JDog's 270 gallon in-wall reef tank
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The Fish Guy in Kennewick is pretty much it. I've been in only a couple times. Petco carries saltwater but I've not tried any of their livestock. I get most of my livestock online: fish from Bluezoo and coral from Unique. I have family near Portland so I have gotten some coral at Upscales in Tualatin. That place is pretty amazing; if you ever go that direction they have tons of coral and a beautiful display tank.
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Just an update, I did a series of water changes but left everything else the same. Things seem to have stabilized. Only lost one coral completely, a few others are white with some tissue on the tips, and the porites seems to have bounced back completely. The montipora never skipped a beat. Strangely the torch coral shriveled up after I did the water changes, still alive but it has super short arms now.
On a sad note, a blue throat trigger that I have had for a few months died. I pulled it out and examined it, and it had a big chunk of shrimp in its mouth, probably a piece that I tried to feed to my serpent star. I didn't know a trigger could choke to death!
Anyway, everything seems happy again, hopefully it was just a weird little hiccup in the progress of this tank!
On a sad note, a blue throat trigger that I have had for a few months died. I pulled it out and examined it, and it had a big chunk of shrimp in its mouth, probably a piece that I tried to feed to my serpent star. I didn't know a trigger could choke to death!
Anyway, everything seems happy again, hopefully it was just a weird little hiccup in the progress of this tank!
OP
OP
First 2019 update and full tank shot! Everything has been going well, you would hardly know there was an issue a couple of months ago. The birdsnest is flourishing, the torch coral is back to normal size, and all the coral has noted growth. All fish are fat and happy. I have been wanting to try anthias and have gone back and forth because I wanted to have easy fish for the most part, but all the fish have done so well that I decided to go for it. I got a group of 8 carberryi. They did very well in quarantine and took right to my DIY food mix. Now they swim happily around the top of the tank and go crazy whenever I feed. I've been feeding twice a day, and they seem to have full bellies. I feed much more on the weekends, 4-6 times a day on Saturday and Sunday, so that might be helping to keep them fat. I'm really happy with them; they make the tank look so much more alive!
looks great! glad to hear everything rebounded and is doing good!
OP
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Thanks! It is quite a humbling hobby. It is amazing to see everything thrive and grow, but I know that a doser malfunction, errant snail, or power outage could cause disaster at any moment...
Tuffloud1
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How many gph can that external overflow handle?
I’m planning my in-wall tank and it seems that many manufacturers of overflows tell you that you need a giant overflow.
I’m in the same situation as you where I only have access to the back of the tank and a giant external overflow rated at over 10 times the gallons in the tank just doesn’t work well. The Modular Marine that is recommended has a 20 inch external overflow box.
I need the external box as small as possible.
I’m planning my in-wall tank and it seems that many manufacturers of overflows tell you that you need a giant overflow.
I’m in the same situation as you where I only have access to the back of the tank and a giant external overflow rated at over 10 times the gallons in the tank just doesn’t work well. The Modular Marine that is recommended has a 20 inch external overflow box.
I need the external box as small as possible.
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I wish I knew the numbers but I haven't measured the flow. I would assume the limiting factor would be the overflow pipe, which in my case is a 1 1/2" that runs full siphon. Theoretically the 1 1/2" pipe can handle 3000 gph at full siphon. I have a gate valve on mine which is turned down, so I know I'm not getting that much. I have two Sicce 5.0 for my return pumps which are rated at 1300 gph each, but are probably only running 1/2 to 3/4 that due to plumbing and head loss, so I'm guessing that I have about 1500 gph going through the overflow. I have two Vectra L1 pumps on the closed loops and two Maxspect Gyres that make up the rest of the flow.
I really like my overflow. The external box is only 21" long, but there are 39" of teeth on the inside of the tank for plenty of surface skimming (the "L" shaped shadow in the upper left corner of the diagram below):
Anyway, sorry I don't have specifics but I'm happy with it, no regrets. I also would have no qualms about putting more flow through it than I am right now, just don't see the need right now.
Tuffloud1
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I wish I knew the numbers but I haven't measured the flow. I would assume the limiting factor would be the overflow pipe, which in my case is a 1 1/2" that runs full siphon. Theoretically the 1 1/2" pipe can handle 3000 gph at full siphon. I have a gate valve on mine which is turned down, so I know I'm not getting that much. I have two Sicce 5.0 for my return pumps which are rated at 1300 gph each, but are probably only running 1/2 to 3/4 that due to plumbing and head loss, so I'm guessing that I have about 1500 gph going through the overflow. I have two Vectra L1 pumps on the closed loops and two Maxspect Gyres that make up the rest of the flow.
I really like my overflow. The external box is only 21" long, but there are 39" of teeth on the inside of the tank for plenty of surface skimming (the "L" shaped shadow in the upper left corner of the diagram below):
Anyway, sorry I don't have specifics but I'm happy with it, no regrets. I also would have no qualms about putting more flow through it than I am right now, just don't see the need right now.
Thanks for the reply. What thickness glass did you go with? Did you get low iron glass? Were any of the panels tempered?
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OP
OP
Well I'm horrible at updating. 2019 went well, no major problems. None of the anthias survived, and the original chromis pack is now gone, true to the experiences of countless other tanks that I have read about. Otherwise, coral is growing well, fish are happy, still doing Triton with minimal water changes. I'll let the photos tell the story:
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So it's been several months since I have updated (as usual). My tank has been going through some strange changes that I am not liking. Is it the dread "old tank syndrome"? It's only a 3 year old tank so I would think not. I will chalk it up to 2020 for now since that is what I am blaming all my disagreeable events on this year.
The unhappy stuff: There has been a slow deterioration of the SPS. The birdnest completely died and the montipora went very pale. Any other small frags withered away. PO4 has slowly crept up to 0.90 on the Hanna ULR monitor. There is more bubble algae and red slime algae, and the sand bed and rocks seem to have more accumulated detritus than in the past.
The weird stuff: My Triton dosing has dropped way down, I assume because much of the SPS is gone. I am now dosing 8mL of each part a day for my 350 gallon total volume. I have been up to 48mL in the past. I change the dose based on the dKh, which is currently 10.2, but I'm afraid to decrease the Triton elements any more than what they are.
What seems to be going okay: The skimmer is still skimming like normal. I still harvest a basketball-size amount of chaeto every week. The monti cap is hanging on by its fingernails with some new growth on the edges. The soft coral seems to be fine. The mushrooms are actually dividing. The fish and inverts are fine. There are plenty of copepods.
What I am trying: Over the last 6 months, I have added some powerheads, I have been blowing off the rocks and stirring the sand weekly, and vacuuming the sand about every 3-4 weeks. I have done water changes of about 10% every week. I continue to use GFO. The most drastic thing I've done is started vodka dosing. I have slowly been increasing over the last 3 months or so and I am up to 19 mL per day. Haven't noticed any difference. I haven't done a Triton test yet which I know I should have probably done right away.
So anyway, that is my update. Hopefully by the next update I will have figured things out and at least gotten my PO4 under control...
The unhappy stuff: There has been a slow deterioration of the SPS. The birdnest completely died and the montipora went very pale. Any other small frags withered away. PO4 has slowly crept up to 0.90 on the Hanna ULR monitor. There is more bubble algae and red slime algae, and the sand bed and rocks seem to have more accumulated detritus than in the past.
The weird stuff: My Triton dosing has dropped way down, I assume because much of the SPS is gone. I am now dosing 8mL of each part a day for my 350 gallon total volume. I have been up to 48mL in the past. I change the dose based on the dKh, which is currently 10.2, but I'm afraid to decrease the Triton elements any more than what they are.
What seems to be going okay: The skimmer is still skimming like normal. I still harvest a basketball-size amount of chaeto every week. The monti cap is hanging on by its fingernails with some new growth on the edges. The soft coral seems to be fine. The mushrooms are actually dividing. The fish and inverts are fine. There are plenty of copepods.
What I am trying: Over the last 6 months, I have added some powerheads, I have been blowing off the rocks and stirring the sand weekly, and vacuuming the sand about every 3-4 weeks. I have done water changes of about 10% every week. I continue to use GFO. The most drastic thing I've done is started vodka dosing. I have slowly been increasing over the last 3 months or so and I am up to 19 mL per day. Haven't noticed any difference. I haven't done a Triton test yet which I know I should have probably done right away.
So anyway, that is my update. Hopefully by the next update I will have figured things out and at least gotten my PO4 under control...
