*Johnseye's New 260g Build*

[Johnseye]

There were some in the Giesemann club thread interested in seeing what the spread of the Kessil 160's look like. I took this picture with only the Kessils on, surrounding area dark, and with KZ Coral Snow in the tank. This gives a look at how the lights spread when restricted by the Snow. The second picture is with just the Kessils on and surrounding area dark. The light does spread throughout the tank, but it's less at either end. Before I put the 160s in I compared them to the 360s. The wattage of the 160s are 40w and the 360s are 90w each. That tells us the 360s should produce more light, but the optics, or diffuser is the same. Kessil doesn't tell us what LEDs they use but when I spoke with a rep was told there is more blue in the 160s. As I am using these to supplement and get more fluorescence pop I went with the 160s. The cost was a lot less as well. There are two cavities in the Spectra on the far left and right sides I could put two more in, but I don't think the added coverage is worth the extra effort and cost, not to mention there would be a lot of light spillage out the sides.

When I "make water" through the RODI system I do it manually in large amounts as opposed to automatically with floats. The reason for this is the DI filters last longer. The only problem is it takes hours to make it all. I'll often start it at night and it will be done in the morning. Unfortunately I forget about it sometimes and my family will be alerted by the Watchdog leak detection alarm, or we've left the house and hear the alarm when we get home. I also have a Neptune ALD near the Watchdog to shut off the RODI pump, but the water would still continue to flow at a lower rate.

After so many of these incidents I decided I needed something that would shut the water off completely if a spill happened. I installed a Floodstop which is designed for bathrooms, kitchens or laundry rooms. It has a solenoid which connects to metal plates with sensors, similar to the ALD. Because I can connect multiple sensor plates and position them in various places the water shuts off completely much earlier than before. It works great, problem solved.

 

[Johnseye]

Miracles gave me a pair of screen tops that inserted flush with the eurobracing. While they did the job and looked decent, when I saw the ClearView Lid from Artfully Acrylic, I thought man that looks sexy. The added acrylic helps prevent the splashing from lapping on top of the eurobrace I get when the current from the SeaSwirls hits the MP60 current. Everything is clear on this lid including the screen, while the DIY screens from Miracles were all brown. I have a feeding portal so I don't need to lift the screen all the time to feed, and I put in an autofeeder portal so the autofeeder food goes right into the tank and doesn't get stuck on the screen.

The only caveat is that this screen is all one piece so it's big. Putting it on and taking it off is cumbersome but not difficult. If I need to adjust anything in the tank I need to take the entire top off where the DIY screens from Miracles were two and I could just take one off at a time. But they didn't fit perfectly as the inner dimensions of the eurobracing weren't exactly square. I always had to squeze one side down hard to get it in flush. It's the opposite for the ClearView Lid. The entire lid fits in loosely. I wish the dimensions were a little bit tighter to the eurobracing, but that's my only complaint.

 

[Johnseye]

I knew I had a mantis shrimp who had hitch hiked in on the TBS rock. I had seen him once around the right side rock work and two cleaner shrimp mysteriously disappeared. I had considered taking out all the rock and dipping it in fresh water or seltzer water. I did that to two pieces of rock where I originally saw the mantis. The seltzer worked great as crabs and baby pistol shrimp came out, but no mantis. Either he moved or he buried himself in so well that he outlasted my efforts.

The final straw came when a baby clown fish disappeared. I knew it must have been the mantis. Then I saw him on the left side of the tank. He had found a hole in the rock which faced the front of the tank. Big mistake on his part. I kept an eye on him for a couple days, put a bottle trap near that rock with some bait, but he never took it. I could shine a flash light into the hole and see him so I knew he was in there. I pulled the rock out, which happened to be on the bottom, and set it in a bucket of cold fresh water. Small crabs and a baby pistol came out but the mantis stayed inside. I could see him pop his head out but he never came out entirely. After hours of soaking the rock I decided to take some needle nose tweezers and grab at him. I got his head off first, then after a lot of digging finally got the entire body out. Stubborn bastard.

 

[LeslieS88]

One of the most gorgeous builds I've seen. Great work!

 

[this is me]

John,
What a great build! We have a lot in common in our reef system lol. Same brand tank, sump, and lighting. The SPS with the MH/T5 are looking great!
The mesh top fits like a glove. Great work!

 

[worm5406]

That has always been a fear of mine getting rock from TBS. I think I will in the future, but just worried of some hitchhikers.

 

[Johnseye]

That has always been a fear of mine getting rock from TBS. I think I will in the future, but just worried of some hitchhikers.

There were a lot of benefits in what came in the rocks, but if I were to do it again I would start dry. I was lucky to catch that mantis and I hope there aren't any more. I don't think I'll ever get rid of all the pistol shrimp, or the miscellaneous crabs. While the Porcelain crabs were good and the sponge life was good, there was so many other not so good things that came with it. Everyone has their own preference and some like mantis shrimp. I like the livestock I put in there purposefully.

 

[dave.m]

It's best to quarantine live rock, just like you should do with your fish, corals and invertebrates. Some use kiddies' wading pools, using eggcrate/light diffuser to keep the rock about an inch off the bottom to help lead wildlife off the rocks.

Running these quarantine tanks up to six months will ensure you catch everything that is on the rocks plus everything that has yet to hatch on/in the rocks.

As you've noted, the variety of wildlife is really wonderful and your reef will be so much better than those of the dead rock crowd. Don't forget to add wrasses and butterfly fish in the display tank to help you ride shotgun on anything else that may emerge later.

Dave.M

 

[Yellow Eyes]

I am subbing to this thread. I love the size, and all the equipment you have on it, it is probably my dream tank in a lot of respects. I also like your live rock stories, as I started my tank with dry rock and have been bored with it. I think I want to deal with all the pests, and crabs and shrimp and life that come with live rock and the rock in your setup looks awesome. I think it is all part of the piece of ocean we strive for in our houses.

How has that Genesis AWC worked out for you? How many gallons/day do you change? Any complaints?

 

[Johnseye]

One of the most gorgeous builds I've seen. Great work!

Thanks!

 

[Johnseye]

John,
What a great build! We have a lot in common in our reef system lol. Same brand tank, sump, and lighting. The SPS with the MH/T5 are looking great!
The mesh top fits like a glove. Great work!

Thank you, we do have a lot in common. I'm lurking in your build thread as well.

 

[Johnseye]

I am subbing to this thread. I love the size, and all the equipment you have on it, it is probably my dream tank in a lot of respects. I also like your live rock stories, as I started my tank with dry rock and have been bored with it. I think I want to deal with all the pests, and crabs and shrimp and life that come with live rock and the rock in your setup looks awesome. I think it is all part of the piece of ocean we strive for in our houses.

How has that Genesis AWC worked out for you? How many gallons/day do you change? Any complaints?

The Genesis is great. Lately I've been handling water changes the old fashioned way because I have wanted to keep the sand clean. I'm siphoning about 30 gallons every two weeks. For a while I was doing 3 gallons per day through the Genesis and I will go back to doing that once I have the sand in a good place. I experienced the same long sand cycle in my previous tank where I get some dynos, then some cyano and then finally everything gets into an equilibrium.

I was handling AWC with the Spectrapure Litermeter. That's also not a bad way to go depending on how much water you're changing per day.

 

[Johnseye]

Over the holidays I finally got my new Pacific Sun Calcfeeder AC2 Pro up and running. This is my first calcium reactor so I have been learning how calcium reactors work in general. I have been dosing calcium and alk for years, and more recently mag as well. With this new tank my dosing requirements have been very high. I have been dosing about 300ml of alk per day using BRS sodium bicarbonate. A little less calcium and for the first time having to dose magnesium. It's possible these increased requirements are partially due to switching from Red Sea Pro salt to Tropic Marin (regular). I do like how much cleaner the Tropic Marin salt is, but having to dose more is an added cost and effort.

So I looked at several different reactors before deciding on the Pacific Sun. I looked at various used models as well as the Geo and Dastaco. I liked what I had read and heard about the Dastaco so was leaning towards that until I found out that Pacific Sun was going to release a new reactor based on the same principle. This reactor doesn't use PH as it's primary method for dissolving the media, but instead co2 level in a chamber. I researched Pacific Sun's reputation in the hobby as I had never purchased a product from them, and found no reason not to. I was concerned about buying a product so early in its life cycle, as well as getting support internationally, but after some email exchanges with Pacific Sun's President, Przemysław Cybulski, I decided to make the purchase. Przemek has been very communicative from the pre-sale until now, and I expect in the future. This goes a long way for me when making a purchase. It shows me he is personally behind his products.

I finally got around to setting everything up with some spare time over the holidays. First I had to get the regulator working and had never used a co2 reg before. I learned that the needle valve is very sensitive and needs to be opened quite a bit before any gas comes out. I don't have a bubble chamber so I just stick the end tube in a glass of water to count the bubbles. Right now I have it set for about 5 bubbles per second.

I was a pre-order and so received the degassing chamber for free. The degassing chamber is critical for me as low PH is a concern. I placed the order in October and received the reactor in early December. I had expected the wait so no concern. It gave me time to find a regulator and a local co2 distributor. The packaging was excellent and since it was an international shipment much appreciated. The entire box itself was wrapped in bubbles and inside there was plenty of packing material not to mention everything was wrapped in cellophane.

Here's a picture of the controller so you can get a look at the interfaces. It's a solid build, made of metal except for the attached pump.

Here are some of the accessories. Some tubing, holders for the tubing into the sump which is a nice add on, and the solenoid valve.

Setup was fairly easy. As this was my first calcium reactor I expected a learning curve. My only wish is that the instructions were a little clearer. I first needed to determine which tubes went where. There were some pictures in the instructions and I was able to figure out the rest. Once I got the tubing correct I filled up the reactors with media. Based on some research I went with Two Little Fishies Reborn as well as Remag media. Then I filled up the canisters with water, closed them up and started the Aquabee re-circulation pump. The Aquabee pump is extremely quiet.

The next part for me was a little confusing but after reaching out to Przemysław he quickly cleared it up and it made perfect sense. When you first turn on the controller the solenoid valve will open. You have a certain amount of time for the co2 to flow into the co2 chamber and if your co2 isn't flowing fast enough to push the water level down below the sensor, the controller will throw an error. To first get started either turn up your co2 flow or unplug, and plug back the controller until there is enough gas to fill the chamber down to the eye. Once the co2 chamber has enough gas no error is thrown and the reactor will begin to work. I set my effluent level to about 145ml per hour and am changing it as needed to match the tank's requirements.

 

[brad65ford]

John, just curious do you think the a160 run cooler running just blue lights to the point that the fan may not be needed? I have a few A160's left over and wanted to try attaching them to my t5 fixture but it looks like with the fans they are to deep.

 

[worm5406]

How is the reactor working for you?

 

[Johnseye]

John, just curious do you think the a160 run cooler running just blue lights to the point that the fan may not be needed? I have a few A160's left over and wanted to try attaching them to my t5 fixture but it looks like with the fans they are to deep.

I think the A160's would be fine without them considering the housing is removed. I don't run mine at the same time as the halides. There's no point as the Radiums overpower anything those lights can put out. This helps reduce the heat in the fixture during the times the AS160's are on. I didn't need to remove the fans and because the Molex connection of the fan to the board is coated in rubber, I didn't want to cut it out. It shouldn't be difficult.

 

[Johnseye]

How is the reactor working for you?

So far so good. I'm still progressively increasing the effluent output. I'm at about 1200 ml/h now. I am also dosing mag as a liquid. I put a bag of Two Little Fishies Remag in the reactor, blended in with the coral skeletons, but suspect I needed more. We'll see once my alk and calc levels are fully dialed in.

 

[worm5406]

Nicely done. Are you pushing into the reactor or pulling out?

 

[Johnseye]

Nicely done. Are you pushing into the reactor or pulling out?

I'm pushing into the reactor as was instructed by PacSun. I understand the potential risk of popping the seals if the exit tubing gets clogged. I don't see any reason the pump can't pull instead and may consider it.

 

[Johnseye]

Beginning about a month ago I stopped the ZEOvit program, pulled my ZEO reactor out and have stopped dosing ZEObak and ZEOstart. I didn't like how pale and sickly my corals started looking. I knew that with ZEO corals became more pastel and was hoping it was more from people using ZEOspur. I was also having challenges managing bacteria, specifically cyano. Within a week or two of stopping my cyano problem went away. Color has now started to slowly return to my corals.

I've been monitoring phos levels and they continue to remain very low. I've also pulled the carbon bag out from the sump. I've prepped my carbon reactor in case I decide to put that in, but for now I want things to stabilize and have no issue with water clarity. I also pulled out the grate I had in between the sump baffles which held the carbon bag. Then I removed the noise filters above the socks in order to further increase water flow.