400 gallons, 30 gallons, and more...

cb684

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I have participated in several discussions here in R2R, have posted some of my experiences, and asked many questions. For a few months now, I have been thinking to start my systems thread. But there is always something that I would like to organize, or a project I would like to finish before starting the thread. Well, I realized that it will always be an ongoing project so there will not be a better time to start the thread then now.

The systems I have at home are almost completely automatic and rely on a Neptune apex controller with several energy bars, and modules that I will describe later.


The first system I will focus is the 400 gallons.

This system will be 1-year-old on the end of this month and is about 90% SPS. It comprises a 300 gallons (96”x 24”x 31”) and a 125 gallons display (48”x 18” x 31”) tanks and a 70 gallon sump. A net volume of approximately 400 gallons of water.

300 gallons
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125 gallons
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cb684

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The sump was a DIY project and is in a small closet. The wires organization is a ongoing project...

Nutrient export is done by two 7 inch (200 um) socks, a Vertex alpha 300 skimmer with a vertex neck cleaner, a continuous 1% / day (11 mL / minute) water change (Red Sea blue bucket), and ZeoStart3 dosing (slightly higher than the recommended amount).

Alkalinity and Calcium concentration is maintained with 2 part using BRS laboratory grade sodium carbonate and calcium chloride.

Overview
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Return from display tanks
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Skimmer
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cb684

cb684

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Alkalinity and calcium dosing
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DIY dosing tubes
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Peristaltic pump AWC
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cb684

cb684

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I will go back to the system soon, but right now is an exciting time in this system. After fighting dinoflagellates last November and December, finally a few corals had time to grow and are already starting to get colony shape.

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Ok, this one I bought as a colony, but the external 2" or so are all new!
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cb684

cb684

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Some did not do anything for several months and just now started with the new shootings...

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cb684

cb684

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Water for ATO and AWC are filtered by a 5-stage, 500 gallon/day dual membrane RO system. Five stages of filtration were added before the RO system, three big blue Pentek canister (20 -> 5 um sediment filter, 1 um sediment filter, chloramine monster GAC), and two 10 inch with 5 um and 1 um GE sediment filters. After the RO, two canisters filled with color change DI media complete the water treatment.
RODI water is stored in a 65 gallons container that feeds the ATO of all systems. A diaphragm pump is used to pump the water from the containers in the garage to the tanks 50 feet away through the attic. Solenoids valves and double float switch control the ATO in each system and are controlled by Neptune Apex controllers with several failsafe measures (i.e. maximum time on, stuck opened, low and high levels).
A 65 gallon container is used as salt mix station. Saltwater is also transferred from the garage to the tanks using a saltwater resistant diaphragm pump. On the 400 gallons system, it continuously feeds a small 5 gallons container used by the dual-head peristaltic pump for continuous automatic water change.

RODI system
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65 gallons storage tanks
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ATO diaphragm pump
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Saltwater diaphragm pump
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cb684

cb684

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For hardscape I used approximately 150 Lb of Pukani rock, 40 Lb of Fiji rock and 40 Lb of Tonga branching rock.

The 300 gallon display tank has approximately 1.5 in of aragonite sand, and the 125 gallon display tank is bare bottom.

Light for the 300 gallons relies on two 48" SunPower T5 Light Fixture – ATI - 8 x 54W fixtures, and for the 125 gallons display two EcoTech Radion XR30w G3 Pro. In each of the T5 fixture I use 4 x ATI blue plus, 2 ATI coral plus, 1 actinic, and 1 E5 blue pop. The last 2 bulbs are on for 12 hours a day, and the rest for 9 hours a day. The E5 was added recently and I am very happy with the color pop.
 

revhtree

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Very well done! Love the aquascape!
 
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Finally I will get some peace of mind. Today the new generator started to be installed, hopefully tomorrow I will get the 500 g propane tank delivered and plumbing done and in two days the generator will be active.

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Last weekend I finally cleaned the back of the 300. I also tried to take a few pictures, hopefully they are better than the ones I posted before. Here they go:

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cb684

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Things are coming along fine. Maybe I have nutrients a little too low. It might be time to start feeding more...
Here are some pictures from yesterday

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JF Mr. Yuck
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Left to right:
BC Hyperberry
BC Fire Forest Digi
RR Wolverine
Pink Lemonade
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JF Verde
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Left: ORA not sure which
Back: Sanjay's Leprechaund's beard
Left: CB Beast Mode acro
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Setosa
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Left: ORA German Blue Polyp digs
Right: BC indigo tip stag
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Brad's Raspberry Starburst
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Brad's insane defuego
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Left: JF Verde
Right: JF Blue polyp nasuta
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BC Hyperberry
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Front: Blue tort
Back: BC Glostick
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ORA Green Planet
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Pink lemonade
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Pink Lemonade
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TheHarold

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How did you fight the dinos? Just curious, always like to hear how people were successful.
 
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I had this in another thread...

Here is my experience with dinos, diagnosed by microscopy. Had also cyano at the same time (but very little) I think I won the battle (1 month ago)... But I am still afraid they will come back.
1. Started during a time I had 0 NO3 and 0 PO4.
2. Decreased feeding
3. Added more cleanup crew (most died)
4. Decreased in about 30% my livestock
5. Added a sleeper goby to stir my sandbed
6. Changed my T5 light bulbs
7. Started dosing Peroxide 1 mL / 10 gallon every night
8. First 60 (2 days and 1 night) hours blackout helped but did not solve the problem
9. Second 84 (3 days and 1 night) hours blackout (after all those changes) done it for me
10. Increased light time, starting from 5 hrs, to 7 hrs in 4 weeks. Total cycle of 11 hours (4 hours only actinic) .
11. During the time I was not doing blackout I would clean the rocks with a turkey blaster (it appeared to make it spread faster)

Interesting findings:
=>Some of the bubbling film that I would swear it was dinos, was actually diatoms (per microscopy), some was clearly dino (very similar to yours). Cyano was a very distinct red film.
=>Currently I have 5 NO3 and 0.02 PO4. Film algae decreased to the point I clean the glass every two weeks (it used to be every 2 - 3 days).
=>KH increased after blackouts and I went from dosing 120 mL/day to 90 mL/day to keep the levels. Now I am back to 105 mL/day. I always kept mine at around 7 dKH (now 7.40).
=>Read that cyano may develop due to imbalance of NO3 : PO4 : C ratio. Then cyano fix nitrogen, allowing dinos to grow. If I still had the problem and 0 NO3 and 0 PO4 would dose NO3 and PO4 to try to keep the rate of 16:1.

=>Other than the blackout I am not sure of what helped and what did not. I changed many things at the same time trying to make my system cleaner and making sure the light was adequate. My goal was not only to kill dino, but also to change the equilibrium in my system, so they would not come back.
=>Finally and most importantly, I am not sure I won the battle yet. It has been 1 month dino-free, so I am still apprehensive.

For all that is worth, I hope it helps...
CB
 

Daniel@R2R

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Awesome tanks and pics! Thanks for sharing these! Looking forward to following the updates!
 
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cb684

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A few thoughts:

I think I may have low nutrients. Some of my corals on the form 400 gallons system (now 300 gallons) are pale. They still have PE, but the colors are lighter and lighter. The same corals in the frag tank and in the 40 gallons get much richer colors.

A little history on this system: This system has over 100 different corals (about 90 to 95 are acroporas), and the last I added any coral or fish was over 1 year ago. I started the 300 system almost 2 years ago using full zeovit. As time passed I discontinued using the zeolites but continued dosing some of the products. I still use ZeoStart3 and Sponge power. A few months ago I got some hair algae growth and it completely disappeared once I started using Coral Snow. I cannot be sure that was what helped, but it sure looks like that. Nutrient control is based only on filter socks and skimming. But to be honest, my skimmer has being skimming very little lately. So, it really looks like my corals are sucking the hack of nutrients out of my water. I usually keep my Alk around 6.5 - 7.0 but recently, after pruning some of my corals, I had a little spike, five days after removing a sizable amount of corals Alk was about 8.0.

So, trying to solve colors issue, I measured potassium and it was adequate about 400 ppm. I then decided to order Potassium Iodide Fluoride concentrate and Pohl's Extra Special. I just started dosing them today, so we will see if it helps. If not, I might start adding fish again (and feed more). I also ordered from UC 2 Triton tests. I will test my two larger systems the 300g and the frag system (which is also 300g).

Today, I also replaced the T5 bulbs. I did not change my setup. These are the bulbs I use:
ATI Blue Plus (BP)
Coral Light New Generation (CL)
E5 Blue Pop (E5)
ATI Actinic (Ac)

The setup is: BP-CL-E5-BP-BP-Ac-CL-BP


Anyways, growth is going well, corals have great PE, and colors... Well colors are great in some of the corals, and pale in others.
 

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Very nice all around, nice size, great equipment choices, and all looks healthy. I too like the group of tangs, the corals look great, nice collection.
 

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