Parker's 265 Build - Thread Retired

Greenmaster · #1 07-30-2010, 12:00 AM

Quote:

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 · #2 08-03-2010, 08:15 PM

Quote:

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 · #3 08-03-2010, 08:46 PM

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...

Parker · #4 08-03-2010, 09:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by abcha0s

Hi Robb

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

Yeah it was a bit of pain at the time but looking back at it things really did work out for the best. Thanks for the compliment.

Quote:

Originally Posted by abcha0s

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...

I think the Eco rock is a double edged sword. It's great becase you can avoid introducing pests into the tank. On the flip side you also don't get any of the good stuff. Live rock for then entire amount would have been pretty expensive but would have given instant gratification. With the BRS rock you have to wait for it to seed and color up from a small amount of live rock.

Would I buy the ECO rock again? Absolutly. In a year from now you won't be able to tell what was what and it cost me a fraction of live rock.

Greenmaster · #5 08-04-2010, 12:40 AM

Another option is DIY rock... I love how mine turned out... I'll let you know in a year or two if I still think it's good

Parker · #6 08-04-2010, 02:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Greenmaster

Another option is DIY rock... I love how mine turned out... I'll let you know in a year or two if I still think it's good

I've heard lots of people having great success with DIY Rock. I didn't use it because I have no patience or artistic ability.

Parker · #7 08-04-2010, 02:10 PM

I decided it was time to due some maintence on my pumps. I have to remind myself to this more often. One of the closed loop pumps had 7 chunks of eggcrate in the impeller!

Myka · #8 10-20-2010, 05:00 PM

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.

Parker · #9 10-20-2010, 05:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 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. 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.

Hey Myka,

Thanks for your thoughts,

I should clarify when I say there is no algae, there is no pest algae in the tank. Hair, cyano, dino's, etc. I do have coraline algae in the tank, albeit very slow growing. The white of my plumbing hasen't even been covered yet. By not having pest algea is the tank is at least a good sign that I don't have a major nutrient problem, no? The tank will have been officially up and running a year next week.

I did seed the tank with live rock, about 40lbs went into my sump and few nice pieces went into the display tank. The nicer pieces that went into the display were coraline covered and still are, I've managed to keep that alive. I'm not a big fan of using live rock used from other peoples tanks, I've tried that with past tanks and it ended up being more trouble then it was worth. Inheriting someone else's problems in most cases.

I was up until last night using Seachem salt. It wasn't my choice to buy Seachem it was part of settlement for a store purchase that went bad. As I understand it the older Seachem salt wasn't the best product on the market to start with and I've had it for a couple of years myself.

Myka · #10 10-20-2010, 10:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Parker

Hey Myka,

Thanks for your thoughts,

I should clarify when I say there is no algae, there is no pest algae in the tank. Hair, cyano, dino's, etc. I do have coraline algae in the tank, albeit very slow growing. The white of my plumbing hasen't even been covered yet. By not having pest algea is the tank is at least a good sign that I don't have a major nutrient problem, no? The tank will have been officially up and running a year next week.

I did seed the tank with live rock, about 40lbs went into my sump and few nice pieces went into the display tank. The nicer pieces that went into the display were coraline covered and still are, I've managed to keep that alive. I'm not a big fan of using live rock used from other peoples tanks, I've tried that with past tanks and it ended up being more trouble then it was worth. Inheriting someone else's problems in most cases.

I was up until last night using Seachem salt. It wasn't my choice to buy Seachem it was part of settlement for a store purchase that went bad. As I understand it the older Seachem salt wasn't the best product on the market to start with and I've had it for a couple of years myself.

Hey Robb,

I think many (most?) people underestimate the importance of good quality live rock. It is the main filter in our reefs, the backbone of of reef so to say! So I put a lot of effort into choice, preparation, and maintenance. Sounds kind of important, no? So I guess I just don't understand why people can take a bunch of dead rock, put it in a tank, and expect it to perform like live rock that was seeded (maybe?) thousands of years ago?

When a tank is a year old you should be getting significant coralline growth in a healthy tank. Some ULNS like Zeovit will have inhibited coralline growth, but for the most part coralline can be looked at almost as a coral itself. If the coralline isn't growing, neither will your corals ime. You should have to scrape the coralline off the back glass at least monthly. You should be getting at least dime to quarter sized patches in just a month.

You have to be picky about buying "used" rock, but it is my preferred way to buy. I will usually grab 10% fresh rock from a brand spankin new shipment of rock that comes into the LFS. Gotta get it before their rock holding tank gets overrun by ammonia and kills a bunch of life. I try to get that rock right out of the box when it arrives. I also "cook" all live rock regardless whether it is fresh or used. This way you remove the nutrients without dealing with algae, and with preservation of fauna. Saves a lot of headache.

I honestly don't think salt choice will make a huge difference. Not the type of difference you sound to be looking for anyway. I have used pretty much every salt on the market, and have yet to notice any difference. I'm currently giving D-D H2Ocean a go right now. I started using it about 5 months ago, and haven't seen a difference. It is a natural salt versus synthetic, so I figured if there was a difference to be had that might be it! So far, no change.