Ash's 400 Gallon Reef

newreef1 · Mar 20, 2023

Ashish Patel said:
DAY 2 hypo video

Is your bare bottom or do you have sand can’t really see in video? Reason for one over the other?

Ashish Patel · Mar 21, 2023

newreef1 said:
Is your bare bottom or do you have sand can’t really see in video? Reason for one over the other?

Bare bottom. Sand become a nutrient trap, causes cyano, impossible to clean in the back and I am just done with hard to maintain tanks. This tank doesnt have any buildup of detritus. All of it stays suspended and gets dumped in the sump.

newreef1 · Mar 21, 2023

Ashish Patel said:
Bare bottom. Sand become a nutrient trap, causes cyano, impossible to clean in the back and I am just done with hard to maintain tanks. This tank doesnt have any buildup of detritus. All of it stays suspended and gets dumped in the sump.

Tell me about it. I have a sand bed not even a deep one and I just lost 10+ fish in the span of three days. Found two dead this morning and another one is showing symptoms not very good. All this after I cleaned and disturbed my sand bed. I don’t know what to do man, 2/3 of my fish have died.

Ashish Patel · Mar 21, 2023

newreef1 said:
Tell me about it. I have a sand bed not even a deep one and I just lost 10+ fish in the span of three days. Found two dead this morning and another one is showing symptoms not very good. All this after I cleaned and disturbed my sand bed. I don’t know what to do man, 2/3 of my fish have died.

Oh man, So Sorry. How old and deep was your sandbed? Get rid of the sand. Not worth it unless you commited to removing small portions every 6 months and cleaning with freshwater until he runs clean.

Ashish Patel · Mar 21, 2023

8 months since hyposalinity. Alot of learning i have finally tweaked the system and confident my tanks on its way to becoming a show stopper. The tank just needs alot of time to mature and ive heard the saying "no tank is alike", but still was to stubborn to accept PO issue and was chasing salinity bc of wasteful wet skimming.

The fish growth serves me a reminder that this reef is a high energy reef. I finally got my nutrient transport dialed in. I have to use GFO or LC and test my Phosphate bi-weekly.. no way around it bc it swings too much. Last adjustment involve ramping up PAR and turning on the T5s again...Par is very low 50 -100 range

Ashish Patel · Mar 21, 2023

I know this build thread is long and still without eye candy. Thanks for anyone thats read all the page.. if its no trouble just say what you feel you like or anything im doing you dont like. I liked to think im perfect but im far from it.

newreef1 · Mar 21, 2023

Ashish Patel said:
Oh man, So Sorry. How old and deep was your sandbed? Get rid of the sand. Not worth it unless you commited to removing small portions every 6 months and cleaning with freshwater until he runs clean.

It was around a year old. Did a recent deep clean and had fish suddenly dying all of a sudden. At first I thought it was the powerheads because I cleaned them with citric acid to get all the residue buildup off. I thought maybe I didn’t rinse well enough. But even after two WC first 45 gallons and second 60 gallons I can’t seem to stabilize my tank again!

Ashish Patel · Mar 21, 2023

newreef1 said:
It was around a year old. Did a recent deep clean and had fish suddenly dying all of a sudden. At first I thought it was the powerheads because I cleaned them with citric acid to get all the residue buildup off. I thought maybe I didn’t rinse well enough. But even after two WC first 45 gallons and second 60 gallons I can’t seem to stabilize my tank again!

Hmm, I find it hard to believe the sand killed your fish after 1 year. Did the fish have any sign of disease or any potential pollutants that got into your tank? I would add chemipure carbon and do a few 25% waterchanges and try not add more stress.

MERKEY · Mar 21, 2023

Did you have any problems between your achilles and powder blue?

Ashish Patel · Mar 22, 2023

MERKEY said:
Did you have any problems between your achilles and powder blue?

Not really, added all the tangs together. Achilles tang is the least aggressive tang and schools with the 2 chromis.

newreef1 · Mar 22, 2023

Ashish Patel said:
Hmm, I find it hard to believe the sand killed your fish after 1 year. Did the fish have any sign of disease or any potential pollutants that got into your tank? I would add chemipure carbon and do a few 25% waterchanges and try not add more stress.

I was thinking of the same thing. I ordered new filters and filter socks (more finer) do some weekly water changes and add seachem stability to help build up more good bacteria. I have purigen and carbon. Never used chemipure but I’ll give it a shot, is it use once and throw out? How often do you do water changes? Also any test kits you prefer?

c_healy · Mar 22, 2023

Nice build thread. Your whole system looks really good. I can’t wait to set up a big system like yours.

Ashish Patel · Mar 27, 2023

newreef1 said:
I was thinking of the same thing. I ordered new filters and filter socks (more finer) do some weekly water changes and add seachem stability to help build up more good bacteria. I have purigen and carbon. Never used chemipure but I’ll give it a shot, is it use once and throw out? How often do you do water changes? Also any test kits you prefer?

I would rule out the Sand, Maybe ammonia? The benefit to Chemipure vs every other carbon is it does not leech back things to the reef after it gets exhausted. Thats why it cost a lot more but IMO its so worth it since it removes a lot more unknowns and leaves the water crystal clear even if I dont replace it for a long time. I replace it every 3-4 months = I would use half their recommend amount. right now I probably use a 1/3 of their recommendation. I do water changes every 3 months (25-30%). Hanna ULR po and Hanna Alk are my go-to. Salifert for Nitrate, and I use redsea for CA and MG.

newreef1 · Mar 28, 2023

Ashish Patel said:
I would rule out the Sand, Maybe ammonia? The benefit to Chemipure vs every other carbon is it does not leech back things to the reef after it gets exhausted. Thats why it cost a lot more but IMO its so worth it since it removes a lot more unknowns and leaves the water crystal clear even if I dont replace it for a long time. I replace it every 3-4 months = I would use half their recommend amount. right now I probably use a 1/3 of their recommendation. I do water changes every 3 months (25-30%). Hanna ULR po and Hanna Alk are my go-to. Salifert for Nitrate, and I use redsea for CA and MG.

Wow water changes every 3 months that’s good! I’m hoping for once a month, you use mechanical and biological filtration along with Chemipure to keep the tank clean? I’ve come to the conclusion that I’ve started a mini cycle in my tank. I rinsed my live rock with freshwater (don’t ask, I wasn’t thinking) my ammonia is usually low now it’s testing again, I think that’s what killed my fish, there isn’t any other reason. I did crazy water changes, for this reason. I added 2 bottles of chemipure, I placed back purigen and carbon that I normally use along with some new felt socks and new media pads. I’ll be testing the ammonia to see it’s zero before I try adding one fish to see if it’s good. The other fish are doing well. I’m hoping to do one water change a month, 45-50 gallons. My tank was doing well without a water change for over a month.

Ashish Patel · Apr 11, 2023

Finally just caved in and put Lanthaum on a doser. Used $30 of GFO and it lasted 5 days only. Need to maybe drill a hole in the skimmer cup but dont have the drill bits

Ashish Patel · Apr 15, 2023

I got this Air exhanger for my basement.
If setup correctly i believe i should get a .2 increase in PH

newreef1 · Apr 16, 2023

Ashish Patel said:
I got this Air exhanger for my basement.
If setup correctly i believe i should get a .2 increase in PH

Lol! I’m new to this hobby, but still surprises me when people do so much for their tank. I guess after spending thousands on a tank (I’m guilty as well) other things like these don’t seem like such a bad price! Loll the real question is how do you convince the Mrs for stuff like this?!

newreef1 · Apr 16, 2023

Ashish Patel said:
Oh man, So Sorry. How old and deep was your sandbed? Get rid of the sand. Not worth it unless you commited to removing small portions every 6 months and cleaning with freshwater until he runs clean.

Wait won’t rinsing the sand get rid of good bacteria. Or I guess you just have to be careful not to rinse too much at the same time.

newreef1 · Apr 16, 2023

Ashish Patel said:
I got this Air exhanger for my basement.
If setup correctly i believe i should get a .2 increase in PH

Do you mind sharing your tank maintenance/basics. Seems like you have a more manageable regime compared to others I’ve read on here. Would love to learn from you. I’m still trying to get a hand on my tank, I’ve ordered more bacteria (fritz, polyp lab) and also tried chemipure which I really like along with the felt socks really polishes my tank!