The House of Orange

[bobbravo2]

Thanks for continuing to share the journey with us. Sorry for the loss of the baby

 

[Fish Styx]

Thanks for continuing to share the journey with us. Sorry for the loss of the baby

Thanks, I really appreciate that. Yeah, it was rough, to say the least. My apologies for not getting back to this today. I did some serious tank maintenance earlier and then had an epic nap. I'll continue later on after the game, or tomorrow. Thanks for following along and keeping me company!

 

[ReefSakes]

Hey, all. I'm finally getting around to starting a build log for my system, which has been wet and running for two years now. I just spent the better part of the last three hours sifting through and organizing the photos that I could find and will try to assemble them here in a way that makes sense and keeps you engaged (hopefully). The goal is to get you caught up from where I started to where I am today, making note of the changes between then and now, and then continue to update this thread as a journal. So, I hope you'll come along with me for the ride and share in this journey.

Now that all of that is out of the way, let's get down to brass tacks, shall we...

After a brutal divorce back in 2014, I was forced to tear down my system (125 gallon), rehome my livestock, and sell off my gear. That left me heartbroken (over the tank, not my ex) and tankless until the end of 2020 when I started putting this system together. During my dry time I saved and planned the build obsessively, resigning myself to stay dry until I could build a "dream system", if you will; and that is exactly what I did. It should be noted, however, that said "dream" had to be tempered by my budget, available space, and wife's (I have since remarried) patience. lol

Anyways, it is a 260 gallon total system volume (TSV) comprised of a 180 gallon display tank (DT), a 20 gallon (breeder) remote display refugium, and a 60 gallon sump. The DT is a Mega Matrix from Planet Aquariums in Texas, and I had it built and subsequently shipped to me where I currently reside, in the DC metropolitan area. The build is intended to be an SPS dominant reef, with some LPS peppered in for good measure. A caveat issued by my wife, hereafter referred to as "The Dainty Dictator", is that it must have an anemone and "Nemos" <groan>. So in addition to the stony corals, her highness must be appeased with the addition of a nem. I went with an RBTA, but more on that later...

Equipment and stocking list will be discussed as this thing unfolds. Shall we get started? Alright then, buckle up. Here we go!

Gonna be an epic build sir!

 

[Fish Styx]

Gonna be an epic build sir!

Thank you! Welcome to the crazy train and thanks for tagging along!

 

[Fish Styx]

This brief intermission has been brought to you a friendly Brittle Star that wanted to say, "hi".

Brittle Star Waving Hello

youtube.com

 

[Fish Styx]

Hey, everyone. Didn't mean to leave off on such a downer. I wanted to get back to updating this yesterday, but opted for an epic nap after some serious tank maintenance. Anyways, I hope you all enjoyed the Superbowl, or if you aren't into football, a leisurely Sunday.

So, if finding out that I was going to be a father was the happiest day of my life, losing the baby was the absolute worst. When my wife and I found out that "we" were pregnant, everything changed. I can't explain it, or if I tried, words would not do my emotions justice. They say that, if you are going to miscarry, it is best in the first trimester. I wish that were the case, because we were pretty far along and it was devastating. I was there for The Dainty Dictator every step of the way. All of the appointments, doctors' visits, resulting surgery, etc. I was strong for her, but the entire time I was hiding my own pain. Depression set in again, and once again, the aquarium just wasn't a priority.

 

[ReefSakes]

Thans you! Welcome to the crazy train and thanks for tagging along!

Yessir. I love seeing and building systems lol. I'm on my 3rd and final system for my Reef Lounge.

 

[Fish Styx]

I got help.. therapy and medication, and have ultimately exorcised a lot of those demons. The events of the last few years, experiences in the military, and many others. I'm in a great place now and have found peace. That being said, during that time, things fell apart with the tank. I was still feeding and doing water changes, but with my inability to be present or engaged in anything substantial, maintenance was at a bare minimum. Algae was everywhere, and all of the glass was so covered in coralline that you could barely see through it. Seriously, It was bad. When I finally started to come out of it, and began to bring everything back into alignment, I had one of the worst aiptasia infestations that I had ever seen. Take a look:

 

[Fish Styx]

Yessir. I love seeing and building systems lol. I'm on my 3rd and final system for my Reef Lounge.

final for now. You'll start planning the next one as soon as this is finished and you know it. hahaha

 

[ReefSakes]

final for now. You'll start planning the next one as soon as this is finished and you know it. hahaha

Lol it's already in the planning stage lol. This system is pretty much built as I have 90% of the gear for it already lol. I have a 1400 sq ft garage and my ultimate goal is to set up a 15-20' tank in there. It will be years down the road, but the vision is there lol.

 

[Fish Styx]

In addition to the aiptasia, there was GHA and cyano, too. It was the uglies all over again. Once again, I went to war! This time though, with the invaders in my tank. I began nuking the aiptasia with a kalk slurry injected into their filthy little mouths, and took considerable joy in watching them melt. Given how many of them there were, I had to do sections at a time and stand by to do substantial WC's in the event of drastic ph spikes due to the kalk slurry. I then added Berghia nudibranchs to go to work. Here's a cool vid of one of them I found on the glass after lights out:

 

[Fish Styx]

The Berghia did their thing, and as the population decreased to next to none (visible), I added a bunch of peppermint shrimp and a matted filefish. Rather than let the remaining Berghia starve, I opted to let nature run its course with the peps. As it would turn out, I still have Berghia in my system along side the peps, and the trifecta of Berghia, peppermints, and filefish have proven to be effective in controlling outbreak. I do still, however, nuke them with kalk when they pop up. It will forever be a game of whack-a-mole. Such is life.

 

[Fish Styx]

As I was going through the aquascape to nuke as many aiptasia as I could, I continued to play with the configuration. It still bothered me, as now that I had added the live Gulf rock and some interesting arches, I could never get it to the way I wanted it. I didn't like the "wall of rock" look when it was just the dry rock in there, and I liked it even less now. It just looked unnatural to me, and when envisioning coral colonies filling out, I was never happy with what my mind's eye would see. I decided that two distinct structures with a bit of negative space between is what I wanted, and so pulled out more rock and moved things around until I was happy with the end result. Which, thankfully, I am... for now. I'll post a walkthrough video in a little bit so that you can take a look.

 

[Zach B]

Wow, what a build! I am very sorry for you and your wife's loss, we went through the same thing a few years ago. I am glad to see you are doing better though! Absolutely following along

 

[Fish Styx]

This brings us to January of this year. I returned home one afternoon to discover that my Vectra return pump had failed. For note, I had been cleaning this bad boy every 6 months still, so it wasn't due to lack of maintenance. I went into disaster mitigation mode and added emergency air stones to the DT, moved a heater in there, and ordered another pump. In searching for a pump at this time, I only had two priorities: 1) enough flow and head to move what I needed through my manifolds and sump; and B) (yup, I did it again) overnight delivery. That led to the purchase of an Orbit eFlux. The pump is solid and is whisper quiet. It also had the power to move a significant amount of water, and as a bonus, fit in perfectly with my OCD color scheme. Small victories, amirite? I was not, however, a fan of the controller.

Now, brace yourself, because here comes a heaping dose of suck. When raising the canopy to move a heater into the DT, the canopy lift system failed. Yup, when it rains, it pours...

 

[Fish Styx]

Wow, what a build! I am very sorry for you and your wife's loss, we went through the same thing a few years ago. I am glad to see you are doing better though! Absolutely following along

Thank you for that, I really appreciate it. I'm sorry that you had to go through that. It is a pain that no one should know. Thanks for joining in and welcome aboard the crazy train!

 

[Fish Styx]

Ugh, amirite?! Now, when I engineered this contraption, I knew that it would eventually fail. Everything does, at some point or another, and as we all know, it never happens at an ideal time. Dang you, Murphy!!! I just didn't think that it would be this soon, so I was disappointed, to say the least. Now, while I didn't take into account salt creep leading to the failure of the linear actuators, I did, as stated, figure on it failing. So, when mounting the canopy supports to the struts, I ensured that I would be able to have access to the bolts from under the lid. Other than the weight, it was relatively easy to move. Thankfully, I was able to, once again, enlist the aid of some of my buddies to give me a hand. The canopy now sits atop the rim of the tank, as I am still using the lighting for the system. All of that is being replaced though in the coming weeks with a hybrid LED / T5 array that I will suspend from the ceiling.

Now, if I had to do it all over again, knowing what I know now, would I? Absolutely. That is a resounding, "yes" with one caveat, however. I would figure out a way to engineer some sort of shield to protect the actuators from salt creep coming from the open back of the stand below. Would it work? Dunno, but given that this failed after only two years, it certainly wouldn't hurt. lol

 

[Reeflix]

dangggg. and i though the first couple mouths of my reef were bad. looking at all that can happen makes me feel kinda lucky... (knocking on wood so that bad things don't happen)

 

[Fish Styx]

dangggg. and i though the first couple mouths of my reef were bad. looking at all that can happen makes me feel kinda lucky... (knocking on wood so that bad things don't happen)

Nowhere to go from here but, up!

 

[Reeflix]

sorry about the aptasia... one of my worst reef fears