drummereef's 180g in-wall build

[RocketEngineer]

Originally Posted by drummereef

Here's the FTS for today. Feels a lot like starting over. I'm going for an minimalist, ultra open scape - As few rocks in the display as possible this time around. As I acquire more corals I will add rock as necessary. But likely the corals will be on mounted on rubble and placed beside the existing pieces. I plan on doing a lot more LPS and even some softies, we'll see how that goes... I need a ton more pieces to fill this out.

A guy close to me with a monster reef tank uses a system of small pieces of rubble glued to acrylic rods to mount his frags. They work a lot like frag plugs in that he can place them where he wants and move things around. Once he likes where things are, he glues the piece of rubble onto the main rock piece and it blends right in. If something gets damaged or he needs to move it, he can just break the glue and move the coral without demolishing the rock. It was a very neat idea.

Originally Posted by drummereef

Up next is some wire management!! Drummereef can't have random cables just hanging around like that!

There can't have messy wires in Drummereef's tank room. Say it ain't so. You keep of that kind of behavior and you will loose the title of "Cleanest Build".

Can't wait to see the results this time around. Don't get discouraged, we all have our ups and downs in this hobby. And without your system, the rest of us slobs wouldn't have a pristine setup to be compared against.

[drummereef]

Originally Posted by RocketEngineer

A guy close to me with a monster reef tank uses a system of small pieces of rubble glued to acrylic rods to mount his frags. They work a lot like frag plugs in that he can place them where he wants and move things around. Once he likes where things are, he glues the piece of rubble onto the main rock piece and it blends right in. If something gets damaged or he needs to move it, he can just break the glue and move the coral without demolishing the rock. It was a very neat idea.

Haha, thanks for the kind words RocketEngineer. Great tip about the frag plugs too!

[drummereef]

UPDATE:


Hey guys, since we hit 200 pages I thought I would update the project list. Here's all the project guides since the beginning of my thread. Hope you find something to help you with your tank!



Pg 1 Sump Room Construction
Pg 2 Stand Construction
Pg 3 Laminate Installation
Pg 5 Stand Trim
Pg 10 Return Pump Riser
Pg 12 Plumbing Sketchup / Plumbing Begins
Pg 13 Plumbing Construction
Pg 14 Plumbing Construction Continues
Pg 15 Plumbing Construction Continues
Pg 16 Plumbing Construction Continues
Pg 17 Plumbing Construction Continues
Pg 18 Plumbing Construction Finished / Fresh Water Testing
Pg 22 Reeflo Dart Seal Replacement
Pg 30 Basement Remodel
Pg 32 Lumen Bright Mini Reflectors / Lighting Sketchup / Light Rack Construction Begins
Pg 33 Light Rack Construction Continues / SWC 250A Skimmer
Pg 34 Light Rack Track Assembly / Utility Sink
Pg 35 Light Rack Track Assembly Finished
Pg 36 RODI / Marco Rock / Light Rack Wiring
Pg 37 Electrical Panel / RODI Panel
Pg 38 Conduit Construction / Light Testing
Pg 39 RODI Plumbing
Pg 40 Sump Room Trim / Aquascaping Begins
Pg 42 Aquascaping Finished / Water! / Tank Startup
Pg 44 Live Sand
Pg 49 Canon Rebel XSi DSLR
Pg 50 Tunze Osmolator / Top Off Plumbing
Pg 52 RODI Mixing Station / Algae Free Tiger Shark
Pg 53 Conduit Construction Finished
Pg 55 Drummereef's Bubble Killer
Pg 56 Quarantine Tank Setup
Pg 59 Algae Cycle / Drip Acclimation
Pg 60 NextReef MR1 Reactors / GAC & GFO
Pg 65 Manifold Updates
Pg 66 Warner Marine EcoBAK Biopellets / NextReef SMR1 Reactor
Pg 69 Hanna Phosphate Checker
Pg 73 DIY 2-Part / Brightwell Aquatics MB7
Pg 77 Neptune Systems Apex iPhone App
Pg 78 Neptune Systems Apex iPhone App Continued
Pg 81 Voltmeter
Pg 82 Aquascape Updated
Pg 83 Bottled Copepods
Pg 85 New Corals / Fragging SPS
Pg 90 Vortech Battery Backup
Pg 94 Apex Controller Panel First Look
Pg 95 Hanna Phosphate Checker
Pg 96 Korallen-Zucht Zeovit Additives
Pg 97 Apex Controller Panel Finished
Pg 98 NextReef SMR1 Biopellet Reactor Down Tube Mod

Pg 102 ZeoZyme / Bio-Mate
Pg 123 Easy DIY Kalkwasser Doser (Manual Drip)
Pg 127 Tech M Magnesium Dosing
Pg 131 Sump / Fuge Conversion (Temporary Fuge)
Pg 138 EcoBak / NPX Biopellet Comparison
Pg 141 Biopellet Reactor Effluent Skimmer Mod
Pg 142 Filter Socks / Filter Sock Uniseal Mounting Bracket Mod
Pg 143 Tropic Eden Reeflakes Sand
Pg 144 BRS 50ml/min Dosing Pump / Kalkwasser Upgrade
Pg 147 Vortech Battery Backup Mounting Panel
Pg 148 Biopellet Reactor Recirculation Mod Design
Pg 148 Eheim Jager Heaters
Pg 149 Dry Goods / Frag Station
Pg 150 Vortech MP40 Maintenance and Rebuild
Pg 150 Dosing Pump Silencing Foam Mod
Pg 150 Screen Tops
Pg 153 Remote Refugium Design and Build Begins
Pg 154 Biopellet Reactor Recirculating Mod Complete
Pg 154 Drywall Tips / Working With Drywall
Pg 154 Rubbermaid Stock Tank Fuge and Stand
Pg 155 Stock Tank Fuge Plumbing
Pg 156 Stock Tank Fuge Plumbing Continues
Pg 157 Stock Tank Fuge Complete
Pg 159 BRS Pukani Rock Cycling Begins
Pg 159 Seaklear Phosphate Remover
Pg 160 Seaklear Dosing Setup
Pg 163 Fuge Tank Lighting
Pg 166 Fuge Drain Gutter Guards
Pg 169 ATO / Kalkwasser Bucket Upgrade
Pg 170 LED Accent Bar Design and Layout
Pg 172 LED Accent Bar Build
Pg 174 Coral Compulsion Fuge LED and Pendant MOD
Pg 175 DIY Acrylic Bending Table / LED Cooling Fan Mod
Pg 177 Cable Sleeving Tutorial and Preview
Pg 182 Cable Sleeving Finished
Pg 187 GEO 618 Calcium Reactor
Pg 199 DIY Acrylic Probe Holder
Pg 199 Ocean Direct Caribbean Live Sand
Pg 199 Ocean Revive S026 LED Fixture

[iced98lx]

Wow! Awesome TOC Brett, that's a huge service as this thread has so many great things in it.

[drummereef]

Originally Posted by iced98lx

Wow! Awesome TOC Brett, that's a huge service as this thread has so many great things in it.

Thanks Chris!

[drummereef]

So what would cause a Toadstool to go from ALL BROWN to this beauty, overnight?? The only thing I did was dose some Tech M to boost up my magnesium the day before. Have no idea what happened... but I'm not disappointed with the change.

[Original DMx]

Awesome, I'm so jealous.

[drummereef]

Originally Posted by Original DMx

Awesome, I'm so jealous.

Thanks DMx.

[drummereef]

I found a pic I took on my phone of the toadstool before it's transformation. I have no idea how this would happen so quickly but like i said, overnight. Crazy!


Before




After

[Pife]

That is a heck of a transformation. I am blown away everytime I see your sump room. It is amazing.

[worm5406]

I have had that happen before also when I dose too heavy with my TechM.

[garrettm]

Thanks for posting the updated project guides at page 200! I need to update my bookmarks. This thread has been a constant reference for my build.

[Dxpert]

Wow - I've been reading this thread slowly over the last few weeks. Fantastic work! I'm really impressed by the dedication and slow improvements over time. It has been said many times before, but I'll say it again. Awesome setup, fantastic attention to detail and absolutely impeccable cable management.

With your new Ocean Revive S026 LED fixture, it is too bad that the Apex can't control it.

[drummereef]

Originally Posted by Pife

That is a heck of a transformation. I am blown away everytime I see your sump room. It is amazing.

Thanks Pife, much appreciated.

Originally Posted by worm5406

I have had that happen before also when I dose too heavy with my TechM.

Interesting! I slow dripped it over roughly 24 hours. Wonder if I'd see less side effects dosing BRS mag or another supplement when needed?

Originally Posted by garrettm

Thanks for posting the updated project guides at page 200! I need to update my bookmarks. This thread has been a constant reference for my build.

You are welcome!! Thank you!

Originally Posted by Dxpert

Wow - I've been reading this thread slowly over the last few weeks. Fantastic work! I'm really impressed by the dedication and slow improvements over time. It has been said many times before, but I'll say it again. Awesome setup, fantastic attention to detail and absolutely impeccable cable management.

With your new Ocean Revive S026 LED fixture, it is too bad that the Apex can't control it.

Thanks for the kind words. My Apex IS controlling my S026, however it's limited to only controlling ON/OFF of the two channels individually. No dimming control or individual LED color control at this point. I doubt a fixture this cheap will ever have that control, at least not for a long time. For what I'm using it for (frag tank) it's fine. Would be nice to individually control the emitters though, but the blue and white rheostat control knobs work fairly well getting a nice color balance. I run the blue channel a couple hours before and after the whites to simulate the dawn/dusk effect.

[rogergolf66]

My guess is to much light over it. I suspect it to keep getting lighter in color if it is to much light. Careful with LEDs they r mor powerful then u realize.

[drummereef]

Originally Posted by rogergolf66

My guess is to much light over it. I suspect it to keep getting lighter in color if it is to much light. Careful with LEDs they r mor powerful then u realize.

Thanks for your thoughts. The Toadstool is under Metal Halides, XM 20k lamps in my main display. It came from a friends tank which was growing under metal halides as well, likely more PAR than what my bulbs run - I think he likes to run 10 or 12k bulbs. So I'm not sure that's the reason for the drastic change in color at this point. Could be insufficient NO3 in the tank which I'm investigating at the moment as well.

[drummereef]

Here's a little update for you guys...

I recently purchased an Aussie Elegance Coral. I noticed after it was in the tank a while it was retracting at different parts of the day/night. Upon further investigation, late one night, I noticed a little orange leg... yes LEG, coming out of my elegance. I removed the elegance from the tank in a small container with tank water and to my surprise there was a small Coral Gall Crab living in the coral tissue. I used some tweezers to remove the crab - dipping probably would have been safer but it's all I could think of as I felt the shivers running up my spine! Haha




Prior to removing the coral as I was monitoring the elegance in the tank, I noticed a few small pieces of polyps dropping from the coral. Under the royal blue LEDs you could easily see the legs of the crab fluoresce. So once I had an ID it was actually fairly easy to see it burrowed in the coral.




Now that the elegance is crab free, I'm noticing another pattern. For some reason it closes up as soon as my light cycle begins. It's open and puffed up at night (no lights) but as soon as there's any light it seems to retract. Any ideas??


Here's the elegance at night, NO LIGHTS. Pic taken with flash.




And here it is when the blues just start to come on, during sunrise period. It stays retracted during the whole light cycle.

[tredreef]

The elegance may just be re-aclimating to the tank after the stress from the crab removal.

[drummereef]

Originally Posted by tredreef

The elegance may just be re-aclimating to the tank after the stress from the crab removal.

Thanks for the advice tredreef. I'll keep an eye on it.

[dabob79]

Wow! It took me awhile, but I just finished all 200 pages of this thread!! Amazing build, I'm so jealous of your sump room lol Glad to see you're back on track with it, I can't wait to see what you do next!

[drummereef]

Originally Posted by dabob79

Wow! It took me awhile, but I just finished all 200 pages of this thread!! Amazing build, I'm so jealous of your sump room lol Glad to see you're back on track with it, I can't wait to see what you do next!

Thanks so much for taking the time to read through the thread, dabob79!!

[drummereef]

Guess this little dude figured he wasn't safe in the display with my BEAST of a Filefish - so he decided to make refuge one of the overflows. It looks translucent because of the indirect lighting, kinda cool to see it's digestive system up close.

[shaggss]

Little basterd. Nuke him now!!!

[Mark]

Regarding you elegance, it sounds to me like he's still needing to adapt to the lighting. I would suggest shortening the duration of the halide on his side for a while and adding some screening or glass to shade him a bit. Then slowly ramp up. Nice work on the build btw.

[drummereef]

Originally Posted by shaggss

Little basterd. Nuke him now!!!

HAHAHAHAHA!!! Awesome shaggss.

Originally Posted by Mark

Regarding you elegance, it sounds to me like he's still needing to adapt to the lighting. I would suggest shortening the duration of the halide on his side for a while and adding some screening or glass to shade him a bit. Then slowly ramp up. Nice work on the build btw.

You might be right and thanks for the suggestion... Also, going through a little algae bloom since re-doing the tank. The rock I used cooked for probably a year with very little light (just ambient from the display), but now that the rock is under halides it's going through a bloom which is really ticking off a lot of the corals in the tank. I think it's a combo of everything at this point. Ugh...