William's Waterbox 70:2

[ef4life]

2 hours ago, William said:

Today I plumbed my UV sterilizer off of my return pump so that I don’t have to use an extra pump to power it ....

Nice, I’ve been thinking about getting one for my tank, I’ve been eyeing some used ones on offer up just haven’t pulled the trigger yet, always something else to buy first, like new brake hoses for my beater car, just had one blow Getting off the highway, trying to stop was fun 😱

[William]

3 hours ago, ef4life said:

Nice, I’ve been thinking about getting one for my tank, I’ve been eyeing some used ones on offer up just haven’t pulled the trigger yet, always something else to buy first, like new brake hoses for my beater car, just had one blow Getting off the highway, trying to stop was fun 😱

I bought it To help fend off Dinos, but have found that in general the tank looks better when it is on. Since my tank is overstocked, I think it also helps with reducing potential parasite levels 

[William]

My @Cultivated Reef order arrived this morning and everything looks great so far. Holly was wonderful to work with and allowed multiple additions to my order. Now I just need to find room for everything ....
 

 

Blue tip stag

Tri color acro 

GARF Bonsai

Cali Tort 

CR’s Commoners Envy Poci 

Rainbow Stylo 

FF Red Robin Stag

God of war Paly 

JF John Deer Leptastrea 

Hairy Green Monster 

Red Mini Carpet Anemone 

[William]

I have a “Black widow” Bubble tip anemone arriving tmro from a hobbyist in Alaska (via reef2reef). Hopefully it will look like the pictures. 

[William]

Today I transferred some of my additives into pump bottle as was suggested by @Reefbuilders. Each pump is 1ml 

 

 

[William]

My LFS has a Neptune trident in stock.... should I buy it? 
 

I have also paused my auto feeder as I’m home most days and have been feeding my fish frozen. 

[ef4life]

3 hours ago, William said:

My LFS has a Neptune trident in stock.... should I buy it? 
 

I have also paused my auto feeder as I’m home most days and have been feeding my fish frozen. 

I believe Neptune is closed for the foreseeable future, so if you don’t get it you may not have a chance for a while. 

[William]

16 hours ago, ef4life said:

I believe Neptune is closed for the foreseeable future, so if you don’t get it you may not have a chance for a while. 

 

[Rehype]

Im an idiot will I didnt realize you had a separate thread for this build 😅   Tank looks awesome BTW Glad your hanging in there in spite of some setbacks. Dont be afraid to do few days of lights out to help weaken the dinos. They are the worst to deal with but you can manage them.  Do you still have an eel left?

[William]

2 hours ago, Rehype said:

Im an idiot will I didnt realize you had a separate thread for this build 😅   Tank looks awesome BTW Glad your hanging in there in spite of some setbacks. Dont be afraid to do few days of lights out to help weaken the dinos. They are the worst to deal with but you can manage them.  Do you still have an eel left?

The eel was sadly killed my my MP40. It was a very awful experience. As it seems it broke his spine about 1/3 of the way down. He died slowly over 2 days.... 😕

 

on a lighter not. I have found that the UV sterilizer and the Klir filter roll have helped a lot with the Dino’s. 

[Rehype]

22 minutes ago, William said:

The eel was sadly killed my my MP40. It was a very awful experience. As it seems it broke his spine about 1/3 of the way down. He died slowly over 2 days.... 😕

 

on a lighter not. I have found that the UV sterilizer and the Klir filter roll have helped a lot with the Dino’s. 

 

Really sorry to hear that 😔  Was this the snowflake or the dwarf moray? 

 

Thats good to hear. I did a combination of bacteria dosing, lights out and UV sterilizer to get them under control.

 

Are your LFS still open?

[William]

4 minutes ago, Rehype said:

 

Really sorry to hear that 😔  Was this the snowflake or the dwarf moray? 

 

Thats good to hear. I did a combination of bacteria dosing, lights out and UV sterilizer to get them under control.

 

Are your LFS still open?

The golden dwarf moray, I had him for over 2 years. 

[William]

I got the trident set up. Seems to be working pretty well. I made a mistake when setting it up and cut the hoses,

so awaiting world from Neptune systems about ordering more hose. 
 

I checked these values with a Hannah checker and they seem pretty accurate. 

[William]

I did some par measurements today, everything looks like it is in the right spot, though I could Potentially increase the light if I wanted to. At my current setting most areas of the tank are between 180-350. When maxed out (while keeping my current blue/white ratio) most corals are 250-450 par 

 

I also modified my CO2 scrubber to draw air from my skimmer cup (recirculating). I hope this will allow it to last longer as right now I’m using up 1 cartridge every 2 weeks 

[William]

I went ahead and added a condensation trap to my Recirculating CO2 scrubber for my protein skimmer. While it is not pretty, hopefully it works well. So far the recirculating design has drastically decreased the amount of CO2 absorbent used. 

[mitten_reef]

On 3/29/2020 at 4:06 PM, William said:

 

 

Whoa, that bouquet of blue rics!!  

[William]

So I have had some significant issues with low PH (7.7-8.1 is my daily range). My ALK is  stable around 8. My protein skimmer uses a CO2 scrubber in a recirculating configuration. 
 

I live in a 1 bedroom NYC (800 sqft) apt without central AC/Heat. My gas

burning stove/range is also not vented. I had hoped that the CO2 scrubber would help with the Low PH, and it has to some degree (it was 7.5-7.9) but the PH is not where I want it for good acro growth. 
 

I have noticed that opening my windows rapidly increases my ph, but I cannot always have them open. Also with the aquarium being on the inside of the building and the apartment being a rental I cannot make any modifications. 
 

with the current recirculating design my CO2 absorbent is lasting much longer and I do  not feel that CO2 is being incorporated to the tank in that manner. My guess is that it is just diffusing across the surface of the tank.

 

I ordered a room CO2 monitor to test ambient air CO2 and it should be in this weekend. 

 

I have been chatting with Randy Holmes on Reef2Reef and he suggested that I switch my Ca and Alk doing you kalkwasser as it provides pure hydroxide ions and will raise PH. I have also thought about adding a macro algae reactor on a reverse schedule. 
 

any thoughts or advice? 

[William]

I have decided to make a few changes to my  system. I am going to replace my current biopellet reactor with a BRS biopellet reactor mounted on the inside of my stand. This should hopefully increase my in sump real estate. I also ordered supplies from BRS to make a manifold off my return pump that will power both my biopellet reactor and UV sterilizer. 
 

The main reason for this change is to create room for a Skimz macroalgae reactor. The primary reason for the reactor is not nutrient control but to absorb CO2.  I recently lowered my ALK from ~11 to ~8 and have noticed a significant drop in Ph.
 

I purchased an air CO2 monitor and found that the CO2 concentration in my apartment with the windows closed is 1000-2000 ppm (based on number of people in the apartment and weather or not the gas stove has been used). Outside air CO2 concentration is around ~400 ppm. 

In addition to the macro algae reactor I will start dosing Kalkwasser. I Purchased a TLF Kalkwasser reactor but may return it as it is much larger than I anticipated. I may try to create some kind of DIY Kalk reactor. 

 

 

 

 

[William]

After a few glasses of wine and reading a thread by Dana Riddle on the Reefi dou extreme lights I went ahead and ordered one. While I’m not unhappy with my current lighting setup (2x Red Sea Reef LED 90 running at 75%), I do feel like there are some colors that are more muted than other (yellow, orange, etc). 
 

I talked to the owner of Reefi and he said that he would let me return the light (minus shipping and PayPal fees) if I’m not happy with it on my tank. I plan to keep my Red Sea lights until I make a final decision on it. 

[banasophia]

How’s the trident? Should I get one? 

[William]

11 hours ago, banasophia said:

How’s the trident? Should I get one? 

I love it, yes!

[William]

Yesterday I helped my friend (also named William) set up a Waterbox 18” cube fresh water. I’m pretty happy with the way it turned out. 

[banasophia]

58 minutes ago, William said:

Yesterday I helped my friend (also named William) set up a Waterbox 18” cube fresh water. I’m pretty happy with the way it turned out. 

Looks great, very nice scape

[xiaoxiy]

You'll have to let me know how that SKIMZ MacroAlgae reactor works for your PH. I had one and unfortunately didn't shift my PH :(.

[William]

6 hours ago, xiaoxiy said:

You'll have to let me know how that SKIMZ MacroAlgae reactor works for your PH. I had one and unfortunately didn't shift my PH :(.

Why did you stop using it?