A Reef Tank in the Desert - +/- 1,400 gallon system

[danfeig]

Is there anything around you that could be producing larger amounts on CO2 than usual? Water becomes acid by "absorbing" the ambient CO2, both from the aquarium itself, but also from the ambient air in the case of a heavy flow tank like a reef.

One measure that could be interesting to take is the pH of your RO/DI water. It should actually not be 7 as "pure water" tends to immediately get "polluted" by the ambient CO2 and thus become acid (in general just slightly). If you have a lot of evaporation you will have a lot of top off, hence more acidity in the main tank. Kalkwasser would indeed help.

Thanks for the suggestions Geraud!

I think I finally have the PH under control. I won't be dripping Kalk in tonight as my PH stayed at 8.3 this evening. We will see what tomorrow morning brings.

My room was kept pretty tight before and could have excess co2 caused by the a/c. I am not sure. I have been keeping the window open the last several days. I need to have some sort of air exchanger installed.

I do believe my PH issue was mostly caused by the amount of evaporation that was occurring. Time will soon tell!

Thanks again!

 

[danfeig]

nice video. I like your set up. Someday I wanna come by and see your system

Thanks David! You are welcome anytime. I did get your PM. Will you be attending MACNA?

I am planning on installing the TIR lenses this weekend. They arrived yesterday. I will try to post some pics of them tomorrow.

 

[TYSDADI]

Hi Dan, I like you refrigerator auto feeding system. I was wondering though how you deal with the food that is left in the tube after it leaves the fridge but before it gets to the exit. I would worry about it spoiling.

 

[Newbie Aquarist]

Hi Dan, I like you refrigerator auto feeding system. I was wondering though how you deal with the food that is left in the tube after it leaves the fridge but before it gets to the exit. I would worry about it spoiling.

I saw on a thread here on RC where the guy had a 4 part dosing unit and used the second, third, and fourth for the feeding and somehow daisy chained the first pump to the other pumps. After feeding the first pump was hooked up to either the sump or a top off bucket and used that water to clean the remaining pumps. I wish I could find the thread that the dude did that.

 

[acorral]

Hi Dan, I like you refrigerator auto feeding system. I was wondering though how you deal with the food that is left in the tube after it leaves the fridge but before it gets to the exit. I would worry about it spoiling.

As far as I can see on the video, the dosing pump doses from inside the frisge to a pvc pipe with tank water flowing, so there really never is any food on tubing outside the fridge

 

[Newbie Aquarist]

As far as I can see on the video, the dosing pump doses from inside the frisge to a pvc pipe with tank water flowing, so there really never is any food on tubing outside the fridge

What about the food in the tubes of the dosing pump in the fridge? Even after dosing there is still product in the tubes right?

 

[acorral]

What about the food in the tubes of the dosing pump in the fridge? Even after dosing there is still product in the tubes right?

Yes, the tubes still have product, but it is still refrigerated.

 

[danfeig]

PH Issues continued... Stress???

PH Issues continued... Stress???

So last night, I slept like a baby. Didn't get up once to check on my tank. Didn't feel the need.

I was real comfortable when I did get in bed. My PH stayed all day at 8.3. I went to bed without dosing Kalk for the night and when I awoke this morning to administer breakfast, my PH was all the way down to 7.5.

I was expecting a drop, just not that low! I can't imagine the cause just being evaporation. While the lights were off in the tank, they did remain on in the refugium.

So back out came the bucket filled with RO and Kalk mix that had been sitting all night. I set the drip line to drip about 3 gallons and will come check on things at lunch.

I am hoping the Kalk Stirrer I ordered will keep things more consistent during the night!

 

[Newbie Aquarist]

So last night, I slept like a baby. Didn't get up once to check on my tank. Didn't feel the need.

I was real comfortable when I did get in bed. My PH stayed all day at 8.3. I went to bed without dosing Kalk for the night and when I awoke this morning to administer breakfast, my PH was all the way down to 7.5.

I was expecting a drop, just not that low! I can't imagine the cause just being evaporation. While the lights were off in the tank, they did remain on in the refugium.

So back out came the bucket filled with RO and Kalk mix that had been sitting all night. I set the drip line to drip about 3 gallons and will come check on things at lunch.

I am hoping the Kalk Stirrer I ordered will keep things more consistent during the night!

I was going to suggest to continue dripping until the stirrer came in but since your pH had reached 8.3 :bounce2::bounce2::bounce2:, I felt happy for you. I guess its back to the drip again.

 

[danfeig]

How has the Dialyseas been working out for you?

I still haven't had time to hook it up. Perhaps over the long weekend.

 

[acorral]

Are you dosing any type of bacteria? vodka? biopellets? maybe you have a bacterial bloom or a very high zooplankton content that are lowering the PH as a result of respiration?

 

[danfeig]

Thanks for the video post it was nice to view behind the scenes.

I love the refrigerator and the feeding system. How often are you feeding with the Mysis Feast , The Arcti Pods and couldn't see the last one? What other food are you using and how often?

Hi dotcommer. I am dosing three things 4 times per day (just a little): Mysis Feast, Arcti Pods & Fuzzy Phytes.

 

[danfeig]

Hi Dan, I like you refrigerator auto feeding system. I was wondering though how you deal with the food that is left in the tube after it leaves the fridge but before it gets to the exit. I would worry about it spoiling.

As far as I can see on the video, the dosing pump doses from inside the frisge to a pvc pipe with tank water flowing, so there really never is any food on tubing outside the fridge

What about the food in the tubes of the dosing pump in the fridge? Even after dosing there is still product in the tubes right?

TYSDADI, acorral, Newbie, et.al.

I am not really concerned by any food in the tubes as they are all refrigerated. The water from the sump into the refrigerator is currently continuous although I may set up a timer on it.

I have things set to dose a small amount every 6 hours. I am still toying with the system though. When I leave town for a day or two I can set my doses for longer. I am also looking into the possibility of dosing live brine shrimp on occasion. I need to determine how long it will last while I am away.

I will try to post a video this weekend when the dosing takes place.

 

[danfeig]

Are you dosing any type of bacteria? vodka? biopellets? maybe you have a bacterial bloom or a very high zooplankton content that are lowering the PH as a result of respiration?

acorral - great question. I didn't think about this at first. I have used in the past AZ-NO3 which is a Nitrate remover. It has been quite some time though. I have been having a small algae bloom and recently cranked up my ozone and UV.

I am keeping a close eye on all my perimeters, even oxygen. My oxygen levels are running at 6-7. Ideally I want it to be 7+.

I am ordering a couple of Tunze Turbelle Stream 6155's to place in the bottom of my tank facing upwards - to assist with oxygen exchange in the tank.

 

[reeksreef]

33 pages and 2 days later finally able to finish reading the entire thread. This is an awesome tank. My dream tank is the 300DD with a QT under the stand next to the refugium. I am also a Tang lover and want to keep a sohal, Achilles and PBT all together but thought I'd have trouble. Your tank make me think it is possible. Btw the in tank QT, where did you see them because I want to add another tang to my 90 but purple is seriously aggressive. Thought of making one myself


90 gallon mix reef, DIY LED 2x 24" Makersled Heatsink, DIY refugium, turboflotor multi skimmer, phosban reactor (carbon)

 

[Andrew D]

Very cool tank indeed. Makes my 150G look tiny, and my planned 300G DD not quite as big as I had hoped. No envy though, just praise and gratitude for sharing.

I'm hoping you could go into more detail about the auto feeder through the fridge. I built something simple yet effective myself using a 5 gallon jug that had frozen food kept in suspension in the fridge using a small koralia pump. I had a maxi-jet on a timer, throttled down with a ball valve at the end, that fed the tank from the fridge 3-4 times a day. When the power was on, the maxi pumped the food up and in. When the power shut off, the food in the tubing either fell into the tank or back into the 5 gallon in the fridge.

Works great for short periods of time, but if I'm away too long then the water in the 5 gallon depletes or, if I replenish the water using some sort of auto top-off, the food spoils.

Your set-up looks to have both of these issues covered. One thing I am curious about is why, if you have water running through the PVC constantly, does the water not ride up the tubing through the dosers and into your food containers?

Andrew

 

[danfeig]

FedEx Friday!

FedEx Friday!

I think a picture says a thousand words....

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[danfeig]

Kalk Stirrer

Kalk Stirrer

The Kalk Stirrer finally arrived!

I can't speak highly enough about Justin and Avast Marine. The phone always forwards to Justins cell. He is quick to respond to any questions and offer any advice. He ships his products the same day!

It's all set up and running, adding Kalk to my top-off.

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[dotcommer]

Wow, very nice.

 

[david00061]

I think a picture says a thousand words....

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cool