Wow, I can't believe it's been over 2 months since I last checked in. Travel and other hobbies have kept me out of the fish room, so no worthwhile updates to report. Things have settled down on the other fronts and I should be able to get in aquarium project days on a regular basis this fall. Plan to order the first livestock this weekend-- just a couple of fish and hermits to finish the cycle in the coral QT.
my coral qt is fed from the DT by slow drip so the chemistry is the same, as well as the lighting, it's set up as individual shallow trays for isolation of new arrivals and ease of maintenance, the trays are submersed in a tank to control temperature, and overflow into the sink drain. The 180g tank they sit in is used for large fish qt
Wonderful setup, Elliott. Your shallow trays to break up the bigger tank are a great idea, and of course I'm a big fan of maintaining QT water quality parity by having a regular feed from the display.
Perhaps you could use a par meter to help you to light frags in such a way as to prepare them for where you plan to put them in the display tank.
Dave.M
Yes, that is the plan. Since the first additions will be less demanding and placed near the bottom of the display tank, I will dial back the coral QT lights to deliver about 100 par to the first batch of additions.
I was originally going with those lights first but Ecoexotic told me they were to powerful for my display tank. They more or less suggested the elliptical pendants for my tank. Great updates.
Thanks,
Newbie Aquarist. Yeah, the pendants over the coral QT are definitely oversized. I would guess they are best paired with a 36" deep tank. But I already had them on hand, and can dim them down to appropriate output.
Everything is going great! Question? And what caused the decision to drain the mine in the center of the tank? Design? Or something else ....?
Hi Aleks677. Yes, the center drain was mostly a design decision. Also a touch of functional in that I'm thinking it should be easier to set up a gyre in the tank without one corner being notched out for an overflow.
Great looking setup. Great attention to detail, when are we going to see pictures of FISH!? Lol
I should have a picture of a green chromis or two for you next week
Amazing. Just curious but with this size system are you going to try and maintain everything yourself or hire a small crew to help? Looks like lots of things are automated so I'm sure that will help also.
Good question. If I've gotten the automation right I should be able to do most of the maintenance. My current plan is to hire a service to come out twice a month to help; will adjust frequency as needed. My available time to spend on the tank is about 15 - 30 minutes/day, 2 to 3 hours on most weekends, plus an 8-16 hour weekend once every month or 6 weeks. Anything beyond that I'll need to hire out.
I know this is none of my business. But do you mind me asking what do you do for a living? Just so I can mimic your life like an octopus!
Hey
xdunaticx, nothing too exciting, just a tech guy. Wrote a lot of code my first ten years out of school, now a manager.
Nice build. How is the Hydro Wizard doing?
Hi
david00061, the Hydro Wizard is still dry. I set it up for a quick test in the sump to confirm that it works, and now it is mounted to its display tank bracket awaiting water.
Incredible build. How long before the main display tank gets stocked?
Perhaps early next year? Hoping to get all of the QTs running in the next month, then they will need to run for 6 - 8 weeks before I introduce any livestock to the display. Stocking itself will take 3 years +/- assuming that I have a ~75% success rate in quarantine.
Thanks
crazzy, las, kimacomm, rickcasa, KritikaL, Apollo1K9, tredreef, scubadan206, rcpd34, Badbrad8500, ReeferMajor, EPRuss, Patrick G and everyone else new for joining in on the thread!
-Paul
