Vette's 180 reef with basement filtration room

[HuduVudu]

I got my results this week of my Aquabiomics bacterial test. You sample your water and return line and they give you a detailed report of your biome. As you can see, my tank is quite old. I pretty much did a full reset, with tear down and bleached 90% of my rock in 2012. So for 8 years, I have only added fish and frags. No meaningful bacterial additions in the form of new live rock or live sand. I had been hearing how older tanks can lose their bacterial diversity, so I did this test to see where I stand. I expected my results to be on the lower side. But wow, not this low. So I have made a big order at Indo Pacific Sea Farms in an attempt to dramatically increase my bacterial diversity. I will have a follow up microbiome test in a couple months to see if adding this culture improves my bacterial diversity.

Hi @Vette67,
I noticed that you were running a UV. Is there a reason for this?

You seem to have solid husbandry and a good understanding of how things work, the UV seems really out of place though.

Just curious

 

[Vette67]

I

Hi @Vette67,
I noticed that you were running a UV. Is there a reason for this?

You seem to have solid husbandry and a good understanding of how things work, the UV seems really out of place though.

Just curious

I ran strong UV because I had a 2 year battle with ich. I tried going fallow for more than 90 days, and on at least 4 different occasions, and within 2 days of putting fish in my tank, ich reappeared. It was a desperation move, and it seemed to work. I realize that it is probably negatively effecting my bacterial diversity, and Eli from Aquabiomics recommended I turn it off. So about 2 weeks ago, just before adding the IPSF order, I turned both sterilizers off. I didn’t want to kill of the bacteria I got from IPSF. If the parasites stay away, then the UV will stay off. My thought was that most bacteria was benthic, on surfaces and not free floating in the water column. But apparently there is more free floating than I thought.

2 weeks so far and no trace of ich, so keeping my fingers crossed. I would be embarrassed to admit how many fish I killed and how many hundreds of dollars I spent on those fish during that 2 year battle with ich.

I appreciate the question.

 

[Vette67]

Interesting observation. Since adding the IPSF order almost 2 weeks ago, I started noticing what looks like bacterial mats forming on the surface of my 75. Stringy, almost clear, and now it is starting to form a bubble, about 3 or 4 inches across. Everything seems fine. Coral is open, fish are fine, coralline is still growing like crazy. So I’m not sure what to make of this bloom. And even if it is a bacterial bloom. Water is otherwise not cloudy, just this mat on the surface.

Has anyone experienced this before?

 

[rc1626]

Interesting observation. Since adding the IPSF order almost 2 weeks ago, I started noticing what looks like bacterial mats forming on the surface of my 75. Stringy, almost clear, and now it is starting to form a bubble, about 3 or 4 inches across. Everything seems fine. Coral is open, fish are fine, coralline is still growing like crazy. So I’m not sure what to make of this bloom. And even if it is a bacterial bloom. Water is otherwise not cloudy, just this mat on the surface.

Has anyone experienced this before?

For me no I did not. I will say my tank was at a very different stage of maturity when I added the ipsf order. My tank was very new. Correct me if I'm wrong but your tank is very established right? That could have an impact on what you're seeing possibly. Sounds like everything else is good though. Keep us posted.

 

[Vette67]

Onto today’s project. After adding my bio pellet reactor, I have not been happy just having it dump into my sump. So I needed to make it so that the majority of the effluent from my reactor made it into my skimmer. Here’s how it was set up.

On the left side, in the clear reactor, you can see the biopellet reactor. I have a Rio 1400 power head feeding the reactor, and you can see the clear line coming back into my sump. It is the line drilled into the side of the inlet strainer (blue strainer). I attempted to feed the 3/4” vinyl hose into my inlet manifold and all the way into the intake for my skimmer ( far left ball valve on the end of my 3 inch PVC manifold). Unfortunately with the curvature of the vinyl, it stopped by the intake for my return pump, so it is essentially sending the biopellet effluent to display upstairs. Not what I wanted. So several weeks ago, I bought the parts to re-plumb this, and decided to do it in clear 3” PVC, because why not? So I got things taken apart today. Backing up, when I purchased the 3” PVC ball valve, I didn’t really think I was ever going to need it. I was sure glad to have it today.

I used a strap wrench to unscrew the old 2 foot section of manifold from just beyond the ball valve (for those paying attention, it pays to use threaded fittings). Once I got the old manifold off, it was time to screw in the new manifold. This piece has one extra elbow on the end with one extra ball valve (now 3 instead of 2). That is where the biopellet reactor plugs in. So from left to right the nozzles on the manifold are biopellet, skimmer (middle), return pump, (closest to the sump). The theory being, my skimmer is powered by a 1200GPH pump, so it should grab most, if not all of the effluent from the biopellet reactor. Here it is with everything put back together.

it was surprisingly not as messy as I thought. I didn’t lose that much water. I’m not sure what I was expecting, but I thought the clear PVC would be cooler than it is. Unfortunately, water doesn’t look like much, so we’ll see if anything grows or it gets more interesting. If nothing else, in the end, it is one less hose in my sump, which makes it look a little cleaner.

 

[Vette67]

I'm actually surprised that, after making sure that all of the effluent from my biopellet reactor ends up getting skimmed, that the amount of skimmate has really increased. I wasn't expecting things to drastically increase the way they have. As a guess, I'd say my skimmate collection cup is about 2 liters, or half a gallon. I don't know for sure. I would normally have to clean out my skimmate cup every 2 weeks or so. Been this way for years. Now it seems that I have to clean it more than once a week. I get a lot more skimmate. I cleaned the cup on Saturday (about 3 days ago), and today it is about half way full. It will never fill completely because it has the ping pong ball in it for overflow protection. So at most, it'll get about 3/4 of the way full. But still, that's about a liter of skimmate in roughly 3 days. That's a lot.

So if you are using a biopellet reactor, make sure your reactor effluent is getting skimmed. I wasn't expecting the difference to be this drastic, but I'm guessing this is a good thing.

 

[C. Eymann]

Great build so far, awesome tank with history.
Love the old school simplicity of it, also excellently designed and executed homemade calcium reactor!
Iwaki pumps are like cockroaches, even after a nuclear explosion, they just keep going !
and those old downdraft beckett injected skimmers of yesteryear can still give new bubble plate/needlewheel designs of today a run for their money for sure!

 

[Vette67]

Great build so far, awesome tank with history.
Love the old school simplicity of it, also excellently designed and executed homemade calcium reactor!
Iwaki pumps are like cockroaches, even after a nuclear explosion, they just keep going !
and those old downdraft beckett injected skimmers of yesteryear can still give new bubble plate/needlewheel designs of today a run for their money for sure!

Thank you. I appreciate the kind words.

I agree with the skimmer. I really can’t see ever parting with that skimmer. If anything happens to it, I’ll pay a fab shop to make me up whatever part I need. I actually know a place that 3D prints Beckett valves that they claim are better than the older Beckett’s. Some day, I may cut the top apart and fab in a new one. But at this point, after 20+ years, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!

 

[Vette67]

Well, my Aquabiomics test results came in today. And want a difference. The only change I made was to add a whole bunch of mud, sand, worms, macro algae, pods, etc, from IPSF. I went from with a diversity score of 5%, meaning 95% of reef tanks tested were more diverse than my tank, to a diversity score of 99%, meaning that about 1% of tanks tested were more diverse than mine. I guess I can’t say enough about the benefits to diversity from adding an order from IPSF to my tank. My bacterial microbiome has been dramatically improved.

Now onto the catch. We all hear about the benefits of increased micro biodiversity. I did this test as an experiment. I really had no problems with my tank, I just hadn’t added anything in years, maybe a decade. And I had been hearing about how old tanks can lose their microbiome diversity. So I figured I would check where I was. You can see the results posted earlier. Now to see the dramatic increase that I did get was unexpected. But again to the catch... I haven’t noticed a difference from before and after. Maybe my corals are happier and growing more. I couldn’t measure that in 3 months. So we will just have to see how things progress from here. But needless to say, I am happy that my diversity increased so dramatically.

 

[ajjw0828]

Nice setup! Any pic of your vette? 67 is my favorite year corvette! My Uncle has a 66 Nassau Blue.

 

[Vette67]

Nice setup! Any pic of your vette? 67 is my favorite year corvette! My Uncle has a 66 Nassau Blue.

The 67 was my dads (he passed in 2015) and the 68 is mine. I am doing a frame off restoration on my 68 essentially so I can sell it and eventually get the 67. My mom still drives the 67, so some time in the future... The 67 was originally Nassau Blue as well. My dad had it painted 2003 Corvette Anniversary Red. So this is not the original color of the 67. But I really like that color maroon on this car. Some day, I would love to paint the 67 back to the original Nassau Blue. But that is WAY down the road....

 

[ajjw0828]

The 67 was my dads (he passed in 2015) and the 68 is mine. I am doing a frame off restoration on my 68 essentially so I can sell it and eventually get the 67. My mom still drives the 67, so some time in the future... The 67 was originally Nassau Blue as well. My dad had it painted 2003 Corvette Anniversary Red. So this is not the original color of the 67. But I really like that color maroon on this car. Some day, I would love to paint the 67 back to the original Nassau Blue. But that is WAY down the road....

Sorry to hear that about your Dad. Those are some beautiful vettes! I love Nassau blue on vettes. I'm jelly! Either one a big block?

 

[SebastianReefer]

I got my results this week of my Aquabiomics bacterial test. You sample your water and return line and they give you a detailed report of your biome. As you can see, my tank is quite old. I pretty much did a full reset, with tear down and bleached 90% of my rock in 2012. So for 8 years, I have only added fish and frags. No meaningful bacterial additions in the form of new live rock or live sand. I had been hearing how older tanks can lose their bacterial diversity, so I did this test to see where I stand. I expected my results to be on the lower side. But wow, not this low. So I have made a big order at Indo Pacific Sea Farms in an attempt to dramatically increase my bacterial diversity. I will have a follow up microbiome test in a couple months to see if adding this culture improves my bacterial diversity.

I want to do this I’m an old school Reefer and I have some very old live rock that you can’t get anymore along with various pieces from diff places I would like to see where I stand

 

[Vette67]

Sorry to hear that about your Dad. Those are some beautiful vettes! I love Nassau blue on vettes. I'm jelly! Either one a big block?

Thank you. Yeah, I wish they were big blocks. They actually both have the exact same engine; the L79, which is the 327 / 350 horse small block. My dad did put the big block "stinger" hood on his 67. But it is bare, without the engine size numbers on it. I wouldn't mind seeing if I could get someone to reproduce the displacement numbers in 327 for the hood in the same font as the original 427. That way it wouldn't be misleading about the engine size, even though the hood is not correct for the car. Another picture...

 

[Vette67]

I want to do this I’m an old school Reefer and I have some very old live rock that you can’t get anymore along with various pieces from diff places I would like to see where I stand

Yeah, it was a bit of an eye opening experience. All of my live rock was real live rock trans-shipped direct from Fiji to my front door. So my rock is very old too. Most of it is from the late 90's and early 2000's. But I think it was worth the experiment just to see where things stand. Try the before and after tests and see if you get similar results. Find some live mud or sand to add to your tank and see if your bacterial diversity increases. Or even a couple pieces of cultured live rock from the Gulf of Mexico. I'd be interested to see if your results mirror mine.

 

[southerntnreefer]

Absolutely beautiful tank and setup!

 

[ajjw0828]

Thank you. Yeah, I wish they were big blocks. They actually both have the exact same engine; the L79, which is the 327 / 350 horse small block. My dad did put the big block "stinger" hood on his 67. But it is bare, without the engine size numbers on it. I wouldn't mind seeing if I could get someone to reproduce the displacement numbers in 327 for the hood in the same font as the original 427. That way it wouldn't be misleading about the engine size, even though the hood is not correct for the car. Another picture...

The paint job on it looks great! My Uncle did the same thing, big block hood but 327/ 350 in the car.

 

[Vette67]

Absolutely beautiful tank and setup!

Thank you. I appreciate the compliment

 

[Vette67]

I'm actually surprised that, after making sure that all of the effluent from my biopellet reactor ends up getting skimmed, that the amount of skimmate has really increased. I wasn't expecting things to drastically increase the way they have. As a guess, I'd say my skimmate collection cup is about 2 liters, or half a gallon. I don't know for sure. I would normally have to clean out my skimmate cup every 2 weeks or so. Been this way for years. Now it seems that I have to clean it more than once a week. I get a lot more skimmate. I cleaned the cup on Saturday (about 3 days ago), and today it is about half way full. It will never fill completely because it has the ping pong ball in it for overflow protection. So at most, it'll get about 3/4 of the way full. But still, that's about a liter of skimmate in roughly 3 days. That's a lot.

So if you are using a biopellet reactor, make sure your reactor effluent is getting skimmed. I wasn't expecting the difference to be this drastic, but I'm guessing this is a good thing.

So, here's to unintended consequences. I wrote about how I replumbed my biopellet reactor to feed directly into my skimmer, and then noticed a few weeks after that, how much extra skimmate I was getting in my collection cup. I still get an insane amount of skimmate. And here I was thinking that this was a good thing. Turns out that I am completely stripping nutrients from my system, much more efficiently than I thought I was. I bought this one frag about 2 or 3 years ago and it has been growing along nicely. A few weeks ago, I noticed this acro changed from a brownish tan color to almost white. I knew there was a change going on with it. When I bought the frag, it was white, but it turned tan in my tank. So I figured it was going back to it's original color. The tips still had a nice light purple color, so it otherwise looked pretty good. Until today. Now today I can see the flesh falling off around the base, RTN. I think it's dead. I'm going to break off some of the frag tips and see if I can save it, but I have a feeling it's a goner. I turned down the flow through my biopellet reactor to about half of what it was, so that the pellets are barely tumbling at all. I'm debating whether I should take it offline all together. Fortunately, all of my other acros are doing fine. For now.

You wanna know what's crazy? My refugium wall (40 gallon breeder), is covered with cyanno bacteria. Even the chaeto has some cyanno growing on it at the surface near the lights. So I don't know what to think. My fuge tells me I have a nutrient problem, and my acro tells me they are stripped... And my Hanna checker tells me my phosphate is undetectable at 0.00. So yeah, I stripped my tank clean....

I ran the biopellet reactor for years, just dumping it into my sump, and not directing the flow at my skimmer. But since re-plumbing the output of the biopellet reactor to my skimmer, and really increasing my skimmate output, that has made the biopellet reactor work WAY too efficiently.

 

[leighla wolf]

So I have hundreds, if not thousands of tube worms growing on my refugium glass. This tank was only set up 3 or 4 months ago, so it is relatively new. It turns out asterina starfish love the baby tube worms. I see at least 3 of them directly centered over the worms. Mind you, this starfish is probably smaller than a pencil eraser. It is very small. Depending on how long it takes to digest one, I could be feeding these starfish for a long time. Unfortunately, I haven’t seen any of the micro brittle stars since introducing them.

Hey! I also have these in my main display tank and didn’t know what they were! Other than asterinas which you say are eating them, have you noticed these tube worms damaging any corals or causing any issues?