Gogol's Sumpless 165 Gallon Build

[Gogol_frag]

Hi y'all,

My WaterBox Clear Pro 7225 is due in less than a week, so this is as good time as any to document the build. I realize that my tank's 15G short of the low-water-mark for a large build, but I hope that you will forgive my transgression. Please feel free to chime along. I am a chatty-cathy and love to banter

I had maintained a separate thread during the planning-phase, the discussion of which can be found here: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/looking-to-create-a-165-gallon-all-in-one-mixed-reef.811298/

So, here's my setup:

Intent/Vision: A room-divider mixed-reef, that is low-maintenance.

Reefer: Primarily me (this is my second-rodeo), attitude - patient, love to research, love to engage in discussions, very careful about risk/reward ratios of decisions. Secondary reefer is my wife - she has a Ph.D in Food Science and is fascile with culturing microbes. Her primary hobbies are our Standard Poodle and our backyard-garden. We live in Dallas, TX ... back to the build...

Livestock:

1. LPS/SPS corals - mix will depend on the water parameters that I can achieve
2. One large Anemone colony
3. Clams: 4-5
4. Fishes: 7 tangs, 3 clownfish (others depending on water quality)
5. Skunk cleaner shrimp (very likely, but on the fence - I generally don't like crustaceans in my reef-tanks)

Tank and Stand: WaterBox Clear Pro 7225 Peninsula (72" X 24" X 24"), White Stand (with slots on the narrow-edge - peninsula-style)

Filtration:

1. Nutrient converters: Dr. Tim's One and Only Nitrifying Bacteria, Brightwell Aquatics Microbacter 7, Live Tisbe Pods, Trochus snails (may be), Nassarius snails (definitely), Tang Gang (definitely), Clams, Poseidon 200 Ozone Generator (very likely, but not yet purchased) - to be connected to the Primary Protein Skimmer
2. Nutrient export: Primary protein skimmer - Deltec MCE601, Secondary skimmer: Tunze 9012 (once they become available), Algae Scrubber - Santa Monica DROP 1.4X, Carbon - Bulk Reef Supply Carbon (to be run in the Primary Skimmer's media chamber), Filter - Tunze 3168 (will be run sumberged), Filterpads - Aquatic Experts Premium filter pads, Sand vacuuming/water changes
3. Housing for zooplankton (in tank): Brightwell Aquatics Bio-Blocks 2.0, 120 lbs of Carib Sea Shelf Rock, 75 lbs Two Little Fishes Sand (2.5mm to 3mm)

Water Treatment - Bulk Reef Supply 4 - Stage RODI, Instant Ocean Salt, Calcium dosing once cycling is done (haven't finalized that apparatus yet), Sicce - Ultra Zero Utility Pump, Python, Bulk Reef Supply Titanium Heaters 2X 300 W, Dosers - Neptune Dos (not purchased yet), and Jebao DP-4, Salt Mixer- 32 G Rubbermaid Brute, ATO - Tunze 3155 (will purchase once available), 20G Food Grade Acrylic Bin as ATO Tank, One Time usage: Live Coralline Algae in a Bottle (ARCReef) - Pink Fusion and Purple Helix.

Nutrient intake: Live, being grown seperately (in Poseiden Reef Systems and and a Reef Nutrition Rotifer Culture kit)

1. Tisbe Pods,
2. Rotifer (Brachionus Plictilis)
3. Phytoplanktons - Nanochloropsis Oculata, Isochrysis Galbana, Tetraselmis Suicia

Flow - Neptune WAVs, Gyre(s) (possibly, but haven't purchased yet), pumps from Primary and secondary skimmers, and Tunze filter.

Lights - Reefbrite XHO 72" Actinic Blue X 3, Reefbrite XHO 72" 50/50 X 2 (these are very, very likely, but I haven't purchased yet)

Maintenance - Water Changes, Quarterly pump/equipment cleaning, tank-scraping

Monitoring/Testing - Neptune Apex Controller, Neptune Trident, API Reef-master Kit, Seachem Marine Test Care Kit, Seachem Continuous Ammonia Sensor

I realize that the post is rather verbose. I will post pics of the Deltec over the weekend, and rotifer and pods, and soaking rocks if y'all are so inclined. Lotsa pictures soon.

- ReefOn!
Gogol

 

[Jimbo7]

Congrats on the build project! Looks live you've got the plan down well, I'm also starting a low maintenance build and see a lot of similarities. Pictures seem to sell threads around here so post away!

Looking forward to seeing the progress.

 

[Gogol_frag]

Not a whole lot to share yet. My setup's still arriving in batches. Below are the pictures of my phytocultures and soaking rock (not really a page-turner)

What however is worth reviewing, for anyone setting up a new tank, and the primary reason for this post, is this extremely insightful video (link below) on cycling marine tanks by Dr. Tim Havonec (of Dr. Tim' One and Only - fame).

Spoiler alert: he almost directly says that the BRS-cycling method is NOT an ideal-method. It's a longish video - for me "meats and potatoes" start at 13:00minutes. The information here (if accurate, and I have reason to believe that it is not) - flies in the face of whatever i had learnt thus far: (link)


In bullet points (and only while cycling):

1. Keep the water temperature around 85 deg F
2. Keep the salinity around 20 ppt
3. Provide lots of surface area through which water can flow
4. Keep Ammonia and Nitrite at lower that 5 ppt
5. Be careful of heterotrophic bacteria. They are the archenemies of the sort of bacteria that you want to provide.

Here's some of my setup thus far.

 

[Gogol_frag]

T-3 days of my aquarium arriving via FedEx....

In the meanwhile, I tested the water in the Brute-drum, which reads 8.2 pH (using both Red Sea and Apex), 0.2 ppt Ammonia, undetectable Nitrite (per Red Sea) and nearly 20 ppt of Nitrate!! - I suppose the high-levels of Nitrate can be expected in a barrel of standing salt-water, live rock, other bacteria substrate with a teeming population of Dr. Tim's Darlings!! ... Seriously hoping that water changes along with my Santa Monica Algae scrubber (which incidentally also arrived today), take care of the Nitrate-levels.

In other news, I am relieved to find out that my floor is level ...thank God for small blessings!! The much bigger blessing was this book that I picked up - Marine Aquarium Handbook by Martin Moe Jr. (a retired marine biologist and fish breeder). Some bill this book as the old testatement of reef-keeping, although it was revised in 2008, right around the time when I started reefing for the first-time... It's an absolute page-turner. A fluidly-written book by a professional. I haven't been able to put it down so far.

(some pics below, to aid in documentation)

 

[Gogol_frag]

T-2 days! Skimmer disassembly and assembly, check! Hardly audible from 5 steps away. Hopefully it skims

 

[Gogol_frag]

Some updates ... Tank's setup, aquascaping completed, nitrogen-cycling completed and stress-tested by bringing Ammonia to toxic levels followed by allowing bacteria to bring it back to safe-levels within 12-18 hours.

Parameters during cycling:

1. Temperature 82-83 degree F
2. Salinity 20 ppt
3. Tank flow 20x volume
4. Stress-testing count - 5.

Lights went up yesterday. Let the nusiance-algae games begin!!!

 

[Gogol_frag]

It's April 21st, 2021. I started with my Prodibio Routine today. The tank volume is nearly 170 gallons, so accounting for rock and equipment displacement its roughly 150 gallons of water. So, I dosed the tank with three vials of Prodio BioClean (the bacteria) and three vials of Prodio Bioptim (the food for the bacteria). One vial combo is good for 15 days. Next dose on the 6th of May.

I got a 30 pack of BioClean Salt, which will last me until June 21st, a good period to observed the effects. On a side note, the tank walls are crawling with Tisbe Pods. I am hoping that there are many, many more on the rocks and sand bed

 

[guntercb]

Great planning. Post some photos when you add live stock. I am impressed you are cultivating your own phytoplankton. Way cool.

 

[Gogol_frag]

Great planning. Post some photos when you add live stock. I am impressed you are cultivating your own phytoplankton. Way cool.

Haha thanks GunterCB. I have made some adjustments along the way (especially with regard to my calcium/Alkalinity dosing).

The first salvo of my livestock should arrive within May 2nd week. Will post pictures for sure. So far every day has seemed like progress. I am always braced for impact though .

 

[guntercb]

Is your algae scrubber producing yet?

 

[Gogol_frag]

Is your algae scrubber producing yet?

Not a whole lot of algae yet, but some. My Phosphates are relatively in check (0.09ppm) likely because I don't feed heavy yet and because I use Kalkwasser. There is no hair algae outbreak yet, although I am battling a diatom-bloom with Vibrant currently.

Side note: heavy skimming and bacteria dosing work well for fighting diatom blooms.

 

[guntercb]

Keep us posted on the algae scrubber. I keep thinking I will try one on my next build.

 

[Gogol_frag]

Will do guntercb. My initial thoughts are that this one takes a while to "break-in" (it's only been a month though).

In its defense 100% of the hair algae that grows within the tank are within the algae scrubber, and the tank has fairly low Phosphates.

My current view is that, during the initial phases of tank settling in, mechanical filtrations like skimmers and media-enabled filters may likely be more impactful. My current routine has skimmer off at 5 minutes prior and 30 minutes after any dosing starts. But on at all other times. So essentially my skimmer is on for about 14.5 hours out of a 24 hour day, everyday.

Will keep y'all posted.

 

[Gogol_frag]

About a 1 month update to my tank. I have nearly completed the desrired-automation but still need to tinker around some.

Using the Trident to chase numbers, and still in that general process. Current parameters are:

• Ca: 370-380 ppm
• Alk: 7.2 - 7.5 dKH
• Mg: 1,300+ ppm
• pH: 7.85-7.95

My current dosing routine consists of:

1. All doses start at the half-hour mark, hourly... since Trident tests at the hour Mark
2. Reef Code-A: 75 ml, once per six hours, daily
3. Reef Code-B: 75 ml, once per six hours, daily
4. Kalkwasser: 300 ml, 12 times, daily
5. Phytos and zoos - 100 ml, once per six hours, daily
6. ProdiBio - once every 15 days

Dosing equipment consists of:

1. 3 2-litre conical flasks
2. 3 magnetic stirrers
3. 1 22-gallon ATO reservoir
4. 4 3.5-litre PhytoTanks from Poseidon Reef Systems
5. 1 14 gallon Rotifer Culture Kit from Reef Nutrition
6. 2 Jebao dosers with 4 heads each.
7. Brightwell Reef Code A and B powders
8. BRS Kalkwasser (also testing Seachem and Brightwell.. but leaning BRS)
9. TisbePods from Poseidon Reef Systems
10. L-Rotifers and RG Complete from Reef Nutrition
11. Nanochloropsis and Tetraselmis from Mercer of Montana
12. Isochrysis Galbana from Algae Research Supply

In other news, I had a Diatom bloom which I have successfully battled (cured within a week) with a cocktail of bacteria products. - Vibrant, Purple NonSulphur - Substrate Sauce, and Prodibio.

Some descriptive pictures below attached.

 

[Devaji]

Hey any updates on your tank?
I m playing around with the same tank but use a life reef overflow to go to a DIY sump. can you give me the measurements of the middle section of the stand please. looks like the FW stand has 2 vertical supports.

cheers

 

[Gogol_frag]

Yes it does. The middle section is about 4 feet by 2 feet by 2.5 ft. I'll give you precise measures tomorrow. Sorry for missing this.

 

[Gogol_frag]

Yes it does. The middle section is about 4 feet by 2 feet by 2.5 ft. I'll give you precise measures tomorrow. Sorry for missing this.

OK, just verified. The middle section is 3 ft (length), 2 ft (width) and 2.5 ft (height).

Quite interesting that you are dealing with Jeff as well (LifeReef). I have been in conversation with him for about a month regarding my HVS3 HOB skimmer.

Good luck, and feel free to hit me up with questions.

 

[Idech]

@Gogol_frag nice build ! I’m running the same Comline filter as you on my 75 gallons sumpless tank.

I first ran it submerged but I was having a lot of micro particles flying around. So I now run it with the grate half submerged and aimed a powerhead at the surface to increase the skimming function of the filter. Now the water is perfectly clear.

There aren’t many people using those filters so I’d love to hear your experience with it and how running it submerged is working for you.