James404's 80g Rimless SPS Build

[Ultra Aquatics]

Added Mars Hydro Fixture for the Fuge as the clip on light wasn't cutting it at all

 

[hafer12]

Nice Build!

 

[leahfiish]

Love it, any updates?

 

[Navy gale]

How is the tank so far. I hope the plan was not thrown to the waste side. I would love to see what it is looking like now. Seems like you know absolutely everything that you are doing and would love to hear everything until completion of the tank. I have lots to learn and if seems as if you may be a great person I can learn from.

- navy

 

[Ultra Aquatics]

How is the tank so far. I hope the plan was not thrown to the waste side. I would love to see what it is looking like now. Seems like you know absolutely everything that you are doing and would love to hear everything until completion of the tank. I have lots to learn and if seems as if you may be a great person I can learn from.

- navy

Been a while since I updated, tank is still running. Definitely had it's ups and downs.

I had a massive outbreak of Dinos, I treated it successfully with a 3 day black out and dosing Vibrant.

For the next few months the tank was really flourishing, all corals had nice growth and PE.

Over the last few weeks I had some issues that have caused a decline though. Lost a few of my prized SPS but learned some lessons.

I find the Bubble King skimmer to be very sensitive, it will be fine for months, pulling out great skimmate and then go crazy and overflow one day. It may have been something my kids sprayed like an air freshener to close to the tank or something.

I had the waste going to a 6 gal bucket so at least 3 times I found it has overflowed and topped off with 6 gals of fresh water, bringing my salinity down to 1.023.

I have ordered an Avast Davey Jones skimmate locker to help resolve this.

 

[Ultra Aquatics]

Got some more updates coming soon. Tank is finally back on track with some lessons learned.

1. I had a massive tank crash at the end of the summer when my fan over the sump died and the tank hit 83-84 degrees. I lost about 90% of my SPS. A new higher quality fan has been installed.

2. The tank has been moved to a different room. This was done with 0 losses, I also removed the sand bed.

3. Currently treating for a bubble algae outbreak. It's currently all over the rockwork and in the sump. I almost had it beat when I was dosing Vibrant (you can see it all turn white), but I ran out and they bounced right back. I am now trying AlgaeFix every 3 day. I have heard it works for valonia so I will give it a few weeks. If I don't see results I will order more Vibrant.

Updated pics coming soon.

 

[Ultra Aquatics]

I mentioned earlier that I was having issues with my Bubble King overflowing. It was happening like once a week at least and the salinity drop was really wreaking havoc on my SPS. I installed the Avast Davey Jones Skimmate locker and that helped since it turns the skimmer off once the container is full, but I still couldn't figure out the root cause.

Turns out my skimmer HATES when I feed LRS food. I know people swear by this food, which is why I tried it, but everytime I feed it, my skimmer overflows for at least 24 hours. I switched back to Rods food and it hasn't overflowed once.

 

[Ultra Aquatics]

Picked up a Kamoer FX-STP to help steady the effluent on my CalRX. Need to build an additional shelf to keep it above the sump.

 

[Ultra Aquatics]

My Red Goniopora has more than doubled in size since I got it in February.

02/11/18

12/20/18

 

[SlvrZ]

haha love how the clown just mean mugging you like "dis my goni"

 

[Ultra Aquatics]

haha love how the clown just mean mugging you like "dis my goni"

Lol yep I love the fact that he hosts the Goni.

 

[Ultra Aquatics]

Did some maintenance today on the skimmer.

Cleaned out the Avast Skimmate locker:

Cleaned out the Bubble King:

 

[Ultra Aquatics]

Did a bunch of work in the basement/sump area. It was really bothering me that the wiring had become such a mess so finally got time to build a proper controller board and clean stuff up a bunch.

Still have a few things to finish but overall I’m happy with how it came out.

 

[Ultra Aquatics]

Decided to add sand back to the tank, overall I didn’t like the look of it bare bottom.

This presents a problem though with the amount of flow in the tank. Between the MP40 and the two gyres, the CaribSea stuff I originally had would blow around like crazy!

I started to do some research and found a product from Tropic Eden Called “Reef Flakes Grand Select” and decided to give it a shot.

This stuff is awesome to say the least. Perfect size for a High flow SPS tank and it looks beautiful!

 

[ReeferReefer]

What fish are in the system?

 

[inktomi]

That sand looks really cool. I'm very curious to see it in the tank!

 

[Ultra Aquatics]

What fish are in the system?

Thanks for joining!

The current fish are:

1 x Purple Tang
3 x Pajama cardinals
2 x Three Stripes Damsels
1x Yellowtail Damsel
2 x Neon Velvet Damsels
1 x Green Mandarin
1 x ORA Premium Picasso Clownfish

 

[Ultra Aquatics]

That sand looks really cool. I'm very curious to see it in the tank!

Thanks, I really like it! I’m working on getting a current FTS today, I’ve been lazy and haven’t wanted to break out the DSLR lately.

 

[Ultra Aquatics]

Been battling both bubble algae and bryopsis. Started dosing Vibrant 15ml every 3 days.

I have seen improvement so far but just checked NO3 and it’s down to 0.

I whipped up a batch of potassium nitrate and dosed 5ml. Will check again in a few hours and adjust dosage as needed.

 

[Ultra Aquatics]

Picked up a new Trachyphilia today from UC.

Got this Scoly from LFS a couple weeks ago. Been wanting one for a while now.