A Reefaholic's 1000+ Gallon Mixed Reef System Build

[Dustin1300]

Originally Posted by drummereef

Looks great! Love the crown detail on the half column next to the stairs too.

Thanks Brett. Work in progress...

[Dustin1300]

Originally Posted by kahkah

The basement is really coming along and looking very nice.

You need to add the pic of your clowns to the picture thread on indmas, it need a revival.

Now I'm just ready to have the tank down there! I still have a lot of work ahead of me but I enjoy projects. Good thing about basement is we don't currently use it as living space so the mess is something that can be closed off with a door rather than causing the whole house to be a mess.

[Newbie Aquarist]

Originally Posted by Dustin1300

This week decided to start to stock up on the cleaner crew for the frag tank and 90 gallon fuge. I already had 28 red scarlet hermits, 22 trochus snails, and 3 brittle stars that I picked up from Premium Aquatics.

I went ahead and put a large order into ReefCleaners and they were great, fast, and gave me more than I paid for. I got 50 blue leg hermits, 50 nassarius vibex, 355 dwarf ceriths, and 130 florida ceriths distributed between the two tanks and they definitely seem to have finished off what I needed for the crew. In DT I'll likely use trochus snails and hermits with quite a few Florida ceriths too. For aesthetic reasons I want the most effective cleaners that do it quickly on the DT and the hermits are there to help but I like the humor they provide too.

Anyways, headed in that direction and it will be here soon enough!

John from ReefCleaners is the best. He always outdo himself and definitely knows his cleaners. John's the man.

[Esardog]

Originally Posted by Newbie Aquarist

John from ReefCleaners is the best. He always outdo himself and definitely knows his cleaners. John's the man.

Absolutly the truth -- had a small problem with an order -- John fixed it!! There may be some with as good customer service but non better.

[Dustin1300]

Originally Posted by Newbie Aquarist

John from ReefCleaners is the best. He always outdo himself and definitely knows his cleaners. John's the man.

Originally Posted by Esardog

John from ReefCleaners is the best. He always outdo himself and definitely knows his cleaners. John's the man.

First experience with them and much cheaper than locally as I would have paid an arm and leg! I definitely got what I paid for and more....

[Dustin1300]

This is my first acrylic tank with Vortechs and I noticed when I took them off and cleaned the other day that I've got rings from possibly the heat from the motors? I'd like to move them over a bit as I'd like to play with the flow a bit but really don't want these rings again. Anyone with Vortechs and a simple trick for preventing them? I can snap a picture of the rings tonight if no one knows what I'm talking about!?!

[Newbie Aquarist]

There is a pad I think might work. It is white and it is used as a filtration pad. There is a pad that they sell for large magnetic cleaners to avoid scraping the outer side.

[18fisher]

wow wow wow,awsome job great thread 18fisher good luck with it

[kahkah]

Originally Posted by Dustin1300

This week decided to start to stock up on the cleaner crew for the frag tank and 90 gallon fuge. I already had 28 red scarlet hermits, 22 trochus snails, and 3 brittle stars that I picked up from Premium Aquatics.

I went ahead and put a large order into ReefCleaners and they were great, fast, and gave me more than I paid for. I got 50 blue leg hermits, 50 nassarius vibex, 355 dwarf ceriths, and 130 florida ceriths distributed between the two tanks and they definitely seem to have finished off what I needed for the crew. In DT I'll likely use trochus snails and hermits with quite a few Florida ceriths too. For aesthetic reasons I want the most effective cleaners that do it quickly on the DT and the hermits are there to help but I like the humor they provide too.

Anyways, headed in that direction and it will be here soon enough!

Have you looked into adding any Hawaiian Strombus Grazer snails to your tanks? I picked some of at the swap and they made their way into my frag tank and have bred like crazy, plus they stay small and are reef safe. I'm all for a self sustainable snail that will help keep my tank clean.

[Dustin1300]

Originally Posted by Newbie Aquarist

There is a pad I think might work. It is white and it is used as a filtration pad. There is a pad that they sell for large magnetic cleaners to avoid scraping the outer side.

I'll look into that and see if I can find any. Know if it will cause any issues with vibration?

[Dustin1300]

Originally Posted by kahkah

Have you looked into adding any Hawaiian Strombus Grazer snails to your tanks? I picked some of at the swap and they made their way into my frag tank and have bred like crazy, plus they stay small and are reef safe. I'm all for a self sustainable snail that will help keep my tank clean.

Can't say I've every had them. I know I've got strings of eggs that seem to pop up once or twice a day from one of the snails...Just don't know which kind. From looking up egg sacks seems it's the cerith snails. Out of the ones I have, the trochus definitely move fast and are efficient at cleaning so will likely use LOTS of them in DT.

[Dustin1300]

While spending my couple hours by the tank, tonight discovered something while doing a little fragging. Anyone have any idea what these are? I'm not sure what it is and have been searching online and fairly certain I've seen them brought up as pests before, just can't seem to find them!

[Dustin1300]

After quite a bit of searching I believe I might have found an ID on this little guy....I'm a bit paranoid but when I see something like this I'd rather be safe than sorry and get others experiences!

It seems that according to the following Reef Keeper article that this is a form of Isopod, Sphaeromatid specifically from what I can tell. From what others have pointed out and said this one does not seem to be harmful to aquaria. Because I'm not 100% certain this is the Isopod I'm housing I'm going to try to pick up a red light to examine the tank at night to ensure I don't have a problem. If worse comes to worse, I might have to move my whole three fish over from the system to my QT and not order any fish <_<

From the following RK Article



Thoughts, opinions, experiences!?!

[Newbie Aquarist]

You can banish him to the fuge. Or just send him to heaven early.

[Dustin1300]

Originally Posted by Newbie Aquarist

You can banish him to the fuge. Or just send him to heaven early.

I just got done doing some spotlighting and caught at least another 10 or so with a turkey baster. If they are proven innocent then they won't go down the drain Wayne, you confirming they are friendly or do you know?

[748S911]

http://museum.wa.gov.au/sites/defaul...D%20TWO%20.pdf

hope this help

[Dustin1300]

Originally Posted by 748S911

http://museum.wa.gov.au/sites/defaul...D%20TWO%20.pdf

hope this help

Actually skimmed through most of this last night and was insightful but did not give a lot of info on there effect on reefs. Descriptions and body types outlined help but are you rather familiar with isopods?

[Sagz70]

Following! .. I admire your patience and the time you take to plan everything out. Great job so far.

[Dustin1300]

Originally Posted by Sagz70

Following! .. I admire your patience and the time you take to plan everything out. Great job so far.

Thanks and try to plan a lot before implementing. My patience is thin but the money I put into the project is as I make it at this point

[Dustin1300]

Working on the stand today and grinding down the tubing in preparation for welding tomorrow. After welding should be painting the stand and then headed towards finally getting the tank downstairs!!!! It's been a long road and new when I picked up the tank early because of a good deal I'd hate having to watch it sit in the garage for so long.

On a side note, I've been looking at different methods of controlling phosphates. After looking at several threads decided to give lanthanum chloride a try by dripping it into a 10 micron filter sock with sufficient flow to bind the phosphates to the chemical and cause a precipitate. After a little over an hour of running water through the site it was clogged and I pulled it offline. Water got a little bit cloudy from the process but I went from 13 ppb (.039ppm) to 6 ppb (.021ppm) in no time!

I only used about $.20 of additive and the filter socks I'll be able to wash time after time. I think I'm going to try to figure something out to better control the flow to one filter sock so I can let it run for longer than one hour 15 minutes. That way I can make good use of the additive while not having to pull the filter sock offline when it starts clogging.

I was amazed at how fast the phosphates dropped and will be a method I use to help keep the phosphates in check from time to time. (Weekly?) Anyone else used this method and have any advice? I used 5mL of lanthanum chloride to 1L of water and dripped it in for 1/2 hour or so. At that dosage I should be able to make the bottle of lanthanum chloride last for 189 treatments and it only costs $30.

Product Used:

[Rinkrat]

Amazing build best of luck I can not wait to start mine

[Dustin1300]

Originally Posted by Rinkrat

Amazing build best of luck I can not wait to start mine

Thanks! Just about to start the welding so I should be headed in the right direction today. I'll try to post pictures later of the stand welded.

[Sisterlimonpot]

that's a great way to remove phosphates, and to think if you're going to use it weekly I doubt you're going to need that much for every treatment, so it will last even longer.

do you have any links to other reefers using it? I'd like to read more on the subject.

[Newbie Aquarist]

Originally Posted by Dustin1300

Working on the stand today and grinding down the tubing in preparation for welding tomorrow. After welding should be painting the stand and then headed towards finally getting the tank downstairs!!!! It's been a long road and new when I picked up the tank early because of a good deal I'd hate having to watch it sit in the garage for so long.

On a side note, I've been looking at different methods of controlling phosphates. After looking at several threads decided to give lanthanum chloride a try by dripping it into a 10 micron filter sock with sufficient flow to bind the phosphates to the chemical and cause a precipitate. After a little over an hour of running water through the site it was clogged and I pulled it offline. Water got a little bit cloudy from the process but I went from 13 ppb (.039ppm) to 6 ppb (.021ppm) in no time!

I only used about $.20 of additive and the filter socks I'll be able to wash time after time. I think I'm going to try to figure something out to better control the flow to one filter sock so I can let it run for longer than one hour 15 minutes. That way I can make good use of the additive while not having to pull the filter sock offline when it starts clogging.

I was amazed at how fast the phosphates dropped and will be a method I use to help keep the phosphates in check from time to time. (Weekly?) Anyone else used this method and have any advice? I used 5mL of lanthanum chloride to 1L of water and dripped it in for 1/2 hour or so. At that dosage I should be able to make the bottle of lanthanum chloride last for 189 treatments and it only costs $30.

Product Used:

I have that same solution in my garage just sitting there. I will have to do more research on the product.


Sent from my iPhone using Siri and Tapatalk.

[Dustin1300]

Originally Posted by Sisterlimonpot

that's a great way to remove phosphates, and to think if you're going to use it weekly I doubt you're going to need that much for every treatment, so it will last even longer.

do you have any links to other reefers using it? I'd like to read more on the subject.

Agreed, next time I think I'm just going to use 2 mL to on liter of RO/DI and I'm going to build something and tie it into my manifold so I can adjust the flow and give more contact time as I pulled the sock once it started to overflow as I did not want the precipitate to go into the tank.

Link to Lanthanum Chloride use in Aquaria.

***The company started selling an aquarium version but from what everywhere I've read it's just a diluted version of the pool version and more expensive.