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JJ's Red Sea Reefer 250 G2+ (1 Viewer)

Turns out my Calcium testing was bogus. I had switched to Maxtite DI water from Amazon and with that my reading was always 600+. Switched back to the Hanna DI and now showing 469. Which is great. Odd issue though.

Overall tank is looking great I feel! I still want to get PO4 down some though. Water changes have been helping but very slowly.

I picked up some nice 75g Norwesco tanks from @CaseyK (thanks man) so need to get my new mixing station setup.

Salinity = 1.026
pH = 8.0
Alkalinity (dKH) = 8.9
Calcium (Ca2) = 469
Magnesium (Mg2) = 1260
Nitrate (N03) = 13.2
Phosphate (P04) = 0.29

 
Well coming up on tank being 9 months old. I think overall things are looking good. PO4 is a never ending battle. But most everything seems to tolerate it. Redid my rockscape a bit and added a new arch. Also, was able to get the sponges off my Zoa rock that had starting to takeover so they seem happier now. Finally, got my new mixing station setup. Prob overkill for my setup but whatever, such a game changer! I am lucky in that my utility room is right under my office (where the tank is).. so I plan to plumb a line with a spigot into the closet right next to tank. No more hauling water!

Salinity = 1.026
pH = 8.5
Alkalinity (dKH) = 9.1
Nitrate (N03) = 9.7
Phosphate (P04) = 0.31
Calcium (Ca2) =485
Magnesium (Mg2) = 1375



mixing.jpg
 
Quick tank update. Things going well.. starting to get some nice growth overall, especially with GSP wall! Nem seems settled as well. Has not moved in a month.

However, been running into some testing errors, or so I hope.

Mag shows 1800 (blinking)
Cal shows 600 (blinking)
pH shows 8.6 (blinking)
P04 went from .27 to .03 in a week (highly unlikely)

Lots of craziness here and I suspect something is up with my Hanna HI97115 or my sample. Only thing I can think of, is the tank water sat out for an hour before I tested. Not sure how much that matters. I plan to retest tomorrow.

Couple new corals thanks to @H2OHOH. Thx and was great meeting you. I am still in awe of that 750g and how clean your IM tank was.

1 - Heartbreaker Acropora
1 - Miyagi Tort Acropora

 
Thanks.. I am still keeping this torch alive and another SPS so I have made it. hahaha
 
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Dang have not updated in a weeks here! Not too much to report though..

1. I am still fighting rising PO4 (currently at 0.60). After trying all the usual methods, I decided to give Phosphat-E a try. Going VERY slowly. Like 1ml a day slowly dripping into reefmat chamber. Plan to retest daily.

2. My Fungia Plate has ballooned some.. I suspect maybe the nem is irritating it, but also read it could be spawning.. thoughts?

3. I ended up loosing my lawnmower blenny. Now really sure why. Bummer though. I ended up replacing him with another diamond goby due to the one I lost months ago and also added a strawberry dottyback. Will see if I regret that decision. LOL

4. GSP wall continues to progress. Crazy to me how fast it grows!

Updated stock list and parameters:

Salinity = 1.026
pH = 8.6
Alkalinity (dKH) = 9.0
Calcium (Ca2) = 600 (blinking) ??? Not sure what is going on there..
Magnesium (Mg2) = 1455
Nitrate (NO3) = 13.4
Phosphate (PO4) = 0.60

Fish:

1 - Strawberry Dottyback
1 - Diamond Goby
1 - Flame Angelfish
1 - Mandarin Dragonet
1 - Yellow Tang
1 - Tomini Tang
1 - Gold Midas Blenny
1 - Filefish
2 - Banggai Cardinalfish
2 - Orange Storm Clown Fish

Inverts:

5 - Lightning Dove Snail
2 - Gold Ring Cowrie Snails
5 - Mexican Turbo Snails
1 - Tuxedo Urchin
10 - Astraea Snails
10 - Nassarius Snails
5 - Black Foot Trochus Snail
2 - Scarlet Skunk Shrimp
1 - Fire Shrimp
3 - Strawberry\Tiger Conch
1 - Bumble Bee Snail (Hitchhiker)


Softie:
3 - Neon Green Rhodactis Mushroom
1 - Kenya Tree
1 - Devil's Hand Leather
1 - Jason Fox Deep Galaxy Star Polyps
1 - Jason Fox Haunted House Xenia
1 - Jason Fox Orange Infused Rainbow Clove Polyps
1 - Gold Zoa
1 - White Tip Toadstool Leather
1 - Nirvana Zoa
1 - Blue Clove Polyps
1 - Neon Green Star Polyps

LPS:
1 - Rapunzel Torch
1 - Green Bubble Coral
1 - Octospawn
2 - Duncans
1 - Fungia Plate
1 - Jason Fox Raja Rampage Chalice
1 - Red Lobo Brain Coral

SPS:
1 - Heartbreaker Acropora
1 - Miyagi Tort Acropora
1 - Jason Fox Yellow Fever Montipora
1 - Slimeball Anacropora
1 - Bubble Gum Montipora Digitata

Misc:

1 - Ultra Rainbow Anemone
1 - Caribbean Feather Duster
1 - Hard Tube Coco Worm\Feather Duster
1 - Maxima Clam

 
Your corals seem to look pretty healthy even with that high phosphate. I went from zero phosphate to trying to keep it below .30 I would rather deal with that then the opposite I have learned the hard way.
 
Yeah coral seem to be just fine.. I am not trying to chase numbers but 0.60 is bit out of my comfort zone.. especially with it rising still.
 
Jjdurrant said:
Yeah coral seem to be just fine.. I am not trying to chase numbers but 0.60 is bit out of my comfort zone.. especially with it rising still.
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Yeah that’s a bit high. I used GFO in my last tank and kept it under control. Just in a bag in the overflow was enough to slowly lower it. Good luck
 
Im in the same boat battling Po4. Got up to .59…….. Im now running Rowaphos in a little fishes reactor. I tried the bag annd that was not cutting it. Over the last 2 weeks with the reactor I’m down to .21. Im going slow trying to not drop to fast. But these are my results and im adjusting every week when I retest.
 
Finished my water change setup.. this is a game changer. Eventually, I want to do a AWC setup. But I feel this is the next best thing. Still have some small tweaks to do, but works great.

For waste, I am plumbed into the existing house plumbing. Discharge tube inserts right next to the fill quick connect. And I use a small pump to suck the water out.

For fill, I am coming right off the Norwesco and pushing the water from utility room to my office. Then using Python from tank to the fill quick connect. Pump is running on an Amazon smart plug so I use Alexa.



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plumb.jpg

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Great work!

I believe that brass fitting where you go to pex is a concern for heavy metals going into the tank. It’s ok in plumbing before the RO unit as that takes them out but I think that will leach into your prepared water going to the tank.
 
spsick said:
Great work!

I believe that brass fitting where you go to pex is a concern for heavy metals going into the tank. It’s ok in plumbing before the RO unit as that takes them out but I think that will leach into your prepared water going to the tank.
Click to expand...

Thanks... hmm good call out. I will see if I can swap that out with something else.
 
Finally got around to installing a gate valve. WOW! What a difference. Like night and day. Must do mod! I am also changing out some equipment. Nothing wrong with these items, just want to manage all equipment under the ReefBeat app. Hit me up in interested in anything :)

Two ReefWave 25 (replacing the Nero 5s)
ReedDose 2 (replacing Kamoer X1 PRO-T)
Two ReefLED 90 LED Light Fixture (replacing Ecotech Radion G6 XR15)
ReefCan Auto Top Off Reservoir

gate.jpg
 
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Do the Radions have a lot of adjustment you can do to the color spectrum? The ReefLEDs have fairly limited adjustments. You only get to adjust intensity on the blue, white and moon. I like them but the orphek that i have on my other tank has way more adjustment. Honestly I don't mess with them much other than do a manual setting every now and then. If you like the color you are getting the reefbeat app isn't worth the cost to switch lighting.

I guess between three tanks I have 6 apps that I switched though. Almost never do I even open 3 of them.
 
Yeah I know.. I figured some would question the change.. and the Radions for sure have more flexibility but I never really mess with them.. I am on the AB+ template in Mobius but never really touch it overall. I am happy with the color. I run at 70%, 10 hours a day which puts me ~150 PAR overall throughout the tank.

But again, I rather manage all through ReefBeat. I am excited to try the ReefLEDs though. And I do like the look of them better. As well and the more flexible arm mount.
 
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