Toby's Reef

[Steve Tobias]

January 18, 2016: ... and there you have it! My DIY sump (RIP)

 

[Steve Tobias]

April 18, 2016: I have been adding family members over the past three months. They all seem very content! (uh oh, I should have bought a bigger tank) To help control nitrates and phosphates I did a ton of studying and decided naturally removing them with shaving brushes, mermaid fans and dead man's fingers made sense. It worked! Stuck at around 30 PPM on my nitrates for awhile, but added these and the good bacteria was able to finally get on top of it! I am a huge advocate of the vegetation.

 

[Steve Tobias]

June 10, 2016: Adding the Kessil A160 Tuna Blues and my PAR is finally reasonable. Corals coming along slowly. Lost a Monti frag along the way the water was probably still not mature enough... UH OH!!! Sump DIY CRACKED! I found there was a small chip in the lower left-hand back corner and she let go. I even remember feeling it with my finger. So small... I looked and looked and added water before actually giving it he thumbs up. 5 months later... "Honey, can you grab me a towel... or the whole linen closet?!"

 

[Steve Tobias]

July 10, 2016: So here I am. Eschopps R-300 Refugium. It is OK, but a Trigger would have been the choice now that I own it. Just didn't want to lay down the $450 for a Trigger. Kessil lights work great with the controller. I still run a cheap LED along the back for moonlight. BUT! The best investments so far has been the ATO and Gyre. The ATO absolutely stabilized my water. Prior to the Tunze I was chasing my salinity all over the place... It leveled right off. The Maxspect Gyre... HUGE! completely changed the water flow while giving the opportunity to change the flow for a more natural water column.

 

[Steve Tobias]

July 20, 2016: (left side) Everything seems fairly happy. I am struggling to get full extension out of my Duncan, but the Clowns have finally found a host... The Goni??? Never thought that...

 

[Steve Tobias]

July 20, 2016: (right side) same here I run my Kessil on this side with more intensity, but less color than the left. I have no idea... I am not killing stuff. I would really like a PAR meter.

 

[Steve Tobias]

July 20, 2016: Well there you have it... TOBY's REEF! I moving on to a GFO and carbon reactor this weekend and from there a calcium reactor. Other than an APEX and a 500USG reef ready tank I am just a care taker from here on out.

Any thoughts, experience or wisdom is greatly appreciated. I know I will have questions for the more experienced of the group, but at least if you read this you will have some background.
Thanks!

 

[Chrisfish]

Great pictures the tank looks awesome and you should be very proud!!

 

[richie6]

Very nice tank and stocked well

 

[Steve Tobias]

.... and that is when things got RIDICULOUS!!!!!

 

[dbl]

Welcome to the madness of controllers! Once you get the hang of programming, it's really not that bad. Judging by the three screens, technology must come naturally to you...lol.

 

[Steve Tobias]

WOW! I have been away for quite some time. I was having electrical issues and had to run some new wire to the Reef room so the aquarium would be on it's own circuit. The heaters kept tripping the breaker only to find out the breaker itself was the problem. I spent the last two months fighting Cyano and have it under control (I HOPE?) So now I am back at it and continuing to make my fish more technically savvy then my 4 year old. I am happy I have not had any significant catastrophes... Here is a couple of recent shots as I continue to work on setting up my Apex controller. My puffer has been a great tank mate no trouble with the corals and everyone is getting along.

At present I am still only monitoring the water and using the Apex to control the heaters, but I have been finally convinced to take a week off from work for the first time in 5 years and that is set to be my play time to complete the initial set up once an for all....

Well wish me luck...

 

[melypr1985]

Good luck!! You'll really like the apex once you have it set up completely. Your tank is looking fantastic!

 

[Steve Tobias]

Good Morning:

I have been monitoring with my Apex for the past 3 months or so and starting Monday I had noticed that my ORP was dropping. It had always hung under 400 but above 350. My average last week was 376. However, this week it has continued to drop and I am not sure if I should be concerned.
Sunday average 355.
Monday average 345.
Tuesday average 340
Wednesday average 337
Thursday at 327
This is a steady decline and I am not sure why or what may be causing this. I have not made any significant changes, no additions. Just routine maintenance, Sunday 10 gallon water change and cleaned skimmer cup... that is really it. Is there anything I should be looking at to assess what is happening? I feel as if I need to be between 350 and 380 based on what I have read. Does anyone have suggestion or thoughts?

Thanks

 

[revhtree Verified Admin]

Are you running ozone?

 

[Steve Tobias]

I really appreciate you stopping by.

No I am not, I am going to check water tonight and see where I am at across the board, but I am not dosing or running additives at all. What I do know is I am at 34.3 on salt. 78.6 on temp, 7.97 on ph and down to 323 on ORP. Time top pull the my Red Sea Kits when I get home, but it had been steady for 3 months moving around in the 385 to 350 range but all of the sudden has been dropping. What might cause that? How concerned should I be? I am at the ready with water... (mix and RODI) I have B-Ionic 2 part and NoPox, but I don't want to being throwing stuff at it until I check my levels which may help me determine what might be going on. I have a carbon/GFO reactor and that is it right now. How low is critical?

 

[Steve Tobias]

Well, it has been a week. I have completely diassembled and reassembled just about everything around my tank. I reran all of my wiring and hoses. The motor on my Reef Octopus 150 shorted out so i added a Vertex Omega 180i. It is cycling at the moment. I also added a Finnex 500 to my tank.

My Apex is working great I have a long way to go but, the skimmer, gyre150, the heater are now working through the Apex controller.

 

[Steve Tobias]

So after a week of completely tearing my system apart and putting it back together again I finally took a few moments to actually enjoy it. I took several pictures and wanted to share them on my tank page. The Vertex Omega 180i is already working well. It did take me quite a few days to figure out how to get it dialed in and I am not sure that I have it right yet, but it is skimming. I have a long way to go, but I am happy with where I am at. I have started with Red Sea Reef Foundation ABC and I am happy to report the my pH is finally over 8.x. I have also finally started to use Red Sea Reef Energy.

Regardless, for anyone interested here are several shots I took last night:

As always I welcome feedback and advise!
Thanks