The Electric Reef Project v2

[overexposed]

I've been holding off on starting a thread here about my new project. I don't know why... but figured it's about time. Created a thread on my local reefing forum when I started the project a few months ago.

First I'll start off with some background to the project. I got into the hobby a couple years ago after I was introduced to and mesmerized by captive SPS corals. I knew that someday I wanted to have a big show tank like Steve Weast or Ralf Prehn, but I also knew that I had a lot to learn and that it would be a while before I owned a place where I could build something for the long term (was renting a townhouse at the time). So with those two things in mind I decided to start off by setting up a 90 gallon "nano" geared towards SPS with bright lights, strong flow and a bare bottom. I did a bunch of research into what kind of light spectrum corals like, and having some hobby electronics experience in my back pocket I decided to build a DIY LED fixture that was I struggled with for many reasons, for quite some time. I also struggled to keep nitrates low for much of the lifetime of this tank. After having the tank setup for about 6 months I ended up buying a home with my girlfriend - much much sooner than I ever expected! So I moved the 90 gallon and have had it running for the past year and a half. There are a few threads on this forum about that tank that I ultimately let die off if anyone is curious about it.

Flash forward to September. We decide that it is time to upgrade our hot water heater, it is too small and we are always running out of hot water. Our house also happens to be heated by a boiler system and hot water radiators, so we decide to look at tankless boiler/hot water combo systems, and ended up having one installed. This freed up an entire room in our basement! And seeing as we had a horribly laid out basement with an extra kitchen that we did not need whatsoever, we decided to gut the basement and properly finish it. Around this time I also discovered that the plumbing for my 90 gallon was leaking, and after inspection realized that I would need to empty it so that I could move it away from the wall to fix it. With a little bit of smooth talking, I convinced my lady that if I had to drain the tank anyways, it only made sense to upgrade to a bigger tank - and build that tank into the wall of our new living room!

And so started the never ending, no compromise project. More details to come soon, I'm getting yelled at for not working....

 

[overexposed]

Ok so, here's some deets regarding the project.

Old basement layout:

Post demolition layout:

New basement layout: (not yet there... working on it lol)

The tank I had custom made is 205 gallons (actual volume based on internal dims), 72x30x24 inches, and features an external semi coast to coast overflow. I say semi because it is two long notches out of the glass, and a little bit at the sides as well as in the middle was left touching the euro brace.
The drawings I got from the manufacturer:

And the actual tank after it arrived:

 

[overexposed]

After a year and a half of using LEDs on the 90, I was beginning to have success.... but one day I noticed that about 1/3 of the diodes were burnt out [emoji37]. So I said eff it and put up 3x 250w MH pendants. Man did my corals look brown at first, but within weeks they were looking more colourful and throwing out significant growth! Now I'm hooked on MH. So that's what I'm using for the new tank as well.... except I've upgraded to 400 watt bulbs and added VHO Super Actinics. My reasoning for the 400 watt upgrade was simple: in all of the TOTM articles I've read, all of the tanks that I liked seemed to use 400 watt. So that was that, decision done. I'm of the mindset that this is not a hobby where making choices based on potential cost savings is helpful - whatever choices you make, they will all end up bleeding you dry one way or another! For reflectors I went with 2x Lumenarc 3s that I got used from a local reefer, and a full size Hamilton Cabo Sun which has the exact same dimensions as the LA3 and almost identical geometry. I made a rack out of aluminum angle to house them, and hung it using airline cable attached to a winch and run through pulleys with the goal of being able to raise and lower the lights whenever I need to get my arms in the tank.

And a few weeks later the vho bulbs are installed... had to find a source for 72 inch bulbs first:

 

[trueblackpercula]

OMG tell us more

 

[overexposed]

As you can see above, the tank is now up and running. I did the transfer last week. I just placed all the rocks on the sand until I get the courage to aquascape, I have a lot of encrusted corals that require me to be very careful when moving things around.

Here's a full equipment list...

Lights:
-3x 400w metal metal halide, XM 15k bulbs on M59 ballasts
-2x 160 watt UVL Super Actinics on an Icecap 660 ballast
Skimmer: SWC Extreme 250 with retrofit Bubble Blaster 5000
Return pump: Mag 18
Flow:
-2x Tunze 6105 on a 7092 controller
-Tunze 6215 wavebox
Doser: GHL 3 channel for Tropic Marin Balling Light additives and trace elements
Dosing Containers: 3x Bubble Magus 2.5L containers
Top off Pump: BRS Topoff Doser
Reactors:
-TLF 550 for GFO, running off return manifold
-Vertex 1.5 RXu for biopellets, running off return manifold
-Beananimal 1.5 inch drain
-Dual 1.5 inch returns at front of tank
-40 breeder sump

And some other random pictures from the build process...

 

[overexposed]

And some livestock pics from after the transfer...

 

[overexposed]

OMG tell us more

Haha my thread didn't refresh to show this until now. Thats about all I have to say for the moment - anything else you would like to know, just ask

Fish...
-Regal Tang
-Sailfin Tang
-Kole Tang
-2x Ocellaris Clownfish
-3x Lyretail Anthias
-Comet Grouper aka Marine Betta
-Blue/green Chromis

LPS...
-Aussie Branching Duncan
-Orange Crush Echinata
-Two-face Frogspawn

SPS...
-Yellow/green Caroliniana
-My Pet Monster Humilis
-DV Candlelight
-DV Limeade
-Hulk Aculeus
-RR Orange Passion
-Tyree Pink Lemonade
-DV Banana Tabler
-DV Sunset Mille
-Indestructible Green Acro
-Big Red Acro
-Red Convexa
-Fire and Ice Prostrata
-Strawberry Shortcake
-Mystery Blue Tabler
-Unknown fat purple acro
-Vivids Rainbow Delight
-Crayola Plana
-Yellow Efflo
-Pink and Green Poccilipora
-Sour Apple Birdsnest
-M. Setosa
-Green M. Capricornis
-Red M. Capricornis
-Purple M. Digitata
-Superman M. Digitata
-Orange M. Digitata
-Encrusting Sunset Monti
-possibly more that I've forgotten about....

 

[overexposed]

Knew I would forget some... more sps:
-A. Loripes
-Cobalt Tort
-ORA Red Planet
-Hawkins Echinata

 

[teebone110]

Great to see you finally started your thread, its about time

I'm really liking how things are coming together, well thought out and designed

You have set yourself up for a future TOTM, can't wait!

 

[Pife]

Your tank looks great. It looks like you do quality work too.

 

[glaukos]

Great job overexposed!
Can't wait for that sps list to grow,you have some nice pieces in there!

 

[overexposed]

Great to see you finally started your thread, its about time

I'm really liking how things are coming together, well thought out and designed

You have set yourself up for a future TOTM, can't wait!

Your tank looks great. It looks like you do quality work too.

Great job overexposed!
Can't wait for that sps list to grow,you have some nice pieces in there!

Thanks a lot guys

 

[jroovers]

The progress you've made over the past couple of months is incredible, this is going to be one amazing coral growing machine of a system

Forget Canada or even SW Ontario, there are a few builds here that are going to put London, Ontario on the SPS reefkeeping map!

 

[k4ndyk1ng]

This is beautiful

 

[overexposed]

The progress you've made over the past couple of months is incredible, this is going to be one amazing coral growing machine of a system

Forget Canada or even SW Ontario, there are a few builds here that are going to put London, Ontario on the SPS reefkeeping map!

You're too kind Jordan - only time will tell! We are in a bit of an SPS hotbed here in London aren't we? I presume the other builds which you are referring to are Teebone's EPIC build and your own little hipster build as Darryl calls it (lol) - are there any others that the good folks of RC need to be aware of?

This is beautiful

Thank you sir! Your tank looks like it has nice potential as well.

 

[sahin]

Great build. Look forward to the corals colouring up under the halide.

 

[overexposed]

Great build. Look forward to the corals colouring up under the halide.

Thanks mate

 

[overexposed]

SPS...
-Yellow/green Caroliniana
-My Pet Monster Humilis
-DV Candlelight
-DV Limeade
-Hulk Aculeus
-RR Orange Passion
-Tyree Pink Lemonade
-DV Banana Tabler
-DV Sunset Mille
-Indestructible Green Acro
-Big Red Acro
-Red Convexa
-Fire and Ice Prostrata
-Strawberry Shortcake
-Mystery Blue Tabler
-Unknown fat purple acro
-Vivids Rainbow Delight
-Crayola Plana
-Yellow Efflo
-Pink and Green Poccilipora
-Sour Apple Birdsnest
-M. Setosa
-Green M. Capricornis
-Red M. Capricornis
-Purple M. Digitata
-Superman M. Digitata
-Orange M. Digitata
-Encrusting Sunset Monti
-possibly more that I've forgotten about....

Knew I would forget some... more sps:
-A. Loripes
-Cobalt Tort
-ORA Red Planet
-Hawkins Echinata

I remembered about two more beauties:
-Red Dragon
-ORA Pearlberry

That should be the complete list now.

As for a build update, I have a couple things of note to touch on.

DENITRIFICATION
I've always struggled to keep nitrates low in my system, most likely because I like feeding my fish a lot. Whenever I have tried feeding less, it has induced aggression - mainly on the part of my Blue Tang... that Dory is SUCH a bully! Peaceful species my *** lol, she leaves huge gashes in the side of my female clown when underfed.

I have contemplated many different methods for denitrification in the new tank.... big fuge with macro algae, biopellets, denitrator, RDSB. I ran pellets on the 90 gallon for a year and a half starting in September 2013, and frankly they never seemed to do anything. I tried using various amounts and the nitrates just never came down. It could be the case that they stopped my nitrates from climbing any higher after I put them online, but they certainly didn't lower them. On the other hand, they didn't seem to hurt either, so I never took them offline.

But for the new tank, I have decided to try out a sulfur denitrator - the Korralin Bio-Denitrator 1502. I will repurpose the pellet reactor for carbon, which I had previously been running passively in mesh bag. My reasons for choosing the sulfur reactor are that it seems relatively low maintenance once you have your nitrates reduced to the desired maintenance level and you have the reactor tuned in to process exactly the amount of nitrate produced in the system on a daily basis. Might take a month or two to get to that state but then I'm hoping smooth sailing. I haven't tested my nitrates in about 3-4 months so I'm not entirely sure where I am sitting right now but my guess is 15 - 20 ish.

Got the denitrator hooked up last night, turned it on, and now it is running wide open while I am away for the next few days - to let water saturate the material and flush bubbles out. Then I'll start tuning it in to the recommended 1-2 drops per second and let the cycling begin.

RODI
My RODI unit has always been precariously sitting on top of my washing machine and jerry rigged to drain into my laundry tub. I am now proud to say that I have it neatly installed beside my fish tank above a 50 gallon freshwater reservoir, and the wastewater output is tied directly into one of my sanitary drain lines. I have a solenoid connected to a timer which gives the unit 2 hours each night to fill the reservoir. At one point I tried having my RODI hooked up directly to the float valve on my reservoir, but I found that in the first few seconds of running the unit I see very high TDS water entering the DI chamber. This was causing my DI resin to deplete fairly quick, which is why I now use the solenoid on a timer. I've been doing it this way for a good six+ months now and it seems to be working well.

NEXT STEPS
-Need to get more rock sometime over the next few weeks and start scaping
-Still need to hang the electronics and organize my equipment. I'm kind of half waiting to see if I get a performance bonus from work this year (in which case I will get an Apex), half just busy with other stuff slash lazy lol... more important things to take care of in the middle of renovating!

That's all for now, happy reefing everyone.

 

[sahin]

Icefire Echinata absolutely must be on the list!

 

[sahin]

20 or 30K Lokani as well...