up again. I see there are a few reefers here mentioning ClearView lids. I am leaning towards them as they do look really clean.

What are your long-term experiences with them?
Do they get salt creep?
Which design/style do you prefer and why?
Anyone with photos on a peninsula 500?
What would you do differently now vs when you first built it? (as far as feeding ports, and other cutouts)


I will have two gyres placed vertically beside the weir and a third gyre placed horizontally on the opposite end blowing back. I don't plan on any more cables going into the tank. I would like to get a cutout for an Ehiem auto feeder.

With the gyre pump configuration:
What would be an ideal layout for the lid? - how many cutout(s) and location.
What size should the cutout be for the auto feeder?
Where would be a good spot for the auto feeder cutout?

I considered Clearview for my P500 as well, I chose the red sea kit though and glad I did. I bought the large kit so I could make 2 sections and it works well. I will lift one of the tops and place it slightly on the other to give me the ability to basically slide the two pieces back and forth depending on what end I need to access in my tank, if that makes sense. Plus the price leaves you more to spend on coral.

 

[Chee-tomorpha]

Reef Mature Program Day 21 - The final day

... And the verdict is...

The program did not work for me unfortunately. Here are my parameters before the water change.

Temp 79.5F
pH 8.25
KH 10.1
Ca 360
Mg 1440
Ammonia 0.2
Nitrite 1+
Nitrate 50+
Phosphate 0
Salinity 1.025







From today's parameters, it appears the Reef Mature program did not work for my system. There appears to be a rise of ammonia, but that could be negligible due to reading the color and how light may affect at time of testing. As far as nitrites and nitrates, they're above the test color codes. They did not appear to have come down. Given this information, I can speculate that I may have killed the bacteria as there were food for them to eat but no bacteria to consume it.

What do you guys thing?

Disclaimers:
- did not start with live rock
- sealed my dry rock with super glue
- used 80 lbs of live sand (40lbs Fiji Pink, 40lbs Ocean Direct)
- tank Alk was kept above recommended 8.4dKh, from 9.2 for the first half and 10.1 towards the end of the program
- the tank was filled with fresh zero TDS RODI water. I speculate the hypo salinity and cold temps may have killed the bacteria colonies in the live sand
- salt was dissolved after the tank was filled. I speculate this may have also impacted to the bacteria colonies as well. Mixing the salt in the tank water may have killed bacteria from the chemical reactions
- dosed Nitro Bact one day late
- otherwise all other recommendations were upheld as closely as possible


Unfortunately for me I now have to figure out how to proceed. Especially if the sealed dry rock had anything to do with the results. If the cycle had stalled given the high values for nitrites and nitrates towards the end of the program.

I think I have nothing else but to continue on and dose daily NOPOX and KH-Coralline Gro, and just to let it continue cycling. Maybe another two more weeks would have some results.

I'll update my findings on the cycle in about two weeks.

 

[Chee-tomorpha]

I considered Clearview for my P500 as well, I chose the red sea kit though and glad I did. I bought the large kit so I could make 2 sections and it works well. I will lift one of the tops and place it slightly on the other to give me the ability to basically slide the two pieces back and forth depending on what end I need to access in my tank, if that makes sense. Plus the price leaves you more to spend on coral.

I was thinking that as well. I'm already needing to lift the lid to dose so for sure a multi-section lid would be ideal. I'm also leaning towards getting another DIY again as the kit really does blend in well - with my height.

 

[nmaragh18]

Reef Mature Program Day 4 Update

I received my second pack of the Reef Mature Program and dosed 50ml of the Nitro Bac I had missed yesterday.
Along with that dose, I dosed day four's recommended dosage of 3ml NOPOX per 25gal - totaling 15ml of NOPOX.

The program instructions didn't ask for testing for days 4 and 5, only to dose NOPOX.


Aside from that, I had ordered a Tunze ATO and put that in as well. I also grabbed a Kamoer X2S AWC pump. I don't know where I'll be putting this. I'm thinking downstairs and drilling a hole through the floor would be best, but I wanted to avoid drilling for now. I'm looking at some kind of cabinetry/furniture to put where all these things are now. The AWC will only run when I am present - will see.

ATO setup for now.


Some images of the fans I've installed inside the cabinet. They're doing double duty, removing warm moist air out of the cabinet, and cooling the LED drivers for my ReefLEDs which I've installed outside the stand along the back.

@Chee-tomorpha love the build so far. I too have a P500 but didn't go all out as you did. I have 2 Reefwave 45s, I used the RSK300 instead of the 600, I went with the ReefMat 500 and only did 3 of the RS90s. I have a question about the fans you used in the sump. Can you post where you purchased them? Thank you and good luck.

 

[Chee-tomorpha]

@Chee-tomorpha love the build so far. I too have a P500 but didn't go all out as you did. I have 2 Reefwave 45s, I used the RSK300 instead of the 600, I went with the ReefMat 500 and only did 3 of the RS90s. I have a question about the fans you used in the sump. Can you post where you purchased them? Thank you and good luck.

I made them from spare computer parts.

The fans I used are Artic P12 PWM static pressure fans that I had laying around from old PC builds. You could use just about any CPU fan you have around. Probably would do better with case fans to move more air. I got the Artic fans off Amazon.

I plugged them into the USB ports of my Hydros Power Strip. The USB cable is an old USB cable that I cut following the video below. You can find premade ones on Amazon as well.