Myka's 90 gallon build & 3 province move (Pics Feb 6)

[Myka]

But this IS the second sump!! Remember, I cracked the first one.

I have calculated the water space I need in the sump for a power outage, and I may need to make the first baffle shorter so I gain a bit more space. It in 9" deep, and the ER needs to be 6-8" deep. I only have room to prop the skimmer up one more inch...I think I should have made that first baffle 8", and then I can adjust the skimmer from there. I need to glue the bottom of the standpipes too so that the overflow box doesn't drain into the sump.

I'm crossing my fingers the power doesn't go out tonight before I finish up my testing tomorrow...I think I have enough room (even for the slowly draining overflow box), but it would be very close.

[Myka]

Wow, PE is awesome this morning!!

Sump built to my specifications by Engineered Aquariums (aka sphelps). Thanks Steve!

Sump in action:



Baffle and media rack details. I think I'm going to pull the first baffle, and replace it with a piece that is 8" tall instead off the current 9".



EuroReef RS-180. Currently sitting in 8 1/2" of water (it's on a rack), and manufacturer specs say 6-8", so it's a bit too deep (and not working as efficiently as it should), but due to my miscalculations, I don't have room under the sump to lift it much more, so I should replace that first baffle so I can get the water level a bit lower on the skimmer.

[Myka]

Today's testing results (all Salifert):

Calcium 350 ppm (oops, my dosing is off apparently )
Alkalinity 8.45 dKH on old kit
Alkalinity 9.45 dKH on new kit
Magnesium 1185 ppm on old kit
Magnesium 1320 ppm on new kit
Nitrate 0.2 ppm (this is not usually detectable)
Phosphate undetectable
Potassium (forgot to test)


So, I have to adjust my dosing. The new alkalinity kit is interesting because it comes with a 7.4 calibration solution. The new kit reads 7.4, and the old kit reads 6.4, which agrees with the difference in testing above. So that's interesting. I am concerned about the HUGE difference from the old to new magnesium kits. I tried to retest with the old kit, but I didn't have enough reagent. So now I'm not sure...???

My targets are; calcium 410-420 ppm, alkalinity 8-8.5 dKH, magnesium 1350-1375 ppm.

Current Zeo dosing (changes due to increased water volume):
Sponge Power 1 drop daily
Coral Vitalizer 1 drop daily
Coral Snow 3 mL 2x per week
B-Balance 1 ml daily
Kent Lugol's Solution 1 drop 2x per week
Spur2 1.15 mL every 18 days or so

[Navarchus]

very nice pic's
job well done!

[JDigital]

That RBTA and Cap are absolutely awesome!

Any FTS pics?

[Reef_surfer]

hey myka im new to the SW world and i think your tank is awsome... i like the pics and hope my tank is half that nice when its finished.. wouldnt mind stopping by sometime to ask some questions and maybe take a look at the tank since you have been in the hobby for quit sometime

[Myka]

The weirdest thing happened on Sunday night/Monday morning...half of one of my Lobos disintegrated. For no apparent reason. All other corals look great. There was nothing on the coral that I could see. Weird that only half of it died too. The flesh just fell off. So far the other half looks great, like nothing ever happened. Weird... I will post a couple pics later today (no time right now). You can see it (the green/pink Lobo) in the photo posted below between the Red Open Brain and the Red Lobo (I wish I had a program that would allow me to circle it). that was taken on Sunday afternoon, and you can see that the upper half is shrunken, and the bottom half is puffy. The shrunken part is the part that suddenly died.

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Thanks for the comments everyone.

Reef surfer...ya you can come by to check it out. I'm on-call working this week and weekend though, so it's not a good time now, but after that would be ok. Send me PM in a week or so.

Here J:

[fishytime]

That sucks Mindy....did you have a fluctuation in one of your params?

[Funky_Fish14]

Myka;

Your tank and setup look fantastic! Great job on it!

And dang, nice blue rics! haha (not the only nice coral you've got, but they definitely stand out!).

Cheers,

Chris

[Myka]

Well, I finally got around to figuring out how to read that stupid KZ Kalium test kit. (btw GRRRR) So I am now confident that my potassium is 380 ppm +/- 10 ppm. I'm interested to see the results of maintaining potassium. I have heard great things, and my expectations are substantial (I loathe disappointment).

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Hey Tony! I don't have a cover on the tank. The lights cover most of the open area, but it's still an open top. My tank is mainly occupied by fish known to be jumpers though. I hope to have my canopy built in January (but I'm a procrastinator).

Thanks Chris! Those blue Rics are farly fast growers too. They have sweet neon green mouths.