Marty's 8' 300g/sump room build. ~750g system

[crusso1993]

Over the past 2 week I've done about 400g of water changes with a big 150g change at my last one. The tank seems to be at a point where its stabilizing out.. I havent seen any more death in the past week or so, lots of damaged pieces but they all seem to have atleast stopped getting worse. Hopefully were on the road to recovery.
I moved some rock from the 90g waterchange tank down into the sump where the chaeto was.. I needed to gain volume back in the 90 and figured some rock in a higher flow area would be good..

I also moved some of the rock work around in display to make it more open. I wanted to gain more of the front to back depth perspective so i took out all the branch rock that was pointing forward. I also removed a large arch on left side and opened it up to be a kind of lagoon and much more open. The tank looks way bigger and deeper now and I'm happy with the changes. The flow has also gotten way better, the flow from the mp60s isn't getting broken up so early anymore so I can get a nice long flowing current across tank. Corals deff seem to like it better..
Here's a few pics of display

Got the new water station plumbed up too. No more having to stand on the step ladder to turn valves..the entire process is all within arms reach standing right in front of it

With the water station out of the garage I was able to move the chiller closer to the wall and gain a ton of extra storage for garage stuff. This is one of the biggest plus to this redesign.

There is a fan blowing on it to increase air flow should it ever kick on. Luckily this still is just a safety net for me, hasn't came on since we replaced the HVAC.

I'll leave with a couple pics of my nems.. I'm up to 13 now this cube will be upgraded to a 60 cube in about a week or so..I'll post pics of that when it happens.

Happy to hear things are finally turning the corner!

I like how the DT looks with the new re-scape and the nems are beautiful.

 

[crusso1993]

Hey there bud... how have things gone this past week?

Oh, and any RIBS???

 

[Mshort03]

Hey there bud... how have things gone this past week?

Oh, and any RIBS???

Things have been a bit on auto pilot with tank. This havent gotten any worse, all has been stable and I'm actually starting to notice a few things showing improvements

I got a few other things done tho, built a canopy for my buddy and got his tank running. I did all the rock work and setup, and hes actually the one who bought the ati fixture from me. Here's a couple pics of that..he still has to paint and mount all doors

I sold the light as a cash/trade deal.. my portion of the trade was a 60g cube with trigger cube 20 sump and a 36 inch viparspectra light this worked out really well as I now have a good light for the frag tank

The cube will replace my current one to have an even more awesome nem tank. The tank came black but I painted it white to match my bookshelves.

The new setup is also just about same height as my current one which I really like, but looks much better

Tomorrow morning I'll get things transferred over and have it running..super excited for that. I'm also excited to have my first prebuilt sump lol.

Also, these pink hammers are getting very happy, if only I could keep that dang clown out of them

 

[crusso1993]

Things have been a bit on auto pilot with tank. This havent gotten any worse, all has been stable and I'm actually starting to notice a few things showing improvements

I got a few other things done tho, built a canopy for my buddy and got his tank running. I did all the rock work and setup, and hes actually the one who bought the ati fixture from me. Here's a couple pics of that..he still has to paint and mount all doors

I sold the light as a cash/trade deal.. my portion of the trade was a 60g cube with trigger cube 20 sump and a 36 inch viparspectra light this worked out really well as I now have a good light for the frag tank

The cube will replace my current one to have an even more awesome nem tank. The tank came black but I painted it white to match my bookshelves.

The new setup is also just about same height as my current one which I really like, but looks much better

Tomorrow morning I'll get things transferred over and have it running..super excited for that. I'm also excited to have my first prebuilt sump lol.

Also, these pink hammers are getting very happy, if only I could keep that dang clown out of them

Sweet!

BTW, and by now, it may be too late but there are some pretty good sprayers for not a lot of money. I have a Wagner Flexio 3000 that came with two different heads. One of them is "extra fine" and works surprisingly well on cabinets, woodwork and wherever you want a nice, very smooth finish. I've had it about 4 years now and, as long as they are cleaned well after use, really hold up well. Granted, it's not quite as nice as the Graco Finish Spray unit I had but it also wasn't almost $2,000.

Edit; In case you're interested, the Flexio 3000 is currently on sale at Lowes for $139.00.

 

[Mshort03]

Sweet!

BTW, and by now, it may be too late but there are some pretty good sprayers for not a lot of money. I have a Wagner Flexio 3000 that came with two different heads. One of them is "extra fine" and works surprisingly well on cabinets, woodwork and wherever you want a nice, very smooth finish. I've had it about 4 years now and, as long as they are cleaned well after use, really hold up well. Granted, it's not quite as nice as the Graco Finish Spray unit I had but it also wasn't almost $2,000.

Edit; In case you're interested, the Flexio 3000 is currently on sale at Lowes for $139.00.

Wish I saw this earlier:/ deff would have bought. I still need to repaint my display cabinets tho so maybe I can use it for that, well see. I really do despise painting.

Got the cube running, still super foggy but shes goin. Will finish the equipment tomorrow and finish placing few odd things. Here's a quick update of that

I will note that I'm a bit disappointed with how loud the sump is.. the black inlet pipe of the trigger sump goes under water pretty far. I think that is the cause of the noise but not sure. I will investigate more tomorrow when I have time and finish up all the small pieces of this

 

[Mshort03]

Did another water change yesterday on the display, I've really been noticing improvements in things in tank.. I even moved a few more euphyllia in to fill up the garden some. Here's a quick pic of that, 2 are still closed as I just moved them and the one purple frogspawn clearly needs to color up more lol.

Another thing I did was swap out the 2 coral plus bulbs over the display with blue plus. I'm very happy with the change, its subtle but to me makes a big difference..no more purple hue to things.

Also got the cube all set with equipment and what not. Really digging this new setup.

Here's a few shots on the tank and the new meat coral and brain coral I got for it

Got the optical sensors for the apex setup in this pipe which goes into my fresh water bin. This sets a high and low so my rodi unit comes on automatically now and makes 50g of water at a time.

Another daunting task which I'm very glad to say is complete was painting the side shelves and getting the doors built and installed and all trim done to finish the display. It looks 100 times better now that its complete..now we just need that custom dining table we ordered 4 months ago to be delivered

Lastly here's a shot of my mandarin I only get to see about once a month. He was enjoying the natural light this am before the LEDs came on

 

[crusso1993]

Hey Marty... I've been MIA... OBVIOUSLY...

How are you? How is your set up? What's new and different?

R I B S!

 

[Mshort03]

Hey Marty... I've been MIA... OBVIOUSLY...

How are you? How is your set up? What's new and different?

R I B S!

I've been good! Super busy with the the house and family down and all, been good holiday season so far
Things with the tank are good! Its deff been a roller coaster of 10 months running but over all I'm happy with things. Lots of little tweaking has gone on and I'm working on simplifying the whole thing as much as I can, already made some of those step and have a few more in the works
Recently I decided to take down the 90g display refugium. It wasnt very cool to look at and was VERY dirty in terms of holding detritus and what not. Another con is that I had to have this big ugly purple board up and covering the tank to block the red light..really hated it. Nitrates had been on an upward creep and had reached 16 by time I decided that long term this wasnt gunna be a good option. Phos always stayed in check at .03 which in happy about. Here's a couple pics of that tank and the crap after I took the rock and all out, boy was it dirty

The 90 is now used as a overflow tank for pieces from the display. If theres ever any teo corals about to touch I'll snip it, throw it on a tile and into the 90 to forget about. In a year I'll have a bunch of random colonies growing that I can then do ehatever with. I have a reefbreeder light I got in a tank buyout and I added some t5 to it as well.

Another notable thing is that I got rid of that bulky, loud, and power hungry portable air conditioner and installed a mini split system. The temp in room is much more stable now with a noticable decrease in power consumption. It also allows me to regulate the tank temps a bit more so I can limit the amount of time the heaters come on.

Another fun recent addition was a new, properly sized skimmer! I got the regal 300 int and got 2 neck extensions as well as the cup cleaner to go with it. I absolutely LOVE IT. Dead silent and makes super think gross skimmate. Also noticed an immediate increase in ph of about .2 after upgrading.

Theres been a few other things going on but this is the important things. Next I'll be working on better mounting board for my controllers and wire management. I'll also be adding the external skimmer to the frag system, I ordered a new pump for it as this one was old and used a lot of power.

This area is where the salt container used to sit. It got dirty after mixing so much water so I removed to clean and it was a PAIN getting it in and out of this spot. Decided to leave it out and I'll bring it in room whenever I decide to do water changes and just mix it and remove. I no longer keep salt water stored so this sint an issue and frees up a lot of space in the room.

Here's my current water tests as of yesterday. Ordering another icp test just to see how things are going for what I cant test. My nitrate has dropped in half since removal of the refugium 3 weeks ago.

I'll leave with a nice photo dump

 

[vetteguy53081]

I've been good! Super busy with the the house and family down and all, been good holiday season so far
Things with the tank are good! Its deff been a roller coaster of 10 months running but over all I'm happy with things. Lots of little tweaking has gone on and I'm working on simplifying the whole thing as much as I can, already made some of those step and have a few more in the works
Recently I decided to take down the 90g display refugium. It wasnt very cool to look at and was VERY dirty in terms of holding detritus and what not. Another con is that I had to have this big ugly purple board up and covering the tank to block the red light..really hated it. Nitrates had been on an upward creep and had reached 16 by time I decided that long term this wasnt gunna be a good option. Phos always stayed in check at .03 which in happy about. Here's a couple pics of that tank and the crap after I took the rock and all out, boy was it dirty

The 90 is now used as a overflow tank for pieces from the display. If theres ever any teo corals about to touch I'll snip it, throw it on a tile and into the 90 to forget about. In a year I'll have a bunch of random colonies growing that I can then do ehatever with. I have a reefbreeder light I got in a tank buyout and I added some t5 to it as well.

Another notable thing is that I got rid of that bulky, loud, and power hungry portable air conditioner and installed a mini split system. The temp in room is much more stable now with a noticable decrease in power consumption. It also allows me to regulate the tank temps a bit more so I can limit the amount of time the heaters come on.

Another fun recent addition was a new, properly sized skimmer! I got the regal 300 int and got 2 neck extensions as well as the cup cleaner to go with it. I absolutely LOVE IT. Dead silent and naked super think gross skimmate. Also noticed an immediate increase in oh of about .2 after upgrading.

Theres been a few other things going on but this is the important things. Next I'll be working on better mounting board for my controllers and wire management. I'll also be adding the external skimmer to the frag system, I ordered a new pump for it as this one was old and used a lot of power.

This area is where the salt container used to sit. It got dirty after mixing so much water so I removed to clean and it was a PAIN getting it in and out of this spot. Decided to leave it out and I'll bring it in room whenever I decide to do water changes and just mix it and remove. I no longer keep salt water stored so this sint an issue and frees up a lot of space in the room.

Here's my current water tests as of yesterday. Ordering another icp test just to see how things are going for what I cant test.

I'll leave with a nice photo dump

Looking fantastic

 

[Mshort03]

 

[Mshort03]

 

[Mshort03]

Many many more goodies stashed away in here too

 

[Bleigh]

Dang. Those corals are something else! My tank wants to be your tank when it grows up!

 

[Mshort03]

Dang. Those corals are something else! My tank wants to be your tank when it grows up!

Lol, thank you!

 

[crusso1993]

So happy to see things have turned around for you and you're finally moving in the direction you wanted since setting it all up!

Sweet photos as the corals are looking killer... and those ribs!

 

[Mshort03]

So happy to see things have turned around for you and you're finally moving in the direction you wanted since setting it all up!

Sweet photos as the corals are looking killer... and those ribs!

im happy too, it was a roller coaster of stresses and unforseen things but with a system this large (and my frist time building something like this) it was bound to happen. now im just impatiently waiting for it all to grow in so it doesnt look like a giant frag tank! lol

 

[crusso1993]

Wishing good tidings to you, that @Dyanna Diaz chic and all your loved ones!

 

[Mshort03]

Wishing good tidings to you, that @Dyanna Diaz chic and all your loved ones!

Merry christmas to you and your family as well!

 

[crusso1993]

Wishing you and your family nothing but good health and happiness in 2020!

 

[Mshort03]

Well.. I think it's happening again. Burnt tips. Alk going up, nutrients all over. This thing is really kicking my butt.
Little back story, about a month or so ago I removed the fuge like I previously mentioned. Prior to this things were going good for most part, some stuff rough but overall was ok. Before removing fuge nitrates were 16 phos .03 I remove fuge and within 3 days nitrate drops to 8 phos goes to .04 it sits like this for 3 weeks then 3 days ago test saying 12 nitrate and .08 phos. I know this jumping of nutrients is bad and in finally at the point with equipment that I consider my "final" setup but things are looking rough again. I assume it's from the nutrient imbalance but not 100%. I have a triton test here now that I'll be sending out monday. I'll be gone all next week for training for work..wonder what I'm gunna come home to.

This tank man..just so many problems for me! Makes me so happy one day then super stressed the next (guess that's the hobby tho). Frag system is still growing wild and 100% hands off so I cannot complain about that, just wish display followed suit.

If i end up having another crash the tank is 100% gunna get torn down and restarted. Theres plenty of things i learned setting up my first huge tank that I already wish I did different in terms of flow, rockwork, and other things. If that happens I'd be taking this rock out, bleaching it, and starting fresh cycle..hoping it doesnt go that far but I'm accepting the possibility. I just cant keep watching this thing go like this.

My alk has been 8.5 but since fuge down it's gone to 9ish. I figured corals were upset so tried to adjust reactor. I've turned it down 3 times since removing fuge, now at 12ml/min.

Testing all with hanna I got 9.2 I used last test from bottle without checking against new reagent which was dumb. I test new bottle next day (yesterday) and it's at 9.7! I turn reactor down to the 12 it's at now and it says 9.8 today. Yesterday I tested with redsea and got 9.2 so I'm sure its variance in reagent for hanna but that still sucks that the reading jumps. Now I feel like I dont even know what's going on in tank. The triton test is here and hopefully I have results by time I'm back from training

I ordered a kh guardian which will be here next week so I'll set that up when I'm back. 6 tests a day should let me create a chart to see my all patterns.

I know I'm kinda rambling all over in this post but that's where my mind is. Just totally at a loss of what move I should make, for now its letting it sit and see what happens. Maybe when i come back it will be much further along either way and I'll know the direction I'm heading who knows..

I'll attach some pics of the damage. Looks same as last time
Here's some tips losing flesh

This is a fox flame that was growing great and lost its bright yellow tips

Theres more that looks like this but u get idea.

This hobby man I tell ya.

I know I made a big change with fuge and I know that is most likely my issue but this just really hurts. If it gets bad as last time what do you guys think of me starting it over? I'd go much slower this time as I wouldn't be in such a hurry with things. Frag system doing great so I have a store of coral to shop from-slowly. Luckily I've also got duplicates of almost every coral in system so I'm protected there as well.

I'm feeling at a loss again