owenspackmans 180 Reef upgrade build.

Oh man Owen....there is nothing worse than that feeling. When my tank was running the first thing I always did was check my apex app on the iphone. I've had a few mornings where I did an "oh s#%#!!!!!" and ran into the basement. If you have an apex or another controller its time for a leak detector!!!

I know! And yes I've said a number of times already today 'I need the leak detector for my apex'. It wouldn't have stopped the leak but it would have alerted me to it much quicker.
 
Not good.

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It was funny listening to the disaster recovery guy, sent by my insurance, on the phone, tell me about how we'll move the tank to one side to remove the floor, it'll only be there a few days and we'll slide it back.....

I explained that's not going to work. His next idea was to move it into another soon or upstairs.....considering my only other rooms are upstairs, that wasn't going to work.

When he actually walked in the room I think he realized. Luckily the cabinet held Ll the water in the back and sides, but because if the stupid door design it was escaping from the front of the tank, luckily it doesn't look like much, if any went under it. I told them to replace the floor tank forward and leave what's under the tank. I'll buy an extra box of laminate and throw it down when we move.

Disaster. But could have been worse. The tank itself is fine. And I got my sump for.$40 from petco instead of the $115 due to the $1 a gallon sale. Got a day off work too! Score!
 
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I had engineered hardwood in my basement for my last tank and I can't tell you much water got on it and never had a problem.
 
the new sump is built and installed into the cabinet. the tank is up and running. The past 24 hours just the display, with my two powerheads and a heater were keeping the tank running, i actually had the best polyp extension i've seen with just this set up, but in the space of 24 hours the tank got DIRTY....

sand dirty, glass dirty, the tank was desperate to have the surface skimmed. So i wasted no time time finishing the sump and re-installing, i made the last chamber much bigger and reduced the refugium, this was a much better idea (thanks Bill) now i can upgrade my skimmer and run a zeovit reactor if needed, plus the last chamber holding more water is much safer for my return pump also.

now i just need a new floor.
 
Sorry to hear the baffle got you as well! Hope everything turns out better this time around.

Joe

I know........when you had your sump crack i had just finished building mine and i KNEW some of my baffles were in VERY tight. I decided to run it full of water with a tunze in my garage for a week first as a test, all because of your experience.........i decided to risk it after the weeks test.......oh dear. lesson learnt!

Be strong man!

thanks!
 
so before i dive into Zeovit i'm going to try the RedSea Coral Color program. Figured it's worth a shot considering the price to run this will be much less than the Zeovit program. Fingers crossed!

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/29441159@N03/9695039303/" title="IMG_9499 by owenspackman, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7286/9695039303_5f8252f8e3_c.jpg" width="800" height="500" alt="IMG_9499"></a>

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/29441159@N03/9695039171/" title="IMG_9501 by owenspackman, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5350/9695039171_6e2bbd75db_c.jpg" width="800" height="500" alt="IMG_9501"></a>
 
hey owen....why do you want to go to a low nutrient system?

Mainly my attempt to get better colors. All the Zeovit tanks I've seen have really looked great (I've also seen great looking tanks without Zeovit!).

I'm pretty much running a ULNS currently as the tanks had no fish in it for about 3 months. Never reading Nitrates, Phosphates never go over .02. But I have very plate colors because of this, I guess the corals are starving.

I've always dosed RedSeas Reef Energy but only once every 2 days, now I'm dosing daily. The Reef Color program doesn't follow a ULNS like Zeovit, rather your dose the A,B,C and D based on your usage of each (Fe etc) and Calcium usage.
 
Mainly my attempt to get better colors. All the Zeovit tanks I've seen have really looked great (I've also seen great looking tanks without Zeovit!).

I'm pretty much running a ULNS currently as the tanks had no fish in it for about 3 months. Never reading Nitrates, Phosphates never go over .02. But I have very plate colors because of this, I guess the corals are starving.

I've always dosed RedSeas Reef Energy but only once every 2 days, now I'm dosing daily. The Reef Color program doesn't follow a ULNS like Zeovit, rather your dose the A,B,C and D based on your usage of each (Fe etc) and Calcium usage.

thats right...i got it mixed up with their no3/po4 program which creates the ulns. Good luck with it and sooner or later I will stop by to see the tank in person.
 
Hey Owen. Been out of the loop for a few weeks since the new job started. Basically fall into bed after a 10-12 hour day followed by kids sporting activities in the evenings.... Glad to hear that it was only 8 gallons, and everything is ok now. Incredible what size puddle 8 gallons can make.

I'm interested to learn the results you have with the Red Sea program.
 
Hey Owen. Been out of the loop for a few weeks since the new job started. Basically fall into bed after a 10-12 hour day followed by kids sporting activities in the evenings.... Glad to hear that it was only 8 gallons, and everything is ok now. Incredible what size puddle 8 gallons can make.

I'm interested to learn the results you have with the Red Sea program.

I have been using the Reef Energy A & B for a while now, but only recently started dosing daily rather than every other day.

I notice SPS growth on a weekly basis but as I've not been keeping SPS long I can't compare it to anything else!

I have only just started with the Color program. We'll see if I notice any improvements with this!

Tomorrow I have a new fish arriving in the mail from BlueZooAquatics. FedEx Friday. I'm extremely excited about this guy.
 
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