Tank Update

My 400g, explained

melev — Tue, 06 Dec 2022 04:47:52 +0000

My 400g, explained

2022 recap

melev Tue, 12/06/2022 - 07:47

Each year, I like to do a video on the anniversary date of the reef. Last month, my reef turned 9 years old (Nov 10, 2022). By that, I mean the livestock has been in this glass aquarium for that duration. I filmed it from many angles, to make a nice video (linked at the base of this article). I’ll describe my system and the associated gear while you enjoy some eye candy.

The 400g is made by Marineland. It’s custom made to my design, 84” long x 36” wide x 30” tall. It has inner bracing around the base, as well as doubled-eurobracing at the top. An external overflow box with four one and a half inch drains hangs off the far end, making this a peninsula tank. The three viewing sides are made of Starphire glass which is 3/4” thick. The base panel is 1” thick. To hide the overflow box at the far end, I had them install a black acrylic panel that is glued to the glass, making that end of the aquarium 1” thick.

Fortunately, that thickness was still within the tolerances of the Vortech mp60 pumps. Two of those are magnetically coupled beneath the overflow, and the drain plumbing was routed around those pumps and down to the sump. Additional flow comes from a mp40 Vortech near the other end to give the LPS gentle current beneath the returns.

The return pump is the Abyzz a200, plumbed to 1.5” spaflex PVC that curves back up to the display tank. The plumbing continues that size to a manifold that pushes water out three outlets. One pushes water into a reversed-check valve that is installed above the water, and the other two outlets reduce to 1” diameter plumbing for the Flex Random Flow Generators. Those flow accelerators generate randomized flow back into the reef without moving parts, and it’s amazing.

Despite all that flow, I don’t have issues with my deep sand bed moving much at all. Occasionally I need to rake some of it back to a preferred area. The Vortechs run four different modes during their 24 hours schedule, constantly changing it up. The Abyzz, however, runs at 80% all the time. I have tested the pump at 100% power to assure the drains can keep up, which they do nicely.

The drain assembly uses four pipes. Two are full suction, using gate valves to regulate their flow. One goes to the skimmer section, the other to the refugium. A third drain trickles water in the Sock Box, which is hardly used these days. The fourth drain is dry, but if something were to go wrong, it would fill with water and also drain into the Sock Box. The Sock Box is a modular item I built to hold a 7” sock, but could be removed entirely if desired. Occasionally I will run a sock for deep cleanings, but the rest of the time it’s unnecessary.

I’m still running the Nyos Quantum 300 skimmer, with two accessories. The Skimmer Swabbie uses a motorized squeegee to keep the neck clean, so I don’t have to remove the collection cup for cleaning but once a month. The waste collector catches the skimmate, and if it fills all the way up, will shut off the skimmer until I empty it. Those two accessories make running a skimmer a breeze.

My reef uses three 300w heaters, which are installed in a heater hanger bracket between the baffles of the sump. All the water from the skimmer section flows over and around those heaters, progressing into the return zone. This assures the heat is being utilized efficiently. Even when doing water changes, the water between the baffles can not drop due to the design of the sump, so the heaters are never exposed to air which could lead to breakage. They are very safe in there. I use the Apex to control the heaters, which tend to come on about twice a day to maintain tank temperature.

The refugium is filled with feather caulerpa, and the substrate is Reborn calcium reactor media. I use a XHO daylight LED fixture that uses a combination of 5100K and 6500K diodes. Once a month, I’ll pull out a hefty handful of macro algae, usually to give to someone else.

In addition, I have a algae turf scrubber that grows green hair algae on the screen. I usually remove about a pound and a half every two weeks from the screen. The turf scrubber is on an acrylic stand I built, which is located above the rim of the sump over the area where the heaters are. Beneath its drain, I have a 4” mesh sock to catch any loose algae bits that may escape.

Rather than dealing with two part, I run a calcium reactor for my reef. It contains Reborn calcium reactor media, which is constantly yet gradually melting due to the lowered pH level within the reactor. Using a 20 pound CO2 cylinder, that gas is slowly fed into the reactor with a carbon-doser at the rate of 1.2 bubbles per second. A pH controller regulates that Co2 flow, adding it only when needed, and shutting off the flow when enough has been added. A Versa pump pushes water slowly into the reactor at the rate of 60ml per minute. According to Mobius, it pushes 86 liters of fluid through the reactor in a 24 hour period. That’s 22.7 gallons of alkalinity and calcium supplement daily. The effluent coming out of the reactor tends to measure anywhere between 19 and 35 dKH.

Top off is handled automatically by the ATK, a kit that works with the Apex controller. I have a 43 gallon reservoir next to the sump under the reef that will easily top off evaporation for 10 days. About once a week, I open up a valve next to the RODI system to refill the reservoir with more 0 TDS RODI. I’m using one of my own RODI systems, the 150 gallon per day boosted RODI from Melev’s Reef. I replace the filters every six months, and the DI cartridge when need be, usually after 7 or 8 months.

If the tank runs a little warm, I have three 120mm cooling fans built into the rim of the sump to blow down on the surface of the water, which keeps the temperature from rising. If the tank gets even warmer, the Apex sends me a notification.

Speaking of the Apex, I’ve been using this controller since 2004. Back then it was called the Aqua Controller 2, then later the Aqua Controller 3. That was later replaced by the Apex, now often referred to as the Apex Classic. In 2016, a new version released, which is called the A2 Apex Controller. Two months ago, Neptune Systems released the A3 Apex, but the A2 is working just fine for now so I don’t intend to replace it any time soon. The Apex controls quite a bit of my gear, or allows me to control specific things on demand, using the Fusion app or some mechanical momentary buttons. It also monitors things like temperature, salinity, pH and ORP constantly, graphing those results for me to review any time. It also monitors energy usage. If a pump uses more or less than what would be expected, it will notify me there is an issue with that device. It also monitors the voltage coming from the city, and recently tracked just how eccentric it was being delivered by the power company. Once they finally corrected the issue, I was able to see that data, that the power was clean and consistent once more.

I run the Trident, an automated water tester that checks alkalinity, calcium and magnesium several times a day. This allows me to use those numbers to control the calcium reactor. If the alkalinity gets a little higher than I want, rather than making micro-adjustments of the calcium reactor, the Apex simply suspends the flow of CO2 for a duration until the next testing period. This has really made my life easier. The reagents are replaced monthly, and I still do my weekly water testing of all parameters just to double check everything. For that, I use Elos test kits with the Smart Stir magnetic stirrer.

The reef is lit with three Neptune Sky fixtures, and as you can see the corals are growing nicely and look just beautiful. I’ve been using these lights for a year and a half and love them. I also have two super actinic XHO LED strips that run daily.

Other things that I dose: Magnesium for 80 ml per day. Potassium if the number dips below 400 ppm. Prodibio’s Bioptim, Biodigest, Iodi+ and Stronti+ are dosed every 15 days. And starting a few months ago, I began dosing specific trace elements like Vanadium, Manganese, Molybdenum, Cobalt and a few others. Using ICP testing, I measured what was being dosed to tweak the right amounts so as not to accidentally overdose anything that could affect the reef adversely.

The reef is fed a mixture of frozen food nightly. I break off chunks of Rod’s Food original blend & polyp poppers, plus I add some Hikari mini mysis as well as some PE mysis into a small bowl. Once thawed, I turn off the return pump and skimmer using a momentary button with the Apex, and then will broadcast feed that food into the reef in two different locations. Within two minutes, the bulk of it is gone. The finer particles are ingested by the reef. After 10 minutes, the Abyzz turns back on, and five minutes after that, the skimmer resumes skimming. I clip nori to the glass several days a week for the tangs, and when I think about it, mix up a cup full of Benereef to feed the corals. I never target feed anything directly.

It appears that I do water changes about six times a year. When I do, I use Salinity salt by Aquavitro. I always check to make sure the alkalinity, temperature and salinity match my reef before proceeding. I push the water change button that turns off a lot of equipment for a 20 minute period. Water is pumped out of the sump and sometimes out of the display, and then new water is pumped into the sump. The equipment resumes automatically when the timer expires.

For phosphate control, I use Phosphate Rx. I seem to be dosing that every 6-8 weeks, which comes out to 6 or 7 times a year. A typical dose is 125 drops, which are added after lights out. The next day, the water is nice and clear again, and the phosphate level has dropped back to where I prefer it. Nitrate has risen this past year, and I haven’t found a nice solution for that one yet.

This year, I added a few new corals and a few new fish. The Achilles tang is my latest addition, one I’ve always wanted but never dared purchase. It’s half the size of Spock, my naso tang… and it seems like everyone is getting long swimmingly.

Watching my reef fill in over the past 12 months has been a great pleasure, and I always take the time to enjoy the colors and shapes of the corals, appreciating their beauty.

Video here: http://www.youtube.com/embed/y6WdHLajYJM

Reef Blog

A water change has happened, did you feel the disturbance in the force?

melev — Sun, 21 Jun 2020 16:20:05 +0000

A water change has happened, did you feel the disturbance in the force? melev Sun, 06/21/2020 - 19:20

I did it. I changed water in my reef. Crazy, but true. lol

As I mentioned yesterday during the livestream, I was going to do a water change this weekend. I ended up changing 62-gallons, which is basically what the skimmer section and the return section of my sump holds.

Before the water change though, I tested the alkalinity of my new saltwater and saw that I needed to buffer it up. So I used the Reef Chemistry Calculator to determine how much baked baking soda I needed, added that amount to the poly tank and let it mix in for 20 minutes or so.

Last night, I cleaned out the french drain completely, which had all sorts of crud in it that had accumulated over the past 10 years. I was happy that the grates I popped out of the concrete didn't have to be re-glued with silicone; a rubber mallet put them right back where they belonged, and seem secure. I pulled out about 2 lbs of crud from that drain, which you can see in that small bucket.

The old water was pumped out of the sump into the clean floor drain, and new saltwater was pumped into the sump. The difference in temperature between the tank and the new water was .3 of a degree. :) I always recommend matching salinity, temperature and pH (or alkalinity) when doing a water change.

This little acrylic box holds the tubing over the drain, and traps bigger stuff on a screen if anything is siphoned out of the sump. Water drains right down through the plastic grate of the french drain.

Happy Fathers Day to me. Hope the reef liked it.

Reef Blog

6 year Anniversary Video

melev — Sat, 09 Nov 2019 22:30:19 +0000

6 year Anniversary Video melev Sun, 11/10/2019 - 01:30

My 400g reef and the 60g Anemone Cube turned six years old on November 10th. I hope you enjoy this up-to-date tour of where things stand for 2019, and give you a little insight into what makes it work. It's a mixed reef filled with corals and fish, and I try to let it grow naturally instead of constantly pruning corals.

This video was shot on Nov 10, 2019, but published on the first of the year. I'm going to back-date this blog entry to the right date though. :)

Reef Blog

Where things are today...

melev — Sun, 09 Jun 2019 18:50:27 +0000

Where things are today... melev Sun, 06/09/2019 - 21:50

It's been another month. The 400g has been running for 5 years and 7 months as of tomorrow. I've been dosing 40 ml of Nopox daily for 58 days. It looks like nitrate is finally approaching 10 ppm (looks like 15 ppm today via API), down from 50 ppm. Phosphates measured .1 ppm (Elos)

Other parameters:

33.4 PPT (1.025sg) Hanna
Alkalinity 9.45 dKH Trident (Elos comparison 9.5 dKH)
Calcium 496 ppm Trident (Elos comparison 400 ppm)
Magnesium 1496 ppm Trident Elos comparison 1400 ppm)
Temperature 79.7°F Apex
pH 8.02 Apex
ORP 333 Apex

About a week ago, I did a major cleaning of the reef. Nopox had created a slime in many areas that needed to be extricated from the system. I dissassembed the Nyos 300 skimmer completely and cleaned out a lot of pink goo, and made sure the pumps were pristine again. All Vortech pumps were cleaned. The Abyzz 200A return pump was pulled apart and cleaned. Any sliming stuff I could remove inside the sump was removed. Interestingly, I didn't see any slime whatsoever in the refugium zone.

All better:

The calcium reactor has been my source for alkalinity and calcium for 15 years. This week, I decided to allow my Apex to control the flow of CO2 based on Trident alkalinity test results. Using two virtual switches, it will either let the reactor run 100% as it should, or it will reduce the duration CO2 can be added. It's a tricky setup because you are controlling the output of the reactor based on a reading that is only measured every six hours. The only way to be more real time would be to test alkalinity far more often, such as hourly. That would be very costly in reagent use.

This weekend I did my water testing, cleaned all the glass with the Easy Blade so it's pristine once more, and tonight I'll clean both protein skimmer cups. Yesterday I dosed Live Rock Enhance to the tanks.

The Anemone Cube essentially runs on autopilot. I still need to clean the L1 pump that feeds that aquarium from the main sump.

This week, I'm working on the new sump for the 400g. I want a slightly different layout than what I've had all these years. At the same time, I want to replace the ATO reservoir with a newer one.

I also tested the Frag system's water:
Salinity 31.8 PPT (1.024 sg)
Temperature 80°F
pH 8.43
Phosphate .5 ppm
Alkalinity 9 dKH
Calcium 450 ppm
Magnesium 1250 ppm
Nitrate 40 ppm

That tank is going to be reset soon. I want to do a big clean out, and add a new drain so I can set up a Herbie drain system. When I do that, I'll clean out the substrate, and add a frag rack across the front for corals, and rock across the back half.

Reef Blog

Four years and seven months later...

melev — Sun, 13 May 2018 12:17:15 +0000

Four years and seven months later... melev Sun, 05/13/2018 - 15:17

Just wanted to post these here since they document progress over time. :)

Reef Blog

Refugium pictures

melev — Mon, 07 May 2018 14:34:04 +0000

Refugium pictures melev Mon, 05/07/2018 - 17:34

Macro growth varies between tanks. The difference is notable.

Reef Blog

50 months today: The 400g reef & the Anemone Cube

melev — Tue, 09 Jan 2018 23:48:08 +0000

50 months today: The 400g reef & the Anemone Cube melev Wed, 01/10/2018 - 02:48

It's been 1522 days, or exactly 50 months since the 400g was restarted. And it's really looking more beautiful each day. I'm enjoying the open space above the corals, seeing how the acroporas have room to grow upward and the fish to swim. The reef is so colorful, and especially so when it's only lit with XHO lighting. I wish you could see it the way I see it because the camera just can't capture the beauty that the human eye can.

For the past few months, the calcium reactor has been providing alkalinity and calcium from the former corals we pulled out last September. I'm still waiting for the NO3 Xport brick to lower nitrate levels, but I'm hoping to see that occur in the coming weeks.

Here's a quick shot from the end of the tank. From this angle, it's plainly obvious I need to replace the carbon that has been completely depleted for weeks.

One of the Rose bubble tip anemones has likely split recently, because one big one retreated into the rockwork for a couple of days... I'm watching daily to see if there's a new clone that will come out into the open.

I'm considering doing a week's worth of vlogs to show what I do to keep everything happy. It might be an interesting video for others to see.

Reef Blog

Resetting the reef to open up some space

melev — Mon, 16 Oct 2017 23:10:40 +0000

Resetting the reef to open up some space melev Tue, 10/17/2017 - 02:10

After more than 3.5 years of growth, some colonies were dominating the aquarium blocking light and impeding flow. Duane helped me with this project, which involved cutting out the huge corals and planting smaller choice bits to reset the reef. It's not an easy task, and mentally it can be challenging as well. I had to give him the reigns because left to my own means, I would have saved every coral instead of sacrificing the bulk to attain new beauty. It's been a month since we completed this event, and I've gradually come around to accept the newer look and appreciate the individual polyps more and more each day. And I have room to add a few more SPS frags now. ;)

Love this picture.

Reef Blog

How nice is this?

melev — Thu, 21 Sep 2017 21:14:52 +0000

How nice is this? melev Fri, 09/22/2017 - 00:14

It's been five days since the reef was reset. I knew I'd need some time getting used to the new look of the reef. Duane begged me to turn on the 20,000K lighting Saturday evening because "your rock is so white!" under 10,000K lighting. Not surprising since it had about 60 lbs of corals shading it for the past couple of years, right? After he was done gluing the last frags in place, I did flip over to 20,000K so he could see his handiwork.

By morning, the water was pretty clear again, and it felt like the upper section of my reef was missing. Willing myself to be patient -- still it was tough. Each day I get a little more used to it.

This evening I was cleaning the glass of the 400g, and realized how nice it was to be able to do so without worrying about hitting any SPS corals during that process. I'd call that a perk.

I moved a few frags from my other tanks into the 400g. I've had a small chunk of favia hold its own in the 60g Anemone Cube for two years, which is now in the 400g low on the rockwork in the back of the tank. I had some blastos in the 60g Frag System, which was moved to the top of my rockwork to fill in and thrive. I definitely have room for a few more new frags.

Also, I discovered a patch of white coral that I assumed was dead extending polyps. I'm relatively certain it's Sunset Montipora that lost all color being 100% shaded by the massive coral growth that spanned the reef.

Finally, I should point out the biodiversity of life all over my rockwork (see the top image in this blog). I've been using live rock in all my reefs since 1998, and all the sponges, tube worms, pods and pests are all part of my reef. Pests? Well, you never know for absolute sure but I've fought my share over the past 19 years. ;)

Reef Blog

Out with the old...

melev — Wed, 20 Sep 2017 21:38:35 +0000

Out with the old... melev Thu, 09/21/2017 - 00:38

Last Saturday, Melev's Reef had a viewing party. Locals were invited to watch the transformation of the 400g which was desparately in need of a major clean-out. Corals had grown into massive colonies, completely shading whatever was beneath. Flow was obstructed, and the prettiest view was really only from above. Daily I saw the dead supporting skeleton holding up the living section above, and it was hard to 'like' my reef in that condition.

I flew in Duane, a longtime buddy of mine who excels in resetting a reef tank. He knows what to get rid of, what to save as mini-colonies, and how to arrange it best for a beautiful reef once more. Being as attached as I was to my livestock -- after all how often do you ever hear about me fragging corals? -- it was best that he do this for me, because I'd end up saving every scrap of life to my detriment.

About 30 people showed up that day, and many hung out to enjoy the food and drinks while a few of us were up to our elbows in saltwater. A video is coming very soon to show you that day, but for you can see the teaser picture above. That big structure came out as a whole piece!

Reef Blog