Heavy Waters 150 Build Out [Archive] - Reef Central Online Community

HeavyWater

10/21/2011, 09:40 PM

Jeff’s 150 Mixed Reef

It’s time for an upgrade! I have been running a 65 gallon mixed reef tank over the past two and a half years and I have loved it. When I first got into this hobby, the 65 gallon seemed huge; however, after a year and a half I found that I was running out of room for corals and had maxed out the bio load for the tank. Here are some pics of the old tank:

http://i805.photobucket.com/albums/yy335/jeffmuse/DSC02418.jpg

http://i805.photobucket.com/albums/yy335/jeffmuse/DSC02412.jpg

http://i805.photobucket.com/albums/yy335/jeffmuse/DSC02413.jpg

I have wanted to upgrade for a year or so and I have finally gotten the chance to pull the trigger. One of the things that held me back on upgrading sooner was the tank placement… my current system is in my office, which is on the second floor of my house. After a few renovations, I have moved my office to the bottom floor of the home (which sits on a slab). With weight limitations off the table, I am currently upgrading to a 150 gallon mixed reef. My old tank emphasized softies and LPS corals… I want my new system to focus more on the SPS corals! Details to follow 

HeavyWater

10/21/2011, 10:10 PM

When planning the upgrade from the 65 gallon to the 150, I wanted to put more emphasis on successfully keeping SPS corals… as a result, I have tried to plan my equipment around keeping this type of coral. I did not buy all of this stuff at once… I have been compiling equipment for about 12 months in anticipation of this build out  Here is the equipment list:

Tank: MRC 150 Gallon Acrylic Tank (54x24x26)
Stand: Custom made stand
Sump: MRC Sump (48x13x18) w refugium, skimmer chamber, and return sections (x2 filter socks)
Controller: Reefkeeper lite controller with Ph Probe
Skimmer: Super Reef Octopus 3000 (In Sump version)
ATO: Tunze Osmolator ATO
Pump: Blue Line 55
Heater: x3 Marineland heaters
Flow: Vortech MP40 W Es, 2x Korilia’s
Lighting: x2 Coralvue Lumen Bright Pendants (250 Watts), x2 Lumateck dimable ballasts
Reactors: BRS GFO Reactor
UV: Gamma UV 40 watt

Future Equipment: I would like to add this to the system by the end of the year:
Flow: A second Vortech MP40 OR x 2 Vortech MP 10’s
Reactor: GEO CR618 Calcium Reactor, BRS Carbon Reactor

Let me know what you guys think about the equipment! Thanks in advance for the feedback.

HeavyWater

10/22/2011, 05:23 PM

Here are some pics of my compiled equipment:

Controller:
http://i805.photobucket.com/albums/yy335/jeffmuse/DSC01347.jpg

Vortech
http://i805.photobucket.com/albums/yy335/jeffmuse/DSC01389.jpg

http://i805.photobucket.com/albums/yy335/jeffmuse/DSC01392.jpg

Ground for stray electricity

http://i805.photobucket.com/albums/yy335/jeffmuse/22Groundingprobe.jpg

ATO

http://i805.photobucket.com/albums/yy335/jeffmuse/DSC00536.jpg

Ballasts

http://i805.photobucket.com/albums/yy335/jeffmuse/DSC02428.jpg

http://i805.photobucket.com/albums/yy335/jeffmuse/DSC02429.jpg

Lights

http://i805.photobucket.com/albums/yy335/jeffmuse/DSC02452.jpg

Pump

http://i805.photobucket.com/albums/yy335/jeffmuse/DSC02436.jpg

Skimmer

http://i805.photobucket.com/albums/yy335/jeffmuse/DSCF4220.jpg

HeavyWater

10/22/2011, 05:24 PM

Heater

http://i805.photobucket.com/albums/yy335/jeffmuse/DSC02586.jpg

UV

http://i805.photobucket.com/albums/yy335/jeffmuse/DSC02582.jpg

HeavyWater

10/27/2011, 09:06 PM

Going into my 150 gallon upgrade, I knew that I would need a better system making RO/DI water and salt mix. With my current 65 gallon tank, changing out 5-10 gallons per week was no big deal; however, with the 150 gallon in the works, I wanted something that would make water changes easier by having a lot of water available all the time.

Here is how I put my “mixing station” together:

I have acquired two 55 gallon barrels to act as storage containers for the station (one RO/DI water for top off, one a salt mix barrel). I am going to plumb the system externally using a mag pump and 3/4 inch pvc pipe. Gate valves will be installed in the mixing station to allow for top off water to be collected for the reef tank, a valve to release mixed salt water for the water changes, and a valve that will pump newly mixed fresh water into the salt water barrel for mixing salt water. The system has been set up to continuously circulate the sat water in order to keep it aerated.

Here are some of the things I assembled for the build:

Plumbing supplies, again I used 3/4" PVC pipe and the appropriate sized bulk heads

http://i805.photobucket.com/albums/yy335/jeffmuse/DSC01437.jpg

Two 55 gallon barrels:

http://i805.photobucket.com/albums/yy335/jeffmuse/DSC01440.jpg

Mag pump

http://i805.photobucket.com/albums/yy335/jeffmuse/DSC01438.jpg

When cutting the hole for the bulkhead, I first used a 1 1/4 paddle bit to cut the hole in the bottom of the barrel. The bit cut through like butter, but unfortunately the hole was not quite big enough... a 3/4 inch bulkhead actually requires a 1 3/8 inch hole. I picked up a hole saw drill bit and it did the trick:

http://i805.photobucket.com/albums/yy335/jeffmuse/DSC01442.jpg

http://i805.photobucket.com/albums/yy335/jeffmuse/DSC01444.jpg

With the bulkheads in place, I jumped right into the plumbing. As you can see from the pictures, the 4 ball valves control the all of the flow for the system. When idle, the ball valves on the right hand side will be put in the open position... this will allow salt water to circulate while not in use.

http://i805.photobucket.com/albums/yy335/jeffmuse/DSC01447.jpg

http://i805.photobucket.com/albums/yy335/jeffmuse/DSC01448.jpg

Here is a close up of the pump... I attached unions to both the input and output lines.

http://i805.photobucket.com/albums/yy335/jeffmuse/DSC01441.jpg

After drilling the bulkheads and doing the majority of the plumbing for the station, I moved on to the next phase of the project... building the stand.

Uncle Salty 05

10/28/2011, 07:40 AM

HeavyWater

10/28/2011, 04:25 PM

Have you already bought a 150?
If not I would suggest getting a 180, the 24X24X72 dimensions give you a lot more aquascaping options.
Looks like you are off to a good start either way.
Keep us posted on how it goes.

I appreciate the feedback on the build! I am building the entire system around a 150lb single piece of live rock... this thing is huge (27x14x21"). In order to accommodate this massive rock, I have picked up a custom made MRC Acrylic tank measuring 54x24x26" Pictures are soon to come :)

HeavyWater

10/28/2011, 04:27 PM

Being that the stand was going to need to hold 110 gallons of water, I decided to look up some DIY aquarium stands on the internet to ensure maximum support for all the weight. I went with a 4x2 base, and made the stand 20" tall (I just wanted the mixing barrels to be high enough to allow a bucket to fit underneath).

http://i805.photobucket.com/albums/yy335/jeffmuse/DSC01451.jpg

http://i805.photobucket.com/albums/yy335/jeffmuse/DSC01452.jpg

Putting the legs and base together:

http://i805.photobucket.com/albums/yy335/jeffmuse/DSC01455.jpg

http://i805.photobucket.com/albums/yy335/jeffmuse/DSC01454.jpg

Coming together

http://i805.photobucket.com/albums/yy335/jeffmuse/DSC01472.jpg

http://i805.photobucket.com/albums/yy335/jeffmuse/DSC01474.jpg

Next it was time to get the mixing barrels setup for operation:

http://i805.photobucket.com/albums/yy335/jeffmuse/DSC01475.jpg

http://i805.photobucket.com/albums/yy335/jeffmuse/DSC01476.jpg

http://i805.photobucket.com/albums/yy335/jeffmuse/DSC01480.jpg

http://i805.photobucket.com/albums/yy335/jeffmuse/DSC01482.jpg

HeavyWater

10/28/2011, 04:27 PM

http://i805.photobucket.com/albums/yy335/jeffmuse/DSC01483.jpg

http://i805.photobucket.com/albums/yy335/jeffmuse/DSC01492.jpg

HeavyWater

10/29/2011, 03:16 PM

I put a couple of elbows at the ends of both the fresh water out line and the salt water out lines to make pouring easier.

http://i805.photobucket.com/albums/yy335/jeffmuse/DSC01486.jpg

http://i805.photobucket.com/albums/yy335/jeffmuse/DSC01492.jpg

Being that the mixing station is in the garage, I wanted to have an on/ off valve that would feed water into my RO/DI when ever I was ready to make new water.

http://i805.photobucket.com/albums/yy335/jeffmuse/DSC01526.jpg

http://i805.photobucket.com/albums/yy335/jeffmuse/DSC02588.jpg

Here is a pic of the water input line going into the RO/DI

http://i805.photobucket.com/albums/yy335/jeffmuse/DSC02589.jpg

I mounted the waste water line along the wall of the garage so as to dump the waste water out in the front yard:

http://i805.photobucket.com/albums/yy335/jeffmuse/DSC02592.jpg

http://i805.photobucket.com/albums/yy335/jeffmuse/DSC02591.jpg

The salt water mixing station is complete! On to setting up the system lighting!

http://i805.photobucket.com/albums/yy335/jeffmuse/DSC02593.jpg

HeavyWater

11/02/2011, 06:34 PM

When it comes to the tank lighting, I went with the tried and true metal halide setup. I picked up two Coralvue Lumenbright 250 watt reflectors, two Lumatek adjustable ballasts, and 4 sets of the R2 moonlights.

http://i805.photobucket.com/albums/yy335/jeffmuse/DSC02451.jpg

http://i805.photobucket.com/albums/yy335/jeffmuse/DSC02455.jpg

http://i805.photobucket.com/albums/yy335/jeffmuse/DSC02492.jpg

When designing this build, I decided to go without a canopy…. I really like the look of the canopy-less tanks, and also hoped to use air cooling to offset some of the heat generated by the metal halides. I wanted to hang the lights directly above the tank, and tossed around a couple of different ideas on what would be the best look for the setup. I decided to go with a home made conduit bracket to mount the two Coralvue pendants.

HeavyWater

11/03/2011, 04:30 PM

As these pendants are fairly heavy, I went with ¾” conduit tubing to construct the brackets. In order to build this lighting setup, I also picked up a ¾” pipe bender, a metal cutting saw, and some spray paint:

Conduit:
http://i805.photobucket.com/albums/yy335/jeffmuse/DSC02468.jpg

Pipe Bender:
http://i805.photobucket.com/albums/yy335/jeffmuse/DSC02469.jpg

Spray Paint:
http://i805.photobucket.com/albums/yy335/jeffmuse/DSC02484.jpg

Despite the thickness of the conduit, it is really pretty easy to bend these things using the pipe bender. Adjusting these conduits into a right angle did not take too much effort; however, getting both brackets at the exact same angle took a little bit of adjustment:

http://i805.photobucket.com/albums/yy335/jeffmuse/DSC02473.jpg

http://i805.photobucket.com/albums/yy335/jeffmuse/DSC02472.jpg

http://i805.photobucket.com/albums/yy335/jeffmuse/DSC02471.jpg

http://i805.photobucket.com/albums/yy335/jeffmuse/DSC02470.jpg

skimeister56

11/03/2011, 05:07 PM

HeavyWater

11/03/2011, 07:22 PM

Sorry if this sounds stupid but will the pump keep the salt water mixed or it it just to pump you di water to the salt mixing tank? Also are you going to use a funnel to get the salt in the mixing tank?

Good questions... the pump does both: 1) Keeping the salt mix aerated and 2) pumping the fresh water mix into the salt mixing tank. The way that I set up the plumbing, the pump is constantly circulating the salt water drum. When the salt water is running low/ out, I cut off the flow from the mixing barrel to the pump and open the gate valve from the fresh water tank... this pumps the entire fresh water drum into the salt mix barrel. I then add the salt mix, turn the valves, and once again the pump is circulating the salt water mix :)

HeavyWater

11/04/2011, 02:43 PM

After bending the pipes to right angles, I gave both a double coat of spray paint… I went with metal high gloss paint:

http://i805.photobucket.com/albums/yy335/jeffmuse/DSC02486.jpg

Next, I had to cut the conduit to the proper length… being that the Coralvue Lumenbrights work best when positioned 14”-16” above the surface of the water, I measured the height of the tank, the stand, the pendant, and then cut the bracket accordingly.

http://i805.photobucket.com/albums/yy335/jeffmuse/DSC02487.jpg

After cutting the conduit to the proper length, I purchased a metal drill bit and drilled a hole through the top of the conduit. From there, I installed the mounting hooks for the two pendants:

http://i805.photobucket.com/albums/yy335/jeffmuse/DSC02488.jpg

HeavyWater

11/05/2011, 11:45 AM

When it comes to Reefkeeping, I have always been very comfortable taking on any challenge; however, I must admit that I have very little expertise when it comes to electrical wiring! I was actually very surprised how easy it was to wire the ballast to the fixture… all three of the wires are color coded, and it is really just a matter of connecting those wires:

Power cable wires:
http://i805.photobucket.com/albums/yy335/jeffmuse/DSC02475.jpg

Color coding the wires:
http://i805.photobucket.com/albums/yy335/jeffmuse/DSC02476.jpg

Stripping the wires for the connection to the lumenx cable

http://i805.photobucket.com/albums/yy335/jeffmuse/DSC02477.jpg

http://i805.photobucket.com/albums/yy335/jeffmuse/DSC02478.jpg

Connecting the ground:

http://i805.photobucket.com/albums/yy335/jeffmuse/DSC02479.jpg

Connecting everything else:

http://i805.photobucket.com/albums/yy335/jeffmuse/DSC02480.jpg

The ballasts firing the lights:

http://i805.photobucket.com/albums/yy335/jeffmuse/DSC02481.jpg

Everything works!

HeavyWater

11/06/2011, 06:50 PM

Putting everything all together… I have mounted the conduits to the back of the stand, and installed both of the Lumenbright pendants to the conduit/bracket. I also installed the moonlights and placed 2 of the R2’s on each of the pendants (for a total of 4).

Moon lights:

http://i805.photobucket.com/albums/yy335/jeffmuse/DSC02491.jpg

Lighting setup:

http://i805.photobucket.com/albums/yy335/jeffmuse/DSC02529.jpg

Lights w Moon:

http://i805.photobucket.com/albums/yy335/jeffmuse/DSC02530.jpg

HeavyWater

11/19/2011, 06:54 PM

The build is moving right along! With the lights and equipment in place, it came time to get everything ready to move over from my 65 tank to the new 150.

When doing the move, I decided to transfer over approx 70 lbs of live rock, all of the corals, and all of the fish. I decided to go with new sand, and a fresh batch of salt water.

I went with 130 lbs of sand for my 150 tank. After A LOT of rinsing, the sand is ready to go:

http://i805.photobucket.com/albums/yy335/jeffmuse/DSC02490.jpg

HeavyWater

11/20/2011, 09:12 AM

After getting the sand rinsed out, the next step was making the water... and I mean A LOT of water. While the salt water mixing station certainly helped get the water prepped, the station can only hold 55 gallons of salt mix at a time.

I went ahead and made 60 gallons of salt, as seen in the three 20 gallon buckets, and then made another 55 gallon batch of water in the mixing station. After setting up the tank, I then made even more water and added this to the system to ensure that the new tank was full

http://i805.photobucket.com/albums/yy335/jeffmuse/DSC02489.jpg

HeavyWater

12/10/2011, 01:18 PM

Everything is up and running! I would like to thank everyone that helped me move the tank, and rock over to my new setup

The centerpiece of the tank is a 150lb piece of live rock that I got from a local member during his tank breakdown. When I setup the new system everything was pretty straight forward with the exception of the huge piece of live rock. Being that I did not want the rock to have any die off, we had to be creative getting it to my house. Here is a brief description of the move:

First, it took 4 of us to lift the thing out of Andre's tank... we had two people standing on the edge of the stand to lift the thing out of the water, and then two people on the ground level had to lower it down (that thing was heavy). I then used a 75 gallon rubber maid tank to transport the rock to the truck. Once in the truck, we put about 50 gallons of water into the rubbermaid tank to ensure that the rock was totally submerged on its trip to my house. When we got the rock to my place, we drained the rubber maid tank of all the water and then carried the tank/ rock into my house for placement in the display. Being that my new 150 gallon is acrylic, we had to go to great lengths to ensure that there where no scratches.... I duct taped bed blankets around the outside of the tank just in case it got bumped during the rock install. Finally we got the rock in the tank... we had two people lift the rock up off the floor, while my self and another guy had to get it over the top of the tank and lower it down.

I made sure that the rock sat flush on the bottom of the tank before adding the sand and then the water. The funny part is that when my wife came home she said that she did not like the angle that the rock was facing and wanted to know if I could move it

It was pretty challenging moving the 150lb piece of live rock, but I am really happy with the results. Long story short, I transferred all of the fish and coral from the 65 gallon and here is the finished product:

Front view:
http://i805.photobucket.com/albums/yy335/jeffmuse/DSC02650.jpg

Giant rock
http://i805.photobucket.com/albums/yy335/jeffmuse/DSC02657.jpg

Side view of the rock
http://i805.photobucket.com/albums/yy335/jeffmuse/DSC02652.jpg

Other Pieces:
http://i805.photobucket.com/albums/yy335/jeffmuse/DSC02655.jpg

http://i805.photobucket.com/albums/yy335/jeffmuse/DSC02658.jpg

All finished:
http://i805.photobucket.com/albums/yy335/jeffmuse/DSC02533.jpg

LoJack

12/10/2011, 10:09 PM

Awesome job ... everything looks great!

HeavyWater

12/11/2011, 10:30 PM

Awesome job ... everything looks great!

Thanks bud, I have more pictures on the way! :)

W8lifts

12/11/2011, 11:42 PM

Are the Moon lights that you attached to the MH'S safe with the high heat of the MH'S? But nice setup BTW

HeavyWater

12/15/2011, 08:57 PM

Are the Moon lights that you attached to the MH'S safe with the high heat of the MH'S? But nice setup BTW

I was sort of worried about the moon lights falling off due to the heat of the metal halides; however, the adhesive that came with the R2's has held them well. The lights have been working well so far :spin3:

HeavyWater

12/27/2011, 06:55 PM

Merry Christmas everyone! I must have been good this year because I got just what I wanted.... a GEO 618 Calcium reactor! My wife is awesome for getting me this, I can't wait to get this thing online
http://i805.photobucket.com/albums/yy335/jeffmuse/2011-12-24_22-15-18_906.jpg

HeavyWater

12/28/2011, 10:16 PM

Tomorrow, I am going to get the GEO calcium reactor up and running. This will be my first time setting up this type of reactor and I plan on taking a bunch of pictures to document the entire process.

Here are all of the components laid out... in addition to the GEO reactor and ehiem pump I went with an AquaticLife Co2 regulator with built in Solenoid.

http://i805.photobucket.com/albums/yy335/jeffmuse/DSC02665.jpg

I currently own a 5 lb Co2 tank that had previously been used on an old kegorator system. The plan is to buy a 10-15lb tank to act as the primary Co2 tank and have the 5 lb tank on hand as a back up. For the time being, I am going to get the system up and running using the 5 lb until I can find a larger tank:

http://i805.photobucket.com/albums/yy335/jeffmuse/DSC02666.jpg

I am going to use the Ph Probe on my Reef Keeper Lite to control the solenoid. Here is the complete system, I can't wait to get this thing up and running!

http://i805.photobucket.com/albums/yy335/jeffmuse/DSC02667.jpg

shaggss

12/29/2011, 12:32 AM

Nice!

I love the large centre rock!

Can you run the wires for the lights down the center of the poles to hide them? Would give a much cleaner look.

Thanks for sharing.

cheers

HeavyWater

01/02/2012, 09:05 PM

Update on the Calcium reactor installation… I have gotten the reactor up and running and have some pics to show how everything was setup:
First, I decided to build a manifold to handle all of the tanks reactors. I am going to run a BRS GFO reactor, a BRS Carbon reactor, and my GFO Calcium reactor off of a separate pump (rather than the return pump). The rationale is that I want the three reactors to continue to function normally even when the main pump is down for maintenance and cleaning. I choose a Mag 5 pump to feed water into my three reactors:
Plumbing pieces laid out:

http://i805.photobucket.com/albums/yy335/jeffmuse/DSC02675.jpg

From left to right: The first two outlets will control to the GFO reactor and Carbon reactor, while the third outlet will control the GEO Calcium reactor. I installed a gate valve on each outlet so as to control the flow to each reactor:

http://i805.photobucket.com/albums/yy335/jeffmuse/DSC02676.jpg

Breaking out the plumbing supplies: Teflon tape and PVC Cement:

http://i805.photobucket.com/albums/yy335/jeffmuse/DSC02679.jpg

Coming together:

http://i805.photobucket.com/albums/yy335/jeffmuse/DSC02680.jpg

mikeyj28

01/02/2012, 09:14 PM

how do you like the flow on your Blueline?

HeavyWater

01/03/2012, 02:14 PM

Nice!

I love the large centre rock!

Can you run the wires for the lights down the center of the poles to hide them? Would give a much cleaner look.

Thanks for sharing.

cheers

Thanks, I really appreciate the feedback on the tank!

Running the wire throgh the poles was the origional idea but it just did not work out.... the wire plug was too big to fit through the poles, so the only way that I could have made it work was to run the un-wire the power cables from the reflectors, run those through the poles, and then re-wire everything. :sad2:

HeavyWater

01/05/2012, 08:49 PM

Next, I worked on getting the actual Calcium Reactor Online. Everything was pretty straight forward… here are the steps I took to get the GEO setup:

The GEO out of the box:
http://i805.photobucket.com/albums/yy335/jeffmuse/DSC02668.jpg
The Pump out of the box:
http://i805.photobucket.com/albums/yy335/jeffmuse/DSC02670.jpg
Pump nozzle installed:
http://i805.photobucket.com/albums/yy335/jeffmuse/DSC02671.jpg
Installing the pump to the reactor:
http://i805.photobucket.com/albums/yy335/jeffmuse/DSC02672.jpg
http://i805.photobucket.com/albums/yy335/jeffmuse/DSC02673.jpg
Recirculating pump export line installed:
http://i805.photobucket.com/albums/yy335/jeffmuse/DSC02674.jpg
After water testing the unit for leaks, it was time to install the reactor media… I chose the ARM media:

http://i805.photobucket.com/albums/yy335/jeffmuse/DSC02682.jpg
Next I installed the water input line from the main system into the reactor. This line is connects the manifold in the sump to the actual reactor. When setting this up, I had to really play with the flow rate to get the optimal amount of effluent into the display tank:

http://i805.photobucket.com/albums/yy335/jeffmuse/DSC02686.jpg
Here is a pic of the effluent line going into the sump:

http://i805.photobucket.com/albums/yy335/jeffmuse/DSC02685.jpg

HeavyWater

01/05/2012, 08:49 PM

milhous3er

01/13/2012, 07:49 PM

Updates man, updates !!

HeavyWater

01/26/2012, 09:55 PM

Updates on the Calcium Reactor will be coming shortly, but I just wanted to show a pic of my RBTA... One of my anemones split yesterday, now I have three The one in the middle and the right are the clones.

http://i805.photobucket.com/albums/yy335/jeffmuse/DSC02723.jpg

HeavyWater

01/29/2012, 06:15 PM

[QUOTE=HeavyWater;19796024]Updates on the Calcium Reactor will be coming shortly, but I just wanted to show a pic of my RBTA... One of my anemones split yesterday, now I have three The one in the middle and the right are the clones.

Correction, the anemone split 3 ways! I now have 4 RBTA's :)

http://i805.photobucket.com/albums/yy335/jeffmuse/DSC02727.jpg

HeavyWater

02/12/2012, 02:06 PM

Now that the GEO is setup on the manifold, it is time to attach the Co2 tank and regulator to the reactor.

First, the GEO setup minus the reactor:

http://i805.photobucket.com/albums/yy335/jeffmuse/DSC02687.jpg

Next comes installing the regulator to the Co2 Tank. Before attaching the regulator, I made sure that a washer was installed between the regulator and Co2 tank ( this is necessary that the two pieces of equipment are sealed).

http://i805.photobucket.com/albums/yy335/jeffmuse/DSC02691.jpg

After installing the washer, I picked up an adjustable wrench and tightened the regulator to the tank.

http://i805.photobucket.com/albums/yy335/jeffmuse/DSC02693.jpg

Once the regulator was in place, I turned on the Co2 Valve and plugged in the Solenoid.

http://i805.photobucket.com/albums/yy335/jeffmuse/DSC02694.jpg

HeavyWater

03/20/2012, 07:24 PM

I just wanted to update everyone on the status of the tank and the new reactor. After a month or so of testing the parameters and dialing everything in, I think that I have everything stable with the calcium reactor.

My calcium and mag are maintaining high levels and I have noticed significantly more growth out of my SPS corals (what few I have). In the 2 months that the reactor has been online, I have refrained from adding any more SPS until everything was stable. In the mean time, I have picked up some nice LPS and a few softies to tide me over before I start trying some of the harder SPS corals.

Here is an awesome Pearl Bubble that I picked up

http://i805.photobucket.com/albums/yy335/jeffmuse/DSC02724.jpg

Here is a pic of the tentacles extended:

http://i805.photobucket.com/albums/yy335/jeffmuse/DSC02831.jpg