My New SPS tank journey after a decade of absent

[Ken Lee]

Hi all,

My name is Ken Lee, i am from Malaysia & now reside in China.
My reefing hobby started around 12~13yrs ago. First venturing into FOWLR for 1year then direct dive into SPS dominant tank after that. But after 2years, sadly i have quit due to new oversea work assignment in China.

My background SPS reefing concept is believing over skimming, over lighting, very high flow & zero nutrient back dated to those 12years ago concept

My tank/sump size is measure 3ftx1.5ftx15ft each which total water volume:90gals but i have 4ft tall twin beckett nozzle skimmer, using 2X Large Luminarc reflector with 250W Hamilton 14KK bulbs supplement with 2X ATI T5 actinic or Blue+ & using Tunze TS12 as wavemaker which has total flow of 24000l/h flow in such a small DT & lastly using 3ft tall Ca Reactor with Rowalith media which able to handle 6ft tank in fact all my equipment can support 4 to 6ft tank easily.

In those days, all SPS are call by its scientific name mostly & no fancy name like nowadays. I think it is less confusing. SPS mostly single or dual colors only. At that time Indon mariculture SPS still very new & Fiji SPS is the holy grail for us.

Those days, my tank mainly consist of Fiji/Indon SPS, no Aussie SPS coral available either. I still remember that time most SPS reefer using MH only with T5/VHO supplement & T5 that time still new, no LED yet. Tunze is the only real wide flow wave maker available at that time beside Maxijet or Rio; or u can chose to use close loop system using pressure pump like Iwaki.

Pictures below are my old tank pictures.

More details of my old tank in the link below (sorry for the poor photography skills)

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=885633


This thread is meant to document my new SPS reefing journey after a decade absent in reefing & share all my lesson learnt along the way & hope it can benefit to the reefing community here. All below statements here are purely my personal opinion & experiences; share with u all in good will.

 

[Ken Lee]

More pictures

 

[Ken Lee]

more pics

 

[Ken Lee]

In MAY2017, I started new tank & more details as following:
Display: L:1.8m X W:0.7m X H:0.55m
Sump : L:1.3m X W:0.5m X H:0.4m
Return: 2X Octopus 5000L/H pump
Skimmer: Vertex Alpha 250
Light: 2X Keloray AE200 & 1X AI26
Rock scape: Dead Rock from Pure Aquatic
Misc: 4x Ceramic Block, 1.5HP ext Chiller/Heater, 3stage RODI 400G

 

[SPR1968]

That’s a beautiful looking new system Ken and thanks for all the pictures, following along.

 

[Livinlocal]

Beautiful system!

Any more pictures of the back plumbing all finished ?

 

[Ken Lee]

Beautiful system!

Any more pictures of the back plumbing all finished ?

Here u go...

 

[Ken Lee]

Present tank as for today..
Been through 1 year+ of bumpy roller caster roads...now finally i found my recipe & consider my tank starting to thrive ....but still long way to go to achieve my goals
*photos is taken by ip7+ with yellow gel filter

 

[SPR1968]

Present tank as for today..
Been through 1 year+ of bumpy roller caster roads...now finally i found my recipe & consider my tank starting to thrive ....but still long way to go to achieve my goals
*photos is taken by ip7+ with yellow gel filter

Beautiful.......

 

[Ken Lee]

Some vids to share

 

[Ken Lee]

Double post*

 

[hybridazn]

Fantastic setup! Thanks for sharing

I look forward to seeing this progress

 

[Ken Lee]

I want to take this opportunity to share tank design flaws I made. After a decade away, i am excited with all the new gadgets/technologies available for this hobby. Along the way i realize some of them are not suitable for my reefing methods. Here are the following:-

1. DC Pump as wave maker -New tank design is using back filter to fit 4 variable DC pump with 5000L/m flow speed & wave making control capable which the intention to hide the bulky wave maker away, but this concept doesn’t work as the flow create is too focus/direct not wide enough for coral liking & sometimes it blowing off sps skins in couple hours. I remove all the DC pumps & replace it with 2X Maxspect XF280 which do tremendous job for my tank.
2. Ceramic Block - Bacteria housing ceramic block with beneficial bacteria dosage will only accelerate Nitrogen cycle by a week of two but not able to accelerate tank maturity especially with using only dead rock; tank maturity is not gage by Nitrogen cycle capability, it is gage by cryptic growth of various sponge & coraline algae from my findings.
3. Dead Rock - Using dead rock is good in the sense to stay away from various harmful organism which may available in live rock, but it will prolong tank maturity by 6 to 12mths for SPS keeping, best is to use dead rock/ man made rock on the DT & add properly cured live rock at the sump/refugium to seed coraline algae growth/ cryptic sponge growth.
4. Filter Sock - Filter Sock is good to filter out those detritus but it is easily clog need to be cleaned or replace every 2~3days, but i am always outstation for work which this approach won’t work for me, automatic filter sock system is not viable for me due to space constraint issue; eventually i am totally abandon the filter sock which doesn’t really affect my tank either. For replacement, i use bubble scrubbing & wave maker to blow away detritus from time to time so that skimmer/refugium can remove those detritus away
5. LED light - mainly using LED to reduce the heat & electric consumption & i like the controllability option it provide. But it is the controllability causing the instability as we like to tweak around the setting. Best is to tweak it for 2weeks & leave it alone. Lastly most crucial issue with LED is the shadowing effect especially the many small LEDs are clamp into 1 tight fit cluster area like AP700 will create even worst shadowing effect though it produce nicest ripple effect. To overcome it, just need to supplement it with 4 T5s. In the future i may upgrade to Orphek Atlantic V4 which has less shadowing effect & good uniform coverage similar to T5.

 

[Ken Lee]

On the other hand, during the 1 year period i encountered a couple disaster which almost causing my tank to restart & i think it is interesting to share:-

1. Carbon dosing -Due to desperate to bring down tank nutrient (NO3/PO4), i am exploring carbon dosing with vinegar/vodka till i overdose it without realizing that bacteria film created at 1 point as i am not train to detect it till my reefer friend detect but it is a bit too late, SPS already in degrading mode, then i start daily dose 1 vial of prodibio bacteria 1vial to compete with the bad bacteria to improve the situation, but things get worse. Till end i stop everything i let nature take over & let the tank alone for 1mth. Then he suggest me to use zeovit zeostart3 which is safer & better control which it definitely works better & i am still using it till today but my plan to reduce it slowly & stop it complete by end of the year to stay away from carbon dosing; to simplify my system.
2. Copper poisoning - my tank is using in sump titanium coil with external chiller outdoor unit for heating/chilling purpose, but without realizing that the copper nuts are rusting which is used to connect titanium coil with copper tube is submerged in the sump water although i did put silicone to stay water proof but I didn’t do a good job here. After 6-8mths tank running i am only detect the copper nuts rust which is the main culprit causing my coral/invert/fishes to suffer & wither away slowly even for shroom/button or LPS. To solve the issue, I am using 1 Liter of Seachem Cuprisorb to remove the copper rust poison from the tank for a month & i have change new titanium coil with extended arm to ensure the copper nuts is far away from the water level. After new Ti coil & 1month of cuprisorb usage, i can start see my coral health is gaining back
3. Fishes Overpopulation - when my coral health is getting better from above incident i thought my tank is ready for more corals & fishes, so i start to add fishes from 10 fishes to 50fishes in 1mths time; which eventually my nutrients elevate much higher (NO3>50ppm, PO4>1.5ppm) which i thought i can manage it but it make things worse when i try to bring the nutrient with LC dosing & zeolite stones; somehow in parallel my fishes are infected with white spots/velvet which kill half the fish population by half in 2weeks time, then i am realize i am just putting myself in trouble. So i didn’t add any new fishes after this incident; with less feeding, less fishes, weekly 5% WC, biweekly Rowaphos/GAC 1/2 dosage change, i manage to stabilize the tank & able to bring down my NO3<25ppm & PO4<0.05.

 

[Ken Lee]

Lesson learnt that i want to share with fellow reefers here:-

1. Never WC in huge amount, it create instability for my tank, 5% is ideal for me weekly basic
2. When WC, we need to match Salinity, temperature n dKH
   
3. Check light for lux, target 20KK on the water surface, and no more than 50KK (if u don’t par meter), at least i can do for my light setup
4. When nutrient is high, never dose AA or CV
5. Top up RODI water from RODI filled container instead direct from RODI filter to avoid TDS creep on DI filter & to prolong filter pump lifespan, many times i found out those solenoid valves are not able to 100% shut off the water, so it is not safe to direct connect ATO system with RODI system
6. Do not wet skim, when away from tank (vacation), high risk of overflow & risky tank water draining; i would run it slight more dry than usual for safety purposes.
7. Running KH monitor like KHG, long term adding RODI water for evaporation & monitoring water waste eventually will deplete KH, best to need to add saltwater with doser to ensure stable salinity
8. KH monitor waste should NOT channel back to DT as it is still has ill effect from my experience, to avoid salinity fluctuation best dose saltwater with doser
9. Calibrate refractometer frequently (weekly), best get Digital refractometer for better accuracy
10. Refugium macro algae trimming need to be smaller portion & more frequently like weekly basic instead big portion removal in monthly basic; trimming too much at one time will fluctuate NO3/PO4 level
11. Never increase light intensity whenever DT condition is not good, only whenever DT is good condition we can increase it slowly like 1-2% every 3days
12. If nutrient level is going down (no3/po4) do not put other stress into DT like T5 acclimation
13. After cleaning pump/gyre, need to slow down the flow to slowly acclimate it to system.
14. Whatever fishes or invertebrate eats like micro algae like GHA, macro algae or even nori; it will still create no3/po4
15. Life rock is necessary at least at refugium to seed the sponge n other beneficial bacteria growth/ Coraline algae, complete dead rock without LR combo will slow down the SPS tank maturity (>1.5 to 2yrs)
16. Make 1 change at a time & give at least a week observe period before u make another change to your tank

 

[Ken Lee]

17. After Cleaning GYRE, need to reduce flow rate & slowly ramp it up
18. Whenever nutrient elevate or drop, do not exert extra stress like T5 or high flow from gyre
19. Calibrate refractometer with RODI is not right, need calibrate with 1.026 or 1.023 solution or best using digital refractometer
20. When receiving new sps frag or colony, put it at bottom to stabilize for a day, next day suggest to move it to final location & glue it if the specimen is healthy, this way it will increase the success
21. Strong flow/light can speed up SPS frag to cover its bottom
22. Sometimes SPS frags will tend to turn green if the new tank condition is not appropriate, like it is in hibernation safety mode to ensure its own survival; once it is stabilize & with a good tank stable condition these frags will slowly return back to its expected colorations maybe with some difference due to tank condition differences. It is not really the iron content is high cause the sps to turn green color once it is intro into new tank.
23. From experience, pH value is very crucial, daily observation on that max value at peak hours will indicate coral health condition, normally when it is high means coral are performing photosynthesis & output more O2 which elevate pH value (good indication). Whenever there is some interruption in the tank like new sps frag intro or even hand into the tank normally it will decrease the pH by certain value. SO pH value is very good indicator for coral healthy condition monitoring. DO not chasing after any certain pH value & constant tweaking will make things worse. Keep pH stable at your tank level. Suggest to have pH monitor.
24. DO NOT chase after nutrient value which will make things worse, even sps survive or thrive at PO4<1.5 & NO3<50ppm as long as it is stable. Of course lower nutrient (not undetectable value) is the best condition. Bring down those value very slowly with slow approach like Rowaphos, WC, less fish feeding, less fishes population, improve refugium export efficiency & etc. Not recommend to use LC or carbon dosing. It will intro ill effect in long run from my experience especially LC. Only issue on the higher nutrient condition is the GHA for my case, best easy removal method is using seahares which i found it is most efficient invert to remove GHA, best combo with snails/tang fishes. The only issues u need consider not to starve the seahares, for my case i used to 4 seahares which devour all GHA of my tank in 3days, which will starve once GHA is completely gone. So i remove 2 seahares & maintain 2 of it; eventually i am able to strike balance with my slight higher nutrient tank condition. Slightly High nutrient tank condition will enhance SPS coloration (more vivid)
25. Efficiency Chaeto refugium is not optimum as my observation GHA still will grow onto of chaeto at the top portion, thus installed algae scrubber will improve overall nutrient export efficiency; this is idea is under investigation as these combo is meant to use refugium chaeto as main exporter with algae scrubber for micro exporter, In general refugium need less maintenance & algae scrubber need more work; will tweak both lighting schedule to find tune the maintenance schedule to suit my taste.
26. Renew GAC or rowaphos biweekly with half dose volume instead renew it monthly with full dose volume to avoid huge PO4/NO3 fluctuation. I am using 2 smaller filter bags for each GAC/rowaphos instead using 1 big bag for ease of maintenance.
27. My tank criteria in priority order

1. Tank stability (Do not chase after the desire value especially NO3,PO4,KH, PH, salinity)
2. Strong randomize flow (i like the gyre flow approach, enhance growth & speed up sps bottom growth)
3. Light (all light either LED, T5 or MH; even either both combo will do; as long as it is stable & no constant tweaking)

 

[revhtree]

Welcome back and great to have you sharing here on R2R!

Tank is looking good!

 

[Ken Lee]

Welcome back and great to have you sharing here on R2R!

Tank is looking good!

Thanks all for all the compliments.

 

[Aslam Abraham]

Very neat and well thought out.
What lights did you change to?

 

[Ken Lee]

Very neat and well thought out.
What lights did you change to?

Present lighting:
1.) 2 units of Keloray AE200 (similar to AP700 design concept with additional yellow light strip in the center, i saw they OEM this light in US with different brand name) - located at left/right side (old)
2.) 1 unit AI26 @center (new)
3.) 2 units of T5H0 80W fixtures front & back with 3x ATI Blue+ & 1x Coral+ (new)
4.) New light fixture to accommodate all above lights (please refer to picture below)

In the future i might upgrade to 2 unit of Orphek Atlantic V4 to replace all above complicated configs.