19Mateo83’s 5 & 14 gallon builds

[19Mateo83]

5g update! I think I may have beaten my Dino’s? Not really sure if that’s what they were but here it is tonight. Brought the phates and trates up with neophos and neonitro. I also added more astrea snails bringing the total up to 8 in this tiny tank. They are chewing my uglies away. My clove polyps and grandis platys are still rather ticked off.

5 gallon pico

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[19Mateo83]

I got my mount for the a360x built and installed today. The arm swivels out of the way when needed and also can be detached from the wall mount completely for maintenance. I mounted the light exactly 6 inches off of the surface of the water.

 

[DonTavo27]

Todays progress on the 14 gallon AIO cube. I did my acrylic work today. This is my first time trying solvent welding but I think it came out pretty dang good! I built in over flow safeties in the back and baffles like the Innovative Marine AIO. I plan on using a piece 1/2 diffuser grid to hold a bag of ceramic rings and the mechanical filtration (sponge/floss).

Once I was confident in my acrylic welds I dry fit it and masked off for my silicone lines. After carefully applying beads to the rear baffles, I slid it in place and did the front seams. Everything went exactly to plan! Now all I have to do is let the silicone cure out then install my return line bulkhead, the return line and the return pump and give it a test run. I also have a random flow generator nozzle for my return on the way.

Nice build! I can’t wait to see it a year from now.

 

[DonTavo27]

Have you looked at running All For Reef for keeping parameters stable? It’s been working great for me so far.

 

[19Mateo83]

Have you looked at running All For Reef for keeping parameters stable? It’s been working great for me so far.

I honestly haven’t gotten that far yet. I was kinda hoping regular water changes would do the trick and keep params in check for me. I picked up two buckets of io reef crystals for $28/ea. a few weeks ago so I’m definitely not short on salt lol. I have heard good things about all for reef, I may have to look a little closer at it. It would defiantly be easier to dose as needed instead of changing water unnecessarily.

 

[DonTavo27]

Only reason I ask is because your MG And CA are running A little on the low end. I think for Alk to reach a desired level, it involves keeping MG at above 1290ppm, calcium should fall inline as well once you accomplished the 1290ppm.

 

[19Mateo83]

Only reason I ask is because your MG And CA are running A little on the low end. I think for Alk to reach a desired level, it involves keeping MG at above 1290ppm, calcium should fall inline as well once you accomplished the 1290ppm.

I’m finishing off my small bucket of Red Sea blue bucket before I make the switch to reef crystals. Hoping it will bring it up.

 

[19Mateo83]

I got a bit done today. I swapped over a few corals and got the wave maker up and running in this tank. I also got my light schedule figured out, I’m going with modified version @tsav87 ‘s schedule for the a360x. I have it on 7 day acclimate mode, at max I’m hoping to be able to get by with 30-40% max. I know this light can toast this tank if I turn it up too much.

 

[19Mateo83]

I’m almost done swapping around things. I started on my zoa garden also. As the drags we’re moved over they all got a quick peroxide bath and the frag plugs chipped down. The most colorful ones got attached to the column on the right. There’s kedds reds, scrambled eggs, ares fury, watermelons, bam bams and pandoras. I also added a sunburst Monti cap and a ponape birdsnest today as well.

14g cube coral scape

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And here’s todays water parameters

 

[19Mateo83]

I installed an inkbird temperature controller today. My heater was keeping the tank at 81/82 degrees. Now it will stay at 79 degrees with a 1 degree +/-trigger point. Next up to figure out is a cooling system. I’m hoping my window AC will be enough on its own. Now with the heater on a good thermostat we will see if cooling is even needed.

 

[X-37B]

I installed an inkbird temperature controller today. My heater was keeping the tank at 81/82 degrees. Now it will stay at 79 degrees with a 1 degree +/-trigger point. Next up to figure out is a cooling system. I’m hoping my window AC will be enough on its own. Now with the heater on a good thermostat we will see if cooling is even needed.

Check out the new Tunze fan.
I run the old rusted model on my 20g. It works well. Snake room runs 80 and the tanks run 81-82.
I did not need the fan when running leds. Im running a strong 250 watt halide now and the fan will drop the temp 3° when on.
I prefer my tanks to be 80-82.
I will be picking up one of these to replace the rusted one.
This was it on my old led 20.

 

[19Mateo83]

So far I’m not really in need of cooling…yet…. The tank is in a room with a small window ac. The inkbird is keeping it a very stable 79 degrees. Without it the heater was keeping to at 82. My evaporation was getting out of hand at 82. Thank you for the recommendation Though. If I ever need it I will definitely check those out.

 

[19Mateo83]

I added a skimmer this weekend. It’s a Magtool DC-SQ50 skimmer. It’s probably the best made little skimmer I have ever seen.

I had to add a egg crate divider to move my bio media to the other chamber but it all worked out for the best. I kinda had this in mind when I built it, I just had to find a skimmer small enough. Now on to breaking in the skimmer and fine tuning.

I also got in a small order from @AquaSD , thank you for the healthy corals!

In other news, one of the Duncan’s I got from @Queen City Corals is sprouting a new head from where it was fragged… Iv never seen one grow from a cut like this, very neat to watch.

 

[19Mateo83]

Tonight’s water parameters

 

[19Mateo83]

I finally picked up some of the coral viewing glasses for picture time. I also picked up a encrusting chili pepper Monti and a setosa Monti from TRSC Aquatics here in Charlotte. Man they have TONS of awesome stuff! A little bit of Cyano going on but it is going away on its own.

 

[19Mateo83]

14 gallon cube tour with coral glasses

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[19Mateo83]

After reading all the horror stories about aqueon rimless tanks I decided to be pro active and reinforce the silicone joints. I used 3/4” extruded aluminum angle from lowes and siliconed it to the corners. This was my first rimless tank and honestly I haven’t fully trusted it from the get go. It’s only gotta last till I get my Seapora 50 up and running.

 

[19Mateo83]

Update! New Jason Fox Corals and starting to dose brightwell aquatics reef code a&b

 

[19Mateo83]

Todays water parameters. Due to low N&P no water change this week either.
I am dosing Calc, alk and mag now. If this system wants to be an ultra low nutrient system so be it. I’m targeting 8.5-9dKh, 430-450 Calc and 1300-1350 mag. Still waiting for mag supplement to arrive which should be today.

 

[19Mateo83]

4 gallon water change and filter floss change. I’m still having issues keeping phates and trates up but atleast it’s consistent. I also realized that I am missing an opportunity to get some flow into a low flow area so I swapped out my random flow nozzle for a directional one. Crossing my fingers that this cuts down on algae and Cyano build up.