My Slice of Nature (Part 2)

[SubzeroLT]

Have to be careful when running sulphur cos overdosing it could cause a fish wipe out. just my personal experience

I did more reading up after your reply. It appears there is a risk hydrogen sulfide entering the water column if the reactor goes into the anaerobic mode (ORP less than -300mv).

Hopefully this can be prevented using an ORP sensor to monitor it. As a safeguard, I'm now passing the effluent through rowaphos just in case - this will covert hydrogen sulfide into elemental sulphur (reef safe).

 

Thanks for the tip off.

 

 

[SubzeroLT]

Measured PAR recently with an Apogee MQ200 quantum sensor. Its clearly under-lit in some areas. 

This explains why some SPS aren't doing so well. Should have gotten 2x Hydra 52 instead of Hydra26.

 

 

[JMW]

oh wow, this PAR sensor thingy is damn cool man, can display until like that. Power!

[Guest]

Care to share what happened in your case? Also, what do you mean overdosing?

When I was first runing a sulphur reactor about 3 year ago , I become impatient and try to increase the dip rate from the reactor into the tank water. This cause a overdose of sulphur into the tank and cause a major wipe out of my fishes.

However, having tried both the bacteria Base and sulphur Base denitrator, the sulphur denitrator seem to work faster and without daily dosing of bacteria food. Only drawback is overdosing it could be fatal to the fish.

[shy88devil]

wooo first time know we able to measure with PAR sensor

Apogee MQ200 quantum sensor is such a cool equipment !

[SubzeroLT]

When I was first runing a sulphur reactor about 3 year ago , I become impatient and try to increase the dip rate from the reactor into the tank water. This cause a overdose of sulphur into the tank and cause a major wipe out of my fishes.

 

However, having tried both the bacteria Base and sulphur Base denitrator, the sulphur denitrator seem to work faster and without daily dosing of bacteria food. Only drawback is overdosing it could be fatal to the fish.

 

Thanks for the tip.

 

wooo first time know we able to measure with PAR sensor

Apogee MQ200 quantum sensor is such a cool equipment !

Yeah...it really takes the guess work out of light  setting & coral placement.

[SubzeroLT]

Some pics from today :

Golden cloves' polyps seem to lengthen considerably under higher light.

 

Started to use Revoreef Intense supplement the past couple of weeks. Quite happy with the results & colors. 

 

Valida. It was all pale when I first got it. Nicely colored up 

 

 

Pink Milli

 

Maxima

 

 

Sulphur reactor update :

Running OK so far. Managed to bring NO3 down to 2ppm even with regular frozen mysis shrimp feeding.

 

Apparently, the nitrate reactor needs to be 'fed' with bacteria on a regular basis. I added a small tube at the water inlet  at the bottom of the reactor. Bacteria is added into the reactor with a syringe. This seems to work - a 'reaction' can be observed from the ORP meter (change from -150mv to -190mv) 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[ahchris]

Wow very nice pics. 

[shy88devil]

Nice SPS & Clam

will like to get a bottle of Revoreef Intense supplement to try out see any good result

[SubzeroLT]

Wow very nice pics. 

Nice SPS & Clam

will like to get a bottle of Revoreef Intense supplement to try out see any good result

Thanks... Photos are straight out from camera. No photoshop editing.

[SubzeroLT]

A fellow reefer asked for more information on how i made the float switch holder. I'll share it here.

- Slip the cable through the clear acrylic rod (artfriend)

- Fit the threaded area of the float switch into the acrylic rod (either glue or wrap with white tape)

- Set height of the float switch with a standard probe holder available at LFS

 

[Admiraltian]

Thks for sharing on how u diy float switch holder.

[SubzeroLT]

Some recent DIY.

I had this float switch in the display tank to turn off the return pump in case it overflows.

 

However, occasionally over the months, snails crawl around the area & trigger the float switch instead.

 

Found a small 'filter inlet' from C328 & modified it as a 'cage' around the float switch.

 

Another recent DIY with acrylic. Made a 'clear' Apogee PAR sensor holder.

[Harlequinmania]

Very detail writeup. . Thanks for sharing!

[vidios]

Yup great work nice share!!

[SubzeroLT]

Yup great work nice share!!

Very detail writeup. . Thanks for sharing!

 

Thks for sharing on how u diy float switch holder.

Glad to be able to share. And also hope to get feedback to learn something new as well.

[ahchris]

I always enjoy reading your thread. So much to learn. 

[SubzeroLT]

I always enjoy reading your thread. So much to learn. 

Thanks

[SubzeroLT]

Was away on an 8 day overseas trip & let the tank run automatically on its own. Thank goodness for the Apex Neptune that made it easier. Aside from the regular ATO & auto feeder, 2 additional things done for this trip :

- Used a Tom's aqua lifter to empty the skimmer cup

- Closed loop control on the drip rate of the nitrate reactor to maintain ORP levels in the -170mv range

 

Just got back yesterday. Generally OK - one wavemaker got jammed probably due to coralline algae. The low flow again caused an outbreak of cyano which now needs to be dealt with.

 

Some photos :

Leopard Wrasse - a recent purchase from Aquamarin. Its getting along well with the other wrasses & also the leopard wrasse from LCK

And a very clean wavemaker after a thorough vinegar soak

 

Blotchy Anthias....Got it from Ah Beng in May (1"). Grown a bit so far.

 

Top view of the porcelain crab hosting one of the 6 anemones in my tank.

 

Some pods from the frag tank

 

Harvesting pods

[SubzeroLT]

Sulfur reactor updates :

Quite happy to be able to maintain around 2-5ppm nitrates even with feeding frozen mysis or Henry's reef Gourmet every 1-2 days. Not fantastic but good enough.

 

 

One major pain in the butt is that ORP needs to be around the -170mv range. It should not go too low else hydrogen sulfide forms (toxic). So i decided to add a solenoid valve (US$5+) to open a secondary drip release so that it always maintains around this range. This is really useful when overseas with no one available to 'tune' the gate valve.

 

Apex programming

[NReactor_RF]

Fallback OFF
Set OFF
If ORP > 200 Then ON
If ORP < 170 Then OFF

 

 

[xinde]

Wow that's one sweet and neat layout bro

Sent from my HTC One_M8 using Tapatalk

[SubzeroLT]

Noticed that the water in the feeding tube can get quite stagnant. Drilled a small hole below the water line to allow some flow. 

 

Read up about the importance of HUFA (Highly Unsaturated Fatty Acids) in the reef system and how many systems are lacking it. I feed mostly pellet food & regular Hikari frozen mysis shrimp (not some other branded 'fortified' type). Anyway, just sharing something that I got recently.

 

Cyclops are a type of zooplankton & supposed to be a very good source of HUFA. Got this small can from C328. 

 

Smells damn fishy. 

 

Fishes & corals love it. Some fishes took about 2-3 feedings before they realize its a food source. Nevertheless, they love it now. Feeding it about 3-4 times a week. Just pour into the tank. Nitrates not spiking & appear to be stable at ~ 1ppm. 

 

 

Some new toys. Will update shortly.

 

 

 

[Harlequinmania]

Good choice on the lights !! I have been playing around with it too, so far no regrets.

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[dinGdinG]

Nice new toys you got!!

that ocean free cyclops looks damn potent, any particle size indicated on the packaging? I'm always very hesitant with spamming such food on a regular basis. Hope that it stays nutrients low for your tank!

[SubzeroLT]

On 12/1/2015 at 11:40 PM, dinGdinG said:

Nice new toys you got!!

that ocean free cyclops looks damn potent, any particle size indicated on the packaging? I'm always very hesitant with spamming such food on a regular basis. Hope that it stays nutrients low for your tank!

The packaging didn't state the size but I took a look under a scope this morning since you asked about it. Sizes seem to around 0.5mm to about 1+mm.