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kinetic Red Sea Reefer 170


kinetic

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Pretty bright in the home office today! Decided to take a quick photo with my Zeiss 21 to show you where the tank is in relation to where I'm typing this now =)

 

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Got some readings on my tank today using an Apogee PAR meter that my local club owns (Bay Area Reefers):

 
AquaIlluminations Hydra 52 HD using a SPS AB+ w/ High Peaks program, modified with a lot more whites. 9" above the water.
 
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Anemones:
My H. Magnifica is getting a bit over 400. The BTAs about 269.
 
Shaded area under the H. Mag pedestal are pretty terrible. Probably can't grow anything there (dendros probably on the list).

Back two corners of the tank are probably low enough for LPS/softies. I was thinking of a small zoa rock on one side, scoly / open brain on the other?
 
Probably just going to keep the lighting where it is. I'm thinking the high 200 - 300 will work well for a few sticks of SPS (as long as they don't get stung).
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It feels like ages, but it's only been two weeks since I've setup my NYOS Quantum 120 skimmer. This thing stinks (in a good way?). So much gross skimmate! This is probably the best performance out of a skimmer I've ever had. I've had a LOT of skimmers. Tunze, ELOS, Bubble King, Simplicity, and now the NYOS Quantum. This one has been the easiest to dial in, probably the quietest (other than the skimmer lid rattle), and is currently pulling out amazing skimmate. This is 2 days:
 
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Noise
Decibels on my iPhone app read about 60 dB when running, with an ambient sound around 48 dB. Not the quietest, but the sound is a very low deep hum and pretty quiet. To me, it's quieter than my Simplicity 120 DC, which had a higher pitch that was a lot more distracting.
 
Quality
The skimmer build looks nice, seams are beautifully done, the wedge pipe adjustment is a dream, and the details down to the titanium screws are really incredible. I'm not sure why they are using titanium screws over plastic ones, or why there's little tabs holding the skimmer down rather than it being screwed right in (maybe for the sake of not needing to replace the skimmer body if you damage the screw hole?), but it's nice. It feels like it's built to last a lifetime, rather than something that works for a few years and needs replacement. Despite a lot of the skimmer feeling nice and polished, there's a few surprising things that aren't that nice. The plastic feels a bit more plastic than acrylic, and feels slightly cheap. The skimmer cup walls are pretty thin, and I feel like I could easily crack it with my hand while twisting on and off the body. The light gray bits around the skimmer look kind of cheap up close, for some reason reminds me of the plastic of caps on plastic soda bottles. The tip of the air screw has imperfections in the plastic, so it has a strand of plastic sticking out sideways. It doesn't hurt the performance, but is oddly out of place on an otherwise beautiful skimmer.
 
Design
The design of this skimmer is beautiful and functional. I think the skimmer cup is nicely done so it's easy to be cleaned out. Everything has slight natural curves, with few hard angles. So far, it's performing well so I can't say much else about how it's shaped. By far the best part is the wedge pipe adjustment. It's screw based, and has the perfect amount of give. It's easy to do small adjustments, which is key. The only strange thing is the cutout for the pump cord on the bottom of the skimmer doesn't give it much room, and the skimmer actually sits on the cord since it sticks out downwards and has to bend up. Good thing it's soft so it dampens any sound. It's also right where the wedge pipe outlet is. Kind of strange. The one big flaw about this skimmer is probably the skimmer cup lid. It rattles so much and is incredibly loud. I have to constantly go into my sump to slightly move the lid so it will stop rattling, but it will eventually start rattling again. I'm not sure what to do about it, other than get some large rubberbands to tie it down.
 
Performance
Two week performance is great. It started skimming only a few days after setting up. It was skimming pretty wet, but I didn't adjust it to get darker since I wanted to let it break in for awhile. This is after giving it a 1 hour vinegar bath. I did add a ton of reef epoxy into the tank a week later, so it went a little nuts for days. I decided to open the wedge pipe quite a bit, and it was actually able to skim despite all the reef epoxy being in the water. I could tell it was skimming the epoxy remnants out, because the cup smelled so much like the reef epoxy for a few days. Then things calmed down, and I had to close up the wedge pipe again to get the water level correct. As of 2 weeks, it's now skimming incredibly well. It's definitely helping keep my parameters at a minimum.
 
2 week Conclusion
Overall, I'd highly recommend the skimmer. It skims really well, easy to adjust, and isn't too noisy. I wouldn't say dead silent, but that's just subjective. I'm interested in trying the rumored Bubble King Micro skimmers that have the DC Aquabee pumps. Hopefully that is actually dead silent. Noise is such a big factor for me. The NYOS is tolerable when the lid isn't rattling, especially with how well it's working, but there must be a quieter way.
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On 9/11/2017 at 10:24 PM, kinetic said:

Pretty bright in the home office today! Decided to take a quick photo with my Zeiss 21 to show you where the tank is in relation to where I'm typing this now =)

 

38293666331_5ce9456dca_b.jpg

Wauw, i just love this picture!

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On 09/11/2017 at 1:24 PM, kinetic said:

Pretty bright in the home office today! Decided to take a quick photo with my Zeiss 21 to show you where the tank is in relation to where I'm typing this now =)

 

38293666331_5ce9456dca_b.jpg

Sorry off topic...but where did you get that chair and floor planter? They look sweet!

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49 minutes ago, Jessy-Ray said:

The skimmer lid looks very light, try placing a weight of some kind on it I think it will stop rattling. 

Cool build also

I ended up taking airline tubing, slicing it down the middle and putting it around the lip of the skimmer cup. Now the lid sits on that, and it's 4 decibels quieter now! Huge improvement with an easy mod. I'll need to post photos.

 

I tried putting heavy things on it before, but they would eventually fall off. The skimmer trembles so much. Even then, it was still kind of loud. The airline tubing does the trick!

 

21 minutes ago, RustyRocket said:

Sorry off topic...but where did you get that chair and floor planter? They look sweet!

The desk chair is Herman Miller Embody. The lounge chair in front of the tank is West Elm. Floor planter is West Elm. Thanks!

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How does the NYOS slimmer do in terms of micro bubble production? That’s the one thing I don’t like about the Simplicity skimmer, it seems to make a ton of salt spray with all the bubbles.

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3 hours ago, Halo_003 said:

How does the NYOS slimmer do in terms of micro bubble production? That’s the one thing I don’t like about the Simplicity skimmer, it seems to make a ton of salt spray with all the bubbles.

Almost none! Yeah I saw the same deal with the Simplicity, but wasn't too bothered by it. But I'd say almost no micro bubbles escape out of the NYOS.

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My OctoAquatics.com custom lid arrived:
 
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Fit
The fit is perfect. I gave some very specific measurements, and I was worried it would be too perfect and possibly risk not fitting, but looks like there was plenty of wiggle room built into it.
 
Build
The edges are all straight and perfect. The edges are smooth for the most part, but not super smoothly polished (they never advertised as so, just think that would be nice?). 
 
No slack in the netting which is great. 
 
There's a bit of "extra" netting that sticks out on the bottom, but not enough to be annoying or unsightly. It would probably be a big challenge to tuck that in somewhere.
 
The tabs holding the lid up are nicely rounded and are very sturdy.
 
Cutouts are nice and neat
 
Looks
I never was a fan of a top over a tank. I love the rimless look. But this lid doesn't look too bad (and as far as lids go, looks really great). I won't keep it on normally, just when I'm away for a few days and at night if I remember. I've had two clowns jump out within the first few days of having them, but they haven't jumped since. I think it's good to have the top just in case. If I ever get a wrasse or something, this lid will probably stay on 24/7.
 
Conclusion
I'd highly recommend the OctoAquatics lid. Matt at OctoAquatics is always no frills and to the point, which I really appreciate. The lead time for the lid was super fast, and was even a bit earlier than the estimated time.
 
He's also prototyping out a filter sock silencer for the Red Sea Reefer sumps. Not sure why nobody else has done it, but can't wait test them out and get my sump quieted down!
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10 minutes ago, kinetic said:
My OctoAquatics.com custom lid arrived:
 
38687008781_17c19982b1_b.jpg
 
38687006701_4d9e11dbba_b.jpg
 
38687005531_0800819c84_b.jpg
 
Fit
The fit is perfect. I gave some very specific measurements, and I was worried it would be too perfect and possibly risk not fitting, but looks like there was plenty of wiggle room built into it.
 
Build
The edges are all straight and perfect. The edges are smooth for the most part, but not super smoothly polished (they never advertised as so, just think that would be nice?). 
 
No slack in the netting which is great. 
 
There's a bit of "extra" netting that sticks out on the bottom, but not enough to be annoying or unsightly. It would probably be a big challenge to tuck that in somewhere.
 
The tabs holding the lid up are nicely rounded and are very sturdy.
 
Cutouts are nice and neat
 
Looks
I never was a fan of a top over a tank. I love the rimless look. But this lid doesn't look too bad (and as far as lids go, looks really great). I won't keep it on normally, just when I'm away for a few days and at night if I remember. I've had two clowns jump out within the first few days of having them, but they haven't jumped since. I think it's good to have the top just in case. If I ever get a wrasse or something, this lid will probably stay on 24/7.
 
Conclusion
I'd highly recommend the OctoAquatics lid. Matt at OctoAquatics is always no frills and to the point, which I really appreciate. The lead time for the lid was super fast, and was even a bit earlier than the estimated time.
 
He's also prototyping out a filter sock silencer for the Red Sea Reefer sumps. Not sure why nobody else has done it, but can't wait test them out and get my sump quieted down!

Looks fantastic Kinetic! My thoughts are a lid like that just finishes the look of the tank and keeps your fish safe. My custom lid from Reef Tops is coming this or next week. Once i get my reefer up and running, i’m buying one for that thank aswell.

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Looks clean! Is the acrylic slightly translucent? like frosted or was thats just condensation? And do you reckon it will rattle when the gyre (or any powerhead) goes 100%? 

Would be good to see if helps with evaporation too. 

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8 hours ago, Rory282 said:

Looks fantastic Kinetic! My thoughts are a lid like that just finishes the look of the tank and keeps your fish safe. My custom lid from Reef Tops is coming this or next week. Once i get my reefer up and running, i’m buying one for that thank aswell.

Yeah it doesn't look half bad. Subjectively speaking, I'm a fan of open rimless tanks, but peace of mind is good to have.

 

8 hours ago, RustyRocket said:

Looks clean! Is the acrylic slightly translucent? like frosted or was thats just condensation? And do you reckon it will rattle when the gyre (or any powerhead) goes 100%? 

Would be good to see if helps with evaporation too. 

It's transparent, but I had just put it on so it fogged up a bit (but later went away). It didn't rattle for me, but I only push 30% max on my XF-13 gyre pump.

 

I don't think it'll be a huge help with evaporation, but again my ATO reservoir setup is nice enough where I don't really need to worry about it much. I go through about 4.5 gallons a week, and my reservoir is 5 gallons (easily refillable by just turning open a ballhead from my RO/DI, and it alerts me because I have a low water level sensor attached to my apex jr).

 

5 hours ago, Halo_003 said:

Looks awesome. Is it acrylic or polycarbonate? I'm looking at ordering from Artfully Acrylic because they use polycarbonate but they have a six week lead time.

Polycarbonate. Octo came within 3 weeks of ordering. He said 3 - 4 weeks estimate at the time when I ordered it.

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16 hours ago, kinetic said:

 

 

Polycarbonate. Octo came within 3 weeks of ordering. He said 3 - 4 weeks estimate at the time when I ordered it.

Sweet, I may have to order through him in that case, thanks!

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Black Friday deals really did a number on my wallet. But purchases were good.

  • Spare Reef Octopus VarioS-4 return pump
  • Icecap Battery Backup for my Gyre (prep for potential power outages)
  • AquaUV 8watt sterilizer (replacing my cheapo, though great working, green killing machine). Runs inline so I don't need an extra pump, is 1 watt less, and has a wiper for easy maintenance
  • Apex things: another FMM, solenoid, optical sensor, power suppy: this will control refilling my ATO reservoir from my RO/Di automatically
  • Aquaforest Reef Salt x2 (just loading up on this while it's cheap)
  • Aquaforest Iron (need some to see if it'll help my chaeto grow)
  • Marinepure biospheres. Kind of an impulse, they were on sale. I think I might seed a few of the balls and use it for a hospital tank?

Not black friday, but purchased anyway from LiveAquaria today:

  • Another Tonga Fighting conch. My current one is so cool, but really not making a dent on his own.
  • Another mexican turbo snail. One isn't enough I think.
  • ORA captive raised Orchid Dottyback! About 1.25"
  • Golden Sailfin Blenny - Philippines , only 3/4". Hope it stays gold. Probably better sized for my tank than a regular lawnmower blenny
  • ORA Hawkins Enchinata - one of my favorite corals ever, never was able to keep it successfully. Crossing my fingers
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7 hours ago, kinetic said:

Black Friday deals really did a number on my wallet. But purchases were good.

  • Spare Reef Octopus VarioS-4 return pump
  • Icecap Battery Backup for my Gyre (prep for potential power outages)
  • AquaUV 8watt sterilizer (replacing my cheapo, though great working, green killing machine). Runs inline so I don't need an extra pump, is 1 watt less, and has a wiper for easy maintenance
  • Apex things: another FMM, solenoid, optical sensor, power suppy: this will control refilling my ATO reservoir from my RO/Di automatically
  • Aquaforest Reef Salt x2 (just loading up on this while it's cheap)
  • Aquaforest Iron (need some to see if it'll help my chaeto grow)
  • Marinepure biospheres. Kind of an impulse, they were on sale. I think I might seed a few of the balls and use it for a hospital tank?

Not black friday, but purchased anyway from LiveAquaria today:

  • Another Tonga Fighting conch. My current one is so cool, but really not making a dent on his own.
  • Another mexican turbo snail. One isn't enough I think.
  • ORA captive raised Orchid Dottyback! About 1.25"
  • Golden Sailfin Blenny - Philippines , only 3/4". Hope it stays gold. Probably better sized for my tank than a regular lawnmower blenny
  • ORA Hawkins Enchinata - one of my favorite corals ever, never was able to keep it successfully. Crossing my fingers

Oooooo, very exciting LA order, I loved my orchid dotty while I had it. Also curious to see whether your blenny keeps it color, fingers crossed ??

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7 hours ago, jesseatam said:

Oooooo, very exciting LA order, I loved my orchid dotty while I had it. Also curious to see whether your blenny keeps it color, fingers crossed ??

 

I've never had a dottyback, as I thought they were all super aggressive. My biggest concern is that he'll be mean to my Geometric Pygmy Hawkfish. I hope they can distinguish and won't be a pain to him.

 

The sailfin will be fun. I wanted some kind of algae grazing blenny, not really to help with algae but because I think it's fun to watch. I think the lawnmowers will possibly outgrow my tank, so this little guy should be happy! I'll still probably be ready to start supplementing food if the algae becomes too sparse. Even if he turns black, I think that'll be kind of cool.

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Wow, the orchid dottyback is incredible. He is currently in my QT tank, and seemingly is always staring at me. When I get close he hides a bit, but then comes right out. Such a beautiful fish. I'm considering getting another and introducing them to the DT at the same time, and hoping they pair up. Is that a bad idea for my tank? Should I just stick to one?

The sailfin blenny is so small. I literally thought I just got a bag of water lol. And upon closer inspection, there he was, a tiny dot! He's also in the QT, but I can barely see him hanging out on my powerhead's suction cup. I literally have no idea what he looks like, just a dot of yellow haha. I don't have a light over the QT, so it's hard to see him.

I'll just keep an eye out on them and add prazipro if they look like they need it. So far there's no scratching, so I don't think they came with any flukes. I don't know if I have the ability to do a TTM to make sure there's no ich, so I might just observe and dose with prazipro if I see any bad signs. Otherwise I might just dump them into the DT this weekend. =P

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On 11/29/2017 at 3:29 PM, kinetic said:

I've never had a dottyback, as I thought they were all super aggressive. My biggest concern is that he'll be mean to my Geometric Pygmy Hawkfish. I hope they can distinguish and won't be a pain to him.

The baby orchid I had was actually picked on by my geometric pygmy hawkfish which I believe stressed him out and then caused my ich outbreak. 

 

On 11/30/2017 at 8:04 PM, kinetic said:

Wow, the orchid dottyback is incredible. He is currently in my QT tank, and seemingly is always staring at me. When I get close he hides a bit, but then comes right out. Such a beautiful fish. I'm considering getting another and introducing them to the DT at the same time, and hoping they pair up. Is that a bad idea for my tank? Should I just stick to one?

Mine was the exact same, very personable and inquisitive which quickly caused me to fall in love with it. As for pairing I was thinking about trying it out myself and think it could be possible based on what I've read, I remember on one of the breeding sites someone saying they kept a pair in a 10 gallon. As for how to pair them exactly I haven't gotten a straight answer, not sure if it's better to start out with two babies or a larger one and a smaller one.

 

Take what I say with a grain of salt though since I only had mine for a short period of time, but I can say I have done relatively extensive research on these guys scouring every forum I could find :D

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Thanks for the input Jesse! Bummer that the orchid picks on the hawkfish. I was worried about that. I hope they don't pick on mine. If they do, I'll probably have to rip apart the rock work to get them out. I couldn't find anyone with the combo that could tell me one way or another, too bad I didn't ask you first!

 

We'll see what happens in the QT! I'm acclimating the second dottyback now.

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