Something a little different

LazerHawk · Jun 23, 2020

Hi, so it seems I picked a tough time to start a reef tank. I've been using it as motivation to pay off credit cards for the last year. I'm currently waiting on my nitrites to drop. I will update the thread as I go along. I'm excited to join the community!

I got the tank and sump from my cousin. This tank was a turtle tank for a pet store and someone bought it with plans to turn it into a reef tank, and then it passed down through ages to me. It was drilled with dual overflows, I had to build the overflows myself. Got a sump and 2 reef breeders black boxes too. Good deal. The tank is 36wx23dx20h I think that is somewhere around 90 gallons.

Ordered a 5 stage rodi system on a whim. I should have started with a bigger one, and that seems like a recurring theme.

Found the standard tank stand plans and built a stand. I then realized that the overflows were going to need more room, so I "Improved" it. Also painted and silicon'd the crap out of it.

I had some spare 80/20 parts from another project and used it for a light bar and added stability inside the base. Found 2 24 inch LOOP lights, mounts and controller for $100. I wanted the cool effects. Turns out that the wave makers for this are pretty cheap, so I got a couple of those.

Finally got some supplies in! Ready to start the cycle!

Leak Test.

Had a good idea, but execution was underwhelming.

Went ahead and re-silicon'd the tank. I wasn't sure how long it sat dry.

ARE YOU NOT ENTERTAINED!!

Ready to put water in the tank and realized I needed new floors. Got some vinyl flooring and installed approximately 3/4 of the room....

And that very night I left the RODI running in the last bucket... I had to pull all that floor back up. I now understand the "RODI is running" meme. ;Drowning

Got a 36in T5 fixture with bulbs that I can't find anywhere and... Is the RODI on?

The fiance' might be getting suspicious...

Got some legit RODI. Moving the other one to the fridge!

Decided to try the wave thing again with some of the left over sand.

Got my aquarium controller! Excited to dig in to some automation!

That pretty much where I am atm. Reef-pi is configured and the controller is hooked up giving me temp and pH. Waiting on some level sensors and floats to put together the ATO. Right now Ammonia has been at 0 for 17 days and I am waking up every morning like a kid at Christmas hoping my nitrites have dropped. I'll update this thread as soon as I get some fish! Cheers!

code4 · Jun 23, 2020

I must admit I am most interested in the "silicon" board. Tell me about it some more. Tank is looking great. And yes, I was entertained. ;Doctor

F i s h y · Jun 23, 2020

Very entertaining i like your style keep up the build thread, I'm following along... thanks for sharing

Easy Reefing · Jun 23, 2020

Wow , good job !

LazerHawk · Jun 24, 2020

code4 said:
I must admit I am most interested in the "silicon" board. Tell me about it some more. Tank is looking great. And yes, I was entertained. ;Doctor

Thanks!

When I was sealing the cracks and corners with silicone, it was getting messy. I used a small squeegee and smoothed it out over the board. Now it has a thin rubbery layer on most of the inside. If it's good enough for inside the tank, should be OK near it, right?

LazerHawk · Jul 8, 2020

Tank is cycled and I got some fish! Meet "Fish" and "Chicken Bathtub". After 5 days they seem happy and healthy. It's funny, they kinda have a dog like personality.

LazerHawk · Jul 8, 2020

So, as it turns out. I was doing everything wrong with my cycle.

I started the cycle in a Brute trash can with microBacter7 and marco rock. After 25 days; ammonia was dropping, Nitrite and Nitrate were all they way up, so I moved everything into the tank with Caribe Sea Argonite sand. I figured this was a water change. In addition to this decision I found a dual stage reactor for $25 on marketplace, so I added that to the tank. Pretty sure I had the skimmer on because I though it would help to get nitrogen out of the air. So the Ammonia crashed and Nitrite stayed high for 23 days, meanwhile nitrates were dropping. After finding this post and video from Dr. Tim..

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/dr-tims-tips-for-speeding-up-fishless-cycles.733983/

I slunk back over to my tank, did a water change and fixed my mistakes. I wish I had seen that much sooner. But hey, my phosphate levels are great!

LazerHawk · Jul 10, 2020

Got Reef-pi up and running. Checking pH, sump temp, 2nd sump temp ( because the cable will not reach ). Too chicken to have it control power yet, need a power box first.

Just getting ready for Corals! Nitrates been steady at 5, no nitrites, and ammonia has been steady at the lowest reading! Checking daily. Trim is still missing because I decided to go with PVC instead.

This must be the ugly stage.

Planning out an ATO. I'm thinking of putting this solenoid before the RODI.

Just need some more water alarms first.

LazerHawk · Jul 25, 2020

Here is a spreadsheet of my levels through the cycle using marco rock. I've now started to dose Kalkwasser to keep Alkalinity up. Trying to figure out what light cycle works. T5 seemed to burn a couple of the Duncan's arms.

Got my first corals. Got a Green Duncan, Starry night cyphastria, and a Rhodactis mushroom from pacific coast corals. I dipped in Bayer and quarantined for a couple weeks in a brute trash can. On the lookout for an AIO for a Quarantine tank. I love this Duncan!

LazerHawk · Aug 16, 2020

So after a couple more floods and an Alkalinity spike, everything looks happy. I'm even starting to see Coralline algae spots. I saw a big improvement when I got some T5's.

Added a Yellow Watchman goby and a pistol shrimp! They paired up quickly!

Trying this out to clean some clutter out from next to the tank.

Finished the front! Used epoxy, sand, pigment, and alcohol ink.

LazerHawk · Sep 8, 2020

Man, I can't tell you how many times I've been blown away by this little ecosystem. The blurred lines between plant and animal, the dynamics of adding new fish, the time scale differences that some of these creatures move on... I've really been enjoying this hobby! I started using 2 part instead of Kalkwasser and intend to start dosing after I add these next coral.

I found an AIO on marketplace to use for quarantine. We'll see how this goes.

Got some Favia, Blastos and a Christata to add to the bottom of the tank.

Reworked the lighting situation to make it easier to access the tank. Running 2 blue+, 1 actinic and 1 aquablue power chrome.

LazerHawk · Oct 2, 2020

Coral update!

So far so good! Right now I have:

Duncans that are all growing new heads
clove polyps
Starry Night cyphastria
Dragon soul favia
Radioactive dragon eyes zoas
Yellow dragon eye zoas (yes, there is a theme here)
Rastas
Orange and blue Ricordia Florida
Christata
Blasotmussa
Ultra leptoseris
2 clowns
1 tiger pistol shrimp and Yellow Watchman gobi
1 skunk cleaner shrimp

LazerHawk · Dec 12, 2020

It's official, I suck. Somehow these corals have survived my dumb mistakes.

Had an alkalinity spike from dosing Kalkwasser incorrectly.
Flooded my sump with RO probably 6 times now.
Had an energized 12 volt cord drop into the sump for a whole day that just about killed the Cyphastria.
Had 0.00 phosphates for too long.
Introduced Ich into the tank because I didn't use the quarantine tank that I had.
Royal Gramma that introduced Ich died in QT.
Had some temperature swings.

That being said, it is so interesting to just watch the dynamics of the tank. Adding new fish, the blurred lines between plant and animal, the different time-scale they live on, how intelligent the fish are, Symbiotic relationships... So many more interesting thoughts have popped up since I took on this responsibility. Also, the sound of running water freaks me out now.

Not sure the Jedi mind trick monti is going to make it. I've been using Red Sea AB+ targeted feeding and I don't think it likes that concentrated feeding.

I love Duncans! Electric Green tips (Aqua SD) and Green Duncans (Pacific East Aquaculture)

Great deal on a Dragon soul torch from Central Texas corals.

Dragon Soul Favia from Aqua SD. Probably the coolest thing in my tank.

Yellow eye Kole tang introduced the same time as the Royal Gramma that introduced ich. Had a couple bouts with Ich for about 6 weeks. I got an used oversized UV sterilizer right away and it hasn't gotten worse. I'll see a little bit of flashing now and then, but not seeing it on the fins like it was at first. Been feeding Nori 2 times week and Brightwell Vitamin C and M added to Mysis.

Holy crap these have long tentacles! Sonic the Hedgehog Galaxia from ARC.

Added some SPS 3 weeks ago and it hasn't died yet. Blue Mammoth Tenuis from SD Aqua.

Adding the fuge seemed to Improve the health of the corals. Cheato dissolved though, going to try another macro algae in there. I think the pump is too strong for Cheato. Removed GFO from the reactor.

BaysEndReef · Dec 12, 2020

Following! Looks great!

LazerHawk · Apr 4, 2021

DISASTER! So there I was minding my own business when a water alarm went off and I instinctively ran to the RODI. That was not the issue though. The bottom corner of the tank had sprung a leak! All I could imagine was the tank exploding and killing everything in the tank.

The next day I doubled down on the hobby and got a Red Sea Reefer 450. If I had to do it over again, I would have started out with one of these. I was impressed with the set up.

After moving everything over I had what I thought was Cyano. Turns out it was Dino's, probably caused because of low nutrients. Got rid of the Cheato Reactor, started bubble scrubbing, dosing phos and Nitrogen, and blowing Dino's off the rocks and using a 57 watt UV. So far it looks like algae is coming back and Dino's are not coming back as fast.

Just as I figured out the hobby, disaster strikes again! The Winter storm in Texas took out our power for 3 days with sub-zero temperatures. Fortunately I had bought a generator the week before! We had to close off the upstairs, move a mattress to the living room, had heated blankets, a fire and a couple of space heaters going. This was inside the house.

I had a quarantine tank going with a Royal Gramma and a couple corals. I couldn't keep them all warm enough, so I had to throw the fish and corals into the tank and move the heater to the Display tank. Unfortunately, the Royal Gramma passed away a couple days later and I started to see signs of Marine Velvet.... I was able to catch the clownfish and get them into the Quarantine tank that is now a hospital tank and they made it! They were not in good shape either. The Kole tang succumbed to the velvet. See you at the crossroads

I'm about 5 weeks into the 76 day fallow period. Can't wait to put the clowns back in and get another Yellow watchman Goby for the pistol shrimp.