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DarkSky's 220g Build (1 Viewer)

Looking good!!!

When I was doing my research for my algae scrubber, I found/heard that algae should have a period without light so the algae can respire. I would consider turning the lights off for at least four hours a day; especially when you're home and don't want the house looking like a set from a Miami Vice night club.
 
Looks great. I really like the peninsula set up. Meeting this Winter:D:D. I missed the resent one.
 
I will be for sure hosting another in the fall or winter.

Until then...

DISASTER STRIKES!

Tuesday night I happen to be working in the fish room, building the hoist system for the light when I step in a puddle. I turn around, thinking I had spilt water on the floor while setting up the QT when I see it - the sump has sprung a gusher.

I frantically grab all the towels I have in my house, pull all the power cables and start shop vacuuming water out of the sump.

Thankfully Nox was able to swing by and help with disaster recovery.

Y1ZEsyf.jpg


Thanks to my... judicious use of unions, we were able to quickly tear down the sump and plumbing and hall it to the garage.

Since it was Tuesday night, and the night before the 4th holiday, this wasn't getting fixed quickly.

The next morning, I call up Petco. After a few in person visits, they offer to return/exchange the aquarium. I drop off the leaky bugger at the Minnetonka Petco (much to the delight of the workers there who can't wait to bust it up in the trash) and, gift card in hand, head out to St. Paul to pick up the replacement.

Was this a blessing in disguise? The baffles in the sump were warping (lesson learned, use something thicker than 1/4" for 16" widths) so I am now able to run runs a few strips of support to prevent the flexing.

I'm also redoing the platform surface it was resting on and will be placing a yoga mat under it for additional support.

Hope this time it lasts longer than 2 weeks...
 
That’s a tough way to learn a lesson.
When I’m using a glass tank for a sump, I use glass baffles.
 
jlanger said:
That’s a tough way to learn a lesson.
When I’m using a glass tank for a sump, I use glass baffles.
Click to expand...

Yep.

I'm fairly certain the baffles expanded and caused the failure. The last two sumps I made were the same - glass tanks, acrylic baffles. But both of the previous two were cut using a scoring blade, so I left them about an 1/8" shorter than the tank since I was cutting them by hand. This build, I had the acrylic cut a 1/32" shorter than the width of the tank for a very snug fit.

Lesson learned - acrylic expands in water.
 
RSnodgrass said:
Bummer, good timing though.

May consider a cheap leak alarm now?
Click to expand...

I have two for my controller, but haven't moved it over yet. The next version of the cerbera should be here in our hands this September, so I had planned to wait until that.

I also have one of those $10 leak detectors that beeps when wet and that was being used, but not in a place that would have gotten wet. Now I know which direction water flows in that room and have the leak detector at that spot.
 
The sump is back in business.

The main display lived for a few days without any filtration, so the water became a bit yellow. I'm skimming wet and running carbon in both chambers of my reactor to try and clear it up. I'll probably end up doing a large water change tonight too.
 
It's making a great floor rug. Still haven't been able to hang it because one component (actuator) was held up in customs for 2 weeks. Now that i got it, I was able to wire everything in, and the 2 channel wireless relays I was using to control the actuator were defective. I same-day shipped a couple of new ones in yesterday, but they sent the wrong ones. (6v instead of 12v).

Now I'm leaving for a week, so it's unlikely it'll be hung until I get back, unless I hang it without the ability to control it, which isn't the worst thing in the world.
 
One final update for the build portion. I promise I will now stop updating every day, maybe I'll do one update every six months from now on!

The light and lift are in place! Pulleys need some silicone grease to quiet down but it works great other than that.




T5s in action!

 
Mid month update? Mid month update.

New Fish on the Block
The melanurus wrasse graduated QT and was introduced to the DT last night. I placed her in an acclimation box in the main display to make sure the resident king of the tank (rose scale wrasse) didn't mind. He swam over and gave the box and new addition a glance, and moved on. I let her out and she began exploring.

Fish Surgery
In addition to the melanurus, I had a brunneus wrasse also in QT. Two weeks into QT, she started swimming erratically. I nabbed her in the QT and moved her to an acclimation box in the QT tank. At first I thought she must have been spooked by something and had spinal damage. She still had energy and was actively chasing food, but it was difficult for her to swim upright and make it around the tank. Moving to the acclimation box helped a bit, but her condition never improved. A week into the acclimation box I was considering euthanasia, but noticed her gut was very bloated - could she have an infected swim bladder?

@nrupaw came over and we lanced her swim bladder. Noticed an immediate improvement in her bloated stomach, but no improvement in swimming capability. We dabbed a bit of neosporin on the wound and placed her back into QT. She mostly lied on her side during the day, watching everything going on but not moving too much. The last few days she's been scooting around and resting on the bottom of the tank. She'll get upright for a bit before tipping back over.
The whole while I've been feeding her mysis on the end of my tweezers. Most of the time, she takes it in her mouth and waits for me to move away, then spits it out. Stubborn. Hopefully she'll continue to eat occasionally and make a full recovery, but I have my doubts. She's pretty thin.

Damned Wildfires
Speaking of new fish, I just ordered a hawaiian flame wrasse from PIA (as well as a golden rhomboid for @nrupaw). They flew out Monday night, but due to the wildfires in California, they were delayed on the flight out. I didn't get them until 10:30am this morning - no worse for wear, but very hungry. I also can't take a photo of my QT without wicked reflections. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

31fTsMir.jpg


Corals, and the Return of the Testing
I have to admit, I see the appeal of a fish only system. Not having to test alk, ca, mag, etc these last few months was pretty awesome. But all lazy things must come to an end, so it was time for some SPS to make their way into the tank. @AmyZ and @nrupaw graciously sent me home with a bunch of frags as the canary in the coal mine - hopefully everything makes it!

u7fNpakr.jpg


Water Makes the Tank Go Round
Last but not least, I added another XF280 Gyre to the end of the display. I have them set in reef crest mode, so it really gets water whipping around in the tank. There are a few spots where it moved some sand, but I can fix that with some clever adjustments of the rockwork, I hope. The SPS in the tank are showing pretty great polyp extension, so things must be doing well!
 
For anyone confused about the picture, the cabling that comes pre-attached to the fixture snapped and dunked the light into my aquarium about 30 minutes ago.
 
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