Triple-S Fish Ranch - 1700gal 164” x 48” x 56” SPS peninsula build

[Gideon1]

...well done!

[ADVRESOURCE]

Your tank and entertainment room is sic!!! Good job.

[Lowefx]

Please update pmrogers!!!

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk

[locito277]

Amazing tank!!

[delmo]

How about an update? How's the tank,qt,RO?

Sent from my SM-N915T using Tapatalk

[Stylo328]

Last update from OP was on 3/1. Not optimistic...

Seems the way of many of these threads. Tons of initial posts and hype and then nada....

Hopefully I'm wrong and OP posts an update soon.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[MrsGsClassroom]

Thank you so much for your extensive documentation. I am a middle school science teacher who has reef tanks in my class room as teaching "tools". I say "tools" because its so much fun for me and the kids learn so much without having to be forced to take notes test. They love it and we frequent this thread to discuss ideas.

[jdantunes]

Originally Posted by Stylo328

Last update from OP was on 3/1. Not optimistic...

Seems the way of many of these threads. Tons of initial posts and hype and then nada....

Hopefully I'm wrong and OP posts an update soon.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Well OP logged in last month... but no update.

I just spotted this thread, read the first 11 pages and decided to jump to the last page to find out how most of this huge builds end up into... nothing to be amazed about.

I really enjoy this hobby and understand that some of us are more passionate than others, but projects this big get overwhelming very very fast and that is because some of us forget what this is... a hobby.

Definition of hobby by Wikipedia: A hobby is a regular activity that is done for enjoyment, typically during one's leisure time.

[lanshark]

One can get "forumed out" too... Epic build, when there is newsworthy progress, I'm sure we'll get an update.... He went TEXAS big and change takes time... Loved the crane moving stuff around, epic ....

[sde1500]

Originally Posted by jdantunes

Well OP logged in last month... but no update.

I just spotted this thread, read the first 11 pages and decided to jump to the last page to find out how most of this huge builds end up into... nothing to be amazed about.

I really enjoy this hobby and understand that some of us are more passionate than others, but projects this big get overwhelming very very fast and that is because some of us forget what this is... a hobby.

Definition of hobby by Wikipedia: A hobby is a regular activity that is done for enjoyment, typically during one's leisure time.

It is a huge tank, beautifully built into the surrounding room(s), what isn't to be impressed/amazed about? That it isn't fully grown out yet? Or that there hasn't been an update in a while? LOL just because someone isn't posting regularly on here giving us all updates does not mean at all they have given up on their tank. They just may not be interested in providing continual updates, can get old I'm sure.

[CuzzA]

Well, if anyone has followed and/or read the thread it was pretty clear he is taking it slow. Which is smart. Allowing something bad in a tank this size is not an option as eradication would be difficult and subsequent QT/hospitalization of the inhabitants and fallowing the system would be a daunting, if not impossible task.

[pmrogers]

Starting off with the good news, every single fish is perfect, fat and healthy, vibrant colors, not even the slightest sign of LLE, parasites, fungal or bacterial issues. Also on the good front, there is not so much as a speck of anything bad in the display: no cyano, dyno's, nuisance algae, aiptasia, vermetid snails, etc.

On the not so bright side, there is still not a single coral in the display. My foray into Bayer dipping was an unmitigated failure, resulting in a complete wipe of all stonies.

Main Events:

• Bayer dip disaster
• QT graduations: 7 lyretail anthias, blotched anthias, 4 long spine cardinals, purple tang, six line wrasse
• Happy fish - rich colors, egg laying chromis, male coloration changes 2 anthias
• Sparus pump failure
• Hydro Wizard prop break; world's slowest replacement
• NSW dosing lines and UV recirc clogged by precipitate buildup
• Perfect looking water, too bad about the nitrates
• Current state

Bayer dip disaster
Where we last left off, the coral QT tank was thriving and about to graduate its first batch to the display. The fish QTs were filled with anthias and cardinals also about to graduate.

Decided to do 2 more rounds of coral dips in the last week before transferring to the display, this time using Bayer insecticide. This did not go well. With the exception of one hollywood stunner and one acro, every coral started bleaching the day after the first dip and was completely dead within 10 days. The remaining 2 corals also bleached and died about 5 weeks later. What I missed in my research on Bayer was that it requires much more thorough rinsing than CoralRx. Apparently, I put the corals back in the QT with a film of Bayer still on them. The concentration was sufficient to poison the rest of the QT; even the corals I didn't dip (bits of monti that had adhered to the floor or side wall) died within 2 weeks.

With my CoralRx procedure, I would rinse with a quick swishing about in a bucket of clean tank water. If I give Bayer another try, will use two rinse buckets each with a powerhead in them to supplement the manual swishing, and will plan to replace at least the first bucket with fresh tank water after every few rinses.

QT graduations, happy fish
On the bright side, all of the fish graduated quarantine and survived transition to the display.

With anthias in the display I had to start feeding frozen food. I know some hobbyists get anthias to eat pellets, but I've never been able to get them to eat anything other than frozen foods. Based on research here, I decided to try LRS Fertility Frenzy and Herbivore Frenzy, to which everyone responded very well. Coloration picked up across the board, 2 of the anthias made the switch to male, and the green chromis started nesting, with one of the males taking on the bright yellow rear fins and hyper aggressive behavior defending the eggs. It was fun to watch the Chromis dive bombing tangs, foxface and rabbit fish 10 times his size.

Sparus pump failure
The 3HP Pentair Sparus started making horrible screeching noises as if the bearings were shot. I immediately ordered a replacement motor. 4 week backorder on the motors so I also ordered a high output air pump and 12" airstone to use for emergency aeration in case the Sparus failed completely before the replacement motor arrived.

This turned out to be a good call, as the Sparus did in fact lock up completely about 3 days after the airpump arrived. With the airstone, I was able to leave the tank without sump circulation for a few days until I got time to plumb in one of our old Sequence 1.5hp pumps-- less than a quarter the flow rate of the Sparus, but good enough to keep things going until the new motor arrival.

I was extremely disappointed to have such an early motor failure from a high quality pump. Other than one case of the motor getting soaked, I've never had a Sequence or Reeflo motor failure in 20 years of reefing. For the Pentair motor to fail without cause was very surprising. In fact, it wasn't the case as I learned when I disassembled the pump.

Removing the shroud revealed what I consider a design flaw, but in serviceability, not in something as fundamental as motor durability. Basically, what happened is that the seal developed a slow leak allowing moisture and severe salt creep into the motor.

"But wait!", you say, all seals need to be maintained; it is your fault for not replacing it soon enough. This is true. From my years with Sequence/Reeflo, I got in the habit of a weekly check for debris or salt creep on the floor beneath the pump where the motor shaft enters the volute. Once this would start to happen, I would know to replace the seal within the next 3 to 6 months. I followed the same practice with the Sparus and was thrilled when it ran for almost 2.5 years before the first tiny hint of debris buildup below the pump. Surprising, but I chalked it up to the superior build quality of the Sparus. When the first bit of debris appeared below the Sparus, I was ready to replace the seal within the week, proud of myself for such quick and conscientious service.

Ummn. . . No. Turns out that with the design of the Sparus there is a large cavity inside the pump front end where huge amounts of salt creep can build up unseen. By the time debris starts appearing outside the pump body, it is far too late and the dry side of motor has been marinating in salt water paste for who knows how long. Bottom line, the Sparus motor was exceptionally durable if anything, as it continued to run for months after being soaked.

My design improvement suggestion for the Sparus would be to leave the motor shaft visible where it enters the volute so that seal breakdown can be detected immediately. For now, I've updated my maintenance regimen to pull the motor head every six months to inspect the seal. This is a mildly frustrating time waster as, if the seals for the Pentair are like the Sequence, they could last anywhere from 9 months to 4 years before starting to seep.

Hydro Wizard prop breaks - world's slowest replacement
After going 18 months without an ECM-63 propeller break, 2 more snails got into the shroud within 2 weeks of each other, exhausting my supply of replacement propellers. While Panta-Rhei had been very responsive in shipping my first 2 pump and part orders, my order for additional props ended up taking over 3 months to come in. I still love the company's products but would strongly recommend that you get _plenty_ of replacement parts if you decide to run one of their powerheads. Wasn't a huge deal for me with a second ECM-63 in the tank and no corals as of yet, but in other circumstances it could be a real problem to have the powerhead offline for 3 months.

Everything looks great, too bad about the Nitrates
As mentioned earlier, the display inhabitants and water look about as perfect as any tank I've seen. Great water clarity. Fat fish with vibrant colors and no signs of parasites, infections, or damage. Not a single nuisance organism to be found in the tank: no cyano, dynos, planeria, aiptaisia, majano, vermetid snails, etc. Not a speck of nuisance algae on the rocks.

Unfortunately, nitrates began climbing in June, jumping from what had seemed to be a stable 2 to 5ppm up to 20+ in the month between my May and June tests. I did not expect this as I believe I'm still at less than a quarter of the population the tank should be able to support, and not feeding heavily. You may suspect the frozen food I began using when the anthias were released into the display, but this happened before I began feeding frozen food to the display tank.

The first thing I tried was removing the airstone from the sump, thinking that this may have been preventing the cermedia filter blocks also in that part of the sump from developing lower oxygen zones for hosting nitrate reducing bacteria. I was a little worried about pH problems developing after airstone removal, always mindful that the tall and skinny tank dimensions don't provide much water surface area for oxygen exchange. Fortunately, pH stayed stable for the next 2 months; less fortunately, so did Nitrates. The big downside to airstone removal is that the surface of the water in the sump settling area now has an unsightly bacterial film. Not harmful, just annoying since I like to keep things looking tidy even behind the scenes.

Also started a vodka dosing regimen, though this is something I've never wanted to get into for a couple of reasons: 1) it is too fiddly and time consuming; 2) a suspicion that if dosing is necessary there are fundamentals out of whack. After a month of dosing, Nitrates dropped to 15, which was a positive sign. But I also established that I really don't want to make this a permanent part of the regime, and discontinued it after about 5 weeks in.

Next up, I tripled the amount of cermedia in the sump to see if it is just a matter of insufficient bacteria hosting surface area. This was about 3 weeks ago. If this doesn't work, next up will be to replace all of the cermedia with dead rock (shouldn't have given away that last 500lbs of reincarnated rock from the old tank!). Also under consideration is to build a slow flow cermedia reactor to further increase the chances of establishing a zone near enough to anaerobic for nitrate reducing bacteria to thrive.

Mysteriously toxic coral QT
After the great Bayer dip wipe, I performed a manual 80% water change using DT water (on top of the daily automated 5gal changes) and ran carbon and a Polyfilter for several weeks before introducing a hardy monti digitata frag. It looked unhappy from the beginning and died within 10 days. Puzzling. Nitrates were the only parameter significantly out of range (~15ppm at the time). Not a great nitrate value and one that I would expect to prevent thriving, but I also wouldn't expect that nitrate level by itself to kill a monti so quickly. Appears to be time for another full drain and bleach reboot of the coral QT.

At the suggestion of Dave, o2manyfish, I sent a water sample off to Triton Labs for detailed analysis to see if there was an issue with metals or other anomalies, possibly due to the cermedia blocks. The analysis came back with no obvious smoking guns to me, except possibly Barium, about which I know absolutely nothing. Barium was flagged as red at 15x too high, Iodine flagged yellow at 15 against a target of 60. Calcium and Magnesium were flagged as yellow and red, but at 430 and 1230 respectively, they are in line with successful tanks I've run in the past.

Current State
As of now, all coral additions, including QT, are on hold until I get nitrates back down to 5ppm or lower in the display. Even given my up front "Slow" disclaimer, it may be time to move this thread from the Large Reef Tanks forum to the Fish Only forum.

Thanks everyone who has followed and been so supportive. For now, I will plan to make this my last post until and unless I get back on track to making this a true reef system.

[Lowefx]

Great read and thank you for the update, truly! Your tank will not be the same if you do not have coral in it. Good luck and looking forward to some more pictures!

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk

[SPotter]

now thats an update!!!! IMO, i wouldnt stress about nitrates at 20. I know many very successful reefers who strive for nitrates over 20 ppm and there acros look amazing.

[dave.m]

For nitrates you might want to look for detritus accumulation. This might be on or under the rocks, aquarium floor (you went with no substrate IIRC), and in the sump areas. Sometimes something as simple as moving the water strongly over the rocks with your hand or a small submersible pump can help stir sediments back up into the water column for removal by the filter socks.

Dave.M

[Stylo328]

Thanks for the update and incredible detail. I'm sorry that you have had such challenges with your coral QT.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[ramasule]

Thanks for the update, love your tank!

[locito277]

Have you considered adding a sulfur denitrator for your nitrates?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[sde1500]

Great update! Sorry to hear about the coral loss that really sucks. To add to the plethora of suggestions, maybe one of those ARID chaeto reactors could help with the nitrates. I've read good things on here and other sites.

[McPuff]

I'm sorry if this has already been stated somewhere way back (it's been a while since I read this), but may be consider adding some marine pure blocks for the nitrates. They really do seem to work exceptionally well.

[CHSUB]

Originally Posted by CHSUB

great progress!!! early on you wrote about a denitrator with the sump, is that still planned or are bio pellets(if used) the method perferred? how much rock are you using? the DT looks minimalist design and notwithstanding the extensive sump design, NO3 could be hard to control with what i anticipate to be a huge fish load.

not surprised you're having no3 problems, as i see very little no3 sinks. i second the idea of a sulfur reactor with about 12 gallons of sulfur, in addition to more live rock and a large well lite algae fug.

[vashawn]

After going through 39 pages, Im going home and tear down my house
lol
sick sick build house n tank

[biecacka]

Have you considered nopox for dosing? I do vinegar/vodka mix (basically nopox) on my 240 with 30 fish in it to help control my nitrates. They run about 5-10 now and I'm going to lower them a little bit more.

Corey

[dca22anderson]

Absolutely AMAZING!! Nicely done Paul!!

[delmo]

Originally Posted by McPuff

I'm sorry if this has already been stated somewhere way back (it's been a while since I read this), but may be consider adding some marine pure blocks for the nitrates. They really do seem to work exceptionally well.

You really should read his last post....


Sent from my SM-N915T using Tapatalk