Terry's 180 Peninsula Reef build.

[jdantunes]

That is a beautiful acropora in the first picture. Look like it has the scales of a dragon!

Beautiful and well planned set up. I now imagine how clean everything will look when the equipment moves to the basement.

Thank you for posting the videos. I saw them on my mobile, I would like to replay them on my laptop and so I can pay more attention to them. I'm sure that I'll have a couple of questions for you after that.

How many fish and what kind are the ones you housing right now? I saw a Blue Hippo (I would love to have one, but them I'll be obligated to upgrade my 75 gallons). What other wish fish or corals you have on the list?

 

[jdantunes]

That is a great question. My wife wants me to keep it open. I have tossed around the idea of building a hollow book case (not sure if I am explaining that well), where there are three sections that are framed out in wood with shelves, but you can see through it. Most of the electronics will be downstairs, so I don't need a lot of space under there.

Listen to your wife... Keep it open. Will go with the minimalist theme.

 

[johno4]

Looks fantastic

 

[terry4505]

Water change and maintenance done and the tank is looking stellar this morning:

Tests read:

PH: 8.1
Alk: 8.5 dKH (Hanna)
Cal: 450 (Red Sea)
Mag: 1400 (Red Sea)
PO4: .04 (Hanna ULR Phosphorus)

 

[terry4505]

One of the ongoing challenges with this tank has been figuring out the flow. With the peninsula, I have struggled a bit with generating enough flow to satisfy the SPS, while not interfering with the overflow, and getting the mass of water moving towards the drain end.

I bit the bullet last night an picked up a Maxspect Gyre XF150 and Icecap Apex module. I had a Gyre on my old 120 and loved it, but with the dual megaflows on the back wall, it never really did what I needed it to do. I placed the new Gyre on the far end of the tank (something I was hoping to avoid, but now that it is there, I honestly barely notice it. I have it on pulse at about 40%, and all I can say is WOW. Maxspect upgraded the paddles, which can be seen here: http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2418285&page=83

They claim there is no improvement in flow, but I'm not sure that is true.

Jason at CF price matched BRS, so I was able to save on the shipping, and the wait, which my impatience appreciated.

Pics:

http://i1354.photobucket.com/albums/q681/terry4505/Mobile Uploads/20160220_114002_zpsmxcj3y0z.jpg

Ignore the cord hanging in the water, I had to order the extension cord from CoralVue.

 

[Gary Majchrzak]

Get rid of all that and install eductors
6ft long aquarium!
See melevs reef. Marc uses eductors.
Research 'em. There's more to them than first meets the eye.

 

[terry4505]

What I like about the Gyre that eductors lack is pulsing and wave making. I like to be able to control the flow in-tank, apart from the flow through the sump.

 

[don_chuwish]

Looks good, a few zip ties around the PVC will tidy up the cable, never see it. But I think we need video for this!

 

[terry4505]

Ask and ye shall receive:

http://vid1354.photobucket.com/albums/q681/terry4505/20160227_141841_zps8hznsijl.mp4

I half took Gary's advice and added eductors to the returns (holy crap, what a difference). I have the Gyre on about 40% on a pulse and it is almost too much flow for the LPS, but the SPS are loving it and PE has been dramatically improved.

I sold the WAV pumps and will be adding in a pair of Jebao RW-15s just for a bit of flow on the drain end, but honestly, I don't know that I need them, and will run them very low.

 

[mrpergo]

no screen top for your system or did you take it off for the video ?

 

[terry4505]

No, no tops

 

[mrpergo]

Aran Laing just lost one of his hard to find fish because it tried some hardwood floor surfing........just saying.....lol

 

[Gary Majchrzak]

eductors

eductors

a good move for so many reasons....
I would credit my success with humilis/gemmifera "thick finger" type Acro to use of eductors. They create a constant low cost unobtrusive powerful gyre

 

[terry4505]

It feels like it is time for a tank update. In general, not a lot of changes. I was lazy over my February recess (I am a teacher) and failed to move the sump to the basement. That and we got about 24 inches of snow here, which made getting the materials a bit of challenge. So the new plan is next week when I am on spring break. I have to build a stand for the countertop I am going to be using down there. When I put in the concrete counters in the kitchen, I kept the old countertop, which I am going to use in the basement for a sump stand/work space in the fish area.

My fish got absolutely crushed with ich. I don't know which fish brought it in, but it wiped out everyone except the orange spotted rabbit fish, the melanarus wrasse and the snowflake eel. I had ich in my old tank, and none of the fish were effected. I have read some things about mature tanks being better able to keep the ich under control because of the presence of so much micro fauna. With the tank being so new, the ich ran rampant. When the sump moves downstairs, I am going to set up a hospital tank, remove the fish that are in there and go fish-less for 8 weeks. I will be quarantining all new fish from here on out.

I was also experiencing a lot of browning of the SPS corals. I did a few things to deal with this... I turned up the Kessils a bit, extended the run time of the T5s, and took the bio pellet reactor off. I know you are not supposed to change a bunch of things at once, but it seems to be doing the trick. All of the brown SPS are slowly bouncing back. and all of the pieces I have added since look stellar.

Enough talking, here are some pics:

I am thoroughly enjoying the progression of this tank. Seeing new growth and color on the SPS makes me a happy boy.

 

[terry4505]

 

[Neoz]

Love the build and still can't get over how slick that light looks! Great job.

 

[terry4505]

Thanks. I am enjoying this tank as much as I ever enjoyed the old 120. I think building this one from scratch has been a really rewarding process

 

[don_chuwish]

Great that you're still enjoying it even after the ich setback. Good luck over spring break! Concrete countertops? We did the same - turned out fantastic.

 

[lwmnfrvr]

Good Morning Sir, your lighting set up is fantastic. What bulb combination are you running on your T-5's and what are the settings on your Kessil's. (I.E. color and intensity)

Have a great day.

 

[terry4505]

4 60" T5s. 2x ATI coral plus, 1x ATI Blue plus, and 1x purple plus.

Kessils start at 6am, ramp to 80% intensity, 70% color and ramp back down and go off at 10pm.

Operation move the sump to the basement, phase 1 got under way today. I built the stand, and cut the counter tops where the sump is going today:

Next step is painting the stand, screwing some plywood to the walls for hanging equipment, and plumbing the sink and sump.