Time to Reboot My Tank

[ReefBum]

Step one of my tank reboot, the teardown of the old aquascape, is complete. Near the end of the video check out the dinos congregating at the top of the tank. A very bizarre scene!

 

[BlackLabelCorals]

Beautiful build quality with both tanks and everything you've done. Hope your reboot rids them forever for you, they are nasty. I had them as well, after trying everything I replaced my RODI unit's membranes and that did the trick.

Good luck!

 

[ReefBum]

Beautiful build quality with both tanks and everything you've done. Hope your reboot rids them forever for you, they are nasty. I had them as well, after trying everything I replaced my RODI unit's membranes and that did the trick.

Good luck!

I appreciate that....certainly looking forward to the next version.

 

[brandon429]

I read this thread and this is nice aseptic technique

With this level of reinvestment I'd use zero old materials in the new $$ setup, looks like that's being done

Fish are a vector 100% sure I see those are gone too, dinos are that evil agreed

For any tank with that much $$ I'd have a UV sterilizer sized for a pond on hand for any future arrests needed, I see that's mentioned as well

The cause of all Dino invasions is simple hitchhiking and unexpected vectoring, as in slime coats that slough off in the new tank

That means with new fish, the risk comes again, because nobody knows how to qt them until dinos are ineffective

all this gear looks like Ferrari of the reef mode, I'd drop a grand on a grossly oversized pond UV unit so big it couldn't even be hooked up to the tank in any normal fashion. It would be my nuke option for round 2 prep, the scourge of reefing.

 

[Tuffyyyyy]

ReefBum, this tank needs to get up and running ASAP! Watching the live stream of your tank is my favorite thing.

 

[ReefBum]

I read this thread and this is nice aseptic technique

With this level of reinvestment I'd use zero old materials in the new $$ setup, looks like that's being done

Fish are a vector 100% sure I see those are gone too, dinos are that evil agreed

For any tank with that much $$ I'd have a UV sterilizer sized for a pond on hand for any future arrests needed, I see that's mentioned as well

The cause of all Dino invasions is simple hitchhiking and unexpected vectoring, as in slime coats that slough off in the new tank

That means with new fish, the risk comes again, because nobody knows how to qt them until dinos are ineffective

all this gear looks like Ferrari of the reef mode, I'd drop a grand on a grossly oversized pond UV unit so big it couldn't even be hooked up to the tank in any normal fashion. It would be my nuke option for round 2 prep, the scourge of reefing.

I appreciate the input and I can't wait to get this back on track much sooner then later!

 

[ReefBum]

ReefBum, this tank needs to get up and running ASAP! Watching the live stream of your tank is my favorite thing.

Thanks! I am heading to Florida on Thursday so my hope is to cherry pick some nice live rock!

 

[ReefBum]

Ok, picked up some incredible Haitian live rock from a LFS in Orlando, Florida. In total I brought back 127 lbs and there were many large pieces as well as interesting shapes. I did have to pay a lot of money to Delta to put the rocks underneath the plane but the big benefit was the minimal amount of time the rocks were out of the water, just 13 hours from Orlando to my house in Vermont. The boxes were literally trashed during the two flights it took to go home but there was minimal breakage. TSA agents did leave behind their little inspection notice inside the boxes so I am just glad they gave it their blessing :)

Here is a video of my journey.

 

[ReefBum]

One of the other things I will be changing up is how I supplement calcium and alkalinity. I am going back to my roots and using a doser to dose two part instead of using a calcium reactor. I like the fact that I can do more precise dosing and also have the capability to dose other things such as trace elements. Additionally, it will be a bonus to have less C02 in the system and not needing kalk to boost my pH. Boy, the dosers they make today are sure a lot better then what I used 20 years ago :)

Just picked up this GHL Doser.

 

[oneilwiz]

Sweet on that Doser, I picked up one for my rebuild I am impressed compared to the DOS which I returned .

 

[ReefBum]

Ok, time for an update. I had my Haitian live rock in a 100 gallon rubbermaid tub for a couple of weeks with a heater and pumps to make sure it was totally cured and ready for my display. A few days ago I added it in and here is the final version of what I came up with.

What I like about this rock are it's interesting shapes and ledges. The pieces I cherry picked were mostly large and they locked in pretty good when I did the scape so it is very secure (there was no need to use mortar, zip ties or acrylic rods).

Anyway, here is a video providing a more detailed look at the new aquascape.

 

[ReefBum]

Sweet on that Doser, I picked up one for my rebuild I am impressed compared to the DOS which I returned .

Thanks. I am certainly looking forward to cranking it up!

 

[oneilwiz]

love the aquascape, are you planning on SPS dominated tank like before or you haven't decided yet?

 

[ReefBum]

love the aquascape, are you planning on SPS dominated tank like before or you haven't decided yet?

Thanks! Yes, a SPS dominated tank. The plan is to start with some LPS, see how those do and then add some starter SPS frags.

 

[Abhishek]

Keith , welcome back . It takes a very brace man to just restart everything from scratch !!
Those rocks look amazing for acros . It's gonna be a stunner !!
So , you plan on using the Deltec 1456 ?
Am currently running a Deltec 1351 on a total 90 gallon system with 70 gallon DT . Was contemplating of upgrading the skimmer as my bioload has increased considerably .
But your comments on proper size makes me worried to go bigger .

Regards,
Abhishek

 

[najer]

Looking very nice, love the rocks and scape. :)

 

[ReefBum]

Keith , welcome back . It takes a very brace man to just restart everything from scratch !!
Those rocks look amazing for acros . It's gonna be a stunner !!
So , you plan on using the Deltec 1456 ?
Am currently running a Deltec 1351 on a total 90 gallon system with 70 gallon DT . Was contemplating of upgrading the skimmer as my bioload has increased considerably .
But your comments on proper size makes me worried to go bigger .

Regards,
Abhishek

Thanks! Restarting just made the most sense to me and I am excited to get everything back up and running again. As for my original skimmer, it was too large for my system and was not skimming on a consistent basis so I went with the Deltec 1456 and it was working great before the reboot.

My recommendation is to talk directly to the skimmer manufacturer to make sure you have the right size for your system.

 

[ReefBum]

Looking very nice, love the rocks and scape. :)

Thanks! I am certainly happy with the final product :)

 

[MamaLovesHerReefTank]

Ok, time for an update. I had my Haitian live rock in a 100 gallon rubbermaid tub for a couple of weeks with a heater and pumps to make sure it was totally cured and ready for my display. A few days ago I added it in and here is the final version of what I came up with.

What I like about this rock are it's interesting shapes and ledges. The pieces I cherry picked were mostly large and they locked in pretty good when I did the scape so it is very secure (there was no need to use mortar, zip ties or acrylic rods).

Anyway, here is a video providing a more detailed look at the new aquascape.

 

[ReefBum]

Update time. Another thing I am going to do differently with this reboot is to use a Pax Bellum ARID algae reactor instead of GFO. GFO is certainly simple to use but it is chemical filtration and it can be harmful to corals if used too aggressively. It can also be a bit messy to swap out media and it can bind valuable trace elements in addition to phosphates.

The ARID is a more natural means to reduce phosphates and it will also reduce nitrates, making it possible to cut back or even eliminate water changes if enough trace elements are dosed (it is a great thing to use with the Triton system). You can even go skimmerless.

I also like the fact that I can control nutrient reduction by either lowering or raising the duration of the reactor's LEDs. You can also have better day/night pH stability when the light is run on a reverse light cycle versus the display. Yes, you do have to perform weekly or bi-weekly maintenance on the ARID, the upfront costs are high and you do have to dose nitrate and other trace elements. But to me all of the advantages seemed worth it. I did look into an algae reactor but one major builder told me I would have to continue using GFO on a limited basis.