Blue80

Yeah I am definitely bumping up the lights. I appreciate you sharing this. Just out of curiosity, why is the par higher in the frag tank? The reef looks great by the way!

I get good flow with the corals. The tank has been up for nearly 2 years. I have good coraline algae on the rocks. I definitely siphon the sand as you state it gets brown. I will keep at it and see what can be done. Thanks

No the water is clear.

Could I have a bacterial issue in the tank?

I followed the BRS setup and then adjusted to get to the par level I had shown in the photos, adjusting equally across all of the spectrums. I will look to play with it a bit.

I double checked and was good at 1.025 with the refractometer and digital Ali it’s tester after having checked calibration. I think I was a little low before my last water change

I have a flame angel and a coral beauty

I got the results of my water test, there does not seem to be a whole lot going on. I will try the recommendations, but would these be the reasons for my issues? Or should I start looking at something else as the culprit? Aquarium analysis results.pdf RODI Analysis result.pdf RODI recommendation.pdf

I can usually keep hammers, but trouble with acans, candy canes, frog spawn, and playing corals. I am hoping the icp test shows me something. Appreciate the response!

I have a couple of dwarf angels that have picked at the acans a little, but I have seen some STN on all of the corals, some starting right after I put them in. Thanks for responding.

All, I can't keep any lps in my tank to save my life. I am not sure what the issue is as my softies do just fine. I currently have a 180 gallon aquarium with an icecap 36XL sump and the tank has been set up well over a year with plenty of coraline algae growth in the tank. I fight green hair algae, but it has been minimal for a little while now. I have 3 mp 40s, two on one end of the tank, one on the other (run in lps mode maxing out around 48%). I also struggle to grow any algae in my refugium (chaeto, caulerpa, etc.). I have switched between the innovative marine 9 watt grow light and a simple 29 watt fluorescent light without much luck. As needed, I run carbon and gfo and test my water weekly. I have 4 ai hydra 32 lights over the tank and run them from 7am to 5 pm. I run filter socks in the aquarium and a reef octopus protein skimmer, which pulls out a lot of junk. These are the numbers I get based on the apogee par meter. My last test showed phosphates at around .02, but it can get as high as .1. My nitrates were right around 15 but have been as high as 19. I keep my alk between 8.4 and 9 and calcium is 420 and magnesium is 1330. The salinity is 1.025 and tank temp is kept at 78 degrees. I also sent in an icp test a couple of days ago to see if there are issues there, but a previous icp test showed nothing out of the ordinary. I use BRS for alk, calcium and magnesium. I do a water change every two weeks with ro/di water. I have around 15 or so fish and a decent clean up crew. I stupidly had an air freshener in the room, one of the glade plug ins that I recently removed, not sure if that was creating this issue or how much effect it may have had. I welcome all questions and suggestions on what I might be doing wrong, so I can reverse this lps trend and how I can also fix my refugium issue. Thanks in advance!

I appreciate the recommendations you have provided and will definitely look into that for the return and the manifold. The shelf placement may be a little tough based on the height of the sump and the heights of the shelf. But I definitely really like the set up you recommend. I actually do have a filtration pad in the black portion where the water feeds into the refugium, so the water from the DT will always be going through filtration.

So it is better to tee off the refugium from the return pump? I originally had it teed off from the drain. So I thought I would split the drain then tee off the right side drain to go into both the sump and the refugium and regulate the flow to the refugium with the gate valve. The have the left drain just go straight into the sump. I would move the right side drain to go over the baffle as others suggested vice through the sump section. Does this work also you think? Or even have the right drain go straight to the refugium and the left side to the sump?

Thanks again for the feedback. The return and drain are both 1”. I could reduce the return to 3/4”. I am not planning to restrict the drain with the bulkheads. They are on there to make it easier to take apart and clean the pipes when needed given the long horizontal runs. You definitely have the correct pump in your link, so I will definitely look into getting a larger pump or a second pump to make sure I have enough flow in the tank. The second manifold was a recommendation to have just in case I want to add additional equipment (no plans to do so right now, unless I add a second pump). i am not too concerned with noise given the tank is in the basement, but I will look into splitting the pipes and reducing the return to 3/4”. Do you think the next model up will suffice, the 1900 gallon per hour? Or should I go with the 3170 gallon per hour? I can then put the current one on my mixing station.

I actually added in a second manifold on the return pipe based on a separate recommendation. I just did not update the photo. But I will definitely consider moving the refugium as well based on your suggestion. How would you recommend I get the water to the refugium if I elevated it? Add a pump? Thanks

I put a foam pad down under the skimmer and refugium (wife’s old yoga mat). I will look at moving the pipe. But right now it is pretty easy to pull the skimmer in and out. I put the pipe there when I had the skimmer in the sump to make sure. Thank you for the feedback.

I unfortunately did not build the stand wide enough to accommodate the right sized sump. Plus I like the freedom to not have to root around below the stand to pull things out and put them back in. I also have a gfci plug that everything is hooked up to in the workroom. I figured I would have more space to add additional equipment back there as needed. I appreciate the feedback that I am not totally out in left field! Thank you

This what I am planning for my filtration on my 125. Welcome thoughts, questions and advice. I am using the standard marineland durso system that came with the tank. Given the wall space into the workroom I had available I do not think anything else would have worked. In the workroom I am curious if you think my configuration will work. I teed off the intake going to the left for the sump (lower pipe). I then planned to use the straight portion of the intake to travel to my refugium (using the gate valve to regulate the flow as needed). I would connect my refugium (wet/dry filter from a previous setup) via bulkhead back to the sump (strainer in bottom pipe, top pipe for safety in case of a clog). The return chamber is on the right side of the sump, so not sure if the travel distance to the refugium will be too far to keep up with the return pump (current USA 1050 gallons per hour DC pump), hence the gate valve to reduce flow as needed. The piping is just dry fitted right now for the layout. Will this work? Thanks.

Excellent job! Will definitely be borrowing some of your methods once I get mine up and running again.Did you have issues using the grinder on the dry rock?

Beautiful tanks!

Thanks, will definitely keep this in mind. I definitely want the butterflies, so will make sure to factor that into future decisions.

I definitely find it humorous. You are not going to offend me. I appreciate the feedback on my choices. Given the comments about the butterfly possibly eating them, I may just get a few more of the camel shrimp instead of the sexy shrimp.

I also have a whole-home generator the previous owner had installed, so I am not too concerned about battery back ups for the life support system.

I am getting back into the hobby and just posted my 125 gallon long build thread in the tank build forum. I however thought this would be a better forum to get feedback on the fish/inverts I would like to include in the aquarium. I plan to start out as a FOWLR, then maybe upgrade to some easier to care for corals. This is my wish list: 1 powder brown tang (favorite fish) 1 yellow eyed kole tang 2 ocellaris clownfish and anemone (likely bubble tip) 2-3 pearlscale butterflyfish (mini schooling effect) 1 mandarin dragonet (green or spotted) 1 blue spotted or saddle valentini puffer 1 coral beauty or flame angel 2 camel shrimp 1 sexy anemone shrimp ! chocolate chip sea star 1 red linckia sea star or 1 red sea star Cleanup crew (looking at reef cleaners) I welcome comments on compatibility concerns and order of introduction folks recommend. Thank you

After an 8 year hiatus, a couple of kids and getting married, I am finally getting back into the hobby! I currently have a 125 gallon long Marineland tank with two corner overflows. The tank until recently held some freshwater turtles and cichlids. I was able to find a great home for the turtles in an indoor pond and plan to find a home for the cichlids once things in the real world improve. Right now I am planning to go with a FOWLR system, but eventually plan to add in some easy corals and probably an anemone with a couple of clowns. 125 gallon aquarium.HEIC I also built a DIY saltwater mixing station using two brute trash cans and a lifeguard pump from a previous filtration system. I can hook up a line from here and then run it to the tank for water changes. saltwater mixing station.HEIC I went with the 75 gallon per day liquagen ro/di system and then added on the 150 gallon per day upgrade to reduce the amount of wastewater being produced. There is a pressure gauge, it is just hidden from view. What do some of you do with your waste water/collect it in? ro:di system.HEIC I also plan to put my filtration in the workroom on the other side of the wall from the aquarium. My loving wife is allowing me to drill a hole through the wall. filtration area.HEIC I am planning to go with the current usa loop system currently being used on the tank. I purchased two of the 72" lights recently and the bluetooth controller to run the system. I have had great luck with this product thus far and the customer service at the company was also wonderful. I have 300 watts worth of heaters that I plan to put in the sump. I am planning to purchase the Coralvue Icecap 30 Reef Sump. I was also planning to convert one of the wet dry filters into a refugium (plan to remove the bio balls but would still plan to use the filter pad media in the section where the water initially pours in). I would just tee off the water coming from the tank so one tube enters the refugium and one the sump. I would then drill into the sump and connect via bulkhead so that the water can be returned via the pump. I have also seen the DIY Chaeto reactors and thought about building one of those instead of the refugium. There is plenty of room for either in the filtration space I plan to use for this tank build. Further, I have a submersible light for my refugium and was thinking about going with the algae barn starter pack for it. What do people think? I welcome thoughts on either of these ideas please. Other equipment: Duetto Dual Sensor ATO, Coralife Skimmer 125 (I know this product has some mixed reviews, but I purchased it for my previous 55 gallon and never got to use it. So I figure I will give it a try). Welcome thoughts on additional skimmers. Inside the tank: Around 100 or so pounds of the man-made rock/live rock Around 50 pounds of live sand I look forward to any comments/questions Thank you