WaterBox 220.6 The 2023 Rebuild

MuralReef · Jan 21, 2023

Back in December you may recall us asking for help moving the tank. The spot for the tank was ready but at the time the rest of the house was still the priority. Now that we’ve reached a stopping point there we can focus on the tank. We recently got the water change and RO set up in the garage behind the tank.

The tank was perfectly level so that wasn’t an issue.

Also got a little art work to pop from the show at the school in November.

Now to address the bigger questions.

What are you running?
Flow-2 MP40’s with the plan to add a gyre as the sticks grow.
Skimmer-Red Sea 900
Return-Sicce
Lighting-AI Hydra’s 32HD
Control-Apex duh
Nutrient Export-Daily 3 gallon water changes via the DOS which will be in the garage due to the noise. Possible remote fuge either under the stand or also in the garage, future project.
CaRX-LifeReef not sure which one but it’s LifeReef so it’s solid. Also planning to use another DOS for magnesium and other needed elements to be controlled by the Trident after we have it repaired by Neptune.

All the rock is in and this is where things stand now.

And a wee bit of home brew in the stand…For now.

Sent from my iPhone using MASC - Marine Aquarium Society of Colorado

Dr.DiSilicate · Jan 21, 2023

I’m using the ARM for media in my calcium reactor, never need to dose magnesium.

I bet water changes and maybe a kalkwasser drip will do you for a while.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

MuralReef · Jan 21, 2023

I really liked Two Little Fishies and they not making it anymore?

Sent from my iPhone using MASC - Marine Aquarium Society of Colorado

Dr.DiSilicate · Jan 21, 2023

MuralReef said:

They are but it’s smaller than before, I found the new stuff to be a bit “messy” it left more sand/silt as it dissolved.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

MuralReef · Jan 21, 2023

Dr.DiSilicate said:

Bummer.

Sent from my iPhone using MASC - Marine Aquarium Society of Colorado

MuralReef · Jan 21, 2023

Tank is officially cycling. Got the ATO, return, and skimmer all online and dialed in. Needed a bit more salt so it’s cloudy now.

Sent from my iPhone using MASC - Marine Aquarium Society of Colorado

MuralReef · Jan 21, 2023

Adding this stuff too to jumpstart the cycle. Rock is fully cycled already but it doesn’t hurt.

Sent from my iPhone using MASC - Marine Aquarium Society of Colorado

MuralReef · Jan 21, 2023

Sent from my iPhone using MASC - Marine Aquarium Society of Colorado

TheRealChrisBrown · Jan 21, 2023

Looks great! I have the same skimmer and I really like it. Can’t wait to see it progress! Is that mixing barrel called an iBarrel????

MuralReef · Jan 21, 2023

TheRealChrisBrown said:

Yes! iBarrel’s are automatically more expensive and prestigious!

Sent from my iPhone using MASC - Marine Aquarium Society of Colorado

flagg37 · Jan 21, 2023

MuralReef said:

Yeah, but it’s still made in China.

MuralReef · Jan 22, 2023

flagg37 said:

Well it is plastic

Sent from my iPhone using MASC - Marine Aquarium Society of Colorado

jda123 · Jan 22, 2023

You can put dolomite into your CaRx if you do happen to need more magnesium. I never really have need to dose magneisum, either with the old ARM, the new ARM or even the Reborn when you could still get it. I only ever needed dolomite when I tried man made reactor media from Aquamedic, but that was a waste of my time and effort that will not happen again. With your AWC, you don't need any more traces. I don't know if you had time to follow along some of the r2r testing that was being done, but Triton and the other ICP places really aren't worth the paper that they print the results on. I would save every expense in trying to do anything other than the CaRx and AWC and just test alk frequently and maybe mag and calcium monthly. If you are going to grow massive amounts of macro eventually, then iron might be needed.

Basically, I would stick with the old rule of "don't dose it if you cannot test for it" and no ICP is good enough to supplant this rule. People who loved the "all the traces in a bottle" have backed away after long term dosing... both for cost and not appearing to need them, or over dosing.

If your lifereef CaRx is not reverse flow, see if they can change it over. Larger pieces of coral and aragonite is getting harder and harder to source and I fear that we are going to be back to using crushed coral again, so reverse flow might be a big deal in a few years. The newer ARM is calcite, which has been working well, but who knows how long this will be sourced too.

The great thing about 44g Brutes is that a 50g bag of IO fits in there perfectly - no measuring needed. My recipe is 2 tbsp of dowflake to bring the calcium up and mix. Then, 20mls of muriatic to lower the alk - this needs a day or two of aeration to blow off the co2 and bring the pH back up, so you gotta take AWC offline as this mixes. Perfect acropora reef water, IMO. It only takes a $6 jug of acid, some cheap driveway melt and a bit of time to figure out your perfect recipe. Just remember to add the acid last and let the co2 blow off until the pH is back up. Gallons * desired dKh drop * .123 is the number of MLs of muriatic acid to use.

Were you around back when brew and yeast was thought to be a necessary element to healthy reefs? Even though it is not en vogue now, it did not appear to hurt anything. People used to use cheap brew like the 99 cent 40s of Mickeys or Colt 45... probably get thrown in jail for having this beer now in Colorado... or even wasting it.

MuralReef · Jan 22, 2023

Crystal clear!

Sent from my iPhone using MASC - Marine Aquarium Society of Colorado

MuralReef · Jan 22, 2023

jda123 said:

You can put dolomite into your CaRx if you do happen to need more magnesium. I never really have need to dose magneisum, either with the old ARM, the new ARM or even the Reborn when you could still get it. I only ever needed dolomite when I tried man made reactor media from Aquamedic, but that was a waste of my time and effort that will not happen again. With your AWC, you don't need any more traces. I don't know if you had time to follow along some of the r2r testing that was being done, but Triton and the other ICP places really aren't worth the paper that they print the results on. I would save every expense in trying to do anything other than the CaRx and AWC and just test alk frequently and maybe mag and calcium monthly. If you are going to grow massive amounts of macro eventually, then iron might be needed.

Basically, I would stick with the old rule of "don't dose it if you cannot test for it" and no ICP is good enough to supplant this rule. People who loved the "all the traces in a bottle" have backed away after long term dosing... both for cost and not appearing to need them, or over dosing.

If your lifereef CaRx is not reverse flow, see if they can change it over. Larger pieces of coral and aragonite is getting harder and harder to source and I fear that we are going to be back to using crushed coral again, so reverse flow might be a big deal in a few years. The newer ARM is calcite, which has been working well, but who knows how long this will be sourced too.

The great thing about 44g Brutes is that a 50g bag of IO fits in there perfectly - no measuring needed. My recipe is 2 tbsp of dowflake to bring the calcium up and mix. Then, 20mls of muriatic to lower the alk - this needs a day or two of aeration to blow off the co2 and bring the pH back up, so you gotta take AWC offline as this mixes. Perfect acropora reef water, IMO. It only takes a $6 jug of acid, some cheap driveway melt and a bit of time to figure out your perfect recipe. Just remember to add the acid last and let the co2 blow off until the pH is back up. Gallons * desired dKh drop * .123 is the number of MLs of muriatic acid to use.

Were you around back when brew and yeast was thought to be a necessary element to healthy reefs? Even though it is not en vogue now, it did not appear to hurt anything. People used to use cheap brew like the 99 cent 40s of Mickeys or Colt 45... probably get thrown in jail for having this beer now in Colorado... or even wasting it.

Thanks for all of the great information Doug! Don’t think we will be pouring in any Mickeys or Colt 45 but all of the other information is great!

Sent from my iPhone using MASC - Marine Aquarium Society of Colorado

flagg37 · Jan 22, 2023

jda123 said:

I thought this was kind of funny since they don’t print the results on paper. I guess the paper was too expensive so they just send a pdf.

MuralReef · Jan 30, 2023

So the rock we put in the tank was from when it was previously set up so it had some nems and other low maintenance corals. And they all look pretty good. We also added some more cuc this weekend to help clean things up.

Sent from my iPhone using MASC - Marine Aquarium Society of Colorado

MuralReef · Jan 30, 2023

Looking to bring some other pieces home from school this week too. We’ll see how they do.

Sent from my iPhone using MASC - Marine Aquarium Society of Colorado

MuralReef · Jan 30, 2023

Whelp! I guess it’s good I have plenty of spare RODI parts at school from various filters. The garage was a poor choice especially with the subzero temps this week. Going to need better insulation and maybe another plan.

Sent from my iPhone using MASC - Marine Aquarium Society of Colorado

Vested · Jan 30, 2023

MuralReef said:

Left a jug of RODI water in my car overnight and it was a solid brick, crazy how cold it is right now. Cant believe the ibarrell doesn’t offer more insulation..

WaterBox 220.6 The 2023 Rebuild

Administrator

Attachments

Administrator

Administrator

Administrator

Administrator

Administrator

Administrator

Administrator

Reef Shark

Administrator

Anthias

Administrator

Dolphin

Administrator

Administrator

Anthias

Administrator

Administrator

Administrator

Copepod