Mehaffy's 1100+ gallon Plywood display in North Alabama

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mehaffydr

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Would some sort of algae reactor be feasible with a tank this size? I feel like they're a more space-concious approach to nutrient export than a full blow refugium. Maybe Carbon dosing as well, but I feel like that might get expensive too.
I do have a refugium that is growing large amounts of Algae that feed the tangs and go to my compost. I think my problem right now is the large amount of dry rock used so I’m hoping that after I get this initial amount under control I should be able to keep levels stable.
 
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Not a lot to update I am dealing with Algae because of extremely high Phosphate. Hanna checker is topping out at 200PPB but that's the highest it goes so not really sure how bad they are. I started dosing Lanthium Chloride into the skimmer today at 5ML per hour. Ill continue to monitor and see how this works. Fish are all looking good. But the Anemones are shrinking. So hopefully slowly bring the Phosphates down will get things on the right path.
 

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Not a lot to update I am dealing with Algae because of extremely high Phosphate. Hanna checker is topping out at 200PPB but that's the highest it goes so not really sure how bad they are. I started dosing Lanthium Chloride into the skimmer today at 5ML per hour. Ill continue to monitor and see how this works. Fish are all looking good. But the Anemones are shrinking. So hopefully slowly bring the Phosphates down will get things on the right path.
Not doubting just hoping to learn what is causing this crazy high P04 reading. What is your rock source again?

I am a fan of LCl as it is much easier to modulate. Especially at these high levels it is the right tool. Just puzzled how you got here.
 
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I started with dry rock from an old system that I should have cured first but didn't. I also used a good amount of Marco dry rock. I also reused sand from an old system. I think that there was just too much phosphate already in the old rock and sand. It could not be coming from bioload as I have less than 10 fish in a 1100 gallon tank
 
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Probably time for an update? I'd love to see what fish you have in this tank. They must be pretty happy in there!
I think the fish are overall happy, They sure have swim space and get plenty of food. I only have a few because my work life has kept me on the move all summer. I have the following.

Yellow Tang
Naso Tang
Sailfin Tang
Small Blue Hippo Tang
Powder Brown Tang
2 Clowns
Algae Blenny

I had a cool Bicolor Goatfish but just could not get him to eat and he ended up dying which was very disappointing. He was really cool.
Below is Sailfin when he was in Quarantine hes now in display
IMG_4148.JPG
IMG_4144.JPG

I'm also having some algae issues that I am working on with refugium nutrient export and now I am using Lanthium Chloride as my Phosphate is way high. After I get things better balanced and well stabilized more fish will be added.
 

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I sure hope its big enough. This was a fun project to build but also a lot of nasty work with Fiberglass and epoxy. I don't think I'll be building anything bigger.
I binge read your post up until now and so now I have something to aspire to. Id like to inquire about the final weight of the aquarium. My garage was built in the late 60s so I doubt it has rebar so I worry about the weight. Second question and you can pm me this, what kind of monthly energy cost am I looking at if I do this route?
 
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I binge read your post up until now and so now I have something to aspire to. Id like to inquire about the final weight of the aquarium. My garage was built in the late 60s so I doubt it has rebar so I worry about the weight. Second question and you can pm me this, what kind of monthly energy cost am I looking at if I do this route?
I don't think I would worry about the floor as long as the weight is spread out. With something build that long ago I would think that any potential settling has happened and as long as its concrete on the ground the crush strength of the concrete will be far above the weight of the tank.
As far as energy bill its hard to really say I have all electric where I live No gas so energy bill is already high but electric in North Alabama is also far cheaper than some parts of the country. I would estimate it is only around $50.00 month.
 
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Not a lot happening I am working to get balance. mainly Phosphate under control. I started with my Hanna ULR reading 200. That is the Highest it will read. Now with the ULR this is PPB so that's .200 PPM but I really don't know how high they were because this is the highest it will read. I have gone through an entire 2 liter bottle of Phosphate E dripping into the skimmer and as of today I have it down to .106 PPM. So still a ways to go but at least its less than the .200. For at least the first 1/2 to 3/4 bottle of Phosphate E it did not drop below the .200 it was really high. then it started slowly dropping. I ordered more Phosphate E this week because I am currently out. hopefully over the next couple weeks I can get this down to where it needs to be.
 

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Not a lot happening I am working to get balance. mainly Phosphate under control. I started with my Hanna ULR reading 200. That is the Highest it will read. Now with the ULR this is PPB so that's .200 PPM but I really don't know how high they were because this is the highest it will read. I have gone through an entire 2 liter bottle of Phosphate E dripping into the skimmer and as of today I have it down to .106 PPM. So still a ways to go but at least its less than the .200. For at least the first 1/2 to 3/4 bottle of Phosphate E it did not drop below the .200 it was really high. then it started slowly dropping. I ordered more Phosphate E this week because I am currently out. hopefully over the next couple weeks I can get this down to where it needs to be.
Which Hanna checker do you have? I think the ULR is in units of phosphorous ppb, it is more complex to do the conversion to phosphate ppm, there is a formula to convert but for a quick reference I use Hanna’s conversion table. See below to link.

 
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Which Hanna checker do you have? I think the ULR is in units of phosphorous ppb, it more complext to do the conversion to phosphate ppm, there is a formula to convert but for a quick reference I use Hanna’s conversion table. See below to link.

Oh thats not good that shows I am higher than I thought currently at .324.
Thank you for this info. I was thinking to get from PPB to PPM I just had to divide by 1000 but according to this that is not the case.
 
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The tank has been up and running almost 6 months now and I was curious about how my pod population was going. Today I was changing out a filter sock so I turned it inside out and collected these guys from 1ea. 7" filter sock. I think I am doing fine on Pods.Most are living so I put them in the refugium.
 

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Let's see some recent pictures! I know the "ugly" phase can be hard to share but I really do think it's positive for people to see how it looks working through that. Plus I selfishly just want to see the tank
 

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Wow! Monster tank is right! I don't really have anything to add to this awesome thread, but I have enjoyed skimming through it. Really hated to see it spring a leak, but I suppose it was best that it happen early on and not when the tank had thousands of dollars of livestock in it. Thanks for sharing the good and the bad.
 
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Wow! Monster tank is right! I don't really have anything to add to this awesome thread, but I have enjoyed skimming through it. Really hated to see it spring a leak, but I suppose it was best that it happen early on and not when the tank had thousands of dollars of livestock in it. Thanks for sharing the good and the bad.
The leak really was disappointing. It really hit hard mostly because I take a lot of pride in doing quality work and to have a failure was a bad thing. I did get over it I guess because this was my first tank build and I went all out with the size. The fix was a lot of work but it has really paid off as this thing is performing better than I could have expected. Now I just need to get the Phosphate under control and get it really balanced out with nutrients and elements so I can get corals going.
 
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Time for a little update I will get new pics in the next day or two. I have now dosed an entire 2 liter bottle of PhosbanE and the Phosphate is at least at a measurable level. For the longest time the Hanna ULR Phosphate checker always showed 200PPB which is the highest reading it will show so I really had no idea how bad the Phosphate was. I now have it down below 100PPB but ran out of PhosphanE so I have more ordered from BRS which should be here in a couple days.
I am also having a little trouble with lights. I rebuilt the MH/T5 fixtures I had but the MH lights seamed to be fine I had only replaced the Ballasts on the T5 lights. Now the old MH ballasts (they are 15years old) are not working right. The lights come on but after about 15-30 minutes they start flickering like strobe lights. I also have some Kessil A360X that are not working right. So I have to make some serious lighting decisions. Like spend a few hundred or a few thousand. I could by new MH ballasts. The Reefbright digital from BRS are about $200ea I would need 4. Or I could rethink the entire lighting plan and go all LED. The MH ballasts are a lot cheaper but the MH are Hot, need new bulbs every 12 months and use a lot more power. The MH are just damed expensive up front. If I go Neptune SKY or Ecotech Radion XR30 I would most likely need 9 units at almost $900 ea. My wife has put up with this project and really supported but she might just freak out if I tell her I want to spend$8000 for some lights o_O o_O o_O
 

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Have you looked at ocean revive? My LFS uses those and they love em. Been using em for years and have them on both reef and planted aquarium. They aren't fancy so no ramp up/down or phone apps but they work and you can adjust the channels and set timers. The price point is 3/4 what a radion of equal size is.
 

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