My 125 build

[_shorty_]

Don't know if you've considered lighting for you chaeto river, or maybe your DT lights power it? But if not, consider red 660nm spectrum LED lighting with a few blues thrown in. That's what the algae scrubber peeps run, and Eric got an LED grow bulb for his chaeto and mentioned increase in growth rate.

 

[rad3dad]

Figured I would update this old thread. I took a long break away from this project, but have recently jumped back on it full swing. I tried uploading a few different pics, but was only able to get one to load. I will try again later to add more. As you can see its coming along. I did finally add saltwater to the system, after soaking in fresh for about 6 months. Finally time to start the cycle and get her up and running. The cabinet is far from done, but it wasn't even started a couple weeks ago.

 

[rad3dad]

First I couldn't get it to load, now I need to figure out how to resize it...sorry for the size.

 

[elmatth1]

That's really turning out good so far!

 

[rad3dad]

Thanks man, I'm getting closer, but there is so much more to do behind it in the fish room. Not sure If I will ever be done, lol.

 

[No1Daemon]

Nice and clean

 

[rad3dad]

Nice and clean

Thanks ^^


My ammonia spike is dropping fast, and barely readable on the test kit now. Diatoms and bacteria have started to paste the glass. Guess its time to get the clean up crews established.

Anyone dose vinegar or vodka? My nitrates are a bit high, which I expected from the dry rock. I started looking into solutions, and plan on dosing vinegar as one way to counter it. I have started and got a nice bacteria bloom going, but I'm not really seeing much out of the skimmer yet. I did wash the neck of the skimmer out today though, so maybe that may be holding it back some as it reforms the foam head. I hope to see some serious export tomorrow. I will also be adding a remote DSB soon to help. I just need to get some shelving built in the room first, so I can get everything set up, and running.

I made a new post looking for critters/algae to get this tank seeded, and will probably be ordering a clean up crew soon, If anyone is interested in a group buy.

 

[_shorty_]

Looks good!

 

[rad3dad]

Thanks shorty, Hows everything going your way?

I'm kind of nervous to continue the vinegar dosing. My tank exploded with a bacteria bloom. I couldn't even see through it. I didn't add any more today, and the skimmer is going nutts. It is already about clear again though. I pored out over a half gallon of skim mate today, and its still just pumping out foam. It was really quite a bit more then I expected. I assume this treatment will settle down over time. I should probably cut the recommended starting dose back, maybe by 1/2 and slowly ramp it up.

 

[johnike]

When you're ready for a clean up crew, Reefcleaners.org is not to be beat. Free shipping on packages, and use 'reefclub' in checkout for an extra discount.

 

[_shorty_]

Thanks shorty, Hows everything going your way?

I'm kind of nervous to continue the vinegar dosing. My tank exploded with a bacteria bloom. I couldn't even see through it. I didn't add any more today, and the skimmer is going nutts. It is already about clear again though. I pored out over a half gallon of skim mate today, and its still just pumping out foam. It was really quite a bit more then I expected. I assume this treatment will settle down over time. I should probably cut the recommended starting dose back, maybe by 1/2 and slowly ramp it up.

It has been a while. I was glad to see an update to your project. Things are good! Still chugging along. Testing different stuff... building stuff...

I did start testing vinegar dosing last year, but shortly after, my breeding clowns started eating thier eggs, so I was concerned that I was boosting a bad bactria, causing the eggs to go bad (since to my knowledge, we don't have much control over what bacteria we're feeding when we carbon dose). They are still doing it, though, so I don't know if that was the cause or not.

How much vinegar have you been dosing? Sounds like it's working... If you continue, you might look into more of constant dosing method vs batch dosing to avoid the blooms.

 

[rad3dad]

I didn't know about the "reefclub" discount. Thanks for the tip. I do plan on placing an order soon.

Good to hear things are going good shorty. It would be nice to see how your set up has evolved. Do you have any recent pics posted on here?

I started with 15 ml, from a recommendation posted as a starting dose. I did drip it in diluted, over a 2 hr span, but future plans would be to drip over a much longer time frame as you mentioned. I can definitely say it does make a difference, and pulled out tons of muck out of the water column. Even running activated carbon prior to the vinegar, the water looks so much more polished. After things settle back down, I will start it back up with the slower dosing method.

 

[rad3dad]

Well, starting to get some colors in her.
This has been such a long project, its really great to see it finally coming to life.

 

[SimonSKL]

Like! Like! Like!

Rad3dad, you have a beautiful setup there. You must have spent a lot of time in the rockscape. Well done!

 

[rad3dad]

Thanks Simon,

I remember following your build, and was inspired at how great it looked. Hows it doing these days? Going well I hope.

 

[rad3dad]

Made a trip up to Aquarium Obsession today and brought home a couple trios of anthias. Lyretails and Stocky's. They are a really healthy looking group.

The male lyretail bumped heads immediately with a pair of yellow tail blue damsels, getting ready to spawn, by the looks of the female. They had claimed the middle pillar in the tank and wouldn't even let me put frags in front of there cave, without knocking them off. The anthias had them in check within a half hour and are now prospecting the same cave as a new home. I'm sure the scars on the male damsel will heal up in a few days. He got a couple nips in to though, but they seem to have settled down now.

I really didn't expect the anthias to be as dominating as they were. Literally came out of the bag swinging and took over the tank, lol. All of them devoured a cube of mysis within 10 mins of releasing them. Not sure why I expected them to be finicky and timid, but not at all. Charley has some nice fish up there.

 

[_shorty_]

Looks great!! so fun to see a new tank starting to come to life. good work.

 

[epon]

Tank looks great! When/if you ever frag the acro, put me on the list