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Grigor's 75g Soft Coral Dominate Tank Build (1 Viewer)

patent said:
David previously made a 4 foot version of an ATS that I'm currently using on a large overfeed fowler. You need a good sized pump to run it, but even at 4 feet its hard to get an even water flow over the entire length. Doable, but might be easier to just have a 2nd ats above that size.
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The big ones that Inland Aquatics used to sell, which were designed by Walter Adey at the Smithsonian, used a long flat dump bucket arrangement that sloshed the water back and forth over the algae. Adey thought that this was instrumental in getting good growth of turf algae.

What sorts of algae grow in your big 4 foot ATS?
 
capman said:
What sorts of algae grow in your big 4 foot ATS?
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LOL. Green and black stuff? I don't spend much time looking at it, just scrape and flush. I'll take a pic next time.
 
I do dose iron a couple of times a week and also spike my fresh saltwater mix with extra iron.

This is pretty much all I've grown, no red turf. I wonder if light spectrum also has something to do with the type of algae it grows. Both 2700K T5 bulbs and the red leds are growing the same stuff. Early on there was some brown and red slimy like algae but eventually this stuff took over.

ATS alone has never kept phosphates in check they always slowly increase. For a while water changes ( 40g weekly on the 180g tank ) was enough to keep in check, but overtime and probably heavier feeding I had to resort to other methods for phosphates. Currently using LaCL3 with 5 micron Sedment filter for primary phosphate control.

Nitates though have always registered near zero on Salifert tests ( .1 ppm on high resolution ) though I don't really know how accurate it is.
 
Love your ATS system. I have been trying to figure out how to retrofit my 20L sump for one.
 
Finally got around to adding lights to the second side. Added the Dimmable 300W LED Grow Light 3W Full Spectrum IR costs around $110. I been using these fixtures replacing 4X54w T5s on my 180g show for about 4 months with great results. For me, running with dial at 40% for 18 hours seems to be the sweet spot.

Tanks is doing well, just a couple spots of byropsis but it's getting slower so hopefully getting it under control.

Added a rock anemone and a very small orange maxi-mini anemone back in March. No other plans for corals or fish just let it grow.

ATS with new fixture, the old 8 bulb 660nm 120degree 3w leds was moved to the back side:

New_fixture_ats.jpg

New_fixture_ats.jpg


New screen side after 1 week was virtually the same output as the old mature side:

new_fixture_side_a_06102015.jpg

new_fixture_side_a_06102015.jpg


The existing mature side lit by 8 700mah 120degree 660nm LEDs:

old_side_b_06102015.jpg

old_side_b_06102015.jpg


Total harvest 1 week growth, 2.5 cups rinsed and sqeezed:

06102015_harvest.jpg

06102015_harvest.jpg



Quick full tank shot:

120g_full_shot.jpg

120g_full_shot.jpg

 
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WOW, that looks delicious! Now I'm second guessing if I should get a skimmer for the future setup.

David, would you say that the ATS would require more work to keep clean than a skimmer with a neck cleaner?

BTW, tank looks fantastic!
 
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souk said:
WOW, that looks delicious! Now I'm second guessing if I should get a skimmer for the future setup.

David, would you say that the ATS would require more work to keep clean than a skimmer with a neck cleaner?

BTW, tank looks fantastic!
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Never had a neck cleaner. Assuming ATS is designed well and can get screen in/out easily it's just a couple of minutes once a week. For me, the maintanence is a non-factor and definately not anymore than a skimmer without a neck cleaner.
 
ArstenA said:
Perhaps I should go from 14 hours to 18 hours...
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As long as your not burning it ( which didn't appear to be at all from the last photos ), only other consideration would be if it's on during main times where your in the room because of the fans running.
 
Tanks is doing great. Little bit of byropsis starting to pop back up in places and need to do another round a aptasia killing. Usually just slightly cutting back food ( I still alot compared to more traditional systems ) the byropsis will fade away.

Large Colt needs a major trim so wanted to get a pic before it gets chopped becuase it's blocking too much light from lower corals.

No new corals. I haven't been buying any livestock since the last swap. Only essential supplies to keep the tank running ro/di filters etc. Can't really think of much I want to add, another rock amenone maybe. I'm not into palys and hasn't really been any zoanthids I'm really eyeing.

Been trying to move stuff of the sandbed, sold some off, others still migrated to a 29g tank.

I did loose 3 fish in July: long nose butterfly, female clown, bristle tooth tang. Believe it to have been ich or something. Hadn't been paying attention to the tank and ich got too far along couldn't save them. Only one I will for sure replace is the clown.

Both tanks haven't had a water change since early May. Been trying Triton type method but not using triton products ( except the test itself ). I would use triton if they sold the trace elements seperate but I don't want or need the CA/ALK portion ( I use kalkwasser for the show tank and not going to change, soft tank don't use any ). So not going to pay for something I don't use. So been doing HW trace-tip 1 & 1 and miratip on 120g and the 180g. Good test becuase they are very different tanks will be interesting to see what elements are getting consumed and/or start to elevate based 120g soft only vs 180g community tank. I will send a triton test in when the first dosing bottles are done and see where it stands. Thus far, everything has been fine but that is to be expected. I imagine it will be 12 months or so before you really start to see what is accumulating or deficient from no water changes and only adding elements.

Current Full Shot:

120g_08212015.jpg

120g_08212015.jpg

 
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I will speculate that no water changes means that you never get an opportunity to remove free floating form of the ich parasite. Also, since you siphon the sand so well, you don't remove any from the sand bed. I assume you still siphon the sand, but into a filter sock in the sump.

Anyway, that would be my guess. If you go to no water changes or infrequent water changes, I think it is much trickier to "live with ich". Not a criticism, but an observation. I believe this was issue shortly after my tank transfer which came to crescendo while I was on vacation in January. New tank, new water, I went longer between water changes.

Aside from your clown going, the ones that went would have been the ones I would have bet on having trouble if there was an outbreak. Glad the convict made it.

So, did you try to remove the three or just let them bomb out? Did you do anything with the remaining? Since they lived thru it, you likely should be fine unless you add something else or up the stress level some other way.

Good luck with your experiment, it is interesting to watch. Idk if you will agree with me or not, but so far one negative result of the no water change test might be those three fish. Of course it didn't happen in the 180, so what is different? I would blame the long nose butterfly. Ich magnet if you ask me.
 
I didn't notice the severity until the butterfly was already dead. I hadn't been paying any attention. I usually would observe when just the blue lights are on get a good idea how bad it was. None of the other fish showed any visual signs to the Convict was never a question.

Yes, I do "Plan" to still siphon but been lazy and haven't done a thing in tank maintenance. Just topoff, feed, and algae harvest. But I think I'm out of my funk and ready to get going again.
 
FYI: The tank is coming to an end. Going to simplify and reduce down to 1 system. Will be consolidating the 180g and 120g together.

I will start in early January. I will for sure get one last picture before starting.
 
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David Grigor said:
I'm still trying to figure out what will stay and what will go. I'll need to get rid of some corals from both tanks to make room. Its kinda nice to change things up every so often anyways.
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Agreed it is a good feeling and gives you some fresh motivation. Like Brian said if you need help I'm sure plenty available here!
 
David Grigor said:
FYI: The tank is coming to an end. Going to simplify and reduce down to 1 system. Will be consolidating the 180g and 120g together.

I will start in early January. I will for sure get one last picture before starting.
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I'm sorry to see this system coming down - it really is beautiful. But I certainly understand the need to simplify sometimes.

I don't know what your plans are for this system's equipment, but if the ATS on this system is not something you are going to be needing once the tank is taken down I'd be interested in buying the ATS for use in the lab.

I really need to do something to improve nutrient export in the 4-tank system by the window - the skimmer on that system is not keeping up, phosphate keeps rising, and the only way I seem to be able to make that system work long-term currently is by using GFO. I don't like using GFO since it ends up being expensive, and more importantly, some of the sponges seem to decline when I use GFO (though maybe I could fix that if I dosed silica???).​

The lights (the ones over your soft coral tank, as well as the ones used on the ATS) might be really useful too, depending on what money I could scrape together.

(But maybe you are planning on keeping all these things for possible future use?)
 
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