drummereef
Team RC
Thanks canyousee.
When I tested mine I was at 1.026 / 35ppt. Is this the same as yours? I'm thinking of calling IO on Monday. This is outrageously low IMO.
drummereef's 180g in-wall build
- Thread starter drummereef
- Start date
Thanks canyousee.
When I tested mine I was at 1.026 / 35ppt. Is this the same as yours? I'm thinking of calling IO on Monday. This is outrageously low IMO.
drummereef
Team RC
Thanks Dave. I'll also mix up what's left in the container and test it again. Maybe it was just an off batch but it seems unusually low.
drummereef
Team RC
That is correct Pete. I always supplement the IO with Calcium Chloride when I make it up for water changes. I've used IO for years but haven't ever tested it that low. I'm going to call them tomorrow.
drummereef
Team RC
UPDATE:
Here's a comparison FTS from September 7 to September 27. As you can see the rocks are much darker today. The brown algae is like a "fuzz" all over the rock and overflows so it shows up like this in the pic. Not the stringy stuff from before but more of a fuzziness. Last night I took a powerhead and blasted the rocks off to get as much gunk in the water column for the skimmer to grab. Did a water change today along with siphoning the sand bed and removing more sand. I'm pretty close to the amount of sand I want now which is a very shallow depth, about 1/2" in places. I also dosed 25ml MB7 for the 2nd time.
Here's the comparison shots... Oh, I'm also testing a dark blue background vs the original black.
September 7, 2010
September 27, 2010
Here's a comparison FTS from September 7 to September 27. As you can see the rocks are much darker today. The brown algae is like a "fuzz" all over the rock and overflows so it shows up like this in the pic. Not the stringy stuff from before but more of a fuzziness. Last night I took a powerhead and blasted the rocks off to get as much gunk in the water column for the skimmer to grab. Did a water change today along with siphoning the sand bed and removing more sand. I'm pretty close to the amount of sand I want now which is a very shallow depth, about 1/2" in places. I also dosed 25ml MB7 for the 2nd time.
Here's the comparison shots... Oh, I'm also testing a dark blue background vs the original black.
September 7, 2010
September 27, 2010
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Taqpol
New member
I can barely tell a difference between the dark blue and the black, but that might be what you're going for. I hear you on the base rock, I added some BRS EcoRock to supplement my rock volume and all the stark white pieces are now getting covered with a really dark different strain of algae then I'm used to.
drummereef
Team RC
It's a very subtle difference between the blue and black but I think the blue gives a better depth perspective. I don't know why my camera pics up the shadows on the background but I don't see it in person. Hmmm.... I would almost bet the BRS and Marco Rock are from the same supplier. It looks identical. As for the algae I firmly believe (now) it is from a lack of bacteria on the rock from the beginning. If there's not a high concentration of bacteria on the surface of the rock the algae will find it and take hold. The algae in your tank will probably cycle quicker since you have plenty of aged live rock in the tank to help seed the base rock, where mine is 100% Marco. So it's slow going over here...
110galreef
New member
are you gonna have your sides match the background color, or are they gonna stay clear? If clear can you see into the room then from the front?
Taqpol
New member
Because of total internal reflection the sides of the tank, as viewed from the front, are going to look like mirrors. You can see this in the above pictures with how the vortechs appear to be two wet sides placed back to back. Its a pretty cool effect that makes the fish tank appear bigger, I think!
110galreef
New member
Makes sense....
I have seen some inwall tanks where they do black sides. Do you know the benefit or reasoning then? If there is light in the fish room won't light bleed into tank from the clear sides? What about from the tank lights?
I have seen some inwall tanks where they do black sides. Do you know the benefit or reasoning then? If there is light in the fish room won't light bleed into tank from the clear sides? What about from the tank lights?
drummereef
Team RC
As Alex stated, the only time you can see through the sides is when the lights are off. When the halides are on the internal reflection acts as a mirror effect so you can't see through, unless you look through the tank one side to the other (which isn't possible unless you are standing in the sump room). I would guess others use backgrounds on the side panels to limit light bleed from ambient lighting and also perhaps to limit visibility through the side panels when only actinics, moonlights or other low-intensity bulbs are used. I would assume visibility through the sides gets higher the lower the light situation is.
henrystyle
Member
How are those bio pellets tumbling now that they have been running for awhile?
Looking to buy a pellet reactor but I don't see the big deal with the nextreef reactors. I figure as long as you have at least 1/2" line going in and out of any reactor that should suffice. Enough flow and any reactor should work to get those pellets to tumble.
Looking to buy a pellet reactor but I don't see the big deal with the nextreef reactors. I figure as long as you have at least 1/2" line going in and out of any reactor that should suffice. Enough flow and any reactor should work to get those pellets to tumble.
110galreef
New member
I am actually planning this right now. Looking at a flow rate of about 600gph for my external skimmer.
My plan is to creat a manifold and use one T to feed my carbon ~ 300gph, one T to feed the biopelltes....say ~400gph, one T to feed feed skimmer say ~ 200gph. I will then merge the output of the biopellets w/ the skimmer feed T in a T before the skimmer so a total of about 600gph is feed to the pump.
Make sense??
Hopefully this would work
drummereef
Team RC
They are tumbling great henrystyle. I actually lowered the flow somewhat so it's very slow churn now. Jon at Warner said they really only need about 100 gph flow through them to be effective. Any reactor will work as long as it has the proper plenum for a bio pellet system. A lot of the "off the shelf" reactors have sponges that have to be DIY'd to a plastic mesh for them to work properly. Other than that the only other limiting factor is physical size. The taller the better. That will allow enough water circulation through the pellets with no dead spots. The in's/out's on the NextReef SMR1 Pellet Reactor are 5/8" which also help get a little more flow through the reactor.
110g has about the best solution to this. I would presume there would be a way to directly plumb the output of the biopellet reactor to the skimmer's volute, but I wouldn't want to give you bad advice about this. You might want to post in the ecoBAK forum too.
110galreef
New member
110g has about the best solution to this. I would presume there would be a way to directly plumb the output of the biopellet reactor to the skimmer's volute, but I wouldn't want to give you bad advice about this. You might want to post in the ecoBAK forum too.
I talked w/ skimmer co about this as i was originally going to just plumb the out put of the biopellets to feed the skimmer. However they suggested to not base the entire feed of the skimmer off the biopellets. Plus as drummerreef mentioned he has say 100-200gph thru the biopellets so if I end up similiar, just feeding the skimmer off that would not suffice. The extra straight water line allows you to add additional or reduce flow to the skimmer if needed and not mess with the bio pellet flow!
110galreef
New member
UPDATE:
As promised, I made the needed changes to the manifold. This time around I upgraded to GF (Georg Fischer) Ball Valves. I also up-sized one valve to 3/4" to accommodate the SMR1 reactor that is coming. The rest of the valves are still 1/2". If you are considering a cheaper valve look no further, these are worth every cent. The action of the handles are super smooth. Way easier to adjust then the last valves I was using, especially nice for fine tuning. I purchased these through Savco Plumbing.
New Manifold
Quick question on some old stuff..... Why 1- 3/4" and rest 1/2" Is the 3/4" for the biopellets? Would all 1/2 have sufficed? Or would all 3/4" been better?
Thanks again...
Oh and what valves did you use for the other ball vales on the return pump? Savko as well? Do they turn fairly smooth?
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henrystyle
Member
You have the regular smr1 correct? All my valves on my manifold are 1/2". I was thinking of getting 1 pellet reactor and one regular smr1 for running carbon.
