600 gal display/900+ gal build thread in the Chicago 'burbs.

[skanderson]

sorry to hear about your shipping losses. i just had an order of anthias, solarensis wrasses, and a leopard wrasse arrive yesterday from foster and smith. they all came in looking great. i was worried though. ive been following this thread from the get go and have like the way your going about it. i have a 300 cube that is 31 inches deep that i have lit with 4 250 watt 14k reeflux bulbs on the dimable mh ballasts. i like the clear white with a little blue look but i will be adding 4 110 watt vho actinics to see if it pops the colors more. and so i can get an the actinic hour of lighting in the evening. keep up the good work. steve

 

[wmilas]

Miztic came over and we accomplished alot yesterday.

The first project was to use my new quantum meter and measure the light through out the tank. I'll try and post a picture later with numbers photoshopped over them. Let me first state that I wont be changing to MH's. As skeptical as I was about my Sfigoli's I was floored by the par outputs. 30" deep on the sandbed the lowest reeding I got was in the 200 range. I did get 135-185 on the sand next to rocks where the rock shadowed a little bit. In the far far corners where there was no direct light the readings were in the 60's. Directly under the lights 1 inch down readings were 650. Just under the lights out of the water readings were 800+. Readings on the rocks in mountable locations were 200-400.

My biggest concern were the braces but I noticed no difference under or not under a brace. Also these readings were taken with 2 weeks of salt creep on the braces and on the glass of the fixtures, along with full flow on in the tank., I wanted accurate worse case readings.

So needless to say, I'm sticking with the fixtures. The PAR output is much better than I expected. I'll just resign myself to rebuilding the bastards every now and then

I had 3 frags mounted in the tank before the night began. I mounted 19 more frags last night So 22 new fraglets in the tank. I'd like to thank mcliffy for donating a ton of frags to me to get me started.. Thanks

The only goofup last night is the slight skimmer explosion. I forgot that much glue would cause a skimmer issue. Usually with my water volume nothing causes a skimmer issue. This did

 

[mcliffy2]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15286803#post15286803 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by wmilas
Miztic came over and we accomplished alot yesterday.

The first project was to use my new quantum meter and measure the light through out the tank. I'll try and post a picture later with numbers photoshopped over them. Let me first state that I wont be changing to MH's. As skeptical as I was about my Sfigoli's I was floored by the par outputs. 30" deep on the sandbed the lowest reeding I got was in the 200 range. I did get 135-185 on the sand next to rocks where the rock shadowed a little bit. In the far far corners where there was no direct light the readings were in the 60's. Directly under the lights 1 inch down readings were 650. Just under the lights out of the water readings were 800+. Readings on the rocks in mountable locations were 200-400.

My biggest concern were the braces but I noticed no difference under or not under a brace. Also these readings were taken with 2 weeks of salt creep on the braces and on the glass of the fixtures, along with full flow on in the tank., I wanted accurate worse case readings.

So needless to say, I'm sticking with the fixtures. The PAR output is much better than I expected. I'll just resign myself to rebuilding the bastards every now and then

I had 3 frags mounted in the tank before the night began. I mounted 19 more frags last night So 22 new fraglets in the tank. I'd like to thank mcliffy for donating a ton of frags to me to get me started.. Thanks

The only goofup last night is the slight skimmer explosion. I forgot that much glue would cause a skimmer issue. Usually with my water volume nothing causes a skimmer issue. This did

That is awesome news Since I haven't tested my PAR, this is nice to know...and explains why my M. Undata is suffering so much...gotta chisel that thing off...anywhoo. Glad I could provide the frags. So when do we get to see pics?

 

[mcliffy2]

Also, just noticed your new member status -- I should have read that a week ago...after you commented on my flow, I realized that my powerheads and return had slowed dramatically, so I took them all out for a good vinegar bath (wow does it make a difference). so I learned to keep magnets apart the hard way when I carelessly got two vortech a bit too close and my pinky got in the way, lets just say it removed a lot of skin and blood, ouch...I won't be letting that happen again.

 

[wmilas]

Heh I've been a supported for almost a year now I seriously thought I lost the tip of my index finger when my magnavore came rushing together. I couldn't feel it for a week. It didn't hurt, nothing. Lost the nail obviously. After about a week the nerves healed and holy crap did it hurt then.

 

[robexcoral]

arent those koran angel fish bad for the reef

 

[robexcoral]

arent those koran angel fish bad for the reef

 

[wmilas]

mine? Its not a Koran, its a juvi Emperor. They look kind of the same.. The colors are the same, but the pattern is different. Juvi Emperors are reef safe. As adults they eat sponges so no sponges for me. They *may* pick at corals but they really aren't coral eaters.

 

[Tyler6508]

wow getting a little quiet around here lately. Last post on 7/1/2009. Hope the tank is going good. I loved watchin you transform your entire basement and then to throw in the 1000 gallon fishtank thats like the best icing anyone could put on a finished basement.

 

[wmilas]

I need to take some pictures

I was having a bit of a struggle with my PH. It kept slowly trending downwards during the day, then the reverse cycle macro would kick on at night and raise it, but not to where it was and the cycle would repeat. The tangs have wiped every trace of anything even remotely resembling green out of my main display

I've changed my makeup and exhaust fans so they cycle 5 minutes every 4 hours even if there is no cooling needed to blow out the accumulating CO2 in the fishroom. That has helped a bit.

I also ordered and installed the LARGE Kalk reactor that Precision Marine sells. Its set up to gravity feed Ro/DI through it when the top off float comes on. I used a solenoid from autotopoff.com to control the flow.

The combination is working well. I seem to have a base PH of right around 8.0 with it moving up to near 8.2 during the late afternoon when the fans kick on to do some evaporative cooling.

Another interesting thing to note is that I'm very surprised by the tank cooling needs. I would have bet alot of money I was going to have to setup a split AC system or at least use inside AC air to cool the tank. This is not the case. Simply using makeup air from outside and exhausting it, with a large fan over the sump is cooling the tank just fine even when its 95F outside. The temperature in the fishroom will rise, but the humidity falls thus allowing the evaporation to cool the tank and dump all the hot air that accumulates near the ceiling from the lights. Having the exhaust draw from the top of the room at ceiling level is a BIG plus. There is a big temperature gradient from floor to ceiling.. I'd say as much as 15F some days if tghe fan doesn't kick on for a while.

 

[wmilas]

Oh also I lost a firefish and a Coral Beauty. The firefish I think accidentally wandered into the bubbletip and was eaten. The angel I have no idea. He was eating just fine before he went into the main tank. He went into the main tank and dove into one of my rock piles. One of the yellows slashed at him for a minute but it wasn't an all out fight. He then stayed in the rock pile and never came out. Every day I could see him back there but he never came out, even at feeding time when I fed at the other side of the tank, so there was no one around. After two weeks I stopped seeing him in the rock pile Oh well.

 

[EnglishRebel]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15329363#post15329363 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by wmilas
Oh also I lost a firefish and a Coral Beauty. The firefish I think accidentally wandered into the bubbletip and was eaten. The angel I have no idea. He was eating just fine before he went into the main tank. He went into the main tank and dove into one of my rock piles. One of the yellows slashed at him for a minute but it wasn't an all out fight. He then stayed in the rock pile and never came out. Every day I could see him back there but he never came out, even at feeding time when I fed at the other side of the tank, so there was no one around. After two weeks I stopped seeing him in the rock pile Oh well.

Don't you hate when that happens. I'm holding off putting tangs in mine until the very last.

 

[wmilas]

To make myself feel better I bought a potters angel and a powder blue tang today. Both acclimated and seem to be doing well. They are sitting in a Prazipro bath atm getting de-fluked

I should have waited on the tangs and went all small fish first. The problem was the algae buildup. With the tangs I don't have any sort of algae issue any more They even wiped out the Bryopsis.

 

[EnglishRebel]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15332828#post15332828 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by wmilas
To make myself feel better I bought a potters angel and a powder blue tang today. Both acclimated and seem to be doing well. They are sitting in a Prazipro bath atm getting de-fluked

I should have waited on the tangs and went all small fish first. The problem was the algae buildup. With the tangs I don't have any sort of algae issue any more They even wiped out the Bryopsis.

I have an outbreak of hair algae too. I didn't want to get a Tang for the stated reason so I got some Lettuce Nudibranches, an Emerald Crab and three Mexican Turbos. Those Turbos are like gang mowers. I have a 20" long pipe in the back of the tank that had three inch strands of HA waving in the current. One Turbo found it yesterday and within an hour he had picked it clean.

 

[wmilas]

Praise the powers that be! My (up to this point) mentally defective clownfish noticed my bubbletip this morning and are now checking it out!

One went up to it and started looking at it while the other one was wondering what his mate was doing half way across the tank. 2 hours later the first one is starting to dive in and out while the other one is looking at him like hes stupid and swimming circles around the outside of the bubbletip. The outside one is making brief entries and exits into the anemone.

The interesting part is that very rarely, usually at night the tips would inflate on the anemone. It was pretty rare though. This morning damn near all the tips are inflated now that there is a clownfish inside of it. Very wierd.

Anyways, I'm pretty happy

 

[jahorgos]

You have a beautiful tank / setup not to mention quite a nice looking place. Thanks for sharing!

Glad to hear you are sticking with the T5 setup and mostly I'm excited to hear about the par readings under the braces. The T5 surely is not as cost affective on long tanks when it comes to bulb replacement but energy / heat wise you are better off.

Maybe I shouldn't ask but how are your micro bubbles doing? Have you done anything since previous posts to get rid of them?

I'm setting up my second tank currently after a 8 month stint and know I'll be struggling with the same micro bubble issue. Mine is 100g in wall build and my T5s should be here on tuesday.

 

[wmilas]

Micro bubbles are still present, but their are fewer and fewer over time. I know I have a pinhole leak somewhere that is sucking air on the return, I just can't find it. It isn't leaking water, just sucking air.

I have a ton of other tank projects I want to do before I break down and put petroleum jelly over the whole return to find the hole

Right now I'm cutting out templates to retrofit to the sides of my Sfigoli's so that I can quick change fans. The fans are also much larger and quieter 60mm's instead of the tiny 40mm's that came with them originally.

 

[jahorgos]

Haha, nothing like walking out of your fish room with a tub of petroleum jelly like its normal..."I was just lubing my pipes honey..I mean...to find the hole...doh!"

My T5s will be mounted on a 2x4 square frame and I'm thinking I'll put a standard house fan to one side to get air passing over them since they are not in an enclosed fixture.

 

[H20ENG]

Well, RC dumped my reply, but I was just going to recommend electrical tape rather than Vaseline. Tape one joint at a time til the bubbles disappear, then remove all the tape, fix the joint and done. No gooey mess.

 

[Pdubss]

Thats a really nice tank