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RobertP Tank Redo (1 Viewer)

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Cody

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Got algae growing in the tank so it is time to adjust the lights to run less and get some chaeto and a crew started.
Come get some cheeto. I have plenty.
 
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RobertP

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Thanks Cody! I will try to come in this weekend and will touch base before I head in.
 
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Fixed the giant sucking sound mainly by turning down the intake water slightly. I also changed the intake line so it pushes the water into the tank below the water line. Also drilled a hole in this line just below the water surface so there should be no siphon. Then added a 90 and it forces water across the tub for better flow. Neither of these fittings are glued in place so I can still adjust it in the future. Oh and yes, the 90 at the top is glued so it cannot come out of the tub. Removed the powerhead and it seems to move the water around fairly well. I am thinking about turning it to the side to create a clockwise current in the tub. Will it work since it is not circular....who knows. Just want to make sure there is current all over the tub.

I have the water level much better overall and tested several times to guaranty no sump overflow issues when the return pump is off. Was evaporating 2-3 gallons of water per day but did not see that yesterday. I am very curious how much the tub's lid will help that. Also picked up a plastic cardboard piece to cut for the sump. It doesn't really need it but like the idea of a lid for the sump.
 
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RobertP

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Well I am a little confused. There are 0 nitrates in the tank now. There was 10 two weeks ago and granted I added another 100 gallons of rock tub I would not have thought they would have gone down that much. I did the test first with a nyos kit and it says 0-1. Then did a salefert kit and got 0. I am still feeding the 9 chromis once or twice a day with the dirtiest food, flakes and sometimes pellets but they seem to like the pellets more. Added 20 hermits and 10 margarita snails. I do see some skimmate in the skimmer but not even 1/4 full yet.
I got a small ball of chaeto from Cody but there is just no way it pulled that much out in 2 days when we are talking about 300 gallons of water....
 
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Perhaps it is the small amount of algae started on the rocks in the fuge and tank that ate the nitrates. It is just light stuff though.
Some test frags...
 

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Tonight I got excited...finally some pod life! The whole front glass is covered in copepods. Yeah this picture sucks but been waiting on my display fuge to show me something. Guess the Cody chaeto did have a little more than grass. The chaeto is hanging on but not much nitrates and phos to suck up.

I better post a pic of the tank tomorrow. I added a small yellow tang and a kole tang and feeding twice a day. Pink birdsnest looks fine but the elkhorn has lightened up in color.

Bought one last load of rocks for the rock tub and I didnt notice how much darker the rocks were in the tank and tub. Over 200 lbs of rocks in there now. Still have a pick size sicce powerhead in it for a little flow. Tempted to get one of those sponge packs but tank is still too young I think.

It's been over a month and feel like I should do a water change but all the levels are spot on. With so few fish it hardly seems worth it. Guess I will plan to do 30 gal this weekend...that would be 10% total volume.
 

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Yeah it's not much to look at yet....but then again it is only 1 and a half months old! Needs more color for sure.

I miss the green star polyps on the back glass.....
 

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Alk is still sitting pretty at 8.3 and coming out of a diatom bloom. Was running without filter socks until they showed up. Still barely registering 1 nitrate but based on this birdsnest it is enough. This is about 3 weeks growth and got forks on all those upper points so it something. The elkhorns are coloring back to green but haven't paid enough attention if they are growing much.

Added a bigger cleanup crew plus a dozen mangroves off a guy on ebay...they were too cheap not to get them and really happy with the result. Got a spray bottle with rodi and spray their leaves daily.
All is well so far....
 

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Cody

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Ok first hiccup...never had an issue with the hanna alk checker reagents but this time it got me. Since adding the Reeftopia frags the alk usage went up so been checking alk daily or every other day to get the dose nailed down. Well I couldn't keep up! Dosing over 150ml per day of soda ash and the alk was still dropping. Just so happens. to have 3 more packs of reagents show up so tried two of them. Old one was 8.3 and new read 10.1!!! Tried it again and got the same results. Tried yet another new bottle and it was 10.0. Not sure why this bottle started reading low but already ordered a salefert alk test kit as a backup.

The pink birdsnest is not happy but still has all its color just stopped growing. None of the other corals seem too upset.

Got tired of refilling the 5 gallon ATO so put the 20 gallon in its place and cut some old plywood as a lid. Perfect place for my backup doser.

Refugium is growing! The red stuff is going crazy. The chaeto is ok but not like I would expect. I have about 5 different kinds of algae in here because I like fuge watching.

Added some more flow with a jebao sow20 and really happy it works with the sow15 I already have. Now have them on master/slave. The WAV is almost dead. Have it set to 75% and there is almost no flow and no way I'm buying those junky things again. I love the apex but not those pumps. So far I'm pretty happy with the jebaos.

One thing I really like is the ph in the tank is almost always around 8.3. I dont chase ph but just happy to see it. Still have the same number of fish and need to get more. It is the plan soon.

It looks like my truck is behind the tank...just a reflection. One of the downsides to having the tank in the garage.
 

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RobertP

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Well that damn Apex took a dump again. This time I do not see any errors but the energy bar is not responding at all. It has the orange neptune light just like the head unit and no errors. I open fusion and the DOS says that it is missing one half...how is that possible since it is all one unit?!? And all the energy bar components are missing as well. Including return pump, lights, ATO, etc. I moved the lights to timers and have to switch my alk dosing to my cheapo jaebo doser. Who would have thought the jaebo doser is more reliable than the Neptune DOS!!!! I am super frustrated with neptune. I thought it might be the usb-like cables since I saw some corrosion on one of them. Does anyone know if standard USB cables will work as replacements? I am NOT buying more cables from neptune...they are not getting another dime of my money.

Another problem is the temperature. Fortunately that cool front last week helped but the tank temp is getting too high. Two weeks ago it was up to 82 degrees and that is with three fans running on top of the tanks. If the garage temperature is over 80 then the humidity in the garage is over 70% and the fans are just doing no good. The front dropped the humidity down to 50% and the temp was no problem but the humidity is already heading back up again. With no tank inside the house it is making keeping the water temp cooler. Only quick fix for this I can see is a dehumidifier. Just not sure it will work when up against 100s next month.
 

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Oh man, a tank in the garage without chiller/ambient cooling is definitely a challenge.
Really sucks about the Apex, I wouldn't want to give them more money either. Even Ecotech is dropping the ball a lot lately. These guys need to maybe rethink pricing until they have a premium,RELIABLE product.
 
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Oh man, a tank in the garage without chiller/ambient cooling is definitely a challenge.
Really sucks about the Apex, I wouldn't want to give them more money either. Even Ecotech is dropping the ball a lot lately. These guys need to maybe rethink pricing until they have a premium,RELIABLE product.
I do not think they tested these products in high humid saltwater environments. If they did they would have sealed it better. I didn't open up the last energy bar because I was afraid it would void the expired warranty but the tech said that they found a lot of corrosion. Just sounded like a simple motherboard. Not sure if they can epoxy coat the mobo due to heat issues but they should consider it. Even if my tank was inside the energy bar would be in the garage with the sump so it would still be an issue.

As for the temp issue....yeah I am having doubts and really starting to wonder if I should just shut it all down until I have a tank inside the house. However, I am going to run it on timers as long as possible. I lost a couple corals but I dont think they were heat related. So far most of the frags are still growing. The biggest issue I had was Apex was shutting off the lights when the tank got over 81 degrees. The timers will just leave the lights on so we will see.
 
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I do not think they tested these products in high humid saltwater environments. If they did they would have sealed it better. I didn't open up the last energy bar because I was afraid it would void the expired warranty but the tech said that they found a lot of corrosion. Just sounded like a simple motherboard. Not sure if they can epoxy coat the mobo due to heat issues but they should consider it. Even if my tank was inside the energy bar would be in the garage with the sump so it would still be an issue.

As for the temp issue....yeah I am having doubts and really starting to wonder if I should just shut it all down until I have a tank inside the house....but I hate to even consider that....
Why so averse to a tank in the house? Just the hassle of moving it?
 
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Why so averse to a tank in the house? Just the hassle of moving it?
Well the 130g tank I have in the garage is 15+ years old and I just don't trust it in the house any longer. So the plan was to get a new tank for the house but life gets in the way so I am not seeing that happening very soon now. We have been downsizing the tank size for the house but still a matter of buying a new tank.
 

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Well the 130g tank I have in the garage is 15+ years old and I just don't trust it in the house any longer. So the plan was to get a new tank for the house but life gets in the way so I am not seeing that happening very soon now. We have been downsizing the tank size for the house but still a matter of buying a new tank.
Ah ok, completely understandable.
 
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OK well I felt like an idiot after the Neptune guy got done with my Apex. He updated the software of the energy bar and it suddenly showed up again. DUH, I could have done that! Then for the DOS he had to run a program to uninstall the DOS from the Apex (after powering the DOS down) and then plugged the DOS back in and it reinstalled it. I lost all my programming for both the energy bar and DOS but everything is working. He claimed he found a programming error that he thinks was due to power loss. Well I have been dealing with a GFCI outlet popping so that is plausible. I isolated it to the ATI fixture on the 2 bulbs for some reason and put them on another circuit.

Come to find out ATI recommends GFCI that have at least 1 milliamp of fault protection. Since the tank is on a dedicated 20 amp circuit I am going to replace the GFCI with a heavy duty rated for higher fault. Or I will just put in a regular 20 amp plug.

Tank got up to 83 degrees a few days ago. I am adding frozen 2 liter bottles or 1 gal jugs when it gets over 81. Humidity seems to be the killer here. I have a little thermometer with a barometer and it is 80% humidity and 80 degrees most mornings now. When that happens the overnight temp is pretty high. I think the next step will be an exhaust fan to pull out the humidity. The problem is that where would the replacement air come from? Since garage doors are not perfectly sealed it will pull air from the outside which is pretty humid here in SE Texas. Bet a portable AC unit might be an option assuming I can vent the exhaust air out and catch the condensation.

Funny thing is the PH has been great and the corals seem to be very happy with good growth. My concern is that it is only June...still have July and August to get through the worst of summer heat and humidity.
 

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Good to hear the Apex is back to functioning for you.
Yeah buddy, the next couple months will be a struggle for sure. I'll be following along to see how you adapt lol
 
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