A Reefaholic's 1000+ Gallon Mixed Reef System Build

[zigzag1]

Just going to share my experience here as I know others have seemingly been okay with dwarf angels, but take my word for it - they can be a risky addition. I had a Flame Angel in my mixed reef for about 2 years that was eventually removed for picking at Acroporas. A few weeks after mine was added, my normally furry Acros showed diminished polyp extension, which over the course of a few weeks eventually became a total lack of PE on Acroporas and some others with very small polyps. Newly added SPS frags would also eventually diminish their PE over a week or so. I then carefully watched newly added frags and found the Flame Angel to be the culprit. He would pick at any Acro with PE, and was very sneaky about it. Almost as if he knew I was watching.. but I caught him red-handed (lipped?) on more than a few occasions on any SPS with PE. He would never pick enough to kill any, but for some reason picked at any extended SPS polyps. Monitpora, Seraioproa, Milepora, Heliopora, and others would also get picked at.

I removed him a couple of months ago, and my Acros are nearly back to normal now, almost back to full PE and any new SPS don't seem to have the issue at all. I couldn't catch the fish despite repeated efforts and multiple types of traps. I was doing a tank transfer/upgrade and was able to remove it then. But, lesson learned for me - no more dwarf angels in my SPS tanks. JMTC & GL!

 

[Dustin1300]

Understand zigzag. That's why I've thought about just keeping the angels in butterflies and butterfly in the frag tank. I might change my mind as it develops but we'll just have to see I think I'm safe either way to put the 5 pyramids in though.

I've had a similar experience with a flame angel too but have a love for angel/butterfly fish. Maybe that's just an excuse to add a FOWLR tank later down the road?

 

[Dustin1300]

Floyd/Steve were earlier asking about the 'growth' on the ATS earlier. Today was 4th day it's been online and lights are on from 10PM-4PM.

Zoomed out shot. You can see the clean white screen at the bottom which I used to make the water more gently flow into the sump.

Closeup shot of the screen.

 

[Floyd R Turbo]

Oh ok then there's no way it was the scrubber. Something else pulling N out. Odd.

 

[Dustin1300]

I agree! The DSB is developing well and it's probably the biggest culprit but I'm a bit puzzled on the quick decline of Nitrates without massive water changes.

Here you can see the anaerobic pockets forming, while small the bed is covered with them for the first 3-4 inches.

Second not so good shot:

 

[rpjaws74]

I like it!!

 

[Newbie Aquarist]

You are definitely holding it down Dustin. Keep up the planning and good work.

 

[Dustin1300]

I like it!!

Thanks! Hope you are tagging along as I'm always looking for others advice/opinions

You are definitely holding it down Dustin. Keep up the planning and good work.

Thanks too. Planning is definitely the word. I feel like I'm almost to a point where I'll be sitting for a few months just waiting on the tank to mature and haulting purchases, saving money, and doing extensive planning and research for putting the DT in place, closed loop, rock wall, aquascape, additional sump, new skimmer, calcium reactor, and who knows what else!!!!

 

[david00061]

Great progress.
Your moving along real fast.
Let me know if the ATS works good. Do they Smell?

 

[SPotter]

Great progress.
Your moving along real fast.
Let me know if the ATS works good. Do they Smell?

Mine only smells when I clean it otherwise I don't smell a thing when its running.

 

[Dustin1300]

Agreed with Steve. I don't smell anything on mine. I think as long as you properly maintain and clean weekly and getting the appropriate growth they won't. I don't think I'll ever replace the skimmer but who knows? What works works...I definitely won't stick with this one I built but I've got maybe $80 into it so it's really a test for myself. If it can save me a few buckets of salt a year it's worth having to clean the screen once a week.

 

[cdrewferd]

Great build so far. Love your attention to detail. When is the main tank going downstairs?

 

[Dustin1300]

Great build so far. Love your attention to detail. When is the main tank going downstairs?

I've been busy with so many other things but need to get a contractor over to do a consultation on tearing out the walls on each side of my stairs. I'm fairly certain they are not load bearing but really don't want to risk it. Once I get that okayed I'll be tearing out the two walls, need to move tank off stand and have some welding done, then powder coat or rhino-line the stand.

Spring time had brought some other projects up recently and now have my yard done for the summer after putting 6 yards of mulch down this morning:spin1: Have a couple other 'wife' projects then I'll be back to working on the reef/basement prep.

 

[Dustin1300]

Yesterday I got the 10 Anthias from Premium Aquatics but the purple dartfish did not come in. I'll plan on waiting for them before I start any treatments in the QT. I did pick up an ammonia remover pad I'm using on a HOB filter on the QT tank but not sure if I'll have to remove the pad when I'm running prazipro/cupramine later on? Can anyone comment on this?

Ammonia Remover Pad

***I'm still going to do ~weekly water changes but if ammonia is present, I'd rather the fish not feel the effects and let the pad take the hit

Planned QT Procedure (If you have any other suggestions please share):

1. Acclimate fish and try to get eating within the first week. Observe the fish during this time for any obvious signs of disease that will require special treatment.
2. Treat 3 rounds of prazipro, 5 days apart with 30-50% water changes between treatments.
3. Perform a large water change (50-75%) and run carbon for a week.
4. Remove carbon and start dosing cupramine, dosing enough to raise copper levels 0.1ppm/day until I reach 0.4ppm +/- 0.1ppm.
5. After 4 weeks, perform a large water change, run carbon and observe for another week. During the treatment, perform 25-30% water changes every ~5 days and adjust according to ammonia levels using ammonia alert badge/testing.
6. After this initial ~10 week QT period, add to the frag QT to acclimate to the system and observe behavior against coral in tank for another 4 weeks. Bad behavior fish get sent back Good behavior get sent to the DT.

***Special thanks to Haffs and his recommendation on his methods. In the future, I might add the tank transfer method before all of this with the more disease prone fish.

I snapped a couple photos of the fish last night but they are very timid. I don't have any lights over the tank yet as fixture is supposed to be in on Wednesday so pics are not all that great.

Some felt like eating this morning but are still rather timid. Definitely counted 10 still active and moving around this morning.

 

[david00061]

nice looking fish

 

[Dustin1300]

nice looking fish

I think what's even nicer is the amazing shipwreck and decorations I had from a Craigslist tank I think I'm going to pick up some plumbing parts today to put in the tank as they look nicer!

 

[Dustin1300]

ATS is going good and seems to be growing at a descent rate. I just did a first slow tapwater cleaning of it after 7 days per FloydTurbo's recommendations on the ATS thread. Seems that I'm getting good growth for such a young ATS

Skimmer is still pulling junk...I clean skimmer cup 3-4 times throughout the week and thinking that I might pick up the Avast Swabbie kit later down the road.

 

[SPotter]

ats looks good! wait until it really kicks in now that you will feeding your system more.

I have the sro neck cleaner on my 1000 and its awesome!

 

[Dustin1300]

ATS won't be getting anything from the Anthias for a while as they are in the QT tied off from the main system. It'll be 8-10 weeks before they enter the system

On a better note, Anthias seemed to start eating tonight and all seemed to be either nibbling or gobbling up the cyclop-eeze.

 

[Dustin1300]

Not a lot to report lately but had some other projects the wife has had me busy on. Tested nitrates a couple nights ago and they were around 10 ppm, started with first dose of Prazipro on Monday, and did about a ~40 gallon water change after test. Saturday I'll plan on doing another 40 gallon water change, using the old system water to replace 40 gallons of water in Fish QT, and start second dose of Prazipro. (Hoping that PA let's me know the dartfish I ordered are in and ready to pick up so they can start on second dose of Prazipro).

Enough babbling, ATS seems to be maturing well....I'm still not sold on them because of all the criticism and lack of successful SPS tanks I've seen but I can't knock it until I try them! I had enough faith to spend $60 to try out a pilot and will easily put a few hundred into an LED unit if things seem to head in right direction. According to SantaMonica/FloydTurbo, new design should be out in the next month or so...So I'll be awaiting those before I start any new designs.

Screen after 4 days:

Screen at 7 days:

Screen today (11 days):

It's hard to tell from the pictures but the screen is getting green growth in the holes in the screen. Growth is dark on other portions of the screen and looks more like diatoms than anything but I'd say 5% is currently green 'good algae'. Too early to consider making any drastic changes yet...