dmorel's 220 Round & Shallow reef build

[dmorel]

Well things are progressing well enough.
Still a little bit of diatom's from time to time. Just refreshed my CUC this weekend and starting running the skimmer a bit wetter.

TRYING to figure out how to be a good photographer. I've yet to take a picture that shows how nice this tank really is, particularly since it is so young, but here's a selection from today that at least do a little bit better job showing the colors.
Adding a few equipment and fish room photos too.
Let it be known, I'm not the neatest fish room guy, but everything works the way it is supposed to!

Pics are in no particular order, thanks for looking.

 

[dmorel]

Some more...

 

[dmorel]

Last few....

 

[dmorel]

OK, I lied two more....
A full tank shot, kind of forgot to put one of those up today! And the other is one of the very few shots where I actually manage to get to see the real kind of colors I am getting under these lights.
I really should get one of the local photo buffs to come take some nice shots of this tank.

 

[SMOOTHIE]

So........how's the dream tank coming along?
Absolutely love that you went this route and shared it with us.

 

[OnlyCrimson]

I envy the hell out of your tank and have designed one like it to be built in my dream house (dream being the key word).

 

[dmorel]

Well you guys I'm so sorry about the lack of updates.
The tank is actually progressing really well. Going through that maturing stage, but everything (except the ozone) is working as expected. I actually just placed an order for a couple of new lighting pieces, so I'll have an update in a few weeks once this stuff gets here from Japan. I apologize for being so out of touch lately, I'm not keeping this thread exciting and I should be but I've been traveling a ton for work and just haven't had time to for useful picture taking or updates.

More soon(ish)

 

[Giga]

totally sweet tank man. I started a new tank thread(red house) with spot as well.

 

[Shane Hoffman]

Wow...

Im kind of addicted to build threads. I think I have read them all on RC. You have one of if not the beat tank I have seen......particularly love it cause its round. I have always wanted a round tank but never seen a short one. They are always deep. I truly believe I am going to copy your tank after I move......You have shown us all anyone can have their dream system and it doesnt have to cost 50 grand......beautiful ....

One of my favorite things about round tanks is that it allows fish to swim continuously without stopping to turn....a true replication of their life in nature...

 

[WeeJ]

I love the concept of this tank....great build.

 

[wideawake]

Great tank man.

I'm surprised the rack that holds your refugium can actually hold the weight of the tank and water.

In my country, we have those kind of racks but it is far from capable of holding that much weight. Did you do any other reinforcement that isn't visible there?

 

[dmorel]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15332799#post15332799 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Shane Hoffman
Wow...

Im kind of addicted to build threads. I think I have read them all on RC. You have one of if not the beat tank I have seen......particularly love it cause its round. I have always wanted a round tank but never seen a short one. They are always deep. I truly believe I am going to copy your tank after I move......You have shown us all anyone can have their dream system and it doesnt have to cost 50 grand......beautiful ....

One of my favorite things about round tanks is that it allows fish to swim continuously without stopping to turn....a true replication of their life in nature...

50 grand? Nah.. but let me assure you I don't like doing the math on those lights

I'm glad you're enjoying it and getting some inspiration.

On the round aspect as it relates to swimming, I'll admit that I had really hoped to see the tangs just rock out flying around and around. They do occasionally but not as often as I had hoped. It's possible that they just know if I'm around food could be coming since they really just follow me everywhere I go at this point

thanks again for the really nice comments.

 

[dmorel]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15334172#post15334172 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by WeeJ
I love the concept of this tank....great build.

Thanks! If only it were "done"

 

[dmorel]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15334730#post15334730 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by wideawake
Great tank man.

I'm surprised the rack that holds your refugium can actually hold the weight of the tank and water.

In my country, we have those kind of racks but it is far from capable of holding that much weight. Did you do any other reinforcement that isn't visible there?

Thanks for the nice comment.

The racks are industrial, well actually kitchen racks from a restaurant supply store. They are rated for something like 600 lbs a shelf and have had no problems.
We were going to anchor them to the wall, but never ended up doing it and it's been a non issue.

 

[dmorel]

And now just a bit of an update.
My camera is not acting nicely and the nice one is with my wife who is visiting family 3K miles away. Hopefully it's just dead batteries and I can take some new pics this weekend.

First and foremost, more lights.
I received another shipment from Japan, augmenting the existing lights with:
2 more SuperKaru fixtures (running deep blue in both of those, and no barn doors this time)
1 more MT 150, same coral grow bulb there.
And two MX LED spotlights. One all blue, one red/blue/white.
I also was able to score a new concept bulb, which is the new color "Cobalt Blue" which I placed into the fixture that had previously been running the marine blue. That light comes on in 20 minutes, so I'll see it for the first time shortly. Actually all the new lights just went up this morning.

I did have a bit of a setback in the tank. The red slime really just got out of control. I think I've been feeding too heavily, even with that monster skimmer. That and my Koralin reactor just well sucks frankly. I got so sick of futzing with it that I just took it offline and I'm dosing A/B until I get a new reactor. It's actually easier than messing around with that stupid reactor all the time.
As to the red slime I actually had to dose the tank. I couldn't take it anymore. Did it about a week ago and so far no issues.
I've cut back drastically on my feeding too, so hopefully things will help.
There is no measurable PO4 in the tank of course and the nitrate's are only detectable on the low range test and even then just barely. I'm growing algae like CRAZY in the fuge though and the tank walls need to be cleaned more than I like (and more than I do!)

Other than that, a few upturned acans took a hit, but are recovering nicely and a mysterious group of zoa's that just decided they didn't want to be in my tank anymore and just closed up. I moved those to the frag tank but they are not looking like they are going to recover.

Changed the flow to full on random crazyness rather than the rotating currents, just to try and keep things in check. No one seems to care and I see more of the corals are getting random flow this way. I'll leave it in that state for a bit and decide what to do later.

Hopeful I can get some new pics this weekend if I can get this circa 1999 digital to work again.

 

[dmorel]

Well Sorry no pictures last weekend, the old camera is done. My wife will be back soon with the good one and I'll take some updated pics.

I've had to take the Korallin reactor offline. It was just not functioning properly. I've been dosing two part in excessive amounts to stay up with alk and calc.

I'm not really sure what the right move is, I might just have to try a different reactor, because I really need to dose more 2 part than is acceptable otherwise.

Diatom bloom seems under control, everything is looking good again, and got a sweet new zoa frag over last weekend. I've cut back feeding a bit.

I also have the new lights online and I'm liking have a bit more pop. I admit to being slightly underwhelmed by the LED spotlights, but maybe I just need to play with their placement a bit more.

Anyone has suggestions of a reactor to replace this just unusable Koralin, let me know, I need to do something soon, I'm slowly draining the LFS's of all 2 part

 

[radwrasse11]

just got done reading your thread, and what a quick build lol. right to the point as i always say. How are those lights working for you??? I would think a spot light would be bad for PAR but i guess i was wrong lol.

 

[RGibson]

dmorel you need to get a Geo 624 reactor and used Korallith coarse media on the lower half and gen-x c r m media top half do not mix together.You will not need to add two part to your tank to keep up the alk calc.

 

[dmorel]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15416790#post15416790 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by radwrasse11
just got done reading your thread, and what a quick build lol. right to the point as i always say. How are those lights working for you??? I would think a spot light would be bad for PAR but i guess i was wrong lol.

It was pretty quick considering, but honestly it's not actually done.
I still need to hook up with my wood guy to finish the false floor and clean up some of the wiring.

The spots are working out pretty well. The tough part is that they don't throw light anywhere except the spot lighted section I have a few of those MT 150's which help a little as well, basically your standard DE MH.

I do have a few corals that are browner than I would hope, which I presume is a result of them not getting enough direct light. I may have re-aquascape a little to get the most bang for the lights I have, but overall I am very pleased.

 

[dmorel]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15417952#post15417952 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by RGibson
dmorel you need to get a Geo 624 reactor and used Korallith coarse media on the lower half and gen-x c r m media top half do not mix together.You will not need to add two part to your tank to keep up the alk calc.

Yeah, Skip and I were just talking about Geo's that's probably the way I will go if this Korallin doesn't work out. I went through nearly 300 milliliters of a day of 2 part for the last 2 weeks since the reactor's been offline so figured I better try it again.
Cleaned it and got it tuned back up (I think) yesterday. Will be testing daily for a week to see how I do.