120 gal tank build

NY_Caveman · Feb 19, 2019

P-Dub said:
Some of my pumps remain on at low throughout the evening. Then when my nanobubble scrubber comes on my recirculation pumps come on and alternate at 30%. They go off when the nanobubble scrubber goes off. They are on in the evening/dark like this from 22:00 to 04:30. Then I have a sunrise/sunset schedule that comes on at 09:30. Then day schedule at 11:00 followed by another day schedule causing a standing wave at 16:00 to 20:00 and then ramping down again with the sunrise/sunset schedule till 21:00. Every two hours from 09:30 till the end of the sunset schedule the pumps alternate at no specific pattern at 100% to mix the detritus up. I do scheduling with my pumps like this to better mimic the natural reef. In nature, there is more wave action on the reef during the day as the sun comes up and mellowing out as the sun sets. As things heat up there is more wind and therefore more wave action, for the most part. Does this all make a difference? I don't honestly know but everyone in the tank seems happy.

Nice! Love the detailed reply on a specific program. That was excellent.

Psychonaut · Mar 5, 2019

Ok it’s been a few weeks, figure I’d give a little update.

So my first light broke, I contacted viparspectra and they said my timer was probably beat. They sent me a new one for $10 and I replaced it successfully and the light was working. The next night the other lights timer went out ‍

I knew I should have just bought 2. So I shelled out $10 more and fixed my second light. Both lights are now working like a charm tho. You know when I made my plan I really had my heart set on a couple of AI primes because I appreciated the controllability but honestly, these viparspectra are gonna do fine I think at least for awhile. They are so powerful that I’m thinking I’ll raise them a bit, and crank the power up and try to get a wider spread then the prime was going to offer me

Im so grateful to BRS for all the videos that I try to do as much of my shopping there as possible. Fortunately they have everything. So I got some black egg crate that I cut to fit into my frame to use as a lid. I also got a bunch of test kits to get me ready for the DT. Red Sea nitrate and phosphate and calcium and Hanna alk. I suppose I’ll have to get a mag test at some point as well.

I was having some inconsistencies with my RODI system and figured I’d upgrade my TDS meter from the free one that came with my zerowater pitcher and I got a duel in-line TDS meter that I put before and after my DI resin. Input at about 3-4, output at 0. My other meter was giving me output readings of like 10-30.

Then Monday my past big package came with my apex EL, tunze 3155 ato and a icecap battery backup. I live in coastal NC and after that hurricane last year I’m trying to think power outages. Ultimately I reckon I’ll have to go buy a generator. Anyway everything seems to be working, the set up of the Apex was much clearer than the tunze Manuel, but I figured them both out.

I started my cycle on the 16th by adding a shrimp, a bottle of biospira, dr Tim’s, and whatever the sea chem brand is. Stability I think. Just trying to get the maximum diversity in life I can. Didn’t want to chance certain company’s that had more bacteria than others, or were stored improperly, or were old... you know, just trying to spread my odds out a bit

I test everyday, and for some reason I never really got an ammonia spike this time. I mean it went up, but never above 2, but then after that my nitrites went thru the roof. Like somewhere around 3.5-5. I dunno I’m still a rookie here so I’m not sure what happened, maybe all the bacteria?? Nitrites are down to 1 now and nitrates are creeping up past 25. Bear in mind the API test kit I’m using to cycle sucks balls and these are really all just guesses because they all look the same.

I decided to order some chaetto but algaebarn was out and all my local reefers were out. I ended up doing this algaebarn-via amazon.com deals, hopefully it arrives alive and all haha not sure what to expect. I’m going to get some pods and give he chaetto and pods a couple weeks to come alive before I add CUC.

All my fish are done with medicating and ready to move over. Unfortunately my Midas blenny is a real jerk and mercilessly attacking every one of his tank mates. I think he’s just ticked about the 20gal tank size, hoping he chills out a little bit after I move him over. My plan was to wait about a month after tank cycle to add fish, but I dunno how long Midas blenny is going to survive in the acclimation box, so might have to move some over early

I seem to have this skimmer working but this mag 7 is loud as $&@“. I still have to straighten up my wire nest in the back, maybe I’ll tackle that this evening. There is just no space back there it sucks lol

P-Dub · Mar 7, 2019

Epic QT!

Psychonaut · Mar 8, 2019

Thanks! I wish I had gone with a 29 instead of the 20. When it comes time to QT the tangs I’m thinking I’ll have to figure something out. And the fake plants I added to try to add some depth to it and try to limit aggression. Didn’t work tho lol

P-Dub · Mar 8, 2019

Still dig the plants...

Psychonaut · Mar 10, 2019

Psychonaut · Mar 19, 2019

Psychonaut · Mar 19, 2019

Psychonaut · Apr 24, 2019

So it’s been about 10 weeks since my cycle finished, figured it was time for a little update.

I still have a sort of short, brown hair algae growing on the rocks. The diatom bloom lasted for a week or so, after that everything got bright green, and now I have this brown peach fuzz growing everywhere

One of the main problems I have had is with my foxface. First I noticed long stringy white poops when I put him in my DT so I had to treat the whole Display tank for internal parasites using Humblefish’s tek with general cure and focus. After two weeks of treatments I havnt see anymore

However after that, when it came time to add some coral he totally demolished my GSP. I noticed him tasting almost every coral I put in the tank but the only ones he went back for were the GSP. I put some more tester corals in to see if he’d nip at them but so far, it’s just GSP he finds delicious. Also in the tank I have a leather, Duncan, chalice, mushrooms, gergonian, zoas, Favias, and frogspawn. Let’s home he leaves everything alone and I get to keep him

All the coral are doing pretty well (except the GSP) the Duncan is already sprouting a new head, and the leather has new visible growth. It’s really great to finally, after planning since August, get to see some corals growing the in tank

I’m having a devil of a time glueing that red mushroom to a plug, keeps getting blown off, of anyone has any tips there, please do let me know.

One really cool thing that has happened is my watchman goby paired up with my peppermint shrimp. I didn’t even know that was possible, but it’s fun to watch and I don’t think I’ll get the pistol shrimp anymore.

Now some of the tanks I got these from had asterina starfish, and aptasia. I dipped everything pretty well so fingers crossed I don’t end up with either

Since I can’t get the GSP to cover my back glass, I’m looking for some suggestions of another fast growing coral I could grow on my back glass

I did lose one of my dispar anthias in QT (so far) this is the first fish I have ever lost, so t was a real bumber but it’s OK I guess, hoping I can get another one later and add so I can still have a trio.

Next up on the purchase list is about 6 different kinds of zoas from “cherry corals” so I can start my zoa garden. I’ll also be adding some wrasse and a coral beauty angel in the next couple week. Here’s to hoping that mine acts like an angel and doesn’t eat any more corals.

I’ll update again in a few weeks with how all that is going. As usual any advice, comments, or criticism is wholly welcomed.
Thank you,
Alex