Bingo1213 Posted September 18, 2015 Share Posted September 18, 2015 So this may be a little late but hey better late than never! I am upgrading my 40 breeder to a 70 gallon tall tank. I was able to keep my sump and stand all the same due to the two tank having the same foot print. I build this sump and stand back in January and will post the build pics from that in this thread as well. But first is first. This pic is from yesterday, the last day my 40 breeder was setup. I literally took it 5 minutes before tearing it down haha. As you can see it got a little cramped!! I will now start posting details and build pics of the new 70. Just wanted to show off my old tank one last time Now on to the new tank. Here it is empty before painting. Dimensions: 36x18x26 The move was actually very very smooth. Usually something will go wrong but I had great luck this time. So far all live stock is still happy and well. The third pic is the tank before aquascaping. The 4th and final pic in this post is how I have aquascaped the tank. It was taken about 2 hours after finishing the tank move. Things look much better this morning and most of the corals are starting to open back up. Please feel free to comment on the aquascape I am always open to new ideas! Link to comment
sprite Posted September 18, 2015 Share Posted September 18, 2015 Awesome, thanks for sharing Link to comment
Bingo1213 Posted September 19, 2015 Author Share Posted September 19, 2015 Ok so to start this post out I took another tank pic this morning. I am hopping my bubble tip stays in that front corner but it looks like he may be heading behind the rocks... Link to comment
Oneslowsaleen Posted September 19, 2015 Share Posted September 19, 2015 I like the Aquascape, I would change very little. The tonga branch up top /under the overflow I'd move to bottom left by the bubble tip leaning against the rock. And put a small rock up on the top left just for a little height difference . I don't know if I explained it very well. Link to comment
Bingo1213 Posted September 19, 2015 Author Share Posted September 19, 2015 Now on to the sump and equipment. My tank is vodka dosed so is what is in the bottle in the pic. Sump: DIY out of a 20H tank 3 chambers plus a bubble trap Filtration: Refugium/frag rack Dual BRS media reactors (carbon and GFO) Turbo Twist x3 UV sterilizer (now replaced with Aqua UV 8 watt model) Coralife Super 65 Skimmer (actually I love this despite all the crap they seem to get) Pumps: BRS dosing pump for vodka dosing Mag7 for return and manifold Mag2 for calcium reactor circulation 2x Vortech MP10es Calcium Reactor: DIY reactor Azoo Regulator Reborn media 5 lbs co2 tank Lighting: 165 Watt Maxspect Razor Aquamanna LED for Fuge/frag rack lighting Controller: Apex WXM module Breakout Box Leak detectors 2 ph probes (one for tank one for CA reactor) 1 temp probe I like the Aquascape, I would change very little. The tonga branch up top /under the overflow I'd move to bottom left by the bubble tip leaning against the rock. And put a small rock up on the top left just for a little height difference . I don't know if I explained it very well. No I think I get it ill have to try that out. Ya that piece of tonga is one thing I don't like currently haha Link to comment
Oneslowsaleen Posted September 19, 2015 Share Posted September 19, 2015 Ok so I took a step further don't mind my paint skills lol . Link to comment
Bingo1213 Posted September 19, 2015 Author Share Posted September 19, 2015 Cool thanks! I'll try that in the next few days! Link to comment
Bingo1213 Posted October 6, 2015 Author Share Posted October 6, 2015 Quick tank update I had to remove my coralife UV sterilizer as it was rusting. I followed some advice I got to try out Cuprisorbe to pull the heavy metals released by the sterilizer and I must say it has been about a week since I removed the sterilizer and started running cuprisorbe and i am seeing drastic improvements in coral color! Hopfully growth will take off again here. I have had the sterilizer many years and it wasn't until recent I found out it was rusting. I replaced it with an Aqua UV 8 watt model. My growth before my tank move was slowing down but still decent and I am now hoping it will be better again. I also made some changes to the aquascape and will be posting a pic soon! Current water parameters are as follows: Ammonia: 0 Nitrite: 0 Nitrate: 2 Phosphate: 0 Calcium: 390 Alk: 11 Mag: 1012 Ph: 8.10 Temp: 79.5 Salinity: 1.024 Copper: 0 Link to comment
Bingo1213 Posted October 6, 2015 Author Share Posted October 6, 2015 As promised here is an update with the new aquascape. Since I just did it yesterday some of the corals are still closed and acclimating to their new positions. I also put the rock in the middle of the tank so that my kole tang can swim the entire length of the tank both in front of and behind the rock work. Lemme know what you think! Also my bubble tip decided to crawl to the back of the stack hopefully he comes back out. Strange. Link to comment
Bingo1213 Posted October 13, 2015 Author Share Posted October 13, 2015 Thought I would add a few close up pictures. Lemme know what you think! I also added another clam as my last one died from the heavy metals released by my rusting sterilizer. I have done many large water changes and will run cuprisorbe for the next few months to make sure all of the toxins are removed. I can tell a difference in coral color since I removed the sterilizer and started to clean up the water. Link to comment
Oneslowsaleen Posted October 14, 2015 Share Posted October 14, 2015 I'm liking the new Aquascape , me personally I would move that one coral down so it's not resting on the overflow . Liking the new clam , maybe a picture of him in a full tank shot ? Link to comment
Bingo1213 Posted October 15, 2015 Author Share Posted October 15, 2015 OK here is the full tank shot. Sorry for the delay life got in the way!! haha And yes I need to move that hydophora still but I need to get more super glue first! Lemme know what you think. The clam has some growing to do compared to my last one which was over 16 inches! PS the fox face is playing hide and seek in this pic. Good luck spotting him! Link to comment
Bingo1213 Posted October 20, 2015 Author Share Posted October 20, 2015 To everyone who hates on coralife skimmers here is proof they work! This is just 4 days of skimming on my tank. It's dark, there is lots, and floaties I believe that is the qualification for a good skimmer! hahaha This is how nasty skim mate is on a vodka dosed tank! Link to comment
vlangel Posted October 20, 2015 Share Posted October 20, 2015 Very nice tank Bingo. Your 40 was beautiful and I would have had trouble taking it down even if you were out of room. However, I like the 70 even better. Good job on the scape. I will be follwing. Link to comment
Bingo1213 Posted October 20, 2015 Author Share Posted October 20, 2015 Also I feel an update is due as I have been having a few tank complications. First off the biggest problem is that I had an alk spike. Luckliy everything in the tank is doing ok. One pocilipora did bleach but only one branch that I fragged off. My alk went from 12 to 23 in a week!!!! Crazy!! Idk how i got so lucky and didn't lose anything! Thank the lord! But after lots of research I have narrowed the problem to one of two things. It was either caused by bad CA reactor media. One LFS thought that was a possibility. I did switch media maybe around a month or so ago. I switched from ARM to Re-Born. So that is one possibility. My next thought is that I had a mag dive as well. When I tested it it was only at 910. I am wondering if also the low magnesium could cause the alk to not get absorbed and could also be limiting the amount of calcium that can dissolve in the water. I have been adding magnesium and it does seem to bring down the alk but not by much. I am also doing every other day water changes with the blue bucket of red sea since it has a lower alk level. I am wondering if the re-born has a lower mag content than the ARM did. Any advice on this would be awesome. Does one of these sound more likely than the other?? Is a bad batch of media a possibility? Can it really just produce alkalinity without calcium or magnesium? My current parameters (about 4 days after the alk spike all corals still looking good fingers crossed knock on wood) CA: 395 Alk: 14 Mag: 1020 Very nice tank Bingo. Your 40 was beautiful and I would have had trouble taking it down even if you were out of room. However, I like the 70 even better. Good job on the scape. I will be follwing. Thanks! Yes it was hard to tear down but I know this will be better in a few more months!! Link to comment
Bingo1213 Posted October 21, 2015 Author Share Posted October 21, 2015 Thought I'd post a super fast video of the tank. I apologize about the quality since I just did it with my phone. Ill dig out the better camera this weekend. All my levels are back to normal now. Hopefully ill be able to hold them there. Also don't freakout the fox face will get a bigger tank soon. Ill throw him in my 185 FOWLR tank. Lemme know what you think! Link to comment
vlangel Posted October 22, 2015 Share Posted October 22, 2015 Yeah, I like the video! Link to comment
Bingo1213 Posted January 6, 2016 Author Share Posted January 6, 2016 It's been a while since I've been posting here I guess adding a second kid to the family will do that...haha Anyways I've been battling nitrates for the last month or so. The highest they have gotten is 10 but thats 10 too high for my taste. I am attributing it to the 5 year old skimmer. Ive cleaned it and am still not getting great skimmate production anymore. I have no idea why, the impropeller looks good the pump seems to have enough power. I am wondering if the bottom of the skimmer has a leak in it. It almost looks like where the acrylic meets the bottom is no longer sealed. It is after all a cheap piece of crap I got from petco on clearance when I was working there for only 2 pennies. Enough of my rant this is what I have on order. Tell me what you think. AquaMaxx ConeS Q-2 http://www.marinedepot.com/AquaMaxx_ConeS_Q_Series_In_Sump_Protein_Skimmer_In_Sump_Venturi_Needle_Wheel_Protein_Skimmers-AquaMaxx-UJ00157-FIPSISNW-vi.html#Manuals Link to comment
vlangel Posted January 6, 2016 Share Posted January 6, 2016 Wow, that ought to be a good skimmer for the price tag. It appears to be a good design. I have a SCA 302 that I got for half that price but their pumps are hit or miss. Unfortunately my pump was miss so I had to order another for $60 which made it not as good a deal. It works super good though so I just don't turn the pump off much in an effort to get more life out of it. Nitrates at 10 is not that bad. Your clam and a lot of the coral you have will enjoy those nitrates as long as your phosphates are in check. Link to comment
Bingo1213 Posted January 7, 2016 Author Share Posted January 7, 2016 Yes it does appear to be a nicely designed skimmer. I'll update once it arrives. It should be here on Monday by the looks of it unless this storm we are getting in Colorado delays it :/ as for the nitrates they have spiked up over 20 when my current skimmer started having problems. Since then I've drastically cut back my feeding schedule for both fish and corals. The fish don't mind but I've seen much slower coral growth. I've even lost some coral color in the process. That's why I like vodka dosing since I can dump in lots of coral food without fowling the tank too bad. But a good skimmer is key to vodka dosing success haha. As for the phosphates they are undetectable thanks to my GFO. Link to comment
Bingo1213 Posted January 12, 2016 Author Share Posted January 12, 2016 My skimmer arrived yesterday. It only took about 12 hours for it to start producing decent results. Although I usually like a darker skimmate so that will take a little adjusting. But over all so far so good!! Link to comment
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