CADlights 39g Pro build thread

Yep! You're so right!

Do you ever get varying results if you don't mix the heck out of the powdered reagent. I've noticed with mine that I'll mix it and shake the hell out of the cupel and get a reading of say .04, then use the other cupel to recalibrate with fresh tank water. I then will shake the hell out of the cupel again and re-test it and come up with .02.

I always clean and fill both cupels with water so I can re-test if I don't like the results-LOL!
 
Just ordered my CAD 39pro, and should be here within a few days with the LED upgrade. I got this tank downsizing from my 95g tank. I am a bit stumped right now with what to do with flow. I was hoping 1 vortech would be enough for this smaller tank, but it doesnt seem that is the case if I want to eliminate dead spots and grow SPS successfully. Would 3 or 4 smaller koralia evos be best? I want to try and keep them all mounted on the back wall to keep all of the sides entirely visible.
 
Just ordered my CAD 39pro, and should be here within a few days with the LED upgrade. I got this tank downsizing from my 95g tank. I am a bit stumped right now with what to do with flow. I was hoping 1 vortech would be enough for this smaller tank, but it doesnt seem that is the case if I want to eliminate dead spots and grow SPS successfully. Would 3 or 4 smaller koralia evos be best? I want to try and keep them all mounted on the back wall to keep all of the sides entirely visible.

I had two Evo 750's on my tank and they did a good job with no dead spots. But I wanted to alternate the timing on them and after a while of repeated on and off I started having problems with them. So I tool the plunge and got two tunze 6055 controllable heads for the tank. No dead spots and I control the flow patterns with my apex.
 
Yep! You're so right!

Do you ever get varying results if you don't mix the heck out of the powdered reagent. I've noticed with mine that I'll mix it and shake the hell out of the cupel and get a reading of say .04, then use the other cupel to recalibrate with fresh tank water. I then will shake the hell out of the cupel again and re-test it and come up with .02.

I always clean and fill both cupels with water so I can re-test if I don't like the results-LOL!

I do the same, I notice if you test the solution too quickly, it seems to provide varying results. I use both cupels, using one for the baseline, then switching to the test solution at C2 - then retest to make sure.

I had two Evo 750's on my tank and they did a good job with no dead spots. But I wanted to alternate the timing on them and after a while of repeated on and off I started having problems with them. So I tool the plunge and got two tunze 6055 controllable heads for the tank. No dead spots and I control the flow patterns with my apex.

+1 on the EVO's. I've been using 2 1400s in a frag tank with nothing but problems. Even after replacing the impellers (shipped with bushings that caused them to start in reverse.) BOTH pumps fail due to calcium fouling every 2-3 weeks. I'm replacing both with Tunzes.
 
Ecoxotic LED lights

Ecoxotic LED lights

Well the light is installed an running. For the most part I like them. Some things to watch out for when installing them:

1) Make sure you have a lot of room to move around the back of the stand. Since I did this with my tank mostly full I was only able to give my self about a foot to work with which made it much more difficult.

2) If you are using the tank stand with the CADlights stand you will need some 3/4" wood strips to put behind the stand mounts because the CADlights top over hangs the stand itself too much.

Now for the lights:

Everything seemed well made and putting the stand up was fairly straightforward. The light looks a little "clunky" and big but definitely better than the stock light. I think the light would actually look better if it was hanging.

As you can hopefully see from the pictures the light output seems to be about the same as the stock light but it is definitely a warmer light (the last picture should be the old lights). I think I may add one or two more of the blue stunners to help cool down the color a bit. The blue stunner light that comes with the system is far too bright to be a moon light so I will be adding separate moon lights at some time in the future.

One nice advantage to this light is that there is a lot of room inside the fixture and it is completely open on the bottom so I can hide evaporation fans inside the light fixture.

Overall I am happy with the Ecoxotic light. Now to see how my corals feel about it. . .
 

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Right about the atman. Sorry but I haven't used mine in a while and I forgot. I ran mine for a couple months with really good results and never had a start up issue like with the NAC3. The reason they get an additional 100lph out of it is because of the cone. Less work on the pump with the cone transition. It's a solid little skimmer but I like to skim dry and it was too finicky for me at the dry setting. It did however kick booty at med to wet with good production. You however would be better off skimming dry.

i never had a problem with the atman on my NAC3 until saturday -- doing some pretty heavy maintenance to the tank, i turned it on but the impeller wasn't spinning. tried blowing into the airline, but that didn't get it going. i ended up taking it out of the tank to work on it. i took it apart, scrubbed it down (there were some hard calcium deposits in whatever you call the hole that the impeller fits into, and there was some slime on the impeller itself. cleaned it off pretty well, put it back together, and still wouldn't work. then i found that i could "kick start" it by sticking my finger down in it and sort of rolling the impeller clockwise with my finger to start it. the problem was that it would start, but then if you turned it off, it still wouldn't start back up on its own (though you could still "kick start" it again). i finally ended up unscrewing the nozzle that plugs into the skimmer body and just messing around with it for a few minutes, and then it started going on its own, and started up on its own on multiple power-offs/power-ons. very lucky, because there was a LOT of allelopathy going on in the display tank based on my maintenance extravaganza this weekend. i was unfortunately using tap water for the testing, so that will probably mean a new break-in period, i guess? the skimmer body (inside and out), incidentally, is covered in hard algae. i decided not to bother with cleaning it this time so that i could make sure i could get it in and running due to the allelopathy.
 
I do the same, I notice if you test the solution too quickly, it seems to provide varying results. I use both cupels, using one for the baseline, then switching to the test solution at C2 - then retest to make sure.



+1 on the EVO's. I've been using 2 1400s in a frag tank with nothing but problems. Even after replacing the impellers (shipped with bushings that caused them to start in reverse.) BOTH pumps fail due to calcium fouling every 2-3 weeks. I'm replacing both with Tunzes.


Calmseasquest,

Have you seen anyone on the threads that are only using one AI fixture on a 24 x 20 tank with sps?
 
Calmseasquest,

Have you seen anyone on the threads that are only using one AI fixture on a 24 x 20 tank with sps?

Chris had a single AI SOL Blue unit lighting what appeared to be a 24X24 cube at MACNA. IMO, the edges looked a bit dim, but it was not raised that high and was not rotated. I've had conversations with numerous people contemplating the same, but I'm not aware of anyone that has done so yet. A single AI unit has more than sufficient PAR that if rotated 90 degrees and raised about 18"-20" above the waterline, would cover the entire tank. AI also recognizes this possibility - they just replaced the 40 degree optics along the perimeter with 70 degree to provide greater coverage.

There's plenty of power, I run my 2 units ramping to a max of B100%/W45%, anything higher and I start to see bleaching (my tank is 90% SPS.) For reference, at 100%, a single AI delivers 44% more PAR than the 46 watt Ecoxotic Panorama.

Off topic - I get my Tunze toys tomorrow :) Looking forward to getting the 9011 dialed in.
 
sweet! Thanks for the info on the AI's. I have a dimmable lumatek ballast that I can run 250 MH on but I'm not a fan of my electric bill right now. I'm now seriously looking to LEDs. Only time and funds will tell right now.

Have fun with the Tunze goodies. I hope that 9011 works out great for you. If you can, keep the intake on it away from turbulence. From what I gather, the people that are getting great skimmate have it in an area as far away from the drain as possible. There are several people that I chat with in the UK that recommended this with the Tunze skimmers. Evidentally Tunze is extremely popular over there-with good reason. I think the price is a big turn off for many here in the states.
 
Tunze 9001 Skimmer - First impressions

Tunze 9001 Skimmer - First impressions

Most importantly - it fits :)

CIMG00453.jpg


CIMG00433.jpg

Sorry for the horrible cell cam photos - my son has once again "borrowed" my DSLR.

I temporarily installed it in the middle sump section, intending to run both the 9011 and the BM NAC3 side-by-side. I initially configured the 9011 using the "cabinet" (Tunze speak for sump) method using the effluent bubble trap and intake covers. After some quick testing, I found out it was not needed and converted back to the standard install method. I notice no microbubbles reaching the center chamber, much less the tank. This is fortunate as the 9011 would NOT have fit in the skimmer chamber of the sump with the bubble trap pipe installed.

So much for my side-by-side test. Over night, the BM once again stopped running due to calcium deposits. So I removed it and placed the 9011 in the left rear sump chamber. It fits nicely, and the magnet mounting allows you to easily adjust the height.

It's only been running for about 10 hours but so far....wow! It's apparent this thing draws much more air than the BM. It's already producing very thick skimmate foam. It's dead quiet and doesn't seem that sensitive to water level changes. I've tested it between 9.5" and 10.5" and the impact is negligible (I'm setting the Osmolater to 10" as this works well with both the skimmer and power out drainage from the tanks.

The collection cup is very large, and the drain hoses from the DT and FT make it a tight fit. I've ordered the foam extraction unit which replaces the cup and is much narrower. It also increases the reaction chamber size and allows me to collect the skimmate in a larger container. Another thing I like about the collection cup is that the top locks on. When dosing MB7, the skimmate sometimes becomes so thick (even when skimming wet), it would literally blow the top off the NAC3 and spill back into the tank. This won't be a problem with the 9011.

So far, I've had a 10 point increase in ORP (higher than I have ever had in this setup.) I'm optimistic I may have finally found the best skimmer solution for the tiny 5 1/2" X 6 1/2" space confines of the Cadlights sump.

I'll post more (better) photos of skimmate production as it breaks in and I get my camera back.

So far so good. :)
 
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so, in an effort to get my corals to color up/etc., i've removed the DSB from my sump's fuge chamber and the LR rubble from the sump's drain chamber.

Now, I don't know what to do with the fuge. the flow through there is still pretty low. i've got two pieces of LR and a small ball of chaeto in there, but nothing else. any ideas of what to do with the empty fuge now? thin layer of sand, maybe? or is it not worth it because of detritus accumulation?
 
very cool. I've been pondering the 9011 for awhile as well, as I find the NAC3 requires constant babying to produce good skimmate. Just to clarify though, it does NOT fit in the skimmer compartment of the CAD 12G sump if you use the extension set, correct? Not even if placed diagonaly? If this is the case I would be worried about running my water level at 10" for risk of flooding my sump when I turn off my return pump. I would have to really raise the loc-line returns near the water surface.

Let me know how things go for you with the 9011, I'm tired of fiddling with my NAC3.





Most importantly - it fits :)


Sorry for the horrible cell cam photos - my son has once again "borrowed" my DSLR.

I temporarily installed it in the middle sump section, intending to run both the 9011 and the BM NAC3 side-by-side. I initially configured the 9011 using the "cabinet" (Tunze speak for sump) method using the effluent bubble trap and intake covers. After some quick testing, I found out it was not needed and converted back to the standard install method. I notice no microbubbles reaching the center chamber, much less the tank. This is fortunate as the 9011 would NOT have fit in the skimmer chamber of the sump with the bubble trap pipe installed.

So much for my side-by-side test. Over night, the BM once again stopped running due to calcium deposits. So I removed it and placed the 9011 in the left rear sump chamber. It fits nicely, and the magnet mounting allows you to easily adjust the height.

It's only been running for about 10 hours but so far....wow! It's apparent this thing draws much more air than the BM. It's already producing very thick skimmate foam. It's dead quiet and doesn't seem that sensitive to water level changes. I've tested it between 9.5" and 10.5" and the impact is negligible (I'm setting the Osmolater to 10" as this works well with both the skimmer and power out drainage from the tanks.

The collection cup is very large, and the drain hoses from the DT and FT make it a tight fit. I've ordered the foam extraction unit which replaces the cup and is much narrower. It also increases the reaction chamber size and allows me to collect the skimmate in a larger container. Another thing I like about the collection cup is that the top locks on. When dosing MB7, the skimmate sometimes becomes so thick (even when skimming wet), it would literally blow the top off the NAC3 and spill back into the tank. This won't be a problem with the 9011.

So far, I've had a 10 point increase in ORP (higher than I have ever had in this setup.) I'm optimistic I may have finally found the best skimmer solution for the tiny 5 1/2" X 6 1/2" space confines of the Cadlights sump.

I'll post more (better) photos of skimmate production as it breaks in and I get my camera back.

So far so good. :)
 
For me at least, I stuffed it with more Chaeto and put my LFS reactor in there.



so, in an effort to get my corals to color up/etc., i've removed the DSB from my sump's fuge chamber and the LR rubble from the sump's drain chamber.

Now, I don't know what to do with the fuge. the flow through there is still pretty low. i've got two pieces of LR and a small ball of chaeto in there, but nothing else. any ideas of what to do with the empty fuge now? thin layer of sand, maybe? or is it not worth it because of detritus accumulation?
 
very cool. I've been pondering the 9011 for awhile as well, as I find the NAC3 requires constant babying to produce good skimmate. Just to clarify though, it does NOT fit in the skimmer compartment of the CAD 12G sump if you use the extension set, correct? Not even if placed diagonaly? If this is the case I would be worried about running my water level at 10" for risk of flooding my sump when I turn off my return pump. I would have to really raise the loc-line returns near the water surface.

Let me know how things go for you with the 9011, I'm tired of fiddling with my NAC3.

Correct - the 9011 WITH the cabinet featured bubble trap will NOT fit in the skimmer section of a unaltered Cadlights sump. I tried it every direction to no avail. You would need to remove the divider....BUT

I don't believe the The "cabinet" version of the skimmer is needed - I tested it with water levels at low as 9.5" and it ran great (manual says min is 9.4") It's really needed only when water levels will vary widely. The key is simply maintaining a relatively consistent water level.

I placed my loclines very close to the surface to minimize power out drainage (I have a DT and FT that both will drain into the sump without spilling at 10" of water.) An additional benefit is the increased surface agitation prevents any surface films from forming. You could also drill small anti-siphon lines at the base of each locline to prevent a siphon in the event of a power loss.
 
so, in an effort to get my corals to color up/etc., i've removed the DSB from my sump's fuge chamber and the LR rubble from the sump's drain chamber.

Now, I don't know what to do with the fuge. the flow through there is still pretty low. i've got two pieces of LR and a small ball of chaeto in there, but nothing else. any ideas of what to do with the empty fuge now? thin layer of sand, maybe? or is it not worth it because of detritus accumulation?

How does removing a DSB or rubble positively impact coloration? Are you using a filter sock? With a sock, I get no detritus buildup in the sump at all. I can't get Chaeto to grow due to LNS, but I keep rubble and Aragonite in the center for pods. I'm playing around with a Mangrove idea, but I'm afraid I wont have enough nutrients to make it work.

You can also use the center section as a small frag tank - Mine was successful using a PAR38 12K 21W LED and a piece of egg-crate resting on the weirs - Toss a small MJ in for additional circulation and reverse light it for overnight pH support.
 
Tunze 9011 Skimmer Update

Tunze 9011 Skimmer Update

I've had the 9011 running for about 4 days....Wow, I'm sorry I waited this long to replace the NAC3 - This thing rocks.

It's still breaking in, especially since I replaced the stock collection cup/reaction chamber with the 5074 Foam Extraction unit. I've been running it wet to speed break-in. I'd estimate it pulling a bit more than double what the BM skimmer was, I expect even more with the upgrade AND it restarts EVERYTIME :) It runs perfectly in 9.5" of water.

DSC_09562.jpg

Here's the 9011 skimmer with the Foam Extraction unit installed using a make-shift foam collection setup - I'll "pretty-it-up" once I find a slimline container to hold the skimmate. It's difficult to see the Foam Extraction unit in the photo - It's basically an extension of the skimmer reaction chamber that vents into the 40mm diameter hose, completely replacing the collection cup. I had installed the foam extraction unit about 2 hours prior to taking that photo, and you can already begin to see skimmate in the bottom of the 2 liter bottle.

DSC_0966.jpg

This is the level detection sensor and backup float on the Tunze Osmocontroller 3155 - It maintains the water lever in the sump within 1/8". As great as it seems, I still use my Apex as a safety turning off the Osmocontroller if pH rises above 8.42 (I use a Tunze 5074 Kalk Dispenser in my ATO.)

DSC_09722.jpg

The new Osmocontroller display bottom right below the Apex.

My bio load is very light at the moment, as a result, even skimming dry produced dark tea colored skimmate. I think I'm going to feed very heavy for a few days to see how the skimmer responds.

So far I'm very pleased with the 9011. With a consistent sump water level compliments of the 3155, the skimmer is virtually set-it-and-forget-it, needing virtually no tweaking. I think I finally found the best solution for the tiny Cadlights sump.
 
It must be the time of year for new skimmers. After getting my NAC-6 and realizing that I apparently can't read a measuring tape I had to modify my sump to make it fit.

I removed one of the dividers which made a lot of room for the new skimmer, but I lost the center section for my rock rubble and macro algae.

So I modified a sump design I saw on Melev's website and put the refugium part on top of my sump. This actually seems to work great and I increased my water volume by a whopping 2 gallons.

The container in front of the sump is my skimmer overflow. The only thing you are missing behind it is the lack of a divider.

Removing the divider was amazingly easy. I used a razor blade to score the edge several times until I could see the blade had cut through about 1/3 of the width of the divider. I then gently tapped each side with a rubber mallet and the divider basically just popped out

So far it all seems to be working great, but today is only day one.
 

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