75 Gallon technology heavy tank with DIY

[ilyad]

Finally got most of the dosing squared away.

Moved the Ammonium Bi-Carb to the Sentia doser.

And replaced all the little motor tubing on the GHL doser (its going to be ready for Calcium and Mag to be added).

Also added the third container (for the Magnesium), will still have to run the tubing for those.

And how we're looking with all the containers and dosers finally installed.

Still on the to do list: mix up new batches of Alk, Calc, and Mag, run tubing for Calc and Mag and calibrate doser heads. Hook up and calibrate Easy Booster 25.

 

[ilyad]

Another one of the small "upgrades" for the tank was to convert from my DIY filter pads to a filter media cup with loose filter floss. My DIY design worked mostly well and polished the water VERY well. One of the issues though was that the water level in the sump would sit a few inches below the filter pad and as it would make its way through, it would make a splashing/dripping sound while falling, so I put in a coarse plastic filter sponge to work as a spill baffle. This worked great, except when I upgraded to a larger skimmer and moved it into the first chamber where either the bubbles or the back pressure of the water would cause it to not flow as well and back up and over the emergency overflow after only a few days. The filter pad would have been still mostly clean, and when you move it, a bunch of trapped air would come out.

I thought that a filter media cup would work better since it would sit lower and not cause the air to get trapped. However, since I had a Trigger systems sump, it has an oval sock opening. Recently, they made an adapter that still fits the sump and the filter media cups. Well its just a simple acrylic piece with a 3.5 inch diameter hole.

Went to my local plastics shop and had them make one for cheaper!

And the rest of the parts

One of the complaints in the reviews was that the filter media cup would fit too loose in a standard 4 inch sock hole... but since this one was only 3.5 inches, it was a perfect fit.

Right when it was all installed, I had my doubts on whether this would work better, as the water level would sit juuust below the emergency level, even with brand new filter floss.

By the following morning, the filter floss was dirty enough that it caused the water to come over the top of the emergency line (same as my filter pad, but even sooner)

So we're back to square one... looks like I would have to adjust the flow to even less than my current 3x (which I dont think I want to) or figure out how to load the filter media differently. Also, while thinking about my old design, I realized that the filter pad I had was a bit tighter and could have been causing the air and debris to get trapped. Maybe one that is more open would work better... After all, its only there to stop water noise and not to actually filter... so a new filter pad was ordered. I will test a fe more versions out and see which works best.

 

[ilyad]

Just wanted to share a quick new FTS with a few corals moved around.

 

[ilyad]

After the last FTS, had a bit of a rough patch with the tank. The next morning after that picture was taken, a part of the large bi-color hammer colony closed up seemingly out of nowhere. Mind you, this was only part of it, and not the entire thing.

Tested the parameters and all were in the same range as previously, so no drastic changes there. One possible culprit has been that the Mac N Cheese torch has been getting pretty long compared to when I first got it and has started to hit the duncan (I had already previously moved it once) and seemed to be bugging it. In the past, this didnt really cause any impact, but since these are upstream from the hammer, I though maybe that was the cause. In either case, I should have moved it away anyways.

You can see there's plenty of room now

I also tossed in some activated charcoal in the reactor just in case. Fast forward a few days now and the hammer is still not its usual 100%, but the heads seem to be opening a bit more, so I'll continue to monitor.

BUT THE WORST NEWS is that yesterday, my purple fire fish passed away. Unfortunately she has been notoriously difficult to photograph, but I was able to photograph her in her last few hours as she sat on the sand.

I first got this gal back in October 2018, so based on that I estimate that she was roughly 6.5 to 7 years old. I hope that it was just her time and she died of natural causes... she was absolutely the longest living fire fish I have ever owned. RIP

 

[ilyad]

Another day, another small DIY project... My RODI/Mixing station is in the garage, and I do enough projects in there that the light from the open garage door seemed to have caused algae to grow on the inside of the canisters.

First small upgrade was to add a shut off valve closer to the RODI unit so I dont have to climb behind my washer and dryer to shut off the water any time I need to do any maintenance on the filters.

Here is the issue I am trying to resolve (algae in the last canister).

I first tried to look online for various sleeves or bags that could possibly fit to be used as a cover, but wasnt able to find anything that fit well enough to my liking. My dad offered to help make one to size.

Laying out the material and making a template

Then some sewing

One of the changes I made was to add a thick piece of duct tape to the inside of the seam to prevent more light spill and to keep the stitching from coming loose (just in case).

Then cleaned the canisters and replaced the filters

And how it looks with the "shade sleeve" on

 

[TheWB]

Another day, another small DIY project... My RODI/Mixing station is in the garage, and I do enough projects in there that the light from the open garage door seemed to have caused algae to grow on the inside of the canisters.

First small upgrade was to add a shut off valve closer to the RODI unit so I dont have to climb behind my washer and dryer to shut off the water any time I need to do any maintenance on the filters.

Here is the issue I am trying to resolve (algae in the last canister).

I first tried to look online for various sleeves or bags that could possibly fit to be used as a cover, but wasnt able to find anything that fit well enough to my liking. My dad offered to help make one to size.

Laying out the material and making a template

Then some sewing

One of the changes I made was to add a thick piece of duct tape to the inside of the seam to prevent more light spill and to keep the stitching from coming loose (just in case).

Then cleaned the canisters and replaced the filters

And how it looks with the "shade sleeve" on

Nice solution. I’ve never seen that particular problem before. I’m pretty much a pro at growing nuisance algae but never inside my RODI canisters, lol.

 

[ilyad]

Nice solution. I’ve never seen that particular problem before. I’m pretty much a pro at growing nuisance algae but never inside my RODI canisters, lol.

Yeah, Im not sure how or why it happened as I ran my RODI there for about 3+ years and it only happened once. As you've seen from my earlier posts, I am also a pro at nuisance algae propagation :face-with-tears-of-joy:

 

[ilyad]

Having had a small holiday vacation, I decided to tackler a few smaller items on my tank to-do list.

First and foremost, I finally hooked up the Reef Easy to the new doser.

It looks like any other phyto but a bit thicker consistency.

Next it was time to clean the t5 reflectors and change out the blubs.

Quite a lot of salt creep and splash marks on the reflectors

After being cleaned its looking much better, but some tarnishing is permanent. I should really clean these a bit more often.

The bulbs had a bunch of saltcreep as well

Then I decided to replace my mp40 guards with the Neat Aquatics wide flow ones. They are "bulkier" than my current ones, but should make the flow more evenly spread throughout the tank. Also, the little visor on my current version prevented me from cleaning parts very close to the glass.

Example of coaline algae that would grow behind the visor

New covers installed on the tank

Then did a quick clean of the skimmer and put my new grabby tool I got for the holidays as a present

Finally, the most updated FTS

 

[ilyad]

Another task that I've been putting off for a while is fragging the large weeping willow toadstool. I had it in the back corner, hoping that it would sit there, however, it grew a very long foot to reach the light and got pretty large in the process. I didnt like how it looked from that side of the tank and the fact that it shaded a ton of that area (in addition to touching corals on the top of the rockwork).

Here it was pre fragging

Being that Im lazy, I wanted to just put some frag tiles into a box to just toss in all the fragged pieces and let them attach on their own

And how it looked post fragging

The next few days the frags only started to look worse, either because there was not enough flow or they just didnt like attaching to the tiles without additional help... In hindsight, I should have just added a bunch of rubble.

However, now the frags were starting to melt and fouling the water/ticking off other corals. So I busted out my fishing line, needle, and glue. And I attached all the frags to the tiles with fishing line. This was an annoying task since the frags were slightly falling apart.

That being said, the frags are now making a recovery, and starting to look a lot better with pretty good polyp extension.

 

[walligee]

Hello, are you selling any yeti leather frags?

 

[ilyad]

Frags continued to improve and attach to their plugs, and now its looking a bit like a grassy field!

Not too long ago, visited a buddy who owns an aquarium shop and picked up a few cool pieces from him.

And with the large weeping willow gone, the back corner was freed up to add a little goni garden (on a magnetic rock).

(there is still space to add 2 more in the future).

 

[TheWB]

Frags continued to improve and attach to their plugs, and now its looking a bit like a grassy field!

Not too long ago, visited a buddy who owns an aquarium shop and picked up a few cool pieces from him.

And with the large weeping willow gone, the back corner was freed up to add a little goni garden (on a magnetic rock).

(there is still space to add 2 more in the future).

Wish I was closer, I'd take one of those weeping willows off your hands. Love those.

 

[ilyad]

Wish I was closer, I'd take one of those weeping willows off your hands. Love those.

My buddy owns an LFS here in socal, with a webshop. I've stuck a frag into his shipment before when someone made an order. It may be possible, if you find anything you like at his shop and want to buy some. Would just have to coordinate so I can bring the frag to him ahead of time. Can talk in PM if you want.

 

[TheWB]

My buddy owns an LFS here in socal, with a webshop. I've stuck a frag into his shipment before when someone made an order. It may be possible, if you find anything you like at his shop and want to buy some. Would just have to coordinate so I can bring the frag to him ahead of time. Can talk in PM if you want.

I'll PM you. Thanks

 

[ilyad]

With less equipment upgrades and the GHA battle behind me... I figured I would showcase more of the inhabitants of the tank, starting with the fish. Here are all but 1 fish that are currently in the tank (the last one is a Yellow Assessor who hides behind the overflow and very hard to capture on camera)

Astro (Starry Blenny)

Orion (Blue Star Leopard Wrasse)

Finn (Mocha Storm Clownfish)

Apollo (Radiant Wrasse)

Eros (Whitetail Bristletooth Tang)

Bandit (Yellow Banded Possum Wrasse)

Poseidon aka Bluey (Springerii Damsel)

Lelantus (Yellow Assessor)

 

[ilyad]

Not much in the way of updates, as the tank just continues to run without many changes.

Recently did pick up a frag of this Echinata

And while we're at it, lets get some updated FTS

And for fun... this hammer "alley"

Yet I am still most obsessed with just how highlighter green this goni is... it just glows in the tank insanely bright

 

[ilyad]

Major pick up yesterday! Slowly building up my fancy mushroom collection...

Previously I had JBs, Magic Carpets, OG Bounces, and a deepwater yuma. All but the JB's I lost in various tank moves.

On Saturday I picked up a tiny babies of the OG and Powerball bounces. Adding to the JBs I already had and a more recent Magic Carpet pick up, that brings my fancy mushroom collection back to previous levels. Hoping for some quick growth on these!

OG Bounce

Powerball Bounce

 

[ilyad]

Update on the OG bounce... unfortunately it suddenly began to melt away from the center (mouth) area and isnt looking too hot. Not sure if it'll make it or will fully melt away as its currently more of a donut shape with a bit of foot and skirt left.

Outside of that, over the past week I have gone pretty heavy into SPS.

First, I picked up a frag of a Bill Murray SPS

Then the following day I came back to the person and picked up large chunks of Vivid Grafted Setoa and and Undata Monti's (the undata at this persons house grew in vertical pillars intstead of plating flat, so hopefully that will stay the same with these frags)

Then yesterday, I picked up another small pack of SPS that has an SBB Blue Bee, an Oregon Tort, and a CB Maleficent.

Some close ups of the SPS on the top ridge of the rockwork

And a full tank shot

Along with the small SPS pack at the end, I also grabbed a frag of Z's Cotton Candy Goni to add to the "goni garden" but havent been able to get a good pic yet since its not opened up before the lights went out. Will do an updated pic later of that one.

 

[ilyad]

Another update on the OG Bounce... took a better look at it, and at the center there was a sand grain where the mouth used to be. Not sure if it just landed there after the fact or the mushroom tried to eat it and caused it to die off. Unfortunately, it continues to melt away from the center. It is still hanging on, but not sure if it'll recover.

On a nicer note, I took some "glowy" blue pics of the tank and various corals, so figured I would show them off.