My Salty Oasis

[Otaku Reefer]

Hi Fellow Reefers,

 

My name GQ and here to share about my tank

 

Spec

Tank: Red Sea reefer 350

wavemaker: Nero 5 and Rossmont M7200

Return: Rossmont

Doser: Kamoer X4 plus and F4pro

Lights : 3x AI hydra 26, using signature series spectrum

skimmer: Red sea skimmer 300

 

chemical filter: activated carbon and GFO in mesh bag

 

Running refugium plus algae scrubber both powered by Ai Fuge.

 

ATO: Using red sea inbuilt gravity fed Top off tank

 

Chiller: Hailea HS 90

 

Dosing: Red sea ABCD plus Redsea calcium and Alk.

 

Fish list

Yellow tang, dory, 2 bicolor anthias, 3 chromis, 1 foxface, 2 nemo, 1 scooter blenny, 1 lawnmower, 1 leopard wrasse and 2 cleaner shrimp 2 hermit, and quite a few conch,nassarius, cerith, and 1 larger serpent star for sandbed control and some turbo snails.

 

Water params

Alk 6.9-7.2

calcium: 400-450

Mag:1450-1500 (consumption very low, never dosed since day 1)

nitrate :1-5ppm (show up as yellow on api kit)

phosphate: 0.05 to 0.15ppm (hanna ULR)

 

 

I started reefing in 2017 started off with a Nano, Cade PR400 with hang on back skimmer refuge, started well and corals growing fine but hand itchy want to follow the no water change craze so start dosing and using biopellets to control nutrient , this resulted in tank crash and corals melting like ice cream. Then decide to upgrade to red sea reefer since see their tank look so chio.. converted my cade PR400 to quarantine tank.

 

Fast forward to red sea tank, started late 2018 till today.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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[Otaku Reefer]

Still learning here, just share some of my tots on the tank build

Regarding the fuge and ATS, i started this route since day 1 since i tink nature method for nutrient export is less aggro than chemical method. i just add carbon and small amount of gfo in a mesh bag and dump into sump for phosphate control, base on my limited exp, i feel cheato and ATS can control nitrates very well, i seldom test for nitrates as they always come up yellow on the api test kit. But for phosphate not so well as i cant get below 0.1ppm base on natural export method, with GFO can get below 0.1. Den i also read on red field ratio so i guess nature has its limitations.

For ATS flow and light is critical, i started off with china ATS unit but seems to do nothing and i worry the light not well built will have short circuit risk as light is exposed to water splashing,so i totally dump the lights and go for AI fuge. Then i see the GHA start to grow, but certain parts still yellowish looking and i read is due to low flow and i upgraded the pump flow. once i switch to the good lights and higher flow, GHA start to grow well, it will take time, but once it start it will be exponential, and my display the algae use to grow like weed on the rocks start to recede, with a old school method of toothbrush and siphon, the remaining algae is removed. Any new growth is taken care by the yellow tang and foxface.

photos shows about 10days worth of growth for GHA on algae scrubber

Cheato harvest every 2 weeks.

And also those who say u need a fuge for critters i also tink is not true lah, i see a lot amphipods, (yes the big amphipods, not the small copepods)hanging out on the GHA on my ATS, i believe the key u must get good growth for the critters to go there.





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[Otaku Reefer]

my tots on dosing,

initially thinking of calcium reactor vs 2 part dose, calcium reactor got the CO2 tank which is huge no no to me as i no car and i dont wan drag a CO2 tank ard in public transport so i went the 2 part route, then i also thinking of trace element dosing and decided on the red sea ABCD, my personal opinion is that is works, as i witness my reverse sunset monti color up within few weeks of dosing, previously i was doing 5% WC and nothing color up.

For my big 3 dosing, i settled in on the red sea ABC, for mag my consumption super low(measured on aquaforest kit) so i didnt dose mag, for my alk and calcium, used to be doing liquid form but since switched to powder form for cost control lol..

on the kamoer doser, it really save my day as i dun wan to manual dose everyday, and the dosage can split to multiple times a day for safety buffer. just need to double check the calibration and see if tubing got clog by the alk deposits every few weeks


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[Ooozone]

Nice Tank setup! Thank you for sharing

Stay safe & enjoy the hobby 

[Otaku Reefer]

my tots on quarantine,

i think its very important step to prevent tank wipe. Plus i fortunate enuff my CFO let me keep 2 tanks lol.

my QT tank is a nano tank about 12 gallon. my philosophy is QT tank is with rock sand and media. i think number 1 reason why fish die in QT is not becos of disease but due to ammonia so i choose to address this by QT with rock sand and media. my QT regime is cupramine 2 weeks follow by prazipro 2 weeks. cupramine i dose super slow, think quarter dosage. As for cupramine absorb by rock sand, i do use carbon after every treatment plus water change. i also QT inverts and corals in same tank without issue. i think the key is carbon and ample water change after every cupramine treatment to remove the copper and using the salifert copper test kit to check the level.

during cupramine treatment, observation is very impt, see if fish eating well, if ok den dose abit more cupramine and go slowly. sometimes i see white spots appear which is ich, but dont go gan chiong and dose more, just observe first. normally the spots will go away after few days in treatment. if u see no spots, don’t celebrate yet, the ich might be hiding in gills or in egg form somewhere. i would perform a water change to reduce the cupramine conc and observe another 2 weeks, if no spots comeback should be ok liao, den start prazipro treatment for 2 weeks. During this period, i would observe the fish everyday i get back from work, using a blue color torch light to shine on the body. you will be able to see the ich easily if present.

lastly, is to get healthy fish, my best exp is with Specialized aquatics, their fish is generally healthy and they do quarantine before hand already base on my knowledge, hence their more expensive pricetag.


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[Otaku Reefer]

my tots on wavemaker

currently i using nero5 and rossmont, both bery good wavemaker and can push alot water and quality made.

i prefer nero5 as it can push more water and the app user friendly, rossmont also got app but dont seem to work with IOS not sure they fix already... could be also i noob duno how to use lol..

For nero5, a good wavemaker and all under 1 roof app with my other AI equipment, the major problem with nero5 is the back grid holes are too large and can kill fish, my mandarin was killed when he/she go near the powerhead to hunt copepods. to address this i DIY a eggcrate cage and surround the nero5, dun look nice but gets the job done.

After more monitoring i suspect the fish death is not due to the back grid too big but its due to the nero5 programming cos i see the nero suddenly stop moving and restarted, probably due to the standing wave program or something. so when the wavemaker stop moving, the fish go in see see look look den wavemaker suddenly start and fish GG. this makes alot sense to me as healthy fish dont go near wavemaker to get pull, even if kenna pull, healthy fish should be able escape no problem.

i change the programming since and never saw it stop again.

nero5 also bery easy dismantle and easy to clean and put back, overall a good wavemaker, didnt use ecotech b4 so cant compare.

i also hook up nero5 to battery backup coral box v2 i tink, best is check with vendor which one compatible with nero 5. With battery backup got pc of mind when u not at home in case power trip.


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[soggycookies]

Still learning here, just share some of my tots on the tank build

Regarding the fuge and ATS, i started this route since day 1 since i tink nature method for nutrient export is less aggro than chemical method. i just add carbon and small amount of gfo in a mesh bag and dump into sump for phosphate control, base on my limited exp, i feel cheato and ATS can control nitrates very well, i seldom test for nitrates as they always come up yellow on the api test kit. But for phosphate not so well as i cant get below 0.1ppm base on natural export method, with GFO can get below 0.1. Den i also read on red field ratio so i guess nature has its limitations.

For ATS flow and light is critical, i started off with china ATS unit but seems to do nothing and i worry the light not well built will have short circuit risk as light is exposed to water splashing,so i totally dump the lights and go for AI fuge. Then i see the GHA start to grow, but certain parts still yellowish looking and i read is due to low flow and i upgraded the pump flow. once i switch to the good lights and higher flow, GHA start to grow well, it will take time, but once it start it will be exponential, and my display the algae use to grow like weed on the rocks start to recede, with a old school method of toothbrush and siphon, the remaining algae is removed. Any new growth is taken care by the yellow tang and foxface.

photos shows about 10days worth of growth for GHA on algae scrubber

Cheato harvest every 2 weeks.

And also those who say u need a fuge for critters i also tink is not true lah, i see a lot amphipods, (yes the big amphipods, not the small copepods)hanging out on the GHA on my ATS, i believe the key u must get good growth for the critters to go there.





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that is some intense nutrient export. thanks for sharing!


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[nico]

Nice tank


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[Otaku Reefer]

Hi reefers,

Just trying this mixing method for red sea alk and Ca powder(CB got too much free time to think lol)

Tool: 2 measuring cylinders 1 big 1 small
2 plastic spoon.

Materials: Red sea Alk and Ca in powder form

Step 1: Mix required amount of Ca powder into small container

Step 2: Put required amt of ALK powder into big container

Step 3: put the smaller container into bigger one as shown

Step 4: start gentle mixing using plastic spoon; make sure dont splash and cause the Ca solution fall into Alk solution and vise versa.

Explaination: Ca power mixing generate a lot heat while Alk mixing is cold. Heat from Ca solution will go to Alk solution. Based on thermodynamics, Alk becomes heat sink thereby helping both solution to dissolve faster.

Reefing is really a cool hobby; its Art(colors and scape) Science(water chemistry) and Biology( fish and coral) mix into 1!

think this is a also a way to get concentrated of Alk solution similar to the premix one sold.

Hope this don’t sound stupid haha!

Pls be careful, if the ca solution topple into the alk, it will be GG as become insta Calcium carbonate!




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[jowybk]

love the ATS.. used to have 1 DIY ATS few years back.. very good in nutrients export

 

[Otaku Reefer]

bought a zoa frag from LFS today and look what i found. Thanks to coral RX save me countless times .

Cant stress the importance of dips and QT.

very tanky, 15 mins full dose dip still not dead and moving around.




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[Otaku Reefer]

Doing some night photography

iphone XR+orphek 20k+macro+CPL



iphone XR+orphek 15k+macro+CPL








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[Otaku Reefer]

Time to experiment again!

Trying randy’s DIY recipe Baked baking soda. Trying this as my alk consumption is the highest compare to calcium

ingredients
1) Arm and hammer from ntuc -$1.5 for 454grams- good for 2.9 liters of alk solution!
2) RODI - free? (from my existing setup lol)
3) Measuring scale- Free! Kop from kitchen
4) container and mixing tool- Free! Kop from existing setup
5) Small oven -$30

Max - $35 plus electric, plus some effort lol.

Non DIY version Red part B liquid $20.50 for 500ml

if compare to equivalent DIY = almost $120 base on my calculations.

Hope it works! Slow transition from existing 2 part by red sea and measure alk after few days. intend to start 1ml per day first and monitor





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[Otaku Reefer]

Trying out the poor man Apex, Reef seneye

Followed the BRS hack and get the PC stick instead of the expensive webserver

Seems to work fine, but this is mainly for monitoring and email alerts for your tank. For absolute controllability, still need go with APEX.





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[zaiqiu]

Cool! Can share the link to the BRS hack for the PC stick?


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[Otaku Reefer]

Cool! Can share the link to the BRS hack for the PC stick?


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Here u go

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[Otaku Reefer]

Got some new Frags today, iphone XR with orphek orange filter+ macro+ CFL lens.






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[Otaku Reefer]

Bi weekly cleaning

300g of fish poop lol (GHA + Cheato combined; plastic tub weight already excluded)

Suddenly got new idea, since my sump a lot light spill, can try “Cheato Floss”

Since cheato is good nutrient export plus good mechanical filter, Let it grow in filter cup and act as filter floss.

When harvest, just throw the cheato away and put new CheatoFloss lol.






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[Otaku Reefer]

Ever wondered why John Deere leptastrea is called John Deere Leptastrea? Used to think is a John Deere who discovered the coral.

Quick google shows John Deere is a company and take a look at their logo..BAM! Creative 100%. Name sounds atas also!






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[Otaku Reefer]

wow this morning wake up to something new! my chromis spawning and its spawning on a weird place....algae clip! Anyone chromis also spawn? got success raising chromis fry? Sounds like fun project incoming for phyto, rotifer! Still waiting for my clowns to spawn haiz..






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[Mr. Tay]

On 6/14/2020 at 2:49 PM, Otaku Reefer said:

my tots on quarantine,

i think its very important step to prevent tank wipe. Plus i fortunate enuff my CFO let me keep 2 tanks lol.

my QT tank is a nano tank about 12 gallon. my philosophy is QT tank is with rock sand and media. i think number 1 reason why fish die in QT is not becos of disease but due to ammonia so i choose to address this by QT with rock sand and media. my QT regime is cupramine 2 weeks follow by prazipro 2 weeks. cupramine i dose super slow, think quarter dosage. As for cupramine absorb by rock sand, i do use carbon after every treatment plus water change. i also QT inverts and corals in same tank without issue. i think the key is carbon and ample water change after every cupramine treatment to remove the copper and using the salifert copper test kit to check the level.

during cupramine treatment, observation is very impt, see if fish eating well, if ok den dose abit more cupramine and go slowly. sometimes i see white spots appear which is ich, but dont go gan chiong and dose more, just observe first. normally the spots will go away after few days in treatment. if u see no spots, don’t celebrate yet, the ich might be hiding in gills or in egg form somewhere. i would perform a water change to reduce the cupramine conc and observe another 2 weeks, if no spots comeback should be ok liao, den start prazipro treatment for 2 weeks. During this period, i would observe the fish everyday i get back from work, using a blue color torch light to shine on the body. you will be able to see the ich easily if present.

lastly, is to get healthy fish, my best exp is with Specialized aquatics, their fish is generally healthy and they do quarantine before hand already base on my knowledge, hence their more expensive pricetag.


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Great information on the QT process which is really useful especially using carbon. Possible to have a photo of the QT ? Thanks.

I probably look into setting up a 6G Nano tank as a QT.

[Guest]

Seem redsea tank is popular nowadays. for your quarantine do you put skimmer and do you put air pump?


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[Otaku Reefer]

Great information on the QT process which is really useful especially using carbon. Possible to have a photo of the QT ? Thanks.
I probably look into setting up a 6G Nano tank as a QT.

My QT is my Nano tank 12 gallons, its my first tank and it failed miserably so i convert to QT hehe. its comes with rock sand skimmer chiller and ATO. i keep it running 24/7 like my main tank as i sometimes will buy fish and coral so there is immediately a ready QT for them. hope it helps.


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[Otaku Reefer]

Seem redsea tank is popular nowadays. for your quarantine do you put skimmer and do you put air pump?


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Yup red sea tank looks slick. But tanks like waterbox and CADE wont lose out to them. Dont think they are in SG yet, seems only red sea got distributor here.

yes my QT has skimmer, no air pumps, it running return pump like a normal reef tank. hope it helps


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[Otaku Reefer]

My QT is my Nano tank 12 gallons, its my first tank and it failed miserably so i convert to QT hehe. its comes with rock sand skimmer chiller and ATO. i keep it running 24/7 like my main tank as i sometimes will buy fish and coral so there is immediately a ready QT for them. hope it helps.


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Here the photos, pardon the poor tank condition, i only got time to take care display haha...as u see currently QT corals, when i switch to QT fish will take out the corals and dose copper, den once finish, load carbon, water change and can QT invert/coral liao.





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