Idaho Reef build - Break is over - Reefer 900

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Still waiting on new UV pump. I notice today that I have a major pod population. I was thinking just a week ago that they had all died but no. They are covering the back glass. Thousands. Time for a mandarin?
I recently added this Leopard Wrasse. Such a beautiful fish. I got lucky as this was from someone else’s tank. Probably 3” long, very healthy and eats everything. Supposed to be an expert only fish but so far so good.
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Received the new pump today for my UV. What an amazing little pump! I almost went with a COR-15 which would have been overkill and ended up going with a Platinum Blue 800. https://sevenports.com/platinum-blue-series-pumps/

This pump is literally silent. You can’t even tell it’s on its remarkable. It’s DC so completely controllable and very easy. These would work well for a return pump but I’m happy with my COR-20 return pumps. I have the pump running at about 450GPH which gets me close to 2x tank turnover per hour.

which reminds me... if you are looking for a UV sterilizer you should visit this website https://www.americanaquariumproducts.com/AquariumUVSterilization.html the owner of this place knows a lot about UV. He helped me determine what I needed and he really likes TMC UV sterilizers. As described above I went with two 25 watt units installed in line and in a closed loop taking directly from my display and going back to my display. It was a bit of a pain since I was installing in a small area in a cabinet in another room behind my tank. If I had it to do over again I would have plumbed it before setting up the tank. But it’s in and everything is clean and no leaks. Yet....



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Little update. I’ve been a little unhappy with my PH. It was dropping down to around 7.75 so I started to look into a CO2 scrubber or dosing Kalk. Before going that route I decided to try to run an air line outside to my skimmer. Drilled yet another hole through the wall into the cabinet behind my tank. Then down through the floor into the crawl space and out a foundation vent. Almost instantly my PH started to go up and is now sitting at 8.13. Much better. Attached are my apex water parameters. My nitrate is at 5 and my Phosphate is at .06.

have added a few more coral frags and fish. Added a Citron clown goby which I may regret. He seems to like to sit on my SPS.

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So end of the year update.
Clown Goby is gone. He was sitting on and was nipping on a couple Acro frags. He also appears to have took a bite out of a branching Monti. I saw him sitting on it several times and now I have a small white spot..

Unfortunately my Midas Blenny disappeared. Im guessing he died which is odd as he was always a big eater.

My PH has been stable and ranges from about 8.21 to 8.12 - much better than where I was just from using an outside air line. My ORP which I understand isn't something to watch closely really has some big ranges... It will go from 275 to almost 400 a couple times a day. I think it coincides with my Auto Water changes but not sure. Any thoughts?

I finally have spots of Coraline algae all over the tank which is a welcomed site.

Unfortunately I also have patches of hair algae (assuming its hair algae) growing on the rocks and sand bed. I know its normal for a newer tank but a little unsightly. I only have maybe 6-8 snails which isn't many for a 200 gallon tank so Ive bought 20 more various snails a conch and an urchin. Also a dozen more frags from Aquarium depot.

The Monti with a white patch which I assume is a bite from the Goby.
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Partial shot showing the lovely algae patches
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A Hammer I bought a couple weeks ago with what I think are new heads forming? There are several small branches around the base and it appears that there is a speck of color on the ends... hopefully they are new heads - there are about 7 of them. Thoughts?

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Been a couple weeks since last update. Things are going well. Algae patches are mostly gone, now just have a bit of red cyanobacteria. Working at keeping it in control and so far its just patches in a few areas with lower flow.

I am up to around 50 frags now (counting zoanthid frags). Seeing growth on the SPS albeit a small amount but then its only been a few weeks for many of the corals in the tank.

Have started dosing Alk daily. Ive managed to keep Alk up around 8.25 which is about where I want it but as soon as I started dosing my calcium has gone up and stays around 460 now. Not dosing any ca - just 3 gallon water changes per day I guess keeps it up.

Few recent additions

Fire Urchin
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One of three future zoanthid gardens. Still really early obviously. A few frags started out as single polyps so there is at least some progress.

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Happy Acro. GROW!

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Well what coral I do have is starting to really make a dent in the levels of Ca and Alk. Currently Im dosing 40 mL of soda ash for Alk and 20 mL of calcium along with 3 gallons of water change per day. The Alk is holding fairly steady but the calcium has shown a steady drop from over 400 last week to 350 today. Seems like a big drop in a weeks time. Will up the dosing. I understand 20 mL of calcium is nothing in a 243 gal. system but Wondering if a calcium reactor is in my future.
 
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Fish Food:
About every two months I’ve been buying about a dozen clams. Chop up, add a little vitamin and freeze. I supplement that with LRS reef frenzy. Beyond that about 2 or 3 times a week I soak a small amount of pellets in amino omega and vitamin from brightwell. Then each month I buy live black worms and feed those which lasts about two weeks.
For coral I feed a mix of reef chili and reef Roids and occasionally fresh hatched baby brine.

Any other suggestions?

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Control board (cabinet) is done and installed. Thankfully after disconnecting everything and installing onto the controller board it all still works lol. I also spent some time organizing/hiding my cords, hose lines etc. in both sump areas. I installed my Fuge and Frag tank lights. Ill keep those off until needed. Ive started a 30 day acclimation cycle for my Radions so they just come on for a few hours each night. I put in a small Tunze pump in my frag tank to create more flow.

The control board/cabinet slides into the stand with about 1/16" to spare on all sides. I didn't plan for it to be quite that close lol. But it fits perfectly and looks as if it was built into the stand. To access I simply slide it out and can access from the top or slide all way out if I need to get into it deeper. I installed the EB and FMM on the back of the stand as there was simply not space on the controller board.

Tank is looking great. Cycle appears to be done and the 3 clowns are doing great. Only issue at this point are the micro bubbles I get into my display tank. The skimmer is mostly broken in but I guess it still has a ways to go - that or I don't have it adjusted correctly yet.

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Can you provide the dimensions of the controller cabinet? I just ordered a Reefer 900, and would like to plan out my controller layout for a smooth/ quick transition from my current tank.
 
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Can you provide the dimensions of the controller cabinet? I just ordered a Reefer 900, and would like to plan out my controller layout for a smooth/ quick transition from my current tank.
Face is 17" wide x 27.5" high. Depth is 16" deep. It barely clears but does. There is a small diagonal brace piece in the bottom where the center support meets the base. I chose to not cut a 45 degree angle into the face - instead I just take the little brace out if/when I need to pull out the cabinet.
 

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Face is 17" wide x 27.5" high. Depth is 16" deep. It barely clears but does. There is a small diagonal brace piece in the bottom where the center support meets the base. I chose to not cut a 45 degree angle into the face - instead I just take the little brace out if/when I need to pull out the cabinet.
Awesome, Thanks!
 

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nice another ID reefer. I got my RD650P from Josh over at corals for cheap.
there is a lot more reefers on that side of the sate.

I hope you have lots of friends that like you, once they help get the tank in the house and on the stand they may not...lol

fallowing this one.

if you dont have the skimmer yet look into life reef skimmers I hear good things about them.
ID reefer here too. Glad to find others on here.
 

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So besides receiving the tank today I found some time to install my RODI filter. I tied into my water line in my crawl space and also ran a line to where I plan to put my ATO tank. I still need a couple valves and need to finish my Mixing station...

The other thing I did was spend several hours in my crawl space putting up a 4x6 beam below the joists where my tank is going. I also put in blocking between the joists directly over the beam. My tank will sit adjacent to a bearing wall which has a footing and pony wall under it. It also sits perpendicular to my floor joists and that span wasn't long to begin with - all good things. This floor is obviously not designed for this amount of load (estimating around 2,500 lbs.) however so adding a beam on jacks will support the added weight based on some calculations I did. However to sleep better once this thing is full of water Im going to go back under tomorrow and add a couple more supports.

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I need to do this on my floors. I may have to pick your brain on how and what exactly you did. Do you have a link for the floor jacks?
 
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I need to do this on my floors. I may have to pick your brain on how and what exactly you did. Do you have a link for the floor jacks?
Yeah lol i just replied on your build thread. My joists run perpendicular to my tank so a little different than your situation. Jacks were ordered from Home Depot. You can get on Amazon too.

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Tiger-B...ERCH=REC-_-searchViewed-_-NA-_-202222930-_-N&

Make sure you use some base plates or a concrete foundation pier. Something that will spread the load and rated for soil contact.
 
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Tank has been wet for almost 4 months.

The urchin had to go back to the LFS. Loved him but even though I fed him nori almost daily he still mowed over and nearly killed a Lepto, took out about 5 heads of a Zoa and chewed up an Acro frag.. He gone.

Introduced Bryopsis some how on one of my frags and now I have a few patches. Hoping to avoid an outbreak and avoid chemically treating. I bought a Lettuce Sea Slug in hopes that he helps the fight. After adding him he immediately took care of a little which had grown on a Zoa frag and is a neat addition to the tank. Unfortunately I have haven't seen him find any of the other patches as he wanders around the tank. Fingers crossed he will eventually find it.

Other pests...
Ive found a few vermetid snails. Ive crushed all I can see but am guessing I have some I don't. Not to worried about them but will buy a few bumble bee snails net time I make it to the LFS. Ive also found a couple aiptasia. As soon as I see them I hit them with Aiptasia X. sometimes has taken a couple times to kill. Hopefully I can stay on top of them as I can't get a peppermint shrimp with my rock flower Nems in the tank.

Have added several more frags to the tank and have two big orders coming in next week. Eventually I'm going to have a problem with so many frags growing out as there will be some wars going on but Ill deal with that as it happens. Will post more tank photos next week or week after once the new pieces are in place.

Here is the new slug.
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4 months in. Received two coral shipments on Wednesday and have most in the tank. Everything is looking pretty good though a few of the LPS are still getting adjusted.

Lettuce sea slug has been doing a great job on the few patches of Bryopsis. I think he only has maybe 2 or three small patches left to go.

I ordered 55 ricordeas and 5 St. Thomas mushrooms most of which weren't attached to anything so I ended up adding a plastic plate to my frag tank along with some gravel so as they attach I can add to the DT - hopefully doesn't take long. Bit of a pain and I was disappointed based on what I paid that they came this way. With this plate my frag tank is getting pretty crowded now and I need to sell off and/or give some things away.

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Also on Wednesday my clear view lid FINALLY showed up (they made a mistake in a couple of the cut outs so it had to be sent back to be adjusted so that took an extra couple weeks.) I ordered it on Nov. 10 - so almost 4 months. It is well built however and I like the lid. I haven't had any jumpers that Im aware of (beyond a couple snails) so part of me wonders if I should have even spent the $600+ on this lid. But I have it now and it is by far the nicest lid Ive seen so it will be used. Its easy to take off and put on. Great fit. Very open allowing for good air/gas exchange, light penetration etc.

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Some of the new corals are larger wild Indo Acro frags. They were reasonably priced and I thought it would be fun to try. Two (of the 6) arrived dying but the rest all look great. Here are a couple blurry photos of two of those.

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Few of the other additions

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