homer1475's 80 gallon build

[homer1475]

Got my overflow cover from steve finally(he mailed it 3 times yet only received 1). I had to redo my plumbing as using 1" fittings caused it to stick above the overflow, and the cover would not fit.

I redid all the return plumbing with 3/4" and did away with the dual locline on each side of the return. A nice perk to doing away with the dual returns nozzles is I have way more flow coming out of 2 nozzles then I did with 4. I was actually able to turn down my return pump from 95% to 70% yet still have the same flow in the tank and through the sump. I feel like with the dual return fans the pump was actually pushing against more head pressure, so instead of actually getting more flow with the higher percentage on the pump, I was just pushing against more head.

Either way it was a nice change.

Just curious though, my cover is just a piece of black acrylic with 3 extra strips on the sides to give it thickness. It just sits on top of the overflow? I was thinking it might actually clip on the edge of the overflow with a grooves in the acrylic. Soul is that how yours is, just sits on top of the overflow?

Lets see what else......
Got a call from the wife yesterday at work that the tank was going off(apex alarm). It seems the nano ATO brain box finally died and ignored all the safety features it has built in(won't run longer then X time, float tells it to shut off), and dumped all 5G of RO/DI into the tank. While everything looks ok and my sump can handle it, the salinity dropped to 1.024. Tunze 3155 ordered and I'll be topping off with SW for a couple days.

[soulpatch]

My cover is the same. I have to flip it every 6 months or so as it bends ever so slightly with the heat and uv from the lights.

[intenseimage]

Originally Posted by homer1475

Lets see what else......
Got a call from the wife yesterday at work that the tank was going off(apex alarm). It seems the nano ATO brain box finally died and ignored all the safety features it has built in(won't run longer then X time, float tells it to shut off), and dumped all 5G of RO/DI into the tank. While everything looks ok and my sump can handle it, the salinity dropped to 1.024. Tunze 3155 ordered and I'll be topping off with SW for a couple days.

Hold up ... if you simply added 5G due to the failure, let the water level drop back to normal levels via evap and your salinity will return. Then you can simply resume normal ATO with RODI

[cincyjim]

+1, let normal evaporation occur and you will return to your set salinity level naturally.

[soulpatch]

Depends on how long it takes his tank to evap and retain that salinity level though 1.024 isnt much of a concern for many. For my SPS I would be freaking out and would need ot bring it up over the next day or so.

That said I also evap like 2-3 gallons a day....

[Daltonbilecki]

I have the same size tank I evaporate just under a gallon a day


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[homer1475]

Yes I just let it evap back to normal. Thought I would have to add salt water back to keep the level constant, but once the extra water evapped, back to where its supposed to be.


Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk

[homer1475]

Holy hell has my ATS exploded in growth!!!

I have some small spots of algae in the tank(like on the overflow, and some in the sand), but the ATS has certainly taken off now.

I posted about cleaning it last week, looked at it again today and it was full again!! Even thicker and a nice dark green color when I cleaned it yesterday. Finally something is working the way its supposed to be. lol

Still need to catch my leopard wrasse for TTM and to start the fallow period. Shes so just so damn hard to catch, and I really don't want to rip the rockwork apart. I'll just keep trying.

I do have a fully functional regular 40G all setup that the kole and my clowns have been living in after TTM. So it's not a huge concern on when I start the fallow period, but I just bought new wood looking tile for my fish room floor(carpet and SW don't mix) and can't install any of it until I finish the fallow period and get the extra tank tore down.

[homer1475]

Finally!!!!!!!!!

Caught the leopard last night after taking the rockwork apart twice! She was awake and swimming around around noon, took a few pieces of rock out, and tried for an hour. She dove into the sandbed so I took the rest of the rock out. Poked around the entire sandbed and she would not come out. Put everything back in and gave up for the time being.

A couple hours later I saw her up and swimming around again. This time my wife was home so I had her keep an eye on her and find out where she dives into the sandbed. Got all the rock and coral out, and scoped her right up in the sand which made her freak out big time! Lucky for me I had a very big net and she didn't get out. Dumped the fish into my TTM tank and sand back into the tank.

Funny thing, last time I TTMed her she liked a little bowl of sand and would sleep and hide in it. This time around I put the same small bowl of sand, and she thinks shes hiding by squeezing between the bowl and the tank. lol

May 1 I'll be ich free again and can start working on getting that floor down. With the small splashes here, small splashes there, forgot to turn off the pump to fill the salt bucket(about 10G on the floor), etc, etc, the carpet is really starting to smell moldy.

[homer1475]

Went for a ride yesterday to check out the LFS in my area(2 1/2 hour drive not quite local lol) as I haven't been to an LFS in quite a while.

Ended up buying a 4 head duncan for $10, a nice pink trachyphyllia, 2 acan frags, and a maze brain. Fingers crossed the acans make it.

If you been following my trails and tribulations you know the issue I've been having with any acans I put in my tank, or any coral for that matter. Which is a real PITA in my eyes as acans are one of my favorite corals.

Slowly starting to restock my tank with coral, and I have 4 fish that are in a QT tank until May 1. 2 midnight clowns, yellow eye kole, and the only original fish I have left my female leopard wrasse.

I'll post photos in the next post as it's way easier from tapatalk.

[homer1475]

Pics





Need to flip the duncan around as the open heads are on the opposite side.

[homer1475]

Just got my BRS order!

Going to try the NYOS nitrate kit as I feel the salifert kit just doesn't seem very accurate to me(my numbers bounce around like a basketball). I also bought a 30pxx panworld pump for my mixing station(needed a cheap external pump and panworlds are fairly cheap). The old return pump that came with the SCA tank finally crapped out.

Also forgot to mention....
I bought some random flow generators for the ends of my returns. These things are absolutely great! They snap right onto loc-line products, and act like educators with the twist that the flow comes out at random patterns. I suggest anyone looking for random flow out of their returns, give them a shot. For 32$ you can't go wrong.

[homer1475]

Went to Buffalo yesterday for a drive and because I haven't been out to check out their awesome shops in over a year(4 1/2 hour drive one way).

I don't know if I caught them all on off weeks, but man no one had isht! ARC the premeir shop is in the process of moving stores and had 1 frag tank with aboput 100 frags for sale. Completely unimpressed with their offerings. They had 3 other frag tanks full to the brim with frags but, "we can't sell those, they are our grow out tanks". BUT THATS WHERE ALL THE GOOD STUFF IS!!!!! Pointless in my eyes to have 4 8foot by 3 foot frag tanks at the front of your store with nothing for sale in them. What you have for sale is another 8 foot by 3 foot frag tank at the back of your store with very little in it, and nothing from your grow out tanks. Last time I went to this store I was very impressed, so I'm wondering if maybe because they haven't finished moving yet or this is how they will run the new store. If the latter, I will not be going back.

Anyways, I came home unimpressed and all my money in my pocket. All I saw was cheapo acans(very little color, pale actually like greys and browns) they wanted like 50$ for a single head! And a whole lot of softies. Went into one store tht had probably close to 3k gallons in tanks, but every tank had a huge leather and zoas. Not a single LPS or SPS.

I did come home with my first SPS coral just to test the waters so to speak. I never realized how expensive SPS's are as none of the LFS in my area carry them. My wife liked some blueberry tort or something they called it, 350$ for a tiny 4 branch SPS!

Anyways, I bought a 2 branch of green slimer to test out the waters. I have it as high in my tank as possible and in decent flow, so we'll see. I do have 2 plating monti's that are growing like crazy, so I think this one will do fine as well.

On a side note I've decided I need a frag rack and hate the plastic racks. After doing some digging online I found a nice 6 hole frag rack that looks like a piece of rock and is magnetic to the side of my glass(I'm going to put it on my overflow). I was looking at BRS but the only ones they have that are rock looking will only hold onto 1/4" glass and they want 70$. Yes I know nothing in this hobby is cheap, but thats just stupid.

[zachogden]

Originally Posted by homer1475

350$ for a tiny 4 branch SPS!

dude. is it some super high-end designer coral? That's nuts. hearing stuff like this makes me feel blessed to live in an area with so many reefers (Detroit area). $5 for common SPS frags up to $20 higher end pieces. Even $50 is rare

[soulpatch]

Originally Posted by zachogden

dude. is it some super high-end designer coral? That's nuts. hearing stuff like this makes me feel blessed to live in an area with so many reefers (Detroit area). $5 for common SPS frags up to $20 higher end pieces. Even $50 is rare

define higher end pieces.... If you are able to grab items like UC SSC, Disney, Homewrecker, JF Jolt and the like for $50 let me know. I will send $100 your way to give you $50 for your troubles to score em for me....




Homer - In my area items like bubblegum digi and the like go for around 40-80 depending on the size of frags. More basic items like stylos, montis, and more go for around $20. Though when you start to get into items like pink fusion, disney, and the like prices rise dramatically depending on the coral.

[homer1475]

Hearing Homewrecker sounds like something they had. This was a nice blue color, about 4 branches, and the base was about the size of a half dollar.

Some of the prices were insane, but it's the only place I've been to that actually had quite a few SPS pieces. But then again, they weren't for sale. I will say even though they didn't have a whole lot for sale, their growout tanks were stunning, and after talking to them for a while, they seemed to know their isht.

I payed 35$ for this little 2 branch of green slimer. I'll post a pic in the next post.

[homer1475]

Green slimer. Looks super happy at the moment. Forgive the algae on the glass, it's on today's to do list.



Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk

[soulpatch]

Dude you pay shipping and I can shoot you some SPS frags....that from the sounds of it would go for hundreds up there. LOL

Fraggable at any time I have bubblegum digi, oregon tort, superman digi, wwc yellow tip, pink milli, sunset milli, bubblegum milli, strawberry shortcake, UC strawberry shortcake. Even have the basics like green slimer, green planet, deepwater teal tip acro, blue acro, and more.

Coming soon I have disney, wwc suicide squad, blue matrix, event horizon, ora tort chip, pearlberry, and a couple other escaping me at the moment.

The blue could have been an overpriced oregon tort. It is a VERY slow grower so does tend to be priced higher in a lot of areas if supply is limited.

[homer1475]

Thank you for the offer Soul! But lets see what this one does first before I try some higher end SPS's. I am still somewhat recovering from loosing all my coral.

Besides I'll be coming down there around the end of April beginning of may sometime. Nothing set in stone yet, but I have some vaca coming up and I need to use it or loose it. We'll have to schedule a meetup for sure!

Yes! oregon tort is what my wife said they said it was. They had a smaller frag that was 1 1" stick that was 150$. I just couldn't see myself spending that much for a beginner SPS.

[homer1475]

Is milli the fuzzy looking SPS's? Those are the ones my wife likes.

[soulpatch]

most milli are "fuzzy" yes as they have fairly constant polyp extension.

That price is astronomical for a 1" piece of Oregon Tort for my area. I charge about $50-60 for a chunky frag and my local lfs at most are 10 more then me.

As for April/May let me know. I have business trip to London sometime around there and am in Disney May 12-19.

[MK3_LUV]

Here in Dallas a few weeks ago in one of the LFS' DT, they had a colony of blue tort (the kid working couldnt remember if it was an oregon tort or a cali tort) and I figured it wouldnt even be for sale, but when I said something the kid was like "how does a fresh cut frag for $20 sound?" I was like SOLD!!

So I walked out with a maybe 3/4in frag for $20. Just goes to show sometimes it just depends on where you are/ who you're talking to and what they have available. Same tank had little 1/4in nubs of walt disney they wanted $75/frag for

[soulpatch]

Originally Posted by MK3_LUV

Same tank had little 1/4in nubs of walt disney they wanted $75/frag for

Disney prices are crashing ATM as it is getting common. Even homewrecker is starting to become reasonable. Other rainbows are filling the void at the moment though...

[homer1475]

Got my frag rack in yesterday, unfortunately I cannot put it on my overflow like I planned as the magnet is a little to weak to hold through the 3/4 glass and plastic covering. It's a bit smaller then I was imagining, but it will do. I often wonder if the people who make these "realistic" items for our tanks actually ever look at what a real tank looks like? The fake purple is too purple and looks nothing like any coralline I've seen. You can definetely tell its a fake rock. lol

I'm thinking I might try to make my own rack out of some stronger magnets, sand, and concrete. That way I can put it wherever the heck I want, and it won't look super fake.

Little green slimer is still doing great and now that I've moved it into direct flow and closer to the light I can really see it's polyps extending now. It has one side with very few polyps and slightly brown. I'm going to guess this is due to LED shadowing as thats what it was under at the LFS and has been that way since I brought it home.

Everything else is doing great ATM(don't want to jinx it), tank is finally coming along nicely. ATS is working as it should be(cleaning about 1/2C of algae weekly off the screen). I have noticed since I'm not feeding the fish(fallow time), my screen has gone to being all slimy again. Thinking I might just ghost feed the tank so my screen doesn't die off and I have to start all over again when I dump all the fish back in. Plus my nutrient level is a little too low for my liking(PO4 - .053 think this is fine, but NO3 is 0 on 4 different test kits(salifert, red sea, API, and NYOS) so it obviously is actually 0). I'm going to let it ride for now as I have no fish producing waste, and corals look super healthy, but might have to look into dosing nitrates in the near future.

I'll post a couple pics in a few hours when the lights come on.

EDIT:

looking like beginning to mid April I'll be coming down Soul. Even if your gone, I can make a day trip sometime(it's only a 6 hour drive one way lol) Would really love to meet you, your family, and see your tank(more to see your tank, but that's the reef geek in me lmao).

[homer1475]

Just had a thought in case anyone was wondering.

As far as my nitrate issue being so low, someone will chime in and say to feed your corals more. Well I do feed them a mixture of LRS reef frenzy, a block of PE mysis, 4 scoops of reef chili, and some fresh oyster meat(been having my local grocery order some for me, it's great living in a small town as I know every shop owner on main street) 3 times a week since I rebooted the tank.