Finally have a large tank... 280g Deltec Custom Reef Tank
- Thread starter ReefingBuddha
- Start date
ReefingBuddha
New member
Thanks Jflip, I'm liking the BB as well. I'm always unsure at first but as soon as the coralline starts taking over and like the look better.
1) I run just 14k coralvue bulbs, going to put 1 ushio 14k on today to see if I like it better. Wish it was bluer though. I also run 1 5ft T5 bulb for 12 hours a day as a sunrise and sunset "buffer". I don't think it changes the color much when the halides are on, just can't compete..
2) I am running my halides 8 hours a day with good results. I wanted to mess with it the other day but my aquatronica is not working to well these days.
Thanks Bart, thinking of upgrading to a D3 soon
. Encrusting depends on the coral. I saw the first signs them laying down a base about a week and a half after I glued them down (it is a new tank so it may happen faster in a established tank). Coloring up you can usually tell a difference in the first few days and once a coral starts to color up usually about a month before it reaches some sort of stability. It all depends on the individual coral though.
How are corals doing in your tank these days? I like those pictures you put up, really like your 'scaping. Even though I like my rock work I'm getting the urge to rearrange and remove but I'm fighting that with all my willpower.
1) I run just 14k coralvue bulbs, going to put 1 ushio 14k on today to see if I like it better. Wish it was bluer though. I also run 1 5ft T5 bulb for 12 hours a day as a sunrise and sunset "buffer". I don't think it changes the color much when the halides are on, just can't compete..
2) I am running my halides 8 hours a day with good results. I wanted to mess with it the other day but my aquatronica is not working to well these days.
Thanks Bart, thinking of upgrading to a D3 soon
. Encrusting depends on the coral. I saw the first signs them laying down a base about a week and a half after I glued them down (it is a new tank so it may happen faster in a established tank). Coloring up you can usually tell a difference in the first few days and once a coral starts to color up usually about a month before it reaches some sort of stability. It all depends on the individual coral though.How are corals doing in your tank these days? I like those pictures you put up, really like your 'scaping. Even though I like my rock work I'm getting the urge to rearrange and remove but I'm fighting that with all my willpower.
cbui2
Premium Member
yeah just wanted to make sure, as the corals are really taking off. i noticed true color change in about 10 days, but the polyps extend 20 min. after placed in display. keep in mind that i don't purchased mature corals as i get these at a very low price. this was my 2nd attempt to getting the rock scape to my liking. making it much lower enable to get flow all throughout without any detritus settling. very little siphon is done monthly or none .
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ReefingBuddha
New member
Lucky you... at first I didn't really get the coral thing but they quickly got more interesting then fish to me. I think it may be the challenge involved but now that I have taken them on I'm moving back to fish . Figure eventually I'll balance out, but doubtful.
so an update:
First of all, popped my drilling tank cherry, so that felt pretty good. Damn easier that I thought it would be.
So now pictures
3M stick ties to clean up cables... finally. The thing in the top corner is a timer for the garden hose my RO/DI comes from. This way I can limit the times my R0/DI unit has to cycle during the day down to only 4 times possible, think it should help.
Now my refugium, but is more or less just a place for a little live rock and some caulerpa I picked up today. Should be getting some cheato in the next few days. The tank is about 25g and is sitting on PVC risers and some of the reinforced glass baffles in the main sump. I went this way because I had it laying around, my sump has limited usuable space due to baffle height, and I wanted to keep the caulerpa and the other micro algae as separate as possible to make sure it doesn't get back to the display or main sump.
I'm using a tap off my manifold to provide water currently but will be using my skimmer outlet as soon as I find some plumbing. I also have a modded MJ provided counter flow under the egg crate (which I've confirmed is reef safe with the supplier today and is not normal egg crate). I also mounted a 30w bulb above the tank to provide 24/7 lighting
as you can see i'm still working on cleaning up the wiring... takes a while
And some quick macro shots. The first is of the purple monti I got the other day.
Enjoy and let me know what you think.
. Figure eventually I'll balance out, but doubtful.so an update:
First of all, popped my drilling tank cherry, so that felt pretty good. Damn easier that I thought it would be.
So now pictures
3M stick ties to clean up cables... finally. The thing in the top corner is a timer for the garden hose my RO/DI comes from. This way I can limit the times my R0/DI unit has to cycle during the day down to only 4 times possible, think it should help.
Now my refugium, but is more or less just a place for a little live rock and some caulerpa I picked up today. Should be getting some cheato in the next few days. The tank is about 25g and is sitting on PVC risers and some of the reinforced glass baffles in the main sump. I went this way because I had it laying around, my sump has limited usuable space due to baffle height, and I wanted to keep the caulerpa and the other micro algae as separate as possible to make sure it doesn't get back to the display or main sump.
I'm using a tap off my manifold to provide water currently but will be using my skimmer outlet as soon as I find some plumbing. I also have a modded MJ provided counter flow under the egg crate (which I've confirmed is reef safe with the supplier today and is not normal egg crate). I also mounted a 30w bulb above the tank to provide 24/7 lighting
as you can see i'm still working on cleaning up the wiring... takes a while
And some quick macro shots. The first is of the purple monti I got the other day.
Enjoy and let me know what you think.
Nice. Its the perfect amount of blue and white IMO. The only problem is you can only have the halides on for 8 hours a day. Meaning the rest of the day the tank is real blue with actinics. Im trying to find a balance with that... maybe a 10k T5 or something. I just figured ID see what you were running. Thanks for the response =)
ReefingBuddha
New member
No worries... I just checked to see and my halides run between 11:00 am and 7:30 pm. I think I might put a 2 or 3 hour lights out period in the middle so that I can start at 10 and end at 8:30 or 9:30. Might be good to give the corals a little down time. Just a thought.
BTW, just the t5 doesn't really bother me as I really like the florescent blue light. I am fairly happy with the color balance in my tank but would definitely add more blue if I could, looking into options right now actually
BTW, just the t5 doesn't really bother me as I really like the florescent blue light. I am fairly happy with the color balance in my tank but would definitely add more blue if I could, looking into options right now actually
ReefingBuddha
New member
the front reactor has rowaphos in it and the rear reactor has carbon. The floss it to create a barrier so none gets into the tank and for water polishing. I change it out twice a week. I'm about to switch carbon over to a larger deltec reactor run off my manifold as the shuran reactor pump is to weak to fluidize the carbon. Another piece of equipment I can eliminate.
I counted tonight. 36 plugs in, 2 aquatronica plug bars, and 6 surge protecters. Things add up quick.
Thanks bart.
I counted tonight. 36 plugs in, 2 aquatronica plug bars, and 6 surge protecters. Things add up quick.
Thanks bart.
cbui2
Premium Member
my phosban will probably needing to be change in few months so i was debating to go with the same one or something different. on my reactor has 2 med and 1 fine sponges on top before going back into sump. how's the rowaphos working out for you? that's a lot of plugs that need to clean up
ReefingBuddha
New member
I like rowaphos. Its a little bit of a pain to clean out put if you time it with a water change you can rinse out your media in the reactor by just running water out of your tank through it, makes it a little easier. I just have the one standard deltec filter on my fluidized reactor, I don't usually use filter wool at all.
Yeah it took about 4 hours today of unplugging almost everything to make sure its all untangled but I'm very happy with the results. Much cleaner and easier to change things. Tomorrow I need to work on the left side to finish it up. Will post picks of the clean up tomorrow.
Also getting penductors tomorrow
Anyone know if its ok to reduce 1" line down to .5" penductor on the outlet using a deltec 8070 HLP pump?
Should I split it to make 2 1/2" outlets? I think the flow might not be strong enough then.
Yeah it took about 4 hours today of unplugging almost everything to make sure its all untangled but I'm very happy with the results. Much cleaner and easier to change things. Tomorrow I need to work on the left side to finish it up. Will post picks of the clean up tomorrow.
Also getting penductors tomorrow
Anyone know if its ok to reduce 1" line down to .5" penductor on the outlet using a deltec 8070 HLP pump?
Should I split it to make 2 1/2" outlets? I think the flow might not be strong enough then.
ReefingBuddha
New member
so I had a wonderful reef keeping morning.
Got my penductors ahead of schedule which almost never happens. So I fit one, am very happy with the flow, adjust it, and all of a sudden find out the part of the closed loop run inside the dry space for the lines, was glued with silcon... I found this out because it snapped off and started shooting 1800gph into the air until it flooded the electrics and shut it all down. Then it started to back siphon water out of my tank through 2" and 1.25" pipes. So a quick rush to the ballvalves and all is saved. Now I'm about 30 to 40 gallons down in my sump (guess it counts as a water change), everything is on extension cords to another breaker, I have fans drying out the inside of surge protectors and plugs I took apart, and I got nicely involved with the mop once again... Man sometimes this hobby blows but at least it keep me busy. Damn silicon....
Glad I untangled those cords yesterday. Definitely fitting a splash guard now, not that one would have helped much in this situation but hopefully this won't happen again. Going to try my hand at bending acrylic, we'll see how it goes.
Got my penductors ahead of schedule which almost never happens. So I fit one, am very happy with the flow, adjust it, and all of a sudden find out the part of the closed loop run inside the dry space for the lines, was glued with silcon... I found this out because it snapped off and started shooting 1800gph into the air until it flooded the electrics and shut it all down. Then it started to back siphon water out of my tank through 2" and 1.25" pipes. So a quick rush to the ballvalves and all is saved. Now I'm about 30 to 40 gallons down in my sump (guess it counts as a water change), everything is on extension cords to another breaker, I have fans drying out the inside of surge protectors and plugs I took apart, and I got nicely involved with the mop once again... Man sometimes this hobby blows but at least it keep me busy. Damn silicon....
Glad I untangled those cords yesterday. Definitely fitting a splash guard now, not that one would have helped much in this situation but hopefully this won't happen again. Going to try my hand at bending acrylic, we'll see how it goes.
ReefingBuddha
New member
Always good to do water changes, and yeah... ahead of schedule.. that's what happened.
Thanks amashun... I'm very proud of that picture, you bastard you.
And now an update
- All fish and corals doing well.
- 95% of sand now out
- AZ-NO3 day 6 and dosed 20ml today, skimmer is kicking up a lot of crap and things look good.
- Cheato not here yet but the feather caulerpa is holding strong and looking very good.
- Put up one xm 15k bulb to see if I like it and it looks no different to my 14k coralvue bulb. Getting good growth with the coralvue so I'm sticking to it.
- Drilled my wall to get ro/di feed and waste lines in and out.
- Getting a 300 GPH 5 stage RO/DI unit tomorrow and will be doing a major water change over the weekend.
- Considering a new skimmer either to replace or complement my AP851. The options are a AP902 to replace the current skimmer or a Grotech 200 to complement it. Leaning towards the Grotech right now as a second skimmer sounds better then one really big one. Let me know if anyone has personal experience with Grotech as a review would be invaluable.
And now some pictures.
a couple early growth shots over the last 3 weeks... enjoy. Growth is starting to pick up on a number of other corals and will post those once I have some more results.
and my Snake Fish
Thanks amashun... I'm very proud of that picture, you bastard you.
And now an update
- All fish and corals doing well.
- 95% of sand now out
- AZ-NO3 day 6 and dosed 20ml today, skimmer is kicking up a lot of crap and things look good.
- Cheato not here yet but the feather caulerpa is holding strong and looking very good.
- Put up one xm 15k bulb to see if I like it and it looks no different to my 14k coralvue bulb. Getting good growth with the coralvue so I'm sticking to it.
- Drilled my wall to get ro/di feed and waste lines in and out.
- Getting a 300 GPH 5 stage RO/DI unit tomorrow and will be doing a major water change over the weekend.
- Considering a new skimmer either to replace or complement my AP851. The options are a AP902 to replace the current skimmer or a Grotech 200 to complement it. Leaning towards the Grotech right now as a second skimmer sounds better then one really big one. Let me know if anyone has personal experience with Grotech as a review would be invaluable.
And now some pictures.
a couple early growth shots over the last 3 weeks... enjoy. Growth is starting to pick up on a number of other corals and will post those once I have some more results.
and my Snake Fish
ReefingBuddha
New member
and Finally some more macro shots
ReefingBuddha
New member
haven't seen the growth on the hystrix that I had in my previous tank but I have moved it a lot and its finally healed over all its broken off spots. Looking forward to it starting to take off again as it is a very fast grower, the growth form is great, and its color is a great complement to the corals around it.
Peace and let me know what you think of the pictures and progress thus far.
Peace and let me know what you think of the pictures and progress thus far.
PaPa_Johnny
Premium Member
Just found your thread, nice documentation. That blows about your fountain of saltwater 
.
Oh and just keep posting all the pictures, we are picture hogs here
.
Do you still like the BB instead of SSB? It just seems more natural to em with at least a little sand in the tank, but to each his own.
Oh and your progress, tons of stuff in a very short amount of time!
. Oh and just keep posting all the pictures, we are picture hogs here
.Do you still like the BB instead of SSB? It just seems more natural to em with at least a little sand in the tank, but to each his own.
Oh and your progress, tons of stuff in a very short amount of time!
FuzzyZipperbaum
New member
A nicer camera than a D80??? That's like saying you want a nicer car than a Porche! Do you have the Nikor 18-200VR lens? One of the best I've ever owned...
ReefingBuddha
New member
Bart, I'm actually making overflow covers today. I have eurobracing and about 3" trim on the top so I'm not worried about him going up and over. I'll post some pics if they turn out alright
Johnny - Thank you. Yeah I didn't really appreciate the recreation of old faithful in my living room but one of the many hidden pleasures no one ever warns you about in the hobby. No worries pictures will keep rolling in, there isn't much you all could do to stop me. I actually think the BB looks more natural to my represention of a reef. Once coralline algae covers the bottom I think it will look great. From my (limited) experience diving I was trying to shot for a higher up high energy reef zone. This is usually on the top of a higher pile of LR with no sand around. Anyways I like it currently and am sticking with it for now.
And yeah I have done a lot in a short period of time but I feel that my stocking list (outside of corals) has been fairly conservative all things considered. I didn't give the tank a chance to cycle but it didn't have to either so I'm glad all that worked out. Will keep updating.
Fuzzy - I am currently looking into getting a D3. ... yeah I'm excited about the idea. I did a series of aquarium shots a while ago that I sold for a good chunk of change and I'm thinking of reinvesting that into a new camera. I'm looking to some new lenses as well. Right now the only Nikkor VR I have is a 70-300mm lens but that's not so useful for an aquarium (unless I feel really lazy and am taking pictures from my couch ). My favorite lens is a Sigma 105mm macro lense and I use the standard lens that came with the kit for normal shots. Thanks for the tip, I'll give it a look see.
Johnny - Thank you. Yeah I didn't really appreciate the recreation of old faithful in my living room but one of the many hidden pleasures no one ever warns you about in the hobby
. No worries pictures will keep rolling in, there isn't much you all could do to stop me. I actually think the BB looks more natural to my represention of a reef. Once coralline algae covers the bottom I think it will look great. From my (limited) experience diving I was trying to shot for a higher up high energy reef zone. This is usually on the top of a higher pile of LR with no sand around. Anyways I like it currently and am sticking with it for now.And yeah I have done a lot in a short period of time but I feel that my stocking list (outside of corals) has been fairly conservative all things considered. I didn't give the tank a chance to cycle but it didn't have to either so I'm glad all that worked out. Will keep updating.
Fuzzy - I am currently looking into getting a D3.
... yeah I'm excited about the idea. I did a series of aquarium shots a while ago that I sold for a good chunk of change and I'm thinking of reinvesting that into a new camera. I'm looking to some new lenses as well. Right now the only Nikkor VR I have is a 70-300mm lens but that's not so useful for an aquarium (unless I feel really lazy and am taking pictures from my couch ). My favorite lens is a Sigma 105mm macro lense and I use the standard lens that came with the kit for normal shots. Thanks for the tip, I'll give it a look see.
