In an ironic note my return pump (sequence Dart) seized up overnight! For no reason! I got it to restart my banging on the volute, probably some Ca buildup in there. Lessen Again: Clean the blasted pump! I hate servicing that pump but we have to make a date now....I'll probably just swap in my Dart Gold.
-
Folks, if you've recently upgraded or renewed your annual club membership but it's still not active, please reach out to the BOD or a moderator. The PayPal system has a slight bug which it doesn't allow it to activate the account on it's own.
Jimroth's Big Ol' Tank
- Thread starter jimroth
- Start date
In an ironic note my return pump (sequence Dart) seized up overnight! For no reason! I got it to restart by banging on the volute, probably some Ca buildup in there. Lessen Again: Clean the blasted pump! I hate servicing that pump but we have to make a date now....I'll probably just swap in my Dart Gold.
SO WHERE WERE WE?.....
Its been months since I posted any kind of an update on my tank. I need to summarize whats been going on with it and my new direction. I thinnk I`m gonna interview myself.
Q--What happened?
A--I continued to try to replicate my early success with acro and coral growth, with very limited success. Having switched my lighting to Ecotech Radeons, I had great initial success with coral, growing some wild colonies to large sizes and waving new levels of success with my colonies of Pink Lemonade and Red Planet.
Q-- So everything is great now, right?
A-- No. Late in the Spring I started to have stuff die off. I lost a lot of stuff. It was maddening. I lost stuff that was bulletproof, like the red cap that was trying to take over the tank, and my green brain coral which had survived superstorm Sandy. I lost all the wild colonies, everything except some acros. I had stupily let some xenia into the tank, and it really took over. I am still not rid of it an I have removed tons of xenia!
Q--Did you lose fish?
A-- No, the fish situation has been great. Up till MACNA I had not lost a fish in a year! A YLN jumped when I was in San Diego. Even my school of Anthias is doing great.
Q-- So what caused all this?
A-- I drove myself to distraction trying to figure it out. I used GFO and lanthanum to chase phosphate to low levels. Did not help. I upped the water change schedule. Did not help. Changed the lighting schedule. Did not help. All kinds of things. What it ultimately turned out to be was the following. The membrane was shot on my RO unit. I am not sure exactly how it failed, but I was going through DI cartridges on a monthly basis. I thought my city water had gone downhill, and that was the reason. The truth is, all my water change water and topoff water was polluted. The weird final straw was when I got a big mouthful of the topoff water, and it tasted strange. Ionic? Acidy? Not right. At MACNA I bought a mongo huge 5-stage Spectrapure RO that makes some pretty sweet water. Then I did a 150G water change.
Q--Did that fix everything?
A-- Well the death has stopped and the coral colors are better.
Its been months since I posted any kind of an update on my tank. I need to summarize whats been going on with it and my new direction. I thinnk I`m gonna interview myself.
Q--What happened?
A--I continued to try to replicate my early success with acro and coral growth, with very limited success. Having switched my lighting to Ecotech Radeons, I had great initial success with coral, growing some wild colonies to large sizes and waving new levels of success with my colonies of Pink Lemonade and Red Planet.
Q-- So everything is great now, right?
A-- No. Late in the Spring I started to have stuff die off. I lost a lot of stuff. It was maddening. I lost stuff that was bulletproof, like the red cap that was trying to take over the tank, and my green brain coral which had survived superstorm Sandy. I lost all the wild colonies, everything except some acros. I had stupily let some xenia into the tank, and it really took over. I am still not rid of it an I have removed tons of xenia!
Q--Did you lose fish?
A-- No, the fish situation has been great. Up till MACNA I had not lost a fish in a year! A YLN jumped when I was in San Diego. Even my school of Anthias is doing great.
Q-- So what caused all this?
A-- I drove myself to distraction trying to figure it out. I used GFO and lanthanum to chase phosphate to low levels. Did not help. I upped the water change schedule. Did not help. Changed the lighting schedule. Did not help. All kinds of things. What it ultimately turned out to be was the following. The membrane was shot on my RO unit. I am not sure exactly how it failed, but I was going through DI cartridges on a monthly basis. I thought my city water had gone downhill, and that was the reason. The truth is, all my water change water and topoff water was polluted. The weird final straw was when I got a big mouthful of the topoff water, and it tasted strange. Ionic? Acidy? Not right. At MACNA I bought a mongo huge 5-stage Spectrapure RO that makes some pretty sweet water. Then I did a 150G water change.
Q--Did that fix everything?
A-- Well the death has stopped and the coral colors are better.
Last edited:
WHERE WERE WE?
Q-- So what now?
A--I went to MACNA because that usually gets me fired up about my hobby. It didn`t get me fired up this time. This was a sort of small scale MACNA and somehow I wasn`t feeing it. I decided on retail therapy. I went to a lot of Neptune Apex sessions at MACNA and decided to replace my old Neptune Aquacontroller 3 with an Apex Classic, basically last years model. The new one seemed very gimmicky, and I don`t need wi fi. The `Classic` also lets me use the DC8 Energy bars from my old setup, which the 2016 Apex does not, allowing me a total of 16 controllable outlets. I had had some stuff automated on my old aquacontroller but gradually slipped away from it as the new lights and Vortechs have their own computer control systems. I was only monitoring temp, pH and ORP with it and controlling a couple of things, like my topoff schedule. I had even installed some timers for stuff rather than program the AQ3 . I very quickly got almost everything running on the Apex, and eliminated the rats nest of extension cords. It is much easier to work with than the AQ3. So I am more in control now, and my tank is not an accident waiting to happen! I haven`t felt the need to bring my ecotech stuff under apex control yet, but soon I will do that. I haven`t put my 1000W heater under the Apex because that is too much for those outlets and I have a Ranco controller for it, much better.
One other thing I did was replace my Sequence Dart return pump with my Dart Gold. The return pump was in a shameful condition, with shells and crap stuck in the impeller. Incredibly it was still running but output had gradually dropped. Not gonna let THAT happen again. I figure I have about 30% more flow to work with. I am buying yet another Sequence dart so I can just swap them out when they need service.
I also discovered that the vented drain to the garage, my backup drain, was basically 100% clogged with vermetids and calcium. It is still not great, but water is running through again. I am considering replacing some of the plumbing. which is encrusted throughout its length, since there is no way to really clean it.
Q--Is that all there is?
It`s never done. I really have been unsatisfied by the performance of the LED Lights . Yes they grow coral, but it just aint the same. I am considering adding back a couple 250W halides just to run for a few hours at mid day. I have the ballasts, just need some small fixtures. Would also like to set up a refugium, though the 50° temps in the garage make that tough. I need to clean the dead material out of the tank, and buy some new frags and colonies. Maybe I can sell a kidney.
Q-- So what now?
A--I went to MACNA because that usually gets me fired up about my hobby. It didn`t get me fired up this time. This was a sort of small scale MACNA and somehow I wasn`t feeing it. I decided on retail therapy. I went to a lot of Neptune Apex sessions at MACNA and decided to replace my old Neptune Aquacontroller 3 with an Apex Classic, basically last years model. The new one seemed very gimmicky, and I don`t need wi fi. The `Classic` also lets me use the DC8 Energy bars from my old setup, which the 2016 Apex does not, allowing me a total of 16 controllable outlets. I had had some stuff automated on my old aquacontroller but gradually slipped away from it as the new lights and Vortechs have their own computer control systems. I was only monitoring temp, pH and ORP with it and controlling a couple of things, like my topoff schedule. I had even installed some timers for stuff rather than program the AQ3 . I very quickly got almost everything running on the Apex, and eliminated the rats nest of extension cords. It is much easier to work with than the AQ3. So I am more in control now, and my tank is not an accident waiting to happen! I haven`t felt the need to bring my ecotech stuff under apex control yet, but soon I will do that. I haven`t put my 1000W heater under the Apex because that is too much for those outlets and I have a Ranco controller for it, much better.
One other thing I did was replace my Sequence Dart return pump with my Dart Gold. The return pump was in a shameful condition, with shells and crap stuck in the impeller. Incredibly it was still running but output had gradually dropped. Not gonna let THAT happen again. I figure I have about 30% more flow to work with. I am buying yet another Sequence dart so I can just swap them out when they need service.
I also discovered that the vented drain to the garage, my backup drain, was basically 100% clogged with vermetids and calcium. It is still not great, but water is running through again. I am considering replacing some of the plumbing. which is encrusted throughout its length, since there is no way to really clean it.
Q--Is that all there is?
It`s never done. I really have been unsatisfied by the performance of the LED Lights . Yes they grow coral, but it just aint the same. I am considering adding back a couple 250W halides just to run for a few hours at mid day. I have the ballasts, just need some small fixtures. Would also like to set up a refugium, though the 50° temps in the garage make that tough. I need to clean the dead material out of the tank, and buy some new frags and colonies. Maybe I can sell a kidney.
Two other things -- I bought a replacement cleanup crew from Reefcleaners. Very nice they were generous with the numbers but I somehow didnt pick up on the fact that it didnt include any big snails like turbos, just big nerites and hundreds of little snails. Giving a try, though I am gonna need some new trochus. I needed the new nassarius because of all the frozen I feed, they have been fun to watch.
I recently picked up a Flipper glass scraper. For years I have been using a mag float with a razor device attached. The flipper is big improvement, it is a neat design.
I recently picked up a Flipper glass scraper. For years I have been using a mag float with a razor device attached. The flipper is big improvement, it is a neat design.
It seems this hobby never gets easy does it?
Talk to Darren, he did the same thing with lighting as you are contemplating, added back in some halides with the leds. The good news is that halide equipment is pretty cheap right now since everyone sold their stuff to go LED. You can also look at throwing in some t5 bulbs of halides is not the path you want to take.
I agree with you about MACNA, I think it was a bit of a step down after the last few which have been really good. I think they need to reverse the trend of huge price hikes on the vendors if they want show to get better.
AO had a bunch of the huge top crown snails and large leopard nassarius snails when we were up there for their sale last weekend. If you want big snails, I would give them a call and see what they have.
Glad to hear it sounds like things are moving in the right direction now that the RODI has been replaced, we love our spectapure RODI, it is a beast.
Talk to Darren, he did the same thing with lighting as you are contemplating, added back in some halides with the leds. The good news is that halide equipment is pretty cheap right now since everyone sold their stuff to go LED. You can also look at throwing in some t5 bulbs of halides is not the path you want to take.
I agree with you about MACNA, I think it was a bit of a step down after the last few which have been really good. I think they need to reverse the trend of huge price hikes on the vendors if they want show to get better.
AO had a bunch of the huge top crown snails and large leopard nassarius snails when we were up there for their sale last weekend. If you want big snails, I would give them a call and see what they have.
Glad to hear it sounds like things are moving in the right direction now that the RODI has been replaced, we love our spectapure RODI, it is a beast.
I didn't know that the DCx boxes don't work with the new Apex. I have 2 DC4s. I wasnt contemplating one anyway, since I have 2 classics (bought replacement when the first one died and subsequently got the first one fixed). I use the Socket Extender, now discontiued, for my chiller.
Sent from my LG-H811 using Tapatalk
Sent from my LG-H811 using Tapatalk
Doug-- The DCx boxes specifically DO NOT work with the new 2016 Apex, they only work with the Classic model which is one reason I bought that one. Some people have had weird problems with the new gadget too, like having it shut everything down. I am sure these are just teething problems with the new device, but I will use the tried and true. I don`t know why they didn`t just put the RJ11 control line jack on the new one, I don`t think it would have been hard. Really digging some aspects of the apex, like seeing a graph of how often the heater kicks on as the garage gets colder, and shutting the skimmer down when feeding to limit micro bubbles. I have the socket extender too, left over from my 400W halides. Thinking about whether to run the big heater through there. Wont be able to see the amps, but I can see when it kicks on.
I adjusted the effluent pH of calcium reactor today, it was at 6.7 so I upped the CO2 bubble count a little, trying for 6.5. It never occurred to me that I could just take a cup of effluent and stick my regular probe in it for a reading. Plus, you get to hear the Apex alarm go off when it thinks the tank pH has dropped to 6.7!
Since the beginning, my topoff system has been gravity driven from a 50-gallon drum, controlled by a pair of solenoids switched by a pair of float switches. This has been really successful, with the only problems coming from a stuck lower float due to calcium buildup. That happens about once a year, the (dry) upper float stops it, and I clean or replace the float switch. The reason I bring this up is that both solenoids failed this year, just a few months apart when they failed, they failed closed, that is how they are designed. But it points up why I used a pair to begin with. And that they last about five years.
Since the beginning, my topoff system has been gravity driven from a 50-gallon drum, controlled by a pair of solenoids switched by a pair of float switches. This has been really successful, with the only problems coming from a stuck lower float due to calcium buildup. That happens about once a year, the (dry) upper float stops it, and I clean or replace the float switch. The reason I bring this up is that both solenoids failed this year, just a few months apart when they failed, they failed closed, that is how they are designed. But it points up why I used a pair to begin with. And that they last about five years.
Maybe toss in filter floss in one of the baffles? That's what I recently did in my tank and it seems to be working
Added a bunch of frags from a generous friend. I am hoping these will take off and prove I have my stuff more in control. Also got back some stuff from an LFS where I had given frags of colonies that had died off during the recent unpleasantness! They were happy to let me take them back.
Started construction on a macroalgae reactor. I wrapped warm white LED lightstrip around an old Phosban 150 reactor. Surprisingly easy. I just need to add a couple mor baffles to the interior to space the algae out and it will be ready to go. Those lightstrips are super cheap on ebay right now, like $10. Marine Depot wanted $26!
Macroalgae reactor completed and online. It is kind of small for my system, if it grows cheato I will make a much bigger one out of clear PVC I have.
I got my 1000W heater under Apex control at last. You have to use an accessory called a Socket Expansion they dont make anymore. I had one left over from my 400W MH lights. The reason is that the regular Apex or Aquacontroller sockets cant switch that amperage. The socket expansion is a more heavy duty switched socket which you control by plugging it into a socket on the Apex and that switches a more sturdy outlet that plugs directly to the wall. I dont know why they stopped making it, it solves a real problem. Terrence from Neptune said I should just buy three 350W heaters. Oh great, use up three of the eight sockets on the Apex, what a great idea! Just buy more Apex powerstrips.
So just to go into a revolting amount of detail, the Apex switches my Ranco controller which has its own thermostat. The heater is controlled by the Rnaco. The Apex does a better job switching the heat on and off, but they sometimes go nuts and could leave the heater on. The Ranco is less sensitive but much mor dependable, so if the Apex fails, the Ranco is there to control the heat!
I got my 1000W heater under Apex control at last. You have to use an accessory called a Socket Expansion they dont make anymore. I had one left over from my 400W MH lights. The reason is that the regular Apex or Aquacontroller sockets cant switch that amperage. The socket expansion is a more heavy duty switched socket which you control by plugging it into a socket on the Apex and that switches a more sturdy outlet that plugs directly to the wall. I dont know why they stopped making it, it solves a real problem. Terrence from Neptune said I should just buy three 350W heaters. Oh great, use up three of the eight sockets on the Apex, what a great idea! Just buy more Apex powerstrips.
So just to go into a revolting amount of detail, the Apex switches my Ranco controller which has its own thermostat. The heater is controlled by the Rnaco. The Apex does a better job switching the heat on and off, but they sometimes go nuts and could leave the heater on. The Ranco is less sensitive but much mor dependable, so if the Apex fails, the Ranco is there to control the heat!
Couple stupid things. My new frags are not all doing well, some have lost color and damn if I can figure out why. Also some tip death showing, usually has to do with alk, gonna test today.
Yesterday I made the unhappy discovery that I can blow the fuse on my fish tank circuit. Putting absolutely everything on the Apex was great, but when I added a couple 300W heaters temporarily to heat my waterchange water, they waited till I left the house then when everything kicked on, it blew the breaker! It's good to know. I will probably just run the line for 100W heater to the next room and a different circuit, that will give me enough headroom. About 5 gal. of water on the garage floor due to unplanned siphoning from the display. Thank god for shop-vacs. Some day I will get a REAL sump.
Yesterday I made the unhappy discovery that I can blow the fuse on my fish tank circuit. Putting absolutely everything on the Apex was great, but when I added a couple 300W heaters temporarily to heat my waterchange water, they waited till I left the house then when everything kicked on, it blew the breaker! It's good to know. I will probably just run the line for 100W heater to the next room and a different circuit, that will give me enough headroom. About 5 gal. of water on the garage floor due to unplanned siphoning from the display. Thank god for shop-vacs. Some day I will get a REAL sump.
I have had the pH dip below 8 at night a couple of times, in spite of my kalk stirrer in line with my topoff. Therefore, I set up a tank of still kalkwasser solution and I am going to use an Aqualifter to dose the tank if the pH is below 8.1, until it reaches 8.2, controlled by the Apex. I don't know if this is a great idea; I'm gonna play with it a few times before I put it on auto. My goal is to even out some of the valleys on the daily chart. For a reservoir, I found this very narrow trash can, pretty sturdy, at Walmart. It sits right next to my slat mixing station without taking up much floor space and holds 23G.
I just have it on 24/7, cuz lazy. It's honestly pretty dinky compared to my system. But macro is growing .
The thing I did that fixed the pH issue was I dumped a whole bunch of new pickling lime into the kalk reactor. What I forgot, and remembered, is that it's not just the pH of the effluent from the kalk reactor (which I tested). As the kalk in the reactor starts to run low, the topup water running through picks up a lot fewer kalk ions so loses its power to raise the pH against the CO2. As soon as I added kalk, the pH stopped dropping below 8.1.
I still have the kalk doser set up now, I'm going to mess around with it. One of the cool things with Apex control is that it's very easy to set something up just as an experiment, there isn't a big investment of time or (new) money.