Edward's Aquariums

[Edward]

Everything has been going steady, my phosphate and nitrate are really high and have been for months. I'm doing more frequent water changes and added some chaeto and baby mangrove pods to try and start taking these down slowly. I also added a maxima clam. I attribute my high nutrients to the fact I have a lot of fish in this tank now in anticipation of the imminent upgrade.

FTS 7/14/24

I cleaned the MP40's a couple of weeks ago and didn't clean the front glass so when the sand shifted the algae got buried. I've been too lazy to clean under the sand.

I took some random shots today but couldn't find my tripod or filter lenses, sorry!

 

[Edward]

No real changes to report, solid growth all around. The Two Bill Murray colonies in the third picture of the previous post are the same you see in the last two pictures here. Real happy with coloration, polyp extension and growth rates of seemingly every piece of SPS in the tank. Sorry for the blue wash, I was lazy taking the FTS this morning.

I am officially moving to central New Jersey by the new year so most of my reefing time has been spent planning an upgrade to the system using my new CADE S2 2100.

 

[Edward]

My plan for the CADE S2 2100 is to use my existing LR and LR I've had cooking for between 1 and 3 years. For now, the livestock will just be what I have in my waterbox. The equipment list for the tank so far is:

-Skimmer: Red Sea Reefer RSK-900
-Return: Vectra L2 x2
-Lighting: Radion X30 G6 Pro x6 hung long ways from front to back of the aquarium
-CaRx: Super Silent Extreme CR618 SSE 6"
-Controller: GHL Profilux with 3x GHL Doser 2.2 and KH Director
-Heater: 800W Finnex Titanium Heater X2 each on an Inkbird temp controller
-UV Sterilizer: Still deciding
-Substrate: 200lbs coarse aragonite
-Circulation: MP40 x2 and 2000GPH Gyre pump x2

The sump will be in the basement directly below the tank along with my RODI storage tanks and mixing station.

I'm thinking about tying in a 7' frag runner tank eventually but will be adding a display refugium at the start. I'm either going to use a drilled 57 gallon or my current setup, Waterbox 124.5, for the fuge. I doubt the fuge will benefit the tank in any noticeable way but I'd love to have a DSB with some mangroves, piles of live rock and macro algae. I'll probably throw some choice softies and anemones in the fuge too since I intend to keep the display SPS only for now.

I also like the idea of a cryptic portion of the sump so I'm toying with the idea of tying in the 44gallon Brute trashcan I've been using to cook LR for years into the system.

 

[Edward]

This past weekend I finally got the CADE moved into a POD for the upcoming move. My heart sank at one point when the pallet completely gave out and the tank dropped about 2 inches. No visible damage but we'll see once I fill it in a few weeks. Next week is the closing on our new house, I'll be setting up the water mixing station and the basement sump. All of the plumbing has been planned at this point and all of the gear is here. We're having the floor redone in the room where the tank is going so that'll have to wait until after Thanksgiving. I'll be moving all of the liverock I have cooking along with a bunch of the live rock from my current display into the sump at a minimum next week. I'm hoping to have the livestock moved by the start of December.

I've also decided on using my 57 gallon as a refugium that'll be inline from the overflow of the display. The overflow will dump most of the water directly into the sump but I do want some of that nutrient rich water to hit the refugium directly and not get skimmed immediately. I'll have this drain into a cryptic sump that'll include a deep sand bed and a bunch of live rock and this will drain into the sump. All of this will be plumbed so each section can be taken out of the system loop if need be.

Pictures incoming as I progress next week

 

[Edward]

Setting up the new water mixing station today. Boy you should’ve seen the look on my wife’s face when I pulled up with these lol

 

[Edward]

The tank made the trip unscathed, one less thing to worry about now.

The Mixing station is nearly complete, I bought a flow meter to attach so I can measure out the exact water to make one bucket of salt. I’m putting it between a couple of unions incase it doesn’t work out.

All the equipment for the sump is in, I’m planning on starting to plumb the tank on Thursday after it’s moved into place.

I'll end up bringing a bucket or two of live rock and sand from my current setup when I head back to NJ on Monday. Nothing with corals because I will be tankless for 3 days.

I'm hoping to have the new CADE running by Friday night so I can drive back to MA next Saturday to disassemble my Waterbox and move all of the livestock by Sunday or Monday. the corals, rock and fish/inverts should only be in buckets and bags for 6-8 hours if I time everything right.

 

[BiGGiePauls33]

The tank made the trip unscathed, one less thing to worry about now.

The Mixing station is nearly complete, I bought a flow meter to attach so I can measure out the exact water to make one bucket of salt. I’m putting it between a couple of unions incase it doesn’t work out.

View attachment 212977View attachment 212978

All the equipment for the sump is in, I’m planning on starting to plumb the tank on Thursday after it’s moved into place.
View attachment 212979


I'll end up bringing a bucket or two of live rock and sand from my current setup when I head back to NJ on Monday. Nothing with corals because I will be tankless for 3 days.

I'm hoping to have the new CADE running by Friday night so I can drive back to MA next Saturday to disassemble my Waterbox and move all of the livestock by Sunday or Monday. the corals, rock and fish/inverts should only be in buckets and bags for 6-8 hours if I time everything right.

Good luck with the move @Edward

 

[Kymot]

@Edward good luck with the move, did the waterbox sold already? Or you moving it as well.

 

[Edward]

@Edward good luck with the move, did the waterbox sold already? Or you moving it as well.

Waterbox is still for sale, will be empty and cleaned next weekend

 

[Edward]

After 3 guys plus one gentleman who only had one leg showed up from the first moving company, I managed to get 7 people together to move the CADE into place.

Mixing station is functional. Mixing one whole bucket of salt sure is easier than mixing half a cup at a time!

Plumbing and starting to sett everything up today. My waterbox contents will be added Sunday or Monday.

 

[Edward]

After 13 hours of plumbing and filling…she’s full! Absolutely nothing is set up besides the return pumps and heaters but my goal was to get the tank going bare bones so I can transfer my livestock. Stay tuned for the circus that will be moving everything from MA to NJ later this week!

 

[Edward]

11 days since I moved everything from MA to NJ. I lost my clowns I'd had for 3 years, a hippo tang and yellow jawfish plus 4 acros that did not like moving to such a new set up.

I do have my GHL+KH Director running dosing my homemade 2 part and ATO but the sump is still far from being finished, the skimmer has yet to be installed and the newest of the rock is starting to get some uglies on it. My parameters have been stable, my pH is a consistent 8.4 and my alk is in the 7's. No mini-cycle which I attribute to using cured dry rock plus all the live rock from my old display. All the corals are showing signs of healing or have already started encrusting and the surviving fish couldn't be happier! Over the next week I'll be finishing my sump, getting the skimmer dialed in and starting to do AWC at about 1% total volume per day.

 

[Kymot]

That must be a very challenging move, kudos to getting the animals over safely and sorry for the loss.

 

[Edward]

That must be a very challenging move, kudos to getting the animals over safely and sorry for the loss.

It was a lot faster than I initially planned. I'm still amazed I was able to drive from central NJ to Boston, breakdown a tank, capture/bag/bucket all the live stock, drive back to central NJ and acclimate everything in one day before 1am. I was feeling it the next day for sure.

 

[Kymot]

That is nuts, shows how dedicated a reefer is . Do you have to put air stone throughout the transport? I hope you had some help.

 

[ifarmer]

beautiful setup. perhaps tank of the year in 2025

 

[Edward]

That is nuts, shows how dedicated a reefer is . Do you have to put air stone throughout the transport? I hope you had some help.

Had to do it, they're all living things. I used air stones with the larger fish and oversized bagged some of the smaller ones.

beautiful setup. perhaps tank of the year in 2025

I appreciate the kind words, I can't wait for it to grow out. I'm aiming for fewer, larger colonies vs having a tank full of frags. I positioned the lights like I did to try and encourage front to back growth as well as vertical growth.

I'm tying in a large frag tank for corals that I won't have space for or I don't know the growth patterns of. The only reason I haven't started this part of the project is because I don't have the lights yet. Hopefully in 6-12 months I'll have that running.

 

[Edward]

Hoping to set up the skimmer tomorrow, build the baffles for the sump, build the top to help with evaporation and set up my AWC (wishful thinking)

My primary pH probe and one of my doser heads died today but that's what built in redundancy is for! I guess GHL will be getting some more business this week.

I also ordered a pair of clowns, a hippo tang and a blonde naso tang from Dr.Reef about a week ago. Once they're here and go through my quarantine (never can be too careful) they'll be added. I'll then be looking into adding a few wrasses and a harem of an undecided anthias. Slowly but surely we'll get this stocked!

 

[FishieBusiness]

Great set up! Glad the move went well. Following along can't wait to see the progress.

 

[Edward]

Great set up! Glad the move went well. Following along can't wait to see the progress.

Thank you, looking forward to the tank maturing!

Happy new years everyone!