therootcause

I am not using the Nicrew 150w, but since you did open up discussion to lights other than the Radions, I use Viparspectra black boxes. I have 2x 300w and 1x 165w on various tanks. These lights are extremely powerful and I keep them 30-40" above the bottom of the tank. The blue channel I run no higher than 25-30 and the whites around 5-10. You can see these lights in my build thread. I also supplement with a 2 x 48" bulb T5 that I got from a Wamas member. If you scroll back through the various FS posts you will find radions for sale often, likely within your price range and usually with arms included.

There have been heavy losses. Ich took the pair of naked clowns, pair of gladiator davinci clowns, and five pajama cardinals. The blue/yellow stripe damsel was unscathed. It sucks. I tore down the hospital tank last night and binned up all of the equipment to bleach clean this weekend. Despite the set backs in QT and hospital tank, the Waterbox is looking spectacular. The green killing machine (120g model, undersized for this tank) has clarified the water and the glass is still clean even after five days. I will likely install this on the frag system as well. The Sailfin tang is loving her new home. One of my zombie clowns has paired with a larger ocellaris. All other fish look healthy. Softies are open and growing. Feeding time. Sailfin always photobombing Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Tragic news and set backs. If you have suggestions after reading or can offer help please DM, call, text, or fb message me. The tank is fine but we’re going through a really bad ich outbreak which is spreading like wildfire throughout the house. Here’s the timeline so far… March 7th I bought 5 pajama cardinals from Exotic Fish and Pets in Reading, PA. I didn’t inspect the fish adequately. Nothing wrong with this shop, everything that follows in this story is my fault. I acclimated and tossed them in to the waterbox. An hour later, tank lights are on and I see ich on one of the fish. I yank all five, place them in to my hospital tank and medicate with API Super Ich Cure. March 12th, Ich treatment ends, all fish look healthy in Hospital tank. Clowns in frag tank not looking good, symptoms that looked like brook. I wasn’t sure what to do. With the pajamas looking good and the clowns looking bad I water changed the hospital tank and swapped the fish. FW dip for the clowns, no flukes. Next day, clearly 3 of the four clowns have ich and all five of the pajamas that are in frag tank have ich. Now EVERYONE is in the hospital tank. Temp on both systems raised to 81 degrees. Friday, 3/17, medicated hospital tank with prazipro just in case there are some other parasites. Saturday 3/18, spots on the eyes of the big Sailfin tang in the frag tank. I’m not sure what to do. I yank all of the coral from the frag system, cut it off plugs, scrub, dip in revive, glue in to the waterbox just in case I have to medicate the frag tank. Ordered a bottle of Microbe-Lift Herbtana and a bottle of Microbe-Lift Artemiss from Petco along with the Green Killing Machine suited for 120g. Sunday 3/19, lunch at JoJo’s pizza in Mechanicsburg, PA…shout out JoJo’s. Swing by Mechanicsburg Petco, pick up the supplies. Now…I have to decide what belongs where. The waterbox had cloudy water from bacteria, but I know that will equalize as the tank is new. Glass covered in copepods, microfauna really taking off. I’m feeling good about this tank, but remember the pajamas were in the tank momentarily on 3/7. I decide to put the UV on this tank. It might not have any bearing on ich development. With temperature increased in the hospital tank the ich life cycle can be observed throughout the day. In the morning fish are covered in parasites. By afternoon they have all fallen off. Heavy breathing, they are having a rough time. I have another 10g I can move fish to as the ich cycle progresses. I know there is advice online about swapping fish back and forth throughout ich lifecycle. I ran out of time yesterday and just couldn't get it set up. Current state as of Monday 3/20: Deaths so far: 2 of the new pajamas. There have been no treatments made to the frag tank. There have been several rounds of Super Ich Cure in the hospital tank along with Prazipro. I don’t have “copper” or a hanna checker for Cu and that is what I really need. :( The waterbox has no signs of ich and an undersized UV sterilizer (max 120g) on the tank that I added yesterday. Sad photos below… Spots on the sail fins eyes. Equipment update for the COR-20. Added this 3D printed screen from “printedbydave” that I bought on Etsy for $20-$25. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Here’s how some of the drywall work went this weekend. The edges on the top and right side are 3/4” AZEK PVC that I ripped to be a flush fit with the tank/stand and edge of the drywall. This was required because no matter how hard I tried the walls and the tank are not perfectly square/aligned. Measure…rip it…flip it…stick it. On the left side you can see some 1/2” plywood because the drywall is 1/2” thick and the AZEK is 3/4” thick. It all gets mud anyway… Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Agreed - Tom is invaluable. Looks like Mbheat77 is heading in the right direction. Edit: No advice...just wanted to recognize Tom.

Still skimmer shopping, but moved my Curve 7 into the tank for now. It’s a mess. Overflowing. Talking back. I raised it up and it settled down. I started on the purple drywall. I’m going to use PVC/AZEK anywhere near the tank rim. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Hahaha, I wish I knew. Luckily all of the fish are doing well and exploring their new surroundings. I didn't see the goby yesterday but the clown and dwarf pygmy angel are out and about, eating, and figuring out the layout of the system.

Here's what I am currently adding to the tank and how the tank is being run. It's a week old and I'm loading it up - hate me I transferred 30 marine pure block and a few pieces of live rock over from the frag system. Daily: 10mL of easyreefs easybooster phytoplankton (this stuff really smells something fierce) flake for the fish Weekly-ish: 1 gallon of strained copepods frozen marine plankton Tank temp is 77 degrees F. The chaeto and other macroalgae is floating in the sump and illuminated over night. The COR20 is running at 30-33% throughout the day. The two bulb T5's come on at 3pm and go off at 11. The Viparspectra LED's come on at 4pm go off at 10pm, 50% Channel 1, 5% Channel 2.

Added a few pretty things from the frag tank. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Added the following fish from my quarantine system. Ocellaris clown Neon Blue Goby Dwarf Pygmy Angel …and a bottle of bacteria for good measure. [emoji3061] The clown is exploring. The other two fish I’ll never see again. [emoji58] Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I moved a few softies over from my other systems along with 20 marine pure block cubes and other media/rock. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Thanks. That’s easy for me to keep it dialed in tight and not gurgling at the overflow. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

All systems go! I turned on the COR20 pump last night and let the system run overnight. No drips or concerns. I made adjustments to the gate valve so that water only slightly trickled into the emergency overflow, but then I remember that I can tweak the COR20 to adjust water level as well. More on that near the end. I shook out a few handfuls of macroalgae into the sump to jumpstart the micro fauna population and have begun adding reef roids and easy reefs easy booster nano. It’s a smelly gel of a few different types of phytoplankton and saves me the trouble of culturing live foods for the time being. The gorgonian in my QT seems to enjoy it. For anyone using a programmable neptune return pump along with an Apex, when I set the pump minimum and maximum, will the pump only operate within that range? For example if my pump minimum is set at 59% and my pump maximum at 60%, will this chart from 0-100% be operating entirely within that min and max value? Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Plumbing arrived yesterday. I was also hit with the dreaded stomach flu. It knocked me down so hard that I couldn’t care less about anything but being horizontal. Today, much better. I plumbed the drains and returns, filled the sump with water, and went to work. The PVC cement has a 2-hour cure but I’ve decided to give it a bit longer and will turn it on tonight. The return is 1” and the drains are 1.25”. To switch from metric plumbing to standard I used 32mm to 1” and 40mm to 1.25” from Coralvue. So far so good and everything glued together with no extra tolerance. Not sure if that’s the correct verbiage, but tolerance it is. The stand and sump are on PVC board. What are your thoughts on the diagonal return line? When looking at overhead photo, the skimmer chamber is in right center, refugium is in left center. The return plumbing will not interfere with skimmer placement or cup removal the way it is currently configured. The diagonal return configuration removed the need for additional elbows so I thought it best. The lump of plumbing coming off of the COR20 Is due to the British Standard Pipe Threading that plagues Neptune pumps. Luckily Trevor Figured out how to switch that over to imperial before I bought the system. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Thank you for the input. I’ll have to scroll back through your posts to see some photos of your build. If no stand was included I would have incorporated the stand into the wall. I really hope that i can get a seamless stand to wall transition with a small piece of trim. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Thank you. WAMAS is still the best club around! I’m outside of the “city” of Lebanon - mostly farms around me. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Right on - thank you. The in-wall tank is an interesting concept. This tank will be floating within the finished wall - with no part of the tank or stand affixed to the wall. If the tank is removed in the future I can just close up the wall. I didn't mention it before but the stand is sitting on a sheet of 1" PVC. This isn't necessary from a moisture perspective because the stand has feet but when carpet is installed on the viewing side of the basement the cabinet doors will be able to open outward and not get stuck on the carpet.

The tank will be visible from front and left side but not accessible at all from the "viewing" side of the basement. In the fish room I will have access to the sump, equipment, back of the tank, and opposite side. This will make more sense when drywall is up. The intent is for the water line on the tank to be covered by the drywall and for the waterbox cabinet to be used for kids toys etc. At present (2/28/2023) I am waiting on plumbing parts from Coralvue to complete the drain and return plumbing. Once that is installed and I can get a good measure of the water line I will begin the drywall work. There is still time to fix or prevent mistakes! If you have an in-wall tank or have suggestions, please let me know. Current WTB List: Skimmer (Curve 7 or similar) Colt corals, Neptheas, Encrusting Sinularias, Koji Wada Pink Nepthea, Pulsing Sinularia, branching softies Apex Salinity Probe Apex or Pinpoint pH Probe

Illumination! I bought a 2-bulb T5 from David (WAMAS member) and he threw in a 55 gallon drum and a calcium reactor! What a guy! I love LED’s but I’m addicted to the even blanketing spread of T5…none of which is pictured here haha. For this tank I have 2 x 300 Watt Viparspectra lights. In my opinion they are the best of the black boxes and will smoke your acros overnight if you aren’t careful. Yes, I know about the lens mods, no I don’t plan to crack them open. Pictured is a single fixture at 100% for both channels. Same light with Orphek lens filter on my phone. And lastly, the T5 from David (pictured top left) that will also be over this tank but is currently nourishing a couple rose BTA’s in the clown cubes. (Orphek lens filter used). Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Let’s talk electrical. I am not an electrician and this is not advice. I have a few spare 20 amp circuits on my panel so I ran some 12/2 in PVC conduit down the wall to a few boxes and installed a duplex outlet in a waterproof box INSIDE of the adaptive reef cabinet. Here’s what that looks like in-progress. There is one outlet on the wall and one outlet in the cabinet. Trevor also included an EB832 and EB8, so plenty of power that can plug into the outlet in the adaptive reef cabinet. But what about a GFCI you ask? Once again, this is not electrical advice. I learn from YouTube and online schematics. I wired a GFCI outlet as outlet number one in a Line/Load configuration so that all outlets are protected from the GFCI. All outlets are wired in parallel, sourced from the load side of the 20 AMP GFCI. Thoughts? Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Let’s talk sump and filtration. Here it is! Ha. I am plumbing the sump outside of the cabinet for the health of the fish and my family, especially small children that stick their hands in everything and then in their mouth. Extra bonus, limitless skimmer size! I’m currently shopping for a skimmer so if you have a Curve 7 or something similar, message me. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

The front and a single side will be visible from the "finished" side of the basement. The back and the opposite side will be visible from the fish room side of the basement. I am planning to use Purple XP mold resistant drywall to skin the side of the walls where I am standing in the photos. The fish room side of the walls near the tank will be covered with 1/2" PVC or left unfinished. I can rip strips of 1/2" PVC of any width from a 4x8 sheet (about $100). I may trim around the tank on the inside of the fish room with those PVC strips. We hired a contractor to finish the rest of the basement but he's booked out until August. What do you think of that plan?

Let’s add heat, salt, rocks, live sand, and bacteria. Still no plumbing. Don’t you love this Silent Hill…into the fog look? I do. Just a reminder, water level is low due to lack of plumbing as parts are stuck with FedEx. I forgot to mention that this incredible scape also came from Trevor along with lots of other things. What do you think of it? Looks professional level to me. I stacked it on some Marco base rock that I had in my system. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Woohoo! Thank you! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Let’s add water! I was amazed that the glass seamlessly disappeared as the tank filled. See thumb. Ha. Did I mention that there is currently no plumbing assembled because Waterbox is Metric? In order to plumb the remote sump I purchased bulkheads to convert to standard plumbing. They are currently stuck in Memphis at FedEx for the last three days (Today is 2-28-2023). Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk