Scott's 270 aka Project Mayhem

[wowkingjames]

You got some amazing corals.

 

[Scythanith]

Thank you everyone. I fragged my SI Pectina. Let's just say it was a stressful moment for me. I just cut an inch long strip off the backside with the help of my buddy that owns a good coral saw. We made some frags and I kept a larger one for me to make any future frags off of. I will never fragment the mother colony again, it was way too stressful haahaa!

Just trying to put the frags on plugs we could see this neon green pigment getting stuck in the CA glue. It really drove home how bright this coral is. And before anyone asks I am in Canada and cannot ship them to the states. Thanks!

 

[markalot]

Used three Magnesium test kits. An old Salifert, new Salifert and a new Red Sea.

Old Salifert test kit: 1065
New Salifert kit: 1305
New Red Sea kit: 1380

What the hell lol!

Same, just bought a new Salifert and measured 1350 vs 1100 using the old one. I wonder if the newer ones are bad, or the older ones bad???

 

[Scythanith]

Well since I used a brand new Red Sea kit at the same time, I tend to lean towards trusting the new Salifert more than the old one. Myka, our local SW guru also said it was her experience that the Salifert tests can drift when they get older.

 

[Scythanith]

Test time again this morning!

Ca - Hanna HI758

426ppm - Test 1: Old reagent (exp 11/16)
432ppm - Test 2: New reagent (exp 03/18)
433ppm - Test 3: Same reagent as above

Alk - HI755

130ppm - Test 1: Old reagent (exp 03/16)!!!
154ppm - test 2: New reagent (can't remember exp, but it's new)
153ppm - Test 3: Same reagent as above

Mg - RedSea Magnesium Pro Kit

1380ppm

Phos - Red Sea Phosphate Pro Kit

0.02 - 0.04ppm

NO3 - Red Sea Nitrate Pro Kit

32ppm!!!!!

So obviously I haven't been keeping up on my water changes, look at those nitrates! I think it's having a detrimental effect on some of my corals. So I did a ~40g water change and I have another one mixing as we speak. I may do a 40g change every couple days to try and drive those nitrates down. If I do a 40g change every two days for a week that will be approx. 38% water change.

Second point of this post, check your reagent expiry dates I think that was part of my issue with my parameters seeming funky for the last couple months.

 

[LA-Lawman]

awesome tank build! very well thought out!!

I have some questions. Have you kept a journal of equip failures and frustrations... one that you wouldn't mind sharing. I have been out of the hobby for a few years due to divorce work/military/kids.. lol so i see a ton of new tech in there, similar but new... and would love the rundown.

DC return pumps? wow... very interested
your AWC system.... any frustrations?
your sump... is there a water change chamber [pre-determined volume] that you just open a drain and boom... done?

have you automated skimmer neck cleaning? is it a wet neck type design?

what equip would you change now....?

thanks for a great thread... makes me want to build another beast.!!!

 

[Scythanith]

I have an excel sheet that is kind of my go to records of dosing adjustments, major issues, etc. I guess I could make a dropbox folder with the file in it if people really wanted to read it. It's nothing special lol.

DC return pumps are dialed to the perfect flow rate for my corals. They are more efficient than the conventional old pumps. Plus if I want to I can have my profilux control the pumps as well. Say to ramp up during a thunderstorm or down for a feeding pause.

AWC system, no frustrations, just getting the plumbing all in place to transfer water To be honest I don't have it fully operational yet but it's due to laziness not complexity.

Sump, there are two sump. The top one is my integrated frag system that utilizes the flow coming back from the main tank so I don't have to use powerheads. The main return does its loop back to the display tank. The only water that overflows down to the lower sump is what is being pumped up to the top sump from the bottom DC pump which feeds the manifold for all the reactors. The bottom sump has three main chambers, and each chamber has a drain on the bottom of it which dumps into a floor drain. Plus there is a last backup emergency drain that in case all the power drops then the water will not overflow from anything, no water on the floor!

No neck cleaning on the skimmer still done old school. It's a BK Double Cone 250 with a speedy RD3 pump. Another DC pump that I can dial down to the most appropriate power level.

Right now what would I change....

If money wasn't an issue I'd get a large custom Reefbrite LED/T5 hybrid. Also another RD system over my frag tank. I don't know if it would be better than my current setup, but it would look better lol!

Maybe have a professional design out my manifold and reactor system a little better. I don't like the soft vinyl tubing, looks a little messy.

I'd still like to find a more elegant setup for the dosing tubing.

I'm sure there are more things but that's all I can think of now

Thanks for the questions!

 

[Scythanith]

Hello All,

I recently had a large rtn/stn event and I couldn't figure it out. It started on one coral (not new to the system and spread out from that point like a wild fire. Currently the death has stopped, seemingly confused by a large encrusted sunset montipora. But up to that point it eradicated a bunch of Acropora sp. and a M. setosa. As far as all my tests told me my numbers were all in the wheelhouse. I also use a microscope professionally and could not see any unwanted pests on the corals I removed from the system. I only observed a magnificent foxface picking at the dead skeletons once algae started to grow on them. A bit of background info:

I use all Tropic Marin products (TM Bio Actif Sea Salt, TM Bailing 3-part, TM K+ & A- Elements)
I guess that's a lie, I also dose Zeovit Pohl's Xtra
I use GHL dosers to deliver the dosing (recently re-calibrated since the death started. They were only off by 5ml/min)
RO/DI system testing 12ppm on the clean side (I know I need to change the cartridges and the DI resin is pretty spent)
I do a ~45g water change every 2 weeks
I use Hanna Alk, Ca & PO4 handheld testers
I use Red Sea Pro Test kits for Mg, NO3 & PO4

My corresponding kits test results vary quite a bit in the Ca (478ppm) and Mg (1260ppm). I performed the tests at the same time as drawing the water for the Triton vials (or at least within 10 minutes).

So Triton says I am way low on Ca (323 mg/l), high on Mg (1449 mg/l), and have dangerous levels of Boron & Molybdenum. The test mentioned Mo can cause cyano, and I do have a little patch of it in the back section of the tank. So what do you all think I should do? Where is my Boron coming from?

 

[dave.m]

You could also check after dark with a red light for hidden predators, but if there seem to be none I would verify your salt mix (in case of a bad batch) and then start doing large water changes.

Dave.M

 

[Scythanith]

Thanks Dave The issue started near an end of a pail and I always take a new pail and pour the salt between two pails a couple times to ensure it's well mixed. But that's not to say it wasn't that pail and it took the majority of the pail to elevate the numbers.

I'm always staring at my tank in the dark lol! Nothing to report at night, at least that I can see.

I went into water change mode when I started noticing the issue, and had done three 45g changes over the course of a week. I am up at work for a 10 days now and will get home next tuesday and will test again and start with the WC's again.

 

[ADVRESOURCE]

Do you test your water before adding to your DT? I've heard of bacteria growth in replacement water could be detrimental and a uv sterilizer should be used for a while before use in water changes. Was the mix consistent with other mixes. Example-time of mix and complete dissolution of salts? Keep us posted on your findings.

 

[Scythanith]

Yep they all get two days in the mixing tank. There is definitely some film growth on the inside of the mixing tank, especially since I started using the Bio Actif salt. But, I have been using the same salt for 2 years. The chemicals have not changed, same lighting. I started feeding some New Era food a while back.

I haven't actually tested the new salt water in ages. But a friend already recommended I mix up a big batch of TM Salt and send off some samples to get Triton tested. I am going to do that when I get home.

 

[ADVRESOURCE]

Test Ro too for bacteria and tds.

 

[Scythanith]

RO was a 12 TDS. I just changed everything out (aside from the actual RO membrane) and now am getting 2 TDS. I just cleaned the water change reservoir and the cartridges so I don't know if testing for bacteria would show anything. I should have done that before!

I found an organization that can do the testing for me. They are the go to service for animal autopsies in the province and do all sorts of culturing and testing. But the death edge has stopped moving through the tank and I am afraid I have missed my window to test.

 

[Scythanith]

I sent a fresh made new salt water sample to Triton as well. Cleaned out my mixing container and changed out my RODI cartridges so it should be a pretty legitimate representative sample. Looking forward to those test results. As well I bought a different (Salifert) Ca test and it was definitely more in line with the Triton results for Ca. So I have been boosting my Ca with ~1.25l of the Part A mixture for the last three evenings and had it up to ~365ppm before I had to take off for work. I will be gone for a couple weeks now so I will get my wife to mix it up for me and dose it to continue raising it.

 

[Scythanith]

I also started up my ozone generator. ORP has gone from 180 to about 215 with ~150mg/hr concentration running for 3 hours a day.

 

[Scythanith]

Used my stemi 2000-C to catch a couple close up pics. Found a new acro problem...

Red Bug

People Eater

Rainbow chalice

Space Invader Pectina

 

[jrpdriver]

I think the pic that you captioned "redbug" is a flatworm

 

[Nick James]

Great build Scott. I have fish room envy. I'll be borrowing some layout/ plumbing ideas from you for my upcoming build!

 

[Scythanith]

Not a problem Nick. Things I'd change thinking of it quickly would be having the RO & NSW reservoirs in the same room. it would make plumbing them into the system for water changes easier.

I abandoned the ozone reactor, carbon is simpler and has less places for failure.

And in a perfect world I'd have a large segmented, independently filtered/heated quarantine system for corals and fish.