d2mini's 200g Reeftastic Reef - Part Deux!

ReEfnWrX · Feb 21, 2015

d2mini said:
Way too much work, too regimented, and too much money for me.

I have everything needed to start ZEOvit on the new tank and part of my delays are trying to decide if I want to commit to it as well... Between auto shakers and only having to dose 1 as a minimum requirement which does stay in solution with water so it can be controlled via a doser is what has me thinking I may do it...

d2mini · Feb 21, 2015

I've always run my tanks pretty naturally, and set up to be as hands off as possible.
I've seen zeo tanks (like Diesel's) in person and they look awesome.
It's just not worth the money (setup and ongoing) and hassle to me.
And If I need to leave the tank in the care of someone else, it just makes it all that much more difficult.
I also don't like how it introduces yet one more thing where if you make a mistake it could crash your tank.
I'm happy with the way my tank is going as-is. If it ain't broke...

Wrangy · Feb 27, 2015

The tank is looking amazing mate! I'm super jealous of what you've achieved and can only hope to achieve some of what you have!! Need some more pics though

thejuggernaut · Mar 1, 2015

Wow, just skimmed through the thread and the cheato ball is amazing. How often are you having to clean the glass. Have you pulled some out yet. It looked like it was getting too big for the tank it was in!

d2mini · Mar 1, 2015

Wrangy said:
The tank is looking amazing mate! I'm super jealous of what you've achieved and can only hope to achieve some of what you have!! Need some more pics though

Thanks!

thejuggernaut said:
Wow, just skimmed through the thread and the cheato ball is amazing. How often are you having to clean the glass. Have you pulled some out yet. It looked like it was getting too big for the tank it was in!

I clean the glass the same as always. Usually ever other day. By then it definitely has a film of green dust on it.
It's been that way with every tank I've owned.
The only thing I've seen that gets me an extra day or so is when I run ozone.

d2mini · Mar 1, 2015

d2mini shoots... HE SCORES!!!! :high5:

I attended Reef Currents here in Houston yesterday.
Had a great time hanging out with everyone, checked out a bunch of the national vendors, got to see Sanjay and Mr Saltwater Tank speak (i missed Scott Fellman's talk),
bought some nice coral including a 1st Edition R66 Raccoon Acro from Steve Tyree, and I WON a bunch of great stuff in the raffle!

1: Two $50 gift cards from Unique Corals
2: $200 frag pack from JasonX Corals
3: $200 coral pack from our local vendor Unlimited Color Corals (I chose a two-head rainbow torch
4: Ecotech XR15w LED Light
5: 1 box of Fritz Aquatics RPM Salt

Here's the coral I came home with, and not shown is the rainbow torch i still need to pick up, and a gold torch i bought to replace the one i lost during the rebuild.
Plus i still need to place my order with Unique Corals.
The coral marked "I" is the Tyree 1st edition.
M is an orange Leptosoris similar to JF Jackolantern but not quite.
Haven't ID'd the rest yet.

gettaReef · Mar 1, 2015

NICE! Can't believe you won $500 worth of coral AND a Ecotech XR15w!! Gotta love those raffles. I look forward to seeing your gold and rainbow torch, and especially seeing the Racoon Acro grow out! Keep the updates coming!

d2mini · Mar 2, 2015

gettaReef said:
NICE! Can't believe you won $500 worth of coral AND a Ecotech XR15w!! Gotta love those raffles. I look forward to seeing your gold and rainbow torch, and especially seeing the Racoon Acro grow out! Keep the updates coming!

I know, right?! The crowd was ready to jump me. lol

BayouCityReefer · Mar 2, 2015

Right on Dennis! You lucky dog! I had that raffle envy for a while until my daughter score that DSA 65 rimless.

BayouCityReefer · Mar 2, 2015

Cracked us all up when you threw your hood on

w.gurney77 · Mar 2, 2015

Dennis that frag rack is looking pretty sweet!

Electrobes · Mar 2, 2015

Gorram Dennis, that's fantastic! Congrats on the wins, and for surviving the mob! :lol:

d2mini · Mar 2, 2015

BayouCityReefer said:
Right on Dennis! You lucky dog! I had that raffle envy for a while until my daughter score that DSA 65 rimless.

THAT was awesome. I was glad to see you guys get it.

Especially since i threw in ONE ticket on that one. I would have mobbed myself if I won it. :lol:

Ginu · Mar 3, 2015

Thats some nice loot... enjoy and cant wait to see them all grow out.

d2mini · Mar 8, 2015

My tank has been invaded! :jaw:
Courtesy of Diesel. Thank you again, sir.

And another recent addition... rainbow torch...

And some clam shots...

d2mini · Mar 16, 2015

So I got my AWC and ATO running using some Cole-Parmer Masterflex pumps.
I needed peristaltic pumps due to the fact that my reservoirs sit higher than my sump. Regular pumps create siphons, which is bad, mmmkay? And I needed something that could run for longer periods of time and something I could count on lasting. These guys are real workhorses and I've been happy with the one running my CaRx so far. The one running the AWC is the larger one on the left. It has two pump heads. While one is pumping water out of one section of my sump, the other is pumping water back in to the adjacent section of my sump. The only issue is getting both pumps to pump the same amount. Even with equal lengths of tubing I get some variance so I put a little 1/4" quick disconnect valve on the fresh saltwater line to slow it down a bit. Seems to be working fine. This changes out approximately 1% every day. Right now I just have it running once a day and it runs for 45 minutes.

The smaller pump on the right is my ATO. It pulls water from the 45g brute (just out of frame behind the salt buckets on the left) and the 1/4" water line runs through the wall to my sump. It's triggered by an optical float valve in the sump which is connected to my Profilux controller.

And finally, I got the chiller hooked up this past week.
Again, placed outside of the fish room to keep the extra heat out of there, and the plumbing runs through the wall to the sump. I was originally planning on tying into the return pump but that wasn't working out like I hoped so I put it on it's own Panworld 50px-x pump.

Electrobes · Mar 16, 2015

Love that Derasa clam! How long have you been running the slow water change set up? Do you feel it has been worth it (assuming you've been running it a while)?

d2mini · Mar 16, 2015

Electrobes said:
Love that Derasa clam! How long have you been running the slow water change set up? Do you feel it has been worth it (assuming you've been running it a while)?

Thanks.

I haven't done a traditional water change (outside of emergency situations) in like 5 years.
I HATE doing WC's. It's time consuming and messy. It also can create instability if you don't spend the time to match parameters.
AWC's fix all this. Even if salinity of the new water varies a little from the tank water, it will change very slowly and I will catch it via my conductivity probe.
And then I can make the necessary adjustments and it will slowly fix itself through the next water changes.
Overall it's more stable and less stressful on the inhabitants... and myself.

I just have to mix up a new batch of saltwater every couple weeks.

143MPCo · Mar 16, 2015

Dennis, from the looks of the saltwater container it seems to have sediment (walls) accumulating internally, how often do you remove and clean it if at all?

d2mini · Mar 16, 2015

143MPCo said:
Dennis, from the looks of the saltwater container it seems to have sediment (walls) accumulating internally, how often do you remove and clean it if at all?

Maybe once a year?
I was going to do it during the rebuild but it got so crazy with so much other stuff to do I just left it. Plus it's been pretty cold and nasty outside.
I'll probably do it sometime over the next few months.
Doesn't really bother anything other than looking ugly. haha