How about a nightmare build thread?

Erica-Renee · Oct 20, 2018

WOW..

I So would love to spend a two weeks with that system. It looks like a fun challenge.

Lasse · Oct 21, 2018

Gregg @ ADP said:
To that end, my thinking is that I should put the skimmer downstream of the refugium and the bed filter/plenum back upstream of the refugium to loop that PO4 back around and through.

That´s my way of optimize it - but if it has any importance - I do not know.

Sincerely Lasse

Gregg @ ADP · Oct 21, 2018

Sallstrom said:
Some thoughts (after two glasses of wine..).

I think removing the skimmate is more realistic in a tank with high bioload. Maybe after some time the tank will be packed with corals, then reusing the skimmate would be a good way to work against too low nutrients. But that's a pleasant problem.

I like the idea of keeping a sand bed like this in the system, as well as macroalgae and a cryptic zone. But when it comes to running the tank and keeping the nutrients at the desirable levels, it might be easier just going with GFO and adding a carbon source to the aquarium(together with a good skimmer and macroalgae). I know it's not as sophisticated as a controllable sand bed, but sometimes easier ways are just as good(or good enough)

Or, just pack the tank with corals and let them be the nutrient sink.

Skimmer downstream of refugium and macroalgae. I think. But that's just a guess. Probably won't do much difference. But again, just guessing.

Yeah, I don’t think it will make much difference either. I view filtration as an aggregate continuous process over time, not a situation where dirty water enters the filter and clean water exits.

I’m sure I can get away w/o the bed, but @Lasse got me curious with his, and I wanted to see what the results of those concepts would be on a heavy bio-load system.

And, of course...anything I can bring into the classroom is a huge bonus. This has a lot of bio and chem integration (what in a reef tank doesn’t?), and it lends itself well to student-led experimental design.

Lasse · Oct 21, 2018

I always try to optimize in a holistic and theoretical point of view and after that - practise will show.

Sincerely Lasse

Cyricdark · Nov 28, 2018

Would love to see some more on this thread, makes me feel much better about my many tank mistakes through the years. lol

Gregg @ ADP · Nov 29, 2018

Cyricdark said:
Would love to see some more on this thread, makes me feel much better about my many tank mistakes through the years. lol

After New Years, I’m going to do a pretty major tear-down and reboot of this tank. Once I get that going, I will start another thread on it.

There are some elements of the design that I simply can’t do anything about, but I can definitely redesign around those negative features and try to put them in ‘plus territory’.

The benefit of this tank is that I have a pretty massive (200+ gal) and user-friendly sump, and one thing this tank doesn’t have an issue with is water quality. I’ve already restarted the long-dormant refugium, and I’m going to play with a couple of other things to really take it up a level. For example, I was digging around in the space under the sump and found a huge Deltec calcium reactor that I forgot we had...yay!

dantimdad · Nov 29, 2018

Gregg @ ADP said:
After New Years, I’m going to do a pretty major tear-down and reboot of this tank. Once I get that going, I will start another thread on it.

There are some elements of the design that I simply can’t do anything about, but I can definitely redesign around those negative features and try to put them in ‘plus territory’.

The benefit of this tank is that I have a pretty massive (200+ gal) and user-friendly sump, and one thing this tank doesn’t have an issue with is water quality. I’ve already restarted the long-dormant refugium, and I’m going to play with a couple of other things to really take it up a level. For example, I was digging around in the space under the sump and found a huge Deltec calcium reactor that I forgot we had...yay!

Post a link here when you do the thread, please. I can't wait!

mitch91175 · Nov 29, 2018

I am by no means a tank whisperer, but I think this build disaster can also be the fault of the owner. No way (regardless of how much money I have) will I have some put an aquarium like that in the way they did it? I see you mentioned you have serviced this for 10 years? Is that correct? If so, why has it taken so long to attempt to get things right? Is it just that the owner has been pretty stubborn about making changes?

I for one have no problem letting someone know when I see their tank (and hope they do the same for me too) to give my opinion about it and let them know exactly what I would maybe do differently (if anything).You know what they say about opinions, lol.

This tank is a disaster and I would just have to tell the client to make some drastic changes. I also do not think this person could pay me enough to work on this tank (well maybe,

). This is just a hazardous situation to walk into.

Gregg @ ADP · Nov 29, 2018

mitch91175 said:
I am by no means a tank whisperer, but I think this build disaster can also be the fault of the owner. No way (regardless of how much money I have) will I have some put an aquarium like that in the way they did it? I see you mentioned you have serviced this for 10 years? Is that correct? If so, why has it taken so long to attempt to get things right? Is it just that the owner has been pretty stubborn about making changes?

I for one have no problem letting someone know when I see their tank (and hope they do the same for me too) to give my opinion about it and let them know exactly what I would maybe do differently (if anything).You know what they say about opinions, lol.

This tank is a disaster and I would just have to tell the client to make some drastic changes. I also do not think this person could pay me enough to work on this tank (well maybe, ). This is just a hazardous situation to walk into.

The issue is that initially the owner didn’t know a lot about aquariums, so they consulted with a few companies to have a tank put in before the house was even built, and ended up going with a company that apparently also didn’t know a lot about aquariums.

The tank we have is the tank we have. It’s all so built in that there are no drastic changes that can be made. It’s one of those situations where, if the old tank comes out, a new tank is not going back in.

When I took the tank over, it was a wasteland. I redid every single thing I could physically get my hands on (minus the dry-walled inside of the canopy). It has largely been a pretty successful reef over the years, despite the issues inherent to it.

The renovations that I’m going to do are really a product of the tank doing well and the customer wanting to take it to another level. The built-in issues aren’t going anywhere, but over the years, I’ve learned how to deal with them. The next step is revamping the interior to mitigate that weird mess with the overflow and that box that wraps around the support.

You might not want to work on it, but I think if you saw my weekly invoices, your tune would change pretty quickly ;Wideyed

scchase · Nov 29, 2018

I would scrape the drywall and glue up FRP over the top, cheap, waterproof and will keep all that from falling into the tank. Good job making the best out of a bad situation

Gregg @ ADP · Nov 29, 2018

scchase said:
I would scrape the drywall and glue up FRP over the top, cheap, waterproof and will keep all that from falling into the tank. Good job making the best out of a bad situation

That’s pretty much what I’m going to do. I’m not sure what’s underneath all of that, though (and kinda don’t want to know), so I’m not anticipating having a good surface to glue it on to.

Even if I just screw it on, it’s still at least holding it together and keeping the deteriorating material out of the tank.