OneReef's 120g DreamReef

[OneReef]

Biopellet Reactor:



I have decided on my new tank to use a biopellet reactor rather than maintain a refugium, or run carbon and GFO. In my expierence with running one on my old 150g tank, it works very well. The bacteria colonies formed by the pellets kept my nitrates and phosphates very low. In fact, I had to add Oyster eggs, amino acids, and other micro foods for my SPS due to the water being so clean. You may have heard of vodka dosing. It is the same concept, adding a carbon source for bacteria growth. But with biopellets, there is no daily work like vodka dosing or worry about overdosing. You just set the reactor and leave it. Bacteria forms in about 4 weeks.

One reason that I want to run biopellets is to help my SPS thrive. The SPS in my old 150g tank grew very well and had great coloration, as long as I fed them properly. Also, having no refugium allows me to keep a cleaner sump, and easily vaccuum out the detritus and junk.

I am using the same reactor that I ran on my last tank, a Next Reef SMR1. I am going to use NP Biopellets. Last time, I used Warner Marine's EcoBak pellets, but I am going to try a different brand this time. I am going to power the reactor with a Mag 3 pump, but if it seems to produce too much flow, I may just change to a MaxiJet 1200 since I have a few laying around. I would save 15 watts as well. It is recommended to put the end of the return line from the reactor near the skimmer intake.

 

[ducklabdad]

I give you credit int that you have really thought this out and have all of your ducks in a row. Sure glad your getting back into this, and I wish you the best on it, the one you sold previously was the nicest cleanest setup I have ever seen.

Looking forward to seeing your work continue on this one!!

 

[OneReef]

I give you credit int that you have really thought this out and have all of your ducks in a row. Sure glad your getting back into this, and I wish you the best on it, the one you sold previously was the nicest cleanest setup I have ever seen.

Looking forward to seeing your work continue on this one!!

Thanks Bill. I am getting excited. Only 3 weeks left. I have everything I need except the tank.....ha

 

[OneReef]

Lighting:



I have tried just about all methods of lighting over the years. My last setup had 250w metal halides, and I got great coloration and growth from them. The downside for me was the heat that they put out. It would raise the water temp by many degrees, and I was relegated to keeping the A/C low to keep the ambient room temp down, and also blowing lots of fans to cool the water causing lots of evaporation. After all, I had three 250w halides inside a short canopy. But, with the above mentioned methods, I was able to keep my water temp stable, never varying from between 79.5 and 80.5*.

This time around I have decided to go with LED lighting. I think over the last couple of years, the technology has improved, and the cost has come down. There are also people on Reef Central with tanks that have been running LEDs for awhile, and have shown good growth and coloration. Benefits for me will be much less heat, energy savings, and not having to replace bulbs.

I chose the AquaIllumination Sol LED pendants. I am going to run 3 of them over my 4 foot tank. They are supposed to be equivelant to 250w MH. It has a controller that runs the units, and you can select intensity (PAR) and color. You can manually adjust the blue vs the white lights, and get the exact color that you want. In fact, many people that run these units are not running at 100% intensity due to them bleaching out corals if set too intense, so that shows the power that LEDs have.There are many other features that it can do, but those are the main points. They will be mounted in my canopy from short hanging cables.


Here are a few pictures:

 

[jabo]

Jay, are you going to run a bio pellet reactor on this tank?

 

[jabo]

ooopppsss read first you idiot.. I have a few questions....

Mine has "clogged" up twice now. When it clogs i guess it is dumping something not sue exactly what into my tank. As this happens it is like my corals go into melt down, everything slimes and closes up for a few days. Have you ever experienced this before?

 

[Rudolph]

ooopppsss read first you idiot.. I have a few questions....

Mine has "clogged" up twice now. When it clogs i guess it is dumping something not sue exactly what into my tank. As this happens it is like my corals go into melt down, everything slimes and closes up for a few days. Have you ever experienced this before?

Jason, I cannot remember what they call it, but there a danger of some type of gas (or some reaction) when you stop the water flow through the pellets. I read it somewhere and just tried to do a quick search to find the term for what happens without the proper flow. Could not find it, but I do remember that it did say it could be harmful to your corals.

If it stops up again, I would take the discharge outlet and let the water run to a bucket and let if flush out a bit before putting it back into action.

 

[Rudolph]

Jason: Here is something on it: Important! When the water flow in the pellet filter is too low, this may result in a large population of anaerobic bacteria, with the possible danger of H2S production. Always maintain high water flow through the filter in order to get optimal results. Usage of ozone and UV lamps will negatively affect bacterial recruitment of the biopellets and increase filter maturation time. Adding bacterial cultures to the water may shorten filter maturation time.

.....sorry Jay....now back to your tank build!

 

[OneReef]

ooopppsss read first you idiot.. I have a few questions....

Mine has "clogged" up twice now. When it clogs i guess it is dumping something not sue exactly what into my tank. As this happens it is like my corals go into melt down, everything slimes and closes up for a few days. Have you ever experienced this before?

What type of reactor are you running and what kind of filter/screen for it?

 

[Blindside]

Something is clogging it up. I place mine in the return section of my sump, after the water has passed through skimmer and filter sponges. I have had nothing but praise and awesome results with pellets. Probably one of the best new things I have seen come along. I use 2 little fishes pellets for about 9 months now and I have a huge difference in my sps. just my .02.

 

[Rudolph]

..or he may not have enough flow and it is simply clumping. I have the basic TLF reactor and use NP pellets (with a small dedicated pump) and I only had one instance of clumping in about six or seven months of use. When I checked into it, some cheato had snuck over and was sucked up by the pump. It caused the flow to decrease and the clumping started. I cleared the cheato out of the pump and increased the water flow a little higher for a few days and also manually tapped it a few times just to manually move them around a bit and then everything was good to go and has been for several months.......

 

[OneReef]

In my opinion, a good skimmer, a biopellet reactor, and regular water changes can make a tank spectacular.

 

[Rudolph]

Jay: What is your water changing schedule? how much/how often

 

[OneReef]

Rudolph: I usually like to do 10% every week. That is not always possible, but that is my goal. If I miss a week, I may do around 15% if its been 2 weeks. I attribute my really clean tanks in the past, as well as good growth and coloration, to doing frequent water changes as one tip of the triangle. In my 4 or 5 years of reefing, I have never gone longer than 2-3 weeks without a water change. I'm OCD like that......lol. I think the smaller the tank, the more often you need to do them. The bigger the tank, you can get by with 2-3 weeks if you have a large water volume. You can get by with not doing hardly any water changes, some people never do them. But it is my humble opinion that the people that do that are not maximizing their growth potential, or getting the best coloration out of their corals possible. You can get a tank to 'survive' with infrequent water changes, but having it 'flourish' is two totally different things.

 

[Rudolph]

I have a 75 and I am on a two week cycle and do 20% water changes and things have been going well for over a year (just switched over to salt from a planted Discus tank after moving here). My only frustraiting thing has been chasing what I believe is bryopsis Penneta or some form of GHA. It came in on a coral I bought and I thought I picked it all out, but the next thing I know it had spread onto a rock and I have been chasing it around my tank for months. I have Ramboed it where ever it shows up so it has never been but a very small patch or two. My wife would say I am OCD with it...lol

I do the pellets and GFO, but it hasn't had any long term affect except to take out some zoas colonies. After realzing I was not going to starve it away I backed off on the GFO and the corals seem happer (softies and LPS). I am guessing the GHA is happier too.

I bought some emerald crabs a few weeks ago, not necessarily for the GHA, but because my wife likes them, and one of the two small patches have disappeared on their own. I have two small crabs and two monster ones, so I am not sure who is my new best friend. I am out of town this week and have my fingers crossed the last one is gone when I return. If so, I will be a happy reefer.

 

[jabo]

http://www.aquariumspecialty.com/re...pellet-reactors/jns-alpha-1-biopellet-reactor

Jay I am running the Alpha 1 above and ATB HQ Bo Pellets. I am sure it is my fault it clogged from not cleaning the pump for about 2 months. It seemed to dump a slimy substance into the main tank and all H@ll broke loose. Everything is fine now (after four days) and actually looking great. I guess the problem would be solved if I just clean my pump more often. Just curious if anyone had seen this before.

Carlos, I have always heard and read the reactor was better placed near the skimmer input so excess bacteria is not dumped straight into the display tank. I thought it made more sense to put it in the return section too. I may move mine tomorrow.

Kerry thanks for all your input!!

 

[OneReef]

Carlos, I have always heard and read the reactor was better placed near the skimmer input so excess bacteria is not dumped straight into the display tank. I thought it made more sense to put it in the return section too. I may move mine tomorrow.

Yes, that is correct. My next reef reactor says to put the output line near the skimmer intake. That's what I did on my old tank and it worked beautifully.

 

[OneReef]

Plumbing:



I am planning on doing all of my plumbing in some kind of color scheme. My first thought was to do everything in grey, but now I am leaning towards doing all the PVC piping in navy blue, and my ball valves/unions in orange. I want everything to look clean with aestheically pleasing lines and flow.

Here is a picture of what I started with, but I may go to all white PVC schedule 40 and just paint it navy with Krylon Fusion. The handles on my union ball valves are already orange, they are the Cepex True Union valves, as pictured below in the second picture.

 

[OneReef]

Substrate:


For my sand I am using Tropic Eden Tonga ReefFlakes. It is hands down, easily the best sand on the market and the best sand that I have ever tried. This hobby is all about opinions, and that is mine...lol It has a brilliant white color, and is the perfect grain size. Big enough not to blow all over the place with flow, but small enough not to trap junk and detritus. Its perfect. Did I mention how much I like this sand yet? I can't remember.

 

[OneReef]

Background:


On all of my old tanks, I always painted the back wall black with Krylon Fusion. I felt it made the color of the coral and the fish stand out.

This time I would like something different that might give my tank more depth perception. I came across the post on RC and it has given me some good ideas... I might end up just painting it black again, but this would be cool if I could do it correctly......

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1868825&highlight=shadow+box