220 Gallons of Pure Awesome

[eranschau]

you need a skimmate locker from avast for your skimmer - check it out. incredible peace of mind and between that and a swabbie cuts maintenance down a bajillion fold.

I ike the idea, but the problem I've been having is with the skimmer freaking out and overflowing. I'd be concerned that by giving it even more volume into which it can push tank water that is barely dirty I'd start to have salinity issues. If I can get it back to producing consistent, dark skimmate, then yes. I'd love one of those!

 

[eranschau]

So... Timehope reminded me that yesterday was the one year anniversary of the day I got the 220 wet for the first time, which means one thing. Update time!

Not a ton has changed since my last update with regards to hardware. Due to a hardware failure, I replaced the Maxspect light fixtures with some new Radion XR30 W's and I love them! I've observed a noticeable difference in coral growth under the new lights, but that's not altogether unexpected given the increased spectrum and total output of the Radions over the Razors. The Apex integration is also pretty fantastic, but I'm a geek like that. I also installed a HOG algae scrubber from Santa Monica Filtration with the hopes of reducing the need for water changes somewhat. It's been running for months and it's just finally starting to produce any useful amounts of algae, so the curry is still out on this one.

As far as the tank itself goes, things are looking up! About half the Anthias I added in my previous video survived, but that was probably to be expected given their aggressiveness. One has even transitioned from female to male and has become quite beautiful. Also picked up a Blond Naso Tang from my favorite neighborhood LFS the other week. (She might be my new favorite. Don't tell the others.) I was having some hardcore algae issues a couple of weeks back; the sandbed was covered from one end to the other in brownish crud that could only be removed by intensive vacuuming. I was finally able to kill it off by going lights out for three days and then doing 20 to 40 gallon water changes daily for two weeks. Hopefully now that it's gone, the algae scrubber can establish itself and keep up.

Otherwise, check out the video and let me know what you think!

 

[Tahoe61]

Amazing tank.

It must be wonderful to sit and watch all the fish activity. Love how you have no frags sitting in the sand bed, looks sharp.

Happy B-day Tank

 

[Bronc]

Magnificent!

 

[nervousmonkey]

Happy Belated Birthday @eranschau 's Reef Tank! #fishtankslovebirthdays #reef2reeftankslivelonger #welovethistank

 

[eranschau]

I'm long past due on an update here, but then I suppose that when it comes to reefing, no news is good news. The past few months have gone well, largely without incident. My solitary complaint is a healthy crop of diatoms that have taken up residence in my sand bed and refuse to die.

I tried a hang-on-glass algae scrubber from Santa Monica Filtration, to no effect. I next tried a macroalgae reactor from Skimz, also to no effect. I don't know that I can blame either piece of hardware, however, as both were easy to set up and operate. I, for reasons I can't explain, just could not get any algae to grow in either of them which baffles me as that's the one thing that is supposed to grow in a closed system without even trying. If anyone has any experience with either of these pieces of hardware and have had similar issues, I'd love to hear from you! I'm still hoping the third time is the charm and that my latest effort to kill the diatoms by vodka dosing will work, but it's still a bit too soon to tell. I've been following this article and dosing long enough that I've reached my daily maintenance dose, and nitrates test at essentially zero, but I still have to rake the sand bed every time company comes over so that it doesn't look, well... awful.

The one other change I've made worth noting is the addition of a Neptune PMK. Honestly, I had no idea that my Radions were putting out as little PAR as they were. How I was growing corals at all is anyone's best guess. I've been slowly increasing the total output from and I'm currently at 54% of total output which is giving me between 115 and 130 PAR with the probe set directly below a light fixture, and about 12" below the water's surface. I imagine I'll get near 60% before I'm happy with the average PAR measurement. Oh, and thank you to @EcoTech Marine for putting out such an amazingly informative document on the best settings for their Radion fixtures!

All that said, here's a video I made after cleaning everything up. Enjoy!

 

[amonk]

Remember the PMK doesn't pick up a lot of the blues in the AB+ Radion settings since it is not a full spectrum probe. I followed BRS's spotlight and ended up at 50% intensity on the AB+ schedule.

 

[eranschau]

Agreed. I’ve slowed down the rate at which I’m upping the lights figuring I’m much closer to the butter zone than I was. Maybe someone will buy me the fancy PAR meter for my birthday.

 

[bigredreefer91]

Love the build I’m making the same transition a 75 to 220 gallon mixed reef and this has given me great ideas and more confidence in making the switch!