Burningbaal

Where is local? People in this group someone's live 8 or more gotta from each other. Seattle? Bend? Newport? Up here (Seattle), clear Fabrications seems to be the go to guy, but there's choices all over Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk

It's not a bad plan if your QT will be mostly observation. an ammonia badge as GreenJeans recommended is fantastic. Also, I highly recommend buying Safety Stop (I get mine from Melevsreef.com) as an initial step. This dramatically reduces any unseen external parasites (flukes, velvet, ich, etc) on the fish, giving them a much stronger starting point when going into the QT. It's not perfect, but it's very useful. Plus the 'Part B' of it helps remedy any ammonia burn their gills may have from being in the bag. However, I think the best of the hobby is finding the 'hybrid TTM' method of QT to be ideal; it seems to totally eradicate all external parasites. The main drawbacks are: It uses quite a bit of saltwater due to all the tank transfers it takes exacting diligence (each transfer must be as close to 72 hours as possible, so you're tied to your QT for 13 days) The cleaning is a bit of a pain. I can't explain the actual hybrid TTM better than humblefish himself, so I'll just link it here. https://humble.fish/community/index.php?threads/hybrid-ttm-to-treat-all-parasites.87/ My best plan is to do the Safety Stop treatment, then wait in the first QT for 6 days (with Prime for ammonia mitigation) and then do the first H2O2 bath. This extends the treatment by 5/6 days, but gives one extra round of destruction for any sneaky velvet/flukes, the Safety Stop helps them start after the soothing Part B bath, and a few extra days to de-stress and eat before the first transfer. This plan basically moves the H2O2 treatment; humblefish has it on Day 4 and 10, mine puts it on day 6 and 12. so my schedule: Day 0: safety stop, into QT with Prime Day 6: H2O2 bath and first TT Day 9: just TT Day 12: H2O2 bath and 3rd TT Day 15: TT Day 18: TT Clean fish! now observe for two weeks and treat (if needed) for bacterial infection and/or internal worms. If evidence of bacteria/internal worms comes up early, it is a pain to dose for that with the TTM...but it also is dangerous to treat those with copper, so...no loss. The main thing here, is that your HOB filter and rubble are no use because everything has to get sterilized for each TT. next-best would be to get some grocery store sponges and store them in the sump for several days, pulling one into each new tank. And you'll need two tanks, two heaters, two powerheads, etc. 10g is okay for small fish, I like two 20-long tanks with 10g of water personally, this makes a lot of the math and such easier and mitigates some of the issue with jumpers (a 20-long holds around 16g, so the 10g waterline is fairly low)

I hear good things about calling to get a roll of floss from an HVAC supplier. giant roll, dirt cheap. just cut to fit and the roll's so big it'll last forever.

patience is hard. Especially when you're anxious just to get some salt in! But, as we've all heard 10000 times...in this hobby, nothing good happens fast. Unless you've got a line on RODI, I'd wait the time. Maybe you can get some RODI from reefers in the area. If I was close enough, I'd offer to run my RODI into your containers for the cost of a couple frag IOUs

Sure, lots of people out them in the fuge. Probably a good idea to occasionally take them out and rinse in water change water to get some detritus off Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk

Trido! First response, booyah Great to have you on pnwmas, you're a real asset!

First, having a meter is worth it to know the quality for the water being produced, when to replace the membrane, when the RO b as feel needs cleaning, etc. Find a handheld TDS meter, you'll be glad you have it. Then, following the other advice here (along with mine), but a unit that isn't cheap, but is "missing" pieces. If you can get a no-frills RO-only and a handheld TDS meter, you can upgrade it later when a dual on-line TDS meter, DI cartridge, booster pump, pressure gauge, whatever. I wouldn't buy cheap with all the pieces, I'd buy nice with missing pieces so you can upgrade later without being stuck with a cheap unit Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk

What's your source water TDS? I ran a 4-stage brs RO-only for years because it put out Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk

I doubt he's eating the coral, probably cleaning stuff *on* the coral. Unless the coral has actual damage, I'd assume the worst possible outcome is simple irritation Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk

That looks like it's going to be great! and @badxgillenis great. good for him for conning you back into this I've been liking my 29 I finally got going again (as a peninsula). If I didn't want mine as a peninsula, I'd be really into your 'scape. it'll be fun to see come together!

oh for sure, I was just giving it as a reference for what the stuff does since reefnjunkie asked.

Short on time, but: https://aquariumstoredepot.com/products/chloroquine-phosphate Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk

now I'm more motivated to give it a try..

I'd make sure different I test a full 100% so you know the real capacity. I'm no expert, but if want to know the range of possibilities Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk

I would test at a few benchmark brightnesses so you can know the range available. Maybe 20, 40, 60, 80, 100% or something. Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk

I'm happy with my reef-pi, its open source, so you buy the raspberry pi, and some parts for things like temperature sensors and controllable power outlets, etc. Extendable to include dimming LEDs, pH probes, dosing, ATO...lots of things. It's not for everyone, but I like it

I bought a little less grow lamp off eBay. Snot 5x18x1" with dieing like 60w I think. It was less than $30 shipped. So far, it's growingy grape caulerpa and chaeto quite well, and I'm pretty happy. I have it shining through the glass on the back of my 29g (I diy'd it into an AIO), so it does grow a bunch of junk on the glass, which isn't ideal as I want it shining on the macro, but it's doing pretty well, I just grab my mag float (half) occasionally and wipe it off. Only real downside is mounting is a bit tricky, I have jerry-rigged for now...it deserves a better idea. Sent from my SM-G935T using Tapatalk

no specific triton experience here, but read a lot about it. I think saying 'triton with weekly water changes' is a bit like saying 'triton without triton'. But if what you're getting at is to keep doing what you're doing, plus doing a quarterly triton ICP and dosing accordingly, I think that's a perfectly great idea. One thing I'd say though, is to do an extra test on fresh saltwater. The point is: if they say your manganese is low (totally random example) and to dose something accordingly, but your salt mix has that element low, then you'll rapidly wipe out any dosing with the big weekly water changes. You'll either need to decide to ignore things in the results that are at odds with your new salt water or you'll need to make corrections to your new saltwater...in some cases, this might be a tough decision.

you could, but I'd mostly just plan on getting a better ATO. There are many today that have a backup sensor on them, even two backups sometimes. The Tunze osmolator is surely the most famous, but my ebay (Kamoer) ATO is very similar, the ATK does it with extra safeguards, and many others. for the tldr: skip to the last paragraph They basically work by having two sensors, often the backup is a mechanical float sensor. Generally, when the main optical sensor is dry, it turns on the pump, when that pump sensor is dry, it turns off the pump. If the backup sensor gets wet, it stops the pump (even if it thinks the main sensor is dry) and usually sounds an audible alarm. Many also track a history of recent fill times and if the current fill is substantially longer than normal, it will stop the pump and sound the alarm. The ATK adds a further backup that the incoming water line goes through a float valve so if the whole system fails, the float valve should close the incoming hose when the water level raises especially high. For you, I'd start by leaving everything you have intact and adding a float valve as a backup. like you said "just putting a float valve in the sump directly", I'd say to do that but don't remove the ATO. this way if the ATO is trying to add water, but the water level has raised really high, the float valve will stop it. If you take the ATO off and replace it with the float valve, you have exactly one point of failure to end up in a flood. if you add a float valve, you get an extra layer of defense. Furthermore, I would add a ball valve on the line from the 30g to the 5g and generally leave it closed. this way if all the ATO/float valve system fails, you can only have 5 extra gallons dumped into the sump...a smaller mess. Every couple days, you can open the ball valve and let it fill the 5g bucket for a little while (the bucket's float valve will stop it at the right time), and you can close the ball valve at your leisure. Furthermore, if you have any kind of controller (or a solenoid and a mechanical outlet timer), you can set a solenoid to only open a few minutes at a time. I have my reef-pi controller set so it only turns on my ATO for 5 minutes every hour (I might drop that to 2 or 3 minutes, actually). It only takes it about 30 seconds to fill an hour's worth of evaporation, and this is an additional measure to limit the potential flood. You can get a similar effect with a solenoid to ensure the water can only flow a few minutes at a time. In any case, I'd make sure you're adding layers of defense rather than replacing one layer with a different one. You could add a controlled solenoid on the line from the 30g to the bucket so it fills the bucket for 20 minutes a day (for example), maybe during the time you're likely to be home (remember the float valve should stop the fill when it's full regardless of the time). Add a timer on your ATO to only run it certain minutes an hour, add a float above the ATO water level as a backup in case the ATO over-adds.

I've just gotten started with reef-pi and reasonably happy so far, though I wish I'd built a real enclosure first...that's on my todo list; I recommend you start with a good box you can mount all the boards in (pi+hat, power supply and 12v converter thing, other misc side boards like for dosing/pH interface. Definitely give a look to Ranthelion's store on tindie, he's got a lot of the more interesting pieces you need and can't just buy on amazon/ebay.

I can't speak to individual sumps, but the main thing with the Triton method sump is a large fuge, and usually placed a little different with regard to the skimmer chamber, but I wouldn't worry about it; big fuge is nice. As for light blocking, you can slide in a thin piece of abs or other light blocking material along the fuge... If the sump you love's only real shortcoming is clear fuge walls, just fix that yourself. If you can handle this hobby, you can darken a sump baffles Sent from my SM-G935T using Tapatalk

Good info there. Fwiw, I am one who was told CRA is closing their doors. I was talking to them as the only glass builder in the area and was planning a custom 180 or 210 with them until they said they are closing down, at least for custom tanks. Not sure the status of sumps and other things Sent from my SM-G935T using Tapatalk

No one hates the vortech, I'm sure you'll like your tank with them Sent from my SM-G935T using Tapatalk

I'm not sure if the xf280 is compatible with the same icecap controller, but if it is, your call but it (pump only) for about $50 not than an mp40, but the xf280 moves up to 6000 gph, the mp40 moves only 4500, the mp60 moves 7500, but costs way more (almost $200 more than the gyre setup). Moreover, that flow is, as@SuncrestReef said, a broader flow, which will have advantage on a smaller tank. You can put one in each end, having 4500 (max) from one side and 6000 (max) on the other, in different patterns. That's like 80x for your tank, which would be way overkill, but they won't run 100% all the time, do you'll probably need more like 40x... Which is great Sent from my SM-G935T using Tapatalk

Tricky question... It would be a ton of light, but you'd be missing some brightness on the ends ( about 8" on either end). You could actually use this to your advantage, putting things like cyphastrea or softies there (things that don't do great under high light), but it may not have the look you want. If I were in your shoes, I'd probably buy two of the 18" basic and do the hardware hack to get them under Apex control. You would lose the moonlight channel but you can add that with any of 100 options later if it's really critical. For most of us, you can just kick one light on 10% or so and get the effect you want for dim viewing. Sent from my SM-G935T using Tapatalk