My Slow 15g Reef

[kaserpick]

People say, "Slow and steady wins the race", right? Well, I sure hope so. I've been trying to get this tank to take off for quite some time.

I tried:
- Canister filter plumbed through the bottom with dry rock and LED's
- 2.5g sump with skimmer, homemade rock and LED's
- 5g sump with skimmer, Marco rocks and LED's

Every attempt landed me with bad bio filtration, unwanted bacteria and algae, and dying corals. I lost almost every piece from every attempt.

This is why I call it "My Slow 15g Reef".

This is my latest attempt that is showing real promise:

Specs:
-16" cube made with 1/2" acrylic
-5g glass sump/refugium
-16 pounds of live rock
-5 pounds of sand (slowly going bare bottom)
-Tunze 6045 with 6095 outlet
-150w SE Phoenix 14k in modded PFO pendant, driven by an electronic 175w IceCap ballast

Animals:
2 Ocellaris
2 unknown Cardinals
Various SPS and other corals
2 Maxi Mini nems

Things are coming along. The corals are still adjusting to the system and haven't quite colored up, but I'm hope for some great things this go around.

 

[plyle02]

Looking really good Kasey, what type of skimmer you using, and you have a sump I presume? That lighting is sick, you should also try a radium if it is a SE bulb Any heat issues, the light looks pretty high up, a surface fan should keep everything cool...
Nicely done, look forward to the progress...

 

[kaserpick]

Right now, there's no skimmer. I'll be using my DIY skimmer once my plumbing parts arrive.

I installed 2 fans on the pendant with a large intake hole on the back of the pendant. This pushes most of the heat away from the tank and causes very little temperature swing. I don't think I can get Radiums in 175w. If I could, I definitely wouldn't mind trying one.

 

[tmantaylor18]

long time man, glad to see a new tank from you.

its looking awesome so far!

 

[autodave]

I hope this combination works out for you. :thumbsup:

 

[Chaotic Reefer4u]

Very nice, thanks for sharing...

 

[frugalreefer]

Sucks to hear about your problems with your previous setups but whats the biggest difference with this one? I like those unknown cardinals. Can you get a closer pic of them?

 

[KafudaFish]

As Roop said in Mad Max, "Big Bopper to March Hare. We’re still in the game, okay?"

Funny I was wondering what had happened to your tank earlier this week and now I know. Sorry you have had so many headaches with all of your plans but maybe now that you have gone back to MH and LR this will work out and you can enjoy things once again.

When you get time WHY do you think you had issues? I know you talked about lack of bacterial diversity using dry rock etc but why do you think you had such a difficult time when others with less experience did not?

Take care.

 

[kaserpick]

long time man, glad to see a new tank from you.

its looking awesome so far!

Thanks Tman! Yeah, it's been a while since I've had any kind of real success.

I hope this combination works out for you. :thumbsup:

Very nice, thanks for sharing...

Thanks for the kind words!

 

[kaserpick]

Sucks to hear about your problems with your previous setups but whats the biggest difference with this one? I like those unknown cardinals. Can you get a closer pic of them?

I think there are 3 big differences here:

1. The use of Live Rock instead of dry or homemade rock: In the past setups with dry rock, I didn't pay attention to adding bacteria or micro-inverts to the tank. I know some people have success with dry/homemade rocks. But, I think because of my lack of attention to the biological foundation, I had a tough time. Quality live rock solves that problem, not that there are not other good solutions, but I feel this comes with less headache.

2. Addition of a Refugium: With a refugium, I haven't just provided a place for micro-inverts to reproduce, I've also provided a place for Cyano bacteria to flourish. My big headache with my last 2 setups was Cyano and Dinos. I have not seen Dino's come back, but I still have Cyano. It flourishes in the refugium. I keep the fuge light on 24/7, to provide an optimal grow out area for that nasty bacteria. Every water change I suck out a good bit to export it and allow room for more. This keeps it away from the display tank. I'm not happy that it's here, and hopefully with continued good husbandry it will diminish. But, this provides a good defense against it. I can deal with it without forcing my corals to deal with it.

3. Using Metal Halides instead of LED's: I don't want to bash LED's or turn this into a debate between MH and LED lighting. I'll say this: LED's are powerful! Before I sold my fixture, I believe I found a good color scheme and intensity for the corals, but LED's are still an unknown quantity to me. In order to eliminate doubt, I simply removed them from the equation and replaced them with a lighting source I know well: Metal Halide. I know exactly what to expect from this lighting, and because of that, I no longer am exposing my corals to too much intensity or too much change trying to find that perfect balance. Also, I simply prefer the colors I get with MH's. They not necessarily better; I just simply prefer them.

I think these 3 changes have helped buffer against the real underlying problem: myself. I want to change things too much: tweak the lights here and there, change things with the chemistry if there's something present that I think is bad, add this, remove that, etc.

As Roop said in Mad Max, "Big Bopper to March Hare. We’re still in the game, okay?"

Funny I was wondering what had happened to your tank earlier this week and now I know. Sorry you have had so many headaches with all of your plans but maybe now that you have gone back to MH and LR this will work out and you can enjoy things once again.

When you get time WHY do you think you had issues? I know you talked about lack of bacterial diversity using dry rock etc but why do you think you had such a difficult time when others with less experience did not?

Take care.

I believe the real issue is me. I just wanted to change too much too often. I kept shocking the animals, and they paid for it. In the end I didn't feel like I was being responsible. I needed to take a step back and reconfigure my setup and mind set in order to remove the temptation to change things. I truly want to "Try for Stability", but I am my own worst enemy.

Many of my previous methods can and will work for others. But when you struggle with being super controlling, they may not be the best methods to employ. In this case, my experience and knowledge helped hinder me. I hope that answers your question, Mike.

 

[KafudaFish]

Yes it did. It says something about a person who can take a step back and redefine how they do something instead of continuing to repeat themselves and not reach their goals.

 

[kaserpick]

Thanks, Mike. I really hope this is an improved approach.

 

[Nano sapiens]

Thanks, Mike. I really hope this is an improved approach.

Its really easy to get caught up in tweaking 'everything to death' (excuse the pun) and in the hype surrounding this hobby where every gadget is supposed to be 'necessary' for an aquarium to function properly.

I have a 12g that is about as simple as it gets (pump, heater, lights, gravity fed ATO, no filtration) and it is still running strong after more than 4 years.

I hope that everything goes well for you this time around :thumbsup:

 

[kaserpick]

Thanks Nano! I agree 100%; it's nice to have these innovations available in the hobby. But with more options, there comes a greater need for discipline.

 

[kaserpick]

I finished my Tropic Marin Pro Reef salt last week, and so I decided to give the newer ESV salt system a try. I believe that most salts on the market are decent; it's just a matter of matching them to your parameters. That's where the choice comes into play. My main concern is Alkalinity, and this salt seems consistent with a little better price point than TMPR salt. It took a second to mix, since it was my first time using it, but it turned out to be quite easy. And, the tank seemed like it didn't notice the water change. I'm happy.

That's all for a while. Maybe I'll post a few pics at the end of August. Thanks for following; only time will tell how things grow.

 

[JMFC]

That is a nice looking tank man. best of luck

 

[kaserpick]

Thanks!

 

[plyle02]

Kasey,
I also used ESV for a spell, really like a science project Really cool design, less precipitation because all mixed seperate, I liked the idea. I was running zeovit myself back then, so the alk mixed a touch higher than I wanted, this is why I have always been a TMPR salt user. Even though I still do not run zeo, I still strive for those same NSW levels. Well, it sounds like you are off and running, are you seeing encrustation on frags? Best of luck, and keep up the great work bro!

 

[kaserpick]

That's interesting, because my TMPR salt always tested around 8.5 dKH, and the ESV batch I made tested the same. Also, I'm wondering which part contains the carbonates; the main thing that intrigued me about this salt was that I was under the impression that you could tweak some of the parameters while mixing. With other salts you can always increase concentrations, but it's difficult to decrease. I think this salt system has a lot of potential with its flexibility. Also, the desired Alk levels for a ZEO system scared me. :lmao: I didn't like being that low.

Corals seem to be doing well; the Pocillopora, Stylophora's, Monti's and Birdsnests all seem to be growing. Not much encrusting with them except a little with the Monti's. The 3 Acro's haven't encrusted much, but they have great PE. The tank has been a bit on the high side with phosphate I believe, and the Acro frags were cut at the beginning of July. I think they'll start to soon...hopefully.

 

[kaserpick]

Well, I thought it was about time for an update. Things haven't grown a ton, but their color is improving. I'm still waiting for some pipe taps to show up so that I can modify for skimmer for external use. Until then, my system is still skimmerless. I did recently add a clam from Fsurocks99, otherwise known as Jack. Thanks again man!