RollaJase's Trip Off the Deep End - Custom Rimless 55G

[RollaJase]

Congrats on the new job and I'm glad the first day went well! I went through the same thing before I found my current job. It was such a relief to finally quit the old job, and I've been at the same place for over 20 years now

Definitely a huge load off my mind that's for sure . Glad you found something you enjoy doing .

 

Congrats on the new job start, buddy!

Thanks Jack .

 

Sounds like you have gotten a lot accomplished!!! Congrats on the awesome new job too .

Definitely got a lot accomplished Gena, makes a world of difference when you have the house to yourself as everyone is either at work or just not home. Thanks!

 

 

I ordered some solder paste to fix the solder pad on the UV channel that fell off. I hop this fixes the issues I was having there. I was going to do some more testing last night but ran out of time. I hope to find the time this week sometime do do some more testing. I also need to find the time to post up an update of the tank.

[RollaJase]

LED trouble shooting 100% COMPLETE!

 

I can confirm that the first array in my second string of white LEDs has dead white/lime LEDs. The first array in my string of UV LEDs has faulty UV LEDs also. Ironically, this is not the array with the damaged solder pads on the UV channel.

 

So, I either have two options. Purchase two new arrays to replace the two with faulty LEDs or purchase one new array and go without UV LEDs over 1/6th the tank. The array with the faulty UV is directly above where I would like the majority of my SPS and is also the array where I knocked a few of the gel caps off the tops of the LEDs. Seeing as I think the missing gel caps contributed to the problems I'm thinking it best to purchase two new arrays. For what it costs in freight I'm better off buying two new arrays anyway.

 

Time to hit up Dave I guess and sort this out once and for all.

[RollaJase]

I'm in the final stages of ordering my replacement Arrays from Dave (along with a few other bits and pieces). Just need the PayPal invoice to come through and i'm all set.

 

I got a call from my favorite fish shop Friday with a slightly awkward call. 'Were we supposed to tell you when we got some red plating monti in???', 'Yes.', 'Ok cool, we have some red monti in.'. They have a few customers that grow SPS like weeds and every 2-3 months or so frag a heap out and just bring it back for some credit. There was literally the biggest piece of emerald green plating monti that I had ever seen, the LFS said it took 3 months to grow the plate. I ended up getting a fairly large piece of red monti, a nice sized piece of turquoise staghorn and a yellow/green tabling acropora with blue growth tips. The best part is, these are all tank hardened frags, reasonably sized, different to the stuff I usually see and each frag was only $10! They also threw in some sort of brown milli for free. It had epic PE in their tank and hasn't really done much in my tank yet. It has a green tinge to it so I assume it will turn out to be another green piece. Lastly, my girlfriend bought a purple frogspawn, she loves purple so I let her buy it for the tank.

 

I've been seeing my cyano increasing over the last week or so, the skimmer has been under performing and my filter socks have been less clogged. Yup, dosing pump expansion seems to be failing and I haven't been dosing vinegar for probably 2 weeks. I hope it's just the crappy Midi or PS2 cable they use to join the expansion to the controller but as it sits, out of 6 dosing heads, only 4 work. I didn't have time to pull the thing apart so I moved vinegar to a head that still works.

 

Now I really need to do a picture update. I'll try to pull out the camera tonight after work and get a few nice shots.

[Felicia]

Congratulations on the new job!

 

Also, glad you figured out what was going on with the LED light. I was just in this boat myself and ended up replacing all 3 LED arrays on my fixture to just make sure it was all fixed.

 

Also, that's exciting about the new purchases and that your girlfriend wanted a coral too! Glad you're getting her into the hobby You must share your addiction and be a bad influence! I can't wait to see some photos of the new purchases!

[RollaJase]

Congratulations on the new job!

 

Also, glad you figured out what was going on with the LED light. I was just in this boat myself and ended up replacing all 3 LED arrays on my fixture to just make sure it was all fixed.

 

Also, that's exciting about the new purchases and that your girlfriend wanted a coral too! Glad you're getting her into the hobby You must share your addiction and be a bad influence! I can't wait to see some photos of the new purchases!

Thanks Felicia , I'm loving the new job so far, it's such an awesome change of pace.

 

I'm super excited to finally be getting the light fixed. It was a huge investment for me (both in time and money) so I can't wait to be bathing the tank in some NB goodness.

 

Yeah, I'm pretty happy that she has been showing an interest. I've been teaching her bits and pieces about the tank, names, water chemistry etc. She seems keen to learn and is happy for me to spend time on the tank when she is around.

 

I'll try to take some good pictures over the next few days and get an update up sometime this week. Probably wont have time for an FTS until the weekend (we have a public holiday on the 3rd so I should have the time).

[Felicia]

Glad you're liking the new job! I'm loving mine, its just keeping me super busy, but that's ok because I enjoy it

 

Lights are always such a big investment, so its frustrating when they don't work. I'm glad you've got yours all sorted out.

 

Its always so fun to have someone interested in the tank who wants to learn about it and discuss it. That's so fun that you guys can enjoy the tank together

 

No rush on the photos! I have no room to be impatient since I've been seriously slacking on the photos front myself Speaking of though, I've got photos uploading to Flickr as I type this!

[RollaJase]

Glad you're liking the new job! I'm loving mine, its just keeping me super busy, but that's ok because I enjoy it

 

Lights are always such a big investment, so its frustrating when they don't work. I'm glad you've got yours all sorted out.

 

Its always so fun to have someone interested in the tank who wants to learn about it and discuss it. That's so fun that you guys can enjoy the tank together

 

No rush on the photos! I have no room to be impatient since I've been seriously slacking on the photos front myself Speaking of though, I've got photos uploading to Flickr as I type this!

I'm glad your liking your new job too! Change can be a scary thing but a good thing all the same .

 

Definitely a big investment. I'd go as far as saying that my light was more expensive than my stand, tank, sump and ATO combined haha.

 

It is definitely nice to have someone to talk to about the hobby. Outside of this amazing website I only have one other friend interested in reefing so having my girlfriend interested is a big bonus. Having her help me with maintenance is an even bigger bonus lol. I deliberately don't clean the glass because she loves doing it on the weekend when we see each other.

 

Nah, I have been putting it off for ages and my last tank related update was over a month ago I think, about time I posted a few shots! I'll definitely be checking in on your thread to see these new photos!

[RollaJase]

Tank Update - 26th September 2016:

When transitioning between my old job and my new job I made sure I took a few days off for myself so I could relax and get a few things done that I usually wouldn't have had time for during the week. What's more relaxing than working on the tank right?

 

The sump had been looking pretty average. I hadn't really given it a good clean since this tank went live so there was about 8 months worth of crud blocking it up (and probably contributing to my algae problem).

As you can see, not a pretty sight.

 

I set myself a few tasks that I wanted to do and ordered in the parts I needed in advance to make sure I had everything I needed for my time off. I wanted to make a new protein skimmer stand, a media rack for the Marine Pure media balls, re-do the plumbing for the reactors, make a new hanging bracket for my coral box battery backup and trim the mesh top of the tank down a bit to fit the new mounts. All of this I was able to achieve in 4 days including the complete sump tear down and clean, I was pretty happy with myself .

 

First up was the protein skimmer stand.

I was originally using a plastic container that I had trimmed to size to fit the skimmer. It worked but it was flimsy and skated around a bit on the glass floor of the sump. I designed this stand out of 10mm acrylic for strength while still being relatively light. I ordered in a piece of A4 sized acrylic and after a few hours on the jigsaw and sanding block it was all ready to glue together. The drilled holes are purely to allow it to sink in the sump and vent bubbles from underneath it. This thing is rock solid and fits the skimmer perfectly. It is even a tad smaller than my previous solution which has increased water flow through the skimmer chamber.

 

Next up was the media basket for the Marine Pure media balls.

Believe it or not, this basket was bade 100% out of off cut acrylic I had laying around from when I made the lids for my ATO and drain chamber of my sump originally. All I did was measure everything up, trim a few pieces to length and glue it all together. This design works really well for what I needed and makes it easy to remove the media balls during a water change to rinse off any lingering detritus.

 

I then moved my attention to the new mounting bracket for the battery backup.

Again, just a few pieces of off cut acrylic I had laying around that I trimmed to size and drilled some mounting holes. Having the stainless cable mount higher up means the battery now slumps over less and sits better against the rear of the tank stand.

 

Lastly was the re-do of the reactor plumbing.

I added in some Eheim, valved quick disconnect fittings and replaced all the tubing with a great AquaOne tube to ward off algae growth. I also re-positioned the drains from the reactors to go between the baffles between the refugium and skimmer chambers. This has created additional water flow over the media balls and IMO is better than just having that effluent water going directly into the return chamber to be pumped back into the tank.

 

I didn't take any pictures of the trimmed down mesh lid because it's not overly exciting lol.

 

 

Besides the tank maintenance, I have also collected a few nice new pieces recently. As I mentioned above, I got a few good deals on some tank hardened frags and even had a few free pieces thrown in! Here are the pieces I have collected over the last few weeks.

The tabling acro is very interesting with a green/yellow body, bright blue growth tip and a single yellow polyp on the growth tip. The red plating monti is so vividly red! Was definitely worth the wait. The turquoise stag is probably my favorite SPS piece in my tank right now. In person it simply looks amazing. it came out of the same tank as my green slimer did and this particular piece was originally two branches that reached the water surface and fused together, hence the weird growth pattern. I've been wanting a few Euphyllia corals for a while now and my girlfriend picked out this nice purple frogspawn.

 

I also picked up a few freebies over the last few weeks.

The brown turd acro will probably be green, they are always green. I'll see if I can colour it up. The browned out milli is also green and while it had a ton of PE at the LFS it hasn't fully adjusted to my tank just yet. I hope to see it get all fuzzy in time.

 

A quick update on a few existing pieces also.

The highlighter acro that was burning at the tips seems to have recovered. It is slowly healing back over the tips where I snapped off exposed skeleton. I finally mounted the blue monti also, it is directly to the right of red monti now. While it hasn't really done anything yet I am hoping it will start encrusting soon and start to plate out.

 

I think the SPS island is starting to look pretty good .

[pappadumplingz]

Everything looking good as usual. Glad the acro is healing. The sps island kinda reminds me of a reef bowie. Here we have an overabundance of Euphyllia coral, and they are all pretty nice from what I've seen.

[RollaJase]

Everything looking good as usual. Glad the acro is healing. The sps island kinda reminds me of a reef bowie. Here we have an overabundance of Euphyllia coral, and they are all pretty nice from what I've seen.

Thanks mate, I'm glad things are turning the corner also. Parameters have been really stable and after switching to NSW and RODI the dropping nutrients have really impacted on the corals for the better. Yup, that's the look I was going for . I'm thinking of moving/removing my leather coral to open up more space in the middle of the tank so it better defines the two islands I have constructed. Plenty of Euphyllia here also, the issue is, everything that takes my fancy is a $70+ piece lol. I have been wary to commit to any until now, that little purple guy as $19 and for a first little piece I think it was a pretty good buy. I think I'll pick up a few more as I see nice ones that I like. I may stay away from torches this time around though, they can be real jerks lol.

[pappadumplingz]

Thanks mate, I'm glad things are turning the corner also. Parameters have been really stable and after switching to NSW and RODI the dropping nutrients have really impacted on the corals for the better. Yup, that's the look I was going for . I'm thinking of moving/removing my leather coral to open up more space in the middle of the tank so it better defines the two islands I have constructed. Plenty of Euphyllia here also, the issue is, everything that takes my fancy is a $70+ piece lol. I have been wary to commit to any until now, that little purple guy as $19 and for a first little piece I think it was a pretty good buy. I think I'll pick up a few more as I see nice ones that I like. I may stay away from torches this time around though, they can be real jerks lol.

My mate uses nsw from the harbour of all places, and it is working really well. You have a very expense taste in euphyllia my friend. The most expense one I've bought is $35. Torches are nice but you can't mix them into a euphyllia garden.

[RollaJase]

My mate uses nsw from the harbour of all places, and it is working really well. You have a very expense taste in euphyllia my friend. The most expense one I've bought is $35. Torches are nice but you can't mix them into a euphyllia garden.

Yeah, the Euphyllia I am looking at are the ultra toxic hammers (saw a huge one recently for $350), the hammers with the mottled head or the ones with the green stem and purple head. All $70+ really unfortunately. I've had standard ones before, I'd like to up the game a little. I've never had issues with hammers stinging other Euphyllia, it's what they do to non Euphyllia that I don't like, I don't want any near my SPS. I've always wanted an aussie gold torch but with how aggressive they can be (and the price) I think I'll steer clear for now.

[TheKleinReef]

Awesome update. That sump is jam packed!

[niQo]

You should put some more stuff in your cabinet! there is still some white paint visible

[RollaJase]

Awesome update. That sump is jam packed!

Thanks Roger . Yup, the sump is pretty much at capacity now. Everything in its place and a place for everything.

 

You should put some more stuff in your cabinet! there is still some white paint visible

Well...I was thinking of adding a few more things lol. Maybe a bio pellet reactor? Everything I keep in the stand is stuff that I use frequently. It's mainly all food with the exception of the refractometer and Alk, Cal and Mag test kits. Everything else I keep in a separate cupboard and grab it as I need it. Everything actually looks a whole lot neater without all that crap in front of the sump, I've been contemplating moving more of it to the cupboard.

[Felicia]

Your sump area is definitely full, but its so amazingly organized and clean. I am so jealous! Great work with all the improvements!

 

Those are wonderful new additions. The SPS really are looking great! I think my favorite however is that big leather with the green polyps I have a weakness for softies lately, haha! I love admiring all the beautiful SPS though. Your tank is looking great!

[RollaJase]

Your sump area is definitely full, but its so amazingly organized and clean. I am so jealous! Great work with all the improvements!

 

Those are wonderful new additions. The SPS really are looking great! I think my favorite however is that big leather with the green polyps I have a weakness for softies lately, haha! I love admiring all the beautiful

Thanks for the kind words Felicia. I am definitely happy with how the sump turned out. It is full but everything is still super easy to service, no where near as cramped as my previous sump/stand. I do love the leather coral, it was so small when I got it and now it is a monster! I was thinking of maybe getting another leather, either a toadstool or finger leather. The variety we get here is pretty basic though, I have never seen and truly amazing leathers in LFS. The one I have is one of the brightest that I have seen. Thanks Felicia, once I get the light fixed I hope it looks even better .

[RollaJase]

Yay, LED parts from Dave shipped . I'll probably have the order arrive in 2 weeks or so. I also had a crack at fixing the busted solder pad on that one array last night. I exposed some more of the copper trace before applying the solder paste and pressing the wire into it. I held everything down with some tape. At room temperature this solder paste will take about 12 hours or so to cure, I'll be giving it almost double this time so when I get home from work I'll remove the tape and see how it all worked out. This array also has a slightly exposed LED diode from where I accidentally roasted off the gel cap with the barrel of the soldering iron. I might put a slight dab of silicon over the diode to protect it from the elements.

[RollaJase]

Severe storms have knocked out power to my entire state. South Australia has been without any power for about 2 hours now. I left work early and was able to get home through all the chaos. Made it in time to see my UPS fail and for the coral box unit to kick in powering my two RW pumps. Now I've got to brave the weather and go get the generator, fuel and spare gas bottles from the shed before it gets too dark to see. The power company estimates we will be without power (as a state) for a few days at least.

[pappadumplingz]

Severe storms have knocked out power to my entire state. South Australia has been without any power for about 2 hours now. I left work early and was able to get home through all the chaos. Made it in time to see my UPS fail and for the coral box unit to kick in powering my two RW pumps. Now I've got to brave the weather and go get the generator, fuel and spare gas bottles from the shed before it gets too dark to see. The power company estimates we will be without power (as a state) for a few days at least.

How does a whole state lose its power? Jeez, good luck with the tank and getting the generators. Stay safe mate.

[RollaJase]

How does a whole state lose its power? Jeez, good luck with the tank and getting the generators. Stay safe mate.

I know right. Apparently the interconnect went down which basically means there is no power being diverted to the sub stations. Got the tank on the generator now and the wood fire roaring so I should be fine. Will be a pretty sleepless night though, the generator will only last about 3 hours, max, between refueling.

 

Good news is the power company thinks repairs will be completed by 4am tomorrow. I'm doubtful this will be the case and with them progressively turning power back on I think we will be lucky to have power again by 5-6pm tomorrow at home. Being in the country means we typically get our power restored last.

[markalot]

Good grief, hope the power comes on soon! Catching up ....

 

Congrats on the job.

 

Nice to see some SPS in there, looking good!

 

Get rid of the leather, you know it doesn't belong.

 

I have a toxic hammer. Meh. It's green and purple and nice but for whatever reason the colors just get old after a while. I want a yellow torch again, I miss mine dearly, it was always awesome to look at.

[RollaJase]

Update on the power situation. Luckily enough, power came back on for us about 30mins ago. So I'm back on mains power and making sure my UPS and battery backup is recharging in case we have another outage. A very large portion of the state is still without power though, we are just some of the lucky few that it has been restored for.

 

 

Good grief, hope the power comes on soon! Catching up ....

 

Congrats on the job.

 

Nice to see some SPS in there, looking good!

 

Get rid of the leather, you know it doesn't belong.

 

I have a toxic hammer. Meh. It's green and purple and nice but for whatever reason the colors just get old after a while. I want a yellow torch again, I miss mine dearly, it was always awesome to look at.

Thanks for the kind words Mark . The tank looks so much more alive with more coral in there, it adds so much more colour and texture. Lets just hope I can keep the fuzzy sticks alive lol. I have thought about getting rid of the leather, thought about it a few times now. I'm pretty attached to it though, seeing as I have had it for so long and it has grown so much. I think I do need to move it though. If I rearrange the rock work directly under the green monti I should be able to move it to the rear of the tank filling a void there and opening the front up again so that you can clearly see the definition between the rock structures. As for the hammers, I'm really just after a bit of variety. I like the way hammers, torches and frogspawn move in the water, something you don't really get with SPS. The ultra purple ones are not something you see every day over here, pretty much everything is green, tan or pale purple. I would love to get a yellow/gold torch but would need to be really careful with where I put it.


In an update on other things. 24 hours in and the solder paste didn't cure properly and the cable fell off. I cleaned the surface and re-applied it, this time with no cable. I'll give it a few days to cure properly and then drop some solder on it to hold the wire in place (this is how it is intended to be used anyway).

 

As for the dosing pumps that had failed, looks like the crappy cable that came with the expansion to connect it to the control was at fault. I replaced the cable and she is as good as new now . Now that carbon dosing is back in action the skimmer is working hard again and the cyano is receding fast!

[RollaJase]

Still 70,000 people without power state wide here. Luckily, ours has stayed on since it was re-connected last night. Adelaide CBD was only re-connected at 3am this morning. We have another storm surge coming today, supposed to be worse than what we saw yesterday so fingers crossed the power holds up.

[ninjamyst]

glad you got power back! i would be freaking out...i really should install my battery backup...hahah

your sump looks so organized! and that red monti is bright as hell