Mattgsa 315 gallon build

[mattgsa]

I posted this on the tank boss thread, but I might as well post it here.

 

[mattgsa]

He is the only member of the clean-up crew, and he is about the size of a dime. He has a lot of work to do. I found him at the LFS today, rather pricy; however, I went and looked on Vossen Aquatics, and they finally had some in stock, but they would only let me order three of them, and the days of 5 for a hundred bucks are long gone. I got three for ninty.

 

[mattgsa]

 

[mattgsa]

I got two new pyramid butterfly fish, waited until the lights were out, and then added them to the tank. I'm hoping that helps with stress levels. These fish appear to be a lot healthier, and both have already started eating.

 

[mattgsa]

I got two new pyramid butterfly fish, waited until the lights were out, and then added them to the tank. I'm hoping that helps with stress levels. These fish appear to be a lot healthier, and both have already started eating.

It seems that adding them after the lights are off really helps reduce fish aggression. The two new fish are out and swimming about, not hiding in the rocks. I think this is how I will do it from here on out.

 

[mattgsa]

I just ordered my first ORA fish from BRS. It's weird seeing fish on the BRS website.

 

[Yooper Reef]

I just ordered my first ORA fish from BRS. It's weird seeing fish on the BRS website.

What did you order?

 

[marcus aurelius]

Well the drama continues, I spent most of last night working on it. I got the union on the UV to stop leaking. Now the flow meter is leaking. So I lathered it up with silicone and let it site over night. And it is still dripping. Then another leak showed up this morning. Did I mention I hate plumbing.
I have fixed multiple water mains for different houses and never had a problem with a drip afterwards. But with the aquarium, I can't make a solid joint to save my life. I think I'm starting to understand why plumbers charge such ridiculous rates. I had one, who wanted to charge me 800 dollars to replace one union. Which is why I never call them. LOL Although I'm giving it some serious thought right now.
With the flow meter I even put silicone on the inside here is a picture.

Here's basically what I have now. The missing piece is where the leaky flow meter goes. It was drying at the time.

Following. Nice looking tank. Have you had any better luck with your flow meter? I've heard problems with them. I'm about to plumb my UV in. https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/180-upgrade-mixed-reef.1012730/

 

[mattgsa]

I just ordered my first ORA fish from BRS. It's weird seeing fish on the BRS website.

I'm looking for filler fish that don't cost hundreds of dollars each. My aquarium looks empty.
1 - ORA Chalk Bass - ORA
3 - ORA Lemon Damsel
3 - ORA Regal Damsel

 

[mattgsa]

Following. Nice looking tank. Have you had any better luck with your flow meter? I've heard problems with them. I'm about to plumb my UV in. https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/180-upgrade-mixed-reef.1012730/

Let's put it this way: It is sitting in a scrap heap with a bunch of other equipment that will most likely never be used. I got it for my nerdy side, but it ultimately proved useless.

 

[marcus aurelius]

As seen in the video above, the aptasias in my aquarium have grown out of control. Despite the presence of a copperband, they seem to be multiplying too quickly. I am considering ordering some peppermint shrimp or Berghia Nudibranchs to help control the population. Can you provide any recommendations?

Berghia Nudibranchs are the best with a Aptasis eating file fish. Worked great for me.
All caught up. Glad to see you stuck with it. I also had all my fish die due to velvet. Then moved 400 miles.
Lots of ups and downs. Still here. I did not document my trials and errors. Well done.

 

[mattgsa]

Berghia Nudibranchs are the best with a Aptasis eating file fish. Works great for me.

They worked great, I don't have any aptaisias now.

 

[mattgsa]

Sorry for yet another really blue picture, but I got in nine urchins today. Here

are some of them.

 

[mattgsa]

How do you know when you have to much flow? I currently have 2 mp60's, 1 Sicce Voyager 10 and one Voyager 8. The water in the tank is moving, no question about it. The fish have to swim just to say in place.

In addition, I got the trident up and running for the first time in months, and it says my alk is 5. Since I have no corals in the tank, I have not been monitoring it. However, I want to start adding corals to the tank again, so I will start dosing. Hopefully, I can stabilize the tank.

 

[mattgsa]

So yesterday after dosing a great deal of kalk and some BRS soda ash, the PH is back up to 8.2-8.3, and at the last test, the alk was at 8.56. However, the calcium is low at 369. Once I get the tank more stable and can keep the numbers in check without too much trouble, it's time for corals. I'm also thinking about waiting until the coraline algae start taking hold again. I have not seen any new growth in a while.

 

[mattgsa]

I don't know why but the Urchins I just put in are dying. I'm not sure why. All the fish are doing great.

 

[85173]

I don't know why but the Urchins I just put in are dying. I'm not sure why. All the fish are doing great.

Not urchins, I know, but snails are susceptible to high magnesium. Might be worth testing magnesium, as a starting point, to rule out possible causes.

 

[mattgsa]

Not urchins, I know, but snails are susceptible to high magnesium. Might be worth testing magnesium, as a starting point, to rule out possible causes.

According to the apex, it's at 1479. However, it might be my fault. I was doing some studying, and apparently, they don't do well with large changes in pH. Yesterday, I went from 7.1 to 8.33 all in a day. I'm wondering if that was the cause.

 

[85173]

According to the apex, it's at 1479. However, it might be my fault. I was doing some studying, and apparently, they don't do well with large changes in pH. Yesterday, I went from 7.1 to 8.33 all in a day. I'm wondering if that was the cause.

Maybe, hopefully they recover.

 

[mattgsa]

Well, I spent a great deal of time on the tank today. I have decided to add Sodium Hydroxide back to the system. I think I was doing it wrong the first time. I added it with a 50ml per minute pump, which was way too much. I have dropped it down to a 1 ml a minute pump. I'm hoping it works a lot better. I have also discovered that my temp prob was way out of wack. The funny thing is that one of my NES-validated probes was also way off.
I'm really looking forward to putting corals back in the tank. I have significantly increased the flow in the tank. I think it was way too low before, so the corals were struggling and not growing very fast.