Will's 300g Mixed Reef Re-Boot

[WLachnit]

Since the tank sits at 42", I had to setup a scaffold between 2 ladders. This made it a lot easier to scape compared to when I first set the system many years ago. However, I now realize that with the leveling feet and 1" ply base, the tank sits about 4" higher than I wanted. Which is disappointing since all my SPS will be at top and hard to see from an above angle to see all of the colors.

I forgot to take pics while I was scaping, but I should point out that even with all the pre-work I did on aquascaping, some of it didn't stay together and I forgot how some of it went together. So, It doesn't look quite like what I had anticipated. I had tried to follow the rule of thirds, the golden rectangle, etc., when designing the scape,. But, now that it is altogether in the DT, I see that I broke a lot of these rules.

 

[WLachnit]

Here is a FTS from a few months ago. I did lose a couple of colonies during this process....my CITR Red Dragon and a big red Monti Digi. I think when I moved them to my temporary holding tank for a couple of weeks, my lighting was not dialed in, which then also impacted my Alk. So, they both RTNd.

 

[fishdip22]

Why did you not keep the same size fuge and just drop it in before you put the tank on and or put the stand down over it?

 

[WLachnit]

Why did you not keep the same size fuge and just drop it in before you put the tank on and or put the stand down over it?

Good question. That was my original plan, but the sump was 3/4" too wide from front to back. :headwally:

 

[fishdip22]

Good question. That was my original plan, but the sump was 3/4" too wide from front to back. :headwally:

Dam that really sucks :headwalls:

 

[WLachnit]

Well....our neighborhood lost power for 3 hours at 5p. Since we really never lose power in our hood, I don't have any sort of backups. Not knowing how long we were going to be out of power, I plugged in a cigarette lighter inverter into our car and ran a long extension cord into the house which gave me about 120w. From there, I plugged a couple of my MP40s into it and moved them up high towards the surface to agitate the water. All was fine when power was restored a few hours later. But, it taught me a lesson that I should probably setup battery backups for MP40s. Glad I was home when it happened.

 

[anbosu]

How is the tank looking now that you have it all back together?

 

[WLachnit]

How is the tank looking now that you have it all back together?

Fantastic....for several reasons right off the top of my head.
1) The external overflow boxes and how I arranged my aquascape, allow me to get much better flow.
2) Running a BeanAnimal give the tank much better water turnover.
3) The glass seems much easier to keep clean than the acrylic did.
4) The eurobrace openings are much larger than than the acrylic tank openings. Makes it so much easier for maintenance.

I wish I had switched out the tank sooner.

 

[reefzone123]

organization and attention to detail is flawless. beautiful setup.

 

[WLachnit]

Thanks. Having all the experience from the previous build allowed me to not repeat all of the pitfalls (hopefully). Plus, a lot has happened in the last 10 years...not just with technology but even our better understanding of water chemistry, such as phosphates, nitrates, etc. I never bothered with Phosphate measuring or even with Magnesium.

 

[WLachnit]

While I used to QT my fish somewhat randomly and not diligently, I am now very strict with QTing anything wet. All fish go through several weeks of observation, treated with Prazi, and then TTM.

 

[WLachnit]

I recently added a Lineatus Wrasse (C. lineatus), Blue Sided Wrasse (C. cyanopleura), and a Timor Wrasse (H. timorensis) that were in QT.

 

[WLachnit]

And a Rhomboid that got beat up a bit in my observation tank before I put him in my QT and TTM. Doing well and eating everything. Also, recently added to my DT.

 

[WLachnit]

And I HAD a pair of orange spotted gobies in quarantine and was just a few days away from adding to my DT when I found one on the floor. Bummer. I forgot to put the lid on the night before after feeding them. Now I just have the one. Not nearly as interesting as having a pair. Not sure how easy it is to get one to pair up?

 

[WLachnit]

As part of my rebuild, I had plumbed a line out to my "fish closet" out in the garage which is about 12-15 ft away. That is where I've had my mixing station. The intent was to have my reactors setup out there rather than under the tank to minimize water splashing in the house and make it easier to swap out media. Anyway, I run a biopellet reactor which requires a lot of flow to keep the pellets tumbling. But, I couldn't get enough flow to make them tumble. Sure, enough, I have not been able to get my NO3 below 25ppm. My GFO reactor requires a lot less flow and PO4 have been staying below 0.04ppm. So, I completely under estimated how much friction loss I was going to have pumping water from one of my return pumps (Vectra L1) out to the closet. I ran 1" PVC... It would have helped if I had run 1 1/4" or even 1 1/2"....ah well.

So, I replumbed my biopellet reactor so that I could run it under the DT in the sump. The output is now going directly to feed my skimmer. this should be a much better setup. And unlike other reactors such as GAC or GFO, I only need to change this out every 6 months or so.... I had considered changing to carbon dosing, but I have had good success running biopellets.

There is no room outside of the sump...so I had to place it in the sump.

My disorganized "fish closet"

 

[IshFish]

Do you have your mixing station connected to the main display? If so, how did you plumb that to the display tank? What about ATO? How did you run that; assuming it's near the mixing station?

 

[WLachnit]

I decided that my first task was to get rid of PO4 buildup in the system. I setup a 2 reactor system so that I could drip LaCl3 (PhosFree) using an IV bag through the reactors and catch the precipitate.

The amount of LaPO4 precipitate was staggering. The white gunk sitting on top of GAC was presumably LaPO4. I would switch this out every week.

Here are some details on the above.
For the reactor, I used about a 10% PhosFree solution (100ml PhosFree mixed in 1 L RODI Water) in the IV bag. I hung the IV bag on top of my tank and had that line teed into a small siphon line from the top of the tank which fed a TLF reactor that had no media in it. The key was for the IV to slowly drip into the line which you could tell by how cloudy the reactor got. That reactor then fed a 2nd reactor that was full of polyfiber. That reactor then emptied into the sump. I probably did that about 10 times. This definitely helped bring the PO4 down from 10ppm (Ouch) to 1-2 ppm.

In the bin, which was about 5-10g filled with LR, I poured about 100ml of PhosFree (make you don't use PhosFree+) into the bin and circulated with a small powerhead. I would repeat this 3x about every 7-10d. I did not use a skimmer. I would test periodically, until it got below 0.1-0.2ppm PO4.

 

[WLachnit]

Do you have your mixing station connected to the main display? If so, how did you plumb that to the display tank? What about ATO? How did you run that; assuming it's near the mixing station?

Yes, I have a 20g RODI water reservoir that is connected to the sump under the DT with 1/4" tubing and a float valve. the 2nd bigger tank in the pic is a 50g salt water mixing tank. I have a 3/4" PVC line that goes to the sump under the DT. I use the same Eheim pump for mixing as I do for pumping it to my system. I have it setup so that it comes in over the sump so that there can be no backflow. In hindsight, I should have run 1" PVC instead of 3/4".

 

[WLachnit]

During the rebuild I decided to use two DC return pumps instead of the Reeflo Dart I had used for 9+ years. I made this change mostly due to noise, since DC pumps tend to be quieter. I'm happy with the Ecotech Vectra L1 that I'm using. But, not happy with the DC Current pump. Seems like I all I have to do is bump the controller and it stops. I have a second one for my softie tank and it does the same thing. So, I have to figure that out.

 

[WLachnit]

Will's 300g Mixed Reef Re-Boot

Some current tank shots with my iPhone....Need to borrow my daughter's DSLR....gotta learn how to use it first. [emoji50]