afartindolphin
Community Member
- Joined
- May 31, 2018
- Messages
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- Reaction score
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"Get what you want the first time."
-A smart guy with lots of cash
Fall 2017 I had no idea what I wanted, because I had no idea what I was doing.
Here's what I ended up with a year later.
A FTS that looks like it came from the 90's. Tank is a SeaClear System II 50 gallon acrylic AIO I picked up secondhand(I am a certified Craigslist connessiuer as you will see). Doesn't seem so bad until you realize the majority of display area of the tank is only ~10" from front to back due the rear filtration area, and yet.. it's 20" tall. Compound that with standard acrylic style eurobracing which leaves me with a gap of about 6" wide to work with. As you can imagine doing anything at all inside the tank is a nightmare.
You can see some of my "innovative", some would say "revolutionary" DIY solutions(another recurring theme you will notice in this thread) such as a piece of cardboard as a light blocker and my threaded rod/square tube light mount.
Here's an above view.
More professional problem solving visible here such as the tube coming from a hole I drilled in the skimmer collection cup (Coralife Super Skimmer 65, emphasis on "Super" hence the need for an emergency overflow) that exits into my miniature refugium.
Corals grow up so this is good right? Another photo from last fall.
Some of the trials by fire I have so far experienced include expired test kits, refractometer losing calibration, ATO+Kalk failure, ostreopsis dinoflagellates, HOB skimmer overflow, GFO misuse, dead return pump the night before vacation, and a general misunderstanding of nutrients and the Big 3. I cut my reefing teeth on this system and am glad I didn't go any bigger or more complicated.
OK now let's go bigger and more complicated.
But first a final rundown of my current system, some eyecandy, and some teasers.
TLDR
Up Front
Tank: Seaclear System ii 50 gallon
Lights: 3x Kessil A360WE
2x Sunblaster T5HO(Ati BP/Act)
Flow: 2x Rossmont MX3000 + Waver
In the Back
Skimmer: Coralife Super Skimmer 65
Fuge: Chaeto with Marine Pure
ATO: Tiny Tunze that's on the fritz
Dosing: Jebao 4 Head
ESV Alk/Cal hourly, Acropower daily
Return: Dying unidentified pump through the 30 tiny holes of the System ii
Brain: Apex Classic
Important Numbers
Salinity: 35.5 PPT
Alkalinity: 7+-.1 Hannah
Calcium: 430 Salifert
Magnesium: 1375ish Salifert
Potassium: 380 Salifert
Nitrate: <.5 Salifert
Phosphate: .02-.04 Hannah ULR
Salt: Reef Crystals, last WC July 2018
Livestock
Fishies:
Yellow Coris Wrasse
1 lonely Percula
Royal Grammasshole
Coral Beauty
Pistol Shrimp doesn't need your love
Blue legged acrobats
"Hispanic" Turbos
Trochus Family
Cerith Squad
Coral:
Some Acropora
Stylophora
A single Pocillopora that is becoming mora
Seriatopora
Annoying Zoanthids
Frustrating Montipora
VERY upsetting cyphastrea
Shrooms
Duncan
Forgotten Trumpet Coral
Fallen Unreachable Hammer
Favia
Turbinaria
Topdown shows off the suntan
Spoiler Alert!
Looking for any advice on the upcoming tank transfer. Thanks for reading!!!
-A smart guy with lots of cash
Fall 2017 I had no idea what I wanted, because I had no idea what I was doing.
Here's what I ended up with a year later.
A FTS that looks like it came from the 90's. Tank is a SeaClear System II 50 gallon acrylic AIO I picked up secondhand(I am a certified Craigslist connessiuer as you will see). Doesn't seem so bad until you realize the majority of display area of the tank is only ~10" from front to back due the rear filtration area, and yet.. it's 20" tall. Compound that with standard acrylic style eurobracing which leaves me with a gap of about 6" wide to work with. As you can imagine doing anything at all inside the tank is a nightmare.
You can see some of my "innovative", some would say "revolutionary" DIY solutions(another recurring theme you will notice in this thread) such as a piece of cardboard as a light blocker and my threaded rod/square tube light mount.
Here's an above view.
More professional problem solving visible here such as the tube coming from a hole I drilled in the skimmer collection cup (Coralife Super Skimmer 65, emphasis on "Super" hence the need for an emergency overflow) that exits into my miniature refugium.
Corals grow up so this is good right? Another photo from last fall.
Some of the trials by fire I have so far experienced include expired test kits, refractometer losing calibration, ATO+Kalk failure, ostreopsis dinoflagellates, HOB skimmer overflow, GFO misuse, dead return pump the night before vacation, and a general misunderstanding of nutrients and the Big 3. I cut my reefing teeth on this system and am glad I didn't go any bigger or more complicated.
OK now let's go bigger and more complicated.
But first a final rundown of my current system, some eyecandy, and some teasers.
TLDR
Up Front
Tank: Seaclear System ii 50 gallon
Lights: 3x Kessil A360WE
2x Sunblaster T5HO(Ati BP/Act)
Flow: 2x Rossmont MX3000 + Waver
In the Back
Skimmer: Coralife Super Skimmer 65
Fuge: Chaeto with Marine Pure
ATO: Tiny Tunze that's on the fritz
Dosing: Jebao 4 Head
ESV Alk/Cal hourly, Acropower daily
Return: Dying unidentified pump through the 30 tiny holes of the System ii
Brain: Apex Classic
Important Numbers
Salinity: 35.5 PPT
Alkalinity: 7+-.1 Hannah
Calcium: 430 Salifert
Magnesium: 1375ish Salifert
Potassium: 380 Salifert
Nitrate: <.5 Salifert
Phosphate: .02-.04 Hannah ULR
Salt: Reef Crystals, last WC July 2018
Livestock
Fishies:
Yellow Coris Wrasse
1 lonely Percula
Royal Grammasshole
Coral Beauty
Pistol Shrimp doesn't need your love
Blue legged acrobats
"Hispanic" Turbos
Trochus Family
Cerith Squad
Coral:
Some Acropora
Stylophora
A single Pocillopora that is becoming mora
Seriatopora
Annoying Zoanthids
Frustrating Montipora
VERY upsetting cyphastrea
Shrooms
Duncan
Forgotten Trumpet Coral
Fallen Unreachable Hammer
Favia
Turbinaria
Topdown shows off the suntan
Spoiler Alert!
Looking for any advice on the upcoming tank transfer. Thanks for reading!!!
