240 Gallon Mixed Reef!

[djstud]

Toadstool Mushroom Coral.

 

[djstud]

Green Star Polyps.

Red Discosoma Mushrooms.

Green Snowflake Finger Sinularia.

Green Hairy Mushrooms.

Cinnamon Palythoa.

Lime Green Montipora Cap.

Green Pipe Organ Coral.


Vibranium Favia.

Tyree Brick Red Cyphastrea.

Candy Cane Coral.

Eagle Eye Zoanthids.

Duncan Coral.

Red Montipora Cap.

Kenya Tree.

 

[Reefer Brent]

Yes I am still using them. I really like them and the app is easy to use. I also saved quite a bit of money compared to other dosing systems.

Have you used or could you put mixed Kalk in one of the containers.

 

[djstud]

Have you used or could you put mixed Kalk in one of the containers.

I have never used Kalk in my containers but I assume that it would work especially if you used the Magnetic Stirrer containers.

 

[Reefer Brent]

I have never used Kalk in my containers but I assume that it would work especially if you used the Magnetic Stirrer containers.

Thanks for the help. Just bought the whole kit on Cyber Monday for $142 shipped!...Now onto how to free up a plug for it lol.

 

[djstud]

I purchased the Ultimate Refugium Starter Pack from Algaebarn. I am still fighting high Nitrates which has been going on for about 2 months now. I added 2 Reactors full of Ne-Nitrate, performed numerous 75 gallon water changes, added a GFO Reactor but Nitrates are still high. I stopped using the pellet auto feeder a couple of weeks ago. I believe the leftover food is what is causing my high Nitrates. The Algaebarn pack came with Cheeto which I hope brings the Nitrates down.

 

[djstud]

Added a Maxspect Jump Gyre 4K Flow Pump to my DT. I put it on the one end close to the surface and went with the Gyre Flow. I am happy with how it is working but a little disappointed that it is not reaching the other end of my 8 foot aquarium very well. I have ordered a second one to help with the flow.

 

[djstud]

Started on my filtration room this week. The plan is to build the room off of the end of the DT. The room will be approximately 4 feet by 12 feet in size. There is an existing bench on the East end of the tank that I will remove.

 

[djstud]

I have completed the exterior of the new filtration room.

My floor is in bad shape in front of the DT. This is because I have removed all of the tile. I will be putting down ceramic tile in front of the tank and a fresh coat of paint on the rest of the floor.

 

[djstud]

Started on the interior of the filtration room. It’s pretty narrow but the 12 foot length is nice.

I will be purchasing a second water storage tank the same size as this one. I am plumbing a complete mixing station on this far end of the filtration room. I plan to run PVC from the mixing station pump to the Display Tank. That way when I need to add new water during a water change it will be quick and easy. There will be a larger set of shelves where this small black shelf is now.

This is the view towards the DT. I still have some wall covering to put up as well as more ceiling tiles. There will be a bench that will hold the sump, the return pumps and my UV sterilizer. The reactors, controller, etc. will go on the wall above the sump. The switch plates will be on the left side of the aquarium in this view. Eventually I will install a gravity feed refugium on the right hand wall as well.

I have a lot of plans for this room that I will do myself. Everything that I have was done by me including the filtration and wood work around the display tank. I enjoy projects like this. I would appreciate any comments.

This is my view of the DT from my filtration room. It is 2 foot x 2 foot looking down the 8 foot length of the tank.I love it.

 

[djstud]

I have started building a cabinet on the wall for my flush mount ADJ PC-100A Power Strips. They are a metal power strip with 8 lighted switches on each one. I am currently using 2 of them but will pick up a 3rd. They make it very easy to turn individual pieces of equipment on and off.
They also look very good since they are flush mount. In order to plug things into these switches I will need access to the Back of the power strips.
I made a hinged door on the front of this cabinet, that way I can open the door to access the plugs. I built the framework by anchoring it to the trusses on my house. This way it is rock solid and can easily handle the weight of three power strips. All of the cords will go up, inside the cabinet, and route through the ceiling.

I need to paint the front door of the power strip cabinet as well as the bench and splash pan for the sump. Not sure if I will paint the white or a different color that will match the PVC plumbing. I have ordered all of the plumbing for this project.

 

[djstud]

I have the shelving painted. I used some green paint that I had in the shop. I also removed some of the wood around the aquarium view and painted all of it blue. I also painted the floor. I am ready to move the filtration.
Moving all of my filtration will be a big job. The PVC has arrived from Bulk Reef Supply. I am waiting for Ball Valves and heavy duty Extension Cords.

 

[djstud]

Filtration Room is done. It was a long two days to get everything moved and all of the PVC plumbing installed. The sump ended up being really low to the ground but that is fine. I will be picking up one of the adjustable auto mechanic stools to use while doing maintenance in the sump.

I still need to purchase another water storage container so that I can complete my mixing station. I will run PVC from the mixing station to the Display Tank for water changes.

Here are a few photos of some of the equipment and the plumbing.

I have ordered a third switch box to add so that everything is on a separate switch. Each switch plate has its own electrical breaker. There are two more breakers in this room. Electricity will never be a problem.

Bulk Reef Supply reactors.

Inkbird heater Controller.

My Dosing System. I dose Iodine, Potassium, Iron, Bioactive Elements, Calcium, Alkalinity, Magnesium, and Algae Prevention. I also have a Magnetic Stirrer on those that were mixed as a powder.

Plumbing coming into the sump.

Return lines. I will be adding additional support to the tallest return line.

One of my return lines goes through a UV Sterilizer.

Plumbing under the Display Tank at the trapezoid. I ran out of the blue 1 inch PVC so had to purchase a piece locally which is white. I put it under the DT instead of in the Filtration Room.

 

[djstud]

Filtration Room Update. I purchased a new ATO for this room. I went with the Duetto2 ATO System. I am using a 10 gallon aquarium for top off water. I had some black acrylic around that I purchased at Menards so I used it for a lid to help reduce evaporation.
I set up a quarantine tank using a 20 Long that I had around. I added a heater, circulation pump, 2 thermometers, and a Seachem Tidal HOB Filter. I have added a mesh bag of ceramic rings to my sump that I will use to seed the HOB filter when I have a fish in quarantine.

I picked up some Tube Holders by Tunze for my Dosing System. I am dosing everything straight into the Display Tank.

I really enjoy the Filtration Room that I built. It makes tank maintenance easier.

 

[djstud]

EQUIPMENT LIST
- 240 gallon acrylic aquarium & stand Titan Aquatic Exhibits
- Trigger Systems Crystal 36 Sump
- 2 Blue Line 40HD Return Pumps
- Sunsun CUV 136 UV Sterilizer
- ChaetoMax Refugium Light
- Bulk Reef Supply GFO and Carbon Reactor
- Bulk Reef Supply Biopellet Reactor
- 2 Four Head Chihiros Dosing Heads
- 2 Four-Pack Chihiros Dosing Containers
- Chihiros Dosing Magnetic Stirrer
- 2 Maxspect Gyre 4K Circulation Pumps
- Eheim 300 Watt Heater with Inkbird Heater Controller
- 4 Head Chiller Fans from Amazon
- Duetto2 Dual Sensor ATO System
- Bubble Magus Curve 5 Protein Skimmer
- 2 Ecotech Marine Radion G6 LED Lights
- Aquatic Life RO Buddie with DI Cartridge

FISH LIST
- Bicolor Angelfish
- Convict Tang
- Emperor Angelfish
- 2 Engineer Gobies
- Green Chromis
- 4 Pajama Cardinalfish
- Rusty Angelfish
- Six-Lined Wrasse
- Tomato Clownfish
- Yellowtail Damselfish

INVERTEBRATES
- Astrea Snails
- Banded Coral Shrimp
- Blue Legged Cortez Crabs
- Cerith Snails
- Dwarf Blue Legged Hermit Crabs
- Emerald Mithrax Crabs
- Longspine Urchin
- Scarlet Reef Hermit Crabs
- Sea Cucumbers
- Serpent Sea Starfish
- Turbo Snails

CORALS
- 24K Gold Leptoseris
- Cabbage Leather
- Cinnamon Palythoas
- Duncan
- Eagle Eye Zoanthids
- Electric Daisy Stylocoeniella
- Green Candy Cane
- Green Fuzzy Mushrooms
- Green Pipe Organ
- Green Snowflake Finger Sinularia
- Green Star Polyps
- Hyperberry Blastomussa
- Kedd’s Reds Zoanthids
- Kenya Tree
- Lime Green Montipora Caps
- Red Montipora Cap
- Red Discosoma Mushroom
- Tyree Brick Red Cyphastreas

 

[djstud]

Picked up a few new corals from Living Reef Orlando.

Tyree Pinky The Bear Acropora.

Komodo Island Acropora.

Supper Saiyan Zoanthids.

Xtreme Pacman Acropora.

Teal Stylo.

Splatter Hammer.

Bubblegum Digitata.

Swamp Thing Acropora.

Ultra Ricordea.

Megachrome Montipora.
I also rescaped my display tank. I removed the large sunken ship on the right hand side and added an island with a cove. I plan on purchasing more live rock to get some height on the right side.

 

[djstud]

Still working on my filtration Room. I really like having this room.

My ATO Reservoir is a homemade glass aquarium that holds 16 gallons.

My Quarantine Tank is a 20 Long with Artificial Coral Inserts.

I currently have a Longnose Hawkfish in quarantine.

I built an extension onto my Mixing Station base. I still need to purchase a second water storage tank, pump, and plumbing.

I built this switch panel for my filtration room. Everything goes through a switch. Each switch plate is on a separate electrical breaker.

I added a black acrylic cover to part of my sump to cut down on evaporation.

I have two 4 head dosing pumps. I dose Calcium, Alkalinity, Magnesium, Algae Prevention, Iodine, Iron, Potassium, and Bioactive Elements.

I run GFO and Carbon in Bulk Reef Supply Reactors.

I also have a Biopellet Reactor by Bulk Reef Supply.

My Refugium has two different types of macroalgae, live rock, corals, Algae Barn rings, etc., and a clownfish. It has some Green Hair Algae that I keep removing.

I run an Inkbird Controller on my Heater.

 

[djstud]

It has been over a year since I have posted anything on my reef tank. Everything is doing good

after a long battle with Green Hair Algae. I ended up removing 25% of the rock work at a time and ran it through a Clorox bath. I removed all corals and attached them to cleaned rock and placed them back in the tank. This took a long time to complete as I did not want to throw the system out of balance and go through a new break in period. In the end I eliminated the GHA and everything is doing real well now.

My filtration room is the best thing that I have done on this system. This view is looking towards the tank. You can see the 24” x 24” view of the end. I had to place the sump low since it is gravity fed from the trapezoid overflow.

This is looking the other way in my filtration room. My mixing station only has one tank but works well.

This is the switch panel that I built for this system. Makes life much easier. You can also see the leak detector box.

This is my dosing station that I set up. I am currently dosing all Red Sea brand Calcium, Alkalinity, Magnesium, Algae Prevention, Iodine, Potassium, Iron, and Bioactive Elements. Everything is testing within perameters.

I change out all of my lighting. I am now using Ecotech Marine Radion G6 Blue lights. I am using 2 lights on this 8 foot long tank. All corals are doing great. All of my past losses are due to them getting overrun by Green Hair Algae which was due to a number of different factors. When I eliminated the GHA I also changed out my lights.

I am using 3 reactors. One has GFO and a second one is for Carbon. Right now the third one is for nitrying bacteria. I will eventually convert it to Biopellets which is what I bought it for.

I use the one wall of my filtration room for supplies. Works great.

I have a 20 gallon Quarantine Tank which does not have anything in it at the moment. I also have a Duetto 2 ATO with a 20 gallon reservoir.

This is a short video of my Autistic granddaughter enjoying “her” aquarium. It helps to calm her down. She is my world!

 

[Reefer Brent]

Looks awesome! How are you liking the stirrer on your dosing system? Does it stir constantly or on a timer?

 

[djstud]

Looks awesome! How are you liking the stirrer on your dosing system? Does it stir constantly or on a timer?

You can use the App to set the stirrers as often as you like and a long as you like. I have each one run for 5 minutes right before the doser activates. I also have it stir one more time throughout the day. It really helps when using mixed powder.