A Reef Tank in the Desert - +/- 1,400 gallon system

garrettm said:
What an awesome tank and thread! Love how you have captured every step of the build, it has helped me with some ideas for my next 150 in wall build i am currently planning. I think my favorite part was seeing the shipments arrive,can't wait to see boxes like that (obviously not in that qty) at my doorstep. Everything looks absolutely great!
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Garrettm,

Thank you for the very kind words! I am glad that my thread has given you ideas for your build. You will definitely have to create a thread of your own.

FedEx Fridays are one of my favorite days. Just about every night I come online to update things, review other builds and to check out the websites for various livestock and equipment suppliers. I try to get everything delivered on Friday so that I am home when everything arrives.

Don't be a stranger if you have any questions pertaining to your build.
 
Newbie Aquarist said:
Nice pickup on the Ozone. So you are getting new fixtures from EcoTech?
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Yes, I am waiting for them to have 14 in stock that we can swap out with my current Radions. They have a huge demand for new orders both here and abroad that they are trying to fill. As of today they had six that they could send me. I want to do all of them at the same time so that I can sync the lights together and go through the same 30-45 day acclimation period. They have a program where they will send me the new ones with a return label to send back my old - together with funds of course.

EcoTech Marines facebook page has my lightning storm on it. It's had a ton of hits on my YouTube Page.
 
danfeig said:
Yes, I am waiting for them to have 14 in stock that we can swap out with my current Radions. They have a huge demand for new orders both here and abroad that they are trying to fill. As of today they had six that they could send me. I want to do all of them at the same time so that I can sync the lights together and go through the same 30-45 day acclimation period. They have a program where they will send me the new ones with a return label to send back my old - together with funds of course.

EcoTech Marines facebook page has my lightning storm on it. It's had a ton of hits on my YouTube Page.
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I saw that. Congrats on the Facebook love.
 
Dan,
Why the new reactors if you do not mind. Are you getting spikes in nitrates or phosphates? I thought with your husbandry and current equipment you were doing well. I run less equipment on my system but have a smaller bio load. Nevertheless, detritus removal via gravel vacuuming is much cheaper and efficient in my view. However, I love your tank. Thanks for presenting it to this venue.
 
jt48 said:
great video, cant wait till I get a real camera
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Me either!!! All my pics lately have been with my iPhone. I need to have Griffin come over in at the end of the month to take some before/after pictures.

Fortunately, I have some nice friends with great camera skills!
 
jjk_reef00 said:
Wow those look amazing! I can't wait to hear what you have to say once they are up and running! Since you have so many different types of filtration, I'm curious, have you ever considered biopellets?
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Thanks! I was hoping to have time last weekend to get them installed, unfortunately, I didn't have the time.

I haven't considered biopellets simply because I have the Fluidized Sand Reactor. I believe the premise of the Sand Reactor is similar to that of a biopellet reactor. The bacteria is living in the sand and is constantly churning! I have noticed with my reactor that since I have been running it (well, after a month or so of running it) I have had to clean my glass on lot less too!
 
Osteoclast said:
Dan,
Why the new reactors if you do not mind. Are you getting spikes in nitrates or phosphates? I thought with your husbandry and current equipment you were doing well. I run less equipment on my system but have a smaller bio load. Nevertheless, detritus removal via gravel vacuuming is much cheaper and efficient in my view. However, I love your tank. Thanks for presenting it to this venue.
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Osteoclast,

Thanks for the question and for the compliments!

Let's see... I have always had Nitrates. Not a dangerous level necessarily, but I work hard to keep them low. You have to keep in mind that I feed my fish a lot! In any given day, my fish go through 4-6 sheets of Nori, some pellets from my auto feeder and 20-25 cubes of frozen food. I know... a lot! I have never had a Phosphate issue.

I was running ozone early on with great success. I was running it through my skimmer and unfortunately, when my skimmer shut off one day, water backed up through my ozone generator.:headwalls: I noticed a difference in the clarity of the water and with the efficiency of my skimmer when I stopped running ozone. So, I started researching ozone generators and reactors and settled on the ones I purchased.

The additional equipment does not stop me from maintaining good husbandry. I still change my filter socks 2-3 times each week, perform weekly 100 gallon water changes, gravel vac weekly, clean my skimmer weekly, clean my glass two times each week, check my parameters 3 times each week, etc.

I will not be running the ozone at very high levels and will be keeping a close eye on my orp. I will report back how it goes.
 
danfeig said:
Thanks Pushwood. It's good to hear from you! I don't think I have heard from you since before the holidays. I hope that everything is going great for you!
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Yeah it's nice to finally have time to catch back up on all the amazing threads that I fell behind on, it has been quite a busy holiday season.
I love that you started the sea horse tank/fuge. Did you purchase all of your seahorses locally or did you have them shipped to you? They are really amazing little creatures and I have always been fascinated by them.
Also I know I asked you this a while back but are you still considering the Achilles Tangs? They are so beautiful and I am sure they would thrive in a system such as yours.
 
Thanks for the info. That's an amazing amount of food. You probably could use the large DE filter that I run on my outdoor salt pool, filters 80k gallons! Of course zero tangs in the system so might be inadequate! Thanks again.
 
Pushwood said:
Yeah it's nice to finally have time to catch back up on all the amazing threads that I fell behind on, it has been quite a busy holiday season.
I love that you started the sea horse tank/fuge. Did you purchase all of your seahorses locally or did you have them shipped to you? They are really amazing little creatures and I have always been fascinated by them.
Also I know I asked you this a while back but are you still considering the Achilles Tangs? They are so beautiful and I am sure they would thrive in a system such as yours.
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The seahorses I purchased from Seahorse Source online. The owner, Dan, is very knowledgeable and helpful. It's a family run business and both he and is wife offer great support.

Funny that you ask... I have two Achilles sitting in one of my Quarantine Tanks for the past couple weeks. I am being very slow and deliberate with them. One of them has a little ich, but they both are eating well. I have an 80 watt UV running on the QT and have been doing weekly water changes. I have been feeding them 4-5 times per day and really want to fatten them up. Two of the feedings have been live brine fish.

Stay in touch!
 
danfeig said:
Funny that you ask... I have two Achilles sitting in one of my Quarantine Tanks for the past couple weeks. I am being very slow and deliberate with them. One of them has a little ich, but they both are eating well. I have an 80 watt UV running on the QT and have been doing weekly water changes. I have been feeding them 4-5 times per day and really want to fatten them up. Two of the feedings have been live brine fish.

Stay in touch!
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I have been wondering during the length of my build on how to keep two of them in my tank. My dream is a school of them(maybe 5-6) of them. I might be going overboard but they do school in nature. Are they in the same tank and what size you have them in? How many inches are they? Tony Vargas also suggested that same routine when we spoke last month. I will have to invest in a UV.
 
danfeig said:
The seahorses I purchased from Seahorse Source online. The owner, Dan, is very knowledgeable and helpful. It's a family run business and both he and is wife offer great support.

Funny that you ask... I have two Achilles sitting in one of my Quarantine Tanks for the past couple weeks. I am being very slow and deliberate with them. One of them has a little ich, but they both are eating well. I have an 80 watt UV running on the QT and have been doing weekly water changes. I have been feeding them 4-5 times per day and really want to fatten them up. Two of the feedings have been live brine fish.

Stay in touch!
Click to expand...
OOOOOO!!! So exciting!!! Post pics soon please :)
 
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