ReefWraith
New member
... just tagging along! 
Walkthrough of my 180g Setup
- Thread starter skeets
- Start date
overflowin
New member
sweet tank
donnie
donnie
firemouth4416
In Memoriam
Did you consider a refuge connected to the system to help control algea and nutrient problems? Also, I understand the DSB issues in the tank but would you consider a remote one to help feed the tank?
ALGAE UPDATE
Okay, so I am definitely getting algae now. I donââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢t have any of this algae on my rocks. I have pics of two types of algae I am getting, and am open to a conversation on what these guys food are and why I am getting them. Like I said before many times, this thread is a learning experience for me and everyone else.
This type of algae is a dot, that has a string attached to it. It only seems to grow on my front and side acrylic panels. It doesnââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢t seem to be growing on my outputs, overflow, or rock. When I clean this with my magnet, I can get the string off, but the dot is really hard to get off. I have to get it off using my hand and a pad. This stuff is really annoying. Any ideas on what it is?
This algae is growing on my loc-line outputs quite a bit. It is slightly growing on my overflow. I donââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢t see any of this on my rockwork either. Ideas?
MAINTINENCE SCHEDULE
Seeing this algae growing now is really bothering me. I am going to do weekly(instead of biweekly) water changes to suck up the detritus that accumulates. I get detritus accumulating in one spot in my display tank(a back corner, and very easy to get tooââ"šÂ¬Ã‚¦ only large chunks accumulate here), and the finer stuff accumulates in my sump. Most of the detritus in my sump has been in my drain compartment which is sealed off and a real pain to get into because I have to shut the returns down, disassemble the drains, pull the cover off, and then I can clean it. So I had let a lot of detritus accumulate in there. Earlier this week I took care of that problem! I cut about a 5ââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢ hole in the top of my drain compartment lid. This will allow me to get my hand in there weekly to siphon. If I stay ontop of it, I should be able to keep it really clean this way. I would also be able to put filter bags on the drain lines now easier if I wish to do this in the future. See picââ"šÂ¬Ã‚¦
I will be covering that hole up by getting a piece of acrylic to go over the top, and then I will use plastic screws in the 4 corners to hold it down. You can see how I have screws holding down my drain compartment lid, I will do it like that. For now I just have a piece of acrylic over it. The point of this compartment is to keep down on evap in the sump area, especially when I get my cabinets done.
My skimmer does pull out a lot of gunk. This picture is from 4days. However I have noticed once the skimmer gets to this level of gunk, it slows down and wont seem to produce a whole lot more. I can never get the skimmer to pour a lot of gunk down into that tub and into my waste collector. Maybe I need to wet skim more? Any ideas?
So I hope being more aggressive with my maintenance will help. I am also debating what to do with phosphate removers. Seeing all the bad wrap RP is getting now makes me wonder. Then people say phosban doesnââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢t work well. Everyone has an opinion, and its really hard for me to decide now, because I donââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢t know whoââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢s word to buy into. I also donââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢t know if a deltec reactor is worth 240 bucks, or if I should just get the cheaper ones for like 50.
CABINETS
Well the cabinet maker has been nailed down, and we are in the stages of finalizing the design. It is going to be a really nice piece of furniture, and going to be very custom, with lots of goodies. I will save the surprises until we get pics, but ill tell you that its going to be made out of cherry. It should be installed by the end of augustââ"šÂ¬Ã‚¦ I am so stoked because it is the last phase to truly finish up the project part of this tank.
TEMPORARY SWITCHES
Here are my switch panels for the tank. The switches are for my pumps, and everything that is not on a x-10. All the x-10 stuff is plugged into the back of the wall because I can manually control it with the aquacontroller if I need. My Aquacontroller, Medusa, switches, Tunze controllers, etc will be mounted in the side cabinets. It is going to be very organized and sweet. Lighted switches are going to be real nice in that cabinet!
Okay, so I am definitely getting algae now. I donââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢t have any of this algae on my rocks. I have pics of two types of algae I am getting, and am open to a conversation on what these guys food are and why I am getting them. Like I said before many times, this thread is a learning experience for me and everyone else.
This type of algae is a dot, that has a string attached to it. It only seems to grow on my front and side acrylic panels. It doesnââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢t seem to be growing on my outputs, overflow, or rock. When I clean this with my magnet, I can get the string off, but the dot is really hard to get off. I have to get it off using my hand and a pad. This stuff is really annoying. Any ideas on what it is?
This algae is growing on my loc-line outputs quite a bit. It is slightly growing on my overflow. I donââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢t see any of this on my rockwork either. Ideas?
MAINTINENCE SCHEDULE
Seeing this algae growing now is really bothering me. I am going to do weekly(instead of biweekly) water changes to suck up the detritus that accumulates. I get detritus accumulating in one spot in my display tank(a back corner, and very easy to get tooââ"šÂ¬Ã‚¦ only large chunks accumulate here), and the finer stuff accumulates in my sump. Most of the detritus in my sump has been in my drain compartment which is sealed off and a real pain to get into because I have to shut the returns down, disassemble the drains, pull the cover off, and then I can clean it. So I had let a lot of detritus accumulate in there. Earlier this week I took care of that problem! I cut about a 5ââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢ hole in the top of my drain compartment lid. This will allow me to get my hand in there weekly to siphon. If I stay ontop of it, I should be able to keep it really clean this way. I would also be able to put filter bags on the drain lines now easier if I wish to do this in the future. See picââ"šÂ¬Ã‚¦
I will be covering that hole up by getting a piece of acrylic to go over the top, and then I will use plastic screws in the 4 corners to hold it down. You can see how I have screws holding down my drain compartment lid, I will do it like that. For now I just have a piece of acrylic over it. The point of this compartment is to keep down on evap in the sump area, especially when I get my cabinets done.
My skimmer does pull out a lot of gunk. This picture is from 4days. However I have noticed once the skimmer gets to this level of gunk, it slows down and wont seem to produce a whole lot more. I can never get the skimmer to pour a lot of gunk down into that tub and into my waste collector. Maybe I need to wet skim more? Any ideas?
So I hope being more aggressive with my maintenance will help. I am also debating what to do with phosphate removers. Seeing all the bad wrap RP is getting now makes me wonder. Then people say phosban doesnââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢t work well. Everyone has an opinion, and its really hard for me to decide now, because I donââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢t know whoââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢s word to buy into. I also donââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢t know if a deltec reactor is worth 240 bucks, or if I should just get the cheaper ones for like 50.
CABINETS
Well the cabinet maker has been nailed down, and we are in the stages of finalizing the design. It is going to be a really nice piece of furniture, and going to be very custom, with lots of goodies. I will save the surprises until we get pics, but ill tell you that its going to be made out of cherry. It should be installed by the end of augustââ"šÂ¬Ã‚¦ I am so stoked because it is the last phase to truly finish up the project part of this tank.
TEMPORARY SWITCHES
Here are my switch panels for the tank. The switches are for my pumps, and everything that is not on a x-10. All the x-10 stuff is plugged into the back of the wall because I can manually control it with the aquacontroller if I need. My Aquacontroller, Medusa, switches, Tunze controllers, etc will be mounted in the side cabinets. It is going to be very organized and sweet. Lighted switches are going to be real nice in that cabinet!
firemouth4416 said:
I considered a fuge, but dropped that idea. If I had a DSB in there I would need to keep up on maintinence with it. Also I didnt want to run macro-algae because ultimately I want to get my phosphates down to levels that will stunt its growth anyways. Gotta decide what to do as far as RP/Phosband =D
As far as a remote bed feeding the tank, how is it going to do that? You mean with pods and such? I have a seperate tank that i culture pods in, that I occassionally release into my tank. I see plenty of pods running around the rocks at night however. The only thing a remote sandbed would feed my tank down the road is phosphates.
Chip Douglas
New member
you did an amazing job with that, congratulations. I'm 20 and I wouldn't even trust myself with everything I just saw you do in those pics 
Mike_The_Reefer
New member
hey skeets great looking tank, congrats and the best of luck to you. i really like your closed loop system connnected to the spray rack. Do you possibly have any diagrams, pics, etc. I really like the design and how it provides such a stable structure. BTW this will be going on a 58 SPS dominated reef tank. thanks!
Mike
Mike
Mike_The_Reefer
New member
the setup of your spray rack, basically the design etc.
ksarauer said:
Nothing really new on the tank, except I am finally getting around to slowly mounting coral where I want them and such. I also am going to be weeding through some of my coral to get rid of and such.
I am also curing some flatter pieces of liverock I plan to place on the bottom of my tank to mount all those zoo rocks too. Right now everyday I have to move them back because they get blown around. It also looks kinda silly with them just sitting there.
So aesthetically I am taking my time placing my coral and such.
On the algae and water quality, the water changes have helped a ton. That hole I drilled in my drain compartment helped out a lot on getting detritus out. I will continue my weekly water changes.
I am going to probably add carbon for a couple days here soon, since I havent had any in for a long time.
The MBV is from customaquatic, however you can get them at several places. You also need a repeat timer that I got from aquaticeco. I couldnt imagine the flow of this tank w/out the MBV. It wouldnt be near the same. I love it.
Fliger
New member
Still liking the barebottom? I'm very happy with mine. On my new tank I'm doing the bottom in black acrylic. Copying from Travis.
Hey, LMK if you're gonna thin out. I could use some frags. I had a couple incidents and lost several of the corals I got from you. Then I put all my stuff in a Rubbermaid and the salinity fluctuated too much - didn't realize how much this would affect my SPS. All the corals I got from you were bulletproof and I feel horrible about it, hard lesson learned.
Hey, LMK if you're gonna thin out. I could use some frags. I had a couple incidents and lost several of the corals I got from you. Then I put all my stuff in a Rubbermaid and the salinity fluctuated too much - didn't realize how much this would affect my SPS. All the corals I got from you were bulletproof and I feel horrible about it, hard lesson learned.
Fliger said:
David I got a few pieces you might be interested in. Ya those corals I got you are some of the hardiest things I swear. I put them through the test =D
I really like the barebottom. I was going to go black also, however I decided I wanted the extra reflection. I cant believe how much more light it gives, and I have to be careful sometimes.
I got my new par meter, and par ratings of 200-400 are pretty good for sps(i have some corals in areas as high as 750 though). Anyways today I took the par meter, and tested what kinda reflection I was getting off the bottom... and it was about 190! Now I know why that samoensis bleached at first, it wasnt used to that kinda light from the underneath. It has healed up nicely.
I think next time I will try doing a tan color. It is more neutral. It wont be so reflective to the eye, but it wont eat up light either. I am happy as is though and glad I didnt do it different personally.
Got any pics of your tank with black David?
Happy to see me
New member
Mustang??
Mustang??
What does that thing run in the quarter (gotta 67 camaro (small block w/supercharger and fuel injection) that runs 11.4 @ 130 on Nitto street tires (275/40/17)non drag radials!
I know this isnt race forums I'm just curious. By the way thats a kikass tank, first time ive seen one without sand bed looks kinda empty I guess you get used to it. And your tank has more holes than swiss cheese. Lots of leak points wow, would make me nervous. But definately an awesome setup, did you ever have leaks @ the coupler to Flex PVC??
Mustang??
What does that thing run in the quarter (gotta 67 camaro (small block w/supercharger and fuel injection) that runs 11.4 @ 130 on Nitto street tires (275/40/17)non drag radials!
I know this isnt race forums I'm just curious. By the way thats a kikass tank, first time ive seen one without sand bed looks kinda empty I guess you get used to it. And your tank has more holes than swiss cheese. Lots of leak points wow, would make me nervous. But definately an awesome setup, did you ever have leaks @ the coupler to Flex PVC??
The car is naturally aspirated, and our practice motor is running 9.50's in 100degree weather.
Our new motor will run 8.60's in good weather conditions. No power adders.
No I never had any leaks, besides some threaded nipple leaks on the pumps that was fixed by tightening the nipple down more.
Our new motor will run 8.60's in good weather conditions. No power adders.
No I never had any leaks, besides some threaded nipple leaks on the pumps that was fixed by tightening the nipple down more.
outdoorandmore
Member
Have you tried using diatom bags in your sump for the drains to help in collecting the detrius?
