I have my current router set up to reboot weekly in the middle of the night and haven't had any problems with it, but I would be all over that if I still had my old router.
d2mini's "Essential Focus" Mixed Reef Build
- Thread starter d2mini
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I have my current router set up to reboot weekly in the middle of the night and haven't had any problems with it, but I would be all over that if I still had my old router.
Dennis, when you say "once the 2nd batch of rock was in..." was that 2 weeks after restarting tank? Did your tank go thru a cycle before the 2nd batch of rock went in?I put a lot of corals into a QT and a few I took to my office nano. But they were PACKED in QT. The vortech was causing them to move around. And then the water turned so dense green from the high intensity lighting with no form of filtration other than a cheap HOB that I normally use on my fish QT, that I couldn't even see anything in there. It was only for a week or two though. Once the second batch of rock was in, I started slowly moving coral back in to the main display. The sps that survived their short stint in QT were brown. But they've been coloring back up. I lost a bunch of nice frags though.
Well that's interesting...
lol, thanks. It's easy when they actually sit still.
I'm going thru something similar after moving and having stepped up to a larger tank.
Lost anemone and kole tang during the move but other corals and fish survived that were sitting in a 20 gal Brute with the live rocks (from TBS) and pump for a week while new tank was being set up. Had planned on using some of the old water from the Brute but after the anemone died decided against this for the new tank. So not sure if my tank has to cycle or not given the live rocks are from previous tank but water and Deep sand bed are new...tank has been running for a little over 1 week w 0 ammonia & nitrite so far and corals and fish appear to be doing well... Any thoughts/advice?
d2mini
Premium Member
Part 2 of the package came in a few days after Part 1.
If you go back a few pages (i know, the info gets lost), you'll see that I was registering nitrates 24 hours after Part 1 went in. So no cycle was experienced, as far as denitrification is concerned. Never saw ammonia. Nitrates were there but not high this time. P04 was off the charts, over .6 ppm but this morning were down to .1 ppm.
I think there is so much life and good stuff included with a fresh TBS order (including the packet of bacteria) that it's even better than going through a tank move, where you will usually go through a few minor issues.
Do you normally experience zero nitrates? That would be my only concern.
But I guess as long as you are not seeing any ammonia and everyone seems happy, then you are good. But keep testing, because it's going to be a while before the tank can truly handle the bioload you had before. You lost a lot of bacteria inside plumbing, on other surfaces, the sand bed (unless you got tbs live sand).
BTW, the old water is just old dirty water. Nothing in there that would have been of any benefit to you.
choss
New member
Auto Water Changes have BEGUN!!!
Two optical level sensors (high and low) in the return section of the sump control both the AWC and ATO.
The whole event is kicked off by a timer on the Profilux 4.
When the timer kicks on, ATO is disabled and a small pump in my sump starts pumping water out via 1/4" water line which runs through the wall behind the tank to the sink which is backed up agains that wall. I tapped into the drain line with a saddle clamp that has a 1/4" John Guest style quick fitting. A few minutes later, the water level drops to the lower level sensor, at which point the drain pump is turned off and now the fill pump is turned on. I'm using a Cole Parmer Masterflex pump because it's peristaltic and I won't have a problem with gravity/siphon draining the whole 50g tank of fresh saltwater. Once the water level in the sump reaches the upper level sensor, the AWC is complete, so the fill pump turns off and ATO is enabled once again.
This process runs for about 10 minutes and changes out 2 Liters.
I'm having it run 5x per day, so 10 Liters per day, or 2.64 gallons.
I was aiming for near 30% system volume per 2 weeks.
2.64 x 14 = just about 37g.
The tank is a 120g plus the sump, minus displacement... so let's guesstimate around 130g. I think I'm close enough, even if you want to include the "new" water that is mixed in with the old water.
Dennis - timely update to say the least - thanks for giving me some advice on another thread regarding the same topic. So a few questions:
* In the past, you have used both the LM3 and the GSL Dosing pump (correct me if I'm wrong) and I thought the benefit from these methods was an equal removal and addition of salt water at similar rates. I thought this allowed your ATO to stay "on" without any noticeable drop in water level - holding your salinity steady. It seems like the new approach relies heavily on two sensors that if they fail would be a pretty big issue. Any concerns?
* Are you heating the water in the saltwater container since you are now adding fewer but larger doses with the 5X refill?
* Just curious about any other reason for going with the Cole Palmer v. the GSL Doser.
Thanks as always and fantastic job.
d2mini
Premium Member
The LM3 setup was great. It's just another set of equipment. And pricey at that.
I tried using the old GHL doser but i needed to push too much water each time it ran because it couldn't run nearly as many times per day as the LM3 due to the software limitations. And when it ran for too long, the plastic rollers would get too hot and start to fall apart.
The LM3 also has plastic rollers but it would run for less than a minute each time.
The new Doser 2.1 has heavy duty pump heads that are built to run for longer times.
With either of these two options, you have to make sure you calibrate the pumps. Things like line length and other variables cause a difference in how much each pump will flow. And over time the flow can shift so you need to periodically re-calibrate.
With the level sensors, there is less maintenance, especially with the optical ones. Yes, they can get dirty but I hardly ever clean mine and I've never had a problem with the ATO. There are no moving parts so there is nothing to stick. I also ran this exact setup on my old 200g tank and never had an issue with the level sensors failing. Just try to wipe them down periodically and you'll be good.
Since ATO is disabled during the AWC, it won't interfere with the process. Since you are relying on the level sensors to tell the pumps when to start and stop, the same amount of water that is removed is pumped back in. The only thing I think that would cause a variance is if maybe the water level had dropped enough to where the ATO was about to kick on but hadn't quite yet. But we are talking about milliliters. When I'm changing out 2 liters, a few ml isn't making any noticeable difference.
As far as temp goes, the sun heats my water most of the year here in Houston. Way more than I need!
But either way, slowly dumping 2 liters of 40 degree water or 110 degee water into a 130g system is not making any difference.
That's actually a really nice benefit of running multiple AWC's... no need to match parameters. Just get salinity as close as possible. And even if that is off, it doesn't really matter. If my conductivity probe reads .01 less every day for several days in a row, then I know I need to go dump some extra salt into the mixing station to correct it. Or mix in some RODI if it's going up.
And the other reason I decided to use the CP to pump the water back in is because it can pump much faster.
Hope that helps!
d2mini
Premium Member
Lol. Well, I guess you know how he feels about your toadfish
#FreeMrToadNo pictures. Thrown in the sump. No golden bombs of light and love
Poor sad toadfish.
liverock
RC Sponsor
Lol. Well, I guess you know how he feels about your toadfish
No pictures. Thrown in the sump. No golden bombs of light and love
But toad fish like that..devious little guys......you never see one on the aquaculture site until you reach under a rock...and one latches onto your finger is their hide and attack.....not many teeth though....is more the scare factor.....when they latch onto you....
lol....
d2mini
Premium Member
He's like a dog now.
Follows me around, probably looking for food.
I hope he's just more comfortable now and not literally starving!
Lol. Well, I guess you know how he feels about your toadfish
No pictures. Thrown in the sump. No golden bombs of light and love
He gets plenty of light! Probably more than he wants.
But like Richard says, Mr Toad is not very sociable.
Nice shot of the claw. I mean seriously, nice detail. However, here is my thought. Mr. Crab is probably doing his or her best to stay hidden or in Ninja / Camo mode so it too doesn't get banished with Mr. Toadfish in the sump! Or, they are plotting to overthrow d2mini's government and join one another in the display tank!!!!
No idea on the ID though. I've got nothing but I do like the image.
Edit: It does appear to be safe and no resemblance of a Gorilla.
No idea on the ID though. I've got nothing but I do like the image.
Edit: It does appear to be safe and no resemblance of a Gorilla.
liverock
RC Sponsor
mwilliams62
New member
d2mini's "Essential Focus" Mixed Reef Build
Dennis where did you get the brass y connector?
more pics...
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Dennis where did you get the brass y connector?
d2mini
Premium Member
http://www.thefilterguys.biz/fittings.htm
Scroll down about halfway.
Don't recall where I got the white quick fitting though.
mwilliams62
New member
I plan to copy your AWC scheme when I get my tank up and running.; very cool.
I am getting close enough on my build now that I need to start thinking about TBS rock. I started a 55g last year with TBS as an experiment (learning curve, before my "big" tank), and ordered the 55G package. I found it had too much rock and sand for my taste, so some of the rock ended up in the sump. I am sold on TBS, but I want my next build to have more open space, plus I plan to reuse the rock (not the sand).
I think Richard uses a rule of thumb of 2lbs rock + 1lb sand per gallon in his packages, when ordered by tank size. From your pictures, I am guessing that you didn't get a 120G package - can you share how many pounds of rock/sand you used in this build? It looks about right to me ...
I am getting close enough on my build now that I need to start thinking about TBS rock. I started a 55g last year with TBS as an experiment (learning curve, before my "big" tank), and ordered the 55G package. I found it had too much rock and sand for my taste, so some of the rock ended up in the sump. I am sold on TBS, but I want my next build to have more open space, plus I plan to reuse the rock (not the sand).
I think Richard uses a rule of thumb of 2lbs rock + 1lb sand per gallon in his packages, when ordered by tank size. From your pictures, I am guessing that you didn't get a 120G package - can you share how many pounds of rock/sand you used in this build? It looks about right to me ...
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