700 gallon tank, or how i spent my daughters inheritance

[Reefski's]

i think the new skimmer is great so far. i had been skimmerless for a couple of weeks and starting running about 7 liters of biopellets. they are in the tank in the tank. the skimmer is very adjustable to skim wet or dry. the other skimmer was not very adjustment friendly.

the biopellets had caused a bacterial bloom in the system that made the water cloudy. i could barely see the end of the tank the long way. two days with the new skimmer and the water is very clear again. i will still hook up my 300mg ozone machine to it soon.

a friend gave me a torch coral that seems to be doing well so far. only a couple of days though.

i need to measure my water parameters. i know the bad stuff has decreased a lot. i will post soon what the new numbers are.

we took out a lot of calcified sand in the tank. about an inch thick all over the bottom.

just added about 300 pounds of #1 aragonite sand to the tank and about 500 pounds in the sump tank.

i think i have been overdosing on the calcium and alkalinity. i have slacked way off and the numbers are more NSW levels now. should be healthier and cheaper too!

the tank is clear now.

 

[bullitr]

Carl
The thing I learn from all of my mistake
Dont do to many things a once.

 

[Bushpig_2]

Carl, i just read though all 65 pages in about 8 hours over 2 days lol (I have plenty of time, im on deployment) but thank you for sharing the ups and down of your life that has pretty much revolved around your awesome tank and system.

I've havent been able to setup a reef system yet, but i've been lurking on the forums for about a year or so now reading about anything and everything (like i said i've been on deployment, so i have looooots of time to read lol) so i guess take this with a grain of salt.

From what i've read from people experiences with bio-pellets is that they dont "work" or it screws their system up. Everybody knows the benefits of bio-pellets, but in all the different posts i've read about people having it hooked up to their systems, they have it in a BRS media reactor set-up and open their input valves until the media tumbles. They work great after being colonized by bacteria at first! Then after a while their tank params get all wonky and the livestock get all angry (i'm sorry i dont have any threads to reference). Usually the tank was running fine before hand and the only new addition was the bio-pellet reactor and they take it off and things go back to normal.

The problem that usually happens is the bio-pellets are TOO effective, they completely strip the system of all phosphates (which small amounts are required for coral growth and marine life) and nitrates. The problem is the media has a set flow going in and out of the reactor, usually just enough to vigorously tumble the media, as well as plenty of "fresh" SW to get to the media for the bacteria to do their thing. After a while, depending on the size of the tank, the whole volume has been cycled through the reactor and has been stripped of phosphates and nitrates. What needs to be done is almost like a calcium reactor, with and internal flow separate from in-and-out flow (I cant believe i just did that to myself, i have about 6 more months until i can enjoy one of those tasty tasty little burgers from the heavens :furious: sorry a little OOT...lol) I guess it would need to be more of an effluent than just pumped in, mixed with the pellets and straight back out.

I'm not promoting this company, but i think they have it figured out on how to effectively get bio-pellets to work: http://youtu.be/sLhmI8vtnfw It's a LA Fishguy episode where he goes to visit his buddy in the industry and he shows their new reactor, how it effectively works, and how the guy just dumps food into his system until his corals and fish are fat and happy.Also, from the looks of it you could probably build one yourself really really easy.

Now i havent seen your bio-pellet setup (but i'd love to see some pichurs...just sayin ) and i dont know what your level of experience is with them and nor i have never even set up a reef tank, but from i've read people usually have bad experiences with bio-pellets and your tanks is one of my favorites on RC and i'd like to see it flourish, and i think that bio-pellets are one of the better things to come out as of late for reef keeping, even with my never-having-a-reef-tank knowledge of reef tanks lol

Also, i dont know how open you are to showing people your set-up, but when i come back to Cali, i'd love to make the drive up the Venice and oogle and drool over your set-up. I can trade you a couple of my ships ball caps and zippo lights for your time? lol

 

[Reefski's]

i admire your dedication to my thread.

i am not happy with the biopellets loose in the 65 gallon tank. they are clumping together in a corner. i am going to put them in a reactor. i don't know about controlling the flow though. i can control the amount of pellets though.

my nitrate levels are about 1ppm and PO4 0.8-0.12ppm right now.

come by anytime. i love talking about reefing.

i got a bunch of new corals yesterday so i will see what happens to them.

the torch coral is still doing well.

a bunch of different birds nests and several LPS corals as well.

the skimmerless 120 gallon tank at the office continues to thrive with the Santa Monica turf scrubber and 200 watt LED. PAR values there are 400-700 or so. nitrates and phosphates are very low and the corals are growing very quickly. it is satisfying to see that after all the disappointments at home.

i'm off to buy salt now and who know what else.


Carl

 

[Nizz]

Guess it could be worse. My parents spend my inherence on a RV. Good luck.

 

[Reefski's]

most of the rocks are covered with this short red algae. i just added about 60 snails and they are starting to make a little dent in it. the fish eat it also.

lots of these cool blue sponges in the tank too.

i have had this shrimp for about 7 years.

 

[Reefski's]

it is starting to come together a few months after moving the sumps back home. the DSB in the garage is working. lots of pods, mysis, worms, etc.

nitrate levels now <1 and PO4 0.03 today. i love the new skimmer. also the biopellets must be working to help lower the PO4 levels.

everyone loves the 120 gallon tank at the office. it is appreciated by many people every day. it is very gratifying to see the interest. i have come into the office to find a group stranding around discussing the tanks inhabitants and how the corals have grown so much since their last visit which may have only been a week or two before.

Video

 

[Reefski's]

the xenia has grown to what you see in less than four months. everything is growing well under the 200 watt LED's. my big complaint about them is that they have a narrow output and only cover the part of the tank that is right under them, about half the tank. i think i should get another one but i can't afford it right now. but for 200 watts they put out 700 par at the surface and 300 or so at the sand bed.

 

[kinlayan]

which led are you using?

 

[Reefski's]

the Xenia started as three very small stalks. not really complaining yet. i love all the growth.

more satisfying than the big tank at home so far. no skimmer, just two Santa Monica turf scrubbers with about 100 watts of T5s. still a little algae in the tank as you can see but i am not worried as long as the nitrate and PO4 levels stay low. i just added the yellow tang a couple of weeks ago. it will be the biggest fish in the tank one day. i think that is all the fish i will have in the tank.

i have a DSB in the tank, some mud in the sump and the turf scrubbers for filtration. i am doing a 20 gallon water change about once a month.

there is a pistol shrimp living with the Goby. no photos of the elusive shrimp. at least they decided to make their home right in the front of the tank where we can see the Goby at least. occasionally, esp in the morning the shrimp is at work on the burrow pushing rocks around, etc.

 

[Reefski's]

which led are you using?

365sunnyled.com

 

[smithben1983]

Nice photos!

 

[Reefski's]

as well as the 120 office tank is doing the home tank is still anti coral. i put several frags of birdsnest in the tank only to have them bleach after just a few weeks.

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l58/reefski/IMG_6551.jpg[/IMG

[IMG]http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l58/reefski/IMG_6531.jpg

 

[Reefski's]

video

 

[Reefski's]

click to watch video

i finally got a little shrimp time.

 

[Reefski's]

i put some new additions in my tank a few weeks ago. a couple anthias, jaw fish et al.

i think they had/have ich. what do you think?
these fish are fish i have had for many years. the new fish don't have any spots although the Anthias did at first.

this morning i got up just at dawn and saw the cleaner shrimps (2 of them) cleaning these two fish for at least ten minutes.
do they clean ich from fish?

this is one of the new additions

this guy had a few spots a few weeks ago but not today.

i put some new additions in my tank a few weeks ago. a couple anthias, jaw fish et al.

i think they had/have ich. what do you think?
these fish are fish i have had for many years. the new fish don't have any spots although the Anthias did at first.

this morning i got up just at dawn and saw the cleaner shrimps (2 of them) cleaning these two fish for at least ten minutes.
do they clean ich from fish?

this guy had a few spots a few weeks ago but not today.

 

[Elliott]

yes, looks like ICH

cleaner shrimp will pick at and clean the parasites off but can't get to all of them deep in gills and sub dermal, so they are really ineffective at producing a cure

looks like your fish are recovering nicely and probably building immunity

btw, your photos are great!

 

[Reefski's]

when i got the Anthias i did QT them for three weeks. they seemed fine in the dimmer light of the QT tank in my garage. however as soon as i put them in the display tank i saw this. by then it was too late to take them out. by the next morning the spots were gone on all of them so i convinced myself it was just some artifacts from the stuff stirred up in the QT as i caught them. i don't think that was it though. they are still fine over a month later.

 

[Reefski's]

Elliott- thanks for the compliment. i forgot about Ich and the gills. i don't know what i would do if i had to catch all the fish to treat them. what a chore. if i do i could get rid of the two Hippo tangs. the male is continually picking on the Sailfin Tang and tearing up his dorsal fin.

i have had this Coral Banded Shrimp for about 7-8 years now.

 

[Elliott]

great photos

Ich is almost impossible to keep out of a reef tank but as long as your fish build immunity it should not become a major problem, keep them fed well and low stress

applies to humans too