Creefer's Solana 34g Build Thread

[creefer]

Well, after having been a member for nearly a year and searching, reading, and planning, I have finally purchased some hardware to start a reef. With the wealth of information here, I hope to continue to learn from those with many years of reefing experience. Here's where I am so far.

 

Hardware currently on hand:

 

• 34g Solana
  
• Solana Stand (not the greatest quality
  
• BRS 75 GPD RODI
  
• Koralia nano 425 gph
  
• 150 W Stealth Heater
  
• G2 110w Maspect
  [*} ATO & Pump
  

 

Hardware on order:

• Maxspect G2-110
  
• BRS 4 stage 75 gpd RO/DI
  
  
• ATO from autotopoff
  
  
• MJ900 for ATO
  

 

Pending hardware purchases (opinions welcome):

• Lighting (not sure yet...between Nova Extreme Pro, Maxspect G2-110, or some sort of MH)
  
• Heater
  
• Powerhead (likely getting MP10 but may get something else to keep costs down until Christmas)
  
• ATO (either autotopoff.com or RKL ATO)
  
• RKL
  
• Refractometer
  

 

 

 

 

Params checking out great! Chaeto growing like crazy in the mini second chamber fuge.

 

Current fts:

 

Thanks for looking.

[d'Espresso]

To the Solana Club!!

 

Looking great so far... glad to have you on board.. let's see this tank rock!

[creefer]

Thanks...I'm pretty pumped about it...the wife...not so much.

[d'Espresso]

Before you rush into everything.. MAKE SURE YOU TAKE YOUR TIME: Planning, patience, planning, patience, ask question, getting everything better quality for the long run (even if it breaks your bank account) , and just have fun.

 

Do you have an aquascape in mind yet? you can practice by using newspaper to use it as rocks to plan out the scape you want inside your tank. This just an ideal practice of what you like.

 

Also if you are planning to do a refugium in the middle back chamber. i recommend you start planning to do that too. It will save you alot of hassle from going in the back and mess with it later.

 

If you have any other question about the solana build, please don't hesitate to ask us in the solana thread.

 

cheers,

david

[creefer]

Thanks. I follow that thread regularly. I will be taking my time on this. I have more yet to procure and I tend not to rush into things. It took several months for me to decide on this system.

 

I do have a scape in mind. I'm going to take a cardboard box and cut it to the dimensions of the tank with the false wall drawn on the cardboard and go from there. I plan on taking pictures of each set up I come up with so I can quickly go back to what i like the best.

 

And yes...I do plan on a small refugium in the back chamber. I was thinking about one of the magnetic LED fixtures for that, but am open to any suggestions.

 

Speaking of LED, I noted you got rid of your Maxspect. Was it the LED in general, or the big 30W LED that caused problems? I'm interested to know. I have been drawn to the LED for a lot of reasons, but have not heard many issues other than what you mentioned.

 

Thanks,

Chris

[creefer]

And....the fun continues......look what arrived this afternoon....

 

 

By the beginning of the week, I should get my reefcleaners dot org base rock.

[creefer]

Updates....

 

Reefcleaners rock showed up...worked on scape for a while and took some pics.

 

BRS RO/DI installed.

 

Stand leveled.

 

Substrate purchased.

 

Heater purchased.

 

Koralia purchased (needed flow, wanted MP10 but need to hold off until Christmas)

 

Should start getting it wet this weekend. All I need now is the lighting (still confused on this), RKL, ATO, and Fuge lighting.

[creefer]

More updates....no pics yet.

 

Started "making" water. Purchased materials to build a light stand. Also started scaping. It's interestingly challenging with the relatively small space and the noob factor. I hope it turns out well. I hope to get water in it tomorrow and seed it with some nice lr which will likely change the scape plans a bit. Will post pics when it's wet.

[creefer]

Filled her up last night and have my first shot at a scape nearly complete. Will be going to the LFS today for some "premium" coraline encrusted live rock for the cycle. (Tried to explain "cycle" to the wife last night.....interesting discussion). Fixture should be here this week and will be ordering the ATO and RKL this week.

 

Here is a pic of the first attempt at a scape. Note that I have not yet cleaned the tank since it's been filled, so there are likely some lines on the inside of the glass....don't hold it against me. All seems to be working well however the water level in chamber 2 (middle) seems a bit high. I'll post the question in the solana thread.

 

I welcome any comments or suggestions. I will post more pics when the LR is in.

 

[cruiZe]

Awesome !! You did right getting the reefcleaners rock, it will be seeded quickly when you get some LR. Sweet RO unit too, hehe I have the same one !

[creefer]

Awesome !! You did right getting the reefcleaners rock, it will be seeded quickly when you get some LR. Sweet RO unit too, hehe I have the same one !

 

 

Thanks! I love the RO unit. I'm not quite getting 0 TDS, but I don't think that's a problem. I've been getting around 14-17 TDS on the output. Hopefully that's clean enough. I did get some LR in there from Preuss in Lansing. I put it in last night and now just waiting for my fixture to arrive so I can get some light in there and see what's going on. I have already noted some small starfish and what appears to be a fire worm of some sort. I need to confirm if the worm is reef safe. It's tough to get a photo, but when I do I'll post it for some comment by those in the know.

[creefer]

Last night I found aptasia on some of the "premium" LR I got from the LFS the other day. I only found one. I took the rock out and burned it off with a lighter. After that I gave it an RODI rinse. Hopefully I got it. Time will tell.

 

Other than that, I've been somewhat fixated on all the life, aptasia excluded, that's hitched in on the LR. It's been interesting finding things and searching for their ID in hopes they're not a nuisance.

[creefer]

Updates.....

 

No signs of aptasia after last night's burning. I stopped by the lfs tonight for test kits and was only able to get ammonia and nitrite. They were out of salifert nitrate kits. Test results are negative for ammonia and nitrite, but have no clue on the nitrates.

 

The LR I have includes some strange beetle looking things that have a black shell of sorts on them. I will try for pics tomorrow. I also have a good sized bristle worm and at tiny bristle star and many tube type worms. I have also found a strand of what appears to be chaeto.....not so sure though.

 

I would post pics but with no light fixture yet (should be here tomorrow), the point n shoot doesn't do so well.

[creefer]

Ok....so far so good on the aptasia issue. I think I got it. Still don't have a nitrate test kit though. I hope to get one Saturday while I'm out.

 

Today I received my Maxspect G2-110. I like it. Here are 2 pix of it. I have a sh&^%%y point and shoot, so forgive the quality. I'm interested in any comments, particularly on the scape.

 

Excuse the colors...playing with the POS P & S to try to get a relatively accurate pic of the tank.

[2k2f4i]

Ok....so far so good on the aptasia issue. I think I got it. Still don't have a nitrate test kit though. I hope to get one Saturday while I'm out.

 

Today I received my Maxspect G2-110. I like it. Here are 2 pix of it. I have a sh&^%%y point and shoot, so forgive the quality. I'm interested in any comments, particularly on the scape.

 

Excuse the colors...playing with the POS P & S to try to get a relatively accurate pic of the tank.

 

 

Nice! Like the aquascape! Forgive me if I glanced over it, but are they attached together? It would suck if that top rock collapsed on a fish!

[jae4571]

How do you like the maxspect? Does the unit have a dimmer on it? You tank is looking nice!

[creefer]

Nice! Like the aquascape! Forgive me if I glanced over it, but are they attached together? It would suck if that top rock collapsed on a fish!

 

Thanks. I really struggled with the scape issue. Not sure I'm entirely happy about it but something tells me I'll think differently when it's stocked. All the rocks are epoxied together with the exception of the purple coraline covered rocks on the bottom right and center of the scape.

[creefer]

How do you like the maxspect? Does the unit have a dimmer on it? You tank is looking nice!

 

Thanks, J. The maxspect is pretty good so far. The pictures do not do it any justice at all. This thing is surprisingly bright. I can't imagine what the G2-160 is like with the 30w led in it. The does not have a dimmer installed. It is one of the drawbacks to the maxsepct. It also does not have a slick controller like the AI fixtures do. However, with the G2-110, there are 2 controllable led groups, blues, and whites. The blues include a few violet led's (don't recall the wavelength at the moment) which adds a nice color to the tank. You can set the time at which each of the groups comes on and off. Starting with blues, then fire up the whites for a few hours, then turn them off, keep the blues on for a few more hours, then turn those off. There are also night lights that only come on when the 2 controllable groups are off.

 

Unlike the AI, this unit does not come with any optics. You can purchase them separately if desired. There are 90* and 60* available. I may, sometime in the future, get the optics so I can get the fixture up off the tank. I built a tree to hang the fixture from but have not yet put it on the stand because I wanted to wait and see how things go. The other cool thing is the shimmer effect. Very similar to the shimmer on an MH without the heat. I was drawn to the LED, both AI and Maxspect, because I didn't want a large bulky fixture over the tank.

 

There are some other interesting features of the maxspect. You can replace leds in a plug and play manner. There are Cree replacement lamps that you can buy in various colors to play with the overall color temperature of the fixture. I think that's a pretty cool feature however I'm not sure I'll be doing any of that in the near future. I would rather enjoy it the way it is and judge it's performance with livestock before doing anything like that. I can say that the color with all the blues and violets on is going to make the corals pop really nicely. I'm pretty excited about that. The control unit is remote and has a temerature reading on it so you can see the temp. of the heatsink at all times. It has a fail feature that will turn the fixture off if it's temp hits 70* C. Normal operating temp should be less than 60*. The manual says to shut it down if it hits 60* C.

 

The build quality on the fixture is only ok IMO. Not the greatest, and surely not the worst. Some things feel kind of cheap, but it is made in China and is relatively new to the market and maybe that's to be expected. On the positive, there is a large cooling fan on the fixture that cools the heatsink. It's super quiet. There is another small fan located in the power / control unit as well.

 

I hope to get some nicer pics soon. The point and shoot blows. My wife has a much nicer point and shoot, so I'll try that later tonight and see if I can get pics posted of the bules only, whites only, and then the combination for you to see. I just need to play with the settings on the camera to find out what is best.

[creefer]

Updated params.

 

Ammonia: < .25

Nitrite: 0

Nitrate: somewhere between 15-20 ppm

Phosphate: 0

Salinity: 1.023

 

Been running just over a week right now. I don't think I had much die off in the rock. I started with 20 lbs of Agar-alive, ~25 lbs of reefcleaners base rock, and ~ 6 lbs of coarline encrusted lr from the lfs. I have not really seen an ammonia spike. It's been <.25 each time I've tested.

 

I do have life in the tank. I have seen several pods, seveal small white starfish (no clue what they are) several really small white starfish( a bit smaller than a .17 cal pellet for a pellet gun) a small bristle star, at least 2 bristle worms, one decent size, the other small, and one strange looking thing that I have only seen once and appears to be a snail of sorts. This one confuses me. I'll try to get pics.

 

Should I do a water change now that I have detectable levels, or continue to let it sit?

 

Any comments, suggestions?

[jae4571]

Keep letting it sit. It sounds like you are off to a great start!

 

Your maxspect sounds awesome If it had a dimmable controller with the sunset/sunrise dimming features I would buy one right now. The addition of the purple actinic spectrum, moonlights and replaceable leds is a very nice feature. Looking forward to seeing more pics!

[creefer]

Keep letting it sit. It sounds like you are off to a great start!

 

Your maxspect sounds awesome If it had a dimmable controller with the sunset/sunrise dimming features I would buy one right now. The addition of the purple actinic spectrum, moonlights and replaceable leds is a very nice feature. Looking forward to seeing more pics!

 

Thanks.

 

So far, I'm pleased with the light but livestock will be the telling factor. The dimmer and controller features on the AI are pretty nice. Plus, the AI has optics which is also nice. IMO, the lack of dimmer control, sunrise / sunset, moon cycles, and optics are the drawbacks to the maxspect. for $200 less, I'm ok with the level of functionality it has.

 

If / when I ever upgrade the system, AI may be the way to go but I'm happy and excited to start with what I have.

[kthehun89]

Looking good, cant wait to see some corals in this mofo

[creefer]

Looking good, cant wait to see some corals in this mofo

 

 

Thanks. I'm fighting a bit with some GHA right now. I think it's due to my water. Idiot me when I ordered my build your own RO/DI system from BRS, I forgot to select the DI part of the order. SO, I set up the tank with RO only and think it may be contributing to the GHA.

 

Tomorrow I should receive my reefcleaners CUC order. Pretty pumped about that.

[creefer]

Updates....

 

Still fighting the GHA, so will refrain from posting pics until it gets cleaned up a bit.

 

Have the RODI situation fixed and have done a 25% and a 15% WC with the RODI water. Tough to tell if that's improving things at all. Params still check out pretty well with testing indicating 0 TDS, 0 Ammonia, 0 Nitrites, 0 nitrates, 0 phosphate, pH 8.0, SG @ 1.025 and 79* temp. Have harvested some GHA on recent WC's. Added CUC and they have not touched the GHA. Have been consistently pulling green, watery skimmate from the skimmer every 2 days. Sometimes more full than others.

 

Otherwise, no changes.....the battle continues.......

[creefer]

Well, arrive home today to see the GHA is starting to get taken care of a bit. Started dosing MB7 and reef bio fuel this week. Hopefully, the GHA will continue to decline. Will still run a reduced photo period in hopes to win the battle.

 

Here are a few new pics.

FTS:

 

 

Ric:

 

Zoa Garden:

 

I welcome comments and suggestions. Excuse the pic quality. It's hard to take pics with LED and a crappy point and shoot.