Downsizing??? Really???

[der_wille_zur_macht]

I may have experience in the hobby prior to you, but to put it in perspective, I was pretty young when I started. I spent most of those years making mistakes and rushing things. It's a pleasure to read your thread and see the time and thoughtfulness you put in to this system. This is one of my favorite build threads.

I'm envious of your location. My first snorkeling experience was in the Keys, maybe 6 months after I'd started my first marine tank. It was a huge inspiration. I still have images burned into my memory from that trip all these years later. I've just restarted after a break from the hobby, with a 24g nano. I haven't stocked it yet but I'm thinking about doing a Keys/Caribbean themed tank. If I do, I'll probably be buying most livestock from KP, since there's almost nothing available locally that's from that part of the world.

[HuskerBioProf]

I'm also a big fan of "dirty" tanks. I'm just nervous to try and do it with an SPS-dominant tank. That's why I have a display "refugium" planned for my current setup. Not to be a refugium, necessarily, but a dirtier, more natural looking tank.

[Ron Reefman]

Originally Posted by HuskerBioProf

I'm also a big fan of "dirty" tanks. I'm just nervous to try and do it with an SPS-dominant tank. That's why I have a display "refugium" planned for my current setup. Not to be a refugium, necessarily, but a dirtier, more natural looking tank.

That's kind of where I'm going as well. The display refugium isn't just an algae dump, it's almost the opposite of an sps dominated tank. And I'm seriously considering building a new sump to put in the stand which uses all the space. That will allow for a bigger, better skimmer and a small refugium that will be just an algae grow hole.

Great minds think alike!

[Ron Reefman]

Originally Posted by Ssteve

Can you take a few pics of the actual lighting and how you have it mounted up?

Also, I remember somewhere you were talking or asking about the gold nugget maroon clowns. Did you ever end up getting one or a pair?

Pics tomorrow, I promise!

I didn't get any gold nuggets. I love the juveniles in white with maroon tips, but I don't care for the yellow look as the mature. And the fact that they pretty aggressive didn't help their cause. I'm thinking something in white with orange on the face, fins and tail. Is that a Wyoming White, or Frostbite... there are so many now I can't keep them straight in my head!

[Ron Reefman]

Ssteve, here are pics of how I have my leds set up for now. This is the front view and the strips are down low on the screen covering the tank.




From the end of the tank you get a different look.




This is a closer image of the thin wire "legs" that come with the 21ledusa strips. They work OK if you keep them less than 2/3rds extended. I need full extention to get to the ends of the tank and the fixture sags WAY too much.




And finally, a close up of the legs going into the fixture. Some day, when I feel really ambitious, I'll take one apart and refit it with heavier legs. Hopefully legs similar to the Reef Breeders Photon V2. Or alternatively I could make hangers to mount them off the sides of the V2. But honestly, I like the strips down low because it blocks a lot of the 'glow' relection of the V2 off the screen from my eyes.

[cagey]

Originally Posted by Ron Reefman

After my previous incident with electricity in the water I bought one. But the wire was too short to make it to a grounded outlet and I just never hooked it up. I'm sure it's around here somewhere. I'll look for it and try the heater in a bucket of saltwater and make sure it's leaking current into the water and then put the titanium grounding rod in the bucket and see if it takes the electricity to ground and I don't get shocked. Good experiment for the weekend. Thanks.

My system is on concrete. I came down to let the dogs out and noticed something out of sort in the tank. no shoes on, reached in and lit up. Cleansed my soul.
I used a meter and put one probe to the ground of an outlet and the positive probe touched the water. 120VAC...I commenced to unplug each item submerged in the tank till there was no voltage reading. Heater cable where it went into the heater the insulation split.

That's how I found out to always where shoes when going onto tank.

Be Careful fellow reefers.

[Ron Reefman]

cagey, thanks for that follow up. I will be more careful. I'm in SW Florida so barefoot is common for me. But I got a piece of wire from a wire brush on a drill stuck in the heel of my foot a few days ago and it's been such a pain that shoes may become a regular feature for me! I only got a little shock and I never found the problem. But I did notice that where I felt the shock was in nicks and cuts on my hands. Now I'm thinking maybe it was just the salt in the nicks.

[bowfrontboy]

nice

[Ron Reefman]

Originally Posted by bowfrontboy

nice

Thanks.

After several tanks that I've been happy with, I have to admit, I really like the look of this entire set up. Over 12 years from 30g to 75g to 180g and now a 125g.

[Ron Reefman]

Well, I finally finished my ATO system. Now I only have to add water about every 8 to 10 days, so I'll top up the holding tank every Monday. And now that my sump water level stays in a very narrow range my skimmer is much more effective.

I also added 2 snowflake clowns from Cultivated Reef. Nice selection, good prices, well packed and the owner seems very nice. I ordered some premium corals from them as well. That was in a 2nd order because they sent me a 20% discount coupon that was good for 60 days. Between the online volume discount (buy $450 at retail and get $100 off) and the 20% discount, I got 11 corals for $26/frag.

[SFish]

Do you have a picture of your ATO set up?

[Ron Reefman]

I do now! Thanks for asking.

Here is the display refugium (soon to become an anemone tank). But beside it is a black funnel that is sitting in a bulkhead fitted into the top of the stand. The funnel is removable and is only there when I'm adding water to the top off tank in the stand.




Here you can see the 10g tank in the bottom of the stand which is where the water poured into the funnel goes. Yes, there is a flexible hose from the bulkhead to the 10g tank. And the top of the tank has a plastic cover to keep dust out. And yes, Maia, the cat, likes to watch water move. She'll watch any kind of water movement, the DT, the sump, any faucet... even a flushing toilet!



I marked the tank in 1 gallon increments so I would know just how much water I need to add to fill it up. I turns out that 10 gallons is about 8 or 9 days of water during the A/C season in SW Florida. It should be less in the dry season as the house is open most of that time of year but the humidity is a bit higher than inside the house when the A/C is running durring the rainy season. So for now my plan is to fill it up every Monday when I do water parameter testing.



I used a JBJ auto top off system and an old MaxiJet powerhead as a pump. The MaxiJet is held in place with Vecro and I'm thinking I'll add some to the back side of the float switch brackets to keep them against the sides of the top off tank and the sump. There is a float switch which will stop the pump from running if the water level ever gets too low. There is a second float switch in the main sump which powers the pump on and off and keeps the water level in the sump within a 1" range.

[SFish]

You have such an interesting set up. Very clean.

[reefwars]

Looking good buddy love the progress

[LuizW13]

This is really awesome. I wish my cabinet/stand making skills were better..lol

[Ron Reefman]

Thanks guys.

And as good as this looks, I wish you could see this at late sunset in a dark room. Holy crap! It looks like freakin Pandora at night (from the movie Avatar)!

LuizW, I didn't make these cabinets (I wish I had that kind of skill). The DT stand is what Cadlight provides and I like it better than the Red Sea cabinet. The display refugium stand is a commercial kitchen under sink cabinet that I reinforced with 2/6's. I'm a very clean rough carpenter and a very course finish carpenter! LOL!

[Ron Reefman]

I took some PAR readings in my tank for a post in the Reef Breeders sponsor forum. I have some of just the Photon V2 and some of the V2 with my blue & white led strip at the front edge of the tank and some with the all blue led strip just a few inches off the back edge of the tank.

I set this up during my midday settings. So these are NOT the max that a V2 can do. I run both blue channels at 90%, the white and violet channels at 40% and the red and green channels at 10%. I know I always talk about not using the red and green channels. But I've now started using them just for the 4 hours of midday power levels. I still don't use them at all during the 4 hour sunrise or the 5 hour sunset. Also my tank is only 20" deep, I have 2" of sand on the bottom and I run the water about 2" below the top (I do have significant water movement at the surface).

I also found that if I measured shallow PAR readings, there was a significant difference if I was between led clusters or in the middle of a cluster. Example: at just 1" under water at the front glass I got a 180 reading at a cluster and a 120 reading in between the led clusters. But mine may be a bit further apart because it is the 50" version. I have 2.75" between the front white leds from one cluster to the next. I'd be curious to know the gaps of the shorter fixtures?

I have a significant rockscape up the back of the tank that is higher in the middle and lower in the corners. At 12" deep 5" off the end of the fixture along the back glass I got PAR of 30 and 55 (with the extra led strip). From here on, if I state 2 readings, the second one is always with the led strips on. At 8" deep in the middle of the tank along the overflow I got PAR of 70 and 150.

Down the centerline of the fixture (slightly forward over the tank):
8" deep middle of the fixture 230 (that's as deep as I can get). At 1" I got 480. I have blue morphed Little Money zoas (normally green) near the surface on a tonga branch rock that are getting PAR of 350. At the ends of the tank, 5" past the end of the fixture, I got Par of 200 at 12" deep at one end and 150 at 14" deep at the other end.

At the front of the tank I could get 16" deep. At one end I got 80 and 90+ (with led strip), at 1/3rd, the middle and at 2/3rds I got 120 and 150 and at the other end I was back to 80 and 90.

I then took readings at various corals:
war coral..... 280
frogspawn..... 340 (on high rock in the center of the tank)
blue acro..... 270
rainbow digi..... 200
green bubble coral..... 280
RBT anemone..... 110 (at the end of the tank at the front glass)
rock flower anemone..... 110 (at the other end of the tank at the front glass)
utter chaos zoa..... 250
yellow fiji leather..... 200
hollywood stunner..... 160

If anybody has any questions or comments, fire away.

[Ron Reefman]

Well, I ‘m only 9 months into my new system. The DT has been a HUGE succesess as far as I'm concerned. Corals all growing well and making the tank look like Pandora at night then the blue leds are on. But display refugium has been a big disappointment. First it's plumbed wrong and changing that now would be way too big of a project that would involve drilling holes. I currently have the fuge and the DT both draining into the sump and each is filled from the sump. If I were to do it over again I'd have the DT fed from the sump, then the DT could feed the fuge and the fuge would return to the sump. But that change is more than I want to do, and even that really doesn’t solve the other issue I’m having.

I've had issues with macro algae growing like crazy in the fuge (which was good). But then when I harvested some of the macro algae, the rest would die off or do the sexual reproduction thing and turn both tanks green. Neither is all that bad, but both are a bit stressful. And having the macro algae die off means starting over with new and different macro algae. That's happened twice already with two different groups of macro algae. And after the macro dies off I get massive hairy algae blooms. It’s the hairy algae bloom that really drives me crazy. Fortunately it doesn't spread to the DT full of coral. I’d add a small tang and could probably keep the hairy algae under control, but I have a Red Hawaiian Reef Lobster living in the fuge and it eats fish. I may have to find a new home for the lobster. It could be in a regular fuge or it could go to an entirely new home. And I hate the thought of doing that because it is such an interesting character and I enjoy having something different from what most other reefers have.

Decisions, decisions...

[Ron Reefman]

I’ve decided and I’m ready to go with a new sump/refugium under the DT and go back to Chaeto as my macro algae. In fact, I just ordered the glass to build a bigger sump for my tank so I can add a reasonable size refugium in the stand.

The 50g cube (the current display fuge) will become a rock flower, maxi-mini, RBTA tank with at least a couple of clowns and maybe another fish or two that aren't reef safe but OK with anemones (I haven't researched that out yet). Or maybe a revolving juvenile tang swapped out about every 12 to 24 months as it gets too big for a 50g tank.

The main point will be to try and get the rock flowers to propagate. RBTA are easy, I have 12 of them in 3 tanks already and they split on their own more often than I really want! But those crazy colorful rock flower anemones spawn and want to try and make that happen. But even if I can’t, at least I’ll have a very cool looking 50g cube next to my main 125g DT and s new sump/refugium.

This is what 'm planing for a new sump/refugium:



If anybody has and suggestions or comments, I'd appreciate reading them. Thanks.

[Capt_Dan]

Hey Ron,
You might want to think about swapping your placement for your skimmer and refugium. I would reverse the two, so when/if you have pods in your fuge, that way they can make it to the DT without being sucked up by the skimmer.

Im planning on mine doing the same, and also thinking about having (Hopefully) some reproducing shrimp in my fuge.

Just a thought. Hope all is going good for ya!

[Rython]

Hey Ron,

Disappointing reading about the display fuge not working out. My buddy is about to try the same thing and I'm hoping he can benefit from your lessons learned. We're there any particular species of macroalgae that usually died off or usually went sexual? Any species that were easy to manage? Or was it just a mess across the board?

Thanks,
Chance

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G925A using Tapatalk

[Ron Reefman]

Chance, The first time I tried 5 different macro algae and I hate to admit that I didn't pay particularly close attention to which species I had. A few grew quite well and a couple didn't do well at all. Then when I harvested about 1/3 to 1/2 of the algae that grew well, the 2/3 or 1/2 that was left in the tank went sexual and died. I assume the there various forms of Caulerpa. The second time I started with some TBS (Tampa Bay Saltwater) live rock that had a couple of algae species. One went crazy and grew so fast I had issues keeping it under control. But again, when I harvested the algae left in the tank died back and went away.

I still have some of a couple different algae species. I had the dispay refugium going, I had some in my 65g shallow reef tank and I have some in my 125g sump/refugium under the shallow reef. But I'm just not willing to deal with all the ups and downs and die off. The display refugium is tied in with the 125 DT that is now starting to overflow with coral growth and I can't have macro alga going sexual and possibly doing damage to the DT.

I wish I could be more help, but it was just an all round PITA experiment.

[Ron Reefman]

Capt Dan, how you doing? I'll have to look at the design again. You raise a valid point.

I had it drawn up your way in my first layout. But my thought process was this: give the fuge all the 'stuff' from the tank and let the chaeto take what ever it wanted, then finish the cleanup with the skimmer.

If I had my way, I'd feed the skimmer directly from the DT with an additional drain. But with the DT so full of corals (over 100 different colonies and frags) I don't want to risk drilling the back glass for an overflow now... maybe someday. But that would avoid the pods getting to the skimmer.

And I'll probably be selling frags soon!

[Reefer525XL]

Having the skimmer first seems to be a popular choice. Thats how it was setup in my old tank as well.

However, imo I don't think it really makes much of a difference as not all the water that enters the skimmer chamber is "cleaned" by the skimmer before going to the next chamber, therefore, some nutrients and whatever else is in the water will still make it pass the skimmer into the next section. Same if the Fuge is first. Yes some pods might be sucked in by the skimmer but not all pods so to me it doesn't really make a difference, just comes down to personal choice. I don't think there is any evidence showing which of the two method is more efficient.

[Capt_Dan]

Originally Posted by Ron Reefman

Capt Dan, how you doing? I'll have to look at the design again. You raise a valid point.

I had it drawn up your way in my first layout. But my thought process was this: give the fuge all the 'stuff' from the tank and let the chaeto take what ever it wanted, then finish the cleanup with the skimmer.

If I had my way, I'd feed the skimmer directly from the DT with an additional drain. But with the DT so full of corals (over 100 different colonies and frags) I don't want to risk drilling the back glass for an overflow now... maybe someday. But that would avoid the pods getting to the skimmer.

And I'll probably be selling frags soon!

Hey Ron,
I doing great, hope y'all are also. That sounds great about selling some frags. Im about ready to start buying for the new tank, and was going to contact ya to see what ya had going. Just waiting for this tank to finish cycling.