A Novice's 75 Gallon Tank Journey

scriptmonkey · May 17, 2017

All right....now we are talking. Seems things are clearing up nicely and all that remains is having to deal with micro-bubbles. Here a few pictures with the Ethereals at 50% (don't mind the white PVC pipe....it is what I made to deal with adding and removing water from the tank..

So need to do the following:
-Install the Tunze osmolator.
-Set up light schedule for Ethereals.
-finish adding salt to the final SG. (I have a Milwaukee meter and seems SG is the most accurate display reading for some reason)
-fix bubble issue.

scriptmonkey · May 24, 2017

Definitely had micro bubbles and after some emails with Roger at Tunze believe that is what was causing my ATO to go nuts. As the Aquamaxx Q-2 skimmer is breaking in I am seeing less and less. One con I guess of the Skimz sump is it does not have a great bubble trap.

In good news I ordered my 75 gallon package from Tampa Bay Saltwater and I'm on the schedule for the first shipment either Thursday or Friday! I will post pictures when I can.

scriptmonkey · May 29, 2017

Due to weather my TBS package was delayed until today. Will be heading to the airport in a few to pick it up....all 230lbs of it.

scriptmonkey · May 29, 2017

So the first shipment came in 5 boxes total and I will confirm the boxes are correct....they are indeed heavy.

Daniel@R2R · May 30, 2017

Wow! Awesome!! I wanna see what's in the boxes!

revhtree · May 30, 2017

Awesome let's see what you got!

scriptmonkey · May 30, 2017

Sorry guys. Been a long day at work...i will post some pictures after some sleep.

scriptmonkey · Jun 10, 2017

Think it is about cycled for now for part 1 so I finally have some time to post some Pics:

Think the hitchhiker snail was trying to make a run for it seeing the ammonia levels were so high

scriptmonkey · Jun 10, 2017

Sump looks a little different now, I added a Skimz MBR127 Algae Reactor to help deal with some of the Nitrates and Phosphates I hope.

So here are my initial impression of the unit, It is very well constructed and the DC pump that came with it is very quiet. My ONLY gripe is the O ring at the top that when you put the top plate on the tube, it is a PITA getting it to stay on the nub of the tube they left without it popping off. You slide it on the very lip of the tube and then it Pops off from rolling it on because it twists the O ring. Think it would have been better if they put in a groove in the top to capture it. Other than that, I will let you know how it grows Chaeto and what it does to levels as time goes on. My shipment came in today from www.Algaebarn.com. I orderd the tennis ball size and it was a little bigger than that and very well packed and it came in 2 days and it was super green when I got it, Very impressed.

scriptmonkey · Jan 23, 2019

So going to post almost 22 month update. I started on a journey (well multiple, I got married around the same time) to build a saltwater tank. I had high hopes, great dreams and in the end I wound up having to make too many compromises, a few mistakes and lost interest for a while. I kept everything up and going... it was a FOWLR tank with hopes of one day turning into a mixed reef and almost all the fish I started with are still alive and look healthy. I lost one Kole tang soon after he came home because he would not eat, and a blue damsel, pretty sure my gold flake maroon clown offed him.

So what went right:

I would do the Tampa bay Saltwater package again. Love the bio diversity it brought, some desirable...some not so desirable but hey, I believe everything is innocent until proven guilty...that is why I have 2 gorilla crabs running around and I am OK with it.
The sump is amazing.... no problems. Wish the top off area was a little bigger...2 gallons during the winter is not cutting it but very solid construction
The Current eFlux pump is still going strong for almost 2 years without zero maintenance... I had to send back the controller because the adjusting dial was flaking out but... been working like a champ.
The Tunze ATO works great...
The Ethereal lights work OK.... not sure how they will do with SPS coral... Also I keep having to reset them every so often to get them to respond to the ICV6 module to control them that is annoying.
Pro PVC liner in the bottom of the tanks for when accidents happen.
Gyres run like a champ with zero maintenance... even all coralline algae encrusted.

So what I would change or completely nuke from space:

Aquamaxx Skimmer... never worked... hated it... enjoyed the day I backed over it with my truck.
While I love me some Cepex valves... I should have put a gate valve on the drain.... Second biggest regret over buying that point of sale Aquamaxx.
Compromising on the tank. I do not care very much for the marineland corner flo tanks.... It bit me big time with my Gyre...I bought two... only one could fit horizontal on the right side... had to angle the one on the overflow side. I wanted a better tank but the budget would not allow that and a very nice wedding at the same time. Speaking of....
Should have waited till after the honeymoon to start the tank. Lesson learned.
Compromised on the location of the tank. Because of this, it made life hard for maintenance and that's why it was not preformed very often (some how every thrived which baffles me but that if for another post). If I was able to put it on the wall that was 90* to where it is installed, I had on the back side of that wall, my RODI water... a drain.. Everything to make a happier Tom
While the Skimz Algae reactor produced one good load of Chaeto... everything went down hill... the next batched died when I pruned it... the O ring was hard to get to stay to get the lid on.. next time couple drops of superglue. Still have it... but it is located in my office in a corner, it may live to see another day.
Stupid Aquamaxx skimmer.
not thrilled with my rockscape because it shifted all the time... next time I will cement it together.
Brightwell Xport BIO Brick is dissolving into powder. Not sure if that is common but kind of not thrilled with it and what to call Brightwell and figure out what is going on. The little powder pieces are super sharp too.

What I learned:

Aquamaxx is evil and do not listen to any positive Aquamaxx reviews...they are all lies
Asked more questions in the forum... like doing a peer review for design of plumbing instead of just going "hold my fish flakes....watch this!"
How to domestic bargain more effectively to better position myself for getting a positive outcome for what I am asking for.
Coralline algae is highly over rated.... it is like trying to clean off concrete on glass once it take hold.

So stayed tune... I am going to right all the wrongs and make some new wrongs I bet. The rough plan as of now:

Looking at a nice custom 60x25x21 135gal Starfire glass tank (debating on Rimless or Euro-braced at the moment... will put it out for discussion)
Transfer out the live rock and rockscape it on the fly in the new tank (should be fun...but will find out if that is possible in another thread).
Set up a mixing station
Set up a Apex automated solution with ATO and AWC.
Will have mixed corals, want to shoot for SPS but will baby step my way there.
Do it without one Aquamaxx product
Maybe have a fuge...maybe not... sump may be a Triton and I will 3d print some sort of Filter cup holder or a filter floss rack if I decide against Chaeto.... seems like it may be just another living thing to try to keep happy.

scriptmonkey · Feb 5, 2019

Tank as of Feb 2, As you can see Coralline is kicking my butt, need to scrape more off.

scriptmonkey · Feb 15, 2019

So it is official, just placed a deposit on a new tank and I am really excited. As an engineer, I always love to create new things and this will be no different. So I will update this thread when it is time to decommission it or if anything new and exciting happens. Like hooking up my Carbon reactor and when I was pulling on the JG fitting to seat it and the gate valve came off the manifold, yeah that was a fun time two weeks ago.