Double or Nothing... AJ's 405-Gallon Reef Savvy Upgrade

[mike810]

Are you using two MP60s and one MP40 on the rear panel for flow in the tank? How is the flow and do you feel like you need more like on the side panels?

I'm starting a 8x3x2 and was planning to put four MP40s on the rear along with two tunzes 6255.

[Stylo328]

It's been a while since my last update and there are a few changes to note.

For starters, in an attempt to address the microbubble situation, I redid all of the intake plumbing for both Vectras. I took the pumps apart to check the impellers for any debris and to make sure that the o-rings were properly seated. I also removed several layers of the Matala pond filter pads, lowering the water level in the sump and increasing the effectiveness and efficiency of the bubble traps. I also swapped the Vectras and plumbing from one return to the other to isolate if it is a pump issue. While not 100% gone, the bubbles are 90% better. And the ones that remain continue to come from the right side of the tank. I will take another crack at finding the air leak this weekend.

After manually dosing for a few weeks, I finally got the MTC ProCal up and running with the aquarium plants.com CarbonDoser. I chose to use reborn in the main chamber and ARM in the second chamber. I have the CarbonDoser set to 6 psi with 6 seconds between bubbles. I've been testing alk twice daily and it is holding constant. I tried adding a second PH probe to the Apex, but that was a fail. As soon as I plug the second probe in the second port, the main port goes out of whack. I'm going to give Neptune a call as I was unable to find a remedy online. Worst case scenario I will add a PM1.

Speaking of PH; with a full house, wife, kids, dogs, etc... PH has been ranging from 7.7 at night to a high of 8.1 during the day. Having had good results with kalk on the 187, I added a PM Nielsen reactor online with the ATO. Just got it plumbed last night.



I'm optimistic this will help. Also looking to add a refugium to the same end. I am evaluating lighting options now to maximize growth while keeping heat down. May end up going with a Kessil purple light, but also considering the radion fresh water version. Happy to hear your thoughts.

Here are a few pictures of the aquascape for the fuge.





I've added a few fish since he last update. Two rainfordi gobies, a pair of onyx Picasso clowns, a labouti fairy wrasse, blue sided fairy wrasse, Japanese four line wrasse, and a rosy scaled fairy wrasse. All are eating and I have seen no sign of disease. I had to trap and remove the four line as he was an absolute terror, attacking the rosy scale and mystery wrasse ceaselessly. He is now in the sump, pending return to the LFS.

Here are a few random photos, including one of the clowns who have chosen the orange galaxea as their host.

















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[Stylo328]

Rest of the pictures. Sorry for the quality as they were taken with the iPhone.



















Thanks for checking in.


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[worm5406]

Even though you used an iPhone, wont hold it against you, very good update.

I have enjoyed following this thread. I have a micro-bubbles problem to. I am getting ready to put in 2 Vectra L1 and maybe that will fix it.

[Stylo328]

Originally Posted by worm5406

Even though you used an iPhone, wont hold it against you, very good update.

I have enjoyed following this thread. I have a micro-bubbles problem to. I am getting ready to put in 2 Vectra L1 and maybe that will fix it.

Thank you very much for being part of the thread and your contributions. I will tell you that I have been impressed with the L1s and how powerful they are. With both pumps on and three MP40qd's in night mode at a constant 20%, that EB8 is drawing under 1 amp. And at peak with all pumps, it maxes out under 2 amps.




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[worm5406]

I am so glad to see that I am not the only one that looks at the amps and see how things are running over days or weeks. After I replaced on of my DC12000 with another one I saw that it was having issues and was drawing a lot of amps.

I look/watch trends in pH and other items too. You can see a trend when you look at a month's worth of data.

I use this too: https://www.reeftronics.net/wn/worm5406/apex-history

If you look at that link around Dec 15 you will see that my temp went flat line for a bit. That was when my heater died. Under amp3 you can see the AMP draw dropped off too.

Look at Amp 5 and see around 12/15 when I replaced that DC12000 that was not working for my skimmer. Once replaced the overall draw went to a better amp draw.

[Stylo328]

That is very interesting. Thanks for pointing me to Reeftronics. I just used their program tool to write the OSC code for my kalk reactor.


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[worm5406]

You are welcome! We all get pointers from each other.

Show your code, will ya.

[Stylo328]

Hello my RC friends. Quite a few things to update. My apologies for the gap in posts.

For starters, my buddy Locito gave me a MARS Hydro 300w LED Grow Light. It went up over the fuge easily and we now have some chaeto growing.



We also added several fish. This is the stock list as of today:

Female Bimac anthias
(3) Bartlett anthias
Male lyretail anthias
Female lyretail anthias
Male yellow coris wrasse
Female yellow coris wrasse
(2) Rainfordi gobies
Yellow banded possum wrasse
Labouti fairy wrasse
Male lubucks fairy wrasse
Female lubucks fairy wrasse
Male ruby head fairy wrasse
Male solorensis fairy wrasse
Red velvet fairy wrasse
Blue sided fairy wrasse
Male red margin fairy wrasse
Long fin fairy wrasse
Mcoskers flasher wrasse
Melenaris wrasse
Mystery wrasse
Japanese four line wrasse
Male onyx Picasso percula
Female onyx Picasso percula
Chocolate tang
Purple tang
Blond naso tang
Black cardinal fish
Pink bar goby
Yellow watchman goby
Sailfin blenny
Yellow tail blenny
Male crosshatch trigger
Female crosshatch trigger
(2) skunk cleaner shrimp
Fire cleaner shrimp

Fish have all been doing great until today, when I noticed ick spots on the purple tang, who has been with us for years.

I've got the Vortex XL diatom filter going and I have continued to feed metroplex infused food. At this point, stressing over it won't help. Say a prayer for our fish!

















I have to make note that the crosshatch pair was a birthday surprise from my wife... I am blessed.

Let's hope that my next update is a positive one...






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[worm5406]

Looking really good. Maybe try taking closer pictures of the front of the tank and have them overlap. Then use a sticher program and make it a large panoramic.

Would look nice on a dual screen monitor!!

[Stylo328]

Originally Posted by worm5406

Looking really good. Maybe try taking closer pictures of the front of the tank and have them overlap. Then use a sticher program and make it a large panoramic.

Would look nice on a dual screen monitor!!

Thanks! I'll try and snap a few good pictures this weekend. I don't know about "stitcher" programs, but I'll try to post up some better quality shots.


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[ashish]

I enjoyed all the pictures tank set up is top notch!, thanks for sharing!.. I just ordered a ghost overflow from synergy is it really as quiet as they claim?

[Stylo328]

Originally Posted by ashish

I enjoyed all the pictures tank set up is top notch!, thanks for sharing!.. I just ordered a ghost overflow from synergy is it really as quiet as they claim?

Thanks! It is absolutely silent. You will also really appreciate the slim profile. Congrats on the new overflow.


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[Stylo328]

Good evening ReefCentral. It's been about a month since my last update; probably too long...

I ended the last post with the sentence "let's hope my next update is a positive one". While I was doing all I could to stay positive, I fully expected to have some fish losses as a result of the ick. Here we are a month later and I am happy to report that the only losses were the red margin fairy wrasse, who died after the trigger bit its pectoral fin off and was subsequently killed by its tank mates. My wife saw him missing the fun in the morning and called me. I expected to get him out later that evening after work. By the time I got home there was not enough of him left to even pull a carcass from the tank . I also lost the red velvet fairy wrasse who jumped out while I had the canopy open. He could not have been on the floor more than a few minutes while I was in the garage. By the time I found him and put him in the sump, it was too late. He swam around a bit and died within minutes.

As for the ick, I used a combination of a DE filter (Vortex XL with mag drive upgrade) and Poly Lab Medic treatments to tackle it. I wont vouch for either of them as I have no clue which one worked or if the fish just developed immunity to the ick. Nevertheless it's been over a week since I last saw any white spots on any fish or any scratching against the tank floor or rocks. I now have to decide if it is worth adding any more fish and risking another outbreak or just leaving things as-is.

On the coral front, I am sad to report that I have discovered AEFW in the tank. Some eggs must have snuck in. We Bayer dip and check every frag. Oh well... such is life. I have started a regimen of using a maxi-jet 1200 to blow off all of the corals and fortunately the fairy wrasses are consuming all of the flat worms that are blown into the water column. These wrasses learn quick! They now follow the MJ1200 around the tank waiting for the meaty little morsels to manifest. Not sure I will ever eradicate the AEFW, but this is the best option I've got...

I also have what I think is a bryopsis outbreak. There are little patches within several acro and zoanthid colonies. I am strongly considering giving the fluconazole treatment a try. I may order the capsules this coming week. I'll post some progress photos if I do.

I added some macro algae to the refugium. A batch of dragon's breath, some more chaeto and a clump of caulerpa prolifera. They came in earlier this week. The chaeto and prolifera are looking great. The dragons breath, not so much. I have since moved it into the shade a bit as the 300w light may be a little much. I also added some additional dry rock to the refugium.

Finally, I added another larger rock to the middle of the tank. I wasn't loving that one rock structure and feel the addition looks much more natural. I glued several frags to the new rock and am looking forward to seeing it fill in a bit, both with some encrusting from the frags and with coraline.

Thanks for reading now on to the pics:















And a few chalice shots. Some are mine while others are being babysat for a friend.







Thanks again!


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[Stylo328]

I've been noticing a little more algae than I would like, particularly on the starboard and rear glass. Decided to add 50 more turbo snails. I think I underestimated the surface area of the tank.



Within minutes I could see a difference.



I also cleaned out the refugium today. Should have taken a before picture - the algae growth was unreal. Here is the end result.





And just for fun, here is an actinic shot I caught of the mystery wrasse. Since the addition of the fairy wrasses, his vertical stripes have really popped.




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[McGee10]

Very nice I love it keep the updates coming please

[Stylo328]

Originally Posted by McGee10

Very nice I love it keep the updates coming please

Thank you very much.


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[Stylo328]

A quick picture of my boy...




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[Stylo328]

I've been battling algae for the last few weeks. I attribute it primarily to the amount I'm feeding to make sure the triggers get enough nutrition. Today I did what I thought was a deep cleaning and a 75 gallon water change. Sadly the tank looks like I didn't even touch it.

These are picture after the water change and scrubbing:











I think it's a combination of bryopsis, hair algae and this brown stringy algae that seems to be everywhere.

Any thoughts or advice would be greatly appreciated.


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[worm5406]

Take a look at this thread:

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/sh....php?t=2622044

I have heard quite a few people having very good luck with it.

Along with using Vibrant.

[Stylo328]

Originally Posted by worm5406

Take a look at this thread:

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/sh....php?t=2622044

I have heard quite a few people having very good luck with it.

Along with using Vibrant.

Thanks. Planning on placing an order. 400-gallons consumes a lot of capsules.


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[worm5406]

People have had cyno breakout using vibrant at the same time. I would hold off on the VIbrant if you need to use it until it has run its course.

[Stylo328]

Here are a few photos taken yesterday for algae growth comparison.















The 50 additional turbo snails have made a difference but barely noticeable. The BRS high-capacity GFO should arrive today.


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[dgasmd]

How is your tank coming along? New pictures of progress? The algae, which it may have to do with detritus settling and not enough of a "cleaning crew", likely has more to do with the new increased bioload. It takes several weeks, and sometimes months for a new tank to settle even with the same corals, rock, fish, and even better equipment than before. Add to it that using natural seawater does bring a huge amount of life in it that will contribute to the bioload. Give it time/patience and use a powerhead from the to time to blow off the algae.

[dgasmd]

Lastly, increasing the amount of rock you have would be a good thing. I realize you like the clean and minimal look, but rock does magic to your water quality. I would fill that sump with as much rock/rubble as you can fit in it. Just something to consider..........