My 900 gallon "dream" is coming to life!!

[Reef_Hobbyist]

Looking really nice. Can't wait to see more progress.
More rock and corals now !!!!!

Can you describe and explain the intended filtration system a bit more?

Nice system, really.

Thanks.

If you jump back to previous posts you can see the build pictures and an explanation of the filtration system. Basically its just an overflow box that feeds down to 3 large 100 micron filter socks 7"x32". The sump is just a large box of water (150 gallons) with no baffles. There is a fuge with Chaeto on the "mezzanine" level in the sump. Water returns up over the top and through the back wall. Two closed loops through the bottom. All plumbing is hidden under the rock. I have two large GFO reactors and one jumbo sized Carbon reactor plus a large skimmer that can handle a 1,000 gallon tank.

I dose Kalk in the ATO and I do an automated continuous water change 24x7 which equates to about 5 gallons per day.

I am considering a biopellet reactor in the future if I can't keep up with nutrient export.

 

[jdpiii3]

Looking really good, love your rock work!

 

[ZoaReefer]

Beautiful!
It must be nice to relax and look at your tank, without bending over or standing on tiptoes because of a shallow tank.

I would love to have the room to have 10 different torches, hammers, frogspawn of all colors like that.

 

[Reef_Hobbyist]

Looking really good, love your rock work!

Thanks. I have some leftover rock down in the sump and am thinking about using it to build an arch between the two rock mountains.

 

[Reef_Hobbyist]

Beautiful!
It must be nice to relax and look at your tank, without bending over or standing on tiptoes because of a shallow tank.

I would love to have the room to have 10 different torches, hammers, frogspawn of all colors like that.

Yea, I agree that it great for viewing by having the tank at eye level. It just means a stepladder for me to do feeding and maintenance. I don't have to worry about anything going into my tank especially little kids.

I went with a lot of the easy corals for now just to get something in the tank. I still have plenty of room for the future.

 

[Reef_Hobbyist]

Since adding 65 corals 10 days ago, I lost the prefect balance I had in my FOWLR tank. I expected some of that but didn't expect the big changes that happened. Phosphates went from 0.02 to 0.22 triggering an algae and cyano outbreak. I think that was primarily due to adding coral food (phyco pure reef blend) which must have had phosphates in it? I also increased the light intensity which surely played into that. I replaced the GFO and it worked but seems not able to keep up like it used to. I also had a big drop in ALK. I would have expected some drop but not huge (7.5 down to 4.5 in 10 days) which really mystifies me. I tested several times and got the same measurements. I am using BRS bulk soda ash to bring it back up but going slowly to keep pH from spiking. I also started dosing KALK in my ATO at half of the max dosage. It is going to take a few days which is probably a good thing for the corals.

I added 65 pretty good sized corals and so far I lost one pectina, one torch and starting to lose a second torch but the rest of the corals are still looking healthy. Most have faded and lost some color but I believe they will color up again once I get things back in balance and they fully adapt to the LEDs.

Kind of nerve wracking to see so much change in 10 days after enjoying months of stability (as a FOWLR tank). I am staying patient and dealing with it gradually. I have seen low P take care of algae and cyano once before so I am going to stick with that again this time.

 

[Hobe Sound Frags]

Hobe Sound Frags!!

Brad and Amanda are a local couple in Hobe Sound, FL. They are extremely knowledgeable and fantastic to work with. I highly recommend them. You won't find two nicer people in the business.

Thanks

 

[Reef_Hobbyist]

Thanks

You guys are the best !!!

 

[Reef_Hobbyist]

Its been a couple of months since the last update.

Just back from ReefAPalooza in Orlando. Really enjoyed it and picked up some interesting ZOA colonies for a great price. Also made a side trip to WWC which was just down the street from the convention hall. Wowza, their reef tanks are amazing!!!

My system is still doing extremely well. Its been up and running for about 6 months now. All fish, invertebrates and corals are growing, happy and thriving. I have not added anything in over 3 months. Everything seems to be in balance.

LIGHTING: I am still tinkering with my lighting intensity. I am only running at 40% and I feel like I should increase it but my corals tell me otherwise they bleach and burn if I try to go any higher. I don't understand why they seem to prefer a lower PAR. I am beginning to wonder if I can find one single setting that works best for everything including SPS, LPS and softies.

FILTER SOCKS: I am discovering that they are the single most significant factor in both water cleanliness and nutrient control in my system. I have 4 PVC returns the empty out inside 3 filter socks (the return from the external skimmer shares one of the socks with the emergency drain from the overflow box). There are threaded connectors in the PVC pipes that I have to unscrew to remove a piece of pipe and then I can replace the socks. Its a pain in the _____ to change them out but if I do it before they get clogged and overflow, the results are spectacular. If it don't, nutrient levels quickly rise. I would not believe that if someone else told me but I can't deny that it is definitely the case for my system. I am looking at other design ideas but for now, changing and cleaning my socks is necessary.

ALK: I have no problems dosing everything else but for some reason I can't seem to get my head around how much ALK my tank is consuming. I am dosing KALK in my ATO at the highest concentration even using Vinegar to help increase that. It works, its easy, its cheap, I like it, I am happy with it but its still not enough so I have to supplement with additional dosing of ALK. I feel as though I am chasing it still and have not figured out the magic formula yet. I really don't want to give up on KALK. Guess I am just stubborn.

I am getting to the point now after 6 months that I am starting to understand my system in a way that I can predict it and even anticipate it. It takes a lot of patience to go slow and avoid too much tinkering but that has paid off for me and now I am now ready to add some more corals, a clam, an anemone for my clowns, etc.

Patience

Patience

Patience

 

[hybridazn]

Pics! Pics! Pics! Lol


I use kalk on my frag system and when it's loaded with sps it's tough to keep up with the level of alk I keep my display at. And this is on a total water volume system of 45 gallons.

 

[Reef_Hobbyist]

Pics! Pics! Pics! Lol


I use kalk on my frag system and when it's loaded with sps it's tough to keep up with the level of alk I keep my display at. And this is on a total water volume system of 45 gallons.

I always thought my Dad was stubborn so I guess I will just blame him for making me this way.... LOL

KALK is great in every way except when its just not enough huh???

 

[hybridazn]

KALK is great in every way except when its just not enough huh???

Truth.... haha

 

[Jizu Puentes]

What is your ALK reading at with just the Kalk?

 

[Reef_Hobbyist]

What is your ALK reading at with just the Kalk?

I experimented with that once and it just kept sliding downward from 10 until I finally intercepted it around 6 and dosed it back up.

 

[Jizu Puentes]

Wow is it possible that since you use it as an ATO that maybe your evaporation rate isn't high enough for how much kalk needs to go in?

 

[Reef_Hobbyist]

Wow is it possible that since you use it as an ATO that maybe your evaporation rate isn't high enough for how much kalk needs to go in?

Evaporation rate is about 3 gallons/day on a 900 gallon system.

 

[Ravan]

Wow great tank I wish the wife would go for this but I'd get laughed out of the house I think. Hobe Sound had a great setup at Reefapolooza enjoyed the show a lot just wish it was spread out a little more to make it easier to get around. Yours was the first I read on here since joining.

 

[-Logzor]

I don't think you ever have to give up kalk in lieu of another solution. Kalk has value even if you can potentially supplement via a mixture of sodium carbonate. It will raise pH and add some calcium to your aquarium. Have you considered a kalk stirrer in lieu of manually mixing into your ATO? It's possible that you could yield higher efficiency via a stirrer, such as the K2 sold by Avast Marine. I'm not convinced that stirred in kalk in the ATO and then leaving it maintains saturation.

If that doesn't work add a litermeter pump and dose a mixture of sodium carbonate.

For your size system, 3.0 gallons of saturated limewater can raise you dKH by only 0.38 per day. That's a huge limitation and I could definitely see the need to dose sodium carbonate on top of that.

Even in my 150g reef I use up at least 1.0 dkh per day. As you can imagine my evaporation is much less, so I can make up very little with kalk only.

Determining how much you need to dose is relatively simple using the reef chemistry calculator:

http://reef.diesyst.com/chemcalc/chemcalc.html

Measure your alkalinity every day and determine how much of a consumption gap you need to fill.

Hope to see some new photos soon!

 

[Reef_Hobbyist]

Wow great tank I wish the wife would go for this but I'd get laughed out of the house I think. Hobe Sound had a great setup at Reefapolooza enjoyed the show a lot just wish it was spread out a little more to make it easier to get around. Yours was the first I read on here since joining.

'
First post? Welcome !! Do you mean Hobe Sound Frags? They are awesome!!

 

[Reef_Hobbyist]

I don't think you ever have to give up kalk in lieu of another solution. Kalk has value even if you can potentially supplement via a mixture of sodium carbonate. It will raise pH and add some calcium to your aquarium. Have you considered a kalk stirrer in lieu of manually mixing into your ATO? It's possible that you could yield higher efficiency via a stirrer, such as the K2 sold by Avast Marine. I'm not convinced that stirred in kalk in the ATO and then leaving it maintains saturation.

If that doesn't work add a litermeter pump and dose a mixture of sodium carbonate.

For your size system, 3.0 gallons of saturated limewater can raise you dKH by only 0.38 per day. That's a huge limitation and I could definitely see the need to dose sodium carbonate on top of that.

Even in my 150g reef I use up at least 1.0 dkh per day. As you can imagine my evaporation is much less, so I can make up very little with kalk only.

Determining how much you need to dose is relatively simple using the reef chemistry calculator:

http://reef.diesyst.com/chemcalc/chemcalc.html

Measure your alkalinity every day and determine how much of a consumption gap you need to fill.

Hope to see some new photos soon!

Hi and thanks for your suggestions. I appreciate the input.

I do agree with you about continuing to use Kalk in my ATO. I see no reason to replace it. I have been supplementing that by dosing a Sodium Carbonate (Soda Ash) solution using a dosing pump. I dose it evenly over 24 hours each day to mitigate any pH spikes.

I have a Kalk stirrer of sorts... Well not really but I have a 55 gallon ATO reservoir of RODI with Kalk. I periodically turn on a power head in bottom of the container to mix it up and max out the concentration. I shut off the dosing pump and leave it off until the solution settles out again. I try to keep it fully concentrated with a little extra Kalk on the bottom.

ALK is so important and I have been chasing it on this system for quite a while. At first I was fooled by a faulty reagent mix for my Hanna checker and spent about 2 weeks going crazy tying to figure out what was wrong with my system until I read about the issue they were having with their reagents going bad. I bought a new bottle and everything was fine until the same thing happened with that bottle as well. The newer reagent bottles do not have the foil top and they seem to be fine (so far). I also use other ALK test kits now to give me some peace of mind.

But I will get there and figure out how much to dose to keep things in harmony. Then I plan to add a lot more corals so it will be a gradual process to increase ALK to match the need.

Thanks again!!