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Jimroth's Big Ol' Tank
- Thread starter jimroth
- Start date
If you have a dedicated pH controller with your setup, then you may as well use that and use the AC3 to monitor the tank pH. That works out better (until you get a second pH probe for your AC3).
As for the ATO, I like to run the ATO on the AC3 allowing it to run once every 4-6 hours so that it isn't continual top off.
As for the ATO, I like to run the ATO on the AC3 allowing it to run once every 4-6 hours so that it isn't continual top off.
Yeah, that pretty much says it. The Pukani was basically devoid of macro life, and baseball sized, although as you can see, the colors were good. The Dr. Mac stuff (I believe is also from Walt Smith, BTW) was fresher off the boat, more encrusted, and the macroalgae looks like it will revive. And the coral. Football-size pieces too, very little rubble and no gravel.phil519 said:
Turning on the Lights
Ah, the big day. I get to see what my conception is going to look like.
I brought the light rack out and put it on the tank. Then I clamped the brackets to the side:
I used the brackets to align the mounts on the wall, and put them up. Some of those screws are in wood, anyway. I marked the position of the bracket on the frame.
I took the reflectors out of the aluminum frame and turned it on its end. With the shelf brackets carefully clamped in alignment,and with the help of my trusty assistant Alex, I drilled 1/8" in holes through bracket and frame and pop riveted them together. I then repeated that with the other end.
Then we mounted the frame on the wall and put the reflectors back in. I removed all the protective film from inside the reflectors and added some old XM bulbs from my previous setup.
I drilled yet another hole in the wall and put a 1.5:" pipe through to pass the light wiring through. The big AMP plugs kind of mandate some sort of passthough so the wiring can be pulled through, if needed. I connected all the MH wiring with new wire nuts, and fired it up!
...And there was light. That's it, the first official FTS!
Them reflectors is shiny..
I mean, the pipe comes outta the wall, goes through the side of the tank. How strange is that?
This rock has some coral on it.
I still need to put all those wire spices into some sort of junction box, and then I need to hook up the VHO actinics, and figure out how to shield those so I don't go blind, and neaten up all the wiring with wire ties and wall mounts...whew...but it's still a big milestone for me.!
Ah, the big day. I get to see what my conception is going to look like.
I brought the light rack out and put it on the tank. Then I clamped the brackets to the side:
I used the brackets to align the mounts on the wall, and put them up. Some of those screws are in wood, anyway. I marked the position of the bracket on the frame.
I took the reflectors out of the aluminum frame and turned it on its end. With the shelf brackets carefully clamped in alignment,and with the help of my trusty assistant Alex, I drilled 1/8" in holes through bracket and frame and pop riveted them together. I then repeated that with the other end.
Then we mounted the frame on the wall and put the reflectors back in. I removed all the protective film from inside the reflectors and added some old XM bulbs from my previous setup.
I drilled yet another hole in the wall and put a 1.5:" pipe through to pass the light wiring through. The big AMP plugs kind of mandate some sort of passthough so the wiring can be pulled through, if needed. I connected all the MH wiring with new wire nuts, and fired it up!
...And there was light. That's it, the first official FTS!
Them reflectors is shiny..
I mean, the pipe comes outta the wall, goes through the side of the tank. How strange is that?
This rock has some coral on it.
I still need to put all those wire spices into some sort of junction box, and then I need to hook up the VHO actinics, and figure out how to shield those so I don't go blind, and neaten up all the wiring with wire ties and wall mounts...whew...but it's still a big milestone for me.!
A few updates...
Incredibly, after 2+ years and temps down to 50F, my cooked live rock has life coming back to it. Not much, just some forams and tube things, but...man! And it still has coralline.
The other live rock is "livening-up" too, probably as ammonia levels drop. There's evidence of a few different coral types on some of the rock, not sure if I can revive them all. Got out the old magnifying glass last night, it's even fun to look at rocks.
Success with my giant waste collector. Maybe I'll post a DIY for it on the board. The Gamma Seal lid is really key. www.gammaplastics.com
Ran my old-school Vortech in salt water for the first time. Very quiet. Gonna have to pop for the wireless upgrade at some point. Really moves the water down the tank. I suppose I'll need a second one too. Gee, I never thought I would own $800 worth of little propeller pump gizmos. Maybe one of these days I can stop feeding the kids store-brand mac and cheese.
I mentioned my vicious Amazon parrot earlier in the thread, and I'm happy to report some success in getting him re-tamed.
Love conquers all!
Incredibly, after 2+ years and temps down to 50F, my cooked live rock has life coming back to it. Not much, just some forams and tube things, but...man! And it still has coralline.
The other live rock is "livening-up" too, probably as ammonia levels drop. There's evidence of a few different coral types on some of the rock, not sure if I can revive them all. Got out the old magnifying glass last night, it's even fun to look at rocks.
Success with my giant waste collector. Maybe I'll post a DIY for it on the board. The Gamma Seal lid is really key. www.gammaplastics.com
Ran my old-school Vortech in salt water for the first time. Very quiet. Gonna have to pop for the wireless upgrade at some point. Really moves the water down the tank. I suppose I'll need a second one too. Gee, I never thought I would own $800 worth of little propeller pump gizmos. Maybe one of these days I can stop feeding the kids store-brand mac and cheese.
I mentioned my vicious Amazon parrot earlier in the thread, and I'm happy to report some success in getting him re-tamed.
- I agressively clipped his wings.
- I switched his food from parrot mix to mostly pellets.
- Any time I'm working outside or hanging out on the deck, he gets to come too.
- I'm paying more attention to his maintenance including daily water changes and treats.
Love conquers all!
I added a gate valve to the end of the primary (siphon) drain and I am able to prevent it sucking air (loud S-H-L-U-R-P-P sound). The problem happens when the siphon exceeds the speed of the return pump! I always heard not to do this, but the thread on RC by the notorious BeanAnimal went into great detail, and it works great. I am now able to control the level in my overflow with a valve.
Big disgusting diatom bloom, right on schedule. Yuck. Also some hair algae popping up.
Skimmer kicking butt and also a little out of control. Has produced more than a gallon of nasty skimmate in a day, obviously this raises serious salt-replenishment issues.
Began aquascaping, not too happy with the result so far although other people say the cave looks cool. I have too many little rocks. The PVC-supported columns are working out okay. I think I will end up piling a lot of rock behind the cave, against the left end of the tank, since that's not really a viewing side.
Tank has been running 80-83F with no chiller, acceptable.
Cut some sump baffles from acrylic I garbage picked (Yay! Free stuff!) at a church being renovated. My new table saw blade cuts acrylic well enough for this, maybe not smooth enough for building stuff. Also cut a cover for the sump.
Tried to make a bubble trap work but couldn't make the "over" baffle seal against the tank bottom, since they just slide in. Plus I need to shorten and replumb the skimmer drain so the first "under" baffle will fit better. Many microbubbles in the tank right now.
Replaced the board in the Vortech to make it an MP40W. New modes are very trick.
Next step is to set up the ATO.
Big disgusting diatom bloom, right on schedule. Yuck. Also some hair algae popping up.
Skimmer kicking butt and also a little out of control. Has produced more than a gallon of nasty skimmate in a day, obviously this raises serious salt-replenishment issues.
Began aquascaping, not too happy with the result so far although other people say the cave looks cool. I have too many little rocks. The PVC-supported columns are working out okay. I think I will end up piling a lot of rock behind the cave, against the left end of the tank, since that's not really a viewing side.
Tank has been running 80-83F with no chiller, acceptable.
Cut some sump baffles from acrylic I garbage picked (Yay! Free stuff!) at a church being renovated. My new table saw blade cuts acrylic well enough for this, maybe not smooth enough for building stuff. Also cut a cover for the sump.
Tried to make a bubble trap work but couldn't make the "over" baffle seal against the tank bottom, since they just slide in. Plus I need to shorten and replumb the skimmer drain so the first "under" baffle will fit better. Many microbubbles in the tank right now.
Replaced the board in the Vortech to make it an MP40W. New modes are very trick.
Next step is to set up the ATO.
I roughly set up the ATO, more in a "test configuration" mode than the final version. It ran fine, in fact I'm slightly kicking myself for all the years I used hospital pumps, which need to be readjusted when evaporation changes in the tank.
Discovered I had programmed the AC-3 to turn the lights on at 4:30AM instead of 4:30PM (stupid military time!) so for a while the tank was getting 18 hours a day of lighting. Probably explains all the algae. Now the lights are on 16:30-22:30!
By the way, there's a lot of algae.
Had a week's vacation and the system ran smoothly while I was gone, skimmer, lights, ATO, the whole thing.
I stopped at Dr. Mac's place in Maryland on my way home and picked up a smallish cleanup crew, since we have the group buy coming up. I was disappointed to find that they didn't have any trochus (my favorite snail) or pacific hermits, the little black and white guys. I bought about 40 snails, including some honking big turbos, which are feasting on algae in tank. I bought 20 hermits, the red and the blue.
I also bought a couple frags, couldn't resist, some acro, maybe a millepora, and a spectacular frag of pavona maldivensis, supposed to be a sturdy fast grower.
The people at Dr. Macs place are extremely nice. It's in the middle of nowhere, so I had the place to myself, except for the wife and kids, who don't understand spending 3 hours at a place like that.
Discovered I had programmed the AC-3 to turn the lights on at 4:30AM instead of 4:30PM (stupid military time!) so for a while the tank was getting 18 hours a day of lighting. Probably explains all the algae. Now the lights are on 16:30-22:30!
By the way, there's a lot of algae.
Had a week's vacation and the system ran smoothly while I was gone, skimmer, lights, ATO, the whole thing.
I stopped at Dr. Mac's place in Maryland on my way home and picked up a smallish cleanup crew, since we have the group buy coming up. I was disappointed to find that they didn't have any trochus (my favorite snail) or pacific hermits, the little black and white guys. I bought about 40 snails, including some honking big turbos, which are feasting on algae in tank. I bought 20 hermits, the red and the blue.
I also bought a couple frags, couldn't resist, some acro, maybe a millepora, and a spectacular frag of pavona maldivensis, supposed to be a sturdy fast grower.
The people at Dr. Macs place are extremely nice. It's in the middle of nowhere, so I had the place to myself, except for the wife and kids, who don't understand spending 3 hours at a place like that.
What an awesome thread. Wow, what a nice tank!
Oh, and as a bird lover I have to say your 22 year old Yellow Nape is just too precious. I've got 2 Amazons myself. They rock!
---
Wendy
Oh, and as a bird lover I have to say your 22 year old Yellow Nape is just too precious. I've got 2 Amazons myself. They rock!
---
Wendy
Update time.
I added a kole tang and between him and the cleanup crew there's very little algae left
.
I added a rabbitfish and he died after getting stuck to the Vortech.
At MACNA I won a frag of the famous ORA Pearlberry acro, and that's in there. Plus, I picked up a second Vortech at MACNA at a bargain price. So my flow is fairly fantastic.
The scavenged acrylic was fashioned into a baffled bubble trap, which is working OK but the "over" baffle needs to be shortenened a bit, and the skimmer outflow needs to be moved back A little so the bubbles don't blow under the trap.
The skimmer is working great, pulling about 1/2 a gallon of scuz a week!
I've mostly finished my barrel-holding rack today so soon I can lose the garbage cans in favor of a more perfessional setup.
Ca is at 350, need to set up some reactors!
I have bought some frags, and I guess it would be better if I had some calcium supplementation going before I did that. Added:
ORA Rose Millie
ORA Cali Tort
Pink and Blue Mille (spectacular)
"Elkhorn" Acro (All the above from Mr. Mheaven of Clifton)
At the September meeting I won a frag of
Purple Acropora Nana, and
YAY! A Small Green Table colony, quite spectacular when viewed from above.
From Ralph I got
Blue Mille
Green Edge Purple Monti Caps.
Ponape Birdsnest
Most of the Cerith snails have disappeared.
Pictures to follow.
I added a kole tang and between him and the cleanup crew there's very little algae left
.I added a rabbitfish and he died after getting stuck to the Vortech.
At MACNA I won a frag of the famous ORA Pearlberry acro, and that's in there. Plus, I picked up a second Vortech at MACNA at a bargain price. So my flow is fairly fantastic.
The scavenged acrylic was fashioned into a baffled bubble trap, which is working OK but the "over" baffle needs to be shortenened a bit, and the skimmer outflow needs to be moved back A little so the bubbles don't blow under the trap.
The skimmer is working great, pulling about 1/2 a gallon of scuz a week!
I've mostly finished my barrel-holding rack today so soon I can lose the garbage cans in favor of a more perfessional setup.
Ca is at 350, need to set up some reactors!
I have bought some frags, and I guess it would be better if I had some calcium supplementation going before I did that. Added:
ORA Rose Millie
ORA Cali Tort
Pink and Blue Mille (spectacular)
"Elkhorn" Acro (All the above from Mr. Mheaven of Clifton)
At the September meeting I won a frag of
Purple Acropora Nana, and
YAY! A Small Green Table colony, quite spectacular when viewed from above.
From Ralph I got
Blue Mille
Green Edge Purple Monti Caps.
Ponape Birdsnest
Most of the Cerith snails have disappeared.
Pictures to follow.