The reef is doing well, everyone appears healthy and I’m seeing some growth in the Zoas, Duncans & Yuma’s. I’m particularly excited that my expensive, orange ricordea Yuma has produced no less than 3 new babies. The zoas I’ve added this year are starting to spread over the rocks and weir where I have them magnatized and the Duncan is somewhere around 7-8 heads. I removed a Tarot Tree, Xenia & Yellow Polyps and gave them to a fellow local reefer as they were beginning to grow out of control.

I’m selling my Remora Skimmer and have ordered what I hope will be a more efficient skimmer in the CPR Aero Force. It’s only slightly more expensive than the Remora was but the reviews I’ve read and the conversations with other reefers I’ve had indicate that this will be a good upgrade. It’s due in on Monday and I hope to get it installed this week.

CPR Aero Force

Performed a 20% water change, removed the chaeto and rock from the sump and placed it in one of the buckets while I cleaned the detrius that had accumulated in the sump with a powerhead with a hose connected to it. I also trimmed down the chaeto and believe I’m seeing good growth.

Updated the firmware on the Apex to the lastest version and notice a big speed increase on page loads. One nice new feature is the ability to backup and load settings. I also installed the I/O Breakout Box in preparation for adding a WaterBug leak sensor as well as float sensors for an ATO system that I desperately want to get designed and installed this month. More on that later…

Removed the pinkish ATI T-5 bulb from my lighting system and replaced it with the stock 10k bulb until I decide what will be the permanent bulb. Getting the bulb twisted back in the endcap was a test of my patience and I almost lost. Took a q-tip with some baby oil on it and lightly greased them up and that did the trick.

Added several more corals including some SPS, Favia, another Yuma, more Zoas and another really need looking Duncan. Look for new profiles on these corals soon.

Calibrated the PH probe and was happy to see it wasn’t way off when it came in from the factory but it seems it was reading a bit low. PH still hovers in the high 7′s to very low 8′s and I’m still investigating the cause of this. Would like to get it up around 8.3 as I think it may be inhibiting coral growth.

Used the water based Minwax Polycrylic on the stand to aid in cleanup and to protect the wood from salt erosion. Looks great.

New 65 Gallon RR w/ Sump

I finally have my new 65 gallon RR system setup to the point that it’s worth introducing.  I recently moved into my 1st home and took the opportunity to upgrade from my standard 55 gallon reef to a much more advanced system.

This is my 1st “Reef-Ready” system with sump and it includes a lot of improvements over the former.  The display is an All-Glass 65 gallon measuring 25″ H X 18″ D X 36″ L. It has a 300 GPH weir that empties into a MegaFlow 3 Sump. While the intake hose is still stock I converted the return to rigid PVC that includes a “T” with ball valve that allows me to divert enough of  the MAG7′s 700 GPH return flow to the Remora Skimmer that sits in the 3rd chamber. This allowed me to remove a pump and thus some heat and electricity.

The 1st chamber holds live rock and water flows down into it from the display and through a carbon pad. The 2nd chamber is home to a giant ball of chaeto macroalgae, my 300w Azoo heaters, a small pump for the BRS P04 Reactor and one more small powerhead for flow. A 75W 6700k bulb provides light to the macro on a reverse light cycle. The 3rd and last chamber holds the return pump, skimmer, temp & ph probes.

I’m now sold on the notion that the benefits of a sump far outweigh any extra labor or risks. I’m adding more water volume to the system, providing better aeration, helping to stabilize my PH & export nutrients w/ macroalgae and hiding lots of equipment to name just a few.  It’s also MUCH easier to perform water changes from the sump….no more lifting buckets of water over my head!  I attached some hose to a powerhead that I simply place in the sump to drain directly into a waste bucket, then reverse it to pump the fresh saltwater back into the sump. Top-off is still manual but I’ve begun designing an auto top-off system.

In another big push to really make this a serious system I purchased Neptune System’s new Apex Aquacontroller. Though a little challenging to setup at first this thing is too cool! With it I’m now monitoring temperature and PH with lab grade probes & can now control up to 8 pieces of equipment. It also has it’s own built-in web server and I’m now able to access the system from anywhere in the world (including my BlackBerry!) to monitor AND control equipment remotely. I  have it setup to email me when certain parameters fall out of range, when there’s power loss, water on the floor and much more. There’s so much this thing can do (and it should considering the price) that I’ll leave the rest for an article dedicated to the Apex.

I have plans to add a conductivity probe that will let me monitor salinity, dosing pumps or a calcium reactor to allow me to maintain calc & alk, and will incorporate an auto top-off system’s float valves with the I/O breakout box that I picked up along with the main unit. Someday I’ll likely need to pickup another 8 outlet energy bar and will incorporate a “wavemaking” system perhaps with Vortech’s if they ever come down in price. Below is an example of the graphing that can be done.

More details to come on the new reef ……..enjoy the video & pics!

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