RollaJase's 30G Custom Cube - Tank Torn Down

[FishFrog]

Congratulations on TOTM!

Your tank is really very nice.

It inspired me to go out and buy some red mushrooms today!

 

~ Hester

[markalot]

I don't see any SPS in those sigs, but #1 if you must.

 

So why ball valves? Not that there's anything wrong with the union/valve combination. I didn't see a need to close my returns since they will drain and stop when the pump stops.

[gena]

Haha love that picture, thanks Zia! No problem mate, you and Gena have both been huge inspirations and on top of that your probably two of the most approachable people I know . I can't wait to see those new candies you picked up over the last few days . As soon as things start to recover a little bit more over here and I decide on my final scape I'll be picking up some new pieces also, gotta make the most out of my limited space.

You are a sweety . Thank you, Jason!!!!

 

+1 to second sig

I like number two too .

[Zia]

#2 ftw! I fuqin that plate! I WANT IT!

[RollaJase]

+1 to second sig

1 votee added

 

Congratulations on TOTM!

Your tank is really very nice.

It inspired me to go out and buy some red mushrooms today!

 

~ Hester

Thanks Hester . The red mushies are really cool, they grow fast and have great colour.

 

I don't see any SPS in those sigs, but #1 if you must.

 

So why ball valves? Not that there's anything wrong with the union/valve combination. I didn't see a need to close my returns since they will drain and stop when the pump stops.

Sorry Mark, I couldn't find a picture that suited the dimensions of the sig enough. All my SPS still look off so I'll experiment later when I can get some better pictures. This is true regarding the valves but they will be there mainly for maintenance purposes and to throttle the main drain back a little if need be. If I have to do some serious work on the sump I'd rather close off the drains and pump as much water back into the display as I can before closing the return line. Because the sump will be installed a few weeks after the hard lines the valves will allow me to block off the bulkheads so I don't have water running all over the floor haha.

 

You are a sweety . Thank you, Jason!!!!

 

I like number two too .

My pleasure Gena .

 

#2 ftw! I fuqin that plate! I WANT IT!

Cheers buddy, it is really growing on me and I am hoping that after my rescape I will be able to add a third, something more exotic perhaps.

 

Well looks like sig 2, the fungia plate is the winner .

[RollaJase]

Well, for something that was not supposed to take very long to do I ended up having my arm in the tank for close to 5 hours today. It started off when I was trying to fit these bad boys:

These are the top part of the drains from the bulkheads to the sump. The lines come off the bulkheads at 90 degrees, then through a union and ball valve before directing itself 45 degrees towards the center of the tank. The top assembly is the full siphon backup, the lower will be the main drain, ignore the weird cap on the top of the main drain.

 

All I had to do was remove the caps from the rear of the bulkhead, give it a clean and put on the elbows so I could glue the PVC in place. Long story short I sheared the first bulkhead in half and almost had a heart attack thinking I had cracked the glass of the tank. I rushed off the the hardware store and purchased two new bulkheads which are designed for water tanks and IMO are much safer then the standard ones most people use. They have a really large flange on the front and rear with a gasket for the wet and dry side. Here is what it looks like installed:

You can see how big the face of it is, not really an issue if it is going to be in an overflow box but some people would definitely find it unsightly.

 

After I had sorted these bulkheads out and glued the pipe in it was time for the deep clean of the tank, in reality I only cleaned half the tank today. I removed all of the corals and rock from the rear of the tank and siphoned about 20L of sludge out of the sand and made sure I stirred it up really well. I plan on doing this for the front half of the tank also in the next few weeks. The tank was covered in a brown detritus snow by the time I was finished so I cleaned everything up, added the fresh tank water, cleaned the MP10 and started running the skimmer and reactors. I started off running the skimmer a little wetter then usual and it fulled two cups of brown skimmate in 4 hours after the clean, I usually only get a single cup a week. I have been using the turkey baster every few hours to blow the detritus back into the water collumn and the skimamte keeps coming, I really should have done this sooner but the tank looks much better already.

 

I went to my LFS to offload some zoas and a few mushies and ended up doing a straight swap for this little guy:

I haven't had much luck with birdsnests in the past, the two frags I purchased earlier failed but this was when I was having phosphate trouble. Hopefully third time's a charm . Seeing as how the tank is been traveling lately I am really using this as an indicator to see if the tank is ready for more SPS. If it declines it will be an obvious no but if it stays stable then it means my current SPS are still recovering and not just dying off. The LFS had a few really nice pieces that I have been keeping my eye on so if all is well I may go an purchase another piece next weekend.

 

Also...the last of my Xenia will be going tomorrow . This just leaves me with what is on the glass which is fine for now. When it's time to rescape I will remove all rock and start from scratch after a huge sand clean.

[metrokat]

Deep clean weekends. Love those.

[Nano sapiens]

It is amazing how much gunk comes out a sand bed, isn't it?

[Veng]

Congrats on ToTM!

[metrokat]

New signature banner is fab.

[jedimasterben]

After I had sorted these bulkheads out and glued the pipe in it was time for the deep clean of the tank, in reality I only cleaned half the tank today. I removed all of the corals and rock from the rear of the tank and siphoned about 20L of sludge out of the sand and made sure I stirred it up really well. I plan on doing this for the front half of the tank also in the next few weeks. The tank was covered in a brown detritus snow by the time I was finished so I cleaned everything up, added the fresh tank water, cleaned the MP10 and started running the skimmer and reactors. I started off running the skimmer a little wetter then usual and it fulled two cups of brown skimmate in 4 hours after the clean, I usually only get a single cup a week. I have been using the turkey baster every few hours to blow the detritus back into the water collumn and the skimamte keeps coming, I really should have done this sooner but the tank looks much better already.

Always is nice to do a deep clean

 

For next time, get a very low micron filter sock (in the 1-5 micron range) and run it under your drain. Also using a flocculent (I like KZ Coral Snow best) will get it under control much faster. Tank will sparkle like diamonds

[RollaJase]

Deep clean weekends. Love those.

It definitely wasn't what I would call an enjoyable few hours but the tank looks a lot better for it, should have done it ages ago.

 

It is amazing how much gunk comes out a sand bed, isn't it?

Yeah definitely. My current rock work causes a low flow zone at the rear of the tank so I guess a lot of the detritus settles there. Not having the sump installed yet doesn't really give it anywhere to go when I stir it up.

 

Congrats on ToTM!

Thank you Veng, your turn should be coming up soon .

 

New signature banner is fab.

Thanks Kat, I did experiment wit ha few different ones but the Fungia sig seemed to get the most approval.

 

Always is nice to do a deep clean

 

For next time, get a very low micron filter sock (in the 1-5 micron range) and run it under your drain. Also using a flocculent (I like KZ Coral Snow best) will get it under control much faster. Tank will sparkle like diamonds

The sump I am yet to install has been designed with a filter sock holder to catch most of the floating particulate matter, I only have a pair of 100 micron socks though. I'll definitely need to get a few with a smaller micron size in the event I do another one of these big cleans soon. I'll definitely look at Coral Snow also, cheers for the info Ben.

[jedimasterben]

The sump I am yet to install has been designed with a filter sock holder to catch most of the floating particulate matter, I only have a pair of 100 micron socks though. I'll definitely need to get a few with a smaller micron size in the event I do another one of these big cleans soon. I'll definitely look at Coral Snow also, cheers for the info Ben.

Es no problemo

 

On my old sump I didn't have a sock holder, either, so I just bought larger socks (7" ones) and just kinda set them inside. The ones I have are rigid enough to keep themselves mostly upright so I never had much issue with them. I only use them during big cleans like that, they are 1 micron and catch freakin everything! lol

[RollaJase]

Es no problemo

 

On my old sump I didn't have a sock holder, either, so I just bought larger socks (7" ones) and just kinda set them inside. The ones I have are rigid enough to keep themselves mostly upright so I never had much issue with them. I only use them during big cleans like that, they are 1 micron and catch freakin everything! lol

I don't intend to run a sock all the time, mainly when I blow off the rocks and prior to a water change. Then again, I could probably swap out a 100 micron sock every few days and have a 1-5 micron for cleaning. I need to place an order for some food etc. so I may add some socks to the order.

[jedimasterben]

I don't intend to run a sock all the time, mainly when I blow off the rocks and prior to a water change. Then again, I could probably swap out a 100 micron sock every few days and have a 1-5 micron for cleaning. I need to place an order for some food etc. so I may add some socks to the order.

I don't use any socks unless I'm doing the cleaning. They're too much of a hassle, and plus I like my corals having as much food in the water as possible, so only my skimmer is removing anything.

[RollaJase]

I don't use any socks unless I'm doing the cleaning. They're too much of a hassle, and plus I like my corals having as much food in the water as possible, so only my skimmer is removing anything.

That's probably how I'm going to end up using them also. I don't want to cause a flood from blocked filter socks.

[RollaJase]

And the last piece of Xenia is gone . Just need to figure out what I am going to do with the stuff on the glass now.

[Felicia]

I LOVE your new signature. That is such a great macro shot of the plate! Wow!

[RollaJase]

I LOVE your new signature. That is such a great macro shot of the plate! Wow!

Thank you Felicia, I really like the picture also. Love how it picks up all the spots on the tentacles.

[RollaJase]

So I tested my Alk, Cal and Mag tonight and Alk is up around 8.5dKH from about 7.2dKH, the Cal and Mag were normal before my scheduled dosing. I put this down to the fact that I did a larger than normal water change but also because I removed a lot of detritus from the tank. 'Old tank syndrome' is known to cause lower than normal Alk levels due to coral growth but there are also theories that dirtier tanks chew more Alk as the corals work overtime to process the extra nutrients. Well my tank was definitely dirty (and I only half cleaned it) so I'll keep an eye on the levels over the next week to see if they remain stable or if they increase due to my ATO dosing Alk buffer daily. in not happy with the 1.2dKH jump and I can tell by my SPS that they weren't happy with it either but I was aiming to push the Alk closer to 8 eventually so I'll see how it goes.

[RollaJase]

Tested Alk again tonight, it has jumped up to 9.5dKH just with just standard ATO dosing. I have turned the ATO off tonight and will test same time tomorrow to see what the change is so I can fine tune the dosing. I also need to test my next batch of fresh salt mix and Ideally I want to get the tank parameters to similar levels as the salt to reduce the likelihood of swings. Plus I had great colour and growth with just water changes so I would like to get back to those parameters if I could. The rollercoaster continues but at least it looks like I have some PE from the SPS tonight, that new birdsnest hasn't changed at all since its addition also.

[markalot]

Just keep an eye on it. Usage may have dropped due to the cleaning and will climb again in the next few days.

[RollaJase]

I'm going to test tomorrow night again and see where things are at. The biggest mistake I made was not testing directly after the water change so I'm not sure how big a role that had in levels.

[RollaJase]

Just ordered some 6mm acrylic rod on eBay, should be here early next week. I need to get some more epoxy and a few larger pieces of dry rock and I can start experimenting with a few new SPS tower scapes for the rear of the tank. I would like to try and incorporate the leather coral into this tower as I think it will be an interesting feature.

 

I am envisaging the left hand side of the tank to stay the same with the SPS/mushie rock to be pushed a little further back. This will allow me to add a few additional choice zoa pieces in and will open up the the front of the tank a little more for the fish. Since removing a large portion of the rear rock the fish seem to be much happier so I want to keep everything as open as possible, I may even try adding another juvenile clown to the mix. The rear center of the tank will be dominated with an SPS tower that will hopefully start thin at the bottom and will increase in size before plateauing and jutting out a bit from the rear of the tank. This will be the new center piece of the tank. The rock on the right side of the tank will be roughly halved and I will create a small island for torches, hammers and frogspawn corals with some room on the sand for my two elegance corals. In front of this LPS island will be a small rock for some chalice corals, I currently have two but would like a third. This will leave me some more room at the front of the tank to add a third fungia plate on the sand, hopefully without things looking too crowded.

 

Hopefully if it all works out it will look something like this:

 

I have a few larger pieces of rock left over at the rear of the tank that may make good base rock for the SPS tower. I have another piece that is covered in Caulerpa that I like the look of and would like to use elsewhere. The larger rock has some minor Xenia growth on it so I might cook it and start from scratch. The Caulerpa rock has great coraline growth so I will try to pick off as much Caulerpa as I can before using a brush to remove the rest before thoroughly rinsing it in fresh tank water.

[metrokat]

'Old tank syndrome' is known to cause lower than normal Alk levels due to coral growth but there are also theories that dirtier tanks chew more Alk as the corals work overtime to process the extra nutrients

Jase, would you mind elaborating or linking me to some articles, I'd like to learn more about this. Thank you.