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Author Topic: mil3sdavis' 75 gal reef  (Read 6871 times)

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Offline Miles

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mil3sdavis' 75 gal reef
« on: January 18, 2013, 19:29:47 »
I recently started posting on the forums, but my tank is no stranger here. I purchased Cyberwollf's setup before he moved to Florida.

You can see his work on the tank here ->http://www.ohioreef.com/index.php?topic=7590.msg63204#msg63204.

I've made several changes and upgrades since acquiring the tank in the past year (and few odd months), and am plannign to use this thread to showcase them.

I'll list the changes/upgrades I've made, and post some pictures a little later.

Upgrades
1. GFO/Carbon Reactor (currently running them in the same reactor which wastes GFO since carbon wears out sooner)
2. Bio-Pellet Reactor
3. Improved Moon Lighting
4. Coralife Super Skimmer 120 (actually this is a major downgrade  ;), Cyberwollf wouldn't part with his skimmer )
5. 1 new MH Ballast (one died...)


Planned Upgrades
1. Apex Tank Controller
2. New Skimmer (accepting suggestions)
3. Dedicated GFO Reactor
4. Fix my left return pump which spits out bubbles....(Pretty sure it is a plumbing issue) (completed on 1/21/13)
5. LED Lighting
6. Start dosing Kalk
7. Relocate Sump to Basement
8. Larger Basement Frag Tank (current using 12gal JBJ NanoCube with DIY LEDs)


I purchased the tank in Dec 2011 (three months after getting married) and stuck it in the corner of our small apt in Beavercreek. I didn't put much work into it then, but have since moved to a house out in the country near Cedarville and have a lot more space in which to work (and hide equipment).

I've noticed a significant amount of coral growth in the last year, its cool to compare it with the pics on the thread mentioned above just to see how much of a change it has been.

Pics coming soon...
« Last Edit: January 22, 2013, 11:27:20 by mil3sdavis »

Offline Miles

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Re: mil3sdavis' 75 gal reef
« Reply #1 on: January 18, 2013, 20:20:50 »
I recently reaquascaped and today I added a couple more powerheads to get some more flow to take care of the dead spots. MY water is currently pretty cloudy so I figured I'd upload some closeups that Ive taken in the last couple weeks to give you something to look at until I can get some good full tank shots.










« Last Edit: January 28, 2013, 12:17:34 by mil3sdavis »

Offline rickwebste

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Re: mil3sdavis' 75 gal reef
« Reply #2 on: January 18, 2013, 20:25:58 »
Very Nice

Offline Twizted1

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Re: mil3sdavis' 75 gal reef
« Reply #3 on: January 18, 2013, 20:55:25 »
Looks good.

Offline lazylivin

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Re: mil3sdavis' 75 gal reef
« Reply #4 on: January 18, 2013, 21:39:49 »
Looks really nice, corals look healthy... great job!

Offline Miles

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Re: mil3sdavis' 75 gal reef
« Reply #5 on: January 18, 2013, 22:42:21 »
Very Nice
Looks good.
Looks really nice, corals look healthy... great job!

Thanks guys!  ^-^

I noticed that in my previous post I had the same picture twice... that is now fixed.

I snapped a couple pictures tonight, but not until after the lights turned out, so here's the sump and a shot with the moonlights.





And a super close shot of some star polyps just for fun....  8)

Offline Miles

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Re: mil3sdavis' 75 gal reef
« Reply #6 on: January 19, 2013, 16:32:31 »
Alright... the water cleared up. Here's some pics






Offline Miles

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Re: mil3sdavis' 75 gal reef
« Reply #7 on: February 05, 2013, 17:02:41 »
Christmas has arrived early (or possibly late)...



Sent from my Galaxy SIII using TapaTalk 2.


Offline Miles

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Re: mil3sdavis' 75 gal reef
« Reply #8 on: February 05, 2013, 22:16:40 »
Today I added a BRS Dual reactor and got some Milk Filter socks to use to polish the water.  Below you can see how dirty they got in just about half an hour. Can't run them all the time because they clog quickly and will cause my DT to overflow, but they work great for cleaning up the tank after stirring up ditritus.



Offline Miles

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Re: mil3sdavis' 75 gal reef
« Reply #9 on: February 17, 2013, 18:55:17 »
UPGRADE :sFun_dancing:

Went and visited John at Marine Solutions yesterday, and he hooked me up with a sweet deal on a new skimmer. Dumped the Coralife and now have a Reef Dynamics INS80. Its a ton better than my previous skimmer, much quieter, and actually works (the coralife would have to be cleaned every day because the neck would get gunked up, without ever really filling the cup).

I also got some livestock while I was at MS. Picked up 3 peppermint shrimp to try and knock out my aiptasia problem (found one today missing a head... so now I'm down to 2 plus the one I already had). I also got 5 chromis, and a Kole Tang. The Kole Tang is pretty shy so far, spending most of his time hiding, but the chromis are out in the water column, and are helping my once very shy dottyback become a little more social.

Also, I ordered an Apex tank controller from the folks over at Reef Dynamics, but they are on back order  :'( . So hopefully I get it sometime in the next week or so....

« Last Edit: February 26, 2013, 20:26:34 by mil3sdavis »

Offline Wall_Tank

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Re: mil3sdavis' 75 gal reef
« Reply #10 on: February 17, 2013, 21:19:52 »
Apex controllers have been hot ticket items ever since they came out......great controller.   If you need help, just ask

Offline chromiumlux

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Re: mil3sdavis' 75 gal reef
« Reply #11 on: February 18, 2013, 21:02:12 »
Looks great so far! Following along.
Chromiumlux

Offline Miles

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Re: mil3sdavis' 75 gal reef
« Reply #12 on: February 25, 2013, 18:58:38 »
I got my Apex up and running (check the addition to the sig). It is probably the best/worst thing I've ever done to my tank. I spend way too much time checking my parameters on my phone, and since I don't have any dosing pump set up, its not really like anything is going to change.

I got the Apex setup online fairly easily. Email set up was a little annoying, it took me a while to figure out that my gmail was treating the messages as spam. Here's a shot of my cabinet with the Apex and wireless game adapter.




Now I've got good news and bad news....

 :( BAD NEWS.... The ReefDynamics skimmer kicked the bucket after just a week of use. The pump had a short in it which caused it to continously trip the GFCI. I plugged it into another outlet (probably not too smart...) and it ran for a week before finally burning itself out. John over at Marine Solutions took it back with out any issues (Which I am eternally grateful for). I have also lost 2 Chromis... 1 of them had a "lucky" fin that I didn't catch when I got him, he only lasted a couple days before disappearing. The second one rode the porcelain express this afternoon, I found him stuck to a powerhead when I got home from work. The peppermint shrimp may also be gone, I found 1 the day after I added them with a missing head, and have yet to see the other two that I added.

 ^-^ GOOD NEWS... I ordered a Reef Octopus Skimmer today, and some float switches to control my ATO.

Also, I'm working on a DIY break out box. I'll post some pictures when I get some more work done on it. Radio Shack had almost all the parts I needed, so now I'm waiting for some stuff I ordered online.
« Last Edit: February 25, 2013, 19:45:55 by mil3sdavis »

Offline Miles

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Re: mil3sdavis' 75 gal reef
« Reply #13 on: March 28, 2013, 17:08:06 »
Big Update....probably going to span several posts (So I can write a little at a time).

Here the quick run down...
- New Reef Octopus Skimmer
- Completed DIY breakout box for Apex
- ATO set up with float switches thru Apex
- Lost what remained of my Peppermint Shrimp (they both decided to take a trip over the overflow and into the skimmer)
- My Female Clownfish developed some sort of bacterial infection (I'm blaming the chromis, I lost three from mysterious illnesses). Clownfish is now AOK.
-Have been consistently dosing 2-Part by hand daily (hoping to get some BRS dosing pumps soon), and have noticeable coral growth. 

More updates (with pictures) coming....

Offline Miles

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Re: mil3sdavis' 75 gal reef
« Reply #14 on: May 20, 2013, 13:23:58 »
well... that big update didn't pan out... I had good intentions of posting pictures and more info... got busy and forgot.

Until I get around to posting more... I posted some Coral Growth images (January-May 2013) on my blog..... http://www.milesmcgee.com/2013/05/6-month-coral-growth.html

Offline Travis8896

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Re: mil3sdavis' 75 gal reef
« Reply #15 on: May 20, 2013, 15:11:54 »
What are ur clowns hosting?
"Not using a quarantine tank is like playing Russian roulette. Nobody wins the game, some people just get to play longer than others." - Anthony Calfo

Offline Miles

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Re: mil3sdavis' 75 gal reef
« Reply #16 on: May 20, 2013, 15:16:44 »
Its a toadstool coral.... makes a good anemone replacement.


Offline Travis8896

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Re: mil3sdavis' 75 gal reef
« Reply #17 on: May 20, 2013, 17:30:21 »
That's cool mine are hosting xenia
"Not using a quarantine tank is like playing Russian roulette. Nobody wins the game, some people just get to play longer than others." - Anthony Calfo

Offline Miles

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Re: mil3sdavis' 75 gal reef
« Reply #18 on: December 11, 2013, 20:43:06 »
So... its been a while. And I've done a ton of upgrades. Here is a list in chronological order...

Competed:
1. Added two BRS 1.1mL/min dosing pumps for Alk and Ca
2. Added BRS dual reactor (GFO/Carbon)
3. Added Apex LSM module for moonlighting
4. Added 2 EcoTech Radion XR30W LED fixtures (removed MHs and LSM)
5. New sump (Aqueuon ProFlex Model 4)
6. Added Apex WXM Module for wireless control of Radions (installed module but not actually using it yet, waiting for Apex Fusion to be released)
7. Took advantage of the LiveAquaria Black Friday sale (Foxface, Green Mandarin, 6 Tank Raised Banggai Cardinals, Watchman Goby, Lawnmower Blenny, Pistol Shrimp, and new clean up crew)
8. Ordered the Apex AFS automatic feeder (on back order with Premium Aquatics)d


Of the livestock I ordered from LiveAquaria, I lost the blenny in the fist 24 hours, and a Banggai on day 9. The Foxface and Banggai's are in quarantine.

Future Plans:
1. Start Culturing Copepods for Mandrian and Banggais (this will most likely involve culturing phytoplankton also.... any one currently doing this?)
2. Attempt to breed Banggai's (been reading the Banggai Rescue book) 
3. Slowly accumulate upgraded equipment in a manner that wont make my wife suspicious in order to accomplish item number 4.
4. Upgrade to a much larger tank (Want to upgrade to something in the 180-300 gal range with dedicated fishroom.....this is a dream that probably wont be accomplished anytime in the next 5-10 years)

Bonus Plans:
1. Actually attend a club meeting... (My debilitating engineer introversion and general laziness tends to keep me from meeting new people)
 

Offline lazylivin

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Re: mil3sdavis' 75 gal reef
« Reply #19 on: December 11, 2013, 23:38:39 »

Offline Miles

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Re: mil3sdavis' 75 gal reef
« Reply #20 on: December 13, 2013, 16:42:32 »
do you know where I can get good starter cultures of both?

everywhere I look online i find it really cheap with extremely expensive shipping....

Offline lazylivin

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Re: mil3sdavis' 75 gal reef
« Reply #21 on: December 14, 2013, 23:49:25 »
Unfortunately I dont know anyone in your area. I am not sure how much BSD is shipping but here is a coupon. http://www.ohioreef.com/index.php?action=ezportal;sa=page;p=17

Offline Miles

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Re: mil3sdavis' 75 gal reef
« Reply #22 on: January 13, 2014, 21:02:09 »
Currently working on a new frag tank.

The eventual plan is to run an extra long AquaBus cable from the Apex down to the basement (through the wall) and connect an EB8 and a PM1 module with Temp and pH, and 2 dosing pumps.

I picked up a 20L at the PetCo $1/gallon sale, and built myself a stand over the weekend. I'm making a BulkReef order on Friday for all of my plumbing needs (overflow box, bulkheads, etc.). Still looking for a suitable sump (the stand I made wont fit a 10 gallon...D'oh!), something slightly smaller than a 10 gallon (< 12.5"x 20")

Here's a pic of the stand before painting....
« Last Edit: January 13, 2014, 21:21:07 by mil3sdavis »

 

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