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Murphs_Reef

Updated schedule

 

Every 3 days - feed the tank, mysis and rotifers. 

 

Weekly

  • Friday - parameters tested, salinity, temp check, alk, ca, NO3, PO4, mag.
  • Saturday - 10% water change, clean glass and sand. Dose as per test results - ca, alk, mag. Refill ATO chamber, see if @afcajax73 wants to go coral shopping 😂

Monthly

  • Change Matrix Carbon
  • Clean out sump, return pump, skimmer
  • Haha 1
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Murphs_Reef

 I'M SUMPED - BACK TO FRONT!  

After doing more research into sump design I now believe that my sump has been installed the wrong way around.

The drain feeds chamber one which has a bubble trap, is too small for a skimmer (bubble Magus c3.5) and a standard 4inch sock holder. The return is in a larger chamber but the water level restricting baffle is so low that should the water level fall on the failure of the ATO or what ever, it would run pretty much dry. 

 

What a pain in the ass. This has contributed to more microbubbles in the display as well as not having the right room in the right place to build my refugium without a media basket, filter sock holder being to big for chamber 1 as well so had to DIY a holder as well as a few other little pains. 

IMG_20210429_084901.jpg

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I think you're right, looking left to right, it should be:

  • Top off water reservoir
  • Return chamber
  • Bubble trap
  • Refugium
  • Drain output / skimmer chamber

You could physically turn the sump around to help with the plumbing.  You might have to move the 45 up above the ball valve to move the drain further out.

 

It looks like the emergency drain empties into the fuge.  While this is alright, as it shouldn't be that much water, I might add a couple of 45s to direct it into the same chamber as the primary drain.  Also, ball valves are good at turning things on and off, not quite as good as gate valves for precise flow adjustments. 

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Murphs_Reef
4 hours ago, seabass said:

I think you're right, looking left to right, it should be:

  • Top off water reservoir
  • Return chamber
  • Bubble trap
  • Refugium
  • Drain output / skimmer chamber

You could physically turn the sump around to help with the plumbing.  You might have to move the 45 up above the ball valve to move the drain further out.

 

It looks like the emergency drain empties into the fuge.  While this is alright, as it shouldn't be that much water, I might add a couple of 45s to direct it into the same chamber as the primary drain.  Also, ball valves are good at turning things on and off, not quite as good as gate valves for precise flow adjustments. 

Yeah for sure. I think I'll do a bit of planning and get a gate as the ball valve is painful (and to be fair is close to impossible to get a balance, a 1mm turn makes a very big impact on flow). 

The reason I ended up researching was that I just couldn't understand why the skimmer wouldn't fit in the drain, thinking maybe it was just a poor design.. 

2 hours ago, awakedॢ said:

2 many rooms for refugium on my eyes~👀
very clean btw,,,👍🏻

Thanks. The tank is my pride and joy, it gets cleaned more that the house 😂

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Murphs_Reef

Thank the good god! NO3 and PO4 have come up, not had any GHA for weeks and cyano is a bit better.....

Mag is jumping about a bit so going to test the salt mix to see how sky rocket it is before it hits the tank..

 

Friday 30/04 18:50

CURRENT PARAMETERS 

Temp: 24.5 °C

NO3 (Salifert): 10 ppm

PO4 (Hanna): 0.03 ppm

SG (TMC): 1.025

dKh (Salifert): 9.6

Ca (Salifert): 450 ppm

Mag (Salifert): 1400 ppm

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Murphs_Reef
2 hours ago, seabass said:

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Good game; but Galaxian might have been better.

Haha come on, you know I'm a sucker for a campaign name... It makes me want to buy them more when they have daft names! 🤣

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Murphs_Reef

This lad took a right beating during the GHA spell I had. Now all the GHA and cyano is gone you can see the extent of the receding flesh on the branch. He's got a bit of colour back, my old mucker Duncan.

First coral I got when I restarted in the hobby last April, single polyp, now has 7 with 2 new fellas growing.

This picture was taken an hour after 10% water change. I must be getting smoother with WC in the bigger tank now as after my first few, I not only had every coral closed up nice and tight but the living room looked like a bomb had hit it 🤣

IMG_20210504_163042.jpg

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Murphs_Reef

Found a little Aiptasia in the sump. Wonder if that came from the cheato as there was quite a lot of stars and worms in it. Can't see any in the display but I have my old mate peppermint to sort that if needed.

 

CURRENT PARAMETERS 

Temp: 24.5 °C

NO3 (Salifert): 5.0 ppm

PO4 (Hanna): 0.02 ppm

SG (TMC): 1.026

dKh (Salifert): 9.3 

Ca (Salifert): 450 ppm

Mag (Salifert): 1400 ppm

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Murphs_Reef

Took the temp up 0.5 degrees, phosphate has crashed maybe I'm water changing to regular.

4 more hermits added this week.

 

CURRENT PARAMETERS 

Temp: 25 °C

NO3 (Salifert): 5.0 ppm

PO4 (Hanna): 0.00 ppm

SG (TMC): 1.025

dKh (Salifert): 9.8

Ca (Salifert): 450 ppm

Mag (Salifert): 1450 ppm

 

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Murphs_Reef

I'm working through an issue with cyanobacteria at the moment, which by the way is a much better place that fighting GHA in my book!. I had an issue with it post my GHA battle which was short lived.

It starting last week so I started dosing half measure liquid N & P (more on that and testing in a moment)...

 

As a side note, I have increased water volume in the sump by 12 litres this week, so now when the return is switched off, the sump completely fills. 

 

Filtration reminder: 

  • Bubble magus C3.5 with a bit of a wetter skim.
  • 2 x mantis blocks in a slow flow are of the sump
  • Container of cheato on reverse lighting in the sump
  • Red Sea 225 macron filter sock swapped out with a clean one every 3 days regardless of how dirty it is. Though this morning it was red with cyanobacteria in areas so pulled it and replaced with a clean sock. 
  • Of course 19kg live rock pretty mature now and 8 kg of sand. 

Latest parameter: 

  • NO3 (Salifert): 5.0 ppm
  • PO4 (Hanna): 0.00 ppm

Temp and salinity are pretty stable. (you can see parameters in the above post)

Mag and alk do swing but I would attribute this to take up by coral and then water changes.  I don't monitor pH.

 

Feeding: 

 

I feed 1 cube of frozen mysis (TMC) every 3 days and do not feed anything else. 

 

Dosing:

 

I restart dosing quantum LR Nitrate and phosphate removers on a half dose (this is a cautious measure due to test results & assumptions) as I think what the test results are telling me is that the nutrients are being consumed by the bacteria quickly, coral growth had slowed since seeing the cyanobacteria but since restarting dosing has not been positively or negatively impacted further.

 

Water changes:

  • Weekly 10% on a Saturday is maintained matching temp and key parameters (mag, Ca, alk). 
  • RO top offs via the TMC top up. 

Picture as the lights being their ramp up, you can see it beginning to reform mats on the sand bed. 

PXL_20210519_103633535.jpg

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  • Murphs_Reef changed the title to murphs_reef 92G - retired, thanks guys

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