Ted_C's 320 Build

[Ted_C]

I'm up to one year running on my large aquarium. Here's my update.

The tank has had a few nutrient issues since december (some food got dumped along with having some family watch the tank while I was out of town). Nitrates have been up and down between 2 and 25 PPM (its hard to quantify based on the Salifert tests and judging the color). Phosphates have also probably been an issue - currently measuring 0.06 PPM with the Hanna HI96713 Phosphate Low Range Portable Photometer but the vegetation in the tank tells another story. I had some sort of green cyano / green hair algae. A shortage of salt mix from my LFS due to weather issues also prevented me from keeping up with my weekly water changes.

I lost my copperband - looks like it had feeding issues. I had removed the nori feedings when the nutrient issues started and hadn't realized it was a main staple of it's diet - having never seen it eating the nori.

I've added a few new fish since. Three Banded Gobies that never come out unless it's feeding time. 6 Bartlett Anthias (real feisty fish) and a sunburst anthias. I also added 200 red legged mexican hermits that totally decimated the vegetation issues in the tank. They still have the rock work to clean off but they scrubbed the bare bottom in a couple of weeks.

New equipment: to combat the nutrient issues - I added reactors for rowaphos and lignite carbon. The input for the reactors is t'd off my re-circulation sump pump. I direct the output of the reactors back into the filter socks to reduce the chance of fines getting into the system. I'm currently changing out 250 grams of rowaphos every 2 weeks and 100 grams of lignite carbon every two weeks. The filter socks are still on a change every two days and a weekly water change occurs.

I've upped the feedings as well. I'm feeding a 1" x 1" square piece of LRS reef frenzy and a block of Hikari Mysis in the morning and evening. The auto-feeder is kicking off a few pellets at noon. The food is all gone within a minute of introduction s0 they are hungry fish.

Here's a quick video of the tank and a few pics. Loving the zoa garden I have developing on my bridge rock.

 

[jsker]

Looking good

 

[vic5hands]

Nice tank

 

[Ted_C]

here's some better pics with the lights fully on (LED at max 40% and all the T5's)

Some new frags:
WWC Purple Monster

WWC Widowmaker:

 

[Ted_C]

a new addition to the community in my 300 gallon: Blue Squamosa Clam. Big as a football!

 

[psidriven]

hi ted,

i'm helping a friend set up his calcfeeder and had some questions about connecting the co2 solenoid. i saw in your post you used ro lines. are these regular ro lines and do the fit the output of the needle valve with no problems? also, the fittings on my solenoid seem too tight to fit my ro lines. is that the case and i just need to force it in? lastly, how do you like the check valve? the only ones i found were water only, not air. sorry for the questions and appreciate any help you can provide.

https://www.johnguest.com/products/...ure-water/valves/check-valves-service-valves/

 

[Ted_C]

@psidriven sorry - I just saw this. yes - everything connecting to the calcfeeder / co2 is standard size ro tubing (1/4" i think). the connections to the CO2 are all airline tubing (flexible tubing though - not the hard plastic tubing.

I had actually taken out the check-valve (it's a check valve that came with another regulator I tried out. It's replaced with a bubble counter check valve instead.

 

[Ted_C]

A new addition to my 300 - a pax bellum C36 algae reactor. I wasn't expecting it to be this large:

The next challenge is to figure out how to get this plumbed into my system.

the orange circle is the only place I have to work with. everything else was so darn messed up (too many couplings and mistakes along the way). I doubt I have enough room to cut that pipe - two couplings with two 90's and hose to the reactor.

If I can't make that work - I have to replace all the plumbing and fittings down to the chiller.

Here's the reactor next to my 20# cylinder. I measured it and it should just barely fit behind the tank.

 

[psidriven]

@psidriven sorry - I just saw this. yes - everything connecting to the calcfeeder / co2 is standard size ro tubing (1/4" i think). the connections to the CO2 are all airline tubing (flexible tubing though - not the hard plastic tubing.

I had actually taken out the check-valve (it's a check valve that came with another regulator I tried out. It's replaced with a bubble counter check valve instead.

no problem, i appreciate the reply. stupid question, but is the ro tubing connected directly to the pro controller pump? i didn't think ro tubing would stay on the barbs of the peristaltic pump. also, what connector did you use to connect the CO2 flexible airline tubing to the guest fitting on the calc feeder? i ended up just attached a small section of ro tubing to the guest fitting and forcing the airline tubing onto the ro tubing. it works for now but not the best.

 

[Ted_C]

@psidriven maybe we have different sizes here in the US. The flexible airline tubing and the RO tubing are all the same size (0.25 inch I think). It's a very tight fit on the peristalic pump (the barbs fit inside the tubing). The gas CO2 connections go from 0.25 inch on the regulator side to the john guest fitting on the calcfeeder side.

 

[Ted_C]

Got the reactor installed over the weekend (6/22) - I must say - I'm seeing improvement already in the display tank (was having troubles with blue-green slime algae that seems to be abating).

The light out the top of this thing doesn't work too well in a darkened living room. I can cover the top with construction paper or towels (without them touching the fins) and am fine with that.

That's Blood on the wall - my blood. Those fins up top there are super sharp!

For those thinking about using the quick-disconnects hose barb fittings - dont waste your time. they always leak. I replaced them with regular threaded hose barb fittings and good old fashioned hard plumbing fittings.

A few other notes: The 3/4" street elbow fitting at the top leaks (even after replacing the quick disconnect fitting) between the lid and fitting. I tried sealing it up with rectoseal on the threads - same issue. I put some weldon 16 around the interface between fitting and lid (effectively melting the acrylic lid to the fitting) - it helped - but still have a drop or two a day escaping.

The calcium reactor injection port plumbing was all 1" and the reactor was 3/4" - I had to use a buttload of 3/4" to 1" threaded bushings to make everything work.

Lesson learned as well - if your looking to make the connection on top removable - you need a 4" 3/4" nipple. 3" is too short and you wont be able to tighten the union - although it appears to have been tightened (dumped about a gallon or two on the floor before I could get the pump turned off on that one...)

I shortened the connections for the water drain out to the garage laundry sink (the 4" black gasket cap there) so I can slide the reactor in and out for the eventual maintenance it will need.

And all of this work and moving the CO2 bottle around must have killed the JBJ Bubble counter that was on there. couldn't get a bit of gas to go through - the integrated check valve crapped out on me. waiting on replacement parts so I can get this hooked up correctly and working again.

 

[Ted_C]

Here's an update on this reactor.

Last month, I was pulling the reactor out of my setup to give it a good deep cleaning (2nd time since I've owned it - so about 10-11 months old). Got it drained and took it outside and the bottom fell off.

Luckily - this happened when cleaning and not while running. This isn't why I can't recommend Pax Bellum though - it's their horrible support with this entire experience.

Maybe I've been spoiled by dealing with LFS only or by dealing with Ecotech marine.

As soon as it happened - I contacted Pax Bellum via their facebook page / facebook messenger to show the problem with these same pics. I never elaborated about when it occured (cleaning versus a running tank) Pax Bellum asked how old the reactor was because they haven't used 3/4" fittings for over a year. in other cases of support directly to the manufacter - especially for something as catastrophic of an entire unit breaking like my pics show due to shoddy acrylic work - it's never a question on how old the product was.

Regardless, I found this thread and a few others to show I received the reactor in June of last year. This wasn't good enough proof for Pax Bellum. I had to go back to Unique Corals to have them look up and send my original invoice. Not a huge deal - but still proof that they wont stand behind their product based on age.

So Pax Bellum agreed to send a new reactor body on their dime. The problem is - they've upgraded all of their fittings to 1". So they asked if I needed a new lid. My Lid's alway's leaked around the PVC Fitting no matter what I tried to fix the problem and I did tell them this. No matter, they charged me $150 for the new lid (so not entirely on their own dime).

Never once was I asked about the health of the tank (did this cause the tank to crash) or if this flooded my living room or anything like that.

So I can't recommend Pax Bellum products due to the above.