Murdoch's 160G Tank Build

Coralgurl · #1 10-02-2011, 02:47 PM

Beautiful tank Doch!

doch · #2 10-04-2011, 02:27 AM

When I got home this morning I did A LOT of work in the tank. I scraped the back wall with a fish net, scooped up all of the hair algae that I could and flushed it. I missed a few spots though... oops. Then, I took out one of my frag racks, sprayed it down in the bath tub and got rid of all of the hair algae on it. I'm going to do the other one tomorrow when I ge home from work at 7am!! Then, I took my skimmer and zeo reactor out, cleaned the skimmer from top to bottom, and emptied the zeo reactor. Once emptied, I set the flow of the pump to ~250gph as per the recommendations of the Zeo forums. The skimmer is now back in the sump, and the zeo reactor is awaiting the new zeolites that will be arriving tonight via delivery from RCE (Thanks Steve!). When I get home, I'll scrape the rest of the gunk off of the back wall, set up the zeo reactor with the right amount of zeolites, flow and proper dosing to get things started right.

I also ran a few water tests... PO4 is sitting a little higher than before at 0.04 compared to the 0.00 that I had it down to... oh well, still better than the 0.20 that it crept up to. Ca is at 442 on the Hanna... judging from the tests that I've made, I'll call that ~400ppm. Alk/kH is down to a whopping 168ppm/9.99dKh. Getting there... slowly but surely!

As frustrated as I am right now, I'm starting to feel better about this. A few more days of work, and she should A-OK!

Myka · #3 10-04-2011, 03:24 AM

If you're going to use Zeolites you should be using Start and Bak too. That should really help you out.

If it makes you feel any better my tank is really trying to crash right now too...I hope I can stop it.

doch · #4 10-04-2011, 04:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Myka

If you're going to use Zeolites you should be using Start and Bak too. That should really help you out.

If it makes you feel any better my tank is really trying to crash right now too...I hope I can stop it.

As much as I could use something to make me feel better about this right now, your pain will not be my cure. I feel for you. This morning I was ready to shut down the whole friggin' thing and sell it all. I'm sure I'll feel the same way tomorrow morning when all I want to do is sleep and I'm armpit deep in salt water.

But of course with the zeo... ZeoStart3, and ZeoBak... I've also got zeo food, but apparently that's not needed with ZS3...?

Myka · #5 10-04-2011, 04:41 AM

I don't know anything about Start3...only ever used Start2. Like I said in your other thread though, if you're starting vodka dosing I would ditch the Zeo...I wouldn't do both. Plus, you're also using GFO. I'd say ditch Zeo, ramp up vodka as you ramp down GFO.

doch · #6 10-04-2011, 06:24 AM

Yeah, I'm only going to dose vodka for 2-3 days. Once the Zeo is started up, I'll call it quits. I figured it can't hurt to give it a little kick start. Maybe I'm off on this.

doch · #7 10-04-2011, 02:56 PM

Well, I got home today to find the goodies that I ordered from my boy Steve at Red Coral E-town sitting in my living room! WHOOHOO!! I FINALLY have a successful bulb placement in my 10 of 10 slots. I broke 3 bulbs on the way to this moment (actually, I broke 1, my dog broke 1, and my buddy broke 1 - unbelievable)... thankfully this one made it! I received my new dart/snapper hybrid.... can't wait to get the new sump so I can hook it up. My zeo rocks are here... and this time I'm doing it right!! 3L of rocks, and now I've done my homework... should work out well this time.
AND>>> I finally got my tiger shark magnet.... WOW!!! I absolutely love it! The biggest mag float doesn't even compare! Well worth the price!!! You know the corners of the tank the the mag float doesn't touch??? This one annihilates the gunk in there. I also got a Sea Hare which will be a temporary bandaid fix for the hair algae, and 20 or so snails... I think that there are 10 Nasarius, and 10 Turbo, but I didn't actually count. This will get me on track to algae reduction while the Zeo is kicking in... I hope.

Anywho... Parameters are: PO4 - 0.00, Ca - 348 (I attribute this to operator error on the hanna... yesterday was 442 I think), and 162 ppm/~9dkH. She's coming around... and I'm feeling much better about this sometimes stinkin' hobby!!

Oh... and I'm having an after work drink with my fish. A beer for me, and a shot of Vodka for them!

doch · #8 10-04-2011, 02:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Myka

I don't know anything about Start3...only ever used Start2. Like I said in your other thread though, if you're starting vodka dosing I would ditch the Zeo...I wouldn't do both. Plus, you're also using GFO. I'd say ditch Zeo, ramp up vodka as you ramp down GFO.

I do appreciate the advice/opinion, but since I've already bought all the Zeo equipment, I'm going to stick with it, and see what happens. For the time being, the GFO will stay.... and I'm going to buy a "No PO4" sign and stick it on my tank!! lol

Myka · #9 10-04-2011, 03:26 PM

Ah, ok. I thought you were trying the vodka on a more permanent basis, that's why I suggested you ditch the Zeo. One or the other doesn't really matter, just not both!

I've run Zeo and GFO together with no issues, but I understand if you ramp down on the GFO over a few months that the Zeo will work better. I think it's because the PO4 acts as food for certain parts of the Zeo system (that's an educated guess though).