Elliott's Reef: 900g DT , 400g sumps

[Elliott]

Elliott. How have you found ozone effects on your fish and nitrate. Carbon dose .? Or not.

Thank you hedgedrew

You may have noticed that I'm running an algae turf scrubber, which tends to yellow the water a bit, so I run ozone to remove the pigment, it also "polishes" the water which increases clarity helping light penetration, it's set up to go off when ORP is greater than 450, regulated by the APEX, it has no effect on nitrates however it significantly improves skimmer performance and I run it through all three skimmers, I've not had any ill effects from using ozone that I know of

I run ROX carbon, I get it in a 5g bucket from BRS, which has not been implicated in HLLE disease, which may be linked to lignite (coal-based) carbon, I run it in a woman's stocking and hang in in an overflow 3 out of 4 weeks. I tried removing it for an 8 week period and noticed certain corals doing poorly with fading color and partial bleaching, then restarted the carbon and the corals improved rather quickly. It's my opinion that we have a great deal of chemical warfare going on in our mixed reefs and carbon removes it

 

[007Bond]

Hi Elliott,...just a fyi. I tried the air push method for feeding,and it worked like a champ! I used a gallon jug drilled two holes for some air line and an old air pump I had laying around. I ran what would be the product feed line all the way to the bottom, and the air supply just a few inches in the jug,...plugged in the pump and wow out it came. The pump I used would need to be valved, it was running fast.
I ordered a 3v air pump from ebay to try out. I'll need to see if these little guys work the same as a 110v pump. If they do you could just set the time from a controller for output. You can even get larger ro-di hose in colors 3/8 - 1/2 ect. if your feeding larger foods, but the air supply only needs to be 1/4 air line. I can get at least 4 jugs in my small frig in my fish room, and its right next to my sump.(toooo easy )
I guess the only draw back would be how long the food will last/stay good in the frig only?
Anyway thought I'd pass it along to you. I'll let you know how the 3v air pump works when I get it.---Rick

 

[Elliott]

Hi Elliott,...just a fyi. I tried the air push method for feeding,and it worked like a champ! I used a gallon jug drilled two holes for some air line and an old air pump I had laying around. I ran what would be the product feed line all the way to the bottom, and the air supply just a few inches in the jug,...plugged in the pump and wow out it came. The pump I used would need to be valved, it was running fast.
I ordered a 3v air pump from ebay to try out. I'll need to see if these little guys work the same as a 110v pump. If they do you could just set the time from a controller for output. You can even get larger ro-di hose in colors 3/8 - 1/2 ect. if your feeding larger foods, but the air supply only needs to be 1/4 air line. I can get at least 4 jugs in my small frig in my fish room, and its right next to my sump.(toooo easy )
I guess the only draw back would be how long the food will last/stay good in the frig only?
Anyway thought I'd pass it along to you. I'll let you know how the 3v air pump works when I get it.---Rick

very clever

some concerns:

1. If the airline came off the pump or the airline leaked it would create a siphon that would dump the entire contents into the tank, unless the sump was above the food container

2. If the pump or container seal failed none of the food would be delivered.

3. The air driven system makes it more difficult to adjust volume of food delivered

4. All of the food containers driven by the pump deliver the same amount of food.

the peristaltic pumps I use prevent siphoning and each container of food has a dedicated pump, which increases reliability and allows for individual precise control of quantity delivered using the APEX

 

[hedgedrew]

Dont you guys rinse yourvfrozen food in new salt water or ro. How do you do that with these auto dosers.

 

[hedgedrew]

Wow. You use redix level of 450. . Wowzy. Mine us set below 300 after feedings maybe it goes on few mins. Last time i set it too hifg my nirtates took off.

 

[Elliott]

Dont you guys rinse yourvfrozen food in new salt water or ro. How do you do that with these auto dosers.

it really does not make sense to rinse frozen foods before use when total in tank phosphates are considered

nevertheless, frozen mysis, which I use mostly, has comparatively very low phosphate content

 

[007Bond]

very clever

some concerns:

1. If the airline came off the pump or the airline leaked it would create a siphon that would dump the entire contents into the tank, unless the sump was above the food container

2. If the pump or container seal failed none of the food would be delivered.

3. The air driven system makes it more difficult to adjust volume of food delivered

4. All of the food containers driven by the pump deliver the same amount of food.

the peristaltic pumps I use prevent siphoning and each container of food has a dedicated pump, which increases reliability and allows for individual precise control of quantity delivered using the APEX

Good points. I will have to think about the siphon issue. I'm not sure if you are feeding a heaver mix for fish if it would siphon.
For multi foods I would use multiple 3v pumps that I could control the time durations separately. If the 3v pumps are to small to push a heavy food load, I'm out a couple bucks lol.

 

[Elliott]

Wow. You use redix level of 450. . Wowzy. Mine us set below 300 after feedings maybe it goes on few mins. Last time i set it too hifg my nirtates took off.

ORP is an electrical measurement

generally the "cleaner" the water the higher oxidation reduction potential

ORP goes down as a result of nitrates (waste)

Ozone is an oxidant and will raise ORP, it reduces the size of organics making skimming more efficient but has no direct effect on Nitrates or Phosphates that I know of

 

[Elliott]

Good points. I will have to think about the siphon issue. I'm not sure if you are feeding a heaver mix for fish if it would siphon.
For multi foods I would use multiple 3v pumps that I could control the time durations separately. If the 3v pumps are to small to push a heavy food load, I'm out a couple bucks lol.

yes, given the cost definitely worth a try :thumbsup:

 

[007Bond]

I'll take some pics. if it works.

 

[Elliott]

I'll take some pics. if it works.

cool

 

[biodegraded]

Tried to watch your YouTube video, but it's blocked for "copyright violations". I've had the idea of running a skimmer wet for continuous water changes for a long time and am glad to have found someone with experience with it. I can now proceed with confidence. The frozen food feeder is DIY at its finest: simple, cheap (not counting the APEX which you already had), effective and durable. Great build thread. Thanks for writing it up.

 

[Elliott]

Tried to watch your YouTube video, but it's blocked for "copyright violations". I've had the idea of running a skimmer wet for continuous water changes for a long time and am glad to have found someone with experience with it. I can now proceed with confidence. The frozen food feeder is DIY at its finest: simple, cheap (not counting the APEX which you already had), effective and durable. Great build thread. Thanks for writing it up.

thanks biodegraded, not sure why it's blocked for you, just checked and works fine on my end, I know it won't work on certain computers especially if they can't run HD video, it is blocked in certain countries due to the music selection

 

[007Bond]

Worked for me,...by the way thanks for the reminder,...I hadn't watched the video for a couple weeks now,...inspirational! Sitting here looking at 14" of snow -40 windchill,...Digging the music!!---Rick

 

[biodegraded]

it is blocked in certain countries due to the music selection

Well, I'm in Utah which is kinda a different country...

But it seems to be something about my android phone I initially tried to watch it with. Or my teleco provider. My work discourages watching YouTube vids but I just went ahead anyways and I could see it fine. It is over lunch break after all. That's my story and I'm sticking to it. Cheers.

 

[biodegraded]

I'm curious of your experience using Oyster Feast. Do you use it as an actual food, or as a feeding response stimulant? I ask because the biggest result I've seen from it is as a stimulant. Several corals perk up for feeding if it's present in even very small amounts - like a couple of drops. The most dramatic is a Symphillia that inverts its tentacles from hidden to exposed as if an explosion goes off. It is too fast to see by eye. Incredible.

 

[Elliott]

007Bond: very nice, glad you like it!

biodegraded: well, I feed several at once so not sure but my intention is as an actual food, there is quite a response and for most of the corals, within a few minutes btw I'm also using two little fishes Acropower, seems to produce better colors and faster growth, impressive stuff

 

[biodegraded]

I'm curious about the photo below. In the small tub front and center there is what appears to be chop sticks. Is that so when one of your inhabitants doesn't make it you're ready for sushi?

{bad bio, bad :hammer: }

 

[Elliott]

I'm curious about the photo below. In the small tub front and center there is what appears to be chop sticks. Is that so when one of your inhabitants doesn't make it you're ready for sushi?

{bad bio, bad :hammer: }

haha, yes, nothing like fresh achilles, lol :idea:

 

[Roman120G]

Hi Elliott
Great info, thank you for sharing.
Tons of good words have been said here and all true.

Thru reading i come up with questions and as i keep reading along keep on getting answers. Awesome. Many reefers think alike.

Now after reading all i have to concentate to find at least one question in order to add my part to this thread.
Here is one: auto feeder of liquid foods. Do you have any kind of mixer installed to mix each bottle before each dose? Otherwise liquid food settles down and doses would not be even concentration.

And while typing one more question came up: someone mentioned 2000g tank that you wanted a while ago, but got 900g instead. I could be wrong reading. Anyway, do you have next size dream tank?

All the best