Benapilot's SCA 150 Upgrade

[Sqwertyl]

Man everything here is ridiculously clean and well thought out. Amazing work.

 

[benapilot]

Thanks! Can’t wait to get it stocked!
On my way home from church I stopped at the LFS and they had a Naso Tang that I just HAD to have. LOL!

He’s in Safety Stop treatment right now, but I’ll grab a few pics when he’s in the tank!

 

[benapilot]

Here he is in my QT:

 

[benapilot]

My daughters decided to name the Naso Kylie Jenner

I don’t need to dose Calcium and Alkilinity yet (water changes and ATO Kalk are keeping up). But I’ll be ready when the time comes!

First sticker on the stand! Every now and then I get to “smuggle” coral in my carry-on from a great LFS in Los Angeles just a short walk from my layover hotel:

 

[benapilot]

Good news - Bad news
The bad: Kylie Jenner the Naso Tang didn’t make it through quarantine. Methinks she wasn’t eating what I was feeding ;Dead

The good: I picked up a rock at the LFS! LOL. My wife and girls were cracking up at how excited I was about a new rock! And an ORA Green Slimer Acro.
Also ordered some new fish: Blue Tang, Blue Throat Trigger, and they’ll be holding a yellow belly hippo tang for me. We’re heading to Arizona for spring break, so hopefully the new fish will arrive before we get back.
Here’s the current state of the tank:
(The new rock is the big one against the back glass)

 

[benapilot]

I put doors on the cabinet (still haven’t decided if I’m going to stain it) and mounted a Ring camera so I can monitor things from afar...

 

[benapilot]

I just put in a big [scary] order with Biota:

I’ve also got a Purple Tang, Blue Throat Trigger, and a Yellow Belly Hippo Tang on order with my LFS!

AND a big Algae Barn pod order...

 

[benapilot]

Just sitting in my happy place on a snowy Alaska day!

I haven’t heard from Biota about my order, but I did ask that they wouldn’t ship until today or early next week anyway. Tomorrow I’m making a run to the fish store in Anchorage and will come home with a Yellow Belly Hippo Tang... and possibly a Tomini if they’ve got one... and whatever else wants to come home with me...

 

[benapilot]

Biota emailed me yesterday. They’ll be shipping my order Monday to arrive Tuesday!

I came home with new friends yesterday:
Yellow Belly Hippo Tanh
Purple Tang
Lemon Peel Angel

After a couple hours acclimation, I shut the lights off and put them in the tank (I trust my LFS- all these came from his show tank system and have been at the shop for 14+ days). They all disappeared for the night. This morning they’re all up and swimming happily. Everyone is getting along nicely. No aggression towards the newcomers! The hippo tang thinks he’s one of the boys with the damsels- they’re about the same size.

Also, the LFS owner clipped a couple frags from his show tank for me, a green stylo/birds nest and an orange digi.

I‘ll try to get some pictures once the lights come up.


Current Stock List:
Percula Clown
Maroon Clown
Flame Angel
Coral Beauty Angel
Lemmonpeel Angel
Yellow Belly Hippo Tang
Purple Tang
Flame Hawk
Niger Trigger
Sixline Wrasse
2x Blue Damsels
Lawnmower Blenny

On order at the LFS:
Blue Throat Trigger
Naso Tang

On the way from Biota:
Majestic Angel
Forktail Blenny
2x Blue Mandarins

Still on the wishlist:
Mid-swimmers- Benggai Cardinals? Sgt. Major Damsels?
One or two Wrasses- Mystery? Flashers?
A couple Cleaner Shrimps

Overstocked? Probably! LOL!

 

[BirdGuy21]

Build is coming along nicely! I’m taking notes of your stock list for my build, haha

 

[benapilot]

Build is coming along nicely! I’m taking notes of your stock list for my build, haha

Thanks. I think I got lucky with these supposedly incompatible fish (multiple angels, damsels, etc). As they mature, we‘ll see how they all still get along!

I’ve got a couple frags to place...

I’m excited for tomorrow; my Biota Majestic Angel, Mandarins, and Fork Tail Blenny arrive!

I changed out the fleece on the Clarisea. I was able to do it in place, and it took less than 10 minutes! That first roll lasted exactly a month. Now that everything is settled, I think i may get at least another week out of the rollers from here on out.

 

[benapilot]

My Biota order arrived! Everybody made it ok so far!
These guys are small!!!

I didn’t get a good pic of the Majestic Angel, but he’s just a little uy! It’s hard to believe he may become one of the largest fish in my tank!

My drip acclimation procedure:
I don’t float the bags. My thought on this is they get up to temp in the tank water, but when I drip acclimate them into the bucket, the water cools back to ambient. It’s then a shock when they go into the aquarium. So, they go straight into a bucket and I drip acclimate with a heater. The heater serves two purposes, 1) keeps the water in the bucket warm (duh!) and 2) gives the fish a place to hide.
I use the flexible tubing from the outlet of my carbon reactor as the tank source. I can dial back the valve on the manifold until it’s just a drip. Meanwhile, I set my AWC pump as an ATO (disabling the freshwater ATO) so the sump level never drops! I’ve got that virtual outlet on a 2-hour feed timer if I forget to turn it off after the acclimation.
Easy Peasy

 

[BirdGuy21]

That's a great idea using your manifold for drip acclimation.

 

[Pedal Dangit]

I just found your tank build thread, and man is your build is almost exactly what I am also doing. Steel stand, 150 SCA, EMS 32" overflow, and is that a 48" T5 hybrid? which LEDs are you using?

It would be really nice to know the wall thickness of that stand. are you sure it is 1/4 ? If it is all 1/4 wall that thing must be so dang heavy to move. I would like to build a full 60" span on mine but I was thinking of using 2x3 1/8 wall for the top frame of the stand and 2x2 posts 1/8 wall with gussets or cross braces (still unsure)

my build will be much more low tech, and going to take me forever as we are also in the middle of several remodel projects throughout the house.

 

[Pedal Dangit]

that is a bold fish stocking list for sure. keep us updated if any corals become snacks or compatibility issues. will look amazing if everyone behaves well

 

[JayRozzer]

Are you guys building these metal stands yourself ? I’d love an open stand like that but have zero metal working skills.

 

[benapilot]

I have a friend who has a metal fabrication business. He did it for me.

 

[Super Fly]

Are you guys building these metal stands yourself ? I’d love an open stand like that but have zero metal working skills.

Most folks here commission a metal fabricator to build one for them. However few aquarium brands these days do provide aluminum stand

 

[benapilot]

I’m thinking I may dial back the flow through my sump...
I wonder if doing that will extend the life of my filter roller? At this rate, I may be going through the roll too quickly. Last roll went for about 30 days; I figured it got used up pretty fast that first week while everything was stirred up. I’m feeding pretty heavily right now...

I’ll see how long this roll lasts and go from there.

This is after only 5 days:

 

[hhaase]

I’ve been a fan of lower flow rates through the sump for quite some time. Another thought is if there is coarser grade roll media available.

But you’re definitely exporting nutrients via the rollers. So if you reduce the amount coming out via the roller you’ll maybe need to make sure your other export methods can take up the slack.

Too bad nobody makes an automated thing to clean off the rolls for re-use.