SPS Lagoon without protein skimmer

[Seminoles76]

Hey Jace,

Congrats on achieving the SPS summit....and without the almighty skimmer!

Was hoping you could answer a couple of questions regarding the sanded and filtration. 1. Looks like you were bare bottom and then transitioned at some point to a shallow sand bed. Was there a reason why you put the sand in and did you see any benefit? Or, was it purely for aesthetics? 2. Do you find the filter pads easier than socks? Just curious as to why you chose the filter pads vs. the socks. Thanks for answering

Gorgeous tank....thanks so much for sharing!

Cheers,
Jared

 

[TNT32D]

Beautiful piece of art

 

[Jacek56]

Thanks, how so? could you elaborate..

I had spaghetti to hope increase PH, but due to small volume of algae this did not work. Also spaghetti acted like settler filter. I had to shake them, cut them so after couple of months I got rid of them.

Hey Jace,

Congrats on achieving the SPS summit....and without the almighty skimmer!

Was hoping you could answer a couple of questions regarding the sanded and filtration. 1. Looks like you were bare bottom and then transitioned at some point to a shallow sand bed. Was there a reason why you put the sand in and did you see any benefit? Or, was it purely for aesthetics? 2. Do you find the filter pads easier than socks? Just curious as to why you chose the filter pads vs. the socks. Thanks for answering

Gorgeous tank....thanks so much for sharing!

Cheers,
Jared

With protein skimmer I had difficulty to maintain sand in clean condition. I added shallow sand bed like this

This move increased biology stability in the tank. After couple of weeks when I blast sand, it was full of small white flakes, free food for corals :)

Filter pads are much, much cheaper then socks. You don’t have to clean them just replace them.

 

[ramona]

Lacek, awesome tank;
on 1st page you said you have two stage mechanical filtration in overflow box. Can you please detail on filtration/water flow? Also, what salt do you use?

 

[Seminoles76]

Thanks for the reply Jace and thanks again for sharing your setup.

 

[ramona]

Lacek, awesome tank;
on 1st page you said you have two stage mechanical filtration in overflow box. Can you please detail on filtration/water flow? Also, what salt do you use?

Jacek, sorry for misspelling your name.

 

[Jacek56]

Jacek, sorry for misspelling your name.

Untitled by Jacek Kowalski, on Flickr
Untitled by Jacek Kowalski, on Flickr
Untitled by Jacek Kowalski, on Flickr
Hope these pictures explain everything.

I use NĒOMARINE REEF SALT, I do WC weekly 80ltr.

Will you help me with ID of this one, please?

Untitled by Jacek Kowalski, on Flickr
Untitled by Jacek Kowalski, on Flickr
Untitled by Jacek Kowalski, on Flickr

 

[ramona]

Thank you. The pictures are very helpful.
Sorry, I can't help with ID that coral, hoping someone will chime in.

 

[adtravels]

looks like a tort?

 

[joseserrano]

When you say diy datstaco ca reactor, can you please describe it more.

 

[Jacek56]

When you say diy datstaco ca reactor, can you please describe it more.

https://reefbuilders.com/2015/10/19/dastaco-automatic-calcium-reactor/
This article describes all details. From my experience you don’t need that fancy controller to run this kind reactor.
I got simple AWT to control CO2 like this one

and pump

Pump got control knob for flow control in this case to control the effluent water.

 

[Bayinaung]

Is it possible to do this with a much smaller tank, say 1/10th of your water volume?

 

[Jacek56]

Is it possible to do this with a much smaller tank, say 1/10th of your water volume?

Yes it is possible. :)

 

[joseserrano]

https://reefbuilders.com/2015/10/19/dastaco-automatic-calcium-reactor/
This article describes all details. From my experience you don’t need that fancy controller to run this kind reactor.
I got simple AWT to control CO2 like this one

and pump

Pump got control knob for flow control in this case to control the effluent water.

So are you able to evaluate CO2 levels with the instruments you posted?

 

[Jacek56]

So are you able to evaluate CO2 levels with the instruments you posted?

Yes.
Float sensor controls level of CO2 in the reactor, it works like AWT, instead water level is maintaining constant level of CO2 in the chamber. With the pump output I control the effluent water.

 

[joseserrano]

Yes.
Float sensor controls level of CO2 in the reactor, it works like AWT, instead water level is maintaining constant level of CO2 in the chamber. With the pump output I control the effluent water.

I would love to see/read more details about how you did this. This is the only real thing that would make me get a Datstaco.

 

[Jacek56]

Update time :)

Image 01.08.2018 at 18.41 by Jacek Kowalski, on Flickr
Image 01.08.2018 at 18.39 by Jacek Kowalski, on Flickr
Image 01.08.2018 at 19.01 by Jacek Kowalski, on Flickr
Image 01.08.2018 at 18.54 by Jacek Kowalski, on Flickr
Image 01.08.2018 at 17.56 by Jacek Kowalski, on Flickr

Image 29.07.2018 at 23.34 by Jacek Kowalski, on Flickr

Image 01.08.2018 at 16.57 by Jacek Kowalski, on Flickr

 

[bubbaque]

Beautiful corals. Tank looks to have some big corals.

 

[Jacek56]

Thank you @ bubbaque. I have big colonies but not so colorfull like yours. I must admit I’m big fan of your system.

Image 01.08.2018 at 19.10 by Jacek Kowalski, on Flickr

 

[TheSilentReefer]

Wow that’s seriously impressive, just cements my mind more with the descision, I need to swap from dosing to a reactor