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Jimroth's Big Ol' Tank

jimroth

jimroth

I have some real weirdness going on in my reef. Outside of the aforementioned siphon kookiness, my tank is changing. The weird sponge that used to grow in the pipes and periodically blast into the tank is gone. There's a furry material growing on the back wall. I don't think it's algae. I'm going to mount a filter sock and scrape it off. I haven't tested alk, Ca or Mag in a couple months, they are probably crazy out of whack. I need to disassemble the giant protein skimmer, clean it and replace the bioballs in the tower. They say that's important.
SOme of my corals, like my beloved upscales microclados have not recovered their color from the lighting incident. Others (pink lemonade) seem to have come back fromn the dead! I need to make some tough choices soon. I may have to get rid of most of my rainbow pocci. It's all over the tank now, I don't need the mother colony tanking up space. I need to assasinate all the mushrooms too, they have quietly killed some corals.
I have a fantastic bunch of frags coming from Dan Rigle next week and I need to open some choice real estate. Red planet, Yellow tort, finally the TRUE Pearlberry and more. So I'm obsessing a bit.
 
Hawkeye

Hawkeye

as i recall from herb's tank - pocci = coral that won't die and constantly eats up real estate.

sorry to hear about the problems you've been having jim - i am sure you will rectify it soon. even with the hiccups I would venture to say that I wish my tank was as beautiful!
 
jimroth

jimroth

I had a bunch of other stuff planned --- and then half my dual 400W MH ballast farted out! It's putting out as much light as a 60W bulb on that side. Don't know what to do -- fix the burned out side or replace the whole thing? I can fall back to my old 250W ballast pretty easy. I have to pick a strategy. I even have some old 400W tar ballasts to use temporarily. (I know it's not the bulb becuase I swapped in a known good bulb.)

I was gonna set up my 58G as a bigger home for the seahorses, I was gonna do some much needed fragging, instead this thing has fallen in my lap, and vacation is just a few weeks away!

Darn it to fitching heck!
 
jimroth

jimroth

blange3 said:
Hang in there Jim! It's not reefing if there ain't no imminent disasters. ;)
Click to expand...
I haven't had a real everything-dead tank crash, I feel it breathing down my neck. I hadn't planned for an expensive equipment failure at this juncture. Things fall apart; the center cannot hold. The falcon cannot hear the falconer.
 
NikkiT

NikkiT

Sorry to near about these issues. What is the cost difference between the options you are considering? Is one significanly more expensive (or significantly more reliable)?
 
Baxreefs

Baxreefs

Jim,

I actually have two spare 400w ballasts lying around ::)

One is a dual PFO with one blown ballast. You are welcome to scavenge the good ballast out of this for free. I was going to use the housing for another DYI project.

The other is a single CoralVue. That one I'd like to keep in tact, but you can use it while you plan your way to a final solution for as long as you like. I won't need it for my purposes for at least six months or so.
 
jimroth

jimroth

Bax that sounds great.

In the light of day, I realized I have an old-time coil and core 400W ballast Dr. Radiata threw my way. So I can get that going later on today and have a fully-lighted reef. It even has a male 110V plug wired in for the light connection (like mine).

My problem these days is that I work every wekend but feel guilty taking a day off during the week. I need to have a "reef day" and spend a full day catching up on stuff.
 
jimroth

jimroth

So far...

Swapped in my emergency 400W ballast. Doesn't seem as bright as the old one, but still good. Need to get a raw e-ballast and fix my original setup.

50G water change.

Changed the GFO reactors. They were fused solid, and there was a lot of calcium deposited in the sponges and inside. Used some vinegar with good results. I probably have phosphate issues now. Switched to GFO pelleted phosphate, it's a lot easier to work with so I will change the media more often.

Bought the Hanna phosphate checker, but haven't tried it yet ::)

Going to try fragging some of my un-fragged stuff, like the cyphastreas and pink lemonade. Time to pick up the pace. Add purple plasma to the deceased list, it was hanging on for a while and then PFFFT. :-( Really liked that coral.

Doing the initial plumbing for the new seahorse ranch. But I won't move them till after vacation.
 
jimroth

jimroth

I can't find anyone who sells replacement E-ballast comnponents. It looks like I'm going to have to buy 2 new ballasts, or disble one of the ones in the housing and buy one. I checked hellolights, champion, premium aqutics, etc.
 
jimroth

jimroth

Hey, new website. Cool.
I made it through last week on vacation without any sort of problem. It all went fine and nothing was worse when I got back. In fact, my seahorses had their first batch of fry, which was very neat!
Sunday night, however, I noticed a drip from the return line. I cleaned off the salt creep and the flow REALLY started. The spa-flex had pulled completely out of the slip fitting, the glue had come off.
SO I turned off the return pump and the skimmer for the night. The next day I bought some new Rain-R-Shine glue and set to work.
Finished 2 hours later, and turned the whole thing on. Drip...drip...drip...
There's a threaded fitting between the bulkhead and the slip adaptor for the spa-flex. Apparently I didn't use enough sealant (Pro-Dope) or didn't tighten it enough (I Hand-tightened it). So I wrenched it as hard as I dared (twisting the spa-flex a little.) The drip is down to about 1 drop a minute, I'm hoping it will stop on its own. I really don't want to do it AGAIN! Although I realized I should have used a union to spare myself this idiocy in the future...
 
TanksNStuff

TanksNStuff

Officer Emeritus
Officer Emeritus
Congratz on the seahorse fry. I bet that was exciting to see!

Sorry to hear about the leak though. Hate to say it, but I doubt it will stop on it's own. :( You might want to take another shot at it when you can Jim.
 
Hawkeye

Hawkeye

congrats on the seahorse fry! with the hot weather we've been having that's pretty impressive. I forgot but presume you set a chiller on the SH tank?
 
jimroth

jimroth

Nope, no chiller. I hope they go again. I have had no problem keeping the tank 72-75F.

We lost power on SUnday and it still isn't back. THANK GOD I BOUGHT A GENERATOR. My entire reef would be stinking death now if I hadn't got the generator.
I've been running the generator 6AM-11PM, then running my vortec on battery during the night. Everything is fine. We've been lucky that it wasn't too hot or too cold. Also, my Iwaki 100DLT died during the power failure. Again, lucky that I bought a spare. The old one was completely coated with calcium inside. I've cleaned it with vinegar, and assemled it. It runs but sounds a little rough, dry at least.
 
jimroth

jimroth

The bad luck continues. Some of my nicer acros are dead or dying. I think it's due to some things during the storm. Most parameters are fine but phosphate is way high, around .21! Cranked up my phosban reactors and I'm getting some water changes ready.
 
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