Tom's 11.4 Reef Build

[tpallas]

I managed to get the Profilux Powerbar up and working:

 

 

Then cleaned up the wires. Here's the view from my bed, with my two projects: the tank and my theater system. Still researching Denon receivers and some PSB towers:

 

 

It's been a rollercoaster learning maintaining SPS in an ULNS, which is new to me. Corals looked good for a bit, then took a hit due to an alk drop. But I've also noticed some problems with coloration - one is some corals are brown, and others are pale. I first bleached a bubblegum acro by putting it to close to the lights. I dropped the white percentage down to 15%. I think this was the first mistake. To rectify it I've moved the bubblegum and have slowly been working the whites back up to 30% (the light is still only 2" off the water). So I believe part of it was not enough light.

 

The pale corals are the second problem. I think this may be a result of a lack of nutrients, so I started dosing Reef Booster in addition to the Nano Pack (Prodibio). I may also consider the Korallenzucht nano pack. Also got the Hanna phosphate checker:

 

 

These guys all look ok, except for poor PE from the acro on the left:

 

 

My Bali brown slimer. Think this is due to insufficient light/lack of nutrients:

 

 

The bleached acro in its new spot and a few others in good shape, except for the strawberry shortcake which is VERY pale:

 

 

Mr. Coral tequilla sunrise, so far so good:

 

 

Frogskin, my best performer:

 

 

It's been trial and error so far. Parameters check out, .2 nitrates, .04 phosphates, 9.8 alk, 1380 mag, 430 ca. Barring pH swings - which I can't monitor until I get my pH probe up and running - I'm tempted to think this is a combination of insufficient lighting and poor nutrients. But open to suggestions!

 

Cheers

[Der ABT]

alk is a little high for me, i shoot for 8-9...wouldnt be suprised if alot of the color variation is going from MH etc to LEDs, seems to happen to alot of people introducing them into LED only tanks

I hope thing start looking better soon, definately a nice tank if you ever want some nutrient rich water let me know

[tpallas]

LOL thanks Evan! Hey, check out the blue table though - it's loved every minute in the tank and keeps coloring up. It's pretty close to the light:

 

 

This coral is one of the reasons I've been so confounded. Some bleached and paled, leading me to think the light was too intense. Some browned, so I thought the light was too weak. Now I've narrowed it down to nutrients as the corals seem to be responding well to increased light intensity. That, and I'm sure they need some more time to get used to things. Also keeping parameters relatively stable in a tank this small is tough - I think I'll need the Profilux doser sooner than I'd originally thought!

[tpallas]

So my sump being built at Lifereef is about ready to ship....the probe rack is going in the return chamber:

 

[tpallas]

Sump arrived from Lifereef! Extremely well packaged and looks great right out of the box. Jeff does a great job of including everything you need. I'm working on replacing the 5 gallon now:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And the foam rubber to place underneath:

 

Edited December 19, 2011 by tpallas

[tpallas]

Got to work installing the sump.

 

It's always more difficult than you think it will be:

 

 

Cut the return tubing down to length....not as easy as it looks! Got everything else installed and began to calibrate the pH probe:

 

 

Probes mounted:

 

 

The complete setup:

 

 

Looks a lot cleaner than before!

 

 

My loyal sump custodian. I've had this guy for three years now. Unfortunately he gained an appetite for fish so he's relegated to sump cleanup duties. He gets a good daily meal so he has it good:

 

Edited December 19, 2011 by tpallas

[tandldel]

Just wanted to thank you for your recommendation of this forum on your thread from reef central. I live in Springfield and saw you were from Arlington so it's good to see other hobbiest in the area near by. Just joined today. Again excellent tank build and the new sump is really nice.

[smallreef]

Sump look awesome! makes it feel easier to deal with the tank when everything is neat and organized huh?

[tpallas]

Just wanted to thank you for your recommendation of this forum on your thread from reef central. I live in Springfield and saw you were from Arlington so it's good to see other hobbiest in the area near by. Just joined today. Again excellent tank build and the new sump is really nice.

 

Awesome! It's a great club. Time to renew my membership...

 

Sump look awesome! makes it feel easier to deal with the tank when everything is neat and organized huh?

 

Thanks! It definitely does.....I love a clean look!

[roni]

Tom,

 

This is by far one of the most meticulous, well thought out uses of a small amount of space I've seen. I think in 6-12 months this will be nano tank of the month material

[tpallas]

Tom,

 

This is by far one of the most meticulous, well thought out uses of a small amount of space I've seen. I think in 6-12 months this will be nano tank of the month material

 

Thanks Roni! I've always been into nano reefs. My dream has been to build a maxed out 10g for the longest time....I've found that the pieces of equipment are even more important on smaller tanks than on larger - for keeping SPS, anyways. I'm really looking forward to getting a dosing unit so alk-calc-mag won't be such a hassle...

[tpallas]

The tank went through a bit of an algae bloom when I discontinued the Prodibio, which I was expecting. So it doesn't look too hot but it is subsiding. The good news is the corals are looking much, much better!

 

To start, here's a rock with red mushrooms which are being stored before I move them to my 5.5 gallon this weekend:

 

 

Next, my green slimer is coloring up. It looks better than what this pic shows:

 

 

Compared to a few weeks ago, much better:

 

 

My blue table, this one is constantly coloring up:

 

 

This is it when I initially got it:

 

 

Psammacora, encrusting!

 

 

Finally, some chili pepper monti I transferred over from my 40g. When I moved it, it was nearly white. Here's it today:

 

 

Cheers

[roni]

Looking good. Why'd you decide to stop Probidio? What are you running now?

[tpallas]

Thanks Roni. In short, I think my bioload was insufficient and as a result my corals were showing signs of starvation. Now that I've stopped, I've seen better results from my corals in growth and PE. I may consider Prodibio again in the future when there is a higher bioload, but for now I would just have to overfeed to pollute the tank to counterbalance the Prodibio - in which case it is just easier to not do it at all.

[roni]

Makes sense. I've heard other people having the same problem. probidio and zeovit are too complicated for me honestly. I'd forget if I had to do something daily other then feed.

[tpallas]

Here's my latest FTS. You can see that I'm at the tail end of an algae bloom which resulted from ceasing Prodibio dosing. But the corals all look good, which is all I need to know, and the algae is steadily subsiding:

 

[smallreef]

Looking good! great rock setup!

[jason the filter freak]

How are those wires coming?

[tpallas]

Ugh...did a lot today - got the Powerbar mounted, but there's still a lot to do!

 

And....

 

Let there be light tree!

 

 

Big thanks to mattgecko on Reef Central who helped out big time with this!

 

I can see the light at the end of the tunnel with the equipment setup....pretty soon I'll just be able to sit back, relax and watch these frags grow.

 

All I have left to do is:

 

- Install the Profilux doser unit and mount the fluid containers

- Switch out the older MP10 controller with the new wireless one

- Connect Profilux to router

- Install & configure Profilux Vortech control unit

- Install Profilux Touch

 

--Maybe-- some future projects:

 

- Install salinity & ORP module on Profilux

- Install Digital Powerbar #2

- Conduct final wire cleanup (ahhh!!!!)

 

Cheers

[tpallas]

Love it when boxes come. Received the Profilux 4 unit doser today:

 

 

 

 

Here is where I am placing the unit:

 

 

The tubing will wrap around the unit to the backside of the stand, where I will mount three bottles of Calc/Alk/Mag (haven't decided on what to use the 4th on yet).

 

Now, where do I get more of this tubing??

 

Cheers

[tpallas]

Latest FTS:

 

 

And finished setting up the fuge with a JBJ LED fuge light:

 

 

 

 

And got started on hooking up the dosing pump unit:

 

 

 

[Der ABT]

coming along very nicely...thats a ton of equipment in a very small space...best part is you can use all of it when you get a huge 100,000+ gallong tank..i think

 

When you getting a tang in there...a nice XXL Sohal would look sweet until it tried to turn around.

 

Glad the colors are coming around and hope the growth will continue to get even better.

[tandldel]

Looks good like the new frag at the top. I'm in line for a stand alone Profilux dosing pum,. Let me know what you think of it once it's running. Like the Fuge had no idea you were planning that. The JBJ Nano LED is nice for a small Fuge.

[tpallas]

coming along very nicely...thats a ton of equipment in a very small space...best part is you can use all of it when you get a huge 100,000+ gallong tank..i think

 

When you getting a tang in there...a nice XXL Sohal would look sweet until it tried to turn around.

 

Glad the colors are coming around and hope the growth will continue to get even better.

 

Thanks man! Yeah, sometimes I get an idea about a large tank....but then I think about all the work this little one has been, and I have a reality check!

 

Looks good like the new frag at the top. I'm in line for a stand alone Profilux dosing pum,. Let me know what you think of it once it's running. Like the Fuge had no idea you were planning that. The JBJ Nano LED is nice for a small Fuge.

 

Thanks Ted. I just got it working last night. The setup wasn't too bad at all (it's a little more complicated programming hooked up to the Profilux than the standalone, I think). One thing you should definitely watch is the connections - it's not too hard for the tubing to slip out and not notice it while setting up....I could've pumped a lot of bicarbonate into my stand without noticing it. Now that I got it set up tho, it's great! Pumps 1 ML at a time for 4-6 ML a day throughout the day. All I need to do now is test my levels at regular intervals to fine tune the dosing amounts, and then its set & forget. Much better then doing it manually!

[tpallas]

Latest FTS. Still have some nuisance algae but hopefully the Prodibio dosing will help with that. The fuge as well....

 

 

Here's a closeup of the purple monster I got from Copps and an electric blue mille I got from Graham:

 

 

Cheers