Mixed Reef Reboot v2 (103 Gallon ) [WIP]

Bauric · Mar 6, 2022

Mixed Reef Reboot v2

103 Gallon

(75 Gallon DT + 28 Gallon Sump/Fuge)

Current Status (July 14th 2022): A Lot has changed.

July 14th, 2022

Prologue

I restarted my reef tank journey with a 40 Gallon Tank in October of 2020. I had a friend who was into the hobby and he was a good guide, plus of cause there is always google university. So I thought this would be cake. Cake it was not. Here we are in March of 2022 and I am in the throes of setting up a new, 75 Gallon tank. While doing this I am setting up a filtration system that I should be able to scale up to 150-175 gallons easy if I chose to go larger DT later down the road. This was spurred in part by the many lessons learned over the last 16 months. It has definitely been a humbling experience. Through the trials and lessons learned with being an amateur at the hobby I am hoping to apply them to this new build. Here is my new Mixed Reef Up-Tank journey. I will try to keep this thread updated with the equipment I'm using and progress I make on this build. I also decided to not keep any of the previous rock or sand. This means I had to restart the cycle, but am going fishless cycle this time. I'm trying to minimize the amount of risk to reintroduce some of the hardships I've had to deal with and that are still present in the current aquascape. The con, running two tanks for a while, the pro, make an awesome new aquascape from scratch.

Lessons Learned (Previous Tank and current build)

This hobby is really hard without guidance.
Have grit, you wont get it right on the first try.
You will get frustrated a lot.
Get a Neptune APEX, it’s worth the investment in time saved alone.
If you don’t plan for the future, you will end up wasting money in the long run.
Smaller reef tanks are a lot harder than big ones.
Canister filters work, but make maintenance 10x more tedious.
Stability in parameters > Consistent water changes.
Stability in parameters > Chasing numbers.
For when you do water changes, get a submersible pump. Your back will thank you.
Preventing pests without QT tank, even with dips, is really really REALLY hard.
Losing livestock due to being a newbie is sad and sucks.
BRS TV and R2R are the best resources avail to our hobby.
Gyre pumps are not for every tank.
Brine shrimp hatcheries are a great addition to diversify your livestock diet.
Dino's suck...............

Equipment

Display Tank

75gal Marineland Rimed (48.38 in W x 18.38 in D x 21 in H)

Water/Maintenance

NO WATER CHANGES (Modified Triton Method. https://www.triton.de/en/method )
75gpd AQUATICLIFE Twist-in 4-Stage RO/DI Filter Unit (Top Off Water)
1 HM Digital DM-1 In-Line Dual TDS Monitor
Classic Sea Salt - Tropic Marin (For Salt Top Off Water, when needed to maintain salinity.)
Auqa Gadget 5 Gallon Hydrofill Reservoir - Innovative Marine (ATO)
1 AX Water Level Monitoring and ATO System

Flow

1 Vortech MP10
2 XStream SDC Powerhead (270 - 2250 GPH) - Sicce
1 Jebao SCP-70M Sine Wave Maker
1 Syncra SDC 7.0 WiFi Controllable Pump (800-1900 GPH) – Sicce
1 Return Jet for 3/4” to 1” Tube - CPR Aquatics
1 Deluxe CS102 Overflow with Lid and Air Pump - CPR Aquatics

Filtration

28gal AF-200 Alpha Fuge Sump 4th Gen - Eshopps
BIO Cup R by Eshopps with 3 Brightwell Aquatics Xport-BIO Blocks at bottom, and FilterFirst, True Dual-Density Filter Pad on top for mechanical filtration. (Cycling through 4 socks a month and having to wash them was getting annoying.)
80lbs Fiji Pink Arag-Alive! Reef Sand - CaribSea
80lbs Marco Rock (Foundation, Regular, Shelf mixture)
1 FC-120 In-Sump Protein Skimmer by Aquamaxx
1 BRS GFO & Carbon Reactor - Dual with Sicce Syncra 1.5 Pump (Until the Fuge gets going.)
Sea Lettuce (Ulva Lactuca) in Fuge, with a mixture of smaller Marco Rock pieces and 4 Brightwell Aquatics Xport-BIO Block.
1 Jebao PU-55 Pond and Aquarium Clarifier, 55-watt, powered by Sicce Syncra 1.0

Lighting

2 NICREW 150W Aquarium LED Reef Light (Display, controlled by APEX)
1 Neptune Systems GRO Refugium Light

Climate Control

2 Eheim Thermocontrol e125 Heater
1 JBJ Arctica Chiller 1/10 HP (DBA-075)

Monitoring/Controllers/Dosing

1 Neptune Systems APEX
1 Neptune Systems Trident (Alk, Calcium, Magnesium)
2 Neptune Systems EB832 Energy Bars
1 Neptune Systems APEX PH Probe
1 Neptune Systems APEX ORP Probe
1 Neptune Systems APEX Salinity Probe
1 Neptune Systems APEX Temp Probe
1 Neptune Systems DOS (Dosing Trace Elements, Iodide)
1 AX Water Level Monitoring and ATO System
Various Hanna Instruments Testers (Nitrate, Phosphates, etc.)
Milwaukee MA887 Digital Salinity Refractometer with Automatic Temperature Compensation
Manually dosing Magnision from Brightwell and Different bacteria's every 3 days.

Inhabitants
Fish/Inverts

1 Mexican Turbo
1 Mergerite Snail
3 Nassarius Snails
7 Bumblebee Snails
3 Tiger Conch
6 Astrea Snail
8 Trochus Snail
3 Hermit Crabs (One evicted to refugium because he kept trying to murder the Astrea's)
2 Cleaner Shrimp
1 Tiger Pistol Shrimp
1 Yellow Watchman Goby
1 Yellow Coris Wrasse
2 Amphiprion percula Clowns
1 Royal Gramma
1 Bi-Color Blenny
1 Blue Tang
2 Banggai Cardinalfish
1 Blue-Green Chromis
Countless Sunburst Bubble Snail in refugium.

Coral

Setup

Controller Settings:

Light Cycle Display Tank
Day (White Channel)

Night

Overlaid

Light Cycle Refugium

Code:

Fallback OFF
Set OFF
If Time 18:30 to 12:30 Then ON

Carbon Reactor

Code:

Fallback OFF
Set OFF
If Time 06:00 to 07:01 Then ON
If Time 12:00 to 13:01 Then ON
If Time 18:00 to 19:01 Then ON
If Time 00:00 to 01:01 Then ON

Powerheads
Left Sicce XStream

Right Sicce XStream

Overlaid

Ecotech MP10 is set to ReefCrest 50%

Jebao SCP-70M set to Random Mode

Aquascape: I went for a negative space aquascape (NSA) using roughly 60lbs of the Marco Rock (Foundation, Regular, Shelf mixture). I broke a lot of it apart, and re-glued it together using Bob Smith Industries Maxi-Cure Extra Thick CA, Bob Smith Industries BSI-151H Insta-Set Super Glue Accelerator, and Instant Ocean HoldFast Epoxy Stick, Fish Safe (HF-1).

Drain Plumbing: I bought sch40 1” white PVC from Home Depot. There are two drains. Each are setup the same, with one being slightly longer to accommodate the distance from drain to sump. There is a total of four unions, six 90* elbows, and four 45* elbows. This goes from the Deluxe CS102 Overflow with 1 Syphon based (was two syphon based drains but it wouldn't restart fast enough during power outs and I worried about flooding) and 1 open bulkhead to the AF-200 Alpha Fuge Sump. The paint came off on the back of the cabinet so while it ain't the prettiest, it sure gets the job done and keeps the Fuge light from bleeding out

Return Plumbing: Black Vinyl Tubing 1" ID - Kuri-Tec from Syncra SDC 7.0 to a custom HOB 1" PVC return to two 3/4” Loc-Line Modular Hose returns with 3” Flare Nozzles. It ain't the prettiest, but it sure gets the job done

Filtration: I'm running the 4th Gen AF-200 Alpha Fuge Sump from Eshopps. It's packed full. 300 Micron filter sock to skimmer chamber, but no skimmer yet. I've got 2 Eheim Thermocontrol e125 Heaters in there, the venturi powerhead that keeps my overflow syphon going. It also has my Neptune probes, dosing lines, and Carbon/GFO reactor pump (Sicce Syncra 1.5), and UV Sterilizer/Chiller Pump (Sicce Syncra 1.0) in there. I'm running the Premium ROX 0.8 Carbon from BRS, but no GFO due to running a fuge with Sea Lettuce (ULVA LACTUCA). The Fuge is powered by a Neptune GRO light and has a mixture of smaller Marco Rock pieces and 4 Brightwell Aquatics Xport-BIO Block. The reason I chose Ulva > Chaeto was all the threads on starting up with a Fuge (this is my first refugium attempt) and just that it was easier to run sea lettuce. To prevent any of it from getting into my DT, I've got a 200 micron filter pad, and a sponge filter on the Fuge drain. I also put a piece of clear acrylic on top of the fuge, to prevent salt splash on the GRO light, due to how the sump is built. It tends to create a lot of micro bubbles on drainage into it.

Photos Throughout the Build

May 8th, 2022

Photo April 21st, 2022

Photo April 11th, 2022

Photo March 3rd 2022

JumboShrimp · Mar 6, 2022

Love, love, love your “Lessons Learned” section.

Bauric · Apr 11, 2022

JumboShrimp said:
Love, love, love your “Lessons Learned” section.

Thanks Jumbo. Considering the things I've learned the hard way, I figured I'd try and save someone else the same headaches I had. This new build is still a work in progress, I'm way behind on schedule to move the crew from the old tank to their new awesome home, but I really want to do this one right and not fast, just one more lesson learned in the hobby.

Bauric · Jul 14, 2022

I've really neglected this build thread with proper updates. Also instead of just adding posts, I've been updating the original post only.
I'll try to do better in the future and will add a new post and update the first post with any new additions/photos etc. Thanks for everyone's feedback and help.

Most recent parameters
Salinity: 32.4-33 (Swings with Temp)
Temperature: 77*F-78*F (As Per Chiller) , 78*F-79*F (As per Apex)
PH: 8-8.1 swings.
ORP: 256-311 (Dips during feedings)
Alk: 9.02 dKH
CA: 320 ppm
Mg: 1169 ppm
NO3: 9.8
PO4: 0.17

What's happened since May:

Bought some new life stock. Of the three Chromis I bought, only one survived. Thought was M.Uronema, some 'sores' but the last survivor has healed up, and is doing well so maybe it was just bad luck. Sucked nonetheless.
Had a bit of a Dinoflagellates outbreak, despite my No3/Po4 never hitting 0's, turned off skimmer for a few days, reduced my already low light schedule, bought a chiller so that I could start running the UV 24/7, and been dosing a cocktail of bacteria every few days. (MicroBacter7, Dr. Tim's Waste Away, Dr. Tim's Eco-Balance NaH20 Probiotic Bacteria. I seem to have won for now.
Tank has been maturing really well, loads of coralline algae encrusting all over the rocks. ZDay for first corals July 26th, 2020. Let's see how it goes.
Realized something was off with my Salinity probe. Got a Milwaukee to confirm. My salt is a bit low, working on bringing that back up slowly.
I setup a Fluval Evo 13.5. Probably went WAAAAAY overboard with the setup. It's purpose is to serve as my coral frag QT tank. MASSIVE dino explosion happened over night. I'll give it it's own build thread at some point and will share what I'm running in there.

Bauric · Jul 17, 2022

Added another Tiger conch and a Jebao SCP-70M Sine Wave Maker for more flow to help eliminate a few dead spots. Maybe winning the Dino scrimmage. Will see in a few more days.