165Gl to 1000Gl system upgrade (Long project)

[dirk_brijs]

OK just got back from a 1 month holiday in Europe and have started working on the tank again.
The stepdaughter has done a good job keeping everything alive while we were away for over a month.
Anyway am really happy on how the tank has settled down. Still have some minor very small issues with some algea on the rocks ( I think diatoms due to the rock taken out and being worked with longer periods of time doing the reshaping) anyway as said this is minor and getting better every day. Also still struggling a bit with low Alk, Mg and Ca levels but started doing 2 weekly 25% water changes with fresh sea water to get those up hopefully. All other levels are real well lately and very stable. Phosphates have gone down to 0.07 Nitrates to 10 and being stable. Ph has been going between 8.31 and 8.24 from day to night time. Salt levels was a problem when we were away as it dropped to 1.021 but have brought this back gradually to now 1.025. Anyway I think the tank is going into the right direction and getting more stable every day. So started stocking the tank little by little too as I made a pillar of Tubastrea coral to one of the lower plateaus in the tank. I added some pictures of it to this post





Pictures might not be the best as photography is not my cup of tea. These pictures were taken just at sun down some with flash some without flash as you might have noticed. Hope you like them as much as I like the outcome of the pillar in real.

 

[dirk_brijs]

will be posting some more pictures by tomorrow when sun gets back up.
Added 3 new Magnificas ( I think they are Magnificas but I am sure someone here will correct me if I am wrong?)to the set up 2 days ago and they are coming up real well now so stay tuned for pictures of those.

 

[dave.m]

The tubastreas are beautiful. What is your feeding regimen for them?

Dave.M

 

[ace_92101]

will be posting some more pictures by tomorrow when sun gets back up.
Added 3 new Magnificas ( I think they are Magnificas but I am sure someone here will correct me if I am wrong?)to the set up 2 days ago and they are coming up real well now so stay tuned for pictures of those.

Welcome back from your holiday. It must be nice to feel the tropical air again. 3 Magnificas? That's going to be impressive. Can you keep them together, even in such a large tank? Did you get them locally or from Bangkok? I'm looking forward to the pictures!

 

[dirk_brijs]

The tubastreas are beautiful. What is your feeding regimen for them?

Dave.M

Dave,
I dont have a specific feeding regime for them as I add twice per day my own fresh made mix which has fresh seafood in it fresh tuna,zooplankton, phyto, cyclopeeze, seaweed, reef life perfect food, selcon and some other ingredients to feed the entire tank in one go.

 

[dirk_brijs]

Welcome back from your holiday. It must be nice to feel the tropical air again. 3 Magnificas? That's going to be impressive. Can you keep them together, even in such a large tank? Did you get them locally or from Bangkok? I'm looking forward to the pictures!

Ace,
Thanks and yes and no as the tropical air right now is mighty hot its not really fun anymore anyway there must be worse places on this planet to live I guess lol.
As for the magnificas they are local yes and must say I am pleasantly surprised that the first few days they haven't been moving around too much so I hope that means that they are quit happy. Might help too that all my clown fish dove in there right away when I put them in there.

 

[dirk_brijs]

ok the promise some pictures
first of the 2 Magnifica
again if they are not Magnifica just let me know as I thought they are?

 

[dirk_brijs]

a few with the Zoas area and Moon Polyps

 

[dirk_brijs]

a few more from the maybe Magnificas better view at the base

 

[dirk_brijs]

and a few more from a large Elegance a large clam
also a close up from the Moon Polyps and a Green Hammer oral

 

[ace_92101]

Great pictures. Its interesting to see the multiple clowns getting along.

 

[dirk_brijs]

Great pictures. Its interesting to see the multiple clowns getting along.

They have their occasional fight though due to the size of the tank its quite easy to run away or hide until the storm has passed.
The 2 big bosses in the tank though are the 2 saddlebacks who took over completely the elegance and not tolerate too many intruders.

 

[dirk_brijs]

Newly updated equipment and system list
DT : L300 x H70 x W80 Bottom glass 15mm tempered side panels 12mm tempered
Seconday Seahorse Tank : L65 x H100 x W65 110Gallon (416Liter)
Sump : L200 x H60 x W70 divided into 5 chambers
Refugium : L180 x H55 x W60 divided into 3 chambers
Skimmer 1 : Reef Octopus 180 OTP ORCA INT
Smimmer 2 : JNS SK 6 internal skimmer
Return Pump : 2 Jebao DC1000 return pumps
Closed Loop : 2 Reef Octopus Diablo DC 10500W both connected to timers and 2 ocean motions 4 way
water flow :- 2 internal waveboxes driven by 2 Tunze 6105
- 3 secondary Tunze 6055 adjustable
- 2 Jebao WP25
Water flow Seahorse tank
- Jeabo DC10000 return pump
- Jebao WP25
Lighting DT : 5 AI SOL Blue modules
lighting Fuge : 4 x T5 54W 4000K
Chiller : 12000 BTU titanium coil
Water change/ storage tank : 185Gallon (700Liter) food grade storage tank set inline the system

 

[dirk_brijs]

all 3 Mags have been moving to their favorite spot
one stayed where it was 2 of them moved all around at first but seem to have settled down on where they are now. The largest of the 3 was allready huge but seem to have opened up completely now and has about doubled in size. Its massive.

 

[dirk_brijs]

took some other random shots too
4 new inhabitants

this one looked a bit shaky when I bought it but has great extension now.

and my normally very shy boxer came out while taking the pics

 

[dirk_brijs]

was doing some testing today as 2 days ago I had a 700L (180Gl) water change done
and when checking the temp to my surprise my water was sitting at 24.2C (75.5) which is way lower then my usual settings of 26.5C (79.7F) when checking the chiller he had turned off already and temp rapidly stabilized due to the high temp outside but this is something I will have to monitor as it seem some issues with the chiller??? Had it just cleaned out and hope the guy who cleans it up didn't mess with the internal setting for max up and down of +1
anyway here the rest of the testings (Po and No3 went up quit a bit??) have been feeding heavily though the last few days so will have to turn back this too a bit.
Calcium and Alk seem OK I think just Mg still a bit low though seem normal values for natural sea water?
Might still think about dosing some extra Mg and add some baking soda to up the Alk just slightly?

 

[dirk_brijs]

small clip I made today with all lights set at 100%
A longer clip will follow as soon as I get it uploaded
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/XpHOmno-RVo" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

 

[dirk_brijs]

finally uploaded
longer version
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/7i_jTUjSusI" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

 

[JohnnyBoyPerth]

Incredible tank journal.

Really enjoyed reading it and seeing your hard work paying off. I think you need to buy shares in the plumbing company!

 

[dirk_brijs]

Incredible tank journal.

Really enjoyed reading it and seeing your hard work paying off. I think you need to buy shares in the plumbing company!

Johnny thanks and yes I have been thinkin about that previous maybe should just buy some anyway lol