Coral Tank from Canada (1350gal Display Tank) - split

[Newbie Aquarist]

Originally Posted by Elliott

I can't find a place that sells the see clear 5" disc kit you have, Champion Lighting only has the sleeves...

You might want to try this site. I used this kit when I had my tank buffed out.

http://www.sisweb.com/micromesh/craftsman_kits.htm

[Elliott]

Originally Posted by Newbie Aquarist

You might want to try this site. I used this kit when I had my tank buffed out.

http://www.sisweb.com/micromesh/craftsman_kits.htm

thanks

[mr.wilson]

See Clear sells the algae scrubber & outer cloth, bit not the micromesh.

I picked the pads up locally at Lee Valley Tools http://www.leevalley.com/us/wood/pag...46&cat=1,42500

You can also try http://www.amazon.com/MICRO-MESH-NO-.../dp/B000H6JDDC

[Elliott]

Originally Posted by mr.wilson

See Clear sells the algae scrubber & outer cloth, bit not the micromesh.

I picked the pads up locally at Lee Valley Tools http://www.leevalley.com/us/wood/pag...46&cat=1,42500

You can also try http://www.amazon.com/MICRO-MESH-NO-.../dp/B000H6JDDC

wow, much better pricing, thanks!

[mike623]

Awesome build!

[captngreg]

Peter
Sorry I posted my update to your thread

[Elliott]

very nice cabinetry, great job!

[Garfield90]

Originally Posted by mr.wilson

Our magnesium is always about 1350. We only use a calcium reactor and occasionally add sodium carbonate & bicarbonate to make up for low alk. We do not dose any magnesium supplements, so the mangroves do not appear to have much impact. Perhaps it is due to the shear volume of water, or maybe some of the magnesium uptake is reclaimed by our automated misting system?

Do you know which is your reactor media and how many pounds or kg are in the reactor?? Also, which magnesium media are you guys using?

Thank you

[salali]

I like the lights system. What brand of lights are you using?

[nineball]

Originally Posted by salali

I like the lights system. What brand of lights are you using?

I am currently using Orphek LEDs.


Peter

[DeepBlueZoas]

nice

[nineball]

Originally Posted by Garfield90

Do you know which is your reactor media and how many pounds or kg are in the reactor?? Also, which magnesium media are you guys using?

Thank you

We are not dosing magnesium into the system. The only Magnesium comes into the system through frequent water changes of 100 gal/week with the new salt water which is Reef Crystals. I will let Mr. Wilson comment on the reactors in the system as I will probably not get the products correct.

Peter

[Chago09]

Tanks looking good Peter! Hope all is well.

[mr.wilson]

The RLSS calcium reactor has coarse Caribbsea media. There are two post reactor (second pass) chambers full of dolomite. I don't think these are the source of magnesium s they were added in the last few months, but I'm sure they help.

[FLAMAANGEL]

You sir have one of the nicest tanks.

[Made2Rock]

Peter or Shawn

A while back Peter was asking about automatic feeders. Has a good solution to automatically feeding the tank been found?

Joe

[dave.m]

And is there a Christmas/New Year video update coming soon?

Dave.M

[Made2Rock]

Originally Posted by dave.m

And is there a Christmas/New Year video update coming soon?

Dave.M

That would be a nice christmas present to all

[Andrew D]

Well, it's taken me 2 months to do it, but I've finally made it through all 340 pages. Could've done it quicker, but I wanted to enjoy it as much as I can. I'm busy planning a 300G display/700G system build and, having been in the hobby for 5 years now, I thought I knew enough to keep me out of trouble. The wealth of knowledge in this thread is incredible, as is the passion, dedication and support of all who contribute. I don't have anything of substance to add, only to thank you all for this journey.

Peter, I didn't want to contribute to this thread until I'd read it in its entirety, but I too was at your house for the open house. Your system is incredible, as is your home, your hospitality, and your willingness to share it all with us.

A VERY BIG THANKS from those of us who can only dream of having a system like yours one day.

Andrew

[nineball]

Originally Posted by Andrew D

Well, it's taken me 2 months to do it, but I've finally made it through all 340 pages. Could've done it quicker, but I wanted to enjoy it as much as I can. I'm busy planning a 300G display/700G system build and, having been in the hobby for 5 years now, I thought I knew enough to keep me out of trouble. The wealth of knowledge in this thread is incredible, as is the passion, dedication and support of all who contribute. I don't have anything of substance to add, only to thank you all for this journey.

Peter, I didn't want to contribute to this thread until I'd read it in its entirety, but I too was at your house for the open house. Your system is incredible, as is your home, your hospitality, and your willingness to share it all with us.

A VERY BIG THANKS from those of us who can only dream of having a system like yours one day.

Andrew

Thank you ever so much Andrew for your generous praise. As you know by now having made the 'full' journey through this experience to date, it has really been a team effort and I have to thank them for the effort to produce the results you have seen. I haven't been on the thread as much as I should because there is a lot going on here at the moment.

We have been renovating the fish room which has been getting a lot of attention over the last few months. We have removed two of the Mars Bars leaving one mainly for fish isolation and breeding.

Our fish have been extremely healthy with no major disease outbreaks over the life of this project. We have been very strict with our fish migration to the display tank with a minimum 1 month isolation before introduction to the general population. This I believe has been a major factor in the overall health of our fish in the display tank.

We have not been as fortunate with our coral. I believe that is because we did not follow the same discipline that we did with our fish. We do dip all our coral prior to introducing them into the display tank but we have been suffering through an acro eating flatworm infestation. Flatworms are a fact of life on the reefs but a combination of natural predators and healthy ocean currents seem to keep this pestilence in check.

Living with a closed system is however something else again. The double dip that we perform does an excellent job of getting any adults that may be hitchhiking in with new coral but does NOT get any eggs that were laid in advance. I believe we are going to lose most if not all of the acropora in the tank which is disappointing to say the least. There really isn't too much anyone can do in a system this size. Removing all the acropora just isn't possible which anyone who has seen this tank in person can appreciate. We do have the species of wrasse that will go after the worms but they cant seem to keep up. The goal I have established is to isolate all coral in future for two months before introduction into the display tank. There will also be a twice weekly dip for all corals during this period of isolation.
We have custom designed two 8 foot by 3 foot by 1 foot tanks in bunk bed style with separate sumps to ensure no cross contamination between the 2 new tanks and any other system. This will give us 16 feet by 3 feet of dedicated coral tanks to eventually feed the display tank. Of course we had to design custom LED lighting systems for both new tanks. Mr. Wilson can comment on those specifications when we install them over the next few weeks. We also got two more skimmers, calk reactors etc to ensure the healthiest environment possible.

Our plan is to take the discharge from our weekly water changes from the display tank to feed the 2 new tanks. This should allow us to get a 40% water change weekly.

I expect that once we get the routine established that it will probably take a year before we regularly introduce new corals to the display tank again. So this is a long process which hopefully will produce better results with better discipline. Mr. Wilson has mentioned he will put up some pics of the new equipment in the near future...

We also have not had much use for our hospital tank as the fish are so healthy and it is a 130 gal nice display tank so we have decided to maintain a predator tank with the lion fish and grouper to start........

Stay tuned for more when time permits...


Peter

[Briney Dave]

heart breaking Peter, I had flats in a small system and had very good luck with the EXIT from Salifert but it was a very small puddle compared to your system. I don't think I could even make that work on my smaller system (800 total gal)

I love how much attention is paid to controls but don't think it is is possible to keep ever single thing out of the tank.

Nature is just too crafty to go down without a fight

good luck and remain posititve through this period. While it stinks to loose so much, it does give you the chance to reflect and maybe change the layout of how corals are grouped or positioned. There is always a chance to improve and imerge with something better in the long run

my students and I wish you good luck and look forward to seeing what you will be doing in the fish room

Briney

[Made2Rock]

Peter, Sorry to hear about the flat worms and wish you all the luck in the world getting over this problem.

Joe

[Tanu]

Sad to hear. A few years ago, I had the same problem. I read that Thomas Pohl (www.korallenzucht.de) found that a certain shrimp, Rhynchocinetes durbanensis, actually eats these worms and their eggs.

He recommends having a group of these shrimps in a separate tank and then having the corals 'treated' by them for about an hour. If left longer, the shrimps could damage the corals' tissue. I know some German importers use this method.

My tank is much smaller than yours but I did not have the opportunity to remove the corals to treat them. As doing nothing would lead to the demise of the corals, I decided to add these shrimps to the reef directly. In my tank (about 190 G) I added 5 of them. I also tried to help the sps corals by increasing the nutrient load a bit (my tank was very low nutrient by then). After all, the dying off stopped and I managed to save most corals. I left the shrimp in the tank and didn't notice any adverse effects.

Good luck, I can't wait to see again the beautiful pictures you used to post...

[chingchai]

Peter. Very sorry to hear your loss.
But I don't think flatworm will kill all your corals.
Must be other issues.

[mr.wilson]

Originally Posted by Tanu

Sad to hear. A few years ago, I had the same problem. I read that Thomas Pohl (www.korallenzucht.de) found that a certain shrimp, Rhynchocinetes durbanensis, actually eats these worms and their eggs.

He recommends having a group of these shrimps in a separate tank and then having the corals 'treated' by them for about an hour. If left longer, the shrimps could damage the corals' tissue. I know some German importers use this method.

My tank is much smaller than yours but I did not have the opportunity to remove the corals to treat them. As doing nothing would lead to the demise of the corals, I decided to add these shrimps to the reef directly. In my tank (about 190 G) I added 5 of them. I also tried to help the sps corals by increasing the nutrient load a bit (my tank was very low nutrient by then). After all, the dying off stopped and I managed to save most corals. I left the shrimp in the tank and didn't notice any adverse effects.

Good luck, I can't wait to see again the beautiful pictures you used to post...

We considered these shrimp, but in a 5,000l aquarium, they are impossible to remove once they have eaten the flatworms. With all of the food available, it is also questionable that they will find the worms.

Perhaps we could tie monofilament fishing line to each shrimp for easy retrieval.