500 Plus 109 Equal a Sexy Dual Build

[BrotherReef]

I love this tanks dimensions! LMK if you get tired of it!

Thanks jiggy. But I don't think that's gonna happen.

 

[BrotherReef]

Oh I also forgot. I added 2 female Cirrhilabrus pylei wrasses to my system. I'll have to get a better pic of them when the lights come on.

 

[BrotherReef]

These corals were on the side of the Jawfish hole. So he/she decided to decorate it's hole.

 

[BrotherReef]

And finally an iPhone pic of one of my female pylei wrasses.

 

[SPotter]

Wow....this build looks just like another one I am following on another site :wink::wink: and it looks great on here too!!!!!

 

[BrotherReef]

Wow....this build looks just like another one I am following on another site :wink::wink: and it looks great on here too!!!!!

I know which build you are referring too. And this great reefer has given me great information on my build also. Thanks for the compliment.

 

[fishroomlady]

LOVE that jawfish pic! He likes to have things look pretty Maybe he is a she

 

[BrotherReef]

LOVE that jawfish pic! He likes to have things look pretty Maybe he is a she

I was thinking the same thing.

 

[BrotherReef]

I think I just officially joined the 80 gallon at 4 in the morning water change club.

 

[BrotherReef]

An early birthday present to myself. A purple based elegance coral.
[video=youtube;EaFRIRjduc4]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EaFRIRjduc4[/video]

 

[PepperDeath]

Awesome man!!

 

[BrotherReef]

Awesome man!!

Thanks PD.

 

[BrotherReef]

UPDATE!!!!! Every time I come to my build thread it's never good.



So I'm going to play a game with everyone and if you can solve the puzzle then I know you're a true reefer. Ok. Here's the situation.



Tested my water this weekend.

Calcium - 400 ppm

Magnesium - 1200 ppm

Alkalinity - 5.8 dKh

Nitrate - .25

Phosphate - .11 ppm



Here's the kicker. I've went from 10 Dispar Anthias and Lyretails Anthias to one Dispar and 3 Lyretails. Can you guess why this happened?

 

[monkiboy]

sorry to hear about your toubles. it's never fun losing fish. i read through your thread and didn't see it mentioned but what is your quarantine and/or treatment protocol for livestock additions? we can start there to determine how best to set your additions up for success in your reef. glad to help with any advice needed.

 

[BrotherReef]

I usually quarantine 3-4 weeks on all fish. The anthias have been in the tank for over 3 months. By not paying attention to my reactor the media clogged it and I was adding co2 to the tank which deplenished the oxygen to which they died.

 

[BrotherReef]

Well I see now that I have to add a real pump to feed the calcium reactor. The perilstalic pump isn't doing it's job and it's inconsistent. I will be adding a maxi jet 600 to the system.

 

[BrotherReef]

Because of the distance of my calcium reactor to the sump, I replaced the peristalistic pump with a maxi jet 1200. I have a check valve on it to control the flow back into the sump. I will give you periodic alk readings until it becomes stable. As of today it has tested out at 6.8 dKh(Salifert) and 6.5 dKh(Hanna).

 

[BrotherReef]

UPDATE!!!!!

I have been sitting back and looking at my system and was thinking for someone who's suppose to be using the kids method, you she are not using the KISS method. So I was thinking to myself what's a simple method especially with a system as large as mine?

As you all know I've been battling a lot of alkalinity problems as of late. So I took it upon myself to revamp my system and go with my original plan with some new additional ideas.

ZeoVit:

I believe in my heart that this is a good system but for my condition a little bit to much for me. So I removed both ZeoVit reactors and replaced them with two power heads to keep detritus suspended and further removed by my protein skimmer. I will still be dosing Sponge Power, Coral Vitalizer, Amino Acids, and Pohl's Extra as I have seen the great results it has produced.

Nitrate and Phosphate Removal:

At one point and time I was dosing vinegar, iron citrate, and ZeoVit Biomate for a low nutrients. I have since for about a month discontinued all of those and now just dose Red Sea NoPox and it has on average kept my nitrates between 0-2 ppms(depends on how much I feed as I make my own food now) and phosphates between 0-.06 but has bottom as high as .1(I'm assuming it's a master of water level in the vial and powder added to the vial.

I will continue to do my biweekly 40 gallon water changes as it applies me to keep my water a little dirty and also keep my phosphates in check.

Lighting:

That's another story. Will update you on that when have an answer.

The Top Three- Calcium, Alkalinity, and Magnesium:

I finally figured out my calcium reactor problem and added a pH probe to it. So now I understand what's really going on inside and how the properties work. I also changed my auto top off by adding kalk. In a weeks time my alkalinity has gone from 5.8 dKh to as of yesterday 7.1 dKh. Once I get it to the level I want, 8.0-8.5, them I will add the co2 to maintain that parameter. As for calcium and magnesium I will manually dose until I reach the parameters if like and hopefully the calcium reactor will keep them maintained also.

Thank you everyone for assisting me through my build and as always accept any ideas or inputs.

 

[BrotherReef]

Good morning, afternoon, or evening depending on where you are in the world. This is just a small but very important update. Important for me as I finally have my alk stable.

As you know my calcium reactor was having its moments so I started adding kalk to my ATO these past two weeks and I finally have my alkalinity stable the past 7-9 days at 8.5 dkh but my calcium was still hovering around 390-400. So I had an open head on my dosing pump and started adding calcium and will adjust from there.

 

[PepperDeath]

Hey man glad to hear things are leveling out for you. I'm still blown away at how huge and awesome your tank is!