375-500G Projected Build - need some input

[02tts]

375-500G Projected Build - need some input

So after much reading it looks like only real people using ozone these days are large aquariums...don't see too many threads on people using them anymore, not sure if because of loudness, complexity, or safety - which is a bigger concern for sure both for the fish and humans in the household but I just couldn't find much on it that's not 5+ years old. In fact several folks that used to make ozone reactors stopped making them because people stop buying them so that's a pretty good indication that many probably rely on GAC and a good skimmer.

CP on the way, lost all 4 butterflies in the last 2-3 days, hopefully the die off has subsided for now with the cupramine in the tank.

I'm hoping dosing CP will eradicate it, have read some excellent results out of using CP, although many are weary on blue tangs being able to cope with it. I don't have any wrasses so I'm good but I do have a blue tang, although I would think that a powder blue would be much more sensitive and problematic. My naso tang on the other hand has been a ok since day 1, this guy is the hardiest tang I've ever seen. Everyone was dropping like flies and he's just like give me some more nori.


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[SPotter]

My .02 on ozone and uv

My .02 on ozone and uv

im running uv and ozone on my tank. not sure why people have complained about noise unless they are using an air pump that is really noisy to provide better airflow thru the unit. I think why people have such a hard time with both uv and ozone is because its very difficult to measure the effectiveness of it. For example if you put an algae turf scrubber on your tank you can see how well it is working when your nutrients begin to drop. I think with UV the big problem is not buying one that is sized correctly for the system and then not installing them properly. I know someone that knowingly purchased one that wasn't big enough for his system because he didn't want to spend the money on the properly sized one and then complained that he didn't see any benefit from the addition of the uv. It is an expensive purchase but I believe that a properly sized UV that is correctly plumbed into a system will provide plenty of benefit to a system. I have a lot of tangs in my system....8 total 4 of which are Acanthurus tangs. I believe that having the UV helps with keeping everyone healthy.

I too was concerned about the safety issues around having ozone in the house but since my fish room is in the garage and after talking to some people I know that do use it, decided to go ahead with adding one and within days saw a huge improvement to the clarity of my water. This too is not a cheap addition to your tank.

Finally, this is just my opinion but I think you don't find many people talking about the use of UV or Ozone because they probably don't want to get into the never ending debate over the efficacy of them that usually ends up in a fight with a locked thread. I do not believe that either piece of equipment is the cure to an ailing problem but I do believe that they both help with contributing to the overall health of a tank.

 

[02tts]

im running uv and ozone on my tank. not sure why people have complained about noise unless they are using an air pump that is really noisy to provide better airflow thru the unit. I think why people have such a hard time with both uv and ozone is because its very difficult to measure the effectiveness of it. For example if you put an algae turf scrubber on your tank you can see how well it is working when your nutrients begin to drop. I think with UV the big problem is not buying one that is sized correctly for the system and then not installing them properly. I know someone that knowingly purchased one that wasn't big enough for his system because he didn't want to spend the money on the properly sized one and then complained that he didn't see any benefit from the addition of the uv. It is an expensive purchase but I believe that a properly sized UV that is correctly plumbed into a system will provide plenty of benefit to a system. I have a lot of tangs in my system....8 total 4 of which are Acanthurus tangs. I believe that having the UV helps with keeping everyone healthy.



I too was concerned about the safety issues around having ozone in the house but since my fish room is in the garage and after talking to some people I know that do use it, decided to go ahead with adding one and within days saw a huge improvement to the clarity of my water. This too is not a cheap addition to your tank.



Finally, this is just my opinion but I think you don't find many people talking about the use of UV or Ozone because they probably don't want to get into the never ending debate over the efficacy of them that usually ends up in a fight with a locked thread. I do not believe that either piece of equipment is the cure to an ailing problem but I do believe that they both help with contributing to the overall health of a tank.

Thanks Spotter, extremely helpful feedback!

I have seen pictures of those using ozone throughout the last several days and before I started my tank and there is no doubt a night and day difference is water clarity and more so in preventing the actual yellowish color that stains certain items. In my last build 10 years ago I had a large aquav unit and it worked wonders in keeping my water crystal clear but didn't do much in preventing things like ich, and I get why since only what's passed through the tube is treated so it will never be 100% but can certainly help in lowering chances of an all out outbreak of ich and other parasites.

For the noise, not sure if it's the ozone generator or the air dryer piece but I've read several noise complains. Not a show stopper as I'm sure there are remedies but being that the unit would be inside the cabinet in my living room and having kids in the house safety is my biggest concern.

The several reads I found folks either had the ozone setup in the basement or in the garage or a dedicated sealed and self air controlled room which should there be an issue it makes it controllable, especially more so if the unit is in the garage vs a basement where it can creep up.

I'll continue due diligence but I personally would in no way feel comfortable injecting it into my skimmer as I don't feel skimmers are sealed well enough to support ozone injection unless they are specifically designed with it in mind, otherwise you will have some level of ozone leak from it, that's my take not necessarily a true statement to be held against all skimmer brands/deigns. I like the idea of a dedicated ozone reactor but I've only found two stateside that still make it, Reef Octopus and MTC. MTC has had the same design for over 15 years which If I had to guess I would attest to a well built product, though I have no experience with either the MTC or the RO. Other reputable brands that I know cater to the larger reefer community with larger tanks either stop making it or are custom made to order large units, by custom I'm referring to small and large aquariums - which makes my 500g look like an ato tank.

Curious, is your entire ozone and sump setup in the garage? Do you ever smell ozone when you walk into the garage? Do you inject into skimmer or use a reactor?


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[SPotter]

my entire filtration is in my garage and I never smell anything when I walk out there. More importantly....my wife never smells anything and her nose is much more sensitive than mine.

I inject the ozone directly into my reef octopus external skimmer. Keep in mind the ozone is not on 24/7. It is controlled by a Milwaukee ORP monitor/controller so it turns on at a low point and off at a high point.

For UV I use an 80w emperor aquatics unit and have it plumbed on the return line. Its plumbed so that all of the water returning to the tank runs thru that first. I have never qt'd fish or removed and treated fish. From time to time my hippo tang will show some spots but they clear up in a few days and just about all new fish I add will show some signs of ich a day or two after introduction but they too clear up in a few days.

 

[02tts]

Gotcha. Yeah it definitely helps to keep it in the garage, unfortunately I can't in my setup but I'm going to continue down the path to see how I can make it work and see how safety concerns can be satisfied.

How do you not smell the skimmate? I have a bag of carbon that sits on top of my skimmer in the stand and have an open box of baking soda and still the stench is awful, I end up cleaning the cup on a daily basis at feeding time.


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[ramasule]

Cool tank.

1. Your collection holder. When it fills above your tie point for the second container air looks like it will not be able to escape. The pressure will build up until it pops the lid, maybe, then you will have a nice poo-aroma.

2. Is your closed loop pump drawing from your sump? In the pictures it looks like it was plumbed in beside your return pump. This makes it, not a closed loop. A closed loop will draw from the DT and pump back into the DT.

The nice thing about this is that, there is near 0 head pressure, only the distance from your output to your input (height of your tank) is head pressure.

You can change the flow rate of your closed loop, with apex, and not affect the level in your sump, which affects your skimmer. Your return pump should be set at a constant speed, matched with your drain speed, and then your closed loop can vary to create some flow patterns in the tank.

In case your interested you needed to go up in tube size for your skimmer because the inner diameter of the tube has a drag/slowing down affect on the air, same as water pipes. This means the longer the tube, the more drag, the less air. The larger tube gives more "inner diameter" or less resistance per foot/meter. You can apply this to all tubes / wires in nature, air, water, electricity, gas, etc.

 

[02tts]

375-500G Projected Build - need some input

Cool tank.

1. Your collection holder. When it fills above your tie point for the second container air looks like it will not be able to escape. The pressure will build up until it pops the lid, maybe, then you will have a nice poo-aroma.

2. Is your closed loop pump drawing from your sump? In the pictures it looks like it was plumbed in beside your return pump. This makes it, not a closed loop. A closed loop will draw from the DT and pump back into the DT.

The nice thing about this is that, there is near 0 head pressure, only the distance from your output to your input (height of your tank) is head pressure.

You can change the flow rate of your closed loop, with apex, and not affect the level in your sump, which affects your skimmer. Your return pump should be set at a constant speed, matched with your drain speed, and then your closed loop can vary to create some flow patterns in the tank.

In case your interested you needed to go up in tube size for your skimmer because the inner diameter of the tube has a drag/slowing down affect on the air, same as water pipes. This means the longer the tube, the more drag, the less air. The larger tube gives more "inner diameter" or less resistance per foot/meter. You can apply this to all tubes / wires in nature, air, water, electricity, gas, etc.

Hi ramasule, thanks for the words, see below:

1. The collection cup design has a float switch which will auto shutoff the skimmer before it overflows

2. Yes the water sucks from the DT and then back in, there is no water being drawn from my sump or anywhere else.

3. Correct on all else. As far as skimmer air tube being extended the air tube is 10mm which plumbs into the large co2 scrubber which in turn has a 1" extension to the grabbing outside air. So there is no loss of air or added friction. This can also very easily measured by using the standard tube size that came with the skimmer and measure water height, pics also help to visually see the difference if one exists, and then plumbing it into the extended platform to see the behavior. In my case as tested many times everything remains constant no matter what I do. Remember, inlet is 10mm, which I'm plugging into a reactor which has lots of volume and of course it's intake is connected to a 1" PVC drawing air from outside, so no starvation there. Skimmer performed exactly the same either way, better of course when sucking less co2 polluted air.

As a comparison, my nano cube with not a thing on it right now has a ph of 7.6 as compared to a stocked tank with a steady ph of 7.99 to 8 - it never drops below 7.99 or go above 8, which is great from a consistency perspective especially on the lower end of the spectrum - unless of course I start medicating.


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[ramasule]

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Ahh I see it now, the picture before showed two pumps which I thought one was your Closed Loop, I see this one has 3.

I really like your color pipes

 

[ramasule]

Final setup of skimmer waste collector. Thought I'd make it so that I can go on an extended vaca without having to worry about skimmate collection. Added a quick push disconnect and valve for ease of management and maintenance.

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Second add on container, has no where for the air to escape after it goes above your tie point, this is what I reefering too.

 

[02tts]

Second add on container, has no where for the air to escape after it goes above your tie point, this is what I reefering too.

Right but it wouldn't matter as it would get to about 2" off the top and shut off. The water equally rises on both sides.


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[02tts]

Ahh I see it now, the picture before showed two pumps which I thought one was your Closed Loop, I see this one has 3.



I really like your color pipes

Thanks. I have so much leftover too, albeit given the price it was better to over buy as the pace is 4 hours from me


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[ramasule]

Oh yeah, did you get those carvings CNCd out? I really like the extra it adds to your display.

 

[02tts]

Oh yeah, did you get those carvings CNCd out? I really like the extra it adds to your display.

If you're referring to the furniture there's lots of custom work, some cnc, most by hand. I'll take more pics once the top is done but that will be awhile.


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[02tts]

375-500G Projected Build - need some input

Someone has asked how the Dewalt water containers held up. Changing water to so here is a pic with it full of water. A little bowing but not much and when you close it, it straightens out.

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[saf1]

I believe I was one who asked, not sure about others.

I'm more of a lazy reefer who lives in California. I really don't want to be generating that much waste water with a RI/RO system so will be heading down and bringing water back each time I go diving in Monterey. I play to use that for most of my water changes and just use RI/Ro for top off. The containers you have are portable which is nice compared to the 50 gallon drums I'm looking at although I can put wheels on them easy enough.

Thanks. I was thinking it would be worse but your pictures helped!

 

[02tts]

I believe I was one who asked, not sure about others.

I'm more of a lazy reefer who lives in California. I really don't want to be generating that much waste water with a RI/RO system so will be heading down and bringing water back each time I go diving in Monterey. I play to use that for most of my water changes and just use RI/Ro for top off. The containers you have are portable which is nice compared to the 50 gallon drums I'm looking at although I can put wheels on them easy enough.

Thanks. I was thinking it would be worse but your pictures helped!

Sure thing, hope they helped.

Yeah, I don't dive

Question, how do you filter the water for impurities/parasites?


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[02tts]

375-500G Projected Build - need some input

Here is a better picture with the lid closed without the locks and then with the lid locks. As you can see, it closes up perfectly and without issue.

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[saf1]

Sure thing, hope they helped.

Yeah, I don't dive

Question, how do you filter the water for impurities/parasites?


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Honestly, let mother nature takes its course. Surface water in Monterey is 59 - 63 degrees Fahrenheit give or take. Store in garage and use within a couple months. Main concern was the container. More than likely I'll be using 55 gallon food grade barrels and store in the garage.

Everything should work its way out and it is a great way to get some pods and other stuff. I mostly keep soft corals anyway with some LPS mixed in. The corals I keep like nutrient rich water so collecting closer to the beach is ideal. Most stuff I've read, and I know we can't trust everything on the internet, but most that collect and use NSW have been able to store anywhere from 1 to 6 months. I feel pretty good about it.

Plus the initial rock I'm looking to use is located in Florida That will be dumped in with all its goodness. Who knows, that is my plan anyway and I've used NSW before with my 100 gallon tank with pretty good luck.

 

[02tts]

Not much living there I would think at those temps. That's great, here in Florida the water is at a constant 78-82, 80-82 most of the time.


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[02tts]

375-500G Projected Build - need some input

After a massive die off doing a 2nd treatment of PraziPro thanks to a confirmed case of nasty flukes infection I got from a from an online retailer, who I must say have stood behind their guarantee 100% and then some, so will be buying from them again. Going forward, however; I've setup a 29g cube as a QT.

I've also treated the DT with Chloroquine Phosphate so the good news is that I believe I should have addressed any infestation between copper dosing, chloroquine phosphate and PraziPro there should hopefully be no parasites left. I can say that for now it also looks like ich is also gone after the CP treatment. My hippo blue tang has never looked better. Will probably retreat with a small dose of CP tomorrow or the day after.

Live and learn. Always quarantine. [emoji6]


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