One year in Reefing, 2 tank builds and still learning - Page 2

xREEFINaintEZx · 09/13/2016, 10:03 AM

Awesome, good job man. Great read with some ideas I can incorporate into my set up.

Whipples · 09/26/2016, 10:34 PM

Loved seeing the thought put into the tank and setup. Well done!

nursedude · 12/19/2016, 07:46 PM

Great write up! Plus your tank really does look amazing.

Qbass · 12/21/2016, 09:12 PM

Great setup! Enjoyed reading your journey. Keep it up & thanks for sharing.

Slim18 · 01/11/2017, 08:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by FattyK21

Wow amaing build

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fuel Doodle

one word, AMAZING

Quote:

Originally Posted by xREEFINaintEZx

Awesome, good job man. Great read with some ideas I can incorporate into my set up.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Whipples

Loved seeing the thought put into the tank and setup. Well done!

Quote:

Originally Posted by nursedude

Great write up! Plus your tank really does look amazing.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Qbass

Great setup! Enjoyed reading your journey. Keep it up & thanks for sharing.

Thanks for reading, I have had my clown fish for 2 years now as of December 28th.

Updates to follow.

Slim18 · 01/12/2017, 06:36 PM

My clowns are officially 2 years old! So time for an update

I have been battling with hair algae for way too long. Every 2-3 weeks i needed to go into the tank with a siphon and tooth brush and scrape as much off as i could. The tank would look ok for about 2 weeks but it always came back. There are many ways to eliminate the algae from a tank but i decided to build an algae turf scrubber as part of my solution to the problem.

There is a great thread here on RC that shows many builds and experiences with an algae turf scrubber and after spending a week or 2 going through the 350+ page thread i decided to give it a try.

When the scrubber was first turned on i went into the display tank and eliminated as much algae as i could. I rotated the aquascape to get as much out as possible and then limited the photo period to 4 hours a day with just my LED’s on a very low setting so it didn’t have a chance to grow back.

I am back to the normal photo period and the scrubber has been running for a 5 weeks now. The screen is starting grow lots of algae and is doing its job very well. I still have some growth in the display however i expected this because the scrubber is still very new. I need to do 1 more manual clean out of the display and then the scrubber should really take over.

I also built a small frag rack out of some black acrylic. Scraping the algae off the rocks has a side effect of breaking corals. I didn't really know what to do with these accidental frags so i now have a place to put them.

I started using some of the Aquaforest products. I have switched over to their Reef Salt (not the probiotic salt) and i am using there Calc/Alk and mineral salt supplements with good results so far.

The reason i switched was i wanted a simple way to add all of the elements back to the tank. Aquaforest adds all of the trace elements into there calc/alk and mineral salt supplements. So I just mix up the solutions according to the instructions and dose according to the uptake of my corals. I already had the 3 dosing pumps so this system fit my situation well.

I also added another gyre pump to the tank. Coralvue came out with there new version of the gyre the XF250 pump, and you can purchase the pump without the controller. So during black friday I bought a Gyre XF250 (pump only) and connected it to my existing Ice Cap module built for the Gyre XF 150 model and it worked. So then i bought another Ice Cap module so i could control it though my APEX and a power supply off of amazon to power it. Everything worked out great and i didn't even have to change the barrel connector for the power supply, everything just fit and worked out of the box. So i now have an APEX ready Gyre 250 pump for about the same price as the new pump with the coralvue controller that is not APEX ready.

I didn’t need more flow but i wanted more random flow. The 1 gyre was more than enough to eliminate any dead spots however it was always in the that 1 gyre motion. Now i can alternate the gyre from left to right and really stir up detritus that has settled on the rocks and sand. Both gyres do not exceed 35% power at any given time.

I have not added anything to the tank in a very long time. It really didn't make sense buying new corals when hair algae was starting to take over the tank. The short term goal of the tank is to eliminate all of the nuisance algae in the tank. After this is complete i will start adding more corals to the tank.

Thanks for tuning in and I hope everyone had a safe and happy holiday season.

PilotMaximus · 02/24/2017, 06:04 PM

Just went thru the whole thread. Really amazing. Very inspirational. Makes want to kick it into to gear a bit with some of things in my build. Not sure if it is related but I definitely did have algae issues not unlike yours before I went back to Manual siphoning the Aquascape and sandbed. Obviously not the the only determining factor but just a thought. Good luck with the scrubber curious to see how that turn out as well.

12/19/2016, 07:46 PM	#28
nursedude Registered Member Join Date: Aug 2011 Location: Montrose, Co Posts: 95	Great write up! Plus your tank really does look amazing. __________________ "The problem with internet quotes is that you cant always depend on their accuracy" -Abraham Lincoln, 1864 Current Tank Info: SCAquarium 66 gallon rimless

09/13/2016, 10:03 AM	#26
xREEFINaintEZx Registered Member Join Date: Aug 2016 Posts: 119	Awesome, good job man. Great read with some ideas I can incorporate into my set up.

09/26/2016, 10:34 PM	#27
Whipples Registered Member Join Date: Sep 2016 Location: San Diego Posts: 0	Loved seeing the thought put into the tank and setup. Well done!

12/21/2016, 09:12 PM	#29
Qbass Registered Member Join Date: Dec 2016 Location: Singapore Posts: 3	Great setup! Enjoyed reading your journey. Keep it up & thanks for sharing.

01/12/2017, 06:36 PM	#31
Slim18 Registered Member Join Date: Jan 2015 Posts: 7	My clowns are officially 2 years old! So time for an update I have been battling with hair algae for way too long. Every 2-3 weeks i needed to go into the tank with a siphon and tooth brush and scrape as much off as i could. The tank would look ok for about 2 weeks but it always came back. There are many ways to eliminate the algae from a tank but i decided to build an algae turf scrubber as part of my solution to the problem. There is a great thread here on RC that shows many builds and experiences with an algae turf scrubber and after spending a week or 2 going through the 350+ page thread i decided to give it a try. When the scrubber was first turned on i went into the display tank and eliminated as much algae as i could. I rotated the aquascape to get as much out as possible and then limited the photo period to 4 hours a day with just my LED’s on a very low setting so it didn’t have a chance to grow back. I am back to the normal photo period and the scrubber has been running for a 5 weeks now. The screen is starting grow lots of algae and is doing its job very well. I still have some growth in the display however i expected this because the scrubber is still very new. I need to do 1 more manual clean out of the display and then the scrubber should really take over. I also built a small frag rack out of some black acrylic. Scraping the algae off the rocks has a side effect of breaking corals. I didn't really know what to do with these accidental frags so i now have a place to put them. I started using some of the Aquaforest products. I have switched over to their Reef Salt (not the probiotic salt) and i am using there Calc/Alk and mineral salt supplements with good results so far. The reason i switched was i wanted a simple way to add all of the elements back to the tank. Aquaforest adds all of the trace elements into there calc/alk and mineral salt supplements. So I just mix up the solutions according to the instructions and dose according to the uptake of my corals. I already had the 3 dosing pumps so this system fit my situation well. I also added another gyre pump to the tank. Coralvue came out with there new version of the gyre the XF250 pump, and you can purchase the pump without the controller. So during black friday I bought a Gyre XF250 (pump only) and connected it to my existing Ice Cap module built for the Gyre XF 150 model and it worked. So then i bought another Ice Cap module so i could control it though my APEX and a power supply off of amazon to power it. Everything worked out great and i didn't even have to change the barrel connector for the power supply, everything just fit and worked out of the box. So i now have an APEX ready Gyre 250 pump for about the same price as the new pump with the coralvue controller that is not APEX ready. I didn’t need more flow but i wanted more random flow. The 1 gyre was more than enough to eliminate any dead spots however it was always in the that 1 gyre motion. Now i can alternate the gyre from left to right and really stir up detritus that has settled on the rocks and sand. Both gyres do not exceed 35% power at any given time. I have not added anything to the tank in a very long time. It really didn't make sense buying new corals when hair algae was starting to take over the tank. The short term goal of the tank is to eliminate all of the nuisance algae in the tank. After this is complete i will start adding more corals to the tank. Thanks for tuning in and I hope everyone had a safe and happy holiday season.

02/24/2017, 06:04 PM	#32
PilotMaximus Registered Member Join Date: Aug 2015 Location: South O' Chicago Posts: 65	Just went thru the whole thread. Really amazing. Very inspirational. Makes want to kick it into to gear a bit with some of things in my build. Not sure if it is related but I definitely did have algae issues not unlike yours before I went back to Manual siphoning the Aquascape and sandbed. Obviously not the the only determining factor but just a thought. Good luck with the scrubber curious to see how that turn out as well.