120 gallon upgrade

adtravels · Jul 7, 2019

Pump pump

adtravels · Jul 7, 2019

A new move on this system will be the inclusion of a roller mat to replace filter pads. Initially I had on mind the thieling compact, I then shifted to the idea of a clarisea. I stumbled upon the innovitex filters and was intrigued. Research led me to purchase one the other day. The main reason for the choice was the range of roller size, the easy plumbing and of course the facts it's British made!
I took the measurements for the filters overflow box and the mocked up a box with the same dimensions. I had my plumbing done to fithis is my drain configuration, ready for the innovitex 1.0 roller filter.

IPHY · Jul 7, 2019

This is the first I’ve seen your thread and so the first I’ve seen your tank. I really like the way the stand is wider than the tank. Looks great!

adtravels · Jul 7, 2019

I had it built like that to accommodate a top off chamber and an electronics cupboard. I have always had no room and stuff spilling out in the past.

adtravels · Jul 21, 2019

Pump placement.

I have 4 mp40qd pumps. Ideally I would love to put the pumps all on the back across the top. This is mainly so that I could view from 3 sides clearly and really make glass cleaning easy.

There is the obvious drawback of not having flow from the ends, but I have seen a tank set up like this in a reefbuilders video ..(Luis Rosa) and really liked the look.

There would be an issue of detritus possibly building up at the back. I do think I could get a real bulk flow of water with a low velocity. Any thoughts would-be welcome.

adtravels · Aug 4, 2019

I have some movement, and spent a frantic 2 days getting the tank wet.

I installed the roller filter

It was noisy for about 12 hrs and the started to work really well almost immediately. Below it you can see the existing cycled media blocks that came from my frag tank. I added these about 10 gallons of water from that tank and used fauna Marin bacto blend to begin the cycle. The salt is fauna Marin pro.

adtravels · Aug 11, 2019

The skimmer began to work properly after a week of overflowing during the break-in. It actually was a used skimmer, but I think all the new piping and raw surfaces needed a coat of biofilm.

I started with all blues and added a small percentage of white as the week went on to encourage some diatom growth which is now in full bloom. I have added several snails and a token hermit crab that I have a soft spot for. I have a purple tang and two convicts in Qt at the moment. My arnazi damsels are in the tank now.

I am very impressed with the chiller, the xfilter and the silent return/overflow so far. Not so with the apps for the illumagic X series which stopped working due to an Android update and the WiFi connectivity of the new D-D (kamoer) doser. It has to be re linked each time I use it.

Phosphate was at 0.15
Alk.9.3
Calc460
Mag 1305

I want phosphate below 0.1 before adding test corals.

I Par tested with a seneye with all the lights at the intensity I will be using and hit Vaulted from 150 to 450 throughout the tank so really pleased on that front.

adtravels · Aug 11, 2019

adtravels · Aug 21, 2019

After 3 days my Phosphates hit 0, which coincided with a diatom and algae crash. At this point I have began to gradually up the feeding of the fish and employed some additional grazers in the form of a purple tang, yellow tang and a truncatus bristletooth tang (Sri-lanka). I have patches of coralline and other more desirable algae forming and have transferred some of my existing corals over. I did re-dip them all as a precaution. They are on frag racks and although they have lightened up a fraction they are stable. I will begin to mount them when fully settled.

a point to note is that along with Kalkwasser in the topoff I have also begun dosing of 3 part to maintain parameters. There is definitely a need at this point.

The filter roller appears to be the real game changer so far. The skimmate produced thus far has been the darkest/smelliest I have encountered. I do believe there is a case for the lack of large particulates in the water improving skimmer function.

adtravels · Aug 24, 2019

Now I have run into the first issue, a good one I suppose as it means the equipment is working. Its all about finding balance early on and I have arrived at 0 nitrate and phosphate and the corals I put in as testers are paling rapidly. I will increase the feeding of the fish in an effort to correct this. I have a feeling its going to take a lot of food!
Below is the state of the roller at 3 weeks and the skimmer cup with a few days skimmate in it. The colour is very dark. There is an additional two bags of media in there as well.

adtravels · Aug 24, 2019

This was the display around three weeks ago when I started.

adtravels · Aug 24, 2019

And how it looks now,

The frag racks are not a permanent addition. I have mounted one frag at the back and it's doing well. Placement of what I have is difficult. Lots of head scratching. My original Milka stylo form my old tank will probably go on the base of one of the legs of the left rock structure. The purple stags on ledges I designed at the back left. Not sure about the Tort, Somewhere half way up.

I sent an ICP test to confirm all is well.

adtravels · Aug 25, 2019

Power board

adtravels · Sep 2, 2019

A couple of my test pieces have really gone pale and its down to a lack of nutrients. I have lowered the photo-period and continue to feed heavily until I get some detectable trates.,

I purchased some cheap frags to test and had an RTN event with two WC frags, I will hold back on adding anything else until it all settles.

I do have coralline and some sps growth on hardier pieces.

adtravels · Sep 19, 2019

Things went from bad to worse with my system and several pieces of SPS stripped, I really was at a loss.

The issue was, as My ICP test confirmed was metal corrosion or residue from my Chiller coil.

please see this thread if you are interested.

ICP 1

It meant high Chrome, Zinc and copper. I ran Triton detox to remove the copper and performed some large WC to dilute the metals and will get the coil replaced with a better one. Unfortunately I cannot rule out having to rip the coil out at some stage and revert to a brand name indoor chiller such as Teco. That will be an expensive change

.

Anyway things are looking up for the corals at the moment with colors returning on the surviving SPS and some polyp extension appearing. I am even seeing encrusting growth at the bases of some pieces.

The issues had not stopped there as my fish who had been fine were affected by the changes and ich reared its head. I lost a very pale and sick foxface during this time.

Finally the coralline I seeded my tank with from another tank may have been seeded with a strange brown turf algae. This has dominated my rock work but I believe it will fade with time.

If i could change anything it would be better care for the fish, I have not lost a fish to ich in all the time I have been reefing and believe a healthy fish will overcome this parasite. on this occasion, with all the other factors. I lost a fish which is hard to take.