Jesse's WB Infinia 150.4 Build

[Gumbies R Us]

I

FINALLY, the tank is delivered and leveled. Filled with IO and got the sump running fairly quietly. The Sicce 9.0 is running at only 22% and I have great flow. I set up the Hydros Waveengine with two RO Octopulse 4s. They are providing significant flow, but currently are located at one end of the tank. Corals are now in the main display and look happy.

I need to set up the skimmer, kalk dosing, ato, and electrical. I built a plywood board with a foot and a shelf to mount the powerstrips and Hydros gear inside the sump. Details to follow.

like the aquascape!

 

[JHSteepat]

The sump is back to normal levels and the osmolator seems to be working properly, pumping via a high jet pump to tube hidden next to the overflow on the display tank (well above water level). I may leave it there because the alternative is to rig something up under a tight cabinet or deal with a siphon break that can get clogged.

Hoping things are settling in. The tank needs some fish!!! Hydros system is making me happy the deeper I dig. Need more sensors though….to continue down that rabbit hole.

 

[JHSteepat]

All done, bring on the critters!

Corals seem happy!

 

[JHSteepat]

Ordered Banggai, 2x ocellaris, royal gramma, and tomini tang from Dr Reef.

Also ordered the Plank from Avast, as I have a job, am taking care of a wife with a dislocated shoulder, and a 5 month old Bernedoodle.

 

[JHSteepat]

I now have two ocellaris clowns, a royal gramma, and a Banggai Cardinal. All qt’d and getting used to new surroundings. Banggai found a nice overhang to chill out under. Gramma found a perfect hole in rockwork to set up base in, and the clowns are bobbing and weaving together on one side of the tank. Hopefully they are just adapting to the new digs and will be more out and about in the future. Clowns and gramma nibbled at some pellet food today but I will pick up some frozen mysis tomorrow.

Sad to say the Tomini didn’t make it but Dr Reef was good for it. Ordered foxface instead. Didn’t want to risk another tang in shipping. Will order a Biota yellow at some point.

 

[SpyC]

Ordered Banggai, 2x ocellaris, royal gramma, and tomini tang from Dr Reef.

Also ordered the Plank from Avast, as I have a job, am taking care of a wife with a dislocated shoulder, and a 5 month old Bernedoodle.

Out of curiosity, where did you get your bernedoodle? I have allergies and am on the hunt for a bernedoodle since they are statistically the best for people with allergies.

 

[JHSteepat]

Out of curiosity, where did you get your bernedoodle? I have allergies and am on the hunt for a bernedoodle since they are statistically the best for people with allergies.

I knew at some point Remi (I call her Moosie) would take over the discussion. Fish are secondary in our house.

Bernedoodle Breeder | Buckeye Ridge Bernedoodles | Glouster

Buckeye Ridge produces the most beautiful, highest quality puppies, with phenomenal temperaments. Our Bernedoodles are raised using the Empowered Breeder Curriculum and come with a two-year health guarantee. They are ideal for families looking for a companion, or for those in need of a service dog.

www.buckeyeridgebernedoodles.com

Looks like you are close, should be easy to get to from WV.

Warning, the dog cost more than the aquarium……but is an absolute joy. She is unfurnished f2, which means she has the Bernese coat (no fluffy doodle face), so may be less hypoallergenic and sheds less than what I would expect from a pure Bernie, but her siblings are furnished so have the poodle coat. She is velcro, enthusiastic, vocal, and likes to eat rocks and clumps of grass, awful on walks, and is a solid 55lbs at 5 1/2 months. She definitely is more Bernese than poodle, but that is nice for us.

I don’t want this discussion re reef tanks to get hijacked, so feel free to message me if you need more.

 

[JHSteepat]

Lost the Banggai, too, but the clowns and gramma seem OK, and are starting to get more out and about. The Banggai just hid near the bottom under an overhang and never seemed to interact.

Need to learn from this I suppose. Other than not buying over the internet, maybe for shipped and qt fish to observe in a smaller tank with the same salinity as shipping and then make sure they are feeding, etc. and raise the salinity over a few days (with a filter with Cycled media). I worry that the salinity change and ammonia in shipping may have added stress.

Any thoughts are welcome. These are pre-qt fish, and beyond this replacement order, I expect to observe for 30 days if pre qt’d and qt protocol if not.

 

[JHSteepat]

The clowns and gramma are doing great.

Turned down light a little, as gha is getting a little unruly. Chaeto in refugium is getting some gha too, so I removed the larger clumps. I’ve read that you just need to keep at it, and the chaeto will eventually take over. Dosing 2x a week with ChaetoGro. Lowered the display light a bit, as it seems a bit much.

Problem is, the tank is in a beight room on a south-facing wall with glass blocks that really light up the tank for a couple of hours a day. I’m not going to stress over it with some cuc on the way and a foxface.

Ordered 35 lbs sand and 8 lb nano rocks for tank. I plan to fallow and collect crabs n’at (as the say here in Pittsburgh) for 76 days in 29g tank with noopsyche light. That should arrive Monday and the foxface and midas blenny (Dr Reef) to arrive later in the week. I also set up a 10g at the same salinity as shipping so I don’t need to acclimate beside temperature or keep the fish in ammonia-saturated shipping water, and I can both watch the fish and raise the salinity more gradually, and in a more controlled environment than a bucket.

 

[SpyC]

I have the same issue with a well lit room and gha. Been fighting it for a few months and am about to switch a sump chamber to a fuge. Do you think the cheato grow is helping the gha?

I havent been to a lfs other than wet pets for ages. Have you visited any recently? Find any good ones? I always enjoyed Elmer's and aquaworld. No clue if they are still any good though.

 

[JHSteepat]

I have the same issue with a well lit room and gha. Been fighting it for a few months and am about to switch a sump chamber to a fuge. Do you think the cheato grow is helping the gha?

I havent been to a lfs other than wet pets for ages. Have you visited any recently? Find any good ones? I always enjoyed Elmer's and aquaworld. No clue if they are still any good though.

Jury is still out re the GHA plus sump though keep in mind this is a really new tank, with some maturing to do and I am not too concerned by 10-15 little tufts of GHA. I would say yes the refugium is helping, But it is not a 100% solution.

Ask me in 6 months when things are a bit more settled. I also look at some gha as a healthy tank, and all I need are fish/inverts that eat it.

I bought my tank at Aquaworld, they seem knowledgeable. I like them and Elmers both, keeping in mind the need to qt everything. I stopped in at wet pets and wasn’t impressed. Their corals were expensive and looked like an afterthough. Reef Gallery’s corals look the best I’ve seen in the area though Aquaworld is OK too. Dr Reef fish were cheaper than WetPets and qt’d.

I recently went to Reef gallery in Zelienople and was impressed. They seem to be a good frag source, and also seem to have a good selection of fish. Bought the Raja chalice there and once fish are settled and I qt the live rock/sand, plan to run up there to find some “easier” sps frags (birds nest/stylo/montis/leptos, if they stock). If they don’t carry what I want, maybe I’ll run to Todal Gardens, near Cleveland.

 

[SpyC]

This isbthe first tank I started with dry rock and live sand. I never had algae issues when starting with live rock, but that is way too expensive these days. Plus I have a lot of old fiji and pukani rock from old tanks. I'm hoping it's just extra uglies from using only dry rock, live sand, and a bittle of bacteria.

Tidal Gardens was great the last time I was there many years ago. I agree about wet pets. For a while they were the go to place for many folks in the area, but I think they preyed upon people will to spend way more for somwthing just because of the area they are in.

I'll have to check out reef gallery, elmers, and aquaworld the next time I'm in the area then. I found aquaworld was always friendly and had great corals are good prices.

If you haven't already joined the email list, 3RMAS is in Pittsburgh and they throw swaps yearly.

 

[JHSteepat]

This isbthe first tank I started with dry rock and live sand. I never had algae issues when starting with live rock, but that is way too expensive these days. Plus I have a lot of old fiji and pukani rock from old tanks. I'm hoping it's just extra uglies from using only dry rock, live sand, and a bittle of bacteria.

Tidal Gardens was great the last time I was there many years ago. I agree about wet pets. For a while they were the go to place for many folks in the area, but I think they preyed upon people will to spend way more for somwthing just because of the area they are in.

I'll have to check out reef gallery, elmers, and aquaworld the next time I'm in the area then. I found aquaworld was always friendly and had great corals are good prices.

If you haven't already joined the email list, 3RMAS is in Pittsburgh and they throw swaps yearly.

Just joined 3rmas a couple of days ago. Figured I’d support local.

 

[JHSteepat]

I had an idea. As I have a lot of ambient full spectrum sunlight on the tank, I adjusted the spectrum of the light to lower the warmer tones in the sunrise and sunset channel. This way I am not adding further warm light to the total available light. Though I am thinking of raising the noon reef channel (black) a little more.

 

[JHSteepat]

Last weekend I pulled all algae on sandbed and made sure I am dosing ChaetoGro adequately. All seems OK for now.

TB saltwater rock is awesome, bit I am waiting a month or so to introduce it into my tank. Alk is stable around 9-9.5 with kalk dosing. PH is stable enough. I had refugium on a reverse cycle and changed it Oct 7 to midnight to 3pm to flatten the curve (see below). I feel like I am watching a battle between the fuge and hair algae in the tank. In any case, the pH swing is 0.1, so I am not concerned, and this is just experimenting (playing) to see how I can outcompete the tank algae with the refugium. I am sure things will change once I add some more fish and stonies and have to dose more kalk.

Excited as I have the foxface and blenny coming from Dr reef tomorrow. Looking at a pink goni, euphyllia, and some easier SPS as a next step.

 

[JHSteepat]

I also got the photone app and bought the blue/white spectrum (I should also get the full-spectrum to compare), to give me an idea of par levels. I am a little lower than 50%, and am seeing around 250 at the mid-upper levels (20” or so from the light) in the middle, which tells me I can eventually crank the light up to around 80% and grow some higher-light sps in the middle of the tank using only the single Orphek icon, and based on the published article, this should give me good mixed reef numbers throughout the tank (75-350).

I ordered a plastic pouch for the phone, and will map the tank.

BTW, the Noo-psych K7 mini on the qt tank is a beast with 500+ par at the surface under the light.

 

[JHSteepat]

Foxface and midas blenny are awesome, but still a little shy one week out. Family portrait on bottom with clowns and fighting conch at bottom with new jack-o-lantern lepto and anacropora on frag rack, lepastrea growing like crazy on rock and new burning banana styloconiella with excellent polyp extension, but looking boring brown from that….

 

[JHSteepat]

Feeding time! Loving the midas blenny and foxface.

I know, I need to update the cleanup crew.

 

[ErikEdmund]

I don't really have much to offer other than I have that same bench. Dick's Sporting Goods?

Edit: I also just bought this tank today. I guess that's relevant.

 

[JHSteepat]

I don't really have much to offer other than I have that same bench. Dick's Sporting Goods?

Edit: I also just bought this tank today. I guess that's relevant.

Dick’s

Love the tank.