Kbennett's 220

KBennett

KBennett

Member
Joined
Sep 17, 2012
Location
Brantford
I got some frags from Poseidon and he requested I do one of these.  Here you go...

FTS:


Everything is DIY.  I made the stand, canopty, lighting, including etching my own PCBs for the LED drivers, arduino controller, LCD display, Remote Control, Powerhead control, LED dimming, soon to be ATO, etc.

I have been doing my homework a long time.... My ReefCentral account started in 2004.  I bought the tank a year ago and first put water in it in January.

It is a 220 gallon Marineland dual overflow tank.  I use the herbie overflow system (I think.. . .) - each overflow has a durso and a full syphon.  Returns come up over the back.
75 gallon sump..
I have a 4-5" DSB.  You can't see it because I designed the stand so the tank sits 4 inches inside it.


Fish:
Hippo Tang,
Yellow Tang,
2 False Percs,
Coral Beauty,
Yellow Tailed Damsel.

That's it for now. I only have a Corallife Super skimmer right now so I don't want to overload the tank.  I also don't like the look of an overcrowded tank, so I won't be getting a whole lot more fish.  I'm probably also limited on fish due to how little live rock I have - all marco rock by the way. I wanted swimming room for the fish and room for the corals to grow into.

I also have a green bubble tip, cleaner shrimp, and star fish.

I haven't had many real issues as of yet, other than some zoas dying and something eating my LPS - I swear it's the amphipods.


Here's some more pics:




Poseidon's Duncan:




I'll add more pics later.

Comments, questions, and criticisms are welcomed.
 
D

Duke

Distinguished Member
Website Affiliate
Joined
Sep 20, 2011
Wow, I love big tanks and that's awesome u are diy ing all that stuff, mind sharing some details on your led setup?
 
KBennett

KBennett

Member
Joined
Sep 17, 2012
Location
Brantford
I used Philips luxeons from Steve's LEDs.  Currently only have 80 total... About half of what I will have eventually.  Gets the job done though.  I only have royal blues and neutral whites. I plan on increasing the spectrum with blues and violets. 
Drivers are cat4101's.  I run 8 per string and found that the voltage increases with temperature which limits output, but I wouldnt want to run the LEDs any hotter.  I don't use fans. Just u channel aluminum.  The drivers never even get warm.

Ill post pics later.  I'll warn you, it isn't a pretty diy....
 
KBennett

KBennett

Member
Joined
Sep 17, 2012
Location
Brantford
Controller:


diy pcbs for the cat4101 drivers:


Inside the canopy.  You can see my auto feeder and the funnel that directs the food to a feeding ring on the water . . .




I mounted most of the leds in the back half of the canopy to provide better coverage over the rocks.  I think this lets me grow the corals with fewer leds than most tanks of the same footprint until I get more.

The doors come right off rather than swinging an getting in the way.  They're held on with magnets.
 
B

Boga

Active Member
Joined
Jan 12, 2012
Location
Dorchester, Ontario
Great job so far. The tank has lot of potential. Do not rush it. I think that you know it already  :)

What kind of LPS have you lost? Not sure if pods would eat them alive .... but they will go for them after they die.
 
KBennett

KBennett

Member
Joined
Sep 17, 2012
Location
Brantford
Zoas, acans, and blastos.  The blastos are still alive, but only the center part.
The acans go fleshy part first.  It only happens at night. There are amphipods crawling all over them in the dark. I think they go overboard eating dead tissue.

I made a water bottle trap with the acan suspended in the middle.  The acan healed, but it happened again when I put it back.

I'm thinking about creating a fishing line cage to put over top the coral to rule out the coral beauty....
 
KBennett

KBennett

Member
Joined
Sep 17, 2012
Location
Brantford
I haven't updated this in a while, so here goes.

My coralife super skimmer broke a shaft in Octoberish and wasn't working well at all.  That led to a really bad case of cyano and diatoms.  I used chemi-clean.  It worked on the cyano, but did nothing for the diatoms. I wouldn't have tried it, but the cyano and diatoms were choking my deep sand bed, so I needed to get it off the surface to let the sand breathe.


Before Christmas, I got a jebao WP40.  It's awesome - I'm planning on getting another one in the future.

Last month, I got a reef octopus SRO-3000 INT.  I'm hoping that this will help my diatom problem.
Since my last post, I have also added a BRS carbon/GFO reactor and a DIY ATO.

The ATO is timed with a Tom's aqualifter.  I don't trust float switches.  The aqualifter was on for 60 seconds every hour, controlled by the arduino.  With the bigger skimmer, I've found an increase in evaporation and I'm still trying to find the correct timing.


My hard corals are doing great.  Montiporas, birdsnest, hammer, duncans, etc. have decent growth.  I have trouble with zoas melting and my common mushrooms aren't exactly taking off.  I'm starting to wonder if I need to add iodine or something.
I got a strawberry shortcake from Reef Hero a while ago...  It seems healthy, other than its brown colour.  As I thought, I need to add more LEDs.  I'll be getting them in the spring sometime.  For now, I'm happy with growing non-acroporas. 

Speaking of LEDS, my hippo tang now thinks it's fun to splash as much water onto them as he can during feeding time.  Many of them are shorted out and I am procrastinating fixing them because I know it is going o be a big job. 


I got some new additions recently.  2 bangaii cardinals from Big Als in London, and a Sailfin tang and sixline wrasse from Sealife Central.  All of them eat like pigs now. None of them will sit still, so here's a video.

 
KBennett

KBennett

Member
Joined
Sep 17, 2012
Location
Brantford
Poseidon link said:
Want to buy a healthy happy large hippo??? :)
Click to expand...

Thanks for the offer, but my wife would freak out if anything fought with Dory.  We've had it since it was about the size of a quarter. 
 
KBennett

KBennett

Member
Joined
Sep 17, 2012
Location
Brantford
Fragfest buys:

Pink Stylo from Canada Corals


Tricolour from Reef Hero:


Sunset Monti from Salty Cracker:


Green Slimer from the Fragtank table:


Digi from Salty:


Red Dragon from the FragTank:


Ric from I forget...


Teal acro from R2O.  Any ideas on ID?



Purple Prostrata from R2O


ForestFire digi  fron Canada Corals:


Maze brain from Unibob:



digi from MJC:


Pink millie from BigShow:


Ponape birdsnest from Salty:


Torch from Canada Corals:


Torch from Unibob:


Hammer from Canada Corals:

 
vdubz

vdubz

Member
Joined
Feb 18, 2013
Location
London, Ontario
I would double check the ID on the first fire digi from Canada corals. I emailed them before the fragfest and they told me they weren't bringing any with them. I thought I saw it in their frag tank but they told me it was something else. Similar, but not the forest fire digi...
 
KBennett

KBennett

Member
Joined
Sep 17, 2012
Location
Brantford
They didn't correct me when I called it that.  I've never seen any other digi with a blue base, red polyps and green tips...
Thanks for the heads up.  I'll ask them.
 
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