Terrys Red Sea Max E170 Build thread

[Taxus812]

WOW woke up to my skimmer on overload. I could not get the water level down so I had to add a valve to the airline to get it under control. It filled the cup in minutes. I wonder if what was stressing the fish died and caused the skimmer to act like that. I'm allergic to fragrances and we don't use room fresheners. Nor have I cleaned so it is certainly in the biology somewhere.

 

[count krunk]

it can be hard to say sometimes.

The best you can do is try to get the environment stable.

I think you are doing a good job of it!

 

[Taxus812]

Uuug I’m back in the hospital with another pancreatitis!

Hit me hard and fast. Went from discomfort to er in just a few hours. My wife rushed me to the hospital at 10 pm

I am so glad I did my water change and testing. I’m going to be here a bit.

Things that will be tested while I’m away: my battery backup (we have storms on the way). That pump (I have it limping along ) and my lightning,

Hope I don’t come home to bleached corals or dead fish.

 

[Taxus812]

My son setup a wyze pan cam for me so I can view my tank from the hospital I ave great kids. (Now I need the hamper emptied)

 

[Taxus812]

So sitting in this hospital bed has left me a lot of time to watch some brs videos on feeding corals and lighting. I think I have a good idea of why my corals are not happy and why I had the rapid die off.

The phrase “big in big out” was used. If I understand it. It means feed big, let corals and fish eat well (frozen). Then remove the unused and waste before it has time to decompose.

The fish poop and due to their inefficient digestive system, the waste is perfect to feed your corals. Removing it quickly will prevent a nitrates/phosphate buildup. I have seen this with reef roids. When I feed my nitrates and phosphates rise but my skimmer can pull them to zero. I also understand in a yearling tank to much feeding without good removal of waste is bad.

How does it apply here.

I do not feed a lot, only once a day. There is not a lot of food left in the tank and well it’s very clean.

My lights are ab+ but I guessed at the intensity.

Now I went on vacation and my neighbor I found out did not feed my fish. So any food was consumed by the critters quickly. The wave pump also quit so the already low nutrition in the water and little flow caused them to basically starve.

Now for longer healthy life of my corals.

Expectations: I know I can’t expect optimal colors and growth from a yearling tank. The algae is still out of balance and the food for the corals will cause some to outcompete others disproportionately. I need to make sure I am pulling most of what I’m putting in.

Food: “big in”I simply plan to feed more frozen and pellets. I will still half the frequency of using reef roids because that is inviting algae imbalance.

The “big out” I will continue water changes but will make sure to blow off rocks and expect a bit more cleaning. I also will continue to use filter pads in my media tower but change them more frequently. I will also clean the foam filter more frequently.

Lighting: I tuned my lights using a proven spectrum. However I guessed at intensity and duration balancing on how much algae grew. Increasing intensity really perked my tank up. I have a proven spectrum to use so now I will need to get a par meter to properly set my intensity for my tank.

Parameters:
My parameters are in a very good range with two exceptions Kh and Ph. They are not horrible but a small adjustment could make a difference based on what I’m seeing. I am thinking of bringing my Alkalinity to 8 from 7.5 this should also raise my ph from 7.8- 8 averages.

Now please understand that if this is a ramble I’m on high doses of pain meds and blame them.

 

[Taxus812]

I had to think about my strategy a bit. Let see if this makes sense.
I monitor calcium, magnesium, alkalinity , salinity, ph nitrate, and phosphate. The emphasis has been on keeping calcium, magnesium, alkalinity , salinity, ph super stable.

Reviewing all my testing over the past months, I have seen very consistent values all within a good range. However my corals have still been suffering. Examining my nitrates and phosphate levels, These values have been all over the place but hit zero a lot. Phosphate is normally at zero and Nitrates have been floating between 2 and 10.

I decided to focus in stabilizing these values and see if I can bring them into a preferred zone. Nitrates 2 and phosphate .03 - .10. I purchased a Hanna phosphate ulr tester while it was on sale to help me with this. (I have a Red Sea test but it takes to long to do it daily)

Plan: I will monitor phosphates daily. I will dose with seachem flourish phosphate when it gets below .03. I could add reef roids every time the phosphate drops below .03 which so far is about three days (phosphates after adding feeding Reid roids was .11 ppm) . I was worried about sending my nitrates sky high. I will change my water weekly but only if the nitrates are above 5ppm or one if the other parameters drop (not expected since I only have a few frags).

If both nitrates and phosphates are low. I’ll add Reef roids

 

[Taxus812]

This week I did a few things.

1. I posted about the issue I had and tried to pull a common thread out of the help I got.
2. Week of monitoring phosphate and nitrates daily .

What I got out of my post was that I don’t have enough “food” for the corals in the form of nitrates and phosphates. Basically the tank is too clean. The second is that tank is still young. Things are still fighting for dominance. Parameters still fluctuate.

The posts with people at eight months or even two months with full an abundance of full browning corals are misleading. I now also wonder if they later crash and burn ?

Finally some corals just don’t do well in some aquariums.

I Adjusted my skimmer to not make as much watery skimmate. My thought was the start there and see what happens to my numbers.

Possible success !
My phosphates have been between .03 and .09 all week. My nitrates only bumped up from 7 to 9. My skimmers appears to be working to good with this light Bioload.

However I may have some repercussions. They are both good and bad. I found Some green hair algae popping up. The good is perhaps this indicates I now have enough nutrients to support growth. The bad is I hope it isn’t like a pendulum and covers everything overnight. BTW I did not dose anything. I just fed reefroids last Monday.

 

[Taxus812]

Ok things are staying stable. I think I am about to get the "uglies" now I have nutrients to support growth. However I have cyano bloom trying to explode in the tank. I just got the phosphates up and steady and the nitrates are staying between 8 and 12ppm. I don't want to add anything to it and cause it to go out of whack again. I am going to have to ask the community for some tactics.

 

[Taxus812]

Ugg another setback !
My wrasse was laying on her side tucked in back of my rock. I put her into QT and added General Cure. I don't expect her to make it. Crossing my fingers however.

 

[Taxus812]

With alll these setbacks I am still fascinated by the changes in this little ecosystem. Today I woke up with all the algae on the back glass gone. Like it was all scraped off. Where did it go ?

I assume it had to do with me using a low light schedule to get through a heatwave this weekend but it’s still cool.



Before

After

 

[Taxus812]

So I’m feeling happy with my tank again. My phosphates are stable and even a little high. My nitrates are also stable but high as well. (.16 and 17 respectively)

Why am I happy with those numbers?
Well my water just went super clear, the cyano disappeared, the algae on the rear glass disappeared. I am also seeing spots of coralline algae popping up.

My one coral toadstool is actually getting huge! I’m not killing everything.

Now I am still expecting more algae blooms to pop up as my biology battles it out until equilibrium is reached. I can finally get the ugly stuff underway (no I have nutrients to start the process.)

I also can adjust my skimmer and lower them both. I also can start my water changes again and not new hitting zero.

However not all are doing so well

 

[Taxus812]

So today was filled with ups and downs. First my wrasse died I was very heartbroken. She was super sweet. I would like to have another but Want to wait a while. I’m not sure if it was my tank, care or other issues but two are in my control so I will just wait a few more months. This way I can ensure the tank is not the cause.

Second is not really that big of a deal. A part I ordered from China several months ago finally came. I really like the system I built so I don’t plan to use this now. I just wanted to build it and prove to myself it would work.

I was able to distill my backup solution down even further into a $5 standby system.

This is a 5A boost converter. Doesn’t seem like much but when you put 11v-15v on the input it outputs 24v always. That alone is no big deal but if you put 24v on the output no voltage or current is seen at the input.

Why is this important? Well you can connect ANY 12v battery to your 24v pump. You also can make a y adaptor and connect your pumps normal supply creating a dc to dc ups system.

Now when the power fails the 12v source will power the pump (@24v). Since your pumps normal supply will not backfeed you can add a standard 12v battery charger of choice to maintain your backup battery continually.

So your backup system will consist of:
Battery and charger
Boost converter
Y adaptor
Wave pump and normal power supply

Total should be less than $25 excluding battery.

 

[Taxus812]

Today I decided to add A ground probe.

I am always worried about what would occur if I stuck my hand in the water and the heater or pump had a short. I had been toying with the idea of using a ground probe. I didn’t install one because retailers like bulkreef supply and other venders don’t even sell them. That had me question why not . I did find some information that explained that in some cases a short could kill your fish. Well if I am dead so are they.

I read this Post and it finally convinced me to add one.


I use a gfci cord so I had to plug it into that instead of the actual outlet. This is because the gfci needs to see the short.

One important thing is your wiring needs to be properly grounded for all this to work. I know for certain my home is triple grounded because when i bought the home I upgraded my service and watched them install the ground rods with very large ground wires.

 

[Taxus812]

Starting to feel bipolar Happy one day ready to call it quits the next. I just have such a lack of progress. I had hoped that If I put a lot of effort into managing my tanks, kept them consistent using proven parameters with quality equipment I would see a little more success than I have had. To date I have a 90% failure rate (my toadstool is a monster right now so I can't count it). I wasn't looking for stunning growth just some. It certainly isn't for the lack of trying. I have been very constant managing my ecosystem. Regular water changes, RODI, good salt etc.

No algae problems either, just a failure to thrive. Fall is coming and perhaps I will change my mind. However as it is right now I am going to keep things up until these corals die out and when they do I may just go fish only. No new corals are in the plans.

When the fish die I'm probably going back to freshwater. I easily kept 10 year tanks thriving in that environment. I wasn't unhappy with freshwater I just really wanted my cleaner shrimp. I may have to look into how I can even further Taylor my tank for them.

I put my records out there for folks to look at if you are interested.

 

[ramona]

Just read all 8 pages...please don't quit, you are doing a great job, just be patient and let the tank mature. I'm am a beginner and that is what I keep reading from all the pro: patience, patience and more patience. May consider reading/searching about sochting oxydator - I have the mini in my AIO cvue 18g, I like to think it helps. Hang in there (and no more hospital visits).

 

[Taxus812]

Today’s lesson: don’t get hung up on one thing you are struggling with. It can actually take away from what you really enjoy about this hobby.

Well I'm not out yet . Fortunately another reefer made the post with wondering if they should throw in the towel. I was able to benefit from it. They got a LOT of supportive replies and honest negative feedback type replies. Honestly both types were not really that helpful. The ones that were helpful and stood out were the ones that made me think about what I really liked about the hobby.
Was it the assembly? Was it the fish I kept or the garden I wanted? Was it fun (the most subjective of all questions)?

When reading them, I simply looked at my tank and realized . I like the shimmering water and currents my pumps make, I enjoy my clowns being well clowns. I really like enjoy inverts busily going about doing their thing. I remembered, every night I fell asleep when the lights lowered.

The corals were nice but just one part of the equation. I started this tank because I wanted cleaner shrimp. I do feel like I lost enthusiasm. However, I think a lot of what I perceived as enthusiastic was a bit of obsessiveness and inpatients.

I feel like I can wait. Im just going to let these corals I have just be and grow. I'm not going to worry to much about whether or not I have coralline algae. I'm not going to chase numbers unreasonably. I dont have the energy to do so and it is taking away from the things I enjoy.

With that said I'm going to immediately contradict myself, sorry. I did do a week of water testing to see if I am consuming anything in general. I also wanted to see if how my feeding was affecting my nitrates and phosphates. This is more of a point check I am not going to worry about the numbers unless they are on the extreems.


I mixed water to 35.4 ppm salinity with Tropic Marin Pro reef salt. I started with a 30% water change.

The result are as follows.

Nitrate

Phosphate

Calcium

Magnesium

Alkalinity

PH

Salinity

What I learned.
1) I could not do two tests and get the same exact reading back to back. I learned how to get closer however. I now rinse my cuvettes with distilled water before testing.

2) I think I have some calcium in my RODI (DI will not get all Calcium out). Rinsing in distilled made the endpoint clearer and a bit lower. I'm going to test my RODI and see if I can get a reading.

3) Most of my phosphate is coming from my pellets' food. If I feed a pinch in the AM I can keep it between .03 and .15 if it is around there ill be happy.

4) Since I have been feeding more my nitrates are up. I really don't know how to bring them down without loosing phosphate. I dont have an algae issue and my cyano is just about gone so I suppose I don't care either.

Well hope this was interesting. I feel way more relaxed and I just don't have any new corals planned in my near future. I may add some If some come my way. I expect if I wait a few months I may have better success anyhow.

I have to update another post with this information. I guess it will be funny seeing my 1 year pics and still have a nice clean but near coral free tank.

 

[steelwrap]

Glad to hear Youre sticking with it. Ive stuggled for so many years through 5 different tanks/set ups. Finalky My current tank is doing good. Going super slow and not adding to it as bad as I want to. Just letting it sit and mature and enjoying it.

 

[Taxus812]

Holy algae Batman!

Well this is both a super positive and a small negative in the same whack.

Yesterday I noticed my toadstool was flipped opposite of how it normally is. I realized that my wave pumps were not running. Apparently I knocked the plug out of the power brick when I was topping off my ATO.

The good : My backup power kept everything running for several days (about three I am guessing). Kinda an unplanned test but super successful (I didn’t notice so it works). May need to add a light to the output when on battery somehow.

Now one wave pump and the return are not on backup so even when it finally ran out of battery power I still had flow. So redundancy check and a win!

The controller charged the battery and when it got to 12.5v it kicked the pumps back on. Third test complete (it also shut the pumps off at 12v)

Now the bad. Went to work sand clean. Got back and it looks like someone pooped on my Sand bed. I am guessing it is cyano and hoping it isn’t Dino’s I seen some bubbles on my rocks. Cyano seems more plausible since I had low flow and it’s been warm here.

I was a day overdue for my water change because was competing In a Dragon boat race. So I did a vacuum and water change tonight. The algae mat was to thick to suck up so I needed to scoop it up with the net. I will go lights off for a few days as well. Cross your fingers. I would hate to need chemicals and snake oil. I do however have a chicken in reserve out back.

For fun here is a picture of my team racing along with a video a coworker made.

Photo from the Hartford currant

Dragon boat race video on YouTube

 

[Taxus812]

I decided that this cyano outbreak is much worse that I expected. The day after the water change with just room lights it came back pretty aggressively. I decided to nuke it with chemiclean. Is it snake oil who knows.

I do know why I had an outbreak and I am working to rectify that. I’m just being lazy and instead of going lights off, water change every few days I decided to just cut to the chase and nuke it. Besides I am interested is seeing if it works. I expect if it doesn’t it could be the dreaded Dino’s.


Anyway this is what I’m using ChemiClean but the small size.

Then I mixed 4 level scoops to 4 cups of aquarium water.


I added an Air Stone to the tank in front of a powerhead and adjusted another to point up making the surface super aerated. You can see all the bubbles in the water . I can also see they are getting everywhere in the tank.

I pulled my carbon bag and added a valve to the skimmer airline to tune it down. I may pull the filter pad tomorrow.

You can see the mad dog effect this stuff has.

All toned down using the white valve.

So I guess I'm supposed to let this run for 48hrs and monitor PH. I guess it consumes O2 or it adds CO2 . I am also guessing it will drop the PH. Lets see. Not sure what this will do to nitrates and phosphates. I will have to measure after the water change, Friday (I'm doing 25%, 10 Gal)

I also plan to reseed bacteria for a week.

 

[Taxus812]

Stepped out of bed and had wet feet!

About 4:00am I got out of bed. When I started to walk by my tank. I stepped in a LARGE puddle. I freaked out, turned in the lights. Inspecting for leaks but didn’t find any? The sides of the stand and the cabinet was dry. The water appeared to be caused by the air stone bubbles. I think I made it worse with my cooling fan. I wiped up the water and put a towel on the screen and shut off the fan. The floor stayed dry. Whew!

learned a few lessons
1) the air stone bubbles will splash water out of the tank. If using this you need to contain the bubbles and still let air get in.

2) if you get this treated water in your skin it may irritate it. My feet got very uncomfortable and burned forcing me to wash them with clean water.

3) Don’t look at your fish when they sleep at 4:00am . You will think they are dead. My clowns were on the bottom on their sides. I had a second heart attack. Because chemiclean eats O2 which is why I have the air stone.


It does appear to be working. Not as fast as I expected. Imagined bug globs changing color and getting picked up by the skimmer. It’s kinda just getting lighter and fading away leaving weird piles behind.

Here is how it is now.

This is how it was before I changed the water and shut off the lights. (Believe it or not that sand was white in the morning and like this by dinner)

This is how it was last night.