Crystal Dynamics 100G

coweyes298 · Sep 21, 2017

Yes. PBT, Hippo Tang, Formosa Wrasse, Midas blenny, Flame hawk, pair of snowflake. Still have 4 anthias in QT. Getting another 4 anthias tomorrow...

Whipples · Sep 21, 2017

Oh man nice! I currently have a tomini tang, snowflake/regular ocellaris pair, a royal gramma, and a banggai cardinalfish. I am hoping for a copperband butterfly in the near future, 5 or so anthias, and was really debating between a powder blue or a yellow tang because the copperband will be a priority, still not sure if that will work out... but either one will be the very last fish in the tank. Good luck with your QT!

Jlahr16 · Sep 25, 2017

Love your scape here Whipples! Also loving these CD tanks - they are just so clean!

Whipples · Sep 27, 2017

Hey everyone, no major updates at this time as I'm waiting for the cycle to complete a bit more. I did get my refugium going and transferred over some chaeto from my existing tank to help bring nitrates and phosphates down as well as start building up some biodiversity. Refugium is lit with a kessil H150 purple and it causes chaeto to pearl and gives great, thick growth! Starting to see some diatoms in the display on the rocks and sand, so it's nearly ready!

I also got a question on how I mounted the LX7 to the kessil A arms and figured I would post my black magic sorcery . I used the A arms and the Mitras hanging kit, and threaded the cable through the A arm holes and have them fully extended. This gets the light nearly dead center over the tank, with a slight bias to the rear. I used the ceiling anchors to secure it to the A arm mounting holes and have the light about 4-5" down from the a arm to reduce stress on the pressure release wire holder, and the lights are about 10" or so off the water surface. The light cord fits through the arm nicely and I used some coins to help level the fixture as the cord is off-center. I made sure they did not obstruct any vents and the fixture never gets very hot!

Whipples · Oct 20, 2017

Quick update! Got livestock transferred over and some new corals. Started triton method when I moved them over and so far so good, but very early on. The Mitras lights are awesome! Added an H380 over the refugium and it is excellent.

Lilmatty5dimes · Nov 6, 2017

Wow everything looks great. Love the aquascape. I'm planning on a 100g here soon. Just need to sell my tank now to upgrade.

Davy Jones · Dec 6, 2017

Looks good! Still liking the mitras?

Whipples · Dec 6, 2017

I am! Here are some shots captured under the Mitras with my iPhone:

Sea MunnKey · Dec 6, 2017

Nicee!!! But where's the Man U logo ...?

Whipples · Dec 6, 2017

Other recent changes were an update to the skimmer and some corals. I recently changed my lighting schedule and some corals are having their color come back! It’s a young tank so I don’t expect too much right now, and the worse off corals were coming from my underlit 40breeder. Coral photo is under the 13k peak daylight period. I am working on bringing nutrients up (NO3 was completely undetectable, PO4 was .013) to help color them all back up

ETBReefer05 · Dec 10, 2017

Really enjoy the sump/plumbing on this. I think you've inspired me when it comes time to plumb, the blue and grey is just great.

coweyes298 · Dec 25, 2017

Nice skimmer. Question for your Triton method. Do you run full Triton method or other method? If it is full method, how do you manage to have fuge as the first section from overflow?

Whipples · Dec 25, 2017

Full Triton, and I compensate for the smaller Refugium with a kessil H380 over it. No filter socks either. I’ve now got 9 fish in the tank, feed the fish 2-3x and the corals nightly and I am barely registering nutrients, which is actually the current battle with keeping coral colored up.

I view the recommendations for the method as just that: recommendations. The main selling point for me was the concentration of the elements after making my own balling via Aquaforest. I got tired of making new batches all the time.

coweyes298 · Dec 25, 2017

So your main drain is into the fuge? The water flows into fuge, then spread left and right to skimmer section and return section? Just want to see how you plumb the drain with this sump to use full Triton method.

Whipples · Dec 25, 2017

It still follows traditional plumbing of skimmer->refugium->return. I skim as dry as I can to compensate for that not being “ideal” for the method but it hasn’t really caused any issue growing the chaeto or keeping nutrients low.

I could switch the fuge but that wouldn’t leave much room for the skimmer and reactor for a minimal volume gain.

coweyes298 · Dec 25, 2017

I see. That is good to hear that you use traditional layout and use full Triton with no issue. I am debating to change the sump to a full Triton setup or not since I really don't want to change my plumbing again!

I started Triton other method a week ago, but my newly introduced chaeto is dying. My NO3 is 12ppm, PO4 is 0.06ppm. And if the condition is right I should grow some chaeto. But it is not. I have Kessil H150 magenta in my fuge for a year and now there are lots of hair/weird algae inside. I did have good chaeto growth around first two months when using A150 but now it is the opposite. I am wondering should I deep clean my fuge to get rid of those nasty algae and start over again. Or change to H380 with new chaeto to see whats the result. Later down to the road I may also change to full Triton with my original sump layout (drain/no filter sock/skimmer, GFO reactor/return).

Whipples · Dec 25, 2017

I ran an H150 purple for 6-8 months and I had to work up from a 2 hour photoperiod to an 8 hour due to how much more powerful it was from the cheap LED I had on it before. I did the same with the H380 which is 3x as powerful as the H150 line. If the chaeto is new and has never been under your magenta light it might be getting cooked and needs to be acclimated.

oneilwiz · Feb 12, 2018

Nice setup, any updates?

Whipples · Feb 12, 2018

Hey @oneilwiz so far I am doing my best to let the tank do it’s thing! Got a little hair algae going but it is starting to recede. I switched flow up to the coral lab program (alternating sides of fixed rate and reef crest throughout the day) and am running Reefrocker’s GHL Mitras program and the SPS are coloring back up! Still running triton method and happy with the results, not a ton of growth yet but I think that is more to me being new to SPS than any one program.

I’ve had some coral losses, notably milleporas don’t seem to live for me and I’ve stopped trying them for the time being. Tenuis are hit or miss, came across a killer frag at $30 so I am trying it one more time.

Here is the FTS as of last week and some coral shots, I apologize again for quality as I only have an iPhone and still trying to sort out the best method.