Stolireef--New SPS Build

[sirreal63]

There will be a period of changing results in the beginning. You have bacteria living and dieing so the levels will change until an equilibrium is reached. Did you test Nitrites?

[jda]

It can take months. Just chill out and wait.

Also, don't do anything to speed it up or it will just cause you issues later. Mechanical (other than a skimmer) or chemical filtration should be avoided for a LONG time.

[Stolireef]

Originally Posted by sirreal63

There will be a period of changing results in the beginning. You have bacteria living and dieing so the levels will change until an equilibrium is reached. Did you test Nitrites?

Originally Posted by jda

It can take months. Just chill out and wait.

Also, don't do anything to speed it up or it will just cause you issues later. Mechanical (other than a skimmer) or chemical filtration should be avoided for a LONG time.

Sirreal: I should have thought of checking the nitrites. Just too early in the morning and not enough coffee. Sure enough, they are at over 4ppm so it is starting to cycle.

JDA, always good advice. I'm not in any kind of rush. I was just curious as to whether BIO Spira works as advertised. Based upon the movement of both the ammonia and nitrite numbers, it's definitely doing something. I don't plan the introduction of any livestock for at least three weeks and even then, it will be a very slow process. I'm more of a coral keeper than a fish keeper and the fish load will stay pretty low.

Tentatively planning on the following fish in the following order (keep in mind that this is a 110 with about 130 total water volume supported by over 100 lbs of rock and a Vertex 180i skimmer).

1. Week 3-4 depending on numbers. Either a black capped basslet or a royal gramma
2. Week 6-8. Helfrichi fire fish (yeah expensive but I just love the way they look).
3. Week 10-12. Long nose hawk fish.
4. Week 16-18. Some kind of fairy wrasse or two
5. Week 20-24. Yellow tang and either a powder blue tang or a purple tank. Little worried about keeping a yellow and purple together since they are so similar in body shape.
6. At the 8 month mark, depending upon pod production, I will likely add a mandarin.

All of the above is subject to changes but relative to the size of the tank, I don't expect dramatic changes in the numbers or sizes of the fish. I know that the powder blue will outgrow my tank but I have several local friends with 500+ gallon tanks that would be happy to take him/her when he gets that big.

[reefmutt]

Do you use a UV sterilizer? I think I recall reading somewhere that uv can convert some Nitrite back to ammonia.. could be way off here.. maybe it's the revers.. maybe I should just shut up...
At any rate.. you are doing the right thing.. waiting it out..

[Stolireef]

No UV sterilizer.

[zibba]

Ahem....http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2629007

Consider it!

I have a nice yellow tang in my frag tank when you're ready and if you decide to go with the yellow vs. purple. I'd recommend not going with a yellow and purple though. Tried two convicts and two yellows in my tank and removed one of each when I did the swap. They were just too hard on each other. After two years in the tank together, they never calmed down. Finally both singles and look and act much happier.

Get a smaller powder blue and you'll have it for a very long time before you need a bigger home (if at all). Blue hippos grow fast; PBTs, not so much.

Like the other stocking plans.

[Stolireef]

Day 2 of pure ammonia/Bio-Spira cycle. Ammo is at around 1.5 and Nitrites are above 4 (highest reading on Salifert kit). Moving right along.

New Vertex skimmer is set to arrive today. Won't be seeing any action for a while but at least I'll have something new to play with.

WXM module also arrived yesterday. I'm going to use it to control the MP40s since I really hate playing with the three little buttons (reminds me of the three shells in Demolition Man). I don't know why Ecotech can't add a little LCD screen to guide you through the setup.

Also installing a better 500W titanium heater. Old one was keeping up but I don't trust old heaters. Also will be calibrating ph probe today just for kicks.

[Stolireef]

The ups and downs of reef equipment...
Installed a new Finnex 500W heater. Really nice piece of equipment, hooked it up to the Apex and it was keeping my tank at 78 degrees dead on.

Speaking of my &^%%*( Apex...
Tried to hook up the WXM module. Mounted it, plugged it in and in seconds, it was found by the head unit on the local display. One hour later, I finally call Neptune to find out why Fusion wasn't seeing it only to be told that only the new Apex will pick up the WXM module in Fusion. You have to use the regular Apex web interface to find it. So, punch in the IP address of the Apex and ...

Cannot connect. Still have an open ticket with Neptune to figure out what's going on. Yes, checked IP, Port, Firewall, etc. So, no control over Ecotech yet...

Speaking of Ecotech, have I mentioned how much I hate the three little buttons. I still can't get my older MP40 to go into slave mode. I really really hate the three little buttons.

Tomorrow should be fun.

[Stolireef]

Day 3 of pure ammonia/Bio-Spira cycle. Ammo is at around 1.5 and Nitrites are above 4 (highest reading on Salifert kit). Ammo down to .25 and nitrites down to 2. I'll start testing Nitrates tomorrow.

[Stolireef]

Got an early start and pulled the Vertex out of the box. I have to say it appears to be one of the best made pieces of equipment I've seen in a while. It's at least as well made as my Geo Ca RX and that's really saying quite a bit. I also love (at least in theory) the screw on collector cup. Way easier to use than the normal O ring push on cups. It won't be put in the sump until the cycle is complete but overall, it's a major step up from my previous Reef Octopus Classic 150 Int.

[Stolireef]

I guess I spoke soon. The skimmer body has a crack where the water exits and the pump appears to be both damaged and disconnected from the base plate. Fortunately, I'm dealing with Marine Depot so I'm not worried about getting this taken care of. More fortunately, I won't need to skim for at least a few weeks so it's not an emergency.

[zibba]

Sorry to hear about the skimmer. Oh man. You're right though, it's not needed for awhile but it would be nice to have it online to start breaking in (don't have to set it to skim anything, just keep bubbles breaking very low in the body).

[Stolireef]

Just a shout out to Marine Depot. One five minute call and a new skimmer is on its way. I was also able to get the WXM online. Now just have to figure out how to slave the pumps.

[Stolireef]

Day 4 of pure ammonia/Bio-Spira cycle. Ammo is undetectable, nitrites a little less than 2, Nitrates at around 50. So the cycle is moving nicely. I'll be adding some additional ammonia when the nitrites drop to 0. By middle of next week, both Ammo and nitrites should be at 0 and then comes the first big water change.

[Stolireef]

Also got the WXM module all set up. For those of you with an Apex and wireless MP40's this is a god send. No more playing with the three little buttons. No fancy progamming. Just play with the built in charts and modes in Fusion. Right now I'm running Reef Crest at about 80 percent on anti-sync. Looks really good.

[epon]

Just an idea for a a water making solution if you're looking for another in the future. I havn't tried this yet but in concept it should work. Using a JBJ auto top off, one float at the bottom of your water bin to turn on a 12v john guest type valve. The second float switch is at the top just below a backup float valve that the rodi feeds from. The second swicth up top will be set to turn the 12v water valve off. So until the jbj malfunctions the water making should be automated with as large a cycle as your water container is. Build is lookin good !

[Stolireef]

Day 5 of pure ammonia/Bio-Spira cycle. Ammo is undetectable, nitrites a little less than <1, Nitrates at around >100.

So far I'd say the Bio-Spira is working as advertised. Then again, this isn't a particularly scientific study where I had a control system cycling without Bio-Spira. That said, processing 2ppm Ammonia to 0 in less than 5 days is pretty fast and the way the nitrates are climbing, I can't complain.

[reefmutt]

That certainly went well!
Curious to see how long no3 takes to drop..
When will you add livestock?

Good to hear about your skimmer. Several years ago (3-4), my rlss db10i arrived with a cracked body and a loose Allan key in the box.. I'm still waiting for a reply.. I fixed the crack myself with methalyne chloride.
Should have bought it from Marine Depot! Nice to hear great customer service stories like that.

[Stolireef]

Originally Posted by reefmutt

That certainly went well!
Curious to see how long no3 takes to drop..
When will you add livestock?

Good to hear about your skimmer. Several years ago (3-4), my rlss db10i arrived with a cracked body and a loose Allan key in the box.. I'm still waiting for a reply.. I fixed the crack myself with methalyne chloride.
Should have bought it from Marine Depot! Nice to hear great customer service stories like that.

I'm currently also cycling my QT tank (10 gallon) and expect to start QT'ing a black cap basslet and perhaps a fairy wrasse in about two weeks. So, I'd expect to add the first livestock around the second week of April.

As I mentioned earlier, I used the Bio-Spira more out of curiosity than because I was in a rush. I'm also picking up a few pieces of live rock from a trusted LFS today since I'm a little concerned that the Bio-Spira may not provide sufficient microbial variety.

[Stolireef]

Day 6 of pure ammonia/Bio-Spira cycle. Ammo is undetectable, nitrites a little less than <.5, Nitrates at around >100. Based on the last few days, I'm going to stop testing ammonia and keep testing nitrites until they are at 0 for a couple of days. I also added a piece of live rock to my sump. I'd like to see how long it takes to help with nitrates.

[Stolireef]

Just picked up this handy dandy solenoid valve. It will be installed on the feed line to my RO/DI unit and will allow me to completely automate ATO. High/low sensors in my reservoir connected to the Apex will open and close the valve. It also has a really cool feature that allows you to manually open the valve. I have to splice in some extra wire so the plug can reach the Apex but otherwise, it's basically plug and play. No more manually refilling reservoir.

BTW, it's great having Spectrapure right here in town. The owner actually did the entire setup of the valve for me. Great guy and great company.

[Stolireef]

Hi/Low sensors arrive tomorrow so goodbye manually refilling ATO. Also received and installed the Vertex Omega 180i skimmer today. Breaking in nicely. What a beautifully designed and built piece of equipment.

[Myka]

Fun thread so far!

If the dimensions of 48 x 30 x 24" are not a typo your tank is actually 150 gallons.

[Stolireef]

Yep. Typo. It's 20 inches high.

Sent from my SM-G935V using Tapatalk

[Stolireef]

Installed the solenoid valve for the ATO. Waiting on the breakout boxes and the high low sensors. For the ATO reservoir, I have three levels of safety for autoshutoff. First will be the high/low sensors on the Apex. Second, I have a pressure solenoid that will shut off flow of water to RO/DI unit if the water level in the reservoir gets too high. Finally, I have a float switch that will stop the flow before it overflows the reservoir.

I've ordered a third sensor for my sump so that if all else fails, and the ATO keeps feeding the sump, it will shut off the solenoid on the RO/DI feed.