AlexGs Basement Plywood Build 2 displays one system.

[ca1ore]

If you have a drain in your fish room, you might consider getting an Avast Marine Swabbie (or making one yourself) and then sending your skimmate down the drain so you almost eliminate Skimmer maintenance.

I use a swabbie, and like it a lot. I would advise against sending skimmate down the drain - always a good idea to be able to easily eyeball skimmate accumulation, lest you fail to note a malfunctioning skimmer.

 

[AlexG]

The calcium reactor is in place but I still have to connect the co2 tank. I should have the co2 connected this weekend. I figure it will take a couple of weeks to get it dialed in.

 

[vikinglord13]

This is fricken awesome! I love seeing successful build threads, especially ones from scratch. I'm wanting to build a plywood aquarium one day and I'm thinking with patience, preparation, and research I will do it successfully.

I'm definitely following this thread and subscribing to your youtube channel.

 

[AlexG]

I figured I would add some eye candy. The tanks have been doing great. I am still in the process of tuning the calcium reactor as I want to take my time dialing it in.

 

[Bronc]

Looking great!

 

[OriginalUserName]

I'm going to go home and stare at my slightly crooked Ikea bookshelf and cry a little. Wow!

 

[AlexG]

A few more pictures of the displays and the fish room

 

[najer]

Big tank looks like the algae is less?

 

[AlexG]

Big tank looks like the algae is less?

Yes I did an algae clean out in both displays in the last couple of weeks. The 720 still has quiet a bit of hair algae but it is not coming back very fast. The 480 gallon tank is pretty free of hair algae now but it will take some time to ensure it is not coming back. I will keep everyone posted.

 

[dbraun15]

Looking good...nice to see the algae disappearing!

 

[AlexG]

Here is my latest update on the aquarium. The system is doing great. I am looking forward to picking up some new corals at the CMAS show next week.

 

[AlexG]

The tanks are doing great. I attended the CMAS show in Chicagoland this past weekend and it was a lot of fun. I picked up a bunch of corals and a couple of clams. Here are a few pictures of my new corals using the orange filter.

 

[AlexG]

Another fun week for the aquarium. The new corals are doing great but I did have to evict the rabbit fish and the red cigar wrasse to the 720 gallon tank as they were misbehaving. I give a general overview of the reef tank in this week's video and talk a bit about the CMAS show.

 

[AlexG]

Since I have gotten the hair algae out of my 480 gallon reef tank and it has not come back for about a month I decided it was time to take the fight against the hair algae into the 720 gallon display. I was asked a few times how one display could be hair algae free while the other was covered in hair algae. Both tanks are tied together as a shared system. My nitrates and phosphates have been reading 0 in the system which tells me that the nutrients being added via feeding are also being quickly absorbed by the algae. The hair algae in the 720 gallon tank has not been completely taking over as it did before as there are a few parts of the rocks that remained hair algae free from the first cleanup I did a couple months back. I have moved some of my urchins from the 480 gallon reef over to the 720 gallon tank and went through and did a major cleaning. I will then observe to see if the hair algae comes back again which if it does I will be adding another refugium tank light to increase the nutrient export capacity of the the refugium. I will also continue to add more cleanup crew members to the 720 gallon tank until I have found a balance. The picture below show the before and after. I also have a video below that talks about the cleaning while it is time lapsed. Just watching it makes me tired. On the plus side though I have cleaned the 720 gallon tank and exported some nutrients through algae removal. It will take some time and patience to find balance but it will pay off in the end.

 

[dbraun15]

Looking good...did you use different rocks in the 720 than the 480 and they are leaching phosphates? Also, any plan on adding any additional softies to the 720? I don't remember, but you must have bonded the rocks together to be able to use brushes like you did.

 

[AlexG]

Looking good...did you use different rocks in the 720 than the 480 and they are leaching phosphates? Also, any plan on adding any additional softies to the 720? I don't remember, but you must have bonded the rocks together to be able to use brushes like you did.

Thanks @dbraun15 . I have several types of rocks between the two tanks. The 480 has branch & shelf rock, reef cleaners dry rock, and some Caribsea life rock. The 720 has reef cleaners dry rock, one giant shelf and a few pieces of pukani rock. I don't believe I had much in the why of phosphate leaching but when the algae really started to take off the phosphates were reading about .1 and nitrates around 10. The tank was running for a few months before the algae outbreak began so its hard to say if it was a leaching event or if it was just a build up that finally caused a bloom in a new system. The phosphates have been reading 0 so whatever is being added to the system through food or leaching is being absorbed by the current algae growth in the refugium or the remaining algae in the 720. The big question is will the algae return in the 720 or is it on its way out for good this time.

I will be adding more corals to the 720 at some point. I wanted to just throw a couple in their for movement but eventually I will add more once I get the 480 stocked with corals. All but a couple of rocks in the 720 are held together with Aquaforest stone fix. I am very happy with the strength of this product and how easy it was to use. The height of the rock structures and their complexity on the 720 gallon tank required them to be cemented together. The branching rock in the 480 is not cemented together as it is a low aquascape that is interlocked with a low chance of collapse that would not be able to hit the front glass.

 

[AlexG]

The aquariums have been doing great over the last couple of weeks. I have the calcium reactor dialed in. It took a lot longer than I thought it would but I was being very cautious when turning up the reactor. Since humidity control has been a hot topic lately on R2R I decided it was time to update my video on humidity control now that the system has been running for almost a year now with water in it. I have only had a couple of minor issues related to humidity one being some condensation on the cement wall during really cold periods of the winter and the other is my dehumidifier sometimes does not properly drain into sump pit for the house both of which are easily solved. I though it was important though to talk about humidity control since there have been a lot of other large builds popping up on R2R. I attended the Starved Rock Saltwater Expo last weekend and picked up a bunch of corals. I talk about my haul in the video below. I took my wife with me to the show and she picked out more corals that I did. I told her that was her money she was spending and I also wanted to make some coral purchases with my money Needless to say she did not see it that way but I still managed to pickup some additional corals I am still having a hard time believing that I finally have this aquarium system running. I can't imagine what the reef is going to look like in another year or two.

 

[AlexG]

Its been a fun week. The corals and fish are doing great and I got a couple of videos out this week talking about Royal Grammas and my RODI system. I also surprised my wife with a 25 gallon lagoon tank as she wants her own tank. I have also been continuing my night time research on bioluminescence and included a picture below. Both displays are showing an increased level of bioluminescent activity since I wrote my first article on the subject. I am hoping to start reefing after dark park 2 in the near future. If you have not read the first article I wrote on bioluminescence its definitely worth a read https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/reefing-after-dark-–-bioluminescence-in-the-reef-aquarium.338847/

 

[AlexG]

It has been a fun week. I had a couple of minor issues with equipment as one of the skimmer pumps had a loose DC connection and the check valve on the calcium reactor let some water in and then got locked into a closed position. No harm came to the system and these are just some normal events that were bound to happen eventually. The tanks overall are going great and I talk about the entire system in the video below.

 

[AlexG]

I have been crazy busy the last few weeks. The tanks are doing well and the hair algae in the 720 gallon tank is almost gone now. I think the urchins and the triple DI filter addition have made a good impact on the system to where the hair algae is almost no more in the 720 gallon display. I did add some tangs into the 480 gallon reef a sailfin tang, yellow tang, and a tomini tang in addition to the purple tang that was added a couple months back. My CA has been running high around 500-520, alk holding 8.3-8.6, MG 1440. I have turned down the calcium reactor and started to dose alk again until I get the CA down a bit as 500-520 is too high for my liking. Has anyone had their CA up at that level and have you seen any ill effects from it being that high? I had a couple of acros receded but the rest of them are looking good. One orange frog spawn went down hill and did not make it. My big bubble coral had a small amount of tissue loss although I think that was due to clownfish messing with it. In either case most of the corals are growing and the fish are all doing well. I use a salifert CA test kit and it is testing RO water near zero CA so it appears the test kit is working. I will try out CA kit on some fresh saltwater to see how that tests tomorrow if I get a chance.