FarmerTy's 215-gallon SPS Tank

[ScottB]

That’s a great looking rock structure! Were you putting them in dry with each swap?

I wish I managed my sand better. I went old school and left it be. Treated me well over the years but realized I always upgraded systems every 3 years and for the first time, I have a 4 year old system and I’m not liking where it’s headed. I’ve been reefing long enough I can see the tell-take signs of an impending crash if I leave it this way for another year or so.

Thanks. It was fun to build. That piece is the product of about 20-30 bits and chunks. It has a dozen or so little landing pads to mount stuff to it.

Yes, it went in white & dry. I should have done it the right way as you are proposing, culturing it with tank bacteria. I thought I could pull it off, bit at a time. But no. Seven months of a slightly noisy biome. That system was so simple and stable for so long. Testing weekly, I could predict ALK, NO3 and PO4 almost dead on every time. Just bump up the DOS by 10ml every month or so.

Again, it could have been worse. I can't recall any mortality but the rocks are continually covered in evolving gunk.

 

[ScottB]

I just gotta figure out what I’m going to do with the sand. I’m leaning towards siphoning out 1/3rd of it each time I do a water change and replacing with the new sand that has been sitting in a bucket curing with bacteria in a bottle. Who knows.

Yeah, I was going to say a 1/4 each time and run the carbon reactor hard for a day. How about curing the new sand with your own tank bacteria? Throw in some you used media, substrate, rock whatever?

What kind of "old tank" symptoms are you watching for/seeing?

 

[FarmerTy]

Yeah, I was going to say a 1/4 each time and run the carbon reactor hard for a day. How about curing the new sand with your own tank bacteria? Throw in some you used media, substrate, rock whatever?

What kind of "old tank" symptoms are you watching for/seeing?

1/4 sounds safer. Good idea. I was going to sprinkle some of my old sand over the new sand to seed as well. Shouldn’t take much and the grain size is similar enough I wouldn’t even notice the difference.

I’m just seeing a steadily increasing phosphate level, rocks are just covered in detritus and not clearing as easily as it used to, sand if disturbed will cloud the tank easily, and of course a sump full of detritus. So some parts maintenance and some parts impending old tank syndrome.

I’m also contemplating down the road to renew all plumbing as the vermatiids over time I can see have choked them up slowly like cholesterol in arteries.

 

[najer]

1/4 sounds safer. Good idea. I was going to sprinkle some of my old sand over the new sand to seed as well. Shouldn’t take much and the grain size is similar enough I wouldn’t even notice the difference.

I’m just seeing a steadily increasing phosphate level, rocks are just covered in detritus and not clearing as easily as it used to, sand if disturbed will cloud the tank easily, and of course a sump full of detritus. So some parts maintenance and some parts impending old tank syndrome.

I’m also contemplating down the road to renew all plumbing as the vermatiids over time I can see have choked them up slowly like cholesterol in arteries.

Fine felt sock in the sump, syphon tube discharge end in the sock, you might want to watch your ato, you can syphon all day if you want.

 

[FarmerTy]

Fine felt sock in the sump, syphon tube discharge end in the sock, you might want to watch your ato, you can syphon all day if you want.

That’s a great idea and what I do for general maintenance. For a DSB that hasn’t been disturbed for 4 years, I worry about hydrogen sulfide. So when I suck the sand, everything with it is leaving the system hopefully. Or as best as I can manage.

 

[GBRsouth]

Fine felt sock in the sump, syphon tube discharge end in the sock, you might want to watch your ato, you can syphon all day if you want.

That’s a great idea and what I do for general maintenance. For a DSB that hasn’t been disturbed for 4 years, I worry about hydrogen sulfide. So when I suck the sand, everything with it is leaving the system hopefully. Or as best as I can manage.

What @najer said plus polyfilter to absorb the hydorgen sulphide and go slowly. Not all at once.

 

[FarmerTy]

What @najer said plus polyfilter to absorb the hydorgen sulphide and go slowly. Not all at once.

You guys are giving me ideas.

 

[ScottB]

You guys are giving me ideas.

If you have pockets of sand 4 years old and unmanaged... I am only exporting that to a bucket. Asking polyfilter to remedy that potential toxin load is a bridge too far in my book. But I am old and stodgy (and about to get vaccinated!) so take that into account.

 

[FarmerTy]

SC Rainbow Dynamite chalice - variation per piece is amazing

JF Sunday Driver

FarmerTy Pandemic - hard to see the beauty sometimes in the mega colony of crazy branches.

 

[FarmerTy]

RRUSA Angry Birds

MattV Rainbow Envy

RR Raven

 

[Epic Aquaculture]

RRUSA Angry Birds

MattV Rainbow Envy

RR Raven

I picked up a frag of RRU Angry Birds from Tony at RRU a couple of weeks ago. Looking forward to it growing out!

 

[John Bolden]

333

 

[FarmerTy]

I picked up a frag of RRU Angry Birds from Tony at RRU a couple of weeks ago. Looking forward to it growing out!

Nice! You went direct to the source! How’s it looking?

 

[FarmerTy]

333

Angel number?

 

[Camaro Show Corals]

I picked up a frag of RRU Angry Birds from Tony at RRU a couple of weeks ago. Looking forward to it growing out!

Me too! I did a big pack with Tony recently and had a few doas with one being RRU AB, he's gonna send me a box soon with a replacement. looking forward to comparing it to my RRC AB.

 

[Epic Aquaculture]

Nice! You went direct to the source! How’s it looking?

It looks great. Tony runs a lot of the Coral Farmers Market shows with Steve Tyree, so I see him a lot. I just had him bring one for me to the Santa Ana, CA show so I didn't even have to have it shipped!. Here's a crappy pic of it.

 

[Gernader]

Nice, I’m loving my RRU AB! It is a stunner to look at.

 

[John Bolden]

Lol idk I meant the page number 333

 

[FarmerTy]

Me too! I did a big pack with Tony recently and had a few doas with one being RRU AB, he's gonna send me a box soon with a replacement. looking forward to comparing it to my RRC AB.

Would love to see a side by side.

 

[FarmerTy]

It looks great. Tony runs a lot of the Coral Farmers Market shows with Steve Tyree, so I see him a lot. I just had him bring one for me to the Santa Ana, CA show so I didn't even have to have it shipped!. Here's a crappy pic of it.

Must be nice to have hand delivered RRUSA pieces. Looks great!