Sean's 80 Custom SPS Cube

[Sugar Magnolia]

THis is going to be an awesome tank! I'll be tagging along to see the progress.

[SeanCallan]

Success ladies and gentlemen! NAGA was over early to help finish up the last couple of things and it does appear as though she has passed her fresh water test.

 

Outstanding items to install:

1/2'' loc line for the return (Just make it look all the same)

Timer for the electronic valve.

 

All these photos were taken with my iPhone so they're not the greatest quality, I need a memory stick reader for my camera :|

 

All pumps running:

 

Hang on carbon bin put together by NAGA:

 

Full tank shot:

 

The loc line has been ordered and should be here by Wednesday. I don't know why I forgot about it during my first order.

 

Additionally the ball valve is open right now for both sides so putting the timer on won't delay getting the tank setup with salt and rocks.

[SeanCallan]

I wanted to go ahead and provide an update with a little more substance. I've been under the weather and I wasn't feel great last night so I wanted to make a quick update with some pictures.

 

As you may be able to see, we took the tank off and put a sheet of that blue insulation foam underneath for added piece of mind. (I wasn't a fan of the tank sitting on metal)

 

To patch the front little leak NAGA suggested we use 45 degree corner braces to cover the hole and add a little to the aesthetics of the tank. After many (many) hours of looking at the tank I find that the corner pieces work to "frame" the picture of the tank. Definitely finished it and added a little extra.

 

NAGA also brought with him the carbon bin he put together for my tank. It's definitely high quality, hangs on the false wall and allows water to flow over, into some foam and then through the carbon and out the bottom.

 

All and all it was a good and productive day for the tank. I on the other hand managed to cut myself open at every turn, gashing my hand open and letter cutting my leg on a rogue drill bit. As my Dad always says: it wasn't a successful Callan project until someone bled.

 

When I get the 1/2 loc line in for the return the tank will be drained, cleaned out, and filled with salt water. I'm hoping to achieve that by mid week so I can start picking up LR.

[SeanCallan]

Delays, delays, delays! This tank has way exceeded my expected timeline. My loc line order which should have taken the same amount of time as the last one and therefore been delivered on Today has been delayed till next Monday.

 

Draining the tank is taking a while, I'm trying to do my best to save the majority of the water and use it to waste my laundry. The two don't happen to be near one another and I don't have hose long enough

 

Hopefully the old adage "Good things come to those who wait" will hold true for me.

[gastone]

Sean, do you have a rock work plan outlined yet?

[SeanCallan]

Sean, do you have a rock work plan outlined yet?

 

I did have one, but the more I think about it, the less I like the idea. I am trying to go for something a little different from your average pile of rocks with coral on top.

 

Something LIKE this tank, but not exactly what he has. I can't figure out a good way to draw it and get across my ideas.

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthre...ighlight=bonsai

[SeanCallan]

I will post a bigger update with pictures later, but the remaining loc line has arrived. I installed it and the tank has finished filling up with RO/DI so now I'm going to add the salt!

 

Hooray! It's all finally coming together, hopefully I'll be able to pick up cured LR from one of two members of the forums and be well on my way to having the tank I've always wanted!

[GSM]

I assume you fixed that closed loop with some ball valves?

[SeanCallan]

I assume you fixed that closed loop with some ball valves?

 

If I say no, can we still be friends?

 

No, I did not put ball valves on the front closed loop because: it's flex tubing and if I needed to shut it off, I can actually pinch the tube closed (I've tried) and zip tie it for longer periods.

 

May not be the smartest move, but honestly at the point in the build I'm ready to get it running. There were a number of delays that offset getting this tank running by 4 weeks! So I'm to a point where I can make the changes later if I really thinks it's necessary or I can just live with them.

[zoozilla]

Me Likey

[GSM]

If I say no, can we still be friends?

 

No, I did not put ball valves on the front closed loop because: it's flex tubing and if I needed to shut it off, I can actually pinch the tube closed (I've tried) and zip tie it for longer periods.

 

May not be the smartest move, but honestly at the point in the build I'm ready to get it running. There were a number of delays that offset getting this tank running by 4 weeks! So I'm to a point where I can make the changes later if I really thinks it's necessary or I can just live with them.

 

 

,um well its sure a heck of a lot easier to drain the tank now, but i will try to hold back the "I told you so" if anything happens.

[ctenophore]

If I say no, can we still be friends?

 

No, I did not put ball valves on the front closed loop because: it's flex tubing and if I needed to shut it off, I can actually pinch the tube closed (I've tried) and zip tie it for longer periods.

 

May not be the smartest move, but honestly at the point in the build I'm ready to get it running. There were a number of delays that offset getting this tank running by 4 weeks! So I'm to a point where I can make the changes later if I really thinks it's necessary or I can just live with them.

 

If you are using vinyl flex tubing (the most common kind), it will harden over time and may not pinch closed the way it does now. You should find some caps or threaded plugs that can go into the CL bulkheads in case you need to do maintenance. If you have any sand, you will probably need to take apart the pump before long.

 

Looks like it will be nice! I'm interested to see how your rock turns out, I really like crazy4acros tank.

[stratos21ss]

I'm not going to say you're wrong, because I'm not sure if there is a right or a wrong. But I've seen a number of acrylic tanks with this kind of support.

 

Stratos21ss's 120SSO Tank (Another NAGA tank)

http://www.wamas.org/forums/index.php?show...431&hl=NAGA

 

Hi Sean - I think you might of seen my early picture when I had just set the tank up on the stand for a pic. For my actual placement, I had a plastics place make a custom 1" thick black starboard piece to fit on top of my stand for the tank to sit on. My thoughts for this were that the starboard surface is soft enough to eat any little bumps/imperfections on the steel stand surface..and the one inch thickness was so I would never have any bowing in the material or bottom of tank. All of that is probably not necessary and overkill, but I wanted it to be solid.

 

I just read your build thread today..so I didn't see this earlier, sorry. I am also sorry to hear some of the issues you have been having. I hope it all works out as amicably as possible and that the eventual enjoyment of your tank keeps you moving forward to making the most out of what you have..I am very picky about details too and for the disappointments that cannot be resolved I find it helps to just look at it all as a progression that will eventually be upgraded to something better anyway.

 

_Matt

[SeanCallan]

Hi Sean - I think you might of seen my early picture when I had just set the tank up on the stand for a pic. For my actual placement, I had a plastics place make a custom 1" thick black starboard piece to fit on top of my stand for the tank to sit on. My thoughts for this were that the starboard surface is soft enough to eat any little bumps/imperfections on the steel stand surface..and the one inch thickness was so I would never have any bowing in the material or bottom of tank. All of that is probably not necessary and overkill, but I wanted it to be solid.

 

I just read your build thread today..so I didn't see this earlier, sorry. I am also sorry to hear some of the issues you have been having. I hope it all works out as amicably as possible and that the eventual enjoyment of your tank keeps you moving forward to making the most out of what you have..I am very picky about details too and for the disappointments that cannot be resolved I find it helps to just look at it all as a progression that will eventually be upgraded to something better anyway.

 

_Matt

 

 

Thanks Matt. I'm trying to keep positive about all of this and I've had fantastic offers from other members to help me bring the tank to the level I original expected it to be at.

 

I hope to go forward with this tank or another one in the near future.

[SeanCallan]

I've gone ahead with my tank while I wait for the resolution. I wanted to update you guys with some pictures.

 

Dosing 3/4ml of Vodka a day in my 2 gallon water changes. I've been slowly increasing my dosage to 1ml, I want to avoid an overdose so I prefer the make small increases so I can find the sweet spot. I'm skimming off a lot of dark thick stuff so I'm really happy. My evaporation is out of this world and I've really got to get some fans to cut down on it. The tank stays right at 80.6 in the afternoon and goes down to 79.4 in the evenings. I'm hoping a fan will eliminate the 1 gallon (and often times more) evaporation.

 

Stock right now:

1 Copperbanded

2 Female Lyretails (one is turning male)

1 Skunk cleaner

3 Peppermints

3 Turbo snails

10 Margarita snails

10 red leg hermits

 

 

 

 

Approximately 90 pounds of cured LR from Steveoutlaws which had a couple of SPS left on it. After the new year I'm going to look into possibly running the NeoZeo method with a GroTech doser to simplify it.

Edited December 18, 2008 by SeanCallan

[jamesbuf]

My evaporation is out of this world and I've really got to get some fans to cut down on it....... I'm hoping a fan will eliminate the 1 gallon (and often times more) evaporation.

 

 

Not understanding your comments here. Pretty sure fans increase the amount of evaporation of your system. Honestly, 1 gallon of evaporation is pretty low for a system of your size. My 92gal easily goes through 2+ gallons a day in RO water.

 

 

Also, how long was the sand and rock in there before you added all those fish??

[Brian Ward]

+1 on James's comments. Adding fans cools the tank by increasing evaporation. Honestly, 1 gal/day isn't bad and a lot of us like to have more evaporation to increase our ability to add kalk to the system and keep the pH up around 8.3 - 8.4

[gastone]

+1 on James's comments. Adding fans cools the tank by increasing evaporation. Honestly, 1 gal/day isn't bad and a lot of us like to have more evaporation to increase our ability to add kalk to the system and keep the pH up around 8.3 - 8.4

 

+2

 

...like Brian, I like the benefits of kalk (which in my estimation is as close to perfect a reef supplement as we have available to us) and I try to increase evaporation via the use of fans and surface agitation in both the display and sump.

 

Edit: spell-ing

Edited December 18, 2008 by gastone

[zoozilla]

Not understanding your comments here. Pretty sure fans increase the amount of evaporation of your system. Honestly, 1 gallon of evaporation is pretty low for a system of your size. My 92gal easily goes through 2+ gallons a day in RO water.

 

 

Also, how long was the sand and rock in there before you added all those fish??

 

 

+1 on James's comments. Adding fans cools the tank by increasing evaporation. Honestly, 1 gal/day isn't bad and a lot of us like to have more evaporation to increase our ability to add kalk to the system and keep the pH up around 8.3 - 8.4

 

 

+2

 

...like Brian, I like the benefits of kalk (which in my estimation is as close to perfect a reef supplement as we have available to us) and I try to increase evaporation via the use of fans and surface agitation in both the supply and sump.

 

+3

 

I agree with all above statements

Edited December 18, 2008 by zoozilla

[SeanCallan]

I'm not sure how a fan cooling the water surface is going to increase the evaporation. The water evaporates as the heat increases. You have much higher evaporation when you're boiling water then you do if you leave room temperature water out on the counter. Just look outside, there are puddles of water still standing from a rain a few days ago. If it was warmer outside they would have long since evaporated. Cooling the air causes it to condense and fall rather then fine vapors which will rise.

 

A humidifier heats the water and a dehumidifier cools the water with coils causing it to condense. I'm not trying to suggest that you are wrong, but that the basics I learned in my environmental biology courses suggest otherwise. If anyone has any material on the subject I would love to read through it.

 

I don't plan to dose Kalk on this system at any time unless I find a fool proof method of doing it that entirely eliminates the chances of an overdose. I know too many people who have ruined amazing systems with Kalk and too many that are outspoken against it.

 

The rock came straight out of Steve's established tank and went into mine. It was there for roughly 2 weeks before I added anything. I've been doing 2-5 gallon water changes daily with vodka. I measured everything before I made any additions. I measured Friday morning, evening, and Saturday morning. The result from all of them was that the levels were low enough to not even make it onto the charts. I'm using Salifert kits.

 

There were a couple of hermit hitchhikers and the SPS on the rock when I put it into the tank. The sand was not live. I'm not really worried about a cycle to be honest, the color of the SPS have already brightened up in the system and the polyp extension is fantastic. The purple monti that was rather brown when it made it into my tank turned a really nice vibrant purple in about 5 days.

 

Usually I don't take risks in this hobby since there are little creature lives on the line so I ran my decision by a number of seasoned reefers I know on RC. They were all satisfied that if a cycle had occurred it was probably no more than a day or so. The daily water changes and vodka dosing may have facilitated that. I also ran my decision by Sean before I purchased the little guys at his shop on Saturday.

 

Acclimation was 2 hours for everything.

Edited December 18, 2008 by SeanCallan

[SeanCallan]

I just did some quick searches on factors of evaporation and heat and surface area are two of the larger contributing factors. Air concentration is another one which would result from blowing air across the surface of the tank, back-to-front, etc.

 

My plan isn't to blow air across the water but rather at an angle slightly greater than 45 to cool the water. The objective is to cool the first 2-3 inches of the water column at a constant rate to inhibit evaporation.

 

Edit: I'm not trying to prevent evaporation 100%, I know that's not possible, but I would like to decrease it to the best of my abilities.

Edited December 18, 2008 by SeanCallan

[Rascal]

Sean:

 

Awesome job on the acquascaping. Really nice looking tank.

 

As for the fans/evaporation issue, remember that fans don't actually cool the air, they just move it. The cooling effect happens because as more air comes into contact with the surface there is more opportunity for heat exchange. An unavoidable consequence of bringing more air molecules in contact with the surface of the water is that more water gets picked up by the air, especially when the air is not already laden with humidity. This added evaporation also creates its own cooling effect, of course. You are right that heat will increase the rate of evaporation even further, but air movement alone will still do the job. Think of the "heat" vs "air dry" settings on your clothes drier. The latter might take a lot longer, but both will remove the water from your clothes. I have a vague memory of some similar settings on hair driers . . . "Cool mist" room humidifiers are another example.

 

The point is that whether you blow the fan across the top of the water or directly down onto it, you are still going to increase evaporation. You may see more or less of an increase depending on how the fan is aimed, but there will also be a corresponding change in the cooling effect. The only way that I know of to increase the cooling of the water without increasing evaporation is to use a chiller. If you aren't having heat issues and just want to cut down on evaporation, the best way is to cover the tank.

[SeanCallan]

Quick update ( I know I know, this thread is worthless without pictures )!

 

I've added a couple things to the tank I picked up from Sean at AquaCo:

1 emerald crab

1 additional skunk cleaner (for a total of 2, they're buddies and work a cleaning station together)

more snails

1 ORA Plumb Crazy

1 ORA Aussie Delicate

 

As of Sunday I've started running the complete Prodibio system. I spoke with Sean at great length on the topic of NeoZeo/ZeoVit vs Prodibio and I feel that it'll be easy for me to run on my smaller system and will involve much less time and energy. I'll continue to do my 1 gallon water changes to export nutrients and add back in trace elements. I'm looking at the Profilux doser for Ca, Mg, and Alk.

 

Everything in the tank is doing great, I had a little algae bloom while I was on vacation but that was from my roommate overfeeding the tank (he used 4 squares of frozen food in 5 days). I'm not worried about it though, everything is still in line and the algae has already started to die off.

 

Polyp extension has been great and the colors are really starting to pop. The purple digi that started as brown is now a glowing metallic purple. New growth is visible on all the SPS in the tank (except those recent additions).

 

I counted 9 aptaisia on the rock when I put it into the tank, all have since been consumed. I'm not sure if the peppermints or the copperbanded are responsible but either way I'm ecstatic!

 

The only minor concern I have is one of my Anthias. The larger one had started her transformation to dominate male until she discovered her reflection. Now she seems to have stopped changing and spends a few minutes a day attacking the living bejesus out of her reflection. Not really sure what to do about that, it's not all the time, but it does happen a few times throughout the day. Suggestions?

 

All in all I'm happy with the way the tank is coming, hopefully sometime in January I'll be switching out with a replacement tank that will be feel of blemishes.

[SeanCallan]

I am noticing some brownish strings coming off the rocks and stuff. It looks somewhat like a slim. It may be related to the algae dying off. I had my roommate look after my tank and I think he may have misunderstood me and greatly overfeed the tank. Or it could also be related to this being my first week on Prodibio. I manually removed some of the algae but a lot of it is turning brown and dying off.

 

My skimmer isn't doing much right now to pull anything out which is frustrating, but there is stuff in the cup so it's doing a little bit.

 

I tested my water and I'm going to test again because it's just too good to be true.

NH3: 0ppm

PO4: 0ppm

NO3: 0ppm

NO4: 0ppm

Alk: 9.6

Ca: 375

 

My Ca is definitely a little low which is why I'm now kicking my search for a doser into overdrive. The 9.6 Alk is high but I did some reading and people say that a higher Alk is great for SPS color as long as it remains below 12. A prolonged exposure to 12+ Alk can result in SPS burn.

 

I've got no new algae growth I'm just waiting for the water changes and skimmer to get the junk out of the tank. I'm going to have to get a second job so I can justify getting a Bubble King

 

I picked up three new pieces: 2 colonies and 1 frag. All need to do some serious coloring up since they lost some color at the store. One colony has a white acro crab and the other has 2 neon green shrimp in the branches. I've been watching them cleaning stuff out all morning.

 

I've got to take some pictures of things I have for sale so I'll be adding some pictures of the tank a little later today.

[zygote2k]

I am noticing some brownish strings coming off the rocks and stuff. It looks somewhat like a slim. It may be related to the algae dying off. I had my roommate look after my tank and I think he may have misunderstood me and greatly overfeed the tank. Or it could also be related to this being my first week on Prodibio. I manually removed some of the algae but a lot of it is turning brown and dying off.

 

My skimmer isn't doing much right now to pull anything out which is frustrating, but there is stuff in the cup so it's doing a little bit.

 

I tested my water and I'm going to test again because it's just too good to be true.

NH3: 0ppm

PO4: 0ppm

NO3: 0ppm

NO4: 0ppm

Alk: 9.6

Ca: 375

 

My Ca is definitely a little low which is why I'm now kicking my search for a doser into overdrive. The 9.6 Alk is high but I did some reading and people say that a higher Alk is great for SPS color as long as it remains below 12. A prolonged exposure to 12+ Alk can result in SPS burn.

 

I've got no new algae growth I'm just waiting for the water changes and skimmer to get the junk out of the tank. I'm going to have to get a second job so I can justify getting a Bubble King

 

I picked up three new pieces: 2 colonies and 1 frag. All need to do some serious coloring up since they lost some color at the store. One colony has a white acro crab and the other has 2 neon green shrimp in the branches. I've been watching them cleaning stuff out all morning.

 

I've got to take some pictures of things I have for sale so I'll be adding some pictures of the tank a little later today.

Why do you need calcium higher than 375? You don't have a tank full of SPS. Alk seems fine too.