Cody's 153 CTC Custom Build with Basement Sump Room

[fftfk]

Your tank and fish room are looking great. What is your Apex programming for the two heating controller units? I am going to do something similar with my tank...planning on ordering the controller today.

 

[ReefDreamz]

Your tank and fish room are looking great. What is your Apex programming for the two heating controller units? I am going to do something similar with my tank...planning on ordering the controller today.

Thank you! Pretty simple. I set both Rancos to 78 and let the Ranocs control the temp, not the Apex. The Ranco outlets in fusion are programmed like this:

Fallback ON
Set ON
If Tmp > 79.5 Then OFF

So its really just a fail safe to shut off the Rancos if they fail to turn off the elements.

 

[ReefDreamz]

3.5 month update

Things are going very well I think. I've been slowly adding corals and so far everything looks great.

After identifying SCA dino's in my display 6 weeks ago, I've done nothing but blow away any small patches I see, which are very minimal, with a turkey baster once a week. As of now I can't spot any dino patches. All params are in check with the exception of PO4 which slowly rose to 0.33 over the course of a couple months. I started running a very small amount of RowaPhos in a media bag and after 24 hours it's dropped to 0.28. I'm not 100% sure but I believe the PO4 is coming from dosing phyto. I've been purchasing live phyto from Dinkins Aquatics and dosing 50 ml per day but after days to weeks in the refrigerator is the phyto really still alive? Not sure.

In addition to the RowaPhos I also added a Clearwater algae scrubber CW-200 to hopefully control nutrients.

I also began dosing kalkwasser using the Avast Marine K2 kalk stirrer. I'm taking it slow and currently only dosing 300 mL a day but I've already seen a nice boost in pH.

Also installed an Ozotech Poseidon 200 ozone generator which has made a visible improvement in water clarity. I'm still not sure exactly how to set it though. My ORP for whatever reason was already high without the ozone, 450-460 and I have not seen any change in ORP after turning on the ozone generator. Currently I have it set to 2 and have it programmed to run for 4 hours per day. I don't smell any ozone when it's on.

 

[saltwaterpicaso]

such a nice setup so much im going to buy the same tank to replace my sca 120 .

 

[ReefDreamz]

such a nice setup so much im going to buy the same tank to replace my sca 120 .

Good choice! I love the dimensions of this tank. I do wish it was a little longer but the 31" depth is awesome. CTC makes an awesome tank!

 

[saltwaterpicaso]

i have had 6ft and i prefer the 4 foot length the deeper front to back the better it just looks better in my opinion

 

[ReefDreamz]

4 month update

 

[A Young Reefer]

Aquarium progress.

After almost going with a Waterbox I happened upon ReefBum's 3 Glass Walls YouTube series and following his lead I ordered a tank from Patrick at Coast to Coast Custom Aquariums.

The tank is 49.5" x 31" x 23". It's 153 gallons based on the external dimensions but the actual running volume will be around 138 gallons minus rock displacement. It's low iron glass on the front and sides. It's eurobraced and has an external overflow box with three 1.5" drain and two 1" return bulkheads.

Taking another page out of ReefBum's book I drove from New Hampshire to New Jersey and back to pick up the aquarium instead of having it shipped. It was quite stressful driving 6 hours with this tank in the back of my truck.

Once home, I hired movers to move the tank into the house. They opted to first move it from my truck into their truck so they could use the ramp to get it into the house.

I went with this size aquarium for a couple main reasons. One, while I have plenty of space in the basement for the sump room, I don't have a lot of space on my first floor for the aquarium. My other hobby is collecting 1/4 scale statues of comic book characters (picture below) which take up a ton of space. The reef tank will be sharing this room with my statue display cases. Two, this was the largest tank (the most weight) I was comfortable with having on the first floor.

View attachment 2751554

The best of the two worlds you sir are living the dream.

 

[ReefDreamz]

5 month update

Things are progressing nicely. I recently added 5 Lyretail Anthias and a Helfrichi Firefish that are all doing great. The algae scrubber is doing a good job of controlling nutrients. I'm staying at 10 to 11 NO3 and 0.09 to 0.12 PO4 pretty consistently. Haven't spotted any SCA dinos in at least a month. All my corals are looking fantastic. I have been slowly switching from 2 part to kalkwasser, only up to dosing 700 ml of kalk so far. If I keep up on changing the CO2 scrubber media my pH range is 8.12 to 8.22.

On the problematic side, I do have some green algae on the sand, possibly green cyano, not sure. It seems to be very slowly fading. I recently received two torches that were covered in polyclads, not cool. I've kept them as far away from my other torches as possible and have dipped and scrubbed them 3 times now. Hopefully I got them all, only time will tell. I have a ton of spirorbid worms, especially on the back wall. Also have a ton of pineapple sponges in the sump and overflow. I've spotted a couple aiptasia and a few vermetids. I ordered a Yellow Coris Wrasse, a bunch of Bumblebee and Nassarius snails, and some F aiptasia to hopefully help with these issues.

 

[ReefDreamz]

 

[Eric R.]

Incredible system design and execution so far, and nice pictures to boot. Following. Also see you're in NH, so hello from VT neighbor!

 

[saltwaterpicaso]

just curious any reason why the reefbrites front to back rather than side to side

 

[Gumbies R Us]

Photos are incredible looking!!

 

[ReefDreamz]

just curious any reason why the reefbrites front to back rather than side to side

I used the Reef Brite X-Series LED brackets to mount them and the brackets set the strips only about 5" away from the Kessils. My tank is 31" front to back so I get more coverage over the entire tank mounting them front to back.

 

[ReefDreamz]

 

[ReefDreamz]

 

[ReefDreamz]

 

[Gretchacha]

So far so good, I think. What I've done since my last update:

Added 5 jars of 5280 Pods and 4 jars of Galaxy Pods a few weeks later
Been dosing Oceanmagik live phyto
Added 3 jars of the Aquabiomics Live Reef Rubble, 2 jars of Indo-Pacific rock and 1 of the Gulf rock spread mostly in the display but some in the sump
Ran an outside airline through a CO2 scrubber to my skimmer
Added 15 Astrea snails, 10 Trochus snails, 2 Turbo snails, 6 Scarlet hermits, 25 dwarf Ceriths, and 2 Tiger Conch
Introduced a Royal Gramma, 2 Banggai Cardinalfish, and a few Green Chromis
Swapped out the socks for the Clarisea filter rollers
Turned on the UV sterilizer
Started running Aquachar in a reactor
Added my first few corals, a Duncan, some Zoas, and a Ricordea

Interestingly, my tank has been consuming around 0.23 dkh per day of alkalinity since the cycle was complete, despite zero Coralline algae and no corals for most of that time.

My Kessils are running 12 hours per day but only up to 35% intensity and only at 35% intensity for two hours.
I did go through a diatom phase a few weeks ago which cleared up within a few days of introducing the CUC.
Now I have a green/brown coating on the rocks, not sure what it is yet.

Current Parameters
Salinity: 34.4-34.6
pH: 7.9-8.01
Temp: 77.2-78.4
ORP: 480-490
Alk: 7.8
Ca: 421
Mg: 1383
PO4: 0.07
NO3: 13

I did an ATI ICP test and all was in-line besides:
Slightly low potassium at 345 mg/L
Low Bromine at 14.5 mg/L
Low Boron at 4.75 mg/L
Low Fluoride at 0.27 mg/L
Significantly high Barium at 72.12 ug/L
Slightly high Tin at 9.52 ug/L

I am starting the Reef Moonshiners program and ordered my first set of elements.
I did lose one Chromis to what I'm pretty certain was Uronema. The remaining fish have shown no signs of disease for 10 days. Fingers crossed.
I have a Yellow, Gem, White Tail, and Convict tang being quarantined which I'll introduce all at once in a couple weeks.

Wow, I am so impressed by your set up and plan. But I am even more surprised you didn’t make a QT tank after a year of building and planning! Was that a choice or an oversight?

 

[ReefDreamz]

Wow, I am so impressed by your set up and plan. But I am even more surprised you didn’t make a QT tank after a year of building and planning! Was that a choice or an oversight?

Thank you! I bought all my fish pre-quarantined from Dr. Reefs Quarantined Fish so no need for a QT tank.

 

[Gretchacha]

Thank you! I bought all my fish pre-quarantined from Dr. Reefs Quarantined Fish so no need for a QT tank.

OIC. I was reading some great reviews about Dr Reef company on this site. And you also get corals there? Or not? It looks like you ended up with some hitchhikers earlier. FWIW, I enjoy quarantining my fish for reasons other than preventing disease in the DT. You might consider it of value if you get small livestock that you want to grow out, or train to eat certain foods without competing fish getting involved. I like that I can carefully observe my new fish for a while and get to understand their usual behavior, what spooks them, what food can’t they resist, how much they eat, where in the water column they like to eat and hang out, etc. Once I know my fish and it trusts me and its eating well and strong enough for DT flow, then I pop it in at dusk after feeding other fish. That way if its acting wierd in the DT, I actually know what normal is for this fish. The first sign of fish illness is behavioral, not a physical symptom like skin spots. Anyway, something to consider if you get something more delicate in the future and you would be putting it in a mature community.