Chris's 120 rebuild

[Chris T.]

Hi everyone
my names Chris, and i felt like sharing some info on me and my tank..
so well start off in the beginning ...
so about 15 years ago i bought a 120 4x2x2 reef ready All Glass Aquarium
stand and canopy ..the tank started out as a fresh water system but after about 1 year i tore it down and started it up as a reef tank i was running 6 48" t12 vho .. on the tank and i did minimal maintenance to this tank over the next 12 years you can see in these pics it was pretty dirty but i got great growth out of my lps and softies ...







so then the tank got taken down i was moving and i was going to take it with me ...over the next year i had moved the tank and gathered all the upgrades i had planned on using when i set it back up ... it was a fresh start and a chance to try some sps corals and just new and different things for me ...
im keeping up with maint now ... testing ect, trying to make this go around as good as it can be ...

the tank is now running 8 54 watt t5 mounted 16 inches off the water
im running one mag 5 return pump
a sicce 5.0 1350 gph return pump
2 hydor 1500 gph power heads
and a aqua c remora ev 180 skimmer
it has a 40b for the sump i run carbon and mechanical filter floss
and i have a reef keeper lite

ammonia ...0
nitrate........0
nitrite.........0
ph........7.8 to 8.15
alk.............16
calc............640
mag.........1200...bringing it up to 1350 over the next few days


I do have a few questions maybe you guys and girls could help me out with

1. lighting are my lights mounted too high off the water ? also they are mounted to the canopy and im thinking if i can bring them down a bit and install some fans to cool the ballasts off would that help my par/pur and bulb life ?

2 .my ph will not go any higher im stuck in the 7.8 to 8.15 range no matter how much i dose buffer ..... is this a cause of my alk and calcium being high and how can i bring it down i haven't dosed in like 6 months ????

3. im noticing some red slim looks like cyano bacteria in my sump there was cheato in there and it was growing quite nice for a wile and it just stopped after 6 months ...im left with just a very small ball of it ....why is it not growing ? what could i do to get it growing again ?

4. i have this brown dusting that grows on my sand bead every day i can rake the surface and it will be back the next day is this diatoms. and what can i do about this stuff?

5. im worried i have too much flow for my lps i have around 4400 gph in the tank and its just blasting some of my corals should i be worried should i play around with the returns and power heads ?

thanks everyone for taking the time to read all this
here are some pics of the tank rite now

 

[Bogue Chitto]

Some nice pics. Looks like you will get it going again. I believe you know what you are doing.

 

[stingeragent]

4. Most likely diatoms. Not much to do. It will run out in a couple months.
Most of my LPS don't like being blasted. They will typically not extend much if they are in too high of flow. I've found that my frogspawn tolerates more flow than hammers.

 

[Chris T.]

thanks guys

should i set up the wave maker on the reefkeeper with my 2 hydors ?
i had it setup but they made a clicking sound on starting and stopping
i was worried i was going to damage them ?
do you know if anyone runs them in wave makers

 

[ReyR]

I just put my little 425s on a wavemaker. It makes a slight noise on start up and switch off..wouldn't call it a clicking. Any how, hearing that noise sent me to their website and it said they were wavemaker compatible so I continued leaving them on the wavemaker.

 

[Chris T.]

I setup the wave maker last night , i can't seem to find a happy medium between enough flow to keep the tank clean and too much flow blasting my corals. I may have to rearrange the rock work and or split the 1100gph return line

Its kinda funny last time i had this tank setup i didn't have enough flow only 800gph. This time i think i have too much

 

[Bent]

I would stop dosing and quit chasing pH.

Many people have kept successful reefs with pH in the upper 7s and Alks in the 7s and 8s.

The reason you are having issues with being unable to reach the pH that you are wanting has to do with the co2 buildup in the home. The high co2 level keeps the pH down and the only way to raise it to where you want is to pull the buffer up to unsafe levels.

A couple things you can do that may help drive your Ph up are, number 1 to run a line from the skimmer air intake to outside your home. Number 2, and I haven't tried this, but theoretically it might work. Buy a big bunch of house plants. In theory the plants should lower the co2 level in the home and hopefully drive your pH up.

But, again, I wouldn't worry about the pH. It will drive you crazy. Slowly stop dosing and don't drop the alk too rapidly. I'd let it lower over the course of a month or two.

 

[Chris T.]

Ill keep that in mind and stop worrying so much about the ph ..

Now im tossing the idea around of adding some more live rock (dry rock) and redoing the aqua scape to try and get water flow where i want it.

How bad am i going to shoot my self in the foot adding 100lbs of rock to this system after its been cured?

Thanks everyone

 

[drauka99]

probably be a minimal shock/cycle if the rock is cured and can be added fairly quickly after its out of the water.

 

[Chris T.]

I was thinking at most a few hours as aquascaping is easier with out water in the tank

 

[Chris T.]

Well i don't think i need 100 lbs more rock maybe 20 or 30. I couldn't take it any longer and spent the better part of today after work rearranging my aqua scape .... moved one hydor and redirected all the returns , I'm much happier with the water flow in the tank now and I'm liking the new scape

Here are a few pics its still cloudy from moving everything around
Ill get better pics tomorrow

 

[Chris T.]

im liking the new scape now just need to fill it up with coral and fish
you guys got any suggestions on some stuff to stock the tank with?

currently only 1 cleaner shrimp
2 clowns i think there false percs
and a lawnmower blenny

here are some pics of the tank and some of the corals in there

 

[Chris T.]

forgot 2 lol

 

[fredro]

I would be careful with having that nem in such a newer tank, especially without the parameters totally stabilized where you want them.

Regardless, I REALLY like the rockwork and the overall look of the tank. Remember to leave room for everything to grow in and to be careful with placement of corals that can get out of control eventually (like Xenia, Kenya Trees and in some cases Zoas).

Looks great!!

 

[Chris T.]

I would be careful with having that nem in such a newer tank, especially without the parameters totally stabilized where you want them.

Regardless, I REALLY like the rockwork and the overall look of the tank. Remember to leave room for everything to grow in and to be careful with placement of corals that can get out of control eventually (like Xenia, Kenya Trees and in some cases Zoas).

Looks great!!

the tank has been running for over a year so im not worried bout the nem lol
thanks it took me a wile to get it all where i want it and id still like to add a few rocks on the left side
im a little hesitant on the xenia last go around it took over half my tank in about a year and a half if i did get it id put it on that pedestal rock in the left front so it couldn't spread too far but i had been tossing around the idea trying to find some metallic GSP to put on that rock

 

[fredro]

the tank has been running for over a year so im not worried bout the nem lol

thanks it took me a wile to get it all where i want it and id still like to add a few rocks on the left side

im a little hesitant on the xenia last go around it took over half my tank in about a year and a half if i did get it id put it on that pedestal rock in the left front so it couldn't spread too far but i had been tossing around trying to find some metallic GSP to put on that rock

I didn't realize it was a year old, sorry if I missed that!

I regret even deciding to keep GSP, a Kenya Tree and Xenia. Even isolated as they were, they still found a way... The Kenya Tree dropped frags ALL DAY LONG! I spent hours pulling little Kenya Trees off rocks and out of cracks all over. The main one was removed months ago and I'm still pulling pieces out of the tank. Worst of all are the ones that I can't get to in the caves. Ugh! Almost the same thing happened with the Pumping Xenia, which only lasted as long as it did, bc my girlfriend thought it was so pretty. Still the only coral that I somehow cannot kill, no matter what I do it it. Then even with the GSP on its own island, it spread somewhat under the sand, on a back corner that was shaded and caught a base piece of my main rock... No good. Anyway, long story short, no matter how careful you can be with these weeds, they can sometimes get past your efforts. I hope you don't have any of these issues in the future and as I said before, Tank Looks Great!

End rant.

 

[Chris T.]

Thanks man
Yeah i have had the go around with all 3 of them in this tanks previous life it had been going for 13 years before it got taken down and moved and set up fresh new everything this is going to be a mixed reef this will be my first real crack at sps

 

[Chris T.]

I have noticed a few aptisia popping up there was a good number of them in there a month ago i had put a butterfly fish in there to take them out but i removed him because he was nipping at my lps. I thought he got them all must have missed a few lol
What do you guys think
Peppermint shrimp 5 or so ?
Think that will take care of them or do i need something else

 

[Chris T.]

Well little bit of an update

I stopped at my lfs today and picked up some stuff [emoji3]
Got a new sps forgot the name
Australia acan
And some gsp
10 peppermint shrimp but one doesn't look like he's going to make it
And a free bag of live pods [emoji4] lfs is awesome

 

[Chris T.]

Here are some more pics just cuz