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Jimroth's Big Ol' Tank
- Thread starter jimroth
- Start date
Man, nobody has been posting here much, I haven't updated and I haven't even slid down the page. Summer doldrums!
Everything's pretty good with the Big Ol' tank. No worries, except the stupid Dart pump, I'm gonna fix it after vacation. The dripping comes and goes.
Some updates and observations:
--Upscales Microclados (an acro) is a strong grower in my tank, I will someday have tons of it. Good looker, too. Blue torts, not fast growers.
--Found another lost coral in my cave, a pavona frag that was in the dark for more than a month. It's gonna make it, I don't know how.
--I don't really have enough light for great color. I'm going to need to either lower my lights, or convert them to 2X400W fixtures.
--Came to a bizarre realization about my lights. They are 250W SE bulbs in Lumenarc reflectors. The sockets of the fixtures point forward. That means that with reflection, that "dark area" in the fixture makes the back half of my tank brighter than the front. If you can picture it, some light comes out the end of the bulb and shoots down into the back of the tank. I noticed stuff was growing better there, and that's when I realized. What to do?
--In the meantime, I am experimenting with mounting some pearlberry and other frags higher up to get that wicked color.
--I have been experimenting with the issue of "single side bleaching." I noticed that a couple of my acros looked great, but were SNOW WHITE on the side away from the light, and I don't mean pointing straight down either. So I have moved or remounted them to see what happens, how long till the zooxanthellae (?) migrate to the bleached side. On my unidentified brown "tricolor" it's started quickly, on my fat Acropora abrotanoides, very little change, the coral is like two-face. You can see it at about 10-o'clock in the picture above.
--Finally made an acrylic mount for my float switches (of the top-off system). No more drooping suction cups!
--Broke one of the fittings off my kalk reactor the other day. After a moment of panic, I realized that the great thing about something you made yourself is that fixing it yourself is no big deal. I bought a 2 kilo bucket of kalk recently, gonna have to move up from there, I'm afraid. Currently running about 425 on the Ca, 10.9 Alk.
--Started to add powdered strontium chloride
--My little bunch of "Nuclear Death and Destruction" (green) zoos have covered a rock, I have like 100 of them. I need to swap for some other colors.
I got a good deal on a HUGE pack of PE Mysis, now both the fish and I have a 40-Ouncer in the fridge!
Everything's pretty good with the Big Ol' tank. No worries, except the stupid Dart pump, I'm gonna fix it after vacation. The dripping comes and goes.
Some updates and observations:
--Upscales Microclados (an acro) is a strong grower in my tank, I will someday have tons of it. Good looker, too. Blue torts, not fast growers.
--Found another lost coral in my cave, a pavona frag that was in the dark for more than a month. It's gonna make it, I don't know how.
--I don't really have enough light for great color. I'm going to need to either lower my lights, or convert them to 2X400W fixtures.
--Came to a bizarre realization about my lights. They are 250W SE bulbs in Lumenarc reflectors. The sockets of the fixtures point forward. That means that with reflection, that "dark area" in the fixture makes the back half of my tank brighter than the front. If you can picture it, some light comes out the end of the bulb and shoots down into the back of the tank. I noticed stuff was growing better there, and that's when I realized. What to do?
--In the meantime, I am experimenting with mounting some pearlberry and other frags higher up to get that wicked color.
--I have been experimenting with the issue of "single side bleaching." I noticed that a couple of my acros looked great, but were SNOW WHITE on the side away from the light, and I don't mean pointing straight down either. So I have moved or remounted them to see what happens, how long till the zooxanthellae (?) migrate to the bleached side. On my unidentified brown "tricolor" it's started quickly, on my fat Acropora abrotanoides, very little change, the coral is like two-face. You can see it at about 10-o'clock in the picture above.
--Finally made an acrylic mount for my float switches (of the top-off system). No more drooping suction cups!
--Broke one of the fittings off my kalk reactor the other day. After a moment of panic, I realized that the great thing about something you made yourself is that fixing it yourself is no big deal. I bought a 2 kilo bucket of kalk recently, gonna have to move up from there, I'm afraid. Currently running about 425 on the Ca, 10.9 Alk.
--Started to add powdered strontium chloride
--My little bunch of "Nuclear Death and Destruction" (green) zoos have covered a rock, I have like 100 of them. I need to swap for some other colors.
I got a good deal on a HUGE pack of PE Mysis, now both the fish and I have a 40-Ouncer in the fridge!
Re: Jimroth's Big Ol' Vacation Crisis
While I was on vacation, during the last day or second to last day, a the seal failed catastrophically on my return pump. My neighbor noticed that no water was flowing over the overflow and called me. I had her shut off the skimmer and return pumps. And to stop feeding the tank. There was a fair amount of water on the floor in the garage because (A) all the water from the sump (20G) leaked out until there was not enough for the pump to pump, and (B) the auto top up system then added as much water as it could (~30G) to try to replace it.
Luckily, I run 2 Vortech MP40Ws in the display, and I knew they would keep water circulating and O2 levels in pretty good shape for a while.
I had given her the number of a local club member (the awesome Jeff Curry) who went over to the house and made an assessment of the system and the critters in the display tank. He also shop-vacced up a lot of water, which was way beyond the call of duty. THANKS JEFF!
The display was isolated from the skimmer, top-up, heater etc. for about 48 hours. Everything looked pretty good when I got home, the fish were certainly happy. Poor polyp extension in the corals. The water level was down around 2" so the ones getting extra light looked great. One of my experimental bleached corals seems to have RTN'd. Almost all the acro frags sitting in the hot overflow trough RTN'd, even though Jeff put them into the main display. Montis were okay, surprise. That's after sitting in 2" of 100F water for hours.
The first thing I realized is that a lot of stuff, snails I guess, had died in the sump. It smelled like a dumpster behind a fish store. I did not want that water back in the display. I pumped out most of it and shop-vacced the rest. Then I added water to the sump and watched it run out of the pump seal. D'OH! I got out the stuff I need and installed my spare resealed Dart pump. Continued...
While I was on vacation, during the last day or second to last day, a the seal failed catastrophically on my return pump. My neighbor noticed that no water was flowing over the overflow and called me. I had her shut off the skimmer and return pumps. And to stop feeding the tank. There was a fair amount of water on the floor in the garage because (A) all the water from the sump (20G) leaked out until there was not enough for the pump to pump, and (B) the auto top up system then added as much water as it could (~30G) to try to replace it.
Luckily, I run 2 Vortech MP40Ws in the display, and I knew they would keep water circulating and O2 levels in pretty good shape for a while.
I had given her the number of a local club member (the awesome Jeff Curry) who went over to the house and made an assessment of the system and the critters in the display tank. He also shop-vacced up a lot of water, which was way beyond the call of duty. THANKS JEFF!
The display was isolated from the skimmer, top-up, heater etc. for about 48 hours. Everything looked pretty good when I got home, the fish were certainly happy. Poor polyp extension in the corals. The water level was down around 2" so the ones getting extra light looked great. One of my experimental bleached corals seems to have RTN'd. Almost all the acro frags sitting in the hot overflow trough RTN'd, even though Jeff put them into the main display. Montis were okay, surprise. That's after sitting in 2" of 100F water for hours.
The first thing I realized is that a lot of stuff, snails I guess, had died in the sump. It smelled like a dumpster behind a fish store. I did not want that water back in the display. I pumped out most of it and shop-vacced the rest. Then I added water to the sump and watched it run out of the pump seal. D'OH! I got out the stuff I need and installed my spare resealed Dart pump. Continued...
I was really glad I had made up a barrel of SW before I left; I highly recommend this practice. I added the water from the barrel. and pumped it into the display. I think there was decay in the plumbing, because the water that came out smelled a bit, and all corals closed up. I fired up my big skimmer, and of course there was a lot to skim out! Yuck.
After a couple hours, the water cleared up, the fish were happy and hungry,I fed the fish, and everything looked about like it did before I left.
The return pump is really screaming, but I'm sending the old one back to the maker tomorrow, so it won't be for long. I set the kalk reactor back up, I only have to set the Ca reactor back up and things will be, uh, normal.
After a couple hours, the water cleared up, the fish were happy and hungry,I fed the fish, and everything looked about like it did before I left.
The return pump is really screaming, but I'm sending the old one back to the maker tomorrow, so it won't be for long. I set the kalk reactor back up, I only have to set the Ca reactor back up and things will be, uh, normal.
Latest pump to die is the Mag 2 from my Ca reactor, another casualty of the sump emptying out. It runs but kind of rattle-y.
In an unrelated disaster, the hose popped off the float valve on my RO tank and flooded the garage yet again. With fresh water this time, very refreshing, a nice change. Luckily I was home, so only 10-15 gallons, short work for the shop vac.
It never rains but it pours. Is that officially the third bad thing? 'Cause I'm getting tired of this. :
In an unrelated disaster, the hose popped off the float valve on my RO tank and flooded the garage yet again. With fresh water this time, very refreshing, a nice change. Luckily I was home, so only 10-15 gallons, short work for the shop vac.
It never rains but it pours. Is that officially the third bad thing? 'Cause I'm getting tired of this. :
Re: Jimroth's Big Ol' Realization
So now comes the inevitable self-recrimination following the (minor) disaster. As a computer guy, I now realize that my system is set up with too many SPOFs --Single Points of Failure! Too much of the plumbing can drain the sump system (not the tank, luckily). I couldn't have stopped what happened with my return pump, but I have those TLF Phosban reactors, just a tug on their weak rubber fittings would start the process. Additionally my sump is undersized. I need to revise some aspects of my design so that (A) Leaking water, where possible, returns to the sump, and (B)a float switch so Low water level in the sump shuts down the big external pumps. I'll probably need the AC3 breakout box to get that set up. (C) My sump is undersized, I really should have used the Rubbermaid stock tank I have.
For starters, I think a big plastic tray could go on top of the bench, with a drain back to the sump. That could hold all the reactors (kalk, Ca, phosban, nuclear)which are the most dangerous leakers.
Long term, maybe design a whole new backend where I would mount my skimmer and everything over the stock tank, which would sit in an insulated box like a bathtub.
So now comes the inevitable self-recrimination following the (minor) disaster. As a computer guy, I now realize that my system is set up with too many SPOFs --Single Points of Failure! Too much of the plumbing can drain the sump system (not the tank, luckily). I couldn't have stopped what happened with my return pump, but I have those TLF Phosban reactors, just a tug on their weak rubber fittings would start the process. Additionally my sump is undersized. I need to revise some aspects of my design so that (A) Leaking water, where possible, returns to the sump, and (B)a float switch so Low water level in the sump shuts down the big external pumps. I'll probably need the AC3 breakout box to get that set up. (C) My sump is undersized, I really should have used the Rubbermaid stock tank I have.
For starters, I think a big plastic tray could go on top of the bench, with a drain back to the sump. That could hold all the reactors (kalk, Ca, phosban, nuclear)which are the most dangerous leakers.
Long term, maybe design a whole new backend where I would mount my skimmer and everything over the stock tank, which would sit in an insulated box like a bathtub.
I lowered my lights 1" to see if I could improve things for my corals. I am starting to think that a couple of 400W ballasts are in my future. I can use the same sockets and reflectors. The 1" does make a difference,though.
Replaced my Ca reactor pump, it's back online. Had the ASOV fail in my RO unit. The good folks at Air Water Ice sent me another right away, and now the RO system shuts off like it should when the float valve does its thing.
We are always breaking new ground here. Yesterday I changed the carbon in the reactor that runs off my manifold and found the flow was only a trickle, it was barely running. Eventually I found that quite a lot of calcium flakes from my various calcium events had backed up into the last outlet on the manifold, the whole hose was clogged with them. I had to Roto-Rooter them out with a really long screwdriver. Those calcium snowstorms are hell on the plumbing, I think my whole setup is now coated with calcium. All I need to do is run the whole system with white vinegar for a few hours, should fix it right up!
I sent my Super Dart Gold pump back to MDM/Sequence/Reeflo to be repaired under warranty. Have not heard back yet. My old resealed Sequence Dart is screaming along in the garage, pumping up a storm. What a racket.
The whole VSV thing has me shaking my head a little. Corals are healthy, colors are improved, but growth is poor. I swear, when my sump and skimmer were disconnected after my "incident", water quality went to hell a little and the corals perked right up. A growth spurt. I think VSV results in such a low-nutrient environment that a lot of stuff starves, not just coral but snails, echinoderms, pods. The tank gets sort of "unfriendly."
Added a couple new corals, some beautiful teal stag, a few of those neon trumpets (which will grow anywhere, or so they say)to brighten up a shady area, and some of the Miami Orchid stag. I am letting that grow out in the raceway a bit before I mount it, don't want to lose it.
I added a beautiful Rose Bubbletip anemone. It settled down, then started moving. The next day it was in a cave in the rocks and now I can't find it. Alive? Dead? Eaten by my hungry butterfly fish? I don't know. There was no smell or ORP drop that would indicate a dead 'nem. *Sigh*
Replaced my Ca reactor pump, it's back online. Had the ASOV fail in my RO unit. The good folks at Air Water Ice sent me another right away, and now the RO system shuts off like it should when the float valve does its thing.
We are always breaking new ground here. Yesterday I changed the carbon in the reactor that runs off my manifold and found the flow was only a trickle, it was barely running. Eventually I found that quite a lot of calcium flakes from my various calcium events had backed up into the last outlet on the manifold, the whole hose was clogged with them. I had to Roto-Rooter them out with a really long screwdriver. Those calcium snowstorms are hell on the plumbing, I think my whole setup is now coated with calcium. All I need to do is run the whole system with white vinegar for a few hours, should fix it right up!
I sent my Super Dart Gold pump back to MDM/Sequence/Reeflo to be repaired under warranty. Have not heard back yet. My old resealed Sequence Dart is screaming along in the garage, pumping up a storm. What a racket.
The whole VSV thing has me shaking my head a little. Corals are healthy, colors are improved, but growth is poor. I swear, when my sump and skimmer were disconnected after my "incident", water quality went to hell a little and the corals perked right up. A growth spurt. I think VSV results in such a low-nutrient environment that a lot of stuff starves, not just coral but snails, echinoderms, pods. The tank gets sort of "unfriendly."
Added a couple new corals, some beautiful teal stag, a few of those neon trumpets (which will grow anywhere, or so they say)to brighten up a shady area, and some of the Miami Orchid stag. I am letting that grow out in the raceway a bit before I mount it, don't want to lose it.
I added a beautiful Rose Bubbletip anemone. It settled down, then started moving. The next day it was in a cave in the rocks and now I can't find it. Alive? Dead? Eaten by my hungry butterfly fish? I don't know. There was no smell or ORP drop that would indicate a dead 'nem. *Sigh*
It's good stuff.Baxreefs said:
The anemone came off the rock in the bag. I was glad I had prepared a nice platform for it, I put it there and it attached. It stayed there for hours, then went down a hole in the rock, and stayed there, still expanded. Then later I could see it in a hole in the rock, in the dark. Now I can't find it. I hope you are right!
Re: Jimroth's Big Ol' Tank Pix
I haven't taken any pix in a while, so there's some new stuff to show and also a fair amount of growth. It's a funny feeling when SPS grow into each other, you are proud of the growth but feel like a fool for putting them too close!
No growth here! I bought this puppy at the frag swap, and it was only a bit smaller. Like almost a year ago. The pic came out great, though!
This is the gen-yoo-ine ORA Tricolor Valida. Lot's of growth but I lost where it encrusted on the rock when I rearranged a little
This is a non-brand-name tricolor I got from OG. It looks especially good under actinics, which I don't have hooked up. In the lower corner is my ORA Red Planet (R) frag, which looks OK from above but hasn't developed that WOW color you see on the 'net.
Cali Tort, showing some nascent growing branches,I can see how it's going to grow out:
Oregon Tort, an even slower grower
Oregon tort vs. Blue Millepora. These are both on plugs and have not attached, so they will be easy to move.
These two are stuck to the rock, so it's gonna be WAR! Purple A. Nana out of Bax's tank vs Pink-and-Blue Millie!
New teal Stag. Above that is a frag of Pearlberry I am trying in a higher-light spot to get better color.
The Elkhorn Monti (M. Hirstuta) breaks easily,and if you let the chips fall where they may, gets this nice waterfall growth pattern. To the right, M. Spongodes, plugging along.To the left, new bright green trumpets.
This is the Kedd's Table from the famous tank of PnoyReefer (Steve!). Doesn't want to grow out much for me, but sure is encrusting on the rock!
Rainbow Pocillipora. I am going to have to frag it at some point, but can't bring myself to mutilate it. I'm hoping some of the babies grow up to saleable size.
as seen from above:
I haven't taken any pix in a while, so there's some new stuff to show and also a fair amount of growth. It's a funny feeling when SPS grow into each other, you are proud of the growth but feel like a fool for putting them too close!
No growth here! I bought this puppy at the frag swap, and it was only a bit smaller. Like almost a year ago. The pic came out great, though!
This is the gen-yoo-ine ORA Tricolor Valida. Lot's of growth but I lost where it encrusted on the rock when I rearranged a little
This is a non-brand-name tricolor I got from OG. It looks especially good under actinics, which I don't have hooked up. In the lower corner is my ORA Red Planet (R) frag, which looks OK from above but hasn't developed that WOW color you see on the 'net.
Cali Tort, showing some nascent growing branches,I can see how it's going to grow out:
Oregon Tort, an even slower grower
Oregon tort vs. Blue Millepora. These are both on plugs and have not attached, so they will be easy to move.
These two are stuck to the rock, so it's gonna be WAR! Purple A. Nana out of Bax's tank vs Pink-and-Blue Millie!
New teal Stag. Above that is a frag of Pearlberry I am trying in a higher-light spot to get better color.
The Elkhorn Monti (M. Hirstuta) breaks easily,and if you let the chips fall where they may, gets this nice waterfall growth pattern. To the right, M. Spongodes, plugging along.To the left, new bright green trumpets.
This is the Kedd's Table from the famous tank of PnoyReefer (Steve!). Doesn't want to grow out much for me, but sure is encrusting on the rock!
Rainbow Pocillipora. I am going to have to frag it at some point, but can't bring myself to mutilate it. I'm hoping some of the babies grow up to saleable size.
as seen from above:
Re: Jimroth's Big Ol' Tank More Pix!
More pics, it's worse than Uncle Charlie's vacation slides...
Very satisfying to grow the Pohnape Birdsnest, this all came from a 1" frag...
Side View
The Pearlberry, which I actually fragged recently:
My A. Efllorescens, trying to block out the suun:
Nice shot of ORA Nathan's Green Millepora. It has stalled in my tank, I have even resorted to tip-scraping and snapping to get it to grow.
Obligatory FTS. I wish my tank looked better as a whole picture, but maybe that will happen when the corals fill in a bit. The messy overflow and back don't help.
There's fish in the tank too and they all stood for this porttait
This shows what I'm doing on the back end. I have placed these reactors is a big shallow tray (an underbed box from Target) so that if they leak or bust a hose, the water will go here. I am going to add a bulkhead and drain so that the water will flow right back to the sump if that emergency happens (again! :).
That's it for now...
More pics, it's worse than Uncle Charlie's vacation slides...
Very satisfying to grow the Pohnape Birdsnest, this all came from a 1" frag...
Side View
The Pearlberry, which I actually fragged recently:
My A. Efllorescens, trying to block out the suun:
Nice shot of ORA Nathan's Green Millepora. It has stalled in my tank, I have even resorted to tip-scraping and snapping to get it to grow.
Obligatory FTS. I wish my tank looked better as a whole picture, but maybe that will happen when the corals fill in a bit. The messy overflow and back don't help.
There's fish in the tank too and they all stood for this porttait
This shows what I'm doing on the back end. I have placed these reactors is a big shallow tray (an underbed box from Target) so that if they leak or bust a hose, the water will go here. I am going to add a bulkhead and drain so that the water will flow right back to the sump if that emergency happens (again! :
).
That's it for now...