Initial planning stages for tank and fish room

[Bilk]

Hey rslfww. Thanks. I just tried to make the system as user friendly as I could with the limited space. Always wish there was more space

I disturb the top portion of the sand bed to liberate any excess nutrients. The bed is still very active and getting more so each day. I have a few cucumbers in there to help too. I don't think the wrasse would impact it all that much, but I'm holding off for a while to let it really flourish with microfauna. I would hope the wrasse would hunt among the rocks for snacks

Maddmaxx the seasweeps are pretty cool and do a nice job of providing a lot of random flow. Just wish they were less obtrusive. I think when I finally place a background on and the tanks starts to grow out, they may become less so. I had to modify them a bit. They rotated too far and would splash flow off of the front and back glass, creating an undertow which disturbed the sand. I spoke with Ed at Aquarium Currents and he confirmed the modification I thought would do the trick. It's a pretty simple mechanism. Just needed a drill and tap. But so far, I'm happy with them paired with the Tunze 6105. Good luck with the new home and the tank build!

________________________________________________________________

Was peaking in the back of the tank after lights out and found this helpful critter looking for munchies. Had some nasties appear a few weeks ago, on rock I transferred from the 50. I knew they were in there so I ordered a few once the tank was settled. Haven't seen any aiptasia in about a week and a half and never saw any of the nudis since placing them in the tank. For a while I wasn't even sure they survived the acclimation, but the aiptasia were disappearing one by one so I knew they were being preyed upon. Happy to see these little critters did a good job, but sad this poor little guy will soon be starving. It deserves a better fate.

Well if anyone ever has the need to eradicate some aiptasia, I can vouch for the nudi team. :thumbsup: They work as advertised unlike many things in this hobby LOL

 

[worm5406]

You could always send him in the mail to another person. Keep the cycle going.

A local LFS wanted me to bring in some of my aptasia (in my sump) so they can get some in and feed it... I started laughing...

What is the chain in one of the earlier pictures? By the pump.

 

[Bilk]

You could always send him in the mail to another person. Keep the cycle going.

A local LFS wanted me to bring in some of my aptasia (in my sump) so they can get some in and feed it... I started laughing...

What is the chain in one of the earlier pictures? By the pump.

Well I would certainly have no issue with sending him to another reefer and any others that may still be alive in the tank, but finding them and capturing them are another issue Once I turned on the lights for that pic, he was quick to find a hiding place. I guess in a small tank that would make that a much easier proposition.

Chain? Which pic? By the return pump?

Today I am going to rework the rockscape a bit. I think there's too much uneven flow. I bought a 7095 Tunze controller from the classified forum today, to help with that. I do miss the pulsing and wave action Vortechs provide. That action keeps particulates suspended for removal by the overflow. I have the cable for my Apex that would control the 6105s, but I think the controller will make it easier to make changes when needed. I also want the two remaining variable speed outlets for lighting.

I'm anticipating making somewhat of a crescent shape with the structure and moving the SSs forward and directing them at the structure more than they are presently. I guess I'll have to play around with it a bit :uhoh3: Then I'll mount the frags, which I've been avoiding LOL

 

[Bilk]

A few updates and pics.

I have had the Hanna 713 - normal range phosphate checker - for quite a while, but never purchased the 736 low range total phosphorus checker. Using the 713 checker, I initially got a reading of .1 and was able to lower that over the course of a few weeks to .08 using GFO in a filter bag in a high flow area of the sump. However during that time the tank also had a breakout of all the nasty alga - bryopsis, valonia and gha. So I raised the Mg level to 1400 and added some crew to help keep it under control - Yellow Belly Royal Tang - Bi-color Blenny and 3 Tuxedo Urchins to aid the Kole tang that was the sole consumer. These helped with the reduction of the gha and it seems some of the bryopsis too, but they weren't going to finish this stuff off so I knew I needed to look into other avenues of action.

NO3 has been undetectable in the system. This is obviously a limiting factor for uptake and removal of PO4. So I did two things that are counterintuitive - I started to feed more and I added more livestock. The fish were happy but I was a little nervous. There's mountains of threads containing advice from all the experts saying to cut back on feeding and don't add more fish when these nuisance alga show up. Heck I was always in that camp as well. But I threw caution to the wind and proceeded with additional feedings, making sure the skimmer was working overtime. Well the .08 number started to fall - first to .04 and then finally after a few weeks, I was getting a zero reading with the 713 checker.

I knew the zero reading wasn't accurate as the range of accuracy for the 713 checker is +-.04ppm. To me, this meant I was probably close to that number one way or the other, but it wasn't zero. So I ordered a 736 ULR checker. Now after taking multiple readings with it, over the course a few days, I confirmed my thoughts about the current level of PO4 in the system. The current reading is between .042 and .048 and given the accuracy for that unit of +-5ppb, it could be a little higher. I know there's more work to be done to get that number to a more acceptable level of .02.

I'll admit here and now that I've been experimenting with dosing NaNO3 using a regimen based on a few threads on RC and in other forums, as a means to further reduce PO4 but can't confirm one way or the other how much it has helped given the fact I was not able to test in the low range and have only had the ULR checker for a few days to do so. However, I can say thru observation that the various alga are dissipating and fairly rapidly. Some of the valonia is turning clear, deflating and detaching from the rocks, heading for the overflow. The bryopsis is very pale and diminished in mass and the gha is vanishing. What ever is remaining is being mowed down by the algae consumers.

As I stated in my previous post, I moved some things around to allow for better flow. It not only looks better, it achieved what it was intended to do. It also allowed me to raise the output of the 6105s without creating a sand storm. I made two rows of rocks which looks much better by adding visual depth to the scape. Then I moved the Sea Sweeps closer to the front and pitched them down a bit, enabling the flow to run thru the channel and around the rocks, where as before it was only hitting the tops of the rocks. It is probably not the last configuration of things, but it looks pretty good for now until the corals grow a bit and force me to rethink things.

The rescaping has had other benefits too. The Kole Tang was being aggressive toward the Royal Blue. After moving the rocks around, things settled down and the two get along swimmingly :inlove: It was also interesting to see how the rest of the tank inhabitants responded - all looked for new bolt holes and hangouts.

Tank parameters:

• Temp > 78.5-80.0
• S.G. > 1.026
• PH > 8.22 - 8.35 (range)
• DKh > 8.7
• Ca > 440
• Mg > 1320
• NO3 > 0
• PO4 > .048

Well pics and some showing new growth >











iPhone pics. I packed my camera away when doing the renovation and it's in a box in storage. When I finally take the time to get it out of storage, I'll post more pics of the fish room and how everything works. Man I love the daily incremental, automatic water changes

Current stocking list:

• Percula Clown
• Kole Tang
• Green Chromis
• Bi-color Blenny
• Yellow Belly Royal Blue Tang
• (3) Lyretail Anthias 1 male - 2 female
• (4) Pajama Cardinal < anyone know which are male and female? :rolleye1:
• (2) Emeral Crab
• (3) Fighting Conch
• (3) Cucumber - Holothuria sp.
• Cleanup crew of various snails and hermit crabs

 

[Bilk]

You know you look at something every day and don't really notice the changes even when you're looking and hoping for them. The first pic was taken Dec. 11th, when I received it from a fellow RCer, the second on Dec. 26th and the last Jan. 7th. Still have some issues to deal with, but I guess something good is happening

 

[worm5406]

Never mind it was not chain it was the cord for the lights. LOL...

Nice growth. I did the same thing. I had to go back to pictures to see it.

 

[Bilk]

Never mind it was not chain it was the cord for the lights. LOL...

Nice growth. I did the same thing. I had to go back to pictures to see it.

Thanks. Looking back at some pics, I've noticed nice growth on most of the corals in the last month, but it's been a bumpy ride.

The system processes NO3 so quickly and completely, it never read positively in any tests, so PO4 was becoming an issue. I was dealing with all sorts of algae and even a cyano outbreak early on. I tried the usual approaches to these, GFO, raising Mg, physical removal, but things seemed to be getting worse not better. My thoughts were there needed to be something to compete with these things rather than me trying to exterminate them with chemicals and other methods. So I started dosing vinegar, but didn't see much if any reduction in PO4 and in fact it started to rise. I read the thread on NaNO3 dosing and Glennf's thread over and over until I had a better understanding of the regimen. I've been dosing both vinegar and NaNO3 for the last few weeks and now I'm getting close to where I want to be with both PO4 and NO3. PO4 is pretty consistent at .06 and NO3 at 2ppm. I've also been feeding the fish pretty well too.

Now I'm seeing a lot of good things happen. The sand bed and glass is staying clear of what were either diatoms or brown algae. The other pest algae are receding - not 100%, but certainly much better than before and all of the tank inhabitants appear to be happy, though I did lose two corals to STN. Not happy about that, but the rest are now growing and at a pretty good clip.

My next issue is to better understand where I stand with lighting. I have no clue what's happening in the tank in terms of light. The Cannons are pretty powerful so I've been afraid to run them higher than 50%, but even then I'm not sure how high above the water surface they need to be at what intensity. The corals are growing but I'm not happy with the colors. I think lighting is now the issue I have to address. I ordered an Apogee meter to hopefully get a handle on that.

 

[glennf]

Thanks. Looking back at some pics, I've noticed nice growth on most of the corals in the last month, but it's been a bumpy ride.

The system processes NO3 so quickly and completely, it never read positively in any tests, so PO4 was becoming an issue. I was dealing with all sorts of algae and even a cyano outbreak early on. I tried the usual approaches to these, GFO, raising Mg, physical removal, but things seemed to be getting worse not better. My thoughts were there needed to be something to compete with these things rather than me trying to exterminate them with chemicals and other methods. So I started dosing vinegar, but didn't see much if any reduction in PO4 and in fact it started to rise. I read the thread on NaNO3 dosing and Glennf's thread over and over until I had a better understanding of the regimen. I've been dosing both vinegar and NaNO3 for the last few weeks and now I'm getting close to where I want to be with both PO4 and NO3. PO4 is pretty consistent at .06 and NO3 at 2ppm. I've also been feeding the fish pretty well too.

Now I'm seeing a lot of good things happen. The sand bed and glass is staying clear of what were either diatoms or brown algae. The other pest algae are receding - not 100%, but certainly much better than before and all of the tank inhabitants appear to be happy, though I did lose two corals to STN. Not happy about that, but the rest are now growing and at a pretty good clip.

My next issue is to better understand where I stand with lighting. I have no clue what's happening in the tank in terms of light. The Cannons are pretty powerful so I've been afraid to run them higher than 50%, but even then I'm not sure how high above the water surface they need to be at what intensity. The corals are growing but I'm not happy with the colors. I think lighting is now the issue I have to address. I ordered an Apogee meter to hopefully get a handle on that.

Reducing po4 can be done primary with gfo or an iron solution.
The Iron solution works better with some no3. Because it als uses carbon and bacteria to remove po4. The chelator is a carbon source.

Carbon : vodka, sugar and vinegar .
Only works to primary remove no3 but it also need po4.

So it dependend on your balance /surplus which method you need to choose to take on your problem.

To have full control over nutrition levels it's a consideration to keep these 4 in your toolbox:
Iron, carbon, po4 and no3.
These the tools of the DSR method.

And don't forget about amino's for the coral's health. (Some buttons realy need them)

 

[Bilk]

Reducing po4 can be done primary with gfo or an iron solution.
The Iron solution works better with some no3. Because it als uses carbon and bacteria to remove po4. The chelator is a carbon source.

Carbon : vodka, sugar and vinegar .
Only works to primary remove no3 but it also need po4.

So it dependend on your balance /surplus which method you need to choose to take on your problem.

To have full control over nutrition levels it's a consideration to keep these 4 in your toolbox:
Iron, carbon, po4 and no3.
These the tools of the DSR method.

And don't forget about amino's for the coral's health. (Some buttons realy need them)

Hi Glenn. Thanks for taking a look in The iron concentration in the water was normal so dosing more iron didn't make sense. The system was nitrate limited. The DSB was consuming it to where there was no reading and phosphates were building up even with dosing carbon. I tried GFO. I didn't use a reactor though. I placed a filter bag in the last chamber by the return pump. My readings with the Hanna 713 were reading zero, but that didn't seem correct because I could visually see what was happening in the tank - algae starting to take a good run. I purchased the low range colorimeter and found the PO4 level was actually .12ppm and rose as high as .16ppm at one point. So I decided to start a regimen of dosing NaNO3 to see if this would put things back in balance. It seems to be working. Now iron is being utilized by the biology occurring, so I'm dosing that to maintain it at .06, in addition to carbon (vinegar - now with sugar added) and the nitrate solution. Trying to maintain a balance as you say I'm still doing small water changes each day - 2g/187g net, as I haven't been testing for the other trace elements yet so no supplementing them either. Hopefully the small water changes are doing that. DRS modified

Been feeding the fish more and twice a week I feed Coral Frenzy with Cyclopeze to the corals - a modest amount added so I target feed some corals. The density of corals doesn't warrant more feedings as far as I'm concerned. I'll look at some amino acid solutions, but right now the normal fish and coral feeding seems to be doing ok for the tank.

I test every day for the four major ions that contribute to nutrient buildup and export. Sometimes twice a day - morning and evening - until I'm more comfortable with understanding what's happening in the tank.

 

[stonecold]

- until I'm more comfortable with understanding what's happening in the tank.

Lots of progress and tank is looking great, Bill. I believe that your statement above is the key to success. Once you're able to determine the factor(s), you can then tweak everything accordingly. Have a great weekend and don't forget to feed, Willie! :lmao:

 

[Bilk]

Lots of progress and tank is looking great, Bill. I believe that your statement above is the key to success. Once you're able to determine the factor(s), you can then tweak everything accordingly. Have a great weekend and don't forget to feed, Willie! :lmao:

Thanks Nick. It's fun to sit back and watch, but even when things aren't the best, it can also be fun to play detective/biologist/scientist/chemist/engineer all at once. Well as long as the outcome is successful LOL

Willie is getting big. 11 months and 100lbs. He lets me know when he's hungry :lolspin:

 

[jarrett shark]

Bill loving how this build turned out!
Can't wait to see the growth in couple of months with the Sps
Hope to see you and tank soon

 

[Bilk]

Thanks Jarrett. Looking forward to having you guys here in the next few months. Hopefully everything will be going as well as they appear to be doing now. :hmm3:

Changed the lights completely. I removed both the T5s and the Cannons. I may add the Cannons back in, but for now I'm running 2 custom strips of Buildmyleds - actinics with UV and violet added in. All I can say is wow. They put a lot of pop in and I immediately saw a response in the corals. I ran them for a few days with the Cannons until the 3 Kessil 360Wes arrived. Now the lights are fully changed over to the Kessil and BML fixtures.

The BML strips are very light and really well made. They come with nice waterproof connectors and work with the Apex for dimming. They were easy to mount with a "T" bolt that fits into the slot on top. I should probably do a better review and pictorial of these in the future.

The Kessil are great fixtures as well. I had a 350 over the 50g and really like how the corals responded. I changed out the Cannons for these because I think they might be too powerful for a shallow tank. They're more suited to a tank of at least 30" and probably more. I was running them at 30% at 15" above the water line - the highest I could under the current light support configuration - and I think they were too much. I now have an Apogee MQ200 to test things so I'll see about adding them back in the future, modifying their mounting so I can get them higher above the water. I would like a bit less blue and more 10-12k for viewing. I also think it will round out the spectrum better.

Some pics below.

Just a few updated pics. The Pectinia is really loving the light change and the Goniopora looks like it's growing as it filled in more of the skeleton that was exposed on the sides when I received it.





The Bird of Paradise is growing like a weed. I found that piece in the foreground sitting there one morning. Not sure how it happened, who did it or if it just ejected a daughter colony - can they do that?

I've stopped having to dose NaNO3 as NO3 seems to have stabilized at 2ppm. One thing I do see from testing is that iron readily depletes over the course of 24hrs and there's really not much in the way of macro alga that would consume it, so I assume it's working with the carbon dosing and being utilized by bacteria. I've been measuring it daily with both a Hanna colorimeter and a RSP kit. Carbon dosing is 40ml/day vinegar in a net water volume of 708L/187g and seems to be doing the trick as most of the nuisance alga are gone save some valonia. I have a few emerald crabs on the way to hopefully help with that, but they're in a strange flux of sorts. They're really small nodules that eventually turn clear and then detach and get taken out by the overflow. They really haven't spread so I hope they soon dissipate from the system.

I'm pretty happy the way things are progressing. Fish are fat and happy from pretty good feedings each day. Have some corals on the way and will update as things move forward. The tank still seems so empty, but I guess with some patients, that will change :twitch:

Have to get a pic of my guy William Wallace (Willie) in. He just turned a year old. 97lbs and still needs to grow into his feet and ears LOL

 

[stonecold]

Have to get a pic of my guy William Wallace (Willie) in. He just turned a year old. 97lbs and still needs to grow into his feet and ears LOL

Happy Birthday, Willie!! Make sure you guard that tank!!!:beer:

 

[Mpek]

Awesome build bud....I'm think I'm going to use the BeanAnminal overflow as well for my next build. Your thread helped me make that decision. And that is one gorgeous Shepherd! Happy belated birthday Willie!

 

[benihana]

Impressive build. I love all of the DIY, it gives me lots of great ideas for my upcoming build

Everything looks great

 

[Bilk]

Impressive build. I love all of the DIY, it gives me lots of great ideas for my upcoming build

Everything looks great

Thanks benihana.

A few pics of some new additions.

This stylophora seems to have taken to the lighting change very well

This was taken in late December.

Taken a few days ago.

I really need to read the manual for my camera so I can take better pics
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[Bilk]

Still working on improving things. I added two MP40s for more flow and finally got around to mounting all of the corals. This is the current configuration for the time being.

FTS with actinics only.

Full light including the Ecoxotic Cannons, which I've decided to keep running.

I started feeding pappone to the tank. I modified the recipe a bit by using less sugar - 1tps vs the 1tbs the recipe calls for. I also didn't add any HGH and I don't dose AAs prior to feeding. I wasn't comfortable adding that much sugar as I'm still dosing vinegar. I just melt a small mysid cube size amount in tank water, add some Coral Frenzy and feed it to the tank with what ever I'm feeding the fish. I feed the pappone 3x per week and have to say I do see the corals respond when I do.

Prior to commencing the pappone feeding, the ORP would generally run somewhere between 320mV and 360mV. Since starting the pappone, the ORP has risen pretty significantly about 100mV, to 420mV. The water clarity has really gotten better. Is it the sugar plus the vinegar dosing that did this? Maybe I haven't been dosing enough vinegar? Presently dosing 50ml/day into 709L system water.

Pretty much all the alga are gone. The bryopsis melted away. I did nothing other than physically remove what I could, but didn't work hard at it. Most of it was yellowed and withering anyway. There's some valonia remaining, but unless it looks like it's going to get out of control, I'm going to let nature take it's course.

PO4 is down between .02 and .05 and NO3 runs between .5 and 1. I can't say what in particular has helped, but I'm sure it was cumulative. Though some of the corals still need to color up, most look pretty good and are growing, so I'm good

 

[Bilk]

Here's an updated shot of the lighting. (2) 48" Buildmyled strips with actinic, violet and UV running at 80% - (2) Ecoxotic 100w Cannons running at 35% - (3) Kessil A360wes running at 75% with blue running 80% and white at 20% (guestimate as they're not yet connected to the Apex). All of the pairs ramp up at different points during the day and similarly ramp down at different times. I've taken par readings with an Apogee MQ200 and get 250 at the sand bed in the middle and about 150 toward the edges. I'm going to do a mapping of the tank lighting when I get motivated lol

I just noticed you can pic out the actinic and violet chips in the pic - something you cannot see when viewing the fixtures. I guess the UV are somewhere in there



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[Bilk]

Pic with actinic and 25% white from the Kessils.

Finally put a background on the tank after hearing comments from family and friends - "It would look much better if you didn't see the pipes in the background." :hmm5:

I used Magic Whiteboard Products Magic Blackout Blind - 100% Blackout, which is thin window film that will static cling to a surface. Just needed a few pieces of tap to assist in holding it in place. Since the tank is young and I'll more than likely want to make some changes as it progresses, using this gives me the ability to remove it to see from all sides as it's easily removed. Well it gets the job done at a reasonable cost. If it's ever damaged, it can be replaced and it allows for the flexibility I wanted.

Still some miscellaneous projects to do. The next thing is to cut a piece of black plexi to fit inside of the overflow. That should pretty well hide the Bean Animal drains. Then I'm making some covers for the sump compartments to cut back on salt creep. It's not terrible and I try to keep up with it, but covers would eliminate, or mostly eliminate that chore.