Coral Tank from Canada (1350gal Display Tank)

[BlueDartReefer]

Thank you very much. The arch is very much Chingchai's design. It's not that others haven't experimented with the concept but Chingchai's dominant positioning of the arch with the foresight to allow the coral to outgrow it to the point where the actual rock disappears makes it truly unique. The recognition of the importance and significance of the equipment room as part of the display experience also belongs to Chingchai. If you haven't taken the time yet to work through his build from the beginning .....I highly recommend it. It's a fascinating read and extremely inspirational. I would not have undertaken my build had I not read his thread.

Thanks for the support....you should post a pic or two for our enjoyment.

Peter

I've been playing around with trying to post pics:headwallblue:- I guess thumbnails are a start. First picture is about a month old- we have recently changed out the 20K MH's to match the center 14K MH but I don't have that picture handy. Yes, I am old school. I continue to research LED lighting and will probably make the switch in a couple of years. Second is a current actinic shot.
-Thank you for your interest.

 

[Padrino]

Peter/Shawn,
It was a pleasure meeting you at MACNA, I had a great time and glad I bumped in to you.
I look forward to next year in Dallas!
Cheers
Rob

 

[Scej12]

Check your pH

Check your pH

We let it get quiet just to flush out the lurkers

A month ago the calcium level in the display tank started to climb and the alkalinity started to drop. Magnesium stayed at 1300 where I was keeping it, but I no longer needed to add it weekly as I was doing over the first 10 months. I was doing major water changes (10%+ per week) but the calcium would not fall.

As usual, I assumed it must have been something I did... that's where my wife usually starts as well After a month, the salt mix started to look suspicious, darting its eyes back and forth every time I looked at the stack of boxes We tested the salt in the 200 gallon mixing container (1.026 sg @ 80˚F). We got the following readings...

Calcium = 500
Magnesium = 1500
Alkalinity = 11 DKH

On the box, it advertised...

Calcium = 455
Magnesium = 1350

These numbers are not guaranteed and are expected to fluctuate, but I don't understand why we were consistently getting 380-400 ppm calcium in the display and I was dosing calcium chloride weekly. If anything, our calcium should have a tendency to drop now that the corals and coraline algae are growing significantly.

Our solution is to switch to (regular) Instant Ocean salt as it is closer to that of NSW, without the added Ca, Mg & Alk. I would rather add these under controlled circumstances, rather than relying on the acceptable swings of the salt manufacturer. This way we can gear the salt to our needs rather than perceived needs.

Hey Shawn - check your pH as well. The last time I had issues with Ca climbing above 500 it was due to my pH dropping down to 7.8 - 7.9. At this level, the corals cannot calcify, and actually begin to give back (dissolve) calcium. This could perhaps also explain the rise of the other consumable trace elements (no longer being consumed). In my case, the low pH resulted from solid form carbon dosing - i.e. using biopellets.

All of the info out there talking about the mechanics of carbon dosing basically state that we supply the C; and the bacteria takes the N & P from NO3/PO4 respectively... as all life forms (except for that arsenic bacteria) need these nutrients to build tissue/DNA.... however for some reason everyone seems to forget that these bacteria (and all life for that matter) also use as much (and very likely more) O as C... and it seems to be evident that they respire CO2 (like any other type of fauna & night flora); thereby dropping your pH in the absence of adequate countermeasures...!

However, I still swear by the use of biopellets as I was able to drop a 500 gal system NO3 level from 100ppm to 0ppm; though I now know that pH is definitely affected. You need good CO2 relief to avoid the ill effects of this transaction.

Regards,

SJ

 

[msr224]

I've been playing around with trying to post pics:headwallblue:- I guess thumbnails are a start. First picture is about a month old- we have recently changed out the 20K MH's to match the center 14K MH but I don't have that picture handy. Yes, I am old school. I continue to research LED lighting and will probably make the switch in a couple of years. Second is a current actinic shot.
-Thank you for your interest.

Bluedart....

Very nice arch. I wish I had more room in my tank to do that. Keep it up!!!

 

[Scej12]

Phptos...

Phptos...

I've been playing around with trying to post pics:headwallblue:- I guess thumbnails are a start. First picture is about a month old- we have recently changed out the 20K MH's to match the center 14K MH but I don't have that picture handy. Yes, I am old school. I continue to research LED lighting and will probably make the switch in a couple of years. Second is a current actinic shot.
-Thank you for your interest.

I had similar challenges trying to figure out the posting thing here, but eventually realized that you have to work with a separate hosting site to have the photos show up in the body of your post. I eventually signed up for a photobucket account, but there are apparently several other online album sites that will work....

SJ

 

[TandN]

OMFG!!!!!!!!!!! Pete, Mr.Wilson simply AMAZING 3 days of reading I read about 80% of this thread. My wife wants your house BTW lmao. I just downgraded to a 60g. I wish I had the money and room for a tank of this caliber. Been in the hobby 12 years now and Some of these tanks like yours always blow my mind. I also just went to LEDS as well and loving them in a months time I have seen huge improvements from the old lighting

 

[mr.wilson]

I've been playing around with trying to post pics:headwallblue:- I guess thumbnails are a start. First picture is about a month old- we have recently changed out the 20K MH's to match the center 14K MH but I don't have that picture handy. Yes, I am old school. I continue to research LED lighting and will probably make the switch in a couple of years. Second is a current actinic shot.
-Thank you for your interest.

Look'n good. The difference between 20K and 14k bulbs is obvious in pictures, but in real life I like the warmer light in the middle with blue fading off to the outer margins. Our MHL lights have a mix of 12,500K Aqualine Buschke and Phoenix 14,000k which look more blue than most 14k, more like 16k.

A good way to make the transition to LED is to lose your T5 and use 450-460nm blue strip lights. You won't believe the difference and you won't miss changing the T5 bulbs out every year or two

Peter's tank has 128w of blue LEDs in the morning and at night and it is surprisingly bright, much more than the 468w of T5 we had.

 

[mr.wilson]

Peter/Shawn,
It was a pleasure meeting you at MACNA, I had a great time and glad I bumped in to you.
I look forward to next year in Dallas!
Cheers
Rob

My cowboy hat and Stetson hat are already packed

 

[mr.wilson]

I had similar challenges trying to figure out the posting thing here, but eventually realized that you have to work with a separate hosting site to have the photos show up in the body of your post. I eventually signed up for a photobucket account, but there are apparently several other online album sites that will work....

SJ

It's too bad RC can't host the pics. I had quite a few stored on RC, but they were lost in one of their crashes I don't know how long I will be using Photobucket, but's possible that all those pics will be lost in the next ? years.

 

[mr.wilson]

We are discontinuing Instant Ocean Reef Crystals for now due to the elevated Ca, Mg, and Alk in the mix. About a year ago, they bumped up the numbers of these parameters in the IORC in an effort to help hobbyists supplement lost major salts through water change. Water changes are an inefficient and inaccurate method of supplementing Ca, Mg & Alk, we prefer to add what we need as we need it, in balance. Adding a few chemicals to make up for a deficiency is fine, but adding chemicals to eliminate a surplus is not a best practice.

So... we are in the market for a new salt mix. The easy change is to use Instant Ocean instead, but if we are changing salts, we should look at all options. This is where we call on our army of resources here on the thread (that's you soldier!)

Here is a brief list of popular salts I can think of off the top of my head. Please add any comments (for or against) any brands you have used, feel free to mention one I missed, and link any threads you found helpful in evaluating salt brands. Let the debate begin :hammer:

Royal Nature
H2 Ocean
Instant Ocean
Tropic Marin
Aquavitro

 

[rick12]

i have tried various salts but always go back to instant ocean, because i find it to be the best salt for Ca, mg, and alk levels. i too like to add my supplements to my satisfaction.

 

[captngreg]

I have had very good luck with the new Tunze salt after they took care of the clumping problem a year ago or so.

 

[mr.wilson]

Great! Answers from as far as Peru in a matter of minutes

I should add Brightwell Aquatics, NeoMarine to the list.

 

[RGibson]

We are discontinuing Instant Ocean Reef Crystals for now due to the elevated Ca, Mg, and Alk in the mix. About a year ago, they bumped up the numbers of these parameters in the IORC in an effort to help hobbyists supplement lost major salts through water change. Water changes are an inefficient and inaccurate method of supplementing Ca, Mg & Alk, we prefer to add what we need as we need it, in balance. Adding a few chemicals to make up for a deficiency is fine, but adding chemicals to eliminate a surplus is not a best practice.

So... we are in the market for a new salt mix. The easy change is to use Instant Ocean instead, but if we are changing salts, we should look at all options. This is where we call on our army of resources here on the thread (that's you soldier!)

Here is a brief list of popular salts I can think of off the top of my head. Please add any comments (for or against) any brands you have used, feel free to mention one I missed, and link any threads you found helpful in evaluating salt brands. Let the debate begin :hammer:

Royal Nature
H2 Ocean
Instant Ocean
Tropic Marin
Aquavitro

Tunze salt will work well for your 1300 gal tank

 

[captngreg]

Actually I’m about 60 miles off the cost of Brazil right now. The weather here is bad 35 + knots winds, so we are on standby nothing to do but surf the net. & watch my favorite thread.
I notice the pic of the power supplies you posted looked a lot bigger than there standard power supplies are they special order multi light units?

 

[mr.wilson]

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2005/11/aafeature1
http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2005/12/aafeature1
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/ca/volume_4/V4I3/Salt/salt.htm
http://web.archive.org/web/20001215...om/fish2/aqfm/1999/mar/features/1/default.asp
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2003-03/rs/feature/index.php

 

[mr.wilson]

Actually I'm about 60 miles off the cost of Brazil right now. The weather here is bad 35 + knots winds, so we are on standby nothing to do but surf the net. & watch my favorite thread.
I notice the pic of the power supplies you posted looked a lot bigger than there standard power supplies are they special order multi light units?

No, they are the standard boxes with two timers and cooling fan for each 120w LED light. The upper ones are for the metal halides. I guess you can't make out a bikini on the beach at 60 miles even with a good set spy glass

 

[dave.m]

I'm not in a position to recommend any salt brand (obviously), but if you're soliciting comments I'd also like to hear if anyone has tried and would recommend the ESV B-Ionic 4-part mix. Besides their claims of low metal toxicity I guess I am swayed by the idea of a salt mix that is ready to use in minutes instead of 24 hours.

Dave.M

 

[kinlayan]

For economy I use Aquamedic it is one of the most affordable for me in South Africa, but at times i cant get it i like to use Red Sea salt as well. The elements never have too much Calcium or Magnesium. Alkalinity if anything they normal(like in NSW) or need raising abit.
what is more worrying from the links you posted is heavy metal toxicity found in some of the brands ;(

 

[coralreefdoc]

Mr. Wilson:

Given your recent salt dilemna I just wanted to throw out a key, but often overlooked, aspect/technique when switching salt brands after a long period of use. Mix the new salt brand with the old, slowly incorporating a greater percentage of the new salt before switching over completely.

With that said, have you thought about developing a mix of say 2-5 brands of salt ? Which, IMO, if given proper analysis, could counteract the elevated parameters of Reef Crystals while utilizing all the positive aspects of the individual brands. The most basic would be an Instant Ocean/Reef Crystals mix, tweaking the quantity/percentage of each to accurately meet your needs.

HTH. Interested to hear your thoughts further


Regards,