JP's 240. A decade of work.

[MS Reef Addict]

Absolutely awesome tank and definitely gives a beginner something to strive for!

[JPMagyar]

Thanks guys!


So here's what happens when you do your chemistry calculations wrong whilst trying to raise the alkalinity in a fresh batch of saltwater. Was working up to a 300 gallon water change. See if you can guess which tub got the added alkalinity . . . oops


Joe

[SneakyPete]

Beautiful tank. A testament to reefers everywhere.

These questions may have been asked before, so if so, sorry :-D

How much water evaps every day? Do you have a dehumidifier to handle the humidity?

[RGibson]

JP Magyar how many lb of rock do you have in your tank?

[110galreef]

Originally Posted by JPMagyar

Hey, do you have any updated photos from your tank? I'd love to hear about how you handled your faded colors and whether or not you got any improvement!

I really don't have any great photo's. Just point & shoot camera and what I have off my phone. My corals in general are still small.

I started my tank about a yr ago. Fell in the Bio Pellet crazy, read up on them some more, and then decided to pull them and go with a simple and basic regime and fix PO4 or Nitrate or algae issues IF they arise. I pulled the pellets about 2.5 month of use and seeing near .00 PO4 readings and lacking coral growth and colors. I din't get the need to buy extra goodies and feed more, just so I can use biopellets which strip the water super clean and lower PO4 & nitrate IF i din't have any to begin with!

I also went with 2 week 10% WC's and med/wet skimming to see how the water tested. Still near perfect. 0 nitrates, sub .02 PO4 in general. I was feeding light/ 1x's day and have light fish load. mix of pellet/flake foods and feed frozen when I had the time. I went about this for like 6 mos. Tank still pristine, yet slow growth, ok colors. Did a bunch of searching and decided to feed corals.

I chose:
ROD's food for the reef & fish in general and stuck with pellts/flake for the fish. I now try to feed flake/pellets once a day early and the ROD's late in the day. So double the feedings.

For the corals i decided to get: Coral Frenzy, Reef Roids, Zooplanktos, and freeze dried cylopeez. I will make a potion up of about 1/2 pea sized scoop of each and like 2 quick squirts of the zooplanktos in a cup of tank water, allow it to saturate a few mins, then dose to the tank. I do this 1-2times a week.
I also turn off return pump for 30 mins when feeding coral potion or the frozen ROD's food. Tank is pretty much all cleared up in that time.
I also run a MESH(love these so much more than felt) Filter sock, which i usually rinse every 3 days. If i was to be gone for an extended period of time, I would not use the sock.

I lastly went to 3 week WC's as well when I started this extra food. it seems that as long as you can keep CAL, ALK, & Mg in check, that really not all that much in the salt gets used up by the tank. Since i don't need to do WC's to keep nitrate or PO4, or Ammonia, etc low, I may as well go another week. I am dosing 2 ml's of Kent essential elements as a precaution to supplement trace elements. May be a waste, but at 2ml/day (VERY low amount) it may cost me $30 a yr. But saves me lots of time doing less WC. Plus I do have to add some salt as skimming removes a bit over the 3 weeks.


Params have still been ideal. Nitrates 0, PO4 was 6ppb (.0182ppm) 2 days ago. Corals seem to have a bit better polyp extension and are coloring up a bit more. Wifey even pointed out specific corals and said these colors never looked better! Dori seems to have gotten bigger" She never knew I changed anything.

FWIW, I also did try amino acids for about 5 weeks prior to the extra feeding. I saw nothing one way or another. Just lighter wallet.

Enuf of my ramblings!

Stick with what you are doing as you have a Phenominal tank! If you do want to change something, go one step at atime to know if that change works, makes thigs better,or is a waste of money. Just get a HELPER!

[110galreef]

Originally Posted by JPMagyar

Thanks guys!


So here's what happens when you do your chemistry calculations wrong whilst trying to raise the alkalinity in a fresh batch of saltwater. Was working up to a 300 gallon water change. See if you can guess which tub got the added alkalinity . . . oops

Haha..yeah that sucks. I did the same on a WC once. Ihad a little low ALK so I thought I add some ALK to the fresh SW mix. all i got was snow and i really didn't add much. Have to slowly bring upthe alk in the tank!

[JPMagyar]

Originally Posted by SneakyPete

Beautiful tank. A testament to reefers everywhere.

These questions may have been asked before, so if so, sorry :-D

How much water evaps every day? Do you have a dehumidifier to handle the humidity?

Thanks Pete!

I replace about 4 to 5 gallons a day with top off RO water.

For years I used a Deltec stirrer to add kalkwasser for the top off, but I'm trying no kalk and increased Calcium Reactor effluent to see if that changes the alk losses and precipitate buildup.

Originally Posted by RGibson

JP Magyar how many lb of rock do you have in your tank?

I don't know precisely, but I have about 200lbs in the display and another 200lbs or so in the sump.

I rinse the rock in the sump every month or so when I do water changes because I treat it like a bio-filter/zeovit type system. I really think the extra rock in the sump is a major part of my success.

Originally Posted by 110galreef

Enuf of my ramblings!
. . .

. . . Just get a HELPER!

No ramblings, just great stuff! That's how we learn; by reading what others have tried so thanks for sharing!


And you bet, I'm looking for another helper; I think that's a great idea.



Joe

[JPMagyar]

I think I need to work on some new photos . . .

[RGibson]

JP Magyar have your blue/green chromis had any babys ,my chromis have had two so far.

[JPMagyar]

Originally Posted by RGibson

JP Magyar have your blue/green chromis had any babys ,my chromis have had two so far.

Babies!?! That's awesome. I'd love for that to happen, but so far no luck. Several females seem to be showing the right behaviour, but I haven't seen anything yet.

Do you have any pictures? Do the survive long? Did you do anything to encourage mating?


Thanks for sharing,


Joe

[RGibson]

I did nothing to encourage mating and thay are about two years old. The reef tank is a 180 gal and it is 12 years old .

[JPMagyar]

Originally when I put this frag in I put it on a solitary rock that would be removable sometime in the future because I knew it would grow quickly. Well today was the day. I really couldn't clean in front or alongside the coral head so I removed it and started a new baby frag on a new rock, then I did the same for the coral in front on the other side. It's amazing how much the water flow is now changed as a result. I think keeping every thing moving is important to me so even though I'm sad to see the big colony go, I'm glad to have the water motion back.

Joe

[Chris2223]

WOW, your tank is incredible... I hope that the comments about your tank help to keep you motivated to never take this tank apart. You are very dedicated to keeping your tank looking amazing and I must say your hard work pays off! What brand and size sand do you use in your tank? I really like the idea of cleaning the sand and replacing a few cups at a time.

[JPMagyar]

Originally Posted by Chris2223

WOW, your tank is incredible... I hope that the comments about your tank help to keep you motivated to never take this tank apart. You are very dedicated to keeping your tank looking amazing and I must say your hard work pays off! What brand and size sand do you use in your tank? I really like the idea of cleaning the sand and replacing a few cups at a time.

Thanks Chris. Without question I can say that having a community here on RC that appreciates my efforts and enjoys the photos makes all the difference to me. Sometimes I get so frustrated at how much effort the hobby takes, but then a quick visit to RC picks me right up So thanks again!

I use Carib Sea Arag-Alive Special Grade Reef Sand

I'm not sure I have any scientific proof, but to me my tank always looks healthiest and the corals seem to get the best color when I keep the sand really clean and fresh. Sometimes that means cleaning it almost daily when I have a red slime outbreak. Which by the way I'm fighting right now. Interesting tid bit to throw out there, I noticed the the red slime started to recede after I changed my RO filters including the DI and pre-filters. Prior to changing them out I checked and was getting TDS near 50 where as after installing new filters the TDS meter reads 0. I know my well water is rich in iron and I wonder if the iron or some other trace element from my well doesn't feed the slime when I don't change the filters often enough. Trouble is, once again, frequent changes of RO, DI, and carbon pre-filters can get expensive



Joe

[JPMagyar]

Yesterday aside from removing two colonies and replacing them with frags, I completed the 300 gallon water change, removed and replaced sand equal to about 20 lbs worth (or one bag), rinsed the basement LR in the old water, and even vacuumed the bottom of my sump with a shop vac after using a dust pan to scoop out most of the sludge. Time spent . . . 6 hours, no break.

So today I was curious to see how I'm doing in terms of getting back to my stated parameters, and here's the result:

Salinity 35 ppt
Mg 1400-1450 ppm
Ca 420-430 ppm
alkalinity 7.5-8 dKH
pH 8.2
temp 79* F





Next up tackling the frag system, cleaning and refilling the calium reactor, exchanging the used CO2 cylinder, replacing the VHOs upstairs and the T5s downstairs, wiping down the reflectors upstairs, and cleaning the general excessive saltcreep in the basement room. Problems with the frag tank include, algae, worn powerheads, dirty glass, and a return of nuisance polyps and xenia.

[110galreef]

That is one huge colony! FRAGS FOR ALL!!

6 hrs aint to bad. Typical, quick sump scrub, WC & sand vac, clean acrylic in DT, clean Acrylic in Frag tank, clean extrenal overflows, fill up the dosing containers, clean skimmer collection cup, and then CLEAN the mess I made

usually equates to 3 hrs. This is my somewhat thurogh WC mainteneance. Usually done evry 3-4 mos.

Crap i just discovered I have almost 44sq ft of acrylic to scrub down! (34 DT & 10 Frag tank) plus the sump( ilike nice & clean sump!

[JPMagyar]

Musings for tonight . . .

Just spending a little time looking at my tank tonight and first off in the category of "It's Always Something" I saw bubbles, which means air is entering my return line, which means the water level is low . . . so run, run, run to the basement to find . . . the fan is on, the tank is warm, and evaporation has been high enough to bring the intake near enough the surface to draw in air . . . ah well . . . add some top off and all is well.


On another note . . . I keep several pairs of yellow and black Coral Gobies with the belief that they protect the tank from Red Bugs and Flatworms, but having recently removed two large colonies that were home to a single Black and a pair of Yellows I find that the Yellows are now wandering around the tank in search of a home. There is no shortage of space for them so I hope this is temporary, but it certainly is sad since they lost their home

[JPMagyar]

I also just noted that I haven't included any progression shots in this thread so here it goes . . .

[JPMagyar]

[knucklehead562]

beautiful tank keep it up

[110galreef]

any pics of the black and yellow coral gobies. These sound cool! I have seen the yellow goby...same thing? What about the black? or is it a "Black and Yellow" goby

I am familiar with they clown goby. Seem cool, but wasn't sure if they'd hurt SPS. Liveaquria description notes they can lay eggs at the base of the coral and hurt it. .

[RVANANO]

Absolutely gorgeous tank!!!

[d2mini]

AMAZING tank! Love it.

I feel like it's the big brother of my cube that I can look up to and strive to be like someday.

[silentscream]

Joe, thanks for informative thread. You have inspired me to take tank maintenance a little more seriously. For someone who is looking from a distance at these really beautiful tanks on forums, one can forget how much work actually goes into getting these tanks to look the way they do. I have been a victim of this, and reading some of your maintenance regimens, is it a friendly reminder that these TOTM quality reefs are hardly set it-and-forget it aquariums. Thank you for taking the time to answer everyone's questions.

[aandfsoccr04]

When I looked at your tank I had to pick the bottom half of my mouth off the floor and get a tissue to wipe the drool off my face! Your tank is incredible. The attention to detail in your setup is mind blowing.