My 90g Oceanic TECH build
- Thread starter Reeflogic
- Start date
bryman
New member
Hi there,
Nice to have a fellow tech 90 guy around! Your build is very well thought out and executed. I wish my sump area looked like that!
As for your algae problem with biopellets, I would guess that was actually a bacterial bloom from the BPs. It can happen at the beginning. I would just cut your BPs in half and bring them online again. After my experience I think it's best to start a tank with them at a very low dose and increase as necessary. Carbon dosing from the beginning helps to keep things stable and happy, and avoids forcing the corals to adapt too quickly later to lower nutrient levels. This is how I ran into major problems with my tank.
- Bryman
Nice to have a fellow tech 90 guy around! Your build is very well thought out and executed. I wish my sump area looked like that!
As for your algae problem with biopellets, I would guess that was actually a bacterial bloom from the BPs. It can happen at the beginning. I would just cut your BPs in half and bring them online again. After my experience I think it's best to start a tank with them at a very low dose and increase as necessary. Carbon dosing from the beginning helps to keep things stable and happy, and avoids forcing the corals to adapt too quickly later to lower nutrient levels. This is how I ran into major problems with my tank.
- Bryman
Reeflogic
New member
Bryan, your tank is giving me so much inspiration, so obviously your words mean a lot. Thank you for the compliments and thank you even more for the reassurance with the BP's. I have been watching a lot of PSTEELEB's videos from RC and he also uses a BP reactor, he made the mod which I am now reading really makes a difference. Having the ability to slow the effluent and keep the pellets tumbling seems to work for people with successful set ups.
Funny thing is, I actually purchased the Reef Octopus 90 after viewing your videos on youtube, I had no idea it was you until a few days ago lol. Small world! I had about 3" total of BP's in my reactor, so that should give you a sense of how much I added total. My macro's in the fuge bleached and withered away, lost all the clump of chaeto I had, but again, I had gone fallow for a few weeks while I QT'd fish, I still fed the system, but obviously not as much. I think it was a combination of maybe too much BP's and not enough bioload. I am going to add an inline reactor and use Brightwell's carbon and ExtraX Phos and probably put that BP reactor back online with a VERY small amount of BP's now that my system has more fish and is being fed heavier.
If your system is remaining successful using the same reactor, then there is no reason why mine shouldn't as well! Hurry and get those red bugs under control lol, I want some sticks
I'm getting a small frag pack from Ben, looking forward to SPS!!
Reeflogic
New member
Bored... figured I'd post an update of my sump since I took a photo for another thread! As you can see I'm currently using my BP reactor for a media reactor, which worked out great. BP reactor will come back eventually lol. Also, I changed up my skimmer plumbing slightly and allowed for a tad more flow through the fuge. The Dragon's Breath macro is growing very nicely and has since become my favorite macro ever. Its gorgeous, noninvasive and grows fairly quick and is FULL of pods. I also have a "sprout" in my display that is attached to a shell and it glows under my LEDs, rather mesmerizing. Well that's it for now, still quarantining fish and holding off a little for more corals (besides some frags from Ben, which I should get this week)
I am starting to see coralline spread onto rocks and mostly snails, I cant wait until this dry rock is purple!!!
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I am starting to see coralline spread onto rocks and mostly snails, I cant wait until this dry rock is purple!!!
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Reeflogic
New member
Dude, that dragon's breath looks incredible!
It is man, I'll bring you a small piece over when I come get muh frags!!!
Funlad3
Well-known member
Funlad3
Well-known member
Man, I really need to clean up my sump
You don't know the half of it!
Reeflogic
New member
Thanks Yury! I used a combination of 3/4" and 1/2" metal conduit that I painted black. I only had a 1/2 pipe bender, so I used 1/2" first and felt it had too much play once I installed the heatsink, so I purchased 3/4" and ran it up to just below the 45 degree bend, added a plastic insert and slid the 1/2" conduit right inside. I then drilled some small screw holes through the 1/2" and 3/4" conduit and used a flat tip bolt / screw to torque up against the 1/2" inner conduit. It is pretty rigid now and with using the eyelets to connect the heatsink, I can slide it back and forth as needed to get in the tank. If I need to lift the fixture or lower it, I would just need to lift the inner 1/2" conduit up and drill through a new hole and voila! (using a level of course hehe)
I am about to post some photos of my LED fixture for you. (in response to your build thread)
Reeflogic
New member
Here is my groupbuyled DIY fixture. (posted in response to Yury's upcoming build)
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Reeflogic
New member
Thanks Dominick! yeah I grabbed that in an Ebay macroalgae frag pack and it took off, hopefully in a few months I can start trading it out to folks who want some!
Reeflogic
New member
Yes, I use 80 degree optics on all my CW and RB LEDs. I do not have optics on my Hyper Violets or Ocean Coral Whites (I want to order the OCW optics 3up version)
I muffed on my placement a tad and got the LED's a little too close to each other so I didn't have room for all the optics.... I can fix this at any time...but what a PITA it would be.
I have mine roughly 8" above the water. I have a Oceanic tech series that has the black euro-bracing around the perimeter and if I go much higher I will be losing too much light. I just dim them down 30-35% to compensate for them being so close. I do not have a par meter so I am basing everything on the livestock and just basically how it looks. You will have a tendency to think you can crank them to 100%, but I could tell it was cooking stuff.
The Makers heatsink does come with a nice acrylic insert that protects the lens and wiring. Easy to clean too. I rarely have to clean it as I have no splash or bubbles in my system. Every once in awhile the MP40's will draw down a typhoon of air bubbles and it will splash a little, but not enough to concern me. You will like the Makers heatsink man, its a quality finish and durable as hell.
Reeflogic
New member
Yury,
I got the check valves from BRS, as well as the gate valve. They have unions so they are easy to open up and clean when needed. They work flawlessly, I often shut off my returns when broadcast feeding and just have the vortechs on feed mode. My sump fills up about 3-4" and holds until I'm ready to turn them back on. My reservoir is seated on the right hand side of the tank and fed through the back to my neptune. I use a 6 gallon blue square water holder thingy with the pump velcro'd to the top and even though it looks pretty good, I will be making a 3 sided cover to match my stand , which will slide over it. (when I find the time anyways, hell I still haven't installed the doors lol)
The opening or cap on the blue jug is about 4" wide, so it is easy enough to just open and I use another 6 gallon water jug with handles and a clear spout to fill the ATO with ro/di. I also mix a gallon concentrate of Kalk for dripping in my ATO and pour it in the reservoir. I fill mine roughly every 6-7 days. I get very minimal evaporation with LEDs, quite a bit less than my last reef I had under 500 watts of MH + another 100 watts of T5's. So basically every Sunday I fill it and add my Kalk.