Reef Bruh's 600 Gallon Upgrade

Thanks for clearing that up pan.

 

Update

This update is related to the build but so far it has just been experimental.

For the past three to four months I converted my 225 to the Red Sea Program. If you don't know already(or if you do know then disregard) Red Sea has two types of salt, Red Sea Coral Salt and the Red Sea Coral Pro Salt. Up until a couple months ago I didn't know that each salt had a purpose. Red Sea Coral Salt is used for coral color with parameters of Calcium - 410, ALK - 7.7, and Magnesium - 1280. The Red Sea Coral Pro Salt is used for growth with maybe some color loss(meaning not losing total color but not the color achieved by the coral salt parameters) with parameters of Calcium - 450, ALK - 12.2, and Magnesium - 1340. And I have used both salts but in the opposite form. So now i am concentrating and dialing in with the Red Sea Coral Salt and using the Red Sea Coral Colors program.
Red Sea Reef Care -- Coral Coloration Program (episode 5/5) - YouTube

Along with the Colors Program, I am also doing the Algae Management Program as to keeping Nitrates and Phosphates at optimal levels depending on the type of program you are using with a product called NoPox.
Red Sea Reef Care - Algae Management Program (episode 3/5) - YouTube

Here is where it gets crazy. Before using the program I was using GFO, Bio Pellets, and on occasion doing a LaCl treatment all at the same time as I was fighting Phosphates and Nitrates(averaging around .3-.4 phosphates and 10 - 15 nitrates). I was doing alot of things trying to fix one thing and well basically i was messing my tank up. I started dosing the NoPox based on tank volume and type of tank, i.e. SPS, LPS, or Softies. After two weeks of dosing Nitrates dropped to .75 and phosphates dropped to .1. Before I started dosing I did stop the LaCl treatment, later I took the GFO offline, and later took the bio pellets offline because they began melting and turning black which I believe was because of the over carbon dosing with the NoPox. I hope I said that right.

The only problem I am experiencing is my phosphates are creeping up and down and I know its because of what I am feeding. Which food it is I don't know but at the moment I am trying each food per week to eliminate which food has the phosphates.

So the plan during this build is to have my coral colony/frag tank will utilize the growth program and the DT will have the color program.

Also I am wondering how I will do my refugium and whether to grow different macros or just use Chaeto. I read that Chaeto grows better if it was spinning and I didnt know how to make that happen so I made a mock up in my sump refugium and here is a video of the Chaeto spinning.

Chaeto Spinning in my Refugium - YouTube

Thanks everyone for your patience.

 

so are you happy with the nopox?

 

Good luyck on your current endeavors.

As far as the chaeto spinning- I say Poppycock!

My chaeto grows so well and is so big, it can't even 'spin' where it is.

Whoever says that, are they trying to tell me that somehow the water doesn't go around it unless it spins?

I do tuen it over about every day by hand.

 

hehheh hehheh hehheh you said umm. it seems you are doing it manually as I am using the powerheads. I am pretty sure its gonna grow to a point where the powerheads wont keep it spinning. But I plan on making my fuge a 75 so i will probably have more powerful powerhead in that tank to achieve the same results. I am pretty sure I will be turning it over with my hand as it grows.

Very happy. When I set up the tank I am going to dose it while it cycles and see if I can get the same if not better results.

 

Keep us posted on the RCP. Interested in hearing how it turns out for you.

I don't turn my chaeto over at all, but I did get MUCH better growth when I added my divider. My fuge has a 1/4" plexiglass divider in it. The back section is full of extra rock. The front section is for the chaeto. The divider has about 25 - 1/4" holes drilled through it. This forces the water to flow through the entire water column rather than scooting along the surface. With that, my entire chaeto ball has good flow through it. It grows until about 3/4 of that front section is full and then I remove some to take it back to somewhere in the 1/3 - 1/2 full range. Usually do that every 2-3 weeks.

 

This might be asking a lot but how is your fuge setup? I see the divider but I also see a five gallon bucket on top and all kind of pipes going in and out.

 

I finished my saltwater mixing bin.
This is the tee I made for the inside.


Then I drilled the holes to help keep the salt suspended and mixed.


This is how it looks on the inside of the mixing container.


And the final product.


Now it's just a matter of leak testing before the mixing shall commence.

 

So does that mean this thing will be getting wet soon?

 

My fuge is an on-going experiment...

It is set-up

Fuge-->Return<--Skimmer

In that picture, I was trying a horizontal ATS (on top of fuge section), but I couldn't get enough turbulent flow to make it work. It's currently not there.

I have two 1" drains drilled into the bottom of my corner overflow. I have one of them as a bottom drain to keep detritus from collecting in the bottom of the overflow box. The other is connected to a standpipe with a Hoffer Gurgle Buster (modified Durso) attached to it. The bottom drain is soft hosed around the back end of the fuge then comes around to the two pipes you see going over the edge of the fuge (back right and center) with valves. The normal flow is to a filter sock in the skimmer section. The standpipe drain also goes to the sock. I control the flow from the bottom drain with a ball valve so that a little is always overflowing through the standpipe drain. However, I can by-pass the skimmer section (and sock) and go directly to the return section when feeding so I don't filter out the food.

I have two pumps in my return (could be done with one) section. One is the return to the display and the other feeds the fuge. The fuge has the divider as previously described.

Hope that explains my cobbled up design. It seems to work so far.