Susan's 125 gal re-reboot. 3rd Times the Charm

OP
OP
Susan Edwards

Susan Edwards

5000 Club Member
View Badges
Joined
Nov 28, 2016
Messages
5,462
Reaction score
7,003
Location
Tracy, California
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
I think still between viper and revive. I'm most concerned that I can use 1 controller for all of them. and I wish they allowed daisy chaining
 

fishguy242

Cronies..... INSERT BUILD THREAD BADGE HERE !!
View Badges
Joined
Jan 21, 2020
Messages
42,758
Reaction score
246,016
Location
Illinois
Rating - 100%
1   0   0
do the new vipars daisy? mars do i believe ,good lights also,just run #s lil higher,not sure on one remote new every year :rolleyes::)
 

fishguy242

Cronies..... INSERT BUILD THREAD BADGE HERE !!
View Badges
Joined
Jan 21, 2020
Messages
42,758
Reaction score
246,016
Location
Illinois
Rating - 100%
1   0   0
you know over all ,that tank is not in as bad as once thought ;)when you get a chance can you post some picks of sump and equipment:)
 
OP
OP
Susan Edwards

Susan Edwards

5000 Club Member
View Badges
Joined
Nov 28, 2016
Messages
5,462
Reaction score
7,003
Location
Tracy, California
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
you know over all ,that tank is not in as bad as once thought ;)when you get a chance can you post some picks of sump and equipment:)
Yeah, after I clean it lol's. My task tomorrow to start it ;). I was surprised to find most of the algae gone. Prob. as I haven't been dosing much... I am hopeful. It look better than I thought! Got my sand picked out. Will call in order tomorrow to see which of 2 they recommend. I'm going with 40 lb dry argonite special
 
OP
OP
Susan Edwards

Susan Edwards

5000 Club Member
View Badges
Joined
Nov 28, 2016
Messages
5,462
Reaction score
7,003
Location
Tracy, California
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
do the new vipars daisy? mars do i believe ,good lights also,just run #s lil higher,not sure on one remote new every year :rolleyes::)
Mars might be the only ones that daisy. But they did poorly on the BRS test
 
OP
OP
Susan Edwards

Susan Edwards

5000 Club Member
View Badges
Joined
Nov 28, 2016
Messages
5,462
Reaction score
7,003
Location
Tracy, California
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Today's show and tell, just for @fishguy242 I did a cleaning of sump. I didn't remove the bio cube. Changed the socks, removed all old media (carbon, purigen etc), and cleaned the inside and the sump. Wiped all the salt creep, did some algae removal from refugium and rinse noodles.

I also got the red sea 45 up and going. Leaky seals fixed. Will check salinity tomorrow. Filled with RO and salt water. Left head room to start adding live rock.

Ordered 2 bags of dry sand from BRS. We are moving forward.

Before
20200924_124907_resized_1.jpg
20200924_124913_resized_1.jpg
20200924_124925_resized_1.jpg
20200924_124936_resized_1.jpg
20200924_124943_resized_1.jpg


After
20200924_193349_resized_1.jpg


20200924_193353_resized_1.jpg


Bags in sump are all rubble, bio ceramic things etc.
20200924_185422_resized.jpg

Filled with water now. Ready for rocks
 
OP
OP
Susan Edwards

Susan Edwards

5000 Club Member
View Badges
Joined
Nov 28, 2016
Messages
5,462
Reaction score
7,003
Location
Tracy, California
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
I held my breath and did my parameters tonight. Haven't done them since April...

Alk 8.1
CA 440-460 Had dosed a few hours before
Mg 1350
PO4 1.43 Lowest it has been in a long time
NO3 Ugh. Off charts still...

But over all, with my just dump some alk and CA into the sump when I think of it, not too bad. I have been dosing a bit more often lately. Goal to get doser hooked up.
 

fishguy242

Cronies..... INSERT BUILD THREAD BADGE HERE !!
View Badges
Joined
Jan 21, 2020
Messages
42,758
Reaction score
246,016
Location
Illinois
Rating - 100%
1   0   0
hi,the big three are spot on..other two well...they have to come down;)
 
OP
OP
Susan Edwards

Susan Edwards

5000 Club Member
View Badges
Joined
Nov 28, 2016
Messages
5,462
Reaction score
7,003
Location
Tracy, California
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
hi,the big three are spot on..other two well...they have to come down;)
hopefully cleaning rocks and replacing sand will help in that regard. This tank has never had good no3. Po4 is better now
 
OP
OP
Susan Edwards

Susan Edwards

5000 Club Member
View Badges
Joined
Nov 28, 2016
Messages
5,462
Reaction score
7,003
Location
Tracy, California
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Another good productive day. With some hitches of course. Yesterday I had trouble with 3 heaters in my brute cans not working. I had unplugged them to save energy, esp. with rolling blackouts a few weeks ago, so the saltwater brute was cold. All day, couldn't get it heated. Then I smelled "burn". Took all heaters out. Sniffed, found the one and tossed it. felt the others. Still cold. Tossed. Stuck in a couple more. This morning, tank 88 degrees.... And the 45 gal was also too warm, esp. as I finished filling it with saltwater. Added more salt as I used some RO water.

So both the 45 and the brute are now at the correct salinity. Hope tomorrow or sunday to do a water change and try sucking some sand out.

Removed a lot of rock, removed more algae hidden. Rock in the 45. It's a bit warm at 81 but will come down. So progress. This weekend will mostly be outdoor garden planting: peas, lettuce ready to go into the ground but might work in evenings. Or wait till next week.

Next step. Remove sand in that 3rd of tank, scrub the rocks that won't come out--cemented and with lights as they are, too big to pull out--and put a powerhead on them to blow them out. Then to get an idea of what I want to do for that corner. I do want to hid the overflow yet have some "free" sand space for corals.

And who knows, when I'm done, I may set up the 45 as a bare bottom. Prob. use for QT, but not corals as I don't have much success in doing that. Seems to stress them to move them
20200925_201852_resized.jpg
20200925_201916_resized.jpg
 
OP
OP
Susan Edwards

Susan Edwards

5000 Club Member
View Badges
Joined
Nov 28, 2016
Messages
5,462
Reaction score
7,003
Location
Tracy, California
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
today wasn't as big a day as I'd hoped. 1st hubby, while using weed wacker knocked a rock into our sliding door. 1 pane of glass shattered... 700 bucks!!

While doing a water change, I tried to suck out sand. Hose too small, so kept getting stuck. Hubby brought in his air compressor hose and nozzle. That cleared the hose really well. too well! Had a big explosion of sand that went on wall, ceiling and side of tank... Luckily sand brushes off! So tomorrow, off to home depot for some hose. Need to find a better way to start a syphon if using a bigger hose.

Will wait a few days to try more sand removal, although the water change was only 20 gal, if that, as I got fed up with the sand! Meantime, I can blow off the one rock I'm not moving and brush it off. Also can use my big tweezers or tongs to remove dead shells and some frag plugs. lots of small stuff I can do.

I did another parameter now that I've removed a lot of rock. Alk still good at 8.3. PO4 down to .91 and no3 still in outer limits... But hopeful this will all help. This will be a process!

Have a 40 gal brute with saltwater, 2 20 gal of ro water, and 8-10 jugs of water made. Tomorrow, mostly outside work.
 
OP
OP
Susan Edwards

Susan Edwards

5000 Club Member
View Badges
Joined
Nov 28, 2016
Messages
5,462
Reaction score
7,003
Location
Tracy, California
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Something else strange today. Couple years ago, I ordered 6 lemon chromis. Instead of 6 yellowish fish, I got 6 silvery blue fish with dark bars on some of them. Staghorn damsels. LA credited me, but then I was stuck with 6 fish I didn't want! They've gotten pretty big in the meantime. Tonight I noticed for the first time, 4 of them are showing yellow. 1 still has bars, and 1 looks even different than just bars. almost bars in both directions. So strange.

I'll post in the fish section too to see what others think. They have never had any yellow in them. looked blue-silvery like blue-green chromis. I'd love to know why they are changing now

1st 2 pics how they've been although this one has a bit of yellow. 2 still do not. Next pics show the yellow.
20200926_191728_resized.jpg

20200926_191532_001_resized.jpg


20200926_191535_resized.jpg
20200926_191634_resized.jpg
20200926_191541_resized.jpg
 
Last edited:
OP
OP
Susan Edwards

Susan Edwards

5000 Club Member
View Badges
Joined
Nov 28, 2016
Messages
5,462
Reaction score
7,003
Location
Tracy, California
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Not much done today except admiring my tank and feeling the love once again! Everything appears happy!
A trip to home depot to get about 10' of 1" hose to suck out sand. Hubby got some pvc stuff to hook up my syphon bulb lol's. As I plan to start or try, tomorrow, I'll have to use tape to go from 1" down to the size I have for the hose to the bulb. Also picked up some parts for the manifold so I can do fast water changes when I don't need to vacuum sand.

Working right now on redoing my spreadsheet for tracking parameters (gives colors for low, correct or high), and updating fish and coral log. Got the doser out and ready to get it going. Then will get my calendar updated with scheduled tasks.

Going to order a shop vac so I can vacuum out the sump and pump area. Need to order some test kits supplies as well.
 

fishguy242

Cronies..... INSERT BUILD THREAD BADGE HERE !!
View Badges
Joined
Jan 21, 2020
Messages
42,758
Reaction score
246,016
Location
Illinois
Rating - 100%
1   0   0
that's good to hear,no collateral damage done today ;) except pocketbook:)lights ?which way you leaning ,or still up in air?
 
OP
OP
Susan Edwards

Susan Edwards

5000 Club Member
View Badges
Joined
Nov 28, 2016
Messages
5,462
Reaction score
7,003
Location
Tracy, California
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
that's good to hear,no collateral damage done today ;) except pocketbook:)lights ?which way you leaning ,or still up in air?
Lol's. No more broken sliders. Glass guy comes Monday. Today. So on that light thread, someone said the ocean revive was disolved. On their website, any link you click for info or contact takes you to a garbled page, so I'm assuming they are not in business but selling stock through vendors maybe? If there is no support, it seems chancy. So right now, leaning with the vipers. Just have to decide
3 165w
2 300w
or do I go overkill and get either 3 300w or 2 165's and 1 300w. when my hubby does the canopy, I don't want to have to redo, so want to be sure I get what I need.

I suspect 3 165's or 2 300's should be enough. I'll be ordering end of this week
 

fishguy242

Cronies..... INSERT BUILD THREAD BADGE HERE !!
View Badges
Joined
Jan 21, 2020
Messages
42,758
Reaction score
246,016
Location
Illinois
Rating - 100%
1   0   0
:) 3 165's more than enough,want them 12-14" above water if hanging in canopy ,need min 4" above,hubby can rim mount to canopy ,"sitting on top " 16" total height of canopy,2"lip covering trim,puts lights at 14",i'll draw that up too if needed ,same w canopy :rolleyes:as promised,been busy here will try to sneak that in tomorrow;)
 
OP
OP
Susan Edwards

Susan Edwards

5000 Club Member
View Badges
Joined
Nov 28, 2016
Messages
5,462
Reaction score
7,003
Location
Tracy, California
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
So some sand removed, 3 rocks that I'm leaving in that area are blown off and scrubbed in tank and put back. Another rock added next to them. Need to blow off and scrub but it has rhodactis growing on it so have to be careful. Will try to add an "arch type piece of rock to bridge that rock to the corner foundation. Trying to also leave enough swim room for the open swimmers and create/keep tunnels for swim throughs.

The 1 inch hose worked great. Too great as yes, it took sand out, but did the fastest water change in history! Need a bit more control so I can work fast like a "suction" tube on end of hose as the hose is hard to control and is out of the sand a lot and therefore sucks the water!

Ordered a 9 gal shop vac. for dedicated aquarium use. Esp. sump area. Could use that for fast sand suck ups. Quick flip on and off! Need a net to catch any critters though. The nice vacs now have drain outlets on bottom.

Pic of my mandarin. I get pods every month. When all rock and sump rock done, I'll order a huge amt to really seed the tank. I was glad to finally see him as I had no idea if he was still with me.

20200928_203118_resized.jpg


20200928_203130_resized.jpg

This rock section is pretty cleaned off. There is space behind for flow. Used to have rocks leaning against overflow. The rock to the left has rhodactis mushrooms. Have had since 2017. I like the amt of sand bed exposed, and the swim throughs
20200928_203146_resized.jpg

I think this section will allow corals down low and up the front side and top.

20200928_203150_resized.jpg

Lots of room above rocks for swimmers, but I may put a rock bridging the 4 rocks and the mushroom rock to the side

Pic below shows how much water above. I'm thinking a nice interesting layer on top, but tryiing not to make it a wall, more terraced if I can for corals

20200928_203111_resized.jpg
 

fishguy242

Cronies..... INSERT BUILD THREAD BADGE HERE !!
View Badges
Joined
Jan 21, 2020
Messages
42,758
Reaction score
246,016
Location
Illinois
Rating - 100%
1   0   0
hi,careful,quick on /off ,prob gravity flow!! won't stop;)looking good!!cool found mandy:)
 

A worm with high fashion and practical utility: Have you ever kept feather dusters in your reef aquarium?

  • I currently have feather dusters in my tank.

    Votes: 69 37.5%
  • Not currently, but I have had feather dusters in my tank in the past.

    Votes: 62 33.7%
  • I have not had feather dusters, but I hope to in the future.

    Votes: 25 13.6%
  • I have no plans to have feather dusters in my tank.

    Votes: 28 15.2%
  • Other.

    Votes: 0 0.0%
Back
Top