Jimbo’s CDA 250

[Jimbo327]

So back to my DIY metal top trim for the tank.

I went to Lowes and HD, and got some aluminum angles, brazing rods, and spray paint. Got some corner brackets from Harbor Freight for $4 each. Total parts cost is -$150. (aluminum angle ~$35x3, paint $20, brazing rod $8)

I cut the 45 degrees with a metal blade on the miter saw. Used my propane blowtorch to heat the metal and basically solder the corners. The hardest part of this whole project is this "brazing" solder, it does not flow well. Definitely not structural, but it holds.

I'm going to stop there. I won't be able to finish spray painting primer and white top coat with rain in the forecast for the whole next week. So I'll pick it back up in about 2 weeks.

Note: I don’t recommend this mod unless you have an older style CDA tank which has a wider euro brace like mine. There is risk with corrosion of aluminum and paint. My tank has double euro brace that is 4.5” wide.

 

[Jimbo327]

It's about 4 months since the tank cycle completed, and the tank is settling in.

For the first 4 months, my goal was to keep livestock alive, and get through the ugly stage without crazy nuisance algae/pests. Got the CUC and tang gang in place, and killed off some GHA/Bryopsis. So I'm satisfied.

For the next 4 months, there are 3 things I want to accomplish.

1. I want to adjust the lights to increase PAR over the tank (I think I'm low on PAR with the current settings).
2. Set up enough automation that will allow me to travel up to 3 weeks away from the tank and have someone check on the tank once per week. I'm scheduled to travel during the summer, so that's the urgency.
3. I want to start dialing in the rest of the minor water parameters/nutrients. I have not done a single water change yet since starting the tank. Crazy, right? I'm a big fan of DSR and RM methods, and I want to learn more from reefers who are actively on those programs. So I will be doing a water change and sending in a few ICPs this month, and start understanding on how to control trace elements and nutrients without major water changes.

I figure that it's going to take at least 1 year for a new tank to mature, especially starting with uncured dead rocks. So I have 1 year to learn the new school technologies/methods, and to weed out the BS using my old school reefing experience. And come up with a blended reefing style that I can maintain for the long term.

 

[drexel]

I've been using the RM method for a few years now, so let me know if you have any questions? Download the handbook for free and read it a couple times. I'm starting to make my own trace elements and I'm slowly adding more DIY elements as I go along. This will save you some money in the long run. RHF just wrote an article about trace elements that's worth a read and I agree with his opinion about traces that are completely unnecessary and serve no biological role.

 

[Jimbo327]

Awesome. Definitely interested in DIY elements as well. I met another reefer that is making his own as well. I'll probably have a ton of questions.

 

[Jimbo327]

Break in the weather before next week of rain. Sprayed a couple coats of Rustoleum aluminum primer and high performance enamel paint. Will let it dry and fully cure for a couple weeks. Haven’t seen anyone else doing this DIY mod, so hopefully it holds up.

 

[Jimbo327]

Did my first small water change on this tank. ~30 gal.

1. Opened valve and gravity drained from tank to outside
2. Pumped in fresh saltwater from the barrel in outdoor shed

Pretty simple system and worked well. Will take a ICP water sample in next few days.

I'm fairly certain that my water is out of balance for essential trace elements. And this will also be my first ICP test as well. It's pretty cool that hobbyist can have this kind of access to high tech laboratory testing nowadays.

 

[Jimbo327]

My son and I like to sit in front of the tank at night and point out all of the different things we see. He's so happy when things are going well and we see some growth. We laugh at how the naso tang is attacking the nori clip. We joke about how the smaller desjardini tang's belly is so fat and needs to work out. We also look at all the different frags and see which one is doing well or which one is not. If we spot bubble algae or aiptasia, I try to nuke it with some vinegar or manual removal as quickly as possible. That's the best part of having a reef tank, just enjoying the tank and sharing it with him.

 

[Smite]

That trim came out very clean. Looking forward to seeing it on the tank. Its purpose is just cosmetic? So it will just rest around the top?

 

[Jimbo327]

Thanks, definitely just cosmetics because the cost would be much higher with stainless steel, fab, welding and powder coating. The durability of this aluminum is a concern because it is very soft. I think I already nicked it because I placed it on the ground, so I really have to baby it. I will try to get it on the tank soon to see the fit. I do plan to add some rubber on the inside trim to prevent scratching the glass.

I’ll take a photo once I get it on the tank.

Update: Here you go! Fits like a glove. Works well on CDA’s double euro bracing because it keeps the salt creep away. This would not work well on normal euro brace. Don't mind the cloudy water, I was testing and flushing out my denitrator chamber.

 

[Jimbo327]

The powerhead covers have pretty good coralline growing on it. I think it is getting to the point where it will start blowing coralline all over the rocks and get an explosion of coralline spread in the next 2-3 months.


All of my rocks have been green for a long time. It's not coralline, but it's some type of green algae. It's cool. Can’t see under blue lights, but under daylight.

The brown diatom/dino on my sand is slowly going away as well. Maybe my tank is getting more mature, but the brown stuff is not as strong as before. Or maybe there is higher nutrients in the water with the added fish. Or maybe my baby trochus snails are growing up to be juvi trochus snails. Who knows. Hopefully, in another month or two, the good bacteria in the tank will be able to overcome it.

 

[Jimbo327]

Sadly, I think one of my torches is dying. It hasn’t inflate for at least a week. Tentacles are super thin. And today, I see he dropped some tentacles in the sand. I have taken it out last week to do a chemi-clean and Lugols dip. Not sure why because the other torches are thriving next to it. This sucks!

The tentacle tip in the sand.

 

[drexel]

Any clowns in the tank? My clowns would rip the hell out of my duncan, but you would never notice a difference in the colony, only the fact that there were tentacles floating around.

 

[Jimbo327]

Yeah, I have 2 clowns. I will need to keep an eye out. Maybe also the hermit crabs.

 

[Jimbo327]

I lost a few frags of SPS, my torch is losing tentacles, and my goni looks to be on its way out. So something is not right in my system. My ICP came back and I’m low on a few elements.

My trident was out of calibration, so I need to fix the calcium and magnesium. I can adjust for Sr, Mn, Fe since I have some DIY solutions I can make. I’m not sure how I can add chromium, nickel or zinc…and how important is it?

What is surprising is that it show zero for both phosphorus and phosphate on the ICP. I test with Hanna checker ULR phosphate regularly and it is in the 0.05ppm range. Anyone else has this problem?

 

[DanK.Reefer]

Hey Jimbo I'm sorry to read of your coral losses thats a bummer and I wish there was a silver bullet fix. This is most likely due to the overall imaturity of the tank and should improve with time.

As as far as the Hanna checker is concerned these are some of the things that I have read about in artilces concerning the issue. The Hanna checker will register silicates as phosphates. I didn't see that element listed in the ICP. The checker can also give higher than accurate readings if the cuvettes are not perfectly clean. For this I thoroughly rinse my cuvettes with RO after every test and let them air dry. I then soak my cuvettes in vinegar for a few hours then RO for a few hours after each batch of reagent gets used up. This seems to keep the cuvettes very clean. Also remember not to get any finger prints on the outside of the cuvettes while testing for this I like to use a micro fiber towel to clean the outside of the cuvette.

If you think you may be having issues with silicates causing higher readings on you Hanna checker you can use a good quality liquid test kit such as the Red Sea phosphate pro kit to get more accurate readings. I also use the Hanna checker but I switch back and forth between that and the Red Sea Phosphate Pro kit to make sure I am getting a good reliable test result.

I have read that there are no really reliable test kits for silicates that can be performed from home, but for what ever its worth the seachem kit for silicates is said to be the most accurate.

I don't know if this will help you out at all but these have been my findings after much reading on the subject of phosphates. I wish mine were lower(testing .15-.2) but I suppose we can't have it all.

Sent from my SM-G973U using Tapatalk

 

[Jimbo327]

ICP doesn't test for silicates, just silicon. But I have sand, so that throws the silicon readings off. So really not sure if I have high or low silicates. I keep my Hanna checkers cuvettes pretty clean, and rinse out with RO water after use.

Nitrate: 10.6 ppm
Phosphate: 0.05 ppm

I'll raise my Phosphates to 0.09 ppm with some Sodium Phosphate, see if some of my corals recover or not.

ICP is pretty cool tool. Stability is key, and it was a bonehead move to let calcium drop as far as it did without realizing it.

 

[DanK.Reefer]

It is my understanding If you are using new aragonite sand and artificial rock/aragonite rock then yes it will leach silicates for a period of time as it cycles. This is why new tanks generally end up getting a bloom of Diatomes because they are fueled by the leaching silicates. How long just depends on how much sand size of the tank and the type of filtration. Luckily most phosphate removers also pull out silicates so by using something like phosgaurd or GFO you can pull the silicates allong with the phosphates. I am actually testing phosphates right now as I type this LOL.

I like this red sea kit for nitrate and phosphate it is easy to use and the results seem very consistant. I actually have the hanna checkers for No3 + Po4 but I prefer this kit. I haven't even used the hanna Nitrate checker. I opened the package read what a pain the instructions are and put it on the shelf....LOL

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[Jimbo327]

I used 120 lbs of dead dry sand in my tank, and bleached rock/artificial rocks. And I never run GFO except when I was doing the Fluconazole treatment for 2 weeks. I think the tank needs to mature and this is just part of the whole 1st year of getting through the uglies and stabilizing/leaching, and finally coming to a mature balance. I have about another 7 months to go.

With the yellow glasses, I can see hundreds of tiny little pink dots all over my rocks. So coralline is spreading fast. That’s a good sign. My priority is to correct my calcium and magnesium, and keep it there. Then I can deal with the trace elements.

 

[drexel]

Silicates are one of the nutrients that will pass through RO systems with ease if not filtered out properly. Anion stage is what removes the bulk of silicates. Foods and additives will add quite a bit of trace elements to a tank as well, some of them being, iodine, magnesium, vanadium and a few others.

 

[drexel]

Also, you're not going to get silicates from aragonite sand.