Salt Fever 105G mixed reef build - One year later

pochaxoo

Active Member
View Badges
Joined
Aug 9, 2020
Messages
160
Reaction score
159
Location
Canton, Georgia USA
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
I am slow panda, so it only took my 5 months to realize all this extra time on my hands from the COVID19 crisis means I can get back into reef keeping! I haven't kept a reef for 8 years, but did have a complete setup from before. So I go to the effort to bring my old 90G tank upstairs replete with dark wood stand, canopy, metal halide lights, power compacts, durso stand-pipe, etc.... I can see the dread in my wife's eyes every time I bring something up. If you don't know repeatedly flooding the living room with salt water onto hardwood floors can produce marriage hardships. My wife also knows from experience that aquariums can make a lot of noise (or a least mine can).

Anyway time to get the RO/DI running...so I am off to the LFS (Pure Reef). As I stepped into Tommorrowland I was bedazzled with all sorts of new equipment....open topped rimless tanks, controllers, programmable pumps, optical level sensors, programmable LED lights. I wandered further back into the store to see corals that glow so pink and yellow and purple they almost look fake. I was wearing a mask, but I am SURE this was when I caught a virus from one of those large shallow open top frag tanks. I left with only particulate, carbon, DI resin cartridges and a RO membrane, but it was only a matter of time before the virus became active. I started making water later that day. But like all old things my Kent RO/DI leaked a bit....so making water outside in the 94 degree late July Georgia swelter.

Later that night I had a feverish sweat and exotic dreams of corals and fish. The next day I convinced the wife to go to the store to see if she wanted an "updated look" in the living room. Of course she sees this coming a mile away, but agrees to go anyway. It takes the salesperson all of 5 minutes into his sales pitch on a 105G Planet Aquarium to mention the overflow box WITH COVERS and a Bean Animal which can make the tank very quiet.....BING!:) Wife smiling and sold.
Tideline 16 Deluxe Kit.jpg
1597890336062.png


A day later I am loading the tank and stand into the SUV.

Now ensues a multi-day slog of making water, sooo many 5 gallon jugs carried from outside to inside and down to the basement. I don't have the plumbing finished to the main tank so I am filling the 3 part sump/filtration system in the basement with the water I am making. It can hold 60 - 70 gallons so I fill this part while I work on the other parts of the system. I will have the tank on the main level of the house and have plumbed a large drain line, two return lines, and a cable conduit into the wall and down to the basement. (fair warning: colored PVC piping didn't exist when i built this and I obviously suck at cable management....one day maybe)
IMG_1664.jpg


In the basement I have plumbed part of the drain to go to a sump with a filter sock, protein skimmer and other mechanical filtration.
IMG_1655.jpg


Another line branches from the drain and feeds a 40 gallon tank that will house the refugium with chaeto. Both of these filters feed into a HDPE trashcan (yes I know, it's my ghetto and I live here, I may replace this with a polyethylene tank later)

IMG_1656.jpg

I have an Little Giant 4MDQX-SC pump from 9 years ago still in the box, so I connect that up to the base of the trashcan; I am getting close to ready. I still have an empty tank sitting upstairs looking cool but NOTHING in it.

August 1: Off to the LFS again to see about an aquascape. Last time I did this we bought live rock from the lfs and stacked it up as best we could to make...a horrible jumble of rocks that touched the back and front glass making it impossible to scrape off coraline algae

3030_70002427556_5231321_n.jpg


At the LFS I am pointed to the bins of man-made rock and told to make something and they will come back and give me some tips on form and size. I create this at the shop:
unnamed (2).jpg

The white tonga is from my previous tank and want to figure out a way to reuse it. It is super heavy and long so figuring out a way to make it vertical is hard. I will play around with this more at home. I buy some reef cement and head back home.
1597892983951.png

Turns out reconstructing this thing from just a picture is really hard. I mess around with the aquascape for a long while and get every opinion in the house. The reef cement is hard to work with at first, but I eventually get the hang of it with the right amount of water, mixing cup and chopsticks for mixing. I cement it all together and let it dry for 24+ hours.
.
IMG_1642.jpg

Since I was a noob when I was first mixing the applying the cement on the lower level rocks it turns out I didn't use enough or apply it correctly to stand that test of moving to the tank. The arches all stayed together though and was able to finish the construction in the dry tank. (Follow instructions and work quickly with this cement). 3 more days of filling the tank with water, geting the plumbing right for the tank, and finally adding lots of salt gives me this cloudy start on August 4th.
IMG_1645.jpg

My SALT FEVER is at and all time high and showing no sign of weakening. 1597890336062.png IMG_1658 (1).jpg IMG_1656.jpg
 
Last edited:

Viking_Reefing

Valuable Member
View Badges
Joined
Mar 4, 2018
Messages
1,317
Reaction score
2,122
Location
Sweden
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Welcome back to reefing!
I also had about a 10 year break and had a fairly similar experience to yours with all the new equipment and stuff that’s available:D
 
OP
OP
pochaxoo

pochaxoo

Active Member
View Badges
Joined
Aug 9, 2020
Messages
160
Reaction score
159
Location
Canton, Georgia USA
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
I spend the next two days listening to my kids asking where the sand is for the bottom? I spent about four hours watching BRSTV discussion on bare bottom vs sand.....my wife giggles every time she hears Ryan say bare bottom. In the meanwhile I notice a small pool of water has accumulated between the tank and the stand from spillage during the fill process. Hmmm never had this problem before as all my tanks had only rectangular support structure around the plastic borders of the old school tanks. I can't seem to blow it out with a hair dryer or get anything in there....eventually think "hey maybe a piece of paper will work". It did work great....until it didn't. I now have a piece of paper and a small pool of water between the tank and the stand....lovely. I also notice at this time I am getting a very small trickle from the overflow seals. One thing I had noticed is that the Tideline overflow comes with one set of bulkhead gaskets meant to go between the tank and the external part of the overflow. This seems a bit odd to me since I am wanting to put the gasket on a wet side. The small gap between the tank and the external overflow can produce some angle if you have plumbed using flexible tubing and I think that is causing some angle to the seal on the gasket. I add a shim to the bottom of the overflow and brace the tubing away from the tank base with a small hand towel (oh yeah getting more ghetto by the moment. If anyone has a more professional bracing idea let me know) I tighten the bulkhead nut a bit more and seems good now. But now I have a small puddle on the back and a small puddle on the front.....am I the only one this happens to? I feel dorky at this point and bow to the pressure from my kids and add sand to cover up the problem.

It has been two days and the SALT FEVER is burning strong in me. I go to the LFS to get some fish to start the nitrogen cycle. I bought some SEED Bacteria starter and Nine Green Chromis. Drip acclimated for 20 minutes and into the tank you go. (I only later watched some videos on tank quarantine so uhhhh....send me some luck...hoping I didn't just add some fish diseases as well).
IMG_1646.jpg
 
Last edited:
OP
OP
pochaxoo

pochaxoo

Active Member
View Badges
Joined
Aug 9, 2020
Messages
160
Reaction score
159
Location
Canton, Georgia USA
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
I loved my Little Giant pumps on my old setup and was hoping my backup that was still new in the box was going to do the job. At first it seemed to be doing fine but have noticed over 4 days that there isn't so much water coming down to the filter system. Checked the flow and it is definitely weak.
IMG_1665.jpg

It has also become very loud (and hot) and I can hear the hum and vibration up through the piping into the main level. Noise can get big frowns :mad: from the wife and happy wife happy life. I think the pump probably needs to be lubricated and serviced but I am not feeling up to that just yet and don't know who I can take it to locally. So watched some BRSTV reviews of different pumps to see what would work for me and be quiet. Since this pump has to work up 14 feet of head pressure I am leary of some of the DC pumps and settled on Sicce Syncra SDC 9.0 pump. Had to build a small platform for the pump to sit level with the water reservoir. After some more of my mickey mouse plumbing it is hooked up to the trashcan and the return line. Has been working well and is very quiet compared to the Little Giant.
IMG_1666.jpg
 
OP
OP
pochaxoo

pochaxoo

Active Member
View Badges
Joined
Aug 9, 2020
Messages
160
Reaction score
159
Location
Canton, Georgia USA
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Added some Kessil AP9X lights and 2 Vortech MP40s to the tank. I turn on the lights for about 1 hour in the afternoon to feed the Chromis. The Vortechs are setup on a reef crest schedule at about for 55% for most of the day and a lagoon setting at night. I still need to do some more research on the settings for the pumps. Not sure if it is generally agreed what good is, I see a lot of plans where they seem like they want to use all the modes in a single day. I need to tinker with it a bit to get some opposing current moving every 2 - 3 minutes in each direction. My pumps aren't exactly lined up opposing one another but close enough. I only wonder how much wave effect I can generate before spilling out of the aquarium.

IMG_1668.jpg


I am almost 2 weeks from when first day water in tank and fully system running. The Chromis are eating well and all seem to be lively and happy. Ammonia has been at .8 on my test kit for 4 days now. (Bought a Ammonia Alert badge to see if I can get some confirmation on levels I am measuring) Alkalinity ranging from 9.2 - 9.6, pH sticking at 7.6. For salinity I get conflicting results depending on what is measuring it on my APEX Probe says 36.7 today. My test kit said 32 yesterday, My hydrometer says 1.025. Since I am cycling I was told not to try adjusting pH or Alk and just maintain RODI water replacement of evaporative loss. Let me know if you have any suggestions.

My current questions I am wondering about is when is the right time to add Chaeto to my refugium? Do I wait until cycle complete?
 

Doctorgori

2500 Club Member
View Badges
Joined
Mar 18, 2019
Messages
4,132
Reaction score
5,389
Location
Myrtle Beach
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
yup ditto, welcome back ....
man loose that dog gone Hydrometer and cop a Refractometer or better still a Hanna ..
..shhhh best whisper and lay low about those chromis, yes I’ve done it also, and yes its a upgrade vs being a fish stick :D :D
.... you got the right gear thats fo sho
 
OP
OP
pochaxoo

pochaxoo

Active Member
View Badges
Joined
Aug 9, 2020
Messages
160
Reaction score
159
Location
Canton, Georgia USA
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
OMG, my Ammonia finally dropped to 0.0 tonight. So excited!

I also have 2 percula clowns in QT. They seem to not care about the copper or Furan-2 and things are going well. I am at day 5 of copper and I haven't seen any signs of stress or disease. The regimin I am following calls for Praziquantel....still scratching my head to determine if that or General Cure is preferred and treat the same thing.

Also got a Hanna Salinity monitor for my birthday and most awesome gift ever. I am going to have a party this weekend and take my hydrometer out in the backyard and beat it with a base ball bat. (Office Space Style) It has been wrong since day 1 apparently. After using the Hanna I feel like I was a 16th century navigator that used a sextant to navigate the Atlantic Ocean and then was handed a GPS unit. As I stated before all the technology I am discovering is great....was probably there the last time I did this, but wasn't able to afford it then.

Tonight I have 0 PPM Ammonia, Alkalinity at 10.1 dkh, PH at 8.2, Salinity at 32.9. Will be adding more salty water over the next couple of days to bring it up. Temperature bouncing from 77.9 - 78.6, I can't seem to get the heaters to be any more stable so the Apex cuts them off when the water gets to 78.5. The APEX Salinity Probe says 36.4, so I need to work on moving the TC factor to get this in line with the real salinity. The ORP took off in the last couple days and is up to 375, not sure why exactly. Maybe because I am started running the skimmer with he cup off? PH is 7.78 according to APEX probe - not sure why this doesn't match my Red Sea test kit? I am doubting the probe more than the kit at this point. I re-calibrated the probe again over the weekend. I may just need to move the probe rack to a "quieter" spot in the sump.

I also hooked up my Automatic Top Off kit this weekend. Well at least a make shift version of it. I haven't drilled holes for the cables and tube in the fluctuating sump and I only have a 5 gallon bucket of RO water setup for a reservoir. I want to see just how much evaporates per day/week so I can size my reservoir for 2 weeks of supply. I am expecting the evaporation rate to be high in my house. Once I settle on the RO reservoir it will be time to rip off the chicken badge and setup my RO storage tank to refill that reservoir when it runs low. I have 3 - 4 layers of protection designed but am definitely afraid of a fail.

I have also decided I am going to switch out filter socks where possible and build "catch" drawers which I can place felt into. I am already reminded of how much easier the felt will be to grab and throw away than all the fussing I have to do to remove, wash, dry, reattach my filter socks. Yet another project.

I am doing tons of work every day improving the setup which is good since I won't be adding any more fish after the clowns go in for at least 30 more days. Hopefully all the systems will be running smoothly by then.
 

Viking_Reefing

Valuable Member
View Badges
Joined
Mar 4, 2018
Messages
1,317
Reaction score
2,122
Location
Sweden
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Don’t take your hydrometer out back and shoot it just yet. Make a mark on it where the correct salinity is and use it to double check your Hanna.
A hydrometer won’t drift in any direction where as refractometers and your Hanna can get out of calibration.
 

jamie1210

Active Member
View Badges
Joined
Apr 28, 2011
Messages
196
Reaction score
195
Location
SoCal
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Just saw your this thread. Welcome back to reefing :) I think you did a really good job on the aquascape. I like how open it looks. What other fish are you planning to add? What corals?
 
OP
OP
pochaxoo

pochaxoo

Active Member
View Badges
Joined
Aug 9, 2020
Messages
160
Reaction score
159
Location
Canton, Georgia USA
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Just saw your this thread. Welcome back to reefing :) I think you did a really good job on the aquascape. I like how open it looks. What other fish are you planning to add? What corals?

Thank you. And thanks for the question on my favorite subject......I think about all the corals and fish I want to add and seemingly change my mind every day. It may take a while before I add some of these corals but many of the fish from the list below will be entering quarantine in a month or two from now and then into the tank after QT.

Zoas
1599101520497.png
1599101541460.png

1599101552615.png
1599101561774.png




Red Montipora Capricornis
1599102033400.png

1599102004248.png

Cyphastrea
1599102384615.png
1599102823857.png


Frogspawn
1599102428502.png


Riddler Chalice
1599102717726.png


Aussie Lords
1599104210604.png
1599105165678.png

Emerald Isle and
24k Fungia Plate Coral
1599103223788.png

Ring of Death Fungia Plate Coral
1599103310204.png

Elegance Coral
1599104018753.png
1599104612351.png


Scoly
1599103475767.png

Pink Birdsnest
1599104323932.png
or Pink Flamingo Mille
1599105381035.png


Anemone for the Clowns
1599103033190.png





Sunburst Anthias
1599099630391.png

Yellow Tang
1599099578817.png

Kole Tang
1599099698902.png
or Square Tail Bristletooth
1599100967550.png

Lawnmower Blenny
1599099798945.png


Blue Stripe Neon Goby
1599099986533.png


Vrolik's wrasse
1599100233085.png
( I love all the wrasses and change my mind every day, but still not sure I want to put a screen on top of aquarium)

Helfrich's Firefish
1599099545801.png
(Maybe - I am still bothered about possibility of having to put a screen on my tank.

Longnose Hawkfish
1599100734568.png


Fire Shrimp
1599100631090.png



Cleaner Shrimp
1599100652102.png
1599100487222.png 1599102932852.png 1599105009674.png
 
Last edited:
OP
OP
pochaxoo

pochaxoo

Active Member
View Badges
Joined
Aug 9, 2020
Messages
160
Reaction score
159
Location
Canton, Georgia USA
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
My clowns have completed their quarantine and are now in the DT and doing very well. Here is a picture of them in the QT.
clownsIMG_1685.jpg

In the meanwhile I had a diatom bloom, which officially welcomed my DT to the ugly phase. Did a 15 gallon water change to get some of the brown out and commited to leave the lights off as much as possible. Things have moved on since then and noticed my first hair algae showing up when I did turn on my lights tonight.
IMG_1700.jpg

Hopefully I will be moving on to some calcareous algae soon.

I did watch a nice BRSTV video on tuning my skimmer and with that help have been producing some smelly skimmate for the last week or so. I guess my heaving feeding hand needs to slow down. I have a good motion with changing filter socks and planning on starting the refugium in about 3 weeks. At that time I planning on buying some more fish to add to quarantine. I have a bunch of desired fish on the list above but am also conscious of the forums telling me to add the tangs last. So.....I guess next step is shrimp and snails in a 15 gallon QT (shorter QT) and some other fish in the 29 gallon QT. I can't see adding all the things I want at once, so soon I will have to make some difficult choices on what goes in next. For now I am nixing the wrasse and the firefish, and the green clown goby. I don't want a net on the aquarium and the green clown goby sounds a bit too shy and retiring for me. Well I can spend the next 3 weeks dreaming and making more fish stocking lists to debate with the family.
 
OP
OP
pochaxoo

pochaxoo

Active Member
View Badges
Joined
Aug 9, 2020
Messages
160
Reaction score
159
Location
Canton, Georgia USA
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
I have completed installation of my Neptune ATK to my sump/reservoir. I settled on this Husky container because of the clear locking lid and that it had better thickness to the container which seemed like it would minimize any bowing. The lid should result in a lot less evaporation for me and less random air contaminates from getting in the supply. This sits under my 40 gallon refugium tank. It holds close to 20 gallons but I am only putting in 15 where my water high detection eye sits.

IMG_1755.jpg

Inside I have one high level optical sensor drilled into the side (on the right) and two low level optical sensors. One is to disable the pump to one FMM module on the APEX and the other to trigger a couple of solenoids that provide water to the RO and also the out line from the RO to this tank. The Float valve on the right is where the incoming RO water is plumbed and acts as a physical stop if the high water sensor should fail. Finally I have a Leak detector module on the floor behind this container and a watchdog sensor. Since this is connected to my water supply and the refugium above has a single drilled outlet hole to the water reservoir I consider this my highest point of failure or possible flood situation. I may add another high water sensor and a better overflow box in the future, what do you suggest or think?

IMG_1756.jpg

The orange line feeds RO water to the green reservoir below, I drilled a 1/4" hole in the high side of this reservoir last night and will drill another hole for the optical sensor leads next. The Sensor array below is attached via a magnet on the other side. This gives me a bit of heartburn as I have notices if this sensor gets bumped it may tilt slightly. I haven't run all the failure scenarios on this yet but want to test and uncontrolled RO feed to this which cases the float switch to rise and shut the supply line down. In hindsight I may have wanted to drill holes to house the high optical, low optical and the float switch so they never move. Anyone had any catastrophe's with the magnet getting accidentally dislodged?
IMG_1759.jpg


In the meanwhile took some more chemistry readings: Nitrite still at or above 1.0, Salinity at 35.4 (added some fresh water after that), Alkalinity at 9.0, PH at 8.2 (APEX probe says 7.99), Temperature at 78.0, ORP at 365. I am going on a vacation for a couple of weeks and hoping no disasters strike that my house sitter can't take care of, will be super fun if I get some alerts and have to facetime to help fix the issue. See ya in a couple weeks.
 
OP
OP
pochaxoo

pochaxoo

Active Member
View Badges
Joined
Aug 9, 2020
Messages
160
Reaction score
159
Location
Canton, Georgia USA
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Great news, I come back from vacation and my Nitrites have dropped to zero and Nitrates are around 5-10. PH 8.2 according to Red Sea Test kit and 8.0 according to APEX probe. Alkalinity was a 8.2 which seems to have dropped from readings a couple of weeks ago. Salinity was high at 35.7 because my ATO reservoir ran out of water 3 days before I got home, (added some RO water). I am calling the technical part of the nitrogen cycle done. (@60 days) The lights off for the 2 week vacation also seems to have kept any new algae from growing. Still no calcareous algae appearing yet. Going away on a vacation and expecting the pet sitter to do the minimum (feeding) was a good experiment to see how all my automation and setup would function, but was nerve wracking. I am in doubt as to whether she ever had to empty the skimmer cup (need to ask her) Training her to tune the skimmer was out. Since the experiment ended with 15 gallons of RO water in the reservoir not being enough I am also now ready to push onto setting up my automated RO reservoir refill project, with a ton of safety built into it. I did not ask the pet sitter to change filter socks as it was going to be difficult for her, and now regret that, I will make my filter socks into pads that are easy to change and dispose of for next time.

Next step for me is to acquire some fish, shrimp, snails, and some Chaeto for the refugium. I have my QT setup in a 29 gallon now for the next batch of fish and will use the 15 gallon for QT of shrimps and corals that aren't getting medicated (but that comes later). So tomorrow I go shopping and will hopefully be able to find some of the items on my list.

I do have a question about Anthias. Do you think 1 of a species is a more successful approach or should I try for 2 - 3? I have had heard the weakest gets picked on by the pack in succession until there is only one left, anyone have experience with that? Does that hold true if there becomes one make and one female? If I only get 1 will it stay female or automatically turn male on maturity? I am thinking of Sunburst Anthias, but if I get recommendations for only 1, I may want to look at other species as well. Is there any known aggression issue with having different species of Anthias?

Hopefully I will have some pictures of the new guys tomorrow.
 
Last edited:
OP
OP
pochaxoo

pochaxoo

Active Member
View Badges
Joined
Aug 9, 2020
Messages
160
Reaction score
159
Location
Canton, Georgia USA
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
It's good to be home. I have gotten a lot done with the aquarium this week. I added 2 cleaner shrimps, 1 fire shirmp and 6 Astrea snails. Here is a video of the DT.


















1) I have the 29G QT tank setup and fish have been in for 5 days or so. Today I reached therapeutic copper levels @ 2.0, small yellow tang, very small Kole tank, Orchid Dottyback, Royal Gramma, and a lawnmower blenny. All the fish look good with no signs of sickness and all are feeding. Apparently NOT happy about getting their picture taken :-(
IMG_2020.jpg


2) I finally got some Cheato, QT for a few days, rinsed it in RODI water, and then Coral RX dip and now added to the tank, I have the Kessil H160 running in Grow mode from 9 PM to 9 AM. Grow little guy grow!
IMG_1974.JPG


3) Tested all my parameters today:
ALK: 8.3
PH: 8.2 (PH Probe says 8)
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 5
Salinity: 35.4 (I recalibrated my Salt Conductivity probe today and still can't get it right, showing 47.6) I have followed the detailed R2R guide on this thing multiple times and adjusted the TC factor and don't know what to do. Any suggestions appreciated
Temperature: 77.5 - 78.4
ORP Probe moves throughout day: 371 - 393
I also got my inline TDS meter from BRS and happy to see it was at 0 on the product water
IMG_1978.JPG

4) I concluded last weekend that the Nitrogen Cycle was done in my DT and I am at day 70 since start. I read a Reef2Reef article on what to do next I have turned on my lights and set them to a typical Kessil schedule that ramps up and down over the day/night and runs up to 60% at the highest intensity at mid-day. I have a small bit of diatoms left from the bloom 3-4 weeks ago but now growing more and more green hair algae, not a plague but still wondering if I should follow the BRSTV advice and leave the lights off for another couple months? is it time to test with a trial coral?
IMG_2010.JPG


Any and all advice appreciated.
 

terraincognita

Valuable Member
View Badges
Joined
Jul 13, 2020
Messages
1,839
Reaction score
2,239
Location
Los Angeles
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
This is an awesome build and thread man. I would definitely get some CUC in there to help with the uglies.

Adding some sofites/lps now seems like the perfect time to get things going to me!

Good luck!
 
OP
OP
pochaxoo

pochaxoo

Active Member
View Badges
Joined
Aug 9, 2020
Messages
160
Reaction score
159
Location
Canton, Georgia USA
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
I have had a busy last two weeks and have gotten a lot done with my tank. After I turned on the lights I had an instant hair algae boom. I have stepped up my game on water changes and have been manually pruning the rocks with the pinch and vacuum out method, man is this a pain and doesn't get a ton out.
IMG_2038.jpg


In the meantime I also got some Zoanthids in from WWC and R2R member TonyNYC. I put them in a QT tank for 24 hours and then dipped them in Coral RX and then Medicoral. I had the very tiny serpent star below come off during the dip but that was it.
IMG_2026.jpg

Then I moved the zoas into a frag rack in the display tank, all the corals are looking good and acclimating.
IMG_5570.jpeg
IMG_5561.jpeg

IMG_5558.jpeg
IMG_2056.jpg

As soon as I can get the green hair algae managed I am going to glue them to the staghorn skeleton on the left and let the Zoa's take over the entire thing, it is separated from the rest of the rock work so I have everything contained if they grow too well.

In the meanwhile my fish finished their 14 day quarantine (copper, furan-2, and general cure) today and added to the tank this morning. The Yellow Tang was making agressive postures to the chromis school at first but settled down in an hour and now everyone is out and getting along nicely. The Kole tang got straight to business and started cleaning the frag plugs above right away. The Royal Gramma came out right away and was super friendly to everyone. Took the Psuedochromis Fridmani longer but after 4 hours was out socializing and swimming around the whole tank. The lawnmower blenny has found a nice little cave to hide in but otherwise looks good. I must have spent 2 hours watching them today and didn't get any new pictures, I will for my next post.

While everybody was in quarantine and the algae was going wild I finally got down to working on my saltwater mix tank and the auto water change with a Neptune DOS. I have been putting this off for a while because I was daunted by drilling holes in my pretty 65 gallon holding tank. Here is a shot of it:

IMG_2064.jpg


I am not good at wire management and putting in screws level apparently but it all works great. It took a large part of a Saturday to fill up the tank with RODI water after all the holes were drilled. Inside the tank I have a heater, a powerhead, a temperature probe and salinity probe (that needs a probe rack), and the PVC at the bottom is weighing down the outlet RO line.
IMG_2066.jpg


I got some hole covers for the power cables and probe lines, these are on the top back side of the container. I have this set to change out 3 gallons of water from midnight to 9:00 in the morning. That will get me 21 gallons per week out of the 160+ gallon system per week which works out somewhere close to 13% and I have been doing daily 5 gallon siphons and manual algae pull and siphon until I can get the hair algae beaten back a bit.
IMG_2065.jpg


If you don't know it I have been ripping all my hair out over the salinity probe on my main system and finally bit the bullet and bought a new one, soaked it in the tank for 3 days, removed the "old" one and then calibrated. This one is way closer to the mark out of the box and after I set my TC factor to 3.0 it is right on the number. Calibrated my Hanna salinity checker and now both are 100% in agreement on the salinity at 35.0 ppm. So excite! Here is a picture of my Apex Fusion dashboard. Let me know if I am doing something dumb, I am learning APEX as I go.

1603596975451.png


After setting it out for a couple of days I did move the "old" salinity probe over the mix tank so I would have something to monitor the mix tank and for whatever reason it is now way closer to the actual salinity than it ever was in the main system. So that worked out fairly well....38ppm in this case really means @ 35ppm so I am happy.

I got a new Hanna phosphate checker from Bulk Reef Supply today andI took some manual measurements today and really happy with my numbers.

Phosphate: 0
Nitrate: 0
Alkalinity: 7.8
Salinity: 35

I am guessing the green hair algae (GHA) it taking up the phosphate and nitrate but at least it appears bound up.

In my quest to get rid of some GHA I did remove the small rock on the far left and sprayed it with some hydrogen peroxide, a bunch of the algae came of with some rinsing and then within a day all the remaining algae has turned white and looks dead. I will get a picture tomorrow. I was only willing to do the one piece because I could easily remove it and then thoroughly rinse it. I am figuring the rest of this GHA will have to get starved out. I did add a bottle of Coraline Algae from Algae Barn last week and I waiting for that to start growing. I think I am just in an inevitable ugly phase from turning on the lights and can't wait until the coraline starts growing and hopefully out competes the GHA. One question I do have is whether there is any point in dosing two part to raise the ALK to help coraline growth. I don't have much of anything else that would use this so I have been leaning toward no and just let time pass. Let me know what you think.

Ooooo I almost forgot, I did rent a par meter from BRS and took all sorts of readings, super interesting to know now. I will have to transcribe the results to a better diagram than my paper notes and post next time. Until next time happy reefing.
 

MERKEY

Cronies
View Badges
Joined
Oct 5, 2019
Messages
9,635
Reaction score
46,612
Location
Washington
Rating - 100%
1   0   0
Great build thread, thank you for sharing!

Ugliest will go with a balanced tank and it looks like you will be there in no time ;)
 

Kershaw

Valuable Member
View Badges
Joined
Nov 11, 2015
Messages
2,436
Reaction score
1,473
Location
sacramento, ca
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Where you able to buy that tank and stand with out sump?

could you post picture of inside the stand?
mom considering PA for my next tank.
Looks great.
 
OP
OP
pochaxoo

pochaxoo

Active Member
View Badges
Joined
Aug 9, 2020
Messages
160
Reaction score
159
Location
Canton, Georgia USA
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Where you able to buy that tank and stand with out sump?

could you post picture of inside the stand?
mom considering PA for my next tank.
Looks great.
The setup at my LFS did come with a tideline sump but I didn't need that so my store subtracted that amount from the sales price and off I went. Picture of inside of stand tomorrow maybe, need to clean up a few things.
 
Back
Top