ZJedi's 120g Build

[ZJedi945]

Are you planning on adding another radion?

Oh for sure! I have it sitting its box. I just left that one up so I could see. Nothing is brighter than a Radion work light. (Pretty sure no one has ever said that! )

 

[ZJedi945]

Upgrade Day Redux Part Deux....

Today was a lot of tidying up from yesterday. I still have to make the wires neater in the electronic compartment. As well as get me fuge up and running.

The first three photos are of the herbie-esque overflow I am running. OH man it is dead silent! As I was sitting on the floor the air vent behind me was making more noise they my whole tank... simply amazing!

The last 2 are of the tank itself once I got all of the main pieces finished. The rails for the Radions are a DIY set, pretty much followed the BRS video to make them. The brushed aluminum looks great with the black and white.

Once I get the underneath all tidy and fuge up and running I will take some more photos of that.

 

[ZJedi945]

A quick almost midnight update. I was out of town for about a week and I came home to this. AH of course what can go wrong.... goes wrong. I am currently having a nice spike in algae... great right?! As of right now I am over 50ppm of Nitrate..... grrrrrrrrr I just started my GFO reactor up, doubt that does anything. I will do a 20% water change tomorrow and add Dr Tims One and Only. I am hoping that will help out.

Some good news I did get my Fuge up and running with 10lbs of miracle mud. Got the nice little trays from Walmart for about 6 bucks each. Should work out nicely. Best part since I soaked the mud before I placed them in the fuge and covered them with a bag I had very little if any dust fly up. AWESOME!

 

[ZJedi945]

I am currently in one of the biggest algae battles of my my time reefing. the whole back wall of my tank is covered in hair algae. I did stop at a new to me, LFS Wet Pets and Friends. They were more than helpful in getting me some support for the battle ahead. At first I thought it was a rock, but a sea hair is what the said would help the most.

 

[WLDSHARK]

If you cut the amount of time your lights are on it will help with this issue, I when thru a similar scenario last year, ( my issue was a bad TDS Meter and poor quality rodi top off water) if you do not have corals a 3 day black out of the tank will help, the algae will not get any fuel, and you will need to get in there and pluck away. best of luck. Nice job with the stand!

 

[ZJedi945]

If you do not have corals a 3 day black out of the tank will help, the algae will not get any fuel, and you will need to get in there and pluck away. best of luck. Nice job with the stand!

I am debating on doing this. I do have one mushroom in the tank. Since I am away from my tank I am holding off doing anything drastic to it. When I get home if I don't see any improvement I am going to take it to the next level.

Thanks for the compliment on the stand. I am kinda happy with it. eh I sort of hate the doors on the left side look they look junky to me.

 

[ReeferReefer]

Yeah I would do a tank black out since you only have a shroom.

 

[ZJedi945]

Well the sea hare is really taking a chunk out of the algae. There is nothing at all on the rocks. AWSOME! The back wall of the tank is still covered as of last night. This morning when I walk past there is about an 6 inch section of cleared glass.... ah this thing can eat! One thing that is starting on the sand... cyano. GRRRR I can't win! I might try and do a water change tomorrow. I will be going dark on my main for 3 days to try to help put a stop and control this outbreak.

My old light underneath wasn't cutting it at all. Since I placed the macro down there I haven't noticed any growth at all. Which should be happening due to the crazy amounts of algae in the display. So I got a new toy for the tank.... to help control the algae I am hoping. A Kessil H150 Magenta. As it is the first Kessil light I have own, I was really impressed of the quality. Oh and it is really bright... make that insanely bright! hehe I hope someone doesn't think I am growing weed under my tank. I will run a test and let you all know of the outcome. Currently I have 2 cups of chaeto and some red stuff, flame algae??

Oh and as a warning do not look at this light for very long. I was doing some work underneath and 5 minutes later when I turned away, everything had a yellow tinge to it. :/ I might get some Red filter glasses or just turn it off when I am doing something.

 

[ZJedi945]

Some bit of news... First off I think I have a parasite of some kind. I have lost about 6 fish in just as many days. I brought it up to the ReefSquad and that's the consensus. It could need to finish the mini cycle that occurred but I think I am going to play it on the save side and wait roughly 2 month to add any fish back to the system. During that time I will be doing some minor tweaks to the whole system I think. Adding a UV and some other odds and ends.

Today was I got to do something I have been waiting to do for a long long while, upgrade my RODI system. I had the 5 stage BRS with the second membrane for quite a while now. It works but I wasn't getting anywhere close to the 150gpd it said. So today I added a aquatech pump, a single TDS meter to have 3 total, and a dual camber DI stage. I also replaced all of the filters with brand new ones. With the pump on I am pushing around 90psi... I have a feeling that is a tad high. All I know that man does that water FLOW like the Mississippi! I also finally mounted it to the wall, which was a long time coming and it looks so much better. Now it will be a snap to see the pressure and to change the cartridges when it is needed.

 

[ZJedi945]

As a another added layer of defense I just installed a 25 watt AquaUV Sterilizer. I picked it up from my LFS for a steal! I was pumped to get it setup. Though I had to get creative on how/where to mount it. I am hoping this will help down the road and now with some issues. I know I know it's not going to prevent things from happening just gives me some better odds.

 

[JaimeAdams]

Ok, I read it all including the other post about the top brace. So got any updates for us?

 

[ZJedi945]

Since you asked so nicely @JaimeAdams, here you are. Though I am at work so no photos

As of last week the three remaining fish look great there has been nothing noticed on them and the tanks inverts are doing really well. So I placed an order on LiveAquaria. The new residents include a yellow tang, two ocellaris clowns, a pink spotted goby, a tiger pistol shrimp and a purple tang. Everything came in looking extremely healthy and the best part they all started eating frozen food right away. All I know is I am happy to have more fish in the tank, they just added so much color and I can't wait to add corals. The one mushroom I have in it now look like he is loving life. I am pretty sure he has doubled in size since I got him.

 

[hybridazn]

Stinks about the issues, glad you are bouncing back though!

 

[JaimeAdams]

You should come over and get some coral frags. This isn't a FOWLR. You can come grab stuff whenever you want.

How are the yellow tang and purple tang getting along?

How long have the new fish been in the system?

 

[ZJedi945]

I haven't noticed anything at all negative between them. They actually seem like they are swimming around together and usually are near each other at night. They have been in for 3 days now.

 

[JaimeAdams]

Well thats cool. If they aren't beating up on each other or one on the other one then you should be good. Adding them at the same time sure helps with tang aggression.

When you coming over?

 

[ZJedi945]

It has been a long time since my last update. So here we go!

Last week my Skimz skimmer kicked the bucket for the second time. It was the pump again for sure. The first time I was thinking "Oh of course I get the one bad pump." BRS send me a nice new updated pump and it works for another 6 months or so. Then it dies again.... guess what... fails once shame on Skimz... fails twice shame on me. So I am totally done and finished with that skimmer I pulled it and have been without a skimmer for about a week.

Today my new skimmer finally arrived from TB Aquatics. (They are currently have a great sale so check them out) I bought the NYOS 160. With not too much out there information wise I am kind of going in blind. The reviews I have seen though make it seem like one heck of a skimmer. Within two hours from installing it it is already pulling skim out. Its a bit wet for my liking but I will tune it a bit better after it has broken in a bit.

So a little quick review on the packaging and the setup. It couldn't have been packed any better. A nice double walled box on the outside and then the white Quantum box on the inside. With nice foam everywhere! I love when I see this stuff. It usually means a quality product and a company that actually cares about their stuff. Install of the pump couldn't have been any easier. A couple of screws and pow! Done! All in all it took all but 5 minutes or so to get it ready to run.

A few notes....

1. Titanium screws and acrylic are a delicate thing DO NOT OVER TIGHTEN!
2. The pump it crazy quiet! Coming from a DC skimmer, the change is unnoticeable.
3. The air silencer can be on ether side of the main control pipe. Helps when you are tight on space.
4. There are 3 ways to adjust the skimmer. 1 the main control pipe - 2 Fine control on control pipe - 3 air silencer knob.
5. Collection cup is very easy to remove. Just a quick turn and its out! (Skimz was a major pain in the butt to remove)

I am thinking about replacing the skimz pump with a AC needle wheel so it gives me a back up if something goes wrong. Is that something that is doable or even possible? I will be doing a more in depth review after some times goes by. All I can say right now is I am VERY impressed by this skimmer.

 

[pelphrey]

You are going to live that Nyos!! I have the 120!

 

[ZJedi945]

You are going to love that Nyos!! I have the 120!

As of right now it is hands down it's awesome! I mean my Reef Octopus didn't even pull skim that fast... Though my tank might be epically dirty running without one for a week. IDK

 

[Zero Nitrates]

Good looking skimmer!