Rhodes19 180 Build
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Rhodes19
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LOL!!! After searching my files I realize I don't have any pictures of my boat so I borrowed these from the internet.
Mine has the light blue deck and white topside. It has a centerboard which works out well here in Charleston, SC (its amazing how shallow it can be here) and the mast is stepped to the deck on a pedestal and my wife and I can step or taken down the mast within 20 minutes. Unfortunately we have to trailer it because moorings aren't common down here. Its getting time to pull it out of the back yard and get it cleaned up.
Rhodes19
New member
Ok, I've changed some things around at home and at work so I've hadn't had much time to be on line. Its been a while since I updated my build so here we go.
To start with I got a Reef Octopus BR 140 bio pellet reactor from Bulk Reef Supply and set it up about 4 weeks ago now and it seems to be working. I was fighting gha only in one corner of my tank and it was under the 250 MH. I was pulling the gha out and was doing some water changes but I could not beat it. My phos was 0.09 (hanna checker) and my nitrates were below 12 (Tetra labs go from 0 to 12.5 in the first color step). After about 2 weeks of running the reactor with only half of the recommended pellets (trying to avoid a bacteria bloom) I started to notice a change in the gha. It started to turn brown and started developing bubbles on it. It seems to tear a lot easier when I pull on it and when I put the siphon hose on it when I do wc, it it siphons the brown and the bubbles off leaving more of a thin, lightish green thread than a bushy clump like before. Based on that, I'd say its working but I still have some more time to go. Ok, time for pictures.
Reef Octopus bio pellet reactor.
Outside the sump
Feed line is coming off the return.
I put better conduit support since I took the picture.
To start with I got a Reef Octopus BR 140 bio pellet reactor from Bulk Reef Supply and set it up about 4 weeks ago now and it seems to be working. I was fighting gha only in one corner of my tank and it was under the 250 MH. I was pulling the gha out and was doing some water changes but I could not beat it. My phos was 0.09 (hanna checker) and my nitrates were below 12 (Tetra labs go from 0 to 12.5 in the first color step). After about 2 weeks of running the reactor with only half of the recommended pellets (trying to avoid a bacteria bloom) I started to notice a change in the gha. It started to turn brown and started developing bubbles on it. It seems to tear a lot easier when I pull on it and when I put the siphon hose on it when I do wc, it it siphons the brown and the bubbles off leaving more of a thin, lightish green thread than a bushy clump like before. Based on that, I'd say its working but I still have some more time to go. Ok, time for pictures.
Reef Octopus bio pellet reactor.
Outside the sump
Feed line is coming off the return.
I put better conduit support since I took the picture.
Rhodes19
New member
I had to make another box for the 2nd MH because the other box got tossed 
. Anyway, its only temporary until I can get a canopy made.
Same ballast, same bulb, different pendent. There is an obvious difference in intensity in light. I had to move the frogspawn, hammer head and fungi because they were shrinking up and loosing their color.
. Anyway, its only temporary until I can get a canopy made.
Same ballast, same bulb, different pendent. There is an obvious difference in intensity in light. I had to move the frogspawn, hammer head and fungi because they were shrinking up and loosing their color.
Rhodes19
New member
Here is a couple of pictures of my green acro and frag. They are both under the same MH light (the first MH not the new one) and I think I'm getting better polyp extension. It also looks like the polyps maybe becoming a darker green. I think I can attribute this to the bio pellets.
Frag.
Frag.
Rhodes19
New member
Here are the newer additions to my corals. A friend gave me a gift certificate to a lfs and these are what I brought home.
Cynarina (button coral).
Neon green torch coral.
I also picked up a nice mummy eye chalice and a Tyree sunset monti frag from a local reefer but I forgot to take some pictures. Maybe tonight.
Cynarina (button coral).
Neon green torch coral.
I also picked up a nice mummy eye chalice and a Tyree sunset monti frag from a local reefer but I forgot to take some pictures. Maybe tonight.
My wife gave me a nice little present the other week for the aquarium stand. It's a nice little mermaid that sits on the ledge. Its rather cute so I put her front and center.
Wow. Thats pretty nice. Where did she get it?
Rhodes19
New member
Hi bmkj,
I asked my wife last night where she got the mermaid from and she said she got it from one of the local garden centers here. Hymens I believe.
Rhodes19
New member
Brief update. Last Sunday I pulled out about 50% of my live rock and scrubbed off as much gha and bryopsis as I could. I manage to royally **** off my wife with the "smell" so I didn't do the rest of the rock. The rockscape got changed up a bit and I'm not overly happy with it. When I get some time I'll surf the web and see if I can find some rockscapes I like and try to copy them. I'm finding myself liking the bonsai style of rockscaping but I'm not sure how to pull it off. It has a clean, open look to it and the open "negative" space is some what appealing. It minimizes the amount of coral you can mount but it opens up so you get better flow for detritus suspension. I've found a few other rockscapes that I like that are not bonsai style but they are in either much bigger or smaller aquariums than my 180. I figure once I get the rockscape the way I like it I can start adding more corals. I'd hate to damage them while I move the rocks around.
Rhodes19
New member
Ok, up date time.
First, lets start with the dirty water storage containers. I was using 2, 32 g Brute trash cans but I wanted to make my sw in 50 g batches so I started looking for 55 g drums. I found a few but they were used for detergent and I really didn't want to mess with it. Some one local has a bunch of 60 g pickle barrels which according to they guy, can only be used once by law. So, I got 2 of them, one for fw and one for salt. I cleaned them out with bleach and rinsed numerous times. The plan was to build a stand with the fw over the sw for gravity feed and to have the bottom one just off the ground high enough so I could gravity feed a 5 g bucket. Only problem with that is that the barrels are either to tall or my garage ceiling is to short. So for now, I have a 60g barrel for sw mixing on the ground and a 32 g Brute next to it for fw (easier to get into and scoop out water with a small bucket). Here are the pickle barrels.
The label says 60 g
The solid piece is the top to the barrel, the ring screws over the lid to the barrel, and the mesh thing sat on the bottom of the barrel to keep the pickles off the bottom.
When I pulled the 32 g Brute I was using for sw, I noticed it was rather dirty. I'm not sure what's its from though.
White hard stuff on the bottom and black film (?) on the sides.
I'm also noticing a little bit of a funky smell from the 32 g Brute fw container. As soon as I can figure out how to use both pickle barrels, I'll get rid of the 32g.
First, lets start with the dirty water storage containers. I was using 2, 32 g Brute trash cans but I wanted to make my sw in 50 g batches so I started looking for 55 g drums. I found a few but they were used for detergent and I really didn't want to mess with it. Some one local has a bunch of 60 g pickle barrels which according to they guy, can only be used once by law. So, I got 2 of them, one for fw and one for salt. I cleaned them out with bleach and rinsed numerous times. The plan was to build a stand with the fw over the sw for gravity feed and to have the bottom one just off the ground high enough so I could gravity feed a 5 g bucket. Only problem with that is that the barrels are either to tall or my garage ceiling is to short. So for now, I have a 60g barrel for sw mixing on the ground and a 32 g Brute next to it for fw (easier to get into and scoop out water with a small bucket). Here are the pickle barrels.
The label says 60 g
The solid piece is the top to the barrel, the ring screws over the lid to the barrel, and the mesh thing sat on the bottom of the barrel to keep the pickles off the bottom.
When I pulled the 32 g Brute I was using for sw, I noticed it was rather dirty. I'm not sure what's its from though.
White hard stuff on the bottom and black film (?) on the sides.
I'm also noticing a little bit of a funky smell from the 32 g Brute fw container. As soon as I can figure out how to use both pickle barrels, I'll get rid of the 32g.
Rhodes19
New member
The next update is my aptasia zapper. I got the idea from Paul B. It was fun to make and it works pretty well. A lot of times though the aptasia goes back into the rock quicker than I can zap it. LOL
Here is the completed zapper. It's not as good as Paul's but it's functional. I used a 36" long acrylic tube, a 12V DC 300mA transformer, 24 gauge wire left over from a garage door opener (was going to use 24 gauge speaker wire but the coating on it was so sticky, I couldn't feed it all the way into the tube), a momentary contact switch, a film container, a spring from one of my wife's pens, a grounded down sewing needle from my wife's sewing room, and graphite from a carpenter's penile, and some goop. Oh, by the way, my wife doesn't know about the pen and needle, so if you don't tell her, I won't tell her.
Here is the completed zapper. It's not as good as Paul's but it's functional. I used a 36" long acrylic tube, a 12V DC 300mA transformer, 24 gauge wire left over from a garage door opener (was going to use 24 gauge speaker wire but the coating on it was so sticky, I couldn't feed it all the way into the tube), a momentary contact switch, a film container, a spring from one of my wife's pens, a grounded down sewing needle from my wife's sewing room, and graphite from a carpenter's penile, and some goop. Oh, by the way, my wife doesn't know about the pen and needle, so if you don't tell her, I won't tell her.
Rhodes19
New member
Over the last year, I've been running into an algae problem. I've been doing water changes but I guess not enough. I got a Reef Octopus BR 140 reactor and some bio pellets from BRS. I was happy with my initial results as I could see the algae slowly deteriorating and disappearing. Then I started to see the algae start to come back. Further research and consults with some folks discovered that I was nitrogen deficient and needed to dose with nitrogen to get the bacteria started again. I have always had nitrates below 12 ppm and not much phos so I thought. I used an Elos test kit for my nitrates and was consistently reading 0. I used a Hanna checker an my phos was as low as 0.04. To get the nitrates back into my system, I started to dose with Seachem's nitrogen. After a while, my trates started to go up to about 2.5 and my phos went up to 0.44. Around that time I realized that some of my algae was bryopsis so I tried to up my Mg to kill it (found various threads talking about it). I finally got it up to 1750 for 2 weeks but nothing happened. Turns out, folks who had suscess getting rid of thier bryopsis used Kent's Tech M and I was using BRS Mg. I need to do one more wc before I get the Mg low enough to dose with Tech M. In they mean while gha and cyano came back with a vengeance. I finally took out about 75% of the rock that had any kind of algae and/or cyano and scrubbed it in a container filled with sw and then rinsed it off in a second container with sw before I put it back into the tank. The rocks looked better but I messed up my rockscape. I'll have to fix that later. I did a big water change at the same time and that seemed to help. I'll do another wc this weekend and then start dosing with Tech M and see what happens to the bryopsis. Shortly after all that, Frankie did some research, made some calls to folks, and recommended that I shut down my bio pellet reactor and take it off line. They think that my skimmer just isn't doing the job and a lot of the stuff coming out of the reactor is not being skimmed. I think he's right. I'm going to mod my skimmer and see if I can get it to perform better. Right now, I either flood the collection cup or I don't get any skimmate to collect in the cup. It is rare to get anything in between and it's important to have a good skimmer when running bio pellets. If the mods don't work, I'll have to look for a new skimmer.
Anyway, here is the algae I've been fighting. Not one of my proudest moments or pictures in reef keeping but I'm working on getting rid of it. As soon as I can mod my skimmer I'll start the bio pellets back up because I do believe the pellets work.
Algae.
Anyway, here is the algae I've been fighting. Not one of my proudest moments or pictures in reef keeping but I'm working on getting rid of it. As soon as I can mod my skimmer I'll start the bio pellets back up because I do believe the pellets work.
Algae.
Rhodes19
New member
Ok, now for some happy news. Frankie got me a beautiful T. Maxima clam!!! Woo hoo!!!! My very first clam. I got a call from a lfs saying that I have a clam waiting for me and that it was a gift from Frankie. Talking about making your day!! Thanks Frank, you're the best . It's about 2 1/2", a teal blue color (a little bluer under my 1200 K mh), and it's front and center in my 180. I acclimated it and placed it on a rock, and within a few minutes, it had reoriented itself. Haven't named it yet but I'm sure it will be an interesting name. 
My camera just doesn't do it any justice. If I can figure out how to bet better quality photos I'll post some more updates. Thanks again Frank, you really made my day, month and year.
. It's about 2 1/2", a teal blue color (a little bluer under my 1200 K mh), and it's front and center in my 180. I acclimated it and placed it on a rock, and within a few minutes, it had reoriented itself. Haven't named it yet but I'm sure it will be an interesting name.
My camera just doesn't do it any justice. If I can figure out how to bet better quality photos I'll post some more updates. Thanks again Frank, you really made my day, month and year.
Rhodes19
New member
Well, I've finally had it with my skimmer and its time for a change. I pulled it out of the sump yesterday and brought it over to Frankie's Skimmer Body and Repair Shop for some modifications. I just can't get it set to where it can skim properly. It either immediately floods the collection cup within seconds of twisting the adjusting tube, or the level just isn't high enough for the skimmate to flow into the collection cup. We are basically going to make 3 modifications to it. The first is to modify the collection cup. The drain stem empties directly over the body of the skimmer and in order to use it, you have to place a flexible tube on it (metric of course). Between the bend in the tube as it clears the skimmer body and the second bend as it clears the top of the sump, the tube drains slow and has the chance of of clogging. What we are going to do to fix it is to cut off the drain stem, seal it closed, and then drill a hole on the side of the collection cup. Using standard and not metric parts, have an extension come off the collection cup about 2-3" into a 90 deg elbow and into a gate valve and flexible tube to drain into a soda bottle.
Here is the drain stem.
Here it is cut off.
Frankie is sanding it smooth.
The second mod is to cut off the effluent plumbing from the body of the skimmer and place a gate valve on it. That way I can accurate control the water level in the skimmer. The knife edge adjusting pipe just can't be finely adjusted, even with silicone grease smeared all over it.
The third mod is going to be with the pump and bubble production. The Sicce PK 2500 that came with the skimmer just isn't cutting it. The water level has to be at or just slightly above where the body turns into a cone in order to get skimmate close enough to empty into the collection cup. There is a couple of options we're looking at. I was thinking of getting a Bubble Blaster 3000 which has been recommended in the past but after reading so many wildly different specs on it, we need to find out what the specs really are before making any decisions. More to follow as we get more info.
Here is the drain stem.
Here it is cut off.
Frankie is sanding it smooth.
The second mod is to cut off the effluent plumbing from the body of the skimmer and place a gate valve on it. That way I can accurate control the water level in the skimmer. The knife edge adjusting pipe just can't be finely adjusted, even with silicone grease smeared all over it.
The third mod is going to be with the pump and bubble production. The Sicce PK 2500 that came with the skimmer just isn't cutting it. The water level has to be at or just slightly above where the body turns into a cone in order to get skimmate close enough to empty into the collection cup. There is a couple of options we're looking at. I was thinking of getting a Bubble Blaster 3000 which has been recommended in the past but after reading so many wildly different specs on it, we need to find out what the specs really are before making any decisions. More to follow as we get more info.
JonnyD91
New member
I replied to your other post too
This is the one to get:
http://www.reefspecialty.com/virtue...ter-pump-hy-3000s.html?keyword=bubble+blaster
That's what i have been using on that same skimmer for 2 years now.
I also did the gate valve mod. I never have to adjust my skimmer now. set it and forget it.
This is the one to get:
http://www.reefspecialty.com/virtue...ter-pump-hy-3000s.html?keyword=bubble+blaster
That's what i have been using on that same skimmer for 2 years now.
I also did the gate valve mod. I never have to adjust my skimmer now. set it and forget it.
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