Perseverance Reef

[Fishy888]

I finally got the MH mounted. I used scrap wood so the frame I mounted the light in isn’t pretty but it’s good and secure. When I build the real canopy I’ll use 1x6 construction. As it is the canopy will be on the heavy side so I don’t want to use 2x6 construction at twice the weight. I’m going to draw out some plans for the canopy soon. Before I do that though I need to make it so I can work in the DT without taking the canopy off. The individual MH reflectors also need to be able to move independently of one another. That way I can still see what I’m doing.

The first channel of T5s shut off about 30 minutes before I got the MH turned on so the corals and anemones had all but closed up. Here are some images I took about an hour after the halide warmed up.

The nems and corals were opening up even more than in the images. I took them about 10 or 15 minutes before I went upstairs for the night. It’s as if the anemones and corals had never seen light before. It’s been a while since they’ve had really good lighting. As a result I decided to let the light stay on overnight and through the day today. I will only do this for today because of course the animals all need to rest properly each day but one day of light won’t hurt them.

As for the T5s, I’m going to replace the lamps with 6500k lamps. I’m going to have both chaeto and xenia in the sump. If I only wanted chaeto in there I’d be looking for horticulture lamps but 6500k lamps will grow both quite nicely.

Speaking of chaeto, the ball of chaeto in the DT looks good and healthy. It should take off now that it’s got good, strong light.

 

[Fishy888]

I think leaving the halide on overnight has been beneficial to the corals and nems. They’re still out. Even the Kenya tree is out still.

These guys are getting used to the light which is awesome. They’re displaying a bounty of bubbles. I’m going to start the process of adding sand into the system today. Thankfullly, at least for now, I’m done with the stand and “canopy” so I can relax a bit and enjoy the tank. Eventually I’ll probably have to buy even more sand but that’s for another day.

I have an idea as to what I need to do thanks to @Projects with Sam. I just need to figure out how to adapt the 2 1/4” barbed fitting to PVC. I assume that the barbed fitting screws into the pump. If so there’s a chance the inner diameter will accept a 2 1/2” threaded PVC pipe. I don’t trust hoses even when they’re clamped. I might have to deal with at least a small length of hose. After the blowout I’m wary of even small chances of leaking.

 

[Projects with Sam]

I think leaving the halide on overnight has been beneficial to the corals and nems. They’re still out. Even the Kenya tree is out still.

These guys are getting used to the light which is awesome. They’re displaying a bounty of bubbles. I’m going to start the process of adding sand into the system today. Thankfullly, at least for now, I’m done with the stand and “canopy” so I can relax a bit and enjoy the tank. Eventually I’ll probably have to buy even more sand but that’s for another day.

I have an idea as to what I need to do thanks to @Projects with Sam. I just need to figure out how to adapt the 2 1/4” barbed fitting to PVC. I assume that the barbed fitting screws into the pump. If so there’s a chance the inner diameter will accept a 2 1/2” threaded PVC pipe. I don’t trust hoses even when they’re clamped. I might have to deal with at least a small length of hose. After the blowout I’m wary of even small chances of leaking.

I would do a little length of hose to another barbed fitting as a vibration dampener. Its a common practice. I just use zip ties to keep the hose on the barbed fitting because there is no vertical give on the pump. stainless steel hose clamps were overkill & I had issues with the plastic ones not working on my 1/2 pipe so I didnt bother getting for my 1-1/2".

 

[Projects with Sam]

you may want to put valves on those internal flow bulkheads if you ever need to service the pump it'd be nice to be able to not drain the tank 1/2 way.


...wow... pvc heavy build!

 

[Fishy888]

you may want to put valves on those internal flow bulkheads if you ever need to service the pump it'd be nice to be able to not drain the tank 1/2 way.


...wow... pvc heavy build!

I’ll definitely use some gate valves in the build. Thankfully I can fit some 1 inch bulkheads for the drain lines. There will be four of them. I got the pipe and fittings for the 3/4 inch closed loop returns. I’m getting the bulkheads and the 1 inch and 2 inch pipe and fittings. The one inch pipe will flow into 2 inch pipe. I’ll try the hose thing but I’ll definitely use stainless steel hose clamps. I don’t want a flood. Thank you for your help with this @Projects with Sam. It’s very appreciated.

 

[Projects with Sam]

I’ll definitely use some gate valves in the build. Thankfully I can fit some 1 inch bulkheads for the drain lines. There will be four of them. I got the pipe and fittings for the 3/4 inch closed loop returns. I’m getting the bulkheads and the 1 inch and 2 inch pipe and fittings. The one inch pipe will flow into 2 inch pipe. I’ll try the hose thing but I’ll definitely use stainless steel hose clamps. I don’t want a flood. Thank you for your help with this @Projects with Sam. It’s very appreciated.

living vicariously through you! hoping to one day repeat!

 

[Fishy888]

The sun has set for today on Perseverance Reef. The nems have closed up. They’re almost completely healed.

The nem on the left is the strongest one. The one on the right is not far behind but it’s the weaker of the two. I moved my wave maker from the center of the tank to the right hand side opposite the nem. The anemone on the right side of the rock closed up most of the way when I moved the wave maker. The one on the left did this.

The left nem seems to love the flow. Hopefully the right nem will get used to the flow soon.

I’m seriously considering the idea of getting a ribbon eel in my system. I need to do a bit more research though.

 

[Fishy888]

I’ve now added half of the sand to the DT. I also got the DT topped off. It doesn’t take long in a tank this size for evaporation to occur. That’s with keeping the temperature at 68 degrees. Four gallons have evaporated since I transferred everything over to the 210. I imagine in winter I’ll have 8 or 10 gallons per week of evaporation. It’s sooooo worth it though!

So the apartment complex has torn down all the old wooden fences. They needed to. I got permission to take some wood from the old fences which I’m going to panel the sides with. I’m also going to use it to make the doors. It’s tempting to use the naturally distressed wood to make the doors.

I wonder if anyone on here has used distressed/barn wood to skin an aquarium stand. If I was to do that I’d paint the top and bottom trim wood a sky blue color and skin the sides with it. I think it would be awesome but I don’t think Kathy would be too thrilled.

Fortunately are some fairly new pickets they used to shore up the fences. They shored them up from when we had the 70 MPH gusts during the last winter storm of this year and again after the derecho in late June. I’ve already recovered enough to make two of the three doors. Tomorrow I’ll recover the rest of the pickets. I’ll get them all together and bring them in. I’ll get them all together and cut some wood.

The nems look great today. I did my best to get good images of them while their mouths were visible. They were both wide open but at angles that were hard to photograph well. Here they are as of about two hours ago.

This is an image of the rightmost nem.

Here’s a picture of the nem on the left.

 

[Fishy888]

After adding sand and topping off the display with RO/DI yesterday, I added enough saltwater to raise the water level to just below the lowest holes.

Hopefully by this time next weekend my bulkheads will get here. If they do I’ll do the PVC glue up. After allowing for a 24 hour cure I’ll fill the tank to just below the highest holes.

Today my friend gave me at least 150 lbs of rock, mainly aragocrete. I love the formations.

The above image shows where this shelf piece has cracks in it. I don’t know if I should pour some kind of epoxy into the cracks or if I should try to use the E-Marco-4000 mortar and stuff it into the cracks. I like the first option best but not if it just breaks anyway. Tomorrow I’ll try to spread the rocks out and get better pictures of them.

My friend also has live rock she’s giving me still but I’ll get it when I get Dory and the three frags.

I’ve started getting diatoms now but only where the light’s the brightest. I expect the ugly stage to last about a month since most of my rock’s been live for a year or more.

 

[tbrown]

How fragile does it feel? Those cracks may just be superficial if the rock didn't cure long enough before it was allowed to dry. If it's going to break, you'd probably be able to break it with your hands now.

If you can break it, you can "glue" it back together with Marco?

 

[Fishy888]

How fragile does it feel? Those cracks may just be superficial if the rock didn't cure long enough before it was allowed to dry. If it's going to break, you'd probably be able to break it with your hands now.

If you can break it, you can "glue" it back together with Marco?

I thought about doing that. I might end up going that route.

 

[tbrown]

I thought about doing that. I might end up going that route.

If it doesn't break easily it shouldn't be an issue. Try flexing it and if it's good wipe some of the Marco in the cracks to hide them. If it breaks, glue the pieces back together.

 

[Fishy888]

I thought about doing that. I might end up going that route.

 

[Fishy888]

 

[Fishy888]

 

[Fishy888]

 

[Fishy888]

If it doesn't break easily it shouldn't be an issue. Try flexing it and if it's good wipe some of the Marco in the cracks to hide them. If it breaks, glue the pieces back together.

I’ll try that tomorrow. Thank you.

 

[Fishy888]

I spent some quality time at Lowe’s and Menards this evening.

I’m just waiting on the bulkheads now. It’s almost party time.

I’ll be adding legs to the center of the stand before I fill the tank any more than I have. There’s no bowing or buckling of the stand and I want to keep it that way. 2400 lbs of weight is, well, a ton of weight. Literally.

The fish, corals, nems and other invertebrates are doing great. I’m going to need to buy some more CUC my system. I lost several hermits in the aftermath of the blowout. I only have three or four now. I’ve been wanting to add snails to the system so I won’t maintain huge numbers of hermits. I wouldn’t mind a Halloween hermit or two, which wouldn’t have worked in the 90 bit in the 210 it should work perfectly, especially with all the rock I have now.

 

[Petcrazyson]

The fish, corals, nems and other invertebrates are doing great

 

[Fishy888]

I finally got around to doing my first phosphorus test in my new system. It was off the chart. I got the good ol’ blinking 200. That means my phosphorus level is at least 200 ppb, which equals a phosphate level of at least 0.6 ppm. I’m not surprised though. The rock and sand have been through a lot.

I’ll start dosing LaCl soon to bring those levels back down to earth. I’m amazed though at how well my corals are doing with such high phosphate levels. My Duncans have been, and are still growing new polyps. There are at least 17 polyps on it now. I also have a cabbage leather and a Kenya tree soaking up nitrates.

I cut the fence pickets yesterday. Today I need to cut some furring strips and attach the newly sawn pieces to them and attach hinges to them and the doors will be done.

I also measured the distances between the holes for the closed loop. Today I’m going to cut the PVC pipes into the sections I need. The bulkheads have been shipped so hopefully they arrive soon. Once they do I’ll assemble the pieces.

The newly assembled pipelines are going to be heavy. They’ll need to be supported so I’m going to add supports for both pipelines. It’s especially critical that I build the supports because the weight of the pipelines might crack the glass if I don’t. While I’m at it I’ll make a spot for the pump on the supports so there’s less head pressure.