MoshJosh's 72 Gallon Reef Tank

[MoshJosh]

My wife decided she was not a fan of my fish tanks' location (https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/moshjoshs-fish-corner.1104183/), nor did she like the stands, or lack there of. I figured this was the perfect opportunity for an upgrade. . . and man was it a pain in the butt!!!

Specs:

Tank is a Fluval Siena 72 gallon that I go used. It had one previous owner who only ran the tank for 8 months before upgrading to a 180 gallon. First owner removed the plastic lids and some of the decorative tape (the top and bottom had these silver/aluminum looking boarders that were just M3 tape which Fluval themselves list as "decorative"), and I removed the rest of the tape. I then removed the proprietary bulkheads (tank was designed for a canister filter) and replaced them with standard 3/4" ABS bulkheads. I installed a corner overflow as well as a herbie style drain. I also added some internal bracing because I don't love the "floating edge" design. . . I wont tell you what I did cause it's a little dodgy. . . but if you look through my threads you can figure it out haha. . . but regardless this tank seems to get good reviews and is without any reported failures I could find *knock on wood.

For the sump I am using an Eshopps Cube R-Nano Refugium with a Sicce Shark Skimmer (rated for up to 150 gallons I believe) and a Eshopps Curve refugium light. I have a Sicce Voyager pump I plan on using to add flow to the refugium, but I need a guard for it so that it does not suck up my chaeto. I also plan on using Reef Diapers, but the current sock is still clean so I will wait till my next water change. Oh and the return pump is a Seachem Impulse 400. . . which is pretty underpowered but I am limited by the constraints of the 3/4" drain.

Lights are Glowrium Saltwater lights, one 36" and two 30" bars. I would like to get a second 36" light to replace the 30" light in the front (the 30" light in the back is fine because the shorter size limits light spilling into the overflow area) but I had the two short lights just sitting arounds so I will use them for now. Shooting for very high PAR during peak light hours hence the overkill on lights.

Using an Jabao SOW-15. . . may go with a gyre in the future, but this was the largest wavemaker my LFS had.

Kamoer X1 Pro 2 dosing pump (All For Reef)

300W Fluval heater

XPAqua auto top off (think the dual sensor?)

. . . and a few bits and bobs here and there.

I did a sort of hybrid "skip cycle", where I used my old reef rock broken up and a friends Maxspect cycled media (two full bricks from her 160+ gallon reef) for biological filtration. Plus "live sand" (Caribsea) and bottled bacteria. Also, the fact that I have very little stocking at the moment, and a refugium probably doesn't hurt. . . and put coral in on day one. . . On my brand new rockwork. . . So far seems like I am having a "mini cycle" maybe? Nutrient initially undetectable, though last test had detectable nitrites (though there was livestock being transported in the test water). . . I did a water change and will continue to monitor.

I am NOT advocating that others do this. . . I just ran into some issues with timings and deadlines, as I had a number of hickups during the build but still had to meet a deadline (a large party being hosted at our home).

The biggest hickup was realizing the stands adjustable feet were installed upside down (per the previous owner, they were installed like this from the fish store), with the anchors installed inside the stand instead of under it. . . a realization I made only AFTER the tank was full of water. . . which meant enough weight being applied to any feet not in the fully bottomed out position (namely the front right of the stand) would cause the anchor to pop out and leave that part of the stand unsupported: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/c...arium-with-improperly-installed-feet.1141178/

I thought about just using cabinet shims but knew it would bother me and cause me anxiety so I decided to tear the tank down and flip the feet. . . This was a nightmare given the plumbing was already glued and the tank is positioned in very tight quarters. . . there was sand and water and rock EVERYWHERE!!! This whole debacle is why this thread should be called "MoshJosh's Last Reef Tank". . .

So far I have lost one coral, though it was fine until I tried fragging it off it's overgrown plug, so who is really to blame? And one coral has bleached, though this is my branching cyphastrea that bleached during my last tank move and fully bounced back so we shall see. Lots of good polyp extension on my acros so I am hopeful. That said I did frag all of my favorites and gave them to my friend incase I nuke everything (she gets to keep them all If I don't).

Biggest issue I foresee is the uglies and combating algae under this relatively high lighting. . . my clean up crew is pretty limited right now, so I have more on order!!!

Anyway, if you read through ALL of that, WOW! THANK YOU!!! But TLDR:

 

[TheNative192]

Congrats! Following along! :D

 

[MoshJosh]

So another issue I realized only AFTER the tank was fully set up. . . the sump appears to have been designed for a higher flow rate than I am able to give it (intended for 1" drain where as mine is only 3/4"). Looking at the baffles and wiers, the sump is designed so that half of the flow (apparently up to 500+ gallons per hour) flows from the drain chamber directly into the skimmer chamber and then the return pump, the other half then overflows the drain chamber and falls through the filter sock then into the refugium. So basically half of the flow is skips the sock. However. With my tanks low turn over, 99% of my overflow water was going directly to the skimmer and bypassing the sock and the refugium completely. . . These chambers weren't dry because of how the chambers are all connected, but they had basically zero flow through.

I played around with all kinds of ideas including covering some of the wiers, however this resulted in wierd issues where the water levels fluctuate in different chambers disrupting my ability to use my ATO. . .

This was the best solution I could come up with:

Basically I am running a return jet from the return chamber directly into the sock. So water flows into the sump, through the skimmer, into the return chamber, from there half is returned to the tank and the other half is run through the filter stock and the refugium then returned to the tank. . . With this set up evaporation is still affecting the return chamber so I can use my ATO

Is it ideal? Nope! Is it better than no filter stock and no refugium? Absolutely!

 

[ReefTankENG]

That sump does not make sense to me. Can you tee the secondary drain into the primary, so all of your flow goes into the sock chamber?

 

[MoshJosh]

That sump does not make sense to me. Can you tee the secondary drain into the primary, so all of your flow goes into the sock chamber?

That's the thing, flow is only going into the right drain (with the gate valve), the left is just an emergency. The problem is, the chamber on the right side has a weir letting flow to the adjacent chamber (skimmer chamber).

 

[MoshJosh]

So it flows in and some goes out the two holes (bottom left) into the skimmer chamber, the rest should overflow the filter sock holder and then flow out the three holes (bottom middle) into the refugium. . . But I dont have enough flow to overflow that chamber, it all flows straight through the two holes and around

Here from the other side

 

[rayadog]

Sorry random but.. Does your wife like it??

 

[MoshJosh]

Sorry random but.. Does your wife like it??

She definitely likes it more than the previous set up!

 

[MoshJosh]

Some cool night shots of the corals feeding/ with polyps extended:

 

[ReefTankENG]

So it flows in and some goes out the two holes (bottom left) into the skimmer chamber, the rest should overflow the filter sock holder and then flow out the three holes (bottom middle) into the refugium. . . But I dont have enough flow to overflow that chamber, it all flows straight through the two holes and around

Here from the other side

Thant's weird. I'm not sure why you would ever want water to bypass the initial filtration prior to going to the skimmer (unless the filters get clogged) or if you are trying to increase nutrients. Ever think of getting a different sump? If it works for you... it is all good.

 

[MoshJosh]

So far so okay. . . Still working on my alkalinity but it's coming up

 

[MoshJosh]

 

[Gumbies R Us]

How I am not following your tank I don't know, following now!

 

[MoshJosh]

 

[MoshJosh]

 

[MoshJosh]

 

[MoshJosh]

When I bought this I didn't know the name (nor did I really care haha) but the guy I got it from. Hit me up to let me know it's a PC Rainbow? Whatever it is looks awesome, one of my favorite acros for sure:

 

[MoshJosh]

Still here

 

[rayadog]

Is your clown hosting a ridge coral? or what is that

 

[MoshJosh]

Is your clown hosting a ridge coral? or what is that

Nah he just swam over there for the picture. As far as I can tell neither are hosting anything, except maybe the back glass at night, otherwise they tend to swim out in the middle???? But cool to see my blue ridge coral with its polyps out for once haha