Andre’s Full blown 300Gallon SPS Reeftank up within a week ;-)

[autounionag]

Thank you for the detailed reply! I have you E-book and waiting for the next release =)

Looking forward to more posts about this! I’m starting a 1000gallon system and would love to save some money on rock. That’s all I have left to purchase at this point. I’m still undecided =/

Thank you!

Nah, I'm more thinking to be ready for all my SPS in a week or so...........
Just put some SPS in today to see how they are doing.

Right now the high alkalinity prevents me from bringing in more SPS and corals.
Due to the fresh setup, the ALK is at 10 to 10.5 roughly.
Won't add my SPS back in above 8.5/9

Due to this fact I also added Nitrates (since it was almost 0) and some oyster feast so the bacteria has something to work on, lol.
I will write a bit more how I use the Biodigest and set up the biology.

I only use Biodigest since I use that for many tanks where people have issues with bleached corals, high nitrates, low phosphate,..... imbalance in bacteria biology and I helped them to get their tanks back on track.
I talk a lot in my small e-book about it. Biodigest is my personal #1 bacteria mix for issues, hence I use it for this startup as well. I believe it will provide me a nicely balanced bacteria biology that you really want for a stable tank system.

-Andre

 

[Wrangy]

In case anyone is wondering, the best way to remove T5 bulbs with sausage fingers, is to use a packing tape strip ;-)
Slide it under, lift it up and pull on one end to twist the dang bulb out of the fixture.

You are a god walking among men!! This is the greatest post in all of history hahaha you've just saved half an hour in bulb changes for me and my fat little pink sausages haha

 

[PSXerholic]

Thank you for the detailed reply! I have you E-book and waiting for the next release =)

Looking forward to more posts about this! I’m starting a 1000gallon system and would love to save some money on rock. That’s all I have left to purchase at this point. I’m still undecided =/

Thank you!

I was ready to complete the 2nd "Andre's Reef Guide - Elements to dose" but got distracted by the flood and the tank breaking incident :-(
But it's just delayed, promised !!!

Later this evening I will post some more detail about the bacteria vaccination and how I prep this beast to become a Reef tank quickly ;-)

 

[PSXerholic]

You are a god walking among men!! This is the greatest post in all of history hahaha you've just saved half an hour in bulb changes for me and my fat little pink sausages haha

Lol, best response ever. THX for this compliment, glad I could help.
Came up with that when I had a package full of frags ready to ship, waiting for the Driver and had the bulbs to change and while looking for an easier way to remove the bulb, the packing tape was the only thing reachable while one hand on the fixture already, lol.

 

[PSXerholic]

Ok, rather then talking about the bacteria vaccination I just describe what I did:

The (300G) tank was filled up and when almost 3/4 full, I dosed like 3-4 Ampules of Biodigest after I added all the power washed dry rock in it.
Intentionally I did not added any of my previous liverock since that was covered in organic matter from previous uses! I did not want to have too much Bioload in the tank while sort of cycling since I was not sure how much bioload the Nitrate reactor would be able to handle later.


Next morning the tank was almost full of water and started to stink. The debris and waste from the dry rock was still heavy and all the organics started to smell ;-)
So I quickly put the skimmer and a 54W UV unit in addition to the salt/water mixing pump that was running continously.
Skimmer was for mostly aeration and taking out the organic waste.
Later in the evening, the tank was almost clean and the smell almost gone.

That evening the tank was filled and the filter system could start working normally through socks and sump, skimmer back into the sump etc.
At this point I shut down the UV and dosed another 5 vials of Biodigest.
Also I did pour in a shotglass of Vodka/vinegar mix for the bacteria to start working and populating.
That was the initial vaccination.

Next day I measured ammonia and nitrites, with the result of both being zero/non detectable.
For me that was the sign that the normal bio-cycling hasn't started yet. GREAT !!!
So I brought back in my Nitrate reactor and did let it run in bypass. This reactor was running on an Aquaculture grow out battery in a LFS where my corals remained in the meantime after the previous tank broke.
I turned on the vibe of the reactor and let plenty of bacteria and mulm flowing into the display ;-)

Following day I measured all relevant parameter and started with the necessary corrections.
Nitrates was not and Po4 was barely detectable. So I started dosing Nitrates to bring it up to 1ppm-1.5ppm.
This is important to feed the bacteria and keep them alive and make sure the populate in the tank!

In addition I dosed a very tiny bit of Ammonia in order to provide food source to the bacteria of the 1st stage of the nitrogen cycle. Nitrates I dosed already for the bacteria of the 2nd part of the cycle. So I will monitor the Nitrate level now every day to see it doesn't run out and slowly reduces.
Also the elevated Nitrates make sure the SPS do not suffer from ALK burn.

I have 4 of my frags in the tank which are doing great so far ;-)
Hey SPS 1 day after filling.... yiehaaa, lol.
1 JF Rainbow Monti, 1 Green Hispida Monti, 1 Bubble Gum Monti, 1 Mystic Sunset Monti............

Alk turned out to be at 10-10.5 at the moment and the bacteria while populating should consume enough ALK to get it down into a safe range. If not, I will have to bring in more of my montipora and some other robust SPS to consume the ALK before the sensible SPS return to the tank.
I hope the ALK consumption is good enough by just the bacteria work ;-)

Hope that helps.

-Andre

 

[revhtree]

Thanks for sharing!

 

[autounionag]

Thank you!!

Ok, rather then talking about the bacteria vaccination I just describe what I did:

The (300G) tank was filled up and when almost 3/4 full, I dosed like 3-4 Ampules of Biodigest after I added all the power washed dry rock in it.
Intentionally I did not added any of my previous liverock since that was covered in organic matter from previous uses! I did not want to have too much Bioload in the tank while sort of cycling since I was not sure how much bioload the Nitrate reactor would be able to handle later.


Next morning the tank was almost full of water and started to stink. The debris and waste from the dry rock was still heavy and all the organics started to smell ;-)
So I quickly put the skimmer and a 54W UV unit in addition to the salt/water mixing pump that was running continously.
Skimmer was for mostly aeration and taking out the organic waste.
Later in the evening, the tank was almost clean and the smell almost gone.

That evening the tank was filled and the filter system could start working normally through socks and sump, skimmer back into the sump etc.
At this point I shut down the UV and dosed another 5 vials of Biodigest.
Also I did pour in a shotglass of Vodka/vinegar mix for the bacteria to start working and populating.
That was the initial vaccination.

Next day I measured ammonia and nitrites, with the result of both being zero/non detectable.
For me that was the sign that the normal bio-cycling hasn't started yet. GREAT !!!
So I brought back in my Nitrate reactor and did let it run in bypass. This reactor was running on an Aquaculture grow out battery in a LFS where my corals remained in the meantime after the previous tank broke.
I turned on the vibe of the reactor and let plenty of bacteria and mulm flowing into the display ;-)

Following day I measured all relevant parameter and started with the necessary corrections.
Nitrates was not and Po4 was barely detectable. So I started dosing Nitrates to bring it up to 1ppm-1.5ppm.
This is important to feed the bacteria and keep them alive and make sure the populate in the tank!

In addition I dosed a very tiny bit of Ammonia in order to provide food source to the bacteria of the 1st stage of the nitrogen cycle. Nitrates I dosed already for the bacteria of the 2nd part of the cycle. So I will monitor the Nitrate level now every day to see it doesn't run out and slowly reduces.
Also the elevated Nitrates make sure the SPS do not suffer from ALK burn.

I have 4 of my frags in the tank which are doing great so far ;-)
Hey SPS 1 day after filling.... yiehaaa, lol.
1 JF Rainbow Monti, 1 Green Hispida Monti, 1 Bubble Gum Monti, 1 Mystic Sunset Monti............

Alk turned out to be at 10-10.5 at the moment and the bacteria while populating should consume enough ALK to get it down into a safe range. If not, I will have to bring in more of my montipora and some other robust SPS to consume the ALK before the sensible SPS return to the tank.
I hope the ALK consumption is good enough by just the bacteria work ;-)

Hope that helps.

-Andre

 

[PSXerholic]

This is only day "3" in the life of my 300DD..............
Well I would say quite an accomplishment........................................

I have taken back some reinforcements of some ALK sucker to get alkalinity back into 8.5-9 somewhere.
So that is my personal range to get the Acros back in ;-)

Looking forward if No3 dropped until tomorrow !!!

 

[PSXerholic]

Thank you!!

Your welcome.
Since most people don't have a "somewhat alive" bacteria reactor, I typically help my fellow reefer in which we do the same thing as described but keep the tank dark for the first week and dose daily 0.2ml Vodka (Svedska) for each 100G water volume.
This typically triggers the Nitrate peak and drop within good 1-2 weeks and the tanks never experience algae blooms while settling in with hermits, low stock on fish and corals.

I really love these particular bacteria strains from Prodibio, and they do not pay me to say that, lol.

 

[hybridazn]

Glad to see this coming along, I'm also happy to hear that marineland changed their sealing issues(hopefully!) Because this is the tank dimensions I want. Still not sure if I want to go this route or go "custom"

 

[PSXerholic]

Glad to see this coming along, I'm also happy to hear that marineland changed their sealing issues(hopefully!) Because this is the tank dimensions I want. Still not sure if I want to go this route or go "custom"

THX. I hope to get my Acros back then within this first week, but depends on the ALK level really.

I had the 300DD as a temporary intended tank for the repairs in the house to move my 210 in the meantime.
Man, I fell in love with the dimensions of this tank so bad that even the broken tank did not held me off to get a new one ;-)

Fingers crossed.......

 

[Wrangy]

Woohoo still digging that scape man!

 

[najer]

I forget stuff (didn't get notifications), loving this loads still and really interested in the vials, this will be bacteria additive 2 I will look in to!

 

[fedeuma]

Your welcome.
Since most people don't have a "somewhat alive" bacteria reactor, I typically help my fellow reefer in which we do the same thing as described but keep the tank dark for the first week and dose daily 0.2ml Vodka (Svedska) for each 100G water volume.
This typically triggers the Nitrate peak and drop within good 1-2 weeks and the tanks never experience algae blooms while settling in with hermits, low stock on fish and corals.

I really love these particular bacteria strains from Prodibio, and they do not pay me to say that, lol.

Awesome Build man! Too bad Prodibio or Svedska are not sponsoring you or your beautiful aquarium!

 

[revhtree]

Looking good!

 

[PSXerholic]

Awesome Build man! Too bad Prodibio or Svedska are not sponsoring you or your beautiful aquarium!

I probably would gotten all equipment for free, lol.

 

[PSXerholic]

Good news.....Day 4

Measured Nitrates this morning at 1.5ppm, just this evening measured twice repeatedly at 0.75ppm

 

[PSXerholic]

Looking good!

Thx, do my best ;-)

Can I receive my Build thread contributor banner with this

 

[MJH01]

I got my build thread contributor banner!!!!

 

[PSXerholic]

Plenty of work........

Picked up almost all coral, but no fish yet.
I just finished unpacking everything and placeing it somewhere. Will rearrange in the next days.

Some corals got STN from stress and AlK swings so it had to be cut back, treated, fragged etc.
Whole nine yards ......

Will not get the Carx running tonight and will safe that fun for tomorrow.

All that while feeling like crap....... Dang it.
A Reefer got to do, what a Reefer got to do, lol.

I may post a picture of the current tank shortly ;-)