Rygh's 250 gallon upgrade

[rygh]

Mark
Very cool. But may I recommend not making the structures too tall, maybe no more than 2/3 of tank height.

Yeah, the left side of the tank will be a bit unique when done.
We will see if it comes out cool ... or weird.
That particular structure is for the very back of the tank.
The plan is to have a wall of softies along the back in one spot, all the way to the surface.
Next to a cave like thing on the left.

 

[Kensington Reefer]

Remember to breathe and have fun!

 

[denzil]

Looks awesome! I can't wait to get my aquascaping on!

 

[BAYMAC]

Remember to breathe

but not the fumes.....

 

[rygh]

Remember to breathe

but not the fumes.....

Actually, that is one of the things I really like about west systems epoxy resin. Almost no fumes.
Pretty much the same as latex paint. Leave the door open in the garage, but otherwise no big deal.
Not like polyester resins, that will knock you silly.
Downside is that it is a bit (lot) more expensive.

 

[rygh]

Which reminds me, I forgot to post this "in progress" shot.

 

[BAYMAC]

Remember to breathe

but not the fumes.....

Actually, that is one of the things I really like about west systems epoxy resin. Almost no fumes.
Pretty much the same as latex paint. Leave the door open in the garage, but otherwise no big deal.
Not like polyester resins, that will knock you silly.
Downside is that it is a bit (lot) more expensive.

Preaching to the choir. We use a ton of that stuff at work. Still has fumes (reason to open the door). Even low voc still has vocs.

 

[rygh]

Quick update:
All the old sand is finally removed. YIPPEE! arty:
It took forever to get that stuff out. Over a month, a bit every few days.
It really did take a hammer and chisel, since so much had turned to concrete.
(For a chisel, I had a nice 3 foot aluminum rod)
Plus, I did not want to disturb too much at once and kill water parameters.

As a recap:
I bought what was supposed to be larger grain sand, to keep it from blowing around so much.
It was larger, but really a lot like flakes. The flakes blew around more, not less.
And begin larger, detritus had a tendency to get in more than I would like.
And that flake structure seemed to turn to concrete rather easily.
So I had nice really dirty clods of sand all over. Yuk.

New sand is still going in. Standard stuff I used for my first aquarium.

 

[aqua-nut]

What is the brand of the 'Yuk' sand?

What's your new sand?

How deep is your sand bed?

And final question for now

Did/do you have any sand sifting critters?

 

[rygh]

What is the brand of the 'Yuk' sand?

CaribSea Dry Aragonite Special Grade Reef Sand
(1.25–1.95 mm grain size)

What's your new sand?

CaribSea Aragamax Oolitic Select
(0.5-1.02 mm grain size)

How deep is your sand bed?

About 3/4 inch to 1 inch. So really just for aesthetics.

And final question for now
Did/do you have any sand sifting critters?

Not really.
The old sand really seemed way to coarse for sand sifting Gobies.
And I was worried about a sand sifting sea star eating to many other beneficial things.
I do have a fair number of Nassarius Snails, and a couple of big brittle stars though.

 

[rygh]

Speaking of sand sifting / detrivores:

When I took my old sand bed out, it was surprisingly devoid of any bristle worms or mini bristle stars.
None. Zero. I only noticed a couple of spaghetti worms.
A lot of the rock pieces came from my old aquarium, which had plenty of both. I do not have a wrasse.
Could the large brittle stars be eating them?
Any ideas on why they would disappear?

---

Any other opinions out there on some fun critters for re-seeding my new sand bed?
Anyone have any experience with Tapes Mini Clams? I have heard a few good things about them.

 

[rygh]

Algae Scrubbers and phosphates (not nitrates):
There has been some discussion on whether or not an algae scrubber can reduce phosphates.
I have a new data-point on that, by accident.
A few weeks back, my pump to the scrubber jammed from calcium deposits, and I did not
notice until the algae was thoroughly dried out and dead.
It took about 3 weeks to return to full health.
Before this problem, my phosphates were great. Marginally measurable on the fancy ultra-low range PPB tester.
Not surprisingly, with the scrubber off line, both nitrates and phosphates rose a bit.
Nitrates plummeted quickly back to 0 once scrubber re-established itself of course.
But phosphates stuck around, and I got a mild cyano outbreak.
I put in some GFO. Problem solved. Experiments are fun, but not at the expense of the coral.

SO:
With the scrubber on (and no GFO), long term, no phosphates.
With scrubber off, phosphates went up.
With scrubber back on, no immediate drop in phosphates.
Thus my conclusion from my tank history and that very un-scientific accidental study:
Algae scrubbers do reduce phosphates, but really only at a slow rate.

 

[denzil]

Algae Scrubbers and phosphates (not nitrates):
There has been some discussion on whether or not an algae scrubber can reduce phosphates.
I have a new data-point on that, by accident.
A few weeks back, my pump to the scrubber jammed from calcium deposits, and I did not
notice until the algae was thoroughly dried out and dead.
It took about 3 weeks to return to full health.
Before this problem, my phosphates were great. Marginally measurable on the fancy ultra-low range PPB tester.
Not surprisingly, with the scrubber off line, both nitrates and phosphates rose a bit.
Nitrates plummeted quickly back to 0 once scrubber re-established itself of course.
But phosphates stuck around, and I got a mild cyano outbreak.
I put in some GFO. Problem solved. Experiments are fun, but not at the expense of the coral.

SO:
With the scrubber on (and no GFO), long term, no phosphates.
With scrubber off, phosphates went up.
With scrubber back on, no immediate drop in phosphates.
Thus my conclusion from my tank history and that very un-scientific accidental study:
Algae scrubbers do reduce phosphates, but really only at a slow rate.

With the maintenance of an algae scrubber and additional lighting, do you think it's a better alternative than using GFO, both from a time and cost perspective? I'm personally leaning towards the GFO, only because I have the BRS dual reactor and I don't like the idea of having yet another thing to maintain.

 

[rygh]

Algae Scrubbers and phosphates (not nitrates):
There has been some discussion on whether or not an algae scrubber can reduce phosphates.
I have a new data-point on that, by accident.
A few weeks back, my pump to the scrubber jammed from calcium deposits, and I did not
notice until the algae was thoroughly dried out and dead.
It took about 3 weeks to return to full health.
Before this problem, my phosphates were great. Marginally measurable on the fancy ultra-low range PPB tester.
Not surprisingly, with the scrubber off line, both nitrates and phosphates rose a bit.
Nitrates plummeted quickly back to 0 once scrubber re-established itself of course.
But phosphates stuck around, and I got a mild cyano outbreak.
I put in some GFO. Problem solved. Experiments are fun, but not at the expense of the coral.

SO:
With the scrubber on (and no GFO), long term, no phosphates.
With scrubber off, phosphates went up.
With scrubber back on, no immediate drop in phosphates.
Thus my conclusion from my tank history and that very un-scientific accidental study:
Algae scrubbers do reduce phosphates, but really only at a slow rate.

With the maintenance of an algae scrubber and additional lighting, do you think it's a better alternative than using GFO, both from a time and cost perspective? I'm personally leaning towards the GFO, only because I have the BRS dual reactor and I don't like the idea of having yet another thing to maintain.

Well, if phosphates are the only issue, GFO is probably a much simpler solution.
Especially if you just put it in a sock in the sump.
I feel algae scrubbers are a great solution to nitrate problems. That is the main intent.
So when comparing scrubbers to deep sand beds, bio pellets, nitrate reactors, etc, I think
it competes quite well. Depends on your system. But purely for phosphates, no.

I have never compared the cost.

The note above was really an old side issue, on scrubbers also reducing phosphates effectively.

Note that you can regenerate GFO a few times, if cost is a concern. Never tried it myself though.

 

[rygh]

So I finished my major re-landscaping. New sand. New and modified rock work.
I am quite happy with the results. Always needs a few tweaks of course.
Now I need more fish and coral.

At any rate, a bunch of pictures of the main tank now.

 

[rygh]

And a few fun pictures of coral and fish as well.

 

[gimmito]

Nice update !

 

[Coral reefer]

Lookin good!

 

[Kensington Reefer]

Is that lateral line erosion on your desjardini tang? If so, the food should be fortified with vitamins and fatty acids and amino acids. (I have never had a fish come down with this condition.)

 

[rygh]

Is that lateral line erosion on your desjardini tang? If so, the food should be fortified with vitamins and fatty acids and amino acids. (I have never had a fish come down with this condition.)

No, it is from an injury. Basically a scar on one side.
I noticed it in the quarantine tank after I brought him home, so likely happened during shipping or something.
Perhaps some other tang took a few chunks out.
I figure it just gives the fish character.