SubzeroLT

Prestech cuts to size. They can also do design. If you provide that photo from your earlier post & purpose, their engineers can size something up for you. Anyway, interesting thread. Everyone is keen to look out for alternative sources & items not available locally.

Interesting. In the event the tank is damaged (let's say its chipped). What are the steps to get a replacement/refund? Will it be overall more $$ than building it locally? Just curious. Agree on CRA & Aquarium Artist as contacts to build the tank For aluminum frames, is it cheaper to buy from Taobao vs getting them from Prestech?

Several reefers have contacted me for the previously posted skimmer/biopellet adapter. Just PM me if you need anything. A couple of new items made recently : Rotifer /pods net. Fine netting of 50 micron & 38 micron for netting them out so that the culture water is not poured into the tank Ecotech wavemaker hooks. Its dangerous for the dry side motor to drop. Especially for the larger MP60 wavemakers. Make some hooks that secures to the top euro brace. 2 cables passing through MP60 hook. The MP60 one also has a hole to secure an additional aluminum cable to the rubber padding as contingency.

Its best to avoid putting your hands in the water if avoidable. Oily films interfere with skimmer performance and salt water can be drying for those with sensitive skin. This post is about coral clamps. The most reliable one so far is this one by Pure Aquatic. Comes in various lengths from 60cm to 1.2m Good build quality. 3 prong type. Mostly plastic construction. There is a small marine grade spring inside. Longer one for the hard to reach places. Can be used around the house too My other clamps (not recommended) This one is 'cheaper' but of lousy build quality. Its cheap stainless steel coating rusts after a while. This is another cheap one i got before. 2 prong type can barely pick any coral or frag plugs up. And it sticks after a while (won't open up on its own)

There are many ways to run a CR (eg. CO2 on during lighting hours or leave it on 24/7, drip the effluent or to have a flow etc). Just different school of thoughts & they all work. Generally, KH will typically be consumed more during lighting hours. And reduce consumption when lights are off. Let's take the approach to turn on the CR CO2 during lighting hours. 1) Top up the CR full of media 2) Set timer to the Solenoid (let's start with the idea to turn it on when lights are on. And off when lights off). One common practice is to start the CO2 1hr before lights come on so that KH is available by the time its really needed. Play with the CO2 on hours till you are able to maintain KH. Don't bother about KH rise/drop over the day (i.e. don't chase numbers). Don't bother about pH rising/dropping in the CR. Just as long as KH remains the same the next day at the same time. Lengthen/shorten the CO2 on hours till you find a sweet spot. 3) Keep the feed pump on 24/7. 4) Feed pump needs to have enough pressure to push water into the CR. Need to make sure the other outlet has a bit of resistance as well. Wikipedia shows the solubility of CaCo3. It does melt at all pH levels with varying rates, so we can't really say "it stops to to melt above pH x"

What is your targeted effluent drip rate or cc/min ? (video will help) Ideally go for fast drip (instead of slow drip). What is your current pH of your calcium reactor? What is the lowest pH it'll hit? Is the Maxijet a dedicated pump for the CR or T off for other purposes as well? You can attempt to clean your effluent tube. It may be clogged with fine bits of melted CR media that has become mush. Looks like this...and may get clogged in the effluent tubes. + What kind of valve are you using for the effluent tube? Ball valve? Needle valve or Pinch valve (see pic below) IMO, a pinch valve is best for CR effluent as there are no sharp corners internally. It may still clog if its filled with mush but does reduce the chances. I try to illustrate below.

I ran 2x Hydra26 initially for my 3x1.5x1.5 & it was not enough. Ended up getting a 3rd Hydra26 for that tank. You can have 2x Hydra26 but will need to limit the SPS placement to specific areas & certain coral types. The number of lights depends on your rock scape & also the type of SPS. Some such as birdsnest, monti & digi can get by with lower light levels. For 4ft, and want it to be 'solid', you probably need minimum 2 Hydra52. When budget allows, you can add a 3rd Hydra52 later on.

Local warranty support (i.e. local service center) is quite important for key equipment like lights. I've seen reefers who had to wait for weeks for replacement parts or had to purchase new set of lights because of lack of ability to service them. Not sure of your tank size but from pictures, it appears a minimum of 2x Hydra 52 would be suitable. The Kessil can be used as supplement or frag tank. And of course, ideally all lights should be of the same brand for better control.

That's v strange indeed. -ve ORP should surely give you lower NO3 output levels. +ve ORP is indication that effluent flow rate is too high isn't it? NPro & ProbioS should not affect it since they are bacteria & carbon sources.

Ha. Just sharing. Hope its useful.

Yes. According to the product description, its accurate to 0.1ml.

Nice! More pics please. UV sterilizer still 24/7 or partial day?

Its normal for the pump to feel warm. My CM152 (calcium reactor) placed externally also feels warm. I've ever tried to stick a heat sink on it to assist cooling. Don't think it makes much difference. How's your sulfur reactor running now? Effective?

Got the new Coral Box dosing pump yesterday. This one is compact, Wifi enabled has has tremendous control capability via a mobile app. My initial plan was to get a single channel doser but the 4 channel seemed value for money. Got a couple more things at the same time. Acrylic holding tray and holders. The colored dosing tubes are an extra value added item provided by ReefmarketSG when you get the dosing pump from them. I've used these tubes previously - they are slightly larger, fit better than the original dosing tubes (i'm not using those) and the colors help with differentiation. Items in the box : 12V power supply, check valves & a calibration tube There are 5 dosing heads in the box. Great that 1 spare head is provided The small footprint is great as any available space in the cabinet is precious. 4 clips secure the dosing heads to the unit. These are the 4 clips to release if the heads are to be removed in future. . Press fit in. Note that the heads turn anti-clockwise. Pump 1 is on the left. Pump 4 is on the right. A reminder sticker is provided in the box. Mounting holes at the back of the unit. This means it can be mounted directly to the cabinet. No need for the acrylic tray. Mounted mine vertically. Attached one pump to push fresh water into the kalk reactor. Using a proper dosing pump for this provides more control over kalk dosing. The device uses a mobile app for control, so its quite intuitive & packed with features. Basically, define the total amount to dose per day, And define the hour you want to dose or skip. And the system will auto calculate for you. If dosing other elements like Ca, Mg, KH. Its possible to define the reservoir volume so the app will send you a reminder when the volume is empty. Calibration is quite simple. Run the calibration (eg. 10ml). Collect water into the vial & re-enter the actual volume collected. Run 2-3 times & it'll become spot on accurate. Overall happy with the dosing pump. Going to hook up the other channels this week.

Using a Creality Ender 3 & ABS filament

Printed a nozzle/tube adapter to route water from the biopellet reactor to the inlet of the Nyos skimmer. With this, the water should be sucked in more effectively

It sticks better than BSI (just my personal opinion)

Of the various brands/batches of glue used recently, this one has been the most reliable so far. Pure Aquatic Coral & Plant fix - Cheap, good & very strong. My gripe with this brand previously was that the nozzle clogged quite easily & went to other brands. But realized the other brands are either not sticky enough to hold corals properly or they cannot dispense properly. A fellow reefer taught me a good workaround of NOT using the nozzle. But instead squeeze out a blob of glue just before storage. Simply break off this blob of glue the next time you want to use & its ready to go! Works very well even after a long time in storage. Apparently the blob forms a barrier & the tube content is well protected. 3D printed pinch valve for calcium reactor effluent. This type of pinch valve physically pinch the tube externally. Its best for CR as there are no sharp edges for the fine particles of the effluent to clog. Probably put some up for sale if there is interest.

The common ones folks keep are full black, black/pink & tiger tail variants. Of course there are others available just not as common/popular. Once in the tank, the black & black/pink ones 'appear' more often. Tiger tail ones tend to hide in the rocks & come out at night. IMO, they don't really do much cleaning up as they move quite slowly. Nevertheless, they are a nice addition just for the variety. I have 4 sea cucumbers in my 5ft tank. They have been handled quite roughly on my side & wrapped around the wavemaker to eat algae - never had an issue with it spilling its guts. About the defense mechanism of spilling its guts - it does happen as I've seen it in coral farm's tanks. Possibly stressed from shipment.

Sent you a PM Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Its OK for me so far with Rowaphos & RowaCarbon (does not tumble). If one is using a brand with smaller carbon bits (eg Skimz CARB-08 carbon or BRS Rox), the option is to place the black sponge to hold down the carbon.

Its OK for me so far with Rowaphos & RowaCarbon (does not tumble). If one is using a brand with smaller carbon bits (eg Skimz CARB-08 carbon or BRS Rox), the option is to place the black sponge to hold down the carbon.

You are right. Phosguard should not be fluidized. Thanks for highlighting. I was thinking of Rowaphos .... which should be fluidized for max efficiency.

Ideally, you should have phosphate binding media all the time since new phosphate is added daily from feeding. And its best to use a reactor that can tumble the media lightly to optimize the contact time with water . Using a reactor allows you to tune the flow depending on requirements. Putting it in a bag isn't optimum. Consider the Nyos Torq reactor. So far, the folks I know who use it love it for its convenience.

I did run an ICP test last year. Aluminum values reduced from 180ug/L to 26ug/L. Upper spec limit for NSW is 10ug/L. The removal of aluminum contributors + use of Continuum Aquatics Heavy Metal resin helped. Its still over spec limit but i'm not too worried about it. Regarding Continuum Aquatics Heavy Metal resin. While it removes heavy metals, I believe it creates other issues as well by absorbing other 'good' elements. Hence use with caution. The corals bounced back only after I started dosing more trace elements (I used Nyos range of additives)