Where_my_fishes_at? : A thread about upgrading to a 140 gallon display!

[Where_my_fishes_at?]

Hello everyone,

I am a long time lurker, and now finally trying to step into the light! This is my first big post, so if the formatting is awful I apologize and will get better, I promise.

My wife and I recently acquired an amazing tank for an ‘amazing’ deal. Seriously - I’m lucky, we are both into reefing - actually she was first, and now I am in deep too…

We are in the process of converting our two existing reef systems into a single larger display system. I’m hoping to touch on lots of stuff in this build thread, because we’ve done tons of research, made tons of mistakes in the past, and want to make sure that this ongoing process is our best effort yet (and hopefully the last one for awhile!). We would love constructive feedback.

First: Where we are coming from

I’ll touch on our two smaller reef tanks, as it is where the seeds of our new endeavor were planted. Also, it means I can post pictures of our favorite corals and fish right out of the gate...

TANK 1:

The ‘Futurama’ tank - everything is named for something in the series. We like the TV show, and have come to believe fish tanks are partially episodic - the characters/roles are there, every episode even if the voices change, and regardless of what happened last week. This tank has been running successfully for about a year in this particular iteration.

40 Gallon Breeder - custom drilled, with overflow from Glassholes. 1” drain, ¾” return.

• 2x Kessil A360W tuna Blue w/ spectral controller
• Ecotech MP10WQD (we originally had an MP40 running at 30ish percent, but the flow was far too great, and not varied enough - we switched to the MP10 and run it around 80 percent on Reef crest, which has been yielding good results.
• 20 gallon tall custom glass/plexi sump
• Reef Octopus 110INT skimmer
• Eheim Jaeger 150w heater
• Jebao DCT4000 return pump
• Custom chaeto reactor w/ TLF phosban 110 & grow LED strip (youtube special) powered by Jebao return through simple valve manifold
• Marine pure ceramic brick
• Chemipur blue
• Custom stainless stand, made by a talented and resourceful friend of ours.

Livestock:

• Lela - Phantom clownfish, we’ve had her from nano sized. She’s pretty tough (for a mutant).

• Frye - Our big dope, who we acquired early in our reefing addiction in a tank setup purchase. He was our big buddy until recently, when an unquarantined Blue-Spot Jawfish (Bender) brought on the Great Ickpocalypse. Mistake. We will never go without quarantine again. RIP Frye.
• The Professor - Adorned Wrasse, along with Lela, a survivor. He works hard and is the greatest.

• Zoidberg - Blue Coral banded shrimp. Really pretty when hungry, because that’s the only time he’s out.
• Yivo? - 3x Bubble-tip anemones, I dunno, but we really like anemones, and so does Lela.

• Cleanup crew including Scruffy the emerald crab, a fighting conch, and the usual suspects. Relatively low turn over. In fact, our Trokus snails have bred several times

Other star characters regretfully passed away during the Great Ickpocalypse too, but they’ll be back next episode, and better than ever.

Also, here's some coral:

TANK 2:

‘Bob’s Burger’ tank - Yeah, it’s like that. This was a pretty sweet setup from a now extinct company, we picked it up used because it was a reasonable footprint, could function as a frag tank or display - and it’s just plain cool. This functioned as our ‘secondary’ system for about 7 months, and it was an experience that really helped us work through plumbing a reef tank, dealing with evaporation(!), maintaining flow, temp., etc. We were fairly experimental with the livestock, and have had several types of fish to greater and lesser success - most being returned to the LFS.

30+ Gallon Waterfall frag display - dual 1” overflows, 1” return.

• Kessil A360W Tuna Blue w/ Spectral Controller
• Ecotech MP10W (running at 30ish% - The shallow depth is a challenge in this tank)
• 20ish gallon glass Sump, specifically made for the tank/stand with plenty of overflow capacity
• Reef Octopus 110SS Skimmer
• Eheim Jeager 150Watt Heater
• Jebao DCT4000 Return Pump
• Custom chaeto reactor w/ TLF phosban110 & grow LED strip (youtube special) powered by Jebao return through simple valve manifold.
• Marine pure ceramic brick

Livestock:

• Bob & Linda - paired phantom clownfish. Pleasant, good neighbors, no severe domestic disputes.

• Teddy, 6-line wrasse. Eats everything he’s supposed to, relatively new addition but welcome, as we had a pretty hefty spaghetti worm population that couldn’t quit petting all our coral frags.

• Nameless neon green BTA - it’s the couch.
• Cleanup Crew, blue leg hermits and assorted snails. Only losses were due to crab on snail housing aggression.

There aren’t a lot of picture of this setup since it’s already been broken down and the livestock has already been stuffed, somehow, into the 40 Breeder, with the exception of Bob and Linda & their BTA couch, who are being cared for by our tank buddies while we get this next thing up and running.
This tank setup will soon be for sale in the selling forum... just sayin'.

Next Post: Where we are going: The new setup.

 

[DeniseAndy]

Nice tanks and animals. Looking forward to seeing the 140g up and running. What are the dimensions of the 140g?

 

[Where_my_fishes_at?]

Nice tanks and animals. Looking forward to seeing the 140g up and running. What are the dimensions of the 140g?

Thanks! We love us some LPS and I'll try to post some more to keep things colorful while everything else is grey plastic and plywood... All the specs for the 140 are below:

THE NEW SETUP:

Futurama has some staying power, obviously!

140 Gallon Custom rimless tank

¾” Starphire front and side glass panels & ¾” temp glass rear panel. A full length chamber in the rear of the tank is separated from the main area by ½” black plexiglass with custom laser cut surface strainer. The double layered schedule 80 PVC bottom is drilled with (3) 1.5” dia. Drains, and (2) 1” return line holes. This beast measures 54”x30”x20”, and came with an amazing custom aluminum base frame by 80/20.

Needless to say, we love this thing, and intend to have it for the long haul. The plan is to build it up at a moderate pace (maybe a month or two for assembly and cycle), both for financial reasons and time constraints - surely that’s something many of us can identify with?

Once we are comfortable with the system’s physical integrity, we will do a hard move of all filter media, livestock, and the Kessil lighting associated with our other tanks. We are also planning on moving about 50 gallons of old water into the new system as well. This is going to be a long, difficult day of drip acclimating fish and inverts, cleaning unwanted sponges off rocks and generally cleaning and caring for all the coral. The idea (good or bad) is to obviously move som of our existing bacteria population into the new system, and dirty up the water. We’ve done hard moves (albeit smaller) in the past with some good success, but always have a ‘hangover’ of about a month - lots of balancing alk, nitrates, etc.

Here’s the anticipated equipment loadout:

Brain: Apex (2016) reef controller:

We’ve never used a reef controller before, but are perfectly capable of using cell phones, and other useful technology. We intend to go all in on this thing, running as much stuff as possible and maintaining connectivity if and when we travel out of town. I’d like to say cost is a concern, because it always is, but in reality, over a long enough time line, it can and will all be done ‘correctly’ - I’ll cover the planned modules and such below.

Lights: 3X Kessil A360WE Tuna Blue:

We love us some Kessil (we already own these three lights for our two older tanks). We are switching from gooseneck mounts or pendant mounts to the 90 degree mounting arms and extensions, which we need due to the tank width. Generally we are interested in minimizing the visible wires that we have now. Down the road, we are open to ‘upgrading’ or adding T5s, but for the time being it’s triple kessil A360 run on the apex.

Flow: 2x Maxpect Gyre XR250:

In the past we’ve used Ecotec Vortecs because there were no chords in the tank and they provided more than adequate control without needing a reef controller. Our only complaint is that their flow has been too linear for some of our Euphyllia, which is also likely a function of our small water volumes. That said, when we’ve tried to mount the mp40 to the new tank’s .75” glass, it simply has not stayed where we put it (even when removing the rubber sleeve). So, this necessitated us purchasing a new pump that we had not originally planned on… The gyres were intriguing to us, the cost is reasonable, and the results we’ve seen in stores and other tanks throughout California and our other travels has convinced us. We were also told that the default mode for Ecotec pumps is ‘off’ when disconnected from their wifi controller - obviously we can’t verify this, but it seems like another point against. We plan to run the Gyres vertically in the rear corners of the tank, and program them (eventually) to provide a shifting disruptive area in the tank. We are excited about these, even if we are leaving an old friend (ecotec) behind.

Sump: Trigger systems Triton44:

We are taking the plunge and going triton method. We like pretty much everything about it except that it all comes from one place, but that place seems legit and the results seem pretty real. This sump appealed to us because of it’s combination of aesthetic, price and size. Our plan is to run this tank without Triton for about 1 or 2 months after our hard move, allowing everything to adjust, before embarking on Triton. We will run chaeto right out of the gate.

Refugium lighting: Kessil H380:

This thing feels like the antihero to the Kessil A360… After lots of research, and multiple watchings of the BRS chaeto video, there wasn’t any question in our mind that this was the right light. We will run this beast on an inverted light cycle.

Skimmer: Reef Octopus Regal 150 Skimmer:

We are interested in a DC skimmer that is packed with control features. Our other two systems have run the Classic Reef Octo skimmers, which we’ve been very pleased with. The size of this particular skimmer is perfect for the triton44 sump chamber, and it seems to be just right for our fishy plans. Also, the ability to control this with the apex is extremely attractive. Initially, we will run our ol’ reliable octo100INT just in case we need it, but when we go Triton, the bigger skimmer will get put in. We have, of course, done our research, but can admit that there may be a better option out there for us: please feel free to chime in on this matter, we are interested!

Heater(s): 2x 400W Aquatop Titanium:

We were first interested in running Eheim True Temp heaters, but they were actually too large for the sump. So, off we go to a new brand. We decided on these for several reasons - durability, redundancy (independent thermostat), size, and price. The perils and plusses of running two are not lost on us, but the argument of ‘more things to go wrong’ vs ‘redundancy is your friend’ is real - feedback in this regard is extremely welcome!

Return Pump: Reef Octopus VarioS 8:

We started off thinking the Ecotec L1 was for us, but ended up purchasing the VarioS 8 because of it’s massive water movement potential, price point, and apex readiness. We intend to run a 3 valve manifold as well, but we have some concerns about siphoning variable amounts of GPH. We will likely add a second, small pump to run the manifold as a closed loop in the sump. The return pump and secondary will be controlled by the Apex unit. If anyone has feedback regarding the splitting of manifold from return vs. having it inline, we would appreciate it!

Dosing: 2x Apex DOR & DDR:

One for each of the 4 triton fluids. These will be installed when we transition to Triton.

Automated Top off: Apex ATK (maybe?):

We know we want an ATO, they all cost about the same - why not Apex? Not quite sure how large the reservoir is going to be, but we will know well before any critters are added to the tank. Our only question mark about this system is the pump itself.

Media: 2x Marine Pure Ceramic blocks:

These are the two blocks we have been using in our other systems. We really do not have serious concerns about the existing bacteria populations, and want all the surface area we can get right out of the gate. Once things get rolling these may very well be removed, but until transitioning to Triton takes place, they will be there.

More media: TLF 550 reactor:

Running carbon only. We have used 110s on our other systems, and they are fine. Nothing special here, just something to keep the potential chemical warfare in check.


We’ve been putting together the kit for a little while now, and pick pieces up as they opportunities present themselves (thanks R2R!). We’re on plumbing order number 3 as of now, so we’re probably very close to having everything we actually need! I hope to cover each of the equipment areas, apex setup/programming, and installations with more focused updates to this thread. I apologize if this post seems too long and wordy, I'm trying to set up the framework (as much for myself) so I can keep track of everything! Feedback is always welcome!


Next post: Plumbing!

 

[Where_my_fishes_at?]

Well, as with most things in life, things have not gone quite as planned. Between work and fish tank, work has been winning. None-the-less progress has been made, just not the kind that makes for great pictures and worth-while thread posts! Consider this a bump post with a set of major plumbing posts coming next week.

So, these are some pictures of the triton 44 drain chamber lid. The one that came with the sump is setup for (3) 1" dia. drain lines - we, of course, have (2) 1.5" dia. drain lines. Evem though they say the lid will not work with lines this large, it does. Simple hole saw did the job, and we put 1.5" slip bulkheads in.

I know, this isn't flashy, but this was the first step so each of the three drain lines could be properly routed and anchored - 2 to this plate, and emergency line to third chamber (next post).

In addition to this, we've been working on our electrical cabinet, tank base surround, and we got our first Apex! If all goes well, we will test for integrity and have it cycling by the end of Memorial day! So, yeah, lots of pictures and posts will happen in short succession!

Thanks for looking everyone.

Next post: Drain lines, return lines, and water!

 

[Where_my_fishes_at?]

The plumbing. Where to begin…

• Beananimal.

There will be (2) primary 1.5” drain lines (already drilled in tank), one functioning as a full siphon, and one durso with air valve to minimize noise. The siphon drain, being the lowest drain point in the tank, is setting the ultimate water height when the return pump is off - I’m paying the most attention to this as we set up the sump levels. The durso is a durso (a big durso) and we have a good amount of experience with these from our other tanks. As prescribed in the beananimal method, the siphon line has an adjustable valve, and the durso is a ‘straight’ shot with no valves and no flow restrictions. Each of these end in the first sump chamber, with bulkheads and pipe terminations below the sump water line.


There is also, of course, an emergency drain, which we are actually installing as a 1” drain because we had a handy 1.25” industrial bulkhead (and coinciding hole drilled) with 1” threaded reducer interface - it’s the emergency drain, so even if it’s smaller, it should never gets used. The emergency drain line dumps/falls directly into sump chamber three (with the skimmer) with auditory cues being the most important characteristic for us. If running this as a 1” line is a stupid idea, and we should stick with a 1.25” drain, somebody please tell us before we put water in the tank!


The return pump is a VarioS8 which outputs to a 1.25” line. We’ve chosen to run this with hardline to a double union check valve, to primary split, where it will immediately transition to (2) 1” lines. 1 line will run with higher pressure, almost immediately back to the tank, while the other hosts a double manifold. Once through the bulkheads, the return lines continue as 1” for a short run, then neck to ¾” lock line, flowing directly into the display from there.


The manifold consists of two 1” T-fittings, reducing to ¾” where we have installed simple threaded gate valves - we will control the water pressure there, transitioning directly to ½” push connect interfaces. From here we don’t really have a plan, but can use the manifold to run whatever we deem necessary, be it carbon, phosban, GFO or even a calcium reactor. We’ve also installed a FS100 Apex flow sensor following the manifold. We’d wanted to install two, but there just wasn’t enough real estate… best laid plans and all.

• 1600ish GPH in turnover so we can run a triton method system.

The display is 140 gallons, perhaps a little shy of that, and the sump is approximately 40 gallons. If we shoot for 1600, we should hit the mark, and even if we are a little shy, it should be no problem. We will not be relying on tritor for the first few (volatile) months, instead we’ll just get the chaeto up and running, dose 2-part and generally pay attention. We think about three months will be about right, and then we will transition with both feet.

• Schedule 80 lines and fittings

Everything is grey because I’m a masochist and didn’t really realize how expensive it was. Too late, and now we’ve got Darth Vader’s fish tank.

Here are some pictures of the plumbing in the stand. I need more light…



Also, this, to my great shame:



What’s wrong with this picture? Well, this was literally my last piece to glue on the return line. A long day of setting carefully measured pipe, thinking about sitting on that comfortable couch... Yup, set that clear union valve without the tightening nut. No one remembers you for the 99 successes, just the one screw up. Also, it’s a $40 mistake to go along with that sweet five day delay! While we wait for the new valve to arrive (since they don’t sell that piece on it’s own we get to buy a whole new union valve, I mean backup valve...) we will be working on our electrical cabinet and setting up our Apex. This could have, and was going to wait until the tank started it’s quick cycle, not any more.


Next Post: Apex and electrical - and more plumbing...

 

[Where_my_fishes_at?]

More plumbing...

Well, everything is assembled (correctly), and integrity has been checked for several days. At first, we had a few leaks - each bulkhead basically, which we attribute to the tank and stand torquing during positioning/shimming. Also, it's was very difficult to tighten the bulkhead connections (even finger tight) due to the holes in the supporting plywood being only slightly larger then the bulkhead nuts. We bought a sweet 'oil-can' wrench that did the trick, however, and now we are drip free for three days! So, now we begin the process of cycling and calibrating everything. Here are some photos of the sump plumbing, including a sweet integrated manifold and flow sensor.

Drains, with valve located on the primary siphon line, and the durso line behind it:

Manifold and flow sensor:

Long view of sump:

We've made progress on the electrical/apex cabinet as well, which will be our next update.
Thanks for checking this out!

 

[Where_my_fishes_at?]

Electrical update:

So, we converted this Ikea bathroom cabinet into our tank's beating heart. At first we thought we could get away with a smaller cabinet, but simply, we were wrong.

The top portion holds the new Apex (2016), the Varios controller (soon to be linked to the Apex, but we purchased the wrong cable the first time), the Gyre advanced controller (also would like to link this to the apex), ATK module, and an 8 outlet American DJ power strip (for Kessils and the Apex itself).

We anticipate adding a ReefOcto Regal skimmer, and potentially an autofeeding unit. In any case, there should be ample room for module expansion. Priority number 1 will be getting everything linked up to the Apex so the feeding modes can be more effective.

The lower chamber holds a 5 gallon reservoir for the ATK (complete with siphon break), which is about what the system is drinking on a weekly basis. Without a doubt we will be expanding the capacity, which may mean we will need a second cabinet on the opposite side of the tank. We anticipate this will be the space that holds our dosing reservoirs and 2x DOS modules - this is our 4-6 month plan. There is also just enough room to run a small calcium reactor if we choose to go in that direction.

At night the glass door lights up and looks awesome. If pictures of the back were available it would look like a mess - things are zip tied, but it's been a time crunch to get everything set up. We plan to go back in the next month or two and clean everything up.

So far everything has worked wonderfully, and our experience with the Apex has been great. Sure, learning the rules has been a challenge, but one that can be overcome with patience and attention. As mentioned earlier, the only thing we are craving is a more complete feeding mode, where the whole system calms with one click, instead of a button on our phone and two manual interfaces (gyre and varios). 1st world problems...

Next update: The cycle and and move (hint, it's already happened, but there hasn't been time to do updates)!

 

[Where_my_fishes_at?]

The cycle:

After leak checking and general observation of a week, we seeded the tank with bacteria and a ceramic brick from our existing system. A fried of ours also has a copepod culture, so we added a few gallons of them as well, to see if it might help the tank's population develop - time will tell. The cycle concluded in three days (two tests a day, with three tests a day after, just to verify), and we allowed the system to run for an additional four days because we wanted a weekend to do the hard stuff!

In one day we:
1. Broke down and cleaned our 40 gallon system, prepping for trades.
2. Acclimated our three fish (Lela, Professor, Teddy), the three anenomes and all the inverts.
3. cleaned all the corals and their plugs.
4. Scrubbed all the rocks, including hydrogen peroxide dipping those with an unsightly (and lethal) finger sponge.
5. Positioned all rocks in the new 140.
6. Placed all other frags on a temporary frag rack and/or rocks.
7. Modified 140 flow, and dialed in Gyre programming (it's still just good and not great).
8. Moved and set up Kessil lights.
9. Set up new quarantine tank.
10. Began acclimation and quarantine of our old friends Bob and Linda, as well as our new friends a yellow tank and a Maldives orange spotted blenny (pictures soon).

It was a long day.

Next post: Good looking pictures of stuff. General updates, gripes and retrospective.

 

[BootyPup]

I like the set up you have, and the choice themese. It'll be fun to see how the new tank develops!

 

[Where_my_fishes_at?]

Thank you for the reply, it's been an ordeal (a satisfying one) - our place is not huge and we've basically had no living room for two months while working through all the systems. It was hard in the end to break down our 40B, since everything has been looking so good recently... Once you get the coral behind starphire though, wow! Now we just play the water quality game! I promise there will be better pictures shortly!

 

[BootyPup]

Thank you for the reply, it's been an ordeal (a satisfying one) - our place is not huge and we've basically had no living room for two months while working through all the systems. It was hard in the end to break down our 40B, since everything has been looking so good recently... Once you get the coral behind starphire though, wow! Now we just play the water quality game! I promise there will be better pictures shortly!

It can be a real struggle trying to fit a larger tank in a small space, I am currently trying to get everything ready for when I have to make my upgrade. Small spaces suck!

 

[Where_my_fishes_at?]

These are the shots I was able to take last night - Taken with my Galaxy Camera, with pro 10k filter on. The colors are more vivid to the eye in this tank, and we swear the greens are popping more as well.

We still need to stick all these to the rocks, and we plan to have a chalice section, a Euphyllia section, montis, etc. The big stuff (scolys and lobos) will occupy the sand bed in the coves, while the bowers will get decent flow and sand bed as well.

We were definitely having issues with sand irritating our chalices near the bed line, so we super glued those edges (that's why they look gross right now) to help prevent more recession.

More pics to come (once we take them).

 

[Where_my_fishes_at?]

Tank Update:
We have stability, we have coral, we have fish and we have growth!
Woo! So, after the two month assembly ordeal, where we learned about Apex controllers, larger scale plumbing and generally expanding our understanding of the hobby, we have a pretty awesome setup. Everything without exception is showing good color and growth. We successfully navigated the introduction of a second set of fish (after acclimation and isolation):

Our new pair of fathead anthias (Kip and Amy)
We had cared for a single fathead awhile back and really miss that fish. When this pair became available at one of our LFS, we could not pass up the opportunity. They had been carefully acclimated and treated for over a month prior to being put out for sale - they came to us fearless and eating anything offered. Amazing fish, and we are really pleased with them.

We've also added a Davinci clown (Frye again) to pair with Lela. This is, of course, only half the story. Originially we thought (foolishly) that we might be able to sustain to pairs of clown fish in the 140. There's ample swimming space, many anemones and feeding won't be an issue... Of course, Lela would need a partner in crime, so we chose this guy as his partner had passed away at the LFS and we wanted a non-phantom fancy clown. Let's say the relationship is pretty good between these two now, but when the other pair of clowns (Hermese and Labarbara) were introduced, things did not go well. Decisions were made, and this is our only pair of clowns now. Note the green and purple anemone - it and all the others are doing fantastic. Anenomes, for better or worse, are kind of our informal measuring stick for how the tank is doing - happy nems, happy tank.

So it's been a month and a week of clean performance on the new setup. Week two looked a little sketchy, but we stabilized the measurables with 2-part and mag, which have been remarkably consistent for such a new system. Since then the addition of fish, consistent feeding and cheato really has things humming along. We anticipate adding a coral beauty (name tbd) to hopefully deal with some sponge we were not able to kill - yes, it will probably nibble on other things too, but it's a super pretty fish and is probably worth the risk! Pics soon. Once the quarantine tank is vacated we will be proceeding with a male Lamark's Angelfish as our 'shower'- it's been purchased, but there's only one room in our fish hotel...

A cleanup crew has been ordered to supplement our current skeleton crew (given the size of the tank) - this will be composed primarily of dwarf tiger hermits, Nassarius snails and Peppermint shrimp. Those should be added this weekend. After that we will begin to focus on long term sustainability by implementing Triton or, if availability does not allow, a calcium reactor and supplemental dosing.

For the first time in our reefing 'career' we feel like the decisions we are making actually produce the results we want. The system is basically doing exactly what we hoped, and the timeline is exactly as predicted. We've cut no corners and it feels awesome! For the next update we will hopefully have some happy tank shots (whole setup), show the other new fish (Zap and Bender), and continue to upgrade the Apex programming! Here's some Coral:

 

[Where_my_fishes_at?]

Quick update:
Nothing is without its flaws - this tank is no exception.

Despite standard quarantine procedures (thanks to the forums for a wealth of information, we did our research, really, we did), Ick has still made it into the system. We are tempted to blame our own rock, as we had Ick in the old system, but it could just as likely be our own failure to properly treat our new fish... That said, all the fish are eating, getting along brilliantly, and eat like ocean-pigs. A three pronged attack of UV filtration, garlic additives and a cleaner shrimp seems to be doing the trick. We will also be adding a cleaner wrasse (Nibbler) as soon as it's quarantine period has been completed.

Our Apex adventure continues as well. It is a wonderful system, but the probes appear to be extremely sensitive to air bubbles - as our refugium takes off the flow from chamber 2 (ref) to chamber 3 (probes, skimmer, heaters) changes as organics buildup/collect/migrate. This has caused the salinity sensor to be very inconsistent. It was rock solid for the first 6 weeks, and now swings unpredictably - the salinity has been manually verified each time it registered an extreme drop, and those measurements report no significant changes (as the Apex ATK is quite dependable). The next step is to clean and calibrate again.

None the less, we love our tank, the corals/inverts appear to be thriving and we are planning our next steps: new skimmer, integrated dosing and programming feed modes more proficiently.
Here are some more pictures:

Overall of the tank - we've moved stuff around a little since this picture, and the 'new' rock is coloring up nicely. We were thrilled to be featured on Kessil's twitter as well:
https://twitter.com/Kessil/status/1016366653607763968
#Kessil

We would like to make the light cables disappear, but we need to purchase 3 10' cables... we'd rather buy more coral. Like this:

This is Bender, an orange spot blenny:

...and then Zap, he's an attention seeker.

That's all for now. Hope you enjoy our progress.

 

[Where_my_fishes_at?]

No Significant changes since the last post, except that Ick has claimed our Fathead anthias pair, which is definitely not OK. We've hooked a temporary UV filter up, and intend to take the following steps in the next month, in no particular order:

1. Upgrade skimmer, our RO 110INT is awesome, but a bit cumbersome (water level in its chamber is to high). We never intended to keep this skimmer on the system long term, so we would like to get a RO Regal 150.

2. Replace tank cover: right now we have some awesome white egg crate. It's looks 'industrial', if industrial meant ugly (in this case). We would looove to have a custom lid made by Octo Aquatics. This has been on our wish list since we started, and now there's even a giveaway for their products! *fingers crossed*

3. Install Neptune Systems DOS: We are entering the bridge phase of our procession toward Triton. We will be dosing B-Ionic 2 part (something we've used in the past and are pretty familiar with), magnesium as needed, as well as a simple 15-20% water change every 2 weeks.

Each of these has a price tag, so it's likely that only one of them will happen, but who knows! More progress photos shortly (our corals are doing fantastic).