Big Peninsula in the high desert - Cade 1800 S2/P!

[Fasthandsslowmind]

Big things are happening!

My ultimate end goal with this tank is an SPS dominate mixed reef that’s as stable, automated, and low maintenance as possible. Easier said than done, certainly.


The tank Has arrived! Now to sort out a way to get in place and on the stand……

 

[Fasthandsslowmind]

For starters, here’s some planned equipment: (this list will be modified and updated frequently)

I purchased a large rockscape from a local 160 gallon peninsula break down. (And former featured Reef of the Month!) He’s been gracious enough to keep the tank running long enough for me to get things established. This may be supplemented by some dry rock that was included in the Algaebarn starter kit. I’m really hoping that starting with a well established and healthy aqua scape will minimize the “ugly phase”. I’m sure that’ll depend on a smooth move and minimizing die-off.

3x Radion XR30 Gen6 - Purchased used. Might need one more.
2 x AI Blade 66” Coral Grow - Not yet purchased

Maybe the new RS Reefrun 7000 DC x2 ? Depends on availability I think.
MP60 on the far end for circulation - Already purchased one used. May need more?

Red Sea Reefmat 1200

Red Sea ATO+

To be moved from my current AI Fusion 30L -

Avast auto feeder
Neptune controller (Was debating switching to CoralVue Hydros, but I already have all the Neptune stuff)
Neptune Trident

To be added later on, after cycling and stabilizing -

RS RSK-DC-900 DC Skimmer

Geos 612x2 Calcium reactor

Avast Kalk Stirrer (Purchased)

4x AI Versa peristaltic pumps for the calcium reactor / AWC / Dosing

Possibly a Foursquare Aquatics APIS-60 Algae scrubber?

I would certainly welcome any equipment suggestions!

 

[Fasthandsslowmind]

Things are getting real!!!!

Placed the tank today. Sadly, one of the doors fell off and broke during shipment. I checked the tightness on the remaining doors and most seemed a bit loose, but not backing out, so not sure what happened. My fault I think.

We did damage the white vinyl on the bottom a bit. Easy to do. Should be unnoticed once I get water and rock in it, even if I go bare bottom. For now, I'm going with 80 lbs of caribsea special grade.

On to the next step - mixing station

 

[Gumbies R Us]

Best of luck with the new tank!!! looks like it is going to be a fun build!!

 

[Fasthandsslowmind]

Welp, the mixing station is built!
$230 harbor freight scaffold made a good mobile stand, since I couldn't make up my mind on where to put it.

We're making water!

 

[Fasthandsslowmind]

As of 5 days ago, the tank is wet!

I filled The media containers with 9 jars each of the media I recieved from algae barn in the starter kit, then dosed the Turbostart and Nitrocycle.

Ammonia and nitirites are super high on the first test today. Now we wait!

No lights mounted yet. Trying to decide between:

3 x XR30 Gen6 + 2 66” AI Blade coral grow on a hybrid mount
OR
6 x AI Blade 66” on hanging mount - 4x Grow, 2x Glow


Decisions, decisions.

 

[Fasthandsslowmind]

Some recent progress:

The initial cycle is maturing. Ammonia is near 0, Nitrites fairly low (2-5) and Nitrates are 75ppm. I used Nitrocycle an Turbostart. I think the Nitrocycle seems to be fairly potent stuff. I’d be surprised if you could cycle a tank in 5 days. It’s been two weeks and it’ll be another week before I add the aquascape.

I cycled the tank with all the media in the above photo, and a lot of live rock in the sump. Once I get the aquascape in, all of this live rock will be removed to make room for the skimmer and other equipment.

Yesterday I installed a Reefmat 1200. That involved removing the filter sock baffles. I also removed the first bulkhead. It probably could’ve been left in place if I was willing to build a new primary drain line to relocate the gate valve (it interferes with the reefmat), but I don’t think there would be much advantage to that so I cut it out.



It does take up a lot of room in the tank, but I think all that room could double as a refugium. I don’t imagine Chaeto growing around the base would cause any issues With the reefmat. We shall see.

 

[Fasthandsslowmind]

 

[Fasthandsslowmind]

Yesterday I installed the Foursquare Aquatics APIS-60 algae scrubber. I got some 1/8” sheets of black acrylic on amazon and made a mount for it that fits over the rear compartment of my sump. Pretty nice piece of gear. Clever drawer system means it’s super easy to clean out.

 

[Fasthandsslowmind]

So much progress!!!

The algae reactor is pretty noisy due to water falling from the drawer. I think I’ll experiment with ways to fix that. It is definetly growing algae though.
The reefmat is fantastic.
lighting is sorted out for now. 4 x 57” AI blades - 3 grow, 1 glow. I used a pretty clever wire photo mount system to suspend them over the tank. It looks great in person. I’m so far very impressed with the lights. Very even coverage, minimal shadowing, just the right amount of adjustability, and minimal light spillage, being mounted about 6” off the water. On V2 of my homemade mount, I’ll angle the outside lights on each side to further minimize light overflow & shadowing.

Big progress inside the tank as well. I purchased an entire aquascape from a very experienced local guy who was breaking down his tank. This was expensive (3rd highest expense behind lighting), but I stand by the feeling that it was money well spent. What’s more important than aquascape?

It was 7 year old SPS dominate tank using real Fiji rock. It had been neglected a bit, but still healthy and lots of coral. Mostly chalice, montipora, stylo.

Maybe adding so much mature biodiversity right off the bat will damp the ugly stages.

Transferring the aquascape was a major operation, but successful in the end with a lot of planning and forethought. Win!

 

[Fasthandsslowmind]

For this tank, I had originally planned on using the announced “hybrid“ mount that AI says is coming, to use 3x XR30s and 2x AI Blades.

However, I talked myself into trying out using the blades as a standalone lighting system. Despite a few setbacks, I’m glad I did (so far) but that my change. Here’s a few snapshots of the simple mounts I made using a photo mount kit from IKEA that I had laying around:

It’s definitely not a universal solution for everyone, but worked really well in my particular case as it utilizes the unique space really well. It’s not great in photos, but in person it’s pretty much seamless and minimalistic, to the point where you don’t even really notice the mounts, or even the lights (unless you’re a reef enthusiast) which is exactly what I was going for.

The Good:

PAR values are impressive, as is the even coverage and minimal shadowing. In that regard, these blades are hard to beat. With four 57” lights, I get plenty of PAR for SPS.

Passive cooling is huge to me. Having used fan cooled lights in the past, I hate the noise and maintenance of a built in fan. I’d much rather have a separate standalone fan that’s replaceable…….but even that hasn’t been needed (yet).

The overall aesthetic is better than any lights I’ve seen. I‘m really doing my best to build a streamlined, minimalist, clean setup and these lights are a big part of that.

The Bad:

Already one of the lights has failed. Sort of. It must have an intermittent short or something, as one day it didn’t come on. While I was removing it from the mount to inspect it, I must’ve jarred the power cable, because it started working again. To their credit, AI has already sent a replacement. I just hope they last a lot longer than just the end of the warranty.

Here’s the PAR reading I got:

 

[Fasthandsslowmind]

The First few residents are enjoying the tank.

Two Borbonius Anthias from ReefPro as well as a CB Multibar angel from the LFS.

Everyone is eating like pigs.

Also added a CUC from reef cleaners. The only loss so far was a pompom crab that did not survive the first day. Possibly due to shipping stress / tough acclimation.

 

[Longatto]

following! love the aquascape!
i'd say it was worth it!

 

[Fasthandsslowmind]

following! love the aquascape!
i'd say it was worth it!

Thanks! I agree.

A few other bits of progress:

Added a bank of 4 Versa pumps on the bus mount. A pump for Kalk, two for AWC, and one for whatever I happen to need, currently dosing 50ML/day of microbactr7.

I’ve abandoned the idea of using an advanced ATO like the new Red Sea one. Instead, I ran a 1/8” RO line from the mixing station in the garage to a float valve in the sump. I just trust that more. Simple. Gravity always works. At some point I’ll integrate some sort of sump level monitoring / alert and a solenoid valve to protect against float valve failure, but something tells me that’s a much rarer occurrence than an ATO pump / sensor failure.

I’m really pleased with the Avast Kalk stirrer install. Currently it’s only dosing about 12 liters a day to match evaporation. That seems super low to me for such a big tank. Leave it to me to fail at getting water to evaporate. 12L isn’t really enough to keep up with ALK demand, My ALK has fallen to 7.2. Maybe that’ll change when I put exhaust fans on the sump. If it’s still not enough, I’ll put a ceiling fan in the room. If that’s still not enough then it’s time for a calcium reactor.

 

[Longatto]

12L of volume per day? so about 3gals of evaporation a day? wow. i'm getting a similar sized tank soon. is that about average? i'm gonna need to set up a dehumidifier

 

[Fasthandsslowmind]

12L of volume per day? so about 3gals of evaporation a day? wow. i'm getting a similar sized tank soon. is that about average? i'm gonna need to set up a dehumidifier

To be honest, I’m not entirely sure if that’s average or not. I expected slightly more, but maybe not?

I really should measure it. I bet it starts using more in the summer.

 

[bradreef]

Where are you in high desert? I am in Utah and with the dry air i definitely get more evap than i did in seattle.

 

[Troylee]

12L of volume per day? so about 3gals of evaporation a day? wow. i'm getting a similar sized tank soon. is that about average? i'm gonna need to set up a dehumidifier

I’m getting 3-5 a day in Vegas.. depends on if my ceiling fan is on next to the tank.

 

[Gumbies R Us]

Thanks! I agree.

A few other bits of progress:

Added a bank of 4 Versa pumps on the bus mount. A pump for Kalk, two for AWC, and one for whatever I happen to need, currently dosing 50ML/day of microbactr7.

I’ve abandoned the idea of using an advanced ATO like the new Red Sea one. Instead, I ran a 1/8” RO line from the mixing station in the garage to a float valve in the sump. I just trust that more. Simple. Gravity always works. At some point I’ll integrate some sort of sump level monitoring / alert and a solenoid valve to protect against float valve failure, but something tells me that’s a much rarer occurrence than an ATO pump / sensor failure.

I’m really pleased with the Avast Kalk stirrer install. Currently it’s only dosing about 12 liters a day to match evaporation. That seems super low to me for such a big tank. Leave it to me to fail at getting water to evaporate. 12L isn’t really enough to keep up with ALK demand, My ALK has fallen to 7.2. Maybe that’ll change when I put exhaust fans on the sump. If it’s still not enough, I’ll put a ceiling fan in the room. If that’s still not enough then it’s time for a calcium reactor.

Love your aquascape design!!!

 

[Fasthandsslowmind]

So much progress!!

Since last post about a month ago - I've had a pretty aggressive hair algae growth. This is not the worst problem to have, and has been pretty manageable. All the coral and fish have stayed very healthy and happy, and the hair algae is slowly losing the battle the manual removal, better nutrient stability, and a few hungry inhabitants.

Currently that is, in order added:
2 x Borbonius Anthias (from Reefpro, and have almost doubled in size since added. piggies)
Biota CB multibar angel
White tail bristle tooth tang
Lg purple tank (From TSM aquatics, a very impressive fish)
Mandarin
2x clowns (from the old tank)
Biota Marine Betta (from the old tank)
Possum wrasse (from the old tank)

I've recently begun dosing 2 part, as there's not nearly enough evaporation to dose enough Kalkwasser to keep up with demand. I'd rather have a calcium reactor, but this'll do for now.

The algae reactor isn't great. It doesn't grow hair algae nearly as quickly as the tank does, and is pretty noisy. I've been trying to quiet it down with mixed results. Maybe I'll appreciate it more in the long term for nutrient export.

I've added the Avast skimate locker, and I LOVE that. Having something to shut down the skimmer before it overflows, as well as greatly reducing frequency of emptying it is priceless.