Reefer 250 build

[2000se]

so after having the Vectra m1 for this long..do you still like it?

[tenurepro]

Yeah for sure! Great pump. Very quiet. Over kill for my system, but much quieter than jebao/jecod pump I started with. 2 minor complaints though; you need to buy a few extra things to hook it up; it doesn't come with any barbed connection. 2 not apex compatible


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[2000se]

I may have missed this piece of information, but at what level are you running the pump?

[tenurepro]

Originally Posted by 2000se

I may have missed this piece of information, but at what level are you running the pump?

About 40% (I calibrated the vectra so that 100% on the dial is only 80% of pump's max capacity, then set the dial to 55%, so roughly 40% output).
I use the vectra as a return but also to feed my fugue


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[2000se]

I'm still having a hard time understanding the feed mode and keeping the water level constant in the tank.

If the overflow is set to allow 500GPH to drain through it, and you put the pump into feed mode (I thought the pump would slow the output).

How does the overflow stay in sync with what the pump is outputting? Especially if the pump slows the output. (Let's say it drops to 300GPH).. Won't the over flow start draining down?
I hope I asked my question clear!

[Blitzer]

The overflow just overflows, so as water is pumped out of the sump, it displaces water from the tank into the overflow. How much water is cycled over time is determined by how much water is being pumped.

[Blitzer]

Hey Tenurepro, been following along with your build, just got my 250 in. One quick question for you on the MP10s, did you have to modify them at all in order to get them to hold onto the tank effectively? Just tried mine out and they're not super secure, so wondering if perhaps you took the foam/padding off either side?

[tenurepro]

Originally Posted by Blitzer

Hey Tenurepro, been following along with your build, just got my 250 in. One quick question for you on the MP10s, did you have to modify them at all in order to get them to hold onto the tank effectively? Just tried mine out and they're not super secure, so wondering if perhaps you took the foam/padding off either side?

Nope - no modification. They do stick better after they start building up with algae and tank bacteria. I try to give them a little grace period of low flow after cleanup. I take them apart and soak them in vinegar every few month. When I put them back on the tank, I run them at 20 % or so for a few hours before resuming regular programming. If I don't, then sometimes the wet side would spin when ramped up. Finally; make sure you give the inside and outside glass a good clean before installing... will help with adhesion.
Good luck and enjoy the 250!



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[tenurepro]

My thoughts on the bubble king mini 160 skimmer (gen 2) after 1 month of running in the tank.
The bubble king replaced a bubble magus curve a5 with the DC pump.

In terms of consistency; the bubble king is amazing. It started skimming on the first day, I have not had to adjust the water level at all. The number of times the bubble king overflowed on me is ..... ZERO.... ziltch.... nada. It produces roughly the same volume of skimmate every week.

To put things into perspective, the bubble magus curve a5 - at best - overflowed once every two weeks. It required adjusting every few days. It got so bad that I had to check on the curve skimmer three times a day just to make sure it is skimming and not on the verge of overflowing.

Perhaps the comparison is not fair. But On paper, the curve a5 is rated for 75 to 120 gal while the bubble king mini 160 is rated for 50 to 130 gal, so they are competing in the same sand box. But the bk is about twice as large as the bm in real life and the pump is twice as big, so clearly the BM rating is purely aspirational. The BK is clearly a better skimmer imho... it also costs 5x more new...so perhaps that is to be expected.

I do have one complaint about the BK mini 160. It is loud. When first installed, i measured 75 db right up next to the skimmer (where skimmer cup meets skimmer body). The noise subsided to 67 db after a few weeks of breaking in. (It is sitting on two silicone pads). I was told that it should quiet down more, and I hope it does, as it is currently the loudest bit of kit in the tank. The bubble magus was near silent.





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[tenurepro]

So I think my female Ornate leopard wrasse Ariel is transitioning. Sub-male now?
September 2016. Dark body, small spots


April 2017 above; light body, large spots


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[tenurepro]

Quick update. Things going well. Colors improving a lot on sps. Slowly ramping up radions - 1% per week. Parameters stable with alk at 8.6 to 9, ca 430 - 440, mg 1360, nitrates holding steady at 5 ppm, phosphates undetectable. Weekly water change of 15 liters. Dosing 7 tsp kalk in my 5 gallon ATO reservoir. Feeding 3x a day. Skimming wet.

Increased temp from 77.8 to 78.8f after some research (peer-reviewed scientific journals baby!) on optimal temp for sps growth. What I learned is that it varies for different species (expected) and different regions (also expected). Sps from the Red Sea like it a bit warmer. Interesting findings include: 1) acropora often grows faster in the winter than in the summer. 2) There is a clear temp sweet spot for growth. After this optimum temp is reached, growth quickly declines. 3) many corals bleach a few deg above their optimum temp. Saw 78.8f a lot in Australian and Hawaiian studies, so decided to set the temp there.

Red cyano has all but disappeared. Noticing a very bright green cyano in a few places on the sand, but not really spreading. This cyano turnover is interesting; when one thing dies, something else takes its place!

Noticing a change in the accumulation of algae / gunk on the glass. Last 4 to 5 month, maybe longer, glass got dirty super quick; every two days. But starting last week, glass has been looking good for 5 or so days. I cleaned it last Saturday and it's still looking good. I am taking that as an indicator that my corals and filter feeders are starting to out compete nuisance algae. But that may just be wishful thinking

Finally. A few of you will remember this ugly 'Cali tort' stick

That turned into this glorious mini colony that doesn't look like a Cali tort at all

Well, after a long search and consulting with some of the sps experts here and elsewhere, I am fairly confident that it is a Myagi tort (which may actually not be a tort at all... wish frags came with scientific names!). Cool!



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[Darthv247]

therevare so many types of acros that even science doesnt have names for all of them so difficult to tell the differences without extensive testing.

[tenurepro]

Little mishap with equipment yesterday: (ps I have the new apex)

Power / wifi went out at 4 am while sleeping. Woke up at 6 am to 1) tunze osmolator alarm sound; 2) apex heartbeat notifications saying apex has been disconnected for 2 hours. Inspected tank -> mp10s were on (controlled by apex wxm module but not plugged to Alex power bar). Some outlets on apex power bar were off (return, skimmer) while others were on (ato, heaters, doser). Because the return was off, the display temp had dropped by a few f. The water level in the sump increased prompting the tunze osmolator to alarm

I manually reset the apex which allowed it to connect to wifi again but 1) salinity prob immediately stopped working 2) power bar and everything plugged to it lost touch with the apex. I unplugged and replugged the connection between power bar and apex brain. This created a new 'module' that I could access and control on fusion, but i had to reprogram each outlet again; the old programming was stuck in the old 'module' that was no longer responsive.

This whole thing took about 10 min to figure out. Went to work and came back to find that my skimmer had overflowed and the ph spiked to 8.2; In my morning haste, I reprogrammed the power bar but forgot to change the pointers to the new power bar. So I had a custom feed mode at noon, which shuts down return for 15 min while my ehime autofeeder dispenses pellets. My skimmer and ato had a line that turned them off whenever the return was off; but it was still mapping to the 'old return' on the old module, not the new return on the new module... so return went off but skimmer was on, which overflowed. The skimmer removed two cups of water from tank into skimmer cup which the tunze osmolator replaced with freshwater loaded with kalk, raising the ph.

Everything is fixed now, except the salinity probe which is still down. Contacted apex about issue and waiting to hear back.

While I really like the apex, yesterday's experience opened up my eyes to a whole bunch of things that can go wonky. I think I will plug all life critical equipment to a regular power bar when I go on vacation. The return was set to 'on' whenever the apex disconnected from fusion, but obviously that didn't happen. Not cool Apex! Not cool!



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[pelphrey]

Sounds like an eventful morning! Hate that that happened! When I setup my apex classic I was ready to use everything Neptune. Situations like this made me rethink that plan. I refuse to allow the apex to control every piece of equipment, for instance I'll probably never run the WAV pumps simply because if the apex craps out the pumps will also.

I do have all of my equipment plugged into my EB8, if it craps out I am out of luck. Luckily I work 5 minutes from home. As you said I may plug critical components into my battery backup when I go on vacation to eliminate the apex. It's nice to have the apex control heaters, my lights and delay start my skimmer. The breakout box has nice functions for my setup as well.

Your experience is another example on why I won't let rely on a controller 100%. I don't regret my apex purchase, I'm happy with the few functions I am using. In the long run the classic was a great price I couldn't pass up.

Hope it gets squared away for you!

[dimasv]

Wow nice setup just really love the fish! You have deep sand do u touch it a or just let it be on its own?

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[tenurepro]

Originally Posted by pelphrey

Sounds like an eventful morning! Hate that that happened! When I setup my apex classic I was ready to use everything Neptune. Situations like this made me rethink that plan. I refuse to allow the apex to control every piece of equipment, for instance I'll probably never run the WAV pumps simply because if the apex craps out the pumps will also.

I do have all of my equipment plugged into my EB8, if it craps out I am out of luck. Luckily I work 5 minutes from home. As you said I may plug critical components into my battery backup when I go on vacation to eliminate the apex. It's nice to have the apex control heaters, my lights and delay start my skimmer. The breakout box has nice functions for my setup as well.

Your experience is another example on why I won't let rely on a controller 100%. I don't regret my apex purchase, I'm happy with the few functions I am using. In the long run the classic was a great price I couldn't pass up.

Hope it gets squared away for you!

I am with you. Like the controllability and the monitoring but the new system is not rock solid so shouldn't be relied on when one is away for too long. I am glad this happened while I was near by; I was starting to get a false sense of security with the system and was actually thinking of using it while away. Now I will get another power bar and plug the vectra, ato, skimmer, and one of my heaters into it.


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[tenurepro]

Originally Posted by dimasv

Wow nice setup just really love the fish! You have deep sand do u touch it a or just let it be on its own?

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Thanks! I love my sand dwelling wrasses so a decent sand bed is a must. I left the sand bed as it for the first 7.5 month, but only recently started to lightly vacuum it when doing water changes, in efforts to cut down on hidden detritus that may have contributed to my nitrate issues. I don't think it is making too much of a difference though. Nitrates are pretty stead at 5 ppm and vacuuming does not seem to influence the readings that much. I also have a healthy crew of sand dwelling snails; about 10 nassarius and 8 cerith snails


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[tenurepro]

Little update; things are mostly going well. Nitrate still at 5 ppm, phosphates are undetectable. I have been seeing a lot of accumulation of green slime cyano on my sand. I had a red cyano issue two month ago, but regular water changes made it go away. After the red cyano was gone, the green cyano started to take hold and the water changes don't seem to help. It was coating / irritating some of my corals on the sand bed so I decided to try out chemiclean
Here is before pic.

I dosed 6 scoops last night at 9 pm. Kept skimmer on but removed cup and let it overflow in sump.
12 hours later, noticing very obvious sings of recession

Sps and LPS seem normal and so do the fish. I repointed the return nozzle to increase surface agitation. Low o2 can be a problem with this treatment, but I think my massive skimmer is keeping the water nicely aerated - My display is full of microbubbles.


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[tenurepro]

24 h after dosing

[tenurepro]

10 month update video.
Added 1 more radion xr15 and two small power heads. Also chemiclean treatment did its job... but for how long? Sps are starting to look good and growing.
Enjoy
https://youtu.be/TVNtYVuQG9c


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[North Borders]

Hi there! I LOVE your tank!

I'm looking to upgrade from the Reefer Nano to the Reefer 250 in a month or two.

I have 2 quick questions for you. I was looking at doing Radion lights like you. Do you like the dual XR15's? Debating between 2 of those vs. 1 XR30.

Also, how are the mp10's doing for you? I have a pair on my Nano and wasn't sure if I could get them to work on the 250 as the glass is thicker. Some people have said they fall off, but it looks like you're having success? Debating selling my mp10's and picking up a pair of mp40's when I upgrade.

[North Borders]

Nvmd, I see you have 3 XR15's now in your video. How are you liking the 3 way setup?

[msquires]

Nice looking Wrasse!

[tenurepro]

Originally Posted by North Borders

Hi there! I LOVE your tank!



I'm looking to upgrade from the Reefer Nano to the Reefer 250 in a month or two.



I have 2 quick questions for you. I was looking at doing Radion lights like you. Do you like the dual XR15's? Debating between 2 of those vs. 1 XR30.



Also, how are the mp10's doing for you? I have a pair on my Nano and wasn't sure if I could get them to work on the 250 as the glass is thicker. Some people have said they fall off, but it looks like you're having success? Debating selling my mp10's and picking up a pair of mp40's when I upgrade.

Thanks Man! Regarding light; I like the spread of 2 x xr15 vs 1 x xr30; spread of 3 xr15 is a lot better than 2 xr15. It also depends on types of corals you plan to keep. You can get away with 1 xr30 or 2 xr15 in an LPS tank with sps right under the light. Scape also matters; the coverage of light gets bigger with depth away from surface, but at the expense of par. What kinds of corals are you planing on keeping; and will your scape vary a lot in height ?


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[tenurepro]

Also regarding the mp10s - they do work on the side. You have to ease them into operation first time and whenever you clean the wet side. Mount them and run them on constant for 40% or so for an hour, then crank them up as high as you want. If your put them on a high setting right away, the wet side will spin...

Like the radion question - how much flow you need is a function of the corals you plan to keep. 2 mp10s will be enough for softies and LPS. For sps, you aim to run at least 40x system volume per hour. You have to run both mp10s at above 80% to get that flow through. I don't have issues with the mp10s running at 80% or above with the reefer. If you have 2 x mp40s, then you would need to run them much lower % to get the same flow.

If you are starting from scratch, then maybe consider mp40s which would serve you well if you upgrade in the future. For me, I already had an mp10 for my nano and I picked up a second used for for a good deal.

- ps just saw that you have two mp10s now... I would stick with them, they WILL work on the reefer 250
https://youtu.be/Jg0e1fEbIRQ

You can always decide to upgrade later, but the mp10s will be good for up to 50x turnover on a reefer 250.


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