SubzeroLT

Putting bio media in a basket is better than using laundry bags. Easier to remove & less detritus is released when moved. Rinsing in old tank water :

Typo in the earlier post on the parameters.... Parameter Nyos Test Kit Published Ca 430 435 Mg 1140 1300 (not 1140) Kh 9 8.25

Short review of a Aqua Craft BioSea salt mix. Started using this salt in late January this year & having very good results with it. This is not a day 1 review of a salt but sharing the results after 2 months and multiple water changes. Corals are responding well with good PE. Finicky super sun coral is opening up daily now. I used to battle some level of dreaded cyano bacteria previously; It’s all gone & under control now. I saw it at Ng Couples & decided to give it a try after reading about good performance on ReefKeeping Online magazine (http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2003-03/rs/feature/index.php). Oddly it does not receive much publicity in the local reefing scene. Having used several salt brands in the past, this salt definitely deserves more attention & hence this write up. Synthetic salts are gaining popularity as it uses lab grade ingredients & do not contain environmental and man made pollutants, harmful impurities and contaminants that are often found in sea water or evaporated salts. Several online articles mentioned that not all synthetic salt are made the same. Some are able to support micro organism life better than other brands. Aqua Craft Bio Sea salt was referenced in the article as one of the better ones in some bioassay experiments. Bioassay is short for Biological Assessment. Here, the study was to measure the effects of different brands of salt mix & how well it was able to sustain sea urchin larvae development. This is a standard test procedure used to determine of toxicity of the environment & its impact to living organisms. Hence, quality of salt is not just about Calcium, Mg, KH parameters measured with home test kits but more importantly is the survival of living organisms. I did further research on the brand & managed to get additional information from AquaCraft directly. Sharing some of their response: History: Aqua Craft has been around since 1971. The Bio Sea salt was created for use when a true sea water substitute was required for lab research, for use in aquaculture and public aquariums. Manufacturing location: Made in Hayward, California in the USA. Minor & trace elements are AR grade (Analytical Reagent grade) Institutions or public aquariums using the product now - University of California, Gulf Coast Research Laboratory, Purdue University, --- SEASIA (aquaculture facility), Dolphin enclosure in Mirage Hotel & Casino @ Las Vegas (8 million liters display). https://aquacraft.net/wp-content/uploads/2-3Miragepink.pdf Why the no-frills carton box instead of bucket which is more convenient : Eco friendly carton makes sense as plastic pails or buckets can last over a century in a disposal waste site or land fill It mixes well. The water cleared up within 15 minutes & was ready to use. Levels of all major ions: Ca, Alk., Mg, K, SO4 measure up comparable to natural sea water. Parameter Nyos Test Kit Published Ca 430 435 Mg 1140 1300 Kh 9 8.25 Some recent pics: Early Feb 2016 : 13th March 2016 : 10th April 2016

For the MP10, there is a slight improvement. Hard to describe but it is noticeable, especially when running higher speeds. At lower speeds, the MP10 isn't noisy in the 1st place. MP40s are much louder. From what i read, it will benefit more from the QD driver upgrade.

Thanks :) Still looks about the same as the last time.... Will share pics when i get a new tank

Sharing an upgrade to one of the drivers of my old MP10 wES to the Quiet Drive drivers. Instructions for the upgrade kit were pretty straight forward - Transfer over the RF (Radio Frequency) module & cable from the original driver to the new. The QD drivers have been running for about 4 months now. The wavemaker runs quieter than the original white drivers. The difference is supposedly more obvious on the MP40 than the MP10. Nevertheless, I’m happy with the upgrade. A couple of things to note during the installation which may not be clear in the instructions sheet. Remove the RF module & cable. Take note of cable orientation as you close the casing.

Look forward to more pics

I have an Apex Neptune controller. Unfortunately, the Apex AWM module is not able to talk to the Vectra M1 pump. I looked around & found the ReefLink not too expensive. The ReefLink is a little box that wirelessly integrates the various Ecotech equipment together. You’ll need it to link the equipment to a cloud based platform called Ecosmart Live. (http://ecotechmarine.com/products/ecosmart-live). The ReefLink is great as it has additional features over the Apex such as - Has more wavemaker motion modes - Schedule based modes for wavemaker & even for the - return pump - Able to put devices in feed mode (eg. Slow down the pumps/wavemakers to ‘barely moving’) - Upgrade wavemaker/pump firmware through ReefLink - Pre-alert if pump is going to fail (no personal experience here but this is what I’ve read on it) Some things done so far : 1) Calibrate the Vectra pump to minimum & maximum allowable flow. Minimum flow is useful during feed mode. This sets flow to a trickle – prevents water from back flowing back into the sump. This also prevents detritus from being stirred up when the pump is restarted. Setting the upper limit is a safety feature to the limit your system draining can handle. You don’t want it to be too fast till it damages live stock or have so much flow till the display tank overflows. 2) Define the layout of the pumps. I assume there is some internal algorithm to optimize the settings with this In my system, the layout is shown above. MP40 is the master pump. The MP10 on the left wall provides additional flow across the rocks. MP10 at the back provides a cross flow. Black icon means QD drivers. Blue mean non-QD. 3) I've set various flow settings along the day - slower flow at night or nutrient export (pulses the water to lift detritus off the sand bed) after the morning & evening feeding. Reef Crest & Tidal Swell used during the rest of the day. Corals are reacting well to it. 4) Set the return pump speed on a schedule. - More flow during the day time. Slower at night. 5) Set the wave maker to 'barely turn' for 5 minutes when in feed mode. In the past my fishes kept going into the wavemaker Most other products have a ‘feed mode’ which basically stops the pump entirely. Having a feature for the wavemaker be ‘barely turning’ instead of totally stopping is a useful feature. This should prevent the fishes from committing suicide by resting in the wave maker. 6) Feed mode Feed mode is triggered by pressing any of the driver “mode” buttons for a few seconds or “Feed Mode” from the phone application It’s also possible to disrupt the feed mode & resume the pumps at full speed by pressing the ‘calendar icon’ on the right of the feed mode button of the app.

I had quite a few queries about the Ecotech Vectra M1 pump. Many were asking if it was worth the investment, so i'm writing a short review here. The return pump is the heart of the tank, so one should always invest in a good reliable one. DC return pumps are more common nowadays as they ran cooler and are more versatile because of the variable speed control. In the past year, several reefers changed to the Vectra & gave really good feedback on the Vectra. I decided on the M1 version because it was more than sufficient. My take on it. Very impressed with the power (also echoed by other reefers). The Vectra M1 is rated 7000l/hr 80W. Amazingly, it pushes more water than the Jebao 12000l/hr 85W DC pump. Can be calibrated to run very slowly during feed mode Silent Can schedule to run at different speeds during the day with the ReefLink. It was a quick 15 minute job to replace the return pump. The white tube at the top is a standard 1” external diameter PVC pipe available from neighborhood hardware shops. I got mine from the shop at Clementi Ave 2. Flow at 80% power : The impeller is of an interesting design The driver is different from the Vortech wavemaker drivers. Has a heatsink at the back. But it doesn’t run hot anyway. Aside from the DC power input, there are 2 additional connectors at the bottom of the driver – (1) Battery backup (2) Accessory input. Apparently, there will be accessories like a float switch available in the future which could be used to switch the pump off. Comes with a driver holder.

You can buy potassium dihydrogen phosphate (kh2po4) locally. This increases both potassium & phosphate. This is commonly added for freshwater planted tanks. http://www.ecocityhydroponics.com/potassium-dihydrogen-phosphate.html Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

State of hair algae on frag plug 2 days later...

Just cut the silicon with a penknife Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Think the algae blenny is starving in the display tank. Moved a frag plug of hair algae from the frag tank to display tank. Algae blenny & flame angel starting nipping at the hair algae shortly after. The male leopard wrasse is still not eating pellets. its exploring it but not biting. At this point, it prefers meaty stuff like chunks of prawn meat. Well, at least its eating....

Thanks

Definitely very healthy PAR levels. Tank is looking good! Any thoughts of using an recirculating biopellet reactor? Or the FR30 is good enough?

Super nice shots!

Agree. Very nice colors! Especially like the color & pattern on the bubble tip anemone.

Inspired by an RODI auto cut off DIY done by fellow reefer Jowenteo....here is my version done the weekend. - Float switch placed in RODI water collection tub. When the required water level is reached, it opens the circuit. - Float switch then shuts off power to both the solenoid (for incoming water supply) & booster pump NC (Normally Closed) solenoid valve. Placed between the tap & RODI unit Simple float valve mounted on an old Jebao wavemaker mount / magnet in the collection tub.

Typically, the region around the sulfur media needs to be anoxic (lack of free oxygen) for denitrification to take place. If you are able to stick an ORP meter in there, you'll then be able to know if that condition is reached (and denitrification taking place). In a sulfur denitrifying reactor with about half to 1 liter of sulfur, the effluent rate is typically around 1 drip per second. Hence, i'm not sure if 'increasing flow' be counter productive instead.

Keep the updates coming. What are those bottles at the back of the tank?

The recommended external water level is 25-27cm. http://www.f3images.com/IMD/UserManuals/4W20062.pdf If your water level is too high, raise your skimmer up by putting some egg crates below it.

Yes, it grew back over the white areas. I dosed more amino acids during the recovery phase. I believe it wasn't so much of high nitrates but rather too low phosphates till the zooxanthellae starved & coral tissue died. This could explain the 'burnt tips' & loss of coloration. The high nitrates was because of too low phosphate/phosphorous (limiting nutrient). I fed more & stopped the algae scrubber ....and the nitrates came down on its own. Strange eh.

Added 2 baby clams Literally baby clams. About 1" in size only

Sharing some mistakes made along the way. Previously, I shared that a fellow reefer gave me a frag which colored up nicely. From this Colored up nicely to this My recirculating sulphur reactor's pump wasn't working very well & needed to be sent back. Started having cyano in the display tank. I read about how effecting algae scrubbers are in reducing nutrients. In any case, I ran the algae scrubber 24/7 on 21w red LED in parallel to a partially working nitrate reactor. The scrubber worked well, perhaps too well. Within 2 weeks, there was green algae growing in the scrubber. Then on the 3rd week, i noticed that most corals started to get pale & some started to peel. Here is what the same frag looked like on week 3 Initially i thought the light was too strong & reduced it. That was a mistake. It just continued to decline. Nitrates were usually running in the 2-5ppm range suddenly climbed to 10ppm. Phosphate undetectable on Salifert kits. Figured that phosphates must have been running way too low. Stopped the scrubber & the peeling stopped. Its been 2 months since & everything is recovering well. For me, the lesson here is not to get over zealous on reducing nitrates/phosphates/algae, whether its using an algae scrubber, carbon dosing or using phosphate binders. Watch the dosage & rate of reduction. In the case above, perhaps nitrates increased because of the redfield ratio - There was insufficient phosphate for nitrates be reduced. At times, coral colors/peeling is not about light levels but about providing the right & balanced nutrient levels.

Thanks. I'm relatively new to the hobby & learning as well along the way.