Vlad’s 150

[Vlad990]

Hey all! Finally decided to sit down and actually start up my own thread. First? A little back story. Several years ago I got hooked on the hobby with a 55 long and several tanks bought/traded I landed my best deal yet. A 150 tall for $120 with stand and canopy. I was VERY slowly making progress and upgrading equipment. I had it up and running with decent enough success until the fateful coral that I didn’t QT brought in the cyano that would be my tanks downfall. After months of trying to get it under control, the tank ended up dying a sad death. After about 6 months of grieving I decided to clean the ever loving crap out of the tank and set it back up! Loose (ish) equipment list reused most of my equipment that’s been getting it done for 2years or so:
Pumps,
Ice cap 3k gyre
1 knock off koralia and 2 no name Chinese 2kish gph (wifey gave me the go ahead to buy wp40s when taxes come in!!)
Eheim 2500? Return pump
Aqua Excel ec-20 protein skimmer
Lights 2 Kessil a360 Tuna Blues
BRS carbon and GFO reactor
Sump will be full of my extra 100ish lbs of live rock, skimmer, return, and heaters until it’s aged to the point of getting fancier with reactors and dosers. Here’s a pic from tonight after cleaning the glass again/water addition and am down to only needing about 30 more gallons till I can start circulating and really start my cycle!!! And of course any suggestions from y’all would be greatly appreciated! I know enough to definitely be dangerous but learned long ago to greatfully take advice when its sent my way lol.

 

[Strawberry]

Hey all! Finally decided to sit down and actually start up my own thread. First? A little back story. Several years ago I got hooked on the hobby with a 55 long and several tanks bought/traded I landed my best deal yet. A 150 tall for $120 with stand and canopy. I was VERY slowly making progress and upgrading equipment. I had it up and running with decent enough success until the fateful coral that I didn’t QT brought in the cyano that would be my tanks downfall. After months of trying to get it under control, the tank ended up dying a sad death. After about 6 months of grieving I decided to clean the ever loving crap out of the tank and set it back up! Loose (ish) equipment list reused most of my equipment that’s been getting it done for 2years or so:
Pumps,
Ice cap 3k gyre
1 knock off koralia and 2 no name Chinese 2kish gph (wifey gave me the go ahead to buy wp40s when taxes come in!!)
Eheim 2500? Return pump
Aqua Excel ec-20 protein skimmer
Lights 2 Kessil a360 Tuna Blues
BRS carbon and GFO reactor
Sump will be full of my extra 100ish lbs of live rock, skimmer, return, and heaters until it’s aged to the point of getting fancier with reactors and dosers. Here’s a pic from tonight after cleaning the glass again/water addition and am down to only needing about 30 more gallons till I can start circulating and really start my cycle!!! And of course any suggestions from y’all would be greatly appreciated! I know enough to definitely be dangerous but learned long ago to greatfully take advice when its sent my way lol.

Man, your setup is like my dream setup lol. Eheim pumps are awesome and reliable as far as I have read, and I have a icecap gyro 1k on ny 29g biocube and I love it. It sounds like your equipment is on point! Build threads are a great way to stay involved in the community and I look forward to watching your tank grow! I’ve read really good reviews about Arc Reef brand coralline from Algae Barn, so maybe you could try it out and let me know how it works for you! Haha, it’s sweet that you got that setup for such a great price. I look forward to watching your tank develop. My advice? Make sure there’s no sneaky cyano down near the bottom of the glass around your sandbed. When I took the time to scrape those tiny spots out of my biocube, my cyano issues nearly went away!

 

[Vlad990]

Man, your setup is like my dream setup lol. Eheim pumps are awesome and reliable as far as I have read, and I have a icecap gyro 1k on ny 29g biocube and I love it. It sounds like your equipment is on point! Build threads are a great way to stay involved in the community and I look forward to watching your tank grow! I’ve read really good reviews about Arc Reef brand coralline from Algae Barn, so maybe you could try it out and let me know how it works for you! Haha, it’s sweet that you got that setup for such a great price. I look forward to watching your tank develop. My advice? Make sure there’s no sneaky cyano down near the bottom of the glass around your sandbed. When I took the time to scrape those tiny spots out of my biocube, my cyano issues nearly went away!

Thank you! Before I set it back up I put about 600 gals worth of cyano killer and just let it circulate for about 8 hours lol. Definitely gonna be keeping an eye on it though. My silicon sucks a bit at the edges lol

 

[Strawberry]

Thank you! Before I set it back up I put about 600 gals worth of cyano killer and just let it circulate for about 8 hours lol. Definitely gonna be keeping an eye on it though. My silicon sucks a bit at the edges lol

If you’re worried about its integrity, now would be the best time to reseal it. lol not 2 years down the road with 2k worth of livestock to spring a leak.

 

[Vlad990]

If you’re worried about its integrity, now would be the best time to reseal it. lol not 2 years down the road with 2k worth of livestock to spring a leak.

Oh no, it’s sealed pretty awesome, just looks like crap.

 

[Strawberry]

Oh no, it’s sealed pretty awesome, just looks like crap.

You’ll never even notice it when your livestock takes off!

 

[Vlad990]

You’ll never even notice it when your livestock takes off!

Very good point

 

[Strawberry]

Very good point

How’s the tank this morning, man? I know if you’re anything like me you hover around that thing like a mother hen every time you have to leave the house

 

[Strawberry]

Here’s a sad little pic of my sun coral that is currently in recovery from my wife’s well intended fresh water and iodine soak

 

[Vlad990]

Doing well so far strawberry! Just got home from work and last min Xmas shopping lol. I worry about it a bit while I’m gone but being an electrician I’m out of the house quite a bit so I get updates from wifey when she’s home lol. Oh no!! Hopefully it survives! At least she was trying to help...? Lol mine is scared of messing up the tank so she lets me do my thing and reaps the benefits of pretties to look at lol XD. Had to give the tank a snorkel last night cause of how much louder it gurgles with cleaning the pump I’ve got ALL my flow back lol. Pretty pleased with my redneck engineering lol

 

[Strawberry]

Doing well so far strawberry! Just got home from work and last min Xmas shopping lol. I worry about it a bit while I’m gone but being an electrician I’m out of the house quite a bit so I get updates from wifey when she’s home lol. Oh no!! Hopefully it survives! At least she was trying to help...? Lol mine is scared of messing up the tank so she lets me do my thing and reaps the benefits of pretties to look at lol XD. Had to give the tank a snorkel last night cause of how much louder it gurgles with cleaning the pump I’ve got ALL my flow back lol. Pretty pleased with my redneck engineering lol

I am also a redneck engineer and work in industrial maintenance, myself! Haha, my wife won’t touch anything now If she’s interested in it, y’all should definitely work on it together!!

 

[Vlad990]

I am also a redneck engineer and work in industrial maintenance, myself! Haha, my wife won’t touch anything now If she’s interested in it, y’all should definitely work on it together!!

Right on! Lol she does as long as she has me there, won’t work on it by herself

 

[Strawberry]

Right on! Lol she does as long as she has me there, won’t work on it by herself

lol mine is the same way, but I have to beg her for help with water changes and pretty much everything else since she nearly killed my SPS corals. Heads up, they don’t like fresh water soaks

 

[Vlad990]

Lol I’d imagine not

 

[Vlad990]

Update time! First and foremost, one of my Kessil 360we tuna blues took a dump and is out of warranty but I’m guessing they’re feeling generous cause they’re warrantying it!! And my ammonia has spiked to .5ppm! Making some progress

 

[Strawberry]

Update time! First and foremost, one of my Kessil 360we tuna blues took a dump and is out of warranty but I’m guessing they’re feeling generous cause they’re warrantying it!! And my ammonia has spiked to .5ppm! Making some progress

So glad they are honoring their warranty for you! Keep us updated on the kessil performance

 

[Vlad990]

So glad they are honoring their warranty for you! Keep us updated on the kessil performance

Honestly, I love them! I only have two at the moment and saw decentgrowth before the crash. Gonna get another one to up the anti a bit, But I’ve had them almost 3 years and this was the first problem I’ve had with them. Coincidentally it wasn’t till I interrupted the schedule for the new cycle I lost color change on the bad one lol

 

[Vlad990]

Hey all, finally got back into posting and taking care of the tank. Scored a 29g biocube so I’ve got that and my 150 now! Found why I’ve had so much trouble with my nitrites and nitrates which I think was aiding my cyano blooms in the 150. Like a doofus I didn’t properly research Brute trash cans and come to find out the grey ones leach. Whodve thunk it? Lol. In the process of doing major water changes to both tanks with my shiny new feed tanks I got from tractor supply. Will post update pics soon

 

[Jeffcb]

Hey all, finally got back into posting and taking care of the tank. Scored a 29g biocube so I’ve got that and my 150 now! Found why I’ve had so much trouble with my nitrites and nitrates which I think was aiding my cyano blooms in the 150. Like a doofus I didn’t properly research Brute trash cans and come to find out the grey ones leach. Whodve thunk it? Lol. In the process of doing major water changes to both tanks with my shiny new feed tanks I got from tractor supply. Will post update pics soon

I have been using Grey brutes for a while just to move water to the tanks. I did have some cyano. What do the grey ones leach?

 

[Vlad990]

I tested pure ro from my grey brute and both nitrite and nitrate were so far off the scales they were a burgundy color. I’ve got space constraints so I store my water in a brute and pump to my tanks. I bought the white feed n seed brutes today and so far so good! I found that any container polyethylene based with a coating for food saftey or potable water is good with no issue. My problem might also be because I store it in my laundry which is not hvac controlled and I store it, yours may not have enough contact to leach jeff

I have been using Grey brutes for a while just to move water to the tanks. I did have some cyano. What do the grey ones leach?