Kent's 120 Gallon Acropora Build

[kentofms]

I purchased a rimless 120 gallon reef ready tank. I'm going to be using the Triton method in conjunction with Neptune Apex to maintain water parameters. I'm closely following the success of the BRS160, which I found to be a sound method after viewing the entire series along with related videos.

Equipment I plan to use:

• Neptune Apex
• 2 dos pumps for the four separate triton reagents
• 2 wav pumps or 2MP40 wave makers
• OCTO 15o external recirculating protein skimmer
• 3 Radion xr15 LED lighing
• Mag-drive Pondmaster 12 return pump
• Viparspectra 300W grow light for refugium

I'm trying to figure out how to configure the stand space which is 24x47"
Since I'm doing the Triton method, my first thought was to get the Triton 34 Sump by Trigger Systems. I'm sure this sump will do well for the refugium space it provides as well as its solid construction. The only issue is I think I realllllly want filter socks for special occasions. The Emerald 34 sump would do well for this purpose, but I don't really love the way the refugium is setup. I want to have an eventual fish load.
Here is the kicker, I have to fit that large footprint OCTO skimmer (something like 9" narrowest measure) as well as four dosing containers inside the stand. I could deal with the ATO reservoir being outside the tank if it looks nice enough, but if it fits inside that would be awesome. That is essentially what I'm thinking about right now as I wait for the quarantine tank to mature.

I'm going to build the rock scape up with dry rock and cycle the tank with just rocks, water, and sand for a month or two, adding bacterial culture, feeding, and running chaeto in the refugium as soon as I get the sump plumbed.
I'll be getting water in it within the next week or two hopefully and I will be back to keep you all updated.

 

[Brew12]

Love the set up, I think you have a great plan!

and running chaeto in the refugium as soon as I get the sump plumbed

This is the only thing I saw that I have a concern with. I wouldn't run chaeto until after you start adding fish. Chaeto can consume ammonia directly from the water which will reduce the rate at which your nitrifying bacteria populate and slow down your cycle.
If you add it when you add the first fish it will act as a safety margin and help with any ammonia spikes that may occur as your tank matures.

 

[kentofms]

Update: I think I might go with the triton 44 sump from Trigger Systems. It is slightly counterintuitive to take up all the space, but yes, the recirculating external skimmer will fit in the skimmer section and there is 8" of space across the front of the stand to put dosing containers and maybe a 5 gallon ATO. Although it would be nice to have the ATO hidden, I would trade an extra 5 gallons to have it sit outside the tank, especially if it is an attractive reservoir. Mainly, the triton 44 sump has the large refugium I need. I'll do without the filter socks because it is the Triton method after all. If it didn't work, people wouldn't do it.
Here is a crude sketch of how I will utilize stand space.

 

[Brew12]

Update: I think I might go with the triton 44 sump from Trigger Systems. It is slightly counterintuitive to take up all the space, but yes, the recirculating external skimmer will fit in the skimmer section and there is 8" of space across the front of the stand to put dosing containers and maybe a 5 gallon ATO. Although it would be nice to have the ATO hidden, I would trade an extra 5 gallons to have it sit outside the tank, especially if it is an attractive reservoir. Mainly, the triton 44 sump has the large refugium I need. I'll do without the filter socks because it is the Triton method after all. If it didn't work, people wouldn't do it.
Here is a crude sketch of how I will utilize stand space.

I think that is a great choice. If you decide you need more mechanical filtration later, such as right after cleaning the tank, you can use one of these. I run mine for 1/2 a day if I want to stir the sand bed without doing a water change.
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/produ...19o5qVcRP2GsDa2Bf8QaApZBEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds

 

[kentofms]

Well I got the sump together. I ended up getting the trigger systems emerald 39 and plumbing it myself. I spray painted all the pipes and fittings and it looks pretty nice. There is a tube going to the skimmer and an auxiliary tube that goes back to the refugium that I could use for media reactors in the future or as a drain. Who knows.

Next I need to aquascape it and fill it with water. I’m kind of nervous about leaks because I spent so much time doing the plumbing. Should I aquascape and then fill or fill and check for leaks first, and then aquascape?

 

[kentofms]

The tank is in its final location and I aquascaped it today with kind of a sloping horseshoe shape. I installed the wave pumps as well. I think it looks pretty neat. The picture shows the first try and I decided I liked it. I just started making the ro water. This may take a while. The middle radion is lighting another tank right now, but it will join the rest after everything is cycled and quarantined.

 

[LPStandard]

Looking good! I really like the details on the plumbing. Hopefully everything is dry

 

[kentofms]

Hey guys and gals,

SO, catching up to now:

The tank was full of RO water for three days with the rocks in. I cranked the heat up to 90F to kill any possible marine organisms. I used Real Reef rocks and I was skeptical of their biosecurity. Once I was sure everything on them was dead, I added salt. It's still really hot. Pretty soon I plan on bringing the temperature down and adding a bacterial culture rock that I've been growing in my quarantine tank for two months. I'll be doing a fish-less cycle.

I added some peppermint shrimp to my old reef tank to start doing some work on the aiptasia. I also went through with a vinegar syringe and took care of any visible aiptasia and rogue mushrooms. I dipped my current frag racks in boiling water and gave all the frag plug bases a scrub with a toothbrush. I then put them back in my reef tank and have only noticed a couple aiptasia pop up on or around the frags. I'll be closely monitoring and killing the aiptasia on the frags and rack and once i'm satisfied with their cleanliness, I'll move them to primary quarantine.

There was one small pinpoint leak in the plumbing, but I'm so over the issue that I'll just wrap it with a towell and be satisfied.

Next, I need to hang the refugium light up. I'm not sure how to do it, but its going to involve the central brace I removed to make room for the tank bulkheads. I'll probably use some 90 degree brackets to remount the brace. I don't know how I'll adhere the light to the brace, but my current solution will probably incorporate zip ties. I'm not experienced in hanging things with picture wire.

Once everything is quarantined and out of my old reef, I'll move its radion to its final home between my other two radions. Then I'll thoroughly clean and move the recirculating skimmer over to the new sump.

I also haven't even started quarantining anything yet. The Qtank is just a 40 breeder with a skimmer and a powerhead and a couple rocks in the bottom. Basically, it's just a over elaborate bacterial culture. I suppose I'll do a big water change on it soon and once I notice a pest reduction in my other tank I'll begin moving frags to the Qtank.

I've just kind of been doing everything by myself, so if you have any tips, feel free to chime in.

 

[Ashish Patel]

Nice, When do you start adding fish and do you have your fish list? Add yellow tang last they are bullies

 

[kentofms]

I stocked my tank with fish. 1 sailfin tang, 1 powder brown tang, 1 bicolor foxface, 1 magnificent fox face, my one spot maroon clown, and a purple spotted yellow wrasse. I also have a small school of pajama cardinals.
All the fish get along and the waste seems to not even be a problem at all. I only get algae on the glass when I feed heavily, and the chaeto algae tends to die back from lack of nutrients periodically.
The corals are all very healthy except for one acro that died when I accidentally dosed too much alkalinity at once. The colors are becoming stronger and there is evidence of new growth on nearly all of the frags.

At this point, I'm happy with my sump. I do feel like I would have been better off with a triton sump, but the one I have works more than fine. Plus, if I stir things up too much, I can throw in a filter sock and help to clear up the water.

I guess my acros started growing, because i had to up the dosage from 1 mL of triton a day to 12 mL of triton a day to maintain alkalinity at 6.5 dKH. I'm thinking about bringing the stable dKH up to 8 or 9. I've been told 10 is normal but I've also been told 7.5 is normal.

The Recirculating skimmer really does some work. I highly recommend recirculating skimmers. I consider it nearly as important of an upgrade as having an APEX or Radions.

Anyway, I feed the tank a couple cubes of food a couple large pinches of pellets, zooplankton, pe mysis, pe calanus, oyster feast, and polyp lab, along with 2-3 nori sheets for the herbivores. Even the wrasse and clown eat some!

The leak on the sump plumbing hasn't gotten any worse, but I keep a towel wrapped around it just for safety. It doesn't bother me at all.

Once in a while, I stir up all the water in the sump to jostle around any accumulated detritus, this feeds the tank and then, If I want, I can use the filter socks. I know triton method doesn't use filter socks, but I feel like its necessary since the refugium collects all the solid particles before the skimmer can clean it up since my skimmer is manifold powered.

I have a CFL bulb on 24hrs and a large hydroponic light that shines from the side. It really does some work. That center compartment is a solid cube of chaeto with some cualerpa fern mixed in. Again the triton sump had a larger refugium, but mine gets full light penetration, and the algae isn't some floating mass on the top. It's dense. Plus, I have a rather large rock in the skimmer section that is covered in pineapple sponges and the whole skimmer and filter section is filled with these too. I feel like they do some work.

I fried my ATO pump. I guess I need to get a reservoir and install a float switch. That is my biggest thing is

forgetting to refill the ato reservoir.

 

[kentofms]

I tested my water today and my KH is 7.2 dKH. Thats a 0.4 rise from yesterday. I cut back the triton dosage to 8 mL a day from 10. I estimate that the curve will level out around 8.5-9 dKH. That is, until the acros begin to get bigger.

 

[kentofms]

I finally got the dKH to hover around 10.5 dKH. I'm dosing 7mL of triton core7 3x a day at 12am, 8 am, and 4pm.

I added two pieces of arched reef rock and I feel like it really improved the aquascape. The fish seem to enjoy the hiding places and I enjoy the new real estate for Acroporas!

Since I put the new rocks in, my ORP has dropped into a slightly lower regime. I predict this will stabilize fairly soon.

I rearranged a few of the sand dwellers and acropora.

I also removed all of my equipment from my sump area as per the recommendation of many reefers. Its now just sitting in an organized pile next to my reef tank and I suppose my next reef adventure will entail building or repurposing a cabinet to house all of my controller electronics and auto top off reservoir.

When I pulled everything out of the sump area, I noticed some terrible salt creep and where my Triton CORE7 3b leaked and left quite a mess. I'll be cleaning that up.
I'm so glad I pulled everything out. Now that I have, I am a lot more comfortable knowing my cords, plugs, and electronics aren't sitting in a humid, corrosive environment.
I"m going to have to take a wet rag and wipe down all my equipment and wires. Everything will be fine. This has given me a new direction to take things with the tank.

 

[kentofms]

My Sump looks a lot cleaner without the equipment crammed in there. I'm currently cleaning up the mess where the Triton core7 part 3b leaked.
I added a float valve to my new skimmer collector. When closed, the skimmer turns off. It lets the skimmer work very wet without me having to worry about flooding my hardwood floor, which i have done twice now. If I don't run the skimmer wet, it gunks up a lot and doesn't do its job. So, no more wet floors. Finally. I also set up an alarm to let me know when the container is full. I plugged it into my APEX ATK FMM. That leaves one more port for the ATO reservoir sensor when that comes in. I ordered one from brs.

I need to do a little work with the refugium lighting. I don't like all the coraline algae growing in the skimmer. Plus the tank gets really hot. I removed the back panel from the stand so that provides some air flow now.