Duckhams' 75G Reef Build - Eurobraced/BeanAnimal

[Wretch]

Very nice. Has a very clean look that I like.

[Duckhams]

Originally Posted by Wretch

Very nice. Has a very clean look that I like.

Thanks!

[Duckhams]

TROUBLE IN PARADISE:
It's been a few months since my last update. The tank has gone through a few 'events', a big alk swing caused by a dosing tube that popped off, which created a nice slick pool inside the tank stand, a bubble algae outbreak and a small aiptasia infestation. Due to the alk swing I lost most of my SPS and chalices (enter tears here), it's taken the tank a few months to recover but things are finally getting back to normal.
WORKING ON A SOLUTION:
After manually removing as much as I could with a sharpened screwdriver, I added 6 emerald crabs to tank and they've taken care of the bubble algae since. Small bubbles pop up from time to time but they soon disappear.
Unfortunately, one or more of the emerald crabs took a munching to my german blue digitata and made short work of it over a couple weeks, a trade off I guess. And im still battling the aiptasia, they're not a major problem, but long term they could be an issue.

TO RESCAPE, OR NOT TO RESCAPE? THAT IS THE QUESTION:
SO, im toying with the idea of rescaping the tank. The BIG REEF was setup before I setup Big Reef Depot, so im thinking it could be time for a reboot. A Big Reef needs some big rocks, so im cleaning up some Pukani to see how it would look. Still not sure if i'll do it, im going to get it curing in a rubbermaid first, so I have a month or two to decide.
THE NEW BEGINNING:
I gave the Pukani a 30 minute, 15:1 ratio muriatic acid bath to 'etch' off the top layer of calcium carbonate which should limit P04 leaching as it cures and remove a ton of organic material. Right now its in a 10:1 ratio chlorine bath until tomorrow to remove any other organic 'mulch' that might be left over. The acid bath produced a nice layer of floating sponges, other critter bits and scum, which should also shorten the cycle/cure time in the rubbermaid too.
The pics below are BEFORE the acid/chlorine bath. I'll post more pics tomorrow of the cleaned rock.

[Duckhams]

The rock came out of the acid bath and bleach soak REALLY clean, loads of sponges and other organic material came off, it was definitely worth it and will shorten the cycle considerably. I let it sit dry for 2 days to allow any remaining bleach to evaporate. Now its sitting in fresh saltwater with a powerhead and heater, ready to start curing.

You can really see the difference the acid bath / bleach soak made in the pictures below. As a quick reference as a few have asked why I did this:

Muriatic Acid Bath - Dissolves top layer of calcium carbonate off the rock, removing a lot of the 'locked up' P04 that would otherwise leach back in to the water column while curing.
It does a good job of dissolving organic material too, but this isn't the primary reason for doing it.

Bleach Soak - Loosens/dissolves/cleans the rock of dead organic material. A powerhead is required during this stage for it to be really effective.

The results are pretty clear.

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[Duckhams]

Breaking the down this week and selling all the corals and live rock. Lots of frags for sale, rhodactis and some other rare mushrooms. Lots has been sold already so things are starting to clear out. I'll put the remaining livestock in the holding/frag tank while I redo the system with new rock and equipment. I hate this part, I try to get through it slowly and carefully so as not to lose anything but I just want to throw it all in the frag tank and setup the new system up asap.

Im hoping to get a deal on a Canon 100mm f/2.8 Macro USM on black friday for future pics. The standard kit lens just isn't cutting it.

[Duckhams]

Finally got the hardware in! Im hoping to get the lights installed this weekend while I transfer most of the frags to the frag/holding system and then start work on emptying the tank and swapping out the plumbing. The rock is cured and ready to go and phosphates are finally 0.04 ppm without raising after a few days, hopefully it stays that way. Im keeping an eye on it with the lanthanum chloride ready.

EcoTech Radion XR15wPRO's:
Im seriously impressed with the Radions. Their much heavier than I expected too, which I like. You instantly feel the quality of the equipment as you pick it up and unbox them. The colour control and functionality is impressive, with moonlight and storm modes (not that storm mode is important, but it was more fun than I expected! Plus if you initiate storm mode from the app, your phone plays thunderstorm/rain sounds! LOL! Which was cooler than I thought it'd be). The app is great fun when it comes to changing colour modes and intensity, I played with that for a good hour before I settled on a few presets to save that I really liked for the frag system. The colour options are endless! Which is a huge feature for me, because I find my tastes in lighting/colour change constantly.
Im going to install the 3 x Radion XR15wPRO's on a custom low profile t-track mount inside the canopy so that I can move them length ways across the tank as need with the rockscape/corals/light spread. Im dying to get them all hooked up and get the moon phase settings on. The Radion's are a serious piece of hardware, incredible quality and real PAR monsters! Im really excited to get them running on the display tank.

ReefLink
The ReefLink is very compact, only 5" or so across. I have it sat on desk under my screen so I can keep an eye on the indicator ring (which glows blue when all is good). EcoSmart Live is very much like APEX Fusion but for EcoTech Marine products and provides a lot of controllability for the Vortech's and Radion's, it works just as well as Fusion in my opinion, but the app was the kicker for me! I love controlling everything from the EcoSmart app! It's so easy to change settings, save your own presets, it's a lot of fun and really easy to use.
I've hooked up the reeflink already and put one of the XR15wPro's on the frag/holding system and im super impressed with how easily it all connected, though I did have to hit the refresh button to get the settings to save/load, the page just kind of froze on 'updating settings' and never completed.

Vectra M1 Return Pump
I haven't hooked up the Vectra yet. It's not as heavy as I expected, but man is it sold. Watt for watt it's the same size as my Eheim 1262, so hopefully heat won't be an issue. I won't be running it at full power, so im expecting it to be very quiet and have no effect on tank temp. The quality of the pump is impressive, the Eheim feels a little like a toy, but the Vectra feels like a serious workhorse. It will be interesting to see how hot the controller gets with the built in heat-sink and how the beananimal overflow reacts to the feed/surge modes etc. Not having the return pump shut off for feedings, gurgle the house down and then gurgle the siphon back up will be amazing! Im so sick of hearing that twice a day.

[AdamsB]

Why the switch from Kessil to Radions?