My 500 + gallon system. Last 13 years to now. Build, Aquascaping & more. Lots of pics

[Raptorv205]

Super build

Super build

Nice Very nice !!! I seen ya on lafishguy and stumbled on to your thread by shear luck . seeing you and Jim working with that (apex) system I can't get it out of my head . now I'm saving my Penney's cuz i got this( bug ) thanks guys!!for the great utubes . lov ya man !!! raptorv268 on youtube check it out

 

[JASON L.]

Your Tank is BAD!!!

 

[dahenley]

hey scott, hows it going? any updates or a picture even if no real changes have happened?

 

[jeffreylam1132]

Love all the automation that you have. Awesome tank!

 

[slief]

hey scott, hows it going? any updates or a picture even if no real changes have happened?

Yea.. Its been a while. The tank has been doing well these days. I recently (last weekend) got a few new large corals from member bullitr (Lawrance) and figured it would be a good opportunity to update this thread. He was in the process of changing some of his direction and I am probably one of the few locally that has room for such large corals. None the less, I came back with 4 really nice pieces. 2 of which are huge. The first is a cup coral that is more than 18" across. Then there is also a plating hydnophora that stretches more than 20". I also got a really nice elagance and nice star polyp. Thanks again Lawrance for the great deal and the really nice pieces! I guess it pays to have a really big tank! Let me know if you want/need to part with more!

So, time for some pics. As I have said in previous posts, photography was never one of my specialties so bear with the crappy pics.

First, the Cup Coral

The Elegance

The Hydnophora

Some random shots of the rest of the tank

 

[slief]

I took a couple pics of the fuge the other day. I dont have any chaeto in there. It all died off due to getting covered in the other algae that has flourished in there. The 10 or 12 mangroves that I started with a year ago are also doing well. I call them dwarf mangroves as they really dont have room to get too tall due to the lids I have on my fuge. What you dont see are the 2 turbo snails, one lawn mower goby and a diamond goby who do the house keeping in there.

 

[Dante_JoseCuerv]

Those mangroves look fantastic!

 

[slief]

Nice Very nice !!! I seen ya on lafishguy and stumbled on to your thread by shear luck . seeing you and Jim working with that (apex) system I can't get it out of my head . now I'm saving my Penney's cuz i got this( bug ) thanks guys!!for the great utubes . lov ya man !!! raptorv268 on youtube check it out

Your Tank is BAD!!!

Love all the automation that you have. Awesome tank!

Thanks guys! Raptorv, I will be sure to check out your youtube page. :thumbsup:

Also, there should be another episode going online in the next month or so. Nothing terribly exciting. Just the new corals going in and a a bit of an update. I will let update the thread when its posted.

 

[dahenley]

i see you have some hair algae.
do you think your a little light on the clean up crew, too heavy of a feeder, too much light for too long, or whats your opinion on it? (has it been real busy and you just havent had time to maintain your tank like you want?)

also, hows that skimmer and your other side of the sump doing?
(i always like your updates and the Utube updates. it makes us feel like we are there with you)

 

[bullitr]

i recognized that elegance, pagoda and hydnopora ... lol
looking good!

 

[Marc]

I took a couple pics of the fuge the other day. I dont have any chaeto in there. It all died off due to getting covered in the other algae that has flourished in there. The 10 or 12 mangroves that I started with a year ago are also doing well. I call them dwarf mangroves as they really dont have room to get too tall due to the lids I have on my fuge. What you dont see are the 2 turbo snails, one lawn mower goby and a diamond goby who do the house keeping in there.

Hey Scott,

How are the mangroves keeping up with your nutient levels? Has the mangroves kept the nitrates and PO4 in check? What else have you used for nutrient removal?

Thanks,
Marc

 

[slief]

i see you have some hair algae.
do you think your a little light on the clean up crew, too heavy of a feeder, too much light for too long, or whats your opinion on it? (has it been real busy and you just havent had time to maintain your tank like you want?)

also, hows that skimmer and your other side of the sump doing?
(i always like your updates and the Utube updates. it makes us feel like we are there with you)

The hair algae is only in the fuge. I have a bit of other algae which is more like bryopsis (sp?) I think. The algae in the tank is far from out of control and has been on the decline for the last few months. Magnesium dosing seems to control that but of late the coraline algae seems to be winning that battle. I attribute that in part to the steady decline since I have not mag doesed in several months.

i recognized that elegance, pagoda and hydnopora ... lol
looking good!

Thanks! Me and the corals appreciate it!

Hey Scott,

How are the mangroves keeping up with your nutient levels? Has the mangroves kept the nitrates and PO4 in check? What else have you used for nutrient removal?

Thanks,
Marc

Every once in a while I run some tests. Phosphates are minimal these days. I run GFO and rinse my food in RODI water. The mangroves seem to be thriving under not ideal conditions for them. I have NEVER sprayed them down. The fuge lids are 18" from the bottom so they cant grow tall. I rarely if ever prune and have never cut them. I have black thumbs instead of "green thumbs" yet they seem to be thriving. How much they help the tanks conditions is a mystery to me.

The automated water changes swap 25 gallons a week so between all water originating from 0 TDS RODI and rinsed food, I dont introduce much P04 into the tank. What I do have is likely leaching out of my rock and whats left of my substrate. I have been thinking about doing another lanthelum treatment which would also help with whats left but since everything (fish and coral) is happy with the status quo, I can rest on my laziness.

 

[Tahoe69]

Hey Scott just got done reading from page one over the last couple days I've learned alot from this thread keep up the good work!

 

[slief]

Hey Scott just got done reading from page one over the last couple days I've learned alot from this thread keep up the good work!

Thanks!


Jim was here today. He brought a new addition. Its a Blonde Naso Tang. The corals added last week are doing great. Jim brought his video camera along and the new additions as well as the sump and fuge were covered. The next episode should be up in the next week or two.

The new tang.

A shot of the new cup and elagance which is really looking happy!

 

[epond83]

Kinda late on this but i was wondering about the filter socks in your sump. So there is just a whole cut out for them to sit on? Is there any bypass, or do they sit flat and the water flows in rather then pop them up at all? Are they all plastic, just wondering how stiff the ring is.

i like the way you have them set up and want to do something simular, accually run a set is series instead of paralle.

Thanks, alway a joy to see your new tank pics or video's!

 

[slief]

Kinda late on this but i was wondering about the filter socks in your sump. So there is just a whole cut out for them to sit on? Is there any bypass, or do they sit flat and the water flows in rather then pop them up at all? Are they all plastic, just wondering how stiff the ring is.

i like the way you have them set up and want to do something simular, accually run a set is series instead of paralle.

Thanks, alway a joy to see your new tank pics or video's!

The trays are made from 3/8" acrylic with a 1/4" lip around the outer edge of each tray to insure that the water goes into the socks as opposed to around them back into the sump. The lip acts as a dam of sorts.

There are 2 trays each holding 2 socks. The trays are rigid and the socks have a plastic retainer ring that drops into the tray. The holes for the socks are routed out so that the sock sits level with the surface of the sock tray making the water flow into the socks smooth and seemless. The socks are suspended several inches above the water level and are only around half submerged with the bottom half of the socks underwater and the top half above the sump water level.

With my current setup using four 200 micron socks, I change my socks out every 2 and a half weeks or so when the socks back up and are about to overflow. If they do overflow, the water just runs over the edge of the tray and into the sump.

Here is a shot of the socks in their trays during normal operation.

This shot was taken during the build of the sump. You can get a better idea of the sock trays here.

Another shot of the tray during the build process. This one will give you a better idea of how it was routed out so the sock would sit flush with the surface.

 

[epond83]

Sweet thanks that is very helpful! I figured i would need to route out a lip so the socks sits down little. Hopefully 1/4" acrylic is thick thick enough to allow an 1/8" grove.

 

[pico-reefer]

great tank! its pretty cool to see if change over time. im pretty sure i watched the 15 or 16 part build on youtube from "la fishguys".

 

[slief]

Sweet thanks that is very helpful! I figured i would need to route out a lip so the socks sits down little. Hopefully 1/4" acrylic is thick thick enough to allow an 1/8" grove.

I'd go thicker as the rings on the socks are thicker than 1/8". Also, they are not very rigid and tend to warp a little so the deeper the route, the better.

great tank! its pretty cool to see if change over time. im pretty sure i watched the 15 or 16 part build on youtube from "la fishguys".

Thanks!

 

[hugo209]

WOW... what an amazing rebuild!!! i going to start a rebuild myself when i have to break down my 240g when i relocate, i really got some good ideas from your thread...keep the update's coming!