melev (8/1/2010)
Here's the thing that we simply can't ignore: You set up a tank with a different lighting system for a reason. Wanting to go green, you've been trying to maintain a reef with varied lighting which your PAR meter has clearly documented. However, how many 'green' tanks are you keeping up with, and how many are doing well? Yours was an experiment, with the hope it would work. There was always a possibility it would not. Obviously, every one of us was rooting for you that it would work.
A few things happened over time which worked against you, like the paint in the refugium / scrubber closet. The sand was an unfortunate situation. The massive sumps and concrete blocks were both good and possibly bad.
You are about to do a full tank breakdown. Out with all the old sand, out with the livestock, out with the rock.
The tank is going to be polished like new. Is he going to do that where it is, or does he have to take it out? If he does it on site, how does he rinse it out? Do you have to divert some plumbing to the driveway so he can rinse it down with a garden hose?
You'll be putting in new sand. The rock will be cleaned up manually, or swapped out for cleaner pieces in your sump. I'm sure you'll clean and soak everything (pumps, returns, screens) to make them like new again.
In watching your video, I see a lot of fat cows swimming around in a reef full of vegetation. I doubt cutting back on their feedings would get them to eat GHA at this point -- they know better. For your new set up, feed less. Add more snails (do a group buy with someone like Key's Critters) to keep it clean and algae free.
Streamline the sump area in the garage. You probably don't need the volume you've been maintaining. I would seriously look at that skimmer to make it work better, and run it around the clock instead of what you've been doing for the past few years. You've desired going skimmerless - I think that is a mistake. I doubt that skimmer was really rated for your water volume, but it may be okay with the new setup. Maybe put it in the sump where it belongs, and stay on top of it to make sure it works the same day in and day out.
The sump needs to hold all the water that drains when the power is out. That's usually the display tank's drainage and the skimmer body emptying. Will one vat do it? How many do you plan to run this time? By cutting back to what you need, you'll benefit with better control of water parameters. I know that sounds backwards to what we always hear - "the bigger the system, the more stable it is" - but what they don't state is the bigger the system, the more you have to do to get the water back to where it belongs. If you have 1600g of water that needs PO4 reduced vs 1000g, which is going to cost more? What about dosing alk and ca? Which needs more? That's what I meant by streamlining... get it to something more manageable, optimizing what you need and removing what you don't.
I have no doubt your tank will maintain clams, LPS, and anemones. Zoanthids are a given. Mushrooms - don't do it unless you don't mind the way they spread (they do add a splash of color and many public aquariums use them for this very reason). SPS are going to be trickier. You can put in a few test subjects (get a few frags from a friend) in a couple of key spots and see how they do in the new system, but I would wait for about a month for the tank to settle in after the big changeover, maybe longer.
You're going to make a number of good changes to the system, and assuming light isn't the issue, I think your tank and your experience will turn around. You've just had a chemical mess on your hands (sand, concrete, NSW vs ASW, metals in the water, skimmer less than optimal, paint issues, dosing industrial stuff because it was the only affordable option for that water volume....) that is very hard to recover from. When I used to work in construction, we had a saying: Tear it out and do it again. Not my favorite option, but sometimes that is the only option.
I'll be in your area again in October for Reefapalooza, and I'd be happy to help in any way I can. I just need to fly in a day earlier or stay a day longer.
Marc-thank you for the thoughtful response.
first off about the light. i think it has been a partial success. june and July and part of August too here by the beach are mostly overcast. low PAR value. in the last two months we have had only a handful of sunny days. some days it will clear up in the afternoon but the sun is definitely not enough for some corals.
any time of the year can be overcast here from day to day. right now it is hazy sun and 64 degrees at 10:30am. inland just a couple of miles more it is 10 degrees warmer and sunnier. my high here today will probably not reach 70.
i did have some success with monti caps (lower light corals) and some other lower light corals with little supplemental light. the last few months i have been leaving the two 400 watt halides on all day instead of just a couple of hours morning and evening. i don't know if it has made a difference or not as i have been reluctant to add any new corals to the tankand theones i do have are growing.
i would do it again, it can only add to the light for the system even if supplemental light is needed. however, i would make the light shaft much shorter. it is about 15' from the skylight to the tank. my water temp is very stable at about 79-80 degrees with no chiller and very little additional heat in the winter too.
looking at the fat fish swimming waiting to be fed is misleading. most of the time the tangs are constantly grazing on the rockwork.
i haven't weighed the food but feed about two-three golf ball sized amounts per day. i don't know if that is too much for the amount of fish or water i have.
my skimmer is rated for 3000 gallons. it does run 24/7 and always has. i am sure it could be tuned better.
as far as the water volume goes, i like having the other tanks in the garage over the sumps that are part of the system. true changing a certain percentage of water is more in a larger system but if the calcifying organisms are in the display the total demand for calcium, etc is coming from there so does it really matter the total water volume? wouldn't it be just like a demand for say 100 grams per day depending on the organisms, not the water volume?
when i break the tank down the livestock and rock will go into the garage part of the system while working on the DT. the tank polisher, (if i can afford it, $1200) will do the work in place. there is a floor drain next to the display tank so that should work out ok.
the surge tanks are no more. i liked them but sometimes they splashed water out of the tank, salt creep, and a 250 watt pump to keep them running. i think i can get great water movement from the 6305 Tunze's with the Tunze programable contoller for less electricity.
the few mushroom corals in the garage will not go in the display tank. my friend Mark has a plague of them that started a few years ago with only one and now they have taken over the whole bottom part of his tank. kind of like the hydroids or whatever they are have taken over my tank.
i had about 30-40 Astrea snails but now only see a couple of them.
the sand should be here in August so i will have to get going on it then. i am rather intimidated by the prospect of tearing down the tank. but look, you did it in less than a day and your tank was jam packed with corals. i don't know how you will get them all back in the tank. maybe you frag them for all your helpers to have a backup out there in the world.
over and out for the moment. i am off to a BBQ but should be home cleaning the algae out of the tank, or aiptasia out of the sump, or...
hey my first post ever without a photo. lol
