700 gallon tank, or how i spent my daughters inheritance

[dahenley]

do you have the aragonite, or are you ordering it in?
also, do you plan to test the sand before adding it? (an acid test like you used before?)


Have you decided on what corals your going to keep?

(im happy to see an update!!)

 

[Mr. Brooks]

I think you've made some huge steps in the right direction. This tank is going to be awesome!

 

[Reefski's]

i already have the aragonite. Natures Ocean replaced the quartz sand and i just paid shipping. some has been in use in the sump for a few months now. i have about 1,000 pounds that i can use in the display. what i don't use there i will probably put in some of the sumps which don't all have sand now.

nitrates are running 0.2ppm

PO4 is managed with LaCl as needed.

i am going to try some sps corals in the brightest part of the tank after a while. i have a couple friends that will give me some test frags when i am ready. once i connect the DT to the sumps again the tank should be fairly stable.

there will be a lot of new sand to colonize though.

we really like the anemone's and clown fish. i have four tank raised black and white clowns that are siblings i have had since they were just a few months old.

i know anemones can put out toxins that aren't good for corals. the corals i still have seem unaffected by this.

i have not been using any carbon since i emptied the DT but will do it again when it is set up.

i have been running ozone periodically though and will continue to do that.

 

[Reefski's]

some of the surviving livestock.

this tank will just have sand and water. maybe some macroalgae if the ATS isn't enough.

there are also spaghetti worms colonizing the sand bed. you can see one in the photo above at about 7 oclock to the fan worms.

 

[dahenley]

:thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:

 

[dave.m]

I love the fact that you're able to keep all these fans going. Are there any fish at all in this sump? Are there any fish that would be safe to keep in here?

Thx,

Dave.M

 

[Reefski's]

there are no fish in this particular tank. there was a pair of Maroon clowns for a while after i broke down the DT. i sold them because we are putting the four Black and White clowns in the DT.

i am sure there are a lot of fish that could be in here but i don't want fish in this tank. this tank will be a refugium.

right now anyway i want to have fish only in the DT and all the system in the garage as support.

Carl

 

[Reefski's]

not much to report here. yesterday was bright and sunny. took PAR readings over the day. values ranged from 80-100 in the morning and later afternoon.
mid day for about three hours- 500-650

today was cloudy and rainy later in the day.
values in the same time periods were 20's and peaked at about 100-120

of course these were sunlight only.


Carl

 

[dahenley]

is your main tank hooked to the garage yet? or is it still dry? (you mentioned PAR values, and i wasnt sure if those were with water or not?)

if your tank is up and flowing, is it bare, or did you ever receive that new sand? (or is there rock in there?)

thanks for the update!

 

[Reefski's]

the tank is half full of water and has some rock, mostly dry rock. i did get the replacement sand. today i am taking live sand from one sump to put in the tank. i now have enough water to finish filling the tank so they are one system again.

i have about 4" in the one sump now that will get disturbed today. so i will disconnect the water from the sumps to the glass tanks over them while the crud settles and the skimmer skims. i think that is all i will do today. let the tank settle for a while.

 

[Reefski's]

mostly dry rock

i put in some dry rock and sand from the sump and let it run like that for a few weeks. it got a nice growth of algae on the rock and diatoms on the sand.

no more closed loops. since my tank is 1" thick and the tunze pump magnets are for only 3/4" or less i made a little mounting device for them.

the fish came out of the far glass tank and went back in the display tank.

 

[zaheda]

Looking forward to see it up again, good luck. I have to ask where does your cars stay, outside on the driveway?

 

[Reefski's]

we have never parked a car in the garage. not many people in my area actually park in their garage.

we just park in front of the garage in the driveway.

Carl

 

[dahenley]

WOOT
great day for an update! (looks good and sunny outside!!)

now we just have to wait to see what it looks like when its circulating and clear!

do your 3 tunze pumps come on at once? im guessing you have 3 on the other side? and they oscillate or act like a wavebox or something.

 

[kmu]

it is good to see that someone else has done the same. how long have you had water in the tank now that the holes are closed off?

i am still trying to get my carbon footprint to zero. probably never happen but i am working on it.

Carl

Dejavu
Did the same thing with my tank, an went with energy efficient vortechs

GOOD LUCK on the rebuild...

Just to give you an update on my carbon footprint...

The tank has been running for 5 months now with the close loop holes plugged just like you...

I was gonna install a couple of Solatubes but the price after install and the heavy actinic supplementation I would need ( I love the 20k look) would defeat this purpose.

Well it turns out that Im only running 2 Aqua illumination SOl Blue modules running around 55% right now which consume around 75 watts for both modules...

Thats .3 watts per gallon on lighting, for water flow 2 Vortech MP40s will do it and the return pump is a mag 9 ( still need no find a more efficient return pump)

 

[Reefski's]

WOOT
great day for an update! (looks good and sunny outside!!)

now we just have to wait to see what it looks like when its circulating and clear!

do your 3 tunze pumps come on at once? im guessing you have 3 on the other side? and they oscillate or act like a wavebox or something.

i recorded the PAR readings over a sunny day and they went up to about 900-1000 for about four hours. a cloudy day was about 1/3 the PAR.

in the topics there are many cloudy/rainy days too.

my climate here this close to the ocean may not be ideal for a solar powered reef tank. there are many cloudy/overcast days in the summer. it is called June gloom but lasts from may through much of the summer.

a couple more miles inland it is much sunnier. the marine influence usually stops about two more miles inland.

there are three Tunzes on the other side as well. although with what lievstock i have in the tank i am only running one on one side and two on the other. the controller is not on right now.

the tank is looking the best it has looked in over a year.

Carl

 

[elijaher]

Pretty nice update. Looks like you have your hands full.

 

[Reefski's]

Pretty nice update. Looks like you have your hands full.

that is not the half of it.

Carl

 

[bullitr]

Are you still moving Carl ?

 

[Reefski's]

shhh!