ChrisKirkland's 300DD Build thread - A journey and learning experience

[ChrisKirkland]

So I started a build thread on here and kind of never updated it. I wanted to restart my build thread since I have been on a journey with this tank, the journey has been good and it has been pretty ugly. So it begins...

Some background:

I was able to score the 300DD tank, Monterrey Stand and Canopy from a local saltwater store during the Marineland sale. This was my dream tank and was by far the largest reef I have ever owned. I was upgrading from a 75 Gallon tank that wasn't drilled and had T5 lighting. My 75 is what got me back into the hobby after I bought a house and moved. Previously I had a 220 lit with MH and dominated with SPS.

The tank when I first got it:

I am going to fast forward through all the install stuff since it is all pretty blah...

Tank was setup with the following:

200 LBS of Caribsea Fiji Pink Live sand
200 LBS of Drs Foster and Smith premium fiji live rock (some came from the 75)
2 - MP40wes
4 EcoTech Radion G2's
ASM G3 skimmer with Gatevalve mod
2 X 300 watt theo heater
Sicce Silent 5.0 Return Pump
Phosban 150 reactor

Anyone reading this list can already see the issue I was about to discover the hard way.

When the tank was cycling I used the seachem stabiliy to help it along, boy was that a mistake. After using 4 bottles of the stuff over a course of 4 weeks I ended up with a milky tank. So to address the issue I bought a 36 watt UV sterilizer just to kill off the bacteria. Thing worked like a charm.

Once the milky water was cleared up I started to add my fish. Fish from my old system had been together for about 2 years and consisted of: sailfin tang, fox face, Orange Diamond Watchman, and a few chromis. Every one seemed happy so I go to the local saltwater store and pick up a few more fish. Several tangs, a trigger and a few wrasse's and anthias. Everyone got along fine hardly any aggression.

I didn't follow 1 critical step, quarantining my fish. A week or 2 passes by and I notice my fish scratching from an infection of Ich. Long story short, I removed all live rock and dosed copper in the DT. doing that caused an amonia spike which killed off everyone in the tank. At that point I wanted to toss in the towel.

So I drained the tank and scrubbed it clean and filled and refilled testing for cooper for a few weeks until the test cam back clear. Thankfully I was smart enough to put my rock in brutes with heaters and circulation to keep them alive and going.

Fast forward again, tank is re-setup with all new sand live rock is placed and tank is cycling the old fashioned way a few pieces of raw shrimp. once the tank was cycled I setup a QT system and bought most of my fish from liveaquaria or DD. I also got some starter SPS frags to see how things would grow and all seemed happy. I stocked over the course of 2 months, and made another mistake. I ended up with about 30+ fish, lots of tangs and 2 triggers all of which got along great.

I hadn't been watching my nitrate or PO4 and noticed the coral not looking as great as it once had been I tested my nitrate over a month after being fully stocked and it read at about 60PPM and PO4 was 1.0. So I do what any panicking person does and started dosing vodka and instead of slowly ramping up I quickly did it. So I started having burnt tips on my acros and RTN/STN issues. It took 198 days to lower the NO3 to 5PPM. I still had severe RTN/STN issues. bought several frags off fellow reefers and they all within a day to a month RTN/STN.

At this point I learned that the equipment I originally used was vastly undersized.

I kept chasing my parameters trying to get my NO3 and PO4 to below 1 and .05. I never paid any attention to the other parameters. Kept throwing coral in and watching it die and dosing more vodka (60ML worth).

At this point we are at about 2 weeks ago, I found a thread created by: reefmutt Titled: "Learning/rebuilding from my epic fail" here is a link: http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2459858 I am thinking to myself... this describes my experience, I read through it while getting my oil changed at the dealership (dont worry I had coupon :dance. When I finished reading it I decided it was time for me to take a step back, stop testing nitrate and PO4 everyday (NO3 was between 5 and 10 PPM, and PO4 was between .05 and .10) and begin looking at the system as a whole.

I take my other test kits (all red sea pro) and tested. Here is what I got:

Alk: 7dKH
Mag: 1100PPM
Ca: 410PPM
PH 7.9
Salinity: 31PPT

Looking at these numbers there are obviously some issues. So I began addressing those issues, slowly raising my salinity (miscalibrated digital refract. Bought a regular refract.), raising my Alk and Mag and giving my Ca a slight lift.

I have very little coraline algae in this tank which I thought was a little odd, my mag and alk is a big reason for this. I am maintaning my parameters and still havent tested my NO3. PO4 is staying in my range .05-.10 and I am now working on the PH. The fact that is is below 8.1 is bothering me.

I have also split my carbon dosing up between vinegar 200ML and vodka 20ML and this has really helped the cyano go away and the tank not stay so cloudy. I am really positive this is going to help keep my PO4 where I want it and my NO3 where I want it also. Will continue to test and adjust as needed.

Over the course of this year of failure I did do something right, I upgraded equipment and added some. Here is my current equipment list:

4 ecotech radions - soon to be 6
2 MP40wes
1 Korallia Magnum 8
1 korallia 1100
AquaMaxx coneS CO-3 skimmer
TLF Phosban 550 reactor
Added additional 100 lbs of BRS dry eco rock (awesome stuff btw)
Apex gold package
Apex breakout box
2 300 watt Jager heaters controlled by the apex

AquaMaxx:

AquaMaxx in action:

Sorry for the long life story, I just wanted to share my journey and the things I have learned. I have since went back to the old school way of reefing focusing on stable parameters, good lighting, and most of all patience!

Feel free to comment if you would like. I plan on updating this thread as often as I can.

 

[ridetheducati]

I would not expect the level of errors made by an experienced reefer.

 

[ca1ore]

I have setup probably 10 different reef tanks in 25 plus years and always seem to manage to make mistakes - fortunately they tend to be new ones, not repeats . I have never bothered to worry about cycling a tank if it was getting substantial rock/sand from a prior effort. Upgraded from a 90 to a 265 last year and not even a whif of a cycle. BUT, you have to go slow. Give the new tank a chance to settle in before adding much in the way of new fish or corals. OK, skimmer was probably a bit on the small side, but I have a G3 and it's a solid performer. Glad you are on a better path now. GL!

 

[ChrisKirkland]

I would not expect the level of errors made by an experienced reefer.

Well excuse me for not meeting your criteria as an experience reefer. My errors were made because I haven't had a tank this large, sure a 220 is only 80 gallons shy but I lived at home and had a part time job so I could pay way more attention to it. Now I work a full time job with overtime and go to school.

In the mean time if you have anything less rude to say feel free to do so.

 

[ChrisKirkland]

I have setup probably 10 different reef tanks in 25 plus years and always seem to manage to make mistakes - fortunately they tend to be new ones, not repeats. I have never bothered to worry about cycling a tank if it was getting substantial rock/sand from a prior effort. Upgraded from a 90 to a 265 last year and not even a whif of a cycle. BUT, you have to go slow. Give the new tank a chance to settle in before adding much in the way of new fish or corals. OK, skimmer was probably a bit on the small sixe, but I have a G3 and it's a solid performer. glad you are on a better path now. GL!

Thank you much appreciated. One of the biggest problems was not taking my time and devoting enough time to work with the system and maintain it.

 

[airtime23]

Full tank shot now, please?

 

[ridetheducati]

Well excuse me for not meeting your criteria as an experience reefer. My errors were made because I haven't had a tank this large, sure a 220 is only 80 gallons shy but I lived at home and had a part time job so I could pay way more attention to it. Now I work a full time job with overtime and go to school.

In the mean time if you have anything less rude to say feel free to do so.

It's a hobby do not get bent out of shape. Sorry you were offended by my statement, just leaving a thought. Good luck going forward.

 

[ridetheducati]

Reef keeping principles remain the same regardless the size of the system.

 

[davidfrances]

Chris - Ignore ignorant comments, some people have limited social skills. Sorry about your troubles. Unless I missed it, you do not have a GAC or a GFO reactor. I was having similar problems until I installed the reactors and did a better job of managing nutrient export.

BTW, I lived in Lexington, off Boston Rd., from '92-'97. Loved the city, but the aquarium stores at the time were terrible.

Post a FTS for us.

 

[bpcardona]

Just my thoughts, so don't be offend. I never once heard a mention of a water change? I understand that you were vodka dosing, but I believe your problems were beyond that. Considering your history, and the rapid addition of fish (30+) I would highly suggest you invest in a automatic water change system. This would serve you much better (in my opinion) then a Apex gold. It could be as simple as a dual head masterflex dosing pump, or as fancy as a Genesis water change system.

With all that said I have made my own mistake. Mostly early on--however once I saw the inhabitants, that depended on me to survive turn and die, I researched everything. I wish you the best of luck in your future endeavors, but slow it way down this time. Spend 3x as much time on researching, that you would on tinkering with the tank.

 

[Sinekal]

Alk: 7dKH
Mag: 1100PPM
Ca: 410PPM
PH 7.9
Salinity: 31PPT

Looking at these numbers there are obviously some issues. So I began addressing those issues, slowly raising my salinity (miscalibrated digital refract. Bought a regular refract.), raising my Alk and Mag and giving my Ca a slight lift.

I have very little coraline algae in this tank which I thought was a little odd, my mag and alk is a big reason for this. I am maintaning my parameters and still havent tested my NO3. PO4 is staying in my range .05-.10 and I am now working on the PH. The fact that is is below 8.1 is bothering me.

Thanks for sharing your story. Sharing problems and solutions can help resolve or even avoid similar issues.

My two cents as you move forward...

Focus on stable alk, followed by stable ca and mag. All the coral loss I have had can be attributed to alk that was way out of alignment, or alk that wasnt stable. Too low ca or mag, or grossly too high can be an issue, but alk is the real focus. Along those lines dont worry so much about nitrate or phosphate. Lots of tanks have high nitrates with no issues, and unless keeping sensitive sps, phosphates are far from the end of the world. Dont worry about the PH unless you are drastically low. Low enough to dissolve skeleton is an issue, and everything else is probably not an issue. I live in AZ and have the house locked up tight 6-8 months a year. The whole time my ph is 7.9 to 8.0, but the tank doesnt seem to care.

 

[ChrisKirkland]

Just my thoughts, so don't be offend. I never once heard a mention of a water change? I understand that you were vodka dosing, but I believe your problems were beyond that. Considering your history, and the rapid addition of fish (30+) I would highly suggest you invest in a automatic water change system. This would serve you much better (in my opinion) then a Apex gold. It could be as simple as a dual head masterflex dosing pump, or as fancy as a Genesis water change system.

With all that said I have made my own mistake. Mostly early on--however once I saw the inhabitants, that depended on me to survive turn and die, I researched everything. I wish you the best of luck in your future endeavors, but slow it way down this time. Spend 3x as much time on researching, that you would on tinkering with the tank.

Not offended at all, good catch.

My fault forgot to mention that, when I first started I did a 10% water change every 2 weeks, when I found out the nitrate was so high I started doing 10% every week. I like doing the water changes it gives me a chance to really focus on the tank and clean everything well. I now do 10% every week.

 

[ChrisKirkland]

Reef keeping principles remain the same regardless the size of the system.

Agreed, they do. However the amount of time you devote to your system increases greatly with a larger tank.

 

[ChrisKirkland]

Chris - Ignore ignorant comments, some people have limited social skills. Sorry about your troubles. Unless I missed it, you do not have a GAC or a GFO reactor. I was having similar problems until I installed the reactors and did a better job of managing nutrient export.

BTW, I lived in Lexington, off Boston Rd., from '92-'97. Loved the city, but the aquarium stores at the time were terrible.

Post a FTS for us.

I have a TLF 550 reactor running BRS GFO in it. I have used a reactor all along, just used a TLS 150 before upgrading it. I dont really run carbon, but I do keep a TLF 550 reactor on hand and a gallon of .08 ROX GAC on hand for emergency's.

Our aquarium shops here are horrible except 1, this guy does it on the side and offers really fair prices (matches most online stores).

 

[bpcardona]

Not offended at all, good catch.

My fault forgot to mention that, when I first started I did a 10% water change every 2 weeks, when I found out the nitrate was so high I started doing 10% every week. I like doing the water changes it gives me a chance to really focus on the tank and clean everything well. I now do 10% every week.

If you run into these isusses again, please understand that LARGE water changes will be required. Something in the range of 30-40% at one time. Best of luck.

 

[ChrisKirkland]

If you run into these isusses again, please understand that LARGE water changes will be required. Something in the range of 30-40% at one time. Best of luck.

I am actually about to go pick up 2 100 gallon rubbermaid holding tanks from tractor supply to do water changes out of. I have been using 2 44 gallon brutes. I have about 200 gallons of RODI water on hand at any one time. The hope is to do 20% a week when I get those.

 

[davidfrances]

Chris:

My POS Skimz skimmer pumps have crapped out for the 4th time now. I am thinking about replacing them with the AquaMaxx CO-3. What are your thoughts on these skimmers for my heavily stocked 250 G tanks?

 

[ChrisKirkland]

Chris:

My POS Skimz skimmer pumps have crapped out for the 4th time now. I am thinking about replacing them with the AquaMaxx CO-3. What are your thoughts on these skimmers for my heavily stocked 250 G tanks?

I love my aqua max co-3 my 300 Is moderately stocked and it does well, nice dark stinky skimmate I clean out the cup every 3 days or so. Super quiet also. I think you would do fine with a co-3 on your 250

 

[woodnaquanut]

The tank was cute in the store, the skimmer was REAL sexy in the entryway. Now we NEED pics of the tank.

FTS, FTS, FTS!!

:bounce1:


Thanks for sharing your build. It's tough talking about the mistakes. Not everyone is so supportive but you have persevered!

At least we think you did. Without pics there is no proof!

 

[LefkoNJ]

The biggest challenge I had when re-entering the hobby 3 years ago, after being gone for about 20, was the patience required. I walked into a store and HAD to buy something, now I browse way more and make slower decisions and changes to my system.

When i brought up my 180 went way too fast and suffered for it.