1000 Gallon Build- Here we go- Lots of Pictures

[Reefer525XL]

Cuzza- didn't know there was a monthly cost. That is a deal killer for me. You are right- I just need to stop being lazy and just test my stuff the old fashion way. I haven't checked phosphates in a bit and now that I'm adding some corals- just want to keep track of ca/alk/mag

Check the Hanna Checkers"¦ I personally like the Alkalinity and Phosphorous URL test kit because they are very easy to use and you don't' have to do a hundred steps to get a result, plus they are accurate.

For Nitrate I use salifert, not as easy as the Hanna but compare to others its one of the easiest in my opinion.

For Calcium, Hanna makes one but its not as easy to use as the Alk and Phosphorous.

For Mag I use Salifert as well.

Once the tank has gone through the cycle you will likely never test for Ammonia or Nitrite unless something goes wrong and all the fish die or you keep addend fish and die within days.

I would invest in the following test kits:

Hanna ----> alk, cal, phosphorous URL
Salifert ---> Mag, Nritate

 

[slief]

Is the mindstream vaporware or will it actually come out?

I can't help but question the Mindstream product and the people running the company. They we using crowdfunding just prior to MACNA to try to raise funds. You would think if they were trying to get people to buy into such a "revolutionary" product that was said to be so close to release, they would have had an amazing demo to woo people and booth that sent a big message.. I was at MACNA and went to their booth to check it out. I was shocked to see how ill prepared they were at what is the most important aquarium related show in the country. They had no working demos and their booth conveyed absolutely no message. They were the joke of the show given all the hype they were trying to generate. It was far from confidence inspiring and left me questioning the company as a whole. As such, I wouldn't hold my breath and even if it came out tomorrow, I would be reluctant to even consider it until it was well proven after months and months worth of trial. To top it all off, they haven't made any noise in the industry since they failed at reaching the funding goal right after MACNA. This leads me to think the product is vaporware. At least for the foreseeable future. Had they been even remotely close to release and had they done their homework and prepared for MACNA, I'm sure they would have met their goals. Instead the screwed the pooch and we're obviously nowhere near as close as they led the industry to believe. Usually where there is smoke there is fire but in this case, smoke and mirrors comes to mind.

Personally, even if it did work, I think it's overly expensive and really not needed. Once a tank is established and stable, there is really no reason to continually monitor most of what it tests for. Bi-weekly or even monthly tests will suffice. Heck, I rarely ever test my tank and my tank because it's always stable. I never have nitrates, my Ca and Alk is always spot on because of my calcium reactors consistency. For me as well as most other seasoned reefers, a device like the Mindstream is nothing more than a waste of money assuming it worked as advertised.

 

[Ricardo18]

Fully agree with Slief....Mindstream is just not necessary.
... Wasn't that the name of the the bogus cult group in Bowfinger?

 

[Socaltoaz]

So been doing a lot of reading on algae turf scrubbers. My little outbreak of green algae although not abnormal, got me thinking is there a better way and the concept of a turf scrubber got my attention.

However, I'm developing a philosophy with my tank that if its not simple in concept and easy to do, and it doesn't pass the smell test, I'm not going to add it. Algae turf scrubber seems to make sense to me. Grow a bu pmch of algae and let it suck up all the nutrients.

In my Royal Exlusive Dreambox, I've got 3 waterfall areas as the water goes from one filter sock area to the next. I could easily out s mesh three, hang a light and have a relatively simple home made turf scrubber.

What say you guys about turf scrubbers in general? Worth the hassle or just a gimmick?

 

[biecacka]

I am considering one for my 240 cube as well. I don't really think there is much of a negative to them. I am tagging along to your build anyway, but ill be curious to see what you choose to do. I am looking at a few options myself. I like your train of thought, adding some mesh between your waterfall areas. no real extra parts or things ordered and relatively simple to do. From what I have been reading it is now based on how much you feed your tank, not the size of it.

corey

 

[slief]

So been doing a lot of reading on algae turf scrubbers. My little outbreak of green algae although not abnormal, got me thinking is there a better way and the concept of a turf scrubber got my attention.

However, I'm developing a philosophy with my tank that if its not simple in concept and easy to do, and it doesn't pass the smell test, I'm not going to add it. Algae turf scrubber seems to make sense to me. Grow a bu pmch of algae and let it suck up all the nutrients.

In my Royal Exlusive Dreambox, I've got 3 waterfall areas as the water goes from one filter sock area to the next. I could easily out s mesh three, hang a light and have a relatively simple home made turf scrubber.

What say you guys about turf scrubbers in general? Worth the hassle or just a gimmick?

Scrubbers are well worth it but I wouldn't put it in your sump. I would put it on your sump and have it drain into it through one of the lids. I've seen first hand how well they work. The issue becomes how you feed it and you could use a smaller 500GPH power head or something like that to feed it. At this stage, you don't have the nutrients in your tank to feed one but it certainly wouldn't hurt. If you are interested in one, I would suggest talking to Bud at Turbo Aquatics. He's on the forum and goes by the username Floyd R Turbo. He could build you one to stradle your sump.

You can find him here:
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/member.php?u=227046

There is also 302 Aquatics who makes a nice range of sized Algae Scrubbers. I like their design but I'm not particularly fond of their lights which are off the shelf LED's that aren't really efficient and don't have what I consider to be the ideal mix of colored LED's for turf algae. That said, their scrubbers do work well. They could be more efficient with a better choice of lighting.
http://302aquatics.wix.com/302aquatics

 

[dave.m]

I'm not against algal turf scrubbers at all but they do need paying attention to. They are not something that you set and forget or leave to automatically run themselves. When they are grown in they need prompt cleaning or the algae starts to break off looking for a new home. That's why I totally agree with slief about running them separately. You need to be able to filter the effluent.

Also, from what I've seen, the spectrum of lights you choose will favour different kinds and colours of turf algae. If you have the time and inclination, it would be fun to experiment with different spectra over the course of time. You might make an amazing discovery about which colours produce the most effective turf algae for reducing system nitrates.

Dave.M

 

[delmo]

I'm neither for or against a turf scrubbers, but it seem like you could do one easy since you have a row of filter socks you can dedicate it to...(maybe I'm misunderstanding?)
So you could put down a small square bar across just before the turf scrubber filter socks, (speed bump) just to raise the water level slightly and slow it way down, then you could use filter socks made of net material, (the size net found in turf scrubbers) hang a light over them and bam!
Just an idea...

 

[Usernam Invalid]

I don't feel you would need an algae scrubber your skimmer and water change schedule alone is more than capable of any nutrient export in your system. Most important this is to just let your system mature. A good mix of clean up crew can help with any unsightly algae

 

[Rudimenta]

Yeah like CuzzA said, first find the balance via water changes and additives (corrections) than a year or so from now it will just require a peak to know if you need to test, which could indeed be weeks or even Months, keep a log in apex so you can read the history of what the results were and what you did to correct

 

[Socaltoaz]

Cleaning up my filter socks tonight and found these little buggers in there. Any clue what these are? Are they harmful and should be removed or natural scavengers???https://vimeo.com/151472803

 

[AWD]

1000 Gallon Build- Here we go- Lots of Pictures

I've set up a few tanks and I've had bouts with the algae. I dido the other comments on waiting. Tangs (not all will though), rabbit fish and I personally like my bicolor blenny will all eat it and when it's gone they all adapt well to the other foods. The blenny has a lot of personality and it is fun to watch it perch its self on the rock and jump around.

It's hard to be patient but it will leave, it's only a matter of time. Your system is 10 times better than my 75 I have in a bedroom for my oldest. That had the algae for a couple months before it began to recede then slowly disappearing.

 

[Socaltoaz]

Cleaning up my filter socks tonight and found these little buggers in there. Any clue what these are? Are they harmful and should be removed or natural scavengers???https://vimeo.com/151472803

Any help here? I want these rat bastards out of my tank if they are pests.

 

[Hope_L]

Any help here? I want these rat bastards out of my tank if they are pests.

I'm still pretty much a newbie but it looks like a stellatoma (sp?) snail, if that's it then they are good critters.

 

[SPotter]

definitely looks like stelatoma snail. they are great critters to have. I would try to remove it from the sock and place it in the sump or in the dt.

 

[McPuff]

I always think it's pretty cool to see those guys. They don't come out too often but they are fun to watch. And very interesting patterns.

 

[Socaltoaz]

Awesome guys. In the DT they will go.

 

[dave.m]

I'm not familiar with that type of slug/snail but when you find something new it never hurts to put it in a quarantine tank to observe what it does. As others here have noted, this time it was something beneficial that you might have deprived your tank of. There are so many species of inverts that it's almost always worthwhile to spend some time identifying new beasties as they appear.

Dave.M

 

[nuxx]

Personally once a tank reaches maturity and you gain experience with the visual cues of happy or upset corals, I've found that I hardly ever test my water. Once every couple months.

After a year or two with a big system, things just start working correctly.

Life happens and it's tough for me to find time to test.

With Hanna ALK literarily takes a few seconds to test.

The Hanna Phosphate and Calcium take a big longer to test, but are still easy.

I then also only really check Nitrates with Red Sea Pro.

As the system gets older, the only values that change are ALK and Calcium, with Calcium never really needed to be adjusted. I just dose to keep ALK between 8-9, when I see it getting too high or low, I just adjust the doser.

Nitrates and Phosphates just sit at 0 and never seem to move.

So to sum it all up, I try to test ALK every 2 weeks or so, or if I see something weird.

When I feel bad I test the others, basically every other month.

I also skim wet, Chaeto grows like a weed and run automatic daily water changes with hot (1.028-1.030) Reef Crystals.

 

[ECreefer]

The Hannah is always nice to have a quick check. However I have found that as the checker solution sits around, it loses accuracy. Sometimes by the end of the bottle I can get a reading almost 2dkh different than my Salifert Alk test.

Calcium one seems to always read incredibly higher than my Red Sea test. I would have 100ppm differences sometimes. I have since sold that.

I have checked them both against calibration fluids as well, and my points proved correct.