dsmithwc04 Posted August 13, 2015 Report Share Posted August 13, 2015 Hello all. I'm new to this forum but have already met some really nice people fully willing to help out which has been great! I purchased this system used just a couple weeks ago but it had been running for 2 years prior. There are some things that I'm going to do differently than the PO for sure but it was a great buy so I'm not complaining! The system came with 300# live rock but I put 1/3rd of the rock in the sump and sold some pieces that were solid bricks of fossilized coral with no cosmetic value, i removed the gravel and replaced with live sand, it has an Odyssea 72" 1070 watt lighting system , finnex 810 diginat heater, home made stand (built like a tank) 55 gallon sump with bioballs which were removed, Terminator II protein skimmer which is way undersized for this tank, return pump and a few misc pumps. When my wife and I designed our house we included a room that would be used as a fish equipment room that would eventually house all equipment and a large tank that was built into the wall facing the foyer. I dug two concrete with rebar reinforced footer pads and had the foundation block installers build up the piers level with the foundation. 2 years have gone by since we built our house and I have been procrastinating big time on the tank. I race Formula Enterprise with SCCA (open wheel formula race cars) and it leaves very little time (and money) for reef keeping. Well I made the huge mistake of searching Craigslist for the perfect system for the perfect price and of course one popped up after a few months of looking. So a few good friends went with me to pick it up (3 hour drive one way) and I can tell you I hope to never move a big tank like this again. Heavy is an understated word.... For the week and a half I waited to pick up the system I did a few things to get the room ready. I hooked up the GFCI outlets, epoxied the floor, painted the room and put (9) 2x10s across the two foundation piers which are located directly under the tank. The tank is supported by these two piers which carries most of the weight and keeps the weight off of the floor joists as to not upset the house ( don't want drywall cracks from settling) I bought 55 gallon jugs for mixing up water to fill the new tank with and a 30 gallon jug to help transport the fish. I used 3 tupperware containers to transport the live rock. Once we got the tank home I put the stand and tank in its final spot. I put down 1/2" plywood on the floor followed by 1" of blue insulation foam followed by another 1/2" of plywood to help distribute the load of the tank as even as possible. The tank had a slight bit of a gap on the rear corners (slightly less than 1/16") and since it is a floating bottom pane design I put some shims under the parts that would allow a sliver to pass under it. Probably not necessary but I don't want 220 gallons of water on my hardwood floors either. As of right now the aquarium room is very make shift. I've got a little bit to go to get it where I want it but it's in temporary running condition for now to keep the aquarium in good condition. I will be transitioning into the ecosystem-refugium style filtration with 24-7 skimming. The refugium will be lit 24 hours a day to prevent the algae from going through a dormant stage and yellowing the water. So far I've purchased two RW-15 wave makers which are awesome as well as a Jabao 4 pump doser! I bought a Reef Octopus 200 from a fellow INDMAS member for skimming. I got a 40 gallon breeder to add to the sump design at Uncle Bills for $40! Great sale @ $1/gallon. I ordered from Amazon a 6 stage RO/DI with booster pump since we are on well water at only 45-50 psi depending on how lately I've changed the main house filter. Our well water is extremely rusty . I'm going to run the 40 gallon breeder in line with the 75 gallon sump and plumb it so that I can isolate the tank for easy water changes and then open the ball valves to run it back in line with the 55 gallon sump. The 55 gallon tank is currently under the stand but I've ALWAYS hated working on a sump with minimal room to operate so it will be coming out into the fish room with the 40 gallon tank in the corner of the room. As far as fresh water top off I will NEVER again use a float switch as they can fail for too many reasons. I will use one of the 4 pumps on the doser and dose a predetermined amount of fresh water per day to cover evaporation. I will eventually dose calcium, alk, and mag with the other 3 pumps once I get to that point. Once I have enough calcium exhaustion I will get a calcium reactor and perhaps use the open pump to dose iron chelate. Here are some pics of the tank as is and the fish room. The tank will be trimmed out by a good friend who is a carpenter and the tank room will eventually look presentable once I get the system plumbed and some unused equipment gone. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ReefNewby82 Posted August 13, 2015 Report Share Posted August 13, 2015 Wow great write up and start to your reef! I would love to be able to have a fish room for equipment and filtration. Sounds like you have it all planned out so far. Make sure you test pH during the say and night to see if it changes. Typically running the refugium lights at night helps stabilize pH. But you'll figure out what works best after noticing any pH fluctuations. What is your current fish stock list? Any plans for additional ones once things get settled in? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dsmithwc04 Posted August 13, 2015 Author Report Share Posted August 13, 2015 The fish stock is pretty big. More than I would have picked and I will probably be getting rid of some of the fish. Emperor Angel Blue Tang Yellow Tang ( some fins are missing from a previous issue but he's healthy now) Blue/yellow tail damsel (want to get rid of) Spotted Damsel (want to get rid of) 2 red spotted cardinals (giving to my mother for her biocube 29 3 banghi cardinals Lawnmower Blenny Bicolor Angel 2 percs 1 green chromis 3 pink chromis 18 fish .... will have 14 soon though. Anybody want a blue/yellow tail damsel and a spotted damsel??? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ReefNewby82 Posted August 13, 2015 Report Share Posted August 13, 2015 Haha...yeah when you buy someone's reef and they want all fish to go sometimes you don't have a choice. Them damsels can be turds for sure. I don't know that I have seen pink chromis before? I think it's pretty cool your mom has a saltwater tank too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dsmithwc04 Posted August 13, 2015 Author Report Share Posted August 13, 2015 Once she saw mine she just had to have one. I kinda tried to talk her out of it as it will just be another tank for me to take care of. haha Not sure if they are called pink chromis or not but they are chromis and are lighter colored. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jaco Posted August 13, 2015 Report Share Posted August 13, 2015 18 fish in your tank isn't bad. Just watch out for the damsels. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dsmithwc04 Posted August 13, 2015 Author Report Share Posted August 13, 2015 I like to run a light bioload, especially since I plan to have SPS in the tank in the future. I concur on the damsels. They will be out of the tank soon enough. Seriously, the blue/yellow tail damsel and spotted damsel is available. I'd trade for a small frag of monti, digi or ricordia if anybody is interested?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrsBugmaster Posted August 13, 2015 Report Share Posted August 13, 2015 Nice write up! Will be looking forward to updates. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dsmithwc04 Posted August 15, 2015 Author Report Share Posted August 15, 2015 Today I got the sump out from under the main tank and plumbed in. Found out there was a problem, however, with water flow through the 1" pvc connecting the 55 gallon and the 40 gallon tanks so I had to isolate the 40 gallon and run the system with only the 55 gallon sump. The pic below shows how the tanks are plumbed and the return pump is taking water from the 40 gallon faster than the 1" pvc pipe can supply water from the 55 gallon to the 40. I'm sure this is a simply fluid dynamics problem that I'm overlooking and perhaps somebody could help me out. My assumption is that the 1" pvc only flows high volumes of water through forced induction (pump) or gravity. If it is simply allowing water to flow via static water pressure it doesn't seam to get the flow I need... On a positive note, I got my Two Little Fishes Phosban 550 reactor going with 225 grams of phosban in it. I used a little pump I had sitting around and have the flow at just enough to not cause tumbling of the media. I also got the Reef Octopus 200 going and my god is it pulling out some skimmate already. My water went from very slightly cloudy to CRYSTAL clear in about an hour and a half between the two. I will soon add the algae to the sump once I figure out the problem with the 40 gallon plumbing issue. I measured the phosphates with the 736 Hanna checker and got 96. That equates to .294 ppm. Can't possibly be right and that is because I don't' think I followed directions and didn't wait 3 minutes to do the check. I will check again tomorrow. The picture below shows the plumbing between the 55 gallon and the 40 gallon. It has 3 ball valves which should have the upper valve and the lower valve (as oriented in the picture) open and the middle valve closed which would have water flowing through the 40 gallon to get to the return pump. If I want to isolate the 40 for a water change I can simply turn the three ball valves in the opposite orientation which will have the return pump drawing from the 55 gallon tank. This is how it is currently running since the 1" pipe between the 55 and the 40 won't flow enough water for the return pump as is. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dsmithwc04 Posted August 15, 2015 Author Report Share Posted August 15, 2015 After 12 hours of running the new skimmer and phosban reactor I checked my phosphates with the ULR Checker and got 26. It was 96 before but not sure I followed directions correctly or not so it could be an artificially high number. 26ppb phosphorus equates to .08ppm phosphates so I'm still a little high. I'm aiming to keep it between.02-.04ppm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ReefNewby82 Posted August 15, 2015 Report Share Posted August 15, 2015 I am not good with plumbing so someone will have to chime in for that part. As far as the skimmer and reactor, it sounds like you are on track with both of those working well now! I would probably not try to drop your phosphates really fast though, I have heard that can be a bad thing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dsmithwc04 Posted August 15, 2015 Author Report Share Posted August 15, 2015 Correct, nothing good happens fast in a reef aquarium. I think my original reading was erroneous because I did not know to hold down the button after adding the reagent which turns on the 3 minute countdown timer. I just depressed the button which gave an immediate reading. I'm sure it dropped a few points though. I have an aqualogic chiller I'm going to be posting soon in the classifieds. I'm going to switch to LED lighting which should help keep the tank from climbing a couple degrees over the course of a day and this will negate the need of a chiller. My 72" 1070 watt metal halide/PC/led moonlight light assembly is still for sale BTW if anybody is interested. I won't be buying the LEDs until it sells. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dsmithwc04 Posted August 17, 2015 Author Report Share Posted August 17, 2015 The fish room is starting to come together. Far from done but progress none the less. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ReefNewby82 Posted August 17, 2015 Report Share Posted August 17, 2015 Looking good, looks like you did some tidying up! I need a fish room :v( Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dsmithwc04 Posted August 17, 2015 Author Report Share Posted August 17, 2015 Ya, having a fish room is very handy. Still waiting on my buddy to have time to trim the front out so it doesn't look like a construction zone in the foyer. My best guess on my earlier problem regarding the plumbing is that the suction of the pump through the 1" pipe is MUCH stronger than the gravity force from the 55 to the 40. I believe my problem also was that I thought of the 40 gallon as a chamber when in fact it does not act like one at all since it is an open top. This prevents the 1" pipe connecting the 55 and 40 from acting as a suction force equal to the pump so all I'm really getting is the force of gravity and pressure when the 55 water level gets above the 40 and that is no where near enough flow. It still works as a water change vessel but can only temporarily be put inline with the system during water changes and thats it. Not quite as useful as I had hoped (I wanted to use it to increase the overal water volume) but still better than holding on to hoses and choking on saltwater. I also don't really have a good place to put a refugium in the main sump so I'm going to add a 20 gallon tank above the sump and put the algae in that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luke33 Posted August 18, 2015 Report Share Posted August 18, 2015 The plumbing is a tough one as you can't really see everything clearly, but I do see a lot of piping to connect two tanks. Generally when you plumb two tanks together you want to use a large pipe, 1" could be the issue. The hanna checkers are easy once you get it down. Just make sure you use one vial and not two when testing, always add the powder to the same vial you just tested with the same water in the vial. And you have to hold down the button to get the 3:00 count down : ) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dsmithwc04 Posted August 18, 2015 Author Report Share Posted August 18, 2015 1" can flow much more gallons than I'm putting through the pump but only with gravity or forced via pump. Since the pipe gets no advantage via gravity (pipe is horizontal) it can't keep up with the pump. It still kinda works as a semi water changing vessel but overfills the 55 gallon sump to do so. Not as great as I had hoped. I should probably use 2 more 1" pipes but I don't really feel like doing that. I may just abandon the 40 gallon as a water change vessel and disconnect it from current location and raise it up so that I can use a submersable pump in the 55 gallon to push water into the 40 and have the 40 gallon overflow into the 55. The 40 can then be used as a large refugium. I can use the two holes I drilled as overflow holes and build glass boxes. One more hole up top for the return and it will be set. I might even split the 40 up and use half for a refugium and half for a frag grow out tank. Afterall, I have (3) 55 gallon drums to use for water change vessels. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dsmithwc04 Posted August 19, 2015 Author Report Share Posted August 19, 2015 Just bought a Reef Octopus 140 ca reactor with reef fanatic solenoid regulator and pump. Yes it's a little undersized for the coral this tank will eventually have but until then it will work great and was a good deal slightly used! Should arrive Friday. I got a good deal on a Reef Keeper Lite so I will be monitoring ph from now on once I get the reactor going. I tested the aquarium for the first time last night with a new API marine basic test kit. pH ~8.2 Ammonia 0 Nitrite 0 Nitrate 0 Phosphate (Hanna URL) .06 (still dropping from previously recorded .08 just a few days ago.) I'm honestly a little surprised at Nitrates being at 0. I would have suspected detectable nitrates with the system still stabilizing from the move. Not to mention I removed all the bio balls that were previously in the sump (which were completely submersed how the PO had them set up.....) and got rid of about 40lbs of mostly square blocks of ancient coral live rock so I thought for sure that would create a little havoc. Good thing 90% of the water in the tank was brand new salt water and I've done roughly 50 gallons of water changes in the last 3 weeks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dsmithwc04 Posted August 22, 2015 Author Report Share Posted August 22, 2015 A few updates on the tank: I have the RKL up and running and I have to say I like it so far but I haven't spent much time programming the outlet strip to run devices so that will be a deciding factor on if I keep it or not. The CA is just about ready to go but I now need to find a Co2 tank. If anybody has a spare for sale let me know! I love the skimmer and I'm getting about a cup of pretty nasty skimmate a day. It's running on the slightly wet side but I may run it a little bit wetter in the near future. It's about the color and consistency of a light coffee. I have a couple of pumps to trade for a Mag pump or similar. A GEN-X 40 external pump and a skimmer OTP-3000 needlewheel pump if anybody is interested. It comes with a spare impeller that needs a new ceramic/carbon fiber shaft but otherwise in good shape. These pumps put out a good amount of bubbles but with a mesh mod are crazy. I am battling a hair algae issue and have had my hopes that running a refugium and perhaps an algae scrubber would solve this issue. I did some research into this and my findings support the notion that refugiums in general and algae scrubbers are a VERY poor manner of removing nutrients from a closed system like a reef tank. They have their pros, that is for sure, but it appears most people think they are a good manner for removing nutrients from a system and they are but in the short term. Long term, they actually tend to add a LOT of biomass to a system that creates the possibility for issues in the future. So, with that said I will now follow a different line of thought. I will still run a little macro in a 24 hour lit tank but only to monitor overall nutrient buildup in the system, which is the only real reason I can think of to purposely allow algae to grow in a reef tank. If the macro is growing, then I have nutrients in the tank. Some are wanted, most are not... I am going to do a little experiment and see if my thoughts above can bring actual results. I will do the following maintenance as a mode of "filtration" to help get rid of the algae and see if running a refugium is really a necessary item in a modern reef tank system. There is nothing fancy to my new "filtration" method. This method will be nothing more than a detritus removal system and as everyone already knows, detritus removal is a key to success in marine aquaria. 1. Blow sand bed at least once a week with a power head to remove deposits from sand bed 2. Blow live when live sand is cleaned. 3. Vacuum detritus from bottom of corner overflows where it sits on the glass bottom once a week. 4. Vacuum detritus from bottom of 55 gallon sump once a week. 5. Remove and clean skimmer body where detritus builds up on it's base. 6. Clean and replace filter socks every two days and when sand/live rock is blown with power head. 7. Do water change immediately following blowing sand/live rock. If, in 3-4 weeks, the algae problem isn't completely gone, I will re-examine my process. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dsmithwc04 Posted August 23, 2015 Author Report Share Posted August 23, 2015 Had a fantasy football draft party that I'm the commish for so this weekend was a little tight on time. I did do a very small water change of 8-10 gallons while cleaning out the dead sponge and built up detritus in the overflows. The water smelled horrible. I'm sure this is contrtibuting to the algae outbreak. Next up is the sump but I need to get the 40 gallon running so that I can put the live rock in there while ti mess with the 55 gallon sump. I did manage to get some torch coral and some purple mushrooms as well as a RBTA. Hopefully the clowns will host it. Anybody have tips for getting them to find it or might it just take some time? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ReefNewby82 Posted August 24, 2015 Report Share Posted August 24, 2015 The commish eh? Maybe we should change your SN on here to that lol...I bet that water smelled pretty foul with a dead sponge. Time is the key for having a nem host the clowns from my experience. I have heard of people printing off a color picture of a clown or two in a nem and taping it to the tank...but who knows haha. I had a nem for my clowns for like 4 months. One day I came home from work and I couldnt find the clowns in their normal spot in the tank. I was freaking out...looked in the over flow, in the sump, on the floor. They were nowhere to be found! And finally after looking everywhere, they swam out from the nem and looked at me like - "Who have you been looking for?" So yeah...time will tell basically! Keep us posted on them, hopefully it wont take as long as it did for me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dsmithwc04 Posted August 27, 2015 Author Report Share Posted August 27, 2015 Today I parted ways with the Emperor Angel and the Ambon Damsel. The Emperor was beautiful but was big and ate like a pig. I need to lower the biomass of the system and the funds from selling him will aid in a few other things I need to get for the tank. The ambon damsel was aggressive and not a very attractive fish. Not much bioload but everything helps with my cyano issue I'm having. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ReefNewby82 Posted August 27, 2015 Report Share Posted August 27, 2015 That was a very gorgeous angel. I don't know what kind the Ambon is but damsels are turds. I would imagine the bioload would decrease a lot with the Emperor gone for sure. When you get the cyano taken care of do you plan on getting another centerpiece fish? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dsmithwc04 Posted August 27, 2015 Author Report Share Posted August 27, 2015 Not sure on if I will replace it down the road yet. I'm still going to try to get rid of a couple other fish. The yellow tail damsel and the two red spotted cardinal fish. Those things are not near as attractive as the Banghi cards in the tank and look like fresh water fish IMO. I have a large yellow tang and a very large hippo tang that I may remove as well because they are putting a big load on the system as well. I will more than likely replace them with smaller versions as I love both species. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ReefNewby82 Posted August 27, 2015 Report Share Posted August 27, 2015 Yeah I like the bangaii cardinal but am not personally a fan of the pajamas. They are almost clear looking long spine cardinals that are kind of cool too. Sounds like you are on the right track, and are making use of your fish trap you borrowed (I assume you did at least). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.