tkeracer619
New member
Well, someone was busy today! Put that skimmer to good use
Done. I'm covered in year old fish poop :facepalm:
Build Thread: TKERacer619's 600gal SPS Tank
- Thread starter tkeracer619
- Start date
Done. I'm covered in year old fish poop :facepalm:
tkeracer619
New member
:lol: I think it's good to go. All it needs now is some time.
And carbon, lots of carbon, lots and lots of carbon. Did I mention it stinks? You guys know my style right? This is usually when I skip town and leave the roommate to deal with it. This weekend is no exception. Ultimate crop dust
And carbon, lots of carbon, lots and lots of carbon. Did I mention it stinks? You guys know my style right? This is usually when I skip town and leave the roommate to deal with it. This weekend is no exception. Ultimate crop dust
NeverlosT
A bit fishy
I noticed you mentioned Fiance a few posts ago and now "roommate" on this last post. I hope the tank smell didn't scare her out of the wedding! lol
Awesome progress. I'd love to see that skimmer working and the wash-down functioning!
I'll check back through your thread, I am interested in your aquascape plans, the lighting, and how you will get more flow in the tank (powerheads, etc.)
Keep it up!
Awesome progress. I'd love to see that skimmer working and the wash-down functioning!
I'll check back through your thread, I am interested in your aquascape plans, the lighting, and how you will get more flow in the tank (powerheads, etc.)
Keep it up!
tkeracer619
New member
:lol: she would have left by now if that was the case, now she's my partner in crime. One of my old buddies moved out to Colorado and has been staying with us until he has his feet well planted. Colorado can be rough on newcomers. He's really enjoying the smell right now :lol:. It's so bad right now, we have all the windows open and candles all over...
Thanks! After thinking about the auto wash down feature I'm a little nervous hooking up a valve to the house water for two reasons. First it has chloramines and second that's an unlimited supply of freshwater held back by a single valve.
I've been pondering about this all day. If I use a pressure tank I can use a plc or timer to fill the tank once per day, limiting the risk of a flood. I could fill this through the pre filters of my RO getting rid of the chloramines. Doing this could also mean an easier automation of the washdown for the inside of the neck as well. Depending on how much water it actually uses it would be just as easy to pull from my 200gal RODI storage tank into a small pressure tank with a booster pump. Not sure I would even notice the increase in water demand.
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NeverlosT
A bit fishy
What if you use tank water for wash down, then replace it with new saltwater. Frequent small water changes, and less risk?
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tkeracer619
New member
It's certainly an idea. I'd have to find a reliable valve made for saltwater if I'm going to automate it. I think that is the biggest challenge and why RK2 has an auto wash down using fresh water and a manual wash down using the salt.
Skimmer has made about 3 gallons of nog already and the tank has cleared up considerably.
halmus
New member
Why couldn't you just have a small reservoir of fresh water (RO/DI if you wanted) and hook it up to a pump and use that to spray down the skimmer. Do away with the solenoid and pressure tank. Rely on the pressure from the pump to do the cleaning. You could have whatever sized reservoir 5-50gal.
Maybe I'm missing part of the equation?
Maybe I'm missing part of the equation?
NeverlosT
A bit fishy
I know that there are some valves that take a low voltage signal and 110v for power and work with saltwater, I'll try to find a link, what size is the water feed line to the wash down?
Does that much of the rinse down water make it down the skimmer neck? I'd think 99% of it would end up in the waste line making chloramines a smaller consideration.
Glad to hear that it is clearing up and that your wife is not afraid of a good tank cycle!
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Does that much of the rinse down water make it down the skimmer neck? I'd think 99% of it would end up in the waste line making chloramines a smaller consideration.
Glad to hear that it is clearing up and that your wife is not afraid of a good tank cycle!
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tkeracer619
New member
I'm assuming higher pressure equals better cleaning. If I use RODI in a pressure tank a booster pump would automatically get me 80psi before the pressure switch turns it off, seems like a pretty easy solution. Then again, it works pretty good with the manual washdown on a single nozzle using the recirc pump... but that is a rather large and expensive pump.
Thanks, I'm interested in the valves. Wonder if they would work with tank water as well, probably not but it would be cool!
I think it's 3/4" but it could be 1". It has both, internal and external wash down. Internal uses the recirc pump, external uses house water. The internal is manual and if I could convert it over to auto that would be best. What's nice about using RODI from a small tank is that if the valve does get stuck open it's just going to dump 3-5 gallons. That is roughly half of my daily top off, no biggie.
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tkeracer619
New member
Over the weekend Ammonia went from 2ppm to .25~.5ppm, the smell has calmed down, and the skimmer is now producing extra fine bubbles. I had to adjust the skimmer all the way down and restrict the feed pump a bit to keep it from going crazy, it's back to skimming on the dryer side. It's pulling 2.5 to 5gal a day now. I need to get an ATO on this tank ASAP before I forget to turn off the manual top off :lol:
Tank looks clear from the front but still rather cloudy in the 8ft dimension.
Tank looks clear from the front but still rather cloudy in the 8ft dimension.
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tkeracer619
New member
Tank measured out at 0ppm ammonia. Haven't taken the tests past that yet but I did re-dose 10ml of lab grade Ammonium Hydroxide (30%).
Skimmer is running very dry now, probably too dry. I'm going to leave it alone for now though.
Other than that I haven't made much progress this week. I'm going to try to get an ATO on it tonight and my focus for next week will be getting the 2nd QT up and running.
The tank is also noticeably clearer in the 8ft dimension.
Skimmer is running very dry now, probably too dry. I'm going to leave it alone for now though.
Other than that I haven't made much progress this week. I'm going to try to get an ATO on it tonight and my focus for next week will be getting the 2nd QT up and running.
The tank is also noticeably clearer in the 8ft dimension.
tkeracer619
New member
Thanks! The skimmer is awesome! I've been slowly adjusting it wetter by a small turn per day. My only experience with these prior to this one was one model larger from this that didn't have the transparent body so you couldn't see what was going on inside it. The amount of fine bubbles in the body is crazy, they go from about an inch from the bottom all the way up. It may not have the largest air intake out there but it sure is producing very fine bubbles. I'm sure once she's loaded down it will only get better. It did come with an ozone generator but i'm not sure if I am going to use it. I've had a lot of success with biopellets and have a large piece of 8" clear pvc that would make a great biopellet reactor capable of the feedrates.
BigBlueTang
Active member
It's always funny seeing a skimmer taller than I am. Glad to see it's still skimming something..
Any progress on the BTA tanks?
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Any progress on the BTA tanks?
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tkeracer619
New member
Yeah, it's still doing it's thing. Production has reduced however. Whatever was in the tank that was making it go crazy has been removed. I'm not too worried about it and continue to let it skim extra dry.
I have been out of town for the last two weekends and have been working 14+ hour days for the last two weeks so not a whole lot of progress to write home about other than putting five of the tanks on the shelves. The sixth needs to wait until I get a door stop installed or the knob will surely hit the tank.
I did do something I should have done a month ago... I put a bunch of the Pond Matrix in a bucket with a maxijet1200, some ammonia, and a bottle of Bio Spira. The maxijet pulls from the bottom and has an output elbow on the top to keep good circulation through all of the media. This should help get the bacteria going so when I do finish setting those tanks up they have decent filtration.
The tank is getting pretty clear on its own. Most of the haziness is from particulates floating around. I may throw some bags back on it but am not in a rush to clean the water up.
After taking those pics I spend some time dragging the sand around in an effort to level it out. I also added 3 larger sized rocks from my display. Surprisingly enough it didn't create too big of a sand storm. I'm happy with the coverage.
I did a few tests on the big tank tonight. As it stands we're at .5ppm ammonia after dosing last night with 10ml of 30% ammonia, phosphate is reading .025ppm, and nitrates are at a happy 75ppm. I'm going to start reducing the amount of ammonia I add and start increasing the amount of live rock slowly over the next few weeks as I try to start improving water quality.
Also... that QT I scored a couple weeks back ended up having some scratches inside it. Pretty sure someone got some sand under a magnet to do the damage. I have a few more spots to work on but overall I feel pretty happy with the results. I used an acrylic repair that went from 1000grit all the way up to 8000grit. Came out almost like new! I probably have 20 or so minutes left but as it stands any of the hazy spots go away when it's wet.
JonezNReef
Member
Nice progress especially since you've been swapped at work and busy on weekends. Makes me feel like I am really slacking on my new setup LOL. Your DT is coming along nicely and close to finishing its cycle which means the fun part of transferring everything over is ever closer. Also your QT is looking really good and is nicer than some DT. Its always a PITA to get out scratches but worth it with end results like that. And I am becoming more and more jealous of your fishroom as it progresses.
tkeracer619
New member
Thanks, I appreciate the kind words! I'm excited to be able to swap everything over, I'm going to try to slowly swap the rock and do one side at a time. I like the layout of the rock in my 360 so I should be able to transfer those rock structures over to the 600 without too much hassle.
I have about another 125lbs of pukani and at least about 2000lbs of premium fiji in addition to what is in this pic. Thinking I can build onto what I have going on in this pic of my 360. I don't want to overdo it and would prefer to only use the pukani but I'm not sure if that will happen.
I agree about taking the scratches out. It's just a QT but I see no reason not to make it as close to perfect as I can. In the end, once I am all stocked up and healthy I may convert these QT tanks into some cool species tanks
.
gdemos
New member
Hey Mark looking good! Cant help but follow along with this...got to assume you have a place for the masterflex CaRx setup? I love the build, scale and the fish room will be great! Sounds like you are going biopellet ... whats the plan for reactor style and function /media brand/media volume/flow rates ? [emoji106]-Greg
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tkeracer619
New member
Thanks! You know I'll have a Masterflex CaRx running on this beast. The plan is to use my current reactor for a few months while I build a custom reactor out of some 6" clear PVC for the first chamber (20" tall) and convert a NextReef media reactor over for the 2nd chamber. They'll be in sump. The Masterflex will either be on a shelf I build above the sump or below the frag flat. I was originally going to pack that area full of rock but I don't think I'm going to do that now. I will probably put a single tub of rock below the flat but not the 2000lbs I had originally planned, it's simply too much work to get a container that size and to maintain it :lol:.
I'm not really sure what to do about the biopellet reactor, I've only used a NextReef that is not the fancy re-circulation type. I have enough of the 6" clear PVC to make a reactor that could handle the 600gph the skimmer calls for but honestly I don't know if I should do that. I'm wondering if I should just transfer my current biopellet reactor into the 600 and deal with it later as I see how the tank responds. I had to take it offline 2 weeks ago anyways since my skimmer pump failed. Hagen warrantied the motor block but the new one hasn't shown up yet. I'm pretty sure it's best if I just soak it in vinegar and start it back up from scratch since I don't see the point of bringing it back online on the 360. It's going to take some time to get the biology rocking in this tank anyways so I don't think it's wise to make any permanent decisions regarding this right now.
I've used a couple kinds of biopellets but typically use TLF.
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