homer1475's 80 gallon build

[homer1475]

Started carbon dosing(vinegar) the other day, and in preparation of a fuller skimmer cup I decided to ghetto rig something to catch the extra skimmate.



Milk jug with a john guest fitting screwed into the top seemed like a perfect solution to me! Well I got it all set up, went to bed and got woke up to my ATO alarm telling me it's empty. Of course being half asleep I just filled the jug and went back to bed. Woke up in the morning to a very soggy carpet, and my ATO alarm going off again....


Come to find out, I had set the skimmer to skim very wet and filled the gallon jug about 6 times over, and all the extra spilled out onto my living room carpet! Stinky wet skimmate all over your carpet and stand, not something you want to wake up to. Needless to say, my wife was not happy! I didn't have time to play with it so I just shut off the skimmer and went to work. When I got home from work I decided I would add a float switch(like I should have the first time around) to shut off the skimmer and send an alarm for when the collection jug gets filled. I knew that extra float valve from the tunze nano ATO would come in handy some day!

[cincyjim]

I'm so sorry to hear that. What a smelly mess that had to be. I've always been afraid of an overfilling jug so I haven't went this route. I think your float switch is a great idea... just have to keep it cleaned often though to ensure it'll work correctly in that environment.

[homer1475]

Yeah it was definitely one hell of a mess!


Just bought a elcheapo microscope as I think I might have dinos and not cyano. Tried the h2o2 in a cup and it did not bubble. Also tried the coffee filter trick and it pulls back together.



Man I tell you, I've had nothing but trouble with this tank.

[cincyjim]

I surely wish you the best on the tank and all. You certainly have had your fair share of challenges with it.

[homer1475]

Seems my fortune is finally turning around!


Bought a sunsun UV unit and the dino's are slowly fading(didn't want to fork over a couple hundred for a decent unit if UV wasn't going to work).


Over the holidays I bought a very nice blue maxima from bluezoo(very cheap as I had a DOA credit, and they had a 25% off on xmas day only).

[homer1475]

Pics from tapatalk.

Blue maxima by itself.



And one next to my squammy for size comparison.

[homer1475]

Well it finally happened, the skimmer(SCA 302) that came with my SCA PNP tank finally crapped out. Best part is I'm still trying to recuperating from x-mas shopping so I don't have an extra 400$ for the NYOS 120 I have been eyeing. I've been considering upgrading the skimmer as I feel this SCA is just to picky. I either get super wet skimmate, or none at all. So i do have a short list.



I could of course just buy another atman ph2000 needle wheel pump, but why waste another 50$ if it's just going to crap pout on me in a couple years? Best bet is to just upgrade to a better skimmer.



From the research I've been doing on the net I decided on a bubble magus curve 5 elite. Now I know all the complaints about bubble magus I read, are about the motor block, but they just came out with this elite series this year.



There is a few design differences between the elite and the regular curve series, but the biggest upgrade is they use a sicce motor block! Of course this add 50$ to the total, but I can handle 250$ as opposed to 400$ for the NYOS. And with a sicce pump parts are readily available. Win Win in my eyes.

[ReefWreak]

Sounds like a good new skimmer. If your heart is still set on the Nyos, check the used equipment forums here and on MR (might be worth the trip down to the city). I know I see them come up now and then for decent prices.

It's not perfect though (though I'm finally hitting a stride with mine [famous last words]), and most skimmers these days are really good. Just stick rubber feet on your new one to make it quiet, and you'll have the equivalent of a Nyos :P

Glad the UV is making a dent on the dinos, and the clams look great!

[homer1475]

The BM Elite already has rubber feet! One of the differences between this elite series and the regular curve.



My heart wasn't set on the NYOS, it was just at the top of my short list.



Yes I think my tank might finally be maturing and looking decent. Nothing has died in a while, all my corals are looking healthy and growing, and now I just need to work on getting some nitrates under control. I allowed NO3 and PO4 to raise to out compete the dinos, but now I'm starting to get a decent amount of GHA growing.



Yes I finally have a blue maxima that has lived longer then three days. Now I just need to get it attached to a rock so I can put it up on my rockwork somewhere. Although it does seem "happy as a clam" right on my sandbed. I might just leave it there, I will go with a wait and see on this one.

[homer1475]

Pics all came out wrong. Editing to fix.

[homer1475]

Same as above.

[homer1475]

Skimmer came in today, so I figured since everyone loves pics. Hers some of the assembly.




Well packed. Surprised really.




True Sicce pump!




Even the needle wheel is better then that POS 302






All pieces accounted for, and none broken.




I like this nifty way to attach the pump. There is also this nice foam block it sits on to dampen vibration.




The base just clips into the sicce tabs.

[homer1475]

4 nylon thumb screws hold the motor clamp to the base.



Thought this way a great way to route the cord. Just slip the rubber grommet over it, and slide it into the space.








Bubble plate is a 3 piece design. Way easier to clean then the 2 piece design of the 302.




Motor block, and bubble plate attached to the base plate.




The 4 rubber feet to dampen vibration double as caps for the bolts that hold the cone to the base plate.






All assembled!



Overall it looks to be well made. It is certainly thicker acrylic then the old 302. I don't feel as though I'm going to break it when trying to clean it. Everything goes together finger tight, and should be way easier to clean the 302 was. Currently have it running in a bucket with vinegar. I'll post back in a few days to hopefully have an update on performance. You just never know how long they take to break in properly. It always took my 302 about a week after a thorough cleaning before it started producing decent skimmate again.

[homer1475]

Well it took nearly a week to finally settle in, but it's making some very nice skimmate now. This thing is so quiet with that sicce pump, I have to open my stand to see if it's running.



UV is starting to work, as I haven't seen any dino's lately, and some of the other algaes that grew to out compete the dino's has started to recede also. I do have some serious GHA starting, but I know how to handle that. Just had to raise nutrients and grow some other undesirable algae to out compete the dino's. Now to take care of the GHA, which compared to dino's, is rather easy.


Went for a ride to 2 new LFS's I found. One has been in business since the 70's! Pretty cool place that was an old barn. Got talking to the owner(god I must have spent 3 hours there just talking), and they were originally farmers. When the farming started to die out, they sold their fields for subdivisions, and turned the one main barn into a fish store. They did mainly FW and pond fish(he had some really large and majestic koi), and their indoor pond was roughly 4k gallons with koi the size of my leg!


Anyways long story short, their SW section was being taken down since the owner is getting older(think he must have been 80 to begin with lol) and just couldn't do the maintenance required to keep SW fish and corals. They did have one tank with some rather nasty looking frags. You could tell this tank has been neglected for a very long time. I did see a beautiful 1 headed rainbow torch, and seeing as I no longer have a torch, it came home with me for a whole whopping 5$! Pretty sure the guy would have given me everything in the tank for about 100$, but it was mostly invasive softies, or very close to dying LPS(frogspawn, another green torch, etc).


All in all a pretty neat place, but I don't think I would ever go back for SW stuff. Now if I was to put in a pond, he would be my goto for pond fish hands down.



The other place I visited, isn't even worth mentioning. Think petco, but worse! Every fish tank(SW and FW) had sick and/or dying fish, the frag tank had so much algae in it, I couldn't tell what was frag plug, and what was algae. They did sell exotic pets as well, and the place just stunk to high heavens! You had little walkways between cages of birds and reptiles to walk through to get to the disgusting fish section. I mentioned the sick/dying fish to the fat slob behind the counter(this guy was easily 400 pounds and I don't think he could waddle over to get me a fish and/or coral even if I wanted one), and his reply was the cleaning guy was sick and he couldn't come to clean the tanks, so they will remain that way till he could come and do them. Horrible business practice, and one reason I will never go back there.



So all in all I really didn't find 2 new LFS's as I would never go back to either one for SW supplies or fish again.

[soulpatch]

You need to come on down my way again man. By the time you swing through my way I should have my grow out tank humming. I have some new SPS that look insane and for a friend like you more importantly cheap.

Also have some acan colonies I need to cut up should you wish to try again (don't worry as I cannot keep clams myself and you are flourishing with yours it seems). I need to get some pics of them as they are stunning. Went in with Mike from that LFS I took you to to buy 9 colonies for like $650. Retail they are likely closer to 2K but the guy I bought them from doesn't need the money and wanted them gone. HA score for me.

Skimmer looks awesome and with that and your new UV hopefully you are on a roll.

Any chance you could make sure you can have off a Saturday or Sunday to venture down to Reefapalooza this year? Be nice to grab a drink and look at some corals again. If not let me know when you make your annual pass through my area.

[homer1475]

I'm planning on reefapalooza this year for sure. Definitely want to meet reef and for sure meet up again with you and grab a beer!


Tank is definitely on the turn around, and is looking like a tank again. Yeah for the life of me I cannot keep acans alive. No idea why either. Any other coral I can keep and have thriving. Heck that purple stylo you gave me has tripled in size and has more arms then an octopus. Frogspawn I added a few months ago has added 15 heads already. So i have 0 idea on the acans. They look good for about a month, then slowly wither away. I even tried feeding them every day, every other day, etc. They always ate, but still just withered away.

[ReefWreak]

Agh! Now I have to go to RAP. We're having another baby in March, so I was on the fence about RAP. My wife is on the fence about RAP too, but more about whether we'll get anything out of it if I'm chasing the 2 year old around the whole time (though she does love fish and corals). We'll see, but if you're both going I'll make an effort to attend so we can finally meet (and hopefully we can both get some frags from Soulpatch).

I'm glad the tank is on the mend for sure. Don't feel too bad, I haven't been able to keep LPS historically as well. I think it's so situational. All of my SPS were dying in this tank, but LPS thrived (or at least survived). My SPS are now growing, and the fungia plate is not doing well and some of my original small goniopora frags have died off, and my acans died too. I think it's all a function of too much flow in my case, though with the larger tank, I have areas of low flow that I think some of the easier/fleshy LPS should do okay.

[soulpatch]

Leave the kid and wife at home reef. Though I will likely bring my daughter this year. She will be 6 and she lasted all day this past weekend helping me sell corals and box them up for people.

Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk

[homer1475]

I would never get out the door without my wife. lol

[homer1475]

I should post some updated pics. Maybe later today after work.

[soulpatch]

Easier to spend without the wife there.....

Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk

[ReefWreak]

Originally Posted by soulpatch

Easier to spend without the wife there.....

Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk

Not with my wife! She's now on Manhattan Reefs always looking for nice corals that come up, and sends me links of stuff to check out... I can't argue with that! Scored some nice euphyllia and a nice goniopora that way 2 days ago. I wouldn't have bought it because I'm saving myself for RAP and/or waiting for things to grow out.

[soulpatch]

My wife sends me pics too but then when she finds out costs I can get in trouble. If I just show up with a pretty coral she is happy.

My daughter on other hand knows corals names and corrects mommy frequently.

Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk

[homer1475]

Now thats funny! My wife is just the opposite, I have to reign her in. She doesn't care about the cost, just that it's pretty and she wants it.

[soulpatch]

Tank still doin good with the changes Homer?