270 Gallon Rimless Peninsula Tank Miracles with fish room

[kewadiak]

Did a little updating to my plumbing and reactors also added a chateo grow out tank and i would like to give a shout out and credit to d2mini for his inspiring ideas and blog so THANK YOU!!

so basically i really never have any detectable nitrates ever when i do a test but i feel like my tank is deprived of nutrients because i feel like my corals always look bad for no reason because i have no nitrates. so my goal is to feed very heavily and see if i can get detectable nitrates and see what happens.

I also got rid of my jumbo reactors because they are the biggest PITA to change media i would never ever recommend them! On a side note i have two for sale like new. I picked up a 20 gallon from petco and drilled the tank for the Gl*******s overflow kit. so now i have a 40 gallon frag tank and a 20 gallon chateo tank i also changed out my 1 1/2 drain to 2 inch to handle both of the tanks overflows and also two drains for my reactor.

another update is closed loop is gone i have gotten two mp40QD and a 150 gyre and will be purchasing two ecotech pumps to re plum my closed loop im just never happy!

My next goal is to set up a calc reactor to try and maintain stable alk.

Also included is a pic of my dull sps any advice?

 

[kewadiak]

P.S the green slimmer was bought in June at the NY show and was really green my goal in life is to grow a green slimmer why do i suck at this!!!

My params are always

8.2 to 8.5 DKH for 19 months straight
my phos are zero
nitrates zero
mag is 1350
cac 440

nothing changes thousands of dollars in equipment and nothing grows why why why lol rant over!! oh and did a mention a 2600 light fixture what more does this little green stick want? i started giving the tank acro power myb this will help.

P.S i also bought a par meter the green slimmer is under 400 par light combo is 2 ati atinics 2 coral plus and two blue plus led combo is only at 20% there just there for looks i like the blue at night haha!

light schedule is 8 hours all bulbs, and for 2 hours i run two blue+ and two atinics

 

[SPotter]

P.S the green slimmer was bought in June at the NY show and was really green my goal in life is to grow a green slimmer why do i suck at this!!!

My params are always

8.2 to 8.5 DKH for 19 months straight
my phos are zero
nitrates zero
mag is 1350
cac 440

nothing changes thousands of dollars in equipment and nothing grows why why why lol rant over!! oh and did a mention a 2600 light fixture what more does this little green stick want? i started giving the tank acro power myb this will help.

P.S i also bought a par meter the green slimmer is under 400 par light combo is 2 ati atinics 2 coral plus and two blue plus led combo is only at 20% there just there for looks i like the blue at night haha!

light schedule is 8 hours all bulbs, and for 2 hours i run two blue+ and two atinics

everyone will have different opinions on this one but IMO your water is too clean. Corals needs nutrients to grow. I've been running my tank with .03-.06 po4 and nitrates 5-10. I am getting amazing growth and coloration of my corals.

 

[kewadiak]

everyone will have different opinions on this one but IMO your water is too clean. Corals needs nutrients to grow. I've been running my tank with .03-.06 po4 and nitrates 5-10. I am getting amazing growth and coloration of my corals.

I really have to find that balance i agree. i never see phos or nitrate on my test kits but i run gfo because i cant ever seam to get this off my rocks

not even sure what kind of algae that is but i no i don't like it there it wants to grow over and on the coral. :crazy1:

this is where i lack experience or understanding if you and i know allot of people run nitrates 5>10 and a little bit of detectable phos do you have any algae growth?

whats the best way to create nitrates should i just take my skimmer offline till i see some pink on the test kit? and stop running gfo

 

[mr9iron]

I really enjoy the look of your tank, and am following along. What type of substrate, and how much did you place on the bottom?

 

[kewadiak]

I really enjoy the look of your tank, and am following along. What type of substrate, and how much did you place on the bottom?

Thank you i used caribsea special grade reef sand and i used 80lbs in the tank

 

[March.]

amazing build and craftsmanship will be tagging along!

 

[mr9iron]

Thank you i used caribsea special grade reef sand and i used 80lbs in the tank

How deep is your sandbed? Also, do you have problems with it being blown around.

 

[kewadiak]

How deep is your sandbed? Also, do you have problems with it being blown around.

I have about 1 inch to 1 1/4 and yes it still gets blown around i cant turn up the mp40qd all the way.

 

[Ginu]

Love this setup, just plain awesome and very similar to D2mini.
You sir have some awesome plumbing skills

Subscribed

 

[Ginu]

So, I've went through all the pages of the thread and I can make a few comments


Rock is too high for SPS and that stick is under LED And T5 right at the top in the middle of the tank (it will not be happy). That light is a beast and I think we underestimate the potential of that light regardless of the par read.
If you go for sps and get nice growth on the sticks, you will have SPS sticking out of the water. For the record, I love your scape, just not crazy about the height - this is something I have to rectify in my tank as well as I started with 1" frag of a birds nest and now I have two massive birdsnest colonies(bout 12" and 10" in diameter) as you can see them in the pic below (they were both grown from a 1" frag in about 10 months, along with a bunch of other frags of the same coral on the sandbed).

For example I used to run a 6 bulb ATI sunpower and just last week switched to a 8 bulb 36" ATI hybrid and love it, however I can tell you the growth slowed down and thats due to different light(abeit very close), more bulbs and the addition of LED's - total game changer.
I run my Alk at 7dkh, Ca 420 and MG 1260
In 5 days of having the new light over the tank, my Alk has gone from 7 to 7.62 - this is an indication of SPS acclimating and not sucking the Alk at the same rate as it did before (my doser was dosing the same amount of Alk).


For example my first sps frag in my new 120 was a slimer about 1.5" as below on December 24, 2014:

And below is a pic of my tank in current state(taken 4 days ago with my cell), the green slimer is directly below the yellow wrasse:

Its a bit hard to tell however the 1st stump is the frag itself which hasn't grown much if at all, however it encrusted and started to grow from the encrusted part. Behind the slimer there is a growth about 5-6" with bunch of branches and one the left of the initial frag there is a growth about 3.5" tall. My point here is that the frag itself might never grow very well due to tank conditions, parameters etc, however the new growth from the encrustation will grow very well.

I suggest trying a few things with this frag:
1. take it out and dip it in a solution with coral RX to see if any pests come off, SPS will not grow if its bothered by whatever pest. also inspect the frag at night with a flashlight to see if you have any polyp extension or if any critters are bugging it.
2. after dipping it and inspecting for pests, drop the height of the frag near the bottom and if you see improvement, then raise it every week by a little to see where it will be the happiest. There is a chance the frag itself will never be happy and grow as you can see in my pics above (I have little to no growth on the initial slimer frag, however I have about 10" of new growth from the encrustation of that frag)

Any possibility in posting a closeup/macro shot of this stick?


Also I think you need way more fish for this size tank and water volume in order to provide the appropriate food for coral.
I've read somewhere you measure the parameters every two weeks which obviously can sometimes be 3 weeks or a month (I've been guilty of this) and I suggest if you're serious about SPS to measure Alk every two days and to invest in a Hanna Alk checker if you don't have one. Alkalinity is the most important factor and the fastest to change due to many reasons like coral growth, missing dosing, dosing pump failures and so on.

I've also read you dose manually after you check parameters (every two weeks). This method will run you into problems as SPS coral like stability and not drastic changes every couple of weeks to rectify parameters.
I suggest purchasing the BRS two part deal which comes with two dosers and run them off a apex (today is the best time to purchase as they have black Friday deals going on). For the reference I dose 105ml of alk at a rate of 4.4ml every hour and 92ml calcium at a rate of 3.95ml every hour.
If I was to dose once every two weeks, I'd have to dose 1.5l of alk which would kill the system

I've read somewhere you're looking to hook up a calcium reactor which is a great idea, however I suggest starting with a two part (BRS works very well but there are many other options as well) and as you get more confident understand and control the demand of the SPS then you can switch to a Calcium reactor when the demand is too high for that size tank.

Below is a screenshot of my Alk reading and the fluctuation over a day to a couple of days:

The dip you see there is a fluctuation of my doser not sucking up Alk and me being lazy and not checking for a few days.

 

[Lubeck]

Really clean setup. Do you plan on getting rid of your closed loop for good? If so, are you getting rid of the lockline? Either way you should buy some live rock and drill it to place over the returns lines to hide them then buy some coral frags.

I think your just going through a cycle again and the algae will run its course. Keep your parameters steady and keep up your flow.

 

[Ginu]

Here is a closer pic of the slimer which should clarify that the initial frag never grew in 11 months, however it grew around like crazy.

 

[JWClark]

Just curious if you think you have enough turn over in the display? I'm considering a similar set up in the retirement house but I want the tank 8ft long (and 27" high, 36" width).

My worry is that, with the overflow on the short side, I wouldn't get sufficient turnover of the 400gal in the display. I'm guessing you overcame this w/ multiple drains from the overflow?

 

[kewadiak]

So, I've went through all the pages of the thread and I can make a few comments


Rock is too high for SPS and that stick is under LED And T5 right at the top in the middle of the tank (it will not be happy). That light is a beast and I think we underestimate the potential of that light regardless of the par read.
If you go for sps and get nice growth on the sticks, you will have SPS sticking out of the water. For the record, I love your scape, just not crazy about the height - this is something I have to rectify in my tank as well as I started with 1" frag of a birds nest and now I have two massive birdsnest colonies(bout 12" and 10" in diameter) as you can see them in the pic below (they were both grown from a 1" frag in about 10 months, along with a bunch of other frags of the same coral on the sandbed).

For example I used to run a 6 bulb ATI sunpower and just last week switched to a 8 bulb 36" ATI hybrid and love it, however I can tell you the growth slowed down and thats due to different light(abeit very close), more bulbs and the addition of LED's - total game changer.
I run my Alk at 7dkh, Ca 420 and MG 1260
In 5 days of having the new light over the tank, my Alk has gone from 7 to 7.62 - this is an indication of SPS acclimating and not sucking the Alk at the same rate as it did before (my doser was dosing the same amount of Alk).


For example my first sps frag in my new 120 was a slimer about 1.5" as below on December 24, 2014:

And below is a pic of my tank in current state(taken 4 days ago with my cell), the green slimer is directly below the yellow wrasse:

Its a bit hard to tell however the 1st stump is the frag itself which hasn't grown much if at all, however it encrusted and started to grow from the encrusted part. Behind the slimer there is a growth about 5-6" with bunch of branches and one the left of the initial frag there is a growth about 3.5" tall. My point here is that the frag itself might never grow very well due to tank conditions, parameters etc, however the new growth from the encrustation will grow very well.

I suggest trying a few things with this frag:
1. take it out and dip it in a solution with coral RX to see if any pests come off, SPS will not grow if its bothered by whatever pest. also inspect the frag at night with a flashlight to see if you have any polyp extension or if any critters are bugging it.
2. after dipping it and inspecting for pests, drop the height of the frag near the bottom and if you see improvement, then raise it every week by a little to see where it will be the happiest. There is a chance the frag itself will never be happy and grow as you can see in my pics above (I have little to no growth on the initial slimer frag, however I have about 10" of new growth from the encrustation of that frag)

Any possibility in posting a closeup/macro shot of this stick?


Also I think you need way more fish for this size tank and water volume in order to provide the appropriate food for coral.
I've read somewhere you measure the parameters every two weeks which obviously can sometimes be 3 weeks or a month (I've been guilty of this) and I suggest if you're serious about SPS to measure Alk every two days and to invest in a Hanna Alk checker if you don't have one. Alkalinity is the most important factor and the fastest to change due to many reasons like coral growth, missing dosing, dosing pump failures and so on.

I've also read you dose manually after you check parameters (every two weeks). This method will run you into problems as SPS coral like stability and not drastic changes every couple of weeks to rectify parameters.
I suggest purchasing the BRS two part deal which comes with two dosers and run them off a apex (today is the best time to purchase as they have black Friday deals going on). For the reference I dose 105ml of alk at a rate of 4.4ml every hour and 92ml calcium at a rate of 3.95ml every hour.
If I was to dose once every two weeks, I'd have to dose 1.5l of alk which would kill the system

I've read somewhere you're looking to hook up a calcium reactor which is a great idea, however I suggest starting with a two part (BRS works very well but there are many other options as well) and as you get more confident understand and control the demand of the SPS then you can switch to a Calcium reactor when the demand is too high for that size tank.

Below is a screenshot of my Alk reading and the fluctuation over a day to a couple of days:

The dip you see there is a fluctuation of my doser not sucking up Alk and me being lazy and not checking for a few days.

Your tank looks great! thank you for taking the time to offer some advice. I have lost my green slimmer, and some other kind of acro I had. I also lost a really nice purple torch and my frogspawns look like crap both have tissue receding. I used chemiclean to fight cyano and 48 hours later my torch literally detached its tissue right from the Skelton in large chunks just my luck. I have an hanna alk checker never really used it I find salfreit just as easy but I may start using that. I also have every supplement from bulk reef supply all mixed up ready to go. I never really see an alk change yet I can check it once a month and It will be exactly the same. maybe I don't have any demand. I have a very hard time dealing with lighting issues and playing with this light. I'm ready to sell it and get the giesman 250w halides and two t5 that you just turn on and off. Leds have way to many options for someone like me that doesn't have a clue. I need someone to set my light up and tell me not to touch it. I cant even seam to keep easy lps alive. I really want to exceed I feel like keeping corals is impossible but if that was the case there wouldn't be a hobby! the one thing I can keep alive is mushrooms I'm ready to fill the tank up with mushrooms lol :lolspin:

 

[kewadiak]

Just curious if you think you have enough turn over in the display? I'm considering a similar set up in the retirement house but I want the tank 8ft long (and 27" high, 36" width).

My worry is that, with the overflow on the short side, I wouldn't get sufficient turnover of the 400gal in the display. I'm guessing you overcame this w/ multiple drains from the overflow?

to be honest I'm not sure I have enough flow every time I try to crank my flow up the sand moves around to much. also I have the return notch on one end of the tank and I can really only run 1500gph through the sump I figure with one 1 1/2 full siphon.

 

[kewadiak]

Really clean setup. Do you plan on getting rid of your closed loop for good? If so, are you getting rid of the lockline? Either way you should buy some live rock and drill it to place over the returns lines to hide them then buy some coral frags.

I think your just going through a cycle again and the algae will run its course. Keep your parameters steady and keep up your flow.

I plan on using the closed loop again in the future I'm working on plumbing it with two Vectra pumps when I save up some cash for them :spin2: