My new 80gal rimless shallow SPS lagoon build.
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- Thread starter C. Eymann
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OP
OP
C. Eymann
2500 Club Member
I hope future corals bring their sunscreen
Im still trying to decide if I want to run the glass shields on the fixture, hmm
I decided to update my XR30g4pros to Mobius, one issue I am finding is that both fixtures respond to " disco" and live scene etc etc, but when I "revert" back to the regular schedule I setup only one fixture seems to follow ? I hqve really only played with it for 5min/set a schedule.
Im thinking I might replace the current coral plus and aquablue special with a GE6500k and true actinic. So the T5s will consist of
Blue+
True actinic
Blue+
Radions
GE6500k
Blue+
Blue+
Plumbing is pretty basic
I plumbed for the future as I plan on adding a 50-60 gal cube next to the lagoon, also I am realizing l will probably be utilizing that cube tanks stand for stuff like ATO reservoir, CO2 tank, wire management etc etc, so that may happen sooner than later.
I also decided to T off the return to possibly feed my calcium reactor as I sold my masterflex after I took down my old tank, but I my just get a XF1 insted, either way I wanted an outlet for possible accessories, reactor, uvc etc etc.
Im still trying to decide if I want to run the glass shields on the fixture, hmm
I decided to update my XR30g4pros to Mobius, one issue I am finding is that both fixtures respond to " disco" and live scene etc etc, but when I "revert" back to the regular schedule I setup only one fixture seems to follow ? I hqve really only played with it for 5min/set a schedule.
Im thinking I might replace the current coral plus and aquablue special with a GE6500k and true actinic. So the T5s will consist of
Blue+
True actinic
Blue+
Radions
GE6500k
Blue+
Blue+
Plumbing is pretty basic
I plumbed for the future as I plan on adding a 50-60 gal cube next to the lagoon, also I am realizing l will probably be utilizing that cube tanks stand for stuff like ATO reservoir, CO2 tank, wire management etc etc, so that may happen sooner than later.
I also decided to T off the return to possibly feed my calcium reactor as I sold my masterflex after I took down my old tank, but I my just get a XF1 insted, either way I wanted an outlet for possible accessories, reactor, uvc etc etc.
OP
OP
C. Eymann
2500 Club Member
Well, decided to pick up a 30 gal lagoon that I will tie into the system as a display mangrove/fuge/clam tank.
I was initially going to do this a year or two down the road, but I needed the space under its stand for ato resivour/ CO2 tank, wiring etc etc.
haven't decided what Im going to use to light it, considering a halide, or just another radion G4 pro.
Hoping to get it all wet, scaped and cycling through next week.
OP
OP
C. Eymann
2500 Club Member
Decided to get it wet finally!
Finished plumbing, I know 45° fittings dont look as clean as 90°s but I perfer function over form.
Planning wire management and control panels, Ill probably ditch both the MP40wES for either new MP40s that are mobius compatible because I have a beta version of mobius available to me that I configured/updated the Radion XR30g4pros in my fixture.
Basically just using the old controller boxes as templates.
However given that the tank has a 2x4ft footprint, Im possibly considering going the gyre route too, as I feel once the tank is grown in Ill be buying an additional pair of MP40s and Im not made of money lol.
Because there is no longer support, Im going to ditch my Digital Aquatics Reefkeeper and decided to get an Neptune Apex.
It will be mostly for monitoring, redundancy and acting as my T5s timer/schedule.
Hope everyone had a happy 4th of July!
Finished plumbing, I know 45° fittings dont look as clean as 90°s but I perfer function over form.
Planning wire management and control panels, Ill probably ditch both the MP40wES for either new MP40s that are mobius compatible because I have a beta version of mobius available to me that I configured/updated the Radion XR30g4pros in my fixture.
Basically just using the old controller boxes as templates.
However given that the tank has a 2x4ft footprint, Im possibly considering going the gyre route too, as I feel once the tank is grown in Ill be buying an additional pair of MP40s and Im not made of money lol.
Because there is no longer support, Im going to ditch my Digital Aquatics Reefkeeper and decided to get an Neptune Apex.
It will be mostly for monitoring, redundancy and acting as my T5s timer/schedule.
Hope everyone had a happy 4th of July!
Last edited:
wilsonline
Active Member
How is the project going? following.
Nice plumbing!!!
Nice plumbing!!!
OP
OP
C. Eymann
2500 Club Member
I apologize for not updating regularly, life happens, mostly work, which fortunately for myself involves this hobby to which that I am truly grateful.
So I bought dry rock from a seller on a buy/sell app that had previously been "live rock" for a good deal , I did a good RO/DI soak and scrub but didn't really want to deal with bleaching/acid curing the rock and just figured Id let the remaining dried out organics contribute to the cycle process.
I didn't really even need much ammonia chloride to get it started.
By day 5 after adding salt water and dr Tims one and only I was at 4ppm of ammonia and still 0 nitrite. The nitrifying bacteria were not happy, I did a 50% WC on the ~120 gal system.
This brought my ammonia down to 2ppm but it held there very consistently over the next few days, I attributed it to the organics in the rock I purchased breaking down,
At work we were exchanging out some coral racks that had overgrowth on them. one of the owners of the farm offered a portion of the shards of encrustments to me, problem was I still was getting 2ppm of ammonia on my test results for my still cycling new system, but decided to give it a try anyway.
Certain these were destined for doom
7/14/ 2020
Despite the ammonia/nitrite that didn't both reach 0 consistently until tge beginning of August they grew quite well, and still growing fast despite my current battle with dinos
Pic taken today 8/16/20
I connected a 30 gallon lagoon style tank to this system with the intent of recreating a Mangrove biome, also to satisfy my desire to have a shallow water (natural looking) lit tank (love colorful corals, not a fan of blue)
My system is far from being put together, it remains as a "work in progress" on that side of my living space / equipment side of things.
I can't decide if I want to tuck away the controller/board in the stand or have it out in the open with everything in eye shot like my last system.
Again I apologize for this slow build however work has been taking most of my attention, finding a balance between that, my own reef tank and living life can be a juggle...Basically Im just making excuses as to why I haven't updated this thread more/have a finished project, lol
So I bought dry rock from a seller on a buy/sell app that had previously been "live rock" for a good deal , I did a good RO/DI soak and scrub but didn't really want to deal with bleaching/acid curing the rock and just figured Id let the remaining dried out organics contribute to the cycle process.
I didn't really even need much ammonia chloride to get it started.
By day 5 after adding salt water and dr Tims one and only I was at 4ppm of ammonia and still 0 nitrite. The nitrifying bacteria were not happy, I did a 50% WC on the ~120 gal system.
This brought my ammonia down to 2ppm but it held there very consistently over the next few days, I attributed it to the organics in the rock I purchased breaking down,
At work we were exchanging out some coral racks that had overgrowth on them. one of the owners of the farm offered a portion of the shards of encrustments to me, problem was I still was getting 2ppm of ammonia on my test results for my still cycling new system, but decided to give it a try anyway.
Certain these were destined for doom
7/14/ 2020
Despite the ammonia/nitrite that didn't both reach 0 consistently until tge beginning of August they grew quite well, and still growing fast despite my current battle with dinos
Pic taken today 8/16/20
I connected a 30 gallon lagoon style tank to this system with the intent of recreating a Mangrove biome, also to satisfy my desire to have a shallow water (natural looking) lit tank (love colorful corals, not a fan of blue)
My system is far from being put together, it remains as a "work in progress" on that side of my living space / equipment side of things.
I can't decide if I want to tuck away the controller/board in the stand or have it out in the open with everything in eye shot like my last system.
Again I apologize for this slow build however work has been taking most of my attention, finding a balance between that, my own reef tank and living life can be a juggle...Basically Im just making excuses as to why I haven't updated this thread more/have a finished project, lol
Last edited:
BAUCE
Well-Known Member
I just lost my 5 year old chalk bass yesterday. The gf is heart broken and wants me to grab another. How do they do in groups? Have always loved the temperament on them.Thanks for the good wishes!
Added two chalk bass (my favorite underrated reef fish) to QT, eating well and clean so far, will add a third tomorrow then after I observe healthy eating behaviors for 72 hrs I will start my prophylactic CP treatment.
OP
OP
C. Eymann
2500 Club Member
They do well in groups and unlike chromis /anthias it generally doesn't matter if its an odd number or not, ideally they should be added as the same size at the same time, but rarely do they exhibit strong aggression towards eachother.
I dont think they are very popular in the hobby because at /under typical LFS fish system lighting their brilliance in color goes unseen.
unfortunately I am down to one chalk bass, I lost one for unexplained reasons in QT, and one of the two I had left hopped out of my 80gal
I feel pretty bad, Im going to hold off on adding anymore "flight risk" fish until I get a screen top.
Oh boy that light turned out awesome, but the build looks so amazing!
Very, very nice
Very, very nice
Everything Aquatics
Well-Known Member
We’re did you get the tanks
OP
OP
C. Eymann
2500 Club Member
Decided to update my XR30G4pros onto a beta version of Mobius a few months back, it had its issues at first but seems to be working almost every time I attempt to connect now.
My mangrove tank is currently lit with a 36w LED sansi led light that has actually been fairly good but eventually Ill be most likely getting a radion for it as well, I want to keep corals and clams in this tank down the road so I wanted the mangroves to be further back against the overflow box so even after they grow out a bit Ill still have a usuable non shaded area, I wanted to encourage the growth of their support root structure so I knew Id have to suspend them partially out of water, but I also wanted to have some suitable substrate for some of their roots as well as keeping it somewhat contained. I bought a few mesh pond baskets and was considering filling them with Julians TLF refugite media but I had another idea
I have always been skeptical of Ecosystem miracle mud, never used it myself but I have seen many beautiful systems that use it, some pioneers of the hobby swear by it, decided to implement a mix of that and sand in my mangrove pots.
I built a little structure of tavertine tile to elevate them up against the back overflow box, used pieces of plastic clothing hangers ziptied to the baskets as the mangrove pod "stilts"
more mangroves and some cheato added also some more rock to cover/ hide the baskets.
My mangrove tank is currently lit with a 36w LED sansi led light that has actually been fairly good but eventually Ill be most likely getting a radion for it as well, I want to keep corals and clams in this tank down the road so I wanted the mangroves to be further back against the overflow box so even after they grow out a bit Ill still have a usuable non shaded area, I wanted to encourage the growth of their support root structure so I knew Id have to suspend them partially out of water, but I also wanted to have some suitable substrate for some of their roots as well as keeping it somewhat contained. I bought a few mesh pond baskets and was considering filling them with Julians TLF refugite media but I had another idea
I have always been skeptical of Ecosystem miracle mud, never used it myself but I have seen many beautiful systems that use it, some pioneers of the hobby swear by it, decided to implement a mix of that and sand in my mangrove pots.
I built a little structure of tavertine tile to elevate them up against the back overflow box, used pieces of plastic clothing hangers ziptied to the baskets as the mangrove pod "stilts"
more mangroves and some cheato added also some more rock to cover/ hide the baskets.
OP
OP
C. Eymann
2500 Club Member
I knew that starting out running my old kalk reactor would push my alk way too high due to the surface area / high evaporation rate of the system.
I found a used bubble magus 3 head dosing pump on a planted tank group for an awesome deal that I mounted under tge 30gal, Im using mostly for maintaining alk at first via DIY "baked baking soda" Sodium carbonate mix, once I am able to implement my kalk reactor and eventually my old calcium reactor I will most likely use this doser for aminos, trace etc etc.
Everything was going pretty smoothly for a while, acropora that I added were doing good, yet I still hadn't even really completed my aquascape, once I filled the system I just kinda piled rock in there to get it curing/cycling.
One of my huge pitfalls is how indecisive I am, part of me really wants to ditch most of the fake tonga I got for cheap and get some more real live rock,
also with equipment and wire management
My last system everything was out and on display, tank had its own laptop interface for the reefkeeper controller, I could glance at it while walking out the door and know - pumps are running, ATO is good, temperature is good, calcium reactor pH is good etc etc
Cant decide if I want it like that again, or if I want to hide everything away in the stand, I have a few sheets of melamine templated out, but Im also considering tucking everything under the stand out of sight because with apex fusion, I can glance at my phone and know everything is "good"
Im at the point where Im almost considering flipping a coin, lol
I found a used bubble magus 3 head dosing pump on a planted tank group for an awesome deal that I mounted under tge 30gal, Im using mostly for maintaining alk at first via DIY "baked baking soda" Sodium carbonate mix, once I am able to implement my kalk reactor and eventually my old calcium reactor I will most likely use this doser for aminos, trace etc etc.
Everything was going pretty smoothly for a while, acropora that I added were doing good, yet I still hadn't even really completed my aquascape, once I filled the system I just kinda piled rock in there to get it curing/cycling.
One of my huge pitfalls is how indecisive I am, part of me really wants to ditch most of the fake tonga I got for cheap and get some more real live rock,
also with equipment and wire management
My last system everything was out and on display, tank had its own laptop interface for the reefkeeper controller, I could glance at it while walking out the door and know - pumps are running, ATO is good, temperature is good, calcium reactor pH is good etc etc
Cant decide if I want it like that again, or if I want to hide everything away in the stand, I have a few sheets of melamine templated out, but Im also considering tucking everything under the stand out of sight because with apex fusion, I can glance at my phone and know everything is "good"
Im at the point where Im almost considering flipping a coin, lol
OP
OP
C. Eymann
2500 Club Member
More updates-
I added a few more fish, percula clowns and
I converted a few freshwater mollies over to SW for my mangrove tank and they started having babies! which ended up in the sump and a few even managed to get past the main pump and into my display! I gathered as many as I could and am raising the fry
then another female spat out some more fry so breeding SW born/raised mollies has become a temporary side project in the mangrove tank lol
The big tank was rolling along smoothly for a few weeks, still had acros and montis doing fine and growing.
However, in the past week.I started getting a dinoflagellate outbreak, I have never had an issue with dinos in my own previous systems so its a frustrating turn to take, getting rather bad.
Probably has something to do with going too fast, originally I had planned to run it totally dark for a month or two, but I was given a bunch of free coral that I couldn't pass up, so lights came on the first week of being wet before I was even ammonia free ;Facepalm
mistake on my part.
N/P never dropped too low, NO3 if anything has been a bit high, Im going to take a multi prong approach to this, Ill be taking a sample to work tomorrow to ID under a scope but my suspicion is its ostreopsis
I have pulled my alk dosing and am using kalk slurries to elevate pH and it has somewhat alleviated it, they haven't grown as thick as they normally would have before during the photoperiod however I have also started a bacterial fix around the same time
I have also seen some successful with the bacterial approach so I started dosing microbac7 daily, made a mix of vinegar and vodka to put on the doser and in the past week I have ramped up slowly from 1ml to now 4ml - watching N/P closely of course.
Im in the market now for a uv sterilizer but will wait to confirm species before I make that costly purchase.
I added a few more fish, percula clowns and
I converted a few freshwater mollies over to SW for my mangrove tank and they started having babies! which ended up in the sump and a few even managed to get past the main pump and into my display! I gathered as many as I could and am raising the fry
then another female spat out some more fry so breeding SW born/raised mollies has become a temporary side project in the mangrove tank lol
The big tank was rolling along smoothly for a few weeks, still had acros and montis doing fine and growing.
However, in the past week.I started getting a dinoflagellate outbreak, I have never had an issue with dinos in my own previous systems so its a frustrating turn to take, getting rather bad.
Probably has something to do with going too fast, originally I had planned to run it totally dark for a month or two, but I was given a bunch of free coral that I couldn't pass up, so lights came on the first week of being wet before I was even ammonia free ;Facepalm
mistake on my part.
N/P never dropped too low, NO3 if anything has been a bit high, Im going to take a multi prong approach to this, Ill be taking a sample to work tomorrow to ID under a scope but my suspicion is its ostreopsis
I have pulled my alk dosing and am using kalk slurries to elevate pH and it has somewhat alleviated it, they haven't grown as thick as they normally would have before during the photoperiod however I have also started a bacterial fix around the same time
I have also seen some successful with the bacterial approach so I started dosing microbac7 daily, made a mix of vinegar and vodka to put on the doser and in the past week I have ramped up slowly from 1ml to now 4ml - watching N/P closely of course.
Im in the market now for a uv sterilizer but will wait to confirm species before I make that costly purchase.
Last edited:
OP
OP
C. Eymann
2500 Club Member
Ordered them both through my employer.
OP
OP
C. Eymann
2500 Club Member
Whelp, I took a sample of the dinos into work to look at under our scope, sure enough, just as I suspected- Ostreopsis
Probably the most difficult one to get rid of, quite toxic too, just got home and its really bad!
Corals were starting to be smothered by it, doing a 3 day blackout to get some temporary relief, might raise my temp to 83 as well.
added a fresh bag of carbon, Still dosing hetrotrophic bacteria but I have stopped vodka/vinegar mix, started dosng 1ml peroxide per 10gal and will continue through the blackout.
I know this isn't a long term solution, but I need to knock it back, acros are stating to look ticked
Im pretty miffed, never had dinos in any of my previous reef tanks. Should have ponied up and got REAL liverock to start with, because thats really the only difference from this new tank compared to my old systems, first time using dry mostly man made stuff.
Anyone who has battled ostreopsis dinos and won care to share some other insight?
Probably the most difficult one to get rid of, quite toxic too, just got home and its really bad!
Corals were starting to be smothered by it, doing a 3 day blackout to get some temporary relief, might raise my temp to 83 as well.
added a fresh bag of carbon, Still dosing hetrotrophic bacteria but I have stopped vodka/vinegar mix, started dosng 1ml peroxide per 10gal and will continue through the blackout.
I know this isn't a long term solution, but I need to knock it back, acros are stating to look ticked
Im pretty miffed, never had dinos in any of my previous reef tanks. Should have ponied up and got REAL liverock to start with, because thats really the only difference from this new tank compared to my old systems, first time using dry mostly man made stuff.
Anyone who has battled ostreopsis dinos and won care to share some other insight?
OP
OP
C. Eymann
2500 Club Member
I completed a ~60hr blackout, I was planning on doing a 72 hr but I took a peak and saw that I had lost 3 acro frags, so I yanked off all the coverage.
It culled back the dinos by quite a bit though, but still a few strands on the rock and glass.
Im not a fan of running uv sterilizers on reef aquariums but Im kinda desperate and have read successes with using uvc against ostreopsis dinos, but only if plumbed directly into the display, I figured Ill give it the old college try.
Didn't want to spend a fortune as I will only hopefully have it on the tank temporarily, found that my favorite company Jebao makes a 55w unit for 100 beans, SOLD.
Received it yesterday, of course it feels like a toy, gotta be extra gentle with these things, but I got it hooked up with a maxijet 900 and crossed my fingers and plugged ot in
I prayed to the reefing gods before I went to bed that I wouldn't wake up to a lake in my living room, so far so good.
lighting wise my plan is
Ramping the Radions up to 50% (from 35%) and will run only 4 of the 6 T5s for 3 hrs today at the height of the photoperiod.
Tomorrow Ill probably ramp Radions up to ~60% and run 4 t5s for 4hrs and all 6 for 1 of those hours.
Ill start adding cool white, warm white, green and red back into my Radions schedule in a few more days if the dinos are still being kept at bay.
Keeping fingers crossed.
It culled back the dinos by quite a bit though, but still a few strands on the rock and glass.
Im not a fan of running uv sterilizers on reef aquariums but Im kinda desperate and have read successes with using uvc against ostreopsis dinos, but only if plumbed directly into the display, I figured Ill give it the old college try.
Didn't want to spend a fortune as I will only hopefully have it on the tank temporarily, found that my favorite company Jebao
makes a 55w unit for 100 beans, SOLD.Received it yesterday, of course it feels like a toy, gotta be extra gentle with these things, but I got it hooked up with a maxijet 900 and crossed my fingers and plugged ot in
I prayed to the reefing gods before I went to bed that I wouldn't wake up to a lake in my living room, so far so good.
lighting wise my plan is
Ramping the Radions up to 50% (from 35%) and will run only 4 of the 6 T5s for 3 hrs today at the height of the photoperiod.
Tomorrow Ill probably ramp Radions up to ~60% and run 4 t5s for 4hrs and all 6 for 1 of those hours.
Ill start adding cool white, warm white, green and red back into my Radions schedule in a few more days if the dinos are still being kept at bay.
Keeping fingers crossed.
OP
OP
C. Eymann
2500 Club Member
I have been using MB7 at the start of the issue, hasn't seemed to do much, switched to using remediation by aqua vitro,
I just got home from some shopping and the dino problem looks WAY better! much less than yesterday, despite increasing light intensity!
Again, not a big fan of UVC on reef aquariums, and it wont do much for dinos like prorocentrum, amphibidium etc, but heard a lot of reefers beating osteropsis dinos with it as long as it's plumbed into display, definitely working for me, mangrove tank still has some bad patches, but the 80gal has shown a HUGE improvement from yesterday!
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