drummereef's 180g in-wall build

[iwishtofish]

Brett, this is a wonderful (albeit huge) thread to learn from. I'll be starting my tank (as I think I mentioned earlier) with the Marco Rocks Key Largo, as well. Based on your experience, should I use the same method? Would you omit the addition of the live sand, and just use MB7 (with fish food) to start the culture? I don't plan to pre-cycle the rock out-of-tank. Sorry if I missed pre-mentioned points that are relative to this question; I don't want to waste your time, and I tried to look back into the thread as best I could.

Btw, love the recent vids!

 

[drummereef]

Brett, this is a wonderful (albeit huge) thread to learn from. I'll be starting my tank (as I think I mentioned earlier) with the Marco Rocks Key Largo, as well. Based on your experience, should I use the same method? Would you omit the addition of the live sand, and just use MB7 (with fish food) to start the culture? I don't plan to pre-cycle the rock out-of-tank. Sorry if I missed pre-mentioned points that are relative to this question; I don't want to waste your time, and I tried to look back into the thread as best I could.

Btw, love the recent vids!

Thanks iwishtofish. I would seed the tank with some "clean" live sand. I purchased mine from Premium Aquatics where they aquaculture it in their facility. Very clean sand imo. I think it would add some biodiversity to the system which it won't have by simply using dry rock and sand. Along with that I would dose MB7 starting from day 1 for sure. Do the recommended 'new tank' dosing schedule until the cycle passes. Once it seems like the tank has stabilized then proceed with the 'maintenance schedule' as printed on the bottle.

Btw, the cow face avatar makes me crack up every time I see it. :lol:

 

[iwishtofish]

Thanks iwishtofish. I would seed the tank with some "clean" live sand. I purchased mine from Premium Aquatics where they aquaculture it in their facility. Very clean sand imo. I think it would add some biodiversity to the system which it won't have by simply using dry rock and sand. Along with that I would dose MB7 starting from day 1 for sure. Do the recommended 'new tank' dosing schedule until the cycle passes. Once it seems like the tank has stabilized then proceed with the 'maintenance schedule' as printed on the bottle.

Btw, the cow face avatar makes me crack up every time I see it. :lol:

Ok, great - I will use that method! I'm assuming the live sand is to be added at the start of the cycle, despite the predicted ammonia spike from the fish food.

Yeah, I took the picture of that cow near where I used to work. I thought it was going to lick my camera lens. Glad you like it!

 

[drummereef]

Ok, great - I will use that method! I'm assuming the live sand is to be added at the start of the cycle, despite the predicted ammonia spike from the fish food.

Yeah, I took the picture of that cow near where I used to work. I thought it was going to lick my camera lens. Glad you like it!

You can do either or both if you wish. The sand will start the cycle with or without the fish food. The fish food might kick start an ammonia spike but it will happen regardless with time. The MB7 might severely reduce the cycle intensity as been noted by some users like chromedogg33. I would just monitor how it goes with your test kits along the way. Expect about 4-6 weeks (roughly) of patience.

 

[iwishtofish]

You can do either or both if you wish. The sand will start the cycle with or without the fish food. The fish food might kick start an ammonia spike but it will happen regardless with time. The MB7 might severely reduce the cycle intensity as been noted by some users like chromedogg33. I would just monitor how it goes with your test kits along the way. Expect about 4-6 weeks (roughly) of patience.

Sounds good! And patience is no problem - I've been trying to get this tank going for well over a year. Thanks again for the advice.

Looking forward to more happenings in your tank!

 

[drummereef]

UPDATE:


More videos! I picked up an Agu Frogspawn this weekend. Agu's are a color morph from the traditional green frogspawns. Apparently this frag came from a 10 year old mother colony aquacultured by a local reefer. I had an Agu morph in my 40g but this one is much more vibrant. The colors in the video are a bit washed out, the purple is a dark plum color and the green is neon. Hope you like it.


Agu Frogspawn

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Also a short clip of the Green Slimer in action.

Green Slimer

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[henrystyle]

Nice.. joker frogspawn!

 

[psteeleb]

great new additions :thumbsup:

 

[bigtony901]

Love the videos and the new additions keep them coming.

 

[AkaSlyGuy]

I may have missed it, but what mode do you run your vortechs on?

Joe

 

[drummereef]

Nice.. joker frogspawn!

Thanks henrystyle. I guess they have multiple names but I like the Joker Frogspawn. Seems to fit it's personality the best!

great new additions :thumbsup:

Thanks Pete!

Love the videos and the new additions keep them coming.

Will do bigtony.

I may have missed it, but what mode do you run your vortechs on?

Joe

Hey Joe! Currently I have my Vortechs on Lagoon Mode (Purple). Sometimes I switch to full on (Green) depending on what I'm trying to accomplish. The Lagoon mode is relatively random but doesn't seem to spin down as low as Reef Crest, which can sometimes seem like they are off at the lowest point in the cycle. I also don't have them slaved so each is their own master as to keep the most random patterns possible.

 

[drummereef]

UPDATE:


OK, I finally found a converter that will render HD fairly well on my ancient computer. Some of the clips uploaded straight from the Sony Handycam were playing in semi-slow motion once uploaded to YouTube which I think was a deinterlacing issue. For some reason YouTube won't deinterlace at 30fps so it looks like they plays in slow motion. Kind of a cool effect, I guess, but some of the videos have quite a bit of noise and chatter. Getting ready to upgrade computers (custom build) so I can have better control over photo editing and video rendering. But in the mean time here's the latest vid. It's a short clip but I should be able to post longer clips now that I have a workaround that seems to be relatively efficient. Let me know what you think!


*Best viewed in 720p


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[AkaSlyGuy]

Very nice. I need to do the video thing one day too.

 

[Western_reefer]

The tank is coming along very nicely!! :thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:

 

[henrystyle]

This Agu piece is a St.louis thing?

 

[shaggss]

drummer, great coral, love the frogspawn, thanks for sharing!

I am about to setup my MR1 and was wonder if you use a quick release to remove the hoses and remove the whole reactor from the sump or do you just unscrew the lid?

cheers :beer:

 

[henrystyle]

drummer, great coral, love the frogspawn, thanks for sharing!

I am about to setup my MR1 and was wonder if you use a quick release to remove the hoses and remove the whole reactor from the sump or do you just unscrew the lid?

cheers :beer:

good question. I was wondering the same thing...

 

[110galreef]

wondering as well. I know i currently remove the lid & is somewhat a pain as my reactors are outside sump. Like to find a good method: union BV or such to remove easily from the soft hose lines

 

[psteeleb]

for those asking about tubing quick disconects for your reactors, try these
http://www.usplastic.com/catalog/item.aspx?itemid=23885&catid=743

I've used them in several applications, they are easy to use and you can even get some that shut off the flow when disconnected

 

[drummereef]

Very nice. I need to do the video thing one day too.

Thanks Joe.

The tank is coming along very nicely!! :thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:

Thank you Western_reefer.

This Agu piece is a St.louis thing?

Probably not, but for some reason they are known by that around here. There is a Mod on RC named Agu, don't know if he's directly related to the naming of this coral or not.

drummer, great coral, love the frogspawn, thanks for sharing!

I am about to setup my MR1 and was wonder if you use a quick release to remove the hoses and remove the whole reactor from the sump or do you just unscrew the lid?

cheers :beer:

Thanks for the kind words shaggss. Currently I have all three of my reactors plumbed with the standard barb fittings and clear tubing. I myself debated whether to use rigid Polyethylene tubing with quick connect fittings or not. After looking at the ridgid tubing at the local hardware for some time and thinking about my own setup I decided, because of it's rigidity, it would be rather difficult to manipulate the stuff in a small space. These reactors require 5/8" tubing which is quite rigid at that diameter, but needed for the flow rates required. I needed it to loop around and connect to my manifold vertically which after some thought I figured was going to be difficult to do. So I decided to use clear flexible tubing instead.

With that said, I indeed just remove the lid when servicing the reactors. The lids on the NextReef reactors are extremely easy to remove with no mess. Just remove the lid, dump out the old media, rinse, add new media, put the lid back on and done! Great reactors imo when performing maintenance. :thumbsup:

Now, I will endorse the use of smaller diameter tubing, as Pete was describing in his reply. I love working with 1/4" even 3/8" rigid tubing and it would be especially good for low to moderate flow applications. Extremely easy to work with and does conform quite well in small spaces. Perfect for calcium reactors etc...