We need an update on this build. I'm sure its gotten plenty of attention since the last post!
Dream 525 gallon peninsula display with large fish room.
- Thread starter Adam
- Start date
Yeah, yeah, yeah.We need an update on this build. I'm sure its gotten plenty of attention since the last post!
Life happens.
Here's a teaser pic till I have time to update.
There hasn't been a lot of visual progress yet. The fish in QT hit their 30 days today and I'll be moving them to the display over the weekend. A Yellow Belly Regal, Powder Blue, Rose Banded Fairy Wrasse, Exquisite Wrasse and a Blue Side Fairy Wrasse. I have a Cleaner Wrasse that I thought was a goner but is now the only one left from the last batch I bought. Once these fish are out of the 60 QT I will be sterilizing it and rebooting it as the Post QT observation tank. Then the whole QT process will be changed up. I bought two 10 gallon tanks from the last $1/Gal sale that will be used in Hybrid TTM and the 20L I have for a more traditional copper based QT. I've had a couple long talks with Bobby (Humblefish) and he's going to help me with pointers here and there while I decide if I still want to go forward with a QT service.
Over the last week I've got the Apex back online and am in the very beginning stages of hooking things up. I pulled all my old programming from the last setup and factory reboot the base unit. Some of that old programming has already come in handy for cut & pasting some stuff. It will really help with the RO system programming once I get an EB mounted over there. Over the weekend I'm hoping to get most of the life support automation on the Apex.
The plan for the lighting is to get the main tank lit by mid-July. I ordered the 80/20 for the canopy on April 22nd and based on their lead time I'm hoping to take delivery the first week of July. I do have a light rack from them hung over the first frag trough already but I need to get my other Apex installed on that system and get the lights hung. The lights are going to take some customization to get hung from the rack and they've been rewired to run on 0-10v so they won't work without the Apex. Right now I have a Classic I plan to use for it but may upgrade to the new version if I ever decide I want to put a Trident on it.
The nice thing about having these two systems up and running for so long with no lighting is I have no uglies to deal with while they mature. I do have lights over the 60 frag that is plumbed through the main systems sump. There is some film algae in there but the Tomini, Kole & Powder Brown are eating everything up pretty quickly. There's film on the glass but the empty frag racks and the rock in there are being kept pretty clean. When I scrape the glass they gobble it up.
I do have one coral QT up and it has some testers in it but some haven't faired very well, mostly, if not entirely, due to my negligence. I've been focused on other areas of the basement and work has been royally kicking my a$$. Another thing I'm going to try and do this weekend is get the cabinet bases from a surplus store near by. Once I have them installed I can get the counter put in and that will give me the space to work with the coral. So much to do, so little time... the journey continues....
Oh, I also have to build screen tops for the display before moving the wrasses over. Glad it's a three day weekend!!!
Over the last week I've got the Apex back online and am in the very beginning stages of hooking things up. I pulled all my old programming from the last setup and factory reboot the base unit. Some of that old programming has already come in handy for cut & pasting some stuff. It will really help with the RO system programming once I get an EB mounted over there. Over the weekend I'm hoping to get most of the life support automation on the Apex.
The plan for the lighting is to get the main tank lit by mid-July. I ordered the 80/20 for the canopy on April 22nd and based on their lead time I'm hoping to take delivery the first week of July. I do have a light rack from them hung over the first frag trough already but I need to get my other Apex installed on that system and get the lights hung. The lights are going to take some customization to get hung from the rack and they've been rewired to run on 0-10v so they won't work without the Apex. Right now I have a Classic I plan to use for it but may upgrade to the new version if I ever decide I want to put a Trident on it.
The nice thing about having these two systems up and running for so long with no lighting is I have no uglies to deal with while they mature. I do have lights over the 60 frag that is plumbed through the main systems sump. There is some film algae in there but the Tomini, Kole & Powder Brown are eating everything up pretty quickly. There's film on the glass but the empty frag racks and the rock in there are being kept pretty clean. When I scrape the glass they gobble it up.
I do have one coral QT up and it has some testers in it but some haven't faired very well, mostly, if not entirely, due to my negligence. I've been focused on other areas of the basement and work has been royally kicking my a$$. Another thing I'm going to try and do this weekend is get the cabinet bases from a surplus store near by. Once I have them installed I can get the counter put in and that will give me the space to work with the coral. So much to do, so little time... the journey continues....
Oh, I also have to build screen tops for the display before moving the wrasses over. Glad it's a three day weekend!!!
I gotta say, it feels really good to have the Apex running again. I'm making some progress with it and the temp is great to see again.
Screen tops mostly done. I ran out of mesh and have one opening covered with egg crate. All of the QT'd fish except the Yellow Tangs were successfully moved to the display over the weekend. I moved the Cleaner Wrasse last and within 10 minutes it was doing it's job. The big Naso, Blonde, settled right in for a cleaning. There's 6 tangs in there now and by the time the lights went out every one of them stopped by the salon, it's pretty cool to watch.
I'm still holding out hope for a Gem tang so I'm going to keep the Yellow's in the trough a little longer.
No luck finding any cabinet bases, used or discounted. I may just have to buy new.
I'm still holding out hope for a Gem tang so I'm going to keep the Yellow's in the trough a little longer.
No luck finding any cabinet bases, used or discounted. I may just have to buy new.
my purple tang doesn't let my cleaner wrasse get anywhere next to him. amazing yours do.
All sounds great Adam. Love to see some pics of the screen builds. Was thinking of doing that myself but didn't want to lose a fish because my poor screen building skills or the lack of
The Purple is still a fairly small juvenile. It's the smallest of the tangs in there, about the size of the Naso or Sailfin's tails. The Powder Blue actually hunted down the Cleaner and forced it's way between the Naso several times.
Umm, well... yeah. Let's just say my screen building skills are no better than yours. lolAll sounds great Adam. Love to see some pics of the screen builds. Was thinking of doing that myself but didn't want to lose a fish because my poor screen building skills or the lack of
Since the last update we've gotten the 80/20 frame for the canopy in place and I've hung the lights. The back closet is done too. Going to start skinning the canopy in soon.
I got my ATS back from Dmitry and have it up and running but my nutrients are through the roof. I did about an 18% water change yesterday and have the ATS running 23hrs a day. I also have some phosphate remover on the way. I'd love to tell you what the PO4 is but it's maxing out the hannha checker. NO3 was 65 before the water change and should be in the mid 50's now. Once I get things under control it'll be time for some coral.
I cleaned all the pumps today and at 5 months they were pretty nasty. I can tell they're moving more water now. Here's a before and after on one of them.
I got my ATS back from Dmitry and have it up and running but my nutrients are through the roof. I did about an 18% water change yesterday and have the ATS running 23hrs a day. I also have some phosphate remover on the way. I'd love to tell you what the PO4 is but it's maxing out the hannha checker. NO3 was 65 before the water change and should be in the mid 50's now. Once I get things under control it'll be time for some coral.
I cleaned all the pumps today and at 5 months they were pretty nasty. I can tell they're moving more water now. Here's a before and after on one of them.
Is this a FOWLR tank?
Very nice progress! Couple more water changes and you get those nutrients under control. This reminds me, I need to clear out my pumps and powerheads too…
How about that carbon dosing? Does it help? How much dosing are you upto?
I haven't been dosing carbon consistently enough and I ran out of no3po4x.
I'm going to hit it hard with bacteria over the next couple weeks. Microbacter 7, Ecobalance & Wasteaway. Between that, Phosphat-E, the ATS and water changes I should be able to get things under control.
Oh, I also ran the skimmer airline outside and added all the yellow tangs and another PBT to my FOWLR system. I've given up on a Gem Tang for now. The fish count is now at 21. I won't be adding anything else for a month or two.
Looks good Adam. What did the ph move to after running the line outside?
It's usually good for a tenth maybe 0.15. You notice it more in high activity areas. When I'm downstairs for longer periods or when there is more than one person down there for a length of time the pH falls more. With the out side line it doesn't drop as hard. Also the night time drop isn't as bad.
With the daily bacteria dose the numbers are off due to the co2 they give off. But the outside line does off gas it better.
Looking good my friend!
It's getting difficult to maintain enthusiasm when I keep losing fish. I lost another Powder Blue this week. The only thing I can think of is that somehow Uronema Marinum got in and I have no idea exactly how. In the display so far I've lost two of them and one Blue Throat Trigger. The Trigger nutted up and wouldn't come out, even to eat, and starved to death. That doesn't include the fish I've lost in QT.
I don't have a absolute confirmation of Uronema Marinum and all the other fish appear to be completely fine. The Powder Brown I have in the 60 frag is also fine and it's connected to the same sump. So your guess is as good as mine..
I am going to hold off on getting anymore fish of a while and focus on continuing the get the nutrients under control so I can get started adding coral. Before I think about new fish again I'm going to sterilize all the QT tanks and shift to modified TTM for most new ones. The 60 QT will shift to a post QT observation tanks.
I don't have a absolute confirmation of Uronema Marinum and all the other fish appear to be completely fine. The Powder Brown I have in the 60 frag is also fine and it's connected to the same sump. So your guess is as good as mine..
I am going to hold off on getting anymore fish of a while and focus on continuing the get the nutrients under control so I can get started adding coral. Before I think about new fish again I'm going to sterilize all the QT tanks and shift to modified TTM for most new ones. The 60 QT will shift to a post QT observation tanks.
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Oh man, sorry to hear about that. Sometimes can be maddening.
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I’m in love with this one, gotta build this myself
. I am building a new house myself nest year and am planing the space for an 8x4x29 peninsula tank. I definitely want to come check out your setup when it is done.
. I am building a new house myself nest year and am planing the space for an 8x4x29 peninsula tank. I definitely want to come check out your setup when it is done.
