AlexReef's 225Gallon Build Thread

[AlexReef100]

So I'm still waiting on more parts to be delivered so I can finally transfer the residents of my 90 gallon downstairs to this tank. In the mean time I've been building up a rather robust cleaning crew since almost my entire CUC in my 90 has been wiped out by a large pistol shrimp(who will not be moving to this new tank).

So far I've added the following livestock to the tank:
100 Turbo Snails
100 Scarlet Hermits
150 Blue Leg Hermits
25 Margarita Snails
30 Cerith Snails
8 Peppermint Shrimp
1 Skunk Cleaner Shrimp
1 Blood Red Fire Shrimp
5 Emerald Crabs
3 Tail Spot Blennies

I also ended up moving a couple of corals and rocks from my other tank due to the coral colonies growing too large for the 90 gallon, or in the case of 2 of the colonies, being close to death and moving them was a last ditch effort to save them (it seems to be working so far).

 

[marlinmon]

Another quick update! Life has been busy, but I found time to build the stand for my 40 gallon tank and finish up the plumbing. All I need to do now is glue my joints and start doing leak tests. I should hopefully be ready to start filling this weekend. I'll order my live rock and sand in the next couple of days so I can work on my aquascape before I fill.

I'll post my aquascape ideas for input soon, I had issues with bad flow and dead zones in my 90 gallon due to poor aquascaping, so I'm looking to do a more spread out aquascape this time so that I have good flow.

Really cool use of the stair space. I'd highly recommend upgrading that outlet to GFCI or upgrading the plug's circuit breaker to GFCI.

 

[AlexReef100]

Thank you!!

All are GFCI already, when I got the basement finished I had the contractors use GFCI on outlets on any new receptacles they installed and add GFCI breakers to any existing outlets. So the entire electrical setup in the basement is on its own sub-panel separate from the rest of the house and GFCI on every outlet (in case of flooding). Also the tank has its own isolated GFCI circuit to which the outlet in the closet is connected to.

 

[marlinmon]

All are GFCI already, when I got the basement finished I had the contractors use GFCI on outlets on any new receptacles they installed and add GFCI breakers to any existing outlets. So the entire electrical setup in the basement is on its own sub-panel separate from the rest of the house and GFCI on every outlet (in case of flooding). Also the tank has its own isolated GFCI circuit to which the outlet in the closet is connected to.

Nice! Never know... so many horror stories on here

 

[AlexReef100]

Nice! Never know... so many horror stories on here

Absolutely! Thanks for the heads up though.

I'm a big DIYer, but the basement was too big a project to do myself. So I planned and designed as much of it as I could around the tank setup and then did as many of the smaller installs as I could to save money on the project.


BONUS: Here is a recent pic of that same area with everything setup. I decided against the pump with the tube mentioned in a previous update, it blocked too much of the drain in the reactor sump and prevented any gravity drainage, so I'm experimenting with just aiming a powerhead towards the drain to try and force a faster siphon. Also I switched to a rubbermaid trashcan as my ATO reservoir.

 

[AlexReef100]

Radions installed, refugium up and running, and media in reactor number one.

Going to move most of the sand(only taking half of what's in the 90) and some of the smaller rocks and corals today.

My original plan was to move everything this Friday during the holiday weekend, but I like the idea of doing it in phases like this, it allows me more time to figure out optimal coral placement in the new tank.

 

[AlexReef100]

First round of corals moved. All I really have left are 2-3 large multi colony rocks and then the fish, which I'll probably do on Friday. So I hope to have everything placed and in its final position by the end of the weekend.

 

[SPR1968]

Great looking tank Alex, very nice and I really like the aquascaping

 

[AlexReef100]

Great looking tank Alex, very nice and I really like the aquascaping

Thanks!

The aquascape will change a bit when I move the last few big multi colony rocks down to this tank this weekend, but I'll try not to change it too much cause I like this layout as well.

 

[AlexReef100]

All live stock from my 90 gallon has now been transferred to the 225. I've got most of the corals placed in their final position.

 

[Clayton Jessup]

What a beautiful tank I am jealous of the size !!! Love the tank

 

[AlexReef100]

So a bit of an update. Everything is doing great so far, only casualty is one of the tail spot blennies didn't make it. Other than that things are looking good.

LIGHTING
I've been tweaking my light setup a bit because I was getting brown algae blooms on my glass, which tells me it was either too bright or on too long. So I turned down the intensity on my Radions as well as reducing the time the lights are on. I also swapped out a T5 bulb, I had Coral Plus, Blue Plus, and 2 x Actinic, but I swapped the Coral Plus out for another Blue Plus. So I'm now running a modified AB+ spectrum setup with a slow ramp up from 11AM to 1PM, the then full AB+ at 40% from 1PM to 6PM ( T5s on at 12:30PM), then a ramp down from 6PM to 8PM (T5s off at 6:30PM).

WATERFLOW
As I've mentioned before, I have been a bit obsessed about flow due to the terrible flow issues I had on my old tank(huge learning experience for me). So I've been adjusting the powerheads in this tank the trying to make sure there is flow in all areas of the tank. I currently have 1 Vortech on the left side towards the top running at 85% and then two Vortechs on the right side running at 60% (front and back of tank), I ended up moving the right rear powerhead toward the front of the tank and up a bit to clear the large rock structure in the center of the tank and provide better flow for the corals on the top and front of it. This however left a deadzone in the back right corner of the tank, so I placed a Hydor 850 back there to compensate. I also had an issue with debris collecting on the surface and pooling on the right side of the tank, so I added a second Hydor 850 at the surface on the right side to churn the surface of the water and keep the debris moving. The combination of these two powerheads now gives me a wall of flow running down the entire rear of the tank, it also creates a nice steady flow thru every crack and crevice of the central rock structure and pushed out a decent amount of debris in the process, so I have to say I'm happy with the results.


I also added some Cheato, Caulerpa, and Gracilaria to my refugium a little over a week ago and they're already taking off.

I'm planning on adding more fish and corals in the coming months, but I want to give the tank time to stabilize before I make any new changes, I also want to be sure I have everything setup properly before moving forward so as not to repeat past mistakes. I'll post some updated pictures of the tank here soon when I'm at home and have time.

 

[AlexReef100]

Another quick update, I've been monitoring the tank closely to make sure that no issues pop up. I've adjusted a few things here and there to help minimize water quality fluctuations

FILTRATION
I've removed one of the filter socks from the sump intake, I had an issue with Nitrate spikes when both socks filled up and Nitrate dips when I swapped out either of them for a new one. The Nitrate dips when I swapped filter socks was causing some die off in my refugium, so I'm down to a single sock so it will simply overflow and bypass it when its full allowing my refugium to get more nutrients and preventing all of it getting taken away when socks are replaced.


ADDITIVES/SUPPLIMENTS
I've been using Rea Sea Reef Energy A & B daily since I setup the tank, adding Kent Calcium, Alkalinity, and Trace buffers as needed. Even with all of that I was still getting huge Ca and Alk dips each week, so I recently switched to using Seachem Reef Fusion 1 & 2 and Reef Trace and just in the past 2 weeks I've seen an explosion of color and growth from most of my corals and my Ca and Alk levels are much more stable. So I'm going to stick with this regimen for now and see how things progress.

I'm going to continue to monitor things till the end of the year and then in January slowly start adding new corals and fish till I get the tank looking how I want it.

Going to take some updated pictures when I get home today and post them this weekend.

 

[AlexReef100]

Here are a couple updated pictures of the tank.

First pic is of the additional powerheads in the rear on the right side I mentioned in a previous post. On top of adding those I bumped the flow on all my powerheads up to 90%(Reef Crest).

Second pic is just a full tank shot. This is with just the radions at 50%.

 

[JoshH]

Hey Alex, I figured I'd carry the conversation about your reactor setup over here so I could get a better look at your system. I would personally add the pump for the reactors next to your skimmer and the return feed from the reactor sump draining into the Return section of the sump.

BTW I love the setup, it looks awesome!!!