Benson's Upgrade to a 180 Gallon Tank

[JonezNReef]

Nice progress so far. Glad your skimmer is working better. If it continued to overflow I would have suggested raising it up higher in the water level until it broke in. I had to do that with my Bubble Magus when I had my frag tank up.
What are your plans for the carbon dosing as far as amount of vinegar per day? Also why did you choose vinegar instead of vodka, fructose or a commercially available one?

 

[Benson0219]

I did the first water change last Sunday. I changed about 30 gallons. It longer than I thought it would to get back to clear.

 

[Benson0219]

While more than 50 percent of the rock in the tank was highly established, the tank seems to be going through new tank phase in regard to the diatoms, algae, bacteria blooms… Maybe with the protein skimmer not being dialed in has added to that.

 

[Benson0219]

Nice progress so far. Glad your skimmer is working better. If it continued to overflow I would have suggested raising it up higher in the water level until it broke in. I had to do that with my Bubble Magus when I had my frag tank up.
What are your plans for the carbon dosing as far as amount of vinegar per day? Also why did you choose vinegar instead of vodka, fructose or a commercially available one?

Thanks JonezNReef. Thanks for the suggesting about the protein skimmer. I will try that if it starts to act up again.

The reasons I am thinking of using vinegar is Randy Holmes uses it (and it alone) and the effect that it also has on cyno bacteria. I think once the skimmer is performing as promised then it will be very effective at pulling the excess bacteria from the carbon dosing out of the water.

 

[Benson0219]

Off to the LFS Kona Reef to shop for more coral. Pictures to follow.

 

[Benson0219]

So, we picked up 5 Indian Ocean Lyretail Anthias :fish1:. They are currently in the quarantine tank. We didn't get any corals today :hammer:.

 

[Benson0219]

Got the dosing pumps hooked up and running. It's hooked up to the Apex controller.

 

[worm5406]

Nice. Are they in auto yet, or still in ON status?

Fallback OFF
Set ON
If FeedA 005 Then OFF
If FeedD 005 Then OFF

 

[Benson0219]

Nice. Are they in auto yet, or still in ON status?

Fallback OFF
Set ON
If FeedA 005 Then OFF
If FeedD 005 Then OFF

Yep, I have them on auto dosing calc all day and alk all night.

I added a baseball size ball of cheato. Let's see if it grows like yours did :rollface:

 

[Benson0219]

I'm using 30" two bulb T5 over my sump for now. I do have a Par38 LED fixture I want to replace it with once I add the light socket for it.

 

[worm5406]

Go look at my webcam after midnight eastern time. I will move the cheato around and you can see how much bigger it is now.

I swear I throw away what I took out. LOL

worm5406.from-md.com:83

That amazon sun light does like to make it grow!

 

[Benson0219]

Hmmm. I'm trying to upload a video here. Not working.

 

[Benson0219]

 

[Benson0219]

It worked... cool. Here is my first posted video of the tank.

 

[Benson0219]

Well, last weekend I cracked my refugium tank. It was a 29 gallon glass tank. I had to take it off line and remove it. I had my LFS Blue Studio make me a new acrylic tank to replace it. I will be getting it today and installing it later today.

 

[Benson0219]

I am also fighting some dinoflagellates in the tank... not good.

 

[worm5406]

How did it crack.

Are they making you a larger tank or staying with the 29g?

 

[Benson0219]

Haven't posted in a while. Tank is doing well. Had a bad case of cyanobacteria. It is past that now and doing well. I did add 5 Lyretail Anthias to the tank. Coral are doing well.

 

[Benson0219]

I got a new 30 gallon sump to use as a refugium in tandem with my sump. It's working well. Getting the light for it tomorrow and will also add some Chaetomorpha Algae too.

 

[JonezNReef]

Good stuff. You will have to get some pictures up when you get a chance