SubzeroLT

Do share which videos recommending salinity of 1.020-1.022. Keen to review. Generally, 1.022 is perfectly fine for fish only tanks. The concept of low salinity to mitigate ich is called hypo salinity - so low that the life cycle of the ich is broken. Hyposalinity leve is 1.008-1.009. Keeping it at 1.023 is NOT considered hyposalinity & does nothing to mitigate ich. The correct salinity level for reef tank (with coral) is 35ppt => 1.0264 SG. Keeping it at 1.023 is considered a little low. Corals can survive but it will not be ideal. At 1.023, your key water parameters like Ca, Mg, KH will be lower than ideal levels for corals since there is less salt in the water). Again, some corals are tolerant of lower salinity. But some will not do well and die.

Nice. Keen to see your light settings. Do share more pics.

You can get it from the components from ebay or from Sim Lim Tower for self replacement. But do this only if one is savvy with electrical things. Else just get it from the person who set up your compressor.

Sad to hear about it. Its by no means your fault. I think its impossible to catch every single instance of unhatched eggs from purchased colonies. Any plans to prevent a re-occurrence in future.

Tank maintenance + water change weekend. Usual maintenance routine includes : Measure water parameters. For me, I usually measure it just before water change to know what its like at its 'worst' water condition Look for aiptasia & inject with Aiptasia X Trim corals Measured Phosphate levels. Close to 0.1ppm phosphate after the conversion. Time to change the rowaphos. Nitrates : 5ppm. Hmm...gone up a little due to increased feeding. Need to ramp up flow of the sulfur reactor a little. Calcium : 420ppm, Mg : 1440ppm Alkalinity :

Not relying on the solenoid to cut out the CO2 is just a matter of fine tuning the effluent flow rate & bubble count. Not so much related to the equipment used. In any case, i'm using the Apex Neptune to measure pH. Using a Milwaukee double junction pH probe. For CO2 solenoid, i'm using an Ocean Free dual gauge solenoid.

Yes, the idea of starting with high PH of around 6.8 is to make the effluent "less concentrated". To reach this, you will probably need very little CO2. Maybe 1 bubble every 1-2 seconds. And as more corals are added & higher demand, lower the pH to make the effluent 'more concentrated".

I'm Leon (not Eric). In any case, there are many ways to set up a calcium reactor. No one method is correct, so just adapt accordingly. My method is to sync up the flow rate to pH level and not rely on the solenoid to shut off the CO2 when the desired pH is reached. For a start, you can consider an effluent flow rate of about 40ml/min. Measure it. Then tune the CO2 bubble count to reach a target pH level. A good starting point is 6.8pH. Start measuring the KH levels of the tank. Maybe twice a day at the exact same time. If KH drops over a 24hr period, then make the effluent more concentrated by reducing the pH level. Do this until the lower limit of ~ 6.4pH is reached. If lower than this, the calcium reactor will tend to have too much bubbles internally. If the tank demand more kH, proceed to increase the effluent flow rate. You may need to increase the bubble count to maintain the pH level as well. If the tank demands less kH, then consider increasing pH or simply switch off the CO2 for a short period of time. Some folks say the effluent rate is difficult to control. I agree as well. Consider the Ecotech Versa peristaltic pump to feed water for the CR. Its not expensive compared to other peristaltic pumps out there & the value it provides - i.e. very good control over the effluent rate & makes tuning the CR a lot easier. For reference, below is my calcium reactor PH measurement (orange line) vs the KH measurement (blue line).

I may have shared this before but some folks brought this topic up recently. A small hack to ensure the Clarisea roll winds up nicely without bunching up in the middle. Basically the root cause is the fleece is wound v tight, causing the white acrylic to warp a little (i.e. becoming a curved edge). Workaround is to stiffen the white acrylic by making use of the clear acrylic housing. What i've done was to insert a 12mm piece of acrylic in between. You can just use an egg crate as well (they are about 12mm thick too). Just make sure the reinforcement piece does NOT touch the fleece.

Thanks Many tips were learned from you & visiting your fish room

Some housekeeping pics : I shared about these nice Maxpect tweezers a couple of weeks ago. Couple with long rubber gloves (up to the armpit), it was easy to pick out accumulate debris from the sand bed. Fallen dead frags, bits of glue, vermatid snail shells etc. I'm using the trusted DD magnet glass cleaner for the most of the glass. And this one with a very long handle for the bottom edge & hard to reach areas. This seachem scraper isn't cheap in comparison with other brands but at least it does a good job (and floats) The stress of barb connections on the tubes + occasional knocks have caused my tubes to crack & leak before. As part of preventive maintenance, I also re-did some tube connections to the calcium reactor by snipping off the end of the tube & re-connect. Then did a soap bubble test to ensure there are no leaks.

It was extremely inconvenient to realize the compressor temperature controller is not working properly at 11pm. I noticed the compressor switching on/off more frequently but didn't think much of it. It happened to be a lot worse now. Noticed it suddenly read the tank temperature as 32degC which triggered the compressor to turn on. Then quickly reduced back down to 27degC within 3min. Tried swapping to a new temperature probe but the issue persisted. It was finally resolved after swapping in a new temperature controller. Then monitored it run a full on/off cycle with the compressor at 3am. This is what the Apex temperature chat looked like before & after the temperature controller change. Forward looking my plan for the temperature controller is : Have a full set on standby (not struggling to replace the components at night) Preventive replacement once every 3 years (my set is 4yrs old)

Nice tank. Getting full There is nothing much you can do about the clownfish eggs this round. But if you intend to breed them, consider the following : - Now you know they like this spot, put a small removable rock in that area - After they have laid eggs the next round, remove the rock (with eggs) into a separate tank to hatch. Now that's another difficult process which some other experts on SRC can provide better advice. Refer to Law88's post :

Looks good. How is the material holding up to the heat?

Last week's long weekend was great for getting some mini projects started. Managed to make a new lid for the external skimmate & waste water collector. Now it looks like this An external skimmate collector is extremely convenient. There are float switches inside to notify me when the bucket is full & also turn off the skimmer so it won't flood the place. The bucket is used for discharged Alkatronic waste water as well. Generally it is emptied once every few weeks. It used to look like this Long weekend project Top view. The ping pong ball is to allow air to leave the bucket as it is filled with water. And yet have a light seal to prevent smell from coming out. Above it is a compartment for activated carbon The grate at the bottom is a part purchased from Daiso Activated carbon. Dual float switch. The lower one is to notify me that the bucket is 'quite full'. Skimmer is not switched off. I'm only notified by email/warning light to empty the bucket. The skimmer will switch off only when the upper float switch is triggered (i.e. very full). This is the Apex neptune program for the skimmer Top view. All fixed up.

Yes, the recirculating pump of the CR should be left on 24/7. There are many ways to set up the calcium reactor. Each has its pros & cons. Personally i leave the feed pump on 24/7 as well. And turn off the CO2 instead.

That's a very good idea to pull the acrylic+mesh out from the front.

A nice video from Reef Builders about the Versa peristaltic pump From using other peristaltic pumps at work, there are a couple of concepts that's applicable to us hobbyist for any kind of peristaltic dosing pump : There is a short break in period for tubes (typically a few minutes of continuous use). After the break-in period, flow & volumes will be more stable. We typically calibrate the pump upon 1st installation. It is best practice to re-calibrate it, say, 1-2 weeks later due to this 'break in' period. Calibration is ideally done at the final flow rate you are running it at and over as large a volume as possible. Both possible with the Versa & Mobius app. My unit has been running well since it has been set up. I opened mine up to have a better look at it and to understand the product a little better. Planetary gear assembly. Great build quality. From the back. Proprietary pancake stepper motor. And the circuit board on the left.

Looks good!! Hope to see your tank again one of these days

Quick iphone pics from today Side view Following up on the Apex temperature probe. This is what the final implementation looks like. 3D printed tube mount (left side for sump level float switch). Right side to hold the Apex temperature probe. Using the dremel to cut & later grind off the plastic pipe to ensure a perpendicular cut Installed in sump It works This resolves the issue where temperature probe is out of water when excessive water is removed (eg. water removed when fragging or acclimatizing fish). And yet ensures the tip part is not under water when the return pump is off.

I've decided to drop the idea of the floating thermometer & go with a way to water proof the top of the probe by encasing it in a tube. Will post pics later as the glue on the assembly is still drying. In any case, this is what the inside of the Apex temperature probe looks like. Its looks quite robust but one will never know the longer term effect of continuous exposure to salt water.

Background : The Apex temperature probe is placed in the same compartment as the compressor coil (as a double check for the compressor temperature controller). This is in the return pump section of the sump where the water level may fluctuate a little. And when the return pumps are off, the water level in the sump rises quite a lot. Issue statement : The issue is its hard to find a sweet spot location (vertically). When the pumps are off, water level rises above the probe which risks having water seep in. Over time, the seal will be compromised and may short out the temp probe. One mini project was to float the temperature probe instead. Able to float in a secure location at various water height levels. Maybe this just complicates things. May drop the idea. Testing in progress. Some pics : Float device printed in ABS. Foam in place to ensure buoyancy. Articulating arm Testing in progress

Nice. Envy the cabinet space & neatness

My 2 main sources for local stock are : https://www.ev3dm.com/ https://3daura.com.sg/quality-filaments/ (purchase via Lazada)

3D printed a customized housing for the kalk reactor. This design is easy to access the internal fan/PCB but yet 'seal' against accidental water spills. Quick video of the DIY project