SnookNRedZ's Dual 75 Gallon System(1Year Today!)

[SnookNRedZ]

Its a gorgeous day today so I soaked my socks in a mild RODI and bleach solution for about an hour. I used a 2’ long 1/2” piece of pvc to stir the 5 gallon bucket they were in.

Used some fishing line and strung them up on the hurricane battered gazebo lol. I took this little pressure washer I got at Lowe’s a month ago and gave them a proper scrubbing.

It’s not a bad little unit. it’s electric which I like and really helped getting the socks back to new.

They’re still drying, but once they are completely dry, I have another bucket with plain RODI water for them to soak in, and then I’ll let them air dry from there before I re use them.

 

[SnookNRedZ]

Got my regulator in the other day and I had a few hours to test out the reactor prior to adding media and co2. I was a little frustrated when the thing would not prime itself. After some head scratching I filled the water level in the bucket I was testing it in, and that made all the difference.

In the spirit of getting familiar with my equipment, I removed the top part as if I were to clean or add media, and noticed the O-Ring was a pain to get to stay put. It had a slight memory’s retention in its form, so it wouldn’t go around the neck right. There’s no recess for it to sit, neither on the body or the top section. Thought this was a bit weird, and after some slight stretching of it I got it to stay put long enough to screw back the top before it “rolled” off of the neck.

Once it was seated properly, it was fine, just a but of a learning curve. I also noticed the effluent valve never truly is closed. Even in the closed position there’s a slight trickle from the back side of the valve. I’m going to use this as my starting point, but fear it could become clogged after effluent does flow through the valve... so idk if that’s a good choice. I do have graduated cylinders to measure exact rates just to be safe.

Called my local ACE and found they do co2 re-fills so I’ll be getting this thing up and running probably just in time for RAP this Sunday!!

 

[revhtree]

Looking good!

 

[SnookNRedZ]

Looking good!

Thanks Rev! See ya this weekend bud!

 

[SnookNRedZ]

Yesterday I went and picked up an ORA Green stag frag from WWC that I won on their Ebay auctions. First time doing that, and it was kind of fun actually, didn't get what I really wanted, but RAP is Sunday, so I cant complain. While I was in the store picking up my coral, I went around with Carlos and looked at each of their CaRx set ups for their tanks. Was surprised to see that the effluent "drip" rate they have is more like a "steady stream" rate in actually.

This is so that effluent doesn't try and crud up the lines, which makes since to me. Seeing them in action, and noticing the settings on all of WWC Carbon Dosers' puts me a little at ease on where I should begin. Ill run the pH at 7.4 or so and have the effluent valve open more as my baseline, compared to having it closed with a higher pH. If I need more concentration, upping the pH from there is where ill go. Well lowering it technically, to 7.3; 7.2; 7.1 respectively as my system grows and the demand changes.

 

[SnookNRedZ]

Well it’s the day after RAP 2019 and man what a great time it was. The event was great, and the new location was nice too.i had a hot date too .

I packed my yeti with some ice, Publix subs, and cold beers. Got some decent stuff from the Reef Nutrition goodie bags I got.

Sample foods galore, towels, stickers, best of all another pair of coral glasses from R2R! Walked around, shook the hands of many well known reefers/youtubers, as well as lots of the vendors. I really enjoyed my time. Despite not winning jack in the raffle. Lol

I picked up a nice bubble gum digi Monti from Remy @ Top Shelf. The ORA stag in back is from wwc eBay I won last week.

Got a nice piece of green birds nest from the guy at Y&Y

And some Utter Chaos from fish business SC. It also has a few eyes of what looks like a cyphastrea as well on it.

And of corse a FTS with the R2R glasses in front on my iPhone camera for light filter! The last 3 also were taken with the filter.

My zoa/Paly garden is coming along nicely!

My Mystic Sunset monti seems to be coming back! Which is a pretty nice sight to see, I thought it was a goner for sure. I guess montis are pretty well known to do that. It’s growing back up over it’s old skelton.

I might have some extra time to get my calcium reactor running tomorrow or the next few days, but not sure yet. Upon coming home from RAP and my mom was in the kitchen and informed me of my fathers passing. My work was understanding of the situation and gave me the next few days off, so if I’m feeling up to it, I’ll get the thing installed.

My dad and I shared a bunch of great great memories at Sea World Orlando over the years of my youth. Growing up 45 min. Away, I always had season passes, and would look forward to visitation weekends with dad so we could go ride Kraken and see all the tanks and wildlife! He never had a fish tank persay in my lifetime, he did in his youth. It’s quite fitting that RAP was hosted across the street from Sea World, and I would attend something I enjoy and be so close to great memories, all whilst not knowing yet he had passed. Because he prob had a huge role into my infatuation with sea life. My mom made it a point to tell everyone not to call me while I was there, cuz she knew how excited I was about it. So I feel like the universe works in a bunch of weird ways, and one might be fact that I was around all these awesome reefing guys at WWC all day and met a lot of influential people in the hobby, almost simultaneously as my father passed.

Not wanting to make this thread a condolce story or about my personal life, but getting this in words is helping cope already, and time will heal the rest.

-Thanks,
Rob aka SnookNredZ

 

[SnookNRedZ]

I spent my day off visiting Orlando’s LFS’s. Living Reef, Top shelf, and WWC todayPicked up 8 frags total in the trip, a pm1 and calibration solution for the CaRx. Should have that running tomorrow... stay tuned

Newest FTS

Few shots of the corals I got.

 

[SnookNRedZ]

The “CCC”

 

[SnookNRedZ]

Got the Skimz Calcium reactor up and running today. So far so good. The pump is on F6 as my baseline flow, and the carbon doser is around the setting numbered 4. I’m monitoring my ph with a brs dual junction probe and a pm1 to my apex. I rinsed the media and picked through the bits and pieces I felt like using.

Some shots during set up.

Carbon doser setting

Have both pH visible for me on the display

Here’s the sump shot

And daytime FTS with and without the viewing glasses as a filter.

I’m going to test the tanks dkH and make sure it’s not getting too high. I’ll adjust the pH as needed to get my effluent at the right levels to maintain a steady dkH of 8.5-9. Right before setting the reactor up, it was at 8.3, so I’m fairly sure starting off with a higher ph in the reactor will have the best effluent saturation to do so.

 

[SnookNRedZ]

FTS

 

[Jon Fishman]

O.K. I've looked and tried to figure it out! It's not so much a "specific to your setup" question, more so a "I'm new and dumb" question, but your sump has the skimmer, then return, then fuge. I assume your overflow fills the skimmer section, it overflows into the return section. The water level is so high on the fuge section, how is the water being circulated from the fuge to tank? It seems like it is completely isolated from the rest of the system.

 

[SnookNRedZ]

O.K. I've looked and tried to figure it out! It's not so much a "specific to your setup" question, more so a "I'm new and dumb" question, but your sump has the skimmer, then return, then fuge. I assume your overflow fills the skimmer section, it overflows into the return section. The water level is so high on the fuge section, how is the water being circulated from the fuge to tank? It seems like it is completely isolated from the rest of the system.

No worries Jon, were all new at some point! You're spot on about the operation of the sump. My display drains into the skimmer section, then fills up the return section and so on... My fuge is almost isolated, except its being ran with a MJ1200 pump that powers a BRS media reactor located right next to my return. The one photo above showing the sump, the MJ1200 is being hidden by the Tunze magnet for my ATO. But if you look close you can see the inlet strainer sticking out. The reactor has some carbon in it and the outlet hose (White) of the reactor is in the fuge, so essentially i have 2 plumbed in systems in one tank. I could have made a manifold with outlets and such to split off the return, but I kind of like this method. Elaborate PVC set ups give me nightmares about leaks and such, so i stick with flexible tubing. I'd never be able to sleep... Note that I have a grey valve on the reactors inlet side (black hose) which restricts the flow to the reactor and ultimately the fuge, its not much flow at all, probably 50 gallons a day, maybe... I could also just stick the outlet of the reactor in the return chamber and i could completely isolate the fuge if needed. Cant for see a reason why, but the option exists.

I really hope to get the fuge more established in the near future. Adding some sand and a few rocks in there with perhaps a fish or two as well is the plan!

Hope this helps.

 

[Jon Fishman]

Sorry to hijack...... but you can probably help! I want to turn my 75g (46x21x18) into a sump, and I'm torn between the cost of gathering supplies, doing it myself, vs. buying a "Kit" from someone on Ebay for probably $160 after shipping. If I made it, would it be Overflow to tank with skimmer > bubble-traps > Refugium > Bubble traps > Return section?

My current sump is setup with the overflow going to a filter-sock, then it flows over to a section that houses my skimmer with a chaeto ball in it (only part of the sump large enough to hold my skimmer..... this probably is bad I'm guessing) and then it goes over bubble-traps to the section where the return pump is.

Should I get rid of the chaeto until I have a better sump? I have pods naturally populating it already, despite my skimmer probably eating them!

EDIT: Gonna throw this in a thread of it's own, because I have MANY more questions.... haha

 

[SnookNRedZ]

I've been testing my Alk every 2 days since the first week of the Calcium reactor being implemented into the system and I've been staying at 9.3-9.5 dKh for the duration of these tests. I'm quite certain the reactor is working. Ive noticed my coralline algae becoming denser, as well as my sps corals looking like they are beginning to grow.

My apex is telling me that my average pH in the reactor from 4/11 - 4/24(today) has been 7.23. My average tank pH is exactly 7.8 and the temp average is 78.65 degrees. I'm pushing almost 3 weeks since I've done a water change, and I've been dosing 10mL of vibrant a week since, and have seen some visual depletion of bubble algae. I'm probably going to do a small change of water this weekend, to get some detritus from the display.

I've been pretty diligent about changing out filter socks as they become exhausted, and not several days after. This has helped imo. Aside from that, things are going well and I'm at the point where I'm keeping my hands out of the tank, not going to introduce more live stock, and just let this thing mature and see where it goes. Today marks the 5th month having this tank running.

 

[SnookNRedZ]

Today marks 6 months into the journey. My wrasse seems to have an injury, that he has overcome... the lower part of his jaw, seems to be missing.... yet he still eats. I have a few shots of this. The coral is doing okay. I lost a few frags mostly birds nest. But one bird nest is taking off. My digi’s aren’t doing well, but not dead yet. All my zoas are great, and my nuisance algae is getting under control.

I’ve been keeping an eye on him (or her) and they’re still active and eating. I’m suspecting it may have gone in my powerhead, perhaps sustained an injury that it didn’t recover 100% from. If it persists and he stops eating, I can try and catch it and medicate him with some meds. But I’m not trying to stress it out and possibly injure it further. That’s about it for now, I’ve been keeping my hands out, and letting it do it’s thing.

 

[SnookNRedZ]

Alls good on the reef front. Here’s the view from the hallway from my bedroom. Lol love it. I haven’t tested my alk in 3 weeks!! And it was exactly the same as it was on the last test. 9.9dkh. I cleaned all my nasty socks this weekend. All 14 of them lol.

 

[SnookNRedZ]

I'm 99% certain my wrasse has perished. Saturday I seen it displaying a stressed discolored pattern and the wound seemed to have gotten worse literally overnight. I'm not an expert, but it seems to me like it was some sort of bacterial necrosis of sorts. Like it slowly over time developed and consumed its entire lower lip/jaw. I'm not sure what exactly it had, but my clowns and tang seem to be unaffected this entire time. I did a w/c yesterday and I didn't see him at all, before or after. My CUC most likely got a hold of him before I could see if this was the case. Will dig into if this has happened to anyone else. I'm in no rush to replace it yet. I want a yellow tang and perhaps some other fish I've never had before.

 

[NY_Caveman]

I'm 99% certain my wrasse has perished. Saturday I seen it displaying a stressed discolored pattern and the wound seemed to have gotten worse literally overnight. I'm not an expert, but it seems to me like it was some sort of bacterial necrosis of sorts. Like it slowly over time developed and consumed its entire lower lip/jaw. I'm not sure what exactly it had, but my clowns and tang seem to be unaffected this entire time. I did a w/c yesterday and I didn't see him at all, before or after. My CUC most likely got a hold of him before I could see if this was the case. Will dig into if this has happened to anyone else. I'm in no rush to replace it yet. I want a yellow tang and perhaps some other fish I've never had before.

That is a bummer. Sorry to hear.

 

[SnookNRedZ]

The garden is starting to really take shape. The rock I’ve had for 3 yrs almost now has 100 plus polyps of 3 species of zoas on it. With a total of 6. It’s awesome. My purple space monsters are starting to grow. Pandora’s are taking off like weeds. My red death plays are losing color becoming translucent in areas. Zoas I’ve had for a couple years seem to be loving this tank and have taken off.

This birds nest seems to be doing great. I’ve had lots of growth so far.

This Monti is the coral I look at to judge how the tanks doing, it got white in the center and I did a water change and it looks to be getting back to its self. It’s the best growth I’ve had sps wise in this system.

This Goni seems to be loving life. Always puffed up. Great color. Hasn’t grown but has looked happy.

Burning banana is creeping onto the rocks!

This Monti has never really liked life in the tank. But it’s starting to get some new growth and the polyps are usually out nicely.

Both digi’s I have aren’t doing too great. Not sure if it’s placement issues I’m facing or what. But there just barely hanging on. Two other birds nest are actually in the same state. The scrips stag is all bleched, and my green slimmer hasn’t grown too much. But it’s most likely because it keeps getting knocked over by snails.

Coraline algea covers all the rocks at this point. That is where light is able to illuminate it. Some parts still are white. But have life on them. Bubble algae at this point has been 85% eradicated. The vibrant and water changes in conjuncture with coraline covering white spots and literally encrusting over some bubbles to the point it shades then out. I have a lot of minuscule coraline flakes and I’ve attributed it to the algea dying off. I have some overflow algea and some turf and hair in my fuge, but thats fine by me. My display is almost all pest algea free, and it’s been pretty rewarding to get to that point.

 

[SnookNRedZ]

That is a bummer. Sorry to hear.

Gratitude Caveman. I’m not sure what it is still, but all other fish are doing great. Once WWC relocates, I plan on restocking it with a few more fish. I’ll have time from work to qt them as well.