StikHeds 122 gal rimless w/ custom sump

[StikHedRon]

So after I got home from vacation my tank is still not through with its cycle yet. The Trites are still about .5ppm to 1ppm and the trates are about 20ppm. Hopefully one more week

 

[squirrelieygrrrl]

Well the main plan is All Sps, but I'm thinking of adding some Acanthophilia in there also. For fish, My plan is Anthias, Dart fish, Butterfly fish and a few other small fish. All fish as docile as possible, my last tank had some aggressive fish and it was a pain so this time around I don't want any aggressive fish.

Nice plan! Can't wait for it all to come together.

 

[StikHedRon]

Well Last night I decided to test Nitrite for the heck of it, and there was no trace of it. So I added 2ppm of Ammonia to the tank last night to see if it would process it and today on lunch I tested the tank again and there was no trace of ammonia or nitrites in the tank. Saweeeettt! So today I orderd all the zeovit stuff I will be using at the beginning (dang that stuff is expensive) and I will begin the 14 day cycle here as soon as I get it! I can't wait to start adding some creatures to this tank. I've been looking at a dark tank sitting in my living room for 4 weeks now and I'm getting that itch to get it goin!

 

[StikHedRon]

Today is the day I am going to start my Zeovit Cycle, my total water volume is about 125 gal, so I added 2.25lbs of stones since 1L=2lbs. I have adjusted the flow through my reactor to be in the middle of min and max at 90 gph. Minimum wold be 75gph and max would be 120gph. So I felt that right in the middle would be a safe bet. I have also calculated all my initial doses and Zeobak was 25ml, Zeostart was 50ml and SpongePower was 15ml. Now I won't dose anything on Sunday or Monday and resume dosing on Tuesday. I will also be pumping the reactor 2x a day everyday. I have automated my Zeostart doses by diluting my solution 1:19, I added 50ml of Start to 950ml of RODI water to make a 1L bottle of solution, I have connected this to my dosing pump and will dose 20ml 2x a day everyday.

 

[FireEMT]

Today is the day I am going to start my Zeovit Cycle, my total water volume is about 125 gal, so I added 2.25lbs of stones since 1L=2lbs. I have adjusted the flow through my reactor to be in the middle of min and max at 90 gph. Minimum wold be 75gph and max would be 120gph. So I felt that right in the middle would be a safe bet. I have also calculated all my initial doses and Zeobak was 25ml, Zeostart was 50ml and SpongePower was 15ml. Now I won't dose anything on Sunday or Monday and resume dosing on Tuesday. I will also be pumping the reactor 2x a day everyday. I have automated my Zeostart doses by diluting my solution 1:19, I added 50ml of Start to 950ml of RODI water to make a 1L bottle of solution, I have connected this to my dosing pump and will dose 20ml 2x a day everyday.

The tank is looking great and its good to see that you've got things started. I'm sure it was hard waiting everything out. Now that you are dosing, what do you think of the GHL doser. I really am starting to lean that way because I'm looking for something with 4 pumps and good quality. I would do the DOS by neptune but its only 2 pumps and the unit is huge. I am a Apple guy so have you set up the GHL on an apple OS? Can't wait to see whats next.

 

[StikHedRon]

Thanks for the kind words, on the GHL doser, I must say now that it's connected and running I really love this thing. Did you happen to read my review of it earlier on in the thread? When I first bought it and tried setting it up, I thought I made a big mistake because it was such a pain. There are no instructions on how to connect it so I was trying to fish through threads where others were installing it and using that info to connect mine. I used a PC to install the Doser to the network and I run my Control center on the pc if I ever have to connect via USB. But I run the apps of IOS devices and you can pretty much do everything on the apps. The biggest issue was when you initially connect the device to the computer via usb, you have to locate what COM it is using in the device manager, insert COM X when adding a new device in the control center. Also make sure when selecting a static IP address for the device you use a higher number so that another device on your network don't steal that IP address and take precedence over your doser. This just happened to me and I had to go in and re-add it to the network, this time I selected 10.0.1.200 before I had 10.0.1.10 and something else took over that address and I couldn't connect via app anymore. But now that it's all setup and going I love this thing! Especially having 4 pumps it's really not that bad of a price either!

 

[StikHedRon]

The tank is looking great and its good to see that you've got things started. I'm sure it was hard waiting everything out. Now that you are dosing, what do you think of the GHL doser. I really am starting to lean that way because I'm looking for something with 4 pumps and good quality. I would do the DOS by neptune but its only 2 pumps and the unit is huge. I am a Apple guy so have you set up the GHL on an apple OS? Can't wait to see whats next.

I forgot to tag your quote in my response I just posted.

 

[StikHedRon]

During the 4th of July break, Aqua Cave had a 10% sale on Coral Vue, so guess what happened. I took the plunge and bought my return pump and skimmer, one bummer though..... The skimmer is on back order till August . Of well, I won't be ready for it by then anyways. But on July 9th the return pump showed up!!!

Well I figured I would do a little review of this pump while I'm on here this morning. First off this is an Amazing pump, I use it strictly as a return pump so no manifold for me. I currently run the pump on it's highest setting and I can't hear if it's running. When I shut the tank down for maintenance or feed mode, I honestly have to watch my return lines in the tank to know it turned on. It will start up at a very slow pace and slowly build up to max flow. Dead silent and produces a great turnover rate in my tank. I would highly recommend this pump to anyone that is looking for a quality pump, that has a great warranty and is by a reputable manufacturer and that is super quiet!

 

[squirrelieygrrrl]

I really like mine too, no complaints. I do wish the settings for flow had a gph rating on the controller, but other than that I absolutely agree with you.

 

[StikHedRon]

I really like mine too, no complaints. I do wish the settings for flow had a gph rating on the controller, but other than that I absolutely agree with you.

Yeah, that would be nice. You really have no clue as to how much flow any of the settings are producing

 

[StikHedRon]

So I decided that my current bulb layout just wasn't producing enough par for my liking. So I swapped out my Ultrawide UV bulbs, moved my Crystal UV bulbs to their spot and added in Two Crystal Blue bulbs to the fixture. So here is the new layout. I believe I should get a 150 par bump with the 2 added Blue bulbs, since you can see with 4 uv bulbs I was getting 74ish par then when the blues kicked on I was getting 300. So.... I would say 250 would be the increase! I will let these burn in a bit and then take some readings.

 

[StikHedRon]

Here is a visual image of the bulb layout to channel. Channel 4 comes on first, then Channel 2, then Channel 1 with Channel 3 coming on last.

 

[StikHedRon]

Well I would just like to add a little update to the thread. So far the tank has been running great, I'm really like zeovit so far, I just did my first stone change last week. The whole process seems pretty easy, but I do have a daily planner that I right down everything I have to do so it keeps me in check. I am currently dosing Zeobak, Zeostart, Spongepower, A-Balance, ZeoZyme and CoralSnow at the moment. Once the coral start growing I'll add a few more supplements as needed but at the moment everything is running nice and the corals look great. Here are just a few pics from my cellphone, I still haven't purchased a decent camera but have been looking at the Nikon D3300 pretty hard lately.

Couple pics of my clowns kicking it!

Heres is an image of my DFS Pink Panther loving the new tank, polyps out and color is amazing. Crappy cell phone pic, but it's a beautiful deep pink color.

Look at this thing Glow!!! This was taken under only my UV T5 bulbs.

 

[afoifa]

Well I would just like to add a little update to the thread. So far the tank has been running great, I'm really like zeovit so far, I just did my first stone change last week. The whole process seems pretty easy, but I do have a daily planner that I right down everything I have to do so it keeps me in check. I am currently dosing Zeobak, Zeostart, Spongepower, A-Balance, ZeoZyme and CoralSnow at the moment. Once the coral start growing I'll add a few more supplements as needed but at the moment everything is running nice and the corals look great. Here are just a few pics from my cellphone, I still haven't purchased a decent camera but have been looking at the Nikon D3300 pretty hard lately.

Couple pics of my clowns kicking it!

Heres is an image of my DFS Pink Panther loving the new tank, polyps out and color is amazing. Crappy cell phone pic, but it's a beautiful deep pink color.

Look at this thing Glow!!! This was taken under only my UV T5 bulbs.

Looking awesome. Been following awhile now. The attention to detail is amazing. Im doing a big aggressive tank with lions and puffers but before that i have a nano 30g which i want for sps etc . your thread so far has made me not want to skimp on equipment and do things right

Took a long time to finally get it all filled up! Then tragedy struck and I had a small leak in my return line. Added some calk and good to go! Tank has been running with just fresh water since lastnight about 8pm! Everything seems to be running smoothly, the RODC 550 return pump is so quiet! I seriously can't hear the thing run. When it turns on, it starts at a very slow flow and gradually speeds up to the setting you have it set at. I love this return pump so far and if your looking for a quiet pump, this is the way to go!

Very sweet build how much do you think the total cost was give us a ball park figure

Very nice way to burn your dinero,So I guess you can buy a 1000 camera and brag on your setup LOL

Uncool, dude. If you don't have anything constructive to say, move on. No one wants to hear your whining.

Great setup! I spent the same amount as you on the setup of my 93gal cube and 30 gal frag tank. The only way to do it is go all the way. You get what you pay for in this hobby. I'll be following your build. Can't wait to see your stick selection and grow in.

 

[StikHedRon]

Well I have done my 2nd water change since starting the zeovit. Everything seems to be running decent and looking pretty good. I am currently trying to get my ph up. It was running as low as 7.3 so I ran my air tube outside but it was at 7.5 this morning. I am considering adding a CO2 scrubber to the intake line to see if that helps any.

 

[StikHedRon]

Here is a nice pic of the tank!

 

[StikHedRon]

As of lately I've been having some algae issues, So I have ordered a Halloween urchin and a couple Mexican Turbo Snails to see if they can take care of this little issue I'm having.



Also decided to take the plunge and add a booster pump to my Ro unit and a second DI stage!
I can now fill a 5 gallon bucket in about an hour! Before it was 2-2.5 hrs

 

[StikHedRon]

Well I have decided to switch up my bulbs, I don't think I'm getting enough par for my sps to be happy so I have went ahead and purchased KZ bulbs, 4 super Blue, 5 New Gen and 1 fiji purple. The new Gen is a 14k bulb so I should get a very nice look out of this. We'll see what the par numbers tell me when I get them installed! More to come on layout after a bit.

 

[iiluisii]

Well I have decided to switch up my bulbs, I don't think I'm getting enough par for my sps to be happy so I have went ahead and purchased KZ bulbs, 4 super Blue, 5 New Gen and 1 fiji purple. The new Gen is a 14k bulb so I should get a very nice look out of this. We'll see what the par numbers tell me when I get them installed! More to come on layout after a bit.

What par numbers were you getting with the pacific sun bulbs

 

[iiluisii]

Also have you ever thought about doing a 1:1 ATI blue plus and ATI coral plus combo.