Spcaeheater's 30 gallon parallel fuge build

[Space heater]

Really nice looking tank! I really love the split design like that. If you want to see some experience with SPS in a nano, you can check out my thread. I've been mostly doing SPS with my tank, also because I've largely had the most success with it, and I've always been an acrohead.

I definitely understand on the GFO. With having a ball of cheato like that, I'm surprised you were running any GFO. The cheato with good lighting should out compete other nuisance algaes for nutrients. I guess you had a bigger algae problem for you to need both GFO and a fuge. Some people are finding the best way to combat algae like that is hydrogen peroxide dosing and heavy skimming. I guess you ultimately figured it out though, so that's good.

Anyway, can't wait to see the progress!

Thank you for the compliments! I will admit that a couple months ago I was getting a bit discouraged and embarrassed about the way things were going. I couldn't figure out what was going on, with algae growing, corals dying and all, but I think that I way over-reacted to just having a young tank. As far as the chaeto I've been through multiple balls, but they always died or were eaten faster than they grew until I turned off the GFO. I have also been running without filter floss and added two-part dosing. I think that the increased stability plus the higher nutrient flux have really helped this tank turn the corner.

 

[Space heater]

Following along. Worry about the stand though. The top panel does not run over the side edges and all the weight are on the braces.

I was worried about this too, so I sandwiched the center divider with 1x2's front and back that run top to bottom. I also ran 1x2's along the two other dividers inside the doors front and back. The braces are there for lateral stability, but don't carry any weight. I feel confident that this can handle the load of the tank. I'm more concerned about the floor joists in my crappy apartment, but I check the water line almost daily and so far it's still level.

 

[Space heater]

Very cool idea. I love the side by side fuge/display. Some different macros would look really cool in there. Basically a second display tank of mostly macros.

That's what I'm eventually going for, but I only just got chaeto to grow. If it keeps going for a few more months I'm going to try out some decorative macros, and maybe some interesting inverts in there.

 

[Space heater]

Fast forward 3 months and this tank has been a yo-yo. I didn't change anything, just waterchanges and trimming chaeto, and nutrients once again dropped. Corals were slowly losing their vibrance, growth slowed, etc. I started feeding heavier a couple weeks ago and everything perked up, but in the last 2 days I've had an explosion of algae. I've now got HA, dinos and massive cyano.

I'm 99% convinced that I need to move everything to holding and reboot this tank with a bare bottom and minimalist scape. There are just so many detritus traps with the rockwork right now and there's almost certainly too much sand. I really want to enjoy the corals and not be constantly fighting with balancing nutrient levels.

Right now it's really easy to clean the sump areas when I do a waterchange. The whole process takes about 45 minutes each week. I also vacuum the fuge but with a couple blue legs and a few astrea plus the new plumbing there's no appreciable accumulation in there. The display seems to be the sink and source of all the nutrient imbalance. If I run it too lean everything looks horrible, but if I bump the feedings past the tipping point it's an algae nightmare.

My hope is that by removing the sand and opening up the rocks I'll be able to keep the tank stable with waterchanges, plus it'll be easier to run the tank richer without having to constantly fight nuisance algae.

 

[Space heater]

I broke the tank down a couple days ago, moved everything to holding tanks. Right now the fish that were left are in a 10g with a HOB and about 10 lbs of live rock. Corals are in a 5g and I put all the LR and chaeto in another 5g. The only rocks I'm reusing are the ones from the fuge, since that was the only place I didn't have any nuisance algae, aiptasia, or other evil hitchhikers. They will go back into the fuge once the tank is reassembled to help cycle.

I have 25 lbs of pukani that's been soaking for 24 hrs in tap water to loosen up all the debris. I'm going to wash and scrub them tonight, then do a vinegar etch. I believe that this was a major part of my problems before. I used a combination of dry rocks, most of which was pukani, when I first set up the tank. I didn't wash or cook the rocks before setting up the tank. This time I'm going to get them as clean as possible before adding them. I'm also going bare bottom.

I gave all of the equipment a 24 hr soak in 10% vinegar and scrubbed it all clean. I'm draining the tank tonight to clean it.

What should I use to clean the tank? I have bleach, the regular old clorox, or vinegar. I'm leaning toward a good spray down with bleach followed by a thorough rinsing, letting it dry completely then doing a vinegar scrub to remove any built up calcium deposits. Any other recommendations?

 

[soeminpaing]

A barebottom is a good idea. Be sure to cure the pukani rocks. It leech phosphates since there are a lot of stuff and die off on these dry rocks. I dont like using bleach on the tank unless I have some infestation. Vinegar scrub is good enough for me. I also use large amount of hydrogen peroxide to clean the tank if I have some pest issues. How many liters per hour for your current return pump?