90 Long Build! The Wait is Over!

[ReefQuestCorals]

Update on nitrite and nitrate

Looks like I'm sitting around 1+ppm nitrite and roughly 10ppm nitrate. I'll test again this weekend and hope to see nitrite reduced and nitrate starting to increase.

On another hand I bought new power heads today, the SCP-120 cross flow wavemaker was just a little to much and ran into issues with blowing the sand, once I took care of that issue I couldn't stop it from pulling air even though it was a solid 6" from the top of the water

So i returned that pump and went with the SCP-90 and a SLW-20. I'll be able to test both in the tank sunday to see what type of whirlpool i can create

 

[Tinnerito]

Update on nitrite and nitrate

Looks like I'm sitting around 1+ppm nitrite and roughly 10ppm nitrate. I'll test again this weekend and hope to see nitrite reduced and nitrate starting to increase.

On another hand I bought new power heads today, the SCP-120 cross flow wavemaker was just a little to much and ran into issues with blowing the sand, once I took care of that issue I couldn't stop it from pulling air even though it was a solid 6" from the top of the water

So i returned that pump and went with the SCP-90 and a SLW-20. I'll be able to test both in the tank sunday to see what type of whirlpool i can create

I've never seen a thread with updates this frequent and descriptive. Very interesting...

 

[ReefQuestCorals]

I've never seen a thread with updates this frequent and descriptive. Very interesting...

Is this a bad thing? :grinning-face-with-sweat:

You are pretty much the only one to follow or at least comment, so I appreciate it!

 

[Tinnerito]

Is this a bad thing? :grinning-face-with-sweat:

You are pretty much the only one to follow or at least comment, so I appreciate it!

No problem I honestly love the thread style so I'm engaging so that you don't lose spirit. I'll be here until the "I've done it, I've added the last coral of the tank and I can now rest in peace" update comes out lol.

 

[ReefQuestCorals]

No problem I honestly love the thread style so I'm engaging so that you don't lose spirit. I'll be here until the "I've done it, I've added the last coral of the tank and I can now rest in peace" update comes out lol.

Well i truly appreciate it! It will be a long road so hang in there, I am never truly finished :face-with-tears-of-joy: The frag system hasnt even been planned yet that will come later on.

I used to run a roughly 200 gallon frag system years ago on top of my main, 1 tank was dedicated all euphyllia and the other was mixed softy/lps. Ill see if I can dig up some pics

 

[ReefQuestCorals]

@Tinnerito Here we go, a few pics from my old coral room. This room was used to breed clownfish at one time, after the lady I helped sold off all the breeding pairs and system I turned it into my own coral room.

This is my FB page I posted all my pictures in and was setting up to sell on at one point. Just after crashing my system and life never got to that point. Welcome to check out all the cool stuff I collected over the years ;)

Reef Quest Corals

Reef Quest Corals. 1,357 likes · 1 talking about this. RQC coral agriculture farm located in Yukon, OK. Our goal is to offer the highest quality live corals. We offer a wide array of SPS, LPS,...

www.facebook.com

 

[Huskereef]

Been following this thread, great progress so far. T5 great choice long term with acros. I’ll give my 2 cents, not sure how fast you want to add any sps. I would add some live ocean rock and you will be able to have an easier path to acropora success right away. Just coming from my experience with setting different systems up the last 5 years. Not sure if you are on IG but pristine marine aquariums has some nice Australian live rock fresh from Aussie right now. I believe he has a website as well.

Looking forward to watching this thread!

 

[ReefQuestCorals]

Been following this thread, great progress so far. T5 great choice long term with acros. I’ll give my 2 cents, not sure how fast you want to add any sps. I would add some live ocean rock and you will be able to have an easier path to acropora success right away. Just coming from my experience with setting different systems up the last 5 years. Not sure if you are on IG but pristine marine aquariums has some nice Australian live rock fresh from Aussie right now. I believe he has a website as well.

Looking forward to watching this thread!

Thanks for the follow i appreciate it

After I get the first group of anthias in i will start stocking first with more lps such as i love chalices, my wife wants some "flowy" corals so I'll add in some torches, frogspawn, hammer or gonipora on the sides.

In my experience I haven't had issues adding sps after cycling but I did plan on adding a few pieces of live rock from my almost 3 year established nano to help "seed" the tank. Now i know some wild harvested or touchy acros might be an issue in a brand new system but outside of that iv been successful in the past adding sps shortly after the cycle. But I do agree I see more coloration and growth after the system is set up for 6+ months. This time around I will be trying a different approach with adding different bacteria strands into the system, at the moment I'm using MicroBacter7 from brightwell to help with the cycle and looking at AF live source for weekly dosing.

And outside of MH I love t5 and the growth/coloration they give acros. I will run a full t5 system for sps as long as I can, but I feel in the future t5 bulbs might be an issue sourcing.

 

[ReefQuestCorals]

Updates:

Alk - 9.8
Cal - 420
Mag - 1180 (added 500ml brightwell mag which i had laying around)

Preformed some wire management finally and added in a power strip so I can independently switch equipment on/off. Don't be alarmed at the temperature heater is off a bit when reading, glass thermometer reads roughly 78 degrees

 

[trellemania]

Its so organized when you tack those wires :face-with-open-mouth:Thats what I need to start doing, the wire octopus is becoming a thing...

Loving how this is coming along! I hope the SCP 90 does the job!

 

[Mark82]

Looking good bro. Getting close to setting up my new tank. Can’t wait to get it wet.

 

[ReefQuestCorals]

Its so organized when you tack those wires :face-with-open-mouth:Thats what I need to start doing, the wire octopus is becoming a thing...

Loving how this is coming along! I hope the SCP 90 does the job!

Thanks! It took a couple hours but it's not half bad, most organized job iv had on a tank so far and the SCP-90 works great, i got it in yesterday! Honestly wish it was stronger but the next step up was to strong, SLW-20 comes in today so I'll see if i need another one after installing. But I appreciate the kind words

Looking good bro. Getting close to setting up my new tank. Can’t wait to get it wet.

Thanks a bunch! Drop your build thread here and I'll follow along, it's always an exciting journey

 

[ReefQuestCorals]

Got both wavemakers in the tank, both are also at 100% on else mode. I'm thinking I'll probably add 1 more SLW-20 seeing i don't have as much flow as id like on the right side of the tank.

They screwed up and sent me both sealed magnets that go inside the tank instead of the larger outer magnet, but worked out great seeing it let me install the power head on the overflow box allowed me to direct the flow towards the back of the tank and rock structures without fighting the cross flow pump

 

[fishface NJ]

I just found your build thread. I'll be following along.

I have been running T5 since I started back 1995. I also run a TEK 8 bulb fixture that I got in 2012. I just got a ATI 8 bulb for my new build. I need to build a tank stand for the 150g. I think I'll be asking Santa for 16 bulbs for Christmas!

If you are interested in Live rock, kpaquatics.com has nice rock and no aiptaisa

 

[ReefQuestCorals]

I just found your build thread. I'll be following along.

I have been running T5 since I started back 1995. I also run a TEK 8 bulb fixture that I got in 2012. I just got a ATI 8 bulb for my new build. I need to build a tank stand for the 150g. I think I'll be asking Santa for 16 bulbs for Christmas!

If you are interested in Live rock, kpaquatics.com has nice rock and no aiptaisa

Awesome thanks for the follow!

They are awesome fixtures and sucks they are so hard to come by anymore! At least around here they are.

And thanks for the recommendation but I will just be adding some rock from my established nano into the new tank, I havent used live rock to set up a new tank in YEARS.. I wanna say last time I purchased live rock was probably 2007ish? Iv had great success with acid washed rock and a long cycle, usually do not see any loss as long as I ensure to complete a full cycle and diligent on checking parameters until the tank is stable.

Also I have used a calcium reactor on my systems once I start showing enough consumption that water changes and small amounts of dosing doesnt keep up. Maybe this is part of my success? Seeing a calcium reactor when set up properly does a great job at keeping stability. Im not sure, but just sticking to what I know always works in my previous systems.

 

[ReefQuestCorals]

Well everyone its been a few days since iv updated the thread. Been busy busy at work and just dealing with lack of sleep, but have hardly touched the tank seeing the cycle should be completed now. But.....

Tomorrow will be the big day on the next set of Christmas gifts being ordered for the tank :) Along with my first fish order! I will be setting up a 20 gallon quarantine, I have a large sponge filter in my sump that went through the cycle so should benefit the quarantine tank! Ordered all medication needed for the Anthias and other fish coming later on to properly ensure I am adding the healthiest fish to the system from day 1.

Also been burning through roughly 8 gallons of top off a week sooo 110% need a dehumidifier ASAP :face-with-tears-of-joy: house feels like a sauna

 

[ReefQuestCorals]

Also blew out my chateo ball from the nano into the tank. First life you can see! Some small specks moving around on the glass as well, ill start feeding a little reef roids every few days to bump up the pod population also been feeding the tank very lite a couple times a week to start giving something to break down while the lights are still off

Put a small rock from the nano in here as well to start off some other organisms into the system



️EDIT️ Let's play spot the pod lol i just noticed it only looks like a piece of sand in the pic

 

[Tinnerito]

Well everyone its been a few days since iv updated the thread. Been busy busy at work and just dealing with lack of sleep, but have hardly touched the tank seeing the cycle should be completed now. But.....

Tomorrow will be the big day on the next set of Christmas gifts being ordered for the tank :) Along with my first fish order! I will be setting up a 20 gallon quarantine, I have a large sponge filter in my sump that went through the cycle so should benefit the quarantine tank! Ordered all medication needed for the Anthias and other fish coming later on to properly ensure I am adding the healthiest fish to the system from day 1.

Also been burning through roughly 8 gallons of top off a week sooo 110% need a dehumidifier ASAP :face-with-tears-of-joy: house feels like a sauna

Big step forward! I'm excited to see how the fish look in the display

 

[Elude82]

Wow. I just read through your thread. You are so detailed and your updates are amazing! You should do a huge favor for reefers and document your exact method for cycling a tank. In this hobby there are 100’s, maybe even 1000’s of different approaches. I’ve cycled probably a dozen tanks over my years, and your thread made me rethink my approach. To see you go through all the steps, especially recycling the tank, stand, and rock was awesome! I have a couple of questions: what difference do you see using the AF sand as opposed to CaribSea? And now that you used Brightwell bacteria for the first time, do you see any benefit over other brands?

 

[Tinnerito]

Wow. I just read through your thread. You are so detailed and your updates are amazing! You should do a huge favor for reefers and document your exact method for cycling a tank. In this hobby there are 100’s, maybe even 1000’s of different approaches. I’ve cycled probably a dozen tanks over my years, and your thread made me rethink my approach. To see you go through all the steps, especially recycling the tank, stand, and rock was awesome! I have a couple of questions: what difference do you see using the AF sand as opposed to CaribSea? And now that you used Brightwell bacteria for the first time, do you see any benefit over other brands?

I agree. I've never done an sps tank, so if you document your entire process I may be able use this when I do start one