sfdan's 400 gallon SPS peninsula

[sfdan]

And now for the aquascaping. The goal here was to directly solve 2 problems listed early on in the thread:

Problem: Rocks are too close to the aquarium sides
Problem: Rocks aren't where the lights are

These actually served as useful constraints because after reading tons of pages in the aquascaping thread and watching a few videos about aquascaping you really see all the potential options and it seemed really hard to even figure out where to start.

But I just focused on my constraints and kept it simple. I put marks on the ceiling where the 4 MH lights are going to be, and wanted to make sure there was tons of surface area underneath those at varying heights.

And fortunately in my pukani dry rock I had a few giant rocks with flat surfaces, that essentially did all the work for me. It was just a matter of using the other rocks to prop them up so they had the orientation I wanted. No epoxy or superglue or anything, but everything is super solid.

I thought about making some complicated caves or fancy stuff, but frankly there are so many just normal natural arches, caves and nooks and crannies in the rock I didn't feel like I needed to do any extra work. I guess that is the advantage of having 225 pounds of pukani rock.

It was also a large constraint to keep everything 6" from the sides, but I know in the future that is going to really help me when I need to clean the glass and that will also help with flow and open space for fish to swim.

The pictures didn't do a great job of capturing the look of the rockwork but they get the general point across. And it is going to start looking a lot better when there are SPS corals growing all over the place!

And now with the tank filled, plumbing perfected, then drained, cleaned and filled with rocks, it is time for the RO/DI to crank away and fill this tank up for real, which should take anywhere from 3-5 days on my 150 GPD unit depending on how accurate that is.

 

[sfdan]

And we are cycling.

I wanted to wait until I got the sand added before putting in the ammonia, so I got:

90 pounds of Tropic Eden Reef Flakes
90 pounds of Tropic Eden Meso Flakes
30 pounds of the Tropic Eden Miniflakes

My goal with the Tropic Eden was to get a bit larger of a grain size than I had in my current tank (which was Caribsea Special Grade), so it doesn't blow around too much when I crank the flow up. I got the Miniflakes just to get more of a variety of grain size, but it is so much smaller I'm quite sure it will all just settle to the bottom and I could have easily not gotten it.

Anyways, I think mission accomplished, the Reef flakes and Meso flakes (which BTW I couldn't tell the difference between them) are very large, but still looks like sand to me. Couldn't have been happier with the Tropic Eden sand, especially in comparison to my existing Caribsea Special Grade. I know my Pistol Shrimp and watchman goby will appreciate the larger size as it pertains to their burrow engineering.

The tank also was only cloudy for a few hours after putting all the sand in, which of course didn't matter because the tank is empty but was still notable for how little dust their was. I did rinse it a couple times in RO/DI water but it was a very minor rinsing.

So then to start the cycle I added in 35 mL of Ace Hardware Ammonia, which is 10% ammonium hydroxide by volume and that amount should have raised my tank to about 2 PPM. I tested with the test kit before and after adding the Ammonia and the level went from 0 to something around 2, so mission accomplished there as well.

In lieu of seeding the tank with rocks from my existing system, which has a Dino problem, I'm getting a bin of the Walt Smith Fiji Mud and I'm going to put that in the sump to help just start the bacteria. I'm also going to be ordering a variety of "mud" like products from every single company that exists to try and ramp up the biodiversity in the tank to hopefully prevent the dreaded Dinos from getting a foothold in this tank when they inevitably migrate over from my current tank.

Fortunately I'm not in any rush, so if the cycle takes 3 weeks or 6 weeks that isn't a huge issue for me. Still much more to do anyways, like getting the lighting set up.

 

[sfdan]

As I figured out in this thread, the lighting is gonna be 4 MHs and 12 T5s. I already have all the ballasts ands kits, it is just a matter of putting it together.

Right now I'm laying everything out and finalizing the design. I think it is going to involve some custom cutouts on my CNC machine to get the T5s angled just right. But for now, very simple as I'm laying it out...

One other key aspect is how to move the lights out of the way. I originally was planning to use a linear actuator to move it up and down, but realized since the tank is out in the open, it is just easier to have it on rails and just roll it back and forth.

So I got some 8 foot aluminum trail racks from McMaster-Carr that have these little rollers on top. I got the heavy duty rollers that can support 300 pounds because I like overkill.

Once the whole system is setup I'll have more details and pictures, but my plan as of now will be to suspend the canopy from the track rails with some 6" bolts, and I'll have some knobs which can (very slowly) raise or lower the canopy. And then when I need to move it out of the way I'll just push it to one side or the other.

 

[marioensf]

Nice to see some halides, in San Francisco, as in PG&E loves halides!

 

[Doc_B]

I’m in the planing phase with my 400gal. Mine will be 72x48x30. I like that you went with the peninsula style. I’m goin to do that with mine. Also how big is our sump? Love to see more of this as it progresses.

 

[Whiskylen]

Following along this is looking good


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[sfdan]

And now to finish up the lighting update.

The basic construction is 3/4" plywood in 4 sections with gaps in between. The gaps in the middle are where the halides go.

Turning it over and looking top down, you see all the halides can move back forth so I can position them exactly where I want, and then I used some T-track, a bolt and little knobs and can lock them into place once they are where I want them.

For the T5s I was planning some fancy angled lighting where the lights towards the outside were pointed more in the middle, but it turns out the retrofit kit has reflectors which attach to the bulb, so I can just point the reflectors whoever I want. So it simply was a matter of wiring them up.

And then doing it for all 6 pairs

Then with all of that done, I just had to lift it up onto the light tracks:

And then the real key was what to do about the wiring? I came up with a solution that worked really well. All the wires (10 total -- 4 for the halides, 6 for the pairs of T5s) go along these two pivoting arms. And then in the middle of the arms is a torque hinge which wants to hold the arms in place, which serves to hold the canopy in place as I move it forwards and backwards.

All that is left is to put some sides on the canopy and then paint the outside, all things which I'm going to do in place while it is hanging over the tank.

I could have the lights on right now, but I'm not planning on turning them on until the ATS is installed, which I've still yet to receive (but hopefully is coming in the next few weeks).

 

[sfdan]

I'm in the planing phase with my 400gal. Mine will be 72x48x30. I like that you went with the peninsula style. I'm goin to do that with mine. Also how big is our sump? Love to see more of this as it progresses.

Earlier in the thread I talk about the sump in more detail but it is 72" x 28" wide x 20" high, with an operating volume of about 120 gallons and a total volume of about 175.

Especially as I finish up all the plumbing I can say the U-turn style is working really well. Highly recommended for a peninsula tank.

 

[ycnibrc]

Nice looking forward seeing the progress of your tank

 

[sfdan]

Been a while since the last update, but actually very little has happened in the tank until today (which I'll get into).

I didn't talk about it in the initial post since it wasn't a problem back then, but basically my old 120 gallon tank was taken over by dinoflagellates. And when I started making progress against the dinos with higher nutrient levels and UV, then algae started to take over. And due to some of the problems with the tank setup (very hard to clean, undersized sump limiting equipment, etc), it just wasn't easy to deal with the algae or the dinos. And especially knowing I was making this new tank, I didn't put my full effort into the fight. It has been sad as most of my SPS died, but all the fish are a fine and a few very hardy SPS are still holding in there.

So my chief concern with the new tank is making sure dinos don't take over. So there are a lot of facets in this battle.

1. Make sure nitrates and phosphates don't ever hit 0. I have 2 dosing pumps setup that will dose phosphates or nitrates to keep the levels up (if necessary). Currently Nitrates are >10 and Phosphates are 0.06, so neither is on but both are ready to go if necessary.

2. Have UV running. This actually worked out really nicely, because my original plan was to have 2 returns powered by two different pumps (on two different circuits), so in case one pump breaks or a GFCI gets triggered, I've still got return flow. So one return pump just goes straight to the tank, and the other pump powers a manifold, which goes to the media reactor, the ATS and then the UV sterilizers. Both the ATS and UV sterilizers have flow monitoring so I can dial in the exact flow I want. The UV units are 2 57 watt AquaUV units connected together (you can see them in the lower left):

3. Have an Algae Turf Scrubber going. This is the main reason for the delay, as I've been waiting for a very long time to get my Turbo Aquatics L8 unit, which I finally got on Friday. I wanted this going because I want a means of nutrient export that is dino-proof. This is important because since the main defense against Dinos is a higher nutrient level, I want to feed heavily and keep nutrient levels up, but I don't want them to get out of control and lead to algae to take over the tank. Why not just grow macro algae in a refugium? Well, dinos will happily grow in a low-flow refugium, so you get the good with the bad. In my experience, dinos can't grow in an ATS because the flow rates are just too high, so you get all the good algae without any of the bad.

So while it was hard to be patient, I just did not want to start the tank until I got the ATS in place so I at least had the tools to fight the initial algae outbreaks.

The wait was very tough, but I was not disappointed when the ATS eventually arrived. Turbo Aquatics makes some high qualify equipment, and though I had planned for its dimensions and everything, it was still nice to see it fit perfectly where I wanted it.

 

[sfdan]

Now while I was waiting for the final piece of equipment I did finish up some stuff outside the tank. I finished and painted the canopy a nice blue-gray, and build all the cabinet doors. I'm still sanding and finishing all of the doors, but thus far I've got 6/12 done and installed and I'm quite happy with the look of the maple doors on the mahogany stand.

But who cares about the outside? The real fun is the inside part. And for the first time, there is a fish in the new tank!

With the delay I've been getting all my fish used to the aqua medic fish trap by feeding them in it every day for weeks. So when the time came to move over the first fish, my lawnmower blenny, it was quite easy. The only real trouble was having to wait out the other fish so *only* the lawnmower blenny was in the trap.

After trapping him I gave a bit of a drip acclimation, but since I know the salinity of both tanks are exactly the same I don't think it was all that necessary. However I did want to transfer as little tank water as possible so as to minimize the dino transfer, so there were multiple stages of containers in between the old tank and the new tank.

All in all the process didn't seem too stressful, and within a few hours the Lawnmower Blenny seems to be enjoying the new larger confines, perching and eating.

I'll give him a few days in there alone just to ensure there isn't anything terribly wrong with the new tank, but after that checks off I'll continue transferring the fish over.

I'll probably have to take down the old tank to get the watchman goby, but the scooter dragonets, kole tang and wrasse have all been eating out of the trap so I hopefully can catch them pretty easily when the time comes.

 

[Sisterlimonpot]

Very nice, I had to scan that last photo a few times to finally see the goby... if it was a snake, he would've bit me!! hehe

 

[sfdan]

Very nice, I had to scan that last photo a few times to finally see the goby... if it was a snake, he would've bit me!! hehe

The iphone camera takes a lot of the blame for that, I took like 5 different pictures and this one where I held a white light up the tank was really the only one where you could even see him.

In person he is a little easier to spot, but still blends in quite well. Relatively lifeless dry rock about the perfect camouflage for a lawnmower blenny.

 

[sfdan]

Today I moved the kole tang over, and I didn't even have to put food in the trap. I put the trap into the old aquarium and the tang swam right in, so that was easy.

After a few hours of getting used to the new tank, the tang is chowing down on the algae which is starting to grow. He also is spending a little bit of energy attacking the lawnmower blenny, but at this point nothing too terrible. This is a continuation of the fight from the last tank, but with the extra room it seems like things are better. I was a little concerned with moving the tang over so early as it is the most aggressive fish, but I wanted to get the herbivores in there first to help eat the first waves of algae. The tang never seemed to have any issue with all the other fish so hopefully there wont be any problems when I move them over.

But speaking of the algae, as the first waves are starting to grow on the rocks, sand and glass, I was starting to get paranoid about dinoflagellates. Theoretically I know I shouldn't be worried, both the nitrates and phosphates are at "good" levels (10+ and 0.05 respectively) and I've got 100 watts of UV, but I was paranoid nonetheless. So I scraped a little bit of the growing algae and put it under the scope, and this is what I saw:

No dinos! I'm not exactly sure what type of microalgae this is, I assume it is some type of diatom, but no dinos were to be found. As a bonus both the lawnmower blenny, kole tang and the few snails in the tank seem to be eating it.

So this is a very positive start. I'm not at all concerned about microalgae growth as I've got the huge scrubber ready to soak up the nutrients, so what I want to see is microalgae growth without any dino growth, and that's exactly what I have so far. Hopefully this continues.

 

[Sisterlimonpot]

I can see how using a microscope helps aid in identifying nuisance algae. I'm curious as to what dinos look like under a microscope, it's obvious that you can discern between the different ones.. please educate this guy.

 

[sfdan]

I can see how using a microscope helps aid in identifying nuisance algae. I'm curious as to what dinos look like under a microscope, it's obvious that you can discern between the different ones.. please educate this guy.

I think this site is the best for showing what dinos look like under the scope: http://www.algaeid.com/identification/

They are really quite easy to spot once you know what they look like, mostly because as far as I've seen they are the only large single celled things that move around.

 

[sfdan]

What a long project this has been, but I think from the equipment perspective it is essentially done.

The calcium reactor, a Geo 624, has been installed. As of right now I'm leaving my CO2 tank/regulator on my old aquarium because there is no demand right now, but that will probably be moved over in a matter of weeks.

And then the thing I've been waiting for a long time, automated alkalinity monitoring. I was originally going to wait for the Neptune Trident, but given how uncertain the timing is on the product, not to mention no reviews of how well it works, I decided to go with an Alkatronic. The more I read about the product the more I liked it, and overall I have to say I'm very pleased with it. It performs the tests consistently, and after a few little tweaks, very accurately. The software could be a little more polished, and it isn't quite plug and play, but those things don't really bother me.

Time will tell if it can holds the consistency and continues to operate reliably, but so far, so good. I've got it running tests every 8 hours right now which seems to be a good interval.

 

[sfdan]

Well that was a fun last month and a half.

The dinos started to take over the tank and I became concerned that even having a good battle plan, I still was losing. And then it got worse and worse and thinks were looking very dicey. I was also very confused as to why my UV sterilizer was not working in killing the ostreopsis dinos which it certainly should have been.

Then I realized that I just wasn't putting enough flow through the UV sterilizers to make a big enough impact. At the time I was pushing about 600 gph of flow through 114 watts of UV sterilizer and the dinos were taking over. Then I upgraded that to 1000 gph of flow. Dinos still taking over. Then I bought another UV sterilizer and put that on my backup/manifold return and upgraded that pump from an SP4 to an SP6. So at this point I had 1000gph of flow going through 114 watts of UV sterilizer, and ~600 gph through another 57 watt UV sterilizer.... and success! The ostreopsis dinos started to die off, and within a week there was barely any trace of them.

Additionally I started dosing silica to encourage diatom growth. Currently I dose about 0.3ppm of silica per day. Diatoms not only directly compete with dinos (and hopefully outcompete them), but they are also food for all my herbavores and help support a pod population.

If you have a dino problem, just search my history as I've posted a lot of advice to other people now that I'm somewhat of an expert in beating them. There also is a big thread on the other forum which I'm an active contributor to and probably has the most up to date information about beating dinos. But based on my experience I do believe that the only proven methods are nutrient control (keeping nitrates and phosphate levels elevated), UV sterilizer (for certain strains) and silica dosing.

It is kind of weird having won the battle again dinos because they basically consumed my reefing life for many months, but now with them vanquished I've recently been getting to the fun aspects of reefing. Adding corals! Adding fish! Watching corals grow!

Pictures coming up...

 

[sfdan]

The Scooter Dragonets were getting a little skinny in the old tank that was decimated by dinos, which was killing all the microfauna. Now they are fattened up again and back to mating. Last night was the first time I saw the female actually release eggs at the end of the mating dance (I'm sure it has happened before but I'd not seen it).

 

[sfdan]

The newest addition was a Bicolor Blenny. I was looking to add more herbivores, and I knew the Bicolor Blenny was a voracious eater of algae and also had a good personality. What I did not know was that they sometimes nip at SPS. And of course in the second day he is in the tank, I saw him take a giant bite out of my forest fire digitata.

So that is very concerning, but in the past couple days he hasn't taken anymore bites out of corals and has been dutifully eating lots of algae. Hopefully he did not like the taste of corals, but I'm going to keep an eye on this one. I really like his personality a lot, so I'll even allow him to eat as many montiporas as he wants. But if he starts nipping on acros, that is going to be a ticket out of the tank (assuming I can catch him).