Karling's First Mixed Reef

[Karling]

Final setup of rockscape and media. Clowns going in tonight (8/7/2020)
Will be a mixed reef tank

Stats
125 Gallon Saltwater
Dual Power head
45 Gallon Sump
Bio Balls Filtration with Filter media to change weekly
Precision Marine Systems Bullet 2 Skimmer
Dual Pump system for flow
Custom Cabinetry

 

[Karling]

The tank is doing well... had a huge algae bloom late last week and over the weekend picked up some CUC. They have chewed through it quite nicely. Also as a bonus, picked up a Coral Beauty who seems to enjoy eating the algae off the glass..

 

[Karling]

Thew new update ---

So i posted a couple of times on how odd my tank was acting. I have checked tested water double/triple checked salinity at home etc. Fish are doing GREAT, corals were just not doing well. So today I went to pick up water to do a large water change. I figured maybe something was up I that i was just not able to see or think of, SO large water change! So I took some water with me to test (my LFS tests for free). LFS staff takes my samples starts to work away at testing. We are chatting along with the owners of the store. I'm talking about whats going on we are chatting about reasons it could possibly be. Young guy calls us over.. everything is reading dang near perfect, ammonia was at .02 PPM. everything else right in check. The kiddo says, let me test for coral parameters, pulls calcium (good), Alk (good), PH 8.2, Mag was high at like 1350. We were like well crap... I'm doing a large water change tonight and then again mid week next week. I was like, uh.. can you check Salinity for me....

kid walks away 2 minutes later comes over... found the issue... 1.028 - My tester is .003 off! which is fine, now i know. Ill get water, test it, should read 1.021 which i know is 1.024 and i can keep the tank in check going foward.

Calabrate, calabrate, calabrate... did a large water change (30Gal) with 1.024 water, and 7 gallons of RODI water only. All coral is peaking out now and the tank looks amazing just an hour after the change.

 

[MERKEY]

Nice catch!

Salinity is one of those parameters a lot skip over.

Do you have an auto top off? Or are you adding fresh RO water to top your tanks off after they evaporate a little each day?

The evaporation alone can make your salt jump as you are describing.

But also double check your salinity checker.

 

[Karling]

im using RO water (now) that i get from my LFS. I have two marks in my sump that show when I need to add 5G to the tank lucky for me it is about weekly that i have to add Top Off water. Ill add that in as RO only as top off. The LFS and I are working very closely together on this due to them being my main stocking location. Ill be doing 15G water changes every other week. Week 1 remove 15g of water add in 20G 15g of RO salt water and 5g of RO only. week two add 5g of RO only water.

 

[MERKEY]

Sounds like a good plan, only thing I would do is check your sump water levels daily if you can and top off daily....keeping salinity stable is key.

Good luck and keep us posted!

 

[Karling]

Sounds like a good plan, only thing I would do is check your sump water levels daily if you can and top off daily....keeping salinity stable is key.

Good luck and keep us posted!

so i have a maximum level in my sump that if it hits that level and i lose power 4 gallons will come out into my overflow tank (5 gallon bucket) i've also plumbed my skimmer overflow into it. The reality is I overfill my sump by 4 gallons every week purposefully. Does that make sense?

 

[revhtree]

You have an overflow built into your sump?

 

[Karling]

You have an overflow built into your sump?

Yes, its at the top of the sump and plumbed with an overflow for my skimmer that goes into a 5g bucket that i can empty out. the sump will drain into the bucket vs out onto the floor if anything goes awry.

 

[Karling]

I've rebuilt the entire sump. went from a trickle system... ripped all that out... custom built the over flow lines into a 7" 200 micron sock. moved my intake pump for the skimmer into that overflow chamber. Removed ALL the bio balls and put in the rest of the rubble in the sump along with 1 loan hermit.. hes a happy little bugger down there. I need to plumb the outlet of my skimmer into that same chamber, ill do that this weekend. Built a stand for the carbon bag to sit on between the overflow side to the return side. The return side has the skimmer and return pumps. The skimmer is plumed out into an overflow so i don't have to take apart my skimmer to clean it, it also allows me a fail safe 5 gallons if for any reason something happens in my sump.

The one hammer coral has fully recovered and growing well. My other hammers are sprouting little heads already. And my big wall hammer couldn't be happier! Zoas are doing well and starting to branch out a bit. The Duncan has had a hard time though, doing well, but we just found the place were i think he will stay.