Angry Upgrade 120 to 230 Peninsula!

[xaflatoonx]

where is the lumbbbeeeerrrrr???? lol

get on with mr. owl - we cant wait! lol

 

[AngryOwl]

where is the lumbbbeeeerrrrr???? lol

get on with mr. owl - we cant wait! lol

This weekend... possibly... maybe ... I will get it framed out at a minimum ;Punch Framing it really shouldn't take long at all... once I have all the cuts its pretty easy to fit it all together. After its framed then the real thinking begins ;Shifty

 

[xaflatoonx]

yup - thats the part i am waiting on... the post framing part.

 

[AngryOwl]

yup - thats the part i am waiting on... the post framing part.

 

[xaflatoonx]

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA - holy **** man.. that made my day!

 

[OMGitsManBearPig]

Drooling. Subscribing.
Dig the 'scape on the old tank. Looking forward to seeing the new one!

 

[AngryOwl]

Drooling. Subscribing.
Dig the 'scape on the old tank. Looking forward to seeing the new one!

The longest part of this build might be the scaping! Thanks for following!

 

[AngryOwl]

While we wait, I figured I can share more about the current tank. Below is the only sps coral that has been able to make it through all the ups and downs. Literally every other piece has died.... anyways I'm finally seeing it encrust on the rock, so satisfying to see!

Feb 1st when I received it. The fact is was so well encrusted and just now after 6 months in growing on my rock tells you how up and down things are.

And lastly a shot of the loss that hurts me the most ;Drowning;Shifty

 

[AngryOwl]

Late night Angry thought:

Testing Alkalinity on the 120 today... around 5pm its at 7.5. This is fine.(yesterday it was 7.4)

I do a 5g water change. (4.16% of 120g)

Test Alkalinity again at 8pm, maybe 2 hours or more after water change. its 7.2..... okay.

So I think, maybe the batch of saltwater you mixed up somehow lowered in ALK while sitting there.... test ALK of the new saltwater... 8.2 (exactly what it should be for blue bucket red sea salt).....

Anyways... I dosed a little extra ALK because I want it closer to that 8.2 range. Tomorrow I will test again and see where its at. Using a hanna checker for the record.

 

[PSXerholic]

I've been thinking too often about this new build... and I have two things at the top of my mind.

1) What size sump should I go with? 50/55/60? I'd like to maximize room under the tank for additional equipment, so I'm not quite sold on going for a 48" sump. I of course need it to hold enough water that drains from the main display if the check valve were to fail. Also the sump needs to hold at a minimum, an appropriate sized skimmer, Santa Monica Rain2 Scrubber and a return pump. Additionally I've been seeing more and more use of an external return pump... what are the advantages there? Thoughts on this?

2) Last is the actual starting of the new tank (as in the cycle). I have a gallon of pond matrix in my sump, so no doubt even if I didn't cure my rock (which I will), I could start this tank in a day. However.... my main concern is that there is a bacteria imbalance in my system which causes problems with SPS. I am in the process of re-balancing it but only time will tell if I'm successful. I like the thought of transferring all the good stuff on that media, but not the bad.

I had another alternative thought as well... if I were to buy another gallon of pond matrix and request if my LFS would allow me to put it in their main display sump to seed it. The only issue I have there is I have seen parasites (ich) in their tank before and I do not want that in my tank.

My last option is somewhat the slowest but still quick (not for the fish though)... which is to copy how @PSXerholic started his new build. My fish would have to wait a couple extra days while things get established but this would allow me a truly fresh start. Let me know what would you do?

One thing to throw in additionally is what I've been done in the past to help quick cycling a tank, which is a little side work.

Fill a black bucket with dry rock and saltwater.
Give it a shotglass of Vodka every day.
Run a skimmer in it.
Dose Biodigest daily too.
Run this bucket for week with a powerhead.
After this week, you should measure zero or at least low nitrates indicating good bacteria population established in the rocks.
Ammonia should measure zero.

If you transfer these rocks then submerged in a new tank, that gives you active rock which is capable of starting a new or fresh tank system with more stability since the bacteria is there.
Also, you mostly populated good bacteria from the glass vial.
Not much bacteria from the rocks would make it in this brew against the good ones from the vials ;-)

 

[OMGitsManBearPig]

One thing to throw in additionally is what I've been done in the past to help quick cycling a tank, which is a little side work.

Fill a black bucket with dry rock and saltwater.
Give it a shotglass of Vodka every day.
Run a skimmer in it.
Dose Biodigest daily too.
Run this bucket for week with a powerhead.
After this week, you should measure zero or at least low nitrates indicating good bacteria population established in the rocks.
Ammonia should measure zero.

If you transfer these rocks then submerged in a new tank, that gives you active rock which is capable of starting a new or fresh tank system with more stability since the bacteria is there.
Also, you mostly populated good bacteria from the glass vial.
Not much bacteria from the rocks would make it in this brew against the good ones from the vials ;-)

wow... awfully small skimmer to fit in a shot glass of Vodka ;Pompus!

 

[AngryOwl]

One thing to throw in additionally is what I've been done in the past to help quick cycling a tank, which is a little side work.

Fill a black bucket with dry rock and saltwater.
Give it a shotglass of Vodka every day.
Run a skimmer in it.
Dose Biodigest daily too.
Run this bucket for week with a powerhead.
After this week, you should measure zero or at least low nitrates indicating good bacteria population established in the rocks.
Ammonia should measure zero.

If you transfer these rocks then submerged in a new tank, that gives you active rock which is capable of starting a new or fresh tank system with more stability since the bacteria is there.
Also, you mostly populated good bacteria from the glass vial.
Not much bacteria from the rocks would make it in this brew against the good ones from the vials ;-)

Could I do this the same but with water changes as opposed to a skimmer? Either way I think this is the route I am going to get. I'm trying to source some cheap rock locally (let me know if you know of a place ) but it looks like the cheapest option is from Billy's Reef Connection. Comes out to about $1.80 per pound for 200lbs. It is dry rock though so it's a great option for a complete reboot!

Additionally one thing I will add to your method... is adding a gallon of pond matrix to seed that the same as the rock

 

[AngryOwl]

Alk today tested at 7pm was 7.5. Okay range but we will see what tomorrow is since I added additional alk yesterday...


Sharing more corals, here is the first brain I ever bought. As a noob I saw it at the LFS and it was a good size... got it in my tank and it doubled! Never knew they expanded; expect more of these guys in the 230!

No filter

Gel filter

 

[PSXerholic]

wow... awfully small skimmer to fit in a shot glass of Vodka ;Pompus!

Well, the skimmer goes into the bucket, lol.

 

[PSXerholic]

Could I do this the same but with water changes as opposed to a skimmer? Either way I think this is the route I am going to get. I'm trying to source some cheap rock locally (let me know if you know of a place ) but it looks like the cheapest option is from Billy's Reef Connection. Comes out to about $1.80 per pound for 200lbs. It is dry rock though so it's a great option for a complete reboot!

Additionally one thing I will add to your method... is adding a gallon of pond matrix to seed that the same as the rock

The problem is the biowaste coming out of the rock.
With no skimmer it's going to be a stinky situation with a crash in the bucket.
Oxygen will go so low, that you will create a toxic environment.
Wouldn't do it without skimmer.
Remember my built, where I had to place the skimmer into the display to run and keep everything aerated when the bacteria bloom started ;-)

I used the BRS dry rock for that 300 restart. But also had the Nitrate reactor full of mulm!
One thing you need to be aware on a fresh quick start is the Microfauna.
Only bacteria won't help you on the long run to keep nutrients down and the biology alive.
You need to introduce Microfauna.
Means all the thousands of critters you usually seed with a few pieces of Liverock or dirty mulm from another matured tank system.
I guess you have that covered by using your existing rock.
Recently I had someone who failed to start the tank and when I checked under the microscope the sample of the sand, there was nothing in there, totally dead except bacteria.
This tank was started with dead rock from scratch and with no live rock or any seeding. Nitrate and Po4 spiked up pretty high after 6 months, only liquid bacteria had to be constantly dosed to consume some of the nutrients. After seeding the tank, the biology became self sustaining with lowering nutrients.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microfauna


Check these Videos I did a while ago, very interesting,
and remember this next time, you siphon water with your mouth, lol!

 

[AngryOwl]

The problem is the biowaste coming out of the rock.
With no skimmer it's going to be a stinky situation with a crash in the bucket.
Oxygen will go so low, that you will create a toxic environment.
Wouldn't do it without skimmer.
Remember my built, where I had to place the skimmer into the display to run and keep everything aerated when the bacteria bloom started ;-)

I used the BRS dry rock for that 300 restart. But also had the Nitrate reactor full of mulm!
One thing you need to be aware on a fresh quick start is the Microfauna.
Only bacteria won't help you on the long run to keep nutrients down and the biology alive.
You need to introduce Microfauna.
Means all the thousands of critters you usually seed with a few pieces of Liverock or dirty mulm from another matured tank system.
I guess you have that covered by using your existing rock.
Recently I had someone who failed to start the tank and when I checked under the microscope the sample of the sand, there was nothing in there, totally dead except bacteria.
This tank was started with dead rock from scratch and with no live rock or any seeding. Nitrate and Po4 spiked up pretty high after 6 months, only liquid bacteria had to be constantly dosed to consume some of the nutrients. After seeding the tank, the biology became self sustaining with lowering nutrients.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microfauna


Check these Videos I did a while ago, very interesting,
and remember this next time, you siphon water with your mouth, lol!

Using the skimmer makes sense! I'm a little confused on the introduction of microfauna though. Does this process introduce microfauna? Or are you implying to add my current live rock into this mixture. If it is the latter, I think I want to avoid using my current live rock to seed anything since I don't want anything bad coming to the new system. It sounds like the only way is to seed it with the mulm like you mentioned.

Really interesting videos under the scope. In the Cyano videos, are we seeing the Cyano actively grow?

 

[AngryOwl]

Alk was 7.1 today, tested twice in a row and 2nd test was also 7.1. So I manually dosed a small amount extra and set the doser from 15ml to 20ml. Not sure where the dip came from all of a sudden but I'll take it as something good is going on in the tank.

Lastly I cleaned my gyre a couple weeks ago. When I installed it, the flow didn't seem as strong and something looked off... anyways I finally looked at it closer and saw I had the flow deflectors on the wrong sides ;Facepalm now everything is on correctly and flow has dramatically increased.... go figure :mad:

 

[AngryOwl]

Look what we have here

 

[xaflatoonx]

Woot woot. Finally !!!

 

[AngryOwl]

Woot woot. Finally !!!

Around these parts we say hoot hoot


Alk today was 7.1, made some more adjustments, slowly getting there I think!

Spent all weekend in the garage, but not for what you expect; however still related to the build. Our current kitchen table is in the way of the new tank and doesn't fit into the new layout. So I spent the weekend building a new one. Pretty small table but we don't usually use it so its great for what we need now.