shnappers cade 180s2

[shnapper20]

Well after waiting 9 mths to get it delivered due to covid it finally arrived. I wasnt going to do a thread but its shaping up ok and has a couple of different aspects to most builds that I thought others maybe interested in.
My last 2 tanks were against the wall or just out from it, these were a pain to plumb access etc. My last tank an 8ft*2*2 let go at the seam after about 20yrs . The water damage to the plaster from yrs of having a tank next to it required some major repairs. As you can see hopefully from the 2 pics, I've placed the tank at an angle giving me access to the back, I also have a hole going through the wall for a chiller and salt mixing station.

 

[shnapper20]

aqua scape in and cycling

 

[shnapper20]

fish quarantining

 

[tsouth]

Great start, keep up the hard work!

 

[shnapper20]

cade power board

 

[shnapper20]

external power supply on dedicated circuit

 

[shnapper20]

coral box 700 skimmers

 

[shnapper20]

uv sterilizer

 

[shnapper20]

controllers behind tank

uv sterilizer

 

[shnapper20]

chiller , salt mix and auto w/c

 

[Coomer]

looks great!

 

[shnapper20]

thanks

 

[shnapper20]

happy new yr. its new yrs day I'm a little hung over and would like to share an incident regarding my tank. 9mths ago when I ordered my tank I decided to rejuvenate and plumb my chiller through the wall ready for its arrival. A week later my 2mth old Labrador pup decided to chew all the plumbing up and the power connections, she also chewed up my r.o. lines and r.o top-up. I was a little put out but she's a puppy so I should of expected it. Undeterred I built a fence to go around the whole lot, waited a month or so to ensure it was dog proof and then preceded to replumb, wire the whole lot. Yesterday I pulled the mixing station bin out so I could use some expanding foam to seal the wall where all the pipes came through, I jammed the dog kennel up against the mixing station bin and pushed the bin against the wall to prevent the 11mth lab from getting to it.
half an hr later the mrs goes ''what's that dog playing with?'' it turned out to be the pickup strainer for the auto water change. The dog had wriggled it way past the bin and the wall and preceded to chew up all the lines from the auto water change and auto r.o topup. I felt like killing her, but she just sat there with an innocent look on her face, the look on my face must have been good for my mrs thought it was hilarious. At any rate it wasn't as bad as I first thought none of the wiring was chewed, I managed to replumb the r.o supply and hopefully in a week or 2 I should get the replacement fittings and tubing to fix the auto water change. Having had lab pups before you would think I would be more attune to their destructive nature. I had intended to calibrate the liter meters today .........bloody dog.

 

[shnapper20]

 

[shnapper20]

lightings in 5-hydra 64 hds set to Leon Tans light settings
so far 5 fish 2 yellow tangs, 1 hippo tang, and 2 clowns. check out how small the hippo is

 

[lafarrow]

This is wonderful and man have you built! Like industrial grade built!

 

[shnapper20]

well the hippo is nearly twice the size 1" to 2" and I have added 2 yellow tailed damsels. I have a powder blue waiting for me at my LFS. I originally used dr tims to seed the tank , while it cycled I have since added live rock enhance by reefbrite to give it more diversity. I setup an ai prime for the fuge but have not started it yet as nitrates and po4 are still very low.

 

[shnapper20]

since using the rock enhance by reefbrite a layer of green algae has formed all over the rockwork, it looks quite good like moss, the tangs appear to like it. I have started the fuge and have some snails in quarantine, I would imagine the algae will disappear when the snails, fuge and tangs get a good foothold

 

[shnapper20]

I've had a major outbreak of gha. which is disappointing . As this was a completely sterile tank. It could have came in on frozen food , nori or who I think is the real culprit rock enhance by reefbrite. I've discussed with others in the industry and they are of the same opinion. It may not have been the source but I wouldn't recommend it in case it was.

 

[shnapper20]

hi I had a dozen corals in the tank for a couple of months all doing well, I put them in there after quarantining them along with some snails. I added some more media to my media baskets the water went cloudy I figured it was ca carbonate but when I checked the parameters my po4 was 2.5. I bought it back down using rx but unfortunately the damage was done most of the sps died 3wk later. Lesson learned I now work on the media baskets in a separate bucket of water, Im back to qt ing coral and snails. the fish are good all growing.