drummereef's 180g in-wall build

[drummereef]

Your LB looks chubby, Brett, unless I'm not seeing right. Such characters. You may have some algae issues, but at least you have some good coralline growing on your Marco Rocks. I just have whitish patches where it is trying to grow, but just won't take. Are your corals growing as well as they were, and maintaining color?


I am glad you are keeping some interest going. I truly feel - having done it - that it's very difficult to start a tank with primarily dry rock. I feel that there is a "balance" that is missing that takes some good time establish itself. I am considering adding a little more live rock to my sump (after a serious search for trustworthy stuff), in the hope that more biological diversity will kick my growth into gear. And I, too, need to be a bit more diligent with water changes. 10% each week, perhaps.

I'm really glad you are back on the forum!

Yeah, I agree. A balance of dry rock with live rock would probably lead to better cultures of bacteria and lend itself to a healthier tank sooner. I do have some coralline that's taken hold but it's taken some time to get there. I do plan on adding some live rock to the mix at some point, perhaps in the fuge or I might just put a few pieces in the sump. What sources have you investigated for live rock?

Brett,

So wierd you are having 110% the exact same problems I had. My tank had never looked worse, I lost all my initial frags, snails were dying left and right. While my problems appear to be worse than yours. I literally fought GHA with cyano covering that and with dino's floating around the tank. I was so mad I about quit :headwalls:

This is what I battled after I was able to get rid of the cyano that was growing on top. Not to mention the dinos that to this day still hang around very minimally. I went through great lengths to get rid of all this algae, and finally beat it. After a good amount of Lanthanum Chloride in combination with GFO and massive amounts of carbon changed every 3 days, it subsided but dino's still show up here and there.

I became so mad that I decided to start DUMPING in hydrogen peroxide and was going through 150+ml a day. It ticked off what coral I had for about a hour each time but they never looked better once the dino's went away.

Now my new shipment of coral is all doing well and growing. Sorry for the rant

Wow, Chrome, you really went through some stuff there! Glad you are seeing some relief from it all. It is very frustrating, believe me I know, but my tank as well has seen some balance. There's just tiny amounts of Dino's that seems to go after certain corals in my tank - like my Pink Birdsnest - but leaves other's alone for some reason. Very strange. What's the Lanthanum Chloride you were speaking of and how did it help your situation?

Glad to see you are back!

Thanks 110g! Glad to be back. I really appreciate everyone's support and am glad to see some friendly faces again.

 

[cromedogg33]

Brett,

Lathanum Chloride is just liquid phophate remover. Very potent stuff that binds to both p04 and if used inappropriately will bind to and precipitate as lanthanum carbonate, which means it's lowering alkalinity. The consensus is to try and mechanically filter out the precipitate.

It's used in ponds/pools to remove phosphates. It's definately a great tool in my case where it was absolutely obvious I was having issues with p04. I don't think it works great in anything less than ~0.03 p04 readings. But it's definately a cheaper solution in maintaining lower p04 so you don't exhaust GFO as quickly.

I took my pellets offline as well and haven't put them back on. Just working with GFO/water changes for the time being. Hanging around some zeo forums and talking with others I'm personally convinced bio pellets created some of the problems I had. I don't think my tank was mature enough to even handle what it was doing. Nothing was using the carbon source.

Huge lesson learned from using marco rocks and not supplementing with any live rock too. They leached p04 like absolute crazy. I'm coming up on my tank being set up 14 months and I spent 8 or more just fighting the algae.

I also ended up adding 2 tunze 6125's in my tank as well, and this helped any detritus build up which IMO helped quite a bit.

 

[drummereef]

Brett,

Lathanum Chloride is just liquid phophate remover. Very potent stuff that binds to both p04 and if used inappropriately will bind to and precipitate as lanthanum carbonate, which means it's lowering alkalinity. The consensus is to try and mechanically filter out the precipitate.

It's used in ponds/pools to remove phosphates. It's definately a great tool in my case where it was absolutely obvious I was having issues with p04. I don't think it works great in anything less than ~0.03 p04 readings. But it's definately a cheaper solution in maintaining lower p04 so you don't exhaust GFO as quickly.

I took my pellets offline as well and haven't put them back on. Just working with GFO/water changes for the time being. Hanging around some zeo forums and talking with others I'm personally convinced bio pellets created some of the problems I had. I don't think my tank was mature enough to even handle what it was doing. Nothing was using the carbon source.

Huge lesson learned from using marco rocks and not supplementing with any live rock too. They leached p04 like absolute crazy. I'm coming up on my tank being set up 14 months and I spent 8 or more just fighting the algae.

I also ended up adding 2 tunze 6125's in my tank as well, and this helped any detritus build up which IMO helped quite a bit.

Great info Chrome, thank you. So do you think the Dino's are/were feeding off the PO4? I can see the evidence in the massive green algae bloom from your pics but I never had anything like that. Just the stupid brown stringy stuff that loves to attach themselves to coral - and rocks and sand and glass. lol

 

[iwishtofish]

What sources have you investigated for live rock?

None, yet. But I'll probably go local, since I have a smaller system and would prefer minimal die-off.

Have you re-considered barebottom lately? I'd prefer the look of sand in my tank, but not the added phosphates. I'm going to try to be creative, and eventually build a garden of corals on the bottom.

 

[drummereef]

None, yet. But I'll probably go local, since I have a smaller system and would prefer minimal die-off.

Have you re-considered barebottom lately? I'd prefer the look of sand in my tank, but not the added phosphates. I'm going to try to be creative, and eventually build a garden of corals on the bottom.

I'm definitely a sand guy. Now that I've seen it in my own tank I think it looks weird. :lol: PA supposedly has some good quality cured rock if you had any interest in not buying local from what I've seen. But obviously local will have the least amount of shipping die-off for sure. A coral garden would is an awesome idea btw.

 

[Nizz]

UPDATE:


Some new pics for you guys.

I too really like this picture. I don't know what camera you are using. But, this picture and the rest of them are fantastic. I hope you don't mind that I am going to use this as my background. A motivational background.

 

[drummereef]

I too really like this picture. I don't know what camera you are using. But, this picture and the rest of them are fantastic. I hope you don't mind that I am going to use this as my background. A motivational background.

Not at all, be my guest. I am flattered you think the pic is worthy of your screen considering some of the really great pics my reefer friends on here take. I use a Canon Rebel XSi with the stock lens to take the posted photos. Thanks again Nizz.

 

[drummereef]

Thinking it's about time to start adding some sand back to the tank. Anyone have any suggestions as to the best way of adding sand without disturbing the fish and corals too much? Should I rinse the sand this time or just put it in straight from the bag?

 

[Chebby]

If you get the pre-rinsed type sand, or rinse it yourself, that will greatly reduce the cloud when you add it.

 

[smoothdog]

Rinse the sand, then get a piece of 2" pvc and a funnel. cut the end of the funnel to just fit inside the pvc and duct tape it on, then just stick the other end of the pipe down at the bottom of the tank and slowly add the sand. It will put the sand right on the bottom without it blowing everywhere.

 

[curryb15]

wow amazing tank!

 

[DanielJay]

Brett, I saw that you previously thinking of adding a refugium to your system. Did you do that? I just ordered a 125g long tank today and looking to do a setup similar to yours. Would love an update on how your setup is now.

 

[drummereef]

If you get the pre-rinsed type sand, or rinse it yourself, that will greatly reduce the cloud when you add it.

Cool, thanks Chebby!

Rinse the sand, then get a piece of 2" pvc and a funnel. cut the end of the funnel to just fit inside the pvc and duct tape it on, then just stick the other end of the pipe down at the bottom of the tank and slowly add the sand. It will put the sand right on the bottom without it blowing everywhere.

Perfect, I will do just that. Great tip smoothdog.

wow amazing tank!

Thank you curryb15!

Brett, I saw that you previously thinking of adding a refugium to your system. Did you do that? I just ordered a 125g long tank today and looking to do a setup similar to yours. Would love an update on how your setup is now.

Hi Daniel, I have not set up the remote fuge yet. I started to experiment around with growing some Chaeto in my sump but recently removed it. I got tired of picking stray Chaeto strands from the intake strainer of the return pump and honestly it didn't grow well at all and I saw no reduction in NO3 over the few months I had it online. It might do better if I give it a different environment to grow, but currently I've gone back to my original setup. Thanks for asking though and good luck on your build.

 

[drummereef]

UPDATE:

Well it's been a while since I've updated everyone... here goes.

 

[drummereef]

And the current state of affairs...

 

[iwishtofish]

Wow, your corals are gorgeous - what great PE! And, hey, barebottom's not so bad, although I admit I like sand better, too.

Say, have you ever considered an aussie elegance coral?

 

[cromedogg33]

Brett,

In my experience the best way to add sand back to the tank without making a huge mess is to add the sand to a gallon zip lock back after you've rinsed the sand. You just turn the bag upside down where you want it and spread around after you've dumped it in.

This has been my best method so far and I use it every now and then to add sand when needed.

 

[drummereef]

Wow, your corals are gorgeous - what great PE! And, hey, barebottom's not so bad, although I admit I like sand better, too.

Say, have you ever considered an aussie elegance coral?

Thanks iwish! I have considered an elegance but have been apprehensive about adding any new corals until I get the NO3 down to acceptable levels again. I will look into it though. I think the tank needs more movement, from some LPS or otherwise.

Brett,

In my experience the best way to add sand back to the tank without making a huge mess is to add the sand to a gallon zip lock back after you've rinsed the sand. You just turn the bag upside down where you want it and spread around after you've dumped it in.

This has been my best method so far and I use it every now and then to add sand when needed.

Great, thanks Crome! I like this idea too. I'm going to watch the Dinos over the next few days since I've done a series of 3 water changes in 3 days to get a good foothold on the NO3 issue. They usually like to reappear directly after a water change since my belief is they feed off of trace minerals etc... We shall see.

 

[drummereef]

UPDATE:


Figured I'd try some new bio pellets out on the tank. I've seen a few successful reefers try out this brand so I thought I'd give them a try (thanks Pete ). This time around I'm going to use Two Little Fishies Brand NPX Bioplastics, instead of the Warner Marine EcoBAK I've used in the past.


Here's the new pellets.

Here's a size comparison between the NPX Bioplastics (left) and the WM EcoBAK (right). They are distinctly different in color which leads me to believe they are a different formulation, but that's just a guess. The NPX is a slightly translucent amber color where the EcoBAK is solid off-white in color. Shape and size is decidedly different as well as you can see in the pic below. I figure the NPX might stay in suspension with less flow through the reactor since they are quite a bit smaller. We shall see...

I will report back, once I switch out the pellets, how the NPX pellets tumble in comparison to the EcoBAK. I will also be watching NO3 closely to see if/when they start to do their job and will post numbers along the way too.

 

[psteeleb]

wow - things are looking great Brett

for what its worth my nitrates are hanging around 4-5 (salifert test) so they seem to have bottomed out and maybe even come up a tad. I did increase feeding slightly in hopes thate my red sponges would recover some from me cutting back.

i'm going to add a few more pellets, I'm thinking about taking it to 80% recomended and se what happens.