Richard Durso's 180 Gallon Reef Tank Blog 2012-05-24T07:24:16Z Richard Durso Copyright 2012, Richard Durso SPHPBLOG Left RO/DI flush valve open over night... oops.
Typically you would leave the valve open for about 5 minutes, close the valve and make the RO/DI water. I got side tracked. This morning I went to get water and the holding vat was still empty yet the booster pump was running... then I remembered. The valve was still open.

Going to get a big water bill next month. *sigh*

]]> http://blog.rl180reef.com/index.php?entry=entry090512-202821 2009-05-13T00:00:00Z 2009-05-13T00:00:00Z Replacement Skimmer Pump Installed.
The new pump is sooo quiet. The old one sounded like a popcorn machine when the needle wheel chopped up the air bubbles.]]> http://blog.rl180reef.com/index.php?entry=entry090510-202459 2009-05-11T00:00:00Z 2009-05-11T00:00:00Z New Bellus Angelfish Picture
]]> http://blog.rl180reef.com/index.php?entry=entry090508-201228 2009-05-09T00:00:00Z 2009-05-09T00:00:00Z ORP Dropped.
I took a look around yesterday and found my Gold Tear Drop clam dead in its shell and removed it. Today the ORP reading is back to 310.]]> http://blog.rl180reef.com/index.php?entry=entry090506-195056 2009-05-07T00:00:00Z 2009-05-07T00:00:00Z Tank ORP is on the rise.
I expect the ORP to keep creeping upwards as conditions improve.]]> http://blog.rl180reef.com/index.php?entry=entry090504-194354 2009-05-05T00:00:00Z 2009-05-05T00:00:00Z Blue Milli with White Polyps Page Added.


]]> http://blog.rl180reef.com/index.php?entry=entry090503-193817 2009-05-04T00:00:00Z 2009-05-04T00:00:00Z Urchin's making a dent. http://blog.rl180reef.com/index.php?entry=entry090501-185757 2009-05-02T00:00:00Z 2009-05-02T00:00:00Z Replacement Pump Shipped http://blog.rl180reef.com/index.php?entry=entry090428-185451 2009-04-29T00:00:00Z 2009-04-29T00:00:00Z Boyd Vita Diet Crumbles Pellet Food.


Picture of what the food crumbles look like.

]]> http://blog.rl180reef.com/index.php?entry=entry090427-143534 2009-04-27T00:00:00Z 2009-04-27T00:00:00Z Acropora Polyp Extension Macro Picture added.
]]> http://blog.rl180reef.com/index.php?entry=entry090425-112531 2009-04-25T00:00:00Z 2009-04-25T00:00:00Z Replaced pH Probe Battery on Calium Reactor.
When changing the battery its a good time to calibrate the pH probe. The probe calibration went perfectly required minimal adjustments.]]> http://blog.rl180reef.com/index.php?entry=entry090424-111111 2009-04-24T00:00:00Z 2009-04-24T00:00:00Z Replaced Kalkwasser Mixer Step Motor, Now on Shutoff Relay.
I purchased a replacement step motor off e-bay and hard wired it to the top off water bottle relay switch which controls the top off water pump. Now when my 5 gallon water bottle of RO/DI is empty the water float relay will turn off the return pump and the kalkwasser mixer.

Hopefully this will extend the life of the mixer.]]> http://blog.rl180reef.com/index.php?entry=entry090423-110310 2009-04-23T00:00:00Z 2009-04-23T00:00:00Z Tabling Acropora Recovery Images.


]]> http://blog.rl180reef.com/index.php?entry=entry090422-105816 2009-04-22T00:00:00Z 2009-04-22T00:00:00Z Ordered New Replacement Skimmer Pump - Eheim 1260 ]]> http://blog.rl180reef.com/index.php?entry=entry090421-115251 2009-04-21T00:00:00Z 2009-04-21T00:00:00Z Found cracked impeller shaft on skimmer pump.
This is the 4th impeller that has broke in this unit and they are expensive to replace. I'm going to consider swapping out the entire pump for a modified Eheim 1260 needle wheel pump instead. This is a very expensive upgrade but I'm hoping the impellers will last longer.]]> http://blog.rl180reef.com/index.php?entry=entry090419-145349 2009-04-19T00:00:00Z 2009-04-19T00:00:00Z Round of water tests shows everything is looking good.
Temp: 78.5 F
pH: 7.92
Conductivity: 53.8 (35.5 ppt)
ORP: 300 (upward trend)
Calcium: 440 ppm
Alkalinity: 8.5 dKH
Magnesium: 1200 ppm

While the ORP looks low it started out in the low 200's, it is on an upward trend with peaks to around 320.]]> http://blog.rl180reef.com/index.php?entry=entry090418-144915 2009-04-18T00:00:00Z 2009-04-18T00:00:00Z Cleaned EuroReef RC500 Skimmer, now makes a horrible sound. http://blog.rl180reef.com/index.php?entry=entry090417-144702 2009-04-17T00:00:00Z 2009-04-17T00:00:00Z New Probes Installed.
As an interim fix, I programmed the AquaController Pro to add 2 degrees to the readout displayed and send an e-mail to Neptune Systems for clarification as the instruction manual hints that the probes are factory calibrated.
]]> http://blog.rl180reef.com/index.php?entry=entry090416-204446 2009-04-17T00:00:00Z 2009-04-17T00:00:00Z Ordered AquaController Pro ORP probe. http://blog.rl180reef.com/index.php?entry=entry090412-204002 2009-04-13T00:00:00Z 2009-04-13T00:00:00Z AquaController Temp Probe Failed.
The loss of the reference to the pH resulted in the calcium reactor being taken off line and tripping an alert of high salinity.

None of these are critical, just had to recheck levels manually with test kits and remove the calcium reactor and heaters from the switch boxes until a replace probe arrives which might take a week or so.
]]> http://blog.rl180reef.com/index.php?entry=entry090410-203524 2009-04-11T00:00:00Z 2009-04-11T00:00:00Z