SCA 50G SPS Cube - Take 2

[cpllongjk]

Hi Everyone,

For those of you that were watching my last few tank builds and following along I really do apologize for not making any new videos or snapping any photos in the past few months.

My previous Red Sea Reefer thread can be found here http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2550089

To make a long story short the Reefer wasn't large enough to my liking and I upgraded to a slightly wider tank "front to back." I currently have a custom 50 gallon SCA tank drilled for Synergy Reef's Shadow Overflow. Take 1 of this build was here... http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2620000




Let's address the elephant in the room... What happened to all my nice and expensive SPS?


Who knows? A lot has gone on since my last post. My wife has gone back to school to get her teaching credential, our 3 rugrats are now 5, 4, and 2. If I had to guess what caused my tank crash it would be "Neglect." I would love to state a reason, there can possibly be many, but it all comes down to not having enough time for tank maintenance. Yes, I didn't even have time for weekly/bi-weekly/monthly water changes. It's funny how time goes when you go from day to day and you're so tired by the end of every day you just want to go to bed. And this goes on for a whole semester.

Great news though! I haven't given up. I am off for summer break and have time to devote to my family and my hobby once again. I was so burnt out last year that next year I am not selling my prep period like I have the past 3 years. Sure the extra money is nice, but not at the cost of my sanity.


Enough Talk! Lets see some "SAD" pictures. Keep-in-mind this is a tank reboot. I lost all my SPS except 1 and it's not in the greatest shape.




Current FTS with Sump View (Switched to BK Mini 160, today actually) I will cover why in a coming video with the Deltec SC 1351 Review.


Current FTS of the Frag Tank or as I like to call it the "BONE YARD" :sad1:




Half of the Control Center (Next to the Sump). Ignore the mess, I still have to clean up some wires.




GHL Doser 2.1SA & PAX Bellum ARID N18 Algae Reactor

 

[LQT]

Nice to see you back. I saw one of your YouTube videos on your Geo CaRx. Are you still running it on your system? or are you full on dosing with your GHL 2.1 doser?

 

[cpllongjk]

Nice to see you back. I saw one of your YouTube videos on your Geo CaRx. Are you still running it on your system? or are you full on dosing with your GHL 2.1 doser?

Good Morning,

I still have the Calcium Reactor and having it on such a small system newer system could have contributed to why my tank crashed. I still believe in CaRx more than dosers but wont hook it back up until the tank is a bit more grown out and consuming alk in higher levels.

When I had the CaRx online I was only "dripping" effluent in at a rate of around 1 drop every 4 seconds. This caused a lot of problems because it was so difficult to maintain this rate for long periods of time. I tried all sorts of things to make it better but nothing worked. In the end, I should have just waited on it until the tank was a bit more grown out.

I am currently only consuming 5-10mL of Calcium and Alkalinity a day to maintain a 7-8 dKH and 350-400ppm Calcium.

So CaRx will go back online as soon as demand gets bigger. I have to fill my tank with SPS and frag tank with SPS first though. That is coming with time though.

One of the things I didn't do the first time was frag small corals at beginning to put one in the frag tank and 1 in the display. I am doing that this time. As soon as corals in the display get a few shoots I will clip off a 1-1.5" frag and put it in the frag for grow out.

 

[cpllongjk]

Forgot to say....

One thing I noticed when taking the CaRx down for the time being... My pH went up from a consistent 7.8-8.1 to 8.1-8.3. Even though the reactor was only dripping at a rate of 1 drop every 4 seconds the CO2 content was enough to reduce the pH in my system that much. Once I set it back up I need a way to rid the excess CO2 before it goes back in the tank.

 

[LQT]

Cool, thanks for the update. I'm working on my 57 gallon all acro and milli upgrade right now and debating the merits of a CaRx once it gets more mature. I'm in the process of building my own CO2 regulator "a la alanle" cuz it's fun!

 

[mrhighline]

Glad to see I'm not the only one that's in the same spot. I'm currently rebooting my 45 cube. Good luck with your "new" old tank.

 

[cpllongjk]

Cool, thanks for the update. I'm working on my 57 gallon all acro and milli upgrade right now and debating the merits of a CaRx once it gets more mature. I'm in the process of building my own CO2 regulator "a la alanle" cuz it's fun!

My suggestion is either hand dosing until you have the demand for a CaRx or just using some BRS dosing pumps found for a good deal. On smaller systems too many things can go wrong if you neglect your tank even for a few weeks... Which I pretty much neglected my tank for months.

 

[cpllongjk]

Glad to see I'm not the only one that's in the same spot. I'm currently rebooting my 45 cube. Good luck with your "new" old tank.

Yeah man, we all have problems. I've been in and out of the hobby so many times and I've made sooooo many mistakes you would think I would have learned all the lessons I needed to learn but, NOPE!

Even experienced reefers young and old have issues. Look at ReefBum, he just had to restart his tank. His tank and my tank pretty much crashed at the same time.

I really wish I knew what the cause for my tank crash was. There were just so many things going on I cant pin it down. In the end, I would have to say it was neglect. But the crazy thing was before I switched over my tank from the Reefer170 to the 50cube my tank was thriving and growing like crazy. Maybe I upset the balance when I did the tank swap? Who knows?

Jared

 

[LQT]

My suggestion is either hand dosing until you have the demand for a CaRx or just using some BRS dosing pumps found for a good deal. On smaller systems too many things can go wrong if you neglect your tank even for a few weeks... Which I pretty much neglected my tank for months.

Oh yeah, once I'm up and running, I plan on using my BRS dosers controlled by my Apex that were used on my Biocube while I'm in the frag stage... It's just that tinkering with gear is so much fun!

Either way. it's very nice to see you up and running again.

 

[cpllongjk]

Oh yeah, once I'm up and running, I plan on using my BRS dosers controlled by my Apex that were used on my Biocube while I'm in the frag stage... It's just that tinkering with gear is so much fun!

Either way. it's very nice to see you up and running again.

Thanks, I have always been going but I just haven't posted any pictures or videos due to how busy I've been and honestly how ashamed I let things get in the tank department.

More than anyone I feel so awful that I bought all those nice corals only to watch die. But that happens sometimes I guess.

I agree with you tinkering is a very fun part of the hobby. You would think I would have learned my lesson in college when I did zeovit but nope! I keep making the same mistakes over and over.

Stay tuned for a few videos soon. I plan on doing a Deltec skimmer review after owning it for a year and then a few update videos. Things will look pretty grim because I want viewers to see the downside of this hobby if you don't have the proper husbandry/maintenance routine. Essentially my frag tank looks like a bone yard, lol. At this point all I can do is laugh about it, so I don't cry.

 

[sahin]

Good to see that you're back. Following.

 

[cpllongjk]

Good to see that you're back. Following.

Thanks Sahin!

I am always following your tanks. It's good to know some fellow reefers are in the same boat I'm in with the kids and aren't giving up their passion. There have been many times my wife has wanted me to give up but I tell her, would you give up your brow waxings, nails, or hair cuts? I know it's not the same but still!

Good news with the Mitras. We've been having weeks of 100+ temperatures here and a week ago it was 108 for several days straight. My tank topped out at a whopping 80.5. I really enjoy not having to worry about my temperature like I did with MH and even T5.

 

[cpllongjk]

Update. I didn't die.

Part 1

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[cpllongjk]

Update Part 2

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[Sardaukar]

Those 7206s are some sexy lights. Don't see a lot of people with the full GHL setup, looking forward to the reboot!

 

[cpllongjk]

Those 7206s are some sexy lights. Don't see a lot of people with the full GHL setup, looking forward to the reboot!

Thanks

The biggest problem I found with the Mitras is that the user base isn't as large as Radion users. One thing I love about Radions is the ability to use a well tested profile like the Coral AB+ program. Part of the reason why Ecotech has so many sales and success is someone has taken the time to do research and make their LEDs more set it and forget it. Having a lighting source where you don't have to do "testing" on your tank is huge. Part of the appeal of MH and T5s is the ability to turn on and off, in other words "simplicity." By making LEDs more simple for the average user companies will attract more buyers.

I was able to program the lights easily but knowing what % to put on each channel would take time. Luckily I found someone with a full-blown SPS tank willing to share their profile with me and tell me what they did and why. I love this profile and will modify it from here.

I have been an Apex user for nearly 11 years. I switched to GHL last year after my EB8 switches were dying after the unit was just "fixed" and the cost to "fix" the problem again was almost the same cost of a new EB8. Worst part is Neptune doesn't have a program to send you a product to replace a product... even if you give a deposit. I'm not going to bash Apex because there are many things I love about it... but there are also many things I dislike. My switch to GHL hasn't been perfect by any means. Going from Apex to GHL has a learning curve for sure and I am still learning stuff all the time. I will say this though, I had a faulty conductivity probe and Vinny@GHLUSA sent me a new one, no problem.

 

[reefmutt]

Nice set up. Looking forward to your progress.
I have a soft spot for the Mitras. Several years ago, I was an early adopter of the lights.
I installed the upgraded led pucks they came out with a year later and really liked them.
But being an old school sps addict, I went back to mh/t5/led supplemental.
One day though, I’m sure I’ll go back to leds!
The mitras are a very nice light.
I’m very curious to see how you do with them.

 

[cpllongjk]

Nice set up. Looking forward to your progress.
I have a soft spot for the Mitras. Several years ago, I was an early adopter of the lights.
I installed the upgraded led pucks they came out with a year later and really liked them.
But being an old school sps addict, I went back to mh/t5/led supplemental.
One day though, I'm sure I'll go back to leds!
The mitras are a very nice light.
I'm very curious to see how you do with them.

Thanks Reefmutt.

I started my reefer170 in Jan/Feb 2016 and upgraded to the 50 cube in Feb 2017. I was never happy with the front to back depth of the tank. I will never go less than 24" again. I originally had a reefbrite pendant with 250 radium and 2 15" xho actinic. It didn't give me the color I wanted so I switched to giesemann 250w radium with 2 blue+ and 2 actinic. Overall this combo was my favorite but summer was killer. I found a great local deal on a ATI 4 bulb hybrid so I tried it out and was very happy. But overheating was still a huge issue. My tank is in my office/man cave which is a converted garage and a big wall gets full afternoon to evening sun. This room is the hottest room in the house and so far only leds have proven to not make me run a chiller or go crazy on the AC.

So far I am very happy with the Mitras however, if there were more users then we would have more input on programming schedules. Many users like me want set it and forget it lighting. I honestly hope I don't have any more kid accidents because losing coral after coral sucks. I've tried to kid-proof my tank as much as possible but there are always things that can happen.

 

[cpllongjk]

Got an ICP test back a few weeks ago, said I had no iodine in my system. I’ve been slowly adding iodine at the recommended dose per week, roughly 3 drops per week. I usually send my test off on the first of the month and will post results via video.

On December 1st I’m actually going to convert tests from Triton ICP to ATI ICP because ATI is cheaper and will test for dKH, Nitrate, RO Sample, and a few others Triton doesn’t test for. Also ATI pays for shipping back to US shipper that sends it to Europe for testing.

 

[cpllongjk]

I apologize for the crappy iPhone video. Next time I will pull out the DSLR.

Added 2 Tunze 6095s tonight. They are only running at 50% max 6 second pulse 20% minimum right now because the MP10s are also running at 80% - 100%. I might remove the MP10s but will wait a bit to find out. I am going to be adding some more frags to the display very soon and I know they will love the added flow. Overall I would guesstimate there is somewhere in the vicinity of 6000gph with all pumps running. If I crank up the Tunzes that would go to 8500gph.

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