SC Aquariums 50 gallon PNP

[Why-Me]

Pumps will definitely slow down over time, it's best to do regular maintenance so you don't have to replace them as often especially the cost of vortech wavemakers. I made the mistake of getting one too. The rest of mine will just be Jebao, for the price they really can't be beat.
I also decided to finally choose a salt and stick with it and ordered some Tropic Marin Pro Reef.
Those BRS videos show how clear, stable, less to almost no precipitate and mixes quickly. For the price I believe they've proven that Tropic Marin Pro salt stands out the most (positively) by comparison.
Just my opinion^

 

[Sod Buster]

You look at that little frag enough to talk yourself out of it being a rainbow montipora, it still is one! I see blue, red, orange, & yellow. Are you on reef crest or lagoon mode? I clean my pair of 10s once every month or two. Do not use vinegar, it seeps through the plastic and corrodes the magnet ruining the wet side. Muriatic acid diluted 10 to 1 with water or citric acid only on that investment.

 

[Why-Me]

Pick a day once every 3 months and clean those mp10s in water/vinegar or some solution. Some run them in a bucket that way to clean them. I'm sure someone more experienced will chime in here.

 

[Why-Me]

Great point about the vinegar and the magnets

 

[Philipgonzales3]

Pumps will definitely slow down over time, it's best to do regular maintenance so you don't have to replace them as often especially the cost of vortech wavemakers. I made the mistake of getting one too. The rest of mine will just be Jebao, for the price they really can't be beat.
I also decided to finally choose a salt and stick with it and ordered some Tropic Marin Pro Reef.
Those BRS videos show how clear, stable, less to almost no precipitate and mixes quickly. For the price I believe they've proven that Tropic Marin Pro salt stands out the most (positively) by comparison.
Just my opinion^

Yeah I enjoy watching those videos. I mix my salt a little longer now too lol. When's your tank getting wet. Can't wait to see what you end up with man.

 

[Philipgonzales3]

You look at that little frag enough to talk yourself out of it being a rainbow montipora, it still is one! I see blue, red, orange, & yellow. Are you on reef crest or lagoon mode? I clean my pair of 10s once every month or two. Do not use vinegar, it seeps through the plastic and corrodes the magnet ruining the wet side. Muriatic acid diluted 10 to 1 with water or citric acid only on that investment.

Yeah I guess so. Going to give it a better look tomorrow. Haha hard for me to see the colors.

Reef crest on both.

I'll pick up some muriatic acid asap. Maybe get some flow back.

 

[Sod Buster]

10 parts water, 1 part acid. Keep it away from your kids and use it outside. A 5 to 10 minute soak, then an old toothbrush. Food grade silicone oring lubricant on the ceramic bushing and a lite smear on the oring before you put the guard back over the propeller. For now, crank them up. I run a pair antisynced on a 22 gallon @ 80%. Nice water movement, both on the back glass.

 

[Philipgonzales3]

10 parts water, 1 part acid. Keep it away from your kids and use it outside. A 5 to 10 minute soak, then an old toothbrush. Food grade silicone oring lubricant on the ceramic bushing and a lite smear on the oring before you put the guard back over the propeller. For now, crank them up. I run a pair antisynced on a 22 gallon @ 80%. Nice water movement, both on the back glass.

Holy crap! That's a lot of flow! Post a pic and some vids! Lol I want to see what that looks like and what all you have in the tank.

Flow looked better this AM. Torch was swaying about a bit more. Several of my corals need lower flow areas like my Ricordia, Xenia (pulses more in low flow), I know my scoly will need like medium flow, I think there was another one of my corals that needed lower flow but maybe not. Still early here. Had a hard time finding low flow to get my xenia to pulse nicely lol so don't want to crank it up too much. Maybe I will put the MP10's a little higher since that's where my sticks will be. Just thinking or should I say typing out load this AM.

 

[Why-Me]

sounds good. Just remember low flow doesn't mean no flow, you can bump it up plenty without upsetting your corals.
I will be getting my tank wet soon, 4-6 weeks?? I have a vacation coming up soon and also have a frag swap/expo to go to at the end of the month.
I'm getting 8-10ft of 1" pvc given to me for free to help get me set up.

 

[Sod Buster]

I don't know how to post a video. I get away w/it using a really coarse sand, nem protects, and the pumps up high, but staggered a little bit. Down low enough the pump won't suck air. The nem protects made my flow more broad, not any less, but more spread of a column it pushes. I thank my tailspot for thinking the propellers would make a nice cave to live in, so they got covered up and in my case made the turbulence better. A few frags in the tank for testers 4 acros, 4 acans, 2 rock flower anemones, 1 neon toadstool, 1 space invader, a tailspot blenny, and a rainsford goby. In anti sync, on high power it kind of spins the tank from either propeller, while some flow goes straight down to the sand and then back to the pump, the rest goes sideways across the front pane, spinning the tank. When they are switching power and near equal, the collision forces the flow back through the middle of the two pumps, like 2 individual gyres. When I start figuring out where I want to put stuff, I've got a pair of the VCA turbine like cones that go on the pair of returns to better utilize the return pump and not rip the flesh off the acans. Had them on my old tank and would recommend a check valve with them. The best way to describe a happy acro is the dancing inflatable man used in advertising. The polyps should wave around like his arms, not all just getting ripped in one direction. If I ever get the time to set up my apex, I'll be able to cycle through all the mp10's programs, intensities, and switch to sync/anti every hour or less. That should be fun for the fish to figure out. My 40 gallon I took down this winter, a cadlights lagoon basically, had the 2 10's and a pair of 230 gyres for pumps. They weren't all blasting at the same time though. Find some spots that you won't rip the softies apart, and have some spots with some chaos for a beginner stick or 5. I think I hit the main points. That is one of the hardest things, this flow. It's even harder trying to explain it. You will get it eventually, and when you do, it won't be the big mystery it is for you today. Let me find a pic and excuse the mess, its almost 2 months old.

 

[Philipgonzales3]

Thanks for the good info @Sod Buster. Turns out changing the mp10 foam covers increased the flow more than I expected.

Just a few vids below.

 

[Philipgonzales3]

So I tested my Alk just now. Basically 24 hours since the last test and I did not dose last night.

The amount of consumption was incredible...

Incredibly boring that is. Goose egg so far lol. Will repeat tomorrow.

Oh yeah and my temp never got to 79F from what I saw today. Hopefully that is good news! I think humidity was only around 30% though.

 

[NY_Caveman]

My 45 gallon AIO tank is using 2 dKH worth of Alkalinity a day. Incredible really.

 

[Philipgonzales3]

Scored a great deal for this for 9.99 at https://cultivatedreef.com (3/4-1" frag). order will be delayed due to weather but that is fine with me. I'd rather play it safe.



Zoa's looking good!





Tank has cyano still I think? Looks better than diatoms to me. I'm not worried about it right now though. Unless I should be? Let me know lol.

 

[mattzang]

damnnnnnnnn that is a good price, digitata has been pretty hard for me too.... urge to make a large order on that site........ must resist

 

[Philipgonzales3]

damnnnnnnnn that is a good price, digitata has been pretty hard for me too.... urge to make a large order on that site........ must resist

Dude for $9.99 Not a big deal if it lives or not. I bet it would THRIVE now for you! Haha. Plus shipping is only like $30 AND they are having a 20% off sale. Shoot, I'd order if I were you.

 

[mattzang]

oops totally meant to say hardy for me not hard lol. slight difference!

problem being i'm cheap, so if i'm paying $30 for shipping, i'm adding.... the sps frag pack.. the dendro frag, green slimer, maybe some bizarro cyphastrea, ughhhhh

i told myself i'd limit my coral shopping this month to get better equipment. plus there's a local guy selling some cool stuff for cheap that i want to take advantage of. but it means taking the 91 freeway :mad::mad: so i've been putting it off..

 

[Sod Buster]

Looks like a bubble gum to me, but superman vs. kryptonite works. Keep your eye on the cyano. When it starts stringing out a little, or forming patches you can peel off, or mats that can get turkey basted loose, it is time to get worried. It is a bacteria, just an undesirable one. A few different methods of adding beneficial bacteria to steal its food source and starve it before it becomes the plague and chokes things out. Cerith snails and Mexican dwarf hermits will eat a little of it if that's on the plate. Check on your phosphorus levels, cyano likes that for sure. Don't panic, just watch it, it'll probably go away on it's own with how particular you are on the tank maintenance.

 

[Philipgonzales3]

oops totally meant to say hardy for me not hard lol. slight difference!

problem being i'm cheap, so if i'm paying $30 for shipping, i'm adding.... the sps frag pack.. the dendro frag, green slimer, maybe some bizarro cyphastrea, ughhhhh

i told myself i'd limit my coral shopping this month to get better equipment. plus there's a local guy selling some cool stuff for cheap that i want to take advantage of. but it means taking the 91 freeway :mad::mad: so i've been putting it off..

I'm impressed with how much self control most of you guys and gals on R2R have. Especially @Why-Me. I mean I contemplated cutting a water hose since I didn't have any flexible return tubing and I had to wait for home depot or lowes to open the next morning haha. My setup was wet within hours of it arriving.

I guess I'm kind of impressed with my self control also. Both vendors more or less told me it was up to me but they advised against shipping out my corals. I was completely OK with it. I have plenty of corals already to keep me busy lol. For now I will just synthesize my own happiness. Google synthesize happiness TED talk. Good video by the way.

 

[Philipgonzales3]

Looks like a bubble gum to me, but superman vs. kryptonite works. Keep your eye on the cyano. When it starts stringing out a little, or forming patches you can peel off, or mats that can get turkey basted loose, it is time to get worried. It is a bacteria, just an undesirable one. A few different methods of adding beneficial bacteria to steal its food source and starve it before it becomes the plague and chokes things out. Cerith snails and Mexican dwarf hermits will eat a little of it if that's on the plate. Check on your phosphorus levels, cyano likes that for sure. Don't panic, just watch it, it'll probably go away on it's own with how particular you are on the tank maintenance.

Current params below. Nitrate has crept up a bit to 10. I think I've been feeding closer to 3/4-1 cube instead of 1/4-1/3rd. Also I have been using reef roids twice a week. Will cease using reef roids until my nitrates go down a bit and cut back a bit on the food.

We are creatures of habit. I've thought about lowering down the frequency of water changes or testing but rather just stick to a schedule for now. Water is currently being mixed for tomorrow's water change.

Oh yeah see a little bit of Alk consumption now. @NY_Caveman. I can't even imagine a 2dKH drop per day. How much are you dosing?