A Customdusty Rimless Build

[customdusty]

Why not put the corals into the frag/qt tank after you're done rinsing them?

Sounds like a plan, though. I hope everything goes well for you!

I didn't put the corals back in the frag tank because it is not a QT, it is connected with my DT. If I can get it set up, cycled, and running on it's own then I would move the corals there. I just don't think I should wait that long to get a new system stabilized and running to house so much SPS.

 

[customdusty]

I did a trial of the dip, inspection and egg removal on 2 of my frags a few days ago to test out the effects of the CoralRx before I expose all of my corals to it. Upon close inspection out of the water, the eggs were much more visible, and the AEFW proved very difficult to see. They did not seem to squirm or come free very easily with the exposure to the CoralRx, they still required scraping and blasting with water to get them loose. I had kind of figured that it would be like flatworm exit and all of the worms would instantly start dying - but that was not the case. I'm going to do one more test on a larger, more affected colony to see how that goes.

My plan now for after the dips will be to place the corals in my frag tank, which has since been cleaned out to make space. The frag tank will turn into a "treatment" tank for a short time, where I will also place corals that I don't want to break off of rocks to dip, or are too large/complex to see eggs/AEFW to pick/scrap them off. The "treatment in this tank will consist of extremely high flow rates and a school of 7-8 chromis and perhaps a wrasse. My intent would be to blow the the AEFW off of the corals, have the fish eat them or stay suspended in the water to be collected in a filter sock, which will serve as a mechanical barrier between the affect corals and the main tank.

In the mean time, I'm working on setting up my QT tank. Most likely, I'll set up a small nano system later on that I will keep up permanently as a QT, but in the more short term, after my battle with AEFW is nearing it's end, I will completely separate my 20g frag tank tank and start that up as a QT in my fish closet. For this tank I'm just going to add some sand, drop a Tunze Nano skimmer in it, and run it sumpless and simple - a heater, skimmer, and powerhead (K4) and that's it. I'm concerned though about maintaining calcium and alkalinity in such a small volume in order to keep it as close to the conditions of my DT. I'm also worried about my 150w halide warming the water too much as volume is so low. All things that I will need to test out, it just stinks that this process is going to take so long. Long term, like I said, I want to have a second fully operational system - but it woudl have to be very small. I've already started some concepts that I will have quoted that reflect a design and set-up very similar to an Elos Mini.

More dips, treatment, and follow up to come later this week. Fun times.

 

[customdusty]

So I did the first dips for all of my frags and some of my colonies that were not attached to rocks, which was about 75% of all of my sps. What a painfully cumbersome process. Corals started re-opening polyps today on most of them, although I'm close to giving up hope on a couple of them. I didn't end up getting the fish just yet, I'd like to see how things go after next weeks dip.

I also decided that I'd make a couple of changes and minor improvements to my system. The minor changes are going to be a new sump and a new return pump. I've already picked up a 40g breeder that I'm going to modify with some baffles I had cut to make a simple 2 section sump. I pretty much a have a good feel for how I want things organized long term, and I felt that this would be a good time to make the changeover from the rubbermaid I am currently using. I expect to finish the sump this weekend, and I'll post pictures of it along the way. The return pump I'm going to use is not yet decided, but I am sure that I will not be using the Rio Hyperflow anymore - it's just too much pump and too noisy. I'll probably end up in a Mag drive because the Eheim is just too darn big compared to other pumps.

Despite all of these changes, I will need to make minimal adjustments to plumbing or anything else. It should make for a smooth transition, freeing up space and quieting things down.

The more significant change is that I'm beginning to use the Zeovit system. I'm setting up the reactor this weekend and I will start easing my system off of the MB7, Vodka, AAs, etc. and into the Zeo bacteria driven system. Although in principle I will be doing mostly the same thing I am now (just at a higher cost), I preferred to go this route because the system is well tested, structured, and widely used. For me, I think this system will help me better understand what I should be looking for in my tank, what it means, how to fix it, and how to know when it is fixed. I can't say that I will stick with it forever, just for now it seems like a good fit.

 

[reefsahoy]

sounds like alot of work! are you finallychanging your lights too?

 

[customdusty]

sounds like alot of work! are you finallychanging your lights too?

Yeah, a lot of work right now. I have found that despite some of the corals being affected by AEFW, I am struggling to maintain good color because I believe my nutrients are too low. I also believe the my alkalinity might be a little higher than ideal for a ULNS/bacteria driven system, so I will be doing a controlled drift downward from 8-9dkh to closer to 7dkh. Also, in discussing my specific situation with some Zeo guru's, I have found that because my system is ULNS already and bacteria driven, the transition to the Zeo system will be of a low impact if noticeable at all.

About the lighting, I never did get the quote on the upgrade. I will probably defer that to a later time anyways as I don't want to make too many changes in a short time. I think also that if I do decide to change, it will be to a full T5 fixture rather than the Infiniti upgrade. I miss the T5s more each time I look at the tank.

Overall though, the tank is looking pretty good - I'd just like it to color up and fill in. I moved some rock from the frag tank into the DT, so the islands each grew a little bit. I'll get some new tank shots up tonight or later this weekend along with before and after shots of my fish closet with the new sump.

I'm also on the fence about possibly adding a refugium - I had a small one in the past, but was not convinced that there was much benefit. I think that some additional sand, LR, and water volume might aid in stability if not anything else. All in due time, we will see how the rest of this goes first.

 

[customdusty]

Here are a couple of shots of the sump coming along.

I tape areas off to keep the silicone work a bit cleaner and to have an easy way to position and align the baffles.

I went with 17 1/4" wide baffles with the tank being 17 1/2" on the inside. Despite others telling me to get 17.5", I found it to be too large a gap than a cared for - 17 3/8" would have been better.

I used just some tape to hold the baffles in position while things cure. I chose to only do the two outer baffles first, and I'll do the middle one tomorrow when the other ones have cured.

Here also is a shot of my fish closet to document a before shot. The frag tank comes out tomorrow, and the rubbermaid will be gone by the weekend replaced by the new sump.

 

[Taqpol]

It seems like the rubbermaid held a lot more water volume then the sump will, whats the reason for the change?

 

[NaClCrocodile]

I'm wondering why you'd silicone the outer baffles before the inner one? My thought is that it'd be much easier to keep the middle one up with something supporting it without the sides and it'd be easier as well to silicone the middle without worrying about the sides getting in the way.

 

[customdusty]

Here is a current tank shot. Minor changes as I moved the frag rack into the DT and added a few small pieces of rock. Got a little school of chromis darting around now too.

 

[customdusty]

It seems like the rubbermaid held a lot more water volume then the sump will, whats the reason for the change?

There really isn't that much loss in volume if any by changing out the sump. The rubbermaid is a 45 gallon tub, but I only have 8" of water in it. The sump is a 40 gallon, and I'll run it at 9.5". The loss in volume will be roughly 15 gallons from the frag tank being taken offline.

I never planned long term on keeping the rubbermaid, not to mention that I found a bunch of things about it that I realized I didn't like.

The primary thing that was bugging me was microbubbles. Having a rubbermaid sump like this doesn't allow you to put bubble traps and baffles in, and I'm forced to use a filter sock. It requires constant cleaning and is a real PITA.

The other thing that stinks is that most rubbermaid totes have all kinds of weird contours along the bottom. It creates all kinds of places for stuff to accumulate and provides little to no flat surface to place equipment.

 

[customdusty]

I'm wondering why you'd silicone the outer baffles before the inner one? My thought is that it'd be much easier to keep the middle one up with something supporting it without the sides and it'd be easier as well to silicone the middle without worrying about the sides getting in the way.

I siliconed the outers before the inner because the outers are the ones that get siliconed to the bottom of the sump, and therefore are the hardest to reach with my big bear paw hands. Now I only have side silicone to do now, and I have to go 3" less deep because it will be off the bottom.

 

[customdusty]

Before:

After:

 

[Taqpol]

Hahaha, that fits perfectly! It looks like a very, very convenient setup.

Although if you want more projects it looks like you also have room for a water change system and maybe even a permanent QT setup. I know both of those are things I would like to have.

 

[customdusty]

Lol. Pretty tight fit huh? I actually had to build the stand and raise it to clear the mouldings around the floor. I also had to take off the inside door trim as well. There is 1/8" clearance on each side, enough that when I slide it against one wall, I can fit power cords on the other side - but not both.

It definately cleans up a lot of space and the change in water volume compared to the rubbermaid sump was only about 3 gallons.

I'm not sure what my next project will be in there, but for now I'm getting my new light fixture - I'm officially going back to T5.

 

[customdusty]

I got my new light fixture on order now. I don't want to wait the 6 week lead time to get it, but what can I do.

I ended up opting to go with a 36" fixture for my 48" tank, which I wanted to try for a couple of reasons. The primary reason is that because of my aquascape, I don't have much in the way of light dependent livestock at the ends of my tank. It doesn't make sense to me to use electricity just to light my sand bed. The other reason was that I thought that aesthetically, it might look better to have the ends open and highlight the rimless tank. The fixture is a full T5 Sfiligoi Stealth with 12x39w bulbs. I'm not sure on bulb configuration just yet, but probably 7 B+, 3 AB Special, 2 Fiji Purple. - something like that.

I also started the Zeovit system yesterday so we will shall see how that goes. It will definitely be interesting to document the effects as I go along and decide whether or not it is worth it. Total up front cost to get the system started was $200. I estimated that if I use 3 or so additional supplements in addition the 4 basic ones, my cost annually to run the system will be about $300.

 

[epleeds]

nice choice of fixture sir. Love that one. Pricey, but hey isn't everything in this hobby. Make sure you post a pic of the lights when you get them.

 

[customdusty]

nice choice of fixture sir. Love that one. Pricey, but hey isn't everything in this hobby. Make sure you post a pic of the lights when you get them.

They are a bit pricey, but you get what you pay for. The finish on them is really nice, makes a showpiece in itself.

 

[Taqpol]

I can't wait to see your tank as a T5 tank, they're my favorite. I have always thought LED blocks with T5 supplementation would be kinda cool, but I've spent enough money on my tank for now.

12 bulbs over a two foot wide tank? Seems like thats going to be pretty dense, I have 8 icecap retrofits over my 120 and I know that with their reflectors I couldn't fit even one more in.

 

[customdusty]

I can't wait to see your tank as a T5 tank, they're my favorite. I have always thought LED blocks with T5 supplementation would be kinda cool, but I've spent enough money on my tank for now.

12 bulbs over a two foot wide tank? Seems like thats going to be pretty dense, I have 8 icecap retrofits over my 120 and I know that with their reflectors I couldn't fit even one more in.

The fixture is pretty big - 20" wide to fit all 12 bulbs. I will probably have it raise it as high as I can without the light spilling out the front of the tank - Probably 5-6" I would think.

What bulb combo do you run?

I asked Grim and he said for me to go with:

Blue+
UVL Actinic White
Blue+
Blue+
GE Daylight 6500k
Blue+
Blue+
GE Daylight 6500k
Blue +
Blue+
UVL Actinic White
Blue+

 

[Taqpol]

I really don't like the UVL Actinic Whites, they seem to give the tank a weird purplish hue. I run:

Blue+
KZ Fiji Purple
Blue+
ATI Aquablue Special
Blue+
ATI Aquablue Special
Blue+
Blue+


That is pretty much what SunnyX runs over his tank, minus the KZ Fiji Purple.