My Slice of Nature (Part 2)

[SubzeroLT]

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....

 

Edited March 27, 2016 by SubzeroLT

[SubzeroLT]

Think the algae blenny is starving in the display tank. Moved a frag plug of hair algae from the frag tank to display tank.

 

 

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

 

Edited March 29, 2016 by SubzeroLT

[SubzeroLT]

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.

1. 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.
2. Can be calibrated to run very slowly during feed mode
3. Silent
4. 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. 

 

 

 

 

Edited March 31, 2016 by SubzeroLT

[SubzeroLT]

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. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited March 31, 2016 by SubzeroLT

[chercm]

FTS please 

[MarcoVan]

Very good review bro!

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[SubzeroLT]

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.

 

 

 

 

[SubzeroLT]

Very good review bro!

 

Thanks :)

 

FTS please 

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

[Daniel Poh Yang Zheng]

does it make a lot of difference in terms of noise level etc? for the wes and qd..

[SubzeroLT]

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.

 

 

 

 

Edited April 4, 2016 by SubzeroLT

[RyHaN]

be careful not to blender the blenny.. hahhaa

[SubzeroLT]

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

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited April 10, 2016 by SubzeroLT

[SubzeroLT]

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

 

Edited April 10, 2016 by SubzeroLT

[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 :

 

 

 

[Darren Sim]

Nice review on the salt. Saw it at ng's couple but it's at one corner. They did recommend me this salt when I started reefing ! Gonna give it a try !

[Kelvin Ang]

Nice review on the salt. Saw it at ng's couple but it's at one corner. They did recommend me this salt when I started reefing ! Gonna give it a try !

It's a nice salt to use . I'm been using in too . It's has 3 size . Small , mid and large size . I got my from AA tank maker .

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[SubzeroLT]

Measured potassium last week ....only 360ppm. Ideally it should be in the 400ppm range.

 

After some success with the salts, I'm now starting to use the Aquacraft Potassium & Trace Elements. Quite affordable.

 

[MarcoVan]

Marine Environment is equally good. Made by Aqua craft. "The small bottle that makes the difference"

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[SubzeroLT]

Someone messaged me on my opinion on Nyos test kits after I posted an earlier picture :

 

Generally, its a good quality test kit with clear instructions (graphical & text in a booklet). Comes with good quality syringes. For example, the 1ml syringe has this tip to avoid the small bubble we get from most regular syringes. A feature to ensure consistency.

 

I find the Nitrate & Phosphate test kits particularly easier to read compared to Salifert. It uses a 2 color comparison method which takes out a lot less guesswork.

Phosphate :

 

Nitrate :

 

Mg : Easy to use

 

KH : The KH kit has a resolution of 1dKH. Results are very consistent & good enough for our purpose. 

 

Calcium : 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Kelvin Ang]

On 5/15/2016 at 7:14 PM, SubzeroLT said:

Someone messaged me on my opinion on Nyos test kits after I posted an earlier picture :

 

Generally, its a good quality test kit with clear instructions (graphical & text in a booklet). Comes with good quality syringes. For example, the 1ml syringe has this tip to avoid the small bubble we get from most regular syringes. A feature to ensure consistency.

 

I find the Nitrate & Phosphate test kits particularly easier to read compared to Salifert. It uses a 2 color comparison method which takes out a lot less guesswork.

Phosphate :

 

Nitrate :

 

Mg : Easy to use

 

KH : The KH kit has a resolution of 1dKH. Results are very consistent & good enough for our purpose. 

 

Calcium : 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bro for my old tank I also use this brand of test kit . Simply easy to use .

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[SubzeroLT]

A couple of months back, I stopped the sulfur reactor & switched to AIO biopellet. The sulfur reactor worked very well to reduce nitrates but had the effect of pulling down the system pH down to around 7.8 since the system water volume was small.

 

However, the AIO biopellet wasn't working for me. The recirculating reactor clogged quickly & nitrates climbed to the 25ppm range.

 

I restarted the sulfur reactor. Sharing some notes if you intend to use one :

 

- Volume of sulfur approx 0.5%- 1% tank volume. (i.e. 1L of sulfur for 100L water)

- Effluent of reactor is acidic (ph 7.5). So one should pass the effluent through coral chips to buffer/raise 

- Not a must to use an ORP controller but good to have (else tune it by testing the effluent with Nitrate test kit. Or just sniff the effluent for rotten egg smell)

- When its first started up, open the effluent valve fully for 1-2 days to get rid of air pockets. After that, close it fully.

-  After a couple of days, ORP meter showed  -300mV  => low oxygen state. Open valve to drip effluent about 1 drip second. Check to ensure nitrate level is 0ppm.

- During the cycling period, nitrites might be present in the effluent due to incomplete denitrification. Because salifert Nitrate test kits actually measure nitrite => a bit of nitrite will show up as a lot of nitrates (false reading). If nitrites are present, reduce the drip rate. Pic shows effluent nitrate at 100ppm even though system nitrate is about 25ppm

 

- After 1-2 days, increase the drip rate a little more. If you have an ORP controller, you will observe the ORP reading dropping further (more -negative) every couple of days => system is catching up.

- In steady state, the ORP reading will be roughly -150mv (+/-50mv) and yet able to give 0ppm nitrates with a fast drip 

Sulfur reactor effluent @ 0ppm nitrate. 

 

 

 

[Harlequinmania]

Ever consider dosing kalk while using your sulphur reactor to help bring up./ balance the ph ?

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[SubzeroLT]

Yes, I currently have kalk in my ATO after seeing your system. It buffers it a little but not that much as to bring it back up to 8.3 levels.

Probably need to add more.

[SubzeroLT]

My current Hydra26 setting :

 

Just to share a method to get anemone to stay on a rock. Ideally get a rock with a small gentle recess for the anemone to stick its foot in. Then place a net over it for a couple of hours.

 

 

[Sherilyn91]

Nice anemone

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