1350 Gallon Reef

ReefOcean · #1 08-10-2011, 01:46 PM

LOL yeah. His skimmer probably costs as much as my car. If I had the money, my setup Would be just as ridiculous, maybe even more. I have my eyes on a cylinder that goes all the way up to the second floor.....

I am still young, one day hehe

DAVE · #2 08-10-2011, 03:36 PM

Mr. Wilson,

Where did you purchase the water storage tanks? Looking for a few myself.

Thanks,
Dave

Triggz · #3 08-10-2011, 05:15 PM

WOW is right!! I have always enjoyed looking through your setups on the "other Canadian board". Incredible work!

Thanks for sharing.

KPG007 · #4 08-10-2011, 05:41 PM

Wow, this build is one of my favorites on RC. The detail, not only to design and construction, but also to documenting has been outstanding!

A couple of questions - What problems have you run into now that the system is up and running? How do you control pest algae and fish disease in the main tank? What problems have you noticed with the fish community? What's the maintainance like on this system (you mentioned you're there 3 days a week - any others helping out)?

Kelly

Phanman · #5 08-10-2011, 06:44 PM

Been following this on RC since the beginning of the project. Thx for posting here for others to drool over too!

KevinK · #6 08-10-2011, 07:00 PM

Mr Wilson,

what substrate is there in the main tank, and how thick,

it seems very course and as far as my understanding goes' thy always say course material will trap a lot of debris.-- what's the background on this ?

I also se there is a DSB in the refugium what's the grade there

thanks

fishoholic · #7 08-10-2011, 08:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mr.wilson

Good to be home. The aquarium is in Oakville Ontario for those that don't already know.

Cool, I was born Oakville

I have to say that is an amazing set up, if I ever had the money I'd definately want something just like that

Thank-you for sharing

mr.wilson · #8 08-11-2011, 04:06 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by KevinK

Mr Wilson,

what substrate is there in the main tank, and how thick,

it seems very course and as far as my understanding goes' thy always say course material will trap a lot of debris.-- what's the background on this ?

I also se there is a DSB in the refugium what's the grade there

thanks

We started off with a mixed grade and scraped the small stuff we had initially. The fine stuff gets swept up into the cleaning magnets too easily. The surge in flow moves some sand around, so we add course (grape size) aragonite where the sand tends to shift.

I like course substrate because it turns pink with coraline algae and provides good tunneling for gobies and jawfish. It also provides better homes for zooplankton. Fine sand simply cannot support large colonies of copepods and amphipods.

We used regular fine sand in the refugium because it was more for bacteria and we needed to use it somewhere. I like the look of mixed sand with shells. The regular stuff is too homogenous and looks like cat litter

mr.wilson · #9 08-11-2011, 04:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by KPG007

Wow, this build is one of my favorites on RC. The detail, not only to design and construction, but also to documenting has been outstanding!

A couple of questions - What problems have you run into now that the system is up and running? How do you control pest algae and fish disease in the main tank? What problems have you noticed with the fish community? What's the maintainance like on this system (you mentioned you're there 3 days a week - any others helping out)?

Kelly

We had bad algae plagues for the first three months, just about everything. A variety of snails and royal conchs did the trick. I also used Kent Tech M magnesium.

We haven't had any fish disease issues to speak of, other than a few one-offs. We lost all of our elegant corals to a common bacterial infection/plague. We will wait awhile before trying any more.

No climate control problems or leaks. We have had some flatworms in the mangrove wall, but killed them off with flat worm exit (Levamisole). We also had a montipora with nudibranchs, and a zoanthid with zoanthid snails, but physical removal was enough.

Cleaning the acrylic isn't my favourite job, but someone has to do it. Rinsing the filter bags and water test rank closely behind. I'm really good at looking at the tank though, and I have no problem talking about what I'm going to do next

mr.wilson · #10 08-11-2011, 03:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hydrologist

Mr. Wilson,

Where did you purchase the water storage tanks? Looking for a few myself.

Thanks,
Dave

They came with the place. Shipping cost is a problem with large storage tanks, so you are limited to local sources. I find farm supply businesses to be the most reasonable. Try TSC if they have it out your way.