HybridAZN's 180 gallon build

hybridazn · Jun 7, 2017

Afishionado said:
Dude bad *** set up. I really like the idea of calrx incorporation on your fmm. I'm going to utilize that idea as well!

Thanks buddy! And I'm glad to see you back on R2R!

ksfulk · Jun 7, 2017

Been lurking in this thread for a while, watching the recovery - its looking up, which is always such a great thing to see. The pictures are great! I was a made a little sad by your AV99 Orange Crush picture, as I came home to find it dislodged from its former perch and in the direct path of the WAV near it - so its skinless on one side, and a sad brown nub on the other side.

Hopefully it starts a turn around. Seems like its always those slow growers that tend to take a beating the most frequently.

You have any other sticks in the works, or are you waiting to see how the Zeo experiment pans out first?

hybridazn · Jun 7, 2017

ksfulk said:
Been lurking in this thread for a while, watching the recovery - its looking up, which is always such a great thing to see. The pictures are great! I was a made a little sad by your AV99 Orange Crush picture, as I came home to find it dislodged from its former perch and in the direct path of the WAV near it - so its skinless on one side, and a sad brown nub on the other side. Hopefully it starts a turn around. Seems like its always those slow growers that tend to take a beating the most frequently.

You have any other sticks in the works, or are you waiting to see how the Zeo experiment pans out first?

Bummer about your orange crush. I'm sure it'll recover if half is still there, just takes time. It was strange about my piece, literally no growth for months, then once I got my nutrients in check it exploded. I can't wait to get the orange tips.

I do have a few other sticks I just got. I'll be posting an update on them here in a bit.

I also have the RR pretty in pink, but it's still a brown turd but it's growing. I'll have to snap a pic of it here soon.

hybridazn · Jun 7, 2017

So I got a couple new pieces from Gary @Reef Pets

Packing was top notch, I'm excited to see these pieces progress!

Bubblegum Milli

Atomic Firecracker

Blue Lagoon

Pink Bandit

Stay tuned for further updates on these pieces!

Thanks for looking!

Afishionado · Jun 7, 2017

Oh I log on almost in daily basis ok... sometimes every week lol. But I lurk a lot hahahaha.

hybridazn · Jun 8, 2017

Afishionado said:
Oh I log on almost in daily basis ok... sometimes every week lol. But I lurk a lot hahahaha.

Lurker... hahaha

prsnlty · Jun 14, 2017

hybridazn said:
I've been holding off on this update until I saw how it would be resolved and I'm glad I did

So the fish order I had from blue zoo aquatic that got held up a day late at a FedEx facility ended up being a total loss. One by one I lost the fish, but BZA gave me a full credit to use to order new fish PLUS they gave me free shipping on the order since it was deemed fedex's fault. So 2 weeks ago I placed an order for the following:

1x Naoko fairy wrasse
1x 6 line wrasse
1x McCosker flasher wrasse
1x Blue flasher wrasse
1x multi colored fairy wrasse
1x diamond goby
1x lawnmower Benny

I requested that they be delivered Tuesday of last week. They ship out Monday and I want eager to get the box the next day. Next day comes and I get the box on time(yaaaaay) already doing better than last. I open the box and go thru the bags and uh oh, something is not right. I got the McCosker, naoko, multicolor, 2 lawnmower bennies, 6 line. Oh geez here we go no blue flasher or diamond goby.

So I immediately email BZA and basically say uh, what gives? A little back and forth and it's discovered that they held shipping the blue flasher because the ones they had didn't look good and they weren't sure if they would make the trip, and the diamond goby was just a straight up mistake. So at the point I'm certain that they will just try to give me credit to use on a later order or refund my money(which I didn't want either). I really wanted my fish so to my surprise they said they will ship the 2 fish out asap! They shipped out this past Monday and I got them in today. Both fish came in great shape!

I talked to Greg at BZA earlier Monday about the fish and he said that they had a really nice Blue flasher that he just photographed for their collectors corner but said he will ship that one to me, and it's a beauty.

So all in all I have nothing but high praise for BZA after this whole ordeal. I feel they went above and beyond to help me with all the hiccups we had. Right now all the fish are swimming around in QT and eating like pigs. I'm really happy with how this transaction ended for me.

Now on to the 2nd part of this update. I acclimated the new blue flasher and diamond this morning before work, I put them in and all seemed well. I come home to find out that the Naoko has turned into a huge bully! Picking and attacking the blue flasher wrasse like crazy! So yea I was a little ticked, I had my daughter screaming at the Naoko telling him to stop lol, it was kind of funny though so that made me laugh. I needed a acclimation box asap! So I took a spare BRS carbon container(1 gallon) and drilled some holes in it and used some spare magnets from old heaters I have laying around. I scooped up the Naoko and put him in there and boy, he is not happy.

I hope he cools his jets sooner rather than later. He eats like crazy and is pretty fat for a fish that I've only had for a week.

Sorry about the lengthy update, but I hope you enjoyed it!

Catching up on your thread (or maybe I missed this somehow)....

That is a terrific diy idea!!! Love it and will make one too [emoji12]

GoVols · Jun 14, 2017

prsnlty said:
Catching up on your thread (or maybe I missed this somehow)....

That is a terrific diy idea!!! Love it and will make one too [emoji12]

(lol)
I'm still trying to catch up.

Sitting on pg-45...

prsnlty · Jun 14, 2017

hybridazn said:
Last night I made a fresh batch of aquaforest reef salt for a water change. With a brand new calcium test kit in hand I went ahead and retested the water. Prior to mixing the water I rolled the bucket a few times to make sure it was evenly mixed.

I added the salt to fresh rodi water and here are the results

Salinity mixed the same as before, this is also the mark that aquaforest says they mix at for their results according to BRS.

Next up alk

Boom! The same.

Now calcium, and once again I was disappointed. With a brand new red sea pro test kit, the readings came up the same as the old kit. It came in at 350 for calcium! Could it just be this batch? Or is this a consistent thing that other users are seeing with this salt?

@Anirban @120reefkeeper @Aquaforest @jsker #reefsquad

When I was using their pro-bio version ca AND mg was inconsistent from box-to-box with using two different types of test kits to check it; salifert and Red Sea. My system needs a higher alkalinity level or I would be using their "Reef Salt"(got bad algae issues with pro-bio and I went back to Seachem Reef salt as it works best for my system).

hybridazn · Jun 14, 2017

prsnlty said:
Catching up on your thread (or maybe I missed this somehow)....

That is a terrific diy idea!!! Love it and will make one too [emoji12]

Yea it was really easy to make, the naoko has been released back into the qt and he's been better. I can't wait to get these guys out of qt and into the display

GoVols said:
(lol)
I'm still trying to catch up.
Sitting on pg-45...

This is devotion lol! Thanks for taking the time to check out the entire thread!

prsnlty said:
When I was using their pro-bio version ca AND mg was inconsistent from box-to-box with using two different types of test kits to check it; salifert and Red Sea. My system needs a higher alkalinity level or I would be using their "Reef Salt"(got bad algae issues with pro-bio and I went back to Seachem Reef salt as it works best for my system).

I just received my 2nd box of reef salt today so either tonight or tomorrow I'll mix some up and see where the alk and calcium fall.

justingraham · Jun 14, 2017

GoVols said:
(lol)
I'm still trying to catch up.
Sitting on pg-45...

Yea I could tell I got like eight likes from you in my news thread

It's a good build thread tho and well worth the read

@hybridazn hiw is the zeovit going

hybridazn · Jun 14, 2017

justingraham said:
Yea I could tell I got like eight likes from you in my news thread

It's a good build thread tho and well worth the read

@hybridazn hiw is the zeovit going

So far the zeovit has been going ok, I only say ok because my nitrates went back up to 12. Not entirely high but higher than I like. I noticed today that my setosa had some flesh peeling so I need to get it under control. So I have turned the reactor on all the time as opposed to the 3 on 3 off. I'll test nitrates tonight to see if it has dropped any. I also need to add another 500ml of stones to be at my recommended amount, those are rinsing as we speak.

prsnlty · Jun 14, 2017

hybridazn said:
So far the zeovit has been going ok, I only say ok because my nitrates went back up to 12. Not entirely high but higher than I like. I noticed today that my setosa had some flesh peeling so I need to get it under control. So I have turned the reactor on all the time as opposed to the 3 on 3 off. I'll test nitrates tonight to see if it has dropped any. I also need to add another 500ml of stones to be at my recommended amount, those are rinsing as we speak.

I low dose vodka and it works well. I started with 1.4ml first 3 days, then went to 2ml and stayed there. That is not the recommended way to do it but it works [emoji6]

prsnlty · Jun 14, 2017

hybridazn said:
So far the zeovit has been going ok, I only say ok because my nitrates went back up to 12. Not entirely high but higher than I like. I noticed today that my setosa had some flesh peeling so I need to get it under control. So I have turned the reactor on all the time as opposed to the 3 on 3 off. I'll test nitrates tonight to see if it has dropped any. I also need to add another 500ml of stones to be at my recommended amount, those are rinsing as we speak.

I low dose vodka and it works well. I started with 1.4ml first 3 days, then went to 2ml and stayed there. That is not the recommended way to do it but it works [emoji6]

hybridazn · Jun 14, 2017

prsnlty said:
I low dose vodka and it works well. I started with 1.4ml first 3 days, then went to 2ml and stayed there. That is not the recommended way to do it but it works [emoji6]

The thought of dosing some nopox has def crossed my mind to get the nitrates down here lol. But I'm going to stay the course for a bit longer here

fabutahoun · Jun 15, 2017

Very Nice corals and frags , awesome collection you have there man

hybridazn · Jun 15, 2017

fabutahoun said:
Very Nice corals and frags , awesome collection you have there man

Thank you very much!

GoVols · Jun 25, 2017

Hybird,
Great and awesome build!!!!!!

Love how you built your overflow not to mention about 500 others things.
Reefing is a roller coaster ride for all of us but we get back up on our feet.

Now, I understand why you went with the cal. reactor and the way you run it is an absolute no-brainer, including eliminating a lot of

parts that can fail.

You are truly gifted in being a great reefer, builder and loving your family.

I must admit when I hit your post on your family loss my heart sunk in sadness. We can tell that you guys are a very close family and we are here for you too. Your family is in all are thoughts and prayers for healing and holding tight to each other and God.

Freddie