150 Gallon Build Thread

[inktomi]

So.. in my fight against dinoflagellates I read in a few threads here that if I induced a bacterial bloom in the tank it could get rid of them. So.. without thinking.. I began dosing sugar. Let's just say, I created a bacterial bloom that did more than kill the dinos. Nearly 100% of my coral is now dead, and I'm having to do massive water changes to keep the Ammonia from killing my fish. I think I may have a duncan coral colony that might make it through, but everything else is toast and the duncans don't look happy at all.

I lost my male Lyretail Anthias, but other than that my fish seem to be ok. The tang has a sore on it that seems to be healing - if I didn't have the butterflyfish in my QT tank the tang would be in there for sure. Today is the first day that the fish have been swimming around anything like normal. I feel pretty horrible about the whole thing.

If you are going to dose anything, make sure you measure and keep two steps ahead of what you're doing. In my excitement to try something that I hadn't tried yet to get rid of my dinoflagellates I didn't follow that cardinal rule and now I have a nice FOWLR tank to show for it.

I hope my Moorish Idol pulls through, it just started eating again today.

So, as of 3/27/2012, this tank is pretty much starting over. I even need to order a cleanup crew!

 

[inktomi]

So, a recap of what I've done to my tank.

- I had something I thought was cyano
- It was slowly killing my acropora
- It was stringy and air bubbles appeared late in the day

Eventually I found that it was dinoflagellates... and of course being a good reefer I searched high and low on reef central to find out that they're difficult to get rid of and have caused more than a few people to leave the hobby.

I eventually came up with two options - high PH, or dosing sugar to induce a bacterial bloom that would out compete the dinoflagellates. Since my PH already was hitting 8.5 in the afternoons sometimes, I thought I'd try the sugar.

Like a bad reefer, I didn't take things slowly. I figured, create a bacterial bloom... so I'll dose 1 tbsp of sugar a day till I get the bloom, and then stop. I got a bloom!

I ended up losing my Moorish Idol and one Lyretail anthias to this bloom. I also lost the rest of my corals. And the dinoflagellates also went away.

Right now, I have a good amount of hair algae in the tank. I'm taking this reboot very slowly and giving the tank time to work through the algae on its own. I have not added any coral back to the tank.

 

[goochesfish]

OMG, we're going through the same exact thing!!!! How is that possible??? I read your posts after I answered your post on my thread. You sure we don't have a pipeline between our tanks and they're sharing water and pests without telling us?

 

[inktomi]

Ok. So I'm slowly getting back to going - put in my first new coral - a couple small Acropora, an encrusting monti, and an acan lord.

The bigger news is that I've removed my melt your face off PowerModule, and and now using 2 Kessil A350w lights suspended over the tank.

I think they look nice, and hopefully they won't be as hard on coral as the ATI was. I think my ATI will make a nice light when I upgrade to a 250/300 gallon tank though!

(that is, as long as I can't find someone to sell it to..)

<iframe width="853" height="480" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/HKeEcH3yY1M" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

 

[maroun.c]

Sorry to hear about all the troubles you've been through.
looking forward to see the tank fill up this time.

 

[inktomi]

Thank you for the kind thoughts. I'm looking forward to building it up again as well.

I don't seem to have any lasting effects from the crash, other than some algae here and there that's going away.

I think I should be adding some more snails soon.. and I'll be adding a frag here and there as well.

This time around rather than buying larger colonies of SPS, I'm going to choose small but very colorful frags, and let them grow out. I'm looking forward to Reef-a-Palooza this year!! :dance:

 

[inktomi]

My clownfish have been laying eggs pretty regularly, so I thought I'd post a video of them tending to the clutch they laid last night.

<iframe width="640" height="480" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/jE-n1NQ90t8" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Here, you can see the smaller male watching over the eggs.

One of these times, I'm going to try to raise the eggs. It seems to be so much work though.. one day!

 

[goochesfish]

That's pretty cool that you've got eggs. Too bad they're so hard to raise. Wishing you well on your Tank recovery.

 

[inktomi]

It's coming along, slowly but surely. I'm having some algae now, but I can handle that and my fish are doing great.

I love my butterfly - it puts up with my coral beauty angel quite a bit till it has had enough and then poofs up its spines. The angel backs off fast and the butterfly goes on its way.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 2

 

[inktomi]

I'm slowly but surely making headway getting my tank back in order. Algae from the crash is almost gone, and I've added in my first few new sps... An assortment of encrusting montipora from live aquaria.

I hope to get this tank back to better than it was.. Hopefully.

I love the Kessil 350s!

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk HD

 

[goochesfish]

why did you dump the ati's?

 

[makokak]

It's 60" by 24" tall by 24" deep. I love the dimensions, big enough for a good amount of floor space, but not so deep that you can't reach the bottom.

love the tank!
do u mind pm me the price of your tank?

 

[inktomi]

The ATIs were more light than the tank needed I think. Since moving to the Kessil LEDs my chiller hasn't been on. I really can't remember the last time...

Also, T5s don't give the shimmer that you get from LEDs or Metal Halides. I love the movement you get from them!

I think the tank and stand cost around $2500ish new after tax and everything.

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk 2

 

[3dpilot]

Pretty cool build thread...sorry about the crash...especially your favorite fish (Moorish Idol)
How's the kessill 350w?! Getting good growth on sps?!

 

[inktomi]

I think they're pretty good lights. I have some complaints about the build quality of them though - one of mine won't dim. I need to get with Kessil on that.

I do think I'm going to add a third Kessil 350W for the center of the tank to try to reduce shadows.

 

[3dpilot]

Awesome! Yeah i bought two 360w for my 150 gal (standard size) tank and i definitely need a third.
BTW: How's the tank doing now?!

 

[inktomi]

Its coming back. I'm actually considering one of the new LED powermodules that are out now... Soo nice!

I've got a few small SPS frags from copps growing out now, and just got a pair of Fathead Sunburst Anthias today in fact. Nothing close to what it was before yet.. But slowly coming back. Once I figure out the lights for sure and save some money I'm planning on getting a few maricultured colonies from LiveAquaria to give me a slightly fuller look.

Its still sad seeing some "live rock" that used to be sps =(

 

[inktomi]

Still going strong and recovering over a year after dinos got the better of me. Still dyno free and things are starting to grow. I'll get some photos as soon as I can figure out how to link to G+ photos here..

 

[inktomi]

Full tank

Left Side

Right side

Soo.. basically I'm doing a great job growing coraline algae. The urchin I used to have kept it from taking over like it has. Looks nice! I've been buying frags from people on RC here and there, but starting with frags it's taking quite its time to fill in.

I saw some issues with shadows on the A350s I was using, and so I'm back to my PowerModule. No LED PM yet - money and all that

 

[goochesfish]

Hi Inktomi, I've stopped posting on mine because every time I do, something bad happens. It's been a while though so maybe I'll update.