"Big Kid" Tank v2

[ksfulk]

This first one is my 4 year old derasa... this clam could live in a pothole filled with snow melt. He's not super pretty, but I love watching him.

 

[ksfulk]

lol, that song went very well with the feeding frenzy! Nice video, tank is looking great!! Thanks again for your help on the Avast Marine top off!!!

Heh - I like that tune for youtube videos, so I use it on all of my tank vids. Plus, its exactly 1:30 so, I know how long to make my vids so its not overly long and boring. Now if I could just keep my hand steady! And no problem on the ATO stuff. Always nice when you can get a good view of someones equipment thats actually in use!

 

[Reeflogic]

Sorry about your SPS issues Hopefully you get it figured out soon!

 

[ksfulk]

Cleaned out two grocery bags of macro algae and scraped the viewing walls of the fuge. Got a couple of shots of the flatworms as well, gonna see if I cant get a positive ID on these little buggers in a new thread as well.

 

[ksfulk]

Finally (!) got back my new reagents for my Hanna Alkalinity checkers and I believe we have found the problem. Alkalinity has been REALLY high... like 10.7 dKH, which is nuts for my tank . I assume its at least a main contributor to the wanton death and destruction as of late. Anyhow, I have some new goodies coming in the mail today (Can you say wrasses!?!?) along with a few more rock nems and some zoas to fill out the color wheel while Im working on some other stuff for the tank, so I should have an update on those here in a day or two.

Also working on building a raised platform in the sump, so I can get the rock and marinepure media up and off the bottom. I need to vaccuum the whole sump pretty well too. Im also working on getting the skimmer to work off of my manifold, since running all of these little feed pumps is getting annoying.

 

[ksfulk]

Here's an updated video. I'd be lying if I said I was happy with the tank right now. Pretty much all of my coral is dead or dying, I cant seem to get anything nailed down with this tank at all. Nitrates are high (35-40 range), but Phosphates are still low (0.03). At this point I dont know why things are dying. Triton test came back pretty clean, so I dont suspect anything chemical. If I had to guess, I'd say its light related, but I dont know if its high or low. I had a lux meter that I ordered off of Amazon to gauge my lighting and Im sitting at 30k lux at the water line - but I dont know if that means its good or bad, since it doesnt really take into account the blue spectrum. Still, I'm on the lower end of acceptability, so there's that. Zoas and frogspawn seem to be the only ones that are consistently happy, but those two are getting overrun by aiptasia! :mad::mad::mad:

Aiptasia are getting out of hand. Id love to get some berghia, but with the leopard and melanurus wrasse, they'd just be expensive hors d'oeuvres. Adding a copperband or other fish isnt really something I can do, as I already have so many fish in the tank. I did pick up an Acreichthys tomentosus (filefish) and added him to the sump to start munching on the aiptasia in the sump. I figure if I can get rid of the aiptasia in the sump, then I can use this time to figure out what Im going to do with the rock work in the tank. While it looks nice and crusty, Im not set on the setup of design of the rockwork in the tank. Its unlikely that I can get rid of all the aiptasia through superglue/aiptasia x/etc, so Im either going to replace all of the rock with new, or pull the existing rocks and put them into a 40 gallon tank and buy some berghia to put into that seperate tank, or just ordering something new entirely. Im torn, as I know that if I just get new rock, Im going to have it cycle once more (which isnt ideal) but at the same time, I can build a structure that I really like, versus just putting rock in, like I did before (as I needed to get the tank up and running). At that point, I can add the DT rock into the sump, and let the filefish work his magic on that stuff as well. At least, thats the thought.

As for the rest, the fish seem to be nice and fat - Im trying to cut down feeding a bit, as I had a LOT of food going into the tank. Pellets via Apex feeder 3x daily at 3 rotations each feeding, plus I switch back and forth with frozen mysis/spirula enriched brine shrimp and live blackworms. Havent lost anything in a while now, and barring a miracle, the stocking of the tank is done (though some fish might leave if they are easily caught). Here's the list:

• Bartlett's Anthias x3 (Pseudanthias bartlettorum)
• Carberryi Anthias x2 (Nemanthias carberryi)
• Lyretail Anthias x3 (Pseudanthias squamipinnis)
• Snowflake Clowns x2 (Amphiprion ocellaris)
• Phantom clown (Amphiprion ocellaris)
• Blue-green Chromis x6 (Chromis viridis)
• Bangaii cardinal (Pterapogon kauderni)
• Yellow hogfish (Bodianus bimaculatus)
• Yellow Tang (Zebrasoma flavescens)
• Blue Hippo Tang (Paracanthurus hepatus)
• Yellow eyed Kole tang (Ctenochaetus strigosus)
• Swallowtail Angel (female) (Genicanthus melanospilos)
• Melanurus Wrasse (male) (Halichoeres melanurus)
• Ornate Leopard Wrasse (female) (Macropharyngodon ornatus)
• McCoskers Flasher Wrasse (Paracheilinus mccoskeri)
• Carpenter's Flasher Wrasse (Paracheilinus carpenteri)
• Linespot Flasher Wrasse (Paracheilinus lineopunctatus)
• Red Head Solon Fairy Wrasse (Cirrhilabrus solorensis)
• Lubbock's Fairy Wrasse (Cirrhilabrus lubbocki)
• Hawaiian Flame Fairy Wrasse (female) (Cirrhilabrus jordani)

Add to that the rabbitfish and the filefish in the sump, I've got 30+ fish in my system! Here's a picture of the death and destructions thus far. Hooray!

And here's my latest Triton lab results:

 

[ksfulk]

More junk!

Heh - Ive gone back and forth with what could be the issue with my inability to keep corals alive in my tank for any real length of time. I think its light related. I mean, I have more than enough flow, parameters are well within "ideal" conditions and have been keeping stable. So lighting is whats left, right? Ive wanted to use AI lighting since the Vegas came out years ago. I really liked the lights. And while I think the lights are really cool, I decided that maybe I need to go in another direction with the lighting for this tank. So, I pulled them off my tank on Thursday and put them up for sale - and Friday afternoon I put them into the mail! Wow... those sold quicker than I thought. Must have been a good price Anyhow, once they are at their new homes, I plan on purchasing an ATI Sunpower 8x80w T% fixture and running a bulb combination that I've seen in some of my favorite tanks on R2R. Im sure there's plenty of power there - so that should alleviate any tinkering on my end. Im guessing I just suck at 'guessing' the right spectrum.

So... big changes are coming.

And... aiptasia Im losing this battle. I keep going back and forth as to what Im going to do about it. Part of me wants to ditch all the rock and just start over. Theres a lot of really cool ideas floating out there for rockscapes and I have the opportunity to do something more planned with a new rockscape if thats what I want to do. BUT, since the little jerks are in the sump too (being taken out slowly by the filefish, which is nice seeing them disappear every two or so days) Im afraid that if I replace the rocks, I'll just get them again, which is a bit self defeating. AND I'd likely get a cycle again, since I'd be replacing all of my rock. Though, I suppose I could move all the DT rock into the sump (letting the filefish munch until he explodes) and replacing the DT rock. I wouldnt lose out on the bacteria, but would get the aiptasia hosers out of the DT. Still not sure what Im going to do yet.

And, I think I might change systems. Triton is good, but Im just not sure that at this stage in my tank, I getting the full benefit of the system. I could just use regular 2 part and water changes for now. Then I can think about either getting 1.) a nicer doser or 2.) going straight into my Calcium reactor thats been collecting dust on the shelf for 2 years. Ive got about 2.5L of elementz remaining, so I have some time before I need to make that decision. Ive thought about trying zeovit, as I have the reactor already... but I love my refugium, and with the ULNS from those systems, the fuge would take a big hit.

So... pictures. Some of the aiptasia infestation, and then some of the fuge - which is really the only part of the system that Im really enjoying right now.

 

[ksfulk]

Who wants to see what 90 lbs of Pukani looks like?!?

Lol - I havent opened it yet, but when I got home I met the UPS man who had five boxes filled with goodies for me. Pretty excited, moreso than I have been for most other reef tank delivery. Im pretty sure its because Ive never gotten my grubby little hands on a quality fixture like this. I stopped by Home Depot on the way home and picked up some 20" wall brackets, since I cant manage to hang the fixture from the ceiling due to the drop tiles and the overhead duct work hidden therein. I watched a few youtube videos and then hooked it all up. Its intimidating hanging that big 60" fixture over the tank with only two wires, but its holding, and is level and looks so dang sharp...

Oh, and the light looks really amazing. I havent run just T5s before, so I wasnt sure what to expect. Ive had just the Blue+ retrofits on the tank for a week, since I sold the AI 26s, and the tank looked so flat, I was concerned that I would have issues with the fixture itself. Luckily, there are a lot of great people on this forum and Ive been in contact with several people via PM who talked to me about their bulb preferences and the reasons behind them. Its great to be able to piece together a bulb combo and have it look pretty nice out of the box. I think I was most impressed with how the fish looked under the lights (since the corals were thinking it was bed time). The anthias look amazing... better color than Ive seen with any lights that have been on the tank while theyve been in it. Cant wait to see how it looks tomorrow when everythings open!

Gratutious sexiness from the ATI 8x80w 60" Sunpower. Combination of Giesemann and ATI bulbs. Front to back: Giesemann Tropic, Giesemann Aqua Blue Azure, Giesemann Super Actinic, Giesemann Super Purple, Giesemann Actinic Blue, ATI Blue+, Giesemann Super Actinic, ATI Blue+

Oh, and huge shout out to @Bulk Reef Supply for great packaging and making my UPS guy happy, as they packed my rock in two seperate boxes, so they were managable. Ive ordered from other places, where Ive gotten 80lbs of rock in one box

 

[webbrage]

Also managed to get the live webcam up and running. If anyone's interested in viewing, click HERE.

Username: guest
Password: notanemo

Lights come on at 8am EST and go out at 9pm EST

this is to ****** i was just watching lol

 

[ksfulk]

this is to ****** i was just watching lol

Its not as exciting with the lights out, and its likely messed up a bit because I had to pull it off the wall when installing the new light, but i think its pretty neat! Thanks for looking!

 

[ksfulk]

 

[ksfulk]

 

[monkiboy]

thanks for sharing - any updates, sir?

 

[ksfulk]

Just some random pictures for the meantime. Things arent "going" anywhere at the moment. Im fighing aiptasia and trying to determine where I want this tank to go. I think Im going to get rid of a few fish to lighten up the bioload and then determine if I want to keep going with Triton, or perhaps switch to something like ESV two part and eventually meander into usign a CaRX once the tank gets the need down.

Anyhow, I've picked out all the pukani, scrubbed it off the best that I could, cut the pieces with a hacksaw that I thought would look good as a single island and then started playing with the rest until I found some structure bits that I liked. Pukani is really nice rock, I was worried it wouldnt live up to the hype, but Im pleasantly surprised so far. The rock was then gentle caressed by a 5:1 mixture of HCl and water for about 20 minutes. The foam that came off of the container was great... kids were panicking in the house because they thought I was making a monster

So, the new rock is now curing in some totes in the basement. I spent some time reworking my sump, adding about 150lbs of dry rock to the sump, removing/rerouting wires and cleaning things up in general. It looks a lot better now, and I have better access to my drain. And the MarinePure blocks get better circulation, so its an all around win.

 

[john.m.cole3]

Who wants to see what 90 lbs of Pukani looks like?!?

Lol - I havent opened it yet, but when I got home I met the UPS man who had five boxes filled with goodies for me. Pretty excited, moreso than I have been for most other reef tank delivery. Im pretty sure its because Ive never gotten my grubby little hands on a quality fixture like this. I stopped by Home Depot on the way home and picked up some 20" wall brackets, since I cant manage to hang the fixture from the ceiling due to the drop tiles and the overhead duct work hidden therein. I watched a few youtube videos and then hooked it all up. Its intimidating hanging that big 60" fixture over the tank with only two wires, but its holding, and is level and looks so dang sharp...

Oh, and the light looks really amazing. I havent run just T5s before, so I wasnt sure what to expect. Ive had just the Blue+ retrofits on the tank for a week, since I sold the AI 26s, and the tank looked so flat, I was concerned that I would have issues with the fixture itself. Luckily, there are a lot of great people on this forum and Ive been in contact with several people via PM who talked to me about their bulb preferences and the reasons behind them. Its great to be able to piece together a bulb combo and have it look pretty nice out of the box. I think I was most impressed with how the fish looked under the lights (since the corals were thinking it was bed time). The anthias look amazing... better color than Ive seen with any lights that have been on the tank while theyve been in it. Cant wait to see how it looks tomorrow when everythings open!

Gratutious sexiness from the ATI 8x80w 60" Sunpower. Combination of Giesemann and ATI bulbs. Front to back: Giesemann Tropic, Giesemann Aqua Blue Azure, Giesemann Super Actinic, Giesemann Super Purple, Giesemann Actinic Blue, ATI Blue+, Giesemann Super Actinic, ATI Blue+

Oh, and huge shout out to @Bulk Reef Supply for great packaging and making my UPS guy happy, as they packed my rock in two seperate boxes, so they were managable. Ive ordered from other places, where Ive gotten 80lbs of rock in one box

I'm glad to hear you like your T5's. I just switched to their 4 ft' 6 bulb dimmable fixture and am experiencing no guess work at lighting and corals are growing faster than ever. Those lights really bring out the details in your tank, good choice!

 

[ksfulk]

I'm glad to hear you like your T5's. I just switched to their 4 ft' 6 bulb dimmable fixture and am experiencing no guess work at lighting and corals are growing faster than ever. Those lights really bring out the details in your tank, good choice!

Thanks! I appreciate the compliment. Too bad the tank looks like garbage in person. The light is great - just started making a buzzing noise from the ballast though. Put in a ticket with ATI to make sure its all ok. They are really responsive and I got a reply in about 40 minutes! Im still working with them to supply the right information, but Im still really happy with the light. Too bad I cant get the rest of the tank to work like this thing does!

Speaking of which, my Jebao DP-4 doser finally dosed its last. The dosing pump was on its last legs for a while now, but I got two years out of a $80 doser, so I cant complain. I just put in an order for a pair of Neptune DOS pumps - should be here Friday/Saturday. Will be nice to have everything on an integrated system.

 

[john.m.cole3]

Sweet man! I am switching over to aquaforest products right now and will be doing the balling method with an IV pump. It should be pretty rad. This is my first tank with SPS so I want everything to be as stable as possible and my buddy told me he has been using an IV pump for 10 years with zero problems. I want to get a 125 when we buy our house next year, but for now I'm happy with my 72 bowfront. I'm looking forward to seeing your progress here.

 

[john.m.cole3]

My dosing setup and tank shot. The tank is messy cuz I just fit 28 frags from wwc and haven't mounted them all yet.

 

[ksfulk]

My dosing setup and tank shot. The tank is messy cuz I just fit 28 frags from wwc and haven't mounted them all yet.

I think we've all been there - too many frags, not nearly enough space. Not the worst problem to have

Those pumps should get you where you want to be. I use some similar ones at work. I thought about going the IV pump or a used Cole Palmer, but I like the idea of being plug and play with my Apex, so I saved up and forked over the cash for the DOS pumps. I hope they live upto the rest of their equipment.

My 72 bowfront was the tank that Ive run the longest, and had been the most successful with. Not sure if it was blissful ignorance or just plain luck, but I never had any real pest issues or hassles with leaks (even though it was a hob overflow) and I hand dosed the tank every 5 or so days with big doses of alk and calcium. I had a chinese blackbox LED over the thing with 300W at 4" above the water line, since I couldnt hang the fixture. I had stags growing out of the water (below is an early pic - eventually the monti cap on the overflow covered the entire thing and was about 8" across when I broke the tank down). It was amazing. Now Im having a hard time growing mushrooms and acans!

 

[john.m.cole3]

Nice bowfront man! Come check out a thread me and another member created about lighting choices. We made a simple and friendly comparison thread b/c we were getting tired of seeing the arguements and devates over lighting choices. We'd love to see you post your current and older setups and describe your light choices.
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/our-lighting-comparison-ati-t5-sunpower-hydra-26-hds.243852/