Decadence August 25, 2014 Share August 25, 2014 Hello, I don't make to many posts about my tank so I thought it was time to make a new thread. I have had this system running in its current configuration for almost a year. The main display has been up for roughly two years and a lot of my colonies are over three years old as they started as small frags in my old 20 long. The whole system: Display tank: I'm in the middle of building out a new display tank stand and expanding on my vast arsenal of filtration equipment. For now, I am running a standard reef-ready AGA 90. I have converted the return inside the overflow box into a second overflow and cut away some of the weir to allow for much great flow. The return now comes over the back and T's off to 3/4" lock line from inside the overflow box. One overflow feeds a 5 gallon bucket outfitted to grow chaeto at an accelerate rate utilizing strong light and extreme flow. There are safeties in place in the form of block-offs and an additional overflow in the bucket to keep it from clogging with chaeto. The tub which the two overflows ultimately flow into holds my heaters and has a 2" bulkhead in it which runs over to the other stand and the rest of the filtration system. The display is filled with SPS colonies, most of which have been grown out from frags but some were purchased as small colonies. There are a few small patches of random zoanthids. I keep a very heavy stock of fish, some of which would be considered too large for this tank but I bought them after buying my next upgrade, a 300dd and I already have an 11ft tank which will be the next upgrade so that are good. I keep the display very well fed and aggression is near nonexistent. Over the display, I run AI hydra52s tilted backwards from the front and AI sols angled inward. I believe that this helps give much better light spread and reduced shadowing and is the sole reason for the great growth that I get with LEDs. For flow, there are three vortech MP10s and two MP40s producing a very strong and very random current throughout the tank. Detritus does not accumulate to any appreciable amount anywhere in the system as it all finds the skimmer. Second display: This tank is a Mr. Aqua 12g boockshelf tank. It holds all of the girlfriend's LPS, some softies and a few SPS frags which have broken off bigger colonies. My yellow long nose butterfly was banished to this tank as he developed a taste for a 5" leishman's tabling acro which fell victim to a dosing issue and was losing flesh. He will be in the 300 soon. There are also two blennies in this tank and they keep it pretty clean. There is a powerhead which pushes water behind all of the corals in this tank. Filtration cabinet: The 2" crossover pipe from the first sump feeds the skimmer in this sump. I built this sump with ease of maintenance in mind. I wanted all of my equipment to be accessible in the order in which it would be most frequently removed. You can see that each piece of equipment plugs into a gray PVC outlet. Each of these outlets run to places on the RKE, making the components easy to be removed but still controlled by the remotely located RKE. This was essential as it makes maintenance possible which otherwise would not be. My return pump feeds both displays, my calcium reactor and the tank to the left. This used to be a frag tank but now holds extra live rock and two tangs which are awaiting their new 300 gallon home as I did not want them with the butterfly or the other two tangs in the display. This tank also has a few corals in it which are healing in the lower light of the single AI sol. Dosing cabinet: I built this dosing cabinet in order to keep all of the sensitive equipment away from salt water. This cabinet houses my vast collection of Digital Aquatics modules, all of my dosing pumps, four of the five vortech controllers, the AI director and at the bottom, RODI and Kalk jugs. I dose kalk on a timer with a higher concentration going in at night than during the day. The RODI is used by the top-off. I find that this way, I don't have to worry about a dumb mistake causing a water leak that pours gallons of kalk into the tank. I run dosing pumps, a calcium reactor and kalk all together with split duties because they are all doomed to fail. With the duties split up, one component failing is much less likely to nuke the whole tank. I also find that each has their strengths and weaknesses which the others make up for. My calcium reactor drops my PH and my kalk raises it back up. The dosing pumps are easy to make small changes with.. It's a match made in heaven. Safety factor will always be a huge inspiration after having every possible failure take place in my previous systems. For this reason, I am running most of my major components through battery back-ups and I have a generator on stand by. Hope you guys enjoy it. Please feel free to ask any questions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Decadence August 25, 2014 Author Share August 25, 2014 A top-down Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DCReefer1964 August 25, 2014 Share August 25, 2014 About time. Seeing it in person is mind blowing. "D" You are a Mad Scientist Reefer!!! If you expanded on your total approach to maintaining your reef it would start a new tread . Tagging along. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Decadence August 25, 2014 Author Share August 25, 2014 About time. Seeing it in person is mind blowing. "D" You are a Mad Scientist Reefer!!! If you expanded on your total approach to maintaining your reef it would start a new tread . Tagging along. Thanks Haywood. You should come by and check out the current configuration sometime. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DuffyGeos August 25, 2014 Share August 25, 2014 Awesome setup! Also congrats on the BRS award! I think H is the one who figured out it was you that won it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matt August 25, 2014 Share August 25, 2014 Sweet setup! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tracy G August 25, 2014 Share August 25, 2014 Really nice. Great job! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YHSublime August 25, 2014 Share August 25, 2014 What's up with the bobbit?! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mogurnda August 25, 2014 Share August 25, 2014 The display is amazing. Love the big acros. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wildcrazyjoker81 August 25, 2014 Share August 25, 2014 I gotta see this one in person. And guess who lives down the street...THIS GUY! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keraxis August 25, 2014 Share August 25, 2014 Amazing setup. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DCReefer1964 August 25, 2014 Share August 25, 2014 I gotta see this one in person. And guess who lives down the street...THIS GUY! Leave my candy alone. He is a great reefer to live close to. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matt August 25, 2014 Share August 25, 2014 So what kind of 2-part dosing levels and kalk dosing are you up to now? Do you run max saturation kalk-water through that aqualifier or something more diluted? I'd ask about the CA reactor too, but I've never used one and wouldn't know how to fully interpret and to turn oranges into apples. Really love the safety of your approach... although it gives you a lot to maintain. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smallreef August 25, 2014 Share August 25, 2014 looks really nice! glad to see its still going good with all the time constraints a new baby puts on you,lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Decadence August 25, 2014 Author Share August 25, 2014 Awesome setup! Also congrats on the BRS award! I think H is the one who figured out it was you that won it. Thank you. This is actually the second time that I got the $25 prize from BRS.. I'm shooting for that $200! So close. Sweet setup! Thank you! Really nice. Great job! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Thanks What's up with the bobbit?! He is still in there munching on my caps. We have a 300dd upgrade in the works and when the current display comes apart, he will be out. I have not yet decided if he will be banished to the cryptic zone or if we will try to find him a new home. Killing him is not an option for me. The display is amazing. Love the big acros. Thank you. The big acro is look is exactly what I was going for. I gotta see this one in person. And guess who lives down the street...THIS GUY! By any chance, do you live on Ridingstable road? You're welcome to come check it out. Amazing setup. Thank you Leave my candy alone. He is a great reefer to live close to. Lol, plenty to go around Haywood! So what kind of 2-part dosing levels and kalk dosing are you up to now? Do you run max saturation kalk-water through that aqualifier or something more diluted? I'd ask about the CA reactor too, but I've never used one and wouldn't know how to fully interpret and to turn oranges into apples. Really love the safety of your approach... although it gives you a lot to maintain. I dose according to Randy's 2-part recipe using soda ash and calcium chloride from Leslie's Pool Supply in Rockville. My magnesium dosing is five cups of magnesium chloride to three cups of magnesium sulfate per gallon, both from BRS. My kalk is also BRS and my calcium reactor media is ARM. With dosing pumps alone, my tank consumed 123ml of calcium and 127ml of alk daily. I currently dose very little form my dosing pumps, on roughly 20ml each, I can't remember the exact number. I use them for fine-tuning and the additional safety factor in case any one other system fails. My kalk is fully saturated and doses from a Tom's aqualifter for 30 seconds every 30 minutes during the day and for one whole minute every 30 minutes at night. My calcium reactor runs at a PH of 7 and drops 1.25 drips per second 24/7. looks really nice! glad to see its still going good with all the time constraints a new baby puts on you,lol Thank you. I honestly don't believe that maintaining this system would have been possible in the old configuration with the baby. I am very happy that I completed the build-out (sans doors) before Nikola came. It's finally about that time to finish everything else up and upgrade. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YHSublime August 25, 2014 Share August 25, 2014 Wait, so you dose kalk, 2 part, and have a calcium reactor all at the same time?! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Decadence August 25, 2014 Author Share August 25, 2014 Wait, so you dose kalk, 2 part, and have a calcium reactor all at the same time?! A long time ago, I ran only kalk in my ATO. My skimmer overflowed (now has automatic shut-off) and poured water on the floor and 4 gallons of fully saturated kalkwasser turned my tank completely white. It took months to recover from that event. After that, I put a separate pump on a timer to do just kalk and the remaining small amount of top off ran through the JBJ head alone. After a while, I didn't have enough top-off for kalk alone and so I got dosing pumps. One day, my calcium doser jammed and after a few weeks, my calcium plummeted down to 320 and I lost a few corals. I have learned to not trust any piece of equipment in my tank and have layered multiple safeties as a result which is my reasoning for adding the calcium reactor to the mix. If any one of my dosing method fails, I will gradually notice that something is wrong and the corals have time to adapt. Only using one method with the amount I dose in comparison to the water volume, a simple mistake could nuke the tank. Having all three also allows me to play on the advantages of each system and mitigate the disadvantages. For example, calcium reactors drop PH and kalk raises it. Calcium reactors introduce phosphate and kalk binds and precipitates it. Calcium reactors and kalk can be hard to make small adjustments with so they can stay continuous and the dosing pumps can adjust for demand or catch-up. Dosing pumps can create a chloride imbalance over time so running the bulk of the duty off of the other methods allows you to minimize the chloride build-up while still taking advantage of the easy fine tuning. Calcium reactors and kalk don't have an accurate way to adjust magnesium levels but my dosers do it just fine…. The three are a match made in heaven. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YHSublime August 25, 2014 Share August 25, 2014 That's a bizarre system, but I understand the method to your madness, just shows there is more than one way to skin a cat. Are we still allowed to use that saying? Either way, great tank, you're doing something right! I'd like to get a look at it if I'm ever your way! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BowieReefer84 August 25, 2014 Share August 25, 2014 Was just over there yesterday. The tank is super nice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DuffyGeos August 25, 2014 Share August 25, 2014 A long time ago, I ran only kalk in my ATO. My skimmer overflowed (now has automatic shut-off) and poured water on the floor and 4 gallons of fully saturated kalkwasser turned my tank completely white. It took months to recover from that event. After that, I put a separate pump on a timer to do just kalk and the remaining small amount of top off ran through the JBJ head alone. After a while, I didn't have enough top-off for kalk alone and so I got dosing pumps. One day, my calcium doser jammed and after a few weeks, my calcium plummeted down to 320 and I lost a few corals. I have learned to not trust any piece of equipment in my tank and have layered multiple safeties as a result which is my reasoning for adding the calcium reactor to the mix. If any one of my dosing method fails, I will gradually notice that something is wrong and the corals have time to adapt. Only using one method with the amount I dose in comparison to the water volume, a simple mistake could nuke the tank. Having all three also allows me to play on the advantages of each system and mitigate the disadvantages. For example, calcium reactors drop PH and kalk raises it. Calcium reactors introduce phosphate and kalk binds and precipitates it. Calcium reactors and kalk can be hard to make small adjustments with so they can stay continuous and the dosing pumps can adjust for demand or catch-up. Dosing pumps can create a chloride imbalance over time so running the bulk of the duty off of the other methods allows you to minimize the chloride build-up while still taking advantage of the easy fine tuning. Calcium reactors and kalk don't have an accurate way to adjust magnesium levels but my dosers do it just fine…. The three are a match made in heaven. I love the rational behind this, and the way you have explained it. I have talked to quite a few people that use at least 2 systems for redundancy, and may do some dosing. I like your triple redundancy so you are not counting on one system to supply everything, and hopefully the other two can even it out slowly if the third stops working. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
surf&turf August 26, 2014 Share August 26, 2014 Very nice system!! Congrats on the BRS win. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Decadence August 26, 2014 Author Share August 26, 2014 That's a bizarre system, but I understand the method to your madness, just shows there is more than one way to skin a cat. Are we still allowed to use that saying? Either way, great tank, you're doing something right! I'd like to get a look at it if I'm ever your way! I agree it is. My whole system is a little cooky. My entire goal was to make the tank as easy to maintain as possible as we had a child on the way. right months after completion, the tank doesn't show signs of any neglect and neither does the baby! I appreciate the kind words. Was just over there yesterday. The tank is super nice. Thanks, it was nice having somebody over to share with because we don't get out much anymore with the baby. I love the rational behind this, and the way you have explained it. I have talked to quite a few people that use at least 2 systems for redundancy, and may do some dosing. I like your triple redundancy so you are not counting on one system to supply everything, and hopefully the other two can even it out slowly if the third stops working. Thanks. If I had to remove one of the three methods it would be the dosers. While they are the easiest to adjust (which is why they dose the least and are only responsible for fine tuning), they also don't have any other advantages. The calcium reactor and kalk combo accent each other extremely well, dosing pumps are petty much just the icing on the cake because they add on-the-fly changes with ease. Very nice system!! Congrats on the BRS win. Thank you, next time we are going for that $200. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Orion August 31, 2014 Share August 31, 2014 Great looking tank. I hear it's a sight to see in person! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Decadence August 31, 2014 Author Share August 31, 2014 Great looking tank. I hear it's a sight to see in person! Thanks Orion. Anybody is welcome to swing by and check it out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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