300 gallon (ish) ULNS Mostly SPS Reef Build

[DanP-SD]

Two-Month Update:

It’s been almost two months since I added water and enough has developed to post another update.

Here’s how the tank is looking at 7 weeks:
Two-month video

The major update since last month was adding the fresh liverock from TB Saltwater - about 85 lbs of premium and branch rock. This was really nice rock with tons of life including sponges, macro algaes, feather dusters, live (for now) barnacles, tunicates, coralline algae and of course a variety of hitchhikers. I rinsed most of the hitchhikers off but a pistol shrimp managed to get past me. Haven’t decided if he’s a big enough problem to be worth trying to remove.

But if you can get past the risk of hitchhikers (which, in my experience, find their way in anyway and are usually harmless), the biodiversity on this rock is incredible and it has been a huge boost to the overall health and vibrance of the tank. If I were starting over, I would certainly use TB Saltwater again.

As you can see from the video, I needed to supplement the TBS rock with some manmade rock to fill out the full rockscape. Im hoping that, in a few months, I won’t be able to tell them apart anymore. This rockscape is essentially my final design - subject to adding a few small rocks here and there. It accomplishes my primary goals of a lot of negative space, an abundance of mounting points, high mounting points directly under the lights for acros and montis, and sufficient flat low surfaces for LPS and other low-light corals. It looks a bit sparse now but I didn’t want to repeat a mistake I’ve made in the past of creating a big, full rock scape and running out of space when the corals grow in. This setup leaves ample room for coral growth. It also has a lot of open arches for strong flow and diversions for fish.

With the exception of one small bubble coral that I think came in damaged, everything is thriving. I’m seeing great polyp extension and growth in my sps corals but some of the acros aren’t as bright as I’d like. In part, that is my lighting. I’ll be adding more actinic and UV to bring out fluorescence. It’s also biological. When I added the new live rock, my phosphates and nitrates began to climb. Phosphates went from below 0.01 (Hanna ULR) to 0.08 and nitrates went from below 0.1 to 2.4 (Hanna LR). So I cut back on food and coral supplements (aminos, Pohl’s Extra, Coral Vitalizer). The nutrient levels are falling now so I will start ramping those supplements back up to dial in the SPS coloration.

Btw, the video is shot through a yellow filter to cut out the blue cast. It makes it closer to the colors I see with my eye but overcompensates a bit so the actual colors are somewhat bluer than the linked video shows.

The fish are all either captive bred (shipped from ORA and Biota) or fully quarantined from Ocean Devotion. Fish list: White Tailed Bristletooth Tang, Desjardini Sailfin Tang, 5 Lyretail Anthis, 4 Gold Lined Rabbitfish, 2 Percula Clowns, Green Mandarin, Molly Miller Blenny, Supermale Rhomboid Wrasse.

I plan to add a few more large feature fish but will otherwise let this livestock assortment grow in from here.

I have some ongoing projects including:

- adding more UV and blue light
- adding a calcium reactor
- automating dosing of KZ products
- swapping out one of the return pumps to a Vectra so I can connect it to the battery backup
- installing a permanent refugium (I have a temp in place but my carpenter is so far behind schedule that I still don’t have the shelves in place for the final one).
- finishing the woodwork surround for the tank and posting pictures of the final install
- increasing flow near the water surface

These and follow ups on the filtration and flow systems behind this setup will be addressed in future posts.

 

[dwhanc00]

Great thread! Following along... I am about to build a 72x30x26 system with a closet sump room and garage water station. WIsh you were using Hydros... What are you dosing to maintain parameters? Plan to stick with dosing vs Calcium reactor/Kalk/etc?

 

[DanP-SD]

Great thread! Following along... I am about to build a 72x30x26 system with a closet sump room and garage water station. WIsh you were using Hydros... What are you dosing to maintain parameters? Plan to stick with dosing vs Calcium reactor/Kalk/etc?

Thanks! I have a hydros wave engine for my gyre but I have too much time and energy invested in apex to switch fully.

As for dosing, it’s been working “OK.” I had a defective dosing pump, switched it out and have been closing in on balanced alk. It’s been reminding me that auto dosing for calcium, magnesium and alk can be surprisingly labor intensive. I have a large reservoir and still need to mix additives fairly often as well as fine tune the pumps and test very frequently.

I have a calcium reactor on the way (Geo’s Reef SSE) and plan to set that up in the coming weeks. I think that as my SPS grow, the demand will be too much for dosing to be feasible.

This week, however, my attention is on a more pressing nightmare. Despite every fish I’ve added being fully quarantined and observed for at least two weeks post quarantine, I saw some ich on one of my tangs yesterday. Ugh! I’m not sure what more I could have done to prevent this but this will have to be my primary focus for a while.

 

[dwhanc00]

I am leaning towards a calcium reactor as well, but I think I am going to start with dosing to see how my tank reacts in our new house with PH. I am able to keep my PH consistently around 8.4 in my current house and that is a focus of mine. If it is low in the new house I will lean toward Kalk. Until I figure that out I plan to stick with my AquaForest 1,2,3.

 

[DanP-SD]

Month Five Update – lots of pics -- part one

The tank is closing in on five months since I added water and has developed quite a bit in terms of hardware and livestock since the last update, so this one has a lot of new info and photos. In this update, I’ll touch on the following:

• Cabinetry
• Biodiversity from the TB Saltwater live rock
• Update on how the ZeoVit system is faring and what thrives and what doesn’t in the tank
• Stocking more fish and corals
• Additional automation – KZ additives and skimmer rinsing
• Some miscellaneous additions (increasing flow with a second Gyre pump, increasing lighting with two Kessil a500x lights, adding a calcium reactor)

Cabinetry:

We finally got the cabinetry around the tank completed and have started furnishing the fish room. Here’ s a shot as it currently stands.




This setup works well with plenty of room under the tank and in the adjacent cabinets. Currently, I have my calcium reactor, dosing gear for the KZ supplements and some cleaning tools under the tank, a 3-chamber dosing container in the left cabinet, and battery backup/management and food, cleaning gear in the right cabinet. The sump and all filtration gear is in the garage plumbed through the wall.

Bio Diversity from the Liverock:

As noted in prior updates, I decided to start this tank using a lot of fresh live rock from TB Saltwater for this tank, with a mix of some artificial live rock. I couldn’t be happier about that decision. I know a lot of reefers worry about hitchhikers and, for sure, there were some. This rock introduced a lot of life I didn’t pay for but really enjoy seeing – porcelain crabs, sponges, feather dusters, hidden cup corals, tunicates, and several varieties of coralline algae. I have one uninvited pistol shrimp that so far hasn’t been a problem (thinking about getting a watchman goby to see if they’ll pair), no aiptasias from the rock (a few came in from coral plugs but I’ve eradicated them) and no other problem hithhikers I’ve observed.

More importantly to me, the rock introduced the kind of visible and invisible biodiversity that helps mature a tank quickly. This tank, at five months, has the mature look and feel I usually didn’t see in my other tanks until the second year. Some of that may be experience; some is definitely the Zeovit system but I think the live rock had a big hand in it. For anyone on the fence, I’d highly recommend TB Saltwater rock.

Zeovit Update

I started the tank with the Korralen Zucht Zeovit system since day one and have generally followed their program the entire way. I currently dose Zeobak, Zeostart, Sponge Power, K-Balance Strong, Amino Acid Concentrate (both LPS and SPS at reduced dosages), Coral Vitalizer (at reduced dose), Flatworm Stop, BioMate and occasionally Coral Snow. My overall take is this system works incredibly well. My nutrient levels are consistently low with phosphates typically in the 0.03-0.06 range and nitrates in the 0.5-1.0 range. SPS corals show great color, growth and polyp extension. In fact, I have found that I can often buy a coral from the LFS that has dull colors and color it up pretty quickly in my tank. In previous tanks, I would often buy a stunning SPS coral only to see if fade to a dull brown or peach color in my tank so it’s nice to see the opposite trend.

I’ve added some LPS corals and clams and these do well overall with some hits and misses. Euphyllia corals, alveopora, favites, acans (for the most part) and brain type corals do well. Elegances seem to struggle (I suspect the low nutrients are at fault but they’re so fickle it could be something much more idiosyncratic). None of the LPS grow particularly fast in this tank. I was getting decent Acan growth until I added the filefish and he started eating them (more below on his trial and sentence), and zoanthids are reproducing, but by and large, I’d say my LPS corals thrive but grow slowly. The clams are doing well other than one that my cleaner wrasse has started nipping (which will probably earn him a new home with the filefish this weekend).

The tank has also become very stable in a short time. I believe much of the initial success is due to the zeovit system because I’ve run tanks on almost every other popular approach over the years and have never seen a tank fall into place as quickly and smoothly as this one. Overall, my coral mortality is very low and what there’s been I attribute to other factors like my failure to acclimate an acro to my very strong light conditions, predation, poor placement, etc. The only coral struggle I think might be zeovit related is the elegance.

I’m not yet prepared to say I’m sold for life on this system but I’ve been delighted with the results and ease so far.

[Continued in next post]

 

[DanP-SD]

Month Five Update – lots of pics - Part Two

Stocking More Fish and Corals:

With the system maturing so well, I’ve been able to fill out corals and add more fish pretty aggressively with no nutrient spike as a result. Below are two pictures of the overall coral scene on both sides of the tank and some closeups. The right half picture shows the acro I bleached out by not light acclimating. That was just a few days ago so I’ll need to remove and replace it this weekend.

Left Side:


Right Side:


Hammer Garden:


Christmas Tree Worm Rock:



I feel like I have most or all of the SPS corals I need in the top half of the tank. I may add something unique from time to time, but I think these will grow out and fill the space nicely. I’m considering adding a couple floating rocks on the back wall on each end to create a little more real estate for a few lightweight colonies.

In the bottom half of the tank, I’m focusing on LPS corals for additional color and movement. There’s still some room here for a few more but these too should grow in to fill most of the spaces.

Fish have done very well. I made the commitment early on to quarantine everything or buy pre-quarantined or captive bred (which I still quarantine). So all fish have been sourced from Ocean Devotion, Marine Collectors, Dr. Reef or Biota. I generally put them into my QT for two week observation without treatment unless I see something warranting treatment.

I had one minor outbreak of what initially looked like ich but, after observing it for a bit, I concluded it was likely Turbellarians. It only affected one tang and, after a few days, manifested as black spots. I treated the entire tank with peroxide (initially MinnFin, but then switched to the Humblefish protocol) and it seemed to do the trick. Corals were set back a bit but have recovered fine. I’m not sure I eradicated the worms but everything survived and all fish are healthy and fat. I recently ordered an eukaryotic DNA test kit to test what pathogens are in the tank, if any, but I’ll be surprised if there’s anything other than turbellarians.

[Fish list and photos continued in next post]

 

[DanP-SD]

Month Five Update – lots of pics - Part Three

My current fish list is as follows:

5 Lyretail Anthias
4 Gold Bar Rabbitfish (I started with 5 but they were captive bred and one was so small it couldn’t handle the flow of the tank so I moved it to the qt and it never made it out)
Desjardini Sailfin Tang
Whitetail Bristletooth Tang
Flame Angel
Pair of Bluejaw Triggerfish
Psychedelic Mandarinfish (started at about 1/2” but has grown to almost 2”)
Molly Miller Blenny
Melanurus Wrasse
Blue Streak Cleaner Wrasse
Aiptasia-Eating Filefish (recently moved to my refugium because it was eating corals and needs to be rehomed)

I have a Red Sea Regal Angel and a Zebra Swallowtail Angel in the QT that I’ll be adding soon. I may add a goby to pair with my pistol shrimp and a Copperband Butterfly (to deal with any aiptasias that ever make their way in since I had to remove the filefish), but then I expect this to be the stock list for a while.

Fish mortality has been very low. I lost a tiny blue hippo tang that was far smaller on delivery than I expected and struggled to swim in the flow. I suspect it got pulled into the overflow but never found it. I also think I lost a cleaner wrasse that the other cleaner wrasse bullied into starvation, but it could just be hiding well.

Here are some photos of the fish:

Two of Four Rabbitfish:


Desjardini Sailfin Tang:


Melanurus Wrasse:


Pair of Bluejaw Triggerfish:


Psychedelic Mandarinfish:


Lyretail Anthias (caught mid-yawn):


[Continued in next post]

 

[DanP-SD]

Month Five Update – lots of pics - Part Four
Additional Automation:

Since the last update I’ve continued to implement my plan of automate virtually everything. One automation project was admittedly entirely unnecessary and proof of my obsession with automation tasks. I had previously installed a collection reservoir on my skimmer – a 6” Reef Octopus reservoir. Basically, skimmate drains from the skimmer collection cup into the reservoir and, when the reservoir fills, a float valve shuts off the skimmer.

This reservoir drastically cuts down on how often I have to empty the collection cup. I also added an automatic neck cleaner so it would continue to skim efficiently with less cleaning. The combination works but emptying the reservoir was still a chore. I had to place it behind my refugium so, whenever it fills, I need to squeeze back there, disconnect the hose and wire, pull it out carefully without spilling and clean it out.

To automate this task, I put a small powerhead in the reservoir, drilled two holes in the lid (one barely enough to squeeze a half-inch hose through and one barely enough for the power cord with a grommet). I installed the pump and connected the hose to a drain. I had to cut the power cord and splice in a union so I can easily disconnect it from time to time and to avoid needing a big enough hole in the lid to fit the plug. I wired the pump to my Apex and installed a momentary button in my cabinet. So now, when the reservoir is full, I hold down the momentary button and the pump empties the reservoir.

That seemed to work well but I realized the powerhead would likely gunk up really fast sitting in a reservoir of skimmate. So I installed a second pump in my RO reservoir and plumbed it to four irrigation nozzles just under the lid of the skimmer collection cup (see picture below). That pump is connected to a second momentary button. So now, after emptying the reservoir with the first pump, I push another button which rinses the collection cup with RO water. That water drains into the reservoir and I run the reservoir pump a second time, which has the effect of rinsing the collection cup, the hoses, the reservoir and the powerhead with clean(ish) water.



Totally unnecessary project, but very satisfying and it definitely saves a lot of effort in keeping up with skimmer production.

I also added a dosing pump to automatically dose the KZ supplements I use that do not need refrigeration or stirring. I’m lining up the components to do a second dosing pump in a refrigerator with magnetic stirrers for the other supplements and will post that one separately.

Miscellaneous Additions:

• I added a second Maxspect Gyre pump so I now have one on each end running a gyre pattern through a Hydros Wave Engine. I moved my three MP40s so that two are low and toward the back on each end of the tank and one is near the surface. The two low pumps help ensure no dead spots behind the rockwork and keep good flow in the bottom half of the tank to help push debris toward the overflow. The higher pump is connected to my backup battery. It provides additional reefcrest flow high in the tank but will also keep water moving near the surface in the event of a power outage.
• I added a calcium reactor, which has been a great addition in simplifying my calcium dosing. I went with a Geo’s Reef Super Silent reactor with a Carbon Doser 2 and a Kamoer FX-STP continuous duty dosing pump. This has been a great and easy setup. My only issue is that it tends to keep alkalinity a little higher than I need and calcium/magnesium a little lower. That’s more of a media issue than a reactor issue but I like using the KZ media because of the low phosphates so, rather than switch media, I just reduced the effluent rate and reactivated a calcium and magnesium drip from my 3-part dosing reservoir to get them in balance. It doesn’t take much supplemental dosing to tune the levels because they weren’t off by much. Once I burn through a batch of media and need to replace it, I’ll consider trying a different media but for now, this hybrid approach is working to achieve very stable levels.
• Lastly, I added more light. I wasn’t seeing enough growth or color from my acros so I added two Kessil a500x lamps. So now, I have two a500s and three a360xe units along with 8 T5 bulbs. I keep the T5s dimmed to about 50% because I like the color blend better that way, and this balance creates great fluorescence, nice shimmer and good coral reaction. I’m setting up a burn in station to break in new T5 bulbs in the garage and will start experimenting with more actinic and higher output on the T5s in the coming months. I think it’ll help the corals pop and drive growth in the corners of the tank. The Kessils all have narrow-beam reflectors to help them penetrate the 30” depth of the tank so the T5s have an important role and, as coral growth creates more shadows, I don’t think 50% intensity will cut it.

That’s it for this update. Thanks for reading and message me or post a reply below if any details on any of the projects above would be helpful.

 

[lbacha]

Looks good

 

[spsick]

That skimmer mod is the most geeky reefer thing and I love it!

 

[DanP-SD]

That skimmer mod is the most geeky reefer thing and I love it!

That it is! It’s bs projects like that that keep me engaged in reefing after the initial build out. Time to figure out the next one!

 

[DanP-SD]

Eight Month Update
It’s been a few months since my last update and I was just looking at the five month pictures and realizing how much the tank has changed. So, first things first, here’s a video update of the tank as it currently looks. This is shot on iPhone with an Orphek filter but looks pretty close to the in-person color:



I’m experimenting with different lenses on my good camera so with any luck I’ll post some decent stills soon.

Growth and Stability
Since the last update, the two biggest changes have been: 1) growth of corals, fish and coralline; and 2) stability.

As you can see from the video, a lot of the corals have grown considerably since first introducing them. I think that’s because the tank parameters have really stabilized. Alkalinity stays consistently around 8.3. Alkalinity, magnesium and potassium all stay at or a bit above natural seawater levels. Phosphates have settled to around 0.01-0.02 with nitrates in the 0.5 range.

Tweaking the Chemistry
One thing I noticed a few weeks ago is that, despite good growth and color, I wasn’t getting good polyp extension on SPS corals. I suspected light so I measured PAR and confirmed it was too high (up to 600 in places). I also thought some of the zeovit supplements I was adding may have been cumulative (although nothing unusual showed in ICP testing). So I’ve slowly reduced light and cut back on some of the zeovit supplements (BioMate and Flatworm Stop). This combination has led to an improvement in PE, color and growth.

Skimmer Change

I also have considered my skimmer. I have a Reef Octo Regal 250 INT. It’s a great skimmer and has worked flawlessly but I read so many anecdotal accounts of people with zeovit-based tanks swearing a needle wheel skimmer is too rough on some of the components of the system and attesting to the improvement from switching to a Venturi skimmer. So I programmed a momentary button to kill the skimmer for two hours each time I dosed the tank. While I don’t have the data to make a scientific conclusion on this, the corals looked better after doing this a few weeks, which seems to lend some credence to the anecdotal evidence. So I finally bit the bullet and plumbed in a lifereef skimmer and turned off the Reef Octo. Not sure what to do with that or the space it won’t need in the sump but I plan to pull out the Reef Octo permanently.

Adding Fish

I usually increase fish bioload pretty slowly but have pushed it a bit in recent weeks. In my last update, I noted that I had a Regal Angel and Swallowtail Angel in my QT. Unfortunately, they never made it out. They were fully quarantined by a good vendor (I won’t mention who because I think this was a fluke) but one of them had what appeared to be a bacterial infection - I’m guessing gram negative because it was so quickly fatal - and they both caught it and died in the QT. While disappointing, I think I have to consider that a success for the QT because it kept the ailment out of the display.

I’ve since replaced the regal and added a goldflake angel. Both are visible in the video. Both eat well and are fattening up. I plan to add a Majestic and Emperor (both smaller than the goldflake) soon and then I’ll be done with angelfish. I’ll probably add a few more fish down the road but I think I’m getting close to the final bioload I want in the tank and want to leave room for them to grow out.

I’ve also added a few coral frags and more LPS and zoas for the bottom zone. I’m a bit surprised (pleasantly) by how well they do with such low nutrients. Not very LPS thrives in this environment so I recently set up a coral grow out tank where I keep nutrients a bit higher and light/flow notably lower. I moved my war coral and Duncans there bc they were not doing well (minimal extension, fading colors) in the display. But euphyllias, alveoporas, gonioporas, lobos, mushrooms, clams, zoas, palys, and all SPS seem to be thriving. Jury is out on trachys.

I’ll post some pictures of the new gear and livestock closeups in the next post.

 

[trellemania]

Eight Month Update
It’s been a few months since my last update and I was just looking at the five month pictures and realizing how much the tank has changed. So, first things first, here’s a video update of the tank as it currently looks. This is shot on iPhone with an Orphek filter but looks pretty close to the in-person color:



I’m experimenting with different lenses on my good camera so with any luck I’ll post some decent stills soon.

Growth and Stability
Since the last update, the two biggest changes have been: 1) growth of corals, fish and coralline; and 2) stability.

As you can see from the video, a lot of the corals have grown considerably since first introducing them. I think that’s because the tank parameters have really stabilized. Alkalinity stays consistently around 8.3. Alkalinity, magnesium and potassium all stay at or a bit above natural seawater levels. Phosphates have settled to around 0.01-0.02 with nitrates in the 0.5 range.

Tweaking the Chemistry
One thing I noticed a few weeks ago is that, despite good growth and color, I wasn’t getting good polyp extension on SPS corals. I suspected light so I measured PAR and confirmed it was too high (up to 600 in places). I also thought some of the zeovit supplements I was adding may have been cumulative (although nothing unusual showed in ICP testing). So I’ve slowly reduced light and cut back on some of the zeovit supplements (BioMate and Flatworm Stop). This combination has led to an improvement in PE, color and growth.

Skimmer Change

I also have considered my skimmer. I have a Reef Octo Regal 250 INT. It’s a great skimmer and has worked flawlessly but I read so many anecdotal accounts of people with zeovit-based tanks swearing a needle wheel skimmer is too rough on some of the components of the system and attesting to the improvement from switching to a Venturi skimmer. So I programmed a momentary button to kill the skimmer for two hours each time I dosed the tank. While I don’t have the data to make a scientific conclusion on this, the corals looked better after doing this a few weeks, which seems to lend some credence to the anecdotal evidence. So I finally bit the bullet and plumbed in a lifereef skimmer and turned off the Reef Octo. Not sure what to do with that or the space it won’t need in the sump but I plan to pull out the Reef Octo permanently.

Adding Fish

I usually increase fish bioload pretty slowly but have pushed it a bit in recent weeks. In my last update, I noted that I had a Regal Angel and Swallowtail Angel in my QT. Unfortunately, they never made it out. They were fully quarantined by a good vendor (I won’t mention who because I think this was a fluke) but one of them had what appeared to be a bacterial infection - I’m guessing gram negative because it was so quickly fatal - and they both caught it and died in the QT. While disappointing, I think I have to consider that a success for the QT because it kept the ailment out of the display.

I’ve since replaced the regal and added a goldflake angel. Both are visible in the video. Both eat well and are fattening up. I plan to add a Majestic and Emperor (both smaller than the goldflake) soon and then I’ll be done with angelfish. I’ll probably add a few more fish down the road but I think I’m getting close to the final bioload I want in the tank and want to leave room for them to grow out.

I’ve also added a few coral frags and more LPS and zoas for the bottom zone. I’m a bit surprised (pleasantly) by how well they do with such low nutrients. Not very LPS thrives in this environment so I recently set up a coral grow out tank where I keep nutrients a bit higher and light/flow notably lower. I moved my war coral and Duncans there bc they were not doing well (minimal extension, fading colors) in the display. But euphyllias, alveoporas, gonioporas, lobos, mushrooms, clams, zoas, palys, and all SPS seem to be thriving. Jury is out on trachys.

I’ll post some pictures of the new gear and livestock closeups in the next post.

Absolute goals man! Thats awesome!