Perseverance Reef

[tbrown]

 

[Fishy888]

I got one “pipeline” completely glued up last night. I try my hardest not to get primer all over the outside of the pipe, but it never fails; I always end up dripping and spattering the primer.

The distances between the holes isn’t quite the same, 1/8” difference here, 1/16” difference there. I test fit the return line in the tank after the glue up was done. I decided to just have the bottom holes be returns for the closed loop.

As for the pesky hole on the right hand side off by itself, I decided not to use it for the closed loop. I might use it as a third sump return. For now I’ll cement an elbow and enough pipe to extend past the fill level of the DT.

This afternoon and evening I’ll finish the drain “pipeline”. It’s about halfway done now.

I’m going to mount the closed loop return line today. That’ll be the hardest “pipeline” to mount because I can’t fit back there. The sump will have to come out and I’ll have to reach up the back to get the farthest bulkheads where they need to be. Kathy is going to help me by pushing the two closest bulkheads into place.

The drain pipe, which will be inserted in the four holes directly above the return pipe, will be easier to mount. I can get on my stepladder and bend over the DT to get the left bulkheads in place while my wife gets the other bulkheads pushed through.

So far my leptospirosis frags are doing well. Dory is hiding less and when she comes out she swims a little farther than the time before, She’s eating NLS pellets right now but tomorrow I’m going to feed her nori. Hopefully she’ll take it. I’m not sure if they’ll eat chaeto or not but it’s in the tank if she wants some. There’s also some hair algae I’ve purposely allowed to grow knowing she was coming to Perseverance Reef.

It would be a bear but I might try to get move the tank just enough for me to be able to get behind it. I’d have to get about half the water and half the rock out at a minimum but it can be done. If I do that I’ll be able to mount everything with the flange side in the DT.

If not I’ll likely mount everything with the flange and seal on the dry side. That would make it easier to remove if I had to but it wouldn’t look great, at least not until my aquascaping hides them.

 

[Fishy888]

I got the tank moved enough for me to install the closed loop return line. It took a bit of cajoling but I was able to get it in. I took water out of the DT so I could move it and also because it needed a partial water change.

I’ll raise the water level in stages. The first stage is to fill it to just above the level of the bulkheads. Once I’m sure there aren’t any leaks the second stage is to the lone hole midway up the tank. The next stage will be to just above the drain line bulkheads. Finally I’ll fill the DT the whole way.

Of course I’ll be monitoring for leaks at all nine bulkheads. The lowest ones will have the most pressure on them so I’ll be watching them quite a lot the first few weeks. Even after that I’ll be monitoring the bulkheads for leaks. One can’t be careful enough.

The moment of truth is pretty much here.

 

[Fishy888]

Here’s a picture of the drain line in place.

I may have just found a use for that lone hole. It might not be practical though. I’m thinking of using it as a gravel (sand?) vac. I’d have to use a threaded hose barb on the wet side of the bulkhead. I’d need to plumb in a ball valve on the dry side and a second hose barb after that. I’ve got to think on that however. I’d need to be able to hide the barb on the wet side when it’s not in use but I’d need to be able to access it easily without disturbing the aquascape. If any of you reading this have any experience with something like this please let me know your experience with it.

 

[Fishy888]

So far no leaks and the water level is slightly more than halfway from the bottom of the bulkheads to the top of them. I’ll start making more saltwater later this afternoon.

 

[tbrown]

Here’s a picture of the drain line in place.

I may have just found a use for that lone hole. It might not be practical though. I’m thinking of using it as a gravel (sand?) vac. I’d have to use a threaded hose barb on the wet side of the bulkhead. I’d need to plumb in a ball valve on the dry side and a second hose barb after that. I’ve got to think on that however. I’d need to be able to hide the barb on the wet side when it’s not in use but I’d need to be able to access it easily without disturbing the aquascape. If any of you reading this have any experience with something like this please let me know your experience with it.

You can always just run a series of PVC pipes under the sand/gravel like an old school undergravel filter? Constant vacuum action into the sump? Otherwise, put some rock around it and it'll hide mostly in th shadows.

That's what I did with my returns. Each RFG is poking out of rocks. It works with my scape though because I went with the standard "pile-o-rocks" scape. Depending on how you decide for your final scape, there will be ways to hide it.

 

[Fishy888]

The return line and its bulkheads are officially submerged and no leaks.

Stage one of filling the tank is done. I’ve attached the drain line and its bulkheads to the DT. I have to glue the ball valve and the end cap to the ends of the drain line but that won’t take much. I’m going to plumb the lone hole just above the closed loop return line shortly. By tomorrow night or Saturday morning I’ll be able to fill the tank to just below the holes for the sump drain and return lines.

Dory’s been out and about quite a bit today. It doesn’t hurt that she has some head room now.

 

[Fishy888]

I’m going to work on aquascaping today. There’s a lot more rock to go into the DT. There’ll be plenty for the sump too. I probably have 150 lbs worth of rock. I’ll just be stacking most of it but there are pieces I want to glue together like the three or four aragocrete shelf formations I got from my friend.

I have the water level a little over halfway now, just at the top of the lone bulkhead. There aren’t any leaks so far.

I’m going to get the center leg and the two side legs cut today. Once they’re in place I can resume filling the tank. The stand is holding 110 gallons right now, give or take.

Between the sand, rock, and water, not to mention the weight of the tank itself, the stand has about 1100 lbs on it. The stand isn’t showing signs of buckling or anything. I just want to be safe rather than sorry. Besides there’ll be two doors on the front so having the center leg in place will look better and give the doors something to close against.

Of course the center leg will help support the tank, which will probably weigh 2500 lbs by the time I add the rest of the rock and have the tank completely filled. That doesn’t even take into account the stony corals, fish, CUC, etc that will end up in the system. Since the sump sits directly on the floor inside the stand I’m not counting its weight.

Speaking of CUC I bought a juvenile Halloween hermit and a Mexican turbo snail yesterday. They’re doing ok so far. I bought a few cone snail shells for it.

While I was at the LFS I saw a juvenile pineapple trigger. It had to be the size of a yellow tail blue damsel. In a FOWLR it would have been an awesome fish but not in my reef tank. I want as much diversity as I can get. The trigger will eventually eat shrimp and corals among other things so I wouldn’t be able to keep inverts. That would take away from the diversity and beauty of my reef.

Dory is doing a little better each day. She’s been out swimming more and she’s swimming to the opposite side of the tank from where her rock is. All my other animals are doing well too.

 

[Fishy888]

I got the three legs and the support for the center leg cut and attached today. I also added a little more water to the DT. I’ll probably add 20 more gallons of water tomorrow. Once the aquascaping’s finished I’ll start adding more water, assuming the rock I’ll be adding doesn’t raise the water level too high.

Tomorrow I’m getting some rastas. It’ll be nice to have some zoas again. I still need to permanently mount several other corals so this coming week I’ll get it done.

 

[fishguy242]

Yes, yes you will...

PERSERVERANCE...

 

[Fishy888]

Yes, yes you will...

PERSERVERANCE...

LOL yeah it’s taken lots of perseverance to get here. It’s why my reef is called Perseverance Reef. Good stuff has happened as a result though. I have my dream tank now and a fish I never thought I’d ever have in my reef. Things are stabilizing a little more each day and my animals are doing good.

Without the help I’ve gotten from you Frank and from everyone else who follows my build thread I wouldn’t be doing nearly as well as I am. My reefing friend who lives about 3 miles from me has also helped me tremendously. All of you have kept me from doing too many stupid things. You’ve all given great advice. It’s very appreciated.

The DT is almost 2/3 of the way full. There’s a good 125 gallons in there now. My RO/DI unit makes ~75 gallons per day. At some point I’ll add a second membrane and at least one more DI stage. Then I’ll get a 150 GPD flow restrictor.

Dory’s doing great. She’s still skittish but not like she was. She swam to the opposite side of the tank a few times yesterday. That’s the first time since she’s been here. Dory and the gang ate frozen food yesterday. Dory’s also been grazing more. She’s eating well. The only issue is that she gets scared when I add water to the system and stays hidden for an hour or two after I finish.

 

[Fishy888]

I’m now officially the proud new owner of a COLONY of rastas.

There are at least 50 polyps on here. I got them for $20.00. You can’t beat that with a stick!

 

[Fishy888]

When I got home and placed my rastas on their new rock (They’ll get glued to it tomorrow) I noticed one of my rainbow BTAs was in the sand about 4 inches under the wave maker. I figured flow was the issue since it was getting plenty of light. I placed it on the rock I wanted it on. Then I moved the wave maker higher up and adjusted it so the water wasn’t shooting straight up. The anemone settled down. I fed it and it’s trying to eat. It has most of it in its stomach but I think I gave it too much. Hopefully it can get it down and get some nutrition from it.

The rastas are opening up slowly but surely. The last zoanthids I had melted on me because without realizing it I was bottoming out on nutrients. Now there are enough nitrates and phosphates that the zoas should do well.

I decided to take a break from adding water today since my muscle relaxers are still in my system. Tomorrow I’ll start the aquascaping in earnest. Once that’s done I’ll resume filling the DT.

Edit:

Here are the zoanthids as of now. The lights are about to go out for tonight.

 

[Mschmidt]

My first zoas were rastas. I liked them and paid too much for them, $40-$50 for 3 heads. yours look nice and good work on the deal!

 

[Fishy888]

Now that the new system is coming together nicely I’m trying to think ahead a bit.

While I don’t want to get too far ahead of myself, prices are skyrocketing. If gas really goes to $10.00 a gallon, IO salt will be $100.00 easily, and that’s with price matching.

Thankfully I have a 210 gallon tank. My few stony corals are doing great but being so small I doubt I’ll have to dose trace elements anytime soon. I can probably get away with much smaller water changes than I could if I had much bio load. Soon enough though I’ll have much more bio load as I start stocking the DT.

If I still had the 90 gallon cube I would just do regular water changes like I always did and I’d know that trace elements were being replenished. When the time would have come to dose trace elements I’d have either made Randy’s DIY three part or bought some all for reef in addition to water changes.

My new (to me) system will eventually need trace elements. I’m looking into reef moonshiners as one possibility. I considered it last September when I first got the 90 gallon cube but the cost was much higher than the cost of salt and all for reef.

The reef moonshiners method seems pretty straightforward but it’s not without potential issues. I’ve read in threads here on R2R that everything starts looking really good but eventually the corals fade and they cease to thrive. The ICP tests are somewhat expensive although most of the elements are very reasonably priced, especially for the amount one gets.

My rastas are doing great. I only saw three polyps out of like sixty closed. My anemones have stayed in their positions. One is hiding from the light but the other’s out. My leptos look great too.

 

[Fishy888]

As of last night I got about half of the aquascaping done. I still have some rocks that need to go into the DT. Between them and the rocks that are already in the DT but haven’t been used in the aquascape yet, I’ll have plenty of rock to work with.

I went with stacking the rock instead of gluing it together. There are a few aragocrete plate like pieces I still want to glue up although I want to see how they’d look just with stacking first.

 

[tbrown]

As of last night I got about half of the aquascaping done. I still have some rocks that need to go into the DT. Between them and the rocks that are already in the DT but haven’t been used in the aquascape yet, I’ll have plenty of rock to work with.

I went with stacking the rock instead of gluing it together. There are a few aragocrete plate like pieces I still want to glue up although I want to see how they’d look just with stacking first.

Pics or it didn't happen!

 

[Fishy888]

Pics or it didn't happen!

 

[Fishy888]

I got a little more done last night on the doors. I’ll have to dig up some cabinet style hinges I have around here somewhere.

I didn’t get any more aquascaping done yesterday. I forgot I have a full bucket of sand from the 90 gallon cube that needs to be cleaned and added to the right hand side of the 210. Because of that I held off on aquascaping. It’s going to take at least a few hours if not more to clean it.

The bucket of sand will have to be opened up outside. Because the sand is still moist and by now anoxic, it’s going to be like opening up a septic tank. The die off won’t help either.

In the 90 gallon cube I placed some rock on the bare bottom and then added the sand. The idea was to prevent the rocks from moving or falling. I originally thought the bottom cracked because the drain and return holes were drilled super close to each other. The crack didn’t happen anywhere near the holes though.

I think it was the buried rocks which had about 100 pounds of rocks on top of them, creating pressure points. The vibrations from the power tools maintenance was using at the apartment next to us, on the other side of the wall the cube was on, and the pressure points from the buried rocks touching the bottom glass, most likely caused the bottom to crack.

All this is to say I want an inch of sand under the rocks. The weight should be somewhat spread out and any vibrations damped. The DT sits about 18 inches from the wall it’s on. The kitchen counter and most of the cabinets are on the other side of the wall.

Dory’s been out most of the day and she doesn’t get nearly as scared around me as she did at first. She’s been hanging around with the clownfish. The clownfish have been more active, swimming beyond their corner. They keep up with her as much as she keeps up with them. I took a couple of pictures of Dory. She doesn’t have spots on her even though it looks like it. The front glass needs to be cleaned of the salt residue that’s on it.

 

[tbrown]

In the 90 gallon cube I placed some rock on the bare bottom and then added the sand. The idea was to prevent the rocks from moving or falling. I originally thought the bottom cracked because the drain and return holes were drilled super close to each other. The crack didn’t happen anywhere near the holes though.

This is how I did it as well. In the old original 75 I had a couple of rock slides caused by snails and a Yasha Haza/Randall's Shrimp combo. One of the rock slides actually killed the Yasha and made the shrimp very sad.