Reef nutrition

Michael's 300 In Vegas

H2OPlayar said:
;) Getting some plumbing done, one more gasket should come today so I can get rubber between the overflow and the tank. I know you don't "need" that one, but I had so much trouble with my last overflow leaking, I am likely going to silicone everything first go.

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In tank salt water mixing station!


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Hit me up and you guys can cool off in the tank, or pool. If you come next year, I'll have you bring coral.
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Don’t believe them when they say you don’t need three gaskets. I have three marine modular overflows running right now and had five running at one point. Every single one leaked or had some salt creep that did not have a gasket between the OF box and tank glass in addition the two gaskets between overflow box and nut and the flange and tank glass. In theory, you shouldn’t need it, but in practice, I’ve needed it.

I’d avoid the silicon, you should be fine with three gaskets.
 
RandyC said:
Don’t believe them when they say you don’t need three gaskets. I have three marine modular overflows running right now and had five running at one point. Every single one leaked or had some salt creep that did not have a gasket between the OF box and tank glass in addition the two gaskets between overflow box and nut and the flange and tank glass. In theory, you shouldn’t need it, but in practice, I’ve needed it.

I’d avoid the silicon, you should be fine with three gaskets.
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This is my experience as well with most of not all external overflows I’ve installed which is like 10-12
 
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Could be bigger

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Still have one more structure to move in, but this is an approximate layout. More crushed coral is curing with the rock next to the tank to help speed the cycle here.
 
derek_SR said:
This is my kind of aquascape. Basically a cleverly arranged rock pile. Love it
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It is 10 discrete sculptures that can all be removed individually in case a pest zoa or something finds its way onto a rock. I figures I couldn't feasibly treat anything long term if I had the same strategy as my last scape, which was two piles that made caves with two arches connecting the two piles.

4-5 of these were made by @Coral reefer and 2 by @jestersix. They were moved in boxes where the fragile parts all broke off. I took epoxy sticks and super glue to make my own flavor of what I thought would be cool. As well as using my favorite pieces of rock to make the rest. Some places I threw marco rock powder on to help hide glue or epoxy. I recommend someone in the club buy a bag and share it 10 ways since it is inexpensive and goes a long way.


Kensington Reefer said:
Keep in mind, fish like to swim “over” the reef more than “through” it
I’m sure the picture doesn’t fully reflect the space
Looking good!
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Thank you. It was many more hours than one would think and I'm happy with how different the three views are. The swimming space was my justification for not building up more, and its a 30" tall tank so both hiding and swimming room.


Turkeysammich said:
That’s a lot of rock.
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You should see what I didn't use, haha. But yes, I have a couple hundred pounds in the tank. I did find that a large biological filter in lots of rock and crushed coral helped keep everything stable and happy in my last big system.
 
Ammonia has dropped significantly after a week, so I added a bunch of chromis and a few others. That took from June 17th to June 25th to get significant ammonia drop. Benefits to cooking large volumes of rock and crushed coral ahead of time. Also got my Neptune Gro out and hooked it up. Super easy to set up and program.

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Chromis, Cardinalfish, and a Cleaner Wrasse....We are trying to mimic the sea after all.
 
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Flow

Right now I have 2 Vectra L2 pumps feeding from their own 1" pvc pipe into a single 1" pvc pipe running about 60% each. This is then split into a random flow generator shooting towards the center of the tank, and a nozzle shooting across the top, away from the overflow.

I currently have 3 Neptune Wav pumps and a single MP60. They are moving water in a generally clockwise flow (as seen from the office), to match the output of the return pumps. A major reason to keep flow this direction is to push floating food away from the overflow.

The MP60 and Wav pump on the return side are as close to the top as reasonable while the opposing two Wav pumps are as low as I like to help the general spinning flow of water. I will likely add my Red Sea gyre pumps, and more as coral gets added and grows in. One of the nice features about the Wav pumps is how easy it is to tune flow during the day vs at night. This means I can have relatively high flow during the day when the fish are awake and swimming and turn it down at night as they sleep.

Edit: I now have 5 Neptune Wav pumps.
 
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I've started adding some schooling fish and a few utility fish.

There are about 10 Zebra Barred Dartfish, 15 Blue Green Chromis, a Lavender Tang, an Aiptasia Eating Filefish, two Pajama Cardinal fish, a Blue Cleaner Wrasse and a Lawnmower Blenny.
 
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Only need one more Wav pump on the other side, then I can complete all 4 corners on both sides and get the flow changing directions every 3 hours. The below pattern peak and valley is the same or mirrors depending on pump position in the tank.

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H2OPlayar said:
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Only need one more Wav pump on the other side, then I can complete all 4 corners on both sides and get the flow changing directions every 3 hours. The below pattern peak and valley is the same or mirrors depending on pump position in the tank.

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I take it you must have found a decent lfs in vegas by all the fish you have?

Any plans for larger fish in the future?
 
MichaelB said:
I take it you must have found a decent lfs in vegas by all the fish you have?

Any plans for larger fish in the future?
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There are a couple decent ones here.

Of course. I always like the Naso tang, but worry my tank still isn't big enough. Looking at other tangs and maybe medium sized angelfish as well as a copper band butterfly. Just waiting for more pods to populate and things to stabilize. Plus I don't want to add too many fish at once.
 
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