Gablami’s 260 gallon Rimless SPS Build

[Gablami]

Hopefully you labeled those bad boys. WOW I am getting a little twitchy HA

LOL, I should have posted a warning with that photo. ATTN: Those with OCD tendencies may have seizures or nose bleeds.

 

[rds85]

LOL, I should have posted a warning with that photo. ATTN: Those with OCD tendencies may have seizures or nose bleeds.

Yes you should have!

 

[Gablami]

I finally filled up the mud trays and put some substrate into the refugium.

A little embarrassed to say that I bought 40lbs of Miracle Mud. Not so much embarrassed that I want to add substrate to my fuge, but by the name of the product and the price, LOL. And because I’m generally not a fan of products that seem kind of “voodoo-ish.”

But, the reason why I wanted to try it is that @robert s b. swears by it, and his tank is banging! If you want to have success, find someone who has success (repeatedly) and replicate his/her system and methods.

Here is his build thread: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/robs-450g-build-thread.467414/

You’ll see some similarities. I won’t say that I copied everything from him (maybe great minds think alike? but I will admit that Im copying Miracle Mud from him. I’m also trying to copy his lighting schedule as much as I can.

So let’s see what happens! I bought 40 lbs but there was a lot more than I thought. I put in 30lb for now; about 2” deep. Maybe next time I’ll add more to the mud trays.

It ships dry. First thing my friend said when I sent him a photo was: “It looks like sand.” LOL.

 

[Ashish Patel]

Robs is surely a good person to copy for inspiration, How he got his new setup up to speed in record time with dryrock is making me now considering using miracle mud. However, i've used in the past and I just don't like the price and how it gets all in the tank when trying to remove it or add it. I think your 2 trays system make it much easier to not have this issue so your tanks gonna be epic!

 

[Gablami]

Robs is surely a good person to copy for inspiration, How he got his new setup up to speed in record time with dryrock is making me now considering using miracle mud. However, i've used in the past and I just don't like the price and how it gets all in the tank when trying to remove it or add it. I think your 2 trays system make it much easier to not have this issue so your tanks gonna be epic!

The trays actually made it quite easy to add without muddying up the tank. I didn’t even turn off the returns. I’ve seen people shoveling in and out mud from their sumps and it looks a mess. Those mud trays are definitely the way to go if you’re going to use the miracle mud system.

It’s hard not to be envious of Rob’s tank. Acros grow so fast in there it’s almost unbelievable if he didn’t show progression pics. It’s like wha?!

 

[Wrangy]

Those mud trays are a fantastic idea!! Everything is coming together so nicely mate and that sump is almost as awesome as the tank itself haha Sorry to hear about the regal though

 

[cmaxwell39]

Sorry about the regal. Always sucks to lose a fish, but especially hard when you have no clue what happened. I have tried once with that fish, and have known many who have tried with at best short term success. I have decided that it is a fish that I shouldn't keep. Good luck on your next try with it when the time comes.

 

[Janci]

I finally filled up the mud trays and put some substrate into the refugium.

A little embarrassed to say that I bought 40lbs of Miracle Mud. Not so much embarrassed that I want to add substrate to my fuge, but by the name of the product and the price, LOL. And because I’m generally not a fan of products that seem kind of “voodoo-ish.”

But, the reason why I wanted to try it is that @robert s b. swears by it, and his tank is banging! If you want to have success, find someone who has success (repeatedly) and replicate his/her system and methods.

Here is his build thread: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/robs-450g-build-thread.467414/

You’ll see some similarities. I won’t say that I copied everything from him (maybe great minds think alike? but I will admit that Im copying Miracle Mud from him. I’m also trying to copy his lighting schedule as much as I can.

So let’s see what happens! I bought 40 lbs but there was a lot more than I thought. I put in 30lb for now; about 2” deep. Maybe next time I’ll add more to the mud trays.

It ships dry. First thing my friend said when I sent him a photo was: “It looks like sand.” LOL.

It does look like sand.
If you used 30lbs, how much is Robert using then for his 450g?

 

[Gablami]

It does look like sand.
If you used 30lbs, how much is Robert using then for his 450g?

In one of his posts he said that he used 100lbs of miracle mud.

I was just going by the manufacture guidelines. I ended up putting the final 10lb in, so I’ve got 40. Can’t fit any more.

 

[Shaka_Reefer]

Sorry to hear about the regal and not knowing about the cause of death is the worse!
I'm not quite sold on miracle mud yet but maybe @Bulk Reef Supply can investigate its pros and cons. But I love you trays!

 

[Gablami]

Sorry to hear about the regal and not knowing about the cause of death is the worse!
I'm not quite sold on miracle mud yet but maybe @Bulk Reef Supply can investigate its pros and cons. But I love you trays!

I hear you. I’m not quite sold on the miracle mud either! Well, I guess technically I did buy it already, with my money though, not bought into it with my mind. I guess we’ll see.

 

[Gablami]

It’s been awhile since I updated, but that doesn’t mean I haven’t been busy. About a week and a half ago, I was looking at my tank, as I tend to do, and I saw a couple specks on my Achilles. I looked at the hippo too, and he had a few specks too. My heart sank, cause I was pretty sure that ich had gotten into my tank. Probably from the two yellow tangs I had added a couple weeks prior.

I wracked my brain on how it could have slipped through. I did a full 12 day TTM. Dried out the tanks and equipment as I usually do. Only thing is I transferred the fish into the tank the morning of the 12th day as opposed to later in the PM when I technically should have. Not sure if that would have made a difference. Anyways, nothing is 100%, and I’ve gone years TTM’ing dozens of fish without issues. But I might give copper a try.

Anyways, I already knew that if I ever got ich in my tank that I would give ich management a try. I know that there are vociferous opponents to it, but I also know of many beautiful tanks that employ it. I just didn’t know how my tank would do — in particular, my Achilles.

I already had one aquaUV 57W plumbed into a return. I immediately bought one more online, and had to wait a few days to receive it. The next day I also found a great used deal on the forums and bought a third (not sure whether I would need to use it).

Man, in those few days, ich just exploded in my tank. Not sure if it was because all my older fish were not exposed to it for years and lost any immunity to it, but almost all my fish had spots, the tangs all had spots, and the Achilles got covered in them. Almost like it could be velvet if I had seen the isolated spots early on. BUT fortunately everyone was acting and eating normally. Saw a few tangs trying to scratch, but that was about it.

My second UV arrived, and it installed it that night on the second return, and things seemed to stabilize. It didn’t get worse, but didn’t really get better. I was running both at low speed 300gph. I measured using a Neptune 1” flow meter that I could screw right into the return bulkhead (not a fan of those plumbed in all the time. Seems nice to be able to use it just when you need it).

And then my third UV arrived, and I decided to install it. It is a lot of wattage, with all three it’s 171W. And in the future I probably won’t run all three. But it’s nice to have during an outbreak and let’s me turn up my tank turnover. The plumbing was tight however, and a little backbreaking.

Now it’s a few days after the third UV was installed and things have really improved. Maybe just a couple spots on the Achilles, and no spots on the other fish. Truly anecdotal and observational, and maybe things would have gotten better with just two UVs and more time.

For awhile, I wasn’t sure if it would work. I felt bad for the Achilles and was really close to deciding to treat the whole tank. Already bought the cupramine, Hanna checker and ammonia badges. Was ready to catch the fish and go fallow if things got worse.

But fortunately things turned around and I think I can live with this. Yes, it’s a bummer about the ich. And yes, I’ll probably still do some sort of QT for new fish. But this hobby is also about trying new things, and I’m looking forward to trying ich management instead of irradiation. Honestly there is some relief mixed in with the disappointment.

Here’s my tip on fitting UVs into a stand. Some people when they are sizing up a UV, the look up the recommend system and realize that it’s too huge to fit, and maybe give up or install somewhere outside the stand, etc. You can buy multiple smaller units and run them serially. I think the aquaUV 57W is one of the more compact units for wattage, and it worked pretty well in my case.

 

[rds85]

It’s been awhile since I updated, but that doesn’t mean I haven’t been busy. About a week and a half ago, I was looking at my tank, as I tend to do, and I saw a couple specks on my Achilles. I looked at the hippo too, and he had a few specks too. My heart sank, cause I was pretty sure that ich had gotten into my tank. Probably from the two yellow tangs I had added a couple weeks prior.

I wracked my brain on how it could have slipped through. I did a full 12 day TTM. Dried out the tanks and equipment as I usually do. Only thing is I transferred the fish into the tank the morning of the 12th day as opposed to later in the PM when I technically should have. Not sure if that would have made a difference. Anyways, nothing is 100%, and I’ve gone years TTM’ing dozens of fish without issues. But I might give copper a try.

Anyways, I already knew that if I ever got ich in my tank that I would give ich management a try. I know that there are vociferous opponents to it, but I also know of many beautiful tanks that employ it. I just didn’t know how my tank would do — in particular, my Achilles.

I already had one aquaUV 57W plumbed into a return. I immediately bought one more online, and had to wait a few days to receive it. The next day I also found a great used deal on the forums and bought a third (not sure whether I would need to use it).

Man, in those few days, ich just exploded in my tank. Not sure if it was because all my older fish were not exposed to it for years and lost any immunity to it, but almost all my fish had spots, the tangs all had spots, and the Achilles got covered in them. Almost like it could be velvet if I had seen the isolated spots early on. BUT fortunately everyone was acting and eating normally. Saw a few tangs trying to scratch, but that was about it.

My second UV arrived, and it installed it that night on the second return, and things seemed to stabilize. It didn’t get worse, but didn’t really get better. I was running both at low speed 300gph. I measured using a Neptune 1” flow meter that I could screw right into the return bulkhead (not a fan of those plumbed in all the time. Seems nice to be able to use it just when you need it).

And then my third UV arrived, and I decided to install it. It is a lot of wattage, with all three it’s 171W. And in the future I probably won’t run all three. But it’s nice to have during an outbreak and let’s me turn up my tank turnover. The plumbing was tight however, and a little backbreaking.

Now it’s a few days after the third UV was installed and things have really improved. Maybe just a couple spots on the Achilles, and no spots on the other fish. Truly anecdotal and observational, and maybe things would have gotten better with just two UVs and more time.

For awhile, I wasn’t sure if it would work. I felt bad for the Achilles and was really close to deciding to treat the whole tank. Already bought the cupramine, Hanna checker and ammonia badges. Was ready to catch the fish and go fallow if things got worse.

But fortunately things turned around and I think I can live with this. Yes, it’s a bummer about the ich. And yes, I’ll probably still do some sort of QT for new fish. But this hobby is also about trying new things, and I’m looking forward to trying ich management instead of irradiation. Honestly there is some relief mixed in with the disappointment.

Here’s my tip on fitting UVs into a stand. Some people when they are sizing up a UV, the look up the recommend system and realize that it’s too huge to fit, and maybe give up or install somewhere outside the stand, etc. You can buy multiple smaller units and run them serially. I think the aquaUV 57W is one of the more compact units for wattage, and it worked pretty well in my case.

. I would get copper power as well just for future reference. Different types of fish tolerate chelated vs ionic differently . Also I think you know what my opinion would be on this!

 

[Gablami]

. I would get copper power as well just for future reference. Different types of fish tolerate chelated vs ionic differently . Also I think you know what my opinion would be on this!

If I do decide to treat, I’ll PM you for some advice.

lol, I do have an idea what your opinion would be. It’s still a possibility, unfortunately.

 

[Gablami]

Easiest water change?

Just did my first one and got to try out my new setup. I’ve spent a fair amount of time trying to design the easiest and safest water change system. I know that there are definitely more “automated” systems, but I’m wary sometimes of trusting my apex too much. I trust myself more than optical sensors, solonoids and programs (one of the reasons why I stopped doing continuous AWC on my last system).

I drilled a hole for a 1” bulkhead into the return compartment in my sump, and put a ball valve on it, with a 90 elbow. This serves as an overflow drain. On the outside of the sump, is another 90 elbow pointed down with a 1” barb. This is attached to 1” tubing going through the flow into the crawl space. In the crawlspace I’ve got hard plumbing going to a large drain that I tapped (earlier in the thread).

My tunze ATO sensor is just below this elbow water level.

So when I want to do a water change, I’ll mix up the new salt water. When it’s ready:

1. Hook the output of a water change pump to the DT. The 65 gallon reservoir is right outside the door.

2. Flip the ball valve open.

3. Connect and start the water change pump

4. Stop the return pump when the water change is done

5. Close the ball valve when it’s done draining. Currently I’m using an m1, which moves water really fast, even at the lowest setting. So it tabout 5 minutes after I turn off the pump for the water to get drained out. Took maybe 10 minutes total for 30 gallons.

6. Put the hook back outside.

Main advantages are:
- I don’t have to turn off any pumps, ATO, skimmer, anything. Everything is left running.
- I don’t need to measure anything specifically. Whatever amount of water that gets pumped in is removed through the drain as an overflow.

Main disadvantage is:
- small amount of “fresh saltwater” is lost with the water change.

I think for ease of water change, that sacrifice is worth it. I have a rule for myself that I can’t put away the hook until I’ve closed the ball valve. But even if the ball valve were forgotten open, would probably only cause a problem in the rare instance that something goes wrong at the same time as its left open since it‘s just above the normal operating water level of the return chamber.

If I were to do it again, I might upsize then drain to 1.5” plumbing. Faster is better. The water change could be done in 3 minutes .

What do you think? Easiest water change?

 

[panic]

Mine is opposite, and super basic. I have a hose that is just long enough to drop in to the top of the tank that runs to a drain kind of like what you have to your crawl space. I turn off the return pump, I drop the hose in the tank, pull a siphon on the other end and stick it in to the drain. I planned to put a quarter turn valve on the other end years ago, but never did (thanks for helping me remember to do this). Once the level in my sump is drained low enough, I open a quarter turn valve in my mixed saltwater resevoir and gravity feed that to the sump. Aside from the MP40s in the tanks, I only one pump to feed my 2 display tanks, and one to the big frag tank. The growout tank and skimmer are gravity fed. I try to have as few pumps as possible since there are 50 million things to plug in, and replace.

 

[Gablami]

Mine is opposite, and super basic. I have a hose that is just long enough to drop in to the top of the tank that runs to a drain kind of like what you have to your crawl space. I turn off the return pump, I drop the hose in the tank, pull a siphon on the other end and stick it in to the drain. I planned to put a quarter turn valve on the other end years ago, but never did (thanks for helping me remember to do this). Once the level in my sump is drained low enough, I open a quarter turn valve in my mixed saltwater resevoir and gravity feed that to the sump. Aside from the MP40s in the tanks, I only one pump to feed my 2 display tanks, and one to the big frag tank. The growout tank and skimmer are gravity fed. I try to have as few pumps as possible since there are 50 million things to plug in, and replace.

If I could gravity drain from mixed salt water into the tank that would be really nice. I like the idea of using gravity as much as possible. That’s why I use horizontal mixing station tanks with Rodi water on top of salt water tank. I’m also trying not to use pumps, but unavoidable in my case.

 

[rds85]

Mine is opposite, and super basic. I have a hose that is just long enough to drop in to the top of the tank that runs to a drain kind of like what you have to your crawl space. I turn off the return pump, I drop the hose in the tank, pull a siphon on the other end and stick it in to the drain. I planned to put a quarter turn valve on the other end years ago, but never did (thanks for helping me remember to do this). Once the level in my sump is drained low enough, I open a quarter turn valve in my mixed saltwater resevoir and gravity feed that to the sump. Aside from the MP40s in the tanks, I only one pump to feed my 2 display tanks, and one to the big frag tank. The growout tank and skimmer are gravity fed. I try to have as few pumps as possible since there are 50 million things to plug in, and replace.

This is exactly what I did for my 260. Worked great.

 

[Gablami]

This is exactly what I did for my 260. Worked great.

If I had a fishroom, I would do it differently. I saw a system where there was a 40g empty tub plumbed into the system with ball valves going in an out. When you want to water change, you just close the gate valves in and out, isolating it from the system, and open a draining gate valve. Once the container is drained, just fill it with newly mixed salt water, and open the ball valves to reconnect it to the system.

I liked the idea if I had lots of space.

 

[rds85]

If I had a fishroom, I would do it differently. I saw a system where there was a 40g empty tub plumbed into the system with ball valves going in an out. When you want to water change, you just close the gate valves in and out, isolating it from the system, and open a draining gate valve. Once the container is drained, just fill it with newly mixed salt water, and open the ball valves to reconnect it to the system.

I liked the idea if I had lots of space.

If you move from Cali.... You can get double/triple the space for half the cost. Only down side not the same level of LFS's.

Is your other system still set up?