Finally My Custom Miracle Build with Fish Room

[SPotter]

awesome update Henry!!!!!!! how many more pounds of rock do you have left to add?

 

[eonflux123]

Great update! Your detail in this makes it a great read! Phosphate was the bane of my existence with my old 75 gallon and I did a similar thing that you did with pukani! When I get enough income to get back into the hobby I'm doing a super long cure on my rocks before putting them int he tank! Your display is really sick looking! The depth is really interesting! What lights do you have? If the coral are not adjusting to the lights, I believe most manufacturers have an acclimation cycle for their systems.

 

[nightOwl]

awesome update Henry!!!!!!! how many more pounds of rock do you have left to add?

Steve - It's all in there! There was like one medium piece that I put in the refugium. My aquascape is actually backwards from when I first did my initial platform design. I traced the outline and accidentally inverted it. I will take some pictures from inside the fish room and from overhead. I can already tell the inside of the fish room is gonna be my favorite. I am hoping it will give the fish some cool places to swim.

 

[nightOwl]

Great update! Your detail in this makes it a great read! Phosphate was the bane of my existence with my old 75 gallon and I did a similar thing that you did with pukani! When I get enough income to get back into the hobby I'm doing a super long cure on my rocks before putting them int he tank! Your display is really sick looking! The depth is really interesting! What lights do you have? If the coral are not adjusting to the lights, I believe most manufacturers have an acclimation cycle for their systems.

eonflux123 - Thanks for the kind words. This is my second time with Pukani well third really. It was the reason I had issues with my old 180. The key is to be patient with the rock and LC is your new friend...lol. Treating with the LC and doing the 100% water changes allowed the phosphates to equalize in the water column. When they stayed a zero for a few days I did another 100% water change. I am running the Reefbreeders Photon V2 and LEDs are much brighter than they appear. I finally found my old par meter and realized the lights over the frag tank was putting out way too much par for how shallow the tank was without an adjustment period. The RBV2 do not have an acclimation cycle built in and its not like MH lights where you can just throw them in and they will be fine. I have now learned my lesson after killing off most of my Battle Corals. I made adjustments to the SPS AB+ light program and reduced everything in half. I still need to find an export of the program to see how they ramp up. Mine were set at 100% for UV, Blue, Royal Blue and 24% White, Green, and Red. I now have this at 50% and 12% respectively. But think I need to ramp up to that over the course of a hour or two set at max then ramp down. If the corals make it through I will place another other in the future but I have some more corals coming soon. This was just an expensive tough lesson to learn.

 

[nightOwl]

I can't get a good shot of the aquascape from above no matter what I do. Below are a few of the picture I tried to to capture. It's had to really get a sense of the the crevices from either side. But its basically going to be a cove area and an open swimming area for those that like to hang out in the open. I also added a picture of my one fish that is in the frag tank. I don't think he will be with me much longer. He does not swim very far anymore and looks like he is just trying to hold on. I have had him since 2004 or so...in fish years I guess he is pretty old. He has survived 3 tank crashes and 4 different females.

My One and Only Fish
IMG_2045 by LifeThrough_TheLense, on Flickr

From Inside
IMG_2051 by LifeThrough_TheLense, on Flickr

Top Right
IMG_2055 by LifeThrough_TheLense, on Flickr

Top Left Side
IMG_2057 by LifeThrough_TheLense, on Flickr

Full Top Down
20180418_154519_HDR by LifeThrough_TheLense, on Flickr

Extra Rock
IMG_2072 by LifeThrough_TheLense, on Flickr

Cheato Growth
Left is 4/3 right is 04/18
CheatoGrowth by LifeThrough_TheLense, on Flickr

 

[SPotter]

love the aquascape Henry!!!!! lets get some fish in there!!!!!

 

[nightOwl]

love the aquascape Henry!!!!! lets get some fish in there!!!!!

It's gonna be a while for the fish. I need to let he pods establish for a few weeks or so. I think I will be ordering a clean up crew soon. I have not run the the lights on the display since nothing is in there. The couple of snails and two hermit crabs will not be able to keep up with the algae once the lights are running.

This is how big my first harvest was....it filled the container.

20180418_185640 by LifeThrough_TheLense, on Flickr

20180418_185627 by LifeThrough_TheLense, on Flickr

 

[saf1]

Great job. Question if you will on your 1" sea swirls. I am also using a pair and wondering if you have anything on the end / output to direct water. Or are you just leaving it with the default elbow? That is how mine are currently set. I was thinking about adding a random flow generator from Vivid but their current solution would extend it from the sea swirl elbow too much for me.

Regarding the rock you are using, the dry Pukani. I ordered about 150lbs from them also and it is pretty interesting stuff. I didn't order the large sizes but at least one piece in each of the boxes I received easily exceeded 18" in size. My better half was teasing me asking if I accidently ordered landscape material for our front yard... My tank finished its cycle the end of February or first week of March. I only flipped the lights on this past weekend and transferred my 40 breeder over.

While I like the rock, and yours is also nice, I probably would never do it again. My routine was unbox, pressure wash, 24 hours in bleach, rinse, another 24 hours in bleach, rinse, 24 more hours in bleach, rinse, add lanthanum chloride, 24 hours, rinse, more lanthanum chloride, 24 hours, rinse, pressure wash, aquascape in tank, add ri/ro water, salt mix, extra heavy dose of dechlorinator to be safe, and rode it out for about a month before moving the tank or adding lights.

Again great setup - virtual High Five.

 

[nightOwl]

Great job. Question if you will on your 1" sea swirls. I am also using a pair and wondering if you have anything on the end / output to direct water. Or are you just leaving it with the default elbow? That is how mine are currently set. I was thinking about adding a random flow generator from Vivid but their current solution would extend it from the sea swirl elbow too much for me.

Regarding the rock you are using, the dry Pukani. I ordered about 150lbs from them also and it is pretty interesting stuff. I didn't order the large sizes but at least one piece in each of the boxes I received easily exceeded 18" in size. My better half was teasing me asking if I accidently ordered landscape material for our front yard... My tank finished its cycle the end of February or first week of March. I only flipped the lights on this past weekend and transferred my 40 breeder over.

While I like the rock, and yours is also nice, I probably would never do it again. My routine was unbox, pressure wash, 24 hours in bleach, rinse, another 24 hours in bleach, rinse, 24 more hours in bleach, rinse, add lanthanum chloride, 24 hours, rinse, more lanthanum chloride, 24 hours, rinse, pressure wash, aquascape in tank, add ri/ro water, salt mix, extra heavy dose of dechlorinator to be safe, and rode it out for about a month before moving the tank or adding lights.

Again great setup - virtual High Five.

Thanks for the kind words. Not sure if you can see it or not in the picture below but the ones on the end I have a y split on them and then two fan nozzles. The two towards the overflow I only have one nozzle on currently. I have been too lazy to dig out the other nozzle. Maybe I will get that done sometime this weekend....lol. Let me know if you need a better picture. They extend further than I would like but I am hoping once all the pretty corals grown in (once I can keep them alive) people won't notice. I also plan to re-frame the tank. I want to bring the top part down a bit so you only see the water line.

Funny story about the Pukani...those big pieces are so amazing. I am crossing my fingers for you on the rock treatment. I have learned you can not rush this stuff. My first tank looked pretty when people first started using it then I fought phosphates until the tank crashed. What is your current phosphate reading?

Right back at you with the virtual high five . :beer:

IMG_1939 by LifeThrough_TheLense, on Flickr

 

[McPuff]

IMG_1939 by LifeThrough_TheLense, on Flickr

Just one suggestion with the rock work on the left side of the picture and that is to create a small "window" or arch in the rock work so you can see the lagoon area. It just seems like a large portion of the space is not viewable... or not very easily anyway. And there isn't much open space between the rock and the viewing panel.

 

[nightOwl]

Just one suggestion with the rock work on the left side of the picture and that is to create a small "window" or arch in the rock work so you can see the lagoon area. It just seems like a large portion of the space is not viewable... or not very easily anyway. And there isn't much open space between the rock and the viewing panel.

McPuff - It's hard to tell from the the pictures but the lagoon is visible when you are standing in front of the tank . The distortion of 3/4 glass makes it hard for me to get a good picture. It is also really visible at the end of the tank...lol. From the inside of the fish room you can see it also. On the fish room side there is the "window/arch" you speak of too. It hard to get a good picture since it is not exactly perpendicular to the glass. Once I get some corals in there it will be easier to tell right now the Pukani rock just blends together in the photos. Lastly its kinda deceptive of how much space is between the rock and the viewing panel. In the front its about 4" at the closest point and on the backside its about 6". I may play around with the aquascape a bit to make it more visible but I am a little limited by the size of the rocks...lol. Thanks for the input it helps when trying to get it just right.

 

[McPuff]

McPuff - It's hard to tell from the the pictures but the lagoon is visible when you are standing in front of the tank . The distortion of 3/4 glass makes it hard for me to get a good picture. It is also really visible at the end of the tank...lol. From the inside of the fish room you can see it also. On the fish room side there is the "window/arch" you speak of too. It hard to get a good picture since it is not exactly perpendicular to the glass. Once I get some corals in there it will be easier to tell right now the Pukani rock just blends together in the photos. Lastly its kinda deceptive of how much space is between the rock and the viewing panel. In the front its about 4" at the closest point and on the backside its about 6". I may play around with the aquascape a bit to make it more visible but I am a little limited by the size of the rocks...lol. Thanks for the input it helps when trying to get it just right.

I didn't mean to be critical so I hope it wasn't taken that way. You're right that it's hard to tell with the white on white of the rock. In my tank, I must have re-arranged and/or removed a few rocks multiple times to get it where I now feel mostly happy with the result. It will be cool to see yours with the corals and fish. Will look terrific.

 

[shred5]

Love the build.

Did you make the chaeto reactor? I am guessing you did If so what brand is the reactor?

did I miss what lights are you using?

 

[nightOwl]

Love the build.

Did you make the chaeto reactor? or did you buy it? If so what brand is it?

did I miss what lights are you using?

shred5 - I made it myself from an old media reactor I had. Its made from an old Avast Marine media reactor I brought used. It cracked near the top and I just cut off the damaged part and glued it back together. I brought the light from Amazon and it has worked pretty good. Cheap little DIY project and as you can see I love them. The lights on the reactor can be found here. Couple of zip ties and you are good. For the tank I am using ReefBreeders V2 Photons.

 

[shred5]

shred5 - I made it myself from an old media reactor I had. Its made from an old Avast Marine media reactor I brought used. It cracked near the top and I just cut off the damaged part and glued it back together. I brought the light from Amazon and it has worked pretty good. Cheap little DIY project and as you can see I love them. The lights on the reactor can be found here. Couple of zip ties and you are good. For the tank I am using ReefBreeders V2 Photons.

Thanks
Yea I figured you made it i just never saw a reactor before.

 

[nightOwl]

I didn't mean to be critical so I hope it wasn't taken that way. You're right that it's hard to tell with the white on white of the rock. In my tank, I must have re-arranged and/or removed a few rocks multiple times to get it where I now feel mostly happy with the result. It will be cool to see yours with the corals and fish. Will look terrific.

McPuff - It was not taken in a critical or mean way at all. Part of the reason I am doing the build thread is to document my issues along the way and also to get input from others. I guess I could post the bad pictures but when I start my photo process I'm so use to throwing out anything that is not that clear...lol. This is probably revision four or five of the aquascape...lol. I may have to take a different lense down to the basement. Making me work man...lol.

 

[McPuff]

McPuff - It was not taken in a critical or mean way at all. Part of the reason I am doing the build thread is to document my issues along the way and also to get input from others. I guess I could post the bad pictures but when I start my photo process I'm so use to throwing out anything that is not that clear...lol. This is probably revision four or five of the aquascape...lol. I may have to take a different lense down to the basement. Making me work man...lol.

I like the chaeto reactor you made... it has me thinking about trying something similar with a very DIY container. :0)

 

[nightOwl]

I like the chaeto reactor you made... it has me thinking about trying something similar with a very DIY container. :0)

McPuff - Super easy and quick project. One thing to keep in mind when you add the lights try to keep the them from the seams. I left a little bit of a gap between the seams and the light since there is some heat transfer. Just something to keep in mind. Let me know how it turns out if you make one.

 

[nightOwl]

Thanks
Yea I figured you made it i just never saw a reactor before.

shred5 - They have some comercial units available as well but if you have a good reactor and place the light correctly it seems to work just fine . I will have to check the reactor later on this week to see if it needs to be harvested again or not.

 

[shred5]

shred5 - They have some comercial units available as well but if you have a good reactor and place the light correctly it seems to work just fine . I will have to check the reactor later on this week to see if it needs to be harvested again or not.

LOL I meant I never saw that reactor before..

I have been hearing some have issues with heat transfer to the reactors.. Have you had any issues and if not how did you prevent it?

I have reactor and I have ordered some led grow strip lights.