Building My 375gal Glass Reef
- Thread starter JohnL
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The progress of my tank, over the last couple of months has been satisfactory. SPS growth has been noticable, but nothing special. I haven't really decided where the problem might be. Haven't lost any corals. Did lose a female Anthias (Lyretail) - have no idea why - one day the fish was healthy, the next he was covered with Nassarius snails.
I finally got the frag tank hooked up. Some of you might remember that I was a little worried about how well the overflow and drain pipe from the tank back to the sump would work out - everythings fine. Totally quiet and there's no backup at all.
I guess it's time for a FTS. First here's the tank back in July:
and here's the tank last week:
You can see that I haven't been very diligent with keeping the back wall free of coralline, hmmm ...
I think... I diving in the sea. :bounce3:
creinkster
New member
Hey Tom, Thanks for the update it's good to have you back posting again, looks like your tank is maturing very nicely :thumbsup:. I love your aquascaping and how the corals have room to grow yet there's still plenty of room for the fish to swim. Any pics of what you did in the fuge and of your frag tank? What kinds of plants and critters are in the fuge for example? Also, I was wondering how deep is your sand bed in your tank and are you running both skimmers or just one. If you had to do it over again would you still go with two skimmers or would one suffice. Thanks and keep up the good work.
Dave's Reef
New member
Tom,
I'm so glad to see you back on the boards. Your build thread was very inspirational for me and all that went into my build. My tank's been up for 8 months now and I'm very happy with it so far! It is as I'm sure you know, a work in progress.
Your tank looks fantastic and it's nice to see what you've done in the past few months of no updates, lol. Nice cabinet/entertainment wall unit by the way...
I look forward to new updates and hope you'll make a visit to my homepage/thread sometime! As I said you were quite inspirational, particularly your light rack. I used yours as a model for mine and even used the wire guide/protector doo-hickey things from HD that you used!
I'm so glad to see you back on the boards. Your build thread was very inspirational for me and all that went into my build. My tank's been up for 8 months now and I'm very happy with it so far! It is as I'm sure you know, a work in progress.
Your tank looks fantastic and it's nice to see what you've done in the past few months of no updates, lol. Nice cabinet/entertainment wall unit by the way...
I look forward to new updates and hope you'll make a visit to my homepage/thread sometime! As I said you were quite inspirational, particularly your light rack. I used yours as a model for mine and even used the wire guide/protector doo-hickey things from HD that you used!
I'm pleased with the sulfate reactor, within a few weeks nitrates went to zero and have stayed there, I'm using a dual chamber Ca reactor. So far the LaCl/DE filter setup has been working well, it's been an effective way to export phosphates and cheap!
I think you will like the automation part of it. I will post my results along with pictures in a separate thread when I have the nuances worked out
stealle
Premium Member
Would be very interested to hear about both reactors Elliott. Please post a link here when you have worked it out. I am desperately trying to keep up with nitrates and phosphates in a 2300gal system and the system is winning so far. please hurry:bigeyes:
I'll take ANY info about these reactors since I'll unfamiliar:hmm2:
EnglishRebel
Retired Rebel Reefer
Tom
I had the same thing with my BlueSpot Jawfish (the one that mysteriously died a week ago). I thought maybe he had done it in his burrow (unlikely with the Tang but would be interesting to see where he sleeps).
stealle
Premium Member
:celeb2:!!!Happy New Year!!!:celeb3:
Soooo glad you are back!:beer:
This is my favorite build and one that I hope to copy many ideas from when I get started with mine in the new year.:dance:
Did you put that RBTA in that spot? Or, did it wonder there on its own. It looks great there, but I'm a little surprised it chose that spot since it doesn't look like the light is very intense in that area.
CryptReefer
In Memoriam
This is something that i dream of!!!! Very nice work!!!
Thanks - and greeting to Thailand! A very beautiful country.
Thanks for the kind remarks, Chad. No decent pics of the fuge yet - was going to do it yesterday, but other things came up. Actually there's nothing in the fuge yet.
The sand bed in the tank averages about an inch. I did decide to try a remote deep sand bed (RDSB). I built a "sand barrier" out of acrylic sheet and placed it in the - up 'til now - empty frag tank. It's function is to isolate a 6" layer of sand within the right 18" of the tank. Here's a pic:
BTW - I used a modified verion of the "Hofer Gurgle Buster" for the overflow drains on both the frag and fuge tanks. Works very well and is "almost" silent:
As to the skimmers, I run both of them - one wet and one dry. I think one skimmer would be fine but, if I had to do it again I would stick with two. Gives me too many options, and I have the room.
Thanks Dave! I'm just sorry I couldn't have given a lead on a place to buy the wire channels at a cheaper price. They are definitely a rip off considering what you get.
BTW - I just skimmed through your thread - don't know how I missed it, sorry. Very impressive, is my first though. I'll check it out, in detail, tonight.
Thanks, Elliott. I look forward to reading your thread....So far the LaCl/DE filter setup has been working well, it's been an effective way to export phosphates and cheap!
Thanks, Leonardo. I'm working on some pics now.The tank is progressing very well Tom. Could you make some close up or partial FTS for us?
Leonardo
It really is the strangest thing. No luck yet finding exactly where/how he sleeps but, I'm still working on it.
Thanks - and a Happy New Year to you and yours, also!
The RBTA has been in the same spot since he was placed in the tank - well, not exactly - I originally placed him on the right side of the rock. Within 24 hours he had wandered to the left side. Been there ever since. As to the light, it's brighter than it looks - PAR readings at that spot are 370-380.
He split once, about a month ago. When the "baby" go to be the same size as the parent, I removed it and gave it to a reefer friend.
Here are a couple equipment pics I took, this morning:
I've had the chiller for about a year, but I just installed it last week. It's a Teco 1/3HP. I kept putting of the installation because I wanted to feed it using a manifold comming off the 1-1/2" Frag/Fuge tank return line - and I just managed to get the tanks online recently.
Seems to do its job well. Here's a pic of the manifold:
The manifold also feeds the UV-Sterilizer. It's an Emperor Aquatics 80W High Output model. Here's a pic of the business end:
I run it at approx. 300GPH. It's rated to kill protozoa at that through put. It's the only thing I've ever found that will hold ORP at a steady 400mV - no matter what's going on in the tank.
I've had the chiller for about a year, but I just installed it last week. It's a Teco 1/3HP. I kept putting of the installation because I wanted to feed it using a manifold comming off the 1-1/2" Frag/Fuge tank return line - and I just managed to get the tanks online recently.
Seems to do its job well. Here's a pic of the manifold:
The manifold also feeds the UV-Sterilizer. It's an Emperor Aquatics 80W High Output model. Here's a pic of the business end:
I run it at approx. 300GPH. It's rated to kill protozoa at that through put. It's the only thing I've ever found that will hold ORP at a steady 400mV - no matter what's going on in the tank.
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