140 Gallon DSA Build

[Highlandjedi]

+1 on updates
I cant wait to see how its doing

[Frogmanx82]

I think you should have waited on the wrasses until you had a pod population, three bangaii cardinals will hopefully end up in a breeding pair. They are notorious though for being tough to feed.

Everything seems well planned on this but your fish selections seem to have jumped the gun. Your first coral is an SPS that wasn't doing well? It might be a good idea to post your stocking plans and get a little feedback.

[T Diddy]

Originally Posted by Frogmanx82

I think you should have waited on the wrasses until you had a pod population, three bangaii cardinals will hopefully end up in a breeding pair. They are notorious though for being tough to feed.

Everything seems well planned on this but your fish selections seem to have jumped the gun. Your first coral is an SPS that wasn't doing well? It might be a good idea to post your stocking plans and get a little feedback.

I appreciate your concern frogman, and perhaps I have jumped the gun a little. I'm hoping that my experience over the years has led me to a happy place with this tank. As soon as the diatom bloom started, I added a full bottle of tigger pods...they have exploded in population. You could probably find a thousand of them on the glass alone. The wrasses were both doing great until yesterday, when the most beautiful wrasse I have ever seen/owned found his way into my powerhead housing in the rockwall. Now I am left with the christmas wrasse (piglet). All of the cardinals died within 24 hours of each other...they never would eat. They have been replaced with 3 firefish gobies. As for the original SPS (montipora denae??) it receded back to a little nub. Everything is going better than expected in terms of water quality and overall tank health. I'll post some pics later today when the lights come on



Tank parameters:

SG = 1.026
pH = 8.2
Ammonia = undetectable
Nitrites = undetectable
Nitrates = undetectable
Alk = 9
Ca = 400

[T Diddy]

So here are a few pics of the tank as of today...don't ask why I have so much livestock in a short period of time...it's a long story. Some of these pics were taken with flash, some without, but all under 10,000K MH, no actinics, by a horrible camera operator (me)

My fish:





My corals:

[T Diddy]

porites w/ lots of worms...they disappeared for the picture



blue zoanthids



full tank shot



different angle view

[Frogmanx82]

Sorry to hear about the losses. I feel real fortunate to have some healthy bangaii cardinals. I've never had success with the firefish for more than a few months, I do really like them.

I didn't know you added pods. I should have known with the forethought you are putting into this that you have some experience. Its just hard to slow down when you have so much effort in the tank and its in such dire need of some livestock. It might still be good to go through the exercise of a planned stocking list. A lot of times the order you add things makes a big difference.

Good luck with it. I can't wait to see it color up.

[T Diddy]

I haven't posted anything for a while, but everyone is happy thus far. My 100 gallon refugium/frag tank should be plumbed in soon, and I'll be adding a couple of T5 actinics for a little more color. Below is my first video recording ever. It is terrible, but it is a start.

[zmckenzie]

Nice foam wall! Looks great! Don't forget to replace your batteries!

[Fishfish0001]

How exactly does the back wall plumbing work? Im a little confused

Best looking tank I've seen for a while. Awesome job!

[Vandal996]

Very, very nice job! That is the best foam/rock wall I have seen yet.

[T Diddy]

Originally Posted by zmckenzie

Nice foam wall! Looks great! Don't forget to replace your batteries!

Originally Posted by Vandal996

Very, very nice job! That is the best foam/rock wall I have seen yet.

Thank so much for the compliments. I can't wait to get this thing completed, but I guess all reef tanks are a work in progress.

Originally Posted by Fishfish0001

How exactly does the back wall plumbing work? Im a little confused

Best looking tank I've seen for a while. Awesome job!

Here are the plumbing shots:

This one shows directional flow for one pump (housed in eggcrate box at the top


Opposite direction for second pump


If you look closely, the two pumps are plumbed separately


The wall plumbing helps to keep dead spots to a minimum. I have added a couple of Koralias to the DT. The Koralias and the powerheads running the wall plumbing are all on timers, some run 15 minutes on/off, others run 30 minutes on/off. I had originally hoped for a wave like effect, but now flow in the tank is completely random

[mcmyeye]

like the fish and rocks. looks good.

[T Diddy]

Originally Posted by mcmyeye

like the fish and rocks. looks good.

thanks mcmyeye, if I had it to do over again, I'd use some finer grain sand rather than the aragonite.


Anyone have any input on what to do for supplemental actinics?? Should I go with regular output flourescent, T5 HO, or a few LEDs?

[Original Fin]

Your wall is truly inspiring. So much so that I'm having difficulty resisting the urge to experiment on a 29.

Great job! Would love to see some more pics of your equipment room, sump etc...

[T Diddy]

Originally Posted by Original Fin

Your wall is truly inspiring. So much so that I'm having difficulty resisting the urge to experiment on a 29.

Great job! Would love to see some more pics of your equipment room, sump etc...

Thanks Original Fin, I look forward to seeing your pics/build. As for the shots of my equipment room, that'll have to wait a little while. It is a trainwreck in there right now. Once I get the refugium plumbed up and running I'll shed some light on the "back of the house". I hope to have that done soon, but it may take me a couple of weeks to get it all fixed up.

[Frogmanx82]

Originally Posted by T Diddy

thanks mcmyeye, if I had it to do over again, I'd use some finer grain sand rather than the aragonite.


Anyone have any input on what to do for supplemental actinics?? Should I go with regular output flourescent, T5 HO, or a few LEDs?

HO T5 will give you the most bang for the buck. There are some really nice bulbs available. On the other hand you would lose your shimmer. If that's a big deal, you might want to look at LED.

[T Diddy]

Originally Posted by Frogmanx82

HO T5 will give you the most bang for the buck. There are some really nice bulbs available. On the other hand you would lose your shimmer. If that's a big deal, you might want to look at LED.

Thanks for the reply Frogmanx82...I'm not getting rid of my MH, just want to supplement with some actinic to make the colors pop. That wouldn't affect the shimmer would it?

[joebo1717]

careful with the hy drive. resun pumps have a knack for impellers blowing out or pump failure. My ran for less then 6 months and after that with research i found out why. very regular cleaning and absolute level will help this

[syedjilani]

Very Nice.

Keep it up....

[Frogmanx82]

I'm not sure you would lose all the shimmer, but T5 bulbs will definitely reduce the affect.

[T Diddy]

Originally Posted by joebo1717

careful with the hy drive. resun pumps have a knack for impellers blowing out or pump failure. My ran for less then 6 months and after that with research i found out why. very regular cleaning and absolute level will help this

Thanks for the tip. I'll keep my eye on it. It's as level as it's gonna get, but I can pop the impeller out and clean the housing every once in a while.

Originally Posted by syedjilani

Very Nice.

Keep it up....

Thanks

Originally Posted by Frogmanx82

I'm not sure you would lose all the shimmer, but T5 bulbs will definitely reduce the affect.

Gotcha. I was wondering about maybe doin a T8 for the actinics... the bulb selection probably isn't as good, but I don't really think I neeed the extra intensity. I just want the colors to look their best. Maybe do one that peaks at 420nm and one that peaks at 460nm?

[Meus]

Just want to say that your aquarium is awe inspiring.

As for lighting, you could try making an all blue led strip, I think if you have it a few extra inches high it should shimmer a little instead of blanking it out.

Good luck, can't wait to see it all purple and full of coral.

[T Diddy]

Thank you very much Meus! As for the supplemental lighting, I'll probably just go with whatever is least expensive...it is just for color anyway.

Right now, I'm on my way to get a rubbermaid tub that I've been wanting. Thanks for tuning in!

[T Diddy]

I haven't updated this thread in a while, but today's near disaster was worth mentioning. I came in to my office and noticed that the tank looked a little dim on one side (weird)...left the room and came back later to find the entire room dark. One of my 400 watt MH decided to short out and tripped the circuit breaker. Luckily I have the return pump and koralias/power heads on separate circuits. The return pump kept the water moving even with the tripped breaker for my fish room.

I had been contemplating taking down the MH and replace with T5 and LEDs. After today's events, I have a little more of a need to get the lighting situation resolved.

The question now is bulb combo/configuration. I have a (6) bulb fixture and will be adding (16) royal blue 3 watt LEDs. My LFS has ATI and KZ bulbs in stock. What combination should I use for the six T5 bulbs?

[Rainman69]

Excellent job on aquascape. I've been building a 120 in my head. Now i think i want the extra depth. Did they take back the broken tank.