kinetic Posted January 5, 2018 Author Share Posted January 5, 2018 2 hours ago, Justind823 said: I've been to Aquatic Collection and was really impressed with the store. You're right, the fish there all seem very healthy. I'll have to check out Neptune one of these days. It's pretty far for me but I'm sure something will bring me down there eventually! Yea, I usually end up buying from LiveAquaria but i's always nice to buy locally, if it makes sense of course. I did just make a purchase from LA but it's all shipping from the CA facility so I'm not too concerned with the cold. That's interesting to hear about the guy you got the Mag from! Neat little niche he has there. Neptune is pretty intense. They have A LOT of frags, and a lot of stuff. I was just in the area and stopped in. It was overwhelming. I feel like I could've bought no less than a grand of corals if I wasn't careful. I ended up not getting anything (thank goodness). But it's worth checking out if you're nearby. 1 Quote Link to comment
RustyRocket Posted January 5, 2018 Share Posted January 5, 2018 20 minutes ago, kinetic said: Neptune is pretty intense. They have A LOT of frags, and a lot of stuff. I was just in the area and stopped in. It was overwhelming. I feel like I could've bought no less than a grand of corals if I wasn't careful. I ended up not getting anything (thank goodness). But it's worth checking out if you're nearby. Agreed! Was there a week ago, their soft coral colonies...I'd easily blow a few hundred for them. Really healthy looking as well. Their Dry goods were a tad bit expensive tho I would say. 1 Quote Link to comment
kinetic Posted January 6, 2018 Author Share Posted January 6, 2018 2 hours ago, RustyRocket said: Agreed! Was there a week ago, their soft coral colonies...I'd easily blow a few hundred for them. Really healthy looking as well. Their Dry goods were a tad bit expensive tho I would say. The dry goods are pretty close to what you can get online, but again it's a retail store so you'll definitely have to pay a bit more. It's nice if you need something right away, and knowing they're good people helps too. That being said, I almost always get my stuff online, but I have done special orders through Neptune, including a Geismann Infiniti in polar white, as well as a BK Mini 160. When you purchase a lot of things (especially if they're expensive), Neptune usually helps with pricing however they can. Quote Link to comment
kinetic Posted January 10, 2018 Author Share Posted January 10, 2018 In an effort to automate dosing, I picked up a Neptune DOS and will be using a dosing container I found on BRS that fits perfectly next to my Reefer 170 sump. I modified the DOS to use RO Polyethylene tubing instead of the soft tubing, and had to drill the reservoir to push the tubing through instead of using the barbed end. Materials: Neptune DOS: https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/dos-dosing-and-fluid-metering-system-neptune-systems.html Reservoir: https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/triple-liquid-dosing-storage-reservoir.html John Guest 1/4 OD by 1/8 NPTF Adapter: (ttps://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003YKF256/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 Clear 1/4” Polyethylene Tubing: https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/1-4-mur-lok-polyethylene-ro-tubing.html RectorSeal Pipe Thread Sealant Why the Neptune DOS? I’ve been looking high and low for the perfect dosing pump. All had their pros and cons, but the biggest thing for me was the price. Overall, the Neptune DOS had the best results, as long as you were in the Apex controller world. Unfortunately the pump only has two heads, at quite the premium price. I decided to take the dive and just get the pump for Alk and Ca dosing. My mg never seems to fall much, and water changes have kept the levels high enough. If I end up needing to dose other things, I’ll buy another DOS. Other pumps I considered: GHL Doser 2.1, CoralBox WiFi, Kamoer X4 WiFi, and Bubble Magus. GHL Doser seemed nice and could run on its own. For the same price as the DOS, I could get 3 heads. CoralBox and Bubble Magus were super affordable, but I didn’t like the setup problems and failures I’ve heard with Bubble Magus. Kamoer was a good price point with 4 heads, but I also heard that it was hard to setup. That was probably the dosing pump I was going to go for, but being heavily committed to my Apex Jr, I decided against it. Why modify with RO Tubing? I didn’t really like the idea of limp tubing being strung through my cabinet. I have clear RO tubing left over, so I decided to go that direction. I’ve also heard that the Neptune lines are hard to straighten out and remove the kinks. I did order 16 meters just to see, and it seems to be OK and kink-free. How did I modify? It was pretty easy to modify the DOS. I used RectorSeal Pipe Thread Sealant on the threads and screwed on John Guest adapters that have 1/8 NPTF thread that I could push my 1/4” RO tubing into. I realized that the reservoir I bought actually uses the small 1/8” airline tubing. I decided to use a hacksaw to chop that off the barbs, then used a 1/4” drill bit to widen the hole. The clear RO tubing was an extremely snug fit through the hole, enough where I wouldn’t need to use silicon or anything. What’s next? I need to get the 24v power adapter (oops) and then calibrate it. Then I’ll set it up to dose daily 17ml of Alk and Ca from my Aquaforest Components 1+, 2+. I’m thinking of just spreading it evenly out throughout the day. I know some people prefer to dose at night for pH swing reasons. I literally have never tested for pH, and don’t have a probe for it, so I’m just going to leave it. Current cabinet mess: Check out how dark my skimmate is! 5 Quote Link to comment
RollaJase Posted January 10, 2018 Share Posted January 10, 2018 Beautiful build and amazing photos, well done . 1 Quote Link to comment
banshee Posted January 10, 2018 Share Posted January 10, 2018 I'm going to have to keep that doser and those containers in mind when I finally have enough corals to worry about it! Everything looks great! 1 Quote Link to comment
kinetic Posted January 10, 2018 Author Share Posted January 10, 2018 7 hours ago, banshee said: I'm going to have to keep that doser and those containers in mind when I finally have enough corals to worry about it! Everything looks great! I have a small 3/4" hawkins enchinata and a 3/4" ora pearlberry, and I'm already dosing 17ml a day =P Get ready! Quote Link to comment
banshee Posted January 10, 2018 Share Posted January 10, 2018 2 hours ago, kinetic said: I have a small 3/4" hawkins enchinata and a 3/4" ora pearlberry, and I'm already dosing 17ml a day =P Get ready! My only SPS is a tiny Tyree rainbow Monti. I do have a torch, hammer, and frogspawn. Hmmmm. Guess I'll order some calcium and magnesium test kits! 1 Quote Link to comment
Andreww Posted January 10, 2018 Share Posted January 10, 2018 Maybe I didn’t catch this but what camera/lens combo are you using? Sharp pictures! Quote Link to comment
William Posted January 10, 2018 Share Posted January 10, 2018 Hmm... I kinda want to copy your Doser setup... 1 Quote Link to comment
Justind823 Posted January 11, 2018 Share Posted January 11, 2018 Nice work on that doser setup! 1 Quote Link to comment
kinetic Posted January 11, 2018 Author Share Posted January 11, 2018 22 hours ago, banshee said: My only SPS is a tiny Tyree rainbow Monti. I do have a torch, hammer, and frogspawn. Hmmmm. Guess I'll order some calcium and magnesium test kits! Pretty sure your tank is using plenty of Alk/Ca at least. You'll need an Alk test for sure (if you don't already have one). I dose equal amounts of Ca/Alk because theoretically those would be used at the same rate (and products like Aquaforest are setup to be dosed equally in most situations). 21 hours ago, Andreww said: Maybe I didn’t catch this but what camera/lens combo are you using? Sharp pictures! Thanks! I use my iPhone and sometimes my Sony RX1R2. Once in awhile I'll bust out my DSLR's with macro lenses and such, but I'm usually too lazy to do that. Those things are saved until I have work that requires it, rather than snapshots. 20 hours ago, William said: Hmm... I kinda want to copy your Doser setup... Do it! Pretty simple =) 31 minutes ago, Justind823 said: Nice work on that doser setup! Thank you! Quote Link to comment
kinetic Posted January 12, 2018 Author Share Posted January 12, 2018 Afternoon light hits my Rainbow BTA just right. 6 Quote Link to comment
DaveFason Posted January 15, 2018 Share Posted January 15, 2018 Looking great and good job on outfitting the DOS. Rigid tubing really helps and also is easier to clean the ALK if you ever get build up. -D 1 Quote Link to comment
kinetic Posted January 16, 2018 Author Share Posted January 16, 2018 Battling a little algae or bacteria in my tank. Most likely because I have zero nitrates, regular algae can't grow. My chaeto reactor's chaeto are all gone now. Currently dosing chemi-clean to see if its' red cyano. I doubt it, but it could be. I had chemiclean on hand so decided to try it out. We'll see what happens, I'm only at the 12 hour mark. Next up will be DinoX and I'll start dosing a lot of coral food (reef chili) and aminos to try to bring up my nitrates. If that works then I'll need to get another DOS or something to constantly dose aminos. I'm wondering if I could stick reef chili in my AFS... Quote Link to comment
Andreww Posted January 16, 2018 Share Posted January 16, 2018 Just curious, not sure if you’ve mentioned this, did you start with dry or live rock? Quote Link to comment
kinetic Posted January 16, 2018 Author Share Posted January 16, 2018 43 minutes ago, Andreww said: Just curious, not sure if you’ve mentioned this, did you start with dry or live rock? Dry rock. Dry sand. Still had a fairly quick cycle and zero pests. Though I may have accidentally gotten some dino from a snail or something. Quote Link to comment
Andreww Posted January 16, 2018 Share Posted January 16, 2018 Not sure why but more and more dino infestation seem to happen in tanks that started with dry rock. It’s like a pattern...At least that’s what I noticed. I’m wondering if there’s not enough bio-diversity on rock that can absorb /eat whatever dinos thrive on and not only that but all the other algae that seems to pop up and last forever... Theres the pest fear with live rock but I wonder if it actually makes a difference. Having said that, Ill probably start my next tank with mostly dry rock and 1/3 of the structure to be live rock . Quote Link to comment
kinetic Posted January 17, 2018 Author Share Posted January 17, 2018 1 hour ago, Andreww said: Not sure why but more and more dino infestation seem to happen in tanks that started with dry rock. It’s like a pattern...At least that’s what I noticed. I’m wondering if there’s not enough bio-diversity on rock that can absorb /eat whatever dinos thrive on and not only that but all the other algae that seems to pop up and last forever... Theres the pest fear with live rock but I wonder if it actually makes a difference. Having said that, Ill probably start my next tank with mostly dry rock and 1/3 of the structure to be live rock . I've had two tanks that were started with dry rock, the first never had dinos. I don't think that's entirely the case. In my case I'm pretty sure it's because my nitrates are 0. The strongest theory goes that other algae can't grow with 0 nitrates, allowing things like dinos and other bacteria to use the remaining nutrients. Most systems can outcompete for the nutrients with algae (and most successfully with macro algaes that can be controlled). Unfortunately, my system is too low in nutrients. I think with a few changes, I can get things going: 1. Pull my marinepure ceramic plate: this is probably the biggest cause of 0 nitrates 2. Dose aminos and coral foods: this is going to be hard unless I can automate it 3. If coral foods doesn't help nitrates, I will need to dose something like stump remover to add nitrates in Pulling my ceramic plate is risky. It probably does a lot of other things for my system right now (like ammonia -> nitrite -> nitrate). I'll risk a mini cycle. Dosing aminos and foods is going to get pricey and makes my pretty low maintenance tank, a little more maintenance. And dosing something like stump remover constantly will require another dosing pump =P I'll most likely find a couple days where I can closely monitor my tank levels and pull the plate to see if nitrates will rise without any ammonia/nitrites being detectable. If I can get those levels up, I'll try to grow chaeto. Once there is a stable balance between feeding my tank and the chaeto growing, I think I'll be good to go. Quote Link to comment
kinetic Posted January 17, 2018 Author Share Posted January 17, 2018 The last option is, chemi-clean and dinox will solve my issues and I can just continue a UNLS. I'll probably try to get a BRS dosing pump and run a timer to dose aminos. Quote Link to comment
Waldo Posted January 24, 2018 Share Posted January 24, 2018 Kinetic I love the build and setup. I am running similar one and thanks to your thread I have been inspired to get maxspect gyre. Unfortunately I am having problems with sand flying everywhere at the front glass, even when it runs on 20-30% maximum. Any idea how to tweak it for best results? 1 Quote Link to comment
Admonition Posted January 24, 2018 Share Posted January 24, 2018 Beautiful setup and tank! And I love that DOS modification. I’ll definitly have to keep that bookmarked for when I start dosing more. I have a similar shaped tank, how do you like the Gyre setup like that? I’ve been toying with the idea of doing that exact same thing (placing it top center on the back wall). Also, what are your Hydra setting for when you take those pictures with your iPhone? I have the Hydra 52 and mine always come out blurred on my iPhone. 1 Quote Link to comment
kinetic Posted January 24, 2018 Author Share Posted January 24, 2018 56 minutes ago, Waldo said: Kinetic I love the build and setup. I am running similar one and thanks to your thread I have been inspired to get maxspect gyre. Unfortunately I am having problems with sand flying everywhere at the front glass, even when it runs on 20-30% maximum. Any idea how to tweak it for best results? What kind of sand are you using (more specifically, how large are the grains)? I'm using Tropic Eden Mesoflakes and they stay put at 20% gyre power. They shift back at 30%, but no sandstorms. You may need larger sand grains. (Grains? Is that the right way to explain them?). My other trick is I point the gyre up towards the surface, so it bounces off the surface first, then the front of the glass. This helps disperse flow a bit more before it hits the sand. I currently run my gyre on random mode, from 10% to 20% with random pause intervals. Then twice a day, I run backwards (once in the afternoon, once at night) just to get junk unstuck from the mesh guards and to help with flow behind the rock structure. 31 minutes ago, Admonition said: Beautiful setup and tank! And I love that DOS modification. I’ll definitly have to keep that bookmarked for when I start dosing more. I have a similar shaped tank, how do you like the Gyre setup like that? I’ve been toying with the idea of doing that exact same thing (placing it top center on the back wall). Also, what are your Hydra setting for when you take those pictures with your iPhone? I have the Hydra 52 and mine always come out blurred on my iPhone. The Gyre is great. I've had a lot of different water movers in the past, and the gyre is my favorite. It's slick because it's on the back wall and has a great spread out flow. I don't need much power to get nice even flow throughout the tank. I just leave my Hydra's settings as is. I control my White Balance and Tint with my camera or my iPhone (I use Manual camera iOS app to adjust white balance while taking a photo, and take a RAW photo, then edit on the Priime iOS app). I work professionally in the commercial photography industry, and have developed some of the best photo editing tools on iOS and macOS (Priime.com), so I really understand how to work white balance and tint. Try using the warmest setting on your iPhone by using something like Manual camera, then use a RAW editor to warm it up even more and adjust the tint to get rid of the purples. You can go even more extreme by modifying the individual color channels to shift hue a bit. Quote Link to comment
gone_PHiSHin Posted January 24, 2018 Share Posted January 24, 2018 have you ever used ProCam? i was thinking about paying the 5 bucks for that...Manual Camera 2 is only 3 though Quote Link to comment
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