Ken's 215G Build

[kenchilada]

I’ve tested ammonia every night and it is stalled at 1.5ppm. No detectable nitrite or nitrate yet. All fresh Salifert kits. This is the fourth night in the tub. Surprised it has so little nitrogen processing capacity.

This rock... I’m becoming increasingly disappointed. Not so sure it’s worth the price.

 

[JGT]

I’ve tested ammonia every night and it is stalled at 1.5ppm. No detectable nitrite or nitrate yet. All fresh Salifert kits. This is the fourth night in the tub. Surprised it has so little nitrogen processing capacity.

This rock... I’m becoming increasingly disappointed. Not so sure it’s worth the price.

Yeah, I have to agree. Even in the pics of you opening the bags it seemed dull. There wasn’t much growth or coralline or vibrant colors. Disappointing.

 

[Gablami]

I don’t understand how you don’t have nitrate. Live rock, even with a lot of die off, should still have tons of denitrifying bacteria. The bacteria doesn’t die off. ??? Big time mystery to me...

 

[kenchilada]

I don’t understand how you don’t have nitrate. Live rock, even with a lot of die off, should still have tons of denitrifying bacteria. The bacteria doesn’t die off. ??? Big time mystery to me...

I’m really not sure. Even crazy high ammonia in the boxes would not kill the ammonia-oxidizing bacteria.

I did lots of homework before ordering this and there are plenty of reports of people having zero cycle with wet-shipped rock. Just bad luck? Or maybe this is typical?

 

[kenchilada]

So after reaching peak disappointment with my live rock last night I reached out to Rick at tbsaltwater. He gave me a call this morning and explained this never happens and gave me a full refund. I’m really impressed!

Im going to do another scrub of the rock for dead stuff, big water change and try some bottled bacteria and see where that gets me. Beyond that haven’t decided next steps.

If things calm down at work I’m going to order my Planet tank from the LFS today.

 

[liverock]

Your experience defiantly not the norm.....don't know why this shipment went array...but I would never let one of my customers deal with a situation like this. So did what I could...

I have never had a shipment report like that before, ever.

Most folks never get any or very little ammonia or die off....but is is 2020.......I am so ready for it and the weather to go away

GMZ853-212130- Coastal waters from Englewood to Tarpon Springs FL out 20 NM- 1049 AM EDT Wed Oct 21 2020 SMALL CRAFT EXERCISE CAUTION THIS AFTERNOON East winds 15 to 20 knots. Seas 2 to 3 feet. Bay and inland waters a moderate chop. A chance of thunderstorms early in the morning, then thunderstorms likely in the afternoon. TONIGHT East winds around 15 knots. Seas 2 to 3 feet. Bay and inland waters a moderate chop. A chance of thunderstorms in the evening, then a slight chance of thunderstorms after midnight. THURSDAY East winds around 15 knots. Seas 2 feet. Bay and inland waters a moderate chop. A slight chance of thunderstorms in the morning, then a chance of thunderstorms in the afternoon. THURSDAY NIGHT East winds around 15 knots. Seas 2 feet. Bay and inland waters a moderate chop. A chance of thunderstorms in the evening, then a slight chance of thunderstorms after midnight. FRIDAY

 

[kenchilada]

The tank is ordered and all paid up. Planet 215G, starfire front glass, black silicone, external overflow. Three weeks.

Synergy Reef shipped my sump today.

All I have left to buy are return pumps and the Sunpower fixture. I’ll probably get Sicce AC return pumps (I don’t get the appeal of DC pumps and see lots of complaints). The guy I was buying the Sunpower from changed his mind and doesn’t want to ship, so I’m back on the hunt for that.

 

[kenchilada]

Synergy Reef featured my sump on their Facebook! Very cool. It looks even better than I had hoped. Arrives tomorrow.

 

[kenchilada]

Still waiting on things to arrive. Bought quarantine supplies today and will be setting that up soon.

I’m still working on my live rock situation. I took all of it out Friday and scrubbed it down and did a 100% water change. Still pretty stinky yesterday, so I did another 100% change and added 2oz of Fritz 900.

Today I had 0.25ppm ammonia and still zero nitrite and nitrate. I believe it’s processing the nitrite/nitrates too fast to detect. There’s no way it’s not processing ammonia at this point and that’s the only explanation I can think of for the zeroes. I’m going to watch it a few days and then try raising ammonia to 2ppm to see what it does with that.

 

[kenchilada]

Bought a 8x80W ATI Sunpower off Facebook today for $500 shipped. Only 7 months old and had bulbs.

Got my Apex setup. Bought a couple gyres.

Tank will be here soon. I’m replacing the stairs on the back porch because they’re rotted enough they may not support the weight.

Got this in the mail today. Won it from Marine Depot.

I’ll be moving the stand into the house soon!

 

[kenchilada]

8x80w Sunpower is here. Now I just need the tank to get here!

 

[gentlefish]

Welcome back to the real and fishy life. Love what you are doing and look forward to following along!

 

[kenchilada]

The tank is ready! Should get delivered 11/19. Still no idea how to get it in the house.

 

[Smite]

That sump is killer! I'm really looking forward to seeing this all come together. Can't go wrong with a 8x80 sunpower. Do you plan to run any supplemental LED?

 

[kenchilada]

That sump is killer! I'm really looking forward to seeing this all come together. Can't go wrong with a 8x80 sunpower. Do you plan to run any supplemental LED?

Yep, supplementing with a row of Kessil A360X across the front. Three of these to start, but I will probably add more whenever they pop up cheap. This is mostly to add shimmer because I find the look of T5 flat on its own. I'd run halides if I could but too much heat for my AC.

I'm building a light rack to go inside the canopy to mount the Sunpower. It will have a bar above it to mount Kessil goosenecks on, so I can just bend and point the Kessils wherever needed.

 

[kenchilada]

Stand is chilling on the back porch. I made my wife help move it from my shop and up the back stairs. Big mistake. I definitely underestimated how much this weighs. It might be 300 pounds. We barely got it up the stairs without getting killed.

 

[kenchilada]

Stand is in my living room.

Omg it is way too big for this room. Wife is furious. Gonna be a long lonely night.

 

[Gablami]

Stand is in my living room.

Omg it is way too big for this room. Wife is furious. Gonna be a long lonely night.

Uh oh. The first day my tank moved in, my wife thought it was too large, and I thought it was perfect. She got used to it pretty quick, though. The fact that you agree that it’s too big for the room is not a good sign! Lol! Time to share a pic?

 

[kenchilada]

Uh oh. The first day my tank moved in, my wife thought it was too large, and I thought it was perfect. She got used to it pretty quick, though. The fact that you agree that it’s too big for the room is not a good sign! Lol! Time to share a pic?

It really only looks too big when you’re on the couch next to it. It will be fine!

 

[Gablami]

It is a very beautiful stand!