My 320 Gallon Build

Imrahilwjz

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Hi. I am a father of 9. We are expecting our 10th child in March. I had a 130 gallon system that crashed during an ice storm 2 years ago. There is an old build thread on here with pictures of it. I bought a 180 gallon tank from a coworker, with a 50 gallon sump. I used my old 90 gallon tank as a refugium.

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Imrahilwjz

Imrahilwjz

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This is the some of the plumbing under the 180. I can redirect the main return pump into my septic system to do water changesI
 

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Imrahilwjz

Imrahilwjz

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The old sump under the refugium. My skimmer is still in it. I'm planning to move the skimmer to the new sump. I may eventually use this for a QT.

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Imrahilwjz

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I recently found that copper, zinc, and phosphates are high. I discovered this because when I tried to add invertebrates, they all died. I removed a piece of concrete from the tank, but now have discovered that my nephew's crustaceans all died after he started getting his saltwater from me. So the problem is probably in my mixing system. This has all been very frustrating, but we're trying to work through it. I'm going to test my RODI water to make sure copper isn't getting through from my well (I don't know there is copper in our groundwater, but I don't KNOW there isn't). I'm going to test the mixed water as well in case my transfer pump is causing the problem. Once the tests come back I and I have my saltwater sorted, I'm going to do multiple water changes. I'm also going to add a canister filter with Chemipure Elite, and get the skimmer going.

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Imrahilwjz

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Actually we discovered today that at least 1 hermit crab is still alive. I have 4 chromis and 4 firefish (2 red, 2 purple).
 
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Imrahilwjz

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At this point after looking at all the brown scum in the mixing tank, I ordered a new pump from BRS. I'll use the old pump to empty the tank, then replace the pump. The new pump will be quiet enough that I can use to mix and not just to transfer and I can pull all the hoses and metal out of the mixing tank (the current transfer runs at 90 decibels and is across the hall from bedrooms so using it to mix wasn'tan option.
 

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Imrahilwjz

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This was the tank before adding more live rock and removing the concrete core at the center. I'm fairly certain that the issue was upstream of the DT and would like to reintroduce the concrete. If I put it in a container of clean saltwater for 2 weeks or a month, with a pump to create water movement, test for contaminants and get a clean test I would be safe to reintroduce, yes?

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Imrahilwjz

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I worked late last night and then took today off, thinking the stuff I needed would be here today. Unfortunately the replacement pump was a day late, but I pumped all the water in the black tank down the drain, scrubbed any brown residue off the inside of the tank, then rinsed with RO water. I pulled all the hoses and fittings out of the inside of the tank, but left the aquarium pump in the bottom (I ran it to stir up sediment while draining the tank and figured it would get rinsed as well that way). I removed the transfer pump and then ran to the store for fittings etc. The new pump came this afternoon and I discovered that I am short 1 pvc fitting. More updates as the story develops

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Imrahilwjz

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New pump in and filling mixing tank. It's an Iwaki. It's amazingly quiet, particularly compared to the prior pump.
 

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Imrahilwjz

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Replaced this metal valve and removed hose clamps
 

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Imrahilwjz

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Unfortunately this is the best the Iwaki pump can do pushing water through 80 feet of 1" clear vinyl poly. I have yet another pump coming today which has 20' of head compared to 8' for the Iwaki. The transfer pump I was originally using had 100', but I'm hoping 20' will be sufficient to speed up water changes
 

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Imrahilwjz

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Can I add macroalgae to my refugium at this point or should I wait until after water changes and retesting? Is the copper and zinc an issue for the macroalgae?
 
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Imrahilwjz

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Ammonia and nitrite zero, nitrates around 20 ppm maybe a little more. I just got my protein skimmer running but it is a little deep in the water, I plan to get egg crate coming to lift it up a bit. The icp test said my phosphates were high and I'm guessing that's still true. I still need to do 4 more water changes as recommended by Triton. It took me a bit to get the system changed and the new salt water mixed. I plan to do the 3rd water change this evening. The attached photo is the tray I plan to put the algae in. My intention is to get the 4 pack from Algaebarn but I'm open to suggestions.

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Imrahilwjz

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I don't know for sure. I've eliminated everything that I thought could be responsible. I dropped a piece of color changing filter pad in my RO tank and mixing tank and neither of those indicated copper. The piece in my sump did indicate that there is still copper, but that doesn't surprise me. I did 6 large water changes, but figured they would leave some copper behind. Having finished the water changes, I added Chemipure Elite tonight (enough for 400 gallons. I built a submerged Filter with the Chemipure Elite and biomedia. I'm only pumping 50 gallons an hour through it, not sure if it would be more effective to push more water yhrough or for the water to spend more time in contact with the media. I have a bunch of Triton ICP tests and plan to test my DT and Mixing tank today and then hopefully just the DT again in a couple of weeks
 

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Imrahilwjz

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I've got green algae growing on the rock now, hopefully a good sign vis-a-vis copper levels coming down
 

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Imrahilwjz

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Original test dated 10-15
Copper85.00 µg/l
Zinc112.00 µg/l
Current test dated 11-25
Copper38.00 µg/l
Zinc47.00 µg/l
I need to continue water changes as my phosphates are still quite high as well. I have got the skimmer going and just added the chemipure elite. I plan to send in another test in a couple of weeks and see if those numbers continue to decline. I did test the mixing tank and everything is now fine there with no heavy metals or phosphates. I have a sneaking suspicion that the concrete piece in the DT was adding to the issue. Does anyone how low these need to be for macroalgae to survive? I tried to look online but haven't had any luck yet.
 

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