Dreams become Reality

[richards]

I'll take some time this holiday season to share the experience of building out this tank. I've had a "skimmer/florescent light" "neglected" 90 gallon LPS/softie tank in my office for over fifteen years, and elected to finish my basement and include a reef tank. The largest size we could get into the basement - this custom build 900 lb glass tank was lowered down the exterior stairs with a crane, lol. What an experience with this hobby, like taming a wild horse....yes, that is broccoli in the center, lol. Footprint is six by four feet, thirty inches in depth, man made rock, live sand, led lighting, calc reactor, uv, dosing ca/alk, twin recirculation pumps, automated 3 gallon a day water change, manually change 40 gallons a week, automated top off water has alkalinity manually added, love the APEX, a slow journey for sure....1st fish were wrasse and ten tiny aquaculture yellow and purple tangs added this summer....fascinating to see what grows and what fails in the tank...photo from Nov 24, 2023.

 

[richards]

so much fun with steel and glass and George & Ned & others from Pure Reef

 

[richards]

Aquarium delivery was June 2022

 

[richards]

floor to ceiling walnut cabinetry for the peninsula tank, in the passageway between the daylight basement and subterranean living roomstaining and sealing the woodwork Jan 2023

 

[richards]

so much fun with plywood Jan 2023

 

[richards]

Water added, man made arches, live sand, February 2023. Goal to have large negative space for fish and future coral growth. Practiced the rock placement onto a sheet of plywood adjacent to the aquarium. Two one hundred gallon storage tanks are in an adjacent closet, with pressurized RO filter and water transfer pumps. Two temporary quarantine tanks are inside the same closet. The entire filtration and LED lighting systems are inside the cabinetry. Outside overflow made into the rear side of the tank. Twin return pumps bring water overhead with four upper discharge points (to reduce risk of leaks, there are no exterior no recirculation pumps <no loops with interior holes in the tank>). APEX controls circulation, light duration/wavelength/lumens, calc reactor, dosing pumps, temperature (twin heaters), three interior circulation pumps on rear wall, constant reading of pH & temp, and daily automated three gallon water changes. Perform weekly water changes/cleaning/chemistry tests. Sump includes protein skimmer, dosing pumps, dark refugium (ceramic bioballs and manual dosing of phyto), and small UV filter (added late spring 2023).

 

[richards]

The 1st corals were added March 8, 2023. Because the water was so clean (nutrient poor), we used dosing pumps to add nitrate and phosphate, to help the coral grow. Added peppermint shrimp and lots of snails to assist with pest control.

What happens with bright light, strong water flow, and liquid fertilizer dosed into the tank....the garden grows, LOL!

 

[richards]

Challenges:

(1) The 1st many months, the tank grew prolific green hair algae, and for a month early this summer, an interesting mat of brownish fiber had to be vacuumed weekly (removing a lot of bound up sand). Bubble algae spread wildly by June. Removed hair & bubble algae weekly from the rocks with a toothbrush.

(2) the squadron of peppermint shrimp were starving in February, and were observed eating Duncan & torch corals and zooanthids. This was solved by feeding the tank twice daily, then the shrimp ultimately learned and ignored the coral (two torch frags perished in the experience).

(3) supply chain made it difficult to obtain fish; I elected to wait and purchased aquacultured TINY yellow & purple tangs, and collected Bristletooth. Fish were added in one singular event in late July, and the hair algae was gone in a month. A fox face and emerald crabs eradicated the formerly pervasive bubble algae.

(4) Leather, zooanthids, and other soft corals have exploded in growth. Two acro colonies grew well a few months, then melted. Two bubbles were overcome by current, unfortunately. Two lovely elegance colonies grew beautifully for months, then the tentacle length shrunk 85%. One recovered immediately in a friend's dirty water reef aquarium, and the other elegance melted.

Photo shows late May 2003 green hair algae farm, lol (before adding tangs). Finally, Coraline is beginning to grow....second photo shows anacropora and encrusting montipora and torches - all have grown gangbusters after this summer's addition of fish..

Hair and bubble algae completely disappeared this fall 2023, oh yeah!

 

[richards]

November 25th, everything is growing, the aquaculture tangs get along, the hair algae is long gone....

 

[Rainblood]

Stunning

 

[richards]

Stunning

Thank you, kindly. This has been a labor of life, that’s for sure. With stability in the water, and maturity of the filtration system, the corals are showing marked growth this fall.

 

[Doylef]

Very nice. Love the layout of the corals and their growth. Nice looking tank for sure.

 

[richards]

Thank you. I find the seemingly endless complexity and beauty of the marine environment so inspiring.

 

[richards]

"Wellso brain LPS coral" under white LED light, and with tentacles out in response to feeding the branded "reef roids." The iPhone camera does not capture the florescence under blue light.

 

[civics14]

Your tank, that cabinetry, and live stock, just wow man.

I am glad to read that you took the time and had the patience to let the ugly phase pass and manually remove the algae instead of rushing towards a quick chemical fix. These are all just phases in the hobby that we can look back on. Glad everything is on the ups now.

 

[Jikkermanccini]

"Wellso brain LPS coral" under white LED light, and with tentacles out in response to feeding the branded "reef roids." The iPhone camera does not capture the florescence under blue light.View attachment 82560View attachment 82561

Absolutely perfect Wilsoni! I haven't seen such a nice one in years. Everything about this build is just perfect, can't wait to see it grow out even more!

 

[richards]

Thank you kindly. There were months where this hobby was quite the wrestling match with algae and various scum growing everywhere, lol. A real learning curve, and we continue to increase supplementation for CA and Alk, as the coral grow.....yeah

 

[richards]

Absolutely perfect Wilsoni! I haven't seen such a nice one in years. Everything about this build is just perfect, can't wait to see it grow out even more!

Thank you kindly

 

[civics14]

Thank you kindly. There were months where this hobby was quite the wrestling match with algae and various scum growing everywhere, lol. A real learning curve, and we continue to increase supplementation for CA and Alk, as the coral grow.....yeah

Have you considered a calcium reactor?

 

[richards]

Thanks, yes, the CA reactor is running great, and has adequately maintained Mg. Because of the growth of coral, I've had difficulty maintaining alkalinity. Therefore, this fall, I began dosing buffer/alkalinity with a peristaltic pump, and then included dosing kalkwasser with a peristaltic pump, and even now adding more buffer to the automated evaporation top off of RODI water. A wrestling match with both pH and alkalinity.

I thought to include the following in the construction of the system: (1) HVAC system duct into the aquarium LED light canopy, with the HVAC fan running a low speed permanantly, and (2) full time exhaust fan duct pulling air from the far side of the canopy all the way to the home's exterior wall (drier vent & metallic flex hose duct inside the ceiling sheetrock).

Wish I had thought to pipe in outside air into the aquarium cabinet to further remove C02 (and raise pH)? I have added ozone and CO2 removal pellets in twin canisters at the intake to the protein skimmer, and this has helped with pH.