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Unread 09/22/2016, 02:49 PM   #51
zachxlutz
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Oh! I forgot to add... The water change system works perfect. I did a change of about 30 gallons this weekend with no trouble whatsoever!



Most of the invasive sump setup work is done and now I can begin working on my design for skinning the stand. I'm thinking I'm going to make the whole skin removable in order to have easy access to the sides. Research incoming.


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Unread 09/22/2016, 02:54 PM   #52
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Nice job on the mixing station! Very well thought out.

Keep an eye on those hermits. In my experience, they kill snails, which are better algae eaters. Then once you start feeding the tank, they eat leftover fish food, not algae.


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Unread 09/22/2016, 08:24 PM   #53
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Michael Hoaster View Post
Nice job on the mixing station! Very well thought out.

Keep an eye on those hermits. In my experience, they kill snails, which are better algae eaters. Then once you start feeding the tank, they eat leftover fish food, not algae.


Thanks, it should serve my purposes well. I'm going to build a stand under it so that I can store buckets of salt and supplies under the mixing station. At that point I'm going to add another bulkhead to the bottom of the fresh water container to fill up my ATO containers easier.

I don't mind having killer hermits. They're fun to watch and provide a little bit of excitement. If I notice the snail population dwindling, I'll likely replace some as needed.


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Zach's 120 Gallon Reef Resurgence:

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2590557

Current Tank Info: 120 Gallon Display + 55 Gallon Sump/Fuge
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Unread 09/23/2016, 12:25 PM   #54
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Nice setup. Same size DT as mine.
Your approach is a bit, OK a lot, old school, but it will do fine for you.
Depending on what kind of corals you are planning on, I'd save some space for your dosing containers and dosing pumps. Do it now before you're too comfortable with everything.
Also circulation pumps have grown a few generations in the last 10 years. Not saying you need a thousand dollars worth of pumps, but I think an upgrade may be in the future.
Last bit of advice is to set up your quarantine tank now just to get it cycled and ready as well.
Yes. You need to quarantine.
Best of luck.

Daniel.


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Unread 09/24/2016, 06:38 PM   #55
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Quote:
Originally Posted by scubadan206 View Post
Nice setup. Same size DT as mine.
Your approach is a bit, OK a lot, old school, but it will do fine for you.
Depending on what kind of corals you are planning on, I'd save some space for your dosing containers and dosing pumps. Do it now before you're too comfortable with everything.
Also circulation pumps have grown a few generations in the last 10 years. Not saying you need a thousand dollars worth of pumps, but I think an upgrade may be in the future.
Last bit of advice is to set up your quarantine tank now just to get it cycled and ready as well.
Yes. You need to quarantine.
Best of luck.

Daniel.
Yep, getting the 29 gallon going soon. I'm going to place some media in the sump to help cycle the QT tank.

I'm not planning on getting to the point where i have to individually dose additives on a daily basis. I'd like to keep SPS and hard corals, but pick and choose what I put in the tank. I'd rather have a few really nice pieces rather than a ton of mediocre things, I think. I'll fill the rest in with LPS, softies and an anemone. I hope to only ever have to use kalkwasser in my ATO as my main additive.

The powerheads are just placeholders until I make up my mind on how I want to get flow going in the tank. I'm currently thinking of either 2 maxspect xf230 gyres set at either end of the tank or using the RKE to set up a couple wave modes and use 2-3 Sicce Voyager 4 powerheads.

Why do you call the tank old school? The MH lighting? The DIY approach? I do think adding some LED lighting in the future would be cool and slim down the top of the tank and reduce heat and power consumption. Other than the lighting, I don't think there are too many things different than most of the modern tanks I see on here.

Anyway, thanks for your comments, I'm very excited to see how the tank progresses.


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Unread 09/27/2016, 07:59 AM   #56
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I posted this elsewhere, but thought I'd post it here as well... I'd like to upgrade the flow in the tank and have a few options I'm considering:

Quote:
It's come time to look at upgrading the flow situation in my 120 gallon 4'x2'x2' tank and I'd kindly like to ask for your advice. Here's a link to my build thread if you'd like to peruse through before offering your advice: Zach's 120 Gallon Reef Resurgence.

I'm planning on keeping a mix of softies, LPS, SPS... a nice mix of everything. Currently the tank is running two 1600 gph SunSun JVP-201B powerheads (remnants of the past). They're working fine but my inclination is that they won't work well with my Reefkeeper Elite running them on a wavemaker timer as they tend to clatter and clank when I turn them on and off.

Option A:

I've got the Reefkeeper, which has the ability to control powerheads as a wavemaker which opens up the possibility of using 2x Sicce Voyager 4s (1600 gph each) set up through the Reefkeeper on timers and the 2x SunSun powerheads running full time. This would give me a total of 6400 gph with all units on and around 4800 gph as the two Voyagers would likely run at opposing times in order to create more random flow.

Cost: Approximately $178.00

Option B:

Continue to use the SunSun powerheads and add a Maxspect Gyre 230. This would give me a max flow rate of 5500 gph using all pumps and a minimum of 3200 gph as the gyre runs through it's scheduled flow pattern. I like this option due to the laminar flow that the gyre provides.

Cost: Approximately $290.00

Option C:

Any other ideas?

Final Thoughts:

I enjoy having new technology and adding the Maxspect with it's separate controller would be cool but also possibly open up the door to more complications as I'd be essentially adding another controller to the mix. The cost is a little higher and the flow is a little less, albeit laminar and different than the 2x Voyagers. The obtrusiveness of the Gyre seems like it'd be a little less than adding two of the big Sicce Voyager powerheads. Help! I just can't make up my mind.



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Unread 09/27/2016, 09:28 AM   #57
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The tank is showing some early signs of maturity. The rock is becoming a more uniform color, some light brown algae is appearing on the glass, rock and sand. The refugium is also showing some signs of algal growth as well as seeing new growth in the chaeto and the gracilaria.

FTS:



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Unread 09/28/2016, 01:53 PM   #58
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Yeah the MH lights, the overflows, the black paint, the HOB skimmer. Stuff that someone would have laying around as if they had a tank set up 10-15 years ago. I got some of the same things from a guy who did just that.
Most, or all of it, will work just fine. Upgrade as you see fit.

Daniel.



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Unread 09/29/2016, 08:09 AM   #59
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Quote:
Originally Posted by scubadan206 View Post
Yeah the MH lights, the overflows, the black paint, the HOB skimmer. Stuff that someone would have laying around as if they had a tank set up 10-15 years ago. I got some of the same things from a guy who did just that.
Most, or all of it, will work just fine. Upgrade as you see fit.

Daniel.
The main thing I want to upgrade as the system gets stocked is the skimmer. It's definitely under rated for the tank. In doing some initial research, I think the chamber in the sump that would hold a submerged skimmer is too small. I'm going to look into a different sump system at that point... I have another 55 gallon tank I may look at building up as a sump so that I can easily swap from the existing sump to a new one with a better setup for a new skimmer.


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Unread 10/04/2016, 09:53 AM   #60
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MILESTONE!

This past weekend we reached a pretty big milestone with the tank. After watching our ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, phosphate, calcium, alkalinity and pH levels over the past few weeks, I felt comfortable adding a few pieces of hardy coral to the tank. We stopped by Atlanta Aquarium Saturday morning after picking up some books for my girlfriend from Titan Comics, located in the same shopping center. Everyone at the store was very helpful in picking out coral and everything looked so healthy. We had a really hard time deciding on what we wanted but eventually settled on 4 pieces of coral.

Duncan (the largest piece we got, 1 large head and several babies popping up under the main head):



Frogspawn (tiny! cute!):



Fungia (very small little baby, but opening up great):



Zoanthid (Dragon Eye?):



We're also getting great growth from the macros in the 'fuge, although the red spectrum LED makes photographing it impossible with the iPhone:


And finally, a FTS showing the initial placement of the coral. None has been glued down or permanently mounted as they are so small and we're not really sure what direction we want to take the tank with what future corals we'd like and what sort of placement we'd like.


The fungia is on the substrate near the left side of the right island. The duncan is on the top right of the right island. The frogspawn in on the top left of the right island. The zoas are placed in the center of the left island.

I've been playing with the placement of the two existing powerheads while I still contemplate what the next powerhead purchase will be. I'm really leaning towards the new Maxspect Gyre 230 at this point.

We're also patiently waiting to get fish in the tank. It's come to the point in time where I'd like to start coming up with a plan for what fish we're going to want and the order of introduction to the tank. I've got the QT tank set up next to the DT and I've got some filters in the sump of the main tank building up bacteria so the QT tank should cycle relatively minimally.

We're really at a loss for what fish we want! I'd like a shoal/school of something beautiful... I really like anthias but I'm afraid they're going to require a lot of feeding and I'd really like to keep feeding the tank down to once a day. I'd like a tang but I'm not sure how well it would do in a 120. We definitely want clowns, although we haven't decided on what sort of variation yet.

Anyway, that's today's update! Thanks for following along!


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Unread 10/06/2016, 02:34 PM   #61
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ok! what is this?

The "stuff" in question is this:





And here is a video:

https://youtu.be/wvZks38_MGI


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Unread 10/06/2016, 05:44 PM   #62
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Well, upon further investigation I've identified the unknown "stuff" on the live rock as Cerith Snail eggs. I've linked some pictures below to help others in the event they stumble across this thread looking for information.





I found this information at this link: The Hitchhikers Guide to Your Aquarium

Seemingly, most pictures will show the snail leaving it's eggs on the glass which initially stumped me as I searched for images of each type of invertebrate in my tank's eggs.


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Unread 10/06/2016, 11:37 PM   #63
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Very cool progression...cool
Eggs too. Have you decided which fish to start with?


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Unread 10/07/2016, 05:46 AM   #64
zachxlutz
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Very cool progression...cool
Eggs too. Have you decided which fish to start with?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


Thanks! I'm going to watch the eggs but I don't have high hopes for them. Maybe we'll get some baby snails... we'll see! As far as fish, still no plan yet. It's so hard to decide what we want.


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Zach's 120 Gallon Reef Resurgence:

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2590557

Current Tank Info: 120 Gallon Display + 55 Gallon Sump/Fuge
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Unread 10/13/2016, 04:43 PM   #65
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Just a few things to report in on, not a ton of progress lately but things are going swimmingly around here.

We've set up our QT tank, 29 gallons with a HOB filter and some luxurious PVC elbows! In order to keep cycling to a minimum, I placed two of the filters for the HOB filter in the sump of the main tank for about three weeks and used those plus the filter sock from the main tank in the HOB filter. It's filled with water currently and running. I'll keep my eye on the levels while we wait to pick out our first fish additions. We're still struggling with what fish we're going to want to keep though. We just wanted to get the QT tank set up so when we make the decision, we're ready to bring something home.



I know, I know... I need to get the stand skinned and painted. Cyclocross season just started and we're basically busy every weekend racing. I basically only have Monday nights free to do tank maintenance and work on anything outside of cycling. I'm hoping to pick up some materials for the stand tomorrow and maybe I'll get something done on that Saturday AM.

Obligatory FTS:


The snail eggs have seemingly hatched and are gone.

The live rock is going through some color changes in the last 10 days or so. The rock has gone from mostly white to a more uniform color of bright green/brown. The green is, from what I can tell, the start of coralline algae. It's not hairy or fuzzy like microalgae or brown/red/bubbly like diatoms or cyano. It's more of like the live rock coming back to life after spending years dry and dark. There are a TON of purple coralline spots poking through the green on the live rock. It's starting to look great. There's a spot of coralline on the back wall as well as almost all the snails and hermit crabs. I can't wait for it to take off.

We're currently at the tail end of a hydroid explosion *hopefully*. I've been cleaning the glass almost daily trying to get them to go through the overflows into the filter sock. It seems to be working, the population seems to be dwindling.

The macros in the refugium are growing like weeds! The red gracilaria is actually outgrowing the chaetomorpha... fine by me. I'd almost rather keep just the red gracilaria as I hear it's a good option for feeding tangs and it looks super cool!

The coral all seem to be doing well... Hard to judge growth at this point but all are open constantly and look bright and colorful.

Vitals:
Sg: 1.025
Temp: 79F
Ph: 8.1 (fairly constant with the kalk in the ATO)
Calcium - Ca: 420
Alkalinity - KH: 9
Nitrate - NO3: 0 (no reading on API kit - will invest in something more accurate soon)
Phosphate - PO4: 0 (same, API kit - need something better)

Thanks for checking in!


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Unread 10/14/2016, 07:40 AM   #66
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I'm glad to see they hydroids slowly disappearing, too. It seems like they spiked up and my pod population spiked down. I may try and get another package of pods to help re-seed their population.

Last night I dosed 14 grams of sodium bicarbonate in an effort to bring up the alkalinity to 10 from 9. I'd like to see if I can now keep it at 10 just using the kalkwasser ATO. The Red Sea Coral Pro is supposed to mix up to around 11, depending on salinity. I think I'm still working to get my levels up to where I want them due to using instant ocean to get the tank going. I've changed out a total of 105 gallons of water since I set the tank up, so I imagine we're getting close to clearing out the original salt and getting to a more unified mix of the Coral Pro salt. After dosing, I retested and found that the Alk did come up to 10, just as the calculator on Bulk Reef Supply said it would. Very cool!


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Unread 10/21/2016, 08:07 PM   #67
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We've got some swimmers!

Last weekend we went to Atlanta Aquarium to show my 3 year old nephew the fish and coral and what would you know, we ended up buying our first fish. We saw a pair of really distinctive looking all white clownfish in one of the tanks and inquired about their history and asked to watch them eat. They ate well, looked healthy, plump and showed no signs of disease as near as I could tell. We were told they'd had them for a couple of months now which made me feel better about the purchase as well. They are a mated pair of Wyoming White ocellaris clownfish. We also picked up a nice looking little cleaner shrimp.

I busted out the proper camera to take some pictures today:

Female:


Male:


Looking everywhere for some mysis at dinner time:


Shrimpy shrimp:

(That picture really shows all the specs of coralline algae popping up! )

The smaller, lower heads on the Duncan coral seem to be growing well, finally epoxied this piece, disk and all to the live rock:




Funny story on this little frogspawn frag... Came home from work for lunch one day this week and it was missing. Gone... Poof! The frogspawn came from the store on a typical frag disk that we just had set on the rock while we were deciding where everything should be placed permanently. The disk was still in place, but the tiny little frag had gone bye bye. I think maybe a snail or hermit must have just knocked it free of the disk. I scarfed down my lunch quickly and with the help of my girlfriend, tore apart the rock work and started shaking out the rock in the water trying to find it. Finally dug through about 4 pieces of rock and it came flying out into the sand bed. OPERATION RECOVERY COMPLETE! Now... We had to get it mounted. I was sure it was already stressed out from being blown around the tank and caught under the rocks so I quickly kneaded up some reef epoxy and pushed the frag in carefully and then placed it on the rock. I was worried it wasn't going to make it at first because so much of the skeleton was showing but by the time I made it home from work a few hours later it was already all open and extended. Hopefully it likes the new location and won't get knocked around this time.


Finally, FTS:


We have some orange gel filters for the nice camera, I need to do some more research on how to set them up with the white balance to get more accurate color capture in the photos.

We're excited to head to the expo at Atlanta Aquarium tomorrow and maybe pick up some new things!


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Unread 10/22/2016, 05:32 PM   #68
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Today was rad. Got a sweet deal on 10 new frags... Won $100 gift card to Atlanta Aquarium at the expo. Saw some awesome coral and met some nice people! I'm looking forward to attending again next year... Now, I need to decide what our next purchase is going to be!

Here's our newest additions:

Purple Birdsnest:


Green Palythoas
Closed:
[/URL]

Open (iphone pic):


Mystic Sunset Montipora:


Branching Psammocora (I think...):


Pavona (I think...):


Screaming Neon Green Birdsnest:


Acropora (not sure which type. Chameleon? not the best pic):


Another pic of acropora from my iphone:


Meteor Shower Cyphastrea:



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Unread 10/22/2016, 05:33 PM   #69
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Red Digitata:


Candy Cane:


FTS:


Now, we just need to decide on placement and start epoxying! These pictures were taken right after adding to the tank, they're really starting to open up and seem comfortable in their new home.

Thoughts on placement? Advice? Thanks!


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Unread 10/22/2016, 10:45 PM   #70
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Score! Nice frags. Tank looks great!


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As many naturalists and environmentalists have suggested, we should set aside our arrogance,
our desire to conquer and control everything, and walk hand in hand with Mother Nature. -Walter Adey

Current Tank Info: 180g Seagrass Sandbar Lagoon, START DATE November 28, 2018
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Unread 10/23/2016, 05:42 AM   #71
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Quote:
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Score! Nice frags. Tank looks great!


Thanks! I'm excited to find homes on the rock for these pieces and watch them grow.


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Zach's 120 Gallon Reef Resurgence:

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2590557

Current Tank Info: 120 Gallon Display + 55 Gallon Sump/Fuge
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Unread 10/27/2016, 12:40 PM   #72
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Today has been a good day so far. Some fun new toys came in the mail today!





Excited to get playing with some new things tonight after work!


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Zach's 120 Gallon Reef Resurgence:

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2590557

Current Tank Info: 120 Gallon Display + 55 Gallon Sump/Fuge
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Unread 10/27/2016, 12:41 PM   #73
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That's a nice stack of toys. Have fun!


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Unread 10/27/2016, 01:00 PM   #74
zachxlutz
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Quote:
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That's a nice stack of toys. Have fun!
Oh, I will!

Also - The Hanna is SO nice. Never used one before and did my first alk test with it in under 5 minutes. Came up at 9.5 which is exactly what I tested at last night with a Salifert test kit. I can safely say, already, that the Hanna checker is much easier, precise and quick to use!


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Zach's 120 Gallon Reef Resurgence:

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2590557

Current Tank Info: 120 Gallon Display + 55 Gallon Sump/Fuge
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Unread 10/27/2016, 03:18 PM   #75
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Wow! Two of those gyre pumps seems like a lot for a 120, but I'm sure you can dial them back. That's going to be sweet!


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As many naturalists and environmentalists have suggested, we should set aside our arrogance,
our desire to conquer and control everything, and walk hand in hand with Mother Nature. -Walter Adey

Current Tank Info: 180g Seagrass Sandbar Lagoon, START DATE November 28, 2018
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