My 215 upgrade

[ricwilli]

Things haven't been doing so good. I have no time to do anything. 80% of my sps has died. I stoped dosing the tub full of rocks. Had problem with the Kati Ani (I generated incorrectly). The TDS in the water is over 100. Phosphate is 2.69. I haven't checked nitrates yet. AAAAAHHHHHH I feel like throwing in the towel. Since my tank water is all out of wack, I will cure the rocks in the tank. I will start dosing Brightwells products tomorrow.

This is the plan. Copied from Brightwells pdf.

Weeks 1 and 2: Place 200 g each week of NēoZeo for each 100 US-gallons (378.5 L) in
the entire aquarium system into an appropriate media reactor; adjust the rate of water
flow through the reactor to ~25 gph (94.6 lph). Add 2.5 ml MicrōBacter7 per 100 USgallons
daily.
Weeks 3 and 4: Add 200 g each week of NēoZeo for each 100 US-gallons (378.5 L) in
the entire aquarium system into the media reactor; increase water flow through the
reactor to ~50 gph (189.3 lph). Add 1 ml MicrōBacter7 and Reef BioFuel per 100 USgallons
daily.
Week 5: Add 200 g of NēoZeo for each 100 US-gallons (378.5 L) in the entire aquarium
system into the media reactor; increase water flow through the reactor to ~100 gph
(378.5 lph). Add 1 ml MicrōBacter7 and Reef BioFuel per 100 US-gallons daily.

 

[anthony27]

I hope all goes well with your tank

 

[InfernoST]

Hang in there, it'll get better.

 

[Awibrandy]

Sorry you've had to go through this!!!

Please don't give up!:hug:

 

[ricwilli]

Thanks everyone....

OK, trying to get back on track.
I've always had a bare bottom tank and just got tired of it. So now I'm going to try the sand thing. I had 3.5 gallons of bucket full of used sand in the garage for a couple of months. I thought cleaning it was going to be difficult, but doing a search on-line, I stumble on Meleves website. His website is very informative. I suggest visiting it http://www.melevsreef.com/links.html. I used his suggestions on cleaning used sand http://www.melevsreef.com/rinsing_sand.html. It does take allot of water to clean. I guess it all depends on how much sand you have to clean. I forgot to take pics of this process. Oh well.....

REGENERATING THE KATI ANI

I totally screwed this up the first time. That's what happends when you rush things. I made the mistake of flushing the Ani with the Kati full of Muratic acid. That's a NO NO. You'll understand if you read the NEW Doc, #5 page 5. Before I even noticed that the water TDS was above 100, the tank was full. Yeah, I know. I should have tested the water before filling up the tank.

The items I used.

- Instructions. There are two versions. The ORIGINAL http://docs.google.com/fileview?id=...TEtZDdhMS00ODE4LWFlZGUtNjdlNGVkOGQ4ZWI2&hl=en and the NEW DOC http://docs.google.com/fileview?id=...TAtMGE2ZS00NDljLTlmOGItNDkzYzJhZGZiYWNk&hl=en

- EYE PROTECTION, GLOVES, RESPIRATOR AND BE FULLY CLOTH. NO SHORT PANTS NOR SLEEVES. WELL VENTILATED AREA

- MURIATIC ACID AND SODIUM HYDROXIDE (LYE) - DANGEROUS STUFF

- Carboys for mixing. You can use buckets.
- Water
- An area where children are not allowed.

My regeneration station. Please choose an area where children can not come in contact with any of this stuff. In this pic you can see that the Kati needs regenerating. It is deep RED.

Here is the Kati and Ani after regeneration. The Kati is now light brown. As the water runs through the Kati, it will turn deep RED. The Ani stays the same color.

Since the water in the tank is all screwed up and I did not want to dump it, I decided to cure the rocks in the tank. I will use the Brightwell products to control the algae. I'm crossing my fingers.

Tank with sand, rocks and 100+ TDS water and a shot at aquascaping.

MP40W AND Korilia 4

Closer look of rocks with the weired large rock. I have no idea what made me put that rock like that. I like it and I don't. Lets see what happends.

Side tank shot

 

[anthony27]

I am happy to see the tank is up and running good luck looks realy nice cant wait to see it filled up

 

[InfernoST]

Looks good. What does that regeneration system do?

 

[Awibrandy]

I love that large rock! Looks like a fan, and a fun place to place some corals that you want to grow out instead of up.

Glad to see you back in action......

 

[Reeftop1]

I hope you used pre filtered DI water to fill the tank?

 

[ricwilli]

I hope you used pre filtered DI water to fill the tank?

Yes, I am running a RO before it goes into the Kati Ani. If thats what you mean.

 

[ricwilli]

So I realized that I am going to need another manifold to connect more equipment with a lot less demanding water flow. So, I decided to build another manifold. This manifold will be attached to the 3" manifold.

Intorducing the MINI MANIFOLD....
Starting from right to left connections:
- Brightwells Zeolite Media
- Calcium Reactor
- Carbon
- Kalk Reactor
- TBD
- Aclimating fish and filling test kit vials.(OH I LOVE THIS ONE. No more water in the mouth to start a syphon)

Here it is connected to the 3" Manifold

You can see in this pic that I had a pump running a Fluval 203 canister filter. The Zeolite media were in there. This is a BIG NO NO. I am trying to run only one pump in this setup.

Equipment that will be attached to the MINI MANIFOLD.

Equipment attached to the MINI MANIFOLD.

Connection. I will tidy this up later on.

The big mess.

So, right now, it's a waiting game. Hopfully you noticed the reactor filled with rocks. That is the Brightwells Zeolite Media. I currently have 600 grams of Zeolite Media in the reactor. I put all 600 grams of rocks in one day.

WARNING! DO NOT DO THIS IF YOU HAVE ANY TYPE OF LIVE STOCK IN YOUR SETUP.

This will shock the system and can have bad affect on all the livestock. You would normally add 100 grams of Zeolite Media per 100 gallons of water every week. Please follow the directions for Brightwell products if you have livestock. I'm hoping that I can transfer my corals by the end of the week. At this point, I do not have a choice. It must be done.

 

[ricwilli]

CORRECTION -

The Kalk reator will not be connected to the Mini Manifold. That is a typo. I was wondering this morning why I only had one connection that would not be connected to anything. The Kalk reactor will be connected to the ATO pump thats in the white drum in the pic.

 

[InfernoST]

Impressive, nice work. You gave me a lot to look up.

 

[ricwilli]

Here is what I will be using for lighting.

The 72", 14 Bulbs Aquactinics Constellation. I love that its low prophile and that I can sit it right on the tank.

Here, I need to replace the old bulbs with the new.

Bulbs from front to back starting from the top. (Didn't want to type it all out. lol)

The PITA center brace. The only thing I hate about this tank. It must be like 16" wide. I'm sure it will defuse the light a little with it being wet from the humidity.

For the record. My plans are to switch light fixture in the Summer and in the Winter. MH in the Winter and T5's in the Summer. Since all I have is the T5 fixture, this is what I will be using for now.

 

[ricwilli]

Here is a FTS with the lights. I also transferred some of the corals to the tank. I still have more in my 90. The corals that I left in the 90 are the ones that are not doing so well after I moved the tank. I need to learn how to take pics.

I'm really hating the MP40. It does its job but the sand moves to one side.

 

[anthony27]

omg that light is insaneeeeeeeee ;0 that tank is off the chart. popin tank

 

[ricwilli]

Thanks Anthony. I'm really liking how its turning out as well.

 

[JARRETT SHARK]

Looks good,can't wait to see in a few months

 

[InfernoST]

Niiiiiiiiice.

 

[Awibrandy]

Awesome build ricwilli!!! I love that light fixture!

I want to upgrade NOW!!!!!