Robs "reefeh" 75 gallon rimless mixed reef build

[ingtar_shinowa]

Pretty cool! Did that red riser pipe come with your skimmer?

[feh]

everything you see on the skimmer came with it except the 2" elbow I used to direct the water back into the sump.

[feh]

Originally Posted by robertcedgar

Very nice start with strict attention to detail! BTW, is the right side of your light hanging down a little more than the left?

It might be. I had to move it up out of the way when I arranged the rock.

[feh]

I finished up my water storage container today. Turns out when I was going to hook up the rest of the plumbing there was already a shutoff valve installed. I didn't see it until I unmounted the RO/DI unit to disconnect the tubing. Only thing I need is a thermometer to monitor the water temp. I also got a 7 gallon container for my ATO. I still need a few things before I get started on that but I'll probably order those after Christmas. I also have a slight micro bubble issue I'd like to resolve in the DT. Its not that bad but I know it will end up annoying me sooner or later.

[feh]

Just ordered an Elos ATO pump/controller. I'm hoping this thing will work nicely. I didn't see too many issues related to it so I'm going to give it a try. In the meantime I'm still wrestling with this plumbing to get rid of as many micro bubbles as possible.

[feh]

Got my Elos ATO installed. So far I have no complaints. I also got my bulbs today and installed those. All goes well this tank will be ready for CUC soon. Starting to see diatoms. so I'm hoping to be getting around to adding fish soon. I'm still working on a bubble tower to get rid of micro bubbles. The first bit of glass I ordered is too tall. I'm not sure what I was thinking. Anyway here's a quick pic with the new bulbs on. I'm using ATI Blue+, Purple+ and Aquablue Special. Its a little more blue than expected but I can live with it. BTW, its not quite as blue as in the pic though... some reason I couldn't get the balance worked out on the camera.

[feh]

Got the bubble tower installed today.

[feh]

Originally Posted by feh

Got the bubble tower installed today.

The only thing I didn't do was seal up the bottom with silicone. I knew there would be some water flowing thru it but I wasn't sure if there would be very many micro bubbles following along with it so I didn't silicone it the first time around to get an idea how things would be.

So I'm going to have to drain the sump one more time and seal that up and I should be in good shape. Its still a major improvement compared to the sprite bottle effect with all the lights on with bottom not siliconed to the sump.

At this point I'm working on stocking ideas and CUC ideas. Few more weeks and the tank should be ready for its first inhabitant.

I've also decided to go ahead and ditch the 4 bulb fixture for a 6 bulb fixture and add 2 more bulbs - 1 each of ATI Aquablue Special, and Purple+.

I'm still thinking on whether I want to get an ATI dimmable Powermodule or go with another Tek - same model just in a 6 bulb configuration. I really like the ATI fixture and its features but I'm not fond of the color. I know the ATI would be a way better fixture though.

[feh]

Sealing up the side facing the first baffle heading towards the return chamber seemed to do the trick. I turned all the lights on this morning and checked things out and seems the bubbles are gone.

Going to monitor parms for a few more weeks then start stocking.

[bridun22ajl]

how silent is that reverse durso, do you have a link with anymore info on it?

[feh]

Its pretty silent. The only thing I hear other than my skimmer is the short fall the water makes in the overflow box. I'm going to get a pad to sit the skimmer on to quiet that down soon.

Right now I have bigger issues to deal with. Tank is only a month old and already got the spawn of satan growing on my rocks. Something has bumped my PO4 up from 0.07 to 0.20. I recently changed the carbon in my reactor and I'm wondering if its the cause or if the WC I did caused it. Checked the jar it came in and I don't see those magic words "phosphate free". I did order some from BRS so I spose I'll change that out. Either way I'm guessing the bryopsis hitchhiked in on the seed rock some how even though I never saw any on it and still don't. Spose I'm going to order some Tech M, remove the rock, give it a good scrub, dump some Tech-M on it and see what I can do to bring down the P04. Also my Alk is low. I have some GFO but I'm afraid to run it in the reactor because of the grain size so I'm going to try using it in a sock. Argh.

Anyway current parms as of today - not looking so good.
Salinity 1.025
pH 8.0
Alk 87 - low
Ca 600 - high
Mg 1500 - high
PO4 0.20 - don't want to talk about it
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 0 - I question the accuracy here.

[feh]

Added some Alk to the water and rechecked numbers... Alk 124, Ca 538, pH somewhere between 8.0 and 8.3 with my Salifert kit. I'll continue to monitor this. In the meantime still need a good plan to wipe out the spawn of satan.

[bdroptjj]

Originally Posted by feh

Its pretty silent. The only thing I hear other than my skimmer is the short fall the water makes in the overflow box. I'm going to get a pad to sit the skimmer on to quiet that down soon.

Right now I have bigger issues to deal with. Tank is only a month old and already got the spawn of satan growing on my rocks. Something has bumped my PO4 up from 0.07 to 0.20. I recently changed the carbon in my reactor and I'm wondering if its the cause or if the WC I did caused it. Checked the jar it came in and I don't see those magic words "phosphate free". I did order some from BRS so I spose I'll change that out. Either way I'm guessing the bryopsis hitchhiked in on the seed rock some how even though I never saw any on it and still don't. Spose I'm going to order some Tech M, remove the rock, give it a good scrub, dump some Tech-M on it and see what I can do to bring down the P04. Also my Alk is low. I have some GFO but I'm afraid to run it in the reactor because of the grain size so I'm going to try using it in a sock. Argh.

Anyway current parms as of today - not looking so good.
Salinity 1.025
pH 8.0
Alk 87 - low
Ca 600 - high
Mg 1500 - high
PO4 0.20 - don't want to talk about it
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 0 - I question the accuracy here.

I may have missed it in the thread, but what type of rock did you use?

[feh]

Its Marco Rock and seeded with some rock from my LFS which I kept in the sump.

I'm going to toss out the LR i picked up from the LFS to seed with. And I'm leaning more towards using H2O2 to try and kill off the bryopsis by dipping all the rocks and putting them back in.

I think I'll start by dipping just 1 rock and give it a couple of days to see what happens. If its successful then I'll pull all the rock out and dip it and place it back in the tank. As for the PO4 if thats coming from my rock then I got a solution for that too. I must have had air bubbles in my sample yesterday when I checked PO4. I know the Hanna checkers will read higher if there are bubbles in the water sample after you add the reagent. Today it reads 0.05 which is closer to what I had before.

[Mussin]

I like the light mount, how did you build it and where to the bars mount to?

[iwishtofish]

Fantastic looking setup! I also used Marco rock and I have a Tek T5 fixture (6-bulb, though) for my 75g.

I dosed MB7 and tossed in a raw shrimp to cycle my tank. Eventually I added an 8lb piece of live rock to my sump. I though my tank had cycled pretty quickly, as I never really even saw ammonia or nitrates while dosing MB7. Looking back, I think it took a loooooong time (couple months?) to cycle. I eventually got a pretty good algae outbreak that didn't last long, and I started to see coralline specks and pods all through my rock (took the ride up the hose!).

So, I'd monitor for ammonia, etc, very carefully if you add fish, and I also recommend taking it very slowly. Dry rock, IMO, can be tricky to start a system with, especially if you have very little live rock in there, too.

About the lights: don't underestimate the power of the T5 fixture, particularly if you have good bulbs such as ATI or Giesemann. I bleached just about every coral I added to my tank, and this was with the fixture maybe 8-10" above the water. I just replaced my bulbs after 9 months, and boy do I now see how much PAR is lost over that time. I'll replace them at 6 months from now on, so I don't have to worry about acclimation, etc. My fixture is now about 17.5" above the water, and I'm still starting with shorter light cycles for a while. I realize 4-bulbs aren't quite the same as 6, but I'd still be careful.

FYIW...

And I've subscribed. I'm eager to see how things go for you!

EDIT: Just read deeper and learned about your bryopsis - sorry to hear! Maybe it was introduced with the live rock? I never had anything but brown, really short, fuzzy stuff. It died pretty quickly, but took a while to fall off. I don't get the impression my dry rock was leaching phosphate, as I simply can't grow algae now.

[danderso]

Very nice build. Looking forward to seeing corals and fish!

[feh]

Originally Posted by Mussin

I like the light mount, how did you build it and where to the bars mount to?

Its electrical conduit bent into an L shape. Its mounted to the back of the stand with 2 brackets that hold it in place. Very cheap solution.

[feh]

Originally Posted by iwishtofish

Fantastic looking setup! I also used Marco rock and I have a Tek T5 fixture (6-bulb, though) for my 75g.

I dosed MB7 and tossed in a raw shrimp to cycle my tank. Eventually I added an 8lb piece of live rock to my sump. I though my tank had cycled pretty quickly, as I never really even saw ammonia or nitrates while dosing MB7. Looking back, I think it took a loooooong time (couple months?) to cycle. I eventually got a pretty good algae outbreak that didn't last long, and I started to see coralline specks and pods all through my rock (took the ride up the hose!).

So, I'd monitor for ammonia, etc, very carefully if you add fish, and I also recommend taking it very slowly. Dry rock, IMO, can be tricky to start a system with, especially if you have very little live rock in there, too.

About the lights: don't underestimate the power of the T5 fixture, particularly if you have good bulbs such as ATI or Giesemann. I bleached just about every coral I added to my tank, and this was with the fixture maybe 8-10" above the water. I just replaced my bulbs after 9 months, and boy do I now see how much PAR is lost over that time. I'll replace them at 6 months from now on, so I don't have to worry about acclimation, etc. My fixture is now about 17.5" above the water, and I'm still starting with shorter light cycles for a while. I realize 4-bulbs aren't quite the same as 6, but I'd still be careful.

FYIW...

And I've subscribed. I'm eager to see how things go for you!

EDIT: Just read deeper and learned about your bryopsis - sorry to hear! Maybe it was introduced with the live rock? I never had anything but brown, really short, fuzzy stuff. It died pretty quickly, but took a while to fall off. I don't get the impression my dry rock was leaching phosphate, as I simply can't grow algae now.

I used some live rock rubble and raw shrimp to cycle. I saw a small spike in ammonia the 2nd week but nothing since. Tank has been going since 12/8 I don't plan to put anything in the tank for another couple of weeks just to give it at least 2 months.

I think it was the rubble that introduced the bryopsis but I'm still not 100% sure thats what it is. The rock is the only thing I put in the tank thus far that was already wet. My dry rock doesn't seem to be leaching that much PO4 if it is. Before any signs of algae I kept an eye on that and was undetectable until I got the Hanna checker.

I think my previous measure of PO4 was a misread and that I had air bubbles in the cuvette. I took another reading today and got something closer to what I had normally been seeing. 0.05. Still not where I'd like it to be though.

I have all ATI bulbs, 2 blue+, 1 purple+, and one aquablue special. I'm considering getting either an ATI or another Tek 6 bulb fixture. When I bought the fixture a reef wasn't what I had in mind. I plan to get a PAR meter before I put in corals in the tank so I have a good idea what I can put where and whether I need to raise/lower the fixture. For now I still don't run my lights.

As for the algae I took a rock out today and poured some H2O2 on it. So we'll see what happens with that in a couple days or so.

Anyway here's a pic of what I think is bryopsis but as I said I'm not 100% sure. This is exactly what the stuff growing in my tank looks like. I had a few diatoms but that quickly went away.

[feh]

Still no change as of yet on the rock I poured H2O2 on, but its only been one day. Bumped Alk up to 138ppm. pH 8.2, Ca still reading 600. I still question the Ca reading. I'm going to take a sample to the LFS and see if they can check that tomorrow.

[feh]

I tossed some GFO into my reactor 2 days ago and checked my PO4 last night - 0.04ppm. This should help get rid of the hair algae that I thought was bryopsis.

I think I'm going to try a WC to get my Alk / CA corrected.

[iwishtofish]

What's your alk in dKH, and what is your target? I'm also wondering how your Ca got so high, since your salinity is good. Did you add a two-part, or just the alk?

I wouldn't worry too much about your Mg, as long as you don't continue to bump it higher. What salt mix are you using?

[feh]

Originally Posted by iwishtofish

What's your alk in dKH, and what is your target? I'm also wondering how your Ca got so high, since your salinity is good. Did you add a two-part, or just the alk?

I wouldn't worry too much about your Mg, as long as you don't continue to bump it higher. What salt mix are you using?

I'm using Reef Crystals for salt mix.

I haven't touched Mg or Ca. I think my biggest problem with Ca is the Hanna Checker I'm using. Until I get a better idea of how much Ca I'm not making any changes to it. The checker keeps telling me 600 which can't be right unless my mix is hosed. I'm getting a Salifert kit to recheck things here. I don't trust the Hanna at this point. I wouldn't be surpised if Ca is low too at this point.

I really don't want to keep adding Alk either at this point until I know whats going on. I don't want to see it bounce back later and be too high.

I've only been adding baking soda. To convert my Alk to dKH it would be ppm * 0.056. So yesterday's numbers are 6.44 dKH before dosing and after bumping it up 7.72 dKH. My only goal right now is to keep it stable.

I'm wondering if GFO might have something to do with yesterday's numbers though. That went from 0.05 to 0.01 but no worries with that right now since there isn't anything in the tank to complain.

At this point I'm only looking to get things stable before I start adding any livestock. I don't intend to add any corals until the tank matures a little more.

[milhous3er]

Originally Posted by feh

everything you see on the skimmer came with it except the 2" elbow I used to direct the water back into the sump.

I had the same issue with the Reef Octopus, trying to find PVC that would fit the valve. Come to find out, its 40mm schedule 80 PVC. So you were right in your earlier post, its all metric.

[Bosha]

Looking great thus far. Nice and clean build. Looking forward to seeing corals and fish as well. Keep the pics coming.