Boozeman's 525XL build

[boozeman27]

Picked up a catfish today! Lol!

 

[gig 'em]

Oh man, this is going to be an awesome build! I can't wait to see how this turns out. Just a word to the wise though, cats aren't compatible with most reef fish and corals. May want to re-home it to a species specific tank ;Playful

 

[SlvrZ]

love the dry side parts list!

 

[boozeman27]

Made some progress on the dry side today

 

[SlvrZ]

Is that just regular shelving you used? I need to stop being lazy and get to making mine nice like yours

 

[boozeman27]

So I have been busting my butt the last 2 days getting my tank wet. Put 122 gallons of water in her and about 60 cups of salt. Took forever to get the apex running but finally have that sorted out. Going to start Red Sea Reef Mature tonight I think. I'll take some more detail shots tonight but have to run now and let it settle out a bit.




Here is a shot of pump chamber showing water level


Here is the skimmer level. Had to add about 2" of base to bring it to 9" water height



Here is how my overflow is looking. Right now the emergancy pipe is above water by about 1/4 inch

 

[boozeman27]

My Vectra L1 has been calibrated and I have it running about 70%. I figure I have 3 reactors, so I left room to kick it up 10% for each reactor I bring online.

 

[jsker]

Picked up a catfish today! Lol!

Its official, you can proceed with your build

 

[pelphrey]

You've done an amazing job! I wish my cable management was as great as yours!

 

[boozeman27]

You've done an amazing job! I wish my cable management was as great as yours!

Thank you!

 

[boozeman27]

The remote for my sump lights

The wiring channels I used. Need to put a cover on the small vertical section still.

My flow sensor in my return pipe.

My reactor manifold sans reactors..

No leaks!!!

 

[SlvrZ]

link to the clamps holding the reactors

 

[boozeman27]

link to the clamps holding the reactors

Sure. Here ya go

https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/sm-clamp-for-pvc-pipe.html

 

[boozeman27]

So my whole skimmer section of my sump is filled with micro bubbles. I realize my skimmer has only been running for 4 hours and has days to go until it's broken in. Is that the reason for the difference in this picture.

All his bubbles are contained within the skimmer (lower photo), where as its a bubble party in my whole sump. Is it just tuning and patience? You can see in my upper photo that my sump skimmer section is full of bubbles. Someone teach me how to tune this thing?!

 

[boozeman27]

So it's been a couple weeks since the tank got wet, and after being reminded so subtly by @revhtree to keep our threads updated, I figured I had better get to it. So heres where I stand.

I started Red Sea's Reef Mature 13 days ago after getting salinity and temp dialed in. Since using Marco dry rock, it's taking a bit longer to cycle, which is ok cause I'm patient. I fully except an extra 10 days to 2 weeks. I have no sign of diatoms or anything growing in the tank except a bacterial bloom on day 5. That clouded the water up but went away quickly. My nylon stock socks were also incredibly dirty with a really brown slimy substance at that time. My skimmer is pulling out this sand brown skim which I believe is still dry rock cure off. Per Red Sea I should have diatoms and already have added cuc. I haven't done that of course because I'm still reading NH3 and NO2. NO3 is outta sight high! Ill test later tonight to see where exactly. Here is a quick fts.


He is my skim production.


I have added a seneye that I already had to this tank for some redundancy and NH3 monitoring.




I also ran a line to fresh air to my skimmer. I was running 7.5-7.6 all the time for the past 2 weeks. Since plumbing this in yesterday I'm getting. 7.97.



I also did some sound proofing as my L1 has a bit of a whine to it. That and my wife and are are pretty noise sensitive lol. I put some foam strips at the bottom to seal the doors and some 1/4" Dynamat on the doors. Made a substantial difference.




I hope I don't cause any issues with the lack of air flow I have created by sound proofing. I don't see that it is any warmer or more humid in the cabinet than before. Plus since the tank is in a tightly sealed basement (causing my Co2/high ph issues), maybe I'm getting even more benefit from the fresh air being plumbed in???

I have a 12 gallon ato from Advanced Acrylics arriving tomorrow, so in the meantime my ATK is working out of a bucket. Nevemind that it says waste.


I ordered the 12 gallon 5x24x24 tall slim unit. It will fit hidden behind the tank as I have about 8 inches from the wall

 

[boozeman27]

My numbers currently are;

Ph-7.98
Alk-10.0
Sal-33.7
Nh3-.1
NO2-1.0
NO3-50+
Temp-77.5

Red Sea says I should be 0 amonia, 0 Nitrite and 5ppm Nitrate. I'm not even close...

 

[ksfulk]

It took me about 17 days until I started seeing some diatoms and it was over a month in before the algae really started to take off from my curing marco rock. The ugly algae came and went in about two months, but it was thick and fierce for a while there Looking great so far though

 

[boozeman27]

It took me about 17 days until I started seeing some diatoms and it was over a month in before the algae really started to take off from my curing marco rock. The ugly algae came and went in about two months, but it was thick and fierce for a while there Looking great so far though

Thanks for the info. So did your skimmate look like mine does through the first 2 weeks? Light brownish? When did you add cuc since you saw no algae until day 17? When did you add fish? My amonia is now zero. Should I dose pure amonia to 2.0 and see if it disappears in 24hra, or just stick to Red Sea Reef Mature stuff? Thanks for all your help!

 

[kennedpa]

Thanks for the info. So did your skimmate look like mine does through the first 2 weeks? Light brownish? When did you add cuc since you saw no algae until day 17? When did you add fish? My amonia is now zero. Should I dose pure amonia to 2.0 and see if it disappears in 24hra, or just stick to Red Sea Reef Mature stuff? Thanks for all your help!

If you're doing the kit don't deviate. It has ammonia in it to feed the bacteria.

Once your ammonia is gone you can add cuc. Once nitrite is gone you're good to slowly add fish. Ammonia is a byproduct of fish metabolism so fish need to be added slow until you know how your system responds to the load. I saw you have a seneye so that will be good for ammonia spikes. You can always pull the fish back to QT and manage with WCs etc until the spike goes away should you have one. Usuaully the algae blow out phase is a good time for cuc and fish.

FWIW I'm a snail only guy and a fan of fish that serve reef health. Wrasses and herbivores.

 

[boozeman27]

Ok thanks for the help. I wont dose amonia ill just keep watching the parameters. I don't think I will add cuc for a few more days. The tank is so sterile there's nothing for them to eat. Hopefully I will see algae this week like ksfulk did around day 17. That will be this Thursday for me. Today is day 14