Thomas' CADE Reef 1500 S2

[Royce023]

Bicarb or chloride? Also how much you dosing? I'm doing about 5mL of 13.5g/L ammonium bicarbonate solution daily.

Bicarbonate in a 20g/L solution to about a 200g system volume tank. I started at 8mL/day and my nitrates went from 0 to 0.4 in about 1.5 weeks. I increased it to 10 mL/day recently. I’ll check next week and will increase it more. Perhaps my goal is 6-10 since my phos is around 0.06.

 

[Darkxerox]

First update of the year, some ups and downs. My original three anthias died one by one after becoming all I could explain as catatonic. No bullying, in fact the others actively tried to encourage them to come out and swim, but they stopped eating. Treating one with prazi and hypo did nothing, using live foods etc., so I'm guessing they just reached end of life. Added 7 young ones from @under_water_ninja but they didn't liven up whichever one was catatonic:

As most have seen I've been trying to actively tackle lyngbya and have gotten pretty busy the past couple months as the tank was on autopilot. Lost one maxima that got choked out by the lyngbya and wouldn't open much afterwards.

In late January I removed a bunch of the bigger colonies and traded them to @nlopedota for one of the specific board and Wi-Fi chip Vortech combos I needed.

This splatter hammer from @tribbitt started as a 2mm nub about a year and a half ago:

Spent some time cleaning the tank and mounting corals. This is how it is now which looks better than before. Also got a nice acantho from @coralexotic taken with my new Reef Delight lens port from Champion Lighting (I fixed the framing later but notice there's no light reflection compared to the older shots above):

Let's see if I can get these milles to grow now!

 

[Darkxerox]

Here's a video too:

 

[nlopedota]

First update of the year, some ups and downs. My original three anthias died one by one after becoming all I could explain as catatonic. No bullying, in fact the others actively tried to encourage them to come out and swim, but they stopped eating. Treating one with prazi and hypo did nothing, using live foods etc., so I'm guessing they just reached end of life. Added 7 young ones from @under_water_ninja but they didn't liven up whichever one was catatonic:

View attachment 77793

As most have seen I've been trying to actively tackle lyngbya and have gotten pretty busy the past couple months as the tank was on autopilot. Lost one maxima that got choked out by the lyngbya and wouldn't open much afterwards.

View attachment 77800

In late January I removed a bunch of the bigger colonies and traded them to @nlopedota for one of the specific board and Wi-Fi chip Vortech combos I needed. View attachment 77794View attachment 77795View attachment 77796This splatter hammer from @tribbitt started as a 2mm nub about a year and a half ago:View attachment 77797
Spent some time cleaning the tank and mounting corals. This is how it is now which looks better than before. Also got a nice acantho from @coralexotic taken with my new Reef Delight lens port from Champion Lighting (I fixed the framing later but notice there's no light reflection compared to the older shots above):

View attachment 77798

Let's see if I can get these milles to grow now!

View attachment 77799

Thank you everything is doing well. Glad the chip worked for you.

 

[spuri87]

looks great @Darkxerox, thanks for sharing.. I love looking at Anthias and CBBs, but dont want to add them to my tank since they are so hard to take care of.. (well, dont have space anymore, but this was when I was finalizing the list of fish I want to keep).. and if someone with as much as experience as you had a few losses, that pushes me back even more.. sorry for your loss

qq: are those MP40s? I want more flow in my tank, got 2 Orbit 4s right now.. was reading about MP40s, but suggestion is to add them at the back to avoid the wire clutter on the outside, which made sense to me.. But I dont have enough space at the back of the tank to put them so didnt invest in these yet.. Do the wires look terrible on the sides? Also, Are you happy with the flow?

 

[Darkxerox]

So cleaned some things up and stopped the peroxide dosing. The fourth MP40 seems to have fixed the primary dead spot in the bottom left. Still breaking it in before I sync it up with the wave engine.

The hologram hammer I got from Kay's Coral Cove seems to be frogging out:

Got some fun cleanup crew from Reef Cleaners (fuzzy chitons that came on clam shells, money cowries, pithos, conchs, some cute porcelain crabs, and a monster arrow crab).

Trying to catch the flasher wrasse though since he's turned into a supermale ass. Lost a couple of the mille frags too after they got knocked down into the sand. Otherwise the tank is doing ok.

 

[Darkxerox]

Oh also I finally got the HRV installed. Went from 1100ppm CO2 when we wake up to 550ppm. Might try increasing the flow rate at night. Thanks for the tip @iani !

Can see the improvement in pH at night, never drops below 8 now (installed after the Chemiclean drop on 3/29). Peak is above 8.2 during the day consistently too. And I'm not constantly opening and closing windows

 

[iani]

Oh also I finally got the HRV installed. Went from 1100ppm CO2 when we wake up to 550ppm. Might try increasing the flow rate at night. Thanks for the tip @iani !

Can see the improvement in pH at night, never drops below 8 now (installed after the Chemiclean drop on 3/29). Peak is above 8.2 during the day consistently too. And I'm not constantly opening and closing windows
View attachment 78749

Which hrv did you get?

 

[Darkxerox]

Which hrv did you get?

It's a Fantech Atmo HRV. I forgot the model number and flow rate. Basically the unit is in the attic with the intake for the "bad" air in the living room ceiling (top right). That runs through the unit then exhausts outside the house. The intake for the fresh air outside is further away outside the house then comes back into the hallway.

 

[MolaMola]

First update of the year, some ups and downs. My original three anthias died one by one after becoming all I could explain as catatonic. No bullying, in fact the others actively tried to encourage them to come out and swim, but they stopped eating. Treating one with prazi and hypo did nothing, using live foods etc., so I'm guessing they just reached end of life. Added 7 young ones from @under_water_ninja but they didn't liven up whichever one was catatonic:

View attachment 77793

As most have seen I've been trying to actively tackle lyngbya and have gotten pretty busy the past couple months as the tank was on autopilot. Lost one maxima that got choked out by the lyngbya and wouldn't open much afterwards.

View attachment 77800

In late January I removed a bunch of the bigger colonies and traded them to @nlopedota for one of the specific board and Wi-Fi chip Vortech combos I needed. View attachment 77794View attachment 77795View attachment 77796This splatter hammer from @tribbitt started as a 2mm nub about a year and a half ago:View attachment 77797
Spent some time cleaning the tank and mounting corals. This is how it is now which looks better than before. Also got a nice acantho from @coralexotic taken with my new Reef Delight lens port from Champion Lighting (I fixed the framing later but notice there's no light reflection compared to the older shots above):

View attachment 77798

Let's see if I can get these milles to grow now!

View attachment 77799

So many great things going on in that tank. Great growth, love those anthias, never heard of that lens port. Gonna be watching those milles now.

 

[Patio]

Did your Lens Port come with a clip? I received just the port with no way of attaching to phone (also no instructions included). To use do I need to purchase another piece with a clip or let champion know I did not receive all parts?

 

[PjFish]

It's a Fantech Atmo HRV. I forgot the model number and flow rate. Basically the unit is in the attic with the intake for the "bad" air in the living room ceiling (top right). That runs through the unit then exhausts outside the house. The intake for the fresh air outside is further away outside the house then comes back into the hallway. View attachment 78757

When I was looking into them a few years back the technician/ contractor recommended an ERV instead of an HRV which he said works better for the Bay Area climates with hot summers. He said HRV are used more in colder/dryer climates. Only had one company give an estimate which they said could utilize my existing furnace duct work.
Maybe the build of the home makes a difference? All my bathrooms have exhaust fans but when their off fresh air enters the house and more so if windy like a down draft..
Wondering if an HRV would be better with the extra humidity from our fish tanks inside?

 

[iani]

When I was looking into them a few years back the technician/ contractor recommended an ERV instead of an HRV which he said works better for the Bay Area climates with hot summers. He said HRV are used more in colder/dryer climates. Only had one company give an estimate which they said could utilize my existing furnace duct work.
Maybe the build of the home makes a difference? All my bathrooms have exhaust fans but when their off fresh air enters the house and more so if windy like a down draft..
Wondering if an HRV would be better with the extra humidity from our fish tanks inside?

I do not know, I have a small Panasonic ERV in my office that runs 24/7. I do not notice any moisture issues.

 

[Darkxerox]

Did your Lens Port come with a clip? I received just the port with no way of attaching to phone (also no instructions included). To use do I need to purchase another piece with a clip or let champion know I did not receive all parts?

@Patio I ordered the combo from Todd so it came with the port and the clip on lenses. However it works with my icecap one too.

@MolaMola in down to just one mille due to frags falling into the sand. I've found that the BRS glue seems to fail for me after about 4 months so I switched to Polyp Lab hoping it's better.

@PjFish yeah since we have so much humidity coming off the tank, the HRV is what my HVAC guy recommended. I was getting condensation forming in my lights during the winter at night and on the windows. It really depends how tightly sealed your house is, mine is pretty well sealed since it was remodeled 13 years ago, but doesn't have bathroom fans running 24/7 like some new construction does.

The house also doesn't stink at all anymore after being closed up all day if I forget to take out the compost bag or if the skimmer is really full which is a plus.