Retirement 150g Tank Upgrade

[Braves Fan]

Made another purchase yesterday ,,, a Aqua UV 57 watt 2 inch UV Sterilizer ,,, I was going to buy one that BRS sells ,, until I did a bit of research on them ,, apparently ,, and was told there is a thread on R2R about this ,, that I haven't read yet ,, the one that BRS sells has some problems with the transformer ,, or whatever you call that thing ,, so I bought the one the LFS sells ,, apparently its the better buy at this time ,,, now just have to find a place to mount it and that's not going to be a easy thing to do ,,, I will have a friend stop by and get his input ,,

I am not going to mount it the way the LFS owner wants me to mount it ,, at least that's the plan right now ,, The LFS owner wants me to mount it after my return pump in the return line back into the tank ,, space would be a problem in mounting it this way ,, I agree its the better way to mount it ,, 100% of the water returning back into the tank will have been run thru the sterilizer ,, the plan is to use a separate controllable pump in the sump,, run the water thru the sterilizer and have the water return back into the sump tank ,, this is not a done deal plan ,, will see what my friend thinks,, these sterilizer are pretty good sized with 2" PVC pipes coming out of them ,,, it needs space to mount them ,, I could do the install after the return pump ,, but would have to mount the sterilizer to the outside back of the stand ,, my stand sits off the wall ,, I wanted to be able to walk behind the stand,, and incorporate several PVC 90 fittings to do it ,, I most likely will have to use several 90s either way ,, if I have to use 90s either way ,, then might as well plump it behind the return pump ,, we will see how this turns out

not taking the water sample in today ,, will wait till Tuesday ,, the LFS is closed on Mondays ,, I pretty much think we will be good to go with putting a fish or two in the tank Tuesday ,,

 

[Braves Fan]

My thoughts on this new tank

I love the tank ,, my one regret ,,,I should have bought a 6' tank ,,, the stand ended up being 7 1/2' long ,, so it would have only cost me a couple of hundred $$ more to go with a 6' tank plus one more radion ,, most likely another power head or two or just a bigger power head ,,, would have been well worth it for another 12" of tank.

I really like that 20" depth compared to the 25" I had in the old tank ,, this is the first tank I have had with Starfire glass, very nice ,,

Another feature I like about this tank ,, or at least I think I do lol the cost wasn't that much more to have it added to the tank ,, is it worth it ,, is the pay off for having it ,, make this a better tank ,,, I don't know ,,, I am tending to think it does ,, those seam protectors that are in each corner ,, in my old tank ,, the corner seams were getting chipped away from using the algae magnets ,,, this won't happen in this tank because of those seam protectors .. all they are is a piece of glass 3/8s x 4/8s added to each corner ,,, the upside to having them ,,, you can't get to the corner seams holding the tanks glass panels together ,, I will let yall decide if the seam protectors are worth having ,, in my mind they are, kinda like seat belts ,, better to have them ,, than to not have them.

Ok ,, here we go The one thing I like most about this tank ,, above all else ,,, the one feature that is well worth whatever money it takes to make it happen on any new tank that you are having built ,,,

That Reef Savvy external overflow box ,, this is a feature that I would recommend that everyone who is having a new tank built,,, have installed on their tank ,,, having all that unobstructed internal space inside the tank to do with whatever you want ,,, no way around it ,,, this is just well worth the money ,,,

There is a bit of a downside to this box but ,,, lol ,,, jmo ,,, its no big deal when compared to the pay off of having all of that added unobstructed internal space in the tank ,, a normal ,, what has been the standard in the hobby for years overflow box ,, those boxes sit in your tank and have the drain slots into them sit at the top of the box ,, those boxes can have their slots higher in your tank ,, I guess that's what I am trying to say here ,,, those slots will sit lower in your tank on this Reef Savvy overflow box because of the way you have to mount that Reef Savvy overflow box onto you tank ,, for me its a non factor ,, if you are building a new display tank ,,, Get This

I like saltwater fish ,, but for me ,, its all about the corals ,, I have always wanted a really nice looking coral tank ,, heavy on the SPS side ,, I am hoping to create that in this tank ,,, at least as much as I can with my capabilities ,, what I am not is a SPS guru ,, all I know is to keep my parameters in check ,,, test ,,, test ,,, test ,, have good lighting ,,, and hope my corals will grow and one day have the tank I want ,,,

 

[ylreefer]

My thoughts on this new tank

I love the tank ,, my one regret ,,,I should have bought a 6' tank ,,, the stand ended up being 7 1/2' long ,, so it would have only cost me a couple of hundred $$ more to go with a 6' tank plus one more radion ,, most likely another power head or two or just a bigger power head ,,, would have been well worth it for another 12" of tank.

I really like that 20" depth compared to the 25" I had in the old tank ,, this is the first tank I have had with Starfire glass, very nice ,,

Another feature I like about this tank ,, or at least I think I do lol the cost wasn't that much more to have it added to the tank ,, is it worth it ,, is the pay off for having it ,, make this a better tank ,,, I don't know ,,, I am tending to think it does ,, those seam protectors that are in each corner ,, in my old tank ,, the corner seams were getting chipped away from using the algae magnets ,,, this won't happen in this tank because of those seam protectors .. all they are is a piece of glass 3/8s x 4/8s added to each corner ,,, the upside to having them ,,, you can't get to the corner seams holding the tanks glass panels together ,, I will let yall decide if the seam protectors are worth having ,, in my mind they are, kinda like seat belts ,, better to have them ,, than to not have them.

Ok ,, here we go The one thing I like most about this tank ,, above all else ,,, the one feature that is well worth whatever money it takes to make it happen on any new tank that you are having built ,,,

That Reef Savvy external overflow box ,, this is a feature that I would recommend that everyone who is having a new tank built,,, have installed on their tank ,,, having all that unobstructed internal space inside the tank to do with whatever you want ,,, no way around it ,,, this is just well worth the money ,,,

There is a bit of a downside to this box but ,,, lol ,,, jmo ,,, its no big deal when compared to the pay off of having all of that added unobstructed internal space in the tank ,, a normal ,, what has been the standard in the hobby for years overflow box ,, those boxes sit in your tank and have the drain slots into them sit at the top of the box ,, those boxes can have their slots higher in your tank ,, I guess that's what I am trying to say here ,,, those slots will sit lower in your tank on this Reef Savvy overflow box because of the way you have to mount that Reef Savvy overflow box onto you tank ,, for me its a non factor ,, if you are building a new display tank ,,, Get This

I like saltwater fish ,, but for me ,, its all about the corals ,, I have always wanted a really nice looking coral tank ,, heavy on the SPS side ,, I am hoping to create that in this tank ,,, at least as much as I can with my capabilities ,, what I am not is a SPS guru ,, all I know is to keep my parameters in check ,,, test ,,, test ,,, test ,, have good lighting ,,, and hope my corals will grow and one day have the tank I want ,,,

This tank has turned out real nice just as I expected it would with that scape. Good choice and I'm glad your happy with it. Man it makes my 110g look tiny lol.

Was just wondering, since you clearly enjoyed building this tank up do you plan to set up a quarentine tank at all?. I just ask because I've just built a qt system cabinet and it reminded me of my terrible ick outbreak I had a few years ago which saw all fish dead [emoji853]. Would hate for you to have to go through something like me after going to all this effort to build something so nice [emoji6].

 

[Braves Fan]

I am not setting up a QT tank ,, don't shake your head just yet I am doing what I can ,, short of setting one up lol that's why I am spending the money putting the UV Sterilizer online with this system ,,

I have a LFS ,,, that's not that local to me ,, its a 1 1/2 hour,, one way drive away from my house ,, but I am willing to make this drive ,, this store has a top of the line QT system set up ,, I can pre buy my fish from them ,, they will run them thru their system ,,, then I go pick them up ,, I am calling them today to see about ordering a couple of fish ,, I am not wanting a lot of fish in the tank ,, just a few nice ones ,, color wise ,,

I have a 37g cube up and running that has fish in it that are going into the new tank, they will be my first fish added to the tank ,, a Midas Blenny ,, Marine Beta ,, two Black Ice clowns my two oldest fish, have had them along time ,, and a Malinarisus Wrasse am sure I spelled that wrong

The two fish I am calling that LFS today about ,, Tangs ,, I am thinking two ,, maybe 3 for this tank ,, haven't made up my mind on two or three yet ,, I will see what the LFS thinks on this, go from there. I want to get a Purple Tang ,,, Powder Blue not quite sure what the third one will be ,, want something nice ,, if the LFS owner gives me the go ahead on a third one ,, I would like a Achillies a lot of down side to this one ,, the third one is still up in the air.

The rest of the fish going into the tank would be Wrasses ,, not a lot of them ,, 3 or 4 The LFS may or may not run the Wrasses thru his QT system for me ,,, I can always buy them from Divers Den ,,, not really sure how good their QT system is ,, but the fish you buy from Divers Den are supposed to have been run thru their QT system ,,, Anyway ,,, that's my plan

 

[ylreefer]

I am not setting up a QT tank ,, don't shake your head just yet I am doing what I can ,, short of setting one up lol that's why I am spending the money putting the UV Sterilizer online with this system ,,

I have a LFS ,,, that's not that local to me ,, its a 1 1/2 one way drive away from my house ,, but I am willing to make this drive ,, this store has a top of the line QT system set up ,, I can pre buy my fish from them ,, they will run them thru their system ,,, then I go pick them up ,, I am calling them today to see about ordering a couple of fish ,, I am not wanting a lot of fish in the tank ,, just a few nice ones ,, color wise ,,

I have a 37g cube up and running that has fish in it that are going into the new tank, they will be my first fish added to the tank ,, a Midas Blenny ,, Marine Beta ,, two Black Ice clowns my two oldest fish, have had them along time ,, and a Malinarisus Wrasse am sure I spelled that wrong

The two fish I am calling that LFS today about ,, Tangs ,, I am thinking two ,, maybe 3 for this tank ,, haven't made up my mind on two or three yet ,, I will see what the LFS thinks on this, go from there. I want to get a Purple Tang ,,, Powder Blue not quite sure what the third one will be ,, want something nice ,, if the LFS owner gives me the go ahead on a third one ,, I would like a Achillies a lot of down side to this one ,, the third one is still up in the air.

The rest of the fish going into the tank would be Wrasses ,, not a lot of them ,, 3 or 4 The LFS may or may not run the Wrasses thru his QT system for me ,,, I can always buy them from Divers Den ,,, not really sure how good their QT system is ,, but the fish you buy from Divers Den are supposed to have been run thru their QT system ,,, Anyway ,,, that's my plan

Ahhh.. I almost startrd shaking my head to be honest lol. OK seems like the non local local LFS sounds like they do their bit. I wish the shops here would care to do such.

As for the other on eregarding the wrasse, if they don't put them through their qt system could you not use the 37g foe a temp one, [emoji4].

As you can probably tell by now I'm a big fan of qt [emoji23].

Well whichever way you do go I hope that you don't meet anything like I did [emoji120][emoji120]

 

[Braves Fan]

I guess I am not calling the LFS today ,, when you are newly retired ,,, sometimes you forget what day of the week it is lol

 

[ylreefer]

I guess I am not calling them today ,, when you are newly retired ,,, sometimes you forget what day of the week it is lol

[emoji23][emoji23] I'm definitely looking forward to that day then [emoji23][emoji106]

 

[norfolkgarden]

I am not setting up a QT tank ,, don't shake your head just yet I am doing what I can ,, short of setting one up lol that's why I am spending the money putting the UV Sterilizer online with this system ,,

I have a LFS ,,, that's not that local to me ,, its a 1 1/2 hour,, one way drive away from my house ,, but I am willing to make this drive ,, this store has a top of the line QT system set up ,, I can pre buy my fish from them ,, they will run them thru their system ,,, then I go pick them up ,, I am calling them today to see about ordering a couple of fish ,, I am not wanting a lot of fish in the tank ,, just a few nice ones ,, color wise ,,

I have a 37g cube up and running that has fish in it that are going into the new tank, they will be my first fish added to the tank ,, a Midas Blenny ,, Marine Beta ,, two Black Ice clowns my two oldest fish, have had them along time ,, and a Malinarisus Wrasse am sure I spelled that wrong

The two fish I am calling that LFS today about ,, Tangs ,, I am thinking two ,, maybe 3 for this tank ,, haven't made up my mind on two or three yet ,, I will see what the LFS thinks on this, go from there. I want to get a Purple Tang ,,, Powder Blue not quite sure what the third one will be ,, want something nice ,, if the LFS owner gives me the go ahead on a third one ,, I would like a Achillies a lot of down side to this one ,, the third one is still up in the air.

The rest of the fish going into the tank would be Wrasses ,, not a lot of them ,, 3 or 4 The LFS may or may not run the Wrasses thru his QT system for me ,,, I can always buy them from Divers Den ,,, not really sure how good their QT system is ,, but the fish you buy from Divers Den are supposed to have been run thru their QT system ,,, Anyway ,,, that's my plan

Divers den gets the fish eating. No prophylactic QT with a full round of copper and meds.

You will have to ask your LFS to do that if you don't have a qt tank set up.

 

[Braves Fan]

Divers den gets the fish eating. No prophylactic QT with a full round of copper and meds.

You will have to ask your LFS to do that if you don't have a qt tank set up.

Thanks for that info ,, I had thought Diver Den ran their fish on that site thru a QT process ,,, I think I am just going to make a road trip to the LFS ,, have a face to face ,, I have nothing else to do anyway ,, be good to get out of town for the day ,,

This is posted on the Divers Den web page,,, they say they do QT their fish though ,,,

The Diver's Den® WYSIWYG Store Difference
What makes aquatic life available in the Diver's Den® WYSIWYG Store truly one-of-a-kind is the 5-point acclimation, stress reduction, disease prevention, quarantine, and conditioning protocols we employ under the strict supervision of our dedicated LiveAquaria® professionals.

The sand bed is starting to get some brown uglies on it ,, not much ,, I have one or two Fighting Konks in the 37g cube,, might drop them into the display tank today ,, tomorrow is the water test ,, tank should be cycled

 

[Braves Fan]

Sterilizer online

 

[norfolkgarden]

Thanks for that info ,, I had thought Diver Den ran their fish on that site thru a QT process ,,, I think I am just going to make a road trip to the LFS ,, have a face to face ,, I have nothing else to do anyway ,, be good to get out of town for the day ,,

This is posted on the Divers Den web page,,, they say they do QT their fish though ,,,

The Diver's Den[emoji2400] WYSIWYG Store Difference
What makes aquatic life available in the Diver's Den[emoji2400] WYSIWYG Store truly one-of-a-kind is the 5-point acclimation, stress reduction, disease prevention, quarantine, and conditioning protocols we employ under the strict supervision of our dedicated LiveAquaria[emoji2400] professionals.

The sand bed is starting to get some brown uglies on it ,, not much ,, I have one or two Fighting Konks in the 37g cube,, might drop them into the display tank today ,, tomorrow is the water test ,, tank should be cycled

Cool!

You might want to call them and ask for specifics.

"What is QT?" has been a popular (and disagreed upon) discussion on the board lately. :- )

Some consider it observation and food acclimation for a week, (2 weeks?) (a month?) with no 'obvious' visible sign of disease.

Others consider it 76 days+ of full prophylactic treatment of meds including copper (or CP), prazipro, etc. Some follow TTM, some consider this 'barbaric'.

Lol, there is a little bit of variability in different people's ideas of "What is QT?". :- )

 

[Braves Fan]

Well ,, still no fish in the tank ammonia is gone ,, but still have a nitrite level ,, will take another water sample in Friday ,, see where its at.

 

[Braves Fan]

I am wanting to get a Black Tang for the tank ,, ya'll let me know if you see one on any of the vendor pages ,, I want a real deal one from ,, I think ,, they come from Christmas Island ,, I don't want one of those Hybrid what ever they are ,, I know they aren't cheap ,, everyone has the yellow ones,, figured I would splurge on a black one if I can find it I am also going to call that LFS today ,, get him looking for one ,, by the time either I or them find one ,, get it run thru their QT system ,, the tank will be ready for the fish ,,

 

[najer]

I am wanting to get a Black Tang for the tank ,, ya'll let me know if you see one on any of the vendor pages ,, I want a real deal one from ,, I think ,, they come from Christmas Island ,, I don't want one of those Hybrid what ever they are ,, I know they aren't cheap ,, everyone has the yellow ones,, figured I would splurge on a black one if I can find it I am also going to call that LFS today ,, get him looking for one ,, by the time either I or them find one ,, get it run thru their QT system ,, the tank will be ready for the fish ,,

Nice, one of my dream fish.

 

[Hallowhead]

I have to say after reading through your post I am sorry for your loss <3

I have a piece of advice though... never stop doing what you're passionate about regardless of anything. I am stoked to see you're getting this beauty setup. I am for sure following along - please don't forget to update us!

I do have a question that media is what? I want to get it for my frag tank, however I don't know what it is

 

[Braves Fan]

They are Maxspect Bio Sphears

 

[Braves Fan]

We have fish in the tank ,, I put my two clowns into the tank yesterday afternoon

Nitrite test yesterday showed the nitrites at 5 the test last Tuesday had the nitrites at 40 ,, the LFS owner gave me the go a head to add the fish ,, he said sometimes it will take awhile to be rid of that last little bet of nitrites ,,, not sure what I am talking about here ,, friends have told me to start putting some corals in the tank ,, I am not sold on that idea ,, I have been putting a bit of food into the tank ,, my thoughts were to help feed the bacteria ,, it wasn't much food though ,, my point is ,,, I didn't want to lose corals because the water doesn't have much in it to feed corals ,, my thinking was ,, give the fish some time to poop in the tank plus feed them some before I try some tester corals into the tank.

I have ordered a whole new set of test kits that will be here Monday ,,, will test the tank for everything ,, see where its at ,, Alk. ,, Mag ,,, Calcium ,, phosphates ,, I know I have some nitrates ,, not sure how much yet,, during the cycle process ,, as ammonia and nitrites came down ,, nitrates were going up ,,, most likely not that high ,, I do have the Pax Bellum to put online ,, I am not sure at what point I need to get some Chatto into it ,,

I am planning to turn the lights down today ,, or at least run them on a coral acclamation program ,, not sure I posted this ,, I broke the Par Meter out the other day ,, one of the best things I have bought for the tank ,, you spend $3,000 plus $$$ for lights ,,, the cost of a Par Meter to get them dialed in is nothing ,, it sure is nice having that Par Meter to break out when ever I want without it ,, your just guessing ,, Anyway ,, the numbers were high ,, with the sand bed in the tank ,, the tank has a 15 1/2 inch water level in it ,, at coral level ,, the top of the tank was at 750 Par ,, mid level was in the 550 range ,, sand bed was in the 350 range ,, numbers were bouncing around ,, I tested with the MP 40s running ,,,

We started playing with the lights ,,, now at coral level ,,, the top of the tank ,, 450 or a bit higher in the areas with less water movement on top ,, mid level is in the 350 range ,, sand bed is about 175 ,, not really sure I like that 175 number ,, this is going to be a mostly SPS tank ,, but I like Chalices and Favias also ,, Favias can take a bit more light jmo ,,, that 175 number jmo might be a bit to high for Chalices though ,, with the scape I have ,, there aren't many places to hide chalices , I have to get the lights to a Par number they can live with ,,, I like the color the lights are putting into the tank ,, but really won't know till we get some corals into the tank ,, see what they look like ,,

Anyway ,, at least I have some life in the tank ,, not just water

 

[ylreefer]

This is amazing. Fish after 12 days of cycling [emoji50]. I guess a sand bed really speeds that up.

I'm 6 weeks in and still showing 0.05ppm ammonia in the 110g bare bottom lol.

 

[Braves Fan]

Geez ,, I feel so stupid I figured out the problem ,, just took me longer to get to the answer than it should have

I was having the water in the filter sock section of my sump tank, rising up to over the top of the filter socks, had about 8 inches or more water in that section than it should have ,, since this Reef Savvy overflow box is the first time I have ever used this type of system ,, my brain gravitated towards ,, I had did something wrong there and that was the problem, figure it out ,,

I looked in the overflow box ,, sure enough ,, I had a problem in the box ,, water was flowing into the last ditch emergency drain ,, that meant I had water flowing down into the sump tank from all three drain lines in the overflow box ,, so, my brain lol went to ,, I need to close the gate valve some to let less water go into the overflow box ,, I did that till I got the water level in the box below that emergency drain ,,,

Thinking that should cure the problem,, I sit back and watched ,,, problem wasn't solved ,, then the light bulb went off in my head the problem wasn't the flow in to the overflow box ,, it was the filter socks ,, even though the filter socks didn't look that dirty ,, and that's what made me think the problem was elsewhere ,, they were clogged up from the fine particles coming out of that new sand bed ,, problem solved as soon as I changed out those socks

Good news ,, maybe ,, I have found the main fish I want for the tank maybe ,, I will send the a email ,, see if its still in stock ,, if not ,, can they get me another one ,,

https://fishybusinessaquatics.com/fish/tangs-surgeonfish/black-longnose-tang-zebrasoma-rostratum/

 

[Braves Fan]

This is amazing. Fish after 12 days of cycling [emoji50]. I guess a sand bed really speeds that up.

I'm 6 weeks in and still showing 0.05ppm ammonia in the 110g bare bottom lol.

I am not a Pro when it comes to starting a tank ,, or pretty much anything else when it comes to this hobby lol except water changes ,, water testing and over feeding my fish My point here is ,, I am not sure how much of what I am fixing to say here had an effect on me getting fish into the tank after only 12 days ,, keep that in mind

I don't think its " just " the sand bed that got me there ,, I had 8 bags of Bio Spheres ,,, that's 320 Bio Spheres and according to the maker of those spheres ,, each of those 8 bags of fully cured bio sphear's is equivalent to 144 pounds of live rock ,, that's 1,152 pounds of live rock ,, even if the maker of those sphere's is fudging on that number ,, that's still a lot ,, they were at several different stages of being cured but they were mostly fully cured ,, my one mistake ,,, as I understand it from my LFS owner ,,

Those Bio Spheres came out of my old system ,, when they were pulled out of that system ,, they were ,, for the most part ,, fully cured bacteria covered live spheres and put into a Brute container with a heater and a pump plus some MB 7 ,, MB 7 is a bacteria ,, this is where I made a mistake ,, I was thinking that would have kept the Bio Spears fully cured ,, start up the new tank and for the most part would be ready to go ,, wrong

The Bio Spheres have to not only be kept like I had them in that Brute ,, they also have to maintain a bio load on them ,, meaning ,, instead of setting up a cube to hold my fish in like I did ,, until the new tank was ready for them ,, what I should have done was ,, kept those fish in the Brute container ,, let the fish poop in that can ,, let the fish be fed in that can ,, that would have allowed the Bio Spheres to maintain their level of bacteria on them, the fish poop and fish feeding would have also been feeding the bacteria ,, I am guessing here lol throwing some fish food in the container would have achieved the same goal ,,, the way I understand it, by not feeding the bacteria on those spheres ,, this either caused a bacteria die off ,, not sure that is correct ,, either way ,, the point is the same ,, the spheres didn't keep their level of being alive or maintain their level of being able to handle a bio load ,, that being said ,, they weren't dead either ,,

The point here is ,,, I wasn't starting the system out with uncured live rock or uncured bio spheres ,, this had to help me get fish into the tank faster ,, I also added some Dr. Tims to the new system ,, this is supposed to help shorten the cycle ,,

How much did both of these things help me shorten the cycle process and get fish into the tank after just 12 days ,, I have no clue

I am going to pull some sand out of my cube today and place it into the new display tank ,, I was told that will help the new sand bed ,,,