February Update: It's actually a reef tank now
February Update: It's actually a reef tank now
Who woulda thunk it? A mere 103 years (subjective) after starting the build, we have corals in the display tank.
FarmerTy and John S came over on Saturday to install the first batch of 11 corals in the display.
A few observations from the day:
- Coral Quarantine has some pests: aiptasia, pyramid snails, hydroids. I had spotted the aiptasia previously, but it took John's eagle eyes to find the couple of hydroids, pyramid and vermetid snails.
- Because of the pests, we cut all frags off of their bases with the exception of a couple that had completely encrusted around their plug or mounting disc
- The large jedi mind trick colony was not transferred due to the vermetid snails on its base rock. Next round, Ty will bring his band saw to cut the base away from the colony.
- 79 degree water gets cold in a hurry when you are not actively swimming. Both Ty and John (despite his "nordic blood" his words, not mine) were shivering 15 minutes into their 90 minute dive. I did at least set up one of the guest bathrooms with a space heater and had it waiting for them at about 95F when they got out of the tank.
- Buoyancy is a challenge-- weight belts recommended!
- Tunze Coral Gum sets almost too quickly. Very nice that it doesn't have a smell or leave residue on the hands, though.
- 2 Hydrowizards from 6 feet away have enough force to make it difficult to move against them even as a full size human. They were turned off for the duration of the install.
- The Coral Beauty and Borbonius Anthias are the bravest fish in our collection; they were the only ones to occasionally swim out from under the ostrich to inspect Ty and John at work.
- 28" from the output of a hydrowizard pulsing between 10% and 100% may be too close even for SPS. While it is difficult to tell with a skittles granulosa, it appears that the flow force may be ripping the polyps off of the skeleton.
Center arch before frags
Getting Started
Ty and John placing the corals without glue for layout approval
Epoxy and superglue sandwich for each frag
Frags installed!
Jelly Slime Bacteria
In other news, my declaration of victory over the jelly slime bacteria was premature. Shortly after the last post I realized that vodka level in the source bottle wasn't draining as quickly as it should. Sure enough, there was a kink in the output hose and only the tiniest dribble was making it to the tank. Once I started truly dosing 240mL again the slime came back.
A few days of experimentation established that the slime bacteria kicks in just north of 140mL. I'm currently running 140mL/day and hoping that this is sufficient to slow the nitrate buildup until the Biochurn 10T reactor arrives. Not super hopeful, though, as with just 4 days of zero dosing following by a day of 240mL then a week of dosing between 100 and 150mL, nitrates are already back up to 5 after being at zero 3 weeks prior.
Questions
Moving on to the questions since last post:
Paul,
I wanted to say how much I admire your museum quality, home system. I have really enjoyed reading through your post. Your planning and attention to detail leave us all something to aspire to.
. . .
I am surprised the bacteria slime in your filter socks seems to have resolved itself on it's own and not surprised that cleaning them with vinegar was not a good idea, since it is an organic carbon source itself.
Aaron
Thanks for the kind words, Aaron. And yes, you were absolutely right to be surprised by the jelly bacteria 'resolution'. If only it could have been so. . .
Was reading about your issues with the ECM-63 and snails. Do you have the Honey Comb Basket around it and this still happened?
Thanks so much for asking this. No, I do not have the honeycomb basket and was not aware that it was an option. This must have been released since the time of my last purchase (or surely they would have mentioned it to me when I ordered 6 replacement impellers?).
Quote:
"They wanted on the order of 500k for a 300 gallon system that would then have ongoing $1500/month maintenance cost."
I know this is an elite system in nearly every respect, but surely that is a typo. $500k?
That question aside, I continue to be fascinated and enthralled by the progress of the system. I think we all could sense your discouragement when faced with your coral issues, and I'm glad that you have found your "second wind" so to speak. I will echo the comments of many others - your forthright manner in admitting mistakes, and not just owning your successes, is a refreshing and needed resource for all reefers and aspiring reefers (as I seem destined to remain).
In any event, my comments bring another few questions to mind: have you ever regretted the scale of your ambition on this project? Coral specific issues aside, has the project to date met your expectations?
Thank you, and continued best wishes in turning your fish only tank into a true reef!
Thanks so much,
IANick. For your first question, nope, not a typo, though I do recall now that the system I was considering when I spoke to them was a 900gal system, not 300gal. This was for a turnkey system with filtration integrated into the stand, and it wasn't a formal quote. I suppose it is possible that the sales person decided that I wasn't a qualified buyer and was just throwing out a crazy number to blow me off. If so, it worked.
As for the second question, no I do not at all regret the scale. Coral issues aside, this system has been easier to manage than our previous 750gal. If anything, I would go larger. In the earliest design phase I had to choose between a smaller see-through peninsula tank with windows behind it or a larger opaque-backed tank. If I'd gone with the solid back option, the tank could have been 17' x 7' and would have been much easier to maneuver in for maintenance and coral install purposes. Plus the fish would likely have treated it like a 3D environment rather than 2D (i.e., with this system they never really swim directly toward or away from the main viewing panes, only along the length and up and down).
Clarisea in the UK have released some roller filters that have good flow capacity (just got one and impressed). They are going to be bringing out larger models but I've no idea if those they would have sufficient flow capacity. Royal Exclusive also now do a filter roll version of their Dreambox. I wouldn't be surprised if they could build a standalone unit but I've no idea about flow capacity.
Love everything about your build and looking forward to seeing it develop.
Thank you for the tip,
Griff500. I've reached out to Royal Exclusive to see about a standalone filter roll option.
