Zonly1's 210 Gallon Playground

[Zonly1]

Great build so far, I'm enjoying following along! It's pretty cool to have the opportunity to tailor your house to your aquarium...maybe I'll get there when I retire.

Two quick thoughts:

1. Any chance you can raise the top shelf of your sump stand so the skimmer isn't so close to the top? I'm just imagining that after a year of cleaning that skimmer cup you'll wish you had another 6" of clearance above it.

2. I know everyone differs on their opinions, but I don't think you need to keep adding so much ammonia. Ultimately, you're just building up a ton of nitrates that you're going to have to deal with eventually. A 20% water change is only going to drop your nitrates from 100 to 80. You'll need a lot of 20% water changes to get that down to say ~10 ppm (about ten 20% changes by my calculation). Would you consider some type of nitrate reduction method to supplement your water changes (Marinepure blocks, carbon dosing, chaetomorpha, etc.)?

Thanks for following. Yes, this has been a fun project, and to be totally honest, I'm not all that handy. One of "my" prerequisites for this house was to have an unfinished basement for this purpose. Luckily I scored! My wife has been amazingly supportive through out all of this.

1. Absolutely! That picture has actually changed quite a bit and there is no shelf close to the sump right now...still messing with it. I was going to drill a 40 gallon glass tank and make it a refugium and a section for water changes, but decided to look for an acrylic 55 instead. So once I get that all together I'll get that picture updated.

2. I totally agree with you on the ammonia and my nitrate issue; I have vodka and I'm not afraid to use it! However I want to ensure a proper cycle first. Before I add fish, my nitrates will be as close to zero as possible. If my logic is flawed, please let me know.

 

[Zonly1]

Well this just blew my mind:
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/nitrite-harmful-to-fish.284831/

 

[Zonly1]

So, I did it. I took the plunge (pun intended). I threw away 20 + (okay, not just one +) of freshwater thinking and decided to buy some fish. (Photos later). My ammonia remains 0, nitrites remain .25, and nitrates are ~ 20 after some pretty water changes. Here is what I added and I hope that my research pays off:

1 Female Leopard Wrasse (in hiding)
1 Clown Tang (Very active)
3 Banggai Cardinalfish (Amazingly Active and cute to boot)

Great to have some fish again. Just seeding the tank for the good stuff to come!

Still have a lot of work to do with the refugium and some additional plumbing. Purchasing 2 more PM1's to handle the 40 gal QT tank and the water change stations.

 

[Zonly1]

OH! Forgot to add. Purchased an 8 Bulb 60" ATI HYBRID POWERMODULE (T5+LED) light from a fellow reefer, as well as a Korallin 1502 calcium reactor. Hope to have the lights online soon, the reactor is for the good stuff.

 

[Zonly1]

Quick update. All new Scalebabies are doing fine. So glad that I read the above post and did some additional research. Ammonia still at 0 ppm
dang nitrites still at .25 ppm (DNs from here on out)
Nitrates 10 ppm

I may have located a 65 gallon acrylic tank to act as my refugium...I will know on Saturday.

While waiting for my lights to get here, I set up a Sol Blue. I'm pretty impressed on the spread, so plan on mounting them into the canopy until the Powermodule arrives. Not very impressive, but...

 

[Zonly1]

So, rigged to the two Sol Blues that I have... For some reason they are not in sync... Assuming I needed to blow the original out of fusion...will dink with that tomorrow. However, even though I need to do some more rock work, and I stirred up a dust cloud, I'm happy. BTW, added a blue unicorn tang and a bi-colored angel. I'm done stocking for a bit.

 

[JDtimk]

Great build so far! I love the setting up phase of new tanks. What is your plan for the tank inhabitants? With the lights and cal rx it looks like you are planning on some coral as well as fish?
What kind of coral are you planning on adding? My thoughts/ suggestions would be more flow than the two mp40s, maybe a maxspect gyre on the back wall or a two more mp40s, one on each end of the tank.
While I love the look of sand in a reef tank, I have found that it becomes a bit of a pain to maintain long term. Just my opinion obviously, but I definitely won't be using sand in any large setups in the future.

For your set up I would make sure you pay special attention to the health of your sandbed and get the right amount of flow to keep as much detritus from settling in dead spots on your sand and then keep a healthy CUC that will clean and turn over your sand effectively and be prepared to restock those animals if they die off.
I am excited for you and can't wait to see the tank as it matures! good luck!

 

[Radman73]

Nice build!

I have a 210 as well. For what it's worth, I stayed away from the Gyre pumps because of their initial quality concerns but finally caved and bought one. The XF250 provides significant and noticeable flow across, down, and back on the tank. I think it's a great way to get flow for a 210. It's been ultra reliable for me too.

I love the 210. The extra height can be a PITA when trying to do some things in the tank but it adds significant swimming room for active fish in the top half of the aquarium. Almost went with a 180 but glad I went with the 210 instead.

Good luck and it looks great so far!

 

[Zonly1]

Great build so far! I love the setting up phase of new tanks. What is your plan for the tank inhabitants? With the lights and cal rx it looks like you are planning on some coral as well as fish?
What kind of coral are you planning on adding? My thoughts/ suggestions would be more flow than the two mp40s, maybe a maxspect gyre on the back wall or a two more mp40s, one on each end of the tank.
While I love the look of sand in a reef tank, I have found that it becomes a bit of a pain to maintain long term. Just my opinion obviously, but I definitely won't be using sand in any large setups in the future.

For your set up I would make sure you pay special attention to the health of your sandbed and get the right amount of flow to keep as much detritus from settling in dead spots on your sand and then keep a healthy CUC that will clean and turn over your sand effectively and be prepared to restock those animals if they die off.
I am excited for you and can't wait to see the tank as it matures! good luck!

Thank you for your comments!

This will be a mixed reef with LPS, SPS, etc. The fish list is on flux, but the definite ones are a pair of anemonefish and a blue jaw trigger.

I'll definitely look at the maxspect gyre.

 

[Zonly1]

Nice build!

I have a 210 as well. For what it's worth, I stayed away from the Gyre pumps because of their initial quality concerns but finally caved and bought one. The XF250 provides significant and noticeable flow across, down, and back on the tank. I think it's a great way to get flow for a 210. It's been ultra reliable for me too.

I love the 210. The extra height can be a PITA when trying to do some things in the tank but it adds significant swimming room for active fish in the top half of the aquarium. Almost went with a 180 but glad I went with the 210 instead.

Good luck and it looks great so far!

Hey fellow 210er!

Yes, the hight of the tank is challenging coming from a 6' 125 and a 4' 90.

I'm sold on the gyre now, thanks guys! Is the icecap better than the maxspect? Looks like I have a new research project. Haha

More to come!

 

[Zonly1]

@Radman73 do you need to also purchase the controller if you have the new Apex? Also, where did you place it in your tank?

 

[Radman73]

@Radman73 do you need to also purchase the controller if you have the new Apex? Also, where did you place it in your tank?

You have to buy either the IceCap controller or the pump with controller. I chose to go with the MaxSpect controller, at least for now. Mine is placed on one end, about 8-10" below the water line aimed to go straight across. I also have two Tunze Stream 3's on the back wall pointed away from each other. Pretty decent flow but still a dead spot or two.

 

[Zonly1]

A little update. The tank is running great at this point, still have some work to do, but I'm extremely happy. I was out of town all week last week, but got my Ca reactor, thanks @hatfielj and my ATI Powermodule from @Michael43. The Korallin 1502 was meticulously packed as was the Powermodule, but somehow the Powermodule got bent up...Thankfully it is going into a canopy and it seems to work flawlessly. This light does seem to be amazing. I was going to leave the two AI Sol Blues in place, but thought...what the heck. I'll post pictures later, I'm pretty tired.

Took full readings tonight and I'm pretty happy so far:

Ca 410
Alk 7.95
Mg 1275 (cheap IO salt to start)
NH3 0.0
NO3 0.0
PO4 .15

Starting to see some brown algae form on the rocks that my clown tang has been happily pecking at. A few diatoms on the sand bed, but nothing drastic. I will be looking at purchasing a Maxspect Gyre, but have not pulled the trigger on that yet due to being FOWLR for now. I'll post up some pictures soon.

As always, thank you for following.

 

[Zonly1]

So, been a long time, folks... Sorry... Life has been interesting. Car accident, back outta whack, and emergency root canal... Still kickin’. So lost about all of my fish... Swear it was marine velvet, but...it wasn't. I bought a purple Tang that was covered in something, idk. I tried to save it in my QT tank, but too little too late. The interesting part is that my unicorn tang was totally unaffected. I was thinking of going fallow, but...so, been working on corals only because it's hard to imagine marine velvet with survivors. Anyways, a major $ setback, but that's it. Just purchased a pair of bullets and a Royal Gramma... Hope I made the right decision. Tank parameters are awesome and no issues with coral or inveterabrates. Here's hoping! [emoji485]

 

[Radman73]

So, been a long time, folks... Sorry... Life has been interesting. Car accident, back outta whack, and emergency root canal... Still kickin’. So lost about all of my fish... Swear it was marine velvet, but...it wasn't. I bought a purple Tang that was covered in something, idk. I tried to save it in my QT tank, but too little too late. The interesting part is that my unicorn tang was totally unaffected. I was thinking of going fallow, but...so, been working on corals only because it's hard to imagine marine velvet with survivors. Anyways, a major $ setback, but that's it. Just purchased a pair of bullets and a Royal Gramma... Hope I made the right decision. Tank parameters are awesome and no issues with coral or inveterabrates. Here's hoping! [emoji485]

I can sympathize with he back. I've had 2 cervical fusion surgeries, so neck, but my back frequently acts up too. Automation helped a ton at the time. Used a DOS for AWC. God bless my wife for supporting my hobby! Lugging 5gal buckets would not have been an option. Hang in there though! Sorry you're going through such a rough patch.

 

[Zonly1]

Appreciate the encouragement @Radman73 !

Another long absence, but things are looking very good. The bullets and the gramma are happy as...well, you know. Anyways, since the last post, I've added a Desjardini sailfin, rather large (6"+?) Naso tang, blue jaw trigger, and a couple of firefish. All are doing well! Also added a Poseidon O3 to my skimmer and caulerpa in the refugium.

Current tank params:
Ca- 425
Alk- 8.1
Mg- 1400
No3- .2
Po4 - .06

Here are a couple of current shots:

Still messing with the rockscape, but for a 3 month old tank, I cannot complain!

 

[Zonly1]

Man, I need to update this post! Been up for a little over a year and man, have things changed. I'll try to update here soon!

 

[Radman73]

How have the MP's held up for you?

 

[Zonly1]

I love them @Radman73! I did add a Maxspec XF250 just to keep it random.

 

[samson78945]

Great looking build!