Peninsula 500L Build

[ScottJazz]

Current Pic:

I was hoping my 22g would be sufficient but I got the larger tank bug. I bought this used from a LFS. I'm a little freaked out about a second hand RedSea.

My last tank of this size was a 90g back in the early 2000s. Maintenance on that was a pain, using a few trash cans on wheels. For this build, I didn't want to be moving any water manually. I ran 1/2" pex, 3/4" pex, 1/4" RO, 18ga wire, and an aquabus. The 1/2" pex is connected to a diaphram pump since the water station is a floor below. It's on a pressure control so when I close the valve upstairs the pump turns off. The 1/4" RO is hooked up to a 12v diagphram pump controlled by a Tunze ATO. The 3/4" pex is used for a drain. Currently I just drain the water to my driveway. Long term that might change. Here's the water setup and QT/observation tank.

All pex connections are poly so there isn't concern for leaching.

Here's the empty tank with some Marco foundation rock.

Been spending time here and there wiring up the Apex and the components.

1st Baby on the way so slow progress. Next post will be of filling the tank and my KP Aquatics live rock order.

 

[Peace River]

Nice setup! Congratulations on the both of your new adventures!

 

[ScottJazz]

Filled the tank and moved some MarinePure blocks from the nano to the P500. I was hoping that the extra bacteria would be helpful to handle the ammonia spike from the live rock. It was shipped in water but there's still going to be die off. Rock arrived half a day late from Southwest, but not surprising considering it was shipped from FL to PDX.

Here are a few hitchikers that popped off during the freshwater dip. The good ones were quickly put in to the tank.

Here's a flatworm that I later learned I should have removed. Might still be alive as I have been slowly losing snails.

Here's how the rock looks on top of the marco foundation rock. *Last pic from June 20, 2023*

 

[ScottJazz]

In July 2023 I ordered a few Biota fish (yellow tang, coral beauty, lawnmower blenny, and a royal gramma) and 2 Blotchies & equisite fairy wrasse from ReefPro. I was debating what to do about moving inhabitants from my nano to the new display tank. I never quarantined those fish (2 clowns and a hawk) and the hawk has had some ich pop up from time to time. The female clown is a menace and in such a small tank stresses the hawk. I started to quarantine those 3 fish and run the nano fallow. Unfortunately my impatience got the best of me and I added a frag from the nano to the DT. I dipped the frag in hydrogen peroxide hoping any ich would die. Turns out it didn't and infected all the inhabitants in the DT. So I had to move them all to a stock tank (which I keep on hand since it's a Red Sea tank) to quarantine. Next was to move all the nano rock and coral over and start the fallow period.

Fallow period ended November 21st, 2023. That felt like an eternity but so glad I did it. During QT the female clown killed a number of fish: biota multibar angel, royal gramma, 2 blotchies, flame hawk. I was shocked this all happened in a week period. I thought there was enough hiding spaces and volume that she would leave them alone. At the end of the fallow period I ordered a few fish from Dr Reef since I didn't want to quarantine more fish myself at the moment. I received a flame hawk (love this!), pintail fairy wrasse, dusky fair wrasse, and 2 bangaiis. The female clown killed the 2 bangaiis :(

 

[ScottJazz]

Update: I took advantage of the sale and ordered a CADE 1500 peninsula. I saw a peninsula 500 at the LFS with a failing seam. We’re planning for kid #2 and would hate to have the seam fail during the time when I’ll be sleep deprived.