Dane's 175 Gal in-Wall Tank Build

[Indymann99]

@Dane, I ordered the feeding port when I had my tank made. Its basically a box with a rim that drops into a square hole in the euro brace around the top of the tank.





I built my own APEX breakout box for ~$20 and used RJ11 connectors for easy connect/disconnect. plenty of DIY breakout box info just search.

white box below my EB8

 

[TulaneDane]

I like the setup, Indyman. Looked around a bunch and had to order a couple feeding rings online. Will see how it works. Also ordered a Breakout box & float switch to help control skimmer overflows.

Two clowns still doing well in QT. Will be 2 weeks this Saturday.

All five Trochus snails are still doing well as is the Mexican Turbo. Two Scarlet Leg Hermits also doing well.

Blue Knuckle Hermit seems to be doing well, though he's quite nocturnal and rarely leaves his cave under one of the island mountains. Emerald Crab also seems to be doing OK, but don't see him much either as he stays wedged in some tight spaces.

Had my first setback on a pair of Scarlet Skunk Cleaner shrimp. :thumbdown

Put them both in on 6/11 after a 1 hour drip acclimation.
On 6/13 one of them molted.
On 6/14 one died. Tested NH4, NO2, & NO3 all zero. Second one still eating.
On 6/15 did a 10% water change. 2nd one still eating.
On 6/17 second one died. NH4, NO2, NO3 still zero.

Rest of readings appear OK.

First graph is Ph (Red) and Salinity (Grey)
Second graph is ORP (green) and Temp (Blue)


The spike down in ORP on 6/15 was me cleaning the probe to confirm the reading.

Not sure what's going on, but obviously going to figure it out before I revisit any shrimps. :hmm2: The only thing that comes to mind is my ORP. It's been hovering around 450. Anything else I could be missing?

 

[TulaneDane]

Frustrations continue.

Lost my Emerald Crab this weekend. Put him in on 6/6, so he made it about 2 weeks. NH4, NO2, and NO3 still reading zero. Rest of my parameters haven't changed since my last post.

All five Trochus snails still going, as is my Mexican Turbo. Both scarlet leg hermits also doing well. Haven't seen my Blue Knuckle Hermit in a few days but he's been pretty shy to begin with.

This weekend will be 3 weeks in my Quarantine Tank for my clown pair and was planning to move them over to the display tank.

Should I be worried about moving my clowns to the display tank? :hmm4:

 

[Indymann99]

If your clowns are doing fine after 4 weeks I would say end of the week (5weeks total) you move them to the DT.

 

[nicdu]

I personally wouldn't move the clowns to the DT until you figure out the cause for the shrimp and crab deaths. I don't think all three perished by chance. Molting, while normal shrimp behavior, can also be indicative of a shrimp that's stressed or trying to get rid of toxins that have built up in their shell. I would be kind of concerned at this point. Are you running carbon or anything to remove any possible contamination?

 

[TulaneDane]

@nicdu Interesting insight. Thank you.

I'd been considering activated carbon, but am not running anything at the moment. I'm guessing I'm at about 185 gallons of total water volume.

Is one reactor sufficient? Something like the below is supposedly good for up to ~125 gallons...so perhaps I start here?

http://www.bulkreefsupply.com/brs-gfo-carbon-reactor-deluxe.html

 

[Odysi]

Just a thought on your Herbie restarting. I had a similar problem. How far into your sump is your drain line? Mine was about 3" under the waterline and I cut it down to 1" and it restarts every time with no hickups.

 

[nicdu]

You could try some carbon in a filter sock, and see if that does anything to help before springing for a reactor. That's my default move when things start to look out of whack in my tank, but all my parameters are fine. It's a frustrating situation for sure!

 

[TulaneDane]

@nicdu Went ahead and sprung for a dual reactor.

It's going to get interesting mounting it, as space is getting limited in the sump area...am SO glad I sprung to widen out the lower cabinets...y'all were 100% right there. BIG THANKS :wave:

Also did a large 50 gallon water change last night. My ORP fell to 417 but within three hours was back above 460. Will do another 50 gallon change later this week.

@Odysi As for my Herbie, good point on the drain line. It's an Aqueon Proflex Model 4, so the tubes fall pretty deep into the sump within a self-contained cylinder:


It will require some deconstruction to get to it and shorten...I'll see how this "feeding ring while leaving the return pump on" idea pans out first...

Contributing to my Herbie problem is my emergency drain being self contained in a completely different overflow weir. This eliminates running the emergency drain 'trickle' option completely, giving me little room for error. :deadhorse:

 

[Indymann99]

@Dane

updates? hows it going? Pouring rain here in Indy so I am surfing RC while watching IRL. Did you get your clowns in the DT?

I will say that I am super happy looking at my yellow tang picking about the LR... he has been with me for 8yrs... he is looking a bit old but then again so am I...

Looking fwd to see you populating you your tank

 

[TulaneDane]

@Indyman: It's been pouring here in Memphis as well.

Clowns are still in the QT. I'm being very cautious as I'm still not sure what killed my two Cleaner Shrimp & Emerald Crab. I have a dual Carbon & GFO reactor arriving tomorrow. Maybe it will pull out some toxins I'm overlooking... :hmm4:

Other progress though! Built screen tops in preparation for putting my Clowns in:







My two Scarlet Leg Hermits and Blue Knuckle Hermit (has shown his face after a week of hiding) are doing well, so I added 6 smaller red legged hermits:



Also, as you suggested, still working on a float switch to cut off my skimmer in the event the water level gets too high. Have the breakout box setup, and spent an hour plus trying to figure out why the float switch wouldn't send the signal when mounted. Then I realized the magnet mount is probably interfering with the signal:


I'll need to get a bracket instead.

Finally, today I noticed what looks like a bunch of white lice on the glass and swimming around. Copepods? Shouldn't be worried?

 

[Indymann99]

All sorts of small critters in the tank are GOOD!! I waited about 6mo before adding fish and watching all the life from the LR was actually fun.. maybe not so much for my family ;-)

Yeah a mag mount that close to the float is prob not good..

I am running a BRS GFO and Carbon unit and it is working out well.

If your DT water is testing well, I would put the clowns in.. Inverts are hit or miss sometimes.

my 0.02

 

[TulaneDane]

Received my Dual Carbon & GFO reactor yesterday. However I did not install it. Here's why:

In waiting for it to arrive I continued my research on what could be making my ORP so high. A hunch told me I could have not rinsed my filter socks enough after cleaning them with bleach (1 wash, 2 rinse cycles, fully dry).

I dropped a cap full (supposedly will treat 50 gallons) of Seachem Prime into my overflow last night and the ORP collapsed:



It has since climbed steadily a bit. I'm going to fully remove the filter socks tonight and see if the climbing stops. If so...that could have been my issue... :eek1:

 

[TulaneDane]

Well, my ORP climbed right back to it's prior level after about 24 hours. I removed the filter socks completely last night and added another cap-full of Seachem Prime. Things look to be again headed back to their 450+ level:



This leads me to believe I had a solution looking for a problem, and therefore my filter socks (and related cleaning routine) are fine. :hmm2:

I'll hook-up my reactor tonight, and move two my Clowns into the DT this weekend. That will have given them 4 weeks in the Quarantine Tank. :fish1:

 

[TulaneDane]

Setup the dual GFO/Carbon reactor last night:



I'll either add my first two fish to the Display Tank tonight or tomorrow morning. My two Clowns have been in the Quarantine Tank for 4 weeks now.

Must admit, I'm pretty excited. Not sure I'll be able to wait until tomorrow...I bought the house (tank) almost 10 months ago! :bounce3: :beer:

 

[Cymonous]

Put em in! Why wait?

 

[710Reefer]

Beautiful tank. Any update on livestock?

 

[TulaneDane]

Clowns we're put in the display tank yesterday:







They are doing well. They look so little in the tank!

l'm already contemplating my next fish. Thinking a species of Goby or yellow Tang... :bigeyes:

 

[TulaneDane]

A few updates:

Clowns continue to do well.

Dual reactor is definitely polishing the water. Much clearer. Less yellow tint.

Picked up a yellow tang as my next fish. He's in my QT now. Feel bad for him as it's only 15 gallons.





Looking forward to getting him in a Display Tank. He's beautiful. I understand they are more susceptible to disease so any pointers on what to look for would be appreciated. :twitch:

Also only feeding him the algae sheets seen clipped on the glass. Is that enough?

 

[woodnaquanut]

A few updates:

Clowns continue to do well.

Dual reactor is definitely polishing the water. Much clearer. Less yellow tint.

Picked up a yellow tang as my next fish. He's in my QT now. Feel bad for him as it's only 15 gallons.


Looking forward to getting him in a Display Tank. He's beautiful. I understand they are more susceptible to disease so any pointers on what to look for would be appreciated. :twitch:

Also only feeding him the algae sheets seen clipped on the glass. Is that enough?

It's such a small fish it should do fine in the 15 QT.

You will get many opinions about feed. I'd also include some meaty goodness like brine, mysis or good dry food. I believe the grazers also get lots of meaty bits when they graze the reef. Fatten that baby up!

The first thing I noticed when diving on reefs is how FAT the fish are. By the time they make it to us they are half (or more) starved.