Jimbo’s CDA 250

Jimbo327 · Oct 6, 2023

Tank glass is starting to turn green and brown. Wifey even made a comment today that the tank looked nasty.

The water is murky. I can't even see through to the other end of the tank length-wise.

I love it! There is a lot of nutrient for the CUC to eat and get fat. I’ll continue to add vinegar to fuel more bacterial blooms.

Looking to add a clown pair or goby to the tank soon.

Jimbo327 · Oct 8, 2023

The tank is starting to resemble the dentist’s tank in Finding Nemo.

Good news is that it is not hair algae. Most likely a phytoplankton bloom. I’m not too worried about it because I have the UV already hooked up, just have not turned it on yet. I might have to turn on soon, as more grumbling from wifey and son.

I measured my nitrate, and it maxed out of my test kit at 75+. 😬

Jimbo327 · Oct 8, 2023

First time turning on the UV. Since I have a 6” gap behind my tank to accommodate the external overflow, I have the UV just sitting on the ground in the gap behind the tank. I can pull it out easily and replace the bulb for maintenance. I thought this a pretty good spot to put it, but I don’t see many others put it there. The M1 return pump is feeding the UV.

Jimbo327 · Oct 10, 2023

Water is crystal clear 24 hrs after UV. But diatoms are taking over. Standard new tank progression.

Now pondering my next course of action. 1) Do nothing and let it use up whatever it wants 2) Three days lights out 3) Get an army of snails to mow it down

drexel · Oct 11, 2023

Astraea and ceriths do pretty good job with diatoms. I think a handful of each would suffice and let things move along naturally.

Jimbo327 · Oct 11, 2023

OK, I'll head to the LFS on the weekend to gets snails to munch on the diatoms. But it'll probably be something that has to burn itself out since all of my sand and rocks were dead and sitting in my shed for 5+ years.

Jimbo327 · Oct 12, 2023

Emptied my skimmer cup and it was foul. I dumped the rotten egg smelling skimmate into the toilet, and rinsed off the cup in the shower. Definitely want to do less of that. I might build a DIY ghetto skinmate locker outside. I'm thinking...a covered 5 gallon home depot bucket and a bag of carbon. It'll be outside, so I don't care how it looks and I already have a lot of orange buckets laying around.

I got an used Trident on a great deal from Adam @ OceanDevotionLA. I think he specializes in QT fish, so go check him out. He was a pleasure to deal with.

Hooked up the trident, and got in the 1st test. I'm running the Trident waste line into the skimmer cup, so that's 1 less thing I have to empty.

ALK: 5.67
CA: 445
MG: 1295

drexel · Oct 13, 2023

The DIY skimmate locker is a great idea, especially if it goes outside, win, win! Adam is great and he's my go-to fish guy.

Jimbo327 · Oct 13, 2023

My shed is still work in progress, but it's getting fuller by the day as I bring more equipment online. I wished I had gotten a bigger shed.

The APEX DOS pumps have been calibrated. For the time being, I filled the DDR with B-Ionic Calcium and Alkalinity until I can make my own solutions. Apex programmed to dosing calcium from 7am to 7pm, and alkalinity from 11pm to 5am.

Since I already ran the skimmer air intake line outside, I hooked up the ozone on a tee to the skimmer air intake tubing. I made a DIY air dryer with an empty container and desiccants. Still need to figure out the APEX programming and the ORP probe shutoff for the ozone for safety. The plan is to run it a few hours per night to act as carbon to eliminate yellowness and hopefully reduce toxins.

Jimbo327 · Oct 13, 2023

Pro-Tip: Check out www.savko.com for PVC fittings, bulkheads and valves. I've saved a bunch of money getting plumbing parts from them.

Jimbo327 · Oct 13, 2023

XXL Jimmy Jones Skimmate Locker™

Unprecedented 5 gallon capacity
Easy off screw-on lid for great seal
Large container on top for carbon
Patent pending superior design

DanK.Reefer · Oct 13, 2023

Nice skimmate locker. I am trying to figure one out to fit under my tank. I am out of space already and dont have stuff plumbed to the outside yet(coming soon). Its crazy how quickly you run out of space with this hobby. Just when you think you have enough....fffwwwppp its gone.

Sent from my SM-G973U using Tapatalk

Jimbo327 · Oct 13, 2023

Best part was that it cost me $0.

Found all the parts in my extras/junk pile. Hoarders FTW!

Jimbo327 · Oct 13, 2023

Trying to program the Ozone in APEX to come on from 1am - 5am and off if ORP is greater than 375. I copied the code below from another reefer at R2R. A virtual outlet was created in APEX called vOzone. I don't really understand what the "Defer" code is doing.

vOzone (virtual)

Code:

Set OFF
If Time 01:00 to 05:00 Then ON
Defer 002:00 Then OFF

Ozone (outlet)

Code:

Fallback OFF
Set OFF
If Output vOzone = ON Then ON
If Output Skimmer_3_3 = OFF Then OFF
If ORP > 375 Then OFF
If ORP < 250 Then ON
Defer 000:30 Then ON

Jimbo327 · Oct 15, 2023

I had a couple 5 gal bucket lids around, it fits perfectly on top of my skimmer lids. So I used those to DIY a carbon holder to capture any residual ozone from skimmer. A little ghetto looking, but not too bad.

I hooked up my skimmer cup drain to the DIY skimmate locker outside. So everything for the skimmer is done.

Went to Ali's LFS and got 10 Astraea snails because that's the only type he has. Dumped them into the tank and get them to work on my diatoms.

Jimbo327 · Oct 15, 2023

I figured I should make as many mistakes now when there is nothing in the tank.

I'm going to use the trident to control the APEX DOS for calcium and alkalinity dosing, and see how stable it can get. If it overdoses, then no big deal.

The ozone will now be control by the APEX ORP probe, and only run at night while everyone is asleep to minimize risk. Plus I added the carbon on top of skimmer lid, so that should reduce risk even further.

My next set of goals, I'm going to focus on making my own 2 part solutions from powder. But I can see why people run a calcium reactor, it would take a lot of 2 part solution to keep a big tank stable. I do have my calcium reactor in storage, but it would take some work to get it going.

Also, I want to set up my external chamber as either a refugium or a carbon denitrator. I plan to feed the tank a lot, so I want to have a way to quickly control nitrates and phosphates.

Jimbo327 · Oct 16, 2023

My nitrates are down to 12.7 ppm and phosphates are 0.068 ppm. It's very interesting that the ORP has been rising for about a week from 200 to 300 (without ozone) and the alkalinity has been dropping 0.3 dkh/day. Now, I'll just work on getting the alkalinity to 8-9 dkh and stable with the 2 part dosing. The tank is where I want it to be at, which is the ugly stage...alternating between brown and green algae...just have to wait for it to burn itself out.

I've been thinking of adding some Nemo clownfishes (Ocellaris or Percula) into the tank. I know there are a lot of cool designer ORA clownfishes but I think I'm going old school and sticking with the OG natural types.

Jimbo327 · Oct 17, 2023

Going to follow Randy and Jim Welch @ R2R for 2 part formula

Since I need about 80-100ml of B-Ionic alkalinity solution to keep my alkalinity stable. My 1L bottle will be used up in about 1 week. So priority is to make my own sodium carbonate (aka baked baking soda). I picked up 6 lbs Arm & Hammer bakng soda for $6 at Target, and started to bake baking soda at 300 degrees for 1 hour in the oven.

If I follow their formula to make B-Ionic strength alkalinity, the 6 lbs of baking soda should allow me to make 3 gallons of alkalinity solution.

Jimbo327 · Oct 19, 2023

This trident is giving me so much trouble. The alkalinity is doing fine, but I can't get CA/MG to work for last 2 days. Error is "Test B Fail". I've been dicking around with this for last couple days. No kinks in the line. Primed and drained, and all seems to be pumping. Unplugged and plugged back in. I'm really out of ideas on what is wrong. I sure hope trident is not this finicky for others. Just spending way too much time on this.

Smite · Oct 19, 2023

Sorry to hear that Jimbo. I’m not familiar with Trident but hopefully someone can help get you going. I know a few members here have rebuilt/fixed issues with them so maybe one will chime in with a probable cause.

Jimbo’s CDA 250

New member

New member

New member

New member

New member

New member

New member

New member

New member

New member

New member

New member

New member

New member

New member

New member

New member

New member

New member

Premium Member