rdirtytwo's Landen 60P (26.23g) all-in-one

I will preface this build thread by saying that I have been in the reef keeping hobby for just over a year now, but I've been keeping freshwater planted tanks for many years before. This will be my second reef build. Hopefully things go smoother with the knowledge I've gained so far.

Tank specs:
•23.6W x 17.7D x 15.8H in (60x45x40cm)
•8mm glass thickness, low iron
•Includes their BIOSMO 700 Pump (185gph) with sine wave controller. I have it currently set on max flow, wave mode. We'll see if we need to upgrade that later.

03/23/24:
Cabinet assembled and tank set up. Leak tested inside (oops) and no issues after 24 hours. My wife loves her phalaenopsis orchids in the reflection.


03/26/24:
Completed the aquascape with dry base rocks that I broke using a hammer to give character. At this point I thought I was going to do a bare bottom tank. I added approximately 2lb of live rubble and a filter pad from my other nano tank to the rear compartment of this tank to help seed beneficial bacteria.


03/29/24:
I changed my mind and decided I wanted sand dwellers so I added a 20lb bag of CaribSea AragAlive Special Grade. I probably didn't need the AragAlive version, but I got a good deal on it. I put a piece of filter pad on the intake of an extra water pump to help clear the particulates out of the water after adding sand. It cleared up in 12-18 hours.

For giggles, I threw on one of my wife's extra 24" indoor plant grow light with W,B,R channels using only Blue (450nm) to see how it would look. Not bad for a cheap home depot 19w light.


04/25/24:
I added a Pajama Cardinal as my first fish about a week ago after doing my first big water change.

04/26/24:
I added a Nero 3 for flow. Does anyone have any recommended settings for intensity/pattern for a 24" tank? My plans for this tank will be mixed LPS and SPS later when it matures. I figure I'll set myself up with a good wavemaker now, rather than later. I really like the functionality and customizability on the MyAi flow app so far.

 

[rdirtytwo]

The tanks a mess right now. I went away for 2 days, came back Monday and the po4 bottomed out to undetectable via Salifert test kits. Nitrate was barely at 2.5ppm and I typically keep it ~10ppm.

So now I have dinos. It looks like the same type I battled in my pico tank last year so I have been taking the same approach to defeat them. Since Monday I've stopped broadcasting and target feeding corals and just have been feeding my fish flakes and pellets daily. I've been running UV with an old 150gph return pump dialed down about halfway, directly in the display. I started h2o2 dosing when the lights turn off for the night at 1mL/10g. I've been using a turkey baster to blow the dinos off the rocks, sand, and corals. Turned off white lights completely and dialed down intensity. Daily dosing and testing po4.

I've been dosing with Seachem Flourish Phosphorus at a target of 0.04, which is undetectable by the next day. It's hard to tell with the Salifert test kits though. 0.02 looks a lot like 0.00. Should I up the dose to 0.1?
It has only been 4 days since beginning treatment, but I don't see an excessive amount of bubbling strings like I saw on Monday. Hopefully things get better. Nitrate has been steady at 5ppm. I would turn off my protein skimmer, but I need the CO2 scrubber on. It's 103° in Southern California so I haven't had my windows open for a few weeks.

 

[rdirtytwo]

Some frags and FTS. Sorry if they're blurry. Orange lens filter with just exposure @-0.50 adjustment.

Here's a dino shot from Monday

 

[rdirtytwo]

I think I have gotten a handle on the Dino situation. Tonight is the 2nd consecutive night where I came home from work and I haven't seen any bubbles or snot. I think the biggest contributing factor for me was running UV slowly 24/7 in the display during the outbreak. Some corals aren't happy, but I'm sure things will get better in time. Having dealt with dinos in the past, I kind of had an idea of what worked for me in the past and applied it here.

State of the Union:

 

[rdirtytwo]

P.s. did my shroom have a baby? I saw another one on the underside the other day.

 

[rdirtytwo]

I did a 2.5g water change today.
Post water change results:
No3: 2.5ppm
PO: 0.03-0.1 via salifert
dKh: 8.9

Reef Crystals

I also did a heavy clean on my 9g. It's been kind of neglected since I transferred 90% of everything from it to my new tank and I've only done top offs in the last 2 weeks. It only contains 1.5year old rock and an encrusting leptastrea. I will be using it as a frag tank in the near future, so I moved it from the other room to under the 26g cabinet. It fits nicely.

 

[Salt_ee]

I’m running the pump at what I’m assuming is around 55-60 gph. It’s the pump that came with the tank. I’m running it on setting # 3. My math came out to about 18.5 gph per setting speed. It’s a 9Watt UV. It’s killed most of it, but the last 10% or so is being super stubborn. Yes, my nutrients bottomed out when I decided to run chemipure elite. it’s been a journey as I’m new to the hobby, but I’ve learned a ton about reefing due to this battle.

Oh man, I'm so glad I found this thread! There is not much out there on these Landen tanks and I struggled HARD as a newb for a year straight! I'm 15 months into the hobby and its been "fun" lol. I won't go into all my trials and tribulations yet as they're endless but I have SO much to share and hoping to also learn along the way. I will throw a couple of things that helped me get my diatoms and green hair algae under control. 1 - back chamber setup..protein skimmer (runs 24/7) in first chamber aimed at incoming flow so it catches as much as it can, and I have ceramic blocks to the right of it filling the rest from bottom to top. 2 - I built the same media basket out of egg crate with three levels and have floss like sponges that come in a big roll and I cut to fit, under which I have the fine water polishing pad also cut to fit, next I have a bag of fluval phosphate remover and last is a bag of bio ceramic rings. Last chamber is my ATO and return pump. This brings me to the pump. I think its fine but just put it on max! I was literally about to give up the hobby because my sand was always brown and I had constant GHA. I can't tell you how many configurations of chamber setups, UV lamps, changes of food, reactors, changing of lighting, even put a Refugium setup in (more on that later) and $$$ I have spent over the past year. Its embarrassing LOL I finally gave up and asked my local LFS guy for help. I hate him with a passion btw as he talks down to me EVERY time BUT! He runs an entire ocean and I hear him talk to other expert reefers and they all bow down to him. SO he said get a bigger return pump and so I listened. Its not much bigger but it made sense because I now hardly ever have to vacuum my back chambers as they are keeping MUCH cleaner! More flow/more chance the water has to run through the sump. I just ordered a lens for my Sony cam so I can take pics of the tank for you guys and will work on listing what I have etc. My nutrients are a bit high right now but I have ZERO GHA or diatoms/brown sand and hardly even clean the glass! I haven't done a water change in two weeks! Its on purpose, I'm pushing the limit of my setup now. I am going to do a 20% water change in the morning and right after going to the LFS to get some more corals and maybe even add a fish or two more . I'm finally feeling half confident in this hobby and haven't bought corals/fish in months because I swore that I needed to have steady parameters and happy corals/fish first. Excited for the new additions to come and share with you all!

 

[rdirtytwo]

Oh man, I'm so glad I found this thread! There is not much out there on these Landen tanks and I struggled HARD as a newb for a year straight! I'm 15 months into the hobby and its been "fun" lol. I won't go into all my trials and tribulations yet as they're endless but I have SO much to share and hoping to also learn along the way. I will throw a couple of things that helped me get my diatoms and green hair algae under control. 1 - back chamber setup..protein skimmer (runs 24/7) in first chamber aimed at incoming flow so it catches as much as it can, and I have ceramic blocks to the right of it filling the rest from bottom to top. 2 - I built the same media basket out of egg crate with three levels and have floss like sponges that come in a big roll and I cut to fit, under which I have the fine water polishing pad also cut to fit, next I have a bag of fluval phosphate remover and last is a bag of bio ceramic rings. Last chamber is my ATO and return pump. This brings me to the pump. I think its fine but just put it on max! I was literally about to give up the hobby because my sand was always brown and I had constant GHA. I can't tell you how many configurations of chamber setups, UV lamps, changes of food, reactors, changing of lighting, even put a Refugium setup in (more on that later) and $$$ I have spent over the past year. Its embarrassing LOL I finally gave up and asked my local LFS guy for help. I hate him with a passion btw as he talks down to me EVERY time BUT! He runs an entire ocean and I hear him talk to other expert reefers and they all bow down to him. SO he said get a bigger return pump and so I listened. Its not much bigger but it made sense because I now hardly ever have to vacuum my back chambers as they are keeping MUCH cleaner! More flow/more chance the water has to run through the sump. I just ordered a lens for my Sony cam so I can take pics of the tank for you guys and will work on listing what I have etc. My nutrients are a bit high right now but I have ZERO GHA or diatoms/brown sand and hardly even clean the glass! I haven't done a water change in two weeks! Its on purpose, I'm pushing the limit of my setup now. I am going to do a 20% water change in the morning and right after going to the LFS to get some more corals and maybe even add a fish or two more . I'm finally feeling half confident in this hobby and haven't bought corals/fish in months because I swore that I needed to have steady parameters and happy corals/fish first. Excited for the new additions to come and share with you all!

I'm able to keep my rear chambers relatively clean by putting in a couple of trochus snails for a week or two and they do a great job for me. Glad you've started to figure things out! We need more Landen builds!

 

[rdirtytwo]

Post dino update:
I've cut back my water change schedule to 2.5g every 2 weeks. My nitrates and phosphates bottom out by the 4th day if I change 2.5g out weekly, and I end up having to dose to keep them detectable. I've been able to keep a stable nitrate reading of 10ppm and 0.1 phosphate via Salifert test kits. I keep my protein skimmer on 24/7 with a CO2 scrubber to help with the low pH during the heat in Southern California.

The dry rock I started with still have ugly hair algae, while the live rock I transferred during the cycle are relatively algae free.

Here's some recent photos:

 

[Salt_ee]

Post dino update:
I've cut back my water change schedule to 2.5g every 2 weeks. My nitrates and phosphates bottom out by the 4th day if I change 2.5g out weekly, and I end up having to dose to keep them detectable. I've been able to keep a stable nitrate reading of 10ppm and 0.1 phosphate via Salifert test kits. I keep my protein skimmer on 24/7 with a CO2 scrubber to help with the low pH during the heat in Southern California.

The dry rock I started with still have ugly hair algae, while the live rock I transferred during the cycle are relatively algae free.

Here's some recent photos:

I'm really curious - do you know what is making your phosphates and nitrates bottom out? Seems odd that a water change would do that as it has never done so for me in the past. Drops them yes but has never bottomed them out. The only time I had those drop to zero is when I had a Refugium running which I am kind of thinking of implementing back in due to my high phosphates. My nitrates have been steadily between 10-20 which my LFS guy tells me is fine but my phosphates have been very high for the past two months between .30-.50. If I do a large 50% water change I can get them to drop to .05-.1. The weird thing is my corals have never looked better and are growing like crazy. I have zero GHA or diatoms. I am barely having to clean the glass either and my sand looks amazing. I finally did a 20% water change after almost 3 weeks tonight and I checked my parameters before I did it.
Temp 77F
Salinity 1.025
Nitrate 18
Phosphate -.38
Ph - 8.1
Calcium - 500
Magnesium - 1490
Alk - 10
I clean the protein skimmer every 3-4 days as it gets full of wet skim mate and also change the filter sponge about the same time. I do not dose anything either except Kalkwasser in my ATO. I would think if you are bottoming out maybe go heavier on feedings? Are you feeding any mysis shrimp or frozen shrimp? Whenever I go heavy on those two my nutrients go up, which is what I had to do when I was running the Refugium. I just received some lenses to take pics which I will share tomorrow.

 

[rdirtytwo]

I'm really curious - do you know what is making your phosphates and nitrates bottom out? Seems odd that a water change would do that as it has never done so for me in the past. Drops them yes but has never bottomed them out. The only time I had those drop to zero is when I had a Refugium running which I am kind of thinking of implementing back in due to my high phosphates. My nitrates have been steadily between 10-20 which my LFS guy tells me is fine but my phosphates have been very high for the past two months between .30-.50. If I do a large 50% water change I can get them to drop to .05-.1. The weird thing is my corals have never looked better and are growing like crazy. I have zero GHA or diatoms. I am barely having to clean the glass either and my sand looks amazing. I finally did a 20% water change after almost 3 weeks tonight and I checked my parameters before I did it.
Temp 77F
Salinity 1.025
Nitrate 18
Phosphate -.38
Ph - 8.1
Calcium - 500
Magnesium - 1490
Alk - 10
I clean the protein skimmer every 3-4 days as it gets full of wet skim mate and also change the filter sponge about the same time. I do not dose anything either except Kalkwasser in my ATO. I would think if you are bottoming out maybe go heavier on feedings? Are you feeding any mysis shrimp or frozen shrimp? Whenever I go heavy on those two my nutrients go up, which is what I had to do when I was running the Refugium. I just received some lenses to take pics which I will share tomorrow.

Honestly I have no idea. I might have some ideas on what may be contributing to that issue. These are the things I've noticed over the last several weeks:

• My light was mounted too high, causing intense light spill into the rear chambers. The middle chamber became a GHA refugium. I didn't take this into consideration and it probably sucked up a lot of nutrients. I have 3 snails in the rear chambers cleaning it up.

• I probably wasn't feeding enough throughout the day. I work swing shift so I only really spend an hour with the tank before and after work while the lights are on. I should buy an auto feeder. To answer your question about feeding, I keep frozen food in my regiment. I use Hikari Mega Marine, Ocean Nutrition Prime Reef, frozen mysis, brine shrimp, plankton. I also use dry foods and target feed my lps corals 2-3x a week. I still have a hard time keeping nutrients up, but things have gotten significantly better and more stable.

• Possibly over skimming with the protein skimmer running 24/7, but I have really low pH if I don't use my CO2 scrubber. It's too hot to keep the windows open during the day right now.

• Over aggressive with the cleaning, doing water changes when Nitrates was only 5ppm and Po4 was 0.04 probably didn't help anything.

As of today my parameters are in check:
Temp 78°F
Salinity 1.026
Nitrate 10
Phosphate 0.1
Ph 8.0
Calcium 480
Magnesium - 1470
Alk - 8.9

 

[rdirtytwo]

Update time!

Lately I've been doing water changes once every 2 weeks. I also wasn't really dosing besides having Kalkwasser in my ATO. I did a midweek Alkalinity test and it was low for what I typically keep it at, specifically 7.1. I did multiple small water changes daily until I got it back up to 8.6-8.9. I decided I was going to start using All-For-Reef again after balancing out the parameters. I didn't notice anything happening with the corals in the tank.

Dkh: 8.9
Cal: 480
Mag: 1470
Po4: 0.1
No3: 10

Over the last weekend, I traded a frag of my teal micromussa and forest fire digitata for 3 Acro frags.

 

[rdirtytwo]

 

[seahuy]

Nice, i have the same tank, will share some pictures soon.

 

[rdirtytwo]

Sorry I haven't updated in a while!
I've been fragging out my Z&P's, sold them all locally! It's always nice to get a ROI in a hobby that will burn your wallet.

I had a good sale this last weekend, getting rid of some of my starter corals from last year to make room for new ones.

I made enough to afford a new fish. I introduced my new Snowflake Ocellaris on Saturday 10/05/24, and my black Storm was chasing and attacking it for a good part of the day. I wasn't comfortable leaving it to fend for itself overnight, so I caught the snowflake and put it in an isolation box for the next day. Tonight I came home from work and found them sharing the Duncan. Is it possible they began pairing up already?

 

[rdirtytwo]

SPS frags

Is this last one a tort? I got it from a local reefers as a gift for letting him borrow my par meter.

 

[rdirtytwo]

 

[seahuy]

Dude u are killing it with that tank.

 

[rdirtytwo]

Dude u are killing it with that tank.

Thank you!