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Spidey's 83g Rimless Reef

Spideybry

Spideybry

Hey all, here is my current build thread.

Here is what my tank used to look like before I got hit with AEFW and other issues that hit the house:
10/17/12 (I will take one tonight hopefully and put a current FTS up, not easy to compare the two)

FTSAngle.jpg



Current Equipment List:
Tank is 48x21x19 Rimless made by Miracles Aquariums
2x AI Sol blues
MP40 w/ Battery Back Up
SWC 150
100 sq/inch Algae Scrubber
75g sump
Reeflo Dart Return
MRC Calcium Reactor

2x40g Breeder Frag Tanks
1 AI Sol Blue
1 3w 2:1 Ratio Blue:White Chinese LED fixture


How my current tank started.
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Tank picked up Jan29th 2011
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Back plumbing
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Got my dry rock Feb 18th 2011
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How I aquascaped the tank Feb 22nd 2011
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My friend building the tank stand in my basement Feb 26th 2011
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Scaped and in place Feb 27th 2011
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Spideybry

Spideybry

Finished sump and basement plumbing Feb 28th 2011
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Sand into tank Mar 1st 2011
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How I felt at this stage with my tank
Ace Venture Alive - YouTube

Plumbing finished (but with leaks -_-) Mar 6th 2011
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Cycling tank Mar 8th 2011
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Levels peaking Apr 4th 2011
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After hitting the tank with BioDigest Apr 6th 2011
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First Fish Apr 6th 2011
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Spideybry

Spideybry

http://youtu.be/1va1q2ooApY

4/9/12

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A new chill pad for the chromis
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Recently relocated Ice Fire Ech. in its new home
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Oregon Tort with some nice polyp extension
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Patch of GSP recently put into the DT
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Rainbow Monti under blue LEDs
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Here are some top downs
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Diff angle FTS
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Ligershark

Ligershark

thank you for sharing. would like to hear about your success and or issues youve personally had with the algae scrubber
 
Spideybry

Spideybry

Ligershark said:
thank you for sharing. would like to hear about your success and or issues youve personally had with the algae scrubber
Click to expand...

Ok, so not sure if you are aware, but there are two different types of algae scrubbers that are being used currently. There is the waterfall algae scrubber, and the upflow algae scrubber. I have tried both and I prefer the waterfall algae scrubber more. I will explain why in a bit.

So for the pros, it really helped me get to the point where I really didn't have to do water changes (except for detritus build up). No3 and Po4 both were very low and this led to great success with the SPS in my reef. Pods also grew like crazy in the algae that grew out of the scrubber. If you stay on top of it and clean it weekly like you are supposed to, you have great nutrient export, since you are continuously removing algae that has eaten up the crap in the tank, and still leaving some algae behind to regrow. It works pretty efficiently and numbers do go down. Supposedly this is a water changeless system, because photosynthesis in the algae produces trace elements which go back into the tank. (All sorts of fish foods have trace elements as well). What I really like about a scrubber is that it really forces the water through the algae. I know algae grows a lot faster there, than any where else, leads me to believe that there is a correlation. Also the spectrum of light used makes a difference as well. Another good pro is your front glass doesn't get as dirty as fast.

Cons. If left unattended you can really screw yourself over. Reason being, the algae grows so fast that the layers underneath the new algae will die, and begin to rot in a sense, dumping way too many nutrients in the water (hence cleaning). Depending on the design of scrubber you use, there are many potential risks of leaks/overflows/clogs, which can do a ton of damage if you run an ATO. Another con is the cleaning itself. While it makes sense, you still have to get all the algae off the screens and toss it. That is pretty much it for the cons imo.

That being said, I rarely do water changes. Unless I see my chemistry starting to deviate from where I like them. Cheato somehow got into the scrubber, and that completely overtook the other algae I had growing there. So my scrubber has turned into a cheato farm which I am ok with since I am too lazy to take it apart and literally scrub it. I just remove half the algae every week. I have had some mishaps with it, for example getting clogged, and overflowing, and falling onto a power strip causing it to spark up pretty bad.. Luckily I caught it early. I am about to leave work, so I probably missed some stuff, but if you have any questions let me know.
 
dunk373

dunk373

wow! that is probably the cleanest build I have ever seen so well documented too good job on it. really sucks you got the aefw.
I'm glad to see the algae scrubber working so well I added one when i moved the sump into the basement and within weeks I lost all color in corals. after a year with no color I started removing stuff from the tank to figure out what the cause was, I removed denitrate first, then carbon (both have been in use for over 5 years) i then dropped the scrubber screen into the sump and within a week I started to get some color back. I think my scrubber may have been too big, but it really cleans. I haven't had measurable nitrates in over 3 years and p04 down to 0-.05 so I am guessing the tank was too clean. I plan to add it back when I start seeing a rise in nutrients.
 
Spideybry

Spideybry

dunk373 said:
wow! that is probably the cleanest build I have ever seen so well documented too good job on it. really sucks you got the aefw.
I'm glad to see the algae scrubber working so well I added one when i moved the sump into the basement and within weeks I lost all color in corals. after a year with no color I started removing stuff from the tank to figure out what the cause was, I removed denitrate first, then carbon (both have been in use for over 5 years) i then dropped the scrubber screen into the sump and within a week I started to get some color back. I think my scrubber may have been too big, but it really cleans. I haven't had measurable nitrates in over 3 years and p04 down to 0-.05 so I am guessing the tank was too clean. I plan to add it back when I start seeing a rise in nutrients.
Click to expand...

Thanks, I have tons more pics but eh, these are the highlights lol. I plan on getting everything more organized and perhaps changing some plumbing around/upgrading skimmer/maybe new lights/maybe adding a new clown system to the mix.

That is something I did fail to mention in regards to the scrubber. It really does pull. If you go by SantaMonica's rule of thumb, you really do need to feed X amount of cubes per day in a sense to keep it from stripping systems too much. I have heard of people having to dose iron at some point, since it is key for photosynthesis and keeping the algae green, but that is really it aside from the big 3.

Eventually I will have to remake mine to make it more failsafe, and more efficient. Do you have pics somewhere of your build with the scrubber btw?
 
dunk373

dunk373

Lol after seeing your build I wouldn't dare post any pics of mine. My build was get it done, I only really have after pics. My whole issue was I added about 150 gallons of water to a system with 200g of water that was already low in nutrients. I had a refugium with caulapera growing, denigrate, gfo, carbon, skimmer, then added a scrubber that grew algae but not a lot. I may remove gfo and go all natural with the scrubber it surely is the cheaper option and very efficient. your system and setup are very neat I have wires everywhere in the basement. need to neaten it up a bit, but I am always working on it adding new things and trying different lights etc....
 
Spideybry

Spideybry

dunk373 said:
Lol after seeing your build I wouldn't dare post any pics of mine. My build was get it done, I only really have after pics. My whole issue was I added about 150 gallons of water to a system with 200g of water that was already low in nutrients. I had a refugium with caulapera growing, denigrate, gfo, carbon, skimmer, then added a scrubber that grew algae but not a lot. I may remove gfo and go all natural with the scrubber it surely is the cheaper option and very efficient. your system and setup are very neat I have wires everywhere in the basement. need to neaten it up a bit, but I am always working on it adding new things and trying different lights etc....
Click to expand...

lol, nah man, every system is awesome in its own way. You should definitely post a few pics. Never know how it could help someone else, or someone can catch something you missed. Best part of being a part of a forum imo :p
 
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