In-wall/Behind-wall, 180g peninsula, with a basement fish closet

[Beau_B]

Also — I would try your hand at hard plumbing what I call the UV manifold.

The return is already hard piped, you just need to splice into it.

It should be fairly straightforward piping, I don’t see complicated angles there.

You can do it!

 

[New&no clue]

My concern is the space between the UV and return.

I could add an elbow in

 

[Beau_B]

I see. So just leave the UV where it is and tee in some new barbs to the return line.

Or, as discussed some while back, leave the UV on its own pump; pick up in one of the sump chambers and discharge into the return chamber. Simple and manageable… unless you want 100% of return through it.

 

[New&no clue]

Something like this?

Would that create any balancing issue, or not, because the excess is flowing directly to the second sump via the bulkhead?

 

[Beau_B]

Yep. The UV could output into any where in the 2nd sump. The return pump wouldn’t know the difference as long as that pump is less gph than the system (don’t want it to run sump 1 dry).

I have mine that way. I’m running 800gph through the sump but have a 400gph pump in the skimmer chamber feeding my UV, it discharges into the return. Has no effect on the return pump, only the amount of water that goes through the last bubble trap.

Small tip, I have my UV and it’s pump share a power source (smart plug in my case) so if the pump shuts down the UV do as well. Protect the bulb from running dry.

 

[New&no clue]

Less plumbing and I don't have to mess with my return line... sign me up!

 

[New&no clue]

I have several things to talk about, so I'll probably do a couple of posts.

For starters, the new plumbing is finally done. I was able to find a shelving unit at Lowes that would fit with the current workbench I already have. It took a couple of weekends to get it all set. I had a hard time figuring out where to put the UV unit and pump, but I found a solution. The plumbing was not terrible. Both drain lines are in the same sump, which is gravity feed to the second one. The water volume in the return section of the first sump is so low it didn't work to have the UV pump in there. Instead, it is in the drain section of the second sump, with the hose going into the return of the second pump. The only problem with this is very little water is traveling through the second sump, which means less water going through the skimmer; however, I'll touch on that later. After all was said and done, I turned the return pump back on, and it wasn't pulling water. I could hear the motor running, but it was dry. I looked up how to prime an external pump and tried most of the suggestions with no go. Finally, I unscrewed the pump and just poured water directly into it. It seemed to work after that, though it was full of water when I unscrewed it, so I'm not sure what I did to fix it.

One nice thing is that with the setup, I actually have room on the workbench next to the second sump.

 

[New&no clue]

Now that the plumbing is done, it is time to address the real issue with this tank, and that is that it is a NIGHTMARE!

I have bubble algae, hair algae, aiptasia, cyano, dinos, SPS and LPS dying left and right, and my heaters won't keep up at night. After having the 75 gallons for a couple of years, I honestly thought I could handle a bigger tank. I was excited about the increase in possibilities that come from a big tank, more fish, adding difficult corals, better filtration, and stability. I know the tank is young and still trying to find its grove, so I will be patient and wait it out.

As for the algae issues, I've noticed that my nutrients seem to be yo-yo-ing, mainly my nitrates. My phosphates have been pretty steady at 0.21 since the first dino outbreak. However, my nitrates have been between 14-0.8.

I don't want to have to dose nitrates in the long run but instead figure out a balance with nutrient export. One reason I'm not too concerned with the skimmer being utilized less. However, for the short term, I will dose to keep them around 5-10. I plan to use some food-grade sodium nitrate and this calculator instead of a name-brand product to create my own solution.

James' Planted Tank - Dosing Calculator

Hopefully, with nutrients stable and in a good range, it will help the algae. But just looking around my tank, I see a lack of CUC. I hope beefing up some will help with bubble and hair algae. I don't have many options here at the LFS and would like to order from ReefCleaners, which is where I've used in the past and usually had good luck. However, I live in Maine, where the temps have been below freezing for the past three weeks and, the last couple of weeks, dropping into the negatives at night. While I like reef cleaners, I have typically seen a lot of loss when shipping in the winter. So I will probably wait until spring to order from him and just deal with issues for the next couple of months.

For aiptasia, I've been doing a lot of research on the best way to rid your tank. I would like to go a more natural route with livestock that eat it; however, I'm not sure any would be a good fit for the tank. I have had luck with peppermint shrimp in the past. I plan to get Aiptasia-X to get rid of what I can see and then add some peppermints after. Again waiting until this spring before ordering shrimp to make sure they survive the shipping.

LPS and SPS loss I am attributing to the plumbing issue not keeping things stable(salinity), nutrient issues, and because of nutrient issues, fewer water changes. My goal this winter/spring is to focus on stability. Again I decided not to order anything new for the tank, coral-wise, until summer. That will be a year of having the tank up and running.

 

[fishguy242]

hi, do you have a foxface ? ,can you add one, will devour bubble algae.
also add to bioload.

 

[New&no clue]

But all is not doom and gloom, so we can end this train of posts on a happy note.

 

[New&no clue]

hi, do you have a foxface ? ,can you add one, will devour bubble algae.
also add to bioload.

I am worried about adding more fish. I have 22 currently, which seems like I am pushing it for the tank. I would love to add some additional fish for maintenance work, such as a Foxface and a Copperband Butterfly. I worry about the Tang Gang and new fish.

 

[Beau_B]

Your gonis look happy, I'm jealous of that!

I like the new setup, definitely created more work and storage space.

As for the skimmer level, it would be easy enough to add a baffle of some flavor in the return chamber of sump 1 to raise the water level for the UV pump. That would allow the UV discharge to move... hopefully you see where I'm going with that.

Might I suggest an urchin if you don't have one. Won't do much for bubble, but if you manually chop the GHA short, it will keep it in check.

The tank not keeping temp is probably because of the sumps. Lots of surface area in what I presume is not well insulated (exposed concrete) and thus not well heated. Adding some covers to the sumps and some foam insulation on the back and sides could help. Also insulating the piping. Anything you can do... short of that it's add more heaters obviously and their associated costs.

I have had mostly good luck with reef cleaners, but agree it's hard to get them in the winter. It's infuriating to see the package status showing it at the local distribution center over night. I need to re-up my CUC a bit too, going to ask Vance if the can put some things on the next time he orders. Petco (gasp!) can get stuff too usually -- I got them to order trochus a couple times.

 

[New&no clue]

I have three pincushion urchins that are awesome, and I think between them, and the tangs is why I have not had much algae on the rocks up until now. The urchins are great... but they move so slow.

The Gonis are happy but not growing. It's like everything is surviving but not thriving. Again could be a stability issue or lack of food. I really need to get back to testing regularly(a couple of times a week). I go through phases with testing. I've been considering getting an Apex and Trident system. At least then, I would have regular test run each day, and I could see if there were any patterns.

 

[New&no clue]

I am chasing stability each day.

While I patiently wait for the temperatures to warm up before I restock my CUC and order a handful of peppermints, I am left to research automatic testers. I was considering an APEX/Trident system. I've looked at the reviews from fellow reefers and watched many videos on Youtube; the general consensus is Trident is suitable for testing; however, calibration is key, and reagent costs add up over time.

While reading reviews for the Trident, I ran across the Mastertronic testing system. At first, the price scared me away. However, I kept running across it, so I looked into it more. I liked that it can test not only the big three but also nitrates and phosphates. Which, in my opinion, can be just as important as your Alk consumption. I also liked that you can decide how often to test. With Trident, you have to test a minimum of a couple of times a day. With Mastertronic, you pick how often you test.

Looking at the cost of testing, if all things are equal and you are testing Alk 4x a day and Mag and Cal 2x a day with both systems, you would be looking at a savings of $23.70 a month with Trident. However, I don't see the need to test that often, so with Mastertronic, if I tested each 1x a day, I would save $2.26 a month using Mastertronic, or about $0.07 a day. Furthermore, the initial investment cost for Mastertronic is $1,300, while the Apex/Trident system is $1,500. On top of that, Neptune recommends sending your Trident in every 18 months for calibration, which is another $200.

The biggest problem with Mastertronic is the lack of availability. They seem to be sold out everywhere. While I guess it is good because it gives me more time to ponder and think about it without making a rash decision. However, at this time, I am leaning heavily towards the Mastertronic.

 

[zbryant91]

I am chasing stability each day.

While I patiently wait for the temperatures to warm up before I restock my CUC and order a handful of peppermints, I am left to research automatic testers. I was considering an APEX/Trident system. I've looked at the reviews from fellow reefers and watched many videos on Youtube; the general consensus is Trident is suitable for testing; however, calibration is key, and reagent costs add up over time.

While reading reviews for the Trident, I ran across the Mastertronic testing system. At first, the price scared me away. However, I kept running across it, so I looked into it more. I liked that it can test not only the big three but also nitrates and phosphates. Which, in my opinion, can be just as important as your Alk consumption. I also liked that you can decide how often to test. With Trident, you have to test a minimum of a couple of times a day. With Mastertronic, you pick how often you test.

Looking at the cost of testing, if all things are equal and you are testing Alk 4x a day and Mag and Cal 2x a day with both systems, you would be looking at a savings of $23.70 a month with Trident. However, I don't see the need to test that often, so with Mastertronic, if I tested each 1x a day, I would save $2.26 a month using Mastertronic, or about $0.07 a day. Furthermore, the initial investment cost for Mastertronic is $1,300, while the Apex/Trident system is $1,500. On top of that, Neptune recommends sending your Trident in every 18 months for calibration, which is another $200.

The biggest problem with Mastertronic is the lack of availability. They seem to be sold out everywhere. While I guess it is good because it gives me more time to ponder and think about it without making a rash decision. However, at this time, I am leaning heavily towards the Mastertronic.

I have a trident and am considering switching to the mastertronic. I don't expect to make the switch for a while as I have ~7 months of reagent to use up. but, the ability to test phosphates is what's really swaying me. I am running neophos on a doser and would feel a lot more comfortable with it if I had a tester that ran every day or two rather than when I remember/feel like testing.

Also, I have not trusted my calcium/magnesium tests for the 2 years i've had the trident. I was using the included calibration solution and my readings were always wrong by ~50 - 75 points. Called neptune a couple times on it and kept hearing "the trident uses averages over time" response which was absolutely useless. I am looking for if my calcium or mag is dropping over time, and it wasn't telling me that it was. I would do a manual check after 2 months and I would be 100ppm lower than the trident was reading and the trident would read 500 for the entire 2 months. So I gave up figuring that one out.

I just do manual checks now every month or 2 and then run a calibration based on my hanna/red sea results with tank water rather than using the supplied calibration fluid. Also, sending mine off soon for the 2 year rebuild. I'm opting for the advance shipping so I get a different trident that has been refurbished rather than having mine redone as I want to see if the CA and MG issues disappear

So, i'm going to hold out for a while to use up what I have and see if they ever announce anything else on their phosphate/nitrate checker. If not, I'll sell the trident and switch to mastertronic pending availability. If you have an apex, and want auto alk testing the trident is good in my opinion. outside of that, it's hard to recommend.

 

[New&no clue]

It's fake Spring in Maine, so I can finally get some CUC in here. When transferring tanks, I moved all my cuc from the old tank over to the new one, and then I bought a small package from Reef Cleaners. After a couple of months, I had planned to get another small package but never did. During the plumbing issues, I think my salinity dropped, and I had a lot of snails and shrimp disappear. I went from six cleaner shrimp to one almost overnight. My snails are definitely less abundant than before as well. I had planned to wait until Spring to order some more, as winter temps and shipping live goods never works out. However, I have had a big bloom of GHA and want to get some help before it gets unmanageable. Typically in late February, Maine has a fake Spring where temps get into the 40/50 for a couple of days only to crash back down to 20/30. I saw we would have three days of 40-60 degree weather this week and jumped on the chance to get some CUC.

I know there are mixed reviews on Reef Cleaners, but I typically have good luck once I changed some things. My first order was terrible; not much survived the first week. But my subsequent orders after that have been relatively good. I always have some DOA or things that don't make it... but not many. For starters, I always ship overnight. Typically, if you buy a larger package, that is included, but I spring for the extra cost if it's not. Secondly, I think many snails "appear" dead when they are just acclimating. The probably with this is that either people throw them away assuming they died, or people put them in their tank, and the hermits and crabs get the snails before they can fully wake up. For that reason, I always put my snails in a bowl in the water. This gives them a chance to wake up, stretch, get their bearings, and finally climb over the side and out of the bowl. After a couple of days, whatever is left in the bowl, I assume, didn't make it, and I can easily throw them away without having a bunch of shells litter the sand.

 

[New&no clue]

 

[Beau_B]

Ok... I'll bite. What's going in there? A nem? Something that can't be trusted around a powerhead.

 

[New&no clue]

Ok... I'll bite. What's going in there? A nem? Something that can't be trusted around a powerhead.

Good timing, they just arrived

 

[New&no clue]

I bought some Anemone covers for my MP40s and took the opportunity to clean them off. I had a pretty good maintenance schedule in my old tank, but I haven't put one into place with this one, and it sure is noticeable now. I Need to get in a better routine from now on, but for now, nice clean powerheads.