Susan's RS Reefer 3xl 900 Fantasy-Dream Build

[TigerReef]

Susan, I'm not sure why but I have not been getting notifications for your updates. I was sitting here at work this morning and I realized... I MISSED DAVE!! So I unwatched and rewatched your thread. Hopefully this resolves the issue.

Anywho, I am all caught up and came back to say that your tank looks amazing! I've been lurking with you since you resurrected the 125. (still gives me nightmares!) Keep the photos and updates coming! I love seeing your progress and Hubby's ingenuity.

 

[Susan Edwards]

Susan, I'm not sure why but I have not been getting notifications for your updates. I was sitting here at work this morning and I realized... I MISSED DAVE!! So I unwatched and rewatched your thread. Hopefully this resolves the issue.

Anywho, I am all caught up and came back to say that your tank looks amazing! I've been lurking with you since you resurrected the 125. (still gives me nightmares!) Keep the photos and updates coming! I love seeing your progress and Hubby's ingenuity.

wow and thanks @TigerReef. I'll have to get a new pic of Dave. Last time I saw him he was on the big middle arch of all places!

I've lost "watch" threads too. Not sure how or why. Glad you are back, and that 125 did get to the nightmare stage haha

 

[blaxsun]

So any new Dave updates?

 

[Susan Edwards]

So any new Dave updates?

Lol's. Haave to find the beast again... Last time I saw him he was on the middle of the arch! Silly cuc! This was a month ago

 

[Susan Edwards]

Okay, not sure if I've been bad, or just more relaxed lately haha. Or possibly, busy! But I seem to be getting very relaxed with my tank lol's. In some ways I think this is good. I'm not test every other day or constantly sitting with nose to glass. The good part, the tank is doing very well without my angsting over every little thing. Bad is I'm getting rather slow and lazy at dealing with some things. Haven't even changed the socks as often. It has taken a bit to get no3 up so I've left them be a bit longer.

1st numbers: Last tested 3/16
No3 8
po4 .29 getting a bit high here.

Yesterdays test almost a month later
No3 11.6 still okay
po4 5.9 oops way too high. Added boyds elite and some phosguard
ca 480
mg 1500
alk 9.3 a bit higher than I like. Maybe due to using nyos alk powder so need to adjust

So testing is okay except for po4.

Corals: Had lost my tenius last month but not sure why . gone in 3 days. This week, lost a torch. Same thing. Just gone over a few days. 1 acros seems to have lost some color at the base where it has spread and embedded. Not sure if the higher po4 is the reason but will keep an eye on it. All ese seems to be thriving

Fish: All seem good. Some of the new fish just disappeared. The sleeper tiger watchman at least survived and the fish from the 45g are all doing good. In fact, the tail spot blenny seems happier--out and about a lot and not in constant hid mode. The yellow watchman and pistol (getting huge) took over the area that the barber goby and pistol had. Found the pistol at the left end of the middle arch and the goby is under at the right end. I hope they find each other again!

Still have tons of maintenance to do. and some glass scrubbing to do with a razor--got too lazy on the sides a nd now the algae is harder to get off lol's. Bad me. The peppermint shrimps I put in the sump--2nd sump with inlets/outlets covered with mesh screen seem to have taken care of the aiptasia down there. I spotted one in the display. got joes juice coming to try. There is a few in the first chamber to also hit. Also discovered ton's of ampipods in there so when I remove the filter floss, will try to swish in a pitcher of water to save.

Have sat off so will try to allotte some time to the glass, moving a couple of corals (galaxie is sending out 6"+ stingers) and soak the gyre and mp40 on the left side to clean. Still waiting on hubby to help me with changing the uv bulb and fixing the hose

 

[Susan Edwards]

Okay, confession time. 1 reason for the "slacking" off is my new toy! An embroidery machine! So I've been busy playing and getting my etsy store back up. Here is a sample of what I've been doing

greeting cards--adult coloring for this one

diy quilt blocks

ghost garland

butterfly garland

 

[Susan Edwards]

time for an update. At least a quick one. I've lost 1 torch, half of another and 1 duncan has lost a couple heads. Last time I tested, on 5/1, my alk was 7.5. Low for me so I increased up to 172 ml a day. Tested again a couple days ago and it was 5.3! What the heck? I did like 2-3 days of manual dosing of 60 mil on top of the 172. Still low 5's yesterday. So I mixed up some separate Reef Builder alk. Just 2-3 teaspoons (didn't measure) into some ro water and added it. Today it was just over 6. So I repeated.

I know that there were a few days where my jar ran out but not for long enough to cause this. Only other thing I can think of is that I switched to nyos alk and maybe didn't mix it right. Maybe the right amt of powder but to too much RO. I did that with the Ca as I'm used to filling the jug all the way. No biggie there as my ca is over 500 anyway. So I ordered my additives from BRS and will switch back. I'd have to anyway as the nyos calcium is one jar for half a gal of water! Way too costly. So it was a try at a different brand that seems to have failed for me. My mg is also still over 1500.

So I added more nyos powder to the jug which was still half full. I'll do another dump of Reef Builder tonight and test in the AM.

I also did a 10 gal AWC which is 5% water change. Will do another 5 gal tomorrow and another 10 or 15 on Friday which will give me a 20% wc.

 

[Susan Edwards]

Yah! 7.6 Will continue to add to get to 8.6 and monitor while I use up what I have until my BRS gets here. Should help some "unhappy corals" now.

 

[Susan Edwards]

Alk is up to 8.9 so am relieved. Got my soda ash powder from BRS. Might mix it half and half with what I have already mixed. I hate waste.... Will continue to test every few days to keep an eye on it. When I do switch to the BRS I'll prob. have to lower the dosing amts. Will def. keep the reef builders on hand as that helped get my numbers back up.

 

[blaxsun]

So Susan, how's your summer shaping up?

 

[Susan Edwards]

So Susan, how's your summer shaping up?

Busy!! How about yours? Was just thinking I needed to update and catch up! Have a family reunion in Aug so am making 40 odd embroidered t shirts and a dozen canvas bags on my machine. Plus work. And working on my etsy shop to justify my baby lock emb. mach lol's. So my poor tank doesn't get as much TLC as it used to get lol's. Have my dads 90th b'day in Oct. so the year is def. a busy one.

Tank is hanging in there. Have so much maintenance to do. Like replacing UV bulb and tightening the hose--hubby has been busy getting his garden in. Should take apart every pump but I'm always afraid to do that in case it stops working! Haven't added anything for months now and don't plan too. Just letting what is there grow. A far cry from over a year ago lol's. But I need to take care of things first.

I had major alk drop and lost my big monti and most of a smaller one (sunset and capri) and a blasto. Basically everything else is going good. Somehow I prob. messed up the mix of the nyos alk I think? Or didn't get it dialed in from switching brands. Not sure. Got down to 5!! Back up now. Went back to brs brand and had been adding some alk buffer to boost things up. Dosing 182 ml day. Won't add any buffer for a few days and retest to see where I'm at. I'd prefer 8-9.
Today's tests: alk 10.1, Ca 470, Mg 1500+, No3 14.1, po4 .14

Tank looks good despite lack of attention. Got a couple aiptasia to hit with some joe's juice (done). Peppermint shrimp in sump took care of them in my 2nd sump. Some in 1st part but not sure I can have shrimp roaming free in the main area. Need to use my razors on the 2 ends as the flipper won't take care of that!! But I don't really view tank from the ends often lol's. I know. Still bad...

Have some equipment issues. Trident not working. Says no water sample and there is. Flushed the line and still nothing. Need to pull it out and see what I can do. Part of the replace program but might be over that warranty. Need to ck. Also, wifi went out and now the apex isn't connecting to fusion and can't seem to get it reconnected which means no ATO and doing by hand. Need to resolve that before my trip. @blaxsun any ideas on what to try?

I finally have a sand sifter who has survived. Tiger watchman Sleeper. My goni is out of this world 4-5 inch polys waving and the aussie duncan is long and flowy. One torch and the frogspawn doing well. Lost 2 torches. Need to reglue my big digi what got knocked off (done). Far as I can tell, all my fish are there. Yes, even all 6 of the danged damsels.

oh, think I spotted Dave in the back corner. Hard to to see... Dirty glass haha

Pictures in next post.

 

[blaxsun]

Busy!! How about yours?

About the same (busy!) I did some rewiring in my equipment cabinet (~2 hours of my life I'm not getting back), but I finally cleaned up the Radions and managed to get my ReefWaves on battery backup for the impending power outages this summer (managed to dodge them for several years, but I think I'm due soon).

Fish and parameters are generally stable - I'm now celebrating 2+ years without water changes (wheee!)

Sucks about the Trident. I had the same issue when I first got my Trident, but after taking it apart once it started working immediately (no problems since). Neptune makes a repair kit that you can buy for $79 or something that might be worth looking into.

As for the Apex, it could be a WiFi issue. Whenever mine gets disconnected and won't reconnect I reboot my ISP router/Internet and that usually reassigns IP addresses to resolve it. Have you tried running an Ethernet cable from your router directly to the Apex to bypass WiFi and see if it will connect that way? (not ideal, but it might allow you to "jury rig" it for your upcoming vacation)
..........

How's my favorite cucumber hanging in there?

 

[Susan Edwards]

update pics as of today

goni and watchman sleeper

Duncan

oregon blue tort

tyree pinky the bear One of my prides from a member here

 

[blaxsun]

Your corals look great! Did I mention I'm now up to seven (7) damselfish in my tank?

 

[Susan Edwards]

About the same (busy!) I did some rewiring in my equipment cabinet (~2 hours of my life I'm not getting back), but I finally cleaned up the Radions and managed to get my ReefWaves on battery backup for the impending power outages this summer (managed to dodge them for several years, but I think I'm due soon).

Fish and parameters are generally stable - I'm now celebrating 2+ years without water changes (wheee!)

Sucks about the Trident. I had the same issue when I first got my Trident, but after taking it apart once it started working immediately (no problems since). Neptune makes a repair kit that you can buy for $79 or something that might be worth looking into.

As for the Apex, it could be a WiFi issue. Whenever mine gets disconnected and won't reconnect I reboot my ISP router/Internet and that usually reassigns IP addresses to resolve it. Have you tried running an Ethernet cable from your router directly to the Apex to bypass WiFi and see if it will connect that way? (not ideal, but it might allow you to "jury rig" it for your upcoming vacation)
..........

How's my favorite cucumber hanging in there?

Big job doing the wiring! I have backups only for the mp40's but that doesn't do anything for surface tension. I should do something for the reefwaves. What did you get?

I'm almost 2 years with limited water changes--usually 5- over a week with awc. I think about 12-20% per the year and only if things get off. Tank doesn't seem to need it and I find it makes my numbers unstable for a while, plus the sump gets off. I'll ck the repair thng and maybe see if I can find a cable to see if I can get it to at least work and then get it to the wifi.

I think I spotted dave in the back corner. Glass so dirty can't see for sure haha Here is a pic end of april

 

[Susan Edwards]

Your corals look great! Did I mention I'm now up to seven (7) damselfish in my tank?

thanks. I like damsels except for the staghorn and clowns. My other damsels are pretty nice. at least they don't bite me!

 

[blaxsun]

Big job doing the wiring! I have backups only for the mp40's but that doesn't do anything for surface tension. I should do something for the reefwaves. What did you get?

An Icecap Battery Backup v3 will run a pair of ReefWave 45s for ~12-17 hours, so that's what I'm using now. Basically you turf the ReefWave power bricks and use the supplied y-power adapter for the ReefWaves that connects to the battery.

 

[Susan Edwards]

what a laugh!!! This morning, power went out for less than 5 minutes. And guess what is now working? The apex is now talking to fusion so now I can set my ato again!. Will do it tonight though so I'm here to watch it for the first few hours. Next time I know to just unplug the router....

 

[blaxsun]

what a laugh!!! This morning, power went out for less than 5 minutes. And guess what is now working? The apex is now talking to fusion so now I can set my ato again!. Will do it tonight though so I'm here to watch it for the first few hours. Next time I know to just unplug the router....

Yeah, whenever mine gets "stuck" - a reboot of my ISP router seems to be the only fix (hard powering and unplugging the Apex never seems to work).

 

[Susan Edwards]

Yeah, whenever mine gets "stuck" - a reboot of my ISP router seems to be the only fix (hard powering and unplugging the Apex never seems to work).

Yes, I tried the powering and unplugging and just gave up until I had more time to google. Maybe next week I can remove the trident and try to get that addressed. I want to remove from under cabinet anyway and put it more accessible. Got 3d printed wall mounts.