Not quite a build thread, yet it still is. Waterbox Infinia 230.6

[BryanM]

/cry, I'm a redsea owner, or was. G1 425xl. it'll be on FB Marketplace shortly for a whopping $500, with a link to one of the failure threads here, so whoever it is isn't like me and had no idea.... ANYWAY, on to better things.

Pretty significant upgrade to the waterbox.... 120 to 220 gallons. Went with crushed coral substrate, mostly for uniformity over live sand, and hopefully less silt. We shall see, but it looks promising, even though the tank is still quite cloudly (less than 24 hrs since initial fill.

Re-used 90% of the old water, 100% of the old live rock.

Taking a completely different filtering route, initially I will use the filter socks, but went with a Surf4 from Santa Monica... Joining the algae turf scrubber crew. Thanks @VintageReefer for the chats and advice. I consider this relatively small box a refugium on steroids, and a refugium that I can corral and control, instead of sprawl.

One question for knowlegable folks with tanks this size.... What size and how many powerheads for the display tank? I currently have two icecap 2k gyres, and I'm questioning if that is enough (probably would be at 100%, but I find most/all powerheads get noisy anywhere near max, so I don't want to do that. TIA!

 

[BryanM]

Also noteworthy, thusfar have not had the same symptoms some have with overly loud systems. Took some tweaking with the return pump and drain valve, but its working quite well.

 

[BryanM]

Still curious about the right number of power heads for a tank this size. Thanks!

 

[lubeck]

Still curious about the right number of power heads for a tank this size. Thanks!

Four is probably the magic number. Sorry are you doing an sps tank? If not, 3. Again if you don’t want to max out the pump.

I have 4, placement is where I’m at though. Still setting up

 

[BryanM]

Four is probably the magic number. Sorry are you doing an sps tank? If not, 3. Again if you don’t want to max out the pump.

I have 4, placement is where I’m at though. Still setting up

Not sps… mixed reef lps.

 

[BryanM]

A little before.... and After.....

 

[BryanM]

Current status, post dinos, coming along nicely now.

 

[BryanM]

For what its worth previously I had a reefmat, skimmer, and UV for filtration.

This system will be primarly only using a Surf4 algae turf scrubber.

I have a pentair 40w UV that will generally be off. And I have the skimmer on a shelf in case of emergencies.

Otherwise all of my apex stuff came over, the KH Guardian came over, and I have two Neptune DOS units that I use for various things.

 

[bakbay]

Still curious about the right number of power heads for a tank this size. Thanks!

Given that it’s a mixed reef, you might not need a kazillion of wavemakers. If this was my tank, I would put four (4) MP40s on the back glass and call it a day! You can have your gyres on top for surface agitation. FWIW - I run 4 x MP60s on my 8ft tank.

 

[BryanM]

Im running 2 2k gyres, vertically mounted next to the return, and pointed at teh back glass at an angle, at 65%. THey seem to be doing well like this.

 

[BryanM]

Well, here's most of the corals in the tank today.

Things are finally turning around for the good, and I've got a couple stunners coming in tomorrow, as well as a purple tang, and 3 yellow tangs, from Biota later this week.

 

[BryanM]

Some updated tank inhabitant pics!

 

[BryanM]

Another happy tidbit, as I am still less than a year in this hobby...

Feeding fish, early on was always weird, I approached the tank, they all hid.

Now, pretty much they know if the return pump gets turned off they're likely getting a treat... And they come to the front of the glass, and they are happy to see me and the food bag.

Pretty neat to me. I thought they were always just going to be spooked, I like this behavior change.

 

[exnisstech]

Once they start to see you as the food God they'll probably start following you around the tank. I'm guilty of tossing treats in through out the day and my fish follow me around like dogs begging for food. It's fun until I try taking photos of coral then they're always in the way.