Dane's 175 Gal in-Wall Tank Build

[TulaneDane]

Checking back in after a month+ away. Made some decent progress. Here is a quick video of the tank inhabitants today:

http://youtu.be/Yut8Gv7r4e8

Have a Diamond Watchman Goby, Sixline Wrasse, and Yellow Tang now. These guys are in addition to my black clown pair and three Blue/Green Chromis. :bounce3:

Also added a Reef Dynamics 250 Biopellet Reactor (just added this week). This should help keep my Nitrates down. Fingers crossed. :fish1:

Still not dosing anything, as my corals are small in number. The candycane is growing though as is the hammerhead.

No spread of Coralline Algae yet. Tank is six months old now. I've done a number of scrapes off my one Rock that is covered in it. Perplexed on this one... :facepalm:

 

[Indymann99]

Looking great! Good job :thumbsup:

 

[iwhati88]

Nice tank.

 

[xaflatoonx]

Amazing

 

[TulaneDane]

Another update. Made a lot of progress. Though now its more tweaks than major changes.

Before I get into updates, I still do not have any coralline algae. Only the one live rock I added and it's covered in it (see big purple rock in video below). I've done scrapes & brushes off this rock a number of times. The tank is 7 months old now. Any ideas? Water parameters are below:
Temp: ~79*
SG: 1.024
Ph: ~8.1
ORP: ~465
PO4: 0
NO2: 0
NO3: 0
Ca: ~430 ppm
dkH: 7.84
Mg: ~1240

Major hardware update is a new skimmer. I was running an AquaC EV-400 off a Mag24:


I switched the AquaC EV-400 out last week for an Eshopps Snow Cone S-300:


There is more room in the sump now, and tank runs cooler not having that massive Mag24 pushing 2400 GPH around. Functionally the AquaC EV-400 worked, it just wasn't very efficient. Its performance would also deteriorate between cleanings as gunk would build-up. Would have to gradually close down the gate value throughout the week. I feel like if AquaC had a cone top, it would do wonders. The Eshopps S-300 seems to be a pretty good skimmer so far. It is less finicky than the EV-400 and easier to maintain. Will hold off on final verdict.

You can also see the Reef Dynamics BioPellet reactor in the foreground as well. I've only been running BioPellets for about 4 weeks now, so too early to comment on that update. :fish2:

Also switched our my primary drain line. Water used to run through a true union ball valve, then a coupler, and finally a gate valve before hitting the sump. When I first built it I thought this design would allow me to pull off and clean the gate valve easier:


I realize now the redundancy & complexity of the concept would be better served with simplicity. So switched out for a single Spears Gate Value:


I attached two unions to either end of the gate valve so I can get it off. Why true union gate valves don't exist is beyond me. :thumbdown As you can see, I also went with schedule 80 pipe for the new drain. Just realized that schedule 80 has the same Outside Diameter (OD) as schedule 40 (my bulkheads are schedule 40 and thus the reason I went with a schedule 40 build initially). Sigh... You live and you learn. :hammer:

Here is another video of the tank itself. Added a torch and a leather. No new fish yet:
http://youtu.be/i_iri_CUznk

Fun stuff! :dance:

 

[TulaneDane]

Some down time, so thought I'd share a few updates, thoughts.

Brought my Alkalinity up from 7.84 dkH to 9.00 dkH using BRS Soda Ash. Also upped my Magnessium from ~1260 to ~1350. I'm hoping this helps the Coralline Algae spread.

I also added a Potter's Angel fish. Seems to be doing pretty well. Eats flake as well as a little bit of Mysis Shrimp. Very pretty. Here's a look of him with my Yellow Tang:

A bit blued-out though.

Next want/project is a larger sump. Not because I need one, but because I can (maybe). My Aqueon ProFlex 4 is great. Really like the design. However it's 36"L x 15"W x 19"H. I can fit a sump as big as 42"L x 18" W x 20" H. By my calculations this gives me another ~20 gallons of water volume. :reading: a nice to have.

The only challenge will be I'll have to at least temporarily remove one of the front pilons in order to get something that big under there:

This could range anywhere from challenging to impossible. :hmm5: anyone ever tried anything this stupid before? :hmm4:

 

[TulaneDane]

Been quite a while since I checked in. Made progress over this time but not a whole lot. Added a leather, a green torch, and my first SPS. It's odd, though. My one SPS seems to be doing the best out of all my corals. Growing like a weed, while my LPS seem to be stuck in neutral.

Latest challenge is what appears to be Cyano. Been fighting with multiday blackouts and manual removal. Also, 10 months in with two bright purple seed rocks...and not a speck of Coralline Alage anywhere else in the tank.

Had my first casualty that hurt as well. Somehow my Sixline Wrasse found the 5% of the tank not covered (left side below), and sprang out in between my once a day feeding. Found him on top of the screens. :sad2:

Will start contemplating his legacy. Thinking either a pair of Firefish or a Orchid Doddyback? :idea:

 

[Indymann99]

Also, 10 months in with two bright purple seed rocks...and not a speck of Coralline Alage anywhere else in the tank.

:idea:

Honestly I wouldnt complain about lack of Coralline Algae.... I finally gave up on scraping the walls...

 

[TulaneDane]

I dunno, Indyman...I think I like your purple color over my brown/green rocks. :lol2:

Is that a lone orange clown I see? How is that working out for you? Trying to figure out my next addition. With my black clowns not leaving their corner of the tank ever, and my pair of Chromis spending most of their time in the rocks...most of the time it looks like there is only 4 fish in the tank.

 

[TulaneDane]

So the leather coral I purchased about a week and a half ago looks like it's doing a little rough. Yesterday I noticed one of the heads was no longer extending its polyps, and today I noticed the other was having some coloration changes along with what appear to be mucas sluffing off. Leather is on a shelf about 12" below the water line. In the pics above you can see him happy. Pics below, today. Tank specs below:

175 gallon
SG: 1.024
Ph: 8.25
Temp: 78.3
ORP: 333
NH4: 0
NO3: 0
PO4: 0
Running biopellets & carbon/GFO dual reactor
Lights are 3 G3 Radions set at 55% and about 12" above the water line
Not dosing anything

Been fighting a bit of Cyano recently...know that can't be helping. Below are pictures:

Anyone have ideas about what might be wrong with this little guy? :hmm4:

 

[TulaneDane]

So my leather is doing well again. Think it was just shedding some mucas...I made no changes to anything, it just started extending its polyps again. :celeb1:

Another interesting development. Ever since I started my cycle I've kept my refugium filled with live rock. After some expert advice, decided to pull the rock from the refugium and just have it bare so that the detritus can settle or flow through the refugium easier and be picked-up by the skimmer.

When I pulled the live rock out of the refugium, I noticed small growths all over the rock. Can't tell if they are alive or not (they don't move from what I can tell). They are cream in color and range in size from about 1/16th an inch to maybe 1/3 an inch. They are soft and can be pulled off the rock. I keep no light in my refugium. Pictures below. The first picture is a piece of egg crate that was left in my refugium as well.

Any ideas what these are?? Good, bad, indifferent?

 

[banthonyb71]

Im not sure what those specs are but I cant help but notice you still have no Coralline Algae? This seems very strange to me. Which salt do you use? Do you add any trace elements? What is your water change routine? and what is your lighting schedule? really curious bout this.

 

[milhous3er]

Been following along. Any reasoning of running GFO and your pellets? Reason I say this is I had a bad experience running GFO and pellets over a long period of time. Stripping the pellets of phophates might be doing more harm than letting the pellets do what they're supposed to do. I would just run carbon only through your dual reactor for the time being.

Have you experienced any light brown/slimey brown algea on the LR or overflows?

And I don't think they relate at all, but I took my pellets offline after 4 years. No corraline growth during the time with pellets. I introduced a snail that had corralline on it's shell and within a month I started seeing purple spots pop up. Coincidence? Probably as I don't believe the two are related in anyway.

I personally think your tank looks great!

 

[Ulta]

Tiny Sponges! aka "Pineapple Sponges"

Beautiful setup my friend!

 

[TulaneDane]

Pineapple sponges? Interesting. Should I put the rock back in my refugium (I moved them over to my bare Quarantine Tank just in case I wanted to keep everything alive)? Any benefit to having these sponges?

@banth: No idea why no Coraline. Been asking tha same question ever since my cycle start. I change 45 gallons of water once a month which is about 30%. Started using Instant Ocean salt for the first 6 months. Then used Instant Ocean Reef Crystals for 2 months. Most recently I switched to Red Sea Coral Pro. I do not dose any trace elements. My lights are on an 8 hour schedule, full spectrum. I have two seed rocks that are covered in it...but nothing has spread.

@milhous: Actually, never really thought about it. Run GFO to keep phosphates down. Run Biopellets to keep Nitrates down. Good idea on perhaps just switching to straight Biopellets...will kick that idea around for a bit. I've had no light brown or slimy brown algae. However I am battling purple slime algae... :hmm5:

 

[banthonyb71]

@banth: No idea why no Coraline. Been asking tha same question ever since my cycle start. I change 45 gallons of water once a month which is about 30%. Started using Instant Ocean salt for the first 6 months. Then used Instant Ocean Reef Crystals for 2 months. Most recently I switched to Red Sea Coral Pro. I do not dose any trace elements. My lights are on an 8 hour schedule, full spectrum.

How long have you been running schedule? This is a rather short schedule to get coraline time to grow. particularly for blues. I would try adjusting to run your blues to run over your white for atleast an hour in the morning and at night. so 10 hours blue 8 hours full spectrum. my schedule when I first setup was 10 hours for whites 12 hours for blues and within a month coralline started to spread.. Coraline Algae does best under more blue/less white lights. In my opinion your skimmer has had a very light bioload. If you can, next time you scrape the coralline covered rock to not only turn off skimmer while you scrape but to leave skimmer off for 24 hours to allow the Coralline spores to have time to attach themselves. otherwise, your skimmer and other filtration will just filter it out. not sure about Strontium but everything else seems in check.

When I look at your rocks, its weird because not only is there no coralline but your rocks still seem rather white for being in the tank this long.

they should atleast be green or brown by this point. and u should have some speckles of coralline. wondering if your filtration is removing to much?

 

[banthonyb71]

do u have even speckles? usually you start to small small dots of it and the dots then grow

 

[TulaneDane]

@banth: Good ideas. I'll look-up some EcoTech schedules and see if I can find one that runs a bit longer and has more blue (makes the few corals I have look better anyway) :lol2:

I'll also bust up one of the live rocks I picked-up that are covered with it and then turn my skimmer off after I place them back in at different spots in the tank.

...I can see a few spots where there appears to be specs...but not many.

In other news, earlier this week I picked-up a Cleaner Wrasse, a nice multi-colored Zoa rock, and a Rose Bubble Tip Anemone. :rollface:

 

[TulaneDane]

So long time no update. Lots(?) of new stuff to share.

Sad news first, lost my bubble tip anemone. Early on he positioned himself upside down on a coral branch and then never attempted to find the light again. Just packed it in. :thumbdown

Per suggested by some, took the biopellet reactor offline about 5 weeks ago. Wanted to try SOMETHING, maybe anything to help with the Cyano. Can't tell if it has helped at all as I've been a bad reefer: did a bunch of other stuff too...

Added Chaeto to my refugium about 4 weeks ago. Was initially the size of a softball. It has grown to the size of a small soccer ball today. I'm running the refugium lights on a counter cycle to my display tank.

Added a Green Mandarin about a month ago. He won't touch any food I put in the tank, but is feasting on the live copipods. With the tank over a year old now, the pods are plentiful and sustainable.

Also added a doser and now dosing small amounts of Calcium, Alkalinity, and Magnessium. First time in my entire process I hired expert help to install & setup something on the tank. Just couldn't get comfortable with the idea of a doser on my own. All corals look about the same so far (doser has been online for about 3 weeks). The Candy Cane is a bit fuller, but not crazy different.

Switched to only frozen mysis and dried seaweed for food. Was using some flake.

Results of all of the above? Cyano is much slower, but still coming on. Coraline algae growth is JUST NOW starting to peak its head near my powerheads and locline returns. :wavehand:

Finally, had a pretty big scare with my primary electrical outlet going out last weekend. My Apex didn't even notify me it went offline. With my lights on a separate outlet, it was just chance I noticed my entire sump was offline. No idea how long everything was down by the time I found it. Will save for another post. Whatever happened, it knocked a lot of equipment on it's back. Still not fully recovered yet.

Here's a video of the tank from today. That awful sound from the sump is my return pump limping along after the electrical blowout. I'm guessing it will have to be replaced. Got a Mag12 on standby. :fish1:

http://youtu.be/tSIg4uRcqlU

 

[TulaneDane]

Quick update on the tank as it's been quite a while since I checked in. Had some setbacks & some progress. :fish1:

1st major setback was the common/uncommon sick fish. About three months ago, my Powder Blue Tang went down and took my Green Mandarin & Potter's Angel with him. Best guess I have was ich. All other inhabitants powered through though. :facepalm:

Since then added a few more blue green Chromis & three Anthias. Tank is happy & healthy. :bounce3:

On a somewhat pecuar note, my Diamon Watchman Goby has been up to some SERIOUS engineering. He has moved about 50% of the sand bed to a back corner. The pile is probably 7" deep at the peak.





The second picture is an action shot of his handy work. He's been at this for about a month now. Do I need to tear down his big pile? :wildone: