Parker's 265 Build - Thread Retired

[Parker]

I got the manifold up and running last night but I'm not entirely happy with the way it turned out so I might rebuild it. On of the problems I had was getting the hose barbs on the PM reactors to seal up properly, they are very short so there isn't a lot of barb for the hose to connect too, they still seep ever so slightly making me pretty nervous so I shut them down for now. I may have to convert them to run in-sump, we'll see. The sump is plenty big enough so it might be the best option. I got the Calc Reactor up and running for awhile, until I broke off the nipple on the bubble counter where the Co2 connects. I hope I don't have tooooo much trouble trying to source another one.

So all in all a very unproductive weekend working on the tank!

[Parker]

Decided to take a few pictures of the tank, not too many of them turned out. None of the SPS pics turned out.

A rock with a couple different zoas on it. It used to look much better but I did a three day lights out a few weeks ago and they haven't quite recovered yet.




The ONLY thing that grows in my tank! The trouble with have a deep tank is it's a huge pain in the rear to get to these guys to kill em. I need to put my face inthe water to get this guy. I've been lazy and I will pay for it!

[Greenmaster]

Overall a nice build... I love the cabinet and nice and clean setup... about the fish... most fish stores will bring in a fish if they know they have a buyer. Go online and find the fish you want then put in a request
Once you get the apex thing sorted out let me know how the whole warranty thing went, that tends to say a lot about a company.
And how about a FTS the last one was over 2 months ago... a good build like yours should have a FTS once a month.

[Parker]

Originally Posted by Greenmaster

Overall a nice build... I love the cabinet and nice and clean setup... about the fish... most fish stores will bring in a fish if they know they have a buyer. Go online and find the fish you want then put in a request
Once you get the apex thing sorted out let me know how the whole warranty thing went, that tends to say a lot about a company.
And how about a FTS the last one was over 2 months ago... a good build like yours should have a FTS once a month.

Thanks.

The Apex problem is already sorted out. I e-mailed Curt and I had an RMA to send it back within the hour. Everything went really smooth. The nice thing about the Apex is I didn't have to take it off line to get the head unit looked at. The system continued to run as it should.

[Greenmaster]

Originally Posted by Parker

Thanks.

The Apex problem is already sorted out. I e-mailed Curt and I had an RMA to send it back within the hour. Everything went really smooth. The nice thing about the Apex is I didn't have to take it off line to get the head unit looked at. The system continued to run as it should.

That settles it... Apex it is... when I have the money... Thanks man.

[Parker]

Originally Posted by Greenmaster

That settles it... Apex it is... when I have the money... Thanks man.

I love the APEX. I have EVERYTHING plugged into it. It can do some pretty cool things and I haven't even scratched the surface of what it can do.

You'll be very happy I'm sure.

[abcha0s]

Hi Robb

Great build. Some interesting mishaps with your first tank at the start of your project.

I'm curious what your latest opinion on the BRS Eco Rock is? I am considering this as the primary rock for my build. I know you said that you wish you ordered larger pieces, but are you generally happy with it?

Following along...

[Myka]

Hey Robb, sorry to hear about your troubles. I haven't read this build thread until just now. Imo, most of your troubles are because of the dry rock. It takes a long time for dry rock to populate like live rock, and the less live rock (more dead rock) the longer it takes. If you go 50/50 live and dead it will take about a year for the rock to really be considered live imo. I think you're looking at quite a long time. No algae is a bad sign. If you can't grow coralline, you probably can't grow corals.

If I were you I wouldn't waste any more money on water changes. If there is no significant uptake of calcium, alkalinity, and magnesium, and no nitrate build up I would cut back water changes to no more than 10% per 2 weeks. There is no point in doing them. I would take the money you save doing that, and go buy 100 lbs of good quality live rock off the classifieds on here for $4/lb. Just make sure there are no aiptasia or bubble algae, or other nasty stuff. Stuff that all in the tank for at least 6 months, and then after that you can start removing some pieces to go back to the look you're going for.

JMHO. Hope it helps.