Tofu's IOS Peninsular

[sherman]

Good add.

 

[tofubox]

Got my Fuge light and my mini spinning ball of cheato set up! Currently running 20% intensity for 8hrs. 

Click to watch video!

Have also ordered a pair of Reef dudes / VCA light shapers. Waiting for shipment from Vpost. This will help prevent overspill of the fuge lighting. 

Will also do a review when it arrives.

 

 

[sleexox]

Anyone reason why you chose the AI fuge instead of the kessil h380?

[tofubox]

9 hours ago, sleexox said:

Anyone reason why you chose the AI fuge instead of the kessil h380?

Hey bro, no reason actually. Its just I had good expirence with using the AI primes and the app to control. Didnt do alot of reading up on the kessil h380. 

[Otaku Reefer]

i also using ai fuge, impressive cheato growth so far


Sent from Singapore Reef Club mobile app

[tofubox]

Got the light fixed up today. Re-ordered the light brackets from amazon for $32. Once again, really simple to install. 

Also, got a second hand deltec skimmer. Soaked and washed with vinegar, as good as brand new!

Finally let there be lights! Gonna slowly shift the rocks, corals and lights over the next 2 weeks. Cables and wires are all over the place until i can get all the lights / Apex shifted over.

The CR is also up and running. Currently still dialing it in, hopefully I wont face much problems tuning the CR.

Tank will be running 3 mths without any fishes just to rid any ich from the main tank. The other tank will now serve as QT for the fishes. Plan to run Hyposalinity for a month once all corals and inverts have been shifted.

 

[tofubox]

Product Review!

Got the VCA/Reef Dudes Light shaping visors in today. Total cost + shipping is about $34 for 2 packs. I shipped it via Vpost. Packaging is pretty standard

Its a really simple tool that just plugs in to the screw holes at the bottom of the AI unit. 

Heres how it looks on the AI. 

Verdict: 3/10

Item is pretty straight forward. Main objective: Prevent Light spill. 

Well, it doesn't really achieve its purpose. The purple/red light is still evident with or without the visors. My AI fuge is already lowered to about 6 inch off the water, and still the light spillage is obvious. The Visor itself is also not very sturdy. Won't recommend getting one, better of, you could possibly DIY one.

How they could have improved this is by making it larger, or possibly apply a layer of reflective material on the inside to at least provide some additional reflected light.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[tofubox]

Product Review!

Got myself the ICE CAP skimmer stand. Got it from ebay. I can't really recall the price i paid, should be within the $30 to $50 range with shipping included.

Main reason I got it was because I needed something sturdy and good looking for the skimmer. Did a custom acrylic stand previously for my nyos skimmer, but it was too pricey to consider doing again.  

The good:

Very solid and sturdy build, can definitely hold any weight of skimmer (operating). Build was extremely good.

Quality acrylic that came as shown in the pic already assembled. 

Comes in 3 different sizes to meet your sump space constrains. 

Small 7 x 6in Skimmer Stand
Medium 9 x 7in Skimmer Stand
Large 11 x 9in Skimmer Stand

The Bad: 

Only has 3 fixed heights to choose from: Adjustable to 4.75" / 5"/ 6.25" increments or flip the legs and adjust to 4" / 4.5" / 5.75" heights.

 

And I must really say, the deltec 600ix is a beast. From the performance so far, I feel its better than my Nyos 120. It operates even more silently than the nyos (which is aly as good as silent) Glad I was able to hook up a second hand one for a good price. Will do a review eventually on the skimmer when there is actual skim mate. 

What I dislike about the skimmer thou, is that there is no control valve on the air intake, makes adjustments more simple/difficult depending on how you adjust your skimmers. I like to use the air intake to fine tune. 

Lastly, here is a sneak of my tank area. Finally managed to get the DOS (auto water change) and the rodi/salt mix reservoirs hooked up to the system. Still a long way to go in terms of tidying up. Waiting on installing my back up chiller before i do the cable management. 

Will also do a update on the Geo CR setup once its fully dialed in.

Flooring consist of 2 layers of Pond lining to prevent water spillage on the floor, and a rubber anti slip mat for the working area.

Cable management is a real pain.

[MarCal]

Beautiful. Thanks for sharing. Love reading reviews.

[Harlequinmania]

How do you find the auto water change system ?

I was always wondering if the premix salt mix if store for too long will affect the parameters of the new salt mix. Do you have such problem?

Sent from Singapore Reef Club mobile app

[tofubox]

11 hours ago, MarCal said:

Beautiful. Thanks for sharing. Love reading reviews.

Thanks bro =D

7 hours ago, he said:

How do you find the auto water change system ?

I was always wondering if the premix salt mix if store for too long will affect the parameters of the new salt mix. Do you have such problem?

Sent from Singapore Reef Club mobile app
 

I find it to be quite stable overall. I change 30L over a week. Its a very small amount. Regardless the volume, since it is based on a week of Reservoir volume, I believe the review below is still valid even for larger systems. 

DOS system

The good:

1. Auto water change without having to do manual labor, you can route the waste water directly to the drainage.

2. If using in hand with a CR / Dosing reactor. You will realize it is much more stable to maintain parameters. This is because the auto water change (AWC) is constant and it breaks up your total intended volume into multiple dosages in a day. Overall, with the system running, regardless of parameter change within the reservoir, your weekly dosage or CR drip will be constant to meet the deficiencies. This is what i found to be the most beneficial. 

Unlike doing a manual water change, i.e 30% weekly. You basically introduce 30% of unmatched water parameters. Unless you can find a salt that mixes up exactly at the same parameters as the main tank, or you do a manual dose on the fresh salt mix. This is more crucial for smaller volume tanks, I don't see an issue with larger tanks. 

3. If your schedule doesn't allow you to carry out your weekly water changes on a timely manner, this is a one of the best methods.

The bad:

1. First of all, it is hell a noisy when it operates. For some reason, unlike normal dosing pumps, this thing is LOUD. I can hear it running from the 2nd floor. When both pumps run tgt (2 heads on the DOS), you will definitely know. Not recommended for bedrooms. That said, you can program apex to do the water change during certain timings. Mine runs in the afternoon from 12pm-7pm. The larger the volume you change, the more annoying the sound is (runs for longer periods). 

2. You need to seal the reservoir well and reduce evaporation within as much as possible. The salinity will increase with evaporation and cause instability. I keep my fresh mix at 1.024. Main tank is 1.025 and I find this works best for me. Fyi, my reservoir is not 100% sealed, I still get small amounts of evaporation.

3. There are only certain brands of salt that can be mixed and stored, still remain clean, and don't precipitate out. Usually these types of salts are lower in certain major elements. I.e I use tropic marin pro reef, the alkalinity is low, but the CA and MG is higher. This allows the salt to maintain a good chemical balance even after storing for a week. Bulk reef supply has some very informative videos on these. In terms of minor / trace elements, its impossible to test without an ICP test, my personal take is that the trace elements should not be largely affected by any way.

Overall, due to my work schedule and the fact I am overseas. The AWC is a god sent for me, as I can maintain the stability whilst still ensuring I do regular water change to replace depleted elements.

How long can I store saltwater after mixing? | BRStv Investigates

Credits goes to Bulk reef supply. 

[Harlequinmania]

Thanks for sharing .. Now i can also plan my AWC one day..  Ya i know some of the brand of salt KH will be affected if mix for too long or store for too long before use. 

[SubzeroLT]

19 hours ago, tofubox said:

 

 

What an interesting corner

BTW, how is the noise level of the Kamoer fx-stp?

[tofubox]

3 hours ago, SubzeroLT said:

What an interesting corner

BTW, how is the noise level of the Kamoer fx-stp?

Thanks bro, I find it still abit messy, but I dont have a back room to hide everything. 

The Kamoer fx-stp on first application/run, you may find the noise to be audible. As in you can clearly hear it. After it runs in for a while at that current pre-set, the noise drops substantially, to the point it is inaudible unless you sleep directly beside it. That being said, my current pre-set is 5ml/min (about 3 drops a sec). As you run at higher rates, the noise may be louder. But frankly, I feel you can barely hear the noise when its running. If anything, your other equipment may be louder. 

My main concern with using the Kamoer fx-stp is the durability. With it running 24/7 every day, I'm not sure how it will hold up over time. But it being labeled a "continuous dosing pump", I hope it will last me at least a year onwards. Because the CR has no other back ups available, it this fails. 

I do run a pull system on the CR. So if the Kamoer fx-stp fails, the CR fails too. This shouldn't be an issue if you can observe on a daily basic, but i don't share such luxuries due to work commitments. 

Only other option i see is running a dual line output with a RO split connection, with manual drip. But as always the manual drip clogs will be the bigger issue. 

[tofubox]

Started my Fish QT today on the main tank. Will be doing a hypo-salinity treatment to get rid of the ich.

Removed most of the sand, and left a tub of sand for the wrasse. All the corals and inverts have been removed.

Dropping the salinity very slowly with a drip system. Ideally will want to reach 1.009.

Don't mine the messy cabinet, haven't had time to clean it up with all the move.

Bucket on the left is the ATO system, Bucket on the right is the gravity fed drip system.

 

[tofubox]

So I finally got about tidying up the fish tank area! Here is a full tank shot!

The lights are currently set up, 2 with diffuser, and 2 without. Reason for this is to try and cater for a mix reef. The right side is dominated by sps.

Refugium lights are orangy cos of the DD coral lens i used for my iphone.

The Right chiller is my standby chiller controlled by the apex if temperature passes 26 degrees.

Pic of the refugium

The Geo CR. Really pleased that i switched to CR. My alk is at a constant 8.0 (Hanna checker), CA 420 (Nyos) for the last whole week. Running at 5ml/min, PH of 6.6 and on continuous dose. The PH of the main tank peaks at 8.23, and drops to 7.97 lowest in the night. Exactly where I want both the PH and the ALK to be at. 

Guess the dual chamber reactor really does help with PH.

 

The CR corner

Still a work in progress, but if i close up the door, its out of sight. 

 

Just a quick question. Anyone ran their reef tank without fishes? Do you "ghost" feed the tank? My fishes are currently undergoing QT. Will be leaving this tank fish-less for the next 3 months. Any advise?

 

 

[tofubox]

Probably should do some justice to the corals. These are taken under blue light with orange filter lens.

The left side is mainly LPS. Trying to create a zoa garden, most of the zoas i have no clue on the ID, just bought a variety over the past few months.

The Mini toadstool on the left isn't doing well though, I may have to shift its position.

 

 

[Darren Sim]

Can I know how many bubbles per second you add to your CR?


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[Admiraltian]

The big green stag is green slimmer or lime in the sky?

[tofubox]

18 hours ago, Darren Sim said:

Can I know how many bubbles per second you add to your CR?


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Hi bro, I cant really tell actually, i set and forget. But it keeps the ph at 6.6 with the solenoid running constantly. Its slightly more then 1 bubble/sec.

9 hours ago, Admiraltian said:

The big green stag is green slimmer or lime in the sky?

Its a green slimmer bro.

[tofubox]

Updates on the fish QT. 

Finally brought the SG down to 1.009. Took me about a week to do this, from what i read, you only need 48hrs to drop the salinity without ill effects, but i didn't want to take my chances, as I need my two newer additions to be feeding confidently. 

Ich spots are still obvious on my Powder brown tang. My understanding is that the salinity only kills the free swimming stage of ich. Will have to wait for the adults to drop off, before the official one month of qt begins. Do correct me if i'm wrong.

Got myself two borbonius anthias. Both took about 1 week before feeding on pellets. Now they take mostly just pellets, i supplement with only 1 frozen cube of mysis. I just hope anthias do well in hyposalinity QT, this is my first time trying. 

These borbonius / blotchy anthias have always been my favourite fish. I waited about 4 mths before finally seeing one on the market. Most of the farms told me they only come in seasonally. Usually end of the year. Managed to snag two when I saw them. My very first borbonius was many years back, sadly it jumped out of the nano tank i had.

The QT tank is fed by two autofeeders, broken up into 8 separate feedings, all in small portions. 

Heres a video of my newer additions.

 

 

 

 

[Harlequinmania]

Great looking fish .. I always dont have luck with them  

 

[Darren Sim]

Any reason why this method and not copper?


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[ilovecoral555]

Nice


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[sleexox]

how “nano” was your nano tank previously? borbonius are my favourites as well. used to have them before my downgrade. afraid my nano tank isn’t big enough for them as well