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BBMarlin's 76G - Skimmerless SPS Reef


BBMarlin

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Hello ARC, let me introduce my tank. I started this tank at the beginning of 2010, it’s seen many ups and downs over the years and I’ve been unfortunately in a down period over the past year or so. At one point I was stocked with 30+ SPS corals that were thriving. Several years, a few ALK swings and the long term starvation of my corals (excessive GFO) has left me where I am today. I’m starting this build thread to document my tank refactor.

I also have this blasted clove infestation that I must have received as a hitchhiker on a mariculture acro. It has spread like wild fire and I cannot control it. I must replace all rocks and sand to eliminate this pest and while I’m add it I need to upgrade my lighting. Not to mention it’s been close to 7 years with this tank in its current iteration, so it’s time to rethink my old-school setup a bit. I also think all the cloves are starving other corals for nutrients which are compounding my problems with SPS.

Plan is to have all of this completed in the next several months.

Current equipment:

76G Oceanic Half Circle Aquarium

25G precision marine sump

Reef Octopus skimmer

Various reactors, currently running biopellets and GFO

1 250W MH and PC actinic.

3 12” BML strips for corners (odd shaped tank)

MP40

Tunze nano streams

Jebao RW 40

Tunze mini wave box

~100lbs live rock

Aquamedic doser (BRS 2 part)

Arctica chiller

Fish:

2 clowns

six line wrasse

yellow tang

The Refactor:

Lighting:

I really want that new Phillips fixture but I don’t know when it’s coming out or if I can wait, I might just go with the Ocean Revive for now.

Aquascape:

~50lbs BRS dry rock (cooking currently, on week 3)

I want to go with a more “modern” aquascape, maximizing negative space to give my fishes some more room to swim. I think 50lbs will be plenty, I plan on drilling the rock and using acrylic rods to stabilize the formations.

I need to shore up my MDF stand, I still have no idea why this material is used by the OEMs but mine has deteriorated significantly. I plan on adding some 2x4s along the back edges while my tank if about half drained during rock removal and coral QT.

Open Questions:

I’m wondering if I even need my wave box any more given the Mp40, Jabao and nanostreams, does anyone still run a wave maker? I’m still a sucker for a standing wave, maybe the MP40 is big enough to generate one for my tank I just need to try it. Sure would be nice to simplify my flow a bit smile.png.

Should I use one of those ceramic blocks, especially when I start to remove my rock? (see my plan below)

The plan to eliminate the cloves:

Remove all corals that I want to keep and quarantine for 30 days and diligently inspect for the cloves every couple of days. I expect many accidental frags to come of this process for the encrusted corals in addition to an overall trimming of everything else, so keep an eye for a forsale thread for some great clovefree frags at a great price!

Add ceramic biomedia block to sump

Remove left rock structure (most infected with cloves) and all sand and leave the right structure for biological filtration (~60lbs rock 40lbs sand)

Add a few pieces of 4” PVC for fish cover

Wrap tank in black plastic and remove light

Keep it like this for 30 days

Big 20G water changes weekly to compensate for dying coral

Remove right rock structure (~40lbs).

Verify no coral life

Add newly cycled rock to tank

Begin to reintroduce coral from QT

Once things stabilize being to restock!

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Oh, and excited to follow the rebuild/scape! I'm a sucker for curved glass aquariums (my 1st was a 46bow).

Is there a "clean/scrape/scrub the crap out of the tank" in there somewhere? After verifying no coral life and before adding new rock, I'd pull everything out into a tub, drain water near to the sand and break out the elbow grease. (That might have been assumed?)

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May want to look into fluke tablets to kill clove polyps. I've never done it but heard generally pretty safe.

For your minimal scape, I'd recommend adding the ceramic blocks in the sump to help with filtering capacity, just give them a really good rinse before using as they are known to leach aluminum, which isn't a big deal as my concentration was 8x recommended value and nothing was ticked in my tank.

Ditch the wavebox, most pumps can make a nice standing wave without that giant box in the tank anymore.

Not sure if you researched prices for the Philips light but the prices are astronomical last I looked. I'm happy with my $160 Ocean Revives.

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May want to look into fluke tablets to kill clove polyps. I've never done it but heard generally pretty safe.

For your minimal scape, I'd recommend adding the ceramic blocks in the sump to help with filtering capacity, just give them a really good rinse before using as they are known to leach aluminum, which isn't a big deal as my concentration was 8x recommended value and nothing was ticked in my tank.

Ditch the wavebox, most pumps can make a nice standing wave without that giant box in the tank anymore.

Not sure if you researched prices for the Philips light but the prices are astronomical last I looked. I'm happy with my $160 Ocean Revives.

I ended up with several extra marine pure balls if you need them, will sell at a discount. Also, I have 2 blocks that I haven't listed for sale yet.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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May want to look into fluke tablets to kill clove polyps. I've never done it but heard generally pretty safe.

For your minimal scape, I'd recommend adding the ceramic blocks in the sump to help with filtering capacity, just give them a really good rinse before using as they are known to leach aluminum, which isn't a big deal as my concentration was 8x recommended value and nothing was ticked in my tank.

Ditch the wavebox, most pumps can make a nice standing wave without that giant box in the tank anymore.

Not sure if you researched prices for the Philips light but the prices are astronomical last I looked. I'm happy with my $160 Ocean Revives.

Thanks Ty, I'll take a look at the fluke tabs.

I figure the Phillips is probably going to be in the neighborhood of a Radion Pro. Just want to make the right purchase now if I can future proof my setup, as you can see I don't change things up much. lol. Your success with the OR's definitely has me leaning that way.

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May want to look into fluke tablets to kill clove polyps. I've never done it but heard generally pretty safe.

For your minimal scape, I'd recommend adding the ceramic blocks in the sump to help with filtering capacity, just give them a really good rinse before using as they are known to leach aluminum, which isn't a big deal as my concentration was 8x recommended value and nothing was ticked in my tank.

Ditch the wavebox, most pumps can make a nice standing wave without that giant box in the tank anymore.

Not sure if you researched prices for the Philips light but the prices are astronomical last I looked. I'm happy with my $160 Ocean Revives.

I ended up with several extra marine pure balls if you need them, will sell at a discount. Also, I have 2 blocks that I haven't listed for sale yet.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Do you have the 1" or 4" blocks?

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May want to look into fluke tablets to kill clove polyps. I've never done it but heard generally pretty safe.

For your minimal scape, I'd recommend adding the ceramic blocks in the sump to help with filtering capacity, just give them a really good rinse before using as they are known to leach aluminum, which isn't a big deal as my concentration was 8x recommended value and nothing was ticked in my tank.

Ditch the wavebox, most pumps can make a nice standing wave without that giant box in the tank anymore.

Not sure if you researched prices for the Philips light but the prices are astronomical last I looked. I'm happy with my $160 Ocean Revives.

I ended up with several extra marine pure balls if you need them, will sell at a discount. Also, I have 2 blocks that I haven't listed for sale yet.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Do you have the 1" or 4" blocks?
I have 2 4" Blocks

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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Figured I would check up on the BRS fiji rock that is cycling. It started off with a foul smell (rotten eggs), which has subsided after about 7 days. Checking for water quality now (PO4), I’ve never seen my Hanna testing vial for PO4 change colors, yikes!:

IMG_2862.jpg

IMG_2861.jpg

IMG_2863.jpg

It was flashing 200 which I would interpret as a max value without checking docs. Guess I'll be doing a 100% WC tomorrow!

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Just a thought, but perhaps run a temporary GFO reactor or lanthanum chloride to reduce phosphate quickly in the curing tank? It'll save you a bit of money on salt as from my prior experience, you'll need to do a lot of 100% water changes before all the phosphate leaches out of the rocks.

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Good idea. I've got a bunch of GFO but not sure I want to waste it on this. Where do I find lanthanum chloride, is it cheaper than GFO?

Yes, it is cheaper and best used in removing phosphate in bulk. It can scrub phosphate down to a lower range but you will usually need GFO to get the lower end. It is potentially toxic to fish which is why it's application in a separate tank like yours is ideal for treatment.

While you can directly apply it to the curing tank and remove the participate it creates with water changes, I feel it best to drip in a 10 micron or smaller filter sock to catch the precipitate ensuring none make it to your reef tank.

By the time you order lanthanum chloride and the filter sock though, it may start becoming cheaper to just run GFO if you have it, especially if this is a one-time application of it as it is dispensed by drops and you'll have a whole bottle of it leftover.

If you just want to run lathanum chloride without the sock and just rinse your rock really well afterwards, you can order the lanthanum chloride online. I bought the commercial version but I think there's a cheaper version.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00CMQZZJ6/ref=sxts1?ie=UTF8&qid=1480863191&sr=1&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_FMwebp_QL65

Also, some have been using "phosfree" from local pool supply stores. I haven't used that so I would research just in case.

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Good idea. I've got a bunch of GFO but not sure I want to waste it on this. Where do I find lanthanum chloride, is it cheaper than GFO?

Yes, it is cheaper and best used in removing phosphate in bulk. It can scrub phosphate down to a lower range but you will usually need GFO to get the lower end. It is potentially toxic to fish which is why it's application in a separate tank like yours is ideal for treatment.

While you can directly apply it to the curing tank and remove the participate it creates with water changes, I feel it best to drip in a 10 micron or smaller filter sock to catch the precipitate ensuring none make it to your reef tank.

By the time you order lanthanum chloride and the filter sock though, it may start becoming cheaper to just run GFO if you have it, especially if this is a one-time application of it as it is dispensed by drops and you'll have a whole bottle of it leftover.

If you just want to run lathanum chloride without the sock and just rinse your rock really well afterwards, you can order the lanthanum chloride online. I bought the commercial version but I think there's a cheaper version.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00CMQZZJ6/ref=sxts1?ie=UTF8&qid=1480863191&sr=1&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_FMwebp_QL65

Also, some have been using "phosfree" from local pool supply stores. I haven't used that so I would research just in case.

Thanks for the information, Ty!

Going to do the 100% WC and plumb in a GFO reactor today. I'll keep the lanthanum chloride in my back pocket for now.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Christmas update: Rocks continue to marinate in 85 degrees and are looking fantastic. PO4 has been coming down since adding the GFO and performing water changes. So far, I’ve done two 100% WC’s and latest PO4 test was 26PPB, not bad in the limited water volume I have the 50lbs of rock in.

IMG_2900.jpg

I picked up an acrylic rod online, and also some of those drive way markers for supporting my rock structure. Are these ones that I bought at Lowes “reef safe”? Feels like they are fiberglass.

IMG_2899.jpg

For lighting I think I’m going to go with two of the Ocean Revive lights. Ebay is looking like the cheapest place to order from, anyone had any issues with these lights from Ebay?

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Christmas update: Rocks continue to marinate in 85 degrees and are looking fantastic. PO4 has been coming down since adding the GFO and performing water changes. So far, I’ve done two 100% WC’s and latest PO4 test was 26PPB, not bad in the limited water volume I have the 50lbs of rock in.

IMG_2900.jpg

I picked up an acrylic rod online, and also some of those drive way markers for supporting my rock structure. Are these ones that I bought at Lowes “reef safe”? Feels like they are fiberglass.

IMG_2899.jpg

For lighting I think I’m going to go with two of the Ocean Revive lights. Ebay is looking like the cheapest place to order from, anyone had any issues with these lights from Ebay?

Never bought the Ebay ones so couldn't say. I ordered from addictiveaquaculture.com. Might want to check their prices first just in case they are cheaper.
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  • 2 weeks later...

Lights arrived a few days ago!

IMG_2921.jpg

Now it’s time to start thinking about how I am going to hang them. With my half circle tank, I do not have the luxury of lining up the lights end-to-end. This issue is compounded by the fact that I only have a ~18”x24” opening for these two lights to hang over. I think trying to hang them independently from the ceiling is going to be troublesome given how close they need to be together to minimize light spillage and also I plan at some point to add in moon lighting or maybe a T5 or two.

IMG_2919.jpg

So, I think I’m going to try to order some tubing from these guys and see if I can make a light rack: eztube.com, this rack will give me a place to attach additional lighting over time while still maintaining a small footprint. I worked up a few sketches so I can get an idea of how much tube I will need and if the exterior knob on the T247 should reside “within” the rack or “above” it. It will come down to how far the lip is positioned on the tube wall so I don’t end up with the light resting high on the knob end. I'm waiting to hear back from them with details.

lightrack_sketch.png

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Lights arrived a few days ago!

IMG_2921.jpg

Now it’s time to start thinking about how I am going to hang them. With my half circle tank, I do not have the luxury of lining up the lights end-to-end. This issue is compounded by the fact that I only have a ~18”x24” opening for these two lights to hang over. I think trying to hang them independently from the ceiling is going to be troublesome given how close they need to be together to minimize light spillage and also I plan at some point to add in moon lighting or maybe a T5 or two.

IMG_2919.jpg

So, I think I’m going to try to order some tubing from these guys and see if I can make a light rack: eztube.com, this rack will give me a place to attach additional lighting over time while still maintaining a small footprint. I worked up a few sketches so I can get an idea of how much tube I will need and if the exterior knob on the T247 should reside “within” the rack or “above” it. It will come down to how far the lip is positioned on the tube wall so I don’t end up with the light resting high on the knob end. I'm waiting to hear back from them with details.

lightrack_sketch.png

I'm using this link as inspiration for my mount. My objective was nothing hanging...the ceiling in the room are too tall and I don't want a shelf on the wall. I have no experience with metal work so I'm working with local sponsor to help build a steel frame that will attach to back of stand to mount the two fixtures yet offer a telescoping mount to detach for easy access to full tank top.

http://www.salt-city.org/showthread.php?33906-Ocean-Revive-S026-dual-light-mount

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Lights arrived a few days ago!

IMG_2921.jpg

Now it’s time to start thinking about how I am going to hang them. With my half circle tank, I do not have the luxury of lining up the lights end-to-end. This issue is compounded by the fact that I only have a ~18”x24” opening for these two lights to hang over. I think trying to hang them independently from the ceiling is going to be troublesome given how close they need to be together to minimize light spillage and also I plan at some point to add in moon lighting or maybe a T5 or two.

IMG_2919.jpg

So, I think I’m going to try to order some tubing from these guys and see if I can make a light rack: eztube.com, this rack will give me a place to attach additional lighting over time while still maintaining a small footprint. I worked up a few sketches so I can get an idea of how much tube I will need and if the exterior knob on the T247 should reside “within” the rack or “above” it. It will come down to how far the lip is positioned on the tube wall so I don’t end up with the light resting high on the knob end. I'm waiting to hear back from them with details.

lightrack_sketch.png

I'm using this link as inspiration for my mount. My objective was nothing hanging...the ceiling in the room are too tall and I don't want a shelf on the wall. I have no experience with metal work so I'm working with local sponsor to help build a steel frame that will attach to back of stand to mount the two fixtures yet offer a telescoping mount to detach for easy access to full tank top.

http://www.salt-city.org/showthread.php?33906-Ocean-Revive-S026-dual-light-mount

That is a sweet looking stand and great idea for the detachable portion. I've spoken with the folks at eztube and the lip inside those tubes is either 1/4" or just over 1/4" depending on if you choose the "recessed" model or not. The knob on the light is at 1/2" so I should be good with the smaller design. No metal working experience required for this, they cut all the pieces and you use their composite (or metal) connectors to adjoin the pieces.

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