Pete's 140G SPS Peninsula BUILD (PICS!)

[Pete_the_Puma]

Hi all,


Thought I would introduce my tank and see what you guys think!

My name is Pierre and I'm an ACROholic...


I've been in the hobby since 2005 with various tanks, usually in the 50-75G range. I had to move a bunch mostly for training/work in the medical field and kept dreaming about my "big tank" once I get my "forever" home. I think this is it!! (until i decide I need a bigger tank...)

Overall philosophy and Goals: A Barebottom SPS only tank with tons of flow, running the full TRITON method (who needs water changes?). I also want this tank to be as "clean" as possible, no cables to be seen anywhere if possible.

Equipment list:

(I had a bunch of this stuff from my previous tanks)

Tank: RedSea Reefer 650 Peninsula (140G)
Controller: Old school Neptune Apex (until I decide to get a Trident)
Skimmer: Reef Octopus 200 INT
Lights: 2x Radion G3 and 2x Dual Reefbrite retrofit 48W T5 in custom canopy
Return Pump: Vectra L1, awaiting the RFG nozzle upgrade from VCA
Powerheads: 1 Maxspect Gyre 150, mounted horizontally, 1MP40 and an oldschool Tunze Wavebox
Fuge light: Kessil H380
Doser: Some cheap 4 channel doser I forgot the name
Heaters: 2 x 250W Eheim Jager's for redundancy
Salt: Tropic Marin Pro Reef (mixes around 8.4DKH)


Here come some Pics!


Reinforcing the floor joists below the tank, probably overkill but better than 200G of saltwater in the home office...

Rock curing/cycling since January 2019

Setting up the office space for the tank, note the outlet on the ceiling!

Building the custom canopy, combination of Radion G3 LEDs and T5's. 2 Noctua PC fans in there to keep it all cool, wired to 110V.

Mounting Canopy on the ceiling over the tank

Building Aquascape

We have water!!! (March 2019). Barebottom over a black ABS board.

Controllers once everything is wired

Final result with some of the fish

 

[Pete_the_Puma]

I am not happy about the MP40 but in the end decided having ALL the powerheads on the far wall would not move enough water on the other end of the tank... So there it is.

 

[Pete_the_Puma]

Got a battlebox from Adam, I can't recommend him highly enough!

Here are some of the frags waiting for a permanent spot

 

[Pete_the_Puma]

Goal Parameters:

Salinity: 1.026
Temp: 77-79
DKH: 7.5-8.0, currently testing daily with Hanna, will start dosing core7 once it drops below 8.0
Nitrates and Phospahtes: only test if problems
Ca and Mag, will test once a month once I start dosing.

Fuge: Full of pods and Cheato already thanks to AlgeaBarn, the cheato is growing like crazy with the H380 and my ambitious feeding schedule.

 

[ARVERLY]

Are those Marco rocks?

 

[calvi]

Hmm is it just me or the picture isn’t loading...
Looking forward to seeing your tank!

 

[Pete_the_Puma]

Are those Marco rocks?

Yes those are the MarcoRocks "shelf" rocks, nice and easy to stack. They are cemented together using E-Marco 400.

 

[Pete_the_Puma]

Hmm is it just me or the picture isn’t loading...
Looking forward to seeing your tank!

Strange, I'm having no trouble seeing the pictures on either different computers or my phone... Any one having issues with the pics?

 

[Pete_the_Puma]

Livestock:

Naso tang
Powder blue tang
Yellow tang
4x Lyretail anthias
3x Bangai Cardinalfish
Royal Gramma
Six line Wrasse
2 x Cleaner shrimp
3-4 Hermit crabs
A number of Astrea snails

 

[ARVERLY]

Yes those are the MarcoRocks "shelf" rocks, nice and easy to stack. They are cemented together using E-Marco 400.

How many pounds did you order?

 

[Pete_the_Puma]

How many pounds did you order?

I ordered 90lbs of shelf rock and three large "base" rocks, those are cut on one surface to lay perfectly flat.

I would guess total weight of rocks to be 120-140 lbs

 

[Pete_the_Puma]

Hmm is it just me or the picture isn’t loading...
Looking forward to seeing your tank!

Are you still having trouble seeing the images calvi?

 

[cchomistek]

Looks great. Looking forward to see the growth.

 

[Pete_the_Puma]

Update 6/3/19

Got a second Battlebox from Battlecorals, couldn't resist the Memorial day sale event lol. I'll post pictures soon.

I have decided I will need to start dosing nitrate and phospahte...

The corals are looking good but slightly pale and I am battling a moderate Dino outbreak. After about 10 days of checking daily or every other day Nitrates and Phosphates are always 0 and 0.00 (Salifert and Hanna).

I have some coral growth, especially the green slimer that is sprouting new branches left and right, Alk has been dropping and I had to slightly increase my TRITON core7 dosing.

I will let you guys know how it goes.

Pete

 

[Pete_the_Puma]

 

[Pete_the_Puma]

Unfortunately the Tyree Superman didn't make it (the blue one in forefront, was what i was taking the picture of), not sure if it got stressed from the trip or if it was the Melafix Dip. I used to dip everything in Bayer but now that I have a 3 year old running around the house the heavy chemicals in Bayer make me nervous, decided to give the Melafix a try. It also seems to have done a job on that tall stag (Shockwave Stag) but so far there is only minimal tissue loss and browning, I think that coral will make it.

If this happens again I will likely go back to dipping in Bayer, cant remember any losses from previous packs. Maybe its just bad luck, who knows.

In the background you can see the green slimer, already sprouting branches after about 2 weeks in a new tank lol!

 

[Pete_the_Puma]

Well I just had a slight setback, Alk swing (Co2 media depleted, alk demand slowed in setting of sustained dosage..)

see details here:
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/a-word-of-caution-to-those-using-co2-scrubbers.613406/

Some burn tips and 2 frags bleached

I guess this comes with trying SPS in a very new tank.

 

[Pete_the_Puma]

Just though I would update this thread, what a crazy two years it has been!

As Ryan says in the BRS videos, NEVER AGAIN WILL I DO BAREBOTTOM WITH DRY ROCK!!


I had Initially had trouble with nutrients being too low. Despite incredible amounts of feeding the barebottom coupled with refugium growing massive Cheato meant 0 nitrates 0 phospahtes for the longest time. I tried directly dosing those elements but the amounts required were large. Finally decided to take the refugium offline about 1.5 years ago and thats when the battle with Dinos began... I nearly quit this hobby many times because of the Dinos. Doesnt seem to affect the fish much but all corals and much of the CUC died.

- Increased nutrients: Still Dinos
- Added real liverock: Still Dinos
- Added TONS of pods: Still Dinos all pods die
- Dose Plankton: Still Dinos
- Call the priest for an exorcism: Still Satan, I mean Dinos
- Dosed bacteria (Micorbacter7, vibrant, ZeoBak): still Dinos
- Went the Dr. Tims method twice (blackout, Re-Fresh then Waste away) Dinos gone both times... only to come back a week or two later ARGGGGGGGgggggg!!!!

Finally purchased and installed a large UV sterilizer and the Dinos have been gone for about 2 months now, have some easy SPS that are not dying. Why didnt I do this sooner? (Disclaimer: UV mostly seems to work for those Dinos that enter the watercolumn when the lights are out, Which I had)

Will post some pics soon. The setup itslef with the canopy has proven solid and remains visually appealing. Have replaced the T5 bulbs recently,