SubzeroLT

Sometimes its hard to frag zoa when they grow on rocks. 3D printed a simple 'connected' frag plate where the tabs are easy to cut with a knife. Makes more sense for zoa than stony corals. A frag of zoa Stuck the chalice on anyway Close up of the bottom

Most important is confidence & peace of mind. Sometimes it costs more to DIY if one needs to buy this & that. Same concept for waxing car (Need to buy clay bar, micro fiber cloth, wax/sealant, buffing machine etc). And end up doing a lousy job. Sometimes its better to get a professional to get it done properly.

Some folks use PVC glue found in neighborhood hardware shops. This is quite popular @ about $2-$3. Its generally good enough for 2" - 4" pipes. If you take the conservative approach (aka kiasu/kiasi), a good branded adhesive is Weld-On PVC glue. There are quite a few in the series for smaller pipes to larger pipes. If really kiasu, you can consider the Weld On 717. Has good gap filling properties. You mentioned having leaks? The right process to glue pipes is to clean the joints with solvent cleaner to be sure its free from oil eg (alcohol). Apply thin layer of glue on both joints. Twist in the joint & rotate a little to spread the glue. As per table, it takes about 5min before you can't twist the joint anymore (initial set point). Usable within 1-2hrs. Full cure within 24hrs

Posted on both sections : http://www.sgreefclub.com/forum/topic/142862-my-slice-of-nature-part-3/?do=findComment&comment=1374048 http://www.sgreefclub.com/forum/topic/166582-3d-print-reefing/

Best to send your water for ICP testing to get a baseline.

Gentle reminder to check pump volumes on a regular basis. Especially for the smaller dosing pumps (eg Kamoer, Coralbox, Jebao dosers). Small errors will add up to cause problems over time. Here i'm testing the Versa pump accuracy. Still accurate & loving it. Tank has been quite stable with the Versa pushing 2.2L of kalk daily. Alkatronic is doing 4 tests per day (6hrs apart). pH is doing OK considering this is an indoor tank with cabinet around the sump. Not too happy with the sulfur reactor water flow consistency. A Versa pump for this purpose would be ideal. Note ORP shown on the Sulfur chart is actually reversed ORP (i.e. negative values) Some folks asked how i keep my big 3 water parameters stable. In reality, it is not that stable. Ca, Mg, KH is consumed at different rates. Sometimes consumption is higher on days when trace elements are added. Sometimes, the calcium reactor pH drifts a little (bubble count related?) and the concentration of the effluent changes. Ca & Mg is measured weekly & may end up lower than targeted (eg. Ca @ 380ppm instead of 420ppm target or Mg @ 1350ppm instead of 1450ppm target). This is then corrected manually by mixing Ca/Mg powder & dripped in manually.

Water change day. Starlight blenny & mandarin dragonet rushing to the isolation box (usually straddled across the brace) as its full of algae & pods Time to clear the algae in the refugium The Clarisea filter can still last a few weeks. (1 month 20 days so far) Some random coral pics from the weekend. Noticed that duncans don't sting other corals (at least not the forest fire digi) Possibly time to move the valida coral Moved this to a high light area Croc Island Scolly sprouting another baby head Total 3 additional heads since getting it in Jan 2019

Look forward to your new tank set up.

Locally, you can find it on Lazada. Should be around $330. Those are mostly resellers & you should not expect much technical support.

There are many brands out there. Popular cheaper ones to start with is an Creality Ender3 or Tronxy XY2. I'm using the Creality Ender3 Pro. Other popular more branded ones are Prusa i3 MK3S or Ultimaker S3. I'm sure other have their opinion on what's good or recommended.

Water change is simply to reduce the nitrate/phosphate levels proportionally to the amount of water changed. Do a water change several days before adding live stock if needed. Since there is plenty of time, just leave it & let the nitrate/phosphate be utilized by the bacteria as their population grows. The need for chemical filtration really depends on the individual set up (eg. feeding habits, livestock, use of macro algae etc). In most cases, GFO is needed to reduce phosphate levels. Best used with a reactor so that the flow rate can be tuned. There are many schools of thought about using activated carbon. Some believe it adsorbs the some trace elements resulting in an unbalanced situation in the long run. They keep some handy for emergency use. But not used on a regular basis.

That's right. A bit of nitrite will show up as a lot of nitrate (a false reading of nitrates). Exciting days ahead

Currently the Kalk stirrer is hooked to the Apex & switches ON for 2min. Once every hour. Quite a waste to use the Apex for this simple purpose. Tried using one of those standard smart wifi power plugs. But those only allow a max of about 16 events (i.e. 8x on + 8x off) This is not enough for the kalk stirrer. Objective of this mini project was to free up one plug on the Apex so it can be put into better close loop control of equipment (instead of just using as a standard timer) Using an FRM01 timer board. Set to Function 5 T1 = 2min, T2 = 60min The trigger button is added to manually trigger the stirrer to switch on. Case part is printed. Box is mounted to a 'dry' section of the cabinet.

A hose holder for water from the various reactors to be positioned right in front of the return pump so that the water goes straight to the display tank instead of re-circulating around the sump/pump & back to the reactor. Another design is clipped onto a TLF Phosban reactor (for my sulfur reactor effluent). Its done this way as I'd like to visually see the drip rate. More details in this post/thread :

Interesting. Didn't know that the external magnet will affect the flow switch till you mentioned it. What material are you using?

Been working on optimizing 'flow efficiency'. There are 3 pumps in the return section of the sump. 2 return pump + 1 smaller Vectra S1 pump that supplies water to all the reactors (eg. UV, sulfur, rowaphos) Ideally all the filtered/clean water should return directly to the display tank & not get recirculated back through the reactor again. This is the same issue/challenge for reefers who pump water to a chiller and return the water back to the sump instead of directly to the display tank. I made a better tube adapter recently that clamps to the return pump (left). It holds the tubes from the reactor just in front of the return pump inlet. . This right adapter clips onto the Phosban 150 reactor body & lid. And a funnel in the base that links to a PVC hose that leads to the return pump. Left Small hose = Sulfur reactor Left Large tube = UV sterilizer Right hose = Rowaphos reactor

One of the contributors is bacteria bloom due to excessive organic material. I'd just leave it. Filter wool won't help because the particles are smaller than the gaps of the filter. Possible options : Wait for the cycle to complete then turn on your skimmer. That should help If it persists beyond the cycle period, UV sterilizer would be very effective to clarify the water.

Yeah. All the rare collection. Look forward to seeing them grow

Got an AquaUV 57w UV sterilizer from RMS not long ago. Main purpose is not to reduce risks related to protozoa (ich) & algae. But more for ridding accumulated toxins in an enclosed reef tank. These toxins come from zoanthids, chemical warfare between corals in close proximity, bioaccumulation from the self prepared fresh fish/prawn meat, aerosols from the air etc. Just worried about long term effects. According to the specs, the AquaUV unit is suitable for tanks up to 1300L. And capable of achieving 90,000 uw/cm2 with water flow rate of 4000l/hr. At these specs, the AquaUV is easily capable to eradicate protozoa when it passes through the filter. uw (micro watts) /cm2 is a measure of energy intensity. For reference, the killing dose of UV [uw/cm2]. Bacteria = 15,000 — 30,000 Algae = 22,000 — 30,000 Protozoa = 90,000 Some pics : Printed some brackets to hold the UV unit Printed a power supply bracket. Made a small slot on the lower bracket for easy PSU removal. Reinforcement tubes used at places where the hoses may kink (and restrict the flow rate). In my set up, water is fed by an Ecotech Vectra S1. Water flow rate to the AquaUV is estimated ~ 2500L/hr (rough visual guess. I don't have a flow meter). Outlet water pipe exits the AquaUV, right in front of one of the return pump via this tube adapter. The plan is the suction from the return pump pulls all the 'clean' water goes back to the display tank. Hence, an estimated 40% of the total water flow to the display tank is sterilized. I think this is good enough. UV lighting schedule. Not switched on 24/7 at this point. Plan to increase UV hours progressively. Black = Off. Blue = On Amateur Apex programming below Keen to get suggestions.

@ David This is how to better control the amount of pellets the auto feeder dispenses. By using a larger slot + add a bit of tape to dial it down a little.

Its probably not necessary to have the direct sun. Putting in corridor will suffice. Dun want to see you appear on stomp or newspaper.

Drooling More pics please

Some have asked about Nyos Bio Booster. Its a somewhat convenient all in one product that includes 'carbon dosing' + amino acids + vitamins. Using it the past year with pretty good results. Based on my limited layman understanding, this is what I make out of what's stated on the brochure & what it actually does. Carbon dosing boosts specific beneficial bacteria population which reduces nitrate/phosphates. The resulting increased biomass is also used by corals as particulate nutrition. And it also contains a blend of amino acids & other ingredients to improve growth & colors. Definition of biomass : plant or animal material that can be used for energy production Definition of particulate matter : microscopic particles of solid/liquid matter suspended in water

Measured my phosphate yesterday. Reading was about 0.1ppm. Sharing some pics of the process. Last Rowaphos change was 7th March. Its now 10th May. So its roughly 2 months replacement cadence. Some pics of the replacement process : This is how the Rowaphos media is stored - with a small tub of damp sponge to ensure it remains humid inside the container & not letting the media dry out. About 11cm height of media is right for my tank (850 liters) to last about 2 months. Sponge & separators removed for the moment. Using the container to rinse the rowa with RODI. After about 6 rounds of rinsing, the reddish fines are washed away and water looks like this. Take the rowa out. Put in the sponge & separators Put old test tube over the center tube. Then scoop in the washed rowa Once all hooked up, the flow rate is tuned for the Rowa level to tumble & rise to about 75% height of the reactor . Never reaching the sponge else some media will escape into the tank or clog up the sponge. Record in diary & set reminder to check phosphate levels 6-8 weeks later.

You can consider to reduce the red/green light levels to about 5-10%. Some anecdotal feedback states it can help reduce diatoms in some tanks (there are other contributors to it). The mat under the tank is to distribute the weight of the tank because the wood surface is not 100% flat and things can shit a little as the wood ages. Your tank isn't too large/heavy and since its already 8 months, i think the risk of glass cracking is low (but don't quote me)