Doctor64776's 400gallon Show 700gallon System

Eric,

I use the Centrifical fans housed in my Lightrack to evaporate and cool the big tank.. When Humidity is high evaporation is in efficient and as a result temps increase... I also have ALOT of very expensive woodworking in the rooms near the tank and also some even in the "Lab" so as I had originally thought that the big 75pt. Dehumidifyer was going to have it all I found that it really needed some help. High humidity can cause mold behind your drywall, warp wood, cause premature failure of electronics AGGG! and a whole host of other problems.. YES your tank will be large enough that this will be an issue for you also...
Easily solved by :

#1 Dehumidifyer
#2 Ventilation



The thing that really let me know the room need the vent was I work in there alot an found that I was not sweating er cooling myself well and it was uncomfortable.

Your tank build is going well I am excited to see more... Good luck
 
No I was actually very worried about that LOL... But once intalled I cant even hear it over all of the pumps ect.. Very Quite UMM by Comparison I would not want it runing in my living room or anything BUT for the "LAB" it is perfect!
 
PH Crash?

PH Crash?

Ph is usually @ 8.0 and the effluent of the reactor is usually at 6.5

My problem lies in the following paragraph... BUT WHY?
Tank is usually perfectly controlled by Aquacontroller (LOL my bad I had disconnected the Co2 from control) Why do I need the Co2 on a control circut when the PH is ALWAYS perfect? (<--- Rhetorical question LOL)

Anyway last night the log shows a steady PH fall starting at 2200 until I saw it this am @ 0700 the PH of the tank was 7.35! AGGGGGG!

OK so all of the livestock look perfect.... (I hope they stay that way) I found that the reactors feed tube had become clogged from some algea where the tube passes near a light... thus the secondary effluent drip had stopped BUT the primary had continued.. The effluent PH was still at 6.5, My tank Alkalinity had climbed from the usual 4.5 to 5.5

OK so here is my question?

Why do you think the PH crashed so hard? the Effluent was still @ 6.5 flowing slower BUT stilll flowing?

Anyway I am now slowley returning the PH to normal with the Klak drip turned up more than usual... the PH as I write this is 7.55

Do you think that the clogged feed tube could cause that major of a drop? I mean it still flowed just at a drip rather than a flow?
 
if the effluent slowed and the bubble rate stayed the same then the effluent ph would have dropped, along with the normal drop in ph during the night may account for it

I would double check your ph with a test kit
 
Yes I double checked with 2 meters and then also did the standard Chemical PH test kit same readings... I figured that the Effluent PH should have dropped also because the bubble rate stayed up ? The primary effluent drip did continue to drop though... just slower and the secondary stopped

So ODD
 
was your skimmer on? a precipitous drop in ph without adding anything to the system would probably be CO2 related, ie rising CO2 level causing a drop in ph. this could be from either poor aeration or something dying in the tank.
 
thats one big clam. love the tank. the rock/backing is amazing. wish i could do sumthing like that :P but my tanks arents even as big as ur sump :P good work. looking amazing
 
Thank you new world :) Very nice to say


Yes Elliot the Skimmer is very large and runs 24/7

I have reattached the Co2 to the Aquacontroller so that if the Ph drops below 7.8 it cuts off But I just have not decided that is what caused the problem? Like I said the Effluent was still at 6.5 dripping much slower but stiil not that much more acidic... the Ph is back up to 8.0 8.1 today... I just hate not knowing what caused it?

Thanks for the input though guys
 
could there have been excess C02 in the room? if the surrounding air was not well ventilated it could drop the ph significantly and rapidly

leaky CO2 valve, car exhaust, furnace malfunction, poor ventilation, etc.
 
Each of those are good thoughts? Your history taking skillz are very adept :) But ventilation is good.... furnace is realatively new(5 years) and just had its yearly cleaning and check up... great ventilation... no exhaust... I am stumped :( but it seems fine for now LOL I just hate not knowing
 
Love, love, love your tank. The foam looks amazing. I like the aquascaping, particularly the arch. I like the fact that it's not crammed with rock from top to bottom. I think I would grow some GSP across the back if it were mine. Your fish selection is beautiful. They all look so healthy.
I was wondering how deep your sand bed is and what type of sand did you use?
I had my house built with a large tank in mind. I have three extra 20 amp circuits wired into what was going to be the fish room as well as a floor drain, exhauset fan and Sun Tunnels. Then some life circumstances came up delaying it and now we decided to sell the house. Oh well. I can plan even better now for the next house I guess. I will definitely be checking back to this post for more ideas.
 
Hey Doc, I've been following your thread for quite a while. An excellent and informative read, I must say. :)

If there is an excess of CO2 in your room, get yourself some houseplants and put them in there. They'll THRIVE in that environment, and utilize any excess CO2 in the air.

I wish you luck on figuring out the PH problem!
 
Chihuahua6 Thank You so much :) I live to hear such kind words... I have had troubles with DSB in visible tanks before so I wanted the sandbed below site... there is a 2" lip around the front of my tank... 400lbs of Carribean Fine south down perfectly filled this void so that no nastys show as the sand ages.. I then have a remote DSB 6" deep in another sump/tank for additional filtration. 3 X 20amps and I then hooked into another leached circut for more and even now wish that I had added a 4TH 20amp LOL... Look at the life change as more time to plan... This tank was being built for appx. 2 years before water ever touched her... AGGG! Yes I am growing Blue clove polyps along the back wall right now. I'll look forward to hearing from you again :)

dismalorb Wish I had some more room for plants LOL I was just looking at a bunch of Macho ferns that my wife is Banishing to our childrens homes for the winter and thinking about your post.

The question posed below I have been asked many times so I figured that I would just remove the senders name and post it for all to see.


Hello -

I have been browsing RC trying to get some ideas for aquascaping in my 380 tank. I love the arch you constructed and was curious as to how you did this. PVC or epoxy? Do you have any pictures available of construction?

Any info you can provide would be greatly appreciated.

Regards,



Hello,
Thank You for such a wonderful compliment :) I do not have pictures of actually building it no... That would have been good though as I have had this request before...
I used Epoxy sticks (Many) I layed out cardboard first and took large pieces of appropriately shaped rock and first built the skeleton of the arch that I wanted... this quickly became very heavy as the arch stands about 30" tall and is perhaps 36" wide.. with the help of my sons I set the arch in place... once it was in place I started to epoxy more and more rock onto it to sculpt it into the final shape that I wanted... I then created a smaller version on the opposite angle intersecting this arch for then 2 separate arches... both of these I then secured to the now added support rocks around them so that basically all of the rockwork is one big immobile piece... I am very pleased thus far and just hope that I never have need to move it LOL as this would prove literally immpossible...
I hope that this helped
 
Yes all is perfect... All that I can assume is that somehow the clogged feed tube allowed too much C02??? does not seem logical but since everything corrected so easily I cannot find any other determing factor?

Tank is doing great I will work on some more pics this week
 
Sups Jerry :)

Here are a few BIG shots from earlier this week :)

Right side
TankRight-1.jpg


Left Side
TankLeft-1.jpg


Center
TankCenter-1.jpg


Aussie Elegance 1 of 3
AussieElegance2-1.jpg


Aussie Elegance 2 of 3
AussieElegance-1.jpg
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

D
Structural support for 125 gallon aquarium
Replies
7
Views
376
ddang
D
griss
pH - Thought I'd Share This
Replies
4
Views
694
Dustin07
D
A
Plumbing question
Replies
1
Views
262
kharmaguru
kharmaguru
S
Toxic paint /epoxy removal from reef rock?
Replies
2
Views
307
Reefing102
Reefing102
C
Help with aio return pump.
Replies
6
Views
527
Cruzersmith
C
Back
Top