Terry's 120g money pit

tbittner · 11-20-2007, 11:05 PM

I figured it was time to start my own chronicle. I have two tanks. A 120g reef and a 150g predator. This chronicle is for my 120g reef. I'll throw in a couple pics of the predators on occasion too.

First off, I wanted to provide the purest water I could for my buddies so I built a HUGE sump/fuge to help with purifying the water.

This is where the water dumps into the sump/fuge. My reef is on the first floor and the sump/fuge is in my basement. First stage is a 35g closed container to slow down the water and contain the salf spray. I have bags of charcol in this container.

My skimmer tub is also where I'm dosing b-ionic calcium and alkalinity. I love that stuff. The skimmer is a EuroReef RS 250 and it does a FANTASTIC job. I also have two phosban reactors hitting the water that flows through this tub. My Teco SeaChill chiller is plumbed into this water. It has a chiller/heater/UV all built into it.

Sitting beside the skimmer tub is my refugium. The front part has an 8" DSB and the back part currently has 100 lbs LR and I'm cooking another 200 lbs which is almost ready to go in. I have the flow through here at around 400 gph.

Both of these tubs dump into my sump. It's a 100g closed container and I'm in the process of hooking up the ATO to it. Therefore, the wires but they aren't hot at this point. I have a Sequence Barricuda to pump the water back upstairs to the reef. I have around 1200 gph flowing through this setup.

And now for my tank. Lights are out so it's just the moonlight. Oh yeah, did I mention that my camera sucks? Santa sure does know.

And here are a couple beautiful corals I picked up at Mr Corals grand opening. These really have amazing color to them which of course a crappy camera can't capture.

And my sun coral which is just starting to wake up. I've had this coral for around 4 months now.

Now that I have the sump/fuge done, now it's time for the FUN part. Bringing my reef alive!

vdituri · 11-20-2007, 11:12 PM

Nice Terry, Welcome to the fray.

I like the crappy camera pic at night. It looks like late sunset on the reef. Somethings eyes are reflecting. Is that a sandsifter star? It's big whatever it is.

framerguy · 11-20-2007, 11:20 PM

That's awesome Terry! It's cool to see the things we reefers improvise with. Those black containers look like horse watering troughs or something. What a great fish room! Way to go.

tbittner · 11-20-2007, 11:20 PM

Yeah, that's a sandsifter. I don't know why but it seems like once a week they climb up to the surface to stick a leg or two out of the water. About an hour later they head back down to the sand and bury themselves.

I had to look a couple times but I see what you're talking about now. That is my one spot foxface peeking out with his eye shining. I love that fish. He eats any and all kinds of algae.

tbittner · 11-20-2007, 11:22 PM

Those black tubs are made by RubberMaid and their HDPE material. Perfectly safe for reef water. Vicki has two in her setup too. She just has a really nice tank attached to them.

framerguy · 11-20-2007, 11:24 PM

I assumed they were reefsafe, just look at your tank!!

tbittner · 11-20-2007, 11:28 PM

One other thing to note. Hey Kathy! See the trumpet sticking up, in the very middle, at the very top of the rocks?

It's heads get HUGE when the lights are on.

tbittner · 11-20-2007, 11:39 PM

And one other note about the b-ionic doser. I found a GREAT supplier for the b-ionic. 8 gallon sets for $80 which lasts me about 3 months. My calcium is at 430, working on getting it up to 450. I have about 570 gallons in my system.

Champion Lighting & Supply :: Additives :: ESV :: ESV B-Ionic 8gal Set

Full battery of test results tomorrow evening.

jthomps123 · 11-21-2007, 01:43 AM

Great tank and setup.
Hey what are those bluish, star-looking polyps bottom right in the last pic... those look awesome! I gotta have some.

Jason

Craig Manoukian · 11-21-2007, 03:33 AM

Terry, as mentioned a very nice set-up with good planning/forethought. Can't wait to see more pictures of your display supported by the awesome mechanical/bio filtration system!

tbittner · 11-21-2007, 07:10 AM

Jason, that is a frag of white clove polyps which look blue under the blue moonlights. My new aussies and the cloves are sitting on the bottom for now, getting light acclimated and over the next few weeks I'll be moving them up the structure.

Thanks Craig. I had to tweak things here and there but for the most part it really was pretty easy. In fact, it was a LOT easier then building the sump/fuge under the tank. That worked out great too but it's now been ripped out and replaced with the monster.

My tank looks fairly bare now because I didn't want to have much in it while I was putting the monster together. It is full of fish which I absolutely love to watch.

I had also bought a RBTA from Mr Coral and it is HUGE! I think it may be splitting any day now.

More pictures probably tomorrow when I don't have to go anywhere until afternoon so I'll have time to try to get a few good ones with the lights on.

boozeman · 11-21-2007, 10:47 AM

I like your sump setup

Witfull · 11-21-2007, 11:14 AM

hi,,,looks good....more science project pics,,,i love the down and dirty fun stuff~

tbittner · 11-22-2007, 12:48 AM

PH 8.0 - Lights on DT out for 6 hours now.
Ammonia 0
NitrItes 0
NitrAtes 10
Phosphates 1 - YIKES!!!
MG 1110
Calc 420
Alk 18.2 - YIKES!!!

Ok, for the NitrAtes, I did a 40g water change. I'll do another one in a few days. I have 570g in my total system.

I changed the phosban in one of my little fishies phosban reactors because I read that the media gets saturated and won't lower the phosphates anymore. I'm sure that this was bad husbandry on my part because I wasn't testing for phosphates and wasn't running the reactors until 2 weeks ago. I'm hoping that the new media will suck it out, I'll test again in the morning...

The Alkalinity is VERY high. I'm dosing with a B-Ionic doser and I was dosing 100ml of calc and 100ml of alk twice a day. I cut the alk to zero for a couple days to let the calc/alk equal out a bit. Then I'll start dosing 10ml of alk twice a day and see how that looks. I tested my new saltwater and it's at 10.2. I use IO. I'll keep testing the PH during this time too because I think that as the alk drops, it can lower the PH.

Does all of this sound right?

And it's amazing that even with the NitrAtes and Phospates in the water, the Chaeto doesn't seem to be growing much... I have a 6500k daylight T8 fixture with two bulbs in it hanging over the Chaeto and I run it 24/7. I also recently added 50 blue legged crabs, 20 turbo snails, and 2 cleaner clams to the fuge. Clams sank into the 8" DSB a few hours after I put them in.

I admit, I feel like I'm a bit over my head as far as the chemicals are concerned...

tbittner · 11-24-2007, 09:39 PM

OK, GREAT news! Phosphates are now at .25. Not perfect but MUCH better! I'll test again tomorrow evening and if they haven't gone down anymore, I'll change out the phosban again. Changing it out certainly does the trick!

WOO HOO!!!

I got a back spasm yesterday morning and it's been aching so I'm done for the night.

11-20-2007, 11:05 PM	#1 (permalink)
tbittner Watch this Ma! Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: Northern VA Posts: 5,051 View Gallery Karma Komment Add yours!	Terry's 120g money pit I figured it was time to start my own chronicle. I have two tanks. A 120g reef and a 150g predator. This chronicle is for my 120g reef. I'll throw in a couple pics of the predators on occasion too. First off, I wanted to provide the purest water I could for my buddies so I built a HUGE sump/fuge to help with purifying the water. This is where the water dumps into the sump/fuge. My reef is on the first floor and the sump/fuge is in my basement. First stage is a 35g closed container to slow down the water and contain the salf spray. I have bags of charcol in this container. My skimmer tub is also where I'm dosing b-ionic calcium and alkalinity. I love that stuff. The skimmer is a EuroReef RS 250 and it does a FANTASTIC job. I also have two phosban reactors hitting the water that flows through this tub. My Teco SeaChill chiller is plumbed into this water. It has a chiller/heater/UV all built into it. Sitting beside the skimmer tub is my refugium. The front part has an 8" DSB and the back part currently has 100 lbs LR and I'm cooking another 200 lbs which is almost ready to go in. I have the flow through here at around 400 gph. Both of these tubs dump into my sump. It's a 100g closed container and I'm in the process of hooking up the ATO to it. Therefore, the wires but they aren't hot at this point. I have a Sequence Barricuda to pump the water back upstairs to the reef. I have around 1200 gph flowing through this setup. And now for my tank. Lights are out so it's just the moonlight. Oh yeah, did I mention that my camera sucks? Santa sure does know. And here are a couple beautiful corals I picked up at Mr Corals grand opening. These really have amazing color to them which of course a crappy camera can't capture. And my sun coral which is just starting to wake up. I've had this coral for around 4 months now. Now that I have the sump/fuge done, now it's time for the FUN part. Bringing my reef alive! __________________ Terry My chronicle 120g with 300g sump/refug, Outer Orbit HQI/T5HO 24-Hour Light System: : 48" 250W HQI 4x54W Lots of fish. 150g predator tank full of killers. 450g tank is IN the HOUSE!

11-20-2007, 11:20 PM	#3 (permalink)
framerguy Golden Moray Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: Mount Airy, Ga Posts: 2,920 View Gallery Karma Komment Add yours!	Re: Terry's 120g money pit That's awesome Terry! It's cool to see the things we reefers improvise with. Those black containers look like horse watering troughs or something. What a great fish room! Way to go. __________________ ___________________________________ Greg All time fav quote: "Now and then it's good to pause in our pursuit of happiness and just be happy."-Guillaume Apollinaire "Being happy can be as easy as deciding to be!"-Greg Kimsey (framerguy) 75g Main, 55g Fuge w/DSB/+-25#LR, 25g Sump, turboflotor skimmer, 2x250w MH(9hrs/d), 4x65w PC(14h/d), 950gph mag drive/seaswirl return, 100# LR, 3" SB chronicles-akwareum (\___/) This is Bunny. (=O.o=) Copy and paste him into your signature (")__(") to help him gain world domination

11-20-2007, 11:20 PM	#4 (permalink)
tbittner Watch this Ma! Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: Northern VA Posts: 5,051 View Gallery Karma Komment Add yours!	Re: Terry's 120g money pit Yeah, that's a sandsifter. I don't know why but it seems like once a week they climb up to the surface to stick a leg or two out of the water. About an hour later they head back down to the sand and bury themselves. I had to look a couple times but I see what you're talking about now. That is my one spot foxface peeking out with his eye shining. I love that fish. He eats any and all kinds of algae. __________________ Terry My chronicle 120g with 300g sump/refug, Outer Orbit HQI/T5HO 24-Hour Light System: : 48" 250W HQI 4x54W Lots of fish. 150g predator tank full of killers. 450g tank is IN the HOUSE!

11-20-2007, 11:22 PM	#5 (permalink)
tbittner Watch this Ma! Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: Northern VA Posts: 5,051 View Gallery Karma Komment Add yours!	Re: Terry's 120g money pit Those black tubs are made by RubberMaid and their HDPE material. Perfectly safe for reef water. Vicki has two in her setup too. She just has a really nice tank attached to them. __________________ Terry My chronicle 120g with 300g sump/refug, Outer Orbit HQI/T5HO 24-Hour Light System: : 48" 250W HQI 4x54W Lots of fish. 150g predator tank full of killers. 450g tank is IN the HOUSE!

11-20-2007, 11:24 PM	#6 (permalink)
framerguy Golden Moray Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: Mount Airy, Ga Posts: 2,920 View Gallery Karma Komment Add yours!	Re: Terry's 120g money pit I assumed they were reefsafe, just look at your tank!! __________________ ___________________________________ Greg All time fav quote: "Now and then it's good to pause in our pursuit of happiness and just be happy."-Guillaume Apollinaire "Being happy can be as easy as deciding to be!"-Greg Kimsey (framerguy) 75g Main, 55g Fuge w/DSB/+-25#LR, 25g Sump, turboflotor skimmer, 2x250w MH(9hrs/d), 4x65w PC(14h/d), 950gph mag drive/seaswirl return, 100# LR, 3" SB chronicles-akwareum (\___/) This is Bunny. (=O.o=) Copy and paste him into your signature (")__(") to help him gain world domination

11-20-2007, 11:28 PM	#7 (permalink)
tbittner Watch this Ma! Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: Northern VA Posts: 5,051 View Gallery Karma Komment Add yours!	Re: Terry's 120g money pit One other thing to note. Hey Kathy! See the trumpet sticking up, in the very middle, at the very top of the rocks? It's heads get HUGE when the lights are on. __________________ Terry My chronicle 120g with 300g sump/refug, Outer Orbit HQI/T5HO 24-Hour Light System: : 48" 250W HQI 4x54W Lots of fish. 150g predator tank full of killers. 450g tank is IN the HOUSE!

11-20-2007, 11:39 PM	#8 (permalink)
tbittner Watch this Ma! Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: Northern VA Posts: 5,051 View Gallery Karma Komment Add yours!	Re: Terry's 120g money pit And one other note about the b-ionic doser. I found a GREAT supplier for the b-ionic. 8 gallon sets for $80 which lasts me about 3 months. My calcium is at 430, working on getting it up to 450. I have about 570 gallons in my system. Champion Lighting & Supply :: Additives :: ESV :: ESV B-Ionic 8gal Set Full battery of test results tomorrow evening. __________________ Terry My chronicle 120g with 300g sump/refug, Outer Orbit HQI/T5HO 24-Hour Light System: : 48" 250W HQI 4x54W Lots of fish. 150g predator tank full of killers. 450g tank is IN the HOUSE!

11-21-2007, 01:43 AM	#9 (permalink)
jthomps123 Fire Coral Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: East NC Posts: 64 View Gallery Karma Komment	Re: Terry's 120g money pit Great tank and setup. Hey what are those bluish, star-looking polyps bottom right in the last pic... those look awesome! I gotta have some. Jason

11-21-2007, 03:33 AM	#10 (permalink)
Craig Manoukian Regular Guy Moderator Join Date: Nov 2003 Location: Marina Del Ray, CA Posts: 15,578 View Gallery Karma Komment Add yours!	Re: Terry's 120g money pit Terry, as mentioned a very nice set-up with good planning/forethought. Can't wait to see more pictures of your display supported by the awesome mechanical/bio filtration system! __________________ Currently tankless. 20 Gallon mini reef with mated pair of Maroon Clowns given to Rougiem! 80 gallon reef given to Rougiem/Wooster HS.

11-21-2007, 07:10 AM	#11 (permalink)
tbittner Watch this Ma! Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: Northern VA Posts: 5,051 View Gallery Karma Komment Add yours!	Re: Terry's 120g money pit Jason, that is a frag of white clove polyps which look blue under the blue moonlights. My new aussies and the cloves are sitting on the bottom for now, getting light acclimated and over the next few weeks I'll be moving them up the structure. Thanks Craig. I had to tweak things here and there but for the most part it really was pretty easy. In fact, it was a LOT easier then building the sump/fuge under the tank. That worked out great too but it's now been ripped out and replaced with the monster. My tank looks fairly bare now because I didn't want to have much in it while I was putting the monster together. It is full of fish which I absolutely love to watch. I had also bought a RBTA from Mr Coral and it is HUGE! I think it may be splitting any day now. More pictures probably tomorrow when I don't have to go anywhere until afternoon so I'll have time to try to get a few good ones with the lights on. __________________ Terry My chronicle 120g with 300g sump/refug, Outer Orbit HQI/T5HO 24-Hour Light System: : 48" 250W HQI 4x54W Lots of fish. 150g predator tank full of killers. 450g tank is IN the HOUSE!

11-22-2007, 12:48 AM	#14 (permalink)
tbittner Watch this Ma! Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: Northern VA Posts: 5,051 View Gallery Karma Komment Add yours!	Re: Terry's 120g money pit PH 8.0 - Lights on DT out for 6 hours now. Ammonia 0 NitrItes 0 NitrAtes 10 Phosphates 1 - YIKES!!! MG 1110 Calc 420 Alk 18.2 - YIKES!!! Ok, for the NitrAtes, I did a 40g water change. I'll do another one in a few days. I have 570g in my total system. I changed the phosban in one of my little fishies phosban reactors because I read that the media gets saturated and won't lower the phosphates anymore. I'm sure that this was bad husbandry on my part because I wasn't testing for phosphates and wasn't running the reactors until 2 weeks ago. I'm hoping that the new media will suck it out, I'll test again in the morning... The Alkalinity is VERY high. I'm dosing with a B-Ionic doser and I was dosing 100ml of calc and 100ml of alk twice a day. I cut the alk to zero for a couple days to let the calc/alk equal out a bit. Then I'll start dosing 10ml of alk twice a day and see how that looks. I tested my new saltwater and it's at 10.2. I use IO. I'll keep testing the PH during this time too because I think that as the alk drops, it can lower the PH. Does all of this sound right? And it's amazing that even with the NitrAtes and Phospates in the water, the Chaeto doesn't seem to be growing much... I have a 6500k daylight T8 fixture with two bulbs in it hanging over the Chaeto and I run it 24/7. I also recently added 50 blue legged crabs, 20 turbo snails, and 2 cleaner clams to the fuge. Clams sank into the 8" DSB a few hours after I put them in. I admit, I feel like I'm a bit over my head as far as the chemicals are concerned... __________________ Terry My chronicle 120g with 300g sump/refug, Outer Orbit HQI/T5HO 24-Hour Light System: : 48" 250W HQI 4x54W Lots of fish. 150g predator tank full of killers. 450g tank is IN the HOUSE!

11-24-2007, 09:39 PM	#15 (permalink)
tbittner Watch this Ma! Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: Northern VA Posts: 5,051 View Gallery Karma Komment Add yours!	Re: Terry's 120g money pit OK, GREAT news! Phosphates are now at .25. Not perfect but MUCH better! I'll test again tomorrow evening and if they haven't gone down anymore, I'll change out the phosban again. Changing it out certainly does the trick! WOO HOO!!! I got a back spasm yesterday morning and it's been aching so I'm done for the night. __________________ Terry My chronicle 120g with 300g sump/refug, Outer Orbit HQI/T5HO 24-Hour Light System: : 48" 250W HQI 4x54W Lots of fish. 150g predator tank full of killers. 450g tank is IN the HOUSE!

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