Mattdg's 120G SPS / Mixed Reef Build and Progress

[mattdg]

Quick update, tank was 100%, following the holidays. Longest I've ever left it on it's own. I'll be looking into some better monitoring options this year. Please feel free to make creative suggestions. I am already aware of the more popular controllers out there, but really interested in stand alone solutions, as described in my previous post.

Picture update coming soon.

 

[mattdg]

Here is a Reef Tank Equipment Tour video, I made in December.

 

[mattdg]

Full Tank Shot, Picture Update 1/16/2020

 

[Nicutz]

Beautiful tank, and it really makes me dream that it is possible to have healthy corals and full of color without spending miles of dollars on lighting, and of course always taking care of the parameters.

My tank is 244 cm x 60 cm x 70 cm deep, and I plan 3 300-watt Viperspectra lamps, and I want to complement it with 8x54w T5's, 4 on each side, I'm looking for a pink shade in lighting, growth and color in the Corals, what do you think I see your success and expect an answer?

 

[mattdg]

Beautiful tank, and it really makes me dream that it is possible to have healthy corals and full of color without spending miles of dollars on lighting, and of course always taking care of the parameters.

My tank is 244 cm x 60 cm x 70 cm deep, and I plan 3 300-watt Viperspectra lamps, and I want to complement it with 8x54w T5's, 4 on each side, I'm looking for a pink shade in lighting, growth and color in the Corals, what do you think I see your success and expect an answer?

That should be plenty of lighting for anything you throw in there. The Viparspectra lights are extremely powerful, so start low, especially when introducing SPS and LPS to the system like 25% Max white and blue channel. The secret to having success with any low or high cost LED system is setting it and leaving it. I am now at 60% Blue 20% white and have not touched those settings for a year.

As far as a pink shade, the lights tend to fall in the green / blue end. I actually replaced 6 of the blue LED drivers in each light with Red, to get a slightly pinker shade, which I also like. The T5's will help soften the harsh look of the LED's and fill in shaded areas.

Best of luck and thank you for checking out the build thread!

 

[mattdg]

Here are some picture of the coral and growth in the 120 gallon mixed reef February 2020.

Full tank shot. Everything has been growing quickly which has increased calcium and alkalinity uptake exponentially. I am currently dosing 192 ml of BRS two part / day. I ordered 5 gallon buckets of BRS Soda Ash, Calcium and Magnesium Chloride to keep up with the demand and will be mixing 5 gallons at a time, rather than the one gallon every 2-3 weeks.

Additionally I have increased fragging and am trying to grow nice chunky mini colonies in the downstairs coral propagation tank, to trade and sell locally. My goal this year is to sell enough frags and colonies to fund running this tank as well as the downstairs aquaculture system.

A picture from above the right side of the tank. Looking down you can see the Walt Disney Tenuis, Bali Green Slimer, Hawkins Echinata, Fox Flame, Pink Lemonade, Red Dragon, Blue Millepora, Red and Green Capricornis and way down at the bottom left, a Bright red / orange goniapora.

Moving to the right side of the 120 gallon mixed reef we have a poletta pink tip at the very top, a JF Homewrecker tenuis lower left, Red Dragon, red digi dead center, craft aquatic rainbow millepora center right, underneath it a space invader pectina and some deep orange montipora setosa all the way at the bottom.

Lastly for this update, this is a giant football sized ORA Bird of Paradise Seriatopora that I will be selling and replacing with a smaller frag of the same. It is important to maintain a clear path all the way around the central reef structure, for the large tang to swim. I am hoping it ends up in a nice big display tank, for someone else to enjoy.

 

[mattdg]

About a week ago, the white channel on the left side 165 watt Vipar Spectra fixture died. I decided that it was time for an upgrade. I have since replaced the left side fixture with a AI Hydra 64 HD. If you examine the first picture closely, you can see the slight spectrum difference between the AI Hydra 64 and the Vipar Spectra. In the second picture, you will notice how much higher I was able to mount the AI fixture, almost to the recommended minimum height of 10". The Sunblaster T5 strips are still installed (ATI Blue Plus front / Fiji Purple back) along with the Nano Sol Blue, in the center of the tank, currently used for night time viewing.

The VS fixtures have served me well over the last two years, but I have decided to fix the one and move it down stairs to the expanding aquaculture system and eventually upgrade the second fixture, as well.

For now it will be interesting to observe the difference in how the coral color up under the two fixtures. I'll do a video on that, in April.

I have to say, I immediately noticed more definition in the color of the coral tissue under the AI. I'll post my current settings below. They were taken from the BRS recommendations video, with the addition of much more Deep Red and White. I tend to enjoy seeing some red in the spectrum.

Current settings for the AI Hydra 64 HD

UV 73 - Violet 73 - Royal 73 - Blue 73 - Green 14 - Deep Red 80 - Moon 0 - Cool White 73

Ramp up / ramp down, two hours. Lights on from 8:30 am to 7:30 PM. All off at 9:30

Lunar Cycle on

Mounted 9.5" above water surface

 

[mattdg]

I am still working on dialing in the exact settings for the AI Hydra 64 HD.

I didn't like how quickly the white and red settings were increasing in the morning, so I set them to ramp up for 2 hours to 8%. I then have them set to ramp up to 78% from 11-3:30 and down to 8% again by 7:30.

So far, I am really enjoying these settings and how both the Hydra and Viparspectra play off each other. I want to find the setting I am 100% happy with quickly and stick to it. I hate tweaking lights more than I need to, and so do the coral.

If all goes well with the new light for a month or two, I will move the second VP down to the aquaculture system and install a second AI Hydra 64 HD

Here is a top down shot I took, right before removing the old light.

the two coral in the middle are the Pink Lemonade acro and a walt disney tenuis, proof that you can grow healthy, colorful colonies of coral with black box LEDs.

 

[Chessmanmark]

I love top down shots. The colors always look more vibrant. Enjoy the new light Matt.

 

[mattdg]

Full Tank Shot 8/10/20. There have been some changes... removed a bunch of the Bali Green Slimer and moved the homewrecker and a few new pieces of SPS to the upper left. Added some acans to overhangs and cave areas. Also installed a DIY upflow algae scrubber (I will post a video to that below) to the sump and am moving back to feeding mostly prepared flake and pellet foods. The fish and coral just do better, for me, when I feed it.

Overall, everything is growing steadily and looking healthy. ALK has stabilized between 8-8.5 I am working on a system to perform auto water changes, which I look forward to implementing as soon as the vectras come available

.

 

[mattdg]

A video about my new DIY upflow algae scrubber

 

[mattdg]

Lots of stuff happening with the 120G, in the last 4 months, mostly good. The tank has really stabilized, now that I am back to bi weekly water changes. I have decided to stop feeding frozen, for the time. I've experienced great results in the past, feeding prepared foods only. Actually, on high quality flakes 2x / day and coral feeding 1x / week. Aminos, every other. PO4 / NO3 are at perfect levels, fish look colorful and happy. This has a little something to do with the new algae reactor too, but really think it is mainly the result of proper nutrient throughput and stabilizing trace levels via water changes. I still experience bouts of hair algae in the main display, but much more manageable. On a related note, I wish the company that made the algae mower vac, was still around. That thing was perfect for cleaning up stray patches of HA and mine finally died after 8 years of use.

I will post a video tomorrow, with a more detailed update and visual walk around the tank.

 

[Clownfish_Boy]

Tracking the progress of my 120 gallon SPS heavy mixed reef aquarium.

In March of 2017, a good friend of mine and I moved my 4 year old SPS dominated cube from a 3rd floor walk up in Brooklyn, to my families new home in the Hudson Valley. In November of 2017, I began the process of setting up the new 120 gallon system, to house the coral that had overgrown the little cube.

Our 120 gallon sps dominated mixed reef is now roughly 4 months old, with some colonies that have been with us in various tanks since 2011. Here is what the tank looks like today.

And this is the overgrown 40 cube, that everything was transferred from, in November of 2017

I had been looking for a good deal on a 120 - 180 gallon tank with dual corner overflow for months. I finally came across one on a local forum. Ironically, it was located only a few blocks from our old apartment in Brooklyn. I loaded it up into our station wagon, drove it back to the Hudson Valley and here it is sitting on our back patio, waiting for a stand.

One of the first things I did for the new build was reinforce the floor underneath. Our home is over 200 years old, so it is built very strong, as they were, but at 8.4 pounds per gallon you can't be too careful. You can see the old system sits directly below where the new tank will be built. This will become the future quarantine and aquaculture area.

In this hobby, plumbing is my least favorite thing. I figured, if I have to do it, I might as well make it look good with schedule 80 ball valves, unions and fittings and "coralline violet" pvc for the overflow.

I opted to make it upgradeable and serviceable, using a handful of unions. I also decided to use mostly 45 degree elbows to minimize back pressure on the return pump. I am very happy with how everything turned out.

Making the water for the upstairs aquarium and performing one last water change on the 40 cube.

I framed the stand in with 2x4's. A few shots of the nearly finished stand, with tank installed.

The Tonga branch is the dry variety from BRS. It had been cycling in a rubbermaid in the basement for 3 months. I enjoy minimalist aquascapes, creating lots of open flow, areas for the fish to swim and sps to grow.

Here are some shots of the painted stand with the doors and Eshopps R-200 Gen 3 installed. It is important to me that this tank is quiet since it is in our main living area. The R-200 has a really cool overflow design, that reduces the sound of water splashing, as it enters the sump. I'll post more in the future about equipment choice in regard to quiet operation.

I look forward to posting much more about this build, and future progress of the tank. Hope you enjoy this thread, as much as our Son enjoys his sea critters.

Magnificent !!!

 

[Chessmanmark]

I’m glad to hear that you hit a sweet spot. Scrolling back a little your tank looks great, an SPS dream.
The frags you gave me are doing great. They are good stock. The only one I lost was the Green Birdsnest. I think I blasted it with too much light. It was growing well, but one day it STNed. I fragged it, but unfortunately it didn’t make it. I have a b4 and after pictures on my phone of the Exquisitor acro that took off in my tank. I’ll have to airdrop them to my ipad and upload them
I look forward to a day in the future when this crisis ends and we resume club meetings. I’d really like to see you tank in person one day.

 

[mattdg]

Magnificent !!!

Thank YA!!

 

[mattdg]

I’m glad to hear that you hit a sweet spot. Scrolling back a little your tank looks great, an SPS dream.
The frags you gave me are doing great. They are good stock. The only one I lost was the Green Birdsnest. I think I blasted it with too much light. It was growing well, but one day it STNed. I fragged it, but unfortunately it didn’t make it. I have a b4 and after pictures on my phone of the Exquisitor acro that took off in my tank. I’ll have to airdrop them to my ipad and upload them
I look forward to a day in the future when this crisis ends and we resume club meetings. I’d really like to see you tank in person one day.

Thank you Mark. I am glad to hear that most of the coral I gave you are doing well. I'll have a frag of that ORA green birdsnest for you, the next time we get together. I needs no more that 80 PAR and medium flow, as you discovered. I'd love to see pics of the rest of them and your setup in general. Also looking forward to a future meeting. It will be a bit until we are ready to host, but a definite future consideration! I was really enjoying the couple meet ups we managed to put together, before the world changed. Hope to see you soon!

 

[mattdg]

Check out the video, if you'd like to see more about our 120 gallon mixed reef.

 

[Chessmanmark]

Here is the before and after picture of the Exquisitor acro. This coral loves light. When the halides go off and the blue LED actinics go on the green tips get highlighted.

 

[Chessmanmark]

I agree about the Tunze. My Tunze Stream is 16 years old. It seemed expensive when I first set up my tank, but looking back it was a terrific investment. Probably my best piece of reefing equipment.
As far as that large Tang goes, you are going to need a bigger tank soon anyway!
Your tank is smoking! I enjoyed that walk around.

 

[mattdg]

I agree about the Tunze. My Tunze Stream is 16 years old. It seemed expensive when I first set up my tank, but looking back it was a terrific investment. Probably my best piece of reefing equipment.
As far as that large Tang goes, you are going to need a bigger tank soon anyway!
Your tank is smoking! I enjoyed that walk around.

Mark, thanks for always checking out the videos! The Tunzes totally instill confidence, which is a good thing when you have a reef full of SPS coral! I'm done with the idea of trying to blend the pumps into the aquascape, now preferring convenience and reliability over visual perfection. The Ice Cap Gyre I had was nothing but a headache to clean and keep running. It recently broke, took down a few colonies in the process until I noticed it was working intermittently and I couldn't source the replacement parts (no longer available!!, and only a few years old), which ended up being a blessing in disguise. I feel so much less anxious running the Tunzes.

I will not be upsizing the tank any time soon. 120 is sort of my sweet spot, but some day WAY off, maybe something MUCH bigger. The Naso tang still has a ton of room to swim around the central reef structure, which is hard to portray in the video, but I have a couple folks who might take him, if he gets much bigger. It won't be easy to convince my son and wife. He is like a member of the family.

Thank you again for the kind words. The pieces I gave you are looking happy and healthy. I can't wait to see your setup, hopefully some time very soon.