Greetings All.
Things aren't going too well in teh tank. Well, the coral isn't doing well, everything else is fine. I lost one of the Heniochus a few months ago. Never found it, just disappeared one day. All the other fish are doing well with the Emperor Angel well on his way through transformation and now the biggest fish in the tank. But pretty much all the coral is dead or dying so what happened?
Well quite a few things. The tanks was turning into a money sink and I found myself unwilling to keep ploughing money into it. As you all know I import alot of stuff which adds to the cost and there's always stuff you need. Lights blow, pumps break, filters need changing and none of it is cheap. I earn a nice wage but I do have a family to support as well.
As well as the cost, constant issues nagged at me like heat issues in the summer, and then during the winter my RODI unit wasn't producing alot of water - not enough to top-off even and certainly not enough to do a water change so I have been using alot of tap water to top-off. I checked my PO4 levels and well, not suprised the corals are dying.
So I need to turn things around. After all I spent thousands of dollars on this system, designed the house around it and people still love it. All I need to do is focus on it. I'm a stickler for routine so I'm going to designate Friday as my tank day. On Friday I will spend all day if need be on the tank. I'll switch the computer off if I have to.
One piece of good news is the heating issues are fixed. That huge extractor fan does the job very well. But I have to turn it off at night as the fan just sucks out all the cool air produced by the air-con. Last night it cooled down to 26.1C (79F) and today with it being 35C (95F) outside, the tank water is 27.5C (81.5C). Is this kind of temperature swing within acceptable parameters?
Ever since I installed the new fan the glass on the light hood has cracked and broken twice. I think the fan has such incredible force that sucking the air through the hood is stressing the glass. One side is still broken.
Okay, so my first task is to get a decent RODI unit. I need a unit that that produces alot of water quickly. Unit I've been using is a Kent Marine Maxxima Hi-S but I don't believe I ever got more than 30GPD out of a 60GPD system. So I need something with power. Completely open to suggestions but I prefer to buy from MarineDepot, Aquarium Specialty or Premium Aquatics. Nothing but fabulous experience from all those vendors. How about a beefy
SpectraPure Spectraplus2000 180 GPD RO/DI? Expensive but if it's going to last me a year, I'm not bothered and I still need good output in the winter months.
As for the Vortechs, both broke ages ago and Aquarium Specialty sent me two new ones for free. And I still haven't installed them. How's that for apathy?
Had the Hamiltons for 18 months now so that's another thing I need to change. I enjoy the tank the most when the PC lighting is the only lighting I see (from 6pm-10pm). I remember I had some nice 400w 20k bulbs lined up but I can't remember which ones now. Anyone have any ideas for this bulb that will work on a PFO hood (pulse start ballasts).
Great, just noticed my last 2 PCs bulbs are out. They last 2 months on average.
