JapanReef - 450 gallon In-Wall system

[JohnL]

This thread was automatically split due to performance issues. You can find the rest of the thread here: http://archive.reefcentral.com/forum...50#post7244350

[Habib]

test

[Habib]

Looks like this thread is working fine again and can be posted on.

[NexDog]

Thank you, Habib! CEO of awesome company plus RC guru.

[NexDog]

Welcome to Part II of “JapanReef - 450 gallon In-Wall system�!

To save many from the pain of reading all 40 pages or 1000 posts of Part I, here is a brief rundown of the tank and an appendix of highlights from the first installment.

Specifications
Tank: 340 gallons (72x30x36) made by James at Envision Acrylics.
Sump: 150 gallons (48x24x30) also from Envision Acrylics.
Lighting: PFO Hood with 3x400w 14k Hamilton MH bulbs and 4x96x Power Compacts + 2 Moonlights.
Ballasts: PFO Pulse Start ballsts (one single and one double)
Skimmer: Deltec 902 – rated for heavy stocked 480g - 2 x Eheim 1260 - Dimensions: Length: 25" Width: 13" Height: 39".
Return Pump: Pan World 100PX-X (throttled down to 800gph due to gravity fed Skimmer).
Bottom Flow: Sequence 1000 closed loop hooked up to 2 PVC rock supporting racks.
Main Flow: Sequence Dart closed loop puching out 2 outlets on right side of the tank.
More Flow: 2ｘEcotech Marine VorTech Propeller Pumps pre-ordered from Aquarium Specialty.
Top-Off: Tunze Osmolator with Calcium Dispenser.

Methodology
The main tank is 50/50 SSB/DB. Area under the rock islands is kept spotlessly clean due the flow provided by the big Squence 1000. Each rock rack has 6 loc-line nozzles that push detritus to the back of the tank where there is 5� clearance running the length ofd the tank. Detritus is siphoned out every few weeks. Visible areas around the rock structures have a thin layer of sand and I siphon about 30% and replace monthly.

Current Fish Stock List
1 Yellow Tang
1 Powder Blue Tang
1 Juvie Emperor Angel
1 Flame Angel
1 Coral Beauty
1 Green Chromis
5 Lyretail Anthias
1 6-Spot Sleeper Goby
1 Yellow Watchman Goby
2 Clarkii Clowns (paired)

Other LiveStock List

11 Acropora colonies
1 Anchor
1 Frogspawn
1 LTA
1 Open Brain
1 Huge T. Squamosa
1 T. Crocea
1 Finger Leather
Various Softies

I’d also like to mention the various vendors that I’ve used in getting all my stuff together and sent here to Japan. All these outfits are totally top-notch and I recommend them highly:

USA Based Vendors
Envision Acrylics (Of course )
Premium Aquatics – provided all lighting needs.
Deltec USA Doug will hook you up!
Savko – top quality plumbing fittings.
MarineDepot – totally awesome and super cheap shipping.
Aquarium Specialty – providing new Vortech pumps.
ReefNutrition – live copepods at my door in less than 72 hours!

Japan Based Vendors
Aqua-Planning – Live Rock from Okinawa
PPM Okinawa – for inverts and softies.
Natural – quality fish and coral in Tokyo.

Some images showing three stages of tank progress







So I built an appendix for Part I. Most of the linked pages or posts have pics (as we all like pics ).

Appendix Part I
Page 1 – Ideas, layout and house build start.
Page 3 – Methodology discussion and Skimmer arrives.
Page 6 – First tank build photos.
Page 7 – PFO Hood arrives (slightly damaged).
Page 7 – Finished tank pics.
Page 7 – Finished sump pics.
Page 8 – Tank room construction.
Page 10 – Tank arrives!
Page 11 – Tank goes in the tank room.
Page 13 – Building Rock Racks.
Page 14 – Major electricity problem
Page 16 – First tank room shots.
Page 18 – Rock rack closed loop and flow testing.
Page 19 – Skimmer dialing in and first full tank shot (empty with racks).
Page 22 – Microbubble problems.
Page 24 – Live rock arrival and curing tubs.
Page 25 – Second full tank shot with live rock going in.
Page 25 – Various pics – custom transformers etc.
Page 26 – Aquascape half finished.
Page 27 – Sand goes in!
Page 28 – Aquascape finished!
Page 30 – BIG DAY! First shipment of corals and new fish!
Page 31 – Anthias and Powder Blue in Quarantine.
Page 34 – Shipment of softies and starfish arrives.
Page 35 – New LPS go in.
Page 37 – New Milliporas.
Page 39 – Importing Copepods.

Onwards and upwards.

[LoneStarSA]

Awesome read if you got the time!

[jeffbrig]

Nice Index!

[elephen]

Looks really nice!

[agarza]

Congrats on the split and great job on the appendix. You really were prepared for the splitting time. lol

Cheers!!

[KAZEKY]

Nice Tank!
Congrats

[NexDog]

Thanks all.

So I'm starting to think about what fish to add next. The tank looks so much better since the Anthias and PBT went in. The extra activity with all the colours really gives it a wow factor. The Anthias stay high in the tank and normally hang out together. I found a shop with Blue Reef Chromis and I'm thinking about adding 10. Down here we just get the pale green variety and the blue ones look so much nicer - thoughts?

I picked up a baby 6-Spot sleeper goby today for sand sifting duty. I bought a baby last year and now he's about 3" long and a sand sifting machine. I also got a pair of baby Heniochus. They are from my least favourite Ich infested store but they've been in there 2 weeks, look healthy, eating and super active. So that's 3 fish in QT now. If I got the 10 Chromis I would have to do on my next batch. My other idea is getting 10 Royal Grammas and letting the males fight to death until I had a harem of one male and the rest females. It would look cool but I haven't reached the point where I'm happy with doing such a non-ethical thing even though the outcome would be super cool. Any thoughts?

[Joao Monteiro]

Hi there, Laurence.

Excelent index,by the way.

I´ll also be putting a school of Anthias (squamipinis - liretail ? - or bartlet , problably) and another one of Chromis viridis. 5 each, most likely (I´ve finish the layout. Check the photos)

I believe the Chromis are all the same. The color depends on the light and mostly if their stressed (pale) or not (greenish blue).

Which Heniochus? The acuminatus (sorry, but don´t know their names in English. We use the latin names, here in Portugal). I believe thei´re far from reefsafe. Am I wrong ?

Do you have photos of your anthias and PBT in the aquarium?

[vest0830]

great looking tank! I myself purchase many corals from PPM and I have putchased lots of LR from aqua planning...in fact I was down there the other day. Great places and great people!

your tank is looking amazing!

[jnarowe]

Looking good Dog Man! great tank shot. That poor lonely chromis..hehe. I have 9 and they are wild. Today I was feeding my home brew food a la melev and they just swarm my fingers and grab the food away. I was expecting them to nip at me but that hasn't happened yet. They remind me of a "bait ball" from when I go salmon fishing.

You sure do have a lot of pumps on your system. I only use one pump and I see you have at least 3 just for flow. Maybe you can cut one or two out when you get the Vortechs?

How is the coral beauty behaving? I have heard a lot of negative comments about them but they sure are sweet looking active fish. And BTW, I think your tank is way to clean!

[NexDog]

Originally posted by Joao Monteiro
Hi there, Laurence.

Excelent index,by the way.

I´ll also be putting a school of Anthias (squamipinis - liretail ? - or bartlet , problably) and another one of Chromis viridis. 5 each, most likely (I´ve finish the layout. Check the photos)

I believe the Chromis are all the same. The color depends on the light and mostly if their stressed (pale) or not (greenish blue).

Which Heniochus? The acuminatus (sorry, but don´t know their names in English. We use the latin names, here in Portugal). I believe thei´re far from reefsafe. Am I wrong ?

Do you have photos of your anthias and PBT in the aquarium?

Joao, been following your thread and look forward to regular updates.

Chromis definitely have different types. Chromis viridis is the common green chromis and I have one of those. The Blue Reef Chromis is Chromis cyaneus.





The Black and White Heniochus is indeed Heniochus acuminatus and regarded as the only reef-safe butterflyfish. Well, not 100% reef-safe as they like to snack on Zoos but I only have one Zoo colony and I plan to keep a Regal Angel in the future so whatever the case, the Zoos are history.



All photos courtesy of MarineDepot Live.

[NexDog]

Originally posted by vest0830
great looking tank! I myself purchase many corals from PPM and I have putchased lots of LR from aqua planning...in fact I was down there the other day. Great places and great people!

your tank is looking amazing!

Thanks. Looks better now the milliporas and extra fish are in. You are lucky to live in Okinawa - some great shops there. I just wish PPM did more SPS and LPS....

[NexDog]

Originally posted by jnarowe
Looking good Dog Man! great tank shot. That poor lonely chromis..hehe. I have 9 and they are wild. Today I was feeding my home brew food a la melev and they just swarm my fingers and grab the food away. I was expecting them to nip at me but that hasn't happened yet. They remind me of a "bait ball" from when I go salmon fishing.

You sure do have a lot of pumps on your system. I only use one pump and I see you have at least 3 just for flow. Maybe you can cut one or two out when you get the Vortechs?

How is the coral beauty behaving? I have heard a lot of negative comments about them but they sure are sweet looking active fish. And BTW, I think your tank is way to clean!

Hey Jonathan, glad you found this thread again.

I have 3 pumps on the system but still lack flow! The big Sequence only serves to keep the area under the rock structures clean and it does a great job. There are a few gaps where I can see in and the bottom is like a mirrow - spotless. The PanWorld only circulates about 800gph and none of that flow really hits any coral. That leaves the Dart that I just powered up the other day probably pushing out about 3200gph after the elbows etc.

Coraline has started to build up on the sides and back so time to give it a good scraping.

I have some major purchases in my immediate future. A chiller and a calcium reactor. The tank room has an AC unit but I'm worried it's underpowered for what it has to do. It's rated for a bigger room and in our old house it kept the living nice and cool but now it has to cool all that water being heating by those 400w halides. Plus heat emitted by ballasts, pumps and the 150w halide in the sump. Just need the chiller for backup really.

The calcium level in the tank drops from 420 to 350 in a week. I have Kalk running through the auto top-off and each weekend I dose with B-Ionic (Part II). Problem is I don't have anywhere to put the Calcium Reactor. Would be nice if Kalk and dosing could see me through for a while. Any drawbacks to this vs a Ca Reactor?

[Joao Monteiro]

Chromis definitely have different types. Chromis viridis is the common green chromis and I have one of those. The Blue Reef Chromis is Chromis cyaneus.

You´re absolutely right. My problem with the english names...

The Black and White Heniochus is indeed Heniochus acuminatus and regarded as the only reef-safe butterflyfish. Well, not 100% reef-safe as they like to snack on Zoos but I only have one Zoo colony and I plan to keep a Regal Angel in the future so whatever the case, the Zoos are history.

I heard (or read somewhere) that they were also keen on some LPS...
I believe its safer with Chelmons or Forcipigers.

[Joao Monteiro]

Chromis definitely have different types. Chromis viridis is the common green chromis and I have one of those. The Blue Reef Chromis is Chromis cyaneus.

You´re absolutely right. My problem with the english names...

The Black and White Heniochus is indeed Heniochus acuminatus and regarded as the only reef-safe butterflyfish. Well, not 100% reef-safe as they like to snack on Zoos but I only have one Zoo colony and I plan to keep a Regal Angel in the future so whatever the case, the Zoos are history.

I heard (or read somewhere) that they were also keen on some LPS...
I believe its safer with Chelmons and Forcipigers.

[jnarowe]

Would be nice if Kalk and dosing could see me through for a while. Any drawbacks to this vs a Ca Reactor?

The only drawbacks would be cost and swings of calcium level. The reason for a reactor is to keep the calcium level as constant as possible because many calcifying animals and plant require specific concentrations to thrive/grow.

I am in the same situation and using Kent Reactor and baking soda to keep levels in the right range. I am in the design process for a multi-media reactor for carbon, RowaPhos, and calcium...

Why not make your own? You do know that I am keeping my tank cool with just ventillation fans right? On a natural reef there is a 2 to 5+ degree range of temp. daily so my system is perfectly adequate even with the 1000W MH lamps. Running a chiller can be very expensive as well. Air conditioning a tank room is also very innefficient. Can you get access to outside air? All those pumps add a lot of heat too so you are constantly fighting against those.

[NexDog]

Access to outside air doesn't help iwhen that air has 45973% humidity and daily averages of 100F.

[jnarowe]

Yeah I guess you are right. Here we have the high humidity but usually around 70F. I had a problem with my ventillation system because it worked well for temp. and humidity but when it rains the humidty goes to 100% and the fans cycle on and off because the replacement air is too humid. I had to shut of the humidistat.

Another thing you might consider is a small heat pump with dehumidifier. That would be much less expensive to run than a chiller I would think. Since you have a large tank, temp. fluctuations will be fairly slow so you could dial in the heat pump to keep the room at the temp. needed to maintain the tank.

I suppose a chiller would be simpler. Have you tested the temp. of the soil outside the house?

Check out this TOTM. Tuan uses an underground loop to chill his large system with excellent results. If I have problems in the Summer i will install the same thing.

[NexDog]

Was just reading that TOTM earlier today. That's a bit too complex for me though.

[jnarowe]

what, a couple of tubes, heat exchanger and temp. activated valve?

I know what you mean and that's why I don't have it installed either. maybe later.

[melev]

Nice index.