5ft of questionable decisions....

[BonelessEvil]

Found you randomly on Pinterest. Can you show some more pictures of what it looks like now?

Also, your equipment/sump room is absolutely beautiful! ;Wideyed Seriously gelly!

 

[Knology]

Time for an update. I realized I have been off the grid for a while actually. I got laid off back in April, so this project slowed, but I am now back to the world of the working and we can pick things back up.

Current photo of the tank. We are now up and running with lights. I picked up a ReefBreeders Photon 50-V2+ for only $500, new. I couldn't pass that up. Once I get more serious into a mixed reef, we may move up to a pair of Kessil AP9Xs.

I also added a vent fan for the entire canopy. If I closed the canopy I would have condensation on the interior within a day as there was no air movement. I may flip around the fans to PULL air out of the canopy and vent it to the closet.

So, next step is the refugium and adding the new roller mat. I got the Theiling roller mat from BRS for around $200 after a coupon. Hard to pass that up as none of them come in that low. Also....this thing is HUGE. It may not be as easy to implement but the function of this rollermat is prety impressive compared to what else I have found.

I actually need to start to brainstorm how I am going to add it to my system. Do I try to put it inside the sump? Do I put it on the counter and have the main drain go in and then route the drain down to my sump? I'm not really sure....

I also picked these up. I need some power management and it is time to get that started. I had orginally got this to plug everything in the fish room into. The smaller one would be for ethe QT tanks and the saltwater mixing station. Then I realized I may not actually need 12 channels of switching. Not in the long run as a good deal of things will go into an Apex and there will only be a few things I need to switch manually. Like QT tanks, SW mixing, a powerhead to clean the sump, etc. Alas, I'll figure it out.

I picked up a Tunze refugium light and added sand and rock to the fuge section. Next is to grab a hunk of cheato from a local reefer to seed the refugium. All my levels are down and all need now is to keep nitrates in check.

We probably aren't too far off from some more fish and adding our first coral. I still just have the 1 clown fish and 3 hermit crabs.

 

[JumboShrimp]

The tank looks very clean. If it stays that way, filled with messy fish, you are my hero! Lol. Best wishes— keep the photos coming.

 

[Knology]

Well, I may have overdid it this weekend. I spent nearly 10 hours straight in the fish room on Saturday getting this new roller mat in, and getting some power distribution put in place, and man am I sore.

So, let's get started....

The real kick in this project was this. The system is already all up and running and the DIY sump has a filter sock chamber and all built in. Now due to it being DIY, it is at least easy enough to cut out the custom acrylic baffles and get all the silicon out. The issue was I never put ball valves on the 3 drain lines down to the sump from upstairs. You'd think that you turn the pumps off and after a few minutes you'd have clear pipes. Not so lucky. I did at least though think ahead and get some new ball valves for the project.

So this was the first step. Wack the existing pipes off and put in three new valves to be able to control everything from the tank to the fish room. Easy enough.

Ok, so for all you cheaters out there, there is a trick I found with the metric fittings on the Theiling if you don't want to get new bulkheads and you are installing this INSIDE a sump. If you sand down a 1" 90deg elbow just a bit, it slides right into the 44mm input. Added a union right on top of it and I can't think of any reason I'll be changing that in the future.

So here is the end result after 10 hours of work. Added a bunch of new unions to make any changes down the road pretty easy. The secondary drain is also plumbed in to feed into the main inlet. The main output is just a inch or so over the water level. Doesn't make any noise.

What I do love is there is a great deal of water movement inside the roller mat housing. That will keep things moving around which is good. I did make sure that it is easy enough to remove the entire assembly as I am sure it will need to be cleaned at least once a year.

I also got the power distribution started. Now I have two spare circuits on my breaker that I will be wiring into the fish room soon. For right now the empty space under the stair case is where all my power will be managed. Power bricks, outlets, etc are all stored OUTSIDE of the fish room so there is less risk of damage. Plus it looks a lot more tidy. It's only a 6' x 10' room anyways.

All good for now. Had to tune the Ghost Overflow a few times afterwards as it seems these pumps kind of have to settle back into their flow after you shut them down. The one outlet on the left looses about 20% of it's power for a week it seems before it regains it's efficiency. That is the one with the most head pressure.

Well, next step is to get some cheato for the fuge. Set the new fuge light up on a timer, and then start stocking the tank. I honestly think I am done with equimpnet needs until the needs start to arise. Like a skimmer, carbon, etc.

 

[JumboShrimp]

10 hours we’ll-spent!

Great follow-up report.

 

[Knology]

Spent the last two weeks getting my first diatom bloom. I turned off the new light for 48 hours and 90% of it went way. Turned the lights back on and it came back pretty quick so I'm going to leave them off for a bit.

Hopefully going out tonight and grabbing a wad of cheato to add to the fuge.

I also think I am going to go out this weekend and look at some fish to add. It is time to start increasing the load on the tank before I start looking into coral.

 

[Knology]

Well ugly tank phase is in full swing. Just diatoms so far.

I need to go ahead and test everything again and look over my levels. I have the refugium in place but I'm waiting on a light timer to implement the light on a reverse schedule.

I did get a few small fish.
-Clown goby. May be too small though. He's already got sucked down the overflow and is currently sitting in my roller mat sump.
-Purple fire fish. He 100% disappeared in 10 seconds of putting him in the tank. We found him poking out of a hole almost 2 days later.
- Yellow watchman goby.

I think my next round of research is powerheads. Of course I know Ecotech MP's are great, and I had a MP40 once on a small tank and I finally realized how beneficial they can be. That being said, there is a lot of options in the gyre market now and I want to know which method is best. Synced powerheads like the MPs or does a good quality gyre give you a good experience as well?

 

[cmaxwell39]

I started with 2 MP 40’s for my 60x30, but the plan includes gyres as well for once corals start growing in and restricting flow. I have seen a lot of nice tanks that utilize gyres for flow. In fact, @Brew12 uses 4 gyres in his 60x30.

 

[Knology]

Fished the clown goby out of the roller mat. Hope he remembers not to get sucked down the overflow again.

The ugly phase is ugly. Started feeding the new fish frozen mysis. They took to that immediately.

I think for now I'm going to let the tank do its thing. Let the ugly phase work itself out. Keep testing and let the new fish set in.

Next step will be coral when this evens out.

 

[Knology]

My ugly phase is already starting to fizzle out, which is surprising. I would say it's already about 60% better than when it was at peak.

 

[Knology]

I am truly surprised how fast the diatom bloom came and how fast it seems to be dissipating. About 80% of it has already cleared up.

 

[Knology]

Oh, and the fuge is just teeming with copepods. That puts a smile on my face.

Levels are all great. Nitrates are down to ~10 which is great as they are slowly decreasing over time and not building. Even with 3 new fish and much more regular feeding.

I do now need to move to better DT flow. Time to start looking at powerheads or gyre's.

 

[Paleozoic_reefer]

This is an awesome build! Can't wait to see your tank grow out!

 

[Knology]

I know it has been about a month but that is because we are full blown ugly stage. I also put in a clown goby, a yellow watchman goby, and a fire fish. Unfortunately, the fire fish only lasted about a month. I am not sure why he died, as the tank parameters are actually great.

I hear this is all normal but it kind of sucks that this was very minimal, got a bit bad, then went away. Then exploded! I would say it has been like this for a week or two.

Phos - 0
Ammonia - 0
Ph - 8.2
Nitrite - 0
Nitrate 5-10
Sal - 1.026

 

[Eagle_Steve]

I know it has been about a month but that is because we are full blown ugly stage. I also put in a clown goby, a yellow watchman goby, and a fire fish. Unfortunately, the fire fish only lasted about a month. I am not sure why he died, as the tank parameters are actually great.

I hear this is all normal but it kind of sucks that this was very minimal, got a bit bad, then went away. Then exploded! I would say it has been like this for a week or two.

Phos - 0
Ammonia - 0
Ph - 8.2
Nitrite - 0
Nitrate 5-10
Sal - 1.026

It might help to bring up po4 a bit. Also what test kit do you use for po4?

 

[Barnabie Mejia]

Are you running a UV?
I was hesitant when I was building the 75, but I’m glad we went with one, never had the Algae bloom or ugly stage.... I fired up the UV on the 2nd week and has been steady since.....

Just a thought, might be worth it to pipe one in to your system, and another plus side is the water stays crystal clear

 

[Blutspitze]

Ugly algae indeed. Hope the other fish stay OK, and the bloom should reduce itself at some point, at least.

 

[Knology]

Unfortunately it got much worse. Thick. Getting some purple-ish red patches. It has not gone down in volume for about 2-3 weeks now.

More bad news. I lost 2 more fish. The yellow watchman goby and the clown gobi now.

So, i have two theories on how they died.

- For about a week i was thawing out a cube of food, brine shrimp, in a squeeze bottle and feeding a small amount. Then putting it in the fridge and using it for 2-3 days. I have now read that is NOT good.
- The more alarming event is that I found these black chunks in the tank. Figured maybe they broke off a thick diatom bloom or something until I saw something was looked like a bug leg.

.....a big roach made its way into my sump and got sucked into a return pump and blended up into the display tank.

No way that is good.


I've got the dead fish out of the tank and the roach pieces I could find. Today I went ahead and took a brush and brushed some of the film and nasty stuff off the rock. I broke up some of it on the sand bed as well.

Tank looks terrible. Clownfish is still alive though kind of acting odd. He seems to be hiding much more.

All my parameters seem to be fine. I did get a bucket of Tropic Marin Pro so maybe it's time for a big water change?

 

[Knology]

A worthwhile update on the Theiling Rollermat:

- I had to dial back the flow as it becomes pretty apparent when too much water is coming into the rollermat body. It burps and gurgles and churns badly and that causes the roller sensor to activate prematurely. Plus it makes a good deal of noise. I reduced one of my return pumps by about 5% and this was resolved.
-There has been no buildup of any material in the body. Mold, algae, detritus, nothing. Very clean.
- I have had the unit up for 2 months now and it may have used 40% of the first roll. I contribute part of that to the above issue when it had too much flow.
- I did order a new rollermat refill from BRS and a huge note: The roll that comes with the unit is it much thicker than the refill you get from BRS. I do hear there is two filter media thicknesses but it appears you may only be able to specifically find the thicker one if you order from overseas suppliers. I still have yet to find a solid overseas supplier either.
- It does get a considerable amount of condensation inside the body. This has not caused any mold, smell, or issues. I do wonder if you drilled a couple vent holes would there be any benefit of less condensation.

So far I would say this is one of the best upgrades as an effective mechanical filtration method. Swapping out filter socks SUCKS and this 100% seems to be a great alternative.

Cons so far.

- This took a good deal of brainstorming on how to implement. I do believe the way I put it in turned out solid. I think the ideal implementation is like the way Trigger Systems made their sump built for the Theiling. It flows through holes drilled into the side of the sump and mounts outside.

- Cannot take a high amount of flow. This is fine for my tank but it would be an issue if you had a larger tank.

I will update on when the first roll actually runs out so I can note the time used. Then I'll have to see how well the new, thinner, material lasts. I'd still like to find an alternative supplier. $33 a pop from BRS and I am slightly fearful that one day they may stop selling them.

 

[Knology]

Well, my last fish died yesterday. The clownfish. A real let down as I thought the tank was doing so well and the parameters seem to read the same story.

Today I am ordering the next wave of supporting equipment for the tank. I already ordered a SCP-150M Gyre pump. This should add some much needed flow. I am going to also get a 125w heater and a power strip so I can expand my saltwater mixing station and get some new saltwater made for a large water change. I already got a bucket of Tropic Marin Pro.

I'm also debating on getting a 35w UV sterilizer. My water has gone back and forth from being cloudy for months and I think this would help get us to the next step. I don't want to plumb that into one of the return lines so I think I'll get a pump rated to the proper flow and pull water from sump chamber 1 and exit into chamber 2.

I'm also going to change my light schedule to be shorter as well as my fuge light. The fuge is getting some nasty growth.