Long Time In The Making

OutLawX77

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Hello All. I'm Back after about a year of gathering the All Right Equipment (IMHO).
1 Aqueon 75 Gal Reef Tank And Canopy (just order the canopy) . 2 Red Sea screening kit 24x24 incher. I must say the're netting is garbage dry rotted or cheap plastic, but the frame is not to shabby I like it (!!No Jumpers!!) Sitting on a 73x24 .
Custom Stand(Need Room for the QUARANTINE TANK) with a dry room for the electrical.
If you notice in the sump area it is a little snug to say the least. It was a nightmare to plum the system ( so much for custom Bwahahaha) But on the bright side its has a costume plumbing job Done by me
Allowing me the ability to remove the sump if the need ever required. The plumbing/ piping is from tank down 1.25 drain to 1.25" 90 splitting in to a 1 " Tee then two 1" 90 elbows reduced to 3/4 pvc. I routed 1 2/3 Down the back side and routed the other towards the front so as to allow 2 3/4 gate valves to fit in which would allow me to be able to install and remove the protein skimmer( bubble magus)

1 PRO CLEAR Sump Red Flex 300 with a kato chamber ;) if needed. WITH a Light Block Off and yes a Amazon kato light cheepy.
1 PRO CLEAR fresh water top off 10 gal box (I would Like To Personal Thank Nick @ Pro Clear for his outstanding customer support and his sumps as far as I am concerned are bar none exactly what is needed for a sump. The genius of the sump is in the design and craftsmanship My sump can be set up as the needs requires)
1 aqua auto top off
Water Movement, BlueToothed, Current USA, Power Heads 1x660, 2x1050.1 eFlux DC pump (1900)
Current USA Lighting, LEDs, also bluetoothed. 2 Orbit IC Pro Lights. T5 HO 48 inch lighting system. Let. 54 Watt T5 HO Retrofit Kit - LET
1 ATI 54W T5 Aquablue Special And 1 T5 True Actinic 03.
Heating and Cooling. 1 250W Heater, 1 Artic Chill 1/10 chiller

I have My rock work done my plumbing done


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OutLawX77

OutLawX77

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Ok now the hard works begins. (as if build this low profile sump was easy ;))
This is the first start up picture taken with all equipment set up and tuned in and running.
No fish as of yet. the tank has been running for the past week with pure saltwater. No lights running Don't want algae
I did test for chlorine / chloramine. Zero
So I let it run (no lights) for a week, and during this time. I noticed a slight bloom nothing major as it lasted a I say a day. Then everything went back to normal water cleared right up.
Now for my water, I did use a rodi system cost me about $150. off of amazon It's portable which I love you and store.
Any way I got a rodi water reading of Zero Cool the DI chamber you do have to add to it.
The Fishless Cycle. Started on 2 13 21 maybe the 14th
2 16 21
Now I am in the process of doing a Fishless Cycle. So I set the water at 35ppm. Just allowing water evaporation
which I can then determined how much top off water I will need a week
What I am using is (not supporting or denying just saying what I am using at this time)
Turbostart 900 about 12 Ozs, three, 4 oz bottles and one 4oz bottle of Dr. Tim's ammonium chloride
My tank and sump hits a hundred Gal system easy
So I Started this on a Saturday evening.
Day 1
- Ammonia test with and old red sea test never used.. off the charts as expected.
So Because it was old 2018 I bought a cheepy one
Well it is a named brand not saying who though
that one read like 0.5. hmmmm which now one was right.
Day 2
- same readings as expected on both hmmm again.
Day 3
- took a water sample to a aquarium shop.
Woooo! Nice! Looks like a marine biologist runs the place.
Uses modern test equipment. None of that off the shelf stuff.
All laser equipped like a lab would use.
Tank all clean and Thriving. Not 1 dead anything, back room is a Quarantine room. sweet
So as this build gose> I will keep adding to it
O almost forget to say the
Ammonia 1.9
nitrites 3.0
nitrates 85
if I remember correctly.
I did not rush the build of the tank 1 year 2 mts to build
The Reef Tank will be faster Im sure, but only as it cycles and ages. this is a what I believe to be the best way. IMHO
O Yeah the wife is happy she is getting back her living room that I took over now for 6 weeks

20210216-195147.jpg 20210214_175943.jpg
 
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OutLawX77

OutLawX77

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Fishless cycle up date 2 17 21
did a water test again
the results are in
Ammonia ZERO
nitrites 3.9
nitrates 99
So I was right on track for the fishless cycle, and whammo Murphy's law kicks in.
I was going to do a water change on 2 18 21 well that went out the window asap.
and Ooops I messed up! I somehow inadvertently spilled water on my extension cord plug that was running the pumps in the water change bucket, not the wall outlet the extension plug outlet. pop went the GFI outlet and the circuit breaker in the main box.
Awhile back me and the misses had a conversation about the wall outlet for the tank. She insisted that the plug be hidden behind the stand and I wanted to keep it exposed and like a good husband I did just that and put it behind the stand.
Well lets just say, I had to drain the tank and the sump which of course ruined the fishless cycle. bummer!
In order to push the monster stand and tank 12 inches to the right so as to expose the plug so I could gain access to it.
As I wanted to do from the beginning.
20210217_185914.jpg

So now it's going to have to be a Turbostart 900 set up.. with 2 nice clowns possibly mated to start this
But All in all, a fishless cycle is a good start and can be done in 4 to 7 days as long as Murphy's is kept at bay.
 
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OutLawX77

OutLawX77

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2/23/2021well I have the tank sump and ATO up and running fishless cycle done
Now I am getting two Phantom Clownfish from Cultivated Reef.
Holly has a really good business pursuit.
I sent an message at around 7pm EST had a reply a few minutes later.
Now that is really Great customer service. unheard of
Now Algae Barn still waiting on a reply 4 days later hmmmmmm.
 
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OutLawX77

OutLawX77

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3-30-21
Tank's been up and running for a while now, slow goes, and doing Great!
No algae, no diatoms, rock solid reading all round. I have had the blues on 100% with 6 hr time peak with
1/2 hr sunrise sunsets 3hr 5% moonlight since I added my to Phantoms.
last week I turned the whites on to 20% same as blue timings.
and the past 4 day I have them at 80% No signs of algae growth. Thank God.
Feeds let just say the 3 cubes I used I still have 1 cube left Maybe less
 

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OutLawX77

OutLawX77

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never got the Uglys. Slow and Steady as it goes and is the best way to go

Ok. So it been awhile since my last up date.
I got 2 Phantom Clowns form (cultivated reef) they were the size of a thumb nail. Now they are about the size of my thumb.
While I was letting them grow I only feed them 2x a day with just enough for there size. My tank never got the Uglys. No lights for 8 wks then just the blues 1 mth. Then whites at 20% for 2 weeks then raised the whites to 50% added 5% red
Noticed that some algae growth did a Vibrante dose for 1 wk cut back whites to 20%.
About a week or two later I ordered the ARC coralline algae in the bottle. 1 pink & 1 purple. Added to tank and 6 weeks later I Have coralline algae. As you can see from the pictures above plain white rocks. As you can also see from the pictures I just posted I Have Green Pink Purple Coralline Algaes growing on my rocks. Sweet From sterilized rock to live rock in a few months. With All the good and None Of The Bad.
 

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