Not My First Tank but My First Build Thread

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I'll have to play with the program to dial it in but I think I'm going to like this better than the Neptune AFS and Eheim. In addition to more precision, the ability to dispense freeze dried as well as pellets is a plus. This will allow me to vary the food as I have been feeding frozen (Mysis and Rods) in the morning, pellets midday and freeze dried in the evening. I also started soaking the freeze dried that I hand feed in Selcon as I have read many good things about it.

 

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Back in November I sent in a sample to Triton for ICP testing. The process was relatively easy and interpreting the results fairly straight forward but I was disappointed in the lack of Alkalinity and Nitrate. I realize that I already test for these but I like to have a "second set of eyes" in case my testing is out of whack.

Therefor, I decided to try ATI this time as they test for both Alk and NO3 in addition to also testing my RO/DI water as part of the same package. An added bonus is they are about $4 cheaper. The cost difference is not enough to push me one way or another but it's a nice bonus. The process of collection and mailing was similar to Triton so I will just wait on the results and see what there is to see.

 

[Freenow54]

120 Gallon Planet Aquarium Mega Matrix Rimless.
Been working on the Sump Room in the basement and taking my time so this has been a slow build.

Water Mixing Station

Here are a couple of Art Reef Rock Structures that will be going in the tank.

Amazing amount of work, and so exact Beautiful

 

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Amazing amount of work, and so exact Beautiful

Thank you very much, I appreciate it. I have enjoyed this build more so then previous ones as, in my younger days, I was always in a rush to finish it. Now I am enjoying the journey and not so worried about when I finish.

 

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I moved the Macroalgae from QT to the Refugium section of my sump and hung the AI Prime Fuge over it.

 

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We'll see how this works. My PO4 and NO3 are back to 0's but I have been getting more algae in my DT since I've been feeding more and cut back on the UV Sterilizer. I'm sure the DT algae is bottoming out my nutrients so, hopefully, the fuge will out compete the bad algae.

I also ordered some Tropic Marin Plus NP to try to get my numbers up since overfeeding has only fed nuisance algae but I'm going to hold off adding that for a while and see what happens.

Cleaned the DT today so the algae doesn't look so bad but it's still there

 

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A Bristle Tooth Tang is the last fish on my list (the list still has a few more to go) but hopefully that will help with the nuisance algae as well. I keep hoping Hawaii will start shipping again to get the Kole Tangs back down to a reasonable price but I might have to go with a Tomini. Darned if I'm going to pay $600 for a Kole.

 

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Since I changed the spectrum on my Radion XR15 Gen 6's from Coral Lab AB+ to LPS/Soft I decided to do another par map. Par was similar between the 2 spectrums at the lower intensities but the LPS/Soft dropped off quite a bit at the higher intensities.

Position	LPS/Soft @30%	LPS/Soft @40%	LPS/Soft @50%	LPS/Soft @60%	LPS/Soft @70%	LPS/Soft @80%	LPS/Soft @90%	LPS/Soft @100%
1	90	115	140	155	168	175	190	200
2	70	95	112	127	137	140	143	160
3	85	110	130	140	150	160	167	170
4	60	73	90	95	105	115	118	120
5	60	68	83	92	103	103	113	117
6	65	84	95	109	115	120	130	130
7	70	90	100	115	123	130	133	144
8	60	85	95	104	115	119	130	130
9	65	75	95	95	112	120	120	124
10	60	73	90	91	107	107	115	120
11	60	78	90	99	105	112	120	120
12	70	95	107	115	125	133	140	140
13	65	83	100	109	110	123	117	130
14	67	86	100	105	112	125	126	130
15	78	100	115	117	130	145	150	165
16	55	70	87	90	100	100	107	115
17	65	85	91	100	110	114	123	134
18	52	70	80	91	95	107	100	105
19	54	70	80	85	93	103	107	104
20	57	70	87	95	100	107	108	116
21	52	67	83	90	95	103	107	109
22	29	44	46	70	83	90	100	110

 

[Freenow54]

Since I changed the spectrum on my Radion XR15 Gen 6's from Coral Lab AB+ to LPS/Soft I decided to do another par map. Par was similar between the 2 spectrums at the lower intensities but the LPS/Soft dropped off quite a bit at the higher intensities.

Position	LPS/Soft @30%	LPS/Soft @40%	LPS/Soft @50%	LPS/Soft @60%	LPS/Soft @70%	LPS/Soft @80%	LPS/Soft @90%	LPS/Soft @100%
1	90	115	140	155	168	175	190	200
2	70	95	112	127	137	140	143	160
3	85	110	130	140	150	160	167	170
4	60	73	90	95	105	115	118	120
5	60	68	83	92	103	103	113	117
6	65	84	95	109	115	120	130	130
7	70	90	100	115	123	130	133	144
8	60	85	95	104	115	119	130	130
9	65	75	95	95	112	120	120	124
10	60	73	90	91	107	107	115	120
11	60	78	90	99	105	112	120	120
12	70	95	107	115	125	133	140	140
13	65	83	100	109	110	123	117	130
14	67	86	100	105	112	125	126	130
15	78	100	115	117	130	145	150	165
16	55	70	87	90	100	100	107	115
17	65	85	91	100	110	114	123	134
18	52	70	80	91	95	107	100	105
19	54	70	80	85	93	103	107	104
20	57	70	87	95	100	107	108	116
21	52	67	83	90	95	103	107	109
22	29	44	46	70	83	90	100	110

Lots of work isn't it. Very nice aquascape well thought out

 

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Lots of work isn't it. Very nice aquascape well thought out

Thank you!
I had my wife input the numbers this time as I took the readings. Much easier then doing it all myself like the first time.

 

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I moved my new QT fish up to the DT
Canary Top Wrasse, Halichoeres leucoxanthus

Royal Gramma, Gramma loreto

Yellow Watchman Goby, Cryptocentrus cinctus
Randall's pistol shrimp, Alpheus randalli

I noticed that the Canary Top had white patches and split fins that didn't show up under the white light of the QT but did under the blue lights of the DT

I posted in the fish disease forum and it was determined that the Royal Gramma had been picking on him in QT. The Canary Top seems to like the DT so hopefully the damage will heal with no ill effects.

 

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I have had no detectable po4 or no3 since the start of this tank so I decided to try Tropic Marin Plus-NP. I dosed 5ml per the instructions (I think that was correct) on the first day and the corals all closed up so I didn't' redose for a couple of days and then started back with 1ml. The algae went crazy but still no detectable levels on nutrients. I may misunderstand the product but I believe it won't really show up on po4 and no3 tests you're just supposed to "observe" your corals and dose to what makes the corals happy. After the huge hair algae increase I decided to discontinue the Plus-NP and just continue overfeeding the fish, especially since I moved some more up to the DT.

 

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I think my Neptune Salinity Probe has been bad from the start (1 year ago). It always settles out to around 32.5 no matter what the actual salinity. I know they aren't supposed to be accurate but I feel the probe is bad though it has always been this way. I find it hard to justify $209 for another probe without know if its is definitely a bad probe issue so I found this thread, Salinity Probes that work with the Apex, and ordered a $33 Probe from AliExpress and some parts, Mini Din and BNC to make an adapter.

My Soldering skills obviously leave something to be desired but hopefully it will work. Now I just have to wait on the probe to get here to try it out.

 

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FTS

Fish and coral are doing well but struggling with hair algae. Still have 0 po4 and no3 even after dosing Plus-NP (which I stopped because nutrients didn't go up but algae increased).

I moved the WWC Pink B**bies Chalice out of the QT and into DT because it wasn't doing well in QT and the time was about up anyway. The other 2 corals I got from TSA at the same time as the Chalice, TSA Inferno Favia and TSA Wolverine Favia are doing well in QT but I will probably move them up this weekend as their QT time is up.

 

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Here are the frags left down in QT

• TSA Inferno Favia
• TSA Wolverine Favia
• Tidal Gardens Anti-venom Favites
• Tidal Gardens Scorpion King Favia
• Tidal Gardens Hellscape Micro Goniopora

 

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The cheap AliExpress Conductivity Probe came in and connected to my homemade adaptor with no problem

It took calibration and while still not accurate, reads 34 when water is 35psu, at least it works and fluctuates with changing salinity. Now I have the option of using a $210 Neptune probe that isn't very accurate or a $110 Hydros probe they may or may not be accurate or any other conductivity probe since I now have the BNC connection.