Teebone's Epic 210G SPS Build

[teebone110]

Another update, as I have been getting my sump finished over the last few months

Here was a sketch for the dimensions I needed, so I had it custom made. Went with glass as opposed to acrylic so that I could remove baffles if anything changed in the future and needed to increase or decrease the sizing of baffles, and glass is less expensive

Fuge on the left, skimmer in the middle, and return on the right.




Finished product...



Added a Bubble King Supermarin 200



..and a Vertex RX-U 1.5 reactor



...and tied things together with my drains and manifold made up of a bunch of flexible pvc, unions, shutoffs, and a gate valve







Still need to tie in my reactors for biopellets, GCO and GFO, and test out my water change system.

 

[unibob]

Looking good tee.


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[heath]

very nice.. you should be happy/pleased with the way that its turning out..

 

[reefjunkie86]

Looks great. Who made the sump?

 

[Jewel]

Looking good T, Thanks for sharing

 

[teebone110]

Looking good tee.
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very nice.. you should be happy/pleased with the way that its turning out..

Looking good T, Thanks for sharing

Looks great. Who made the sump?

Thanks everyone, it has been rewarding watching things come together.
I had the sump made by Great Lakes Aquarium in Detroit. I have seen there work, they make a solid product and they were great to deal with.

 

[MrHermit85]

Sweet equipment and build so far!

 

[teebone110]

Just got this little guy today and will let him chill out in my 90 QT for a while before he joins the big boys

Approx 3.5 inch Aussie Harlequin Tusk, and his colours are amazing! Been waiting for this guy for a while He still has his juvenile markings, so it will be cool to watch his colours change as he grows. Already eating like a champ!

Special thanks to Colin at Reef Boutique for hooking me up!

 

[reef keeper]

That fish is SICK as in awesome. Period. Nice sump btw.

 

[teebone110]

Thanks, picked up a juvenile Kole tang as well. Have never seen one as nice, full of personality too.
Hopefully I can get some more pics up soon.

 

[AdInfinitum]

Nice Tusk...they have such awesome personalities!

 

[teebone110]

Nice Tusk...they have such awesome personalities!

Couldn't agree more.... of the four I compared at the store, this one seemed to be the most outgoing, not skittish at all.
He is constantly out and about, lurking around the sand bend looking to strike and pounce on unsuspecting hermits

 

[Jewel]

Any updates,

 

[teebone110]

Lots of updates and lots of livestock losses too

I added a few prized fish over the last few months which lead to an outbreak of a nasty parasite that wiped out about 2/3 of my livestock in my DT.

Among the losses included my kole tang, a prized peppermint hogfish, blonde naso tang, yellow tang, an awesome sargassum trigger, gladiator clown fish x2, flame angel, and a cherub angel fish. Thankfully, all my wrasses survived.

All happened over a week and I'm thinking it was either velvet or brookynella that I unexpectedly picked up over the course of my new collections. All these fish were added slowly over 4-5 months. I was regularly adding nitrifying bacteria to proactively manage the bio load on my new system. Never did I detect any ammonia level, so I can rule out new tank syndrome.

I tried treating the infected inhabitants with freshwater baths, paraguard dips, and enriching their diet, but nothing could stop this crazy train, which lead a rapid and furious path of destruction! My fish were getting wiped out so fast, nothing could stop it.

It was a tough time for the tank in March and I ultimately brought the tank down to hypo salinity -specifically 1.008ppm for 6-8 weeks until June. This was painful, and took forever with numerous water changes which seemed like an eternity.

Once salinity returned to normal levels, I was able to return some small lps colonies back to the DT. All was good until a few weeks ago, then my prized kryptonite torch melted away!! Yes- fun times- calcium for some reason dropped to 260ppm and I had no idea why?

So...hoping my luck would improve, I was excited to finally track down an Aussie Harlequin Tusk in June. To play it safe, he went into quarantine to ensure he was parasite free and eating before transferred to my DT. He lasted about 1 week before I noticed he was absent one morning during my routine inspection. Upon closer observation, I found his lifeless body wedged into a power head. Yep, dead!

Also forgot to mention during the mayhem, my awesome blue throat trigger also jumped through a gap in my screen from my quarantine tank to its demise would be enough for anyone to throw in the towel!

All I can say is that things seem to have improved and I'm hoping the "Fish Gods" are starting to look out for me now. I have been slowly and carefully collecting and quarantining more livestock. Knock on wood things have been steady- I'm afraid to post any progress with fear that I might jinx things, lol! I will post some updated pics very soon. Lots more updates to come

 

[reefjunkie86]

Oh wow sounds like it's been pretty tough. Good to hear your sticking it out. Looking forward to more updates. I really hope things start looking up for you.

 

[Jewel]

I'd be heart broken, T I really feel for you, sorry to hear this. You know T I lose my patience with the Reefers who are stubbornly adding undo stress to their systems by either adding fish that won't survive or using Tap water or rain water in their tanks and a lot of other issues. but you have been in the game long enough to include quarantine tanks, and have suffered fish losses of this magnitude. Makes you wonder how this great hobby got to be so hard to manage. I really don't know what to say. Other than keep at it, hopefully things turn around for you. Best of luck T

 

[curiousphil]

Wow, sorry to read about your troubles T. I can only imagine how you must have felt... hopefully the tank is on an upswing now.

 

[unibob]

Sorry to hear about the losses Teebone. Your fish were looking so awesome when I was by. I know you had the in hypo when I was there, but they were looking super fat and healthy. Definitely a bummer.


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[teebone110]

Appreciate all the supportive comments guys, but unfortunately the hobby has its highs and lows. It's important to keep focused and stay on course. Proper quarantine and strategic additions will eventually lead to success. I have been in regular contact with SeaChem Labs and they have really helped to improve outcomes. I have been adding medication into PE Mysis and the results have been spectacular.

Specifically I have been following their advice for new additions....

1 hour dip in Paraguard
- 3 mls per gallon of temp and pH matched salt water, aerated during entire dip with air pump

30 days of Metroplex + Focus added to PE Mysis, feed twice a day
- 1 scoop of Metroplex, 2 scoops of Focus, mixed in 1 tablespoon of food

SeaChem uses this same method in their own tanks and they highly recommend it. Since the fish consume the food, there is a lesser chance that it can harm corals or inverts and it's not absorbed into rock.

The active ingredient in Metroplex is metronidazole, which is often added to many commercial medicated fish foods. There is controversial evidence about its effectiveness against ick and other parasites, but the theory is that it works from within the fish and gets inside its blood system to slowly treat internal parasites and also interfere with a stage in the lifecycle of ick. I have confirmed with a popular GTA LFS and they utilize the same method.

Sorry to hear about the losses Teebone. Your fish were looking so awesome when I was by. I know you had the in hypo when I was there, but they were looking super fat and healthy. Definitely a bummer.
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Thanks, but most of the losses happened before your visit. Things have been on the upswing over the last few months. Those fat fish are even fatter now

Wow, sorry to read about your troubles T. I can only imagine how you must have felt... hopefully the tank is on an upswing now.

No worries, as we have all been there. Things have been on the upswing as of late, keeping my fingers crossed!

I'd be heart broken, T I really feel for you, sorry to hear this. You know T I lose my patience with the Reefers who are stubbornly adding undo stress to their systems by either adding fish that won't survive or using Tap water or rain water in their tanks and a lot of other issues. but you have been in the game long enough to include quarantine tanks, and have suffered fish losses of this magnitude. Makes you wonder how this great hobby got to be so hard to manage. I really don't know what to say. Other than keep at it, hopefully things turn around for you. Best of luck T

It just seems that no matter how hard you try to do the right things, crap still happens, lol
Thanks, but when things turn around it will be very rewarding

Oh wow sounds like it's been pretty tough. Good to hear your sticking it out. Looking forward to more updates. I really hope things start looking up for you.

Things can only get better, I have been also working on my stand and canopy- hopefully I can get some pics posted of my progress. I've been very impressed with it so far!

 

[reefjunkie86]

Looking forward to seeing some pictures. I'm really going to have to follow your QT method as I've been really lucky this far. Any chance you could tell me what equipment your using?