Just a little grow out system build.. open to advice and suggestions

yeah, photobucket destroyed this thread...

They screwed up a bunch of threads. Hech things from almost five years ago or more have no pictures. They high jacked avert ones pictures. I can't download mine to my own computer. Little clock just keeps spinning.

Any progress?

Well guys, it's been a while. We're still in it. Sorry for the lack of updates.. since kid #4 came, we've been swamped. A lot of the tanks are now wet. We're currently running 9 of the 12, with one of the tanks acting as a remote refugium.

There's been some up and downs.. mostly due to neglect.

Here's some photos.

Bathroom build..








This Redgard stuff is really cool.








This tile leveling system is awesome, once you get the hang of it. No more tile spacers or having to keep removing tiles as you're setting them to get the levels right!





Started doing pavers simultaneously.. Slight learning curve, to do it right, but came out great!





Started setting tile.. Went with 12x24 large format. Pretty easy to work with. We decided to tile the entire thing.. ceiling and all. Didn't want any moisture issues, and we like the look! Never done a ceiling before, but it wasn't bad at all! Plus, we saved thousands doing the entire job ourselves.














These little cubbies, to showcase dead coral skeletons, were a pain in the ass!





Coming along!




After trying 2 cheapie mini fridges off Amazon and not having any luck, we decided to get this, for cool refreshing beverages!



Finishing touches..

Then pavers..




Back to bathroom..




And back to pavers.. This is hard work.. much respect for those who do this for a living!










Tanks got wet in May or June, 2017.. We think..




We finally color coated the stucco.. which made it a lot more pleasant to the eye! Another hard job.. respect for people who do this for a living!












Back to pavers.. As a side note, polymeric sand is really cool stuff!








Starting to work on the tanks..

Garage went on hold for a while.. as we demo'd and built a new kitchen..

Then.. Thomas Fire came..

We literally just got the garage done and our new kitchen put in, like a week before this fire came..

This photo is standing in our front yard, looking across the street..



This was in the middle of the day.. apolocalyptic is an understatement.




We took a long break.. went on a few trips, to get away from all of this..

Then got back in again..










May 2018










These pumps have been running since Jun 2017 and haven't skipped a beat. Got a few spares.




Starter frags from Solitude, joesig, and TheGrun! Thanks for getting us re-started! (May 2018)




A new sump for our QT system..





June, 2018
















Got a new skimmer..

QT system.. a work in progress.. July, 2018






July, 2018










August, 2018.. we started having a lot of nitrate issues at this point. Lots of pale colors, poor growth. Lots of nuisance algae growth. Depressing!




Tried dosing KNo3.. tried feeding heavier.. but it just wasn't working out.

Unfortunately, we kinda just let things go at this point.. We hardly stepped foot into the new garage for the next few months.

And then we ran into issues with our Spectrapure system.. Pumps were just about running dry as our top off barrel ran out...

System was sent in for repair, and all was good again.. Decided to solve our nitrate issues by increasing our bioload.

Over these last few months, we've added about 40 tangs, 5 foxface, and about 70 other small fish. Fish are fed pellets twice daily, and we try to feed about 25 cubes of frozen, daily. Nitrates are hovering at about 10. Things are doing much better now!


Feb, 2019

This was our first batch of fish we added..






Feb, 2019.. We realized our flow sucked. We added a few Jebao PP20's and boy.. what a difference. We rebooted one of the tanks with the upgraded flow.










March, 2019

This Kenya tree has gotten out of control, and has smothered out a lot of nicer coral we had... It was time to prune it back. We also had a HUGE bubble algae outbreak.. Like an entire 8’ x 4’ tank, to the point you could not see any eggcrate.




This was about 2 of 10 tubs we took out..




March, 2019








End of March, 2019.. Foxfaces are starting to make a dent in the bubble algae. The Atlantic Blue tang is tearing it up. Coralline is starting to pop up all over the place.

April 2019. Refilled Calcium Reactor again..

We plan to order a 2nd Geo 1218 soon, as we have noticed a huge increase in Alk consumption. 10 clams may have something to do with it 😊





The tank bottom and eggcrate are just about completely covered in Coralline now.. with the exception of the little area surrounding the clams, where the fish are afraid to swim/eat algae. Crazy how fast it took over!




Started a little ric garden.. April, 2019





As of a week ago, April 22, 2019

Geo reactors have been sold to a new owner. I have 2 friends that ordered Geo Ca2 reactors that arrived not anything like the original. They are using the same pictures of their products but they are not the same product. So beware. They will say they are improved versions.

Oh man. Bummer. Did notice that the new ones are white. We really like the small footprint but large capacity, as we need something that can't be too tall, to fit underneath the stand. The 1218 was a perfect height. Will do more research on this. Thanks for the info!!

Make your own! As always, very cool.

Here is an example of someone who made a more normal sized one, steve g also built his for his 1200g system.

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/diy-calcium-reactor.587127/