Just a thought.... you may want to overfeed your corals as they are trying to recover. But, it may create algea problems later down the road. But may be worth it.
Outdrsyguy's 940 gallon DT Build
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My nutrients are a pinch on the high side already and colors coming back noticeably every day now so I think i'll just keep doing what I was doing before as it was working well. @anit77 interestingly enough, it actually takes quite a bit more to kill fish in my experience. Clams and corals go pretty fast though once it happens. This one was enough to take out acro's but not clams. My previous tank (a 110 gallon) i was being stupid and was turning on and off the pump to the chiller to save heat energy as it was in my office and the air temp would get over 80 with the metal halides. Was not fun to work in lol. So i thought i was smart and would save pump heat when chiller wasn't needed. Fast forward 4+ months i finally figured out what was happening when i used that pump to pump a little water out of the tank and smelled the rotten eggs bad. I had lost so many coral at random times (depending on season and temp outside/humidity). I tried new lights, zeovit, nopox, and all sorts of stuff and things would just randomly die every few weeks or once a month. Never lost any fish but definitely several clams and corals till that fateful day.
It definitely lends a good argument to solid flow everywhere. This was just a little ~4" x 4" x 2" tall container with maybe 4 teaspoons of old eggs in it and stagnant water sitting at the bottom corner of my tank. I think it was the seeping slow potent tiny bits of ammonia that somehow did it.
I did lose a fish a month ago or so (diamond watchmen goby) and tank didn't notice a difference. Except the large linkia starfish found him after a couple days and the starfish actually looked much healthier in the following weeks. May need to try and feed it pieces of shrimp or silversides if i can.
Current projects:
trying to catch kole tang that's pestering my diamond goby pair and therefore they are slowly starving and the sand looks terrible (been trying for 2 weeks, not going well. Kole tangs not interested in anything but pecking rocks and stays away from the trap. Also can't find his hidey hole at night.
Working on changing up flow as it's too constant, corals grow weird at times. I ordered a couple of those new random flow penductors that showed up on BRS. We'll see how it goes when they arrive in a few days.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pAQhw-FqFyw
I bought the 3/4" loc-line ones but i'll be overdriving them with my setup so i'm expecting some cool, powerful randomness
It definitely lends a good argument to solid flow everywhere. This was just a little ~4" x 4" x 2" tall container with maybe 4 teaspoons of old eggs in it and stagnant water sitting at the bottom corner of my tank. I think it was the seeping slow potent tiny bits of ammonia that somehow did it.
I did lose a fish a month ago or so (diamond watchmen goby) and tank didn't notice a difference. Except the large linkia starfish found him after a couple days and the starfish actually looked much healthier in the following weeks. May need to try and feed it pieces of shrimp or silversides if i can.
Current projects:
trying to catch kole tang that's pestering my diamond goby pair and therefore they are slowly starving and the sand looks terrible (been trying for 2 weeks, not going well. Kole tangs not interested in anything but pecking rocks and stays away from the trap. Also can't find his hidey hole at night.
Working on changing up flow as it's too constant, corals grow weird at times. I ordered a couple of those new random flow penductors that showed up on BRS. We'll see how it goes when they arrive in a few days.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pAQhw-FqFyw
I bought the 3/4" loc-line ones but i'll be overdriving them with my setup so i'm expecting some cool, powerful randomness
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Things are 95% back on track after the minor disaster. Colors are almost 100% for most corals and things are growing again. Only a couple complete losses, rest was just minor to major growth setbacks depending on the coral.
After 5+ weeks i finally caught my yellow eye kole tang that's been tormenting my sand cleaning diamond gobies. It was pure luck in the end. He never went in the trap with food in it, but after it was there long enough it grew algae on the inside and I noticed him inside picking at it. I quickly crawled across the floor and yanked the trap door string hanging down and got him lol! Tang for sale baby!
Also banished my achilles tang to the back of house tanks for a 2 month time out for aggression. need to catch one of the other yellow tangs for the same reason. Hoping to re-introduce them along with several new ones and hopefully things will be remedied to minor anger sessions and less Jhad.
Also, i ordered 8 more of those random flow eductors in the above post, they seem to do a decent job so i'm going to get things going a little crazier in the tank when they arrive.
After 5+ weeks i finally caught my yellow eye kole tang that's been tormenting my sand cleaning diamond gobies. It was pure luck in the end. He never went in the trap with food in it, but after it was there long enough it grew algae on the inside and I noticed him inside picking at it. I quickly crawled across the floor and yanked the trap door string hanging down and got him lol! Tang for sale baby!
Also banished my achilles tang to the back of house tanks for a 2 month time out for aggression. need to catch one of the other yellow tangs for the same reason. Hoping to re-introduce them along with several new ones and hopefully things will be remedied to minor anger sessions and less Jhad.
Also, i ordered 8 more of those random flow eductors in the above post, they seem to do a decent job so i'm going to get things going a little crazier in the tank when they arrive.
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Quick update pics.
Made a bunch of frags. Moved some from frag tank to dt.
Made a bunch of frags. Moved some from frag tank to dt.
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quick trials and tribulations update:
original hammerhead reeflo pump blew a seal and started leaking after almost 3 years now I think? They got me new warranty seals very quickly and I did my first seal replacement and put it back in place. (yay!)
Used my backup hammerhead that i bought used and the impeller was frozen in place. managed to get it free and working for the 5 days my main was down but it also blew a seal after 2 days and started leaking. Tried to fix it and replace the seal but it absolutely would not come off even after I destroyed the impeller off it and put wrenches on both ends of the shaft. (plus a deluge of seafoam pb buster).
Ordered a new gold hybrid so now i'll have 3 in warranty. Planning on putting the 3rd into use as a closed loop pump and keep it running rather than let it sit and dry up for years while I wait for one of the 2 main pumps to fail. I'll just take neck down to 2 critical pumps in a failure until 3rd is re-installed.
The new random flow eductors are good but i'm working on fixing one that's on a separate loop and blasting like crazy. Also gonna try a mp60 i think. Need more varied flow still, too much strong directional flow. I might try sea swirl or tunze mounted on rotating shaft controlled by valve actuator (with no valve attached).
Accidentally filled both 2 part containers with alk as a bonehead move. Luckily I caught it within a week but not without a huge alk spike and calc drop. Seems to be little to no ill effects except a pinch of color drop for now. doh!
Hope everyone's doing well!!
original hammerhead reeflo pump blew a seal and started leaking after almost 3 years now I think? They got me new warranty seals very quickly and I did my first seal replacement and put it back in place. (yay!)
Used my backup hammerhead that i bought used and the impeller was frozen in place. managed to get it free and working for the 5 days my main was down but it also blew a seal after 2 days and started leaking. Tried to fix it and replace the seal but it absolutely would not come off even after I destroyed the impeller off it and put wrenches on both ends of the shaft. (plus a deluge of seafoam pb buster).
Ordered a new gold hybrid so now i'll have 3 in warranty. Planning on putting the 3rd into use as a closed loop pump and keep it running rather than let it sit and dry up for years while I wait for one of the 2 main pumps to fail. I'll just take neck down to 2 critical pumps in a failure until 3rd is re-installed.
The new random flow eductors are good but i'm working on fixing one that's on a separate loop and blasting like crazy. Also gonna try a mp60 i think. Need more varied flow still, too much strong directional flow. I might try sea swirl or tunze mounted on rotating shaft controlled by valve actuator (with no valve attached).
Accidentally filled both 2 part containers with alk as a bonehead move. Luckily I caught it within a week but not without a huge alk spike and calc drop. Seems to be little to no ill effects except a pinch of color drop for now. doh!
Hope everyone's doing well!!
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Couple pics
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My issues with coral over the years have stemmed from the following:
too much alk, too little alk, too much alk swing, too little alk, so yea, 80%+ alk issues from me not testing for a month or doing something stupid like leaving a doser on or putting alk in the calc doser.
other than that, i had a long stint with water in my system going septic from stagnant flow in pipes/chiller etc. That one was a NIGHTMARE to finally figure out. Things just die randomly. one day i smelled sulphur and after that it was good.
another time i had a long stint with TOO LITTLE nutrients and things would just slowly pale and die over 3+ months. had that problem for a long time too. go over on nutrients vs under is my current paradigm.
lastly i've had a couple times where calcium was 350 ppm which corals didn't like (again usually due to not testing for too long)
after that, throw in lots of rounds with pests, mostly AEFW being the problem. Red bugs are annoying but really takes a long time to hurt corals.
once i even had a small tupperware container in the tank that was about 5"x5"x2" that nearly nuked all my acros. went septic inside it from no flow but ammonia test still read dead on zero. I blamed it on several other things before I finally discovered the tupperware flow got pinched. removed it and things were better 2 weeks later.
I'd say get things back to dead on and keep them there for a couple weeks. If you don't see improvement then go looking for stuff similar to above. @Danh
and @MyAquariumPro I don't have the 3rd pump in hand yet. it's being shipped. I'm currently in design for a closed loop. My overflow is only a 2" pipe and can't take more than 2 reeflo hammerheads lol. Unless I make the backup pipe full suction also and emergency the overflow, but then I have no emergency line so i'll probably go with closed loop. It's tough hiding the 2" pipe and getting a return into the tank without drilling though.
Picking up a MP60 from JJocean tomorrow morning as I need more random flow. too much is coming to rest on rocks or just beating corals down with constant powerful flow. Gonna look into some sort of additional flow with the new pump, maybe sea swirls or tunze mounted on posts that rotate.
too much alk, too little alk, too much alk swing, too little alk, so yea, 80%+ alk issues from me not testing for a month or doing something stupid like leaving a doser on or putting alk in the calc doser.
other than that, i had a long stint with water in my system going septic from stagnant flow in pipes/chiller etc. That one was a NIGHTMARE to finally figure out. Things just die randomly. one day i smelled sulphur and after that it was good.
another time i had a long stint with TOO LITTLE nutrients and things would just slowly pale and die over 3+ months. had that problem for a long time too. go over on nutrients vs under is my current paradigm.
lastly i've had a couple times where calcium was 350 ppm which corals didn't like (again usually due to not testing for too long)
after that, throw in lots of rounds with pests, mostly AEFW being the problem. Red bugs are annoying but really takes a long time to hurt corals.
once i even had a small tupperware container in the tank that was about 5"x5"x2" that nearly nuked all my acros. went septic inside it from no flow but ammonia test still read dead on zero. I blamed it on several other things before I finally discovered the tupperware flow got pinched. removed it and things were better 2 weeks later.
I'd say get things back to dead on and keep them there for a couple weeks. If you don't see improvement then go looking for stuff similar to above. @Danh
and @MyAquariumPro I don't have the 3rd pump in hand yet. it's being shipped. I'm currently in design for a closed loop. My overflow is only a 2" pipe and can't take more than 2 reeflo hammerheads lol. Unless I make the backup pipe full suction also and emergency the overflow, but then I have no emergency line so i'll probably go with closed loop. It's tough hiding the 2" pipe and getting a return into the tank without drilling though.
Picking up a MP60 from JJocean tomorrow morning as I need more random flow. too much is coming to rest on rocks or just beating corals down with constant powerful flow. Gonna look into some sort of additional flow with the new pump, maybe sea swirls or tunze mounted on posts that rotate.
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So I think my tank could handle 4 mp60s lol. Full power reef crest mode and oolite sand stays put. Flow is actually decent now. Just going to ponder more random flow ideas.
I changed one outlet off the main pump to two because it was blasting corals like mad. New setup took me all day to make and install and is much better. Took about 90 minutes of playing with valves to get the flow right though. It was actually too much flow for the 8 foot overflow to handle lol.
I finally installed lighting on the back half of the tank. I have enough corals now to start filling it out. Put 4 ocean revive fixtures in. Hope to add a few more rows of t5 in the coming weeks.
Pics!
here’s a few front shots with old lighting. Then blues and then full.
I changed one outlet off the main pump to two because it was blasting corals like mad. New setup took me all day to make and install and is much better. Took about 90 minutes of playing with valves to get the flow right though. It was actually too much flow for the 8 foot overflow to handle lol.
I finally installed lighting on the back half of the tank. I have enough corals now to start filling it out. Put 4 ocean revive fixtures in. Hope to add a few more rows of t5 in the coming weeks.
Pics!
here’s a few front shots with old lighting. Then blues and then full.
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And a couple quick reef shots while playing with filters to make it look right.
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Really awesome tank, the pics are great, but where are the videos!? 
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Wow it’s been a while since the last update! Things are going well and everything’s growing and somethings are way past overgrown.
I’m up to about 500ml a day in each calc and alk which is insane. each doser runs for just under 7 hours a day! (And I’m barely maintaining 8.3 dkh and 420 calcium) I’m gonna look into the possibility of a large kalkwasser doser to supplement I think.
Queen and emporer angels are turning adult and changing colors. Unfortunately I lost the regal angel somehow. He was healthy and the on day I find him missing his head and very dead. Not sure what happened at all. Other than that no losses except maybe a shrimp or two.
Still need more flow I think. Trying to work out details to add a 3rd hammerhead pump for flow.
Still have large cyano problems and bubble algae but I’ve given up on them for now and just hoping more time will solve them.
Here’s some pics!
I’m up to about 500ml a day in each calc and alk which is insane. each doser runs for just under 7 hours a day! (And I’m barely maintaining 8.3 dkh and 420 calcium) I’m gonna look into the possibility of a large kalkwasser doser to supplement I think.
Queen and emporer angels are turning adult and changing colors. Unfortunately I lost the regal angel somehow. He was healthy and the on day I find him missing his head and very dead. Not sure what happened at all. Other than that no losses except maybe a shrimp or two.
Still need more flow I think. Trying to work out details to add a 3rd hammerhead pump for flow.
Still have large cyano problems and bubble algae but I’ve given up on them for now and just hoping more time will solve them.
Here’s some pics!
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Gonna try and post a video today.
I also just finished adding another solo 6,000 gph reeflo hammerhead closed loop. I now have 2 of them feeding educators and one for the skimmer, house tanks, and also the display in 2 spots with educators. My best estimate including the MP60 powerhead is around 50,000 gph or about 50x dt turnover.
The sps responded well to the additional flow and I’ve seen more polyps come out for sure.
I’m definitely beginning to believe that flow might actually trump lighting.
Anyway. Enjoy the vids (crossing my fingers it uploads)
....and it says my 2 minute video is too large to process... ah well.
I also just finished adding another solo 6,000 gph reeflo hammerhead closed loop. I now have 2 of them feeding educators and one for the skimmer, house tanks, and also the display in 2 spots with educators. My best estimate including the MP60 powerhead is around 50,000 gph or about 50x dt turnover.
The sps responded well to the additional flow and I’ve seen more polyps come out for sure.
I’m definitely beginning to believe that flow might actually trump lighting.
Anyway. Enjoy the vids (crossing my fingers it uploads)
....and it says my 2 minute video is too large to process... ah well.
Can you post it to YouTube and put a link here?
I'd sure like to see it!
I'd sure like to see it!
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The monti cap is right about 18" in diameter and the branches stick up about 7". It's pretty massive lol. Started as about 2" diameter a few years ago. I'll have to frag it in the next 6 months before it collapses off it's mount or shades too many things.
I've used chemiclean 3 or 4 times now for cyano and it works like a charm, but the dose is pretty expensive for 1100 gallons or so and it always comes back in 6 weeks or so. I'm going to try and find a foxface for the bubble algae. Preferably one that already eats it.
I'll have to set up a youtube account and see if i can get it to work. I don't have one now.
