SPS 70 gallon rimless

[Norcalreef]

Picked the tank and stand up used. Tank is a Leemar rimless 44x22x16. Stand was pretty simple and ugly so we made some panels that attach by magnets

Also came with a sump.
Got a 150gpd 5 stage rodi unit from purewaterclub. My tap is only 30ppm so it doesn’t have to work to hard and the price is hard to beat.

We then got roughly 60lbs of live rock from a lfs. We let it cure in a separate container for a couple weeks while we worked on the tank and stand.

Went all in with the Apex gear. Looking to make as much automated as possible. A saying from my other passion is, automate or stay late. I’m 32 years old and very busy with a 5 year old son. I figure spending extra and making sure as much will be done on its own, the higher chance of success I’ll have.

Ended up having to go with a Jebao DCT-6000. I have a Cor20 on back order, hopefully have it the end of this month. The Jebao has been flawless though. Pushing 800gph at around 70%. The return was plumbed 1 1/4” with 2” flow monitor in preparation for the cor.

 

[Norcalreef]

Not sure why it keeps adding the two pics at the end. I have edited and manually removed twice.

 

[Norcalreef]

Some more progress pics it was a pain to get the flow monitor in in such a small area I do underground construction. So I know plumbing and I know how wrong my plumbing work is but did what I had to do to make it work

Got the leveling mat from marine depot. Talk about absolute junk! 100% do not get it. At least half the backing never came off and 2 of us spent over an hour trying. I wrote a bad review for it on marine depot and they never posted it. I did randomly get a refund for it with no word from them, only saw a post in my bank app. So I will never do business with Marine Depot again unless I absolutely have to. What’s the point of reviews if they only allow the good ones?

Started playing with the rock.

Ended up with something my wife was happy with. Ordered 30lbs of Tropic Eden Reefflakes and 30lbs miniflakes I think it was from premium aquatics. I definitely would suggest both of them. Absolutely love the sand.

 

[Norcalreef]

Still adding random pics. @revhtree whats up with that.

 

[Norcalreef]

For flow I am using 2 Vortech mp10wqd. Thinking I need to move one of them to a back wall as all detritus is collecting in one cave on the right. Then I will replace it with a mp40wqd. So if anyone is looking to sell one let me know.

Added two foscams I integrated into my Apex. This way I can see my tank and sump from anywhere. They were a nightmare to set up, over two whole days on the phone with technical support between Foscam and Netgear. And they are still glitchy! Only working half the time. But hey they look cool and work ok through the Foscam app.

I ended up switching my sump around to run the Triton Method. Have a bunch of different macro algae and pods coming from Algae Barn that should be here Thursday. Using a 30w led from amazon that most seemed to recommend. I refuse to buy a $300 Kessil. If the cheap light doesn’t work I will just use a cree cob diy as I am well versed in those.

Figured I would snag some of the Triton base elements and a test kit as I happened to see them in stock at Unique Corals. I know how quickly they sell out so glad I was able to snag them even if I will not need them for some time. Unfortunately my test kit showed up empty. Just a empty cardboard box. I was like what the heck $50 for a empty box lol. Thankfully Unique is great and replaced immediately. Will definitely be buying from them again in the future.

Snagged a Ecotech Radion XR30w G4 off a member here. I plan to do a mixed reef with sps up high and lps low. Will see if this light is enough alone. If not I’ll do a dimmable t5 retro on either side. It’s a pretty ****** light but way way way over priced like all the other ecotech stuff.

As of right now there is just a small clean up crew. Consisting of 10 trochus(sp?) snails, 10 hermit crabs and 1 emerald crab. They worked way better than I would have thought and had the tank and rock cleaned in no time. So feeding some sea weed.

That’s about it for now. Please feel free to chime in with any help or insight. Will update as things progress. This tank has been a dream of mine for years and I love that it’s finally coming to fruishion.

 

[Tahoe61]

Scape turned out really nice and the tank cleaned up beautifully.

 

[Norcalreef]

Scape turned out really nice and the tank cleaned up beautifully.

thank you

I guess I should add, this is my first saltwater tank. I have kept aquariums of one form or another for a good 10 years now. I did planted tanks for a while. Everything from the ultra low tech cube I have now that uses only indirect sun light and almost no water changes. To high tech planted tanks with injected co2. I was really into freshwater dwarf shrimp for a few years. Anyone who's into that may know me as forumsnow. I had a pretty large breeding colony of royal blue orange eyed tigers. I also kept most of the Taiwan bees and pintos. So I have a fairly good understanding of water chemistry, light and how everything works together.

 

[Norcalreef]

Ecotech hanging kit just came from Premium Aquatics. Shout out to them again for fast service. Anyone know what size screw to use for mounting to the ceiling? Would be nice if ecotech told you what screw to use when they give you a threaded piece.
Should really help clean up the look over the hook and hydro hangers I’m using now.

 

[Norcalreef]

Ended up getting it hung with what I had around the house. I had some #12 x 1” tek screws from a previous project. They worked out perfect. Threading both through the Ecotech piece and the drywall anchor I already had installed from the previous hangers. Some times things work out perfect like that I pulled on the cable before I installed the lights, they’re not going anywhere. Think it looks pretty slick and a vast improvement from before. Not sure if it’s wortg $45 tho

Just need to patch the holes from a previous miscalculation(measured center of wall to front of tank, not from wall to center of tank, rookie move). Have the light at 12” right now and running very dim. Have nothing to use the light so trying not to use to much. Sure is fun to play with.
As of yesterday thank params were salinity-1.024, ammonia 0, nitrate 2, phosphate 0, alkalinity 9.5.
Feeding cuc seaweed pellets twice a day and still can’t get any nitrates. Maybe have to turn the skimmer off for a while? Forgot to mention earlier, skimmer is a Reef Octopus 152s. Seems to be working great. Have it on a Reef Octopus stand to achieve the correct height.
Using instant ocean right now but have Tropic Marin Reef Pro on the way to go with the Triton.

 

[Norcalreef]

Got my order from Algae Barn. Ordered chaeto, spiked sphere and red ogo. Also got their 5280 pods and they gave me a thing of brine shrimp for free. The brine shrimp are kinda pointless since I have no fish yet. Im trying the Triton Method so I have 10x turnover through my sump and it is sh** whipping the macros. They have also collected all along the weir teeth of the fuge. Is this ok? ill try to attach a video. Overall happy with the purchase from Algae Barn even though there was a week wait. I have removed the live rock from the fuge. I think I will need a stronger light.

 

[Norcalreef]

Set up a qt tank. Will be ordering some kind of fancy clown pair here in the next couple weeks.

Tropic Marin Pro Reef salt came to use with Triton Method. Will be doing some big water changes to get things switched over. It seems to dilute much faster and cause less of a haze compared to the instant ocean.

Using the Apex to decide if I need a heater in my top off container. Temp drop seems pretty small after each top off. Opinions if I should?

 

[Norcalreef]

got my first Triton ICP test back https://www.triton-lab.de/en/showroom/aquarium/auswertung-b/icp-oes/52317/

 

[Norcalreef]

Got a pair off clowns from sustainable aquatics. Honestly pretty unimpressed with how much they were. Paid over $180 after shipping and the large female is missing her top dorsal fin. They ignored all messages after I received the fish so I 100% do not recommend them. Was pretty let down as they have lots of good reviews.

Fuge has exploded and tested next to nitrates yesterday even with heavy 3 times per day feeding of the clowns.

Have had some easy to keep corals in for 3 weeks or so now. Have a birdsnest, mdntipora, a few clumps of zoas, a large green mushroom, 2 superman mushrooms, and a grecnstar polyp. Everything has exceeded expectations.

 

[Maximus]

Wow, incredible growth from your fuge! Can you tell me which algae has grown the best for you? What lights are you running on the fuge? Thanks!

 

[Norcalreef]

Just got an order from @uniquecorals and all I can say is wow!!! Really fantastic pieces.

 

[Norcalreef]

Wow, incredible growth from your fuge! Can you tell me which algae has grown the best for you? What lights are you running on the fuge? Thanks!

Thanks. The red ogo from algae barn by far. The stuff grows like a weed. I have a cheap amazon grow light on it. I think it was like a $20 full spectrum led or something. Believe I need something stronger as one of the algae is growing green leaves. Thinking about going with the 150w ufo one people use.

 

[Yati]

Nice set up

 

[Norcalreef]

Nice set up

Thanks

 

[Norcalreef]

Just ordered this bad boy. Will see what it do.

 

[Norcalreef]

Forgot to add. I recieved the 36 @AquaticLifeProducts hybrid t5 light today. I am running all ati bulbs 2 blue plus, 1 actinic and 1 coral plus. Although the directions were seriously lacking I was able to get it figured out and installed in under an hour. I imagine someone less handy could struggle with it.
But boy oh boy does it look flipping amazing. Like looking at my tank in hd. Long gone are any shaded or dark areas. Now just the struggle of the slow acclimation.