Anirban's Aquaforest journey

[ngvu1]

Wow. Another handy man reefer. I'm following along

My buddy wanted to build an aquarium and his wife asked him this...."Have you calculated what will happen if the silicone does not hold up? Like what couch to sleep on or if there is one in the shed in the back yard already...." long story short, he found himself a used Leemar for less than the cost of building the stand ;-)

 

[Anirban]

Wow. Another handy man reefer. I'm following along

My buddy wanted to build an aquarium and his wife asked him this...."Have you calculated what will happen if the silicone does not hold up? Like what couch to sleep on or if there is one in the shed in the back yard already...." long story short, he found himself a used Leemar for less than the cost of building the stand ;-)

Thanks man,
I also had the same feeling but now the tank seems solid after 10 days of testing. Also I will add two layers of starboard at the bottom as this will be a bare bottom tank. I dont think you remember me but I got my apex from you. I also need to fix the cable and currently figuring out if I should colour the back glass panel black or keep it as it is. I need some wire management in case I keep it without colour.

 

[Anirban]

The beast is almost ready but needs to be painted and doors attached.....

 

[Anirban]

The stand is getting ready.....almost there

 

[ngvu1]

Looking good

 

[Anirban]

Looking good

Thanks man...going slow but steady..

 

[Anirban]

Today added some design to the structure...

 

[revhtree]

Looks great!

 

[Anirban]

Looks great!

Thanks Rev.

 

[Anirban]

Couple of days back got Starboard. This will be a barebottom so decided to add starboard.

 

[Anirban]

I put them in and finally my tank is where it should be...my stand.This is not the final place but I decided to finish the dry plumbing first.

 

[Anirban]

Its been a long time since my last update. Was super busy last couple of weeks with the tank setup. I finally set it up last weekend with all the plumbing done and the lights are done too.I was never happy with my light hanging option and also dont like the closed canopy look. Thought of building a floating canopy but that was not structurally supported in my rented apartment. So Decided to support it another way. Got couple of bars from home depot and painted them white. Fixed them in the main tank structure and mounted my canopy in that.

In the mean time I had an interesting experience. I ordered some real reef live rock and received some dry purple rock. The vendor informed me that Real reef live rock is dry rock and I need to make it live...:mad:

 

[Anirban]

Last saturday I decided to shift my tank and finish the work. I was really anxious to finish this. So started early morning. After 4 hours of mess I was finally able to pull up things and the tank was on its final resting place.

 

[Anirban]

A lot of update is pending so thought its a good time.
I filled up the tank few weeks back and it was a big pain. I figured out there was only one leak from the return joint. somehow my check valve was leaking and it took my dumb head 8 hours to fix it. But finally it was done.

This how my sump area looks like with the manifold and return line.

 

[Anirban]

I was playing a bit with my rock work in between water filling.

But finally decided on going with this...

 

[Anirban]

One new thing I tried with this build is the H2overflow sytem. Its not like regular overflow. It takes very less space and is not visible at the back. Depending on our choice we can change their orientation. Its also quiet.

 

[revhtree]

Nice job!

 

[mmw64]

following

 

[Anirban]

Nice job!

Thanks Rev. I will keep posting how this whole thing turns up.

 

[Anirban]

I was thinking to create a journal for my tank development. Since my last tank I started using aquaforest and I must say the results are impressive. So I decided that I will try to make this thread a log book for the Aquaforest products and how the whole system progress. I will try to be as detailed as I can so that it helps everyone who wants to follow this method.

Lets start with the description part first...

• Tank dimension: 30x24x16 inches
• Total water volume: 65 G barebottom
• Controller: Apex classic
• Doser: Soon GHL 2 doser 4 head SA
• Reactors : 2 TLF reactors (one running bottom Zeolite(AF), middle Carbon (BRS) and top high capacity GFO (BRS)) second reactor has biopellet Ekobak ULNS.
• Lighting: 2 hydra 26 and 2 custom fit T5 (ATI Purple plus and Giesemann Aquablue)
• Filtration: siporax and live rock no filter socks. Some macro algae but not huge growth just surviving.
• Skimmer: Sea side aquatics ES5
• Aquaforest products: Reef salt, Component 1+2+3+, Pro bio S, NP pro, Bio S (only after water change), Vitamin, Energy (once a week), Build (once a week).
• Non AF products: Brightwell aquatic Koral Colour (10 drops/daily), Kent Tech I (daily).
• Flow: MP40 QD in tidal swell mode

Now, this is the chemical part.....

• Salinity-1.025
• Temp: maintained at 79 degree
• pH: runs between 8.05-8.3
• Alkalinity: dKH 7.3 to 7.6 (Hanna)
• Calcium: 435 (salifert)
• Magnesium: 1320 (salifert)
• Nitrate: 1-2 ppm sometime less (red sea)
• Phosphate: 0 (hanna)
• Potassium: 400 ppm (salifert)

The target is to achieve a ULNS system where I can do minimum water changes without effecting the ionic balance. Also to see how over the time the no water change effect the method effect the system. The current parameters are after 16 days without water change and its still running strong. I am keeping a close eye on it and will continue my weekly test next monday although I test my Alk daily. I am right now trying to achieve one month without water change. Then I will do 10% water change and move on again.

Observations: The colours are great with daylight full polyp extension by all SPS and sometimes my favias and LPS too. SPS encrustation is great. Zoas are responding well.