Justin's 135 SPS Dominated Tank

[justin.k.nelson]

So I've been lurking on this forum for awhile and after posting for some help on a couple of other topics, I decided to copy my build thread info from my local club site to this one so that I can get some suggestions and to have another place to store info on my build:

Here goes:
Specs
Planet Aquarium 135 Gallon
Tank Dimensions: 72.5 x 24.5 x 18
Apex Classic Run
Return Pump: Sicce 4.0 that feeds a manifold
Skimmer: Seaside Aquatics CS1
Sump: Used sump I got with an earlier tank
Fuge: Custom Built Acrylic fuge for my macro
Calcium Reactor: Geo Reactor CR612 (Older one with the Black Acrylic)
BRS 1.1ml Doser for Alk
Lighting: 2x RapidLED Onyx lights
3x RapidLED Corona lights on custom settings
(2) ATI T5 Blue Plus
(1) ATI T5 Coral Plus
Flow: (2) MP 40's on various settings via WXM

FTS

Right Side:

Left Side:

Pics of my total setup with Sump and plumbing:

And finally my PAR Map:

 

[justin.k.nelson]

My livestock:

Fish & Invertebrates:
Yellow Watchman Goby
Lt Tang
Yellow Eye Kole Tang
Foxface
Trio of Black Leopard Wrasse
African Exquisite Wrasse
Pajama Cardinal
Orbiculate Cardinal
Pair of Onyx Clownfish
Melanarus Wrasse
(2) Chromis
Tailspot Blenny

(1) Tiger Tail Cucumber that cloned itself into 4 new individuals
Sand Sifting Starfish
Pencil Urchin ( he's in the sump to avoid him from knocking my frags down)
Various Snails
(1) Blue Legged Hermit Crab I've had from several years ago and I cannot bring myself to get rid of him

Corals:
I have a lot of SPS pieces but here goes a list of what I can remember I have:
Zoas:
Tubbs Blue
Rasta
Punk Rockers
Blue Macaw
Green Explosion Palys
Sunny D
Chong Bongs
Alpha and Omega

Leather & Other
Green Nepthia
Purple Gorgonian

LPS:
JF Jack O' Lantern Lepto
Purple Pagoda
Dragon Soul favia
Ultra Acan
Gold Wall Hammer
Teal Trumpets

SPS: I like to collect for the colors that I like rather than the names. So I have a lot of unknowns but I will try to remember the names of the ones I have
Green Slimer
Sunset Monti
Mystic Sunset
Appleberry Palawesis
Orange Digi
Spongodes
Fire Coral
Blue Iris
Walt Disney
Cali Tort
Purple Cat Paw
Screaming Birdsnest
Tri Color Valida
Garf Bonsai
Blue Ridge Coral
JKR Irish Rose
JKR Cherry Tree Monti
JKR Event Horizon
PC Rainbow
FHC Purple Power
Chesterfindes ? I got this from Ebay
Blue Ridge Coral
RP Purple Monster
JKR Fantasy Island
WWC Clathrata
We locally call it the Seaworld Blue Stag
ORA Mint Pavona

I have a bunch of others but have forgotten what they were called over the years

 

[JBKReef]

Do you find the flow enough from your two MP40's?

 

[justin.k.nelson]

I actually do. I originally had 2 WP 45's controlled by a JB Wave box, but found that my flow was too much with these. With the WXM, I am able to change the flow patterns and I have them at most running at 80% occasionally, dependent on the mode that the WXM puts them on. Eventually, I will need to install the Jebaos again or get some gyre's as my flow changes with the growing frags. Here is a snapshot of my WXM programming on my apex:

 

[JBKReef]

I actually do. I originally had 2 WP 45's controlled by a JB Wave box, but found that my flow was too much with these. With the WXM, I am able to change the flow patterns and I have them at most running at 80% occasionally, dependent on the mode that the WXM puts them on. Eventually, I will need to install the Jebaos again or get some gyre's as my flow changes with the growing frags. Here is a snapshot of my WXM programming on my apex:

Awesome! I purchased my WP40's with an eventual upgrade in mind. They're currently on a 93 cube (30x30) and the flow is so overkill. I use the WXM as well and have them scaled way back. That being said I wasnt sure on their performance on something longer.

Everything looks happy and healthy! Good job.

 

[justin.k.nelson]

Here is a link to our local club forum with more details of my tank journey
http://www.maast.org/showthread.php?83340-New-House-New-Tank!&p=978267#post978267

Taking some advice from a friend, I started using the Zeovit 4 color system. Last night I went with 20ml of each bottle ( the instructions require 30ml but I wanted to be cautious). You are supposed to dose this system once per week, so I'll monitor the system for about a month or two and see how it does. I am only on my 2nd dose, so its a little too early to gauge anything.

 

[justin.k.nelson]

Awesome! I purchased my WP40's with an eventual upgrade in mind. They're currently on a 93 cube (30x30) and the flow is so overkill. I use the WXM as well and have them scaled way back. That being said I wasnt sure on their performance on something longer.

Everything looks happy and healthy! Good job.

Thanks man. I have had several crashes and issues with this tank but taking my time and really looking at what I'm doing wrong and making the changes slowly, I'm starting to get this tank cruising.

I love the Vortech line of pumps. My only beef with them is the failure to adjust the direction of the flow coming out like you can with Jebao's, Tunze's and somewhat with the Neptune WAV pumps. Aside from that, they are beasts and when combined with the WXM and a decently robust program, you can get some really great flow patterns in your tank. The best part is that you can totally flip things around and readjust your patterns to avoid detritus build up or just create new growth patterns in your tank.
My advice is to crank your output high enough to see the sand move a bit with acros. The few LPS pieces in my tank have to be strategically located to avoid to much flow but a few that are out in the path of the furthest point of the pumps really love the flow. My Dragon Soul in particular really uses the flow to help extends its feeding tentacles at night!

 

[justin.k.nelson]

I realized that I have been negligent in maintain this thread. Over the past few months, I have had issues getting my tank in line to support growth of my SPS corals. Couple that with a trip to Peru and being away from my tank, I came home to my tank looking the worst it had ever been. The cause....I'm still not sure but I knew that I had issues with dialing my calcium reactor and getting my alk to be stable. This had been my issue for awhile with this tank. I had started to use some new tech and still couldn't get my tank to be stable. In an effort to brainstorm a possible cause and some solutions, I went back to what I was doing with my previous tank where SPS were growing so well. I boiled it down to the following:

• I was doing regular water changes of about 1 brute trash can, roughly 35 gallons every week.
• I was using Kent Marine Salt
• I was using Kalkwasser in my ATO

So I decided to do a water change on my DT this past weekend, which also used up all of my remaining Instant Ocean Salt. I also took my Calcium Reactor offline, but just the CO2. I am still using my Masterflex pump to push water through the reactor to avoid stale water. I do plan to go back to a Calcium reactor in about 6 months, once I get everything consistent and take my time to slowly get it to adjust. With a Master Flex, my effluent is consistent. My only variable and the hardest was getting my pH stable.

For my Alk and Calcium supplementation, I'm going back to 2 part dosing using BRS dosing pumps. I am also going back to testing my Alk and Calcium daily to make sure I'm consistent. I am currently dosing about 40ml of Alk to keep me steady at 7.5 dkh and dosing about 80ml of Calcium to keep me at around 460 ppm. Testing everyday, I'm noticing my alk drop down and having to dose a bit to keep the levels at 7.5. I'm waiting for the Trident to be available, and subsequent bugs before getting it, to be able to test my water daily and dose accordingly.

Since going back to 2 part and testing and dosing appropriately, I have seen in my test readings that my corals are happy and consuming nutrients. I am showing some nice PE and hopefully it time, I will be rewarded with some growth. So far I'm getting encrusting on older pieces, but nothing vertical just yet. Time will tell!!!!

 

[justin.k.nelson]

Some pics of my tank and inhabitants:

 

[Chrisfish]

Beautiful pictures :)

 

[justin.k.nelson]

Thanks man. once I get my tank back up to snuff, I would like to turn pull my energy into taking better pics. Eventually, I would love to get my hands on a Macro lens but for now, I'm just using my wife's SLR with default lens and a fish portal for getting close shots.

 

[justin.k.nelson]

Redundancy is crucial

I had learned from my buddy Ty Farmer the importance of having a backup to your system. Although, I do not have exactly 100% redundency of all my gear and life support system in my tank. I will say that I am slowly working towards this goal and started by having:

• spare Jebao pumps, not used in the tank currently
• Battery Backup for each of my MP40's
• I have a Gyre 250 that I won on an auction that I have not opened up yet
• I bought a Jebao DCP 3000 DC pump and plan to get another and have them plumbed in parallel and tied to each other via the apex. When one is shown to decrease in power consumption, the apex will rev the next one up to compensate for the flow. Still working on how to get this down
• I use both T5 and LED lights for my lighting. The newer models that I have are not connected to the Apex except via an outlet that turns on the power plugs. The lights themselves are wifi and get their programming via Wifi
• I have 2 heaters in my tank; one in the overflow box and the other in the sump

Well...my pre-planning proved to be so beneficial when the evening of the MAAST meeting, my tank started crashing. I had no clue what was going on but I noticed that my return was off, my skimmer had overflowed (its programmed to turn off if the return is off) due to the increased water height and overfilled my skimmate container, which in turn flooded my sump basin and triggered the leak detector but DID NOT turn off my return or ATO line. My ATO continued to turn on and my heaters were not coming on. When I checked my Apex Fusion, I discovered that all of my outlets on my EB8 that controlled my main stuff were greyed and not recognized and I had a bunch of new tiles. After determining it was not a bad aquabus cable, I turned my sights on the EB8 power bar or my Apex head unit.

To make a long story short, I discovered that when my Apex controller unit would lose power, the EB8 would also lose power, expected, but when it gets power again, it instead of following the normal programming, would install itself as a new EB8 and have its own default programming that would be set on. Hence some things were off and others were on as well as any switches or leak detectors that were linked would not work as the outlet was no longer "connected".

I originally thought it was my controller unit and so I luckily scored on an Apex 2016 head unit that was on sale on BRS but I failed to hook it up due to it being too wide for my equipment cabinet. Once I moved everything over and simulated a power outage, the EB8 did the same thing. Leading me to believe that it is the EB8 that is faulty. I then took my mission critical items off the power supply and plugged them directly into an outlet. This would be my return and heaters. I then decided that I needed an another EB8 or....get myself the EB832 to go with my 2016 apex. Since none of my lfs's carried any in town, I bought one off BRS to earn some points toward the Trident eventually and also a ext power supply for my controller head unit. This power supply will be plugged into a UPS as well as the EB8 that houses my return, skimmer, and a heater. Eventually, I will save some cash to get myself another EB832 to replace my other EB8 and plan to re-distribute my key essential equipment between the various Power blocks on my apex system.

 

[justin.k.nelson]

Once I submit my faulty EB8 to Neptune for repair, I will have a backup EB8 and a backup head unit, granted it is a Classic head. I also realized that my WXM was acting up and would lose my MP40's and they would go dark. I cleared the memory of my MP40's, but one occasionally shows as missing but still works. My concern is if the WXM acts up again and my MP40's shut off due to lack of communication to my Apex Controller. This is odd as each of my MP40's has a backup but if they lose communication to the WXM, they power down. To offset this, I'm debating on the 2 solutions:

• Take my MP40's off the WXM to keep them independent. I would lose my variable profile switching that I created but would have a safety in case my WXM has an issue again
• I have a single 250 Gyre and currently working on getting another pump. The Gyre I have, has a controller that can control another pump. I might plan to setup a gyre on either side of my tank and synced together with the controller that is independent of my Apex. My only concerns are flow and position in the tank. Due to the sleek design, I might put them on the back wall and at a very low speed to just create a gentle current that still allows for flow around my corals but I can rev up in case of my WXM acting up again

I also need to create a float sensor for my skimmate cup to shut off my skimmer in the event it overfills my skimmate container.

 

[justin.k.nelson]

Thought I'd post some videos I shot today







Left Side

Center

Right Side

 

[justin.k.nelson]

So a couple of days ago I scored on a Gyre 250 pump on ebay and it arrived yesterday. I had originally won a complete pump and controller on an auction from Oceanlife aquariums. I had mentioned earlier that I wanted to create a backup flow pattern for my tank in the event that my Apex craps out on me again. I had noticed during my recent outage, that both my MP40 controllers were blank because they were "slaved" to the WXM on my controller.

With that said, I put each of my pumps on either side of my tank facing toward the center of my display and opposing each other. I liked this arrangement as I could basically add a gyre on either side of my tank and also get some good rippling action to break up the oil slick I was starting to see a bit on my water surface. I wanted to imitate the flow pattern advertised by the guys at BRS but to do that for the period of time that they mentioned, the gyres would need to be programmed by an apex. This would defeat the purpose of having the gyres so I stuck with the default programming that allows the pump to alternate back and forth between the two. The only issue is that the pumps do this every 20 seconds and ramp up to a level of about 20%. Anymore and the flow would be way to strong and cause issues with my sps and sand.

I do have options now. I could do the following:

Stick with current setup with the Gyre's independent of the Apex and MP 40's programmed by the WXM
Have the Gyre's programmed by the Apex and use the programming that BRS has for the rolling Gyre across the tank and put the MP40's on their own on possibly reef crest or Lagoon mode

This new option adds a bit more cost as I would need to get the Apex interface box for each of the boxes, which is hefty penny to say the least. I could certainly use the funds for something else on my tank. I think I'll just play with this current assortment for awhile and gauge my thoughts on changing it later in the year or next year.

 

[justin.k.nelson]

So ticked today!

Last night I noticed that my Coralvue 18 Watt UV Sterilizer was not on but the outlet showed that it was supposed to be. When I pulled the light out to observe, i was pleasantly surprised to get a shock telling me that something shorted. Loe and behold, there was a link in the sterilizer that allowed water to enter into the ballast and consequently shorted the system. I pulled the electrical component and left the "shell" with water running through it and thought nothing of it. After about 30 mins, I walked by the tank to notice that it was cloudy and everything was sliming up as well as my zoas closing up. I can only guess that it was something to do with "seal" clouding up the tank as I noticed that it was coming apart.

Anyway, I immediately did about 60 gallons water change and was processing another 60 gallons to do today. I woke up this morning to find that the skin on a couple of my frags that I run in a raffle was off and polyps gone on those frags. My "nicer" frags like my Walt Disney, Minh Tri Color, Matt V Pyscho Asylum, Rainbow Tort, Purple Passion survive. With my black light I can see polyps and the skin looks super thin or almost gone. I've saved corals before with no skin but Polyps with plenty of meat foods to help offset the lack of photosynthesis. I'm just crossing my fingers that I only lose 3-4 that I can see. I would be super bummed if I lost the ones I named. What sucks even more is that I was getting some super nice consistency and being rewarded with awesome growth. Knowing that everything is in shock and panic mode, I turned off my 2 part dosing entirely and just waiting and biting my nails to see if everything will pull through.

This part of the hobby sucks so bad!

Here is a short video I posted on Youtube literally a day before the incident occurred.

 

[justin.k.nelson]

Its been awhile but I have managed to clean up quite a bit and get the tank back on all 8 or 12 Cylinders. Some of the changes I made after the UV fiasco are:

• Took the UV completely out. I put one on the tank because my fear was that a bacteria or something was running rampant in my tank and would prey on the already weak SPS frags I had, causing them to stress even further. I found a couple of threads discussing it and I had an 18 Watt laying around. Big mistake!

• I went back to gradually adjusting my Dosage using BRS 1.1 ml Dosers to match my tank consumption. In an effort to go with something a bit more reliable, I decided to hook my doing up to the Apex DOS. I love this piece of equipment. I no longer need to use a separate website to help me with the Apex coding for the Doser. I literally tell it how much to dose and the time frame and the wizard does the rest. Of Course I have to go into the Advanced coding to add a few more lines, like if the pH is higher than 8.50 to shut down the Doser. Once I get a 1 link cable, I can also free up an outlet on my apex system. With the BRS dosers, I had to have a separate outlet for each doser. I was using 3 for my tank!

• I tried to keep my hands out of the tank as much as possible

• Religious water changes on my system. I every week perform about a 30 gallon water change to my system with fresh Kent Marine Sea Salt. In an effort to make it easy to do and therefore allow me to be religious about WC, I have made the process super easy and only takes about 15 mins at most. I'll have to post a video of my water change process tomorrow during my weekly water change

• After speaking to a fellow reefer buddy at the last frag swap, JJ, I have been religiously dosing the following in my tank every morning. Not sure if it makes a difference but since doing all of the above and this daily dosing, the tank is doing extremely well:
  • Kent Iodide 1ml
  • Kent Pyhtoplex 2 ml (One squirt on each side)
  • Kent Zooplex 2 ml (One squirt on each side)
  • Kent Chromoplex 2 ml (One squirt on each side)

The tank is doing so well that I fear in a couple of months, I might have to go back to using a Calcium reactor to offset my needs and use the DOS as a backup. I 'm hesitant to go this route due to the issues I had in the past but my tank is consuming Alk and Calcium like crazy and I will have no choice but to go with this more reliable method. I'm currently Dosing the following amounts:

Alk: 85.1 ml throughout the day
Ca: 181.4 ml during the daylight hours of 0930 to 2030



To make up for the loss of frags and space, I've been fortunate to have some great local reefer friends that have given me some corals but I also put a couple of orders with Joe's Knows Corals and Golden Basket.

From Joe Knows Reef the following

BC Indigo Stag


Event Horizon


BC Secale


Apocalypse Now


Tyree Pinky the Bear


PC Rainbow

Wild Irish Rose - This is my favorite coral from him and the reason for the whole order

All of them in my BAO frag case, which makes it so easy to dip, transport and hold frags


Finally a pic of them on a temp frag rack before placement in the tank

 

[justin.k.nelson]

Prior to my vacation last weekend to Miami, my sand sifting starfish made the 3rd attempt to walk on the glass. Fortunately or unfortunately, I found him caught in the intake of my MP40's and 3 of his arm; which healed about 2 months prior to his last attempt, were severally damaged. I told myself that this was the last time I wanted to see this and decided to get myself some MP40 guards to prevent snails, my cucumbers or my poor starfish from getting snipped by the blades. I do not like the foam guards for the MP40's because they in my opinion collect way too much detritus and need to be cleaned too frequently for my lazy tendencies. I had previously made anemone guards based on a design I found on one of the forums online with screen netting and acrylic rings.

The problem I had with these guards was that they too were collecting detritus pretty frequently and stuck out way too much and became an eye sore. After reading a post from Reefbuilders on 3d printed guards, I did some digging and found 2 manufacturers. The original creator quoted in the thread was based in the UK and the mailing time would be way too long for my impatient nature.

https://reefbuilders.com/2018/03/28/anemone-protection-guard-newest-innovation-3d-printing/

Fortunately I found another designer on Ebay and they were local for not that bad of a price and with a pretty sleek design very similar to the one in the article.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/3D-Printed-Ecotech-Marine-Vortech-MP-40-anemone-guard/302690485930?hash=item4679c246aa:g:KP4AAOSwP4dawQa6&_sacat=0&_nkw=3D+Printed+Ecotech+Marine+Vortech+MP-40+anemone+guard&_from=R40&rt=nc&_trksid=m570.l1313

Yesterday after coming back into town, I received my guards in the mail and couldn't wait to open them up and install them on my tank to protect my inhabitants. I was a bit dismayed that the original front guard did not fit the slightly rounded front of the new MP40 housing units but the order came with another attachment that was a simple ring that locked into little grooves and allowed the water flow to become less inhibited. Snails and anything that can brave the strong flow could in theory still move in front of the MP 40's but at least the sides where the openings are greater or blocked from my reef pets.

Overall the quality is pretty solid, the notch to hold the front piece is a little weak but then again its 3D printed and fairly cheap. Here is a pic of the guard in use

 

[justin.k.nelson]

Its been awhile since my last update and I am happy to report that the tank is running smoothly. Since taking the Calcium Reactor Co2 tank offline, the tank has been pretty stable. I have managed to keep the tank at a steady:

Alk: 7.5


Calcium


Here are a couple of coral shots and a video

Front Shot


One of the pieces I am constantly checking to see how happy it is

BC Bubble bath unicorn




Apocalypse Now



A huge colony of Seaworld Stag



Purple Orchid



Nice unknown Mari-cultured with an acro Crab!



Another on my constant observation

Walt Disney - This guy has constantly grown for me, considering that I almost lost it earlier in the year with the crash. Colors are still off but I'm sure it will come back



My Lt/ Vampire Kiss tang- Vlad




The last Tri Color Valida frag I have after losing my main Colony and to the right an Oragne Spathulata
Having had a blue and a rainbow years ago, I have been on the hunt for one. I finally found this Orange one from Rudy Batara at Golden Basket



I forgot the name of this Tenius but I thought i lost it during the crash as well. Its since starting to grow nicely and hopefully gain its color back



Wild Orchid



So glad this piece is growing nicely. Minh Tri Color



Right side with my Green Nepthea and Tubbs Blue taking center stage

 

[justin.k.nelson]

Here is a video of the tank: