29 gallon sumped build

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Slim64684

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Liking the control box idea . Keep up the good work

Thanks. Progress is normally kinda slow. I work on it when I get some free time.

Awesome aquascape
Loving the DIY stuff. Very interesting even though it’s a bit above my head. LOL

Thanks. Hopefully I can get it all covered in corals.
 
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Thanks to @premiumaquatics I got a new toy in today.
20190307_152319.jpg

Hanna 774 ULR phosphate.

I couldn't pass up the opportunity to play with a new toy, so I promptly put the battery in and ran a test. Result of test, 0.00. Thought no way this could be right so I ran another test. 0.00 again. I guess I either need to start feeding more or put my thinking cap on and break out my K2PO4 and figure out a dosing schedule.
 

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I would make a snail guard for the float switch.
A snail could sit on it, causing the top off to turn on, and over flow the tank.

I used an old film canister with small holes drilled in it. That was many years ago, probably hard to find one of those today...... LOL
 
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I would make a snail guard for the float switch.
A snail could sit on it, causing the top off to turn on, and over flow the tank.

I used an old film canister with small holes drilled in it. That was many years ago, probably hard to find one of those today...... LOL

Thanks for the heads up but I thought of the float sticking when I designed my ato.
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I used a timing relay to limit the amount of time the ato pump will run per cycle.

Both the float and relay would have to fail in the closed position to overfill the tank.
 
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Just got home from Indmas frag swap to find the furnace not working. Drop my frags onto my tank to stat temp acclimating and get to work trying to figure out what's wrong with the furnace. Blower motor wont run. Awsome. Guess the house will be a little chilly until Monday. Mean while ill get the corals dipped and out in the tank.
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just a little teaser.
 
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It's now 10:30 pm and I finally got the frags in the tank. Also threw an extra heater in that I use to heat my water change water just to make sure the temp stays up. Have it set at approximately 76 f main heater is 77.8 f. Topped off the water i used for dipping with new water, go to turn my canister filter back on and it doesn't start up, so an impromptu cleaning took place along with replacing another 1.5 gallons of water. So 17 hours after I got up I'm finally done for the night. But enough rambling, on to some pics.
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Boston bean digi showing a little polyp extension after 20 mins in tank after dipping.
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Pink birdsnest
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Blue candy cane with green centers
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Pastel alveopora
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Party crasher cyphastera

Sorry for the super blue pics, lights had already dimmed down for the night.
 
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Looking nice keep it up!

Beautiful and I've enjoyed all you've done with your 20L. Excellent job.

Thank you for sharing and joining us here at R2R!

Thanks for the words of encouragement, means a lot. And on a brighter not got someone out today to look at the furnace. Not so good news is its a $1000+ dollar part for a 22 year old furnace, so needless to say a new one will be installed Wednesday.

Another bright note is I've managed to stabilize the tank between 77° and 78° so everything should be happy(ish). Im sure the temp swings weren't appreciated while I got it all dialed in.

New corals are looking happy though, pics from yesterday afternoon less than 24 hours from being introduced.
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And a fts for good measure
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It's amazing what just a few days will do for a coral.
20190316_221818.jpg

Saturday 3/16 right after being placed In tank.
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Sunday 3/17 less than 24 hours in tank
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Yesterday 3/19 3 days after being added.

On another bright note new furnace being installed today. No more po'd wife. Biggest win
 
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Welcome to the next installment of my crazy life. In this episode we will go over what happens when I neglect my tank for 2 weeks other than sporadically feeding the fish.

So my Mon thru Fri are kinda crazy and busy most of the time so i try to do all my maintenance on the weekends. Busy weekends happen ever so often and no big deal i can always catch up the next weekend. Well when a busy weekend is followed by a weekend where I'm so sick i don't get out of bed from 4pm Friday to 3pm Sunday and get called into work at 6pm Sunday and no were are 2 weeks with no tank maintenance. Add in another crazy week where I really don't start feeling better until Thursday and you end up with this.
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I did find a few mins yesterday to run a couple tests and numbers arent horrible
Sal: 34ppt
NO3: 10 ppm (api test and my wife read the test because apparently I'm color bling)
PO4: .02 (Hannah ulr phosphate)
Alk: 7.0 (red sea)
ALK did drop from 7.7 to 7.0 over the greater than 2 week span.

Next step, water change. But what happens when I use a 5 gallon bucket to mix water in and I want to do more than a 25% water change? Mix 4 gallons up and pump it back into the jugs the water came in and start mixing another 4 gallons.
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Up for tomorrow is a nice big water change and gravel vac, pluck the little bit of gha and brush some sponges and other algae off the zoas. Get rid of the majano and "feed" the one aiptasia i see. Also a trip to the lfs to see what's new and grab a salifert no3 kit.
 
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Finally got some maintenance done. Water change, gravel vac, mounted some coral, cleaned the sponge off the zoas that was choking them out.
20190407_183000.jpg

Fts 4/7/18 a few days shy of 5 months since the first dose of ammonia to start the cycle.
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Goni i picked up from the lfs yesterday

And I'm too lazy to type test results out, so journal entry for today
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When to mix up fish meal: When was the last time you tried a different brand of food for your reef?

  • I regularly change the food that I feed to the tank.

    Votes: 35 26.3%
  • I occasionally change the food that I feed to the tank.

    Votes: 44 33.1%
  • I rarely change the food that I feed to the tank.

    Votes: 41 30.8%
  • I never change the food that I feed to the tank.

    Votes: 9 6.8%
  • Other.

    Votes: 4 3.0%
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