My 1300 gallon addiction: A Miami reef build story.

So I was going to upload some photos last night but am unfortunately fighting a cold and didn't get a chance to take many photos. I'll try again this evening.

I added another 0.5L of Roawphos to the reactor and am hopeful that will do the job to bring the phosphates to an undetectable level. The nitrates, however have seemed to increase slightly to approximately 30ppm. I'm not sure if the bacteria colony is not fully matured I. The BioTower, but considering there are only 4 fish (2 blue chromis, 1 medium yellow tang, and 1 pink spot goby), in 1300 gallons of system water, I wouldn't expect it to be so high. Is this normal for the "newness" of the tank?

I am already looking into a sulphur reactor as this was what worked like a charm on my previous 210 gallon. I have been doing some research into the GEO sulphur denitrators...anyone have experience with them? I had a korralin denitrator and it brought my nitrates down from 50ppm to 0ppm in roughly a month...amazing.

I plan on doing a 250 water change this weekend and then shortly thereafter installing the Stenner dual pump auto water change system, but if I'm having nitrate issues with 4 fish, my plan to stock it with 50+ fish is likely to cause an issue, haha.
 
If considering a denitrator for that size of tank, it might be worth taking a look at the DIY denitrators, of which have been researched and thoroughly tested down in South FL by a few experienced reefers, including on large tanks with large bioload. Check the thread out here.
 
rovster said:
This would be a PERFECT scenario to set up some kind of Lanthanum reactor/system, at least initially. You have the room, and it is MUCH MUCH MUCH cheaper than using GFO.
Click to expand...

After advise like this, nitrate reactors, etc.;
Have you researched Algae Turf Scrubbers?-
you don't NEED reactors, chemicals, etc.- By far the lowest cost also- practically zero after you build or buy it- then it cost nothing.

Did you 'cure' any of that Marco rock first? While not absolutely mandatory- it's always a good idea.

Nice job this far. I kid you not, build a fairly large ATS for this beast- once it gets growing algae- be done with it, and get rid of all that other stuff.
Well, you can run a skimmer too.

Nice size tank for sure.
 
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Ryanaquarium, thanks very much bro, I appreciate it. If the corals I grabbed tonight do well, I guarantee I'll be back for some other pieces.

Here are some pics of the SPS I added to the tank, along with some pieces from the previous system. I APOLOGIZE IN ADVANCE FOR THE LOUSY IPAD PICS!


Blue stag


Green birdsnest


Gold hammer


Yellow and blue trumpets



Blue tenuis and purple milli
 
It also isn't a good idea to not use a reservoir for top off. When you first run your RODI your TDS will be measurably higher than after it had run for a minute or so. So, by turning your RODI on and off for top off all the time you are pushing higher TDS water into your tank.
 
plyr58 said:
It also isn't a good idea to not use a reservoir for top off. When you first run your RODI your TDS will be measurably higher than after it had run for a minute or so. So, by turning your RODI on and off for top off all the time you are pushing higher TDS water into your tank.
Click to expand...
Sorry, I would have to disagree with you, here. If you keep your RO/DI unit up to snuff this shouldn't be a significant concern.

Giving your RO/DI free range to dump water into your system is just begging for trouble. Float valves are guaranteed to stick or fail at some point. I have had all three - upper limit, lower limit, reservoir top-up - fail on a client's tank during one week. This left the RO/DI running full time. By the time I came in on the weekend pretty well all the salt had been flushed out of the system. No survivors.

It is far better to run your tank for a while, get a feel for daily evaporation rates, and then time your RO/DI unit to fill up a reservoir tank by that much every day. That way you remove the risk of ever going over a set daily limit of top-off water for evaporation.

Dave.M
 
dave.m said:
Sorry, I would have to disagree with you, here. If you keep your RO/DI unit up to snuff this shouldn't be a significant concern.

Giving your RO/DI free range to dump water into your system is just begging for trouble. Float valves are guaranteed to stick or fail at some point. I have had all three - upper limit, lower limit, reservoir top-up - fail on a client's tank during one week. This left the RO/DI running full time. By the time I came in on the weekend pretty well all the salt had been flushed out of the system. No survivors.

It is far better to run your tank for a while, get a feel for daily evaporation rates, and then time your RO/DI unit to fill up a reservoir tank by that much every day. That way you remove the risk of ever going over a set daily limit of top-off water for evaporation.

Dave.M
Click to expand...


TDS creep is real. To each their own.

But if I agree with the other reason to not connect RODI directly to tank.
 
Dave.m, I can appreciate the risk involved in directly connecting the RODI to the system, and frankly, as convenient and simple as it is, it's not a long term plan. I actually plan on having a small reservoir at some point, or at least adding several selenoids to each float valve connection with leak detectors and similar precautionary measures.

What I need to do is get a catalytic/Chloramine-specific carbon filter for my second stage in the RODI, as I seem to be going through my DI resin faster than I should be. I do want to start calculating evaporation rates as well.

Tested the tank tonight and parameters were:

Phosphates: finally almost undetectable, probably 0.01-2
Nitrates: 25
Salinity: 1.024
Calcium 440
Alk: 8.3 (dosed 150ml)
Magnesium: 1200 (dosed 75ml)
Ph: 8.1

The corals all look better, as far as polyp extension and some of the ones I had in my previous system that were hurting are now looking like they're recouping a bit...I think dialing in the skimmer to produce a bit "wetter" skimmate is helping...we'll see.
 
I have recently started to use the following configuration for my ATO and it works great... and it's simple. Wish I had done it much sooner:

RO/DI reservoir has a drain for buckets, etc. But it also has another outlet for a push connect fitting and 1/4" PEX tubing. This tubing flows down to a 7 gal aquarium and uses a float valve. This is where the ATO pump resides. As long as the RO/DI reservoir has water in it, then ATO reservoir will be full. Anytime the ATO kicks on and empties part of its contents, it will gravity fill the remaining amount and then the float valve will keep it from overflowing. It means I can have a small ATO reservoir and really not have to worry about it going empty. The larger your RO/DI reservoir the better. And even with such a large system as yours, you could still get away with using a 7 gal ATO reservoir. Again, it's a cheap and simple solution and you wouldn't have to rely on solenoids and other mechanical solutions that are bound to fail at some point.
 
If you can use gravity,

Shy would you need: Pumps? Sensors?, Elctricticity of any kind? Filling a resevoir? etc.

My DIY ATO system has worked flawlessly for over 4 years.
RO/DI keeps the resevoir full- trickling in- has a sturdy/heavy plastic float valve.
Sump has a float valve too- fed from the resevoir.

While I hear about all the stories- like Dave M.'s a few posts ago,
I only only cringe to think the amount of money spent on various ATO systems,
and more importantly the loss of livestock that will continue to occur b/c people aren't able to fabricate an inexspensive, simple system.
I have read, and know local reefers that have had all sorts of ATO problems with their store bought systems.
The more links and parameters that are built into a system like an ATO- the more places they can, will, and do go wrong.
Remeber the KISS principle, anyone.........Buehler?
 
McPuff said:
I have recently started to use the following configuration for my ATO and it works great... and it's simple. Wish I had done it much sooner:

RO/DI reservoir has a drain for buckets, etc. But it also has another outlet for a push connect fitting and 1/4" PEX tubing. This tubing flows down to a 7 gal aquarium and uses a float valve. This is where the ATO pump resides. As long as the RO/DI reservoir has water in it, then ATO reservoir will be full. Anytime the ATO kicks on and empties part of its contents, it will gravity fill the remaining amount and then the float valve will keep it from overflowing. It means I can have a small ATO reservoir and really not have to worry about it going empty. The larger your RO/DI reservoir the better. And even with such a large system as yours, you could still get away with using a 7 gal ATO reservoir. Again, it's a cheap and simple solution and you wouldn't have to rely on solenoids and other mechanical solutions that are bound to fail at some point.
Click to expand...

Don't you still have a 'pump'?
 
I am planning revisiting the overall ATO system to increase safety and redundancy. I'm also planning on working on the 250 gallon water change/mixing station with an Iwaki I have laying around, and the 170gpd Stenner pump. That should assist in stability with respect to both salinity and other parameters.
 
I thought I'd share a couple of the recent additions to the tank, both fish and coral.


Clown tang


Pumpkin patch


Blue tenuis and Forest fire


Same clown tang


One of the pair of Black Ice Clowns


Same clown other side...I really need a fancy camera!
 
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